Chintadripettah slum – A birds eye view

Chintadripettah slum – A birds eye view

Chintadripettah which is located in Chennai was once called as chinna thari pettai because of its novelty weaving .Later it’s modified as Chintadripettah for colloquial usage. It’s one of the oldest places in Chennai, though it’s considered to be formed in 1735. 

The first rail line of the Indian sub-continent came up near Chintadripet Bridge in Madras Presidency in 1836 as an experimental line .Now; the local place was covered with foreground of slum connecting from Riche Street to chintadripettah railway station. Opposite to the railway station there is a metro water supply board following a State Bank ATM and their huts are mushroomed at the two ends of the road which leads to Riche Street.

The slum contains nearly 500 huts in an area of 1 km ranging from chintadaripettah to Riche Street. The local area has 12 pettishop, 4 grocery shops, 5 Mike set mart and 3 silver vessel rental shop since the street welcomes all Indian festivals it has 4 pillayar kovil, an amman koil ,St. Antonio’s church and two small Muslim community local mosque which does not have centering and roofs.

Each hut provides a space only for two persons; Huts have a single television in which Sun TV is the largest viewed channel. Huts were 2m in width, 3m in length and about 7 feet in height. Nearly 4% of the women sitting outside the plastic sheet made huts .20% of the women found washing clothes on the 2 meter road, 30% were engaged in cooking afternoon’s lunch,5% were just awake from bed or chatting ,2% watching television channels, meantime 3% were relaxing or sleeping. At least 10% of the kids engaged in bath, watching TV or sitting in streets.
People of chintadripettah are 50% black and 50% are red Indians in which most of the women wore saree and men wore lungies. Young girl’s wears salvar and young male dressed in formals. 

About 30% of the adult women are reported to be working, most of the male hired taxi autos for business. At least 30 % were having breakfast in the street. Total population has 20% male young women and men, 20% kids, 15% old people and 45 % are adult.
Two public toilets,a government school and a municipal office are located within the slum .Police security has been provided at the end of the street to avoid riots and public nuisance. 10 feet clay made painted Vinayagar statue is kept outside their slum at the end of the Riche Street, its waiting to dissolve in sea after the end of this Vinayakar Chudurthi festival.

_lingaraja Sivanaiah

We risk our life every day, for living

“We risk our life every day, for living” – Mohan, a fisherman.

     Nochikuppan is located at the bed of marina’s sea shore. This sacred place of fish vendor’s experienced two tsunami attacks. “Even though the housing boards were collapsed, we managed to adopt within the unrepaired ceilings “says Mrs.Mathi, 38 year old fish merchant. 

At the age of 32, She took their own shop from her mother,”I never wanted to undertake my mother job”, she recalls. The new housing boards was being build on the government land which was located near the collapsed residential blocks, people are awaiting for the order to shift their house.

About one hundred fish shops are mushroomed on the pedestrian’s road which comes under the 150 year old nochikuppam remained open from 6 in the morning till 9 in the evening. “We risk our life everyday for living; a male from each family will have to go for fishing “says Mr.mohan, 29 year old fishermen .we leave our home by 4 in the evening and return by 7 in the morning, in between sessions were crucial part of our life because of the high tides and unsafe zone. We never wanted to go beyond 30 kilometers since we got Single motor and an old wooden boat that will never guaranty our life, since we learnt swimming in childhood, the tides never threatens us, says Mr.mohan.

About 150 wooden boats belongs to nochikuppam fisherman are ready to swim on the sea with Fishing net, stove, diesel, cereals and rice, etcetera. The fisherman concludes the depth of the sea with the nylon rope and start throwing their nets into the sea. Their boat with engine costing nearly one and half lakhs, almost 3000 or 4000 INR profit can be earned by selling the captured fishes on one visit to sea. Nethali,surra,koduva,vavvaal are the largest sold fishes in nochikuppam.” Fishing is a part of my life and I liked it “says Mr.Rajesh a 30 year old fish merchant from nochikuppam fish market.

