Returning to India: Part 1

It all began about 15 years ago. I took my first flight from Chennai to Singapore, with butterflies in stomach. Singapore helped to shape my career and direction of life since then. Life has been pretty stable now in Singapore. But, my heart pulls me back to India. It’s been a tough decision to leave Singapore, but I am going to give it a try. I would like to return to India, return to Chennai.

Why should I return to India?
To be honest, I do not have an answer to this. As I said earlier, my heart goes back to India and I feel I am missing something here in Singapore. I may not get the same comfort over there in Chennai. I may not get the clean roads, green environment or an efficient government over there. But, still I want to go. Of course, I may come back to Singapore sometime later in my life.

The infrastructure growth in Chennai is one encouraging factor in my decision to return. Probably, I may be able to use my 15 years experience to good effect in Chennai. That could lead to personal career growth as well as the satisfaction of giving back something to my mother land.

Time permitting, I will try to blog my Return to India (R2I) experience.

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The Hindu Property Plus Show 2010

The Hindu group of publications is organizing a property show in Singapore. If you are interested in buying properties in the booming South India property market, this might be a good opportunity. A selection of best builders / Promoters will be on board with the most attractive projects to suit everyone.

Date: The show will be conducted on 18th & 19th September 2010
Time: 10am to 9pm
Venue: Singapore Expo, Hall 4B

Be there …don’t miss the opportunity!

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Chennai Metro Rail: An Introduction

The proposed/ under construction Chennai Metro Rail consists of two corridors, corridor 1 running from Washermanpet to Airport and corridor 2 running from Chennai Central to St. Thomas Mount. The lines will meet each other at Chennai Central in the north and at Alandur in the south.

The Metro line, MRTS and suburban lines will have interchanges which will provide scope for commuters to switch lines seamlessly. Commuters on the Washermanpet to Airport metro line can switch over to the Beach-Tambaram suburban line at Guindy. St. Thomas Mount provides connectivity from the MRTS to the metro line. If you are planning to board long-distance buses or alighting from them at the mofussil bus terminus in Koyambedu, you can use the Central to St Thomas Mount metro line.

The proposed stations along the two corridors are as follows (the names and the number of stations are indicative only):

Corridor 1:
1. Washermanpet
2. Mannadi
3. High Court
4. Chennai Central (Interchange with Corridor 1)
5. Govt Estate
6. LIC
7. Thousand Lights
8. Gemini
9. Teynampet
10. Chamiers Road
11. Saidapet
12. Little Mount
13. Guindy
14. Alandur (Interchange with Corridor 1)
15. Officer’s Training Academy
16. Meenambakkam
17. Chennai Airport

Corridor 1 covers an estimated total length of 23.1 kms. The stretch from Washermanpet to Saidapet will be underground, approximately 14.3 kms.

Corridor 2:
1. Chennai Central
2. Egmore
3. Nehru Park
4. Kilpauk Medical College
5. Pachaiappa’s College
6. Shenoy Nagar
7. Anna Nagar East
8. Anna Nagar Tower
9. Thirumangalam
10. Koyambedu
11. CMBT
12. Arumbakkam
13. Vadapalani
14. Ashok Nagar
15. KK Nagar
16. SIDCO
17. Alandur
18. St. Thomas Mount

Corridor 2 covers an estimated total length of 22.0 kms. The stretch from Chennai Central to Thirumangalam will be underground, approximately 9.7 kms.

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Chennai Metro Rail: Contract ECV12-03

Chennai Metro Rail seems to be finally picking up speed as two tenders had been put up within a day or two. Chennai Metro has two corridors, 23.1 kms stretch from Washermanpet to Airport known as Corridor-1 and 22.0 kms stretch from St. Thomas Mount to Chennai Central known as Corridor-2. Chennai Metro Rail Limited (CMRL) has invited sealed tenders under two-packet system for two contracts, ECV02-02 and ECV12-03 recently.

Chennai Metro Rail Contract ECV12-03
The contract ECV12-03 includes the design and construction of elevated viaducts

1. from Ch 13840 m to 18410 m on Corridor 1 (including viaducts at Little Mount, Guindy, Alandur and Officers Training Academy)
2. from Ch 19578 m to 20178 m on Corridor 2 (600 m at Alandur station) and
3. double track tie line between Corridor 1 and Corridor 2
   

This contract will cover a total distance of 5170 m and the project should be completed in 24 months.

