Monthly Archives: November 2014

The man who built a bridge between Tamil and Bengali

Arts, Culture & Entertainment

Chennai :

Building a bridge between two languages is not easy. But S Krishnamurthi (aka Calcutta Krishnamurthi), who died recently in the city, did exactly that by translating major works in Tamil into Bengali and vice versa in a career spanning more than five decades. He translated the works of veteran Bengali writers like Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay, Mahasweta Devi, Sunil Gangopadhyay and Bibhutibhushan Bandyopadhyay into Tamil. Similarly, he translated classic Tamil Sangam literature ‘Tirukkural’ and many modern Tamil literary works into Bengali.

Krishnamurthi’s translation of Indira Parthasarathi’s novel “Kuruthippunal” into Bengali won him the Sahitya Akademi award in 1991. “He would invite visiting Tamil scholars and writers home for dinner after long conversations in the Bharathi Tamil Sangam in Calcutta. It would lead to a lot of discussions on literature in Tamil as well as in Bengali,” said Tirupur Krishnan, scholar and writer. Krishnamurthi died on September 7 in the city after suffering from illness. Speaking at a condolence meet organized by the Tamil Heritage Trust a couple of days ago, Krishnan said, “He should have been recognized in Chennai like the way he was in Bengal.”

Born in Pudukkottai in 1929, Krishnamurthi obtained his MA in English literature from Nagpur University. Even though he was fluent in his mother-tongue Tamil, he learnt other languages like Hindi, Bengali, Sanskrit, English and German. While he was working with the audit department of the Government of India in the then Madras state in 1955, he was transferred to Calcutta. He embraced Calcutta as his second home since then.

“After Subramanya Bharathi who translated Rabindranath Tagore’s works into Tamil, Krishnamurthi was the one who took up the challenge. He also translated English and Hindi books into Tamil, including “Nehru, Ideology and Practice”, written by veteran communist leader EMS Namboodiripad,” said R Gopu, a software engineer.

Krishnamurthi wrote biographies of Nazrul Islam, Sarat Chandra, Munshi Premchand and Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar in Tamil. K Mohan, a retired school teacher, said, “Krishnamurthi translated a Tagore story studded with proverbs with great expertise. It was a great attempt as he did not want to lose the flavour in Tamil. This was the main reason why communist leader and former chief minister of West Bengal Jyoti Basu praised him for the beauty of his Bengali,” he said. Even though Krishnamurthi didn’t want to leave Kolkata, he had been living in Chennai for more than a year due to old-age related illness. He is survived by a daughter and a son.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Chennai / by M. T. Saju, TNN / September 16th, 2014

Feminist writer Rajam Krishnan dead

Arts, Culture & Entertainment
Feminist writer Rajam Krishnan
Feminist writer Rajam Krishnan

Chennai :

Feminist writer Rajam Krishnan, who had been ailing for a while after an accident, passed away at a private hospital in Chennai on Monday night. She was 89.

A recipient of the Sahitya Akademi award, New York Herald Tribune award, Soviet Land Nehru award and others, Rajam was known for her writings in Tamil on the lives of poor farmers, saltpan workers, criminals, dacoits, undertrials and female labourers.

“She used to visit the place of these people on whom her story was going to be based. She lived their lives and recorded them in the form of a short story or novels,” said CPM state general secretary G Ramakrishnan in a tribute to the writer.

“Her writings on women issues and labourers were lively and explained the actual condition of the victims. Apart from writings on many issues, she also took part in several agitations to give voice for the oppressed,” said Ramakrishnan.

Born in a conservative family Trichy district in 1925, Rajam started writing at the age of 16 and since then had written several short stories, articles and novels. Though she had not undergone formal education, her writings became a subject of research at universities.

Rajam married Krishnan, an electrical engineer, at the age of 15. He encouraged her to read several books, and his encouragement helped her turn to writing at a young age.

