Monthly Archives: May 2017

The roots of a golden jubilee

Business & Economy, Historical Links, Pre-Independence, Inspiration/ Positive News and Features, Leaders, Records, All, Science & Technologies

In the past few weeks — as well as at a celebration — we’ve heard much about the splendid growth of the Chemplast Sanmar Group from scratch 50 years ago and of how over those years it had nurtured and then been nurtured by N Sankar, whose first job, unpaid apprentice, was on the day Chemicals and Plastics India opened its doors. To me, the happiest part of that success has been how the Group has returned much back to society, promoting education and training, community welfare and healthcare, greening and nature, sport and art, and even saving failing journals like Madras Musings. But one thing I missed in all this was the seeding of the group.

(Clockwise) KS Narayanan (extreme left) and TS Narayanaswami (extreme right) at the Indo-Commercial Bank’s Vizianagaram branch in 1938
(Clockwise) KS Narayanan (extreme left) and TS Narayanaswami (extreme right) at the Indo-Commercial Bank’s Vizianagaram branch in 1938

Those seeds were first sown in the back of beyond, in the village of Kallidaikurichi in Tinnevelly District when Nanu Sastrigal entered textile retailing, then moved into financing. His eldest son SNN Sankaralingam Iyer took the business further and with landowners in Tanjore helped found the Indo-Commercial Bank in Mayavaram in 1932. SNN’s eldest son KS Narayanan (KSN) joined the bank in 1936, gaining experience while moving from branch to branch. He also became a close friend of TS Narayanaswami (TSN), who was with the bank. The two enjoyed a warm working relationship till Narayanaswami passed away in 1968. By then, they had moved beyond banking.

In fact, KSN moved earlier. In the late 1930s, he was Madras-bound to shepherd a failing ink manufacturing unit, Nanco, that had been acquired. By 1941, it was a success. With a War on, he next turned to a commodity in short supply, rubber, acquiring a re-treading unit in Coimbatore. There followed the first foray into chemicals, a sick unit there making calcium carbide, Industrial Chemicals, being taken over.

Meanwhile, SNN who had bought substantial acreage in Tinnevelly to farm, found it was limestone-rich. His thoughts turned to cement. And so was born India Cements in 1949, with Narayanaswami helping SNN set it up while KSN went to Denmark to train with cement major FL Smidth. At a time when India was yet to industrialise, this was a major venture. When TSN died, KSN headed India Cements till retiring at 60, in 1980.

Why KSN and TSN decided to get into chemical products we’ll never know, but in 1962 they thought of manufacturing PVC. TSN went to the US and negotiated a joint venture agreement with BF Goodrich, a PVC major. Agreement led to starting Chemicals and Plastics India Ltd in Mettur, near Mettur Chemicals which would supply the necessary chlorine. The plant went on stream on May 4, 1967, the date the Golden Jubilee celebrations recalled. This was one of the first Indo-American joint ventures, also among the first with a multinational in South India. The story only grows from thereon.

*****

The death of a trainer

Few knew him outside the two worlds he’ll sorely be missed in, those of printers and Salesians. They merged for Bro Julian Santi, who passed away recently, in the Salesian Institute of Graphic Arts he set up in Kilpauk in the late 1960s with help from friends and Salesians in Italy from where he arrived in 1957.

We first met years later and, even after, it was infrequently, but for over 40 years I would meet ex-students of his. And they were generally a class apart. Most of us printers, and several abroad, preferred them when recruiting, because they came with two advantages: More machine experience than those from other printing schools, and they considered themselves craftsmen, not ready-made white collar supervisors, which many from elsewhere thought they should be because they’d got a few letters as suffixes. Training on the job and a strong work ethic, that a printer had to be a hands-on person, not necessarily a whiz in theory, was what Santi taught his wards. Few of our training institutions look at students that way.

Was Santi a printer himself, was he SIGA’s Principal, I never discovered, but I did find out he was a trainer par excellence, a man who taught his wards the dignity of working with their hands. I hope he has rooted that culture deep in SIGA.

*****

When the postman knocked…

Several items over the last six weeks have brought much mail and, happily, several noteworthy pictures. They’ll appear over the following weeks, one at a time, starting today to supplement the earliest, Marmalong Bridge.

