The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : Reporter's Diary

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Jul 20, 2004

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Reporter's Diary

When the bus stand at Parrys was shifted to Esplanade, road-users hoped that the flow of vehicles on NSC Bose Road would improve considerably. But it is not to be, as things have proved. Apart from the indiscriminate parking of MTC buses, which drop passengers, autorickshaw drivers add to the woes of the public by parking their vehicles at the bus stop. The patrol policemen do little to help the public, particularly pedestrians, who are caught between moving vehicles. Despite being an important destination, the MTC does not post regulators for reasons best known to it. It is a windfall for share autorickshaw drivers who take advantage of the corporation's absence of supervision and apathy to public suffering.

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Residents of West Mambalam, Ashok Nagar and K.K. Nagar seems to be getting a perpetual set of troubles. If it took several months for Metrowater to complete sewer or water lines in all these areas, now the main road Ashok Nagar and K.K.Nagar (Ashok Pillar Road) remains a devastated stretch for several months now. One side of the carriage way is unusable and in the bargain the traffic hold-up delays students going to school or college as also office-goers.

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For weeks now one heard about the shortage of textbooks for Plus-I students. But here's one more complaint from college students. An English textbook `Touchstone' published and prescribed by the University of Madras for all B.A., B.Sc and B.Com courses in many colleges is apparently in short supply. Parents and students say they have approached several book shops in the city and even at the University Publications counter, a few were asked to come back and enquire 10 days later. Many of the colleges have started the lessons and students are wondering what to do.

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The 13-year-old Bharanidhara Raghavendra Swamigal a.k.a `bala sanyasi' from Salem who has taken Tamil Nadu by storm, thanks to the media as he himself acknowledged, had instant answers every time reporters tried to corner him. One of them asked: "You claim to be a `thuravi' (ascetic). Is it fair on your part to travel in an AC Mercedes car?" Pat came his reply: "There was a time when reporters used typewriters. Have you not moved on to computers. We have to move with the times." At the end, the boy said: "I owe my familiarity thanks only to the media. Please excuse if I have hurt any of you."

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At a recent meeting organised by a former Tamil Nadu Congress Committee president to thank the Central Government for its move to make Tamil as a classical language, Sanskrit came under severe attack. All speakers while glorifying Tamil language made it a point to criticise the Centre for giving the classical language status to Sanskrit much before Tamil.

According to them that Tamil language was much more ancient and richer than Sanskrit.

But a particular community, they alleged, had made sustained attempts at preventing the Centre from making Tamil as the classical language. However, they paid glowing tributes to Tamil scholars of the community.

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It is not often one encounters bad road conditions on National Highways.

But here's one for the attention of the Highways authorities.

A portion of EVR Periyar High Road, near Pachaiyappa's College, Kilpauk, sticks out on this otherwise (relatively) smooth stretch.

Wear and tear has caused a huge pit at this point (picture).

The morning pile-up at this congested stretch adds to the trouble.

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(Contributed by K.T. Sangameswaran, K. Manikandan, K. Ramachandran and S.Vydhianathan.)

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