She was awarded the Sahitya Akademi Award in 1973 for her novel ‘Verrukku Neer.’

The Tamil Nadu government nationalized her writings in 2009, making an exception to the general rule that only the works of deceased authors were considered for nationalization. An official release said her works had been nationalized for Rs 3 lakh as a special case, based on her request.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> India / by B. Sivakumar, TNN / October 21st, 2014

Researcher Finds Stone Age Pallankuzhi

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Historical Links, Pre-Independence, Records, All, Sports
Pallanguzhi holes found by a research team at Pannamparai village in Thoothukudi district | express
Pallanguzhi holes found by a research team at Pannamparai village in Thoothukudi district | express

Thoothukudi :

Pallanguzhi (a traditional mancala game) holes dating back to the Stone Age were found at Pannamparai village in the district, claimed Thavasimuthu, an archaeologist. The holes were discovered during a ground study by Thavasimuthu and his students.

Pallanguzhi is a traditional mancala game played in rural areas. It is normally played on boards and before boards emerged, people played the game by making holes in rocky areas. Thavasimuthu claimed that the holes represent a shorter version of Pallanguzhi, which is played even now.

He added that the holes represent several things, including the earliest human settlements, the impact that the game had on human lives and also the adjacent trade routes. He further said that the game was even used to settle disputes between kings and had avoided several wars as the winner of the game was considered the winner of the dispute.

After examining the holes, Thavasimuthu said, “The Pallanguzhi holes should be at least 10,000 years old.”

He added that the holes would normally be made with axes but in the case of holes found at Pannamparai village, the holes were made using stones.

He noted that by relating the age of the Pallanguzhi holes and the earliest possible  human settlements, it could be discerned that men from Africa had first settled in the southern parts of Tamil Nadu.

He added that similar holes were earlier found in Pazhani hills and they date back 25,000 years.

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> States> Tamil Nadu / by Express News Service / November 16th, 2014

HIDDEN HISTORIES – Made in Madras

Business & Economy, Historical Links, Pre-Independence, Records, All

“Make in India” may be the buzz now, but there was a time when ‘to make in Madras’ meant fighting vested interests. The accompanying advertisement may bring old memories — of pencils such as Kohinoor, Ajantha and Spectrum, all sold by V. Perumal Chetty & Sons, and manufactured at their Madras Pencil Factory. That factory closed in the 1990s, but it had a history that stretched to a time when ‘make in Madras’ was considered possible.

MadeinMadrasCF16nov2014

It was sometime in 1899 that the Madras government got Alfred Chatterton, of the College of Engineering, to study the potential to set up industries. He did pioneering work in this area, first demonstrating that aluminium could be used in place of brass and copper to make vessels. That effort led to the Indian Aluminium Company (INDAL). The established business houses of Madras, all British-owned, were not happy with this. They were comfortable exporting raw materials to Britain and importing finished goods. Local industrial development they felt would mean Indians would take to it, thereby threatening them with competition.

But Chatterton was undeterred. In 1908, he convinced the Government of Madras to set up a Department of Industries, a first for the entire country. The Swadesi movement led by patriots such as V.O. Chidambaram Pillai was gaining ground then. Chatterton openly sided with the Swadesi Movement, declaring it “a good sign for India to develop her industrial life” and “Madras to rid itself of its character of an overstocked market of literacy employment”. His colleague Frederick Nicholson went a step further, stating that in the matter of Indian industries, “we are bound to consider Indian interests — firstly, secondly and thirdly — I mean by firstly, that local raw products should be utilised; by secondly that industries should be introduced and by thirdly, the profits of such industry should remain in the country.”

Both Chatterton and Nicholson felt that the government would need to set up small industries, which could then be sold to Indians to run. Nicholson established the Fisheries Department and created the Lalita Soap Works in Madras. Chatterton founded the Government (later Madras) Pencil Factory at Korukkupet. He imported wood from East Africa for the pencils and ran advertisements with a strong nationalist slant as you can see, to drum up business.

