The Hindu Articles

Thursday, January 3, 2013

LPG explosion kills four, injures six in Old Washermenpet

The Hindu The gas leak occurred in a two-storey building in Bhojarajan Nagar. Photo: B. Jothi Ramalingam

The Hindu Riyana, who died in the LPG explosion in Old Washermenpet on Thursday.

The Hindu Thenmozhiyan, who died in the LPG explosion in Old Washermenpet on Thursday.

The Hindu Thenmozhiyan's son Karthik, who died in the LPG explosion in Old Washermenpet on Thursday.

The Hindu Fazullah Khan, who died in the LPG explosion in Old Washermenpet on Thursday.

TOPICS

disaster and accident

Accident occurred when resident turned on a light unaware of gas leak; balcony collapsed onto adjacent house in impact

Four persons including a four-year-old girl died in a gas cylinder blast in Old Washermenpet in north Chennai on Thursday morning.

Police said that the accident occurred when Fazullah Khan (68), a resident of 6th street, Bhojarajan Nagar and an accountant at a private firm, turned on a light in the kitchen. A gas leak through a faulty tube resulted in an explosion and Khan died in the impact.

At the time of the accident, Khan’s wife, Khushika (60) was sleeping in the bedroom and she sustained a few burns caused by the fire. Their son, Mushtaque Mohammed, who works in a BPO, was away from the house on a night shift.

Due to the impact of the explosion, the wall of a small balcony outside the kitchen collapsed onto an adjacent asbestos-roofed house where three independent families were living. Two of the residents, Thenmozhiyan (42), a labourer, and his younger son Karthik (7) died on the spot.

Thenmozhiyam’s wife, Jothi (37), his elder son Tamilselvan (11) and his daughter Mathumita (8) were injured. A family of three — Imtiaz (30), Farida (23) and their daughter, Riyana (4) — who were living in a rented portion of the house were also injured.

The injured were admitted to the Stanley Government Hospital. Later in the day, Riyana, who sustained severe head injuries, succumbed at the hospital. “The incident occurred around 5.30 a.m. and due to the impact, many glass windows of adjacent houses broke,” said Old Washermenpet’s police inspector, R. Chitibabu.

Fire tenders from Mint and Old Washermenpet rushed to the spot and put off the blaze.

As the locality is congested, with many big old houses divided into portions let out on rent, the impact of the blast was felt by many neighbours.

At the time of the accident, the cylinder was full resulting in heavy leakage of gas from the faulty tube.

Thursday's accident is the fifth such in less than four months in north Chennai alone. On September 12, an LPG cylinder technician and three others of a family in Thirumangalam died, and a boy suffered burn injuries, in a fire following a gas leak. Two days later, a septuagenarian and two youngsters were injured in an apartment in Porur in a similar accident. The old woman and one of the youths died later.

Keywords: LPG explosion

Waste factories on the fast track

TOPICS

waste urban solid waste

Facilities in Kuthambakkam and Minjur to be ready in 18 months

By the second half of 2014, solid waste generated in the city may no longer be transported to Kodungaiyur and Perungudi dumping yards.

As proposed by the Chennai Corporation, work will soon begin on solid waste management plants in Kuthambakkam and Minjur in the outskirts of the city.

Once the project is completed, over 2,500 tonnes of garbage from the southern zones of the city will be transported to the facility in Kuthambakkam. Another 2,000 tonnes from the northern parts of the city will be taken to the Minjur plant.

This is part of the Corporation’s three-pronged integrated solid waste management initiative that comprises improved conservancy operations in the city, setting up garbage recycling factories in the outskirts and reversing the damage done to Kodungaiyur and Perungudi dumping yards.

The State government has now given administrative sanction to the Corporation’s initiative.

On January 18, the civic body will hold a pre-bid meeting for setting up the waste management plants. The facilities in Kuthambakkam and Minjur will be readied in 18 months or less, a Corporation official said.

The design and mode of operation of the waste management plants will also be decided at the January 18 meeting.

As many as 16 companies are expected to participate.

The third component of the waste management initiative — remediation and scientific closure of Kodungaiyur and Perungudi dumping yards — will be undertaken after the new facilities commence operation.

The technology adopted by the new plants will not pollute neighbourhoods around Kuthambakkam and Minjur, an official of the Chennai Corporation said.

The civic body’s existing garbage handling practices have drawn flak in recent times. Air and groundwater pollution apart, on more than one occasion, fires have broken out in the existing dumping yards putting the lives of residents in danger.

Keywords: solid waste management

Berdych dismisses Devvarman; Cilic digs deep to advance

Top seed Tomas Berdych blew Somdev Devvarman off centre court in a raging gust of power-hitting, winning even more easily than the scoreline of 6-3, 6-1 suggests. Photo: R. Ragu

TOPICS

sport tennis

Tomas Berdych and Marin Cilic, the biggest men in the draw and the highest seeds in the top half, advanced to the quarterfinals of the Aircel Chennai Open on Thursday, but their paths couldn’t have been more different.