The tender is expected to close on 22 October 2009, 11:00 hrs and the tenders will be opened on the same day, as shown in Chennai Metro Rail Limited (CMRL) web site.

The information provided here are purely for information only. We do not guarantee the accuracy of the information provided herein. For latest, accurate and detailed information, please contact Chennai Metro Rail Limited (CMRL) or visit their website.

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Chennai Metro Rail: Contract ECV02-02

Chennai Metro Rail Limited (CMRL) has rolled out the tender for the second contract of the Rs. 14,600 crores Chennai Metro Rail Project. The first contract, won by Soma Enterprise, covers the stretch of viaduct from Koyambedu until Ashok Nagar. It is understood that the works have already commenced for this contract.

Chennai Metro Rail Limited (CMRL) has invited sealed tenders under two-packet system for the second contract of Chennai Metro Rail Project. The contract ECV02-02 includes the design and construction of elevated viaduct from Ch. 15738 m to 20900 m on Corridor 2. This contract will cover the viaduct from Ashok Nagar to St. Thomas Mount (including viaducts at Ashok Nagar – KK Nagar and SIDCO stations but excluding 600 m of viaducts at Alandur station). ECV02-02 will cover a total distance of 4562 m.

Contract ECV02-02 will interface with AC01, viaducts from chainage 9600 m to 15738 m being constructed by Soma Enterprise. This contract will also interface with ECV12-03, which is yet to be awarded.

The tender is expected to close on 22 Oct 2009, 11:00 hrs. The tender will be opened on the same day.

All details provided here are only for information. We advise readers to contact Chennai Metro Rail Limited/ visit their website for the latest/ accurate/ detailed information.

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Slumdog Millionaire: Trailer

Slumdog Millionaire, the movie based on the popular TV show "Who Wants To Be a Millionaire", won many awards including the prestigious Oscar and Golden Globe among many others. Slumdog Millionaire is simply the most discussed movie of this year. Below is the trailer of the movie Slumdog Millionaire, for your viewing pleasure:

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Tamil New Year Greetings

Hello everyone,

Today is the first day of the Tamil Calendar year "Virodhi". Today is also known as "Chitthirai Perunaal". Chitthirai is the first month of the calendar year. While the dispute of whether Chitthirai first should be considered as Tamil New Year or Thai first should be considered as Tamil New Year continues, we will just celebrate first. Let the debate continue. Irrespective of whether it is "Chitthirai Thirunaal" or "Tamil New Year", my wishes to all my Tamil readers for a happy and prosperous life on this special day.

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Golden Globe Honour for A.R. Rahman

Music Director A.R.Rahman became the first Indian to win the Golden Globe, for Best Original Music Score. Slumdog Millionaire, a British movie with Indian backdrop, has emerged the big winner at the 66th Golden Globes. In addition to A.R.Rahman, the film won three more awards including Best Motion Picture- Drama, Best Screenplay and Best Director. Based on Indian diplomat Vikas Swarup’s novel Q and A, the film portrays the story of an orphan, Jamal, who goes on to win the Indian version of "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?" to win his love back. The film stars Bollywood actor Anil Kapoor as the Millionaire show host and British Indian Dev Patel in the lead role of Jamal.

A.R.Rahman made every Indian and Tamilan proud by achieving such an international recognition. A.R.Rahman's journey commenced in the early nineties with Mani Ratnam's successful movie "Roja", a film based on terrorism in Kashmir. He might have started off his career in style with the song "Chinna Chinna Aasai" (meaning "little wishes" in Tamil), but he ended up fulfulling bigger wishes of the Indian community.

He successfully captured Kollywood and his movies with Mani Ratnam and Shankar were outstanding. He went on to capture the imagination of Hindi fans in Bollywood. The Tamil people used to say "Ilayaraja made Tamil people make a shift from Hindi music to Tamil music, while A.R. Rahman made Bollywood listen to Tamil songs". Now, it seems he will make Hollywood listen to him. Let us hope the movie "Slumdog Millionaire" have some impact on the Oscar awards too and A.R.Rahman will lay his hands on the prestigious Oscar award.

A.R.Rahman, you made us proud! Keep going!

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Happy Deepavali

I wish all my readers a Happy Deepavali.