The business houses of Madras lobbied hard through the Madras Chamber of Commerce and got the Department of Industries closed in 1910. It was only after repeated protests by Indians in the Madras Legislative Council that it was reinstated in 1914. Its resurrection was celebrated with a Madras Industries Exhibition organised by the Department.

The Government operated the pencil factory till 1918 and then put it up for sale. A syndicate of Komati Chettys of Madras, led by the Perumal Chetty clan, bought it and the rest is history. Chatterton and Nicholson were knighted, which is not the kind of reward that civil servants would get today if they went against the establishment for the sake of public interest.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> Features> MetroPlus> Society / by Sriram V / Chennai – November 16th, 2014

Now, diabetes clinic at Siddha Research Centre

Nature, Science & Technologies

Arumbakkam-based Siddha Central Research Institute will launch a special outpatient service on Friday to mark World Diabetes Day.

The service will be offered every Monday from 8 a.m. till noon.

Further research

The institute will also take up further research on one of its medicinal product — the D5 choornam — used to treat diabetes.

“We conducted a year-long study on a group of patients that included only those who had been detected with diabetes within six months of its onset. We found that the medicine was effective on the control group. From tomorrow we have decided to provide the choornam to all patients coming to the clinic but we will continue our research to test the medicine’s efficacy on chronic diabetics,” said institute director general R.S. Ramaswamy.

The study was conducted in three centres — Chennai, Puducherry and Palayamkottai.

The next step in the study, which will be launched on Friday, will include long-term diabetic patients with diabetes-related complications, Dr. Ramaswamy said.

The institute is a unit of Department of AYUSH.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> National / by Special Correspondent / Chennai – November 14th, 2014

Double Decker Auto Freight Train may Decongest Roads

Business & Economy
The double decker automobile freight train which was flagged off by Railway Minister Sadananda Gowda on Friday | S Dinesh
The double decker automobile freight train which was flagged off by Railway Minister Sadananda Gowda on Friday | S Dinesh

Vellore :

The double-deck train, inaugurated on Friday for transporting automobiles, has opened up an alternative transportation model for automobile manufacturers. The automobile hubs in the country will be connected through an automobile freight train.

The cost effective transportation will reduce pollution and congestion on the roads once it is expanded to cover automobile hubs such as Chennai. It will also reduce the duration of transportation from the manufacturing unit to the delivery point, besides reducing the damage to finished cars during transportation.

The train was designed by Railway Design and Standards Organisation and built by TEXMACO wagon manufacturer based in Kolkata, said officials of Southern Railways. “We have received orders to manufacture two more rakes, each consisting of 28 bogies. It can be used to transport different models of cars. The demand for such models will multiply in the near future. We will be able to manufacture a rake in a month,” CEO of TEXMACO Sandeep Fuller told Express.

APL Logistics VASCOR Automotive has rolled out the first automotive double-deck train with around 280 finished vehicles at Melpakkam. It will reach the multi-modal logistics park of Container Corporation of India at Khatuwas near Delhi next week. The train will be operated fortnightly between Chennai and New Delhi.

The unique door-to-door service covers the entire supply chain from the assembly line to distribution centre and finally to the dealership floor, said Bill Garratt, CEO of VASCOR Ltd.

He added that they would increase the frequency of train service and more destinations would be added to the network in the coming months.

Member Traffic Railways D P Pande said, “We need 100 rakes by 2020. We can transport only 25 percent of the finished cars by the automobile companies in the country using 100 rakes.”

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> States> Tamil Nadu / by J. Shanmuga Sundaram / November 09th, 2014

India’s first international chess master launches book on history of the game

Records, All, Sports, World Opinion

Chennai :

Get Manuel Aaron talking about chess and there’s no squaring him off.

