Pollachi-based T Krishnasamy, an artisan who works with palm leaves, has made 6,000 parrots for an installation in the city
T Krishnasamy’s palms are criss-crossed with cuts. Thirty years of handling palm leaves is bound to leave a mark and the 63-year-old artisan knows this. “It happens,” he shrugs when asked about it. Krishnasamy works with olai or palm leaves to create works of art — from sharp-nosed parrots, to diamond-shaped fish, and intricate deer — he bends and folds the leaves, cuts, and tucks them to create the shapes. Krishnasamy and his small team have made around 6,000 parrots that are part of Phoenix MarketCity’s spring-summer décor. A breathtaking sight, the décor is part of the mall’s initiative to provide a platform for traditional artisans.
Seated on the floor at the mall’s ground floor, over the last weekend, Krishnasamy gave a demonstration of palm leaf figurines. Visitors stop by and request him for a parrot in pink or a fish in blue, and he obliges, giving it away for free. People pose non-stop near the installation bearing hundreds of parrots. But the dhoti-clad man sits absorbed in work, unaffected by all the attention his work is getting.
Krishnasamy is from Kulathur village near Pollachi. He climbed palmyra trees for a living. “I brought down nungu (palm fruit) and thelivu or pathaneer (drink made of sap from the tree),” he says. One day, he happened to see a group of men working with palm leaves. “They were creating decoration items for the palace of the zamindar of Pollachi,” he recalls. He was in his twenties then and was fascinated that the very leaves he merely brushed against every day were transformed into works of art. “I just stood and observed them and learned the craft,” he adds.
Today, Krishnasamy is well-known in and around his home town for his art. His palm leaf artefacts decorate wedding stages and halls at functions. He’s created thousands of them over the course of the last few years. “I can make one in under three minutes,” he says. Krishnasamy processes the palm leaves in his kitchen. “I put the leaves to dry on the first day; trim, clean, and boil them with colour the next. They are ready to be shaped after I dry them for two more days,” he adds.
Back in his village, he usually keeps a stock of a few hundred parrots. But that’s nothing when compared to the volume that he makes on order. “Some five years ago, I made 20,000 parrots for an event organised when the Governor visited Pollachi,” he says. He has a small team of college girls that works for him after classes. But other than that, he’s on his own. If you visit him at Kulathur, you would see him engrossed in work, surrounded by palm leaves dyed in pink, blue, and green. “During the wedding season, I work from 4 am to 12 am,” he says.
His parrots have flown to various cities, but this is his first time in Chennai. “I like this city,” he smiles. “But I like my village better. It’s breezy and the weather is much cooler.” As we leave, he requests for a copy of the paper with his interview to be couriered to his village. He gives us an incomplete address though. “Just address it to kili kaarar (the parrot man),” he says. “It’ll reach me.”
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> Society / by Akila Kannadasan / April 24th, 2018
Just a week ago, Chennai’s Velavan Senthilkumar was feeling low. The 20-year-old had exited in the very first round of the Rochester Open qualifiers in what was his first tournament in nearly a year.
Much to his credit, he has turned things around dramatically in a week’s time and can now reflect with unbridled joy on capturing his first ever Professional Squash Association (PSA) title.
Velavan, who is pursuing a course in statistics at Columbia University in New York, defeated fourth seed Tristan Eyesele of South Africa 7-11, 13-11, 12-10, 11-4 in the final of the Madison Open on Sunday after coming through the qualifying rounds.
Asked about the contrasting results in the two tournaments, the former British Junior Open champion put it down to a case of nerves getting the better of him. In turn, it fuelled a strong desire in Velavan to put things right in Madison.
“I was playing my first tournament in a year last week in Rochester. After playing a couple of PSA events in South Africa last April, I was just training and focusing on my academics. I was extremely nervous playing after so long in Rochester and was very upset with the result. But it motivated me to do well in Madison and things have turned out according to plan,” he said on Monday.
While Velavan might not have had a lot of playing time of late, he hasn’t stopped putting in the hard yards in training. He is currently being coached by England’s Alister Walker, a former world No. 12, aside from his coaches in Columbia.
“He is coaching me full time now,” Velavan continued, “I can see a lot of improvement in my game since the time I have started working with him. He is pushing me towards my goals and keeps in touch constantly to find out how I’m doing.”
Walker’s endeavour to play the role of a big brother is timely for Velavan, who was not just finding his feet on the court but off it as well. “It is not easy living alone. I do get homesick sometimes, but my schedule is so hectic that time flies. That really helps,” said the world No. 255.
