Monthly Archives: October 2013

‘Take care of old parents’

Arts, Culture & Entertainment

The Madurai District Police and HelpAge India organised a seminar on ‘Meeting critical challenges of senior citizens’ at the District Police Office here on Saturday.

Representatives of various trusts taking care of the elders, social workers, legal experts and academics took part in the seminar.

Edwin Babu, Joint Director (Programmes), Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, HelpAge India, said while the elders had their fair share of problems, they themselves were looked at as problems, particularly in the recent past. Explaining the key words in their logo, ‘Fighting isolation, poverty and neglect,’ he said, “We have placed isolation above poverty. In the last five years, the most affected have been the elders from middle and upper class families.”

Chief guest Superintendent of Police V.Balakrishnan said the old must be aware of their rights. “With an effective grievance redressal system, we should make sure that solutions are found to their problems,” he said.

Jacintha Martin, secretary, District Legal Services Authority, emphasised better implementation of laws under the Senior Citizens Act, 2007. Stressing the need to educate the young people to respect their parents in their old age, she said, “Old people in our houses yearn for love. They should not be neglected on the excuse of work burden.”

Taking questions from the audience on property disputes that affect old people, the panel reaffirmed the importance of writing will. “Wills are accepted even if written on a plain sheet of paper and the old people should be aware that they can change a will as long as they live,” said Ms.Jacintha.

District Social Welfare Officer R.Anandhavalli spoke on the challenges in rescue and rehabilitation of the abandoned elders. S.Veeraraghavan, Senior Manager, IOB, and V.S.Murugan, Manager (Sales), LIC, Madurai, were present.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Madurai / by Staff Reporter / Madurai – July 04th, 2013

State gets exclusive sanctuary for spotted deer

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Green Initiatives/ Environment, Nature
Spotted deer roaming freely at Gangaikondan reserve forest./ Photo: A. Shaikmohideen / The Hindu
Spotted deer roaming freely at Gangaikondan reserve forest./ Photo: A. Shaikmohideen / The Hindu

Gangaikondan sanctuary in Tirunelveli notified

Tamil Nadu now has an exclusive sanctuary for spotted deer with the State government notifying the formation of Gangaikondan Spotted Deer Sanctuary.

An order from the Environment and Forests Department said this follows an announcement this May by Chief Minister Jayalalithaa in the Assembly that the sanctuary in Tirunelveli district would be formed in the current fiscal.

With this, there would be 11 wildlife sanctuaries in the State.

Subsequently, the Principal Chief Conservator of Forests and Chief Wildlife Warden sent necessary proposal for declaration of Gangaikondan Spotted Deer Sanctuary under the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972 and it was accepted by the government with effect from October 1.

According to the notification, the Gangaikondan reserve forest is an important habitat for spotted deer. This is the southern most habitat of spotted deer outside the Western Ghats. It is also a habitat for peafowls, mongoose, varied reptiles, avifauna.

There is adequate ecological, faunal, floral, geo-morphological, natural and other zoological significance for the purpose of protection, propagation and management of the wildlife and its environment.

Forest officials said the sanctuary is spread over in 250ha and surrounded by patta lands. Due to this a perimeter wall has to be built around the sanctuary area. The forest type is dry deciduous and scrub jungle, which is strategically located on the National Highway 7 and 10km away from the Tirunelveli town.

The department proposes to introduce eco-development activities by involving the locals. The activities included skill development for youth, asset creation and micro enterprises for livelihood, the authorities added.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> National> TamilNadu / by P. Oppili / N. RaviKumar / Chennai – October 09th, 2013

Here’s rice that your doctors won’t object to

Green Initiatives/ Environment, Nature, Science & Technologies, Uncategorized
Dr Mohan’s high fibre rice could be the answer to the rice craving of diabetics. | Martin Louis/File
Dr Mohan’s high fibre rice could be the answer to the rice craving of diabetics. | Martin Louis/File

The first thing that your doctor will do the minute your blood sugar levels inch above 120 mg/dL, is probably look at you reproachfully, shake his head and tell you to lay off rice for lunch and dinner.

In fact, most new diabetics will admit that laying off the rice in ‘meals’ and switching to chappatis is one of the most trying things about being a ‘sugar’ patient. All that could very well change, if diabetologist Dr V Mohan’s new variety of rice lives up to its promises.

