CHENNAI: Days after the first crack emerged on Sheshadripuram First Main Road in Velachery, residents have now started noticing new cracks that have started developing in the premises of two apartments on the same street. According to corporation officials, the cracks were due to the foundation work carried out for a 17-storeyed residential project taken up on the same road by a private developer. Work using heavy machinery was halted after the cracks first appeared but filling work continued. T

Chittaiswarams , those lively, lyrical bursts of swaras tucked between lines of a kriti , rarely get their own spotlight. But today at 6 pm, in the Music Academy Mini Hall, vocalist Sriranjani Santanagopalan is set to change that. In a one-of-a-kind thematic concert titled Grand Compositions with Chittaiswarams, she invites the audience to experience the layered beauty, rhythmic play, and expressive charm of these musical interludes. Organised by the Sruti Foundation, in memory of its founder N

If youve been spotting more butterflies than usual in Chennai lately, and have been keeping an eye on the news, youd know that thousands recently migrated to north Tamil Nadu, riding the wave of the south-west monsoon. But these delicate creatures are more than just fleeting bursts of colour. Butterflies are complex and little-understood indicators of change. With every flutter, they reveal more than what meets the eye signalling weather shifts before our forecasting systems can, and silently r

CHENNAI: Raids targeting drugs, ganja and banned tobacco products will continue at education institutions, Tambaram City Police Commissioner Abin Dinesh Modak told reporters at a press conference on Sunday. It is important to provide an environment for students which is conducive to their physical and mental growth, he said. The press meet came a day after the police conducted a massive raid, seized drugs and arrested 11 people, including 7 college students. A total of seven cases were registere

CHENNAI: A 29-year-old woman, S Ashwini, who was allegedly attacked and robbed by two men at her house near Kancheepuram on Wednesday night, died without responding to treatment at a government hospital in Chengalpattu on Sunday. While early media reports suggested sexual assault, the police ruled it out following investigation. One of the two men has been arrested, and the police are on the look out for the other person. According to sources, Ashwini was employed in a private company in Oragada

CHENNAI: A 70-year-old man died in a fire triggered by a gas leak at his residence in Kasimedu on Sunday evening. The victim, A Sekar, sustained severe burns and died on the spot, while his wife Manjula (60) escaped with minor injuries, police said. The incident took place on Durai Street when Manjula was cooking. A fire broke out due to gas leak and it quickly spread. Sekar, who was in another room, rushed to the kitchen to douse the flames and was caught in the blaze, police said. Sekar suffer

A couple of years back I played the first Death Stranding game on a PC and was rather dismissive of it; I called it a relaxing game where you arrange things in a backpack. A lot has already been said by many about the series being a glorified delivery simulator, but I dont hold any of those opinions today. In the 60+ hours of playing the game, Death Stranding 2 has come to mean something so much more to me. I think a lot about public infrastructure, maybe more than the average person. I wonder i

Back in 2012, living rooms across Tamil Nadu would fall silent as someone on TV would nervously declare, Lock pannidalam (lets lock it). Families would then wait for actor Suriya to yell Sariyana bathil! (right answer!). The excitement of Neengalum Vellalam Oru Kodi wasnt just about the participants winning the prize money; it was about the collective thrill of knowledge, entertainment, and the adrenaline rush. That thrill, once confined to the TV screen, finds new life in the bustling pubs, caf

Perambakkam, a small village, is home to a Siva temple, wherein the deity is worshipped as Cholishwarar (Soleeshwarar). Devotees enter this temple from the south side where there is only an entrance but no gopuram . Immediately in front is a small raised platform, possibly of Chola vintage, with steps on the east and west and an image of Gajalakshmi carved at the base. Inside is a small mandapa , again belonging to the Chola times, with the south-facing sanctum of Goddess Parvati, worshipped her

Ten pairs of little fingers and toes crawled on to the stage at Kamarajar Arangam bearing cardboard cutouts of fire with LED lights illuminating the edges, white cutouts indicating air, water in blue, trees in green, flowers in yellow, and many more. The students from the various branches of Padma Seshadri Bala Bhavan (PSBB) were depicting different elements of nature. This staging was a part of PSBBs 68th anniversary celebration, Abhinaya 2025. Spanning two days, July 26 and 27, the cultural ce

