Tendulkar set to return against Chennai

Nagraj Gollapudi in Mumbai

He's back: Sachin Tendulkar returns to the Mumbai side after missing the first seven games because of injury

Sachin Tendulkar has said he is fit and will lead the Mumbai Indians in their next game, against the Chennai Super Kings on Wednesday. The news will be a shot in the arm for Mumbai, who played the first half of the IPL without Tendulkar, forced to sit out with a groin injury.
The rehabilitation process has been successful, Tendulkar announced today; there was no "discomfort" and he will open Mumbai's innings with Sanath Jayasuriya.
"I will be playing on May 14. It's looking very good and I'm feeling very positive," Tendulkar said after a two-hour batting session at the Wankhede Stadium. He said it was really "tough" for him to sit out but acknowledged the support of the fitness staff who had "really worked hard, especially the physio and the masseur".

Tendulkar first picked up the injury during the CB Series in Australia and it got worse after the first Test against South Africa in Chennai, forcing him to miss the final two matches of the series. He was unable to recover for the start of the IPL, missing Mumbai's first seven games.
Though Mumbai lost their first four games, Tendulkar was careful not to return before he was completely fit. "It was disappointing to miss the two Tests against South African and then seven IPL games. But during the first half of the rehabilitation I had to completely rest and followed it by strengthening of the muscles and working out a bit. With the help of the fitness staff all the things went fine and I'm feeling strong now and there is no discomfort."
In his absence Harbhajan Singh led Mumbai for the first three games and after he was banned for an on-field row with Sreesanth, Shaun Pollock came in as the stand-in captain. Asked if it would be difficult for the side to have another new captain especially when Pollock was proving to be successful, Tendulkar said the players had supported each other through it all and they understood each other well.

"I will be the captain. Shaun was a makeshift captain and he did a terrific job and the other senior players have also contributed well. It's not about who the captain is but it's about helping each other and that's what Mumbai Indians have been doing and will continue to do."
Despite his minimal exposure to the Twenty20 format - he has played only five games so far - Tendulkar was looking ahead to the challenge ahead. "I always try hard and I've always given my best." Mumbai are currently placed sixth in the points table, just above the Deccan Chargers and the Bangalore Royal Challengers.

Sutherland to setup 10,000 people global campus in Chennai

PTI

CHENNAI: IT Enabled and Business Process Outsourcing company Sutherland Global Services on Wednesday said that it has plans to set up its first global campus in the IT corridor of Chennai for an undisclosed amount.

The new campus in Chennai will occupy over 10,000 people and the construction work will commence from the second half of this year, a company statement here said.

“India will continue to be an integral part of Sutherland’s global expansion. Chennai has been the offshore hub for Sutherland and our first point of entry into India and will now be the location for our first global campus” Sutherland Global Services chairman and CEO Dilip Vellodi said.

Expanding its offshore operations, the company also launched a new BPO facility in Camarines sur, Philippines with 400 employees recently.

The new facility is the fourth facility in Philippines after its foray into the country in July 2005.

“Philippines is a strategic component of Sutherland’s global service delivery model. Its favourable economic environment, technically skilled workforce and business friendly government policies have all been driving forces in our ability to rapidly scale our operations”, Dilip Vellodi said.

Sutherland also has BPO facilities in Manila, Clark and Davao city, Philippines, the statement said.

Another training phase for Stalin

R.K. Radhakrishnan / The Hindu


Instead of Karunanidhi, Stalin presented the industry demands in the Assembly

Local Administration Minister M.K. Stalin often turns to his father, Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi, for advice.

CHENNAI: At 2.18 p.m. on Monday, when Local Administration Minister M.K. Stalin concluded the reply to the demands for grants for the industries and information technology departments in the Assembly, it marked the completion of yet another phase of his training in politics under his father, Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi.
The departments are under the Chief Minister and, normally, he would have presented the demand for grants and replied to the debate. But, keeping in line with the promise made in Tirunelveli late last year to give greater responsibilities to Mr.Stalin, Mr.Karunanidhi handed over the task to him.
“It’s another phase of training. Everything has to be done step by step,” the Chief Minister told The Hindu, when asked why Mr. Stalin replied to the debate. “Are you giving him the industries portfolio?” The question was met with a smile.
For a few months now, Mr. Stalin, along with party seniors, has been part of all major decisions taken in the department. In fact, when an industrialist met Mr. Karunanidhi recently and wanted him to come for a function outside Chennai, Mr. Karunanidhi said that Mr.Stalin would come. An automobile major has requested Mr. Stalin to visit its plant abroad.
As Mr. Karunanidhi, who patiently sat through the debate and reply, postponing his lunch despite his doctor’s advice, was moving towards his car after the reply, Mr.Stalin caught up with him and asked: “Did I do o.k.?” “You did well,” the octogenarian taskmaster replied.
His sister, Kanimozhi, MP, who skipped the Rajya Sabha to listen to him, thought that Mr.Stalin, who addressed his first public meeting in January 1969, did exceptionally well.

Chennai emerging as hub of modern art

BS / Press Trust of India / Chennai May 5, 2008

Teeming with a young breed of high salaried professionals, Chennai is fast emerging as a hub of modern art as young artists from across the country are making a beeline to cash in on the new wave of interest in paintings.

There has been an emerging trend among the young professionals classified as High Networth Individuals (HNI) which mainly included top management staff of IT and ITES companies, to buy paintings as an investment option, industry experts said.

Lalit Kala Akademi Regional Secretary R M Palaniappan told PTI the akademi had hosted about 50 to 60 painting exhibitions of young painters last year.

The number of buyers for paintings had increased drastically and the young artists find the city a perfect platform to sell their works.

Of late, Chennai is catching up with Delhi and Mumbai, in attracting young artists to find buyers for their works.

There has been a fresh wave of interest among the high-salaried youngsters to buy paintings. They even do their home work by getting acquainted with different streams of art like modern and post-modern art, he said.

Instead of buying works of M F Hussain or Sobha Singh at very high prices, they opt for paintings of new artists, he said.

Sharan Apparao of Apparao Art Galleries said while young artists are making a beeline to showcase their works, top artists have not yet turned their attention to Chennai which does not have enough intellectual forums to attract them. As a result, buyers are opting for works of lesser know young painters.

Award winning artist K V Haridasan, settled at Cholamandalam artist village in the city, said the buyers were now looking at the works of the young artists as they can get it for a low price.
While it costs around Rs two lakh for a work of a senior and well known artist, it would be only around Rs 25,000 to Rs 40,000 for a work of an up and coming artist, he said.
The buyers, before buying a work, would evaluate the potential of a young artist to make it big in the coming years.

He said the speculative tendency was high in the art market in Chennai.The artists sell their works for a considerable low price to the buyers, whose main aim was to make profit.