Ergo December 24

Wednesday, December 24, 2008

ABYTE OF LIFE

FREE CIRCULATION

Vol. 2No. 245

T

he next

24

hours promise to be far more nail-biting an affairthan the 3 hour movie they have produced, as Aamir Khan,Murugadoss and co. find themselves in hot waters after theMadras High Court on Tuesday issued an interim injunctionrestraining them from releasing the movie. The producers haveso far put up a brave front saying the movie will be slated for aChristmas Day release.The Madras High Court ordered an interim injunction againstGeeta Arts division of Allu Entertainment Private Limited, direc-tor A.R.Murugadoss and Adlabs Private Limited from releasing Aamir Khan-starrer ‘Ghajini’. The injunction was passed basedon a petition filed by A.Chandrasekaran, proprietor of SriSaravana Creations, who claimed to have the Hindi rightsfor the release of the movie. According to KBC Pictures, they are producing a Hin-di remake of the film titled ‘Kahani Ghajini Ki’. Thedevelopment comes as a big blow not just tothe producers but also to the legions of fans who had reserved tickets inadvance. A spokesperson of Sathyam Cinemas saidthe response to therelease had beennothing shortof humun-gous.

■

M

a

d

r

a

s

H

C

h

a

l

t

s

G

h

a

j

i

n

i

ERGO

Wednesday,December24,2008

NAMMA CHENNAI

02

Dance mania

N

ew Year celebrations are round thecorner and if your idea of welcoming thenew year is through a late night partywhere you can groove and sway to hip-hop,salsa, retro, Bollywood and folk music thenhere’s a great chance.Renaissance Dance Works, a two-year-olddance company which is into directing andproducing dance-based concepts in SSMusic, is providing an opportunity to brushyour steps and impress everyone on thedance ﬂoor. The exclusive four-day partyclasses, from December 27 to 30, will helpyou unveil the myths about party dancing.The workshop will also teach you aboutdance ﬂoor etiquettes, tips to enhance yourparty dressing, real truths behindprofessional party dancing, guidelines toboost your party dancing skills and also getyou the list of special parties happeningduring the coming weekends.

For details call Renaissance at 90031 16060/ 4553 8482.

Ergo Correspondent

F

ire. Whips. Cages. The stageis set for an act of orches-trated cruelty that will beconducted three times aday. When a circus uses animalsand birds, including those thatare wild, endangered or preg-nant, they believe the public willturn a blind eye to the suffering that goes on behind the scenes.It’s any animal’s worst night-mare. They are transported care-lessly likecheck-in bag-gage, in smallcages with nofreedom tomove, in unhy-gienic living conditions. Wounds result-ing from shack-les and ropes areleft untreated. Vital body partslike eyes are lostdue to neglect.They’re ruled by a crushing fearthat’s a result of constant threatsfollowed by bru-tal physical pun-ishment.Majestic animals that would oth-erwise thrive in their natural hab-itats are then demeaned by being made to ride bicycles, jumpthrough hoops and do whateverelse they are told to or else.

Here are some harrowingexamples of ﬁndings thatinvestigations have revealed

(

Source:petaindia.com/circuses

)

Rajkamal Circus,

Bangalore: According to People for AnimalsBangalore, animals werecrammed inside rusted cages,ﬁlthy with their own waste. Onelion was missing an eye. Severalanimals had untreated wounds.

Great Royal Circus

: A chim-panzee, 22-year-old Lakshmi,could not sit or stand and wasdiscovered lying in a blood-stained bed. After she was res-cued by Blue Cross Chennai andPeople for Animals Chennai, aveterinary exam showed that she was paralysed. She died soonafter.

Kohinoor Circus:

There wereendangered animals, including apregnant Royal Bengal tiger, inviolation of a Supreme Courtruling.

Gemini Circus:

They kept hors-es, camels and elephants frommoving by tying their hind legs.Dogs were living in cramped wooden enclosures. Cages andfood dishes were ﬁlthy.It’s not only the four-leggedkind that is affected by circuses.Trainers and audiences are alsoat risk. When wild animals aresubjugated repeatedly, they willgo rogue and ﬁght back. Humaninjuries and deaths have beenknown to occur at circuses, yetthe lesson hasn’t been learnt. While the problem is ugly, the so-lution is incredibly simple. With-out patrons, a circus cannot exist.By boycotting these shows thatare nothing but horror in real life, we can put them out of businessonce and for all. It helps if you write to newspapers and encour-age readers to follow suit. Taking a compassionate stand has neverbeen easier.

■

They’re in our city, all set to force animals to perform unnatural tricks. What’s your stand?

SRIYA NARAYANAN

pets@goergo.in

The circus from hell!

MAD workshop

As part of the Christmas extravaganza, Odyssey is conducting the MADworkshop for children. You could add personal touch to gifts by learning tocreate colourful photo frames, wall hangings, gift wrapping papers, etc. Theworkshop will be held at its stores in Adyar, Anna Nagar, Thiruvanmiyurand St. Mary’s Road on December 27 and 28, between 4 p.m. and 6 p.m.

Doctors examining the body of a 21-year-old circus lion atVanvihar National Park in Bhopal, which died at the rescuecage.

FILE PHOTO: A.M. FARUQUI

Majestic animalsthat wouldotherwise thrivein their naturalhabitats are thendemeaned bybeing made toride bicycles, jump throughhoops and dowhatever elsethey are told toor else.

Wednesday,December24,2008

03

“T

he life of a visually chal-lenged person is not a bedof roses. The agony we ex-perience when doctorsthrow light into our eyes during each and every eye check-up is un-explainable. Parents of differently-abled run pillar to post to maketheir children get a decent living inthis society,” says C. Govindakrish-nan, a visually challenged personand founder of Nethrodaya.Nethrodaya, a self-help organisa-tion made of visually challengedpersons for the visually challenged,is entering its seventh year in 2009.Originally started as a free hostel forvisually challenged students whocome from villages to pursue theircollege education, Nethrodaya now does a lot more for the underprivi-leged.The State Government, as a tokenof acknowledgement of Nethro-daya’s work, allotted six grounds of land in 2006 to build a permanentresidence and construction work isgoing on.

How they have helped

Recently, Nethrodaya organised atwo-day symposium for visually challenged persons from all overTamil Nadu, wherein they distrib-uted audio CDs for Plus Two stu-dents free of cost.Scope International helped Neth-rodaya in bringing out the audioCDs through their CSR initiative.Mphasis, an EDS company, ar-ranged transportation for the sym-posium. Also, four volunteers fromthe Mphasis CSR team – Shibu Nat-arajan, Balaji Kathiresan, SreedeviNanubala and Durga Prasad – lenttheir helping hand to the participa-nts at the venue.Sudha Murthy of Infosys Founda-tion has sponsored Rs. 10 lakh forthe upcoming Nethrodaya building in Nolambur.

How you can help

Apart from reading out lessons tothe inmates of Nethrodaya or con-tributing towards the building fund,help can be offered in many ways.Join the ‘Sponsor a Square Feet’programme of Nethrodaya and helpthem ﬁnish the construction of their permanent residence. Thoseinterested can visit the website www.nethrodaya.org or call C. Go-vindakrishnan at 93828 96636.

■

Nethrodaya needs volunteers for its ‘Sponsor aSquare Feet’ programme

Be the building blocks

C. Govindakrishnan, Founder,Nethrodaya

V. HARIPRIYA

haripriya@goergo.in

Merry Christmas



Christmasdecorationslike this atRaave’s inCasa MajorRoad,Egmore addto thefestivities inthe city.

PHOTO:R. RAVINDRAN