CHENNAI: A public park run by the Greater Chennai Corporation in Rutland Gate 2nd Street in Thousand Lights has remained closed to the public for over four years. The reason - safety concerns raised by high-profile residents in the area. In February 2021, the park, spread on 1,235.65 sq km and constructed at a cost of Rs 53 lakh, was inaugurated. However, the residents allege that the park was open only for around two weeks, after which it was shut down. A visit by TNIE found that the park was w

CHENNAI: The Tamil Nadu Power Generation Corporation Limited (TNPGCL) will soon launch Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS) with a capacity of 200 MW at the North Chennai Thermal Power Station on a pilot basis. Battery storage systems were so far considered options for solar and wind energy. However, the TNPGCL, for the first time, is looking to explore its use in thermal power stations to allow electricity storage during low demand. With the states all-time maximum demand having touched 20,830

CHENNAI: Over 300 personnel from Tambaram City Police launched surprise raids as a part of anti-drug operation across private hostels and apartments around Potheri on Saturday night. Two individuals, suspected to be key suppliers targeting students and IT professionals, were detained for inquiry. The raids led to the seizure of 5,250 ganja-infused chocolates along with several sachets of banned oral tobacco products and hookah equipment, sources said. The raids werent limited to residences alone

CHENNAI: Architect and activist Tara Murali passed away at her residence in Alwarpet on Saturday night, at the age of 75. Tara was an alumnus of Madras University, where she pursued her bachelors degree in architecture. She then worked for a Chennai-based architecture firm and was also the secretary of the Indian Institute of Architects. Tara was vice president of the Palani Hills Conservation Council, which was formed in 1985 by a group of ecologists, botanists and environmentalists to work tow

We are a species that firmly believes in supremacy. We stride the earth with our noses in the air, trampling on all creatures big or small, proclaiming our relevance loud and clear. We are the monarchs of the universe and the ones who add colours to it. We have invented definitions that are tucked away in bulky dictionaries, and we try to abide by them. And how have we categorised art? Wikipedia describes art as a human activity that requires imagination and creativity. Beyond these descriptions

Last year, the Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand governments used the Kanwar Yatra a Hindu religious pilgrimage to direct eateries to display their owners names. The move was rightfully criticised as promoting prejudice towards non-Hindu-owned establishments, on grounds of reduced patronage and increased risk of violence. This year, the far-right Hindu Raksha Dal forced at least one Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) outlet in Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh, to stop selling meat products through the Kanwar Ya

Theres a certain kind of swagger that pulses through the streets of North Chennai. It is magnetic, defiant, and impossible to ignore. Its the kind of presence that doesnt wait for a spotlight; it creates one. While the city celebrates quiet sophistication, this style mirrors its silhouettes the fits and the flair. It is a way of claiming whats in style as their own. In the margins, this scene doesnt seek to reinvent fashion, but to inhabit it, and what may be interpreted as imitation is, in fac

CHENNAI: The Greater Chennai Police on Saturday arrested three people on charges of murdering a 54-year-old special sub-inspector (SSI) at the Chennai armed reserve. Police said that the deceased Rajaraman, a resident of Ayapakkam in west Chennai, had gone to have a drink in a bar near a commercial complex in Egmore with his friends on July 18. Cops said that his friends, who were drunk, started quarrelling with each other and two of Rajaramans friends - Rakesh (30) of Neelankarai and Sarath Kum

CHENNAI: A special court for Pocso cases in Chengalpattu on Friday sentenced a 53-year-old man to 20 years of rigorous imprisonment for raping a seven-year-old girl. The convict was identified as M Balaji, a resident of Vijayanagaram in Pallikaranai. The court found Balaji guilty on three charges and sentenced him to 20 years and imposed a fine of Rs 3,000. Additionally, a compensation of Rs 4 lakh was awarded to the victim. The crime took place on December 14, 2022, when the victims mother was

CHENNAI: A 27-year-old mechanic was arrested for allegedly stealing mobile phones from a womens hostel in Thirumangalam. The accused, identified as Subramani, lives in Mogappair, a few kms from the hostel. The Thirumangalam police said that the hostel owner approached them on July 22 after a 36-year-old woman resident alleged that her gold jewellery and three expensive mobile phones went missing after she returned from the bathroom. CCTV footage confirmed the break-in of a man. A complaint was f

