Ergo July 31

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Friday, July 31, 2009A BYTE OF LIFE

MITHALI RAJon her career so far and future plans

FREE CIRCULATION Vol. 3 No. 144

07

Movin Stilz creativedirector talks about

the special effectsand his journey with

the much-talkedabout Vikram-starrer

Kanthasaamy

Wish and it shallcome true

August 2 is Friendship Day. Ergo scans the world of virtual friends in the age of Twitterand Facebook. Plus, readers have their say.

Far, yet so near

» PAGE 05

» PAGE 04

PHOTO : AFP

8/14/2019 Ergo July 31


ERGO Friday, July 31, 2009

Namma Chennai

02

For adoptionDanny is a 4-year-old male Labradorcross who is healthy, playful andaffectionate.He has been neutered and is up foradoption. Call Praveen at 9884144161

Spine-chilling thrillersWhen was the last time you jumped up your seat watching a thrillermovie?A five-day film festival ‘Experience Thrillers’ promises to give youfive days of spine-chilling thrillers from across the world. The moviesto be screened are: The Orphanage (August 5), The Page Turner (August 6), Crossed Tracks (August 7), King of the Hill (August 8)and Shiver (August 9).The films will be screened at Alliance Francaise of Madras.

Movie

Block by blockThe Contemporary Window

presents an exhibition-cum-sale of hand block printed,hand woven silk cotton,and salwar suits. Thecollections aredesigned by themother-son duo fromVarna-Tasara DesignStudio.The sale is on fromAugust 1 to 5 at TheContemporaryWindow, H137/2,2nd Avenue,Opposite SpencersSupermarket,Besant Nagar. Phno.: 044-24462800

Sale

Morning raagaThis month’s SundaramFinance Sunday Kutcheri in thePark will feature 13-year-oldV. Akshara from Kuwait. Theyoung Carnatic singer willperform without the mike andspeakers at 6.30 a.m. If youwould like to perform, sign upfor the audition by calling9444040748.

Music Go ThaiRestore the radiance of yourskin with this ancient Thaiherbal scrub of Thai clay,galangal , turmeric andbergamot. This gentle scrubpromises to refresh,stimulate and tighten yourskin. The 90-minutetreatment costs Rs. 2500. Forbookings call Prana - ThaiConcept Spa at 67411000(extn 7300).

Rejuvenate

Money, money, money Who doesn’t lovemoney? Now, learn howto make moneyattending this workshop.Speaker and author ofthe bestseller ‘I LoveMoney’, SureshPadmanabhan, isorganising a talk on‘Discovering the deepestsecrets of money,prosperity and wealthcreation’.Drop in at Nahar Hall,Desabandhu Plaza, 47,Whites Road on August1. For details call9841438486.

Workshop

Ties that bindRediff.com hascreated a user-friendly sectionhttp:// rakhi.rediff.comwhere a range ofexclusive designerrakhis can beshopped. Check-outzardosi rakhis to

diamond-studdedrakhis, which can beclubbed with mithaisor pooja thali . Therakhis are pricedfrom Rs. 101.

Shop

8/14/2019 Ergo July 31


Have you stopped and stared seeing an acci-dent victim on the road wondering if youshould reach out for help? The legalities of running behind the cops and doctors general-

ly make one think twice. But, the least one can do isoffer some first-aid. Before that make sure you learnsome lessons from ALERT.

Amenity Lifeline Emergency Response Team, or ALERT, is an NGO started in 2006 by Kala Balasunda-ram, Senior Delivery Manager with Hewlett-Packard.

Kala and her team of volunteers train “focusgroups” comprising educational insti-tutions, corporates and drivers onhow to lend help to any accident vic-

tim.The volunteers, along with a groupof expert doctors and trained profes-sionals, are involved in training citi-zens. The three-hour programme held

weekly covers first-aid topics, basiclife-support techniques and cardiopulmonary resuscitation. It also orients one to availof the ‘108’ emergency service. Lawmakers and po-lice are also invited to these weekly meeting to edu-cate public in facing them in times of distress.

“I always wondered why people never come for-

ward to help an accident victim,” says Kala. “When we conducted a survey in this regard, we found thatthe hassle of running behind police and hospital au-thorities stopped them.”

These accidents need not be on road. “It can hap-pen anywhere – at your house, industries, institu-tions, etc. And we train public on how to handle eachof them,” says Kala, who played an active role instarting the Burn Ward Unit at Kilpauk Medical Col-lege.

Orienting with ALERT Anyone can help a victim but an ALERT trained

person makes the difference. “We help by preventing the condition from getting worse,” saysS. Balaji, volunteer.

The NGO currently has 20 core

members, with a number of floating volunteers around the city. ALERT hasalso signed a MoU with the IndianMedical Association (IMA) to trainvolunteers. “The training costs nothing and there is a lot to be gained,” addsKala. ALERT has successfully trained

more than 10,000 people in the city and the numbersare growing. ■

If you would like to get trained, drop in an email to

[email protected] or call ALERT at 98843 18848.Visit them at www.alert-wecare.org

MONISHA [email protected]

WE HELP BY

PREVENTINGTHE CONDITIONFROM GETTINGWORSE

Friday, July 31, 2009

A L E R T p l e a s e :

D o n ’ t s t o p

a n d s t a r eKala Balasundaram,

a senior delivery manager with HP, started thisNGO so that passers-by do their bit for helping accident victims

ALERT volunteers’ training in progress

8/14/2019 Ergo July 31


friends is scary to many others. “I was scared initially. How can Imake friends with random strang-ers? But now I’m so happy that I

have friends from across the world.” Kalathmika affirms.