Launched in the city on Wednesday, Dr Mohan’s Jeevan Dharini High Fibre Rice and Rice Rava could be the answer for the rice craving of diabetics. Though the carbohydrate content in Dr Mohan’s rice is just a shade lower than your regular Ponni varieties, the difference is in the glycemic index and the fibre content, says the diabetologist. “Where normal varieties of rice have only 0.8 gms of dietary fibre, our rice has 8.3 gms of fibre making  it an extremely healthy and safe option,” says Dr V Mohan. For daily consumption? “Of course, with a little bit of smart moderation,” he adds.

This variety of rice has been developed after years of research and researching over 200 varieties of rice, he states. “We finally found this hybrid variety that comes from a cross with the local ponni variety that is extremely tasty and yet has some great nutritional numbers,” says Dr Mohan. This is the second rice product that they have rolled out – their brown rice variety didn’t quite set the ball rolling because it wasn’t quite attractive to look at nor was it exceptionally tasty, “People need rice to appeal to their senses – it has to be white, tasty, fragrant and still be healthy. That’s the combination we’ve managed to work out here,” said Dr R M Anjana, VP of Dr Mohan’s Institutions, as she rolled out a whole bunch of recipes that were moulded around this rice.

The rice varieties were tested and perfected at their research centre in collaboration with Dr M S Swaminathan’s Research Foundation (MSSRF), explaining why he was the first to receive the rice, “There are over 1.5 lakh varieties of rice in the world,” he says, “I know because I’ve worked with lots of them. Many of them are yet to be tapped for their true medicinal properties and their dietary structure. I hope that Dr Mohan will look into some more research in this field,” said Dr M S Swaminathan. Foodking Sarathbabu E and Bindu Sharma, patent attorney were also present.

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Cities> Chennai / by Express News Service – Chennai / July 18th, 2013

Ragi dish, 2 others win in CMC contest

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Nature, Science & Technologies

Food items like ragi paniyaram, green gram fry, fenugreek mixed salad and green gram modak were among the food items cooked by the winner of the first prize in the diabetic cookery competition, conducted by the Department of Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism attached to the Christian Medical College here on Sunday.

According to Dr Nihal Thomas, head of the department, the competition was conducted to commemorate World Diabetes Day, to create awareness on the nutritional aspects of diabetes management.

A total of 10 teams presented their culinary skills in the cooking competition with the theme “Diabetic sweet and diabetic salads”. Maheshwari from the Dietary department, CMC Vellore, who prepared ragi paniyaram, green gram fry, fenugreek mixed salad and green gram modak, won the first prize. The judges for the event were Mahendri, Head of the Department of Dietetics (CMC), Dr Renu George from the Department of Dermatology (CMC) and Dr Anitha Alfred.

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Cities> TamilNadu / by Express News Service – Vellore / October 02nd, 2013

Coming up: An ode to Mylapore’s lost heritage

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Historical Links, Pre-Independence

Mylapore'sCF13oct2013

Mylapore is one of Chennai’s oldest areas, predating the metropolis by centuries. It is this heritage that the Chennai Corporation is now seeking to highlight through a proposed redesign of the roads into a pedestrian-friendly zone. Long-time residents of Mylapore are cautious in welcoming the plan, and have expressed their burning desire for a greater planning and organisation of shops, traffic and other amenities in the area.

When he expresses his opinion about Mylapore, 83-year-old Ranganathan speaks with the comfortable reminiscence that only the thought of home can evoke. He lived in various parts of the locality, before moving to Velachery to live with his daughter. “I was born there. My uncle was a priest at the Adi Kesava Perumal Temple, so we have stayed in many houses in the area over the years,” he says.

Ranganathan recalls the idyllic air that used to hang over the area. “It isn’t calm anymore. There is a lot of activity that some people call development. But that is not necessarily all good. Also, it is impossible to get the younger generation to live in these small spaces that I grew up in. They are more affluent in their mindset,” says Ranganathan.

When people started selling off the old properties in the area – especially on North, East and South Mada Streets – in the late 1980s, Ranganathan says he was part of a group of like-minded locals who petitioned the government to freeze development in the area and compensate the residents so that the area’s heritage would be retained. But there was little response. “All this so-called development has an unstoppable nature. I understand I have become a relic from another time, but the fact of the matter is that a large part of the heritage of Mylapore has already been lost,” says Ranganathan.

But some dark clouds come with silver lining and not all clouds are dark. All the tearing change that the area has seen over the past two decades does throw up advantages, according to Meenakshi Balakrishnan, a retired teacher who has lived in Mylapore for the majority of her life. Her family lived in the area, and the household she was married into was from Mylapore too.