Berdych blew Somdev Devvarman off centre court in a raging gust of power-hitting, winning even more easily than the score-line of 6-3, 6-1 suggests.

Cilic, who claimed back-to-back titles here in 2009 and 2010, had to dig deep against Sergiy Stakhovsky. The Croat overcame a slow start to prevail 4-6, 6-2, 6-3.

Cilic faces Benoit Paire in the quarterfinals; the Frenchman dismissed Dudi Sela 6-1, 6-0 on an outside court.

Berdych has Roberto Bautista Agut next; the Spaniard, who played football for Villarreal until the age of 14, defeated Matthias Bachinger 7-6(4), 6-3.

If the 6ft 5in Berdych finds Thursday’s form, he’ll have no trouble with Bautista Agut. He had 6 inches and 20 kilos on Devvarman, and the difference in stature and strength showed.

Berdych appeared to have power in reserve — indeed he never hit a ball in anger; he held his shape and transferred his weight, his timing taking over. When stretched, he flicked his wrist, the right for the forehand, the left for the two-handed backhand.

Devvarman was ready to run down nearly anything, but no one can run down a ball that has already passed him. He began tentatively and sent back balls that dropped short, allowing Berdych to line it up. The first time the Indian dictated terms during a rally was at 2-5, 15-30, in the first set. He held, but won just one more game in the match.

Berdych had the match on his racquet from the beginning; Devvarman’s only chance lay in the top-seed being off his game, or getting frustrated, or tiring because of the humidity. Although Berdych was dripping with sweat by the end — it was, it must be added, the most pleasant day of the tournament to date — he was in full control of everything.

Tactical battle

Cilic was exactly the opposite. Stakhovsky is a capable player: he uses every bit of his 6ft 4in frame to serve big; he can be spectacular off the ground when in rhythm.

The tactical battle-lines were drawn early. Cilic went at Stakhovsky’s single-handed backhand, so a change of direction from either flank was a weapon in itself.

Stakhovsky looked to get 6ft 6in Cilic to move forward diagonally and bend for low balls — for this he used off-pace ground strokes, but also the backhand slice.

The difference over three sets turned out to be the serve.

Stakhovsky served better in the first, Cilic, in the second and third. Stakhovsky was the first to break serve. Having pinned Cilic on the backhand side of the court, he stepped in to drive a single-hander down the line to go up 4-3 in the first set. He maintained this edge to win it 6-4.

Cilic was down 0-30 in the first game of both the second and the third sets. But he managed to get his first serve working.

It helped that the second-serve kicker to the Stakhovsky backhand, which climbed above the shoulder making the single-handed stroke difficult, was beginning to win points.

Cilic has worked on his first serve in the off-season — he is that rare Croat who doesn’t always serve aces at will — and the results of the work began to show. He held crucial games, consolidating the break in the second set, and ending the match in the decider, with successive aces.

If there was an error Stakhovsky made, it was in his timing of the serve-and-volley play.

In the business end of the games that he was broken, he allowed Cilic to land the ball at his feet and then pass him instead of engaging in a rally where they were more even.

Top seeds Mahesh Bhupathi and Daniel Nestor bowed out of the doubles, losing 6-4, 7-5 to South Africa's Raven Klaasen and USA's Nicholas Monroe in a quarterfinal match.

Third seeds Rohan Bopanna and Rajeev Ram exited as well after a 6-0, 4-6, 1-10 loss to Wawrinka and Paire.

The results: Singles: Second round: 3-Marin Cilic (Cro) bt Sergiy Stakhovsky (Ukr) 4-6, 6-2, 6-3; 1-Tomas Berdych (Cze) bt Somdev Devvarman (Ind) 6-3, 6-1; 5-Benoit Paire (Fra) bt Dudi Sela (Isr) 6-1, 6-0; Roberto Bautista Agut (Esp) bt Mathias Bachinger (Ger) 7-6 (4), 6-3.

Doubles: Quarterfinals: Andre Begemann (Ger) & Martin Emmrich (Ger) bt Aljaz Bedene (Slo) & Blaz Kavcic (Slo) 7-6 (1), 6-1; Benoit Paire (Fra) & Stanislas Wawrinka (Sui) bt 3-Rohan Bopanna (Ind) & Rajeev Ram (USA) 0-6, 6-4, 10-1; Raven Klaasen (Rsa) & Nicholas Monroe (USA) bt 1-Mahesh Bhupathi (Ind) & Daniel Nestor (Can) 76-4, 7-5.

