Titans on the move

A ROAD- SHOW with a difference rolled in, one of the many that the city is playing host to this year. Chennai residents are treated to exhibitions on everything ranging from heavy machinery to logistics to consumer durables.

They came to Chennai from Bangalore and Mumbai, and styled themselves ``the Dancing Diggers''. They are made up of an assortment of earthmoving and construction equipment from Escorts JCB. For it was the first show of its kind. It might sound like a sequence out of an avant garde film, but this performance by the earthmovers was set to some foot-tapping music, including the theme song of Goldeneye (perhaps a future Bond, will drive a supercharged earthmover!). The machines during their 20-minute performance exhibited their prowess, step by step.

The idea behind staging the `live event' in Chennai, according to the organisers, was to perform before the targetted audience of customers. Meant to display their capabilities such as their versatility, manoeuverability and precision, the demonstration by the `Dancing Diggers' had a full house attendance. A few of the spectators were lucky to get a chance to get behind the wheel and get a feel of it.

All the attention, however, was on the Robot Skid Steers that rotates upto 360 degrees in a limited area to ``accomplish a lot of things''. The Rs.471 crore Escorts JCB manufactures a range of earth moving and construction equipment including the Backhoe loaders (excavator-loaders), loading shovels and the newly introduced 20-tonne tracked exacavators.

Close on the heels of the presentation to members of the press corp was a special show, under lights, for the customers - local bodies are among the major buyers of the equipment - that left people asking for ``more''.

If Saturday provided a glimpse of the relationship between man and machine, Friday was reserved for something more sober - `Rudrakshas' in particular.

On the day, the city played host to a four-day exhibition, first of its kind, on Rudraksha beads at the Asthika Samajam in Venus Colony. Often associated with spiritual attainment and popular for their bio-medical properties, the beads, some of them rare, have been brought by Rudra Centre of Nagpur, an organisation engaged in popularising their usage. More details about the beads on www.rudraksharatna.com.

The choice of the city for conducting these two events once again goes to prove the rising popularity of Chennai as ``expo city''. Small or big, every entrepreneur/organisation wants to come to the city, which now boasts of a modern exhibition centre under ITPO at Nandambakkam.

By N.Ravi Kumar

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Section  : Southern States
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