Thanks to pre-conceived notions,like the Internet is just an endlessrepository of potential serial killers,many people are yet to find out theactual truth. That the Internet is al-so full of like-minded engaging people. For the first time in history

we’re lucky enough to choosefriends not by location or luck, butpinpoint perfect friends by round-ing up people with amazingly simi-lar interests, matching politics,senses of humour and passionatefeelings about the tiniest hobbies.

For Pradeep, online friends seemto be much closer than his real col-lege friends. “By making friends on-

line, you’re simply speeding through the whole process, bypass-ing shyness and getting rid of thesocial awkwardness that comes

with trying to make a friend out of astranger. For people like me, who

The first thing that Denise

Mckenney from U.S.A. wantedto do on November 27 2008

was to log on to her favouritesite and send a message to a friendin India.

“I’ve been thinking of you and allthose in India the whole day. I hope

you’re safe and okay. I’m praying for all of you.”

Nearly 8,000 miles and ninehours away, Kalathmika in Chennaiis greeted by a flurry of concernedmessages, including Denise’s. De-spite the tense moments that shealong with million other Indiansacross the country had to gothrough, she was able to smile.Thanks to her online friends, whoknow nothing or care about the

Mumbai attacks but are willing tohelp, even if it is through a virtualhug.

Making friends online is still analien concept to many. And pro-moting them from virtual to real

are shy and a little socially a ward, moving a conversation the Net to a coffee shop is a mmore normal and hassle-free pess.”

Although the Internestretched the boundaries of friship, it has created a lot of excpossibilities to compensate theditions it may have ended. Maonline friends is a great wa

know more about different cultand happenings across the wFor instance, the Lunar New YHanukkah, Kwanzaa take a wnew deal of importance on youbecause you have a very dear frcelebrating it.

At the end of the day, the thought that you have someon

whom you can rant on about thing is a very invigorating ppect. It is strange at first. Pe

you’ve never met before are theto wish a ‘Happy Birthday’. even if they’re strange,

wouldn’t want to trade themanything.

Kalathmika sums it up “These are friends whom you p

fully promise to meet some soon and secretly make a not

yourself that you will. Thesefriends who despite everythave stayed with you, despite nseeing you.” ■

R. PREETHI

[email protected]

Virtual people, real friendsLong-distance friendships that cut across cultural barriersare blossoming on social networks


Big Story04

Annoyingly funny A pretty picture of your true

self or a fake one is enough tocatch the eyes of the wanderers

on these social networking sites. Boom comes the request,“Do you wanna friendship widme?” Arghhhhh!

Countless ‘NO’ to ignorethese friendship requestsdoesn’t work and you eventu-ally add the person to your list,reluctantly and wondering if the person is real or unreal.

Nevertheless, you are sooverwhelmed when everyoneon your friends’ list makes asincere effort to scrap a wishon your birthday. Nothing

wrong in saying these are “An-noyingly Funny”.

Anita Clementina, Cognizant

Mistaken identity! An unknown and mistaken

identity opened the doors of friendship. I was lucky to find

one of my best pals a year ago.To what I was before and to

what I am today I owe it to thisbuddy. It all started with a mis-taken identity and the friend-ship grew with mails and daily SMSes. Today I have a shoul-der to share my joys and sor-rows. There’s never been a day

where we missed making a call.Thanks a lot, Raji.

Senthil, Wipro

Fraanship request When I first heard about Or-

kut, I was hesitant about join-ing it as Internet security issues

always haunted me.But my curiosity got over my

fear to take a look at how it works. And in no time I got intouch with so many of my

school friends, most of whom Ilost touch.

The long wait for my joining date thanks to recession gotme to explore Facebook, too. Igot active with two-three com-munities, this after carefully monitoring the people whopost in these forums. I haveeven met some of these onlinefriends, though I was nervousinitially.

One such friend whom I gotis Ramya. She is also a twin likeme and we have so many com-mon hobbies. She has beenthere for me during my toughtimes. Even if we don’t talk dai-

ly or meet regularly, we know what’s happening in each oth-er’s lives and are always therefor each other. I also know of acouple of friends where the

friendship has changed lifepartners.

But, it’s very rare that youmeet nice people throughthese sites. There are people

who’ll irritate by scrapping youor sending friendship requests(actually its fraanship re-quest!!).

Personally for me, Orkut hasbeen a great source of commu-nication between me and my friends.

B. Soundarya, Cognizant

I am socialRead on to know how each of

the social networking siteshave added spice to my life

Linkedin.com – It’s here where I get good consulting/insights on business and work

free of costTwitter – It’s the formula to

become popularBlog – A writers land for sureOrkut – This is mainly for

those I know on a personal lev-el.

It’s also where people (girls)encounter “can we be friends”scraps – the only bug in orkut

Facebook – A cool applica-tions to play with

Digg – Get all the bizarre in-formation you want to see/hear is available.

Girish Mahadevan

Ergo readers write on their experience with friends on social networking sites

8/14/2019 Ergo July 31



How did Kanthasaamy come your way?

After doing the visual effects forKamal Haasan’s Dasavathaaram,

we got the lead for this movie butit was a challenge as it came froma big banner. Director Susibriefed us for one piece of visualeffects work. It took us twomonths to complete this partic-ular requirement and finally he

was convinced with the outputand of the fact that visual effects(VFX) are an effective alternative.

What unique visual effectshave you incorporated in themovie?

The movie is based on a super-hero story and this could nothave been done without VFX. It

was an integral part of the story.There are a lot of fantasy ele-ments, surreal scenes and plenty of green screen shots, whichhelped us achieve the final look.

Around 1,500 shots of VFX, muchmore than an average movie(which has about 200-300 VFX shots), have been used.

What were the challenges faced?

We had to create a scene of acornfield located near an IT park.

This was quite difficult to accom-plish realistically as there wereday and night scenes. So we hadto add 3D buildings in the back-ground in addition to the realbuildings and recreate them forthe night scene as well.

