Monthly Archives: February 2015

Relishing her role in fast lane

Sports

Like any other 8-year-old girl, she would cling on to her father and accompany him to the Irungattukottai racing track in Chennai where R A Abdullah would hone his skills to become a seven-time national champion.

AlishaMPOs08feb2015

It didn’t take longer for Abdullah to realise that his daughter, Alisha too belonged to the circuit.“I was eight (years-old) when my dad took me to the circuit in Chennai. It didn’t take long for me to gather that I belong here,” says Alisha while talking to Deccan Herald.

Alisha now stands as the only lady racer to win the National go-karting championships. She went on to clinch the top honour in 2002. “It is my love for speed that has made me who I am today. Even when I am off the circuit, my lifestyle hardly slows down. I walk fast; I talk and when I have the steering in my hand, speed is all that I care about,“ continues the 25-year-old.

Coming from a Motorsport background, convincing family to allow her to pursue her passion was not a difficult task. With her dad being a champion himself, race analysis and review began from home.

“I never had to convince my parents to allow me to get into professional racing. But when your dad is a champion in the sport, then criticism and analysis starts from your house itself. On a few races days, I end up getting into arguments with dad and we end up the worst of enemies. But all that’s part of life and I believe that the no-nonsense attitude has helped my cause,” opines Alisha.

Getting into a male dominated area was never easy for Alisha. She says it is the challenges that made her stronger and determined to achieve what she set out for.

“It was hard for me to find motivation in the circuit. The guys, after every race, would say stuff that would have a bad effect on me. I would finish among the last and they would tell me that I was a girl and that I did not belong here. Such things made me stronger and with every race I aimed at improving my position,” she says.

Alisha crawled her way up, competing with men, to become one among the best in the circuit. Even her national title was won competing in races which included both men and women.

“Today many come up to me looking for answers about the track and the strategy one should adopt,” says the racer who also had a brief spell on superbikes before switching back to cars.

The move paid in dividends as she won the Toyota Vios Cup, a street car race held in Thailand in 2011 that featured the best women racers in Asia. She has also been a regular on the podium at the Volkswagen National Polo Cup before shifting her focus to Dubai, the hub of motorsport. The Chennai girl will be seen in a Porsche in the upcoming season, starting later this year.

Determined to bring changes in the Indian motorsport arena, she went a step ahead to launch her own motorsport academy in October 2014 in Chennai. The Alisha Abdullah Racing Academy for Women is an all-women academy which helps upcoming female racers who wish to make big in the sport.

“It is my dream to see more and more women race in our country. And I believe in coming years the Academy will be capable of producing quality female racers,” she says. The Academy is in the initial stages of scouting young talent and will see the first batch graduate in 2016.

Though driven by passion and determination to be the best in her field, Alisha, who has also made a guest appearance in a Tamil movie, realises that the road ahead is not an easy one.

“Though the Indian scene got a boost with the arrival on Formula 1 a few years back, the scenario hardly changed at the national level. People are still unaware of any other races other than Formula 1 and Moto GP. And this make it difficult for us to get sponsors,” says Alisha.

But, with the likes of C S Santosh, the first Indian to complete the gruelling DAKAR Rally, attracting more attention to motorsports in India, she hopes that the picture changes soon.

source: http://www.deccanherald.com / Deccan Herald / Home> Supplements> Sports Scene /  by Naveen Peter / DHNS, February 08th, 2015

A pioneer of women’s education in Madurai from a foreign land

Amazing Feats, Education, Historical Links, Pre-Independence, Leaders, Records, All, World Opinion

Madurai :

Three streets (a main road and two connecting roads) near St Britto School in Gnanaolivapuram here, called Sister Rose street, bear the name of a Canadian nun who pioneered girls’ education in Madurai and founded three important educational institutions in the temple town.

Sr Rose Benedicte Benoit (1898 – 1968), known as Mother Rose in Madurai, was born as Marie Ange Benoit at le Conte de Drummont in Canada. She joined the congregation of Sisters of St Joseph of Lyons in the year 1913 and became a nun in 1915. She came to down to India in the year 1924 and was the first American missionary of the congregation to work in the country. During her service in Madurai, she found that girl children were seen a burden and many daughters used to be abandoned. Realising that empowering women through education will put an end to their misery, she started Holy Family Primary School in 1953 inside St Britto School campus, which she shifted to an adjacent plot in later years.

She eventually went on to found renowned educational institutions for girls here like St Joseph’s School and Fatima College.