What also helps the youngster is the fact that he makes a visit back to Chennai at every possible opportunity. He has also not lost touch with senior Indian stars like Joshna Chinappa and Dipika Pallikal.
“I stay in touch with the likes of Dipika and Joshna as well as Cyrus (Poncha) sir. I was really pleased for them after their rich haul of medals in the Commonwealth Games. I know that they have worked extremely hard for it, and their achievements are only going to help the sport grow.”
source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> News> Sports News> Others / by Vivek Krishnan / TNN / April 23rd, 2018
Thanjavur Maratha Palace The Darbar Hall of the Thanjavur Maratha Palace
The Vijayanagar Empire was decisively defeated by the Deccan Sultanates in the Battle of Talikota, in 1565 C.E. The empire soon unravelled when many provincial governors, called Nayakas, declared independence one by one. Even before the last emperor died the Nayakas were at each other’s throats, making opportunistic alliances, and seeking the support of Europeans and even the Sultanates. Thanjavur and Madurai, once key constituents of the empire, engaged in a protracted and destructive conflict which eventually doomed both ruling dynasties.
The reasons behind the rivalry were many. Thanjavur Nayakas hailed from a noble house which strongly supported Vijayanagar even during the empire’s terminal decline. The Madurai Nayakas were of humbler origins and had changed colours right after Talikota. In 1614 CE, Madurai sided with a usurper who murdered the Vijayanagar emperor and his family. By 1659 Madurai’s expansionist activities led to the Sultanates annexing any remaining Vijayanagar crownlands: this reduced the last emperor to a refugee. Such actions also led to the Thanjavur kingdom losing lands to the Sultanates. Madurai’s alliance with the Sultans enabled roving Deccani Muslim warlords to quickly gain power in Tamil lands. Legends also say that a Madurai Nayaka murdered his bride, a Thanjavur princess (who was offered as a token of peace), in a moment of rage. The feud grew over the years — interspersed with very brief alliances of convenience — and reached a climax in 1673 CE.
Thanjavur was then ruled by the ageing Vijaya Raghava Nayaka. He was a patron of the arts and had written numerous poems and dramatic works. However, he believed in hoary notions of tradition, valour and honour — he even refused to modernise his army with firearms. The ruler of Madurai was the young Chokkanatha Nayaka. He had actually attempted to check the growing power of the Sultanates and the warlords but failed. In 1673 Chokkanatha requested the Thanjavur princess’s hand in marriage. The Thanjavur king contemptuously refused; the enraged Chokkanatha ordered his generals to capture the princess. Madurai’s army consisting of Deccani cavalry, musketeers, cannons and European mercenaries simply outclassed Thanjavur’s army. The Thanjavur fort was breached after heavy fighting; despite multiple offers of lenient terms, Vijaya Raghava resolved to “die with honour”. The royal palace was rigged with gunpowder and incendiaries and the royal womenfolk were herded into it. As the defenders sallied out and fought to the death, they blew up the palace, killing everyone inside.
Chokkanatha installed his brother Alagiri as a viceroy. However, Chengamaladas, a minor son of the fallen Thanjavur king, had escaped the carnage.
Chengamaladas later surfaced in Bijapur and requested the Sultan’s aid. In 1675 CE, the Sultan sent his general Venkoji, half-brother of Chhatrapati Shivaji, to reclaim Thanjavur for Chengamaladas (Ironically, Venkoji and his Maratha troops served Bijapur while Shivaji was invading it in the north). It was an opportune moment as Alagiri and Chokkanatha were now at war with each other. Thanjavur was conquered by the Marathas in a short campaign.
However, heeding to a prophetic dream (and perhaps sensing the Bijapur Sultanate’s impending end) Venkoji crowned himself King of Thanjavur in 1676. With Chengamaladas fleeing into obscurity the rule of the Thanjavur Nayakas ended.
Meanwhile in Madurai, rebellions and Chokkanatha’s plummeting popularity weakened the kingdom. The expansionist Thanjavur Marathas now began to prey on Madurai. Chokkanatha was deposed by the Madurai nobles and another brother was enthroned. In 1680, a powerful Deccani warlord named Rustam Khan captured power, chasing away the new Nayaka and installing Chokkanatha as a puppet ruler. Rustam Khan’s power grew alarmingly and he apparently began to forcibly claim women from the royal families. In 1682 Chokkanatha Nayaka’s heart finally gave out when Madurai was repeatedly invaded by her neighbours, and subsequently betrayed by her feudatories.