“We have seen this place change. We have lived in our present house alone for about 40 years now. Some of the shops are useful and some are not. After all, how often do we buy jewellery or saris?” she asks. However, the area still holds it charm for her as it has seen a growth in the amount of cultural activity happening here.

“The halls have grown. The scale of the cultural activities has increased. There are more venues in this area now. So, we are extremely comfortable here, as we are very close to the kutcheries and dance performances,” she says.

Meenakshi, however, sees a flip side to this as well. She says Mylapore could do more with a proper plan for its organisation and management than some boards that talk about its heritage. “They need to bring the hawkers and shops under control, make it easier for pedestrians to cross the road and find a way to regulate traffic. Only then can any attempt to talk about Mylapore’s heritage be relevant to the inheritors of that heritage,” she says.

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Cities> Chennai / by Express News Service – Chennai / October 02nd, 2013

Indian Bank celebrates founder’s birth anniversary

Business & Economy, Leaders

The 150th birth anniversary of V Krishnaswamy Iyer, who founded Indian Bank, was celebrated recently in a grand function at the Music Academy. The chief guest of the function was K Rosaiah, Governor, Tamil Nadu.

The Indian Bank, founded in 1906 by Krishnaswamy Iyer, was just one of the great institutions that Iyer had founded. A doyen, who propagated ayurveda, sanskrit and several other facets of Indian culture, was also the founder of Sri Venkataramana Ayurveda Dispensary, Madras Sanskrit College and Kuppuswamy Sastri Research Institute.

Rosaiah spoke about the philanthropic capacity of V Krishnaswamy Iyer and said, “For well over a century, trained, talented ayurvedic physicians have come out of institutions that he founded. And they have succeeded in propagating the rich science.” Talking about his contribution to the freedom struggle, the Governor said, “He took active part in the freedom struggle and lead the congress session held in Bombay. In 1890, he attended the Calcutta Congress as a delegate. He actively participated in the Madras session as well. He also developed close friendships with stalwarts such as Sri Gopale Krishna Gokhale, Lok Manya Tilak, Ashutosh Mukherjee, Madan Mohan Malaviya and Feroze Shah Mehta.”

Rosaiah further added that glorious tributes were paid to Krishnaswamy Iyer by the Governor of Madras Presidency and all leading public figures in India then.

source:  http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Cities> Chennai / by Express News Service – Chennai / September 30th, 2013

Celebrating the spirit of the Hindi language

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Education

BSNL Chennai  Telephones held their Hindi Fortnight celebrations at the BSNL Telephone Exchange at Dams Road on Monday.

Dr Srabani Panda, the head of the Department of Hindi, Stella Maris College was the chief guest at the event. Chief general manager A Balasubramanian released BSNL’s annual Hindi magazine titled Chennai Vani. He handed over the first copy to Dr Panda.

Rajbhasa Adhikari Jayasuriya Chellam presented BSNL’s annual report while Dr Panda gave away prizes to the winners of various competitions that were held in connection with the celebrations.

Staff members and their families, who participated in the competitions, attended the event.

“If we learn Hindi and English along with our mother tongue, then the world will be in our hands,” said Dr Panda while addressing the participants and the audience. Balasubramanian delivered the presidential address. As part of the celebrations, staff members who attended the event received a copy each of the Chennai Vani magazine.

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Cities> Chennai / by Express News Service – Chennai / October 01st, 2013

Papanasam Sivan’s 123rd birth anniversary celebrated

Arts, Culture & Entertainment
Winners of various competitions with the dignitaries present on the occasion | P Ravikumar
Winners of various competitions with the dignitaries present on the occasion | P Ravikumar

Keeping the legacy of the renowned carnatic musician and legendary singer Papanasam Sivan alive, his 123rd Jayanthi Mahotsavam was celebrated in the city recently.

The whole week of the Jayanthi Mahotsavam was filled with many music and dance events, and concerts by famous singers.

Singer Nithyashree Mahadevan was conferred the title ‘Sivanisai Selvi’ by Papanasam Sivan Rasikar Mandram. The title is given to an acclaimed singer every year during the celebrations.

Rukmini Ramani, daughter of Brahmasri Papanasam Sivan and secretary of Papanasam Sivan Rasikar Sangam, started the function with her composition of Kapaleeshwarar Pancha rathinam that was rendered along with her students.

This was followed by the prize distribution for the vocal and dance competitions that were conducted earlier this month. The prizes were distributed by distinguished guests like L Sabaretnam, chairman of Kartik Fine arts, along with T V Gopalakrishnan, Padma Bhushan Awardee and a carnatic and Hindustani musician. R Krishnaswamy, president of Papanasam Sivan Rasikar Mandram, was also present in the occasion. He shared anecdotes from Sivan’s life and his immortal contributions. Everybody in their speech mentioned Papanasam Sivan’s extraordinary talents and the simplicity with which he lived his life. They also mentioned his immense contribution to Tamil cinema.

