Power ladies in clash of posters

A poster war between two power ladies has Chennai riveted.

The first is rising DMK star Kanimozhi, who is featured in the publicity sheets in a north Indian attire that she wore at the swearing in of Pratibha Patil. She took her own oath as Rajya Sabha MP in a similar dress.

The posters are among the many signs in recent months that M. Karunanidhi’s daughter — who’s inherited her father’s literary flair — is scripting a new success story.

But in Chennai, you can never be smiling alone on the wall. Other pin-up aspirants can’t wait to enter the frame. The home truth caught up with 38-year-old DMK scion, too.

Within days, another set of posters sprouted across the cityscape. They featured a beaming Sowmya Anbumani, the wife of Union minister Anbumani Ramadoss, whose party PMK is a partner of the ruling DMK. She wasn’t alone in the posters. Her husband was also there.

Sowmya, in a Tamil sari, crows about how her father-in-law, PMK founder S. Ramadoss, has fought to save “Tamil culture”. Special mention is made of Makkal TV, the channel he set up to offer “wholesome” fare.”

Poised for electric prizes

Delhiites who forget to switch off fans or leave the iron plugged in long after their clothes have been pressed might not just be wasting power but also a reward.

After preaching power conservation for years, the Delhi government has finally decided to institute an award for the citizen who saves the most power by switching to compact fluorescent lamps.

The power department will appoint an office to calculate the electricity saved by residents who have switched to such lamps. “It will be called the calculation of carbon credits,” principal power secretary Rakesh Mehta said.

The power units utilised by an individual or an organisation per month — before and after the conversion to such lamps — will be calculated, Mehta said. The award, is still to be decided, but it promises to be good.

Entry bar in dress circle

There would not be too many occasions when a security guard is mistaken for a policeman or a defence personnel.

But Karnataka isn’t taking any chances. The state’s director-general of police recently issued an order banning security agencies from dressing up their men in military fatigues or in attires bearing a close resemblance to state police or paramilitary uniforms. K. Sreenivasan claims he was merely acting on the Centre’s circular banning military coloured uniforms worn by private security guards. But he enlarged the list by including the dress worn by his own force.

The circular has been sent to all district superintendents of police as well as commissioners of three cities in the state. Under Section 171 of the IPC, use of military attire by private individuals or groups is a punishable offence. It not only includes the dress, but caps, too. Offenders can be imprisoned up to three years.

Soft landing

Delhi will do all it can to ensure it has a swanky airport in time for the Commonwealth Games less than three years away.

Underground sewage channels will have to be dug afresh, water pipes relaid and power lines erected again to make way for a new runway — a key element of the makeover.

Delhi chief minister Sheila Dikshit has assured civil aviation minister Praful Patel of full cooperation in the job. Among the promises she made was one to get the residents of Shahbad village, near the airport, shifted.

An Indian Oil Corp pipeline, which might have gone crossed the runway under an earlier plan, will be diverted.

Delhi: Believe this, dance and mathematics have a lot in common. Dancer Prakriti Bhaskar presents her cross-rhythm dance form, Suddha Nritta, at the India International Centre auditorium on Wednesday at 6.30pm. It is an interactive presentation on the mathematics of the rhythm of dance.