For the first time, we made amale actor feminine, in a se-quence where Vikram appearsdressed as a woman. It took us a

while figuring out how to do itbut it was not an impossible task.

We used skin-grafting techniquesby using heroine Shriya’s skin tosoften his face. We also toneddown his muscles and made himslimmer by around 20 per cent.

Quite a few different techniques were used to get the required ef-fect. Like any other movie, there

were last-minute changes, new requirements by the team to bedelivered in short deadlines. Butthe whole team headed by my

wife Sanjana, technical head of the company, handled it brilliant-ly.

How was it working with theKanthasaamy crew?

Initially, there was a lot of con-fusion about certain scenes

where the scenes were shot inmultiple locations and had to be

assembled into one seamlessscene. But Susi had a clear visionand this helped us a lot. Be it bal-loon lights for the night shoots or

even massive green screens a

corn field in Theni, the protion team comprising art direThota Tharani, director of tography Ekambaram and ducer Kalai Puli Thanu discu

with us each shot and also ported us with all the requments with regards to VFX.

Your views on the currentscenario of the visual effeindustry in Kollywood…

Filmmakers have startedrecognise the potential of vieffects and are open to exploit. Extensive usage of visuafects can also reduce the buof a movie. ■

Vikram’sfemale getup

and other

highlights in

Susi

Ganesan’s

Kanthasaamy

are the talk

of K Town. It

is not just makeup that

has done the

magic also

the special

effects by

Movin Stilz.

Harish,

creative

director of

the company,throws light

on the

special visual

effects and

his journey

through

Kanthasaamy

DEEPA VENKATRAMAN

AROUND 1,500

SHOTS OF VFX,

MUCH MORE THAN

AN AVERAGE MOVIE

(WHICH HAS ABOUT

200-300 VFX SHOTS),

HAVE BEEN USED

Wish and it shall come true

STEADY

CLIMBSet up in 2007First claim to fame wasDasavathaaramUpcoming project is VijayPrabhakar’s Thasai InnaitheChudinam and NandhiniArts’ Nee Inru Naan Illai afew othersTalks are on of tying upwith a television company

Harish Vijayakumar, Creative director, andSanjana Rajendran, technical headof Movin Stilz. PHOTO: S.S. KUMAR

8/14/2019 Ergo July 31


A brace from lanky Abhishek

Yadav gave the visiting In-dian team their first win onSpanish soil late Wednes-

day night. The Indians, who areout on a month-long exposuretrip to Barcelona, won their sec-ond practice game, downing localfourth division side AE Prat 2-0.

The Indians came out in fullthrottle and the makeshift for-

ward pairing of skipper Baichung Bhutia and Sushil Singh showed

some urgency and combined wellto create problems in the rival de-fence. The duo produced a few half chances with Bhutia eventesting the keeper with a long-ranger a quarter of an hourinto the match.

Throwing in a sur-prise of his own andmuch to the relief of the players the refereecalled for a waterbreak in the 22ndminute. The match wasplayed in four quarters in-stead of the usual two halves, anecessity considering the heat

wave Barcelona is facing this year.

The hosts looked a little moreenergised after the mini-break and came close to scoring theopener 10 minutes to the interval.The Indians were lucky to scram-ble out from a goalmouth raidand both sides went into thebreak on a deadlock.

Like the first game, Indiancoach Bob Houghton went in

with a new setup of players forthe second session, replacing his

whole team except goalie SubrataPaul. Govin Singh and Jagpreet

Singh got their first feel of matchplay on this tour and looked atease combining well with Mehra-

juddin Wadoo in midfield.The reserves were actually a

step or two ahead of their regularcounterparts – Syed Rahim Nabiand Yadav looked lethal upfront

with a steady burst of pace.Senior internationals Renedy

Singh and Dipak Mandal toocombined well down the leftflank and most of India’s attacksgenerated from that side. Show-ing a tendency to hold on to theball and playing short passes, adeparture from the long-ball tac-tics of the last game, the visitorsdominated possession for mostpart of the last 45 minutes.

“We were playing too many long and aerial passes during thefirst game. And the big bodiedand taller Spaniards wereeasily dealing with it.

These guys have a huge headvantage over our boys andhave to account for that,” coHoughton said.

They were paid for their work in the 60th minute wheMohanraj’s long clearance picked up by Nabi, who playto Renedy, and the veteran mfielder’s cross was headed in

Yadav to give India the leadEleven minutes later, on

other side of another mini-brthe former Mumbai FC forw

who is yet to find a club, douhis and India’s tally whenheaded in a Mondal cross.

India played out the rest ogame in a relatively easier temStill, Yadav came close to scohis hattrick way into the five mutes of injury-time. But he rowly missed the flight of a G

centre again from the lethe 94th minute. ■

After a lacklustredraw in their first

practice game inBarcelona, Indianscome good in

the second ERGO CORRESPONDENT

[email protected]

Abhishek Yadav

PHOTO: S. PATRONOBISH

Target practiceSaina diagnosedwith chickenpoxChicken pox has rendered Saina Nehwaldoubtful for next month’s World BadmintonChampionship even though the ace shuttlerremains hopeful of competing in the high-profile event at her home town Hyderabad.