Whether it is about his own life, his birth in Burma, and how he learned all about the game from his parents, or how the game was what kept families in Chennai sane during World War II when people were asked to stay indoors with the doors and windows shut, Aaron – India’s first International Master, the country’s first Arjuna awardee from the game, and nine-time national chess champion – has a life-time of stories to tell about chess.

The 78-year-old has finally managed to put all his thoughts and words together over six years to self-publish a 600-page tome, Indian Chess History (570 AD – 2010 AD). Co-authored by chess historian Vijay D Pandit, Aaron released it on Friday at a hotel in T Nagar.

Apart from providing a detailed history of the game, the book has records of all national champions in all categories, as well as 367 annotated games and 397 diagrams, which, according to Aaron, who is now one of the most popular teachers of the game in the city, will help any enthusiastic chess player.

“When I was the secretary of the Tamil Nadu Chess Association in 2004, I brought out a book on chess in the state. This one is kind of a sequel to that,” says Aaron.

So, what kind of nuggets does the book contain? How about this one for starters, says Aaron. In 1925, the Maharaja of Patiala Bhupinder Singh organized a chess tournament, to which he invited Serbian grandmaster Boris Kostic. “The day the tournament was to begin, the King’s 13th wife gave birth to his 32nd son. The entire kingdom celebrated for three weeks and tournament was postponed to the end of the celebrations,” says Aaron, and adds that Kostic had to wait out the entire period of celebration before he could play.

Poor Kostic ended up coming in second (first place went to NR Joshi of India) at the tournament, says Aaron, but was so embarrassed by his defeat that when he went back to Europe he told everyone that he had won. “He even brought out a book saying he had won, but my book says he did not,” says Aaron.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Chennai / by Kamini Mathai, TNN / November 15th, 2014

Gandhigram University scientists save tree from extinction

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Education, Green Initiatives/ Environment, Nature, Records, All

Madurai :

If researchers at Gandhigram university are successful in their endeavour, the rudraksha tree, which is endemic to the Western Ghats, can soon be saved from extinction.

Researchers from the university have germinated seeds of the species ‘Elaeocarpus blascoi Weibel’ under laboratory conditions and the saplings reared by them are slowly taking root in their natural habitat of the shola forests in the Western Ghats.

According to Dr Raju Ramasubbu, professor in the department of biology at the Gandhigram Rural Institute, there are 250 species of the rudraksha tree in the world, of which 25 are found in India. Eleven of the 25 are confined to the Western Ghats, and 10 can be seen only in the Palani Hills, Dindigul district. Fruits from the subspecies ‘Elaeocarpus sphaericus’ are used as beads to make rosaries, necklaces and bracelets.

Dr Ramasubbu and his student Felix Irudhayaraj were alarmed at the fact that only a single ‘Elaeocarpus blascoi’ tree was found in the Palani hills when they undertook a study on the trees, which are on the red list of the International Union for Consevation of Nature (IUCN). The study on ‘E. blascoi’ was conducted from July 2012 to May 2014, and was published in the October 26 issue of the ‘Journal of Threatened Taxa’.

On reason for the tree facing extinction is that nuts take very long to germinate due to their hard cover. A mature tree takes 15 years to start flowering and grows to a height of 20 meters. This large evergreen tree was found in the Bear Shola in the Palani Hills in 1970. But another report published in 1999 said it had become extinct. Later, a lone tree was spotted in 2000.

After confirming that the species was staring at extinction, they went to the mother tree and collected seeds. Many seeds were found viable but had not germinated. Some were too old or affected by fungus, and there were no saplings near the mother tree.

The researchers took the seeds to their laboratory and were successful in germinating 80% of them. They planted four saplings that were two- and-a-half months old in an isolated spot in its natural habitat and are happy with the way they are growing. “We visit the spot twice a month and check their growth,” Dr Ramasubbu said.