“Sr Rose was the pioneer of promoting women’s education in Madurai and she founded three important education institutions for women here,” said Sr A Sahayamary, Head Mistress of Holy Family Girls School in Gnanaolivapuram.

Sr Kulandai Therese, 68, correspondent of the school and hailing from the locality, remembers the personality of Sr Rose. “She was the most compassionate and tender-hearted nun I saw as a girl when I was growing up here. Most of this area included slums inhabited by poor people. She would go to every house and bring girl children from houses, convincing parents to educate them. She did a phenomenal service to women’s education,” she said.

Sr Rose died of lung infection, believed to have been caused by the excess cement she inhaled during the construction of Fatima College. While she was alive, to honour her service, Madurai municipality offered a medal, but she declined to accept it. After her death, her statue was erected in old Kamarajar University Campus inside the city, Sr Therese added.

D Solomon, 62, a resident of Melaponnagaram, said that it was a mostly-dalit area and nuns from the convent helped them a great deal. They educated their children and the streets were named after the foreign nun who worked tirelessly for the cause of women’s education.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Madurai / by J. Arockiaraj, TNN /February 08th, 2015

300 Docs to Put Their Heads Together to Find Ways to Deal with Pancreatic Cancer

Science & Technologies, World Opinion
Doctors addressing mediapersons at Apollo Hospitals on Friday | D SAMPATH KUMAR
Doctors addressing mediapersons at Apollo Hospitals on Friday | D SAMPATH KUMAR

Chennai :

About 300 international and national delegates including surgeons, gastroenterologists and oncologists, will participate in the one-day International conference on pancreatic cancer by Apollo Hospitals on February 8.

“With the detection of  pancreatic cancer at an early stage being tougher than detecting other cancers, sensitising people about the disease is of prime importance. This one-day conference will shed light on the disease and its treatment,” said Dr Sathya Bhama, director of Medical Services (DMS), Apollo Hospitals, talking to reporters on Friday.

“Symptoms of pancreatic cancer are deceptive. Most of the symptoms are usually mistaken for gastrointestinal problems such as indigestion, ulcer, uneasiness, abdominal pain, etc. Chances of missing early diagnosis are high due to this camouflaged nature of the disease. In the last 25 years, the hospital has performed about 2,000 pancreatic cancer surgeries,” added  T G Balachander,  senior surgical gastroenterologist at the hospital.

The idea behind conducting such conferences was to educate medical professionals about the latest diagnostic and treatment trends in the field of pancreatic diseases, said the doctors.

Delegates from Singapore, Delhi, Kerala, Mumbai and Coimbatore will be taking part in the conference.

Dr Prasanna Kumar Reddy, senior surgical gastroenterologist of the hospital also spoke about the conference.

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Cities> Chennai / by Express News Service / February 07th, 2015

SBOA wins Coast Guard Quiz Competition ‘Inquizitive’

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Education

Chennai :

As part of the Indian Coast Guard Day celebrations, a quiz competition was organised by Headquarters Coast Guard Region (East) at the Chennai Port for school children, onboard the ship Sarang recently.

Participants from SBOA School emerged champions, while Bala Vidya Mandir and Sivaswami Kala emerged runners-up.  P Vanankamudi, vice-chancellor, Dr Ambedkar Law University, Tamil Nadu, inaugurated the competition, in  the presence of Ila Sharma, president, Coast Guard Wives Welfare Association (Tatrakshika), East.

Speaking at the event, Vanankamudi said that Swachh Bharat was not only a call for cleanliness on streets, but also politics in the country. He pointed out that quiz competitions like these gave youngsters confidence and helped groom their leadership skills.

At least 80 students from 25 Schools from classes eight to 11 registered and participated in the quiz competition. The quiz was conducted by quiz master V V Ramanan.

He quizzed the students about the memorials constructed in the name of Mahatma Gandhi.

The aim of the competition was to create awareness among school children about the duties and responsibilities of Indian Coast Guard, which is entrusted with task of safeguarding the extensive coastlines as well as the adjacent waters of the Indian Peninsula. The quiz also aimed at motivating the youth to join the Indian Coast Guard.

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Cities> Chennai / by Express News Service / February 04th, 2015

Explore Culture in Medicine

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Science & Technologies

MedicineCF05feb2015

Do youngsters know the mystifying story of hakims and veds, or the bonesetters and roadside dentists who carry on their business quietly in the winding streets of the city? Does a quintessential city-bred person know how a Tulasi plant can serve as a remedy for several diseases, besides various other herbs grown in the country? In a bid to unveil the rich culture of medicine in India, Medicine Art, an arts project by Wellcome Collection, the public cultural venue in London of the Wellcome Trust – one of the world’s biggest medical charities, was recently launched in the city.