Surra is the rare fish, each worth Rupees 1lakh INR. “I am the luckiest person, if I could get one surra per month “says Mr.Rajesh. Fisherman’s society takes care of nochikuppam fisherman’s family; society collects 160 INR for a family on each month and repays 4000 INR per family on every Diwali. “Tamilnadu Government provides 1500 INR as a diesel allowances to each and every family as to protect and encourage fishing” says Mr.Mohan.

_ lingaraja Sivanaiah

It’s time to say good bye to Braille

It’s time to say good bye to Braille

Loyola College holds the pride of teaching the visually challenged students .They can compete the globe with the latest equipment facilitated by the government of Tamilnadu. Resource Centre for Differently Abled (RCDA), inaugurated in 2009 by Mr.D. Napoleon, Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment. The Bertram hall of Loyola, offers a web resources centre equipped with 25 pc-suite and 10 Braille, a type writing instrument for visually challenged students. Job Access With Speech (JAWS), a software which interprets the each and every click and reads the words indicated in dialogue box of the windows screen, internet browsers etc. The keyboard letters can be recognized by the help of the line pad which exactly resembles a transparent rubber sheet.


“Now, It’s time to say good bye to Braille” says Mr.Balaji, a B.com corporate student from RCDA, Loyola. Each department can be given 3% seats for differently abled students according to the Disabled act of 1995.RCDA encourages students to perform well in dance, music and quiz competitions. They cannot work visually creative software’s instead they have greatest knowledge and experience in Ms-office with the help of JAWS. RCDA project from Tamilnadu is successfully stepping into second year for the cause of equipping visually challenged to break their barriers. Many passed out students are also focusing on civil service exams conducted by tamilnadu. Nearly, 108 differently abled students of Loyola in which 25 were staying in hostel provided by RCDA.


“The way in which they brought out determines their exposure” says Mr.Neelakandan, B.com student of RCDA. Every student is accompanied by the rigid volunteers to their classes and sometimes family members will spend all-day outside the class room which was inevitable for freshers. Since they have been school toppers and above average students, they can perform well in academics, says Mr.Jagan a visually challenged in-charge from RCDA. Institutions like Tata institute of social science and Xavier’s College, Mumbai holds these facilitates in India. The restless concentration and sharpness helps the students to analyze and recognize things easily which exposes their determination and optimistic behavior towards this unsecured world.

Lingaraja Sivanaiah

For marina times

Customers are my friends

“Customers are my friends “

There were many garment show rooms mixed up with home appliances, furniture shops in Chennai city. Merely less number of showrooms mushroomed closely and dedicated only for garment business. M.C.Road in Washermenpet was exception to this, Ranking third in merchandising apparels.

Sri Veera`S Collections is the only popular shop in M.C.Road which roped Tamil director K.Bhagyaraj as a brand ambassador.  The crowd is about 2000 in numbers visiting the key garment showroom in the evening’s .On festival occasions, its expected 10 times more than the existing crowd and the traffic will be controlled by means of police protection and they also prevent vehicles from entering M.C.Road. About 50 to 100 sewing machines babbling the streets and Whole sale Merchandisers are busy in subcontracts, sewing nearly 2000 apparels in a day.

“There were no other street in Chennai were likely to have more than 1200 retail and whole sale shops only in M.C.Road and Singaarakadai”, Says Mr.Boopathi an avid shopper from Washermenspet.

All Indian and western Fashions are available for cheap price since it is designed from the same location which inference the cost of transport. Branded and cottons garments for men were costs much from local jeans or cotton pants.

Knitted chuddithars and sarees for women are hanging on the anchors at the shops frame. Every shop has more than three employees who do not have time for rest because of the never stopping shoppers. M.C.Road ranks second place, where as the T-Nagar at first and Purasaivalkam at third in apparel merchandising.