Saina, who wonthe ArjunaAward onWednesday, hasbeen sufferingfrom mild feversince Saturdayand it wasdiagnosed withchicken pox onWednesfay and

advisedcomplete bedrest for thenext few days.“I have beensuffering fromfever sinceSaturday butthen I sawsome

pockmarks appearing on the skin. Initially Ithought it must be pimples or boils but inthe last couple of days some morepockmarks developed and I had this itchyfeeling,” Saina said from Hyderabad.“So we decided to see the doctor, whoconfirmed that I have chicken pox. I havebeen advised complete rest for the next 4-5days and then we’ll see how it goes,” she

added. PTI


Sport06

False start for IndiaIndian hockey team began their Europetour on a losing note, suffering a 1-3 defeatagainst England in the rain-soaked openingencounter of the three-match Test series.After an opening ceremony that includedthe Lord Mayor of Birmingham meeting thetwo teams, the match got off amidtorrential rain late on Wednesday night andEngland got off to a perfect start with agoal inside 60 seconds when Ben Hawes’effort went in off Ajitesh Roy’s stick.Two minutes later England earned their first

of 10 penalty corners but Ashley Jackson’seffort was well charged down by the firstrunner Vikram Pillay. India recovered soonand responded in kind, earning their firstpenalty corner six minutes later. GurwinderSingh Chandi’s pass found its way toDhananjay Mahadik, courtesy V.S. Vinaya’sdummy, and the Indian army man flicked itpowerfully across James Fair and inside thepost to equalise. England took the leadagain in the 18th minute after setting thefoundations from their fourth penaltycorner. At the fag end, Richard Smith madesure of an English victory when he smashedhome from beyond the penalty spot off acorner rebound in the 68th minute. Thesecond Test will be played on Friday at theUniversity of Birmingham.

PTI

Sharapova advancesMaria Sharapova rolled over fellow Russian Nadia Petrova 6-1, in the second round of the US$ 700,000 Bank of the West Classon Wednesday. Former world number one Sharapova needed juover an hour to beat current world number 10 Petrova.

8/14/2019 Ergo July 31



‘‘Irfan is talented but he never had the class of Kapil or Akram. All the comparisons early on meant he was playinunder immense pressure. That wrecked his bowling and confidence. Many have started doubting his abilities and

fitness now but they should have thought earlier if he was capable of being all he was touted to be. The intention inkeeping him out of the probables list is to give him a jolt.

Maninder S

A lmost as dominating and

with every possible batting record under her belt, Mith-ali Raj is correctly called the

Sachin Tendulkar of women’scricket. A comparison she admitsto enjoy a lot.

“I know about the title and it isan honour. But it puts up addedpressure too,” she says. “I under-stand that every time I go out tobat they expect me to score. So-metimes I fail to overcome thepressure. But again, I have alwaysgiven my 100 per cent on thefield.”

Like Tendulkar, she too baskedin the limelight very early in hercareer, scoring a mammoth 214against England during the secondTest in Taunton in 2002 when she

was just 19. At the time it was thehighest Test score by a batswoman

(Kiran Baluch later scored 242against West Indies in March 2004)and even now she proudly occu-pies the second spot. “I didn’teven think I was good enough tohit a century. A double was just adream and I think that changedmy career,” the trained Bharatana-tyam dancer says.

A lesson or two from her classi-cal foray in her early years might

well have helped her become aclassic bat for which she is known

world over. “At least, I am nimbleon my feet. Maybe all that dancing during childhood has something to do with it,” she acknowledges.

Mithali matured on to becomethe mainstay of Indian batting along with former skipper AnjumChopra, whom she succeededbriefly before handing over thereigns to present incumbent Jhu-lan Goswami. At just 26 she is oneof the senior-most in a relatively

young team and has taken over

the mantle well. “Most of the girlsare very young and it’s our job toguide them through. The three of us are the unofficial think-tank and fortunately we get along wellcontrary to all the running ru-mours,” Mithali clarifies. Mediaglare hasn’t even spared this formof the game and rumours were rife

with a tiff between her and Jhulanduring the just-concluded T20

World Cup. It was said that Mithali was not too pleased batting lowerdown the order and was keen onopening the innings but was notgiven a chance by the skipper. “InT20s you have to innovate and attimes your best players should bepromoted up to get the maximumtime,” she says. “But we are play-ing it only off late and will taketime to get our strategies right.”

But she is quick to recognise thesudden adulation the women’sgame is getting because of the si-multaneous running of both the

men’s and women’s game during the last T20 World Cup in England.“Playing the semi-finals as a cur-tain raiser for the men’s game wasa huge experience. We have hardly seen packed grounds before andthe game was telecast live eve-rywhere,” Mithali recalls. “I wish

we had qualified for the final. Would have played at Lord’sthen.”

The Indian Railways employeehas her focus set on the next T20championships in the West Indiesand feels the team should play more of the shorter version of thegame to adapt quickly. “I think thebest way for women’s cricket to goforward is adopt T20 readily. Testmatches in our circle are far in-between and One-Dayers are get-ting out of sync,” she says. “A few more T20s will keep us in goodshape and our first trip to the Ca-ribbean isles may turn out to be amemorable one.” ■

AYON [email protected]

No rife, no catfightMithali Raj on the rumoured friction with skipper Jhulan Goswami, secret behind her footwork, and T20

8/14/2019 Ergo July 31



Portfolio

08

Emporio Armani

Riccardo Tisci for Givenchy

Jean-Paul Gaultier John Richmond

Dries Van Noten

Antonio Marras for Kenzo

Prada

Louis Vuitton

Christian Lacroix

Riccardo Tisci for Givenchy

Formal shortsThese singularly dominated the 2009-2010 Spring/Summer menswear fashion weeks inMilan and Paris. While shorts are no new invention, this season saw a more formal twist,paired as they were with suits, blazers, collared shirts and jackets.

Trophy jacketsBling is in, as far as jackets are concernehouse of Givenchy, with Armani, Christia

Highest

se se

p

e

emfr sgre pt

pa snunEo

trloc

8/14/2019 Ergo July 31



Giorgio Armani Prive

D&G

Giorgio Armani

Koushik Ghosh and PritiBansal

Alexis Mabille

Lefranc.Ferrant

Christian Lacroix

Riccardo Tisci for Givenchy Karl Lagerfeld for Chanel

est trophy jackets came from thelce & Gabbana not far behind.

ommon denominators

Compiled by Shalini Shah.