“He is one of those gurus who gave a new dimension to cinema music in the 1930s and 40s. His greatness should be kept alive by spreading his krithis across the world,” said Krishnaswamy.

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Cities> Chennai / by Express News Service – Chennai / October 01st, 2013

Library reaches out to differently abled

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Education, Inspiration/ Positive News and Features
People busy browsing periodicals and newspapers at the New Building of District Central Library at Tiruchi on Wednesday./ Photo: M.Moorthy / The Hindu
People busy browsing periodicals and newspapers at the New Building of District Central Library at Tiruchi on Wednesday./ Photo: M.Moorthy / The Hindu

Disabled persons residing within 2-km radius of District Central Library can access facility

Differently abled persons residing within a radius of two kilometres of the District Central Library near Singarathope on the West Boulevard Road can now have books from the library delivered at their doorsteps.

The District Central Library plans to implement the novel initiative with the support of the library’s Readers’ Circle for the benefit of differently abled persons who are not able to visit the library personally.

Differently abled persons who wish to avail the service can send in their request specifying their names, full address, and telephone numbers to the District Library Officer, District Central Library Office at West Boulevard Road by surface mail or email to dcltry@tn.nic.in or SMS to 7402603631.

Once the request was received, the library staff will visit the homes of the different abled persons to formally enrol them as members of the library, District Library Officer A.P.Sivakumar told The Hindu.

Once they become members, the differently abled persons will be eligible to have books of their choice from the library delivered at their doorstep once a week. The books, to be delivered by the library staff with the support of the Readers’ Circle, have to be returned within 15 days.

Apart from an annual subscription of Rs.10, the members will be required to pay a deposit of Rs.20 for borrowing one book, Rs.40 for two books, and Rs.50 for three books.

Based on the response to the service to be launched shortly, the initiative will be extended to differently abled persons living more than two km away from the library, Mr.Sivakumar said. He also disclosed that efforts were underway to make the newly built library building more differently abled-friendly.

Amenities such as a differently abled-friendly toilet and ramp were available. Wheelchairs and other amenities are planned to be provided soon.

A separate section for differently abled with specialised infrastructure, especially for the visually and hearing impaired, is also being planned.

source: http://www. thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Tiruchirapalli / by Special Correspondent / Tiruchi – July 17th, 2013

Book Talk: A unique biography of a middle-class family

Arts, Culture & Entertainment

FamilyPadmaVilasCF10oct2013

Title : The Family from Padma Vilas

Author : Padmini B. Sankar / Pages : 181 / Price : Rs.220

The narration is a true story spanning three generations of a Tamil Brahmin (Iyers) family, the author herself belonging to the fourth. It unfolds with a stunning yet brief vignette of her great-grand father, whom she describes as a herbal healer, upon whom the sprawling family tree has been presented. Its branches get inter-twined to such an amazing complex that going by the large number of names of her relatives of all descriptions (parents, aunts, cousins and so on) the author has taken meticulous care to bring them at appropriate places, one is reminded of Srimad Bhagavatha of Vedavyasa.

The journey of the members belonging to the three generations before the author’s own begins from a small village (Tenkasi, situated at the foothills of the Western Ghats in Tamil Nadu, five kilometers from the famous Kutralam falls) moving to the august offices of South Block in New Delhi, spanning the last century. The author’s grandfather, a doctor, and father, a former officer of Indian Air Force and later a senior bureaucrat are the major dramatis personal of the middle-class family traced to ‘Padma Vilas’, the dwelling that the doctor built, since demolished.

Although the work gives the impression that it is a memoir or family history, it gives a peek into the lives of past generations of a then typical middle-class Indian family, done in a literary style of a high quality, easy on the reader. The many photographs and graphics of documents add to the value of the work as an authentic chronicle of a bygone era. The recall of names of the large number of ‘leaves’, ‘buds’ and ‘flowers’ of the gigantic family tree and recounting of episodes associated with them by the author is bound to spur many to undertake a similar but arduous task.

Nobody can disagree with these words that are said in the foreword; there is no greater understanding in the literary world than the setting down of a family history. How can any of us know who we are if we don’t know from where we came? — BRS

source: http://www.starofmysore.com / Star of Mysore / Home> Feature Articles / October 04th, 2013