Monthly Archives: July 2012

Grand prelude to Mylapore’s biggest festival

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Sports

For City:  The annual car festival at Mylapore . Sri kapaleeswarar Temple. Photo: K_V_Srinivasan / The Hindu

The four Mada streets resounded with shouts of devotees

Be it picking up seven plastic toys for Rs. 50 from a pavement vendor or choosing from a bundle of ‘kolam’ stickers outside Indra Stores or buying liquid soap-filled containers to blow bubbles from, it’s fun choosing stuff you don’t really need. And this week, with the shops that have sprung up in Mylapore for the Arubathu Moovarfestival at the Sri Kapaleeswarar Temple, there’s no better time to indulge in unnecessary shopping.

D. Thilagavathy, a resident of Mylapore, was one of the thousands of devotees who had come to watch the car festival here on Tuesday. “Ours is a joint family and we bring all the children to the festival,” she said. “We are here for every occasion, including the Ther (Chariot), ‘Arubathu Moovar’, ‘Panguni Uthram’, and ‘ Adhikara Nandi’. The children ask for everything that they see. Each child will spend at least Rs. 100 on toys. We also enjoy buying them these things,” she added. Each time the chariot moved with the ‘uthsava’ idols of Lord Kapaleeswarar and Karpagamabal, the four Mada streets resounded with the shouts of devotees. Water was sprinkled on the path of the chariot and several philanthropists distributed food, water, buttermilk and ‘paanagam’ to the devotees.

When the temple car finally came to a halt, a winding queue of devotees waited to clamber onto it to get a better glimpse of the idols. I too, got onto the chariot along with my mother.

Two five-rupee tickets allowed us a few seconds of “proximity” to the gods. But it was a dangerous ride as there was hardly any space and one small misstep could lead to your hurtling down several feet to the ground. Able volunteers in the chariot stood minding every devotee who stepped onto it. After over four hours of following the temple car, the attention of the crowds turned to the vendors.

Adults too were enjoying the shopping.

With such variety on offer, it is hard to resist spending everything one has. You can pick up fake Kundan jewellery sets for Rs. 50, toy watches for Rs. 20 or Rs. 30 , Indianised Vuvuzelas that emit a deep booming sound when blown for Rs.10, and even earthen pots and pans. Visiris (handheld fans made of palm leaves), kumkum and thali charadu — considered auspicious sold the most, said a lady at the Srividya Manjal Kumkum shop.

Scholar Sudha Seshayyan says that the Panguni Uthiram Thiruvizha festival celebrated in most temples is very auspicious. “It is said that it was on that day that Lord Shiva and Goddess Parvathi married, Lord Muruga and Devayani married and Goddess Mahalakshmi was born. The Arubathu Moovar festival is of special significance to the Kapali temple as of the 63 Nayanmars, Thirugnanasambandar is very important. He is said to have brought to life the daughter of Sivanesa Chettiyar of Mylapore.

The girl was called Poompaavai. She came to life after he finished singing a pathigam where he describes all the festivals associated with the Kapali temple. This festival also shows the importance given to devotion and devotees. The Lord will be pleased if his devotees are happy,” Dr. Seshayyan explained.

Somehow Mylapore seems to have become livelier and merrier. Perhaps it is in anticipation of Wednesday’s festival when the 63 Nayanmars of Lord Shiva are taken out in a procession. On Wednesday, festivities at the temple will begin at 9 a.m. The procession of the idols will be at 3 p.m. and it will take at least four hours to end.

source: http://www.TheHindu.com / Home> Life & Style> Religion / by Deepa H. Ramakrishnan / Chennai, April, 04th, 2012

Endangered 750kg stingray snared

Business & Economy, Nature, Uncategorized

A massive stingray, weighing 750 kg, was caught by fishermen in the coastal waters of Pazhaverkadu near Ponneri and dragged for over 10 hours to the shore in the hope that the endangered fish would fetch them several thousands of rupees in the market.

Giant stingrays are often in demand for their medicinal value and their skin, which is exported by dealers in Royapuram.