CHENNAI: The state highways department has sanctioned Rs 14 crore for the construction of two U-shaped service roads beneath the Padi railway overbridge (ROB) on the Inner Ring Road, located between Korattur and Villivakkam stations. These service roads are part of the broader project to widen the existing three-lane ROB into five lanes and adding two lanes on either side of the inner ring road for 1.1km between Padi ROB and Padi flyover. A G.O. for developing service lanes was issued on Thursda

CHENNAI: Tambaram City Municipal Corporation (TCMC) has completed 410 roads out of the 900 planned under various schemes. As of June, road works worth Rs 76 crore are under progress, including both interior and bus route roads. These include bituminous (BT) and cement concrete (CC) roads funded through the Tamil Nadu Urban Road Infrastructure Project and the special roads programme. In 2025-26 financial year, 530 roads 410 BT and 120 CC roads are being constructed under TURIP at a cost of Rs 5

CHENNAI: The Greater Chennai Police (GCP) busted a suspected child trafficking racket in Puzhal on Friday, rescuing a child and detaining three women during a covert operation triggered by a tip-off from a local resident. All three will be formally arrested after inquiry. According to police, one of the suspect Vidya (36) was nabbed after she arrived on a two-wheeler at Britannia Nagar near Kathirvedu in Puzhal with a male child, allegedly for sale. Acting on prior information, the police detain

CHENNAI: Revenue Minister KKSSR Ramachandran, Housing and Urban Development Minister S Muthusamy and HR and CE Minister PK Sekarbabu on Friday distributed house site pattas to 6,007 people in the Ambattur constituency. Of the total number of pattas, 2,445 pattas have been issued under a scheme of the Tamil Nadu Housing Board, while 3,500 pattas have been given under the Urban Land Revenue Scheme. Besides, 62 pattas have been provided under the schemes of the Tamil Nadu Urban Habitat Development

CHENNAI: Nearly two weeks after a 10-year-old girl was abducted and sexually assaulted near Gummidipoondi in Tiruvallur district, the police on Friday detained a man who is suspected to be the accused on Friday. According to a police source, the man, believed to be from Assam, was caught by a special police team from one of the platforms of the Sullurupeta railway station in Andhra Pradesh on Friday. He is suspected to be working at a dhaba in the vicinity of the station. He was identified by po

CHENNAI: In a bid to ease congestion around Chennai Port, port authorities are working with NHAI and the state government to set up a truck parking yard at the entry point of the upcoming Chennai Port-Maduravoyal elevated corridor. The four-lane double-decker 20.6 km expressway, aims to provide connectivity between the port and the citys western outskirts. The dedicated truck yard will enable vehicles to wait for customs and terminal clearances without blocking the gates of the port. A formal re

CHENNAI: Sparks flew at least twice with a loud noise from the transformer on Friday when TNIE visited the spot where a 46-year-old auto driver was killed in electrocution after a high-tension cable snapped and fell on him as he was using a well on Tuesday. The spot is just a stones throw away from the Kalaignar Centenary Bus Terminus in Kilambakkam. While the incident raised questions over the poor maintenance of infrastructure by TNPDCL in many places, the organisation has neither come up with

For some, it is a page of history. For some, it is a lived experience. While another section sees it as an unspoken pain and a memory imprinted in folded flags. Twenty-six years after the Kargil War, also known as Operation Vijay, the memories continue to linger in conversations, ceremonies, and in the glass frames where medals rest beside photographs. The Indian army, with a mission to win over the peaks occupied by the cross-border army, also battled altitude and distance from family. This du

CHENNAI: Village health nurses (VHNs) staged a hunger strike on Thursday pressing the state health department for various demands, including filling around 3,000 VHN vacancies across the state. P Fathimamary, state treasurer, Tamil Nadu Government All Health Nurses Association, said, Our main demands are the health department should fill over 3,800 VHN vacancies immediately. The VHNs should be treated on par with health inspectors. Health inspectors are given promoted to Grade-II during their fi

CHENNAI: Facing an acute shortage of construction workers, Chennai Metro Rail Limited (CMRL) is scrambling to meet its December deadline for operationalising the 9.5-km elevated stretch between Porur Junction and Poonamallee Bypass - part of the citys ambitious Phase-2 metro expansion. To offset the labour gap, CMRL has redeployed workers from other construction sites, to ensure availability of 90% manpower, which is roughly 5,200 persons, on Corridor 4. The target is to finish the lines entry a