Deepavali (Festival of Lights) is a significant festival celebrated in India, to signify the triumph of good over the evil. The festival is known as Deepavali in South India while North Indians normally call it as Diwali. The celebrations in South India revolves around Lord Krishna destroying Narakasuran, where as the celebrations in North India is about Rama's return to Ayodhya after the killing of Ravana. The North Indians celebrate Diwali the day after South Indians celebrate Deepavali.

Deepavali is celebrated with much interest and enthusiasm in Singapore. In Singapore, it is a national holiday. In India, we used to have a Deepavali with sound of crackers resonating throughout the season. In Singapore, it will be a muted celebration due to the restriction on the crackers that can be used. While it is a sound and light show in India, it is purely a light show in Singapore.

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Vannathirai on Starhub Cable TV

I wrote about the launch of Vasantham, a full-fledged channel from Mediacorp for the Indian community in Singapore. Now, Starhub has some good news for the Tamil speaking Indians in Singapore. StarHub has added a new channel, Vannathirai(VTV) to its pay-TV line up.


What can you expect?
Vannathirai (VTV) is a 24-hour Tamil movie channel that offers classic movies and latest blockbusters. Vannathirai is expected to screen seven movies daily under five main categories namely

1. Morning Classic,
2. Mega Matinee,
3. Evening Hits,
4. Blockbuster Reels and
5. Hit Night.

Viewers can also expect exclusive local programmes produced especially for the Singapore market.

Who can get access?
StarHub TV customers using the HubStation, digital or High Definition set-top box can watch Vannathirai channel via StarHub TV Channel 30. StarHub TV customers can add Vannathirai to their subscription packages for just $6.00 per month ($6.42 with 7% GST) upon the subscription of at least three Basic Groups from StarHub TV’s subscription plan. Existing StarHub TV customers can call 1633 to subscribe to Vannathirai while new customers can call 1630 to take on a StarHub TV package.

Promotion
If you are an early bird, you can catch the good offer. Customers who sign up between 24 September 2008 and 31 October 2008 can enjoy 50% off the channel’s subscription fee for the first three months.

Free Preview
Currently, Vannathirai is shown for free on Starhub's Preview Channel (Channel 01). The free telecast is expected to last until this Friday, 24 October 2008. Catch a glimpse of the programs before you sign up.

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Vasantham, a full channel for Indians

October 19 marked a historic milestone in the Singapore local broadcasting. A new channel, called Vasantham (meaning "Spring" in Tamil), is launched today by Mediacorp TV. The ceremony attracted many leaders in Singapore, including President Mr. S. R. Nathan and his wife. Deputy Prime Minister Mr. S. Jayakumar, Minister Dr. Vivian Balakrishnan, Members of Parliament Mr. S. Iswaran and Ms. Indranee Rajah were also present.

Changes to Vasantham Central
Vasantham, the new full-fledged Channel, will replace Vasantham Central. Vasantham Central shared the same TV channel earlier, along with Kids Central and Arts Central. The new Vasantham will telecast about 65 hours of programmes, 9 hours daily from Monday to Saturday and 11 hours on Sunday. The programmes will be availble from 3:00 p.m. to 12:00 midnight from Monday to Saturday and 1:00 p.m. to 12:00 midnight on Sunday.

Schedule of Movies
You can watch five movies a week; three Tamil movies, one Hindi movie and one regional movie (expected to be in Telugu/ Malayalam/ Kannada/ Punjabi languages). Vasantham is certainly starting off on a big note by telecasting the blockbuster movie "Shivaji", the success from the combination of actor Rajini Kanth, Director Shankar and Music Director A. R. Rehman.

The Singapore Indians, mainly Tamil people, have a better choice now with the free channel Vasantham. Starhub Cable Vision also brings Sun TV, Vijay TV and Vannathirai as paid channels.

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Paes-Bhupathi wins, Sania-Sunitha loses

The reunited Indian tennis pair of Leander Paes/ Mahesh Bhupathi advanced to the quarterfinals in the Men’s Doubles while Sania Mirza/ Sunitha Rao bowed out.

Leander-Mahesh Show
Once again, Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi were clinical in despatching the Brazilian pair Marcelo Melo/ Andre SA. The Indians took 69 minutes to win the match in straight sets 6-4, 6-2. Like in the last round, they did not provide any break opportunities to the opponents. They broke the Brazilian pair in the third game of the first set and then the set went on serve until the Indians completed the set 6-4. In the second set, they broke the service in the very first game and in the seventh game to take the set 6-2. Leander/ Mahesh won 65 points compared to 44 points by the opponents.

