Category Archives: Amazing Feats

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

February 8, 2015Amazing Feats, Education, Historical Links, Pre-Independence, Leaders, Records, All, World Opinionadmin

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

Preterm baby undergoes heart surgery

February 4, 2015Amazing Feats, Records, All, Science & Technologiesadmin

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

Making history, with every step

January 28, 2015Amazing Feats, Inspiration/ Positive News and Features, Records, Alladmin

This was the second time Capt. Divya participated in the Republic Day parade after marching as an NCC cadet in 2008. Photo: K.V. Srinivasan / The Hindu

Chennaiite Capt. Divya Ajith Kumar led the widely-celebrated first all-woman Army contingent in the Republic Day parade

On a chilly winter Monday, amidst a light drizzle, history was made as an all-woman Army contingent marched on the stretch in Rajpath, New Delhi, during the Republic Day parade.

Seated in the audience, in gallery no. 14, was Binah Ajith Kumar. A resident of Madipakkam, her heart overflowed with pride as the women officers marched by. After all, the contingent was led by her daughter Capt. Divya Ajith Kumar.

“Her contingent was the first to march after the display of military firepower, machines and vehicles. When it was announced that the first ever all-woman Army contingent was marching by, everyone in the audience rose and applauded. When my daughter’s name was announced as contingent commander, I was overjoyed; it was the most memorable moment in my life,” Ms. Binah recalls.

Belonging to the Corps of Army Air Defence, Capt. Divya marched past the dignitaries and audience, flanked by two woman officers. They were followed by 144 serving woman officers from the Army and trainee lady cadets from OTA.

This is not the first time Capt. Divya is marching on the Rajpath stretch. She had also led the all-India contingent of National Cadet Corps’s senior division girls wing for the Republic Day parade in 2008, when she won the All India Best Girl Cadet and best parade commander awards. Capt. Divya was a student of Good Shepherd Convent and a B. Com graduate from Stella Maris College.

Her NCC officer from college, Dolly Thomas, remembers her as very focussed and hardworking. “She was very responsible and used to single-handedly take care of Cadostar, our annual inter-college NCC festival,” Prof. Thomas says.

Capt. Divya graduated from college in 2009, cleared the Combined Defence Services Examination and joined OTA the same year. She passed out in 2010, bagging the sword of honour – the first woman to receive it in the history of the academy, where she is now an instructor. She had earlier served in Anantnag, Jammu and Kashmir.

“It was a terrific feeling and I got a lot of calls of appreciation. I want more young women, especially from Tamil Nadu, to join the army,” adds the 25-year-old, who, like any true Chennaiite, is a fan of the Marina Beach.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Chennai> Society / by K Manikandan / January 28th, 2015

Officer’s wife to receive award

January 27, 2015Amazing Feats, Inspiration/ Positive News and Features, Records, Alladmin

Indu Rebecca Varghese, wife of martyred officer Major Mukund Varadharajan is in New Delhi to receive the Ashok Chakra award bestowed on her husband, on Monday.

Maj. Mukund’s father R. Varadharajan, who has accompanied his daughter-in-law to the national capital, told The Hindu that it was a proud moment for their family as many of his son’s colleagues called on them to congratulate.

Mr. Varadharajan, who spoke over phone, said: “When Maj. Ashutosh Pandey, the officer who substituted Mukund’s place in the 44th Battalion of the Rashtriya Rifles (22 Rajput) narrated tales of Mukund’s bravery and subtleness in handling crisis in the battle to fight terrorism, it brought tears to my eyes,” he said.

Mukund’s four-year-old daughter Arshea is also in New Delhi for the award ceremony on Tuesday.

Tambaram resident, Mukund Varadharajan, who laid down his life fighting insurgents in Kashmir, has been posthumously awarded the nation’s highest peacetime gallantry award ‘Ashok Chakra’.

Major Mukund Varadarajan, of 44th Battalion of the Rashtriya Rifles (22 Rajput) was leading an anti-terrorist search operation in Shopian in South Kashmir. He was killed in an encounter with Hizbul Mujahideen militants in April last year.

He gunned down two heavily armed terrorists before breathing his last.

Maj. Mukund’s mother, Geetha Varadharajan said: “we take this award as a reward for our son’s bravery in combating terrorism and it will give us courage to bear the loss.”

“We take this award as a reward for our son’s bravery”

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Chennai / by T. Madhavan / Chennai – January 26th, 2