The researchers collected tissue from the shoots of the mother tree and are culturing them. If successful, they plan to plant more trees in their natural habitat as it aids seed germination, which would help remove the species from the IUCN ‘red list’.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Madurai / by Padmini Sivarajah, TNN / November 12th, 2014

Birding session marks birth anniversary of Salim Ali

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Green Initiatives/ Environment, Nature
Bird watchers at the Government Botanical Garden in Udhagamandalam on Wednesday. - PHOTO: M. SATHYAMOORTHY / The Hindu
Bird watchers at the Government Botanical Garden in Udhagamandalam on Wednesday. – PHOTO: M. SATHYAMOORTHY / The Hindu

As many as 25 species spotted at Government Botanical Garden

Spread over 55 acres and dotted with hundreds of trees and flower beds apart from many ponds, the Government Botanical Garden here played host to a birding session organised by the Nilgiri Wildlife and Environment Association on Wednesday to commemorate the 118th birth anniversary of Salim Ali, the father of ornithology.

With the undulating venue and the occasion complementing each other, members of the association and students of Wildlife Biology in the Government Arts College returned with the satisfaction of having spotted birds belonging to about 25 species.

Pointing out that the most prized sighting of the day was a Kashmir Fly Catcher, the association’s executive committee member K.Vijay told The Hindu that the migratory bird from the Himalayas, which has been classified as endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, could not be seen here last year.

Pointing out that its presence now signifies the commencement of the migratory season, he said that among the other birds spotted were the Grey Wag Tail, the Black and Grey Fly Catcher, the Common Hawk-Cuckoo, Pond Heron, Great Pit and the Nilgiri Blue Robbin.

Responding to a query, Mr.Vijay said that the botanical garden with its wild fruits and flowers is an ideal bird habitat.

Birding destination

Expressing the view that it can be promoted as a responsible birding destination, he said that the authorities concerned should regulate the activity and restrict it to one or two days a week. Stating that birding is a very effective stress buster, he said that it also encourages people to walk. Volunteers including students of Wildlife Biology should be engaged to create awareness among tourists about the role of birds in protecting the ecology.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Coimbatore / by D. RadhaKrishnan / Udhagamandalam – November 13th, 2014

On a mission to promote organic farming

Green Initiatives/ Environment, Nature
A. Gnanaprakasam, bio-farmer, harvesting the greens at his field at Kurumbur near Aranthangi.
A. Gnanaprakasam, bio-farmer, harvesting the greens at his field at Kurumbur near Aranthangi.

Gnanaprakasam distributes greens among schoolchildren

His ripe age does not deter him from promoting and popularising organic farming techniques among the masses.

For the 76-year-old A. Gnanaprakasam, promoting organic cultivation practices has been a watchword for the past three decades. He has converted his 33 cents of land into a bio-farm, at Kurumbur village near Aranthangi, using bio-manure and applying bio-pesticides.

Greens has been his primary choice, and, he has been cultivating different greens such asvendhyakeerai, sirukeerai, pasali keerai, arakeerai, and musumusukkai.

Catch them young

Mr. Gnanaprakasam, who is consultant to the Pudukottai District Tree and Herbs Growers Welfare Association, says that schoolchildren were his targeted audience. He had been distributing, free of cost, these greens to schoolchildren. “I just harvest the greens daily and keep the bundles at the entrance to the farm,” he says.

The greens were being used for noon meals at the panchayat union middle school at Kurumbur and panchayat union primary school at Kattuthattanvayal village. “About 300 students benefit through the free supply,” he says.

He regrets that lack of awareness among the masses resulted in poor consumption of greens. To tide over the problem, he has been distributing free of cost, greens to those who visit his farm.

Anyone interested in consuming eco-farm greens can visit his fields and take the bundles available. “I harvest some green or other on rotation basis, depending up on the season and growth,” he says.

Call 9442857292 for details.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Tiruchirapalli / by M. Balaganessin / Puduikottai – November 13th, 2014