Roger Federer Awaits Next
The quarterfinals match will really test the Indian pair. They are up against the giant, Roger Federer. The 7th seeded Indians have to sum all their doubles experience to go past the 4th seeded Swiss pair of Roger Federer/ Stanislas Wawrinka.

Sania will be disappointed
The Indian women’s pair of Sania Mirza/ Sunitha Rao went down to the top seeds Svetlana Kuznetsova/ Dinara Safina of Russia. Throughout the match, the players found it difficult to hold the serve. There were as many as 5 break of serves in both the sets. It’s a very close game, but the Indians were unable to really capitalize. Sania Mirza might be disappointed overall without posting any win on the Olympics stage, as she had retired in the first round of the singles event earlier.

Pictures of Leander Paes/ Mahesh Bhupathi during their match against the Brazilian pair:

Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi in action

Mahesh Bhupathi serves

Mahesh Bhupathi and Leander Paes walk to the baseline

Mahesh Bhupathi and Leander Paes celebrate winning the first set

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Leander-Mahesh leading in Men’s Doubles Third Round

Leander Paes/ Mahesh Bhupathi pair is currently playing the Brazil pair Marcelo Melo/ Andre SA in the third round of the Men’s Doubles Tennis in the Beijing Olympics 2008. As at the time of this article, the Indian pair has captured the first set 6-4 and are leading in the second set 4-2 with a break of serve in their favour.

Go Indian Express!

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Leander-Mahesh in Men’s Doubles Third Round

Leander Paes/ Mahesh Bhupathi pair has progressed into the second round of the Men’s Doubles Tennis in the Beijing Olympics 2008. In yesterday’s second round match, the seventh seeded Paes/ Bhupathi pair overcame unseeded pair Gael Monfils/ Gilles Simon of France in straight sets.

The Match

Leander and Mahesh played good tennis to easily beat the opponents 6-3, 6-3. The match lasted only for 57 minutes. The first break point for the Indian pair came in the fourth game of the set and they converted it to take a lead. Then, the set went along serve and the Indian pair took the set 6 -3. In the second set, they broke the opponents in the seventh and ninth games to take the set at 6-3.

The Indian pair served four aces and no double-fault. They are so dominant that there was not even a single break point against them. Leander and Mahesh won a total of 54 points compared to the opponents’ 36 points.

What Next?

In the third round match, Leander Paes/ Mahesh Bhupathi will face the Brazil pair Marcelo Melo/ Andre SA. The Brazil pair advanced to the third round by defeating Czech Republic pair Tomas Berdych/ Radek Stepanek 5-7, 6-2, 8-6.

Will the Indians advance further? Let us wait and watch. With Saina Nehwal out of the medal contention in badminton and Sania Mirza also opting out of the Women’s Singles, the hopes are with Leander and Mahesh to pull the second medal for India. We wish the Indian Express all success in their second round match.

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Saina’s Dream Run Ends in Beijing Olympics

India’s Saina Nehwal lost to Indonesian Maria Kristin Yulianti in the quarterfinals of the Beijing Olympics Badminton Women's Singles event. Saina did her best to progress into the semi-finals, but the Indonesian’s determination to progress further in the tournament stood in the way.

First Game
The first game saw a great fight between the two unseeded players. Saina held the advantage for most part of the game, but she was unable to close it out early. When Saina finally won the first game at 28-26, it took her 9 game points to secure the game. For her part, Maria had two game points.

Second Game
In the second game, Maria took the lead early to make it 9-3. She maintained the lead to finish off the second game at 21-14 and did not allow Saina any chance to make a comeback.

Third Game
The third game saw Saina wresting the initiative and leading comfortably at 11-3. It seemed that she was running away with the match when she won seven points on the trot. But, Maria did not relent. She won 16 of the next 17 points and changed the direction of the game and the match. She went on a rampage to lead 19-12 in the game and Saina was unable to recover. She saved one match point at 20-14, but Maria converted the second match point to win the match at 26-28, 21-14 and 21-15.

Saina might have lost the match, but she certainly showed the fighting spirit. The Indians should be proud to have Saina in their team. We will hear more of Saina in the future. Welcome back to India, Saina! A red carpet welcome awaits you.

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Saina in Beijing Olympics Quarterfinals

Saina Nehwal of India has moved into the quarterfinals of the Women’s Singles Badminton in the Beijing Olympics 2008. The Indians had much to cheer yesterday, thanks to the "Golden Son of India" Abhinav Bindra. And the unseeded Saina made it a double joy by performing above expectations.