“Stingrays often get caught in the fishing nets and the smaller ones are even eaten, but this is the first time that we have netted such a huge one, ” said Anthony Raj, a local fisherman. Increased trawling activity has endangered several types of sharks and stingrays, but protecting them continues to be a difficult task, as in most cases the fishermen are not aware of the fish trapped in their nets, say locals.

“Neither the Zoological Survey of India nor the state forest department has done anything to educate the fishermen on this endangered fish species,” rued a senior biologist of the forest department.

Pazhaverkadu, a backwater lagoon, is rich in biodiversity and famous for its large mud crabs. The fish catch in the area, which has fallen over the years , has been the subject of research papers of several marine biologists attached to the Zoological Survey of India at Santhome

source: http://www.asianage.com / Home> Metros> Chennai / by C. S. Kotteswaran / DC / Chennai, July 05th, 2012

Videocon to start operations in Manamadurai unit in 3-4 months

Business & Economy, Science & Technologies, Uncategorized

The company has invested around Rs 700-800 crore for the plant

The electronic consumer durables manufacturing facility of Videocon Group in Manamadurai, at Sivaganga is likely to start operations in next three to four months, said Rajkumar Dhoot, managing director of Videocon Industries. The project has been proposed to complete with an investment of around Rs 1,600 crore.

Speaking to reporters in the sidelines of Vision Tamil Nadu,a seminar organised by Assocham, he said, “The plant would be ready for operations in next three to four months. We have so far invested around Rs 700-800 crore for the plant.”

The new facility would be manufacturing various consumer electronic products including washing machine, refrigerator and colour television.

There was some delay in completion of the project, due to the economic slow down and related issues. However, the works are on full pace now, he said.

The company would also look at exporting the products from the facility to overseas. It has identified demand in exporting electronic consumer durables to countries like Indonesia and Malaysia.

According to reports in 2009, the State Industries Promotion Corporation of Tamil Nadu, the government agency which allots land for industrial projects, has allotted around 70 acres to Videocon to set up the plant in Manamadurai. The company currently has a manufacturing facility in Hosur.

The company is the largest manufacturer of colour television in India and though the market for cathode ray televisions are shrinking, it still has shortage in supply in states like Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, said Dhoot. The Manamadurai plant would initially create employment opportunity for around 500-700 people.

source: http://www.business-standard.com / Home>  Companies & Industry / by Gireesh Babu / Chennai, July 04th, 2012

London-bound Indian walkers’ trip on ‘shoe-string’ of apathy

Inspiration/ Positive News and Features, Sports

Bangalore:

Olympic-bound race walkers Basant Bahadur Rana and Irfan KT, both sepoys in the Indian Army earning just Rs 15,000 a month, have been forced to spend from their pockets for past several months to buy special walking shoes. Both are sole bread winners of fairly large families and have spent thousands each on their shoes in the past year, which they can ill-afford.

The government has spent crores on the training of sportspersons for the London Games, but these two talented athletes have got no help on this front either from the federation ( AFI),  Sports Authority of India or the sports ministry.

Rana, who is with 3/8 Gorkha Rifles, must have spent at least Rs 40,000 on shoes in the past 18 months. With each pair costing upwards of Rs 6,000, he has grinned and borne the burden. He joined the army to escape poverty in his home country Nepal, where his father is a farmer.

“I am the sole bread-winner for a family of seven. We are not educated and there is hardly anything to gain out of farming. Depending on the season, we have to do hard labour to make ends meet,” says Rana, who earns around Rs 15,000 as havildar.

“I haven’t been of much help to my family as all my money is spent on the kit and shoes,” the first Indian to make Olympics grade in 50km Race Walk said.

For Madras Regimental Centre sepoy Irfan, who too hails from a poor background, it has been the same story for months. Mounting expenses had the Mallapuram (Kerala) lad worried for a while as he geared up for the quadrennial event with his mind forever on his family of seven which his father, a daily wage earner, struggled to support.

Again, Irfan’s salary of Rs 15,000 was hardly enough to cover every expense the family faced. It’s only now that he has found a benefactor in Malayalam superstar Mohanlal.

Both walkers point out that they require no other equipment but good shoes to come up with a good performance.

