End of an alert

The Tsunami alert has expired at 6.00 PM IST. The MET department also confirmed the same that there are no Tsunami or Quakes expected in the near future. The MET dept. however given warning in terms of mild tremors in Andaman & Nicobar.

Good Drinking water is the need of the hour for many relief camps. Also, due to continuous search for bodies, the chance of an epidemic is alarming. Now the need for them is to think & plan detailed rehab plans for all the victims.

Information & Help locations

The International Tsunami Information Center lists out the possible earth quakes, Tsunamis and other natural calamities. Must a bookmark for now

Rosavasatnth has collected links in his post for volunteer help. chk here

kalpakkam Update

The Nuke Plant in Kalpakkam is safe. Don't go by rumours of atomic attack. Off the 2 nuke plants, one was already shut off for technical reasons before the Tsunami attack. The second was also shut down and there is nothing to fear of an atomic attack. All the personals & people are evacuated to safer places.

Fresh Tsuanmi - High Wave Alert for Coastal TN & kerala

Fresh Tsunami and high waves alert has been issued by the government here in TN. With the NDTV news to be believed, People are fleeing from Pudupet, following the increasing levels of the sea water. There are high waves in Nagai, Kanyakumari and Kadaloor. People are being asked to evacuate from these regions.

The Home Ministry confirms the threat. High waves started hitting the shores of nagai, kanyakumari. Sea water level is on constant rise. Chk back more for updated news.

Till 8.00 in the morning, Andaman & Nicobar & the surrounding regions had more than 60 tremors. Hope things will not be more dangerous. High alert warning is issued for Tsunami by the Government.

Tsunami News around the world.

Just watched the BBC to find out what had happened to other areas. I am not confirming this news, but i am just registering what i heard from BBC. It says a location in northern Indonesia with a population of around 95,000 completely washed off.

The situation in Bangkok is very critical. Most of the victims are tourists who came to Thailand to celebrate Christmas & New year. Bangkok is famous for its beaches.

The reports from Indonesia, Thailand and other coastal countries are actually alarming. Things are worsening by the day. Everywhere, relief operations haven't taken the momentum it need to be. But let's also accept, this is one of the most tragic event of this century.

Today morning, some of the top officials in Red Cross has commented that the overall human loss will be in and around 1 lac. But to me, that figure looks meagre. The overall toll should be anywhere around 2 - 2.25 lacs, as we dont know the situation in North Eastern SL and some parts of Sumatra and also even in remote fisherman villages in TN. About TN, there is a complete coverage in Junior Vikatan with photos and the damage.

The situation in Srilanka is the worst among all. As i mailed you, North Eastern Sri Lanka, which is under the control of LTTE is the worst affected area. Every media inclu. BBC, CNN and other media are talking to the Sri lankan government officials. The SL officials are only concerned about their location & providing information about the damages. None of them incl. the Indian ambassador in SL is providing concrete information about North Eastern SL. In addition, the report i heard from one of the individual by the remark made by the Sri Lankan PM is not at all encouraging.

The sri lankan PM told something stupid to reuters. He said, If international countreis accept the request by LTTE (cuz they are asking help separately), then it will be worsing the ethnic war more." What the fuck is this? When millions of people are lingering for their life, what kind of words are these from civilised human being.

Going by the present reports, there are considerable amount of food, articles, medicines are available with TN. We now need to look for the rehabitalisation for all these victims. Food, cloth and shelter in a school won't solve their long term problems. Though it is too early to look for all these rehab issues, that will be the path to go. For now, i think, we gotta channalise our energies to support the relief & rescue operations in Tamil Eelam.

I am very mucy surprised & shocked to see, none of the so called Eelam supporters in TN including Mr. Vai.Ko, Mr. Ramadoss, Thirumavalavan and other down south organisations have openly said anything about them. "Enna pudingi kittu irukkanga nu theiryalai". Helping from India has it is own issues for SL tamils.

Also, the Sunami Attack was not considered as a National calamity by the Indian government. We need to urge the Central governement to announce this as a National calamity and provide relief measures, taxation benefits and other support things for the rehab & rescue operations.

I know a NGO with which you can co-ordinate things. Afterall, everywhere it is the same human life.

