Can IT cos clear the mess, literally

I was put up in a training yesterday and had to go to another branch of our organisation. The office is in Thoraipakkam - Pallavaram Road in an IT park in Chennai. As I was unsure about the location, I asked one of my friends and he said "Keep travelling in the Thoraipakkam - Pallavaram Road. The moment you close your nose due to bad smell, look at your right and you'll find the Tech Park". For once, he was not at all exaggerating. The half-a-minute before getting down was the worst in my recent past. Man, I can't even explain the intensity of the bad odor there.

Out of curiosity and sheer disgust, I inquired about the place and the reason for the odor. What I heard was shocking. It is said to be the unofficial dumping and burning place for half the city's litter. I even saw couple of dirt trucks unloading their precious merchandise in the area. An area of about 200m x 400m is used to dump the litter. This is just an eye measurement and the real dimensions could be more.

On doing a bit of googling, I found this article,
http://www.hindu.com/2007/04/21/stories/2007042117590100.htm

Highlights from original content,

April 21, 2007
A major portion of the Pallikaranai marshland in south Chennai has been declared a reserve forest area and brought under the Tambaram range of the Forest department, according to a draft notification issued on April 9.

....
With the department taking over the marshland, it would be possible to take stringent action against trespassers and those dumping and burning garbage there, the officials said. Provisions of the Tamil Nadu Forest Act and Wildlife Protection Act could be invoked against them. Pallikaranai is the 17th reserve forest area in the Tambaram Range, whose reserve forest area goes up to 5,627 hectares (about 14,000 acres).

I was very surprised to read this. It has mentioned that officers say it'd be possible to take stringent action against those burning garbage there. 8 months have passed and garbage is still burning. And it is pretty confusing that who is actually burning the garbage. I strongly feel it is the Chennai Corporation who is responsible for the garbage business. So will the forest department take action against the Corporation? I can't even give 1 in a million chance for that happening.

Meanwhile, There are at least a handful of top Indian IT companies having their offices near that place. They can pitch in some moolah and clear that mess. At least for their employees sake. That is, if they care about their employees in the first place.

Learn from ADs??

I have always thought that commercials serve only commercial purpose. If I look back, I am not the one to be blamed for that thought. The oldest ad I remember is of a tooth-powder. In a film shoot, the hero is about to deliver a romantic one-liner and the heroine closes her nose indicating the hero's mouth stinks. Nothing creative there. Well, 2 months before, there was a new Airtel ad. With King Khan as a Mobile Connection Sales person. He just rants about all the new plans his company is offering (in an idiotic accent) to another guy coming up an escalator. When the man reaches the top, he asks the rep to shut up. Focus shift and there you go, the other is guy is again, SRK. He then really rants about Airtel's new idiotic plan in King Khan's own style. I can't imagine how Airtel has produced such a bad commercial.

So many years of TV Ads and nothing much has changed. Really? We do get some very good ads. Not necessarily all thought-provoking ads are good. And vice-versa too holds good. Just when I was wondering Airtel too has started giving me crap, I saw this new Airtel ad yesterday. Location is some country border with heavy fences. The case includes 2 chotus (happy that no SRK here) A football from one side of the fence falls in the other. Both speak different languages, so the ball owner chotu, say chotu 1, make signs of kicking so that the other boy can understand it and kick the ball to his side. After a bit of build-up, the boy sends the ball across the fence. Now chotu 1 calls chotu 2 to cross the fence and helps him out when he gets himself stuck between the barbed wire. Then they start playing football in the space between the 2 fences. Good na. Well, the icing is yet to come. Its in the form of a voice-over with a message something like this, "Lot of problems can be solved only if we talked with each other". Kudos to Airtel.

One more ad that I found interesting is that of Idea Cellular. In the midst of a community war, Abishek gives an idea to solve it. Abolish the concept of naming a person. Instead, everyone is called by their mobile number. Really, what an idea sirji.

Whether we learn from these ads or not, one thing is for sure. More ads like these will mean less endorsements for the likes of SRK & co.