The Madurai kingdom was totally devastated at this point. Chokkanatha’s teenaged son Rangakrishna managed to reclaim some glory but he died of smallpox just seven years into his reign. Queen Mother Mangammal became the Regent for the next fifteen years as Rangakrishna’s heir was an infant. Mangammal’s brilliant leadership bought Madurai back from the brink. Using diplomacy, stratagems and military might, she eliminated threats and rebuilt Madurai’s power. However, after her death in 1705 the kingdom went into decline again. Madurai was slowly worn down by civil strife, and the campaigns of Thanjavur, Mysore and the Nawab of Arcot. In 1736, Arcot forces under Chanda Sahib ended centuries of Nayaka rule.
Madurai was subsequently tossed between various belligerents till the British became her overlord in 1764. The Marathas of Thanjavur fared slightly better. In 1855, Thanjavur lapsed into British rule when the last Maratha king died without a natural heir.
The author, an IIM Ahmedabad graduate working in the energy sector, has a keen interest in history, politics, and strategic affairs
source: http://www.dnaindia.com / DNA / Home> Analysis / by Ananth Karthikeyan / April 08th, 2018
Schoolchildren greet bikers from Finland embarking on a tour, at Sriperumbudur Panchayat Union Primary School, Mettupalayam, on Thursday. | Photo Credit: B. Velankanni Raj
65-day charity tour for girls’ education flagged off
The charity tour for girls’ education in rural India, on motorcycles from Chennai to Finland, commenced from the Sriperumpudur Panchayat Union Primary School, Mettupalayam near Oragadam on Thursday.
The 15,000-km tour aimed at mobilising funds for girls’ education in rural India will pass through 17 countries before reaching Finland, the home of 17 bikers who have embarked on this venture.
The 17-member team will pass through Andhra Pradesh, Odisha and Uttar Pradesh to enter Nepal.
To cross many countries
From there they would pass through China, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Turkey, Bulgaria, Romania, Ukraine, Poland, Lithuania, Belarus, Latvia and Estonia to reach Finland.
The 65-day tour, organised jointly by the PeterPan Bike, Finland and SFA Motorcycle Rental, Chennai, was flagged off by Tourism Minister Vellamandi Natarajan and Transport Minister M.R. Vijayabaskar.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Chennai / by Staff Reporter / Kancheepuram – April 20th, 2018
They are the biggest South Indian cinematic voice abroad. With at least six movies releasing in the next few months, the Tamil diaspora tells us how they are taking control of their own narrative
When Kabali opened globally in 2016, it outperformed all other South Indian films released till then, raking in $4.05 million in four days in the US alone. Rajinikanth’s larger-than-life role and director Ranjith’s depiction of Malaysia’s Tamil labourers also garnered much attention. But that is not to say everyone was happy. “It was a narrative of South Indian caste-based politics framed within an inaccurate Malaysian context,” explains Kuala Lumpur-based filmmaker Shanjhey Kumar Perumal, sharing that films like Kabali “don’t really represent our experiences”. Tamil-French actor and writer Anthonythasan Jesuthasan (who goes by the nom-de-plume Shoba Sakthi), concurs. “[These films] might have diaspora characters, but they are not diaspora movies,” he says.
Seven months earlier, Perumal had released his Tamil début, Jagat, which also portrayed the lives of Tamil Malaysians — many of whom are descendents of indentured labourers the British had working on rubber plantations. “After independence, we were forced to relocate to urban areas, but we had no understanding of life outside the plantation. As a child, I lived in a squatter’s community for three years, and what I saw there provided the inspiration for Jagat, a coming-of-age story about a boy living in a similar community,” he says. However, securing distribution was a trial, thanks to the competition from Tamil cinema, which is widely distributed in the country.
The new voices
From the shores of Fiji to the frigid suburbs of Toronto, the Tamil diaspora has, for many years, provided a loyal audience base for Kodambakkam’s Tamil cinema. But after generations of life away from India, they are keen to author their own stories. In fact, today, they are the biggest South Indian cinematic voice abroad. A few projects — like Singaporean director K Rajagopal’s 2016 début, A Yellow Bird, and Sri Lankan documentary filmmaker Jude Ratnam’s Demon in Paradise— have even made it to international film festivals like Cannes.
“Many have been living away from their native land for long enough that they have formed entirely new relationships with Tamil culture,” says Vaseeharan Sivalingam, founder of the Norway Tamil Film Festival (NTTF), a nine-year-old outfit. “Since the early 1980s, we have been experiencing a slow emergence of Tamil diaspora cinema, which has quickened in the past four to five years. This year, for the first time at NTFF (which is holding its annual awards ceremony later this month), we have six feature length films from the diaspora, most of them from Malaysia,” he adds. While some filmmakers have superimposed their local flair on the formulaic song, dance and comedy routine, others have eschewed them in favour of their own styles.