M.C.Road’s garments shop glows nearly 2 kms from cemetery road to kalmandappam. “Customers are my friends since they are my age group, I know their likes, Business is the thing which I preferred all time because I don’t like to get caught in a caged office”, Says 29 year old Ashok, the manager of Ziox Men’s wear at M.C.Road. His family business has roped him in at the age of 17, and his father owns this shop for almost 15 years. M.C.Road garments also supplies the whole sale apparels to T-Nagar retail shops. The shoppers count will raise and never come down until they stop wearing clothes says Mr.Ashok.


-S.Lingaraja

12th August 2011. 10:15 pm

The Pollution free City is ensured

The Pollution free City is ensured

Municipal solid wastes build a mountainous trash ranging from kodungayur to manali, Chennai. A 70 year old plant feeds 500 families who are below poverty line and one engaged in separating usable plastic and solid metals. Their Shelters are made of sacks and woods which cannot withstand a heavy rain.


 The waste consists of our daily items we eat, use. The garbage includes food wastes, plastics, metal scrubs, product packaging and other miscellaneous inorganic wastes from residential, commercial, and industrial sources. Many programs have been conducted by Nongovernmental organization and trusts to educate them and to find a permanent home within the town. Earlier Chennai’s Arunodhaya trust celebrated Pongal by cleaning nearly half a kilometer of the waste disposal area where the huts were located .Here, “I m not the one who is new to this work, earlier my grandmother use to do it”, Says 34 year old Malar an avid worker. 


Malar and her husband venkatesh have three daughters and two sons where one daughter got married this year. In a day, Nearly 150 trucks and Lorries bring the wastes gathered in and around Chennai and dispose it here. About 600 to 700 rupees can be earned by a person if he works from 8am to 6pm, Says Venkatesh. Large number of metal tins, slippers and plastic bottles would remain after the primary search of the government allotted tender holders.

“First preference given to the tender holders and then to the rest” says Suresh a local carpenter near the municipal waste locality. The tender holders can earn from Rs.5000 to 10000 per day, since they get electronic items like hard disks and heavy metal products.

There is large number of kids below poverty line engaged in this work after school. These kids enjoy singing song while doing work. “There was no pressure from the watchman of this plant until and unless we burn the disposals “says 16 year old kamala.10 officials and 20 watchmen are working in this plant.

After their frequent proposals, The Government of Tamilnadu accepted to issue ration card and badges for the locals working in this plant. There is also a rumor spread stating that, the land is approved for housing board and 1500 flats are about to be constructed the upcoming year, with an electricity plant . 

Lingaraja Sivanaiah

Urban subway tailor

"We stitched Former Deputy Chief Minister M.K.Stalin’s marriage suit “says Mr.Karnan Rao.

The subway near new build Secretariat is patronized by tens of thousands every day but no one notices the tailor shop over the subway which is located exactly opposite to Anna Statue. It’s the second subway to have shop leased by the highway department of tamilnadu, the other one in park station, central. This subway also has Anna Lassi, triplicane’s popular recipe shop and a fast-food centre on the other two sides. P.M.tailor shop has a transparent mirror show casing the stitched dresses; it can be exposed to all who ever crosses the anna statue.

P.M.tailors, five decade year old self-organized tailoring shop for men is managed by karnan rao. 50 year old Spectacle Rao has a measurement inch tape hanging on his neck like a scarf while cutting the trouser cloth. “Earlier, there were less number of colleges in Chennai, my father used to visit college Hostels and find customers from Medical College to arts College”. When the subway was built; this 250-300 sq ft place was sanctioned by the government and was rented out. We moved here in the 1970s.Says Mr.Karnan Rao.

“We are pioneers in stitching blazers and western styled apparels”

P.M.Gopal Rao founded the shop, a cloth merchant turned tailor in 1958.Its our traditional profession and many new customers are arrived because of the referrals by one another. Minister Durai Murugan is my regular customer, Infact Veteran actor Mr.Jaishankar (Late) was my customer says Mr.Karnan. “Five members are working in our shop and we don’t prefer night shift since we have got three men on sewing machine”. “In 1980s, the stitching cost for a pant was between 50 and 60 INR and now we charge 250 for a pant and 150 INR for a shirt. We are pioneers in stitching blazers and western styled apparels.

