Escolar Documentos
Profissional Documentos
Cultura Documentos
08 05
BLACK AND TIGERS’ FRIEND
WHITE Ex MLC Janarthanam talks about LTTE’s
Unbeatable combination beginnings
FREE CIRCULATION Vol. 3 No. 89
A STITCH IN TIME
NGO Chennai
Social Service
is working to
improve
employability
levels in a
small village
near
Sriperumbudur
» PAGE 04
Winners all
HCL Technologies
rewards nearly 500
employees with the ’O2
League of
Extraordinary’ for their
outstanding
performance for two
appraisal years
» PAGE 03
02 ERGO Friday, May 15, 2009
Namma Chennai
Titan Eye Plus has launched its exchange offer, which allows
consumers to exchange their old eyewear for stylish new ones at a
discount of 25 per cent on both frames and lenses. The store also
offers stylish products under its own brands - Titan, Vybes, Eye Plus
and Dash (for kids) and also carries a host of International brands. The
frames are priced from Rs. 395.
Sale
Cinema
Have a blast
shopping
Nine movies Westside welcome you for its
month-long summer
It’s summer time and the shopping extravaganza that
Alliance Francaise of Madras in includes attractive discounts
association with UTV and ICAF and some great shopping
presents a Children’s Film deals. Summer Shopping
Festival. Nine movies will be Blast at Westside will run till
screened, starting May 18 to 28, May 31. Avail of discounts on
at the AFM Auditorium at 6.30 summer apparel (men,
p.m. women and youth), super
Rock a Doodle, The Boy who Stopped Talking, The Young Magician, absorbent beach and bath
The White Balloon, The Flying Sneaker, towels, and travel bags this
The Christmas Martian, The Dog Who Stopped the War, The Great season.
Land of Small and The Case of the Witch who Wasn’twill be
screened.
For details call 2827 9803/ 2827 1477
Workshop Food
Workshop Contest
ERGO CORRESPONDENT giving pink slips, Srivastava said, hiring’. “Earlier when we saw
feedback@goergo.in “Over 40,000 of our employees growth, campus placements used
were consulted in August 2008 to be conducted 18 months in ad-
W
ith the economic slow- through a consultative process, vance. Now, we have restricted it
down it is testing time for where it was decided that no to quarterly.”
a majority of sectors, but HCLite will be left behind.”
if the words of D.K. Sri- “But, we also asked them to get Super achievers
vastava, Corporate Vice-Presi- flexible in their functioning and Around Five hundred HCLites
dent and Global HR Head, HCL acquire more skills and asked for were to be given the coveted title
Technologies, are to be believed, commitment from them.” at Thursday’s gala reward. “O2
“the crisis has to be looked as an (outstanding for two appraisal
opportunity.” Bonus time years) is a complete perfor-
In Chennai, on Thursday, to There has been no slash in the mance-based award, which was
award employees who have ex- pay packet, and employees can introduced last year. It is an emo-
celled in the ‘O2 League of the look forward to promotions this tional moment as we have fam-
Extraordinary’, Srivastava said July. ilies who have not even attended
that “Employee first, customer “Last year we gave promotions their child’s PTA meetings in
second” continues to be their ap- and increments. For 2009, the school jump to see their wards
proach. process started in May, which will getting such honours.”
“We are straightforward in our be given in July,” said the Global Around 1,200 out of 30,000 em-
talking and transparent in our HR Head. ployees are getting this recogni-
functioning,” he said. Explaining Talking about campus recruit- tion in the function, which will
how the global crisis was handled ment, Srivastava said the compa- also be held in Bangalore and
and why HCL does not believe in ny is going with ‘just-in-time NCR. ■
H
ow would you like to took up theatre part-time for press his boss than to introduce of the play and what continues
break away from the IPL passion sake and produce plays him to Simon’s long-time girlf- is a battle between Sheila and
fever this Sunday and every quarter. riend? The hitch is; she is fic- her characters to see who writes
catch two delightful Two to Tango will comprise of tional. best. The plays will be staged at
plays staged by a bunch of soft- two plays; ‘Alice in blunder- This is followed by a hilarious 2. 30 p.m., 5 p.m. and 7. 30 p.m.