A first in 40
Born in Colombo and raised in Batticaloa and Kandy, Sri Lankan filmmaker King Ratnam was keen to showcase the diversity of the island’s Tamil population in his recently-released debut feature, Komaali Kings . “I was also motivated by anger,” he says, “because this is the first fully Tamil feature length film to be released here in more than 40 years. Why has it taken so long for us to represent ourselves as we are — the way we speak, our landscapes, our problems, our civil unrest?”
The film follows Pat, a middle-aged Londoner who returns to Sri Lanka for a wedding, but finds himself at the mercy of his relatives after he maxes out his credit cards. “I chose comedy because producers like it better,” laughs Ratnam, who sourced LKR 30 million for the film. “It’s also an attempt to hold a mirror to our own absurdity and originality. That is why, except for the 5.1 sound mixing that I did in India, everything about the film, technically and otherwise, is Sri Lankan. I did it to prove a point,” he says. He admits, however, there were challenges with distribution. “Because [local Tamil films] are such a new phenomenon in Sri Lanka, we received a lot of step-motherly treatment, but we finally managed to release it in over 50 cinemas here, and also in Toronto.”
Cross-border collabs
Meanwhile in Malaysia, recent films have been featuring collaborations with the Tamil film industry. Music composer Shameshan Mani Maran’s soundtrack for Sughamaai Subbulakshmi (SSL), a Tamil Malaysian film releasing on May 17, includes ‘Aasai Keertanai’, a single sung by Indian playback singer Chinmayi. “The entire process gives me useful insight into how Kollywood functions; we can learn a lot through their technology,” he explains.
Interestingly, SSL — described by director Karthik Shamalan as a “feel good family movie about a protagonist who has to choose between his passion (football) and an obligation” — almost started out as a Malay [language] film. But childhood memories of spending six to seven hours a day at the cinema hall where his father ran a canteen, watching Tamil moviegoers’ reactions, made Shamalan feel confident about entertaining them with his own work. “So I decided to début with Tamil, the language I am most comfortable with,” he says. On the ground, though, he had to overcome a few bumps. Production was stalled for two years due to financial problems, until an ex-boss helped him out.
SSL is premièring internationally at NTFF, where it has already picked up awards (announced last week) for best director and best actor (female). “The film is an accurate portrayal of local life in Malaysia, and comes with the formula of a mainstream Tamil movie and Malaysian flair,” says NTFF’s Sivalingam, pointing to Malay colloquialisms and songs filmed on sandy beaches a la Kollywood’s commercial releases.
Shamalan is also exploring a new market across the ocean in Singapore, where Tamil television has always been more popular than cinema, thanks to state-backed funding. In an effort to encourage film production in the island country, Singaporean TV director SS Vikneshwaran Subramaniam has collaborated with Shamalan on Atcham Thavir. Produced by Malaysian radio station Raaga, the thriller-comedy, set to release on May 31 (in Singapore, Malaysia and Chennai), is being marketed as a cross-border collaboration. “The film — about a group of friends attending a wedding and ending up in hot soup — is our way of telling the world that we are also doing Tamil movies,” shares Shamalan.
Staying true to self
The Atcham Thavir team wants their next project to transcend more borders. “We want to collaborate with the Indian film industry and make more global Tamil films,” says Subramaniam. This is a sentiment that is finding a few echoes among the diaspora. Like Singapore-based director Abbas Akbar, whose childhood friendship with Tamil music director Ghibran paved the way for his recently-released Kollywood debut, Chennai2Singapore. For Akbar, the decision to come to India was a no-brainer. “We’ll have to end up here at some point,” he chuckles. “There’s only one Tamil cinema. Where else would I go?”
That said, the majority of the diaspora film fraternity want to nurture their own industries. Perumal, whose film Jagat was the first Tamil feature to win the Best Malaysian Film award at the 28th Malaysia Film Festival in 2016, has turned down several offers to work in India. “I believe it’s important to establish the voice of the Malaysian Tamil film industry, so we can move away from Kollywood imitations,” he says.
Tamil-Canadian filmmaker Lenin M Sivam, who fled the Sri Lankan civil conflict as a 17-year-old, is of the same bent of mind. In 2009, he used the $10,000 credit limit on his credit card to fund his début feature 1999, a gritty narrative about the gang violence that swept through Toronto’s Tamil communities when he was a teenager. “I wanted to tell my own story — one that I had personal connections to,” Sivam, now 43, says. “I lost a lot of friends because of this violence, and I knew Kollywood would never tell a story like that. To quote the poet R Cheran, ‘Indian Tamil filmmakers making movies about Sri Lankan Tamil problems is like a fish riding a bicycle’,” he adds, smiling. The film, which found success and recovered its costs, premiered at the 2010 Vancouver International Film Festival, where it was named one of the Top 10 Canadian films of the year.
