Monthly Archives: September 2012

A peep into British era documents

Arts, Culture & Entertainment

Philately expo boasts of first ever revenue stamp, printed in 1860, among other artefacts

A student taking a look at some of the stamp papers on display at the exhibition at Head Post Office in Tiruchi on Saturday. /  Photo: M. Moorthy / The Hindu

The monthly initiative of Tiruchi Philatelists Association to probe various themes through stamps has taken an interesting departure from the norm this time around. Though stamps are part of the exhibits, the spotlight is on documents of pre-independence India, predominantly dating back to the Victorian era.

The latest expo has two sections – the initial frames cataloguing printing errors challenge one’s attention to detail while the subsequent ones holding coffee coloured documents offer a peep into colonial India. Both exhibits are prize winning entries of an advanced philatelic capacity and are sure of hooking legal experts, those involved in commerce or trade and anyone with a penchant for records of a bygone era, according to association members.

Can you spot the bloopers?

Titled ‘Errors and omissions’, secretary of the association, J. Raghupathy’s cache reveals both blatant and diminutive errors caused by a printer’s negligence on stamps and postal stationery like postcards and inland letters.

Most of the errors can be spotted only on a sheet of stamps and are spotted by collectors who purchase stamps in bulk. “Error spotting is part of philately and is proof of how meticulously they study stamps,” says P.Soundararajan, president of the association. While many of the slip-ups can be spotted with the naked eye, it requires a magnifying glass to zero in on the error in some instances.

Though some bloopers nullify the value of the stamp, they escape the eye and end up at post offices including denominations cut off, perforated line running across the face of the stamp, mirror images, printing on cellotape, change of hues in multicoloured stamps, smudging or spread of ink and even an ‘India’ with a missing ‘I’.

Most of the errors were caused by negligence or dust in cylinders when stamps were printed through the photogravure process until the 1990’s. Though errors have reduced with digital printing, bloopers emerge every now and then, says Raghupathy.

The fiscals exhibits with documents and revenue stamps are vignettes of British India. “Fiscals are a relatively recent branch in philately; stamp papers and revenue stamps are also sold through post office,” says Soundararajan, the owner of the exhibits.

Among the exhibits are the first revenue stamp in India released on June 14, 1860 printed in pinkish paper with a lilac crown watermark and share certificates from the nineteenth century, hundi papers, foreign bills, promissory notes and shipping documents. A document issued by City Corporation of erstwhile Rangoon interestingly has a stamp featuring Rameshwaram temple.

Sale deeds with stamps from two annas to two hundred rupees offer an insight into registration fees and property prices during pre independence India.

Telegrams with stamps from an era where cost of the telegrams was indicated by special stamps, are also displayed. The Expo is on till October 15 at the Philatelic Bureau, Head Post Office, between 10 a.m. and 6 p.m. on all working days of the post office.

source: http://www.TheHindu.com / Home> News> Cities> Tiruchirapalli / by Olympia Shilpa Gerald / Tiruchi, September 20th, 2012

Chennai to run for a noble cause

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Science & Technologies, Sports

Chennai Runners, a group that promotes running in Chennai for the past six years announced The Wipro Chennai Marathon (TWCM) 2012 to be held at IIT Madras on December 2, 2012. The inaugural marathon, which would cover 42 km, is expected to have around 5,000 runners participating in the event. Wipro Technologies will be the title sponsor along with Apollo hospitals and United Way of Chennai.

This year, the marathon, TWCM 2012, promises to provide runners with technology support such as RFID-based (Radio-frequency identification) timing technology.

Speaking on the occasion V P Senthil Kumar, race director, Chennai Marathon said, “It has been our vision to host one of the world’s best marathons in Chennai. With Wipro as our title and technology partner, we can see a fruition of our vision. We are convinced that their support and expertise in the technology arena will help us heighten the race-day experience for the participants.”

Lakshmi Naryanan, chairman of United Way Chennai, said, “United Way is proud to be associated with The Wipro Chennai Marathon 2012. The Chennai marathon is for creating livelihood for physically challenged men and women. We will do the running for them, so that they can better run their lives.”