The Match
The 18 year old girl from Hyderabad entered the quarterfinals by beating the 4th seed Wang Chen from Hong Kong. World No. 6 Wang Chen lost the first game 21-19 to Saina Nehwal, though at one stage the score read 19-16 in favour of the veteran. Wang regained her momentum by winning the second set 21-11. However, Saina had the last laugh as she led 6-0 at the beginning of the tiebreaker and kept this lead to win the game 21-19, 11-21, 21-11.

The Progress So far
Earlier, in the round of 64, Saina had an easy win over the Russian Karachkova Ella 21-9, 21-8. She followed it up with another easy win over the Ukrainian Gryga Larysa 21-18, 21-10.

What Next?
Saina, currently ranked No. 15 in the World, will face Indonesian Maria Kristin Yulianti, World No. 21, in the quarterfinals. The unseeded Maria Kristin has an upset win over sixth seeded Tine Rasmussen from Denmark in the pre-quarterfinals. Tine Rasmussen is currently ranked No. 4 in the world.

India will hope for another medal with the excellent performance from Saina so far. This blog wishes Saina to make it to the semi-finals. Go Saina! Get another gold for India and be the "Golden Daughter of India".

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India wins Gold Medal in Beijing Olympics 2008

Abhinav Bindra of India has won the gold medal in the Men's 10m Air Rifle in Beijing on August 11. Bindra shot a total score of 700.5 and finished ahead of China's Zhu Qinan, gold medalist at Athens 2004, and Finland's Henri Hakkinen, who was leading the field after the qualification round.

The 25-year old youngster from Chandigarh has made the entire Indian nation proud by lifting the gold medal with an incredible performance in the final. Abhinav Bindra has made history as he became the first Indian individual to win an Olympics Gold medal. He improved upon the performance of shooter Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore, who won silver in the double trap event at the 2004 Games in Athens.

The eight gold medals, so far won by the Indians, had been through the team sport of Hockey. It is a pity that India does not even feature in the Beijing 2008 Olympics Hockey event. So, it is a highly satisfying performance by Bindra, considering the fact that India’s last gold medal came in the year 1980. Since then, the Indians managed a lone bronze each in 1996 and 2000, followed by a silver in 2004.

Indians would be over the moon with the gold medal, as the paltry 15 medals from 21 appearances in the Olympics would tell you how dearly they needed a medal. With one medal in the kitty, can the Indians equalize/ better the performance of 1952, the only time they won two medals in an Olympics tournament.

Whatever happens from now in Beijing, Bindra can hold his head high. Congratulations to him and this blog salutes his efforts.

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Fight against Natural Disasters

We have been devastated by natural calamities like Tsunami that changed the lives of several Indians, Sri Lankans and Indonesians in 2004. The bad memories from the Gujarat earthquake still haven’t disappeared. Earthquakes in Pakistan, Mumbai serial bomb blasts, 911 terrorist attack, ... As if those are not enough, the first half of the month of May 2008 has produced many disasters.

First came the news of Cyclone Nargis blowing away the coastal areas of Myanmar, leaving about 38000 people dead. A week later, the entire nation of China was shook when the earthquake measuring 7.9 on Richter scale struck Sichuan. The earthquake left more than 15000 people dead and thousands still under the rubble.

To add to the wounds caused by natural disasters, here is latest news on a man-made disaster. The serial bomb blast ripped through the bustling streets of Jaipur, the capital city of the state of Rajasthan in India. The eight bombs that went after within minutes of each other took about 63 lives and paralysed the life of Jaipur, a tourist spot also known as Pink City.

The mankind is already fighting terrorism. How are we going to fight against the natural disasters? Is there any way to mitigate the effects of Natural Hazards? We could not yet win the Fight against Terrorism; what about nature? God, please give us a break. We need peace. We want to enjoy the life without the worries of disasters, either man-made or natural.

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Obesity: A big health hazard among Indians?

Read this eye-opener by Prof. James Philips from Deccan Chronicle. In this article, the author feels that India has grown obese very fast in the past few years. He also warns that Indians have more fat cells than other average Europeans, due to their unique body structure. Read the complete article >>

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More demanding Wealthier Indians

A report by American Express states that Indians are getting wealthier and they are becoming more demanding. Read the findings of the informal study, authored by the company from Business Week Online.

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