If you are on the verge of launching yourself as a local entrepreneur, there are a couple of nice businesses coming your way.
Much, if not all has to do with civic services.
A little birdie at the city father’s office has let me in on this information and in the true spirit of a community communication I felt I should make it public.
We have now moved to the age of the RTI (Right to Information).
I will not reveal the source but have given you the hint because I don’t want the poor engineers and officers at the civic body’s local office to be thrown into the Buckingham Canal by their superiors (the Cooum is best for those contemplating suicide, murder, foul play and cinematic acts).
Lets get to the business.
The birdie says that the days of the small jobs is over.
That is why you don’t find people clearing the wild bushes on our pavements, replacing broken tiles on sidewalks, repairing collapsed drains and mending broken rails on bridges.
That is why it does not help if you keep cribbing about corroded playthings and leaking manholes.
That is why they ask you to now e-mail these plaints if you wish to take up an issue: these go down a depthless pit in the Web that has lots of space. You will get polite acknowledgments. A smiley zips at the press of a key.
That is why all those tenders you see in your newspapers are big. Big jobs.
A few crores for the expansion of a bridge (and a few lakhs for the demolition of the original built in the days of the Brits). A few crores to relay the pavement on the beach. A few crores to demolish a shopping complex and build a giant one in its place. A few lakhs to renovate an entire park.
Now, these projects are for the Big Boys.
But there may be space for the Small Men too.
There were some trials.
They gave a job to some one to maintain our street lamps.
They awarded a contract to another to run the loos.
Now they may want to hand over the work of clearing wild bushes, cleaning drains of waste, filling potholes and watering the traffic islands.
This civic body isn’t interested. Its workforce is spent and tired. Its officers have their cellphones switched off. Our councillors . . . god bless them.
I have a one-time job to offer - am looking for a skilled pilot who can bomb only the Adyar Bridge. Not the old, the other.
Those who suffer its pain day in and day out will gladly pay for this job. There is no need for a tender - the bridge will gladly slip into the Adyar.
February 06, 2010
January 30, 2010
Sarathy's life
Sarathy is in class six. He studies at a high school run by nuns off the East Coast Road and lives on the fringe of a small patch of paddy fields his father owns, handed down the generations.
One of three children, Sarathy likes to go to school but when it comes to homework and serious study he does not sweat over it.
He would rather explore the world outside.
We met Sarathy during a recent visit of this area, once hit by the tsunami. He was sitting on the edge of the Buckingham Canal and watching the waters closely.
He should have been in school that Wednesday but he had told his class teacher that he would like to rest - since he was recovering from a stomach ailment.
Instead of going home he had set up locally-made traps in the quiet waters of the Canal and hoped to net a dozen crabs before the sun went down that day. They would make a great curry for dinner.
Other boys, who rarely went to school spent more time netting prawns in the inland waterway and selling them to the well-heeled who sped to Pondicherry in their Xylos.
Sarathy was glad to have our company. He left his post on the Canal, took us around the neighbourhood, told us about the histories of the church and the temple, picked up dried snake skins to tell us about the reptiles that haunted this area and introduced us to the kuppam, the fishermen and the fish.
As we sat on the catamaran and enjoyed the sea and the scenery he told us about the tides of this season and grabbed a few baby crabs and displayed them as if in a zoology lab.
His immense knowledge and experience of the place, his environment and his community impressed us.
What sort of education would be best for these Sarathys? How could one build on the immense knowledge and the skills they possess?
His class seven friend wants to become a civil engineer. Sarathy's elder brother wants to go to a polytechnic. But Sarathy is still to make up his mind.
As a sprawling SEZ and residential city springs up on the other side of this highway, the kuppam people hope to see a fund of jobs - maids, drivers, electricians, watchmen.
The Sarathys though would impress in fisheries, ecology, environment.
Who will make the connect?
One of three children, Sarathy likes to go to school but when it comes to homework and serious study he does not sweat over it.
He would rather explore the world outside.
We met Sarathy during a recent visit of this area, once hit by the tsunami. He was sitting on the edge of the Buckingham Canal and watching the waters closely.
He should have been in school that Wednesday but he had told his class teacher that he would like to rest - since he was recovering from a stomach ailment.
Instead of going home he had set up locally-made traps in the quiet waters of the Canal and hoped to net a dozen crabs before the sun went down that day. They would make a great curry for dinner.
Other boys, who rarely went to school spent more time netting prawns in the inland waterway and selling them to the well-heeled who sped to Pondicherry in their Xylos.
Sarathy was glad to have our company. He left his post on the Canal, took us around the neighbourhood, told us about the histories of the church and the temple, picked up dried snake skins to tell us about the reptiles that haunted this area and introduced us to the kuppam, the fishermen and the fish.