ware Rebelz? land’ and ‘Playwriting for dum- dinner where Simon arranges on May 17. The tickets are
Two to Tango, Rebelz’s sixth mies’, both promising to leave for an Alice to show up but three priced at Rs. 100 and are avail-
production and their first this you in peels of laughter. Alice in Alices show up. able at Fruit Shop on Greams
year will be staged at ‘Top Sto- Blunder-land is about Simon, Playwriting for Dummies is Road outlets and at Alliance
rey’, Alliance Francaise, on May whose boss has promised him a about Sheila Punter, a world re- Francaise itself. ■
04 ERGO Friday, May 15, 2009
Big Story
A stitch in time
NGO Chennai Social Service is nity is updated every week
about their activities and
Most of the 300 families in
the village depend on tailor-
had pre-conceived notions
about voluntary organisa-
working to improve employability modes of participation. They
also conduct activities like
ing and embroidery to earn
their livelihood. The village
tions coming and taking up
initiatives. “We found it next
levels in a small village near health camps, environmental
camps, painting competi-
has only one school and has
classes only up to class VIII.
to impossible to convince
them as they had precon-
Sriperumbudur tions, blood and organ dona-
tions under various projects.
Due to lack of higher edu-
cation facilities, most of
ceived notions from previous
experiences,” recalls R.Ven-
They adopted Vayallur un- these children end up taking katraman. “So we decided to
der a project called Gra- over the family trade. try a different approach and
MONISHA MOHANDAS the village and has already modharan, with a focus on “With only one state trans- gathered the youth for devel-
started developmental activ- education. Activities planned port bus, we find it difficult to opmental activities.”
V
ayallur is a small village ities there. include setting up computer travel to the city, which is With the backing of the
near Sriperumbudur, CSS is an active online training and healthcare cen- why most youngsters in the youth, they got their feet
an industrial town community on Orkut that tres and providing the villag- village are school dropouts,” moving on developmental
known for housing was started in 2006 by Sath- ers training in tailoring. says Vijayalakshmi, the only programme.
many multinationals. But for ish Kumar N., a 26-year-old “We chose this village be- girl graduate in the village ac- And what better way to get
the professional degree-hol- family businessman in Chen- cause we found that though cording to a CSS report. them engaged than cricket!
ders of this village, joining nai. Now his community has they had high aspirations, Having decided on their They organised a cricket
one of these companies re- more than 1,300 members, of they did not have the means mission, CSS dove head- match in the village this May
mained a dream. which 50 active members to achieve it,” says Latha Ba- straight starting May this Day. Some of the volunteers
But now the villagers see a contribute to his cause. bu, project manager, CSS. year. But the process was not took charge of forming a ma-
ray of hope for their future The community became a “We were shocked to know as easy as they thought it keshift cricket ground.
generation through an NGO registered NGO in 2008. With that only one girl has gone up would be. With that small token, CSS’
named Chennai Social Ser- six members on the Board of to college in the entire Some of the village elders first innings began at Vayal-
vice (CSS). CSS has adopted Directors, the CSS commu- village.” were non-cooperative. They lur. ■
Friday, May 15, 2009
05
Tigers’ friend
72-year-old
Janarthanam was
among the first to
vocally support the
Sri Lankan cause in
the state. Now
through
World Tamil
Federation he
continues to raise
concern over the
situation and feels
LTTE could have
handled the
situation much
differently for
better results
PETLEE PETER
petleepeter@goergo.in “I met Prabhakaran for the first
time when he came to Chennai
V
ellupillai Prabhakaran
should have concentrated
from Jaffna, when he
more on forming a Tamil accompanied his injured uncle
people’s force to wage a Periya Jyoti for treatment. A
democratic struggle for Eelam
rather than strengthening mili- T.R. Janarthanam, an ex-MLC soft-spoken lad with a die-hard
tary power, says T.R. Janartha- and strong supporter of the spirit for Tamil freedom,
nam, a long-time activist for the Sri Lankan Tamil cause.
