Monthly Archives: May 2013

The art of rescuing and revamping old saris

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Business & Economy

Sujata Pai isn’t just a sari designer. She revamps them as well. Ask her why she finds it terribly exciting and she says it is like giving new life to an old treasure — especially for women who have plenty of unused saris in their cupboards. Brimming with innovative ideas, her aim is to make bridal saris which are wearable for all occasions. “It all started because of my wardrobe. I hardly took quite a few saris off the shelves. But after adding personal touches to make the sari look unique, I’ve loved wearing them,” she smiles.

With varied hues, Sujata’s label, ‘Ambi’ reflects her simple style with a range of fabrics like Chanderi, Benaras silk, georgettes, chiffons, organzas, tussar and Maheshwari. Woven withwith handpicked embroidery, patchwork and block prints, her designs are deeply entrenched in Indian culture. Sujata explains, “Whenever I come up with a sari design, I think to myself: ‘Imagine I’m going to wear it’. So, I put in extra care for each one.” Incidentally her range of garments also includes lehenga saris, salwars, anarkalis and skirts.

When it comes to the six yards of silk, minimalistic design has been Sujata’s mantra. “Previously saris were designed in a rigid manner, but now it takes more of an Indo-western avatar to attract young women,” she says. Using handwoven silk, the sari maker opines that traditional craftsmanship ought to be taken forward to the global market in an effective way. Going light weight and easy to drape is the way to do that, she says. “The panels are pre-stitched so you don’t even need to pleat the sari,” smiles the  psychology graduate who has mastered the art of the weave without a degree in designing or textiles, but is inspired by Sabyasachi Mukherjee, Ritu Sharma, and Manish Malhotra

(For more details, contact: 9840778558)

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / by  Express Features – Chennai / May 02nd, 2013

Hidden Histories : Ill-fated castle

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Historical Links, Pre-Independence, Records, All
Brodie’s Castle on the banks of the Adyar is one of the historic homes of Chennai. Photo: Special Arrangement / The Hindu
Brodie’s Castle on the banks of the Adyar is one of the historic homes of Chennai. Photo: Special Arrangement / The Hindu

Brodie’s Castle, along the Adyar, is said to have brought ill luck on several of its residents

Bradis Kesil Road, says a signboard towards the end of R.K. Mutt Road. This is what lack of awareness and official apathy have done to one of the most intriguing places in the city.

Brodie’s Castle on the banks of the Adyar is one of the historic homes of Chennai. It is said to have brought ill luck on several of its residents. James Brodie, of the firm of Jarvis and Brodie, built it in 1796. Perhaps inspired by an eponymous castle in Scotland, he designed it with sloping outer walls and two castellated turrets. The nearest settlement was Mylapore and the road leading there became Brodie’s Castle Road. Today most of it is R.K. Mutt Road, with the last short stretch alone retaining the old name.

Shortly after he moved in, Brodie’s businesses failed forcing him to rent out his castle. The first tenant was Sir Thomas Strange, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Madras. Brodie moved back in 1802 only to drown in the Adyar. The business family of Arbuthnot then purchased Brodie Castle. They rented it out as a house by the river fetched high rent in hot Madras. It was also an artist’s delight making it a favourite subject for watercolours.

In 1810, Edward Vaughan, chaplain of St. George’s Cathedral, moved in, only to lose his wife immediately. He rose to become archdeacon and stayed on at Brodie’s Castle till his retirement in 1829. In 1866, Brodie’s Castle was in the news for the wrong reasons when James McIvor of the Bank of Madras was its occupant. His two daughters, an aide-de-camp to the Governor and the president of the Madras Corporation were killed in a boating accident.

In 1906, the firm of Arbuthnot crashed and Brodie’s Castle was bought, in the distress sale that followed, by Subramania Pillai of the firm of P. Venkatachellum, famed for its condiments and curry powders. It became one of the 75 houses that Pillai owned in Madras. He chose to rent out Brodie’s Castle. Charles Cotton, chief secretary, was a tenant, and he filled the house with fine furniture and art. He was one of the few lucky residents.