CHENNAI: The city corporation has set the ball rolling for the construction of a new flyover in Velachery, at an estimated tender cost of Rs 231.86 crore. According to civic body officials, the project, for which tenders have been floated this week, is expected to be completed within two-and-a-half years of the work order being issued. The flyover has been proposed from Sardar Patel Road-Velachery Main Road junction to Guru Nanak College junction, following the budget announcement of the project

CHENNAI: Greater Chennai Police on Wednesday registered a case of cheating and forgery against S Jeevitha, the owner of London Beautorium - a skin and hair clinic in Anna Nagar, based on a complaint filed by Riji Nair (37). The complainant states she was cheated of Rs 70 lakh by Jeevitha, who falsely claims to be a doctor. This comes a week after TNIE published a report highlighting how Nair was made to run from pillar to post for six months by GCP and had to obtain a direction from Egmore magis

CHENNAI: Even as conservancy workers staged a human chain protest on Wednesday opposing the privatisation of solid waste management in the city, the GCC floated tenders to engage private players for garbage collection and transportation in Tondiarpet and Anna Nagar, the only two zones where waste management was directly handled by the civic body. With this, solid waste management in 14 zones in the city will be privatised while part of Ambattur zone (12 divisions) alone would remain with GCC. La

CHENNAI: CMRL crossed a major engineering milestone on Wednesday with the successful retrieval of tunnel boring machine Peacock at the Kodambakkam ramp near Meenakshi College, completing the longest underground work of its Phase 2 drive without public disruption. The 2.047-km bored tunnel is part of Corridor 4, a 26.8 km stretch that will eventually link Light House and Poonamallee Bypass. The TBM, designated DL-1074, was launched in May 2024 from Panagal Park crossover and has since traversed d

CHENNAI: The Madras HC has granted permission to the CMRL to carry out a skywalk construction connecting Phase-I and II and sewage connection works on the open space and recreation (OSR) land belonging to a residential apartment with the condition of completing the works by the end of May 2026. Justice M Dhandapani passed the orders on petitions filed by the CMRL and other agencies which approached the court for permission to carry out the works through the OSR land belonging to the Trellis Sout

CHENNAI: To ease traffic congestion at Adyar - Madhya Kailash junction, Highways Minister EV Velu on Wednesday instructed highways department officials to assess the feasibility of widening the four-lane stretch of Sardar Patel Road from the IIT Madras-Gandhi Mandapam Salai junction to Guindy into a six-lane road. He also directed that the ongoing construction of the L-shaped flyover at Madhya Kailash be completed before October 31. Accompanied by officials, Velu inspected the progress of the fl

In Thoothoor, Kanniyakumari district, the weekends begin with football. As dawn breaks, the beach sheds its stillness and fills with colour and sound a scatter of jerseys, scraped knees, and goals slicing through the salty air. Here, if you walk around on a Saturday or Sunday, youll see matches happening everywhere, says Edwinraj Thomas, head coach of Tamil Nadu State Football Team. Even on a weekday evening, by 4.30 pm, youll find kids already on the field. Once played casually like street cri

Their faces are maps of time, etched with the deep lines of love and laughter. Their presence is constant, like the ceiling fan that spins above every summer memory. Take a moment to picture our grandparents: our grandmothers, draped in soft cotton saris that carry with them the scent of a gentle, familiar soap a fragrance forever tied to the memory of drifting off to sleep on their laps. And then our grandfathers who move about in lungis and baniyans worn with pride, or crisp pants paired with

As the Rosary Matriculation Higher Secondary School, Chennai, celebrates its 75th year (Platinum Jubilee), the Alumni Committee invites all former students to a grand Alumni Reunion & Carnival. To honour this milestone, the school has lined up several celebratory events throughout the year. One of the key highlights is the Carnival and Reunion scheduled for Saturday, July 26, between 10.30 am and 5 pm, at the school campus. Rosary Matriculation School was founded in 1950 by the Sisters of the Fr

CHENNAI: Three men, including two autorickshaw drivers, were arrested for stealing a 1.2kg gold bar from a goldsmith who fell off his bike near the Simpson bus stand in Chintadripet on Saturday. The stolen gold was recovered, along with two auto rickshaws used in the crime, the police said. According to the Chintadripet police, Ramgopal Maji (54) of Nammalwar Street, who runs a gold workshop in Sowcarpet, was returning from a T Nagar jewellery store when he lost control of his two-wheeler and su

