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By the time this appears, another city in Tamil Nadu would have been linked by air with Chennai. Yes, Kingfisher Airlines has become the only airliner to launch daily direct flights from Chennai to Salem. The flights are being operated as Kingfisher Red Service, a unique class of low fare travel offering a boutique of complimentary hot, delicious food and a choice of beverages, reading material, frequent flier privileges and multiple check-in options. The flights are conveniently timed. It leaves Chennai at 2.50 p.m. and arrives in Salem at 3:50 p.m. The return flight takes off from Salem at 4:20 p.m. and reaches Chennai at 5.20 p.m.
Since 1993, the Salem Airport had remained idle, excepting for three months when NEPC operated an air service and subsequently withdrew it, as it found it unviable. Let’s hopeKingfisher Airlines will have a long innings.
Today the riskiest part of air travel is the drive to the airport.
Stamp of recognition? In recognition of the contribution of Apollo Hospitals towards healthcare in the country, the Apollo postage stamp was recently released. Apollo Hospitals is the first health unit in the country to get the recognition from the postal department.
Post Script: Will the Apollo hospital be able to do anything to improve health of our postal department?
The HR and CE Board had applied for ISO certification for three famous temples in Chennai -- the Lord Kapaleeswarar temple, Vadapalani Murugan temple and Sri Parthasarathy temple.
After visiting several Hindu Temples in the US, I have wondered why our temples cannot be cleaner. We say cleanliness is next to Godliness. But, our temples have a long way to go.
It is heartening that the cleaning operations in major temples in Tamil Nadu have been outsourced by the state government in order to keep them neat and clean. Sri Ranganathaswamy temple in Srirangam, the hill shrine of Lord Dhandayuthapaniswamy in Palani, Lord Ramanathaswamy temple in Rameswaram and the Goddess Mariamman temple in Samayapuram near Tiruchirappalli are among the temples handed over to outside agencies for cleaning operations. The greatest prayer is patience.
Finally, eunuchs and transsexuals have some kind of relief. They would now be put in the column of 'Other' in the electoral rolls if they do not want to be described as male or female, the Election Commission has ruled. Besides the electoral roll, the decision would apply to all other Forms used by the EC wherein the indication of sex of the user was required; including IT based formats and website.

We stand today at a crossroads: One path leads to despair and utter hopelessness. The other leads to total extinction. Let us hope we have the wisdom to make the right choice. - Woody Allen
We can sleep in peace; the world is not going to end in the foreseeable future. I found the following in the NASA website.
Question: Are there any threats to the Earth in 2012? Many Internet websites say the world will end in December 2012.
Answer: Nothing bad will happen to the Earth in 2012. Our planet has been getting along just fine for more than 4 billion years, and credible scientists worldwide know of no threat associated with 2012.
Q: What is the origin of the prediction that the world will end in 2012?
A: The story started with claims that Nibiru, a supposed planet discovered by the Sumerians, is headed toward Earth. This catastrophe was initially predicted for May 2003, but when nothing happened the doomsday date was moved forward to December 2012. Then these two fables were linked to the end of one of the cycles in the ancient Mayan calendar at the winter solstice in 2012 -- hence the predicted doomsday date of December 21, 2012.
Q: Does the Mayan calendar end in December 2012?
A: Just as the calendar you have on your kitchen wall does not cease to exist after December 31, the Mayan calendar does not cease to exist on December 21, 2012. This date is the end of the Mayan long-count period but then -- just as your calendar begins again on January 1 -- another long-count period begins for the Mayan calendar.
Don Yeomans, NASA senior research scientist Q: Is there a planet or brown dwarf called Nibiru or Planet X or Eris that is approaching the Earth and threatening our planet with widespread destruction?
A: Nibiru and other stories about wayward planets are an Internet hoax. There is no factual basis for these claims. If Nibiru or Planet X were real and headed for an encounter with the Earth in 2012, astronomers would have been tracking it for at least the past decade, and it would be visible by now to the naked eye. Obviously, it does not exist. Eris is real, but it is a dwarf planet similar to Pluto that will remain in the outer solar system; the closest it can come to Earth is about 4 billion miles.
Due to the lack of experienced trumpeters, the end of the world has been postponed.
Recently read: Comedian and vaudeville juggler Fred Allen, who died in 1956, said, "I always have trouble remembering three things: faces, names, and -- I can't remember what the third thing is." (Phillip Alder)

SOURCE; DATELINES;H Ramakrishnan