You can see TRO Online for more details in helping SL tamils. thanks Badri

Shame on Indian Cricket Team

The Australian cricket team donated their price money of US$13,000 won against Pakistan in their second test match to Tsunami victims and are ready to play exhibition matches to raise funds for the same for Sri Lanka & India. They also are in the process of auctioning signed t-shirts & memerophila. full news here

This is an utter shame on the Indian cricket team. Being in the same country, no Cricketer came forward for donation nor speak about it in press. It's an absolutely disgusting thing to digest. The Indian team not even wore a black badge when they knew to calamity on their final one-dayer against Bangladesh, after the Tsunami strike.

Australian not only proving that they are world's no.1 cricket team but also proved that there are humainity lives still with super-heroes.

Chinna Kavithai

Tsunami seerathil
Thevalayathil makkal
Kuzhanthai, periyavar,
Thai, sei, Aan, Pen,
Sirvarkal, Sirumigal
Anaivarum Thoogathil

Vidiyal vandhathum
Kalai kadan mudikka
Kadalyum, Kadarkarayum Thevai
Alaigal endrum oyivathilai

Sri Lankan Impact

The badly affected area is Sri Lanka. The present problem is most of the damage was done in the areas where LTTE controlled area. Unfortunately, the Sri Lankan government only provides statitics. Since LTTE is declared as a terrorist outfit by US, the funding may not go to them for rescue operations.

It will be a biggest worrying factor, if the SL government or the Red Cross or other NGOs dint take immediate action.

Know more about the situation from this blog post

Info for Helping Tsunami Victims

Tusnami Victims website gives you the details for contacting people and helping them. For comfortable reasons i m giving you the details over here...

What Nature Says..??????

Narain..I am seeing this from a different angle...Marina----The nature says to Politicians...Dont poach in to my area and dont do politics.Nature says u can not fix my boundary...Nature says to fishermen in Marina its my area...Dont pollute...Nature says biz people its my area dont do fraud biz here.Nature says to common people pray nature not mere stones.

Updates as on 27th Night on Killer Tsunami

• 2,500 people moved from Kalpakkam to a nearby town called Anumanthapuram
• Death toll continue to raise in nagapattinam & velankkani
• 3 Villages near cuddalore is completely washed off
• PM cancels visit to TN, AP and Pondicherry
• Another Tsunami expected in 2 days.
  
• Andaman & Nicobar Islands hit by two tremors. One happened in the morning (around monday 6.30 am ist and another hit in the evening)
• 3000 people killed in A&N and 2000 people are moved too chennai, kochin & kolkutta
• Total death toll in TN alone expects to touch around 7,500 and more no. of people are missing.
  
• Mass crimation taken place in Nagapatinam & Cuddalore.
• Will post how you can help & other details tomorrow.
  

The graph which changed TN

Tsunamis in Marina made it as Maiynam

Total Tragedy! My Grief to those who are dead, to those who lost their dear one's. Its a true example of how india is not part of the technology world, as india been the member of an origanization for pre-alarm of tsunamis, they would have got clear warnings about this tsunamis, there was around 2 hours of time for these killer tsunamis to hit coastal south india but we were still taken by surprise. 2 hours is quiet a lot of time that we could have prevented this huge number of tolls but we failed, hope india enrolls itself to the organization.

I couldn't imagine people being washed off in marina, a place where i spend lots and lots of time, its mindblowing and couldn't think it in the "wildest of my imagination". I agree with narain that SUN TV has sensationalised the issue, but atleast its the first channel to report death tolls in the deep south districts like cuddalore, nagapatinam. Vijay TV should be banned from tamil channels as he hadn't even put a flash news nor a coverage of this massive disaster, it continued to telecast its programme as if there is nothing. To my knowledge the goverment reacted very very slowly, and the curious onlookers in marina caused further damage to the rescue and relief operations.

Center is making prank of tamilnadu, the union petroleum minister says that the state has exhausted the calamity fund, to my knowledge this is the first disaster the state had faced and in no way we could have exhausted the calamity fund had sufficient funds been allocated for the state. This is another example of biased north indian state attitude, I would like to remind that when gujarat was shaked by an earthquake, its this tamilnadu which made the highest contributions to prime minister fund, today if center shows its empty hand to the same state, then there is no meaning for south indian states to be a part of india. There are relief material been sent to srilanka, andaman, and other countries but what about our own tamilnadu, is it an enemy state?

