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Tuesday, June 24, 2008
ABYTE OF LIFE
DEEPIKA PADUKONE
on films, Ranbir Kapoor & badminton
FREE CIRCULATION
Vol. 2No. 122
10
It’s great to see so many people wanting toparticipate in Ergo Blitz. We will carry the first listof participants tomorrow. Do log on towww.goergo.in for rules and registration details.Cheers
Team Ergo
THE TEAM IS THE KEY
11 days to go
ON VOGUE
Asin’s Bollywood journey has another endorse-ment. This time by what people know as the stylebible the world over.At a crowded enclosure in Landmark, SpencerPlaza, Vogue India unveiled the cover of its July2008 issue, featuring namma Asin.‘Aamir’s new girl’, as Vogue describes her, hasanother national debut beside
Ghajini
. Shot byAtul Kasbekar, Asin gets a red-lipstick look in a redLanvin dress. Citing the reason for making Asinthe Vogue covergirl, Priya Tanna, Editor, VogueIndia, says, “Asin represents the perfect combi-nation of ethereal Indian beauty and a very mod-ern outlook.” Ask Tanna who among the SouthIndian actors in Bollywood she would have puton the cover if we rewind back to a few decadesago, and an emphatic “Undoubtedly, Rekha”comes the reply.
ASIN
ERGO
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
NAMMA CHENNAI
02
Tragedy strikes ‘Sarvam’shooting spot
A makeshift lift erected at an 11-storeybuilding near Anna flyover for the filmingof a Tamil movie snapped on Mondaymorning, killing two and critically injuringone. A mechanical defect is suspected tohave caused the accident.According to Teynampet police, theaccident occurred at around 8.15 a.m. atthe Gemini Parsn building behind The ParkHotel, which is usually a den for movieshootings. The three victims are carpentersemployed with the art direction team forthe making of the Arya-Trisha starrer Tamilfilm Sarvam that is being directed byVishuvardan and produced by AyngaranInternational Films.The men were trying to transport woodenprops to the set on the top floor. The lift,specially erected for the shooting, gave waywhen it reached the eighth floor, bringingthe trio and the equipment crashing to theground.The other crew members rushed the injuredto hospital. The injured were identified asSigamani (22), Udayakumar (25) andAppanraj (27), all from 15th Sector,Ottakapalayam, KK Nagar. Udayakumardied at Governmental Hospital at 10 a.m.,while Sigamani succumbed to his injuries ataround 9.15 a.m. Meanwhile, Appanraj wasadmitted to a private hospital in T. Nagarand his condition is known to be critical.Police suspect a mechanical breakdown inthe makeshift lift might have caused theincident. The temporary lift operator of thebuilding has been taken into custody.
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I
t’s environment month andthere could have been no bet-ter time to campaign for agreen earth. Chennai-basedQuintegra Solutions, a global ITservices and consulting compa-ny, decided to go green andspread awareness through a 15km cycle rally from the ECR tollgate. Nothing works without anincentive, so the company awarded gifts to those who cycleto office as well.“If the temper-ature of the earthgoes up by even1.5 degrees, thesea level will in-crease by 13 me-ters. This willsubmerge half of Chennai. As Iunderstand it, if we do not re-verse the global warming by 2015,it will be too late. That is only sev-en years away. For the sake of ourchildren, we need to act now,”said Shankarraman Vaidyanath-an, Chairman of Quintergra, in arelease.The company has also takenother green steps by encouraging its employees to get more sensi-tive to environmental concerns.Keeping in mind, the threat of plastic waste, it has stopped theusage of plastic cups and has pro-vided personalised cups. “It costsRs. 172, 000 to process and recy-cle 1000 kg of plastic,” said SriramNarasimhan, Senior Vice-Presi-dent.
More initiatives
The company has also declaredthe last Friday of every month as“no parking day”, where eachemployee is encouraged to usepublic transport to work. In turnthey would use the parking spacefor a corporate function likeQuintergra Rock Band or an all-day employees’ family fair. Apartfrom this, they would also allow parking of only those vehiclesthat have a pollution-free certif-icate. Quintegras has also teamedup with several petrol pumps toprovide subsidised pollutionchecks.