The Marmalong Bridge seen c.1900
The Marmalong Bridge seen c.1900

DH Rao for whom bridges, lighthouses and the Buckingham Canal are passions, sent me today’s picture. Rao had seen it at a Corporation of Madras exhibition where it was dated to 1900. Its caption added, “In 1966 it was dismantled and replaced with today’s bridge.” The caption also said that a plaque was removed and re-positioned at the bridge’s north end. That plaque, recalling Uscan’s contribution, is little cared for today and is almost hidden by road-raising.

Rao adds he came across the following, written in 1829, by a French naval officer, J Dumont D’Urville: “An entire neighbourhood is reserved for Muslims and we go there by the Armenian bridge (Saidapet?) built on the river Mylapore. This bridge 395 metres in length (has) 29 arches of various sizes.”

The chronicler of Madras that is Chennai tells stories of people, places and events from the years gone by, and sometimes, from today.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> Society> Madras Miscellany / by S. Muthiah / May 15th, 2017

Ramco chairman Rajha dies at 82

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Business & Economy, Education, Leaders, Records, All

Chennai:

Industrialist and philanthropist P R Ramasubrahmaneya Rajha, chairman of  Ramco Group of Companies, died in Rajapalayam after a brief illness. He was 82.

He leaves behind his wife Sudarsanam, son P R Venketrama Raja, daughters Nalina, Sarada Deepa and five grandchildren.

Popularly known as the Raja of Rajapalayam, Rajha donned the Ramco chairman’s robe when he was just 27 years old, with just two businesses– Rajapalayam Mills (a textile mill) and Madras Cements (now Ramco Cements) with a single plant capacity of 66,000 tonnes a year.

Today, the group has businesses spanning across, cement, textiles, software and roofing sheets with annual revenues of more than Rs 6,000 crore. The flagship, Ramco Cements, has a capacity to make 18 million tonnes of cement a year, cumulatively the textile business has 5 lakh spindles capacity, Ramco Industries has a roofing capacity of one million tonnes a year and Ramco Systems is also on a strong footing after stuttering for some time.

“In the passing of Rajha, the cement industry has lost a stalwart. I have known him for more than four decades. He was one of the first in the industry to put up a dry process cement plant. A pious, religious person, he had a quiet and sober leadership style. All of us will miss him,” said India Cements vice chairman & managing director N Srinivasan.

The group supports eight educational institutions in Rajapalayam including Ramco Institute of Technology.

“He was one of the outstanding leaders known for his vision, values and philanthropy. His death is a great loss to Tamil Nadu and the country,” recalled TVS Motor Company chairman Venu Srinivasan.

Rajha was deeply associated with temples and donated liberally to building new ones and renovating dilapidated temples.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / News> City News> Chennai News / TNN / May 12th, 2017

On the trail of an ancestor

Amazing Feats, Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Historical Links, Pre-Independence, Nri's / Pio's, Records, All, World Opinion

 

AncestorCF12may2017

Several visitors from abroad come every year looking for ancestors — something, meaning lineages, few Indians are interested in. I can only suggest to them the Archives or this church or that cemetery. But, what is a constant surprise is how much information they already have. And, providing an example were my latest visitors, Norman and Gwen Rider from the UK. They were looking for information about Charles Robert MacGregor Ferguson (1847-1920), the second great-grandfather of Gwen. This is what they’d already found:

Charles Ferguson was the son of Private James Ferguson, 15th Hussars, and Harriet (Chinnema) Chinamal. They had married in Bangalore where Charles Ferguson was born and baptised. James Ferguson died there in 1849. Harriet Chinamal died in Madras in 1903 and was buried in St Andrew’s Kirk. Tracing her family is one of the Riders’ least-likely-to-succeed quests.

The other quest is trying to trace Charles Ferguson’s career. He married Anne Elizabeth Ward in St Matthias’ Church, Vepery, in 1868. She died in Coonoor in 1878 after bearing him three children. He then married Alice Emmeline D’Abreu and had two daughters before she died the same year he did, when she was 64. Details about his career are scanty, also occasionally fanciful as in: “1861 — Lucknow. Government Survey Department, Post and Telegraph Department and became Postmaster General in Lucknow until 1902 and received a Government pension till the day of his death in 1920.” Joining service at 14? It was possible in those days for Anglo-Indian boys who’d learn on the job. But, Postmaster General sounds like gilding the lily. He was ‘Telegraph master’ in Pudupet in 1868, then, judging by family births and deaths (all listed), in Coonoor, Lucknow and Chittagong.