Sri Lankan Tamil cause and so- PHOTO: R. RAVINDRAN
Prabhakaran soon got together
meone who helped LTTE’s early with seven others, including
emergence from Madras in the Prabhakaran the first time when Uma Maheswaran to form one
1970s. he came to Chennai from Jaffna,
Attributing the above as the when he accompanied his in- of the first groups of the
primary reason for the “big fail- jured uncle Periya Jyoti for treat- freedom struggle”
ure” of the LTTE in Sri Lanka to- ment. A soft-spoken lad with a
day, Janarthanam adds that the die-hard spirit for Tamil freedom,
LTTE supremo failed to involve Prabhakaran soon got together Velupillai Prabhakaran (extreme left) seen with Janarthanam (extreme right) after
the Tamil people completely in with seven others, including Uma the forming of Tamil New Tigers at the latter’s Egmore home. A photo from
the struggle. Maheswaran (who later went on Janarthanam’s election campaign pamphlet in the 1980s.
A former Member of Legislative to form People’s Liberation Orga-
Council (MLC) in Tamil Nadu, Ja- nisation of Tamil Eelam or
narthanam played a key role in PLOT), to form one of the first
introducing the LTTE leader to groups of the freedom struggle. quick to respond by saying that members in 1982, which left MGR lam. “Despite the claims of the
then Chief Minister M.G. Rama- The youngsters brought a picture men ready for action are what is fuming. “MGR ordered an imme- Rajapaksa government that the
chandran in the early 80s in a of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose needed for the moment, he diate evacuation of all Sri Lankan displaced will be relocated and
now-legendary meeting. MGR from Burma Bazaar and took a reminisces. Tamil groups from Chennai. After democracy established, small
later handed over a sum of Rs. 4 pledge before it to get it all start- After a few years the Tamil New a lot of persuasion he agreed to pockets of guerrilla fighters will
crore to Prabhakaran for the Ee- ed,” he recollects. Tigers split and went on to form meet the leaders of the groups, keep emerging and turn out to be
lam struggle. Janarthanam says that two various sub-groups and had a after which a meeting was ar- a big headache for the govern-
Janarthanam, who is now Pres- men in the group were wanted in history of clashes including gun- ranged at MGR’s Ramavaram ment,” says the man who has
ident of the World Tamil Feder- a Colombo bank robbery and had fights in Chennai in the mid 80s. residence.” been growing a beard since the
ation, claims that the first chapter settled in Chennai to avoid arrest. Janarthanam recalls the after- Upset over the present plight of past 20 years for the Sri Lankan
of LTTE started in the 1970s as The fact that Prabhakaran joined math of the killing of a Tanjore- Tamils in Sri Lanka, the 72-year- Tamil cause. “I will shave only
Tamil New Tigers in his Marshals hands with these men irked Peri- based landlord, who was also an old says that the only end to the when a separate Tamil Eelam is
Lane home in Egmore. “I met ya Jyoti, but his nephew was AIADMK functionary, by PLOT problem is a separate Tamil Ee- formed in Sri Lanka,” he adds. ■
06 ERGO Friday, May 15, 2009
Sport
Nadal downs Melzer
Rafael Nadal powered into the third round of the Madrid Open with a convincing 6-3, 6-1 win over
Jurgen Melzer of Austria. The world No. 1 made just three unforced errors on Wednesday, playing on his
favoured clay surface in front of Spain’s Queen Sofia, and converted all four of his break points.
Tevez leaves
United on title
brink after
inspiring
fightback
Manchester United’s
Argentinean forward
Carlos Tevez (right)
celebrates after scoring
against Wigan during
their English Premier
league match at the JJB
Stadium on Wednesday,
PHOTO: AFP
‘‘ Barca on song
This was a time when India should have come forward, shown
leadership and said ’it’s all four of us as hosts, or none of us. Asia
got worried they would lose the 2011 World Cup altogether and decided
to dump Pakistan.
Former ICC chief Ehsan Mani
T
hree goals in a devastating nine-min- look in defence with reserve keeper Jose round the Bilbao area in the 55th minute
ute spell at the start of the second Manuel Pinto in goal and Yaya Toure at it was Messi who struck, firing through a
half saw Barcelona to a 4-1 win over centre back again, and they were quickly crowd of legs after Gorka Iraizoz could on-
Athletic Bilbao in the King’s Cup final exposed at a set piece. ly parry Samuel Eto’o’s shot.