If center fails to make their due part here it would be a big divider in india and these are not my ideas but forecasts.

Let the souls rest in peace and people thrown out of their house have some peace too.

Tremors in Chennai & After Effects

I have done a detailed post on my blog. Read here

Follow -up: Digital Invades Privacy

3 Cases and Gnana poured his views on that. My take on each of these issues.

1. I completely agree with Gnana on the DPS clip case. Parental Guidance & restriction of the kind of mobile phones to young kids. I may not suggest of a view to ban the use of a cell phone to a school kid above 8th std - 12th std. It allows them to communicate with their parents & friends for so many other "GOOD" benefits. I agree, that they require a basic mobile fone and not all those fancy camera fones, video fones, and other hi-fi mobiles.

2. Kareena-Shahid case. I have got two view points on this.

a. Kareena-Shahid Kissing (KSK) act was done in a bar on a saturday night. Just because they both are celebrities, it became a sensational issue. To me, they din't disturb others nor they went on public park and kissed. Kissing is a human instinct as long as it is not in public place on inside a class room. I request Gnana to visit one of the so called conservatice city's (Chennai) night life. As one of my friend said, the best sex you can have with your clothes on can happen on a coffee pub or a dance floor. To me there is nothing wrong in kissing on a private bar.

b. This is the important fact to look for. Why the fuck, i repat, why the fuck, Mid-Day takes so much curiosity to publish this. Because, it will sell their papers. We all have this voyeristic attitude. We treat movie stars & actress as demi-gods and we are not enough to mature enough to understand that they also are our fellow humans. These papers publish all these gossips & posts like these, merely to kindle the alter ego of the middle class.

Also, we all look for a "HERO" to jump from the 19th floor to save us from our day-to-day worries, which can never happen in real life. After 2 - 3 years of Diana's death, there is a bold statement in one of UK's magazine, which i consider is the best intrigued headline in the long time. It says, "Who Killed Princess Diana ? - The British People".

Because of our interest to know the personal life & affairs of celebrities, newspapars, magazines and other tabloids go any level to provide so called "Hot" news to their readers. This is merely an invasion of privacy which is similar to the so called dubbed "Trisha" case.

3. Reg, Trisha case. It's a sheer invasion of privacy. I remember years before, when silk smitha wanted to change her dress in an outdoor shooting under the tree, she is shocked to find 10 people on top of the tree. It's the same here. We are looking for ways to go beyond the limits to satisfy our alter ego & voyuristic pleasure.

Technology can't be stopped. Like an old saying, it is like a knife on your dining table. The choice always is yours either to cut the apple or to cut someone's throat. The only way to protect is to strengthen the laws and educate people about digital lifestyle.

Reg, camera mobiles, My idea will be like your traditional cameras, all the camera-enabled mobile fones needs to have "sounds" when they are capturing the data. This allows the subject to realise & to react. More than the technology, it is within the hands of the manufacturers to produce products which not only provides bleeding edge technology but also, has scope for human privacy. It will be more usable & man-machine factor than a soundless, harmful (in the hands of criminals) device.

Digital Invasion & Privacy of an individual is and it will be an age long debate to continue in the years to come.

Tremors in Chennai & Media Ethics

Today morning, there was a slight tremor in chennai. I din't realise it, since i slept only at 2.00 AM in the morning, after spending time in my friends's house for a get-together. The sea water entered into the coastal sides of chennai. Santhome, Merina, Tiruvottiriyur, Royapuram, Adyar, Besant Nagar, Neelankarai, Tirvanmiyur are affected. People are started to evacuate from thse places.

It is feared that there are more no. of fishermen community is at risk both in terms of human value & financial value. It's feared there are thosuands of people are homeless & possibility of severe loss of humans in this natural black christmas gift. I wonder for those Millonaires & "Kotteshwarans" who invested heavy money in building sea-side bungalows & other resorts. That's the sarcastic irony of this episode.