The note on Charles’ retirement reads: “Government pension Yelagiri Hills area of South India. Joined a group of Scots families who farmed at Sunnybanks and Bethany where they were self-sufficient growing crops and keeping animals.” He died in Salem and was buried there. Norman Rider added that it was recorded that on his father’s death Charles was left in the care of his godmother, Maria Sandway, in Bangalore in 1849 and that, it was believed, sometime thereafter, that the boy was placed in the Madras Male Orphans’ Asylum (from which St George’s, Shenoy Nagar, grew).

That’s quite a compilation from church and cemetery records and the British Library’s India: Select Births and Baptisms, 1786-1947 and India: Select Deaths and Burials 1719-1948. Even ‘select’, those must be quite some compendiums. But, for all that, the Riders still wonder whether there are Post and Telegraph and St George’s records to help them.

The Riders are only a couple of the hundreds of persons from the UK and elsewhere who come in search of roots. With all the modern technology available, can’t some kind of network be established to help these searchers?

A dance doyenne remembered…

Kalakshetra and Nrithyodaya recently remembered someone who had made Bharatanatyam a significant part of the Singapore cultural scene for which she was awarded that country’s highest honour for artists, The Cultural Medallion, and was selected for its Women’s Hall of Fame. The remembrance was the passing away of that dance ambassador, 79-year-old Neila Sathyalingam, in Singapore, recently.

‘Neila Maami’, to all her students, did post-graduation and, later, taught, at Kalakshetra. She and husband S Sathyalingam, a talented mridangist, an alumni, and a teacher there, moved to Singapore in 1974 with his job and founded Apsaras Arts in 1977. Bharatanatyam and Carnatic music flourished in Singapore as Apsaras grew. That growth included Rukmini Devi-style dance dramas, Kannagi and Sivagami, her last, two memorable ones.

Ancestor2CF12may2017

The wedding of Suntharalingam Sathyalingam and Neila Balendra linked two of Colombo’s leading Jaffna Tamil families. Sathyalingam and I grew up together as neighbours, but none of that family’s love of music and dance rubbed off on me. Instead, I learnt about politics and ethnicity at the knee of that maverick Ceylonese politician, his father C Suntharalingam, a mathematics Tripos, too, who first used the word ‘Eelam’ in Parliament. None of his family was as committed to politics.

…. and a young hero too

The ambush of CRPF personnel in Chhattisgarh reminded me of a 60-year old action that Capt D P Ramachandran of the Colours of Glory Foundation narrated to me in great detail a while ago. In the 1956 ambush, a 30-plus patrol of the Sikh Light Infantry found itself surrounded by 500 Naga insurgents. Second Lieutenant Polur Muthuswamy Raman of North Arcot District had the choice to surrender or suicidally fight it out. The 21-year-old chose the latter. Four hours later, during which Raman was twice wounded, there was relief. Another patrol of Sikhs at a higher elevation, spotting their colleagues pinned down, fought their way downhill to join them. The link-up broke the insurgents, but Raman and Major Mehta Singh, who had led the other detachment, lost their lives.

Mehta Singh received the Kirti Chakra, the second highest gallantry award for counter-insurgency action. Raman got the highest award, the Ashok Chakra. Proudly, almost six decades after its alumnus had laid down his life in Nagaland, the National Defence Academy named a new academic building the ‘Raman Block’.

The chronicler of Madras that is Chennai tells stories of people, places and events from the years gone by and, sometimes, from today.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> Society> Madras Miscellany – History & Culture / by S. Muthiah / May 08th, 2017

On slippery soaps

Business & Economy, Green Initiatives/ Environment, Nature
Rebecca Paul firmly believes in an organic way of life
Rebecca Paul firmly believes in an organic way of life

Rebecca Paul says making organic soaps is not difficult and it certainly need not be so expensive

Rebecca Paul’s foray into organic soap making came courtesy of her sister. Paul, who had worked in sales and marketing in Chennai for over five years, was taking a break after the birth of her first child. “I was bored and didn’t know what to do with myself. My sister signed me up for a workshop,” she giggles. “She didn’t even tell me till that morning when she pushed me out of the house.”

The other factor that led her to take this seriously was the fact that her baby had sensitive skin. “I tried all kinds of branded stuff but nothing helped, not even the green gram flour that we traditionally use. Finally I started making specific soaps for him and that’s when we began to see a difference.” This led her husband Deepak also to start using her soaps and, when she realised that it was helping him as well, Paul plunged whole heartedly into the business of making organic soaps.

