Chennai Corner

Howling Frog
When DMK chief M. Karunanidhi queried "Who is Ram? Was he a civilengineer? " he should have known that it would be a matter of time beforehis bete noire AIADMK supremo J. Jayalalitha would come back with a stingingretort. It's another matter that the Sethusamudram project may not see the lightof the day and the Tamil Nadu government, which has been asked by the SupremeCourt to file its affidavit next week, may let the project die a natural death,but political noises over the "Ramar Sethu" (which believers say wasbuilt by Lord Ram to go to Sri Lanka to rescue Sita, and non-believers like theDMK say is man-made) have not stopped.

While Jayalalitha is herself against the "useless" project becausethe SSCP (Sethu Samudram Canal Project), saying it would affect the livelihoodof fisherman and would destroy the heritage structure, it did not stop her fromtargeting union minister for shipping and road transport T.R. Baalu, for whomthe SSCP is a pet project.  Baalu had written a complaint letter to uniondefence minister A K Antony against Chief of Naval Staff Admiral Suresh Mehtafor saying that while the SSCP is viable, it would not allow big ships to passthrough. Jayalalitha's response: "People are now wondering whether Baalu isa marine engineer. From which college did he do his marine engineering? Or is hea member of any of the Indian or foreign naval schools or is he a navalengineer?"

Baalu's retort was to liken the AIADMK supreme to a "howling frog holedup in a corner" and call her remarks "childish" and"half-baked." He claims that in 2006-2007, the number of ships thatpassed through the 12 ports in the country was 20,864 of which 4,422 shipsweighed above 50,000 tonnes and 16,442 ships weighed below 50,000 tonnes.According to him, if the SSCP was in place, all 16,442 could have passed throughthe Sethu, saving fuel because the project would cut down the distance traversedby 424 nautical miles.

Birthday Boy Azhagiri
The fact that he hails from a family and a party that puts a premium onpreserving Tamil culture is just a minor quibble in a time when all thingswestern --Valentine's Day, birthday bumps, birthday cakes and candles -- are derigeur if you want to be with it. So, M. Azhagiri, son of Karunanidhi, blew out57 candles, wore a garland of 100 rupee notes, cut a massive cake and enjoyedhis day in the sun on January 30. Although Stalin is the rising son, Azhagirihad the satisfaction of seeing the southern city of Madurai plastered withflags, banners, cut-outs, hoardings and posters all hailing him.  " Iwill emulate my father in politics and remain a party cadre and work for the DMK,"promised the birthday boy at a rare press conference. Media pundits, whopredicted in November that the Kalaignar was ready to hand over chiefministership to younger son Stalin and the party baton to Azhagiri are wonderingwhat to make of that. After all even the Kalaigar hinted he was ready to letStalin take over, allowed a build up but found power too much of a temptation toresist. Again, why blame him? Prince Charles set a new record recently forbecoming the longest prince in waiting. And Queen Elizabeth has the throne butreally no powers when you think about it.

Babies' Day Out
It was the babies' day out while dad cut a cake. But if Stalin and Azhagiriare scions-in-waiting, daughter Kanimozhi has to be happy with just being an MP.The story goes that the mild mannered PM Manmohan Singh reportedly agreed toKani joining the cabinet readily but asked Karunanidhi who he would like to dropto accommodate her. Karunanidhi retreated as he cannot ask fortelecommunications minister Raja to go because that will annoy the party's Dalitconstituency nor can he get shipping and road transport minister T. R Baalu togive way because the latter is allegedly raking in the funds for the party. Soinstead the CM said predictably that all talk that Kanimozhi was joining thecabinet was a media creation.

Alas Kanimozhi, who is celebrated as a poet, has in-house competition fromKayalvizhi, her niece. Proud dad Azhagiri claimed that Karunanidhi had hailedhis grand daughter's prowess as a poet as far back as the 1980s when she musthave been a mere toddler. Kayalvizhi, by the way was on the dais at the youthconference in Tirunelveli in December when Stalin came within sniffing distanceof being anointed CM. Although Azhagiri discounted his daughter's future as anMP as a "rumour" he let son Dayanidhi, whose pictures were prominentlydisplayed on billboards next to his dad's, take centrestage.

So is Dayanidhi ready to take the plunge--and replace his namesake who wasturfed out unceremoniously by his grand-uncle last year-- in politics? Well,Dayanidhi primly responded that he was ready and willing to take up anyresponsibility the party deemed fit to bestow on him. Go figure. By the way,Dayanidhi who was on the dais too at the youth conference, was prominent at thebirthday as well. Of course, down the line, he will have to contend withUdhayanidhi, his cousin and Stalin's son, and Aditya, Kanimozhi's son. Just aswell that Aditya is only seven.

Cheers To That
It is truly ironical that in two separate incidents, two passengers flyinginto this city were so high spirited that they ended up in the arms of thepolice. One was an Arab businessmen from Saudi Arabia flying in on a Jet airwaysflight and the other a construction contractor from Thiruvotiyur who works inBahrain, and landed here on a Gulf Airways flight.

Ironical because there are two types of drinkers in this city --those withvery deep pockets who go to a watering hole in a star hotel and those who go to"wine shops" which are really seedy-looking places where, from behinda steel mesh, one has to pick a bottle from among the limited selection allowedby the government. In this traditional city, most people profess to benon-drinkers (one look at the matrimonial ads and you know that anyone whodrinks and advertises it can be sure to be a bachelor for life) which meanshaving a chhota peg sitting in your favourite armchair ain't gonna happen.

Unlike Goa, where a booze shop with its display of the wide variety of liquorcan be a treat even for the teetotaler, Chennai's booze shops can turn eventhose fond of their sundowners into confirmed teetotalers. Which is probably whythe Arab and the construction contractor downed their drinks as if it was goingout of fashion and created a ruckus on their respective flights.