Regret to say, the government haven't taken a concrete step to stop the rumours spreading across. Everybody is spreading rumours across the state. The prime accused is Sun TV. Instead of pacifying the people, it actually increases the fear. This is sheer commercialising media journalism. It repeats the same clips from the morning to prove their point and criticising the government inability to handle the situation. I don't see there is honesty in these kinda of telecasting. What is more important for the people is to tell the truth, scientifical back ground and calm down the tensions raising out of this issue. But Sun News to me, is purely targeting to sensationalise & glamorise this natural dissater.

And the reporter, purposefully asking every fellow reporter from various districts about the Police & Government intervention and telecasts the people's hazy thoughts about how government establishements are at strike. A shot from the same channel, tells the clear story. There are thousands of men loitering the place and huge no. of vehicles on the beach road with a heavy traffice on the road. How can a government servant can do his duty. Somehow, we are more curious on how things are unfolding before us. It's being a nature of living in Chennai.

You can see the same mentality, if there is an accident or a shooting happening in this city. Everyone will crowd the place and do nothing productive. All are merely watching the scene in front of their eyes. We atleast, my personal experience with the people in Chennai, restates the fact that we somehow are more emotional than logical when crisis struck.

I do admit, in the initial stage, your mind may not work. But it becomes a collective mass psychology that we are more interested to learn the emotional part of the dissater than the logical next step to move forward.

I only look for Govt. taking faster actions & rescue as many people as they can. It proved all the more one time, that before Nature all our inventions go dumb

Digital Invades privacy

Fellow bloggers

In the recent times that too in a short time we have witnessed 3 cases of digital invasion of privacy, Kareena-shahid, trisha, DPS school. So where is the digital evolution is driving us? is still a billion dollor question for many of the non-tech savy people. As techies understand that this is scientific advancement of the world and like any other has its own pros and cons. Should we really show our back against this digital evolution. My answer would be "NO", its just that we should make sure the right people get the right technology. I am sure that DPS school case is a severe lack of parental guidance, do a school ***KID*** ever require a mobile phone that too with a camera..parents may be rich and ready to throw money but not at the wrong hands at the wrong time. I would ban mobile usage under 18, its just that they need to grow to handle this evolution of science. Coming to second case of kareena-shahid(assuming that its real) its a problem with the people involved in the act, don't they have home to do all this lustful jobs, more than the digital camera's invasion of kareena's privacy I would say that kareena has invaded public by doing this in a public place, they should be warned first for public nuisance case. Trisha's case is still not clear whether its a marketing stunt or mischieve act of a person...but there are many suspicious questions in it....so its the people who mishandle the digital technologies evolution and not the tech. which invades privacy....its the lust minded people.

Nalla Kavithai

This one from vicitha is a testimonial of which direction tamil poems are moving. Very intersting and very much post modern. I like this for its contemporary nature & sarcacism. Read the post here.

Aravind's Tamil blog

Hope this will be must see blog on a regular basid. Aravind has just started a new blog. Vazhakkamana nakkal, kisukisu, kushumu, naiyandi, jigina, joke, sceneu,matteru ellam ethir pakkarom thalaiva.

View his blog here nattunadappu

Camp Bangalore

I am off to bangalore tonite and will be back on saturday. In the last 6 months, this is the first time I am going to bangalore not for my MNC client (sorry just can't reveal his name, under strict NDA :-)).

Hope this time, i am having a row of meetings and looking forward for a good business trip and new lines of activities of business in 2005. Hope for the best.

Latest-a Padikirathu

Intha post-ai oru scene-u than. I am just listing the magazines i am subscribed to recently. All magazines are in Tamizh only.

1. Kalachuvadu
2. Uyirmei
3. Puthiya Paarvai
4. Nizhal
5. Deem-Da-ri-Ki-Da
6. Kavitha Charan
7. Theera Nathi
8. Mannuyir
9. Kathai solli

Ellam oru margamana pathirikai than. Ithanalla ennai jolna pai, azhukku jeans, 5 naal dhadi nu "Siru pathrikai" , "Naveena Cinema" list-a sethuranthinga samiyov!!

Interesting Post on Ethics of blogging

Kribs, aka Kriubashankar, posted a general note in his blog. It turned out to be the biggest discussion over there. Interesting discussion about the ethics of blogging, celebrity gossips, private life of an individual and others.

View the link here.... It's about a real, peeping camera set in a hotel where Film Actress Trisha took a bath. The video is a full nude video taken secretly.