According to Ratan Vaswani, project consultant for Medicine Corner, “The aim of the project is to look at the glorious variety of ways Indian civilisation, historically and today, has approached health and healing. It will throw light on the world-beating advances that India has made in affordable medical technology, such as the Jaipur foot; scientifically advanced surgical techniques that were developed in India in pre-colonial times, and also, how traditional medicine has evolved. There was never, historically, an Ayurvedic or Unani pharmaceutical industry but now it’s huge. How that happened is something we will examine.”

As a prologue to what one can look forward to in the year-long project of research that would culminate with an exhibition and small documentaries in 2016, BLOT! had its team capturing videos of informal practitioners, images of educational charts taught to children and producing animation works to come up with over a three minute video that marked Medicine Corner’s launch in the city. With high octane electronic beats to go in the background, Avinash Kumar from BLOT! says that the idea of the video is to make the project reach the youth, and convert the research into something that people would be curious about.

According to Ratan, the idea to club a topic like Medicine with art, comes from the work that Wellcome Trust does. “It’s focus isn’t just lab or field research. It has always been interested in exploring medicine as a cultural phenomenon. In London, it has a public cultural venue, Wellcome Collection. The gallery there shows contemporary art. It has a magnificent Library full not just of manuscripts but amazing historical paintings and other wonders,” he says. Apart from BLOT!, Medicine Corner will be collaborating with curator Lina Vincent, who will help organise a major exhibition at the CSMVS museum in Mumbai in January 2016, and other visual artists.

For details, visit their website: www.medicinecorner.in

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Cities> Chennai / by Express Features / February 04th, 2015

School alumni offer value classes to juniors from poor backgrounds

Education, Inspiration/ Positive News and Features

Madurai :

The alumni of a government-aided school here, who are now working in various fields, have taken upon themselves the task of helping junior students who come from very poor backgrounds achieve heights in life through motivational and skill-building sessions.

The former students of APT Durairaj Higher Secondary School in Mela Anupanadi have formed an old students association called ‘Kash’, short for ‘knowledge, attitude, skill and honesty’. P Pandiarajan, the founder of the association, who works in the Ma Foi foundation in Virudhunagar, remembers that they enjoyed studying in the school.

“But when we went for interviews, we were looked down upon when we gave the name of school and we wanted to change this attitude,” he said.

Most of the students who come to this school come from Keeraithurai, an area notorious for its criminal activities. Their background and economic conditions made them difficult students, he said. “It is difficult to motivate them to make achievements, because they move around with a lot of school dropouts in their homes. We want them to become good citizens and do well in their lives, so we are doing our best,” he said.

About 150 former students, who had passed out from the school since 1985, are part of the association. “We tell our juniors that they can achieve anything if they have knowledge, attitude, skill and honesty (kash),” said Pandiarajan.

P Swaminathan, former student and a medical representative by profession, strives to motive the present-day students whenever possible. “From this year onwards, we will do it in a more organized manner. Earlier, we used to encourage them by gifting books and paying their fees, if their performance in studies was good,” he said.

At a motivation session held on Tuesday, Vignesh Manikandan,17, expressed his aim to become a sub inspector and also work to bring the alcohol menace in the state under control. “I see alcohol as the reason for all the crimes around me, and would like to live in an environment which is free of it,” he said. His friends Karthik Kumar and Muthukumar also talked about their future plans.

Pandiarajan said that they tried to give value-addition classes to the students of Class 8, skill training to those in Class 9 and hold discussions on job opportunities with the students who are preparing to sit for the public examinations. Old students Gurunathan and Shanmuvavel, who dropped out after the SSLC and are now working in shops, never miss an opportunity to talk to the students about the benefits of higher education, especially completing the Plus Two examinations with good results.

Assistant headmaster S Gowthaman said that they usually dealt with problematic children who came from below poverty line families and troubled families, but the sessions organized by the alumni students was showing a lot of development. “It is encouraging to see some of the students listen to the motivators with enthusiasm and also respond, something they never do in class. I am happy that our old students are showing the way to their juniors in this manner,” he added.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Madurai / TNN / February 04th, 2015

Preterm baby undergoes heart surgery

Amazing Feats, Records, All, Science & Technologies

Coimbatore :

A nine-day-old girl, born prematurely with a heart defect and weighing only 750g at birth, went under the knife here to correct a congenital heart defect.