Chennai Runners, founded in 2006, is an informal group of people who share a passion for running, is over 1,000 people strong now. The group has conducted several half marathons including 10 km and 5 km events in the past few years and has now associated with Wipro to bring a world class marathon event to Chennai.

United Way of Chennai works for the increased quality of life of the underprivileged in the areas of health, education and livelihood.

Show Space, an event management organisation based out of Chennai has been roped in and is actively involved in managing and promoting the Wipro Chennai Marathon

source: http://www.ibnlive.in.com / Home> South> Southern News > Chennai / The New Indian Express, Express News Service / September 20th, 2012

Carnatic to the Core

Arts, Culture & Entertainment

While one is an accomplished Carnatic vocalist the other is an acclaimed performer on the Saraswathi Veena. As a part of an initiative by SPICMACAY, Carnatic vocalist R Vedavalli and Saraswathi Veena performer Jayanthi Kumaresh will be performing in the city. The duo will be performing individually on September 21 at IISER, Pashan and on September 22 at IUCAA, Pune University. On one hand Kumaresh, who has been performing for the last 25 years, has been honoured with the title Kalaimamani by the Government of Tamil Nadu. On the other, Vedavalli is the director of the advanced school of Classical  Carnatic music at The Music Academy, Madras and is working on popularising the Mallari music form down south.

Speaking about the same she says, “Mallari, an ancient temple music form wherein different passages are played for each holy ritual, is now played only in one temple at Chidambaram. The last of the Vidwans, Radhakrishnan Pillai, is in his eighties, and the music form would have ended with him. Efforts to revive and continue this as well as other music forms have yielded success and now there are many more disciples of Mallari.” Vedavalli, a devout traditionalist, adheres strictly to the sampradaya of classical Carnatic music. She started when she was gifted her first harmonium at age five by Sangita Kalanidhi Madurai Srirangam Iyengar, and also began vocal lessons under him. Her later training was under Sangita Kalanidhi Mudicondan Venkatarama Iyer and in 2000, she received the Sangita Kalanidhi herself, considered the highest honour in Carnatic music.

Kumaresh has toured both India and other countries, and has been a part of numerous music festivals, seminars, lecture demonstrations and workshops while on tour. She recently performed at a music festival in Woodstock, New York and was the first ever Veena player to represent Carnatic music at the festival. She also conducted a workshop at the Trinity College of Music and the Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan in London this year. In fact she started playing the Veena at the young age of three, and was one of the youngest artistes in India to receive the A-TOP award from the All India Radio (AIR), the highest grading offered by the only grading body in India-AIR. She was awarded a Doctorate by the University of Mysore for her work on the subject ‘Analytical Study of Different Banis and Playing Techniques of the Saraswathi Veena’.

About her professional commitments Vedavalli says, “ I was a professor of Vocal Music at Government College of Music, Adyar, Tamil Nadu, after serving at the Madras Music Academy for several years,” She is now the Director of the advanced school of Classical Carnatic music at The Music Academy, Madras.

source: http://www.expressindia.com / Home> expressindia> Story / by Ankur Borwankar / September 20th, 2012

Seeing through the world of sounds

Uncategorized

Coimbatore:

S Sabari Venkat is just like any other smart 10 year-old-kid with a sweet smile and a sharp mind ready with an answer to almost every question thrown at him. But sit with him for two minutes and the truth will hit us like a sharp slap across our face. This fifth standard student who is also one of the class toppers is flashing the smile at us from his inner world which is constantly black, devoid of colours and any optical sense of recognition. Sabari was born blind in both eyes and though his retina’s react to light flashed at his left retina, it does not reach him since he is suffering from more than 90%  blindness in his left eye and total blindness in his right eye. Sabari had accompanied other differently-abled children to an event held at a private hotel here in the city.

“It was very good experience all of them said good things to me,” says Sabari at his residence near Perianacikenpalayam.