on Wednesday and the first of three pos- Pinto had tipped a Javi Martinez shot Three minutes later, Bojan raced
Barcelona players sible titles. round the post and Fran Yeste made it through on a break to score off the far
celebrate after Yaya Toure levelled for Barca in the first count. His whipped-in corner after nine post and with Bilbao reeling Xavi curled a
winning the half before Lionel Messi, Bojan Krkic and minutes found Gaizka Toquero rising superb freekick over the wall and in off
Spanish King«s Xavi struck after the break to give the club above two defenders to head in at the the near post in the 64th. Just before Xa-
Cup final at the their 25th King’s Cup. The Catalans could back post. Athletic looked fresher, snap- vi’s goal the match was held up briefly af-
Mestalla stadium wrap up the Primera Liga title this wee- ping at Barca all over the pitch, until Toure ter Barcelona defender Daniel Alves was
in Valencia on kend and they face Manchester United in stepped up to level in spectacular fashion hit on the head by a tin can thrown from
Wednesday. the Champions League final on May 27. as he advanced out of defence. the stands. Alves was able to continue and
PHOTO: AFP television pictures showed police leading
On course Stunning response a fan away. Athletic were a broken team
“Now we are reaping the rewards of all The Ivory Coast midfielder went past after that, but earn a place in next sea-
the hard work we have put in during the three Bilbao players in the 31st minute, son’s Europa League with Barca’s place in
season,” Barca midfielder Sergio Busquets and from outside the area drilled a low the Champions League assured for next
said. “I hope this weekend we can secure shot inside the near post. Gradually Barca year. ■
our second title.” Barca had an unfamiliar asserted themselves and as they swarmed Reuters
08 ERGO Friday, May 15, 2009
Portfolio
Black and whi
without grey a
Lacoste
Claudia
Schiffer
I
in Chanel t’s hard to beat the chessboard duo. The black and
white combination has survived many scathing at-
tacks. Every year a new shade of blue, brown or
green is classified as the ‘new black’, white is la-
belled ‘high-maintenance’ and both of them together
are likely to make someone beckon you and say “Wai-
ter, one black coffee please” (like in that very old but
memorable Sony Ericsson ad). Or so they say.
Despite that and the occasional interference by red,
which threatens to oust white from its place beside
black, the black and white combination has been there
and been well. Recent months, which have witnessed
people investing in classic rather than seasonal pieces,
have witnessed a conspicuous resurgence of black and
white.
Vivienne Westwood’s black-and-white knit pieces at
the spring/summer 2009 ready-to-wear collection show
in Paris were a marked departure from the flame-
haired designer’s regular colour palette.
Jean-Paul Gaultier’s haute couture 2009 show in Pa- Singer Ciara
ris, marked by an excessive use of net, lace and architec- wearing Emilio
ture-inspired designs, relied heavily on black and white. Pucci
The fall/winter 2009-2010 houndstooth-centred cre-
ations at Moschino and
Alexander McQueen
Moschino were, quite obviously Jea
here, in black and
Alexander white.
McQueen At the Metropolitan
Museum of Art Cos-
tume Institute Gala in
New York, singer Ciara
followed the colour-
blocking trend in a
black-and-white Emilio
Pucci gown.
Narciso Rodriguez,
Karl Lagerfeld and
Dolce & Gabbana are
other black-and-white
loyalists.
The spring 2009 col-
lection of Lacoste,
which recently show-
cased in Manhattan,
was black-and-white-
Narciso oriented, with an occa-
Rodriguez sional splash of colour.
Ebony and ivory
aren’t going anywh-
ere. ■
Friday, May 15, 2009
09
BULLETIN
ite
Katy Perry
turns designer
Singer Katy Perry has
joined the league of
artists like N.E.R.D and
areas
Esteele by designing a
signature line for the
‘Fashion against AIDS’
campaign.
The ‘I Kissed a Girl’
hitmaker can be seen
posing for the campaign
in a body suit, featuring
a smiley face in heart
designed by her.
“I like things that are
different, I’m very girly,”
the New York Daily News quoted Katy as
saying.
The bodysuit features an abstract pastel
print of human insides – heart, kidneys and
all – and reads on the back: “It’s what’s on
the outside that counts.”
“We live in a materialistic world. We live in
New York City, so we don’t like to think
about the heart and the head –we like to
think about labels and designers,” Katy
added.
“I’m 24, I dress for my age and even a little
bit younger. I don’t play it safe and I don’t
think I have to play it safe yet,” Katy
added.