Doctors in the neonatal intensive care unit at Kovai Medical Centre and Hospital (KMCH) found that the baby was having trouble while breathing. “We realised that the ductus arteriosis, a blood vessel connecting the aorta and pulmonary artery in the baby’s heart, was still open. It normally usually closes after birth,” a doctor who was part of the operating team said.

The child’s mother Dhanalakshmi, from Erode, admitted to an Erode hospital on December 21, gave birth just 25 weeks into her pregnancy. Doctors said the baby’s condition, patent ductus arteriosus (PDA), was probably caused because she was born prematurely. Even though PDA is a congenital, premature children are more likely to have the disorder, the doctors said.

Doctors at KMCH decided to surgically close the ductus arteriosus, despite the fact that the procedure would be challenging because of the baby’s low birth weight.

A team of doctors led by cardiovascular and thoracic surgeon Dr S Balasundaram performed the 30-minute surgery on December 30. The baby remains under observation in the neonatal ICU but has shown signs of progress and is able to breathe freely, doctors said. She now weighs close to 1.4kg. “It was a very delicate procedure because the heart and blood vessels are tiny and identifying the right vessel and stapling it is not easy,” senior cardiologist Dr A R Srinivas said. “Another challenge was administering anesthesia, which causes hemodynamic changes (changes in the pattern of blood flow), and could make the baby very sick during the operation.”

“We opened up the baby’s chest from the back, identified the right vessel and stapled it twice,” he said.

Around four babies are born with PDA in the city each year. One of them, Dhanam, in November became the youngest baby in the country to receive a stent implant, doctors said.

Dr Srinivas said the incidence of PDA in premature babies with a birth weight of 1kg is around 45%. Doctors can in more than 90% of the cases close the vessel by administration of anti-inflammatory drugs like ibuprofen and indomethacin. “However, in the remaining 10% it has to be closed surgically,” he said.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Coimbatore / by Pratiksha Ramkumar, TNN / February 04th, 2015

Gold for Seema; TN girls top team event

Records, All, Sports
WINNING COMBO: The Tamil Nadu team which won the women's trap event in Thrissur on Monday. (From left): N. Nivedha, Asiya Khilji and Asila Khilji / The Hindu
WINNING COMBO: The Tamil Nadu team which won the women’s trap event in Thrissur on Monday. (From left): N. Nivedha, Asiya Khilji and Asila Khilji / The Hindu

Seema Tomar of Services Sports Control Board (SSCB) held her nerve to win the women’s trap shooting gold in the 35th National Games at the Police Academy range here on Monday.

In the gold medal clash, Seema found a tough customer in Rajeshwari Kumari of Punjab. The latter applied pressure and the former shook a bit midway through. But, before any damage could be done, Seema recovered strongly for a place atop the podium.

The Tamil Nadu girls pocketed their first gold medal of the Games. It came in the team trap event. The trio of F. Asiya Khilji, N. Nivedha and Asila Khilji edged out strong contenders Delhi and SSCB for the gold.

The TN girls tallied 169 of which Asiya shot a possible 62 out of 75. Asila, who is making her debut at the Games, scored 10 less than her elder sister Asiya. Nivetha completed the tally with a 55. It was Asiya’s second-round effort that sealed the gold in favour of the team. The 24-year-old, who is doing her Phd in Finance at the Madras University, started the day badly but finished with a bang.

“It was windy and I was off target and that resulted in a score of 16 in the first round,” said Asiya, who shot a 62 as well at the senior Nationals in Delhi in 2013.

Asiya followed it up with a 24 and 22 in the next two rounds. “The second round effort is my career best score. I had to literally fight back after a poor first round show.”

Asila, a class nine student and also among the youngest in the shooting crowd, was quite aggressive in the first round but lost ground from there. “Trap is a mind game. If you allow the pressures and the scores to get to you then you will be trapped. I am happy that I contributed a bit as well for the gold,” said Asila.

After playing a part in the team event, Asiya staved off a stiff challenge towards the end from Aakriti Khapra of Delhi for the bronze.

The results: Women: Trap: 1. Seema Tomar (SSCB); 2. Rajeshwari Kumari (PUN); 3. F. Asiya Khilji (TN).

Team event: 1. Tamil Nadu (F. Asiya Khilji 62; N. Nivetha 55, Asila Khilji 52) 169; 2. Delhi 167 (Mahima Kumar Mahajan 61, Aakriti Khapra 60, Kirti Gupta 46); 3. SSCB 158 (Seema Tomar 60, Shikha Bhadauria 58, Varsha Tomar 40).