Later in the day as we entered his modest rented house comprising of two rooms and a kitchen adjacent to a private marriage hall in the locality, Sabari was tinkering with the volume switch of the television set. He constantly sits in front of the television and ‘listens’ to the programs aired on various channels, especially those which telecast cartoons. With great concentration and excitement he sits in front of it and draw faces and shapes to the conversations and sounds from the TV speakers in his mind

“He sits in front of the television and follows the conversations very keenly. He stays completely glued to it often,” says K Sreenivas, Sabari’s father.

Sabari is presently a student of Ramakrishna Mission Vidyalaya Swami Shivananda Higher Secondary School near Perianaickenpalayam along with normal children. He still manages to be one of the top scorers in the class often in the second or third position. The school authorities also support him in his academics and a teacher from the institution helps as his scribe during examination. Sabari is also a good orator and has won several competitions for chanting shlokas from Bhagavad Gita. He also regularly dresses up as Swami Vivekananda and is greatly inspired by his teachings narrated to him by his father K Sreenivas and his teachers.

“Swami Vivekananda lived for just 39 years but managed to achieve great things within that short span. Not everyone is able to do so in life,” says Sabari.

K Sreenivas, an agrarian and his wife S Neelaveni waited long for the birth of their first child and was initially shattered when they were told that Sabari will not be able to see them or anything else around him after his birth.

The couple was earlier residing near Kozhinjampara near Pollachi along the Kerala-Tamil Nadu border but they decided to sell of their agriculture land and relocate to Coimbatore city to ensure that Sabari is not left behind either in his education or medical treatment under any circumstances. The couple had tried to bring light to at least one of his eyes and tried to get his left eye treated. Though doctors diagnosed him with cataracts and an ensuing complication called Synechia which could not be completely cured so far.

“We used to live in a semi-rural area and in those places if there is a handicapped kid in the family people tend to talk about it constantly. Some do it out of sympathy, some because of superstition but we made a decision that our son need not grow up listening to it and so we came to Coimbatore,” Sreenivas adds.

source: http://www.TheHindu.com / Home> City> Coimbatore / TNN / September 16th, 2012

Axe falls on Tamil Thaatha’s house

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Education, Historical Links, Pre-Independence, Records, All

ERASING HISTORY: Demolition work in progress at U.V. Swaminatha Iyer’s house at Triplicane in Chennai on Saturday. / Photo R. Ravindran / The Hindu

It was here that Rabindranath Tagore called on Swaminatha Iyer in 1926

Thyagaraja Vilas, the house of the grand old man of Tamil literature (Tamil Thaatha), U.V. Swaminatha Iyer, and one of the city’s landmarks, will soon disappear.

The descendants of Iyer have reportedly sold the property at Thiruvatteeswaranpet and the buyer is demolishing the house. The inner walls have been brought down. Nameboards bearing the titles ‘Thyagaraja Vilas’ and ‘U.Ve. Swaminatha Iyer Illam’ have been removed.

The man overseeing the demolition said that he worked for the buyer.

“It is really sad because it is from this house he edited and published many ancient literary works such as Silapathikaram, Patthupaatu and Ettuthogai after collecting palmleaf manuscripts from every nook and corner of the country. Even a university cannot match his efforts,” says writer Indira Parthasarathy.

When Rabindranath Tagore visited Chennai in 1926, he called on Iyer at this house and even penned a poem in praise of Iyer’s contribution.

Iyer came to this house as a tenant in 1904 following his appointment as a Tamil teacher of the Presidency College in 1903. The monthly rent was Rs. 20. Subsequently, he bought the house and named it after Thyagaraja Chettiayar, who was instrumental in getting him the post of Tamil teacher of the Kumbakonam Arts College in the wake of his retirement in 1880.

Parthasarathy, an alumnus of the Kumbakonam College, says the demolition will not only remove the memories of Iyer but also those of Thyagaraja Chettiyar, an eminent scholar, after whom the house was named.

“Chettiyar’s contribution to Tamil is explained by the fact that the principal of the Kumbakonam College, an English man, had his image engraved on one of the pillars of the college,” says Prof. Parthasarathy.

