• Embed Doc
  • Copy Link
  • Readcast
  • Collections
  • CommentGo Back
Download
 
Tuesday,June9,2009
ABYTE OF LIFE
3000 AND COUNTING
Demi Moore’s dolls gives AshtonKutcher nightmares
FREE CIRCULATION
Vol. 3No. 106
11
Battle hots up
The 63rd Santosh Trophy for thenational football championshipshas come to its last leg with foursemi-finalists left in the fray. Thebattle gets tougher from here onas the teams battle forsupremacy.Suspense builds ahead of the soft- ware developer’s conference inSan Francisco, where the PC-mak-er might also talk about its long-absent chief executive Steve Jobs.
Is Apple working on alow-price iPhone?
»
PAGE 05
COCAINE AND THE CITY 
»
PAGE 03
NCB data shows the increasing inroads that cocaine is making into Chennai’s drug scene.
»
PAGE 08
 
ERGO
Tuesday, June 9, 2009
NAMMA CHENNAI
02
Companies celebrate Environment Day with an array of events
 A thought for WED
W
hen was the last time your at-tention held for quite a whileand you stood looking at a pieceof art made of junk? You don’tremember? That is exactly whathappened on World Environ-ment Day at Ajuba Solutions. Ajuba, apart from being a greatplace to work, is also a greatplace for fun. They have a teamcalled ICONS that organisesevents and games to keep thezeal of the employees alive.This time, team ICONS orga-nised ‘Junk Art’ to kindle the cre-ative urge of employees. What is junk art? For those who haven’theard, you could call it ‘Wondersout of Waste’. The idea of thegame was to create new thingsout of things of no practical val-ue.The teams were introduced tothe event two weeks ago withrules and regulations. The Aju-bans did all the work of junk artright on the operations flooramidst their normal work routine.The categories of award were‘Most useful out of the most use-less award’, ‘Most creative junk art award’ and ‘Best looking junk art award’. Forty teams partici-pated across the three offices inChennai, using the most uselessitems ranging from egg shells,used batteries, bottles, fusedbulbs, coffee dregs, cassettetapes, rubber caps of used syr-inge bottles, sawdust and water-melon seeds to name a few.The judges for the event were Anuradha Pasupathy, founder of  AP Textile Design Company anda guest faculty at NIFT, and Nish-anth Purohit, an established cin-ematographer and cameraman who has shot several Wild lifedocumentaries for Discovery Channel and The National Geo-graphic.It was a real feast for the eyes with train and eagle made of torncoke cans and eggs shells. TheZoo Zoo’s made of egg shell werethe in-thing. We had them in theform of cricketers playing IPL(Rephrased as APL – Ajuba Pre-miere League), in the form of cheergirls and as couples resting on the beach. The highlight of the event was the raincoat madeof used milk covers, which couldany day beat the real ones – be itin terms of the make or colour.The event was a reminder of how  waste could be reused or recy-cled and how the world could bea much better place to live in.
(Contributed by Shiva Ganesh, Ajuba Solutions)
For adoption
Max is a four-year-old black, male labrador,neutered. He’s healthy, friendly and playful. Heneeds a home that preferably has a large garden.Email maisie4829@yahoo.co.in for adoption.
Employees of UST Global spend time with rural childrenSome of the ’Junk Art’ on displayThe eco-friendly raincoat
I
t was raining events last week atmost campuses as companiescelebrated World EnvironmentDay (WED).Campuses were abuzz, with em-ployees committing their time to dotheir bit to show that they care for agreen Earth. UST Global’s Chennaicentre took the occasion to do a fol-low-up of their CSR initiative, Mitra, where they provide health care andspread environmental awareness in Azhinjivakkam village in Thiruvallurdistrict. Around 200 educational kits where distributed to children of Ja-napanachathiram CorporationSchool.Infosys, on the other hand, kickedoff a ‘Polythene bag-free commit-ment’ across all Infosys campusesglobally. The initiative sought to banthe use of polythene bags by Infosysemployees in an effort to reduce theconsumption of non-biodegradableplastics.Cognizant celebrated the occasion with an array of events focused onthe theme climate change andhealthy environment. Tree planta-tion, green walk, carpooling registra-tion drives, painting competition,etc were conducted.
■
W
 W 
o
o
n
n
d
d
e
e
r
r
s
s
f
f 
r
r
o
o
m
m
w
 w 
a
a 
s
s
t
t
e
e
 