PHOTOS: AFP

MonochromeThe monochrome trend isn’t fading off yet. Black and white remained favourite at ArmaniPrive, Chanel, Lacroix, Lefranc.Ferrant, Alexis Mabille and Josep Font.

8/14/2019 Ergo July 31



Flick

10

Hollywood star BradPitt, who has apenchant formotorbikes and hasa huge collection ofthem, has addedanother to his fleet.The new entrant is aheavily customisedChrome bikesporting a metalseat, reporteddailymail.co.uk. Pitt’scollection includes aDucati DesmosediciRR, a Monster 696and a selection ofHarley-Davidsons. ■

IANS

After dating a fire fighterand actors, model-turned-actress Megan Fox is lookingforward to date a geek. The23-year-old revealed thatshe is scared of being singleafter splitting from herfiancé Brian Austin Greenand now wants to get into arelationship with a nerdyguy, reported dailystar.co.uk .“They are more appreciativeof what you do,” she said.Earlier she was linked toDavid Gallagher and before

joining Hollywood she wasdating Ben Leahy, a firefighter.

IANS

Samir Nair, CEO of NDTV Imagine, says that the policecomplaint filed against itemgirl Rakhi Sawant and five

others linked to the reality show “Rakhi Ka Swayamvar” for infrin-gement of copyright won’t affectthe live telecast of the wedding Sunday.

“We’re telecasting the marriagedeferred - live (minutes after ac-tual shooting) and we don’t an-ticipate any trouble. This guy from Jaipur (Gaurav Tiwari) fileda case against us in a district

court.They passed an order againsthim. Then he moved to the highcourt. His case was dismissedfrom there,” Nair said.

“Now he has filed a criminalcase against us. Our legal team islooking into it as we speak.Strange that the case has gonefrom civil to criminal. This guy runs a portal and claims he ownsthe word ‘swayamvar’. It’s likeme claiming I own the word Ra-mayan or Mahabharat. There’sshadi-com. So we can’t do soap

with the word shaadi?”The show “Rakhi Ka Swayam-

var”, through which Rakhi decid-ed to find her life partner, is on itslast leg now. She will be tying the

knot with her chosen groom Sun-day in the presence of family,friends as well as officials fromthe channel. ■

IANS

NDTV Imagine head sees no obstacleto the item girl’s wedding

Brad Pitt addsbike to his collection

Megan Fox wantsto date a geek

RAKHI KA

SWAYAMVAR

8/14/2019 Ergo July 31



Michael Jackson’s chef has shed light on theevents that took placein the late singer’s LA

home during his last moments.Kai Chase, the pop legend’s

professional chef has spokenabout Dr. Conrad Murray’s ac-tivities at the house, who is ap-parently emerging as a primesuspect in the investigation.

She claimed that she almosteveryday saw the doctor comedownstairs carrying oxygentanks from the icon’s room,but on the unfortunate day hedid not and she “thoughtmaybe Mr. Jackson is sleeping late.”

“I started preparing thelunch and then I looked at my cell phone and it was noon.

About 12:05 or 12:10 Dr. Mur-ray runs down the steps andscreams, ‘Go get Prince!’ He’sscreaming very loud,” the Tele-

graph quoted her as telling inan interview.

She narrated: “I run into the

den where the kids are playing.Prince (Jackson’s oldest son)runs to meet Dr Murray andfrom that point on you couldfeel the energy in the housechange.

“I walked into the hall and Isaw the children there. Thedaughter was crying. I saw pa-ramedics running up the stairs.

We were all praying, ‘Help MrJackson be OK.’ Then everyone

was very quiet.”The use of oxygen tanks by

the personal physician and itspurpose did not make sense toher as she claimed she saw nosign that Jackson was on drugsor was in failing health.

The facts could be incrimi-nating for Murray whose houseand office have been raided by drugs enforcement agents.

The late King of Pop report-edly wanted Chase to travel

with him to London for his O2concert.

In fact she said his 12-year-old son, Prince Michael II, per-sonally made the request toher.

She recalled: “Prince said,‘Daddy wants me to tell you he

wants you to go to London with us’,” I said, “Tell your dad-dy that I’m pleased and hon-oured.” ■

ANI

MJ’s last moments

The late Kingof Popreportedlywanted Chaseto travel withhim to Londonfor his O2concert

Chef Kai Chase sheds light on theevents that took place in the late

singer’s LA home

Rahman’s son turns singerChennai Mozart A.R. Rahman’s son Alim entersHollywood by crooning a song for the flick CouplesRetreat . Alim completed his recording last week.The film, touted to be a romantic comedy, isRahman’s first complete Hollywood venture. It is

said that Rahman’s children have lent their voice fothe chorus sections of a few songs, most notably‘Dhinam Dhinam Deepavali’ in Varalaaru.

Tragedy strikes Raavan

team againDirector Mani Ratnam’s magnum opus Raavan hasalready been delayed over a couple of months dueto some unfortunate incidents, one being thedirector himself being hospitalised following aheart attack. Now what we hear is that a wildelephant entered the shooting spot in Chalakudy,Kerala, and trampled a team member. The entireteam, including Aishwarya Rai and AbhishekBachchan, have been camping there for a coupleof weeks.

Shiantology!Shia LaBeouf is no longer a Hollywood actor - he has become God! Theactor’s fans have started a fictional religion called ‘Shiantology’. And thecrazy followers of the Transformers star have accepted him as the Messiahof the religion. They have even set up a website with mock-up pictures ofShia as Jesus Christ, the Sun reports

Cine City

8/14/2019 Ergo July 31



Deepa from HCL Technologies has nominated her friends as Partners inCrime. This pic was clicked in Pookkkot lake at Wayanad in Kerala.