Iyer had explained why he named the house after Chettiyar. “It is a gesture to express my gratitude; even atonement, as I had failed to acknowledge Chettiyar’s name in my edition of the ‘Seevaka Chinthamani,’ one of the five great epics in Tamil,” he stated in his biography of Thyagaraja Chettiyar.

Ki. Va. Jagannathan, one of the students of Iyer, had recalled in his book ‘Yenathu Aasiriyarpiran’ that the owner of the house happily sold the house to Iyer though he had taken advance from another person.

Swaminatha Iyer worked in Presidency College till 1919. Later, he was the principal of the Meenakshi Tamil College from 1924 to 1927. He left the house only in 1942 along with many Chennai residents, fearing aerial bombardment during the Second World War.

As the former ‘asthana vidwan’ of the Thiruvavaduthurai Mutt, he was allowed to stay in a house of the Mutt at Thirukazhukundram. He died there on April 28, 1942 following a brief illness.

“The government should intervene and secure the house of Swaminatha Iyer as it did in the case of the house where Subramania Bharati resided. Iyer, Bharathi and Pudumaipithan form the Trinity of the Tamil language and cultural awakening. We cannot afford to ignore the fact,” says Prof. Parthasarathy.

source: http://www.TheHindu.com / Home> News> States> TamilNadu / by B. Kolappan / Chennai, September 16th, 2012

Board queen keen to conquer the world

Education, Inspiration/ Positive News and Features, Records, All, Sports

M. Mahalakshmi.

It is an unlikely setting in which to find a chess champion. An asbestos-sheeted single-room house in a slum at Erukkancheri with the family struggling to make ends meet.

However, the tough conditions have made M. Mahalakshmi, who is the world under-12 girls’ chess bronze medallist, more determined to win the forthcoming world under-14 girls’ chess championship.

“I want to become the world champion. It is my goal in life. My immediate goal is to win gold at the world youth championship that begins in Solvenia on November 7,” the teenage girl from Chennai told Deccan Chronicle.

The Class 9 student of Velammal Matriculation School has so far won two bronze medals (under-8 and under-12) at world level tournaments.

At the Asian level, she has bagged gold in the under-10 category in 2008, silver in the under-14 meet in 2010 and a bronze in the same under-14 event in 2011.

The fourth daughter of an electrician, Mahalakshmi picked up chess from her third sister M. Jagadambal.

Put under the tutelage of prominent coach M.J. Ismail, she quickly rose to prominence at the national level when she bagged the under-7 title in 2005.

However, her family troubles have ensured that she has to fight greater odds to keep ruling the chess board. Mahalakshmi now trains under R.B. Ramesh and misses out on the individual attention.

“Earlier we used to arrange for individual training for her. At that time, I was running a PVC pipe company and was living in a decent flat.

Now we are struggling to make ends meet and so have stopped professional coaching for her,” said her dejected father P. Mukunthakumar, adding that she missed participating in a open tournament at Orissa recently because of lack of funds.

The little champ is, however, not worried about coaching or losing valuable tournament practice. “I train for at least eight hours a day at home.

My school is very considerate and sponsors me when I travel abroad,” said Mahalakshmi. To motivate this young chess champion call 98400-33294.

source:  http:/www.DeccanChronicle.com / Home> Channels> Cities> Chennai / by S. Sujatha / DC, Chennai / September 17th, 2012

Farm tourism is in

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Green Initiatives/ Environment, Nature, Uncategorized

Farm tourism seems to be the in thing for locals and tourists coming to the city. We explore.