Chief Justice Sir Lionel Leach occupied it in 1937. One afternoon in October 1943, the Adyar burst its banks and destroyed many of Sir Lionel’s possessions. Lawyers had a good time imagining the dour Judge sitting in his high-backed chair and futilely commanding the river to rise no further. In 1949, Brodie’s Castle became the residence of P.S. Kumaraswami Raja, the then Premier of Madras State. He lost his post following a stunning electoral defeat in 1952, despite contesting from his family stronghold of Srivilliputhur.

Brodie’s Castle was never a residence thereafter. In 1956, it became home to the Central College of Karnatic Music, now the Isai Kalluri, and in 1968, was renamed Thenral. Maintained after a fashion, by the PWD, it survives, and is worth a visit.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Chennai / by SriRam V. / May 02nd, 2013

A leaf out of ancient Tamil literature

Arts, Culture & Entertainment
Ma. Ve.Pasupathi at his residence in Villivakkam. Photo: K. Pichumani / The Hindu
Ma. Ve.Pasupathi at his residence in Villivakkam. Photo: K. Pichumani / The Hindu

Deciphering palm-leaf manuscripts, Ma. Ve Pasupathi has published 40 literary works. He recently received the prestigious U Ve Sa award for this singular work. T. S. Atul Swaminathan in conversation with the scholar

A few minutes into a conversation with Ma. Ve. Pasupathi, it is clear this Tamil scholar follows closely in the footsteps of the grand-father of Tamil literature, Mahamahopadhyaya Dr. U.V. Swaminatha Iyer.

And it is fitting that he has received U Ve Sa award by the Tamil Nadu Government for his contribution to Tamil literature, especially compiling palm leaf manuscripts and handwritten manuscripts. The award was conferred on him by Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa on April 15 at the Secretariat.

Ma. Ve. Pasupathi has published 40 Tamil literary works from palm-leaf manuscripts, written more than 70 research articles, and plain-texted eight literary works, including 1,832 songs in Thirupudai Marudur Puranam. He is a former honorary curator of Dr. U.V. Swaminatha Iyer library, Besant Nagar.

‘More than 16,000 people in 30 districts across the State are in possession of 5, 84, 134 Tamil palm leaf manuscripts. But till date, it has been difficult to find what has been written. The need of the hour is experts, who can read and translate these manuscripts,” says Pasupathi. Restoring palm-leaf manuscripts will bring many classical Tamil literature works to light, he adds.

Dr. Uttamadhanapuram Venkatasubbaiyer Swaminatha Iyer played an instrumental role in publishing long-forgotten works of classical Tamil literature that lay encrypted in palm leaves, he points out.

He adds, “The writings on palm-leaf manuscripts can be in Tamil, Sanskrit or Grand alibi dating back to 18 or 19 century.

The ability to understand where a poem or prose ends and begins has to be mastered.”

Ma. Ve. Pasupathi can be contacted at  9444881281.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Chennai / by T. S. Atul Swaminathan / Chennai – April 22nd, 2013

Museum in Gummidipoondi offers a ‘hearty’ welcome to visitors

Education, Records, All, Science & Technologies
Visitors at the Maurice Lev & Saroja Bharati Cardiac Museum at Frontier Mediville at Gummidipoondi on Saturday. / Photo: V. Ganesan / The Hindu
Visitors at the Maurice Lev & Saroja Bharati Cardiac Museum at Frontier Mediville at Gummidipoondi on Saturday. / Photo: V. Ganesan / The Hindu

In the vast room guarded by a solid ornate wooden door are about 8,000 hearts. None of them beat. Jostling against the translucent fluid in glass jars, the hearts sit, in all sizes, shapes, colours, and stages of disease. Welcome to the Maurice Lev and Saroja Bharati Cardiac Museum at Frontier Mediville in Gummidipoondi, about 50 km from the city.