ANI
Flick Nearly 20 children who acted in the Oscar-winning Slumdog Millionaire have been thrown on the
streets after Mumbai civic authorities on Thursday morning demolished nearly 50 huts in Garib
Nagar slum of Bandra East, terming the slum unauthorised. The families of Azhar and his co-star
Rubina Ali Qureshi are now pinning their hopes on getting a flat as promised by Maharashtra
Chief Minister Ashok Chavan.
Cine City
Kanthasamy audio to be
launched
The audio launch of Kanthasamy, touted to be the
first superhero movie of Kollywood, is scheduled to
take place at the Chennai Trade Centre on May 17.
The event, to be organised on a grand scale, will
have dancers from different parts of the world
participating. The movie starring Vikram and Shriya
Saran is also special because actor Vikram himself
has sung four songs in the movie. Kanthasamy,
directed by Susi Ganesan and produced by Kalaipuli
S. Thanu, is set for a June release.
Kangana to
A STILL FROM REVOLUTIONARY ROAD be paid Rs
1 cr in
Thursday’s Query:
Your experience at the poll booth during
the Lok Sabha elections 2009
■ When I used the EVM, I was proud of our technical growth, since it
made as simple as such to cast a vote
Gomathi.NS Servion
Don Allsec
M.Ganpat FSS
■ I’ll b the candidate for next Lok Sabha election, I thought in this
way while waiting for polling in queue
Mohan Technosoft
■ I was not aware of few political symbol and since it’s my first vote, I
thought they would provide name of the leaders like Jayalalitha,
Vijaykanth and so. But I couldn’t find their name. So asked my mom
who was in queue, which symbol denotes Vijaykanth. Al laughed and
they declared its my first vote
Sathyapriya CSS
■ A girl about just 18 years old before me in the queue to vote was
pressing 3 buttons and asked the man to ink on three fingers. The Vishnu from Cybernet Slash Support has nominated his
man replied "loose a pa nee? Hasini Genelia vida mosama iruppa friends as Partners in Crime. This pic was taken at Yelagiri.
pola". Me n my brother laughed like anything
Saranya.M Cognizant
■ Shameful. Most of the educated young folks and first timers and
some people from the low income groups did not even know who
were the candidates and many were not sure whom they wanted to
vote for
Prakash Srivatsan HCL
■ When I was about to vote, I got stuck seeing a beautiful girl there
and at that time got a comment from the agent saying sir, sight
adichathu pothum first vote podunga
Lexsminarayanan TCS-eserve
Today’s Query:
One compelling reason why you should be
given the ’Best Employer’ award Suresh from HCL has nominated his friends as Partners in
Crime. This pic was clicked at Ooty.
Friday, May 15, 2009
13
May15 J Gurunathan
FL Smidth Ltd
Traffic Jam
Vegetarian city
A Belgian city is about to become the
first in the world to go vegetarian at
least one day a week.
sudoku
Sailatha Mithilesh
from Wipro
Technologies has
shot this picture
from her terrace
using Sony H50
camera.
Hobbies:
Photography, surfing
internet and Music.
Entries to the
column will get gift
vouchers from
Bubbles Spa worth
Rs.1,000. Winners
can come to Ergo
office on weekends
between 3 p.m. and
5 p.m. to collect the
vouchers.
Call 2857 6688.
KAKURO
So you think you would make a terrific photographer but never really had the
platform? Mail us your best work and we’ll publish it in this space, with credit.
E-mail: clickpick@goergo.in
TEAM
Editor: Karthik Subramanian
karthik@goergo.in
Technical Support:
V.R. Vasudevan, K.G. Gurumurthy
N. Ravichandran, E. Baskar
ADVERTISING ENQUIRIES:
Contact: 2857 5757
E-mail: ads@goergo.in
Website: www.goergo.in
Head of Circulation:
M.G.M. Sharief
copies@goergo.in
SNAIL MAIL
859/860, Anna Salai,
Chennai - 600 002
mail your feedback to
feedback@goergo.in
FAX 2857 6691
B.C
Thai workers put the finishing touches on a giant model of a football stadium
made from more than 230,000 beer cans to promote the UEFA Champions
League final match between Barcelona and Manchester United in Rome on
May 27. AFP PHOTO/PORNCHAI KITTIWONGSAKUL