Whenever he comes to Chennai, he brings the clothes and I stitch and send them by parcel.

I stitch not only for the chennaimates, my customers are also from arrupukottai,dindugal, etcetera . “Aruppukottai Gnanasekaran, a retired bank employee, has been our customer for more than five decades from now. In fact, whenever he comes to Chennai, he brings the clothes and I stitch and send them by parcel.”It’s all about the way in which we interact with customers and deliver things within the fixed date.”We also stitched marriage suit for Youth Wing President M.K.Stalin “.There is no need for advertisement since it’s one of the triplicane’s oldest and famous shop. It’s really proud to have a shop in heart of the city and I have less desire in expanding. The atmosphere is calm and leaves no disturbance, “I don’t know about the future, since my son and daughter are pursuing studies” he says.

Lingaraja Sivanaiah

For Marina Times

A Celebrity recipe

A Veteran actor and the former chief minister M.G.Ramachandren, Jeyakanthan, Thilagavathi.I.P.s, and Cho ramaswamy ,charu nivedha are one of the customers of Raayar’s mess says Mr.Mohan.

The heritage of mess is increasing day by day, because of their traditional menu items and never changed infrastructure. Recently, emerging hotels and bhavan’s did not affect the Raayar’s mess, a recipe centre at mylapore, a 70 year old mess runs successfully feeding three generations. Raayar’s mess is located in a lane over the katcheri salai. Mr. Kumar, a 40 year old man manages the shop for more than 20 years.

Some decades ago the mess was called as “Raayar’s cafe” and it’s changed to mess, due to the government’s intervention of changing names to the small tiffin centers. The mess serves 150 customers in a day and most of them are celebrities of Tamil cinema industry. A grandfather of Mr.kumar belonged to Karnataka’s mathava family has founded raayar’s mess before independence. Then, the shop was managed by his son in law Mr.srinivasa rao and now Mr.Kumar took charge over the mess.

It’s all about greeting the customers whole heartedly and knowing about their daily menu says Mr.Kumar

Raayar’s mess opens at 07am to 10.30 am and 03 to 06 pm has only four co workers. The mess has an image of home like feeling, since it does not have any resemblance of other hotels without minimal infrastructure. The mess also stands out from other hotels, due to its unadulterated food habits and service satisfaction towards customers. “Service and cooking men may not satisfy our customers, so we carry out work by ourselves”. It’s all about greeting the customers whole heartedly and knowing about their daily menu says Mr.Kumar.

The shop without an advertisement and placed into the lane in katcheri salai have not loosed any single customers yet “says Mr. Mohan, a younger brother of Mr.Kumar. Tiffin menus of the mess includes pongal.idly,vadai in the morning and bonda,adai,rava dosai and a gulab jamun in the evening. Mr.Mohan is working in harbor and he used to be running the morning session with his brother.”We run the mess in the name of our grandfather and we never had an intention for profit rather focused in good service and quality.

A Veteran actor and the former chief minister M.G.Ramachandren, Jeyakanthan, Thilagavathi.I.P.s, and Cho ramaswamy ,charu nivedha are one of the customers of Raayar’s mess.“In fact, the Veteran actor vennira aadai -Sreekanth (Late) liked Raayar’s mess very much and he calls my grandfather as “Anna” he himself walks into kitchen for recipes “, In Recent years actress Sangeetha (Poovae unakkaaga), actors like crazy mohan,Vivek,Ashish vidyarthi,Simbhu,Jeevan are our customers says Mr.Mohan.

Raayar’s mess serves not only the celebrities; it also has its own concrete customers. “Marwadi form parry’s spends the evening in the mess with their whole family; they wait and taste the hot recipes “.I and my brother have completed 10^th standard, we stuck up here; But the future of the Raayar’s mess is unknown since the younger generation is undergoing their studies in university, Says Mr.Mohan.