CHENNAI: A tanker lorry, driven by a man in an inebriated state, ran over a 56-year-old pedestrian and crashed into three vehicles before overturning into a lake nearby near Baluchettychatram in Kancheepuram on Monday. According to the police, Ishwar Singh (36) of Rajasthan was driving the truck to Chennai from Ranipet after unloading goods. He was under the influence of alcohol and driving on the Chennai-Bengaluru NH when he allegedly lost control of the vehicle and ran over Easwaran (56), an a

CHENNAI: Among the four cities Chennai, Tiruchy, Madurai and Thoothukudi in Tamil Nadu that are covered under the National Clean Air Programme (NCAP), the capital city recorded a modest PM10 reduction, while Thoothukudi recorded the sharpest reduction in the seven year period between 2017-18 and 2024-25 According to the data presented by Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change in the Lok Sabha, the average concentration of PM10 levels in Chennai dropped by 12.1 % from 66 g/m3 in 201

CHENNAI: A 38-year-old man allegedly killed his seven-year-old daughter before attempting to kill himself in Alandur on Tuesday morning, after a fight with his estranged wife. According to the police, Sathish, a resident of Ayanavaram, checked into a hotel around 11pm on Monday following an altercation with his wife, during which he allegedly threatened to kill his daughter. This led his wife, Rebecca to file a police complaint, since the man had a history of physically assaulting her, police sa

With a burst of colours and swirling panels, the story opens on a woven mat strewn with comic books. On one page, a lone hero grips a silver staff beneath an orange sun. On another, skeletal twins face off in stark black and white. Bright titles crowd the frame: Chronicles of Junji , Hell Hole , River of Stories , Technicolour Lovers . This is where the adventure begins. Meet Sumi Alexander Anup, founder of Red Eye Chapters, an online store dedicated to graphic storytelling. Her love for comics

Neem (Azadirachta indica), a tree native to the Indian subcontinent and a key figure in traditional medicine systems such as Ayurveda, Unani, and Chinese medicine, is rapidly gaining global recognition for its vast therapeutic and nutritional properties. Once known only as a household remedy in rural India, neem has now taken centre stage in modern research for its disease-fighting capabilities and antioxidant strength. A nutrient-dense natural healer Belonging to the Meliaceae family, neem is a

It was 2004. Fourth grader Gowtham Sekkilar would return from school to his silent home. His parents would be out snowed under work. This was when he turned to his 'companion' to kill his loneliness. This pal came from a different universe. Now an AI engineer, Gowtham had given the nickname companions to anime characters. He recalls, I started watching anime when I was very young. My brother was in college at that time. He used to come back home and watch anime on the computer, and I sat beside

No sugar, please. This is a phrase we hear everywhere, from kitchens and restaurants to local tea kadais . Keeping their health in mind, urban India is cutting back on sugar and looking for natural substitutes. While, nutritionists and social media influencers are popularising sugar-free diets, making traditional foods, especially sweets, healthier with sweeteners, and brands are selling products with labels that read no refined sugar. In a rush to eliminate refined sugar, we often overlook the

CHENNAI: Weeks after Greater Chennai Corporation launched the first of its air-conditioned lounges in Anna Nagar for gig workers, intended mainly for use by those working with food delivery apps, Zomato has closed down its resting point operating roughly just 250 metres away for the last one year. The closure has raised concerns over the choice of locations and the funding pattern involved in setting up these lounges by the GCC. When we asked our supervisors, they said now that the corporations

CHENNAI: The Madras High Court has quashed an order of the Regional Joint Director of Collegiate Education (RJD) of the Higher Education Department denying approval for appointment of 19 assistant professors to Loyola College in Chennai. The RJD rejected the proposals for appointment on January 27, citing non-furnishing of details such as vacancy positions, resolutions of the college committee. Justice C Kumarappan, citing a division bench order, noted that the states regulatory powers in minori

The Banyan, much like the ancient Yggdrasil, does not merely grow, it connects. Rooted in memory, branching through time, it stretches across the now and into what comes next. This tree is culture and art. On a sultry Sunday afternoon in Backyard, Adyar, this idea came alive in form. The third edition of The Living Library of Artists, hosted by Sunshine House in collaboration with 98 Madras and Anchored Hues, transformed the space into a living, breathing archive of queerness, craft, and cultura