Her initial products were gifted to family and friends and slowly, as word spread, she began getting other customers. “I started with a sample pack, which had nine different varieties. So that allowed people to choose the variety they wanted. And the orders started to come in.” A large portion of her orders comes from Coimbatore but she has sent her stuff to places like Chennai and Andaman Islands. “One person who was using my soaps went to Dubai and continues to order from there,” she smiles. Paul retails through her Facebook page, The Kraft Farm, and in various exhibitions.

SoapCF10may2017

Her soaps are made of two different processes: cold processed and melt-and-pour. The latter is easier, so she teaches that at her workshops. “A readymade base is available, so one just has to melt and add the other ingredients, fragrances and colours. It’s so simple, even a child can make one.” Ask about the problem of sourcing ingredients and Paul returns a vehement “that’s easy. It’s convincing people that’s difficult.” But a lot of people are going organic, I protest. She agrees but points out that most people assume that such products are expensive. “So when I charge ₹60 or ₹70 for a soap of 100gm, they don’t believe it’s fully organic. When I set up a stall at exhibitions, I am constantly dealing with this question: ‘how can you say it’s organic when your prices are so low?’”

The other problem is fragrances. “In commercial soaps, the fragrance lasts till the last bit. But I use essential oils, which evaporate when exposed to heat. So sometimes that becomes an issue. I prefer to make according to the customer’s requirement, so I ask if they want it heavily scented or mildly.”

She has started holding workshops as well. “It’s a way to encourage people to go organic. I offer to help those who want to continue. If they need ingredients, I help them source it. Or even if they want to sell.” She goes on to narrate how one lady — who was speech- and hearing-impaired — was using this as a way to earn some extra money. “She texted to say that she had bought her daughter a gift with the money she made. It made me feel good,” she says softly. She is also working with the Indian Superheroes, a group of organic farmers from tribal and rural communities of South India, to train them and their families to make products that are then retailed on their website.

She’s also looking at increasing the number of products. “I’ve started trials of the body butter. So that should be out soon. I’m also hoping to introduce lip balm, lotion bars, beard wax for guys… I have to explain the concept of lotion bars. Not many people know about it. But still…,” she shrugs, “There’s a lot you can do with organic beauty products.”

In a lather

Most popular soaps: Goat’s milk, Shea butter, Aloe Vera and Honey

Natural colours: Turmeric for yellow, beetroot powder for red/pink, annatto seeds for orange, neem/spirulina for green, activated charcoal for black

Other products: Yarn lanterns, string art, beeswax candles, painted t-shirts

More details: Visit https://www.facebook.com/TheKraftFarm/

Nature afficionado turned painter

Green Initiatives/ Environment, Nature
Ramesh painting at a house
Ramesh painting at a house

Chennai :

As he scrapes the walls of my house, he begins talking in English. Prod him, and he says he was a practical guide to 27 PhD students until a few years ago. Meet Ramesh, who is popularly known as ‘organic’ Ramesh. Now a painter, he was a field assistant at some colleges in the city. “I started out as a teenager in New College where I helped students with their lab works and assignments. My professors saw my interest in soil, trees and worms, and encouraged me to pursue organic farming,” he says.
He is a known face to the residents of Adyar, where he is regularly seen with a shovel and a sapling. “I give a sapling to anyone I meet. I believe everyone should grow their own trees, even if it’s a bonsai,” he smiles.
Ask him about his interest in nature and farming, and he says, “When I saw a worm, I used to analyse it rather than shoving it away. Slowly my interest piqued. As I grew up, I started attending every lecture on zoology, horticulture and agriculture,” says this school dropout.

Ramesh used to spend several hours at the lab where he would explore structures of different organisms under the microscope. He admits he never knew any language other than Tamil when he started working in the college. Narrating an experience of working along with an American to learn about the biogas plant, Ramesh says, “New College had just bought a biogas plant and no one knew how to use it. A professor asked me to learn the procedure from the American and I did. Back then, when someone spoke in English, all I did was nod my head. I was dubbed thalaiaati bommai. That’s when I realised the importance of learning a language,” he says as he explains the cedure in English.

 Over the years, Ramesh has helped set up biogas plants, vermicompost pit, organic plants, kitchen garden terrace garden, across homes, schools and colleges. Personal setbacks and fallouts with a few higher authorities led him to take up painting. “Zoology was all I knew. It was only later that I took the painting brush. Initially, when I started painting, I used to cry all day. But now I enjoy it,” he says.

