Monday was set to be a big day for PONLAIT—a brand-new milk parlour, ready-to-eat chapatis, and two MLAs en route for the grand opening. Decorations were up, everything was ready. But then came a twist from above — or more precisely, from the chief minister’s office. Turns out, the stars weren’t aligned.
Quite literally. In a last-minute astrological intervention, CM N Rangasamy, known for his faith in the cosmos, declared the day inauspicious. And just like that, the chapatis went cold, and the decorations came down faster than you could say “horoscope”. The MLAs, halfway to the venue, were told to turn back. The event? Postponed to Friday—when the stars, apparently, will be kinder.
Payday gone astray
Several employees working under Samagra Shiksha (SS) were shocked when their September salaries were not deposited into their accounts at the end of the month. Frustrated, many of them bombarded senior state officials with messages, asking them when they would get paid.
However, the tragic twist was that many of the employees got replies from the higher-ups which stated that they were also suffering without salaries and were in the same boat.
Adding to it, the employees said that the school education minister during a meeting had asked them to “cooperate” with the state as the centre is yet to release funds under SS. What they didn’t realise then was that “cooperation” meant putting up with not getting salaries on time.
Heat hike havoc
Sunday’s air show wasn’t just about planes in the sky — tempers were flying high on the ground too. With the heat in full swing, many in the crowd were left light-headed. The real stunt of the day, though, was the hunt for water, which became almost as exciting as the aerial show. Once the show ended, the drama shifted to the ground: traffic jams left people stranded for hours.
Thirsty and exhausted, the crowd had no choice but to pay double or even triple for water bottles, thanks to opportunistic vendors. Auto drivers joined the action too. One demanded Rs 500 for a 1.5 km trip from two women, shouting until they paid up. Others were charging similarly outrageous rates for short trips.
And the Greater Chennai Traffic Police? They were hard to find near the venue, but a team of three was spotted collecting fines from motorists — because they were on duty! In the end, it wasn’t just the planes that soared — water prices, auto fares, and tempers took flight too.
Trash cash splash
In 2021, the Tiruchy City Corporation had a bright idea: install ‘smart bins’ in areas generating huge amount of waste. These bins were supposed to be state-of-the-art, partially underground, with sleek vehicles ready to collect the trash. Impressive, right? Fast forward to 2022, and what arrived was far less futuristic.
What they got were about 20 bins with a foot lever to open the lid — no underground magic, nothing ‘smart’ about them. Now, these bins sit gathering dust on corporation plots, unused and unloved. When asked about these so-called smart bins, a senior official quipped, “I don’t know why the then officials called them smart. But I’ll say this: whether the bins are smart or not, the manufacturers definitely are — they got paid for delivering pretty useless bins.”