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Quintegra launches Green Offices campaign
ERGO CORRESPONDENT
It costs Rs. 172,000 to processand recycle 1000kg of plastic
Let’s go green
Indian
1800 22 77 22/ 2256 1065
Jet
1800 22 55 22
Spice Jet
1800 180 3333
Go Air
1800 222 111/ 9223 222 111
Paramount
1800 180 1234/ 4343 4444
Indigo
1800 180 3838
Kingfisher
1800 209 3030
Air Deccan
98403 77008/ 39008888 (pre-fix city code)
Employee getting ready for the green drive
Hi Gopi,Many, many happy returns ofthe day. Have a great day.Your loving sisterSubha Gunasekaran
Dear Udha ya, Wishingyou goodheal th, wealth and prosperit y.Happ y Bir thda y Udha y! With lo ts of cheersNee Kelu Team,Wipro Technologies
Customer carenos of airlines
W
hen freelance writer Vin-ita Sidhartha penned aseries on India’s tradi-tional games, little didshe know that it would lead her toa business venture. Soon after,Sidhartha put together a schoolproject to create learning mod-ules out of these games. Finding the right equipment to recreatethese games that were previously drawn on the floor posed a prob-lem. A problem that led to thebirth of Kreeda. Drawn from theSanskrit word meaning ‘play’,Kreeda manufactures and sellstraditional games across India.Today, it is also involved in re-search, revival and creating awareness about a mode of play that has long been forgotten.
Play to learn
“The concept of play has beenreplaced by learning or taking classes,” says Sidhartha. ThroughKreeda, she wants to help adultsinteract withchil-dren through play. “Itis im-portant to ascertain the relevancethese games have to the 21st cen-tury,” she adds. “Our games serveas alternatives to a pack of cardsand computer games and involveinteraction that has gone mis-sing.” While the older generationfondly recalls their childhood while playing a Kreeda game,children lap it up for the sheerfun it brings. “The generationthat is sandwiched between istaking pride in all things Indianand seems intrigued by the con-cept of a traditional game,” shesays. It certainly helps that corpo-rates are using games that focuson strategy to help with team-building.Kattan Vilayattu (the squaregame), Gilli Danda (the stick andpeg game), Panch Kone (thegame of five pointed stars) are just some of the games that arescreen-printed on canvas as op-posed to cardboard and the pack-aging is bulky, on purpose. “Nochild, or adult even, has the pa-tience to arrange components in-to little compartments afterplay, so you can throw everyth-ing back into our box and put itaway,” says Sidhartha, showing that these little details make adifference. Apart from the gamesthat have been passed down gen-erations, Kreeda has createdthree of its own that showcase theRamayana – ‘Vanavaas’, ‘Searchfor Sita’ and ‘Battle of Lanka’.
Tracing memories
Speaking of the research oper-ations Kreeda is involved in,Siddharta says they visit old agehomes and draw from the memo-ries of people there. “We have ap-proached corporates to help usby sponsoring games forclose to 150 homes and alsobring in volunteers who canspend time playing.”She also speaks of how shereserves her time for the“thinking” and shares resourc-es with her husband’s softwarefirm to take care of day-to-day operations, making it difficult toput down an investment figure.In the near future, Kreeda willlook to launch over 20 games andstrengthen their presence online.Currently, you can place ordersthrough their website but need touse a physical mode of payment.Sidhartha and team are looking at ways of accepting payment on-line. There’s more that lies in the waiting for Kreeda. Till such time,Sidhartha invites everyone tocome play.
■
Made in Chennai is a columnthat showcases the evolution of home-grown businesses that beganwhen the city was Madras.
DIVYA M. CHANDRAMOULI
divya.c@goergo.in
Come,play
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
03
RJ Archana, Radio City
Chennai is my hometown and I am rooted here.I will never feel like moving. It’s somethingabout this place that is comfortable, whereeverything is customised.
As told to Tharini Viswanath
G o o d m o r n i n g
C H E N N A I
If you areinterested
in volunteering withKreeda Games onresearch,please contact Sivagamiat 98417 48309;or e-mailinfo@kreedagames.com
TIMELINE
2001 –
Started research ontraditional games that led to a seriesof articles for Young World, The Hindu
2002 –
Kreeda launched as a brandin August, began stocking games atretail stores
2003 –
Kreeda’s first move outsideChennai, sold at Odyssey – Trichy,Coimbatore; went national soon afterAlso launched Ramayana series;received first international order
2004 –
Launched KreedaGames website –www.kreedagames.com
Age-old games make a comeback, thanks to Kreeda. And it’s not just the kids who’re showing interest
Vinita Sidhartha, Founder, Kreeda Games
PHOTO: R.RAVINDRAN
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