_Lingaraja Sivanaiah

For Marina Times

Migrated Mothers

“She assigns herself to complete some tasks like washing dishes ,cleaning and other household works that could keep her going without being collapsed “says Mrs.Ranikrishnan, a social activist.

Annai illam is a government registered voluntary organization taking care of 40 old women whose age range from 65 to 100 years. A rented building at mylapore is managed by Mrs.Ranikrishan; a social activist and a founder secretary devoted her life to the welfare of old women who experienced hazards in their life. 33 year old organization running to recover the peace and harmony of the abandoned mentally challenged and socially discriminated women. “If live I what you give away, love is what comes back each day” a motto stands tall for the home, which is facilitated with shelter, food, education and entertainment. Each and every month, the house provides a free medical checkup and diagnosis the diseased patient.

The old women are treated with respect and cooperation. Every women belong to this home has a serious flashback about their earlier life. The moment they entered our family” we teach them, how precious the life is”, says Mrs.Ranikrishnan, 51 year old widow who was fondly called as “Amma” by old women’s in her organization. She was initiated when; Bharathratna Mother Theresa invited her to Calcutta (Kolkatta) for her excellence in social service. She organized marriages for thirty intercultural couples, since she was married to Hindu in spite of being a Christian. Bharathi, an engineer from a tvs infotech concern helps the association by contributing his valuable time in the management of Annai illam ,it’s to be noted that ,Mr.Bharathi has married a girl belonged to “Annai Fathima Child welfare Centre “a branch of annai illam situated in old mahabalipuram road which provides shelter ,food and free education for above 150 destitute children’s.

My favorite evergreen hero’s are Shivaji ganesan and Shivakumar – Mrs.Lakshmi

“We call her amma, because of her love and affection towards us “says Mrs.Lakshmi, a widow who experienced hard life when she lived with her daughter in law near villivakkam. She came here before 13 years ago when her son died. She has many friends in this home and expresses that “there is no caste and race over here, since we are all belong to one family called annai illam”. Her hobbies are watching television, reading magazines and her favorite evergreen hero’s are Shivaji ganesan and Shivakumar. Annai illam is often visited by tamil cinema celebrities like Dr.Kamal Hassan and Manjula Vijaya kumar. Many celebrities present gifts and donations to the organization.

Mrs. Ammani amma, 96 year old white haired short women who recently received an award from Social welfare association and Mr.Pharuthi IllamPhaluthi when completing her 95^th year. She was fondly called as “chittu kurruvi “by the founder since she’s shy. Mrs.Ammani ammal, a short term memory loss women of guindy takes a long laughter soon after she fooled that her age is 26.She is very spiritual and never misses a single spiritual magazine in the whole of 4 years at annai illam. Summathy ,67 year old mentally retarded woman from pallavaram was rescued before 25 years ago from Kilpauk mental hospital and treated with lots of affection and care, “She assigns herself to complete some tasks like washing dishes ,cleaning and other household works that could keep her going without being collapsed “says Mrs.Ranikrishnan.

Santha, an old woman from Coimbatore survived an accident leaving serious injury that ended in taking off her right leg. She is recovering due to the medical accommodation facilitated by the organization. One of the most senior citizen of Annai illam is Mrs.Seethalakshmi, belongs to ramanathapuram district is expected to celebrate her 100^th Birthday in Mid December of 2011.Annai Fathima Child Welfare Centre(Annai Illam) has brought one IAS officer and five more engineers to our nation .

Anyone can celebrate birthday, wedding and other special occasions with migrated old persons in all old age homes .On every 1^st October, an international day of older persons celebrated with prayer scheme participating celebrities, donors and social activist by spending a day with the family of Annai Illam , “I am not forcing or insisting youths to donate money ,instead spend a day with them in home or old age homes “says Mrs.Ranikrishnan.

_ Lingaraja Sivanaiah

For Marina Times.