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Freestyle football is the art of self-expression with a football while performing various tricks with any part of the body. [WIKIPEDIA]
Select images from a freestyle football competition held recently at Decathlon, Chennai.
Red Hills, Chennai, Tamil Nadu
“Although the floods has helped us broaden our horizons with regards to preparation for such occurrences in the future, nevertheless, we end up giving thought to disaster mitigation only after we are hit by a disaster.”
K S Kandasamy, IAS
Deputy Commissioner (Works), Greater Chennai Corporation
It was a tense few days for K S Kandasamy the first week of Dec. 2105 as he had to be on his toes what with monitoring rescue and rehabilitation operations from the control room in Rippon Building; delegating tasks to corporation field officers; visiting the affected localities for assessment; and overseeing the relief management and distribution at the Jawaharlal Nehru Indoor Stadium. Simultaneously, help was pouring in from all quarters – donors from all the 31 districts of Tamil Nadu as well as public and private enterprises including the Indian Armed Forces donated around 1,700 tonnes worth of supplies to the Chennai Corporation. Earlier last year, all the insight and hands-on experience gathered during those arduous days was collated into an exhaustive handbook – the City Disaster Management Plan 2016. This 750-page guide contains all pertinent information concerning city layout and infrastructure, disaster-prone areas, emergency phone numbers, the “first line of defence” during a disaster situation, etc. All of this data was painstakingly compiled over a period of six months to ensure an effective management plan is in place to tackle future calamities. This handy guide will be made available for public perusal in the near future.
Please visit BBC to read the rest of the story.
*A joint effort with Karthik Subramanian
Had five-time World Amateur Boxing Champion Mary Kom been present at Chennai’s Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium earlier this month, I bet a strong proponent of the sport such as herself would have shed tears of joy—and by the buckets.
The turnout at the Tamil Nadu State Sub Junior Boxing Championships was so immense that the small room that housed the ring resembled the Chennai Central to a T; incidentally, located just a stone’s throw away.
There, the usual noise that follows children wherever they gather was not to be. During the bouts, a certain silence ruled the atmosphere—only to be suspended by the heckles of a worked up coach and occasional bursts of cheers.
Some still accompanied by their moms, the budding combatants put on their game face, and looked their menacing best in their shimmering boxing gear. Albeit little, these feisty pugilists left no stone unturned in making their presence felt inside the twenty square foot modern-era Coliseum. But at the end of the day, there could be only one winner.
When the final bell is rung, heartbreak was written on the faces of many a child who had failed in their bid for glory. This, while a resolve to bounce back even stronger rumbles deep inside.
You have to give Sriram props for his indomitable spirit. For someone who could barely stand, walking was a distant dream. But the presence of a great support system has worked wonders for this 22-year-old…
For the last 20-plus years, Dr Paul Devasagayam has been championing the development of disabled sports in Tamil Nadu. His efforts have brought about a sea change in parental attitudes towards sports and transformed many a life in the process.
Find out more about the two of them here.
Sowcarpet, Chennai, India
Right before Chennai sees in its earliest light, hawkers hasten to secure a spot at the aisles with their ragbag of wares of all shapes and sizes. Hauling in the day’s catch, droves of tricycles swerve across the packed arena, passing the baton to deft auctioneers who will put on a show with skilful yodelling.
Over at the only fishing harbour in the city, Kasimedu is bizarre and magnificent in equal measure. Anybody new to this place can instantly get overwhelmed by the dizzying load of sights and sounds, not to mention the unmistakable pungent smell of fish. Yet, the place is indefinitely plagued by an influx of customers who throng the fish market by the thousands. Equally many are the number of trawlers that dock at the wharf at any given time, serviced by hundreds of kattumarams that ply between the trawlers and the shore fetching fishes and crustaceans in plastic baskets.
Even during the recent deluge that literally sank most of the city, things carried on like clockwork here. And we can see why: A microcosm of India, really, Kasimedu is an ecosystem of sorts where various subsets of people mutually depend on one another. Be it the fishermen in the docked trawlers who pile the never-ending stream of baskets with fish to pass on to fellow fisherfolk who help in getting those baskets to the shore using rented kattumarams, the daily wage labourers who then work in tandem to deliver the commodities to the wholesale dealers, or the hawkers who complete the cycle by disposing of the items to seafood lovers, no group can function without the other.
This unassuming bond is what makes the harbour and its environs tick. It ticked my box too.
In this day and age where a person’s success is measured by his bank balance, one can’t help but admire Giridhar’s resolve to invest all his time and energy into his lifelong passion: distance running. Giridhar “Giri” Balasubramanian, who’s been running full-time for more than a year now, broke his 10K PR recently. He is all set to take on bigger athletes at one of India’s biggest races, the Airtel Delhi Half Marathon, in November.
Naveen P M