Rajasekar from Sutherland Global Services has nominated his friends asPartners in Crime. This pic was clicked during their team outing inMunnar.

Umadevi P. from TCS group has nominated her friends as Partners inCrime. The picture was clicked during their Kodaikanal Trip.

Lolith from CSS Corp has nominated his friends as Partners in Crime. Thispic was taken during the 7th anniversary celebrations of their project atGRT Temple bay, Mahabalipuram.

Gowrisankar from Perot Systems has nominated his team members asPartners in Crime. This picture was taken in munnar during their teamouting,

Devi Kandasamy from HOV Services has nominated her friends as Partnersin Crime. This picture was clicked at Manimuthar Falls at Tirunelveli.

8/14/2019 Ergo July 31



1.Man-1: Namma thalaivar yaen jump panni practice pan-nuraaru?

Man-2: Arasiyal katchi-la saera poradhukku-dhaan...

2.Man-1: Makkal yellorum paarkura padam, aanaa T.V.channel, cinema theatre-la podadha padam, adhu yenna?

Man-2: Kalapadam...

3.Man-1: Yedha vachu andha pair-i lovers illa-nnu solrae?Man-2: Andha pair-i naan yendha park / beach / cinema

theatre-layum paarthadhillayae... Mohamed Yusufdeen J

HCL Technologies Ltd

■ Dear Gopinath,Tis is 2 wish u a vry happy birthday!May Godbless u in all ur endeavours! Tons of wishes!

Friends, New Age Software & Solutions.■ Hey AshyIf there’s something that u’re dreaming ofthen may it all come true, HAPPY BIRTHDAY.Wishing u all the great things in life, Keep

Rocking DUDe!! LoL. ! Pooja

■ Atmeeya Mitra Malatesha nige,"Janma Dinada Hardika Shubhashayagalu"Nimma ella kanasugalu nanasagali.. :) NimmaJeevana Swati... Muttinante Holeyali..

Snehapoorva Guru, Sunil, Uday,

Chakki, Gururaja, Raghu, Pradeep

■ Dear Divya,

Best wishes for a happy married life !! Havea blissful life ahead, Don’t forget to give us

the treat. God bless u always! Regards, Santo

■ Dear Manikandan …I wish u a long and healthy life with lots ofhappiness forever with god’s grace, May this

spl day be filled with sweet memories.....:)With cheers J, Krish, Joe, Pallu , mom and dad

■ Happy 61st Birthday Dad (A.C.Vasudevan)!I find myself wondering. Did I give u ur due.For all tat u’ve done 4me Did I evr thank u?If I hav forgotten, I’m thanking u nw.I hop uknow how much you’re lovd. Happy Birthday,

Dad. Love Gayathri. V Hexaware

■ Dear Hari,Many more Happy Returns of the Day! Youare a wonderful and fun loving person to be

with. Have a blessed year dear spiky!With tons of love Loky, Prabhu, Antony, Ravikanth,

Joseph, Lima, Hema, James, Barry, Annie, Lydi,Vandy, Sreeni, Leena & all your dear Allsec friends

■ Dear Sravani,Many happy returns of the day. May godbless u. All the best for everythin in ur life.ndays be filled wit rainbow colours of joy. tons

n tons of wishes to u !your friends n wellwishers.

■ Dear MuthuKumaran Ardhanary,Many More happy returns of the day. We rwishing u a very happy birthday. Njoi theBirthday with ur family!!! Happy Birthday

By PORTAL Team Members.

■ Hi Lalitha,How do u expect us to remember yourbirthday, when u never look any older?Happy Birthday Dear. May you blessed with a

wonderful year ahead! Cheers, KK, Viji, Manju,

Sivakami, Selvam, Senthil. TCS - Siruseri

Belated Wishes■ Poo Akka,ivlo naal apdiyae velaila romba busy a irukamaari nadichadhu podhum.inaikavadhunaanga koopta odanae respond panungavera onnum illa happy birthday solla dhan:)

with kgs of love kandupudinga..

■ Hi, May god smile upon ur face and giftyou with everything that ur heart desiresnow & always! HAPPY BIRTHDAY PAVITHRA

By, UBH team, Cognizant Technology Solutions

■ Dear Gayathiri,Sorry for not wishing for ur birthday at righttime. Happy Birthday da. Wish u all successand keep smiling always. Take care my dear

friend. By, Kalaichelvan Patni Comp

Advance WishesDear Pushparaj,And the peace of God, which passeth all

understanding, shall keep your hearts andminds through Christ Jesus. B’Day Wishes

from HCL Teradyne Team & Sam Jasper S

■ Hi Ramah,U greeted all of us through ergo. But on urbirthday (Aug 2), v will not be gettingprinted version of our ergo. So AdvanceBirthday Wishes! Happy Birthday:)

Best wishes, Navanee, Ravi, Madhi, Suresh, CT

■ Dear Physcie (RajaGuru)Growing old is like being increasinglypenalized for a crime u have nt committed.Inside every older person is a younger perso- wondering what the hell happened to u.Happy Birthday:)

Your’s lovingly Manjunath, Rajkumar, Kathir, Bal

Rajesh (TCS) Ragavan (CTS) Arun (Chola DBVarun (cisco) Pathi(Microsoft) Mathan(Planetsof