“I cover around 1,100km every month,” says Rana, as he shows two of his worn-out shoes. “I need at least 6-7 pairs of shoes a year. The kit that we receive from the government contains running shoes, which is of no use to us. There have been instances at the national camp when I had to put off buying new shoes by a few weeks. I make do with these worn-out shoes then.”

Rana, who paid $140 for a pair of shoes in Russia during the World Race Walking Cup, said the amount is yet to be reimbursed. “Two days back, Irfan found the shoes he wanted in Bangalore. He paid around Rs 6,000 for them. He too is hoping to get the money back.”

The two virtually circumambulated the earth ever since they began training for London 2012 before making the grade. Rana touched 4:02.13 in 50km, well within the ‘B’ mark of 4:09.00 while in 20km, Irfan clocked 1:22.09 as against the ‘A’ mark of 1:22.30 at the IAAF World Race Walking Cup in Saransk, Russia in May.

The two athletes, who are certainties for the Olympics along with the other two 20km walkers Gurmeet Singh and Baljinder Singh, had moved from Patiala to Bangalore in April after Athletics Federation of India decided to have both the walking camps, one under Russian Alexander Artsybashev and the other under SAI coach Ramakrishnan Gandhi, at the South Centre.

SAI to reimburse walkers’ expenses

Sports Authority of India regional director SS Roy was sympathetic to the walkers’ appeal, saying he would reimburse the amount immediately.

“These two walkers were in Patiala till April. I am not sure what happened there. But now that they have shifted base to Bangalore, we will take care of them,” Roy told TOI.

Apparently, the south centre has reimbursed the claims of the other walkers training under Ramakrishnan Gandhi – Gurmeet Singh and Baljinder Singh – and Roy said he saw no reason why the others walkers had to be denied. “They have been here for a few weeks but haven’t brought this to my notice. Let them produce the bills and we will do the needful,” he said.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / TOI Home> Olympics 2012 / by V. Narayan Swamy, TNN / July 03rd, 2012

A R Rahman to introduce Punjabi beats for Olympics

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Leaders, Nri's / Pio's, Records, All, Sports, World Opinion

Mumbai, Jun 30 (PTI)

 Oscar-winning composer A R Rahman, who is reuniting with Danny Boyle for London Olympics, will celebrate Indian influence in UK by incluing Punjabi track in the opening ceremony.

The 46-year-old has teamed up with Boyle, the artistic director of the games, for the gala ceremony.

“Clarifying the report on the Olympics track I am composing… It’s a track in Punjabi celebrating the Indian influence in the UK.

source: http://www.ptinews.com / PTI / by Staff Writer / July 01st, 2012

Beach kabbadi winner from Erode gets rousing welcome

Sports

Erode:

A rousing welcome was accorded to Marshal Mary, an M Com student with PKR College of Arts and Science at Gobichettipalayam, on Saturday morning when she arrived here after winning the gold in women’s beach kabbadi at the third Asian Beach Games, held in Haiyang in China.

Mary and her team mates won the gold defeating  Thailand 54-25 in the final on June 17. According to her, India put up a good show and dominated the match. The Indian team consisted of Mamata, Priyanka, Priyanka Negi, Kavita Devi and Randeep Kaur besides Marshal Mary.

A large number of students, sports enthusiasts and citizens had gathered at Erode railway station to receive Mary. She was taken to her college in a procession with people gathering along the road to greet her.

The district collector and the mayor were conspicuous by their absence as they had to attend to some state ministers who were visiting the region.

Mary told TOI that her victory was significant since had trained in land-locked Erode. “Others in my team had practiced on real beaches. But I was able to contribute my bit to win the event,” she said. She credited her coach N Anpu, a staff of the PKR College, for her success. “He had convinced the management about the need to build a beach kabbadi team. We have a dozen players and Anpu trained us on two truck loads of sand purchased by the management at market rate,” she said.

Mary and her friends used to train for two hours daily in the morning and evening.

Mary, a native of Sankarapuram near Villupuram, had represented India recently at an international tournament in Colombo.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / Home> City> Coimbatore / TNN / July 01st, 2012