Craft and controversy
In his upcoming feature, Roobha, starring Shoba Sakthi, and releasing in September, Sivam is turning to a more controversial topic — a middle-aged, married Sri Lankan Tamil man who falls in love with a much younger transgender woman. “Even though we see many transgenders in mainstream Tamil movies, it’s almost a taboo topic within the Sri Lankan Tamil diaspora,” he says. The story is penned by Shoba Sakthi, who played the lead role in Jacques Audiard’s Cannes 2015 sweep away, Dheepan .
The search for the titular character was tough. “No male actor from within the Tamil community wanted to kiss a man,” he says. “But when we expanded our search to outside the community, we found Amrit Sandhu, who plays the role [of Roobha] with a lot of depth and precision.” The film is funded in large part by a fellow Sri Lankan Canadian, Warren Sinnathamby, a successful businessman who has little film experience but a keen desire to tell hard-hitting diaspora tales. “The movie took four years of my life, but it was important that I saw it through. It’s a big [Tamil] community out here in North America, and we have a lot of stories to tell, and for as long as we can, we will keep telling those stories,” Sivam concludes.
* The other voices
Kerala-born, New Jersey-raised filmmaker Abi Varghese has played a pivotal role in the rise of Malayalam voices in diaspora cinema. After directing the Fahadh Faasil-starrer Monsoon Mangoes , and the Netflix-distributed sitcom, Brown Nation, he is working with fellow Malayali, actress Melanie Chandran (of Code Black), on a pilot for a female-led television series. “With platforms like YouTube and Netflix, people are creating content at a younger age,” says Varghese, who is gearing up for the release of his sitcom Metropark, starring Ranvir Shorey and Purbi Joshi. “Working in New York, you meet so many talented people that it’s easier than ever to tell your own stories in a truthful manner.” In his future work, he wants to explore stories rooted in Indian culture, and not necessarily diaspora lives.
Acting on a similar impulse, Telugu-American cardiologist Praveena Paruchuri, started working on a script about a Telugu-American medical professional. “I tried to learn more about Telugu art through my family, but it wasn’t vibrant in America, and I found more work in Tamil and Malayalam. Today, it’s encouraging to see Telugu media professionals here, like comedian Hari Kondabolu. When I travelled to Hyderabad, I met [filmmaker Venkatesh Maha], and we collaborated on my maiden production Telugu feature, C/O Kancharapalem. It explores untold local Indian stories, but in my next film, I am keen to portray diaspora lives,” says Paruchuri.
Meanwhile, back home, filmmaker Rajiv Menon, who founded Chennai-based Mindscreen Film Institute, says an increasing number of diaspora Indians are coming down to hone their skills. “We have many from Singapore, France and the US coming to learn filmmaking and acting, and a few have begun working on their projects back home,” he confirms.
* The right note
Malaysian rapper Yogi B believes “there are fewer walls between the diaspora and the mainland” in the world of Tamil film and music. Founder of the now defunct Poetic Ammo, he paved the way for other diaspora rappers like Sri Lankan Dinesh Kanagaratnam (ADK) and fellow Malaysian, Sri Pagenthiran (Sri Rascol), who have lent their lyrics and voices to Tamil cinema, most notably in AR Rahman’s ‘Showkali’ song in the 2016 hit, Achcham Yenbadhu Madamaiyada.
Keen to hone talent, they are now mentoring new musicians. Yogi B’s latest discovery, Indian rap group Madurai Souljours, will release their album next year, while Sri Rascol and ADK, under their label Rap Machines, have signed on the Sri Lankan group Tea Kada Pasanga.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> Entertainment> Movies / by Sindhuri Nandakumar / April 20th,2018
The Friday market at Pallavaram has a 100-year-old history. Antiques, bicycles, vegetables, auto-parts, pots… You can even buy yourself a live goat at this high-energy space which brings a village to the city
“Listen carefully,” says the old man sporting a turban made of towel. His audience: two little boys. The location: Pallavaram Friday sandhai (shandy).
His name is S Srinivasan and he has just sold them a pair of rabbits. “Mix turmeric with water and apply it on their nails in case they get torn. That’s the most common injury that rabbits can incur,” he instructs. The boys nod in unison as the palm-sized creatures wiggle in a basket next to them.
