Heavy Rain Disturbs Chennai's Normal Life

Tropical Cyclone Nisha crossed the Tamil Nadu coast close to north of Karaikal early on Thursday morning, an update from the Regional Met Centre, Chennai, said.

The streets in Chennai were literally submerged and traffic moved at a snail''s pace on the waterlogged streets. Chennai Koyampedu 100 feet road closed due to heavy water crossing near MMDA colony. All the buses from CMBT routed via Poonamalle high road and Maduravoil byepass.

“For the past two-three days, there have been heavy rains. You cannot go out on a bike, office goers are struggling to make it to their offices. Many areas are literally submerged,” said SeethaLakshmi, another resident.Chennai recorded 53 centimetre of rainfall in the last 48 hours accompanied by strong wind with speeds of 45 to 55 kilometers per hour.

Chennai - Law Students Clash Video

The Tamil Nadu government Thursday suspended nine policemen and the principal of the government law college here for failing to control a violent clash between students, and announced a probe into the incident by a retired Madras High Court judge.Law Minister Durai Murugan told the assembly that P. Shanmugham, a retired judge of the Madras High Court would investigate Wednesday’s clash between two student groups. The police couldn’t act as the principal didn’t give them the permission, Sekar said.

The students had allegedly fought over the contents of an invitation for a political event. They attacked each other with sticks and iron rods. (See Video)


Eyewitnesses said police officials remained mute spectators and failed to control the violence in which three students were injured.

The college and its hostel would remain closed till further notice.

Vaaranam Aayiram Released on Nov 14th

Gautham Vasudev Menon's dreams film going to be fulfilled. Making of complete two years in the Vaaranum Aayiram with his favourite hero Surya is now ready for release.

VA's Trailer for you...

India Beat Australia (2 - 0) & Bengal Tiger Retired

India beat Australia by 172 runs in 4th Test, win series 2-0. MS Dhoni gave Sourav Ganguly a gift to remember by making him "captain" during the last stages of the match as Australia slumped to a 172-run defeat.

Australia lost their wickets at regular intervals after a fighting partnership between Hayden and Hussey was broken by young Mishra who had the latter caught at slip by Rahul Dravid who had a forgettable match with the bat and as a slip fielder too.

The former India skipper, who missed the chance to score a century in his farewell appearance after having started his Test career with a bang a debut ton at Lord's in 1996 faded from the limelight with the happiness that he was part of a victorious team at the end.

He was chaired off the ground after being hugged by all his teammates and the Australian players and was also greeted by retired captain Anil Kumble who has returned from Bangalore to see the finale.

Ceremony is about to begin. Man of the Match :Jason Krejza Man of the Series: Ishant Sharma.

Chennai to Kanniyakumari ECR finished by 2009

The East Coast Road (ECR) from Chennai to Kanniyakumari project would be completed by 2009,state high way minister Vellakoil Swaminathan said today. Taking to reporters here he said out of the total stretch of 742km of ECR, 552Km had been completed.

The work on the stretches between Ramanathapuram -Tuticorin and Kumbakonam-Thiruvathavur were progressing. Eleven big towns would be provided by-pass road at a cost of Rs.236cr. A by-pass road and a railway over bridge would be constructed at a cost of Rs.35 cr here. The district roads were being repaired at a cost of Rs.250 cr with the assitance from the NABARD.

The work on four-way road from Madurai to Ramanathapuram and Tiruchi-Ramanathapuram would begin shortly, he said.

IPL - Chennai Super King's New Coach

The former New Zealand captain, Stephen Fleming, is likely to take over as the coach of IPL-Chennai Super Kings from Kepler Wessels(SA) for the Champions Twenty20 League. He, however, will not be playing for the team in then tournament next month. Wessels, who led the team to the finals in the inaugural IPL season and helped them qualify for the Champions Twenty20 League next month, confirmed that his one-year tenure was over. "My contract was just for one year," he told.

He recently committed to Wellington for the domestic Twenty20 campaign in New Zealand beginning February 2009, a move which could also see him turning out for the team in the next edition of the Champions League

His appointment is the latest in the series of management changes by the IPL teams ahead of the second season. Hyderabad's Deccan Chargers, who finished at the bottom of the league, brought in Adam Gilchrist as their new captain, replacing VVS Laxman and Bangalore's Royal Challengers, who finished just ahead of Hyderabad in the points table, replaced Martin Crowe, their coach last year, with Ray Jennings. The Hyderabad, Jaipur and Delhi franchises have already changed their chief executives.

Michael Hussey had already announced that he would represent Chennai and not Western Australia for the Champions Twenty20 League which kicks off on December 3 with the finals in Mumbai on December 10. Chennai Super Kings will face Victoria in their opening Group A encounter on December 4 in Mumbai. Middlesex and Titans are the other teams in the group.

Thanks: cricinfo.

Chandrayaan - Closer to the Moon

Chandrayaan-1 within 500 km of the moon - India's first unmanned lunar spacecraft, moved closer to the moon today, when it broke free from it elliptical orbit around the earth, speeding into deep space towards the moon. This was disclosed by a top space agency official.

Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) director S. Satish told IANS yesterday, "The liquid apogee motor (LAM) on board will be fired around 5.00 a.m. Tuesday for about five minutes to make the transition and position the spacecraft at about 500 km from the moon's surface and over 3,84,000 km away from the earth."

It was launched on 22 October on board the 316-tonne PSLV-C11 from Satish Dhawan space center at Sriharikota spaceport off the Andhra Pradesh coast, 80 km north of Chennai. We will keep you posted for more news about the Chandrayaan, so keep watching this space.

Anil Kumble - JUMBO Retired from Test Cricket

Anil Kumble annouced his retirement today at Feroz Shah Kotla. Third highest test wicket taker with 619 wickets says good bye to cricket after playing 132 test matches on the eve of third test match between Autralia and India - November 2' 2008. He played 20 matches took "111" wickets against Australia with 10 wickets in an innings twice. When playing in India he is the king he took overall 350 wickets and away his stats are 269 wickets.

Watch his last moment as an Indian Test Cricketer.

Anil Kumble retired from tests - Video

Call for peace in SL - Tamil Actors Fasting

From superstars to junior artists, the entire fraternity of Tamil actors came together on Saturday to observe a day-long fast in Chennai to voice their concern for Tamils caught in the Sri Lankan civil war and demanded an immediate ceasefire in the Lanka.

But the artists carefully avoided provocative remarks against the government or in support of the LTTE. Leading actors Rajnikanth and Kamal Hassan, joined the fast, along with those active in politics from the film world like Vijayakanth and Sarath Kumar.

Several leading actors and technicians voiced their concern over the sufferings that Tamils were undergoing in Sri Lanka. Sarathkumar, president of SIAA and Radha Ravi, General Secretary, led the fast.