Who would not want to wake up to the chirping of birds and soothing morning breeze? With farm tourism becoming the in thing in the city, farmhouses around Trichy are gearing up to provide that unique experience to the tourists.
These farmhouses seems to be popping up in every nook and corner of the outskirts of the city and those who have been yearning for that rural experience are all heading to spend their weekends there.
Sriram Krishnamoorthy, who owns a farm house in the city, says that he had always wanted a place to spend quality time with family away from the city. “Trichy is blessed with fertile soil, so when I invested in a house outside the city, I also made sure to cultivate the surrounding areas. I visit the farmhouse along with my friends and family. We just go there cook, eat, talk and relax, far away from the maddening city crowd.”
Such farm experience packages are gaining popularity in the city and travel agents are cashing in on the trend. Whether it is to explore the city’s temples, go trekking or relax under the monsoon weather, Trichy’s farmhouses have everything on board, “We have a group of Swedish students who visit us every year and stay with us to understand the Indian culture better. They return home inspired after looking at our lifestyle. So I provide them with the  essence of rural India by taking them to the nearby villages in Trichy,”says Santhanam Rajagopalan, an environmentalist.
Augustus Manimaran, a construction engineer who owns one such house, which is built with environment-friendly materials says that he is having the time of his life. “I have always wanted to retire peacefully and my farm house is my dream project. I have begun taking a walk around the place with my dog, visiting the place with friends and relaxing in nature’s lap.”
Constructed beautifully and nestled in acres of  paddy fields Augustus, has also allowed it for commercial renting. “Not everyone can afford to build such houses, so renting them out for commercial purposes, has now caught the city by storm,” he says.
Jerome Francis, an engineering student says that it’s great break and transports them in to a different world altogether. “Such retreats are great for friend’s reunion, we meet up in one of my uncle’s houses, which has a pool and is surrounded by lush greenery. We spend the day there just catching up on old stories.”

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / Home> Life & Style> Travel / by Nuvena Rajendran, TNN / September 15th, 2012

Making the cut and how!

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Leaders

Editor Anthony

face-to-face From the runaway hit Kakka Kakka to the upcoming Kochadaiyaan, Editor Anthony’s filmography reads like a wish list. nikhil raghavan snips his long story short…

If his father had his way and he had succumbed to family pressure, Lewellyn Anthony Gonsalvez would have become a priest. But fate had other things in store for ‘Editor Anthony’. Growing up in Perambur, one of the three heartlands of the Anglo-Indian community in Chennai (the others being Royapuram and Pallavaram), Lewellyn was brought up on a traditional diet of Western music and English films. But, secretly he loved Tamil films and songs. “When dad was not around, I would sneak into my neighbour’s house and watch Oliyum Oliyum on DD. While studying in college, my friends and I would go to watch many Tamil films. I suppose this laid the foundation for what I would be doing later in life,” says Lewellyn.

INITIATION

A deep interest in drawing and sketching, coupled with an affinity for computers, prompted Lewellyn to do a three-month course in animation. “Sometime during this phase, I met Anna Lockwood who was freelancing with Avid at Real Image. She saw my interest in film-related technology and animation and suggested I take up editing as a career. I joined TeleTape and then moved to EditPoint, all the while getting accustomed to working on Avid. At EditPoint, I learnt everything by trial and error. I think that has given me the confidence to tackle anything without reservation.”

By now, Lewellyn had developed a large clientele of ad filmmakers who were thrilled by his editing skills and his willingness to innovate. “This is where I ran into people such as Gautham Menon and Rajeev Menon. At that time, Rajeev was making Minsara Kanavu and he suggested to AVM’s Guhan that they upgrade their editing facility by installing Avid and hire my services. That’s when I moved to AVM.” Lewellyn went on to do the trailers of Rajeev’s Minsara Kanavu and Kandukondein Kandukondein, as well as edit many of his ad films.

While at AVM, Lewellyn encountered a problem. “Many in the film industry were finding it difficult to pronounce my name. So, I adopted my middle name, Anthony, and got dubbed as ‘Editor Anthony’. Close friends shortened it further to Anto!”

HIS TECHNIQUE

Is there a particular technique he adopts? “I listen to a brief narrative of the storyline. More importantly, I watch the rushes to get an idea of how the story evolves. I then use my judgment and piece the scenes together. In many instances, you will find different versions or angles of the same scene. Directors do this to ensure that at the editing stage we are not short of options. But, once a director understands my style of editing and when he makes his next film, he will cut out unnecessary footage. There are instances when he does a rough edit of his film and I watch the whole thing as an audience would. Then, I exercise my editing skills to refine the product.”