Bhoo, Ra

■ Dear SMAKrish and friends wish u a long and healthylife with lots of happiness forever. May thisspl day be filled with sweet memories withour warm wishes!!! Best wishes frm , Krish, shaf

sashi, sanju, mahe, mani, mom and da

■ Dear Devasena,May u hav all the joy ur heart can hold, Allthe smiles a day can bring, All the blessings life can unfold, May u hav Gods best in

everything. Happy Birth. With Loads of wisheContainer Centralen Team, TC

■ Dear Srimathi,Wat a joy it is to send these Birthdaygreetings to someone like u; May life showeon u special happiness and grant u all de

things u desire. May u Live All Days ofur LifeHappy Birthda

Wishes, Container Centralen, TC

■ Dear GaneshMany More Happy Returns of the DayGANESH S. May God bless u with good

health and future". With Love, Pratheesh. H

Ganesan R, Leo, Rosario, Devi and Lakshma

Technosoft Global Services Pvt., Lt

■ Dear Lavanya and LokeshThe meeting of 2 personalities is like thecontact of 2 chemical substances: if there isany reaction, both are transformed. U hd thaction so called Love and it resulted in thereaction so called marriage. Adv Happy

Married Life!!! Best wishes from a Musketee

(Santhosh,Vignesh,Vengatesh)-T

■ Hi Siva Shyam Kumar mogili,Advance Heartfull & Cheerfull wishes for

your Birth Day. May god bless u and urdreams come true.Team - Billing Cable & Wireless. Wip

■ Hi SivaGuru,I wish u a sweet and wonderful birthday!May each day to come make you feel happythan B4. U are my best friend in the world

Thanks, Ammbiga Ponnusamy UST Glob

■ Dear Bacchu,Beauty of togetherness is two of the mostcommonly used words when broughttogether elicit feelings which are so rare.

Such is the beauty of togetherness. Hap

Birthday Crocodile Tata Consultancy Servic

■ Dear Rajesh,Iniya pirandha naal vaazhthukkal da:) Maythis special day be filled with sweetmemories, fun and excitement. Have a

colorful life ahead:) Enjoyyy

Urs, Mani, Viji, Saras & Maha Infos

Vijay of Honeywell Auto-mation India Ltd, Kilpauk has been nominated asOffice Angel by hiscolleagues.

Vijay is an over sincere

and proficient person.

Though people run away when he starts his speech,

his words make sense

sometimes. He deserves to

be an office angel because of his loyalty, sincerity,

dignity and chivalry.

Sreekanth P.S.of WiproTechnologiesdoodled this.

He has dedicated

this doodle to his

grandmother who

passed away on July 31 last year.

This was her favourite of all

that Sreekanth

drew.

8/14/2019 Ergo July 31



Traffic Jam

14

Printed and Published by S. Karthik on behalf ofKASTURI & SONS LTD., at Plot B-6 & B-7,CMDA Industrial Complex, Maraimalai Nagar,Chengleput Taluk, Kancheepuram Dist., Pin:603209 & at Kasturi Buildings, 859 & 860,Anna Salai, Chennai-600002. Editor: S. Karthik(Editor responsible for selection of news underthe PRB Act). RNI No. TNENG/2007/24553

TEAMEditor: Karthik [email protected]

Sr Dy Chief Designer: J.A. Prem KumarDy Chief Designer: R. Ravi KannanIllustrator: R. Venugopal

Technical Support:V.R. Vasudevan, K.G. GurumurthyN. Ravichandran, E. Baskar

ADVERTISING ENQUIRIES:Contact: 2857 5757

E-mail: [email protected]

Website: www.goergo.in

Head of Circulation:M.G.M. [email protected]

SNAIL MAIL

859/860, Anna Salai,Chennai - 600 002mail your feedback [email protected]

FAX 2857 6691

sudoku

KAKURO

Trick to avoid churchIn an attempt to avoid going to church, a seven-year-old boy sta car and led police on chase that ended when the child parkedthe car in a driveway and ran inside a home.

VIjay KumarSukhlecha from3i-infotechhas shot thispicture inUdaipur,Rajasthan

using Sony cybershot

w-95camera.

So you think you would make a terrific photographer but never really had the platform? Mail us your best work and we’ll publish it in this space, with credit.E-mail: [email protected]

8/14/2019 Ergo July 31



B.C

BORN LOSER

FREE RANGE WORKING IT OUT

PREVIOUS

ISSUE’S

SOLUTIONS

ARIES MARCH 21 - APRIL 20

TAURUS APRIL 21 - MAY 20

GEMINI MAY 21 - JUNE 20

CANCER JUNE 21 - JULY 20

LEO JULY 21 - AUG 20

VIRGO AUG 21 - SEPT 20

LIBRA SEPT 21 - OCT 20

SCORPIO OCT 21 - NOV 20

SAGITTARIUS NOV 21 - DEC 20

CAPRICORN DEC 21 - JAN 20

AQUARIUS JAN 21 - FEB 20

PISCES FEB 21 - MARCH 20

Predictions by Bhavesh N. Pa

You may be very assertive today, says Ganesha.Because of your boosted self-esteem today you mbehave a little differently with others. However, yare suggested to be as polite and as easygoing possible with your superiors.

Others can be jealous of your progress on theprofessional front. This includes everyone startingfrom a friend to relative or even your colleague. not your day so better to refrain from argumentswith others.

It may be a demanding day at work front, feels

Ganesha. You may be dealing with some compleissues but as your technical mind is highly activetoday, you will be able to demystify and findresolution to persistent problems.

You may be very resourceful today, hence everyoaround you may seek your help and guidelines.Knowledge and in-depth understanding of thesubject is your power today. Ganesha suggests yto use it to your benefit.

You would be in a mood to discuss ’bottom linewith whomsoever you interact today, but sometimit doesn’t work that way. At work, you might hato indulge into discussions and contemplations inorder to find solutions to some issues.

You may enter office with a mood to finish off amajor part of your job as quickly as possible.

Ganesha finds you inclined towards research basactivities. You may be in a mood to do somethinradically different.

Money matters will be ruling your mind so whileputting in lot of effort at workplace, you mayconstantly compare efforts and gains. You areadvised to avoid harsh speech while talking toothers at office and even at home.