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> Sport> Other Sports / by Rayan Rozario / Thrissur – February 03rd, 2015

Chennai start-up wins Rs.10-lakh funding

Business & Economy, Education, World Opinion
Suresh and Arul Murugan of Chloroplast Foods (second and third from left) with the organisers of IIT Bombay’s Entrepreneurship Summit 2015.
Suresh and Arul Murugan of Chloroplast Foods (second and third from left) with the organisers of IIT Bombay’s Entrepreneurship Summit 2015.

Chennai-based start-up Chloroplast Foods was one of the six start-ups to bag on-the-spot funding of up to Rs.10 lakh at IIT Bombay’s Entrepreneurship Summit 2015.

Founded seven months ago by three college friends, the start-up was shortlisted from 260 applications. Chloroplast Foods aims to supply 30 preservative-free snacks online, through their website www.snackexperts.com, by tapping into the growing healthy snacks market.

The team’s 10-minute presentation at the ‘10 Minute Million’ event on Sunday received instant funding pledges from four investors, including Ajeet Khurana, CEO of IIT-B’s Society for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, and angel investors Taha Nabee, V.C. Karthik, and Ravi Gururaj.

“We have created these products from unique recipes. Since this is a subscription-based model, they are prepared after a customer places an order. Within seven days, the customer gets a fresh product that has a 30-day shelf life. We offer five unique varieties for Rs.699,” said Arul Murugan Palanichamy, a co-founder of snackexperts.com.

The 27-year-old B. Tech graduate from Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, worked with a food processing company for seven years before starting his own venture.

He said the money would help them expand from a leased bakery unit to a bigger bulk production facility.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Mumbai / by Satish Nandgaonkar / Mumbai – February 03rd, 2015

Queens of Mandaveli and Alwarpet

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Records, All

QueensCF02feb2015

Charanya Kannan and Deepika Murali win the Mrs Chennai and Miss Madras contests

Charanya Kannan
Charanya Kannan

Charanya Kannan has always been on the go. A corporate professional, a trained dancer, scuba diver and former Doordarshan anchor, when maternity left her home-bound, Charanya was left searching for a positive outlet for her energy. The quest ended when she enrolled herself in the Mrs Chennai pageant organised by Virgo events in association with PGP Joyeria. Leaving home a six-month old baby can be painful, but Charanya was determined to get back to her old active life. “I was posted in Korea and came to Chennai, my hometown, on maternity break. This was when I heard about Mrs. Chennai. After being a full-time stay-at-home mom for six-months and taking care of my baby, I thought it was time to do something for myself. Mrs. Chennai was the perfect opportunity,” she says.

The contest gave her a chance to discover skills she hardly knew she possessed. “While I think the talent round saw me through the competition, where I performed Bharatnatyam dance, other rounds such as jewellery making, spot painting helped me unleash a creative side of me that I had never explored before. Hitting the gym was also refreshing,” says this resident of Mandavelli.

The semi-final rounds were the most hectic and her family ensured she could concentrate fully on the event, by taking care of the other aspects of her life. “People say it is an all new life after pregnancy. But the event made me realise that you could go back to your old life in just six months. I am going to pursue my masters in management at Harvard Business School.” She was the title winner of the contest.

Varsha Vijay, resident of Royapettah, was the first runner-up and Ashwini of Tambaram, the second runner-up.

Deepika Murali
Deepika Murali

Miss Madras

Deepika Murali had no intentions of joining the event. She didn’t think she would enjoy ramp walking. But when her sister, who was participating in the Mrs. Chennai contest, persuaded her to join, she gave her name.

“I was lethargic at the start of the event. But as we approached the semis, I was so into the event that I was determined to stay on till the finish. I enjoyed the communication round the most. And the jewellery making round has introduced me to the world of quilled ornaments,” says this resident of Alwarpet. She calls the event a launch pad for aspiring models. She was the title winner of the Miss Madras contest.

Meera Mitun of Chetpet was the first runner up and Esha Gohil of Kilpauk the second runner up.

The jury consisted of singer Sowmiya, dancer Prasanna, actors Aditya Menon and Ganesh Venkatram, music director James Vasanthan and fashion designer Richa Kapoor. The event was held at Kamarajar Arangam, Teynampet.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> Features> Downtown / by K. Sarumathi / Chennai – January 31st, 2015