Anthony has an impressive line-up of films to his credit, the most important ones, according to him, being Kakka Kakka, Manmadhan, New, Ghajini, Sivaji, Enthiran, Nanban, Paiyya and Madrasapatinam. “Right now, I am working onThandavam, Maatran, Neethane En Ponvasantham, I, Kochadaiyan and Suseendran’s next film.”

Having worked with a cross-section of directors, who does he think has influenced him the most? “The director who does not try to influence me at all is the best; which means, he knows I understand his style of filmmaking. For instance, when I edited the jeep song in Kakka Kakka for the audio release function, Gautham Menon said that he never expected the sequence would turn out the way it did, when he shot the scenes. This made him entrust the entire film to me for editing. I took it up as a challenge although I had not done a full-length feature film till then.”

Lewellyn literally lives in the editing suites of FrameWorks, his office at Raja Annamalaipuram, and goes home (Perambur) only during weekends. “To commute the distance daily would be stressful; besides, the time could be well-spent doing creative work in my office. Moreover, for filmmakers, deadlines are important. Staying put in my office gives me the freedom to work on several projects simultaneously with the help of my 12 assistants, most of whom are trainees; they keep changing — experienced ones go on to start their own ventures or work with others, and new ones fresh out of college come here for internship,” says Lewellyn, who at 38, is a mentor to many and a friend to every director in today’s world of feature films.

source: http://www.TheHindu.com / Home> Arts> Cinema / by Nikhil Raghavan / September 15th, 2012

Online job portal in Tiruchi

Business & Economy

Madurai, SEPT. 12:

Trichy Plus, an educational consultancy has come out with a common gateway trichyvelai.com, an online job portal to facilitate jobseekers wishing to settle down in the town to identify suitable employment and for employers to recruit local talent.

According to Sivakumar, Director, Trichy Plus, while registration is free for job seekers, firms would be charged on a nominal basis depending on the screening and selection.

The Web site has separate sections devoted to job seekers and employers. The former can zero in on suitable positions through a search function that filters jobs according to industry, work experience, expected salary and job function. The latter can view profiles and select candidates before summoning prospective ones. Placement officers in colleges and various companies including banks, BPOs, retail stores, firms, manufacturing industries, schools and colleges are being contacted to generate response.

Though the portal is designed to promote job opportunities in Tiruchi, openings in neighbouring districts such as Pudukottai, Thanjavur, Nagapattinam and Thanjavur are also featured, the sources said.

source: http://www.TheHinduBusinessLine.com / Home> Sports> States / by Hindu’s Correspondent / Madurai, September 12th, 2012

SRM triumphs in Kongu Trophy

Sports

SRM University won the basketball title for women and volleyball cup for men in the State Level inter-collegiate tournament for the Kongu Tropohy held at Perundurai (Erode).

The men’s team has won the volleyball event for the sixth year in a row. SRM also emerged the overall championship for the third year in succession.

The results: Basketball (women): SRM bt Pavai Engineering, Namakkal 55-27; bt Kongu College, Erode 55-22: Final: bt St. Joseph’s Engineering, Chennai 50-41.

Volleyball (Men): SRM bt Gandhigram 25-12, 25-12; bt Sri Sankara 25-21, 25-17; Final: bt Panimalar 25-21, 25-22.; Badminton (women): Runner- up; Men: Third place.

Basketball: Men: Third place.; Table Tennis: Men: Third place.

Other results: Men’s basketball final: Sathyabama University bt Loyola College, Chennai 64-50, Semifinal league: Sathyabama bt Hindustan Arts, Chennai 76-56; Sathyabama bt SRM University, Chennai 68-46. Quarterfinal:Sathyabama bt GRD College, Coimbatore 72-44.

source: http://www.TheHindu.com / Home> Sport / Chennai, September 12th, 2012