The museum has not only hearts – most of them human, with some animal specimens – but also heart components. “If we put every specimen we have in a jar of formalin, we’ll need 10,000 containers,” says K.M.Cherian, chairman and CEO, Frontier Lifeline Hospital and Frontier Mediville. “It is the largest collection of cardiac pathology hearts anywhere in the country, possibly even the world,” he claims.

Pathology is the branch of medicine that studies the altered anatomy of an organ. A surgeon corrects the structure or functionality of an organ, and so, unless he or she gets the pathology and biochemistry right, he or she is likely to be just a person with a scalpel.

The museum gets its name from the primary contributors to the heart section, Maurice Lev and Saroja Bharati, from the Maurice Lev Congenital Heart and Conduction Systems Centre, Chicago. It cost about $1,00,000 to ship the specimens, and a further $1.5 million in insurance, Dr. Cherian says.

“I had not even imagined that these hearts we collected since the 1970s would be in India one day. But, here they are,” Dr. Bharati explains. “Every heart is different. When you look under the microscope, even the hearts of identical twins are not identical.” As someone who has written the pathology reports of over 9,000 hearts, she should know.

In the museum, inaugurated by Governor K.Rosaiah on Saturday, are hearts at various stages of disease, and repair, diaphanous valves which put you in awe of a cardiac surgeon’s skills, pacemaker probes nesting in hearts split wide open.

“This has been my dream. I visited Prof. Lev and Bharati in Chicago when they were just setting up the museum to spend months studying the anatomy of the heart,” he explains, giving us a personal guided-tour of the museum on its inaugural day. “I want students to benefit from this wealth of information, completely free of cost. Some professors of pathology from other countries have also expressed interest in visiting the museum.” And what is the favourite specimen in the hall? Dr. Cherian doesn’t bat an eyelid, “Mine.” It probably is happiest ticking in the good doctor’s chest cavity at the moment, but is it to be available for display sometime in the future? “For sure!” he says, “I don’t believe either in burying or burning the body.”

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Chennai / by Ramya Kannan / Tiruvallur – April 28th, 2013

Veteran musician dies at 91

Arts, Culture & Entertainment

Veteran musician T K Ramamoorthy died at his Royapettah residence in Chennai on April 17. He was 91 and survived by wife and 11 children.

Ramamoorthy partnered with film musician Vishwanathan to compose music for more than 700 South Indian films from the 1950s. The duo known as Mellisai Mannargal (the kings of light music) gave hundreds of memorable songs in films likeRatha Kanneer, Pudhayal, Pathi Pakthi and Nichaya Tamboolam.

Born in Tiruchy, about 250km from Chennai, Ramamoorthy became an accomplished violinist by 16 years of age and gave concerts under his parents’ tutelage.

He was spotted by film musician C R Subburaman and taken to Madras (the present-day Chennai) to work for AVM studios. There Ramamoorthy met Vishwanathan, who was an expert at harmonium, keyboard and piano. Vishwanathan was seven years younger to Ramamoorthy but they had an instant rapport.

Their big break came when Subburaman died in 1952 while composing for films Devadas, Chandi Rani and Marumagal.

The two musicians completed Subburaman’s work and became inseparable until 1965. They were the highest paid musicians of that period and honed generations of singers and musicians besides taking film music to a light racy level.

After their amicable separation in 1965, Ramamoorthy composed music only for 19 films whereas Vishwanathan had more professional success. However on the request of friends, the pair came together again for the 1995 Tamil film Engurintho Vandhan but did not continue their partnership.

Ramamoorthy and Vishwanathan have won many national awards, the most recent being a felicitation ceremony organised by Chief Minister Jayaram Jayalalithaa in 2012.

source: http://www.gulf-times.com / Gulf Times / Home> International> India> Tamil Nadu Round Up / by Umaima Shafiq / April 21st, 2013