Ramesh is still the star wherever he goes. He has clients all over the city for whom he helps set up organic gardens. “I procure all my materials from a farm in ECR. That’s the only place I trust,” he says adding that anyone can become adept in organic farming. “Avoid plastics and fertilisers. I recommend lesser use of soil and more of cocopith, neem cakes, lipstick (a solution made using honey and neem oil to attract pests which are then killed by the neem solution) as disinfectant and panchakaviyam,” he says claiming that the latter was his innovation. “As I loved to experiment, I made this liquid fertiliser using curd, buttermilk, cow dung, cow urine and banana.”

Dismissing the myth that certain trees will not grow in the Chennai climate, Ramesh says, “When you make use of less soil, you can grow any kind of plant you want.”

To set up your garden, call 7092195939

TIPS

Avoid pots. Grow your trees in grow bags.

Make sure you have a vermicompost pit with red soil in your garden.Use cocopith and natural elements to enhance plant growth.If you wish to have a terrace garden, apply cooling oil on the terrace before placing your plants. This helps cool your house and prevents water from pots seeping into your homes.

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Cities> Chennai / by Anushree Madhavan / by Express News Service / May 08th, 2017

When Dalits were also landowners and Vellalas slaves

About Chennai(Madras) / TamilNadu, Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Historical Links, Pre-Independence, Inspiration/ Positive News and Features, Records, All
Palm leaf manuscript. | Photo Credit: Handout
Palm leaf manuscript. | Photo Credit: Handout

Palm leaf manuscripts reveal a history of slavery in Nanjil Nadu, now part of Kanniyakumari district

“The severe drought has left us with nothing, not even gruel. Our legs and calf muscles have become swollen and we are not able to walk. So as suggested by the head of our family, we sold ourselves to Raman Iyappan.”

A 1459 palm leaf manuscript faithfully records the grim story of a Kerala Samban magan, Avayan, his nephew Thadiyan and his sister Nalli, in the note prepared for their sale as slaves.

The lush green fields of Nanjil Nadu, the rice bowl of erstwhile South Travancore and now part of Kanniyakumari district of Tamil Nadu, hide a history that cut across the social spectrum. Slavery was common in the region as recently as 200 years ago.

Interestingly, while members of the Vellalas, a land holding community that wielded enormous influence during the reign of the Travancore kings, were sold as slaves, Dalits, who were also often sold as slaves, also owned land.

A collection of 19 palm leaf manuscripts, part of the so-called Mudaliar Olaigal, reveals details of the practice. Written in Tamil script, the language of the manuscripts is mixture of Malayalam and Tamil, reflecting the composite culture of the region.

“A manuscript recorded in 1601 that records the sale of land by two Dalits — Avaiathan and Konathan, who belong to the Pallar community — proves the claim that Dalits also owned lands,” said folklorist A.K. Perumal, who has translated and edited Mudaliar Olaigal, published by Kalachuvadu.

The term ‘Mudaliar’ refers to the head of the family in Azhagiyapandiapuram in Kanniyakumari district. The community of Saiva Vellalas were conferred the title ‘Mudaliar’ by the Travancore kings and they ruled Nanjil Nadu on behalf of the kings.

Late poet Kavimani Desigavinayagam Pillai copied a few manuscripts in 1903. In addition to records on slave auctions, they contain a wealth of detail on the revenue system, maintenance of irrigation tanks and rivers and professions of many communities.

Chronicling a reality very different from the present, the manuscripts speak of wealthy Dalits.

A manuscript from 1462 says one Sundarapandian Chetti borrowed four ‘kaliyuga Raman panam’ (money used in that period), from one Kesavan of ‘sambavar’ caste, a sub-sect of Dalits. A 1484 manuscript, when referring to the border of a piece of land, says it lies “south of [the property of] Perumparaian”, a big land owner from the community.

Women punished

“But in the case of Vellalas, the women sold as slaves were used as maids in their owners’ houses. Only a Vellala was allowed to own another member of his community as a slave and this was openly announced before the commencement of an auction,” said Dr. Perumal.

The women slaves from the Vellalas were known as ‘Vellatti’. According to the Madras University Lexicon, ‘Vellati’ means a servant maid or slave.

“Slaves from the upper caste were clearly differentiated from Dalit slaves. Vellattis were used for the housekeeping,” explains said Dr. Perumal, who collected the manuscripts from the Thiruvananthapuram archives.

Women from upper castes were often sold as slaves after they were found to have had relationships with men from lower castes.

Dr. Perumal said slave markets existed in Aloor ( present day Kalkulam taluk), Aralvaimozhi, Thazhakudi (Thovalam taluk) and Rajakkamangalam (Agastheeswaram taluk).

K.K. Kusuman, who has studied the history of slavery in Travancore, had recorded that the price of a slave depended on the social hierarchy.

The manuscripts contain records of the prices fixed for slaves. In the records, the caste of a slave is used as a prefix unlike the modern day practice in which a caste title is used as a suffix.

Dr. Perumal said poverty was the reason for slavery.

A 1458 manuscript records a slave as saying: “We sold ourselves because of poverty.” Another one, recorded in 1472, records the poignant story of a man pledging himself and his daughter as he was unable to repay a loan and interest due on it. Subsequently he is recorded as having become a permanent slave.

Slavery was abolished in Travancore on July 18, 1853 by a declaration made by the King Uthiram Thirunal.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> States> Tamil Nadu / by B. Kolappan / Chennai – May 08th, 2017

Chekku ennai makes a comeback

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Business & Economy, Nature

When Immanuel S, employee at a private firm was diagnosed with a heart ailment recently, his doctor advised him to switched to cold-pressed gingelly (sesame) oil. Since then, the entire family has been following suit and they consider the change, an informed choice. “We didn’t want to spend on medicine and hence, changed our dietary habits. The move seems to have worked as no one in the family has fallen ill since then,” he says. Just like Immanuel, many households in Coimbatore are gradually switching to cold-pressed oil. After millets made a comeback on Coimbatorean’s menu, it’s the turn of cold-pressed oil (chekku ennai) to find its way back in health-conscious Coimbatorean’s life.

ChekkuOilCF17may2017
For the last three months, homemaker Rajeswari N has been making a trip to the nearest oil mill in her locality. She opts for cold-pressed gingelly oil, groundnut oil and coconut oil. “During my childhood, back home in my village in Theni, we used cold-pressed oil for cooking. But, after I got married and moved to Coimbatore, it became an arduous task to find chekku ennai and I switched to refined oil. It was only recently that I heard of an oil mill near our house and immediately went back to those good old days of cooking. Life has come full circle,” says Rajeswari.

According to BS Venkatachalam, proprietor of a cold-pressed oil chain in the city, “There is an increased awareness among people today and they are extremely conscious about their health. They are now aware that many health issues can be addressed by changing one’s food habits and opting for cold-pressed oil is an example. It’s a misconception that oil in itself is bad for the body. Human body needs lubrication and hence, it needs oil. It’s in the extraction process that we go wrong. In the days of yore, the oil was extracted in chekku made of vaagai maram and the vaagai marachekku oil (vigin cold-pressed oil) was considered extremely beneficial to one’s health. Vaagai maram has the propensity to absorb heat and the hence, the oil churned out from such an oil expeller is beneficial in the long run. They would also use bulls to operate the chekku as they would move slowly. This would ensure that the same temperature is maintained throughout the extraction. The cold-pressed oil extracted with this press (oil expeller) has no LDL (bad) cholesterol. On the other hand, adulterated oil when heated extensively becomes toxic in the long run. ”

K Velusamy, who runs a cold-pressed oil mill in Ganapathy, says, “People who have been making the switch to cold-pressed oil consists of two types- those who are suffering from a health issue like joint pain or sugar; and those who want to prevent diseases. But, merely switching to cold-pressed oil will not improve one’s health. One needs to cut down or stop the intake of unhealthy options like white sugar and white rice. Cold-pressed oil has a unique colour, texture and taste.”

Seconding him is fitness nutritionist Almas Sajjath, “Any product in its refined form is unhealthy – be it rice or sugar. Cold-pressed oil is a healthy  alternative. In India, coconut oil is considered the best as it contains Omega 3. It has the property to cut down bad fat and keep you healthy. Cold-pressed gingelly oil (nallenai) on the other hand, has the property to keep food intact for a long time. Apart from switching to chekku ennai, one should follow a good dietary pattern that provides proper nutrition to remain healthy in the long run.” Venkatachalam adds, “Our ancestors enjoyed good health, because they opted for healthy cooking habits. It’s time we followed suit and taught our younger generations about the same.”

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / News> City News> Chennai News / by P. Sangeetha / TNN / April 19th, 2017