As we sat on the catamaran and enjoyed the sea and the scenery he told us about the tides of this season and grabbed a few baby crabs and displayed them as if in a zoology lab.
His immense knowledge and experience of the place, his environment and his community impressed us.
What sort of education would be best for these Sarathys? How could one build on the immense knowledge and the skills they possess?
His class seven friend wants to become a civil engineer. Sarathy's elder brother wants to go to a polytechnic. But Sarathy is still to make up his mind.
As a sprawling SEZ and residential city springs up on the other side of this highway, the kuppam people hope to see a fund of jobs - maids, drivers, electricians, watchmen.
The Sarathys though would impress in fisheries, ecology, environment.
Who will make the connect?
January 23, 2010
Volunteers make Mylapore Festival
Vignesh and Naveen are on a special assignment this week. They are working on two jobs simultaneously at the annual Mylapore Festival.
Producing 3-minute videos of what catches their fancy at the 40 events spread across four days. And documenting the Fest the way they see it.
They use a still camera and a video-cam and are learning new ways of producing short videos that they have begun to post on YouTube
You can take a look at the second video they produced at the Morning Kutcheri in Nageswara Rao Park (www.youtube.com/watch?v=5SGHwpHNZ8Y)
Vignesh and Naveen are two of the three dozen young people who are active volunteers at this unique Fest.
They are the backbone because they have to run events, manage the artistes and audience and put up with pesky people!
Rahul and his team of Sharanaya and Ganesh are in charge of Hospitality. Their menu card is small - rose milk, samosas, idli -gostu and coffee but their responsibility is big. They cater to all the artistes at the evening events, shuttling between kitchen and venues.
They do this because they like doing it.
Deepika is new to the city. That has not discouraged her from running the Talks event every evening. That done she hops across the street and helps four others issue tokens to hungry visitors to the Fest on the Food Street.
Janani Sivakumar is the new emcee on the main stage. While at engineering college, she has presented events on campus: she worked hard this week to fashion a script and present the shows held in the Sannidhi Square.
The Fest team also has senior people lending their hand.
Jayaraman is a fulltime volunteer, involved with a ‘Don’t Talk on your Cell Phone While Crossing Rail Tracks’ campaigns at railway stations and counting donations dropped in the hundis at some leading city temples.
He is a regular at the Fest and can be seen at the Info Shack, keeping account of souvenirs like Tees, coffee mugs and framed photos sold here.
Volunteerism is an integral part of the Mylapore Festival.
Just as most of the events are built around Mylapore and its people and institutions.
A jewellery store offered space to hold the ‘Mylapore Rewind’ series.
And the sponsorship from Sundaram Finance has made it all happen.
If you still have not been to the Fest, make sure you are soaking in it this weekend. (Details at - www.mylaporefestival.com)
Producing 3-minute videos of what catches their fancy at the 40 events spread across four days. And documenting the Fest the way they see it.
They use a still camera and a video-cam and are learning new ways of producing short videos that they have begun to post on YouTube
You can take a look at the second video they produced at the Morning Kutcheri in Nageswara Rao Park (www.youtube.com/watch?v=5SGHwpHNZ8Y)
Vignesh and Naveen are two of the three dozen young people who are active volunteers at this unique Fest.
They are the backbone because they have to run events, manage the artistes and audience and put up with pesky people!
Rahul and his team of Sharanaya and Ganesh are in charge of Hospitality. Their menu card is small - rose milk, samosas, idli -gostu and coffee but their responsibility is big. They cater to all the artistes at the evening events, shuttling between kitchen and venues.
They do this because they like doing it.
Deepika is new to the city. That has not discouraged her from running the Talks event every evening. That done she hops across the street and helps four others issue tokens to hungry visitors to the Fest on the Food Street.
Janani Sivakumar is the new emcee on the main stage. While at engineering college, she has presented events on campus: she worked hard this week to fashion a script and present the shows held in the Sannidhi Square.
The Fest team also has senior people lending their hand.
Jayaraman is a fulltime volunteer, involved with a ‘Don’t Talk on your Cell Phone While Crossing Rail Tracks’ campaigns at railway stations and counting donations dropped in the hundis at some leading city temples.
He is a regular at the Fest and can be seen at the Info Shack, keeping account of souvenirs like Tees, coffee mugs and framed photos sold here.
Volunteerism is an integral part of the Mylapore Festival.
Just as most of the events are built around Mylapore and its people and institutions.
A jewellery store offered space to hold the ‘Mylapore Rewind’ series.
And the sponsorship from Sundaram Finance has made it all happen.
If you still have not been to the Fest, make sure you are soaking in it this weekend. (Details at - www.mylaporefestival.com)
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