Madras Payyan - Sharing thoughts & Beyond

 If you live in Chennai or if you plan to travel there next month, you may not find any beggars on the streets. The city has banned begging and the municipality has tied up with NGOs to rehabilitate beggars. All who can work will receive vocational training, child beggars will be put in government schools and those eligible will be enrolled for receive government assistance  "We are not driving them away from the city, we are trying to rehabilitate them," said Rajesh Lakhoni, Commissioner, Chennai Corporation. A large percentage of beggars are disabled like Lourdh and Kamala. Both lepers can't work and their children are going to private schools. They are ready to quit begging only if the scheme ensures a regular income. "Who will pay for fees, shoes and other things for my child? If they give money for this, I'll stop begging," said Kamala. Whatever the government plans are for rehabilitating these beggars, the residents of Chennai are welcoming this. ...

April 6th.... It was my wife's b'day...celebrated it with pomp & fun...I had another reason  to celebrate as well... It was my first IPL Match...   CSK vs MI... God...what a day it was... Reeling back to morning...Zingggggggggggggggg... It was early morning when i had a nice time wished my better half & took a day off to spend some time with her.. we watched a movie that day had lunch together which she still considers as her best b'day gift ( Me taking a day off.. Hee hee) well the day proceeded till evening with us having a great time & yes.. I was "permitted" (:-)) to go for the match which I was all excited as well... Evening: I puffed & panted up the MRTS station in Thiruvanmiyur & waited for my other colleagues to arrive.Then we started off to chepauk station where in the train was fully crowded with IPL fans... chanting their favorite cricketing  idols name just like us.. didn't know even which station we were until we saw a...

There is certainly something fascinating about bells. They are not just tools for producing high-quality and extraordinary clear sounds. Bell is also a means of fellowship of God and people. Somehow, bells draw His attention to something that’s happening in a church. For toll can be a festive or a mournful thing; it also can inform one of good news or just please your ear with music that the toller makes, more images after the break... And there is more. Each bell is a work of art itself. There is one small bell factory located in the north of the Yaroslav region, nearby Tutaevo town, which is probably known all round the world. You can hear the toll of Tutaev bells almost in every church of Russia, Ukraine and Kazakhstan. Clay is being put on a workpiece with the quality of clay upgraded with every single coating. When it’s finished we’re getting inner surface of the bell made of clay. Then there is a new mold being slipped on the stem which is going to make the outer face of a b...

Two blind persons were thirsty but couldn’t operate the tap at the RagiGudda Temple in Bangalore . While they were waiting for help, this mother monkey came there, opened the tap for them, waited till they drank water, then drank some water herself, closed the tap and left the scene. Helping Hands are better than Praying lips........

Like many themes converted to films, mechanical corporate sharks wanting to take over a warm, cozy place associated with a lot of emotions, is not new. But Tum Milo Toh Sahi makes a genuine effort to make it meaningful. The emotions are not superficial, you identify with the characters. And yet you are not rooting for the protagonists and neither do you want to take the "wrong-doers" to court. Tum Milo To Sahi is a little bit about a lot of things. The most obvious one is a comment on disregard to saving the country's heritage by both its government and citizens. The "metropolitan corrupting small-town simple-mindedness" take is hard to miss too. Then you have ambitious characters being judged as greedy and insensitive under the mask of westernization. Society's lack of sympathy towards an unmarried mother is frowned upon too. So much to say, so little time. And thus, everything is said in a rush and the audience can't engage in anything at all. You...

Thai Muslim villagers look at birds in cages during in a bird-singing contest in Yala province, about 1,100 km (683 miles) south of Bangkok March 7, 2010. About 6,000 birds took part in the competition. (Reuters)