Ganesha foresees you dealing with everything veconfidently. If you are head of technical departmyou may feel very much responsible than usual.Your concern for technical issues may be high byou will be able to solve all the problems.

’There is no point in running after a mirage’, thiwhat you may feel today. Ganesha finds youbecoming extra sensitive about things that you a

unable to solve or handle. It’s a stressful day onwhole.

You may be in a mood to knit every aspect relato your work very carefully. In personal life, youmight have to allow some tolerance as expectatifor perfection may lead to differences between yand your partner, warns Ganesha.

People holding similar designation as yours may jealous of you. Alternatively, you may havedifferences with them. You may need to controlyour temperament in order to maintain goodinter-personal relations at office.

It is a favourable day for you so you are likely totake everything very easy. Desire to do somethincreative and extra-ordinary will be very high. Yomay not be willing to take risks and may desire play as safe as possible.

Word’s worthQuaestuary (kwess-choo-err-ee) an adjectivemeaning ‘money making.’ Look for this word toshow up in spam email any minute now.

Diver saved by whaleA diver was rescued by a beluga whale aftersuffering from leg cramps. The whale reachedthe bottom of the aquarium and pushed thediver to the top.

8/14/2019 Ergo July 31



In less than a few hours, ourlast print edition goes toprint. And the single mostdifficult decision to take at

this point is what story to runand what to retain for the on-

line edition. It feels as if the bestway to work, and if I philoso-phise a bit and extend it to lifeas well, is to treat each day asyour last. (That by the way is noway inspired by that Nickelbacksong on your best friend’sadvice.)

I had decided to do away withfeeling soppy and writing emo-tional stuff about all the strug-gles we faced to put this tabloidtogether. Not because I can’tsound soppy – ask my friends,they know I can be a real dramaqueen – but the fact remainsthat we have had a lot of fun inputting it together. An overtlyemotional farewell to the print

product will only be unfair tothe memories of the fun we hadin putting it together.

We started our print run onDecember 10, 2007. But the coreteam has been involved withthe product from the days it wason the drawing board. Thebrainstorming sessions and thechatter on how Ergo shouldshape up consumed a goodthree months at least before wehit the ground running.

Unlike the efforts involved inrunning online operations thatwe will concentrate upon he-reafter, launching the printproduct was a more elaborateexercise because of all the cogs

and levers involved. It was ablessing that we had on boardyoung yet experienced journal-ists who had an idea on whatwould work and what wouldnot.

There were 10 of us at thetime of our launch – Vijay Par-thasarathy (the then deputy edi-tor), C.Divya Meenakshi, PetleePeter, Abirami Muthukrishnan,Shalini Shah, Liffy Thomas, R.Ra-vindran (photographer), MithraSuresh and Ayon Sengupta. Nid-hi Thomas joined us in February,

and S.Sreejith, V.Haripriya andFrancis Barclay in March. Pho-tographer S.S.Kumar on loanfrom The Hindu.Through thefirst year of running, we had thebest numbers in terms of con-

tributors.Ergo also benefitedconsiderably through contribu-tions from our student report-ers: Anusha Parthasarathy,Monisha Mohandas, VipashaSinha, Nandhini Ramkumar,V.Lokpria, Rini Mukkath, S.Mad-humita, Archana Thiagarajan,Swetha Ganesan, K.Malathi andTharini Viswanath. We also hada freelance contributor in Dee-pa Venkatraman and our twoindustry ‘insiders’ – Uturn car-toonist Arun and Roadster co-lumnist Vikram Sunderraj – whocontributed regularly to keepthe tabloid abuzz.

While the responsibility ofproducing the content and

packaging the product fell onthe full-time and part-time jour-nalists, designing it was the re-sponsibility of our SeniorDeputy Chief Designer J. PremKumar and Deputy Chief De-signer R.Ravi Kannan. It in-volved extensive preparation oftemplates and design guides. Aspecial mention here for RaviKannan to have come up withclose to 50 mastheads for Ergo.We eventually zeroed in on thecurrent masthead because theadvertising and marketing teamfelt that the blue and red com-bination was sure to garner theattention – it was like combin-ing the best of the world of the

colas.The design of the tabloidwas further boosted by regularcontributions from two youngdesigners – S.Kannan Sundarand Prathap Kumar. Our illus-trator R.Venugopal came upcaricatures that brought thepages to life.

On the technical side, wewere supported by V.R. Vasude-van, K.G. Gurumurthy, N. Rav-ichandran and E. Baskar.

While it is going to be impos-sible to make a mention of near-ly every person who has been

involved with the birth andgrowth of Ergo, it is my duty tothank all those at The Hindu’spress facility at Maraimalai Na-gar and many others from thecirculation department, who

toiled through the night to en-sure that the tabloid reachedyou.

A big thank you for Shanka-ranna for all the lemon tea thatkept us warm while we warmedthe chairs.

As we step into the purely on-line world, most of my teammembers are heading off toroles in other departments ofThe Hindu and its supplements.Do keep an eye open for all ofthem who kept you informedand entertained over the pastyear and a half.

Some of the columns – FirstInnings, Made in Chennai, Win-dow Shopper, Too Good for

Critics – will continue online. Weare also working on some brandnew content that should augurwell with the online audience.We are also working on the fin-ishing touches for a site revampthat must improve the onlineexperience considerably.

We have been flooded withrequests to continue with ourreader contribution columns –partners in crime, clickpick, doo-dle corner and mokkai of theday – on the website too. Theambition is to make www.goer-go.in a true web 2.0 offering.Follow the developments on ourtwitter feed –

www.twitter.com/goergo.

Send us your feedback and sug-gestions [email protected].

It has been great fun knowingyou all. Ergo, our associationwill continue.

Karthik SubramanianEditorErgocontact: [email protected]

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