One More Down!!!

One of our Nanganallurians, Kary a.k.a. Karthik, has tied the knot which ended his supremacy over bachelorhood today. Congrats Kary!!

Guys, don't worry, though he would have preferred you guys gracing the occasion, here are few snaps I have taken for you.



Karthik, don't cry, we understand your feelings



Natamai, Thirpai Maathi Sollu



Way to go Kary



Backpain already, too early Karthik



I coundn't think of anything. If you want to, please feel free...

An Inevitable Shift!!

Guys many thanks for visiting the site and offering your valuable comments on the blogs written on this site. I actually feel guilty for cluttering this blog with other stuff that are no way connected with Nanganallur. So I have decided to move my own thoughts to Thoughts of a Layman and leave this purely for Nanganallur.

Keep visiting this site for interesting stories about Nanganallur.

Also visit Thoughts of a Layman if you have the time and the patience to read through my blogs.

Out of Sorts!!

Very appropriate article in The Times of India on Disaster Tourism.

Though volunteers are always welcome in any disaster relief operations, but as a newcomer they should have been prepared for these kind of activities before reaching Ground Zero. Probably they should get hooked on to some reputed NGOs like Indian Red Cross or Aid-India for the relief operations.

Well co-ordinated efforts will always yield better results than doing something in isolation.

Tsunami Syndrome

Is there some sort of tsunami syndrome developing amongst we people?

The day started off like any other normal day. After watching fresh set of images of the tsunami tragedy that were shown in the television, I as usual came to the office in the morning and settled down with the normal routine. At around 11 am, one of my colleagues told me that a fresh tsunami has hit the entire coast line of Tamil Nadu and sea water has entered Marina beach and Mylapore.

Ohh god!!! Only now everything seems to be settling down and one more tsunami was the first impression of everyone around. Frantic calls made to everyone you could think of (including me, ofcourse), to get an update on the situation. I was so paranoid that I even went to the 12th floor of my office building to look around the city. There were already quite a few curious onlookers on the terrace just to see if water has indeed come in. But I could see only this.

Finally, it turned out that a warning has been issued by the government and people within a range of 2 Kms from the sea have been asked to move to the higher ground.

There was news of evacuation of the Port at Chennai. Immediately, most of the offices on the beach road and all adjoining roads were also evacuated. Even some of the staff at offices as far as Guindy have been asked to go home!!!

At around 1.45 PM, there were rumours that there is an earthquake warning and it can strike anytime. To the best of my knowledge, we still don’t have any technology to predict earthquakes!!!

The relief operations at most of the places along the coastline were called off due to the fresh tsunami warnings affecting millions of people.

Are we guys getting paranoid about earthquakes and tsunamis? Though we cannot be lagging in terms of warnings and getting people to safer places, we need to strike a balance between taking precautions and false alarms. We are already panic stricken and a slightest news that there a tsunami approaching will send shock waves which could lead to commotion and stampede.

Guys please restrain yourself from spreading rumours. It’s not going to help anybody!!!

This Was Called Marina!!

On 1st at around 5.00 PM, I set my foot on the Marina and this is what I saw...



Side facing the Anna Samathi, fully deserted...



I could see only this tractor on the entire sterch



Side facing the Lighthouse



Broken pavements on the inside road..



Few brave guys. Only 3 I could see, ofcourse that includes me also!!

Double Standards??

It was heartening to see how the hospitality industry shows solidarity with the people who have been affected by the tsunami tragedy when I saw this article “Chennai hotels to greet New Year on a low key” in the Economic Times.

As per the article, many hotels in the city are either cancelling the New Year’s Bash or making it a low key affair without much decibels and glitter.

One hotel went on to say “We don’t want to make it a big affair when the sentiments are bad. We might entertain only those who walk in. we have switched off decorative lamps,. We have pulled out advertisements. We are putting up condolence messages on the hoardings”.

But I felt really disgusted when I saw this advertisement in the same paper.



Why is this double standard?

Bloggers Might!!

As the days go by, the numbers swell by 1000s. Aftershocks still batters the Andaman & Nicobar Islands and the rain god is not considerate enough to the people of Nagapatinam which are hampering the relief efforts. Above all, there is a real danger of diseases spreading in the affected areas.

But it is heartening to see how the Blogger community has responded to this tragedy. Right from offering information on this tragedy to helping in the relief efforts, bloggers are doing a commendable job.

A worthy article in the Times of India says it all. The media cannot always cover all the events because of it’s resource constrains, but the blogspere has the reach and also the ability and ofcourse, the willingness to do it.

Some of the blogs which I really liked were:

Rupya

Ganesh has setup a payment system for collecting money for the relief efforts through the internet which has really helped people who live aboard.

Kiruba Sankaran

Offered quick information in his blog of the agencies which are undertaking relief efforts in the affected areas.

Guru

As usual, wrote in his classy style, everything as it happened.

Kudos to all the above and also innumerable bloggers who have done an admirable job in this need of the hour.

Relief work in Chennai

AID-India is concentrating on relief work in Chennai, Cuddalore & Nagapttinam, the worst hit places. If you live in Chennai and have clothes or any relief materials, please hand them over to AID's chennai office.

AID-India
Old No 132, New No 242,
Avvai Shanmugam RoadGopalapuram,
Chennai - 600 086
Ph: 044- 28350403, 28115058

If you live outside of India and are intersted in contributing to the effort, you can make online payment via http://survivors.aidindia.org .

For additional information call: 1-888-TALK-2-AID / 650 996 6412 or email: info@aidindia.org
via kiruba