Tuesday, June 9, 2009
03
C
ocaine activity is on therise in Chennai of late andsome city nightclubs andcolleges here have turnedkey joints for peddlers. Reliablepolice sources reveal that anupcoming cine actress is oper-ating cocaine cells here andstays elusive due to her high-level connections.Cocaine, a semi-syntheticdrug that is banned in many countries, including India, isprimarily smuggled to Chennaifrom South American countrieslike Columbia, Peru, Ecuadorand Bolivia. Enroute to Chen-nai, the contraband travelsthrough central Africa, Dubaiand Mumbai.
Cocaine rise
S. Davidson Devasirvatham,Zonal Director of NarcoticsControl Bureau (NCB), said thatcocaine activity has increasedin Chennai like never beforeover the last one year. “A few months ago our team arrestedtwo Kenyan nationals in Chen-nai who were possessing closeto 20 gms of cocaine. Upon in-terrogation the two drug ped-dlers revealed that a total of 10cocaine cells are operating inour city,” Davidson informed.He also said that drug ped-dlers, mostly African nationalsin the city, run a heavily profit-able illegal cocaine businessmainly at parties, shopping malls, a few nightclubs, somecollege campuses and a few railway stations in northChennai.
Drug dealer actress
 With regard to the arrest of the Kenyan nationals, Zonal Di-rector also talks about the in-volvement of an upcoming Tamil movie actress. According to reliable sources in the city police, the actress, who haddone a few films in Telugu as well, is suspected to be oper-ating cocaine cells in the city.“The actress, who is a cocaineaddict, had come in contact with the Nigerians to buy thesubstance. Later she went intoa partnership with them andstarted to buy and sell cocaine,”said an investigating officer onconditions of anonymity.The actress, who is believedto be a key supplier of cocaineto many Kollywood drug users,still remains ‘unreachable’ forthe police and drug controlagencies due to her bigwig linkshere.
Bartering drugs
NCB sources also attributethe rise of cocaine in Chennaito the bartering of the drug forheroin, which is highly in de-mand in European countries.Heroin is easily available hereat Rs. 5 to Rs. 7 lakh per kilo-gram, while its internationalmarket value is 10 times more.Therefore, of late cocaine andheroin are being bartered by dealers who use ingenious waysto smuggle them in and out of Chennai. Sources also revealthat the points of barter aremainly in Mannady and Thiru-votriyur.
How cocaine comes here
 Apart from conventionalmethods of drug smuggling viaairports and sea ports by swal-lowing cocaine pills and bring-ing it in concealed packages,smugglers have also resorted tousing courier services. Drug control agencies are keenly  watching this avenue as co-caine is believed to be increas-ingly smuggled to Chennaiusing this modus operandi.The price here is reported tobe around Rs. 3,500 per gram.
■
Cocaine smugglers are even usingcourier services to bring the drug tothe city, according to NCB sources
CHENNAI’SCOCAINECELLS
PETLEE PETER
petleepeter@goergo.in
 A 
rtworld is hosting an exhibition ‘Remembering A.P. San-thanaraj’ to pay tribute to the artist considered by many as one of the most influential one that came out of theMadras School of Arts and Crafts.Opened on June 8, the exhibition is on till June 28 at Artworld, 1/12, Ganeshpuram, 3rd Street (off CenotaphRoad), Chennai - 600 018. The gallery timings are from 10a.m. to 6 p.m. (closed on Sundays). You can call the gallery at 24338691/ 24315371 or email artworld@airtelmail.in
■
Remembering A.P. Santhanaraj
of 00

Leave a Comment

You must be to leave a comment.
Submit
Characters: ...
You must be to leave a comment.
Submit
Characters: ...