Keywords: Chennai Open

India, China to expand areas of dialogue

TOPICS

diplomacy India-China

Plan to hold talks on Central Asia, maritime security

India and China will seek to expand areas of bilateral dialogue when they open official engagements in the New Year on January 10 with a meeting between National Security Adviser (NSA) Shiv Shankar Menon and State Counsellor Dai Bingguo.

Mr. Dai, a high-ranking Chinese official, is Mr. Menon’s counterpart in talks on the boundary dispute. It is expected to be Mr. Dai’s last high-level official meeting with the Indian leadership before he lays down office in March.

Beijing and New Delhi have come away satisfied with the outcome of their interaction on regional issues and are now keen to extend it into new areas. “Last year, we extended our dialogue to Africa and West Asia. They were open and candid. This augurs well for future interactions,” said an official.

Both sides will now hold talks on Central Asia, a discussion that was scheduled last year but could not take place. More important, they intend holding talks on maritime security at a time when mainstream western commentary seems to hold Beijing culpable for disputes over territorial and maritime sovereignty in South China Sea.

The intention during the maritime dialogue will be to avoid narrowing down discussions to security issues and instead cover areas outside the ambit of the usual exchanges on maritime security to include shipping costs and transportation, issues on which both countries feel the playing field is tilted against emerging countries. The year will see both sides meeting again to discuss Africa and West Asia as well.

On the defence side, India and China seem to have got over the pause in exchanges after Beijing denied a visa to a high-ranking Indian Army Commander. Defence Secretary Shashi Kant Sharma’s visit to Beijing towards the middle of the month is likely to pave the way for a large Army-level joint exercise, most probably before the year is out. The Defence Secretary’s visit for the annual defence dialogue is likely to result in Defence Minister A.K. Antony going to Beijing after the leadership transition takes place. As it is, Mr. Sharma will probably be the first Indian official to make contact with the People’s Liberation Army’s new Deputy Chief of General Staff designated to meet high-level officials from overseas.

Keywords: Indo-China ties

Infosys prize winners honoured

TOPICS

human interest award and prize

The Infosys Science Foundation on Thursday honoured winners of the Infosys Prize-2012 for their outstanding achievements and contributions to science and humanities.

The former Prime Minister of Norway, Gro Harlem Brundtland, felicitated the seven laureates across the six categories — Engineering and Computer Science, Humanities, Life Sciences, Mathematics, Physical Sciences and Social Sciences — at a ceremony here.

The seven winners were drawn from a total of 220 nominees.

Keywords: Infosys Prize-2012 f

Thursday, December 27, 2012

The Cosmic Dance

The month of Margazhi stands witness to a beautiful cosmic dance by Lord Shiva! Let's celebrate the occasion with a quick snippet (and some delicious 'kali', of course) on Tiruvadirai or Aarudra Darshanam.

*Aarudra Darshanam is a festival celebrated on the full moon day coinciding with the star 'Tiruvadira' or 'Aarudra'in the month of Margazhi. This day is considered very auspicious for Lord Shiva.

*Lord Shiva, in the form of Nataraja, is said to have performed the cosmic dance, the 'ananda tandavam' on this day, along with his consort Goddess Shivakami.

*Festivities abound at the famous temple of Lord Nataraja in Chidambaram, around the Margazhi brahmotsavam conducted for about ten days.

*At homes and at temples of Lord Shiva, devotees recite hymns from the tevaram, tiruvachakam and so forth. A special sweet pudding called ‘kali’ is prepared as an offering to the Lord.

*In Kerala, a Tiruvadira festival is celebrated, which entails a tradition of wearing flower garlands and performing the Tiruvadiraikali or Kaikottikali dances.

*This day is believed to mark the birth anniversary of Saint Tirugnanasambandar and Saint Manikkavachakar in Sirkazhi and Tirupperundurai respectively.

*Several Carnatic music composers including Muttuswami Dikshitar, Gopalakrishna Bharati and Marimutha Pillai have composed soul- stirring songs in praise of Lord Nataraja of Chidambaram.

Links:

Detailed animated explanations of 'Ananda Natana Prakasham' by Muthuswami Dikshitar

Complete song rendition with lyrics of 'Ananda Natana Prakasham':

A crisp audio-visual presentation on 'Panchabhutalingams in South India':

via The Hindu Newspaper http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/chennai/chen-arts/chen-music/the-cosmic-dance/article4246056.ece

Cholamandalam to augment capital

TOPICS

economy, business and finance company information

Cholamandalam Investment and Finance Company is planning to raise capital upto Rs. 300 crore in one or more tranches. The directors of the company at a meeting held on Thursday, have approved the proposal to raise capital through private placement including qualified institutional placement, the company informed the stock exchanges.

Keywords: Cholamandalam Investment and Finance Company