Srinivasan is from Kundrathur and sells rabbits and hens for a living. The market provides him a big chunk of income. Not just him; it has been supporting hundreds of vendors from nearby villages, small towns, and suburbs for over 10 decades.
The Pallavaram Friday Market is like a hamlet with non-resident inhabitants. They pack their bags and arrive at dawn, make the two-kilometre-long stretch their home for a day, and leave at night, only to repeat the pattern every week. Some have been doing this for years. The market has everything. “You can find everything other than your parents here,” jokes C Baskar who sells glass bangles sourced from Parry’s.
The market’s entrance is lined with gardening-related products such as saplings, flowerpots, and compost. K Kumar, who sells vegetable and flower seeds, squats on the ground with a cabbage leaf over his head to protect himself from the sun.
On the go
“I’ve picked a market for every day of the week to do business,” he says. “On Mondays, I head to Madhuranthagam, Tuesday to Thirukazhukundram and so on.”
Most sellers at the market are people like him who make a living out of travelling from one sandhai to the other. Allah Bahad who sells handmade kitchen and meat knives, sits opposite a row of vegetable sellers, holding an umbrella. “The knives have been made at Thiruvalankadu, a village near Arakkonam,” he explains.
Nearby, a man calls out to customers claiming he has the best deals on T-shirts; a butter-milk seller tring-trings on his bicycle; mammoth jackfruit from Panruti are heaped like boulders in the sun; plastic-framed mirrors gleam, jostling for space next to mountains of red chillies as dried fish sit pretty nearby, their smell doing all the talking. Full-fledged grocery stores have been set up for the day, complete with strands of masala sachets hung like garlands in the front.
Tethered goats await buyers; some, such as those that N Arumugam owns, have travelled long distances to reach the market. Hens bustle inside makeshift coops while baby rabbits rub their noses against metal cages. Nearby, K Saravanan sits amidst what looks like electronic waste — TV remote controls, keyboards, mobile phones and head-sets among countless lengths of wires and batteries. “Peoplelooking for reusable parts come to me,” he explains. There are several such stalls that recycle e-waste.
Wood and metal
Walk a little further and we come to a slice of Pudupet; machine and automobile spare-parts are neatly arranged on the ground; there are brand-new bicycles on sale too. Then there’s wooden furniture to choose from. The market boasts five shops that deal with old coins and antiques. S Rajasekar, who owns one of them, shows us brass containers, horseshoes, and ornate hand-carved metal keys. “I collect antiques from places such as Kanchipuram and also trade with others in the business,” he explains.
An easy camaraderie exists amongst the sellers, evident from the way they chit chat as they work. A chudidar-clad woman stands out: S Usha is setting up her stall of earrings and seems a little conscious as she spreads her products. It’s her first day and she merely smiles when asked if she’s nervous. “What’s there to fear?” chips in her neighbour R Suresh. “There’s always space for new people at the sandhai.”
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> Society / by Akila Kannadasan / April 17th, 2018
Well-deserved: Chinnammal, middle, being honoured at the Born2Win Trans* Achiever Awards held in the city on Tuesday.
Born2Win Trans* Achievers Awards recognises role models from the community
The Sixth Annual Born2Win Trans* Achiever Awards recognised not only members from the community who have accomplished their goals in their own right but also their mothers who were immensely supportive of their gender nonconforming children and others who supported LGBT rights. The event was held at Rani Seethai Hall on Tuesday.
“I don’t know how to explain my feelings, but I am really happy to see you all and wish you well,” said 82-year-old Chinnammal, mother of Jeeva Rangaraj from TRA, an NGO which works for transgender rights.
This year, 19 individuals were chosen for various categories of awards. Among them was a medical student, a physiotherapist, a model and a social activist.
Grateful voices
“I am so honoured to be chosen for this award. It only shows that I am on the right path,” said Solu S., a Madurai based physiotherapist, who now works with children with special needs. “The day I had to leave home after I came out to my family, I didn’t know what life held for me. But thanks to the people I met in my journey I was able to discover my passion and work towards it,” she said.
Neelamma, an activist, who was awarded the Lifetime achievement award, recalled the difficult times when transgenders were ill-treated and subjected to constant threats and abuse. “Decades ago, transgenders couldn’t even walk freely on the streets, without being hit by stones or cursed. But now we have all come a long way. I am so proud to see you all achieve your dreams and passion, I will always be there to support you,” she said with tears.
Divya Priya and her husband Sasikumar received the Trans* Couple of the year award. The two received the award with Divya Priya’s mother and got a standing ovation from the audience.
The Trans* Ally award recipients were Member of Parliament Tiruchi Siva and Arun Prabhu, director of the Tamil movie Aruvi.
Aditi Balan, who played the titular character in Aruvi, also participated in the event. “I had a completely different opinion about transgenders before I interacted with one in my movie. I am very excited to be a part of this event,” she said.
Advocate Sudha Ramalingam was also present.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News>Cities> Chennai / by Staff Reporter / Chennai – April 18th, 2018
Fishes exhibited at the guppy competition at Pollachi on Saturday. | Photo Credit: HANDOUT_E_MAIL
Nearly 40 varieties of guppy fishes (Poecilia reticulata) from breeders across the country were exhibited at the national-level competition held in various categories at Pollachi on Saturday. Organisers said that it was the first national-level competition for guppy held in the country.
More than 70 breeders from various parts of the country, including Kolkata and New Delhi, took part. The venue was Nikanth Aquaculture at Pollachi.
Breeder A. Prabhu from Chennai was adjudged as grand champion of the competition.
Dinesh P. from Coimbatore, Dinesh Kumar V.L. from Coimbatore, Abjit M. from Kozhikode, and Vimal Kumar V. from Alapuzha won prizes in the best breeder category. Nikanth M.D., and Sagarika M.A. from Pollachi and Riyaz Ahamed from Coimbatore were selected as breeders in the junior category.
Organisers said that Siju Cherian from Cherai in Ernakulam, first person from India to judge international level competitions from June, selected the winners.
Marks were given to the fishes of different varieties based on their body, shapes of dorsal fin, caudal fin, colour and symmetry of patterns on body. Known for feeding mosquito larvae, some varieties of guppy are released in fresh water for controlling mosquito breeding. “The competition was held to boost the local breeders of the fish. As an ornamental fish, guppies have good market value and breeders in States like Kerala are even exporting them. The competition also helped introduce new varieties to breeders here,” said Dinesh Kumar V.L., one of the organisers.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Coimbatore / by Staff Reporter / Coimbatore – April 16th, 2018
The news that TAFE, India’s second largest tractor manufacturer, has bought the Serbian company Industrija Masina i Traktora (IMT) is the culmination of a 55-year-old relationship that has gone through different phases. It is a story that began with TAFE establishing its offices on January 1, 1961 on Kothari Road after it had been decided that TAFE would thereafter manufacture Massey Ferguson (MF) tractors in India. The TAFE factory opened in Sembiam and the first tractor assembled with components from Coventry was driven out by S Anantharamakrishnan in 1961, watched by his son A Sivasailam who was in charge of TAFE, now one of the most successful flag-bearers of the Amalgamations Group.
But it wasn’t all wine and roses in those early days. The first challenge was posed by IMT who had a 10-year agreement with MF to manufacture tractors in what was then Yugoslavia. India, in those Rupee-payment days, was able to import these IMT-MF tractors, while TAFE was struggling to get foreign exchange to import its CKD components from the UK. Sivasailam’s answer was to go to Yugoslavia. With him went one of his sales representatives in North India, V P Ahuja – who was to make Yugoslavia his home – and they successfully negotiated for IMT-MF components to be regularly supplied to TAFE, meeting Rupee-payment requirements. Slowly business picked up.
The initial imports from IMT were not without their headaches. Yugoslavia used the metric system, India the imperial. TAFE’s technical staff had to devise ways and means to adapt IMT components to TAFE’s requirements. Ahuja (made Chief Liaison Officer, TAFE, in Yugoslavia in 1962) also remembers that while the IMT parts were very good, the factory’s documentation was “terrible”. TAFE would get crates-ful of components but would not know what was packed in what; Ahuja was the problem-solver.
Profits, however, were yet slow in coming. Then came windfall. A World Bank tender called for 3000 tractors to be sold to farmers in the Punjab, where the Green Revolution was taking place, under a financing scheme of the Bank. The Punjab Agro Industries Corporation was to distribute the tractors to farmers who could prove they owned land in the Punjab and nowhere else. TAFE won the tender. Later, even as the deadline for the closure of the scheme neared, TAFE still had 600 tractors on its hands. Sivasailam persuaded the Punjab Government to let the firm sell them to Punjab farmers who owned land in Haryana. And TAFE was on its way.
With the business relationship in Yugoslavia well-settled, Ahuja, who is now Offshore Director, established an agency business for TAFE in Belgrade helping the firm’s export business by representing several Indian auto-product firms in the region. Gradually he also began introducing TAFE tractors, which before long were outselling IMT tractors, even though being more costly but being superior in quality. But, adds Ahuja, we remained “passive sellers throughout because of the Chairman’s regard for IMT.”
With the break-up of Yugoslavia in the early 1980s, IMT slowly started slipping till it finally closed in 2015. At an auction, Mallika Srinivasan, Sivasailam’s daughter, closed the over 50-year-old circle. IMT tractors will be in the East European market again in a year or so, she promises.
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Madras’ first American Church
Zion Church I’ve long known as one of Chintadripet’s three landmarks, the other two being the Sathianathan memorial and the Goschen Library. As an architectural precinct it was quite a striking one, inevitably drawing attention to it. What I didn’t know then was that this was the first and only church built by American missionaries in Madras.
The legendary Dr John Scudder, who founded the American Madras Mission after arriving from Jaffna, and the Rev Miron Winslow, his colleague in Jaffna where he started work on the dictionary that is part of Tamil literary history, built a small church in 1847 in the weavers’ settlement after buying the land from a G V Naidu. They named it the Zion Church and it is now in its 170th year, a Church of South India church since independence.
In April 1865, the American Mission, then concentrating on the Arcots and Madurai, sold the Church for ₹10,000 to the Church Mission Society, London. Some years later, in 1878, the Church was gifted its bell by the Christian Missionary Society; it is said to be the second oldest church bell in Madras. Another piece of antiquity is the pipe organ which was made in England in 1895. The church was completely renovated in 1995.
Noteworthy has been the long pastoral connection of the Sathianathans/Clarkes with this church. I’ve written about this in the past (Miscellany January 28, 2002) but it deserves retelling. The Rev W T Sathianathan became, in 1862, the Church’s second pastor and its first Indian one. There followed five generations of the family who have preached in the Church. Rev W T, after 30 years of pastoral care there, was followed by his son-in-law W D Clarke. The Rev Clarke was followed after 28 years by his son Samuel S Clarke, who served for about 20 years. He was followed by his son Sundar Clarke, who served a few years and went on to become Bishop of Madras.
In 1995 the Clarke family gathered at the Church to celebrate their connection with it and the service was conducted by Sathianathan Clarke, the great-great-grandson of the Rev W.T. The fifth generation Clarke was visiting after completing a Doctor of Divinity degree at Harvard after a Master’s at Yale.
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Congratulations to a contributor
The Indian National Science Academy (Delhi) has awarded the prestigious Vulmiri Ramalingaswami Chair for 2018 to my regular contributor on Madras medical history, Dr. Anantanarayanan Raman of Charles Sturt University, New South Wales.
Ramalingaswami was a distinguished medical doctor and Director General of the Indian Council for Medical Research.
At the same time Dr M S Swaminathan was Director General of the Indian Council for Agricultural Research.
Dr Raman will spend July in India, headquartered at the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, but travelling around to deliver lectures and conduct workshops. Congratulations, Dr Raman; it couldn’t have been awarded to a more dedicated researcher.
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> History & Culture> Madras Miscellany / by S. Muthiah / April 16th, 2018
Dipika Pallikal and Joshna Chinappa settle for silver in women’s doubles squash final at the 2018 Commonwealth Games.
Dipika Pallikal and Joshna Chinappa lost 9-11, 8-11 in the final of women’s doubles squash at the 2018 Commonwealth Games.(Twitter)
Defending Champions Dipika Pallikal and Joshna Chinappa settle for silver after losing their women’s doubles final match to the New Zealand pair of Joelle King and Amanda Landers-Murphy at the Commonwealth Games 2018 on Sunday.
Pallikal and Chinappa lost the final in straight games 9-11, 8-11 in just over 20 minutes.
Coming into the final the Indian pair had lost just three games in their six matches but lost both of their games in the final to win silver.
Dipika was understandably unhappy with the contentious calls.
“There were some shocking calls as usual, those calls changed the match. They need to be looked at. If they don’t, then the game doesn’t grow,” she said.
“It’s sad to see, the players and game are growing, but the officials they’re not growing at all. It’s harsh for us players,” the player from Chennai added.
Joshna too was disappointed with not winning the gold but found some consolation in the silver.
“It’s great that we could be in the finals, we had a great chance to win. The New Zealanders played really well, we had a few bad calls. It’s disappointing, but it happens, that’s sport. We still managed to get a silver four years later,” she added.
This is India’s and Dipika Pallikal’s second medal in squash at the Games after winning the silver in mixed doubles on Saturday.
source: http://www.hindustantimes.com / Hindustan Times / Home> Sports> Other Sports / by HT Correspondent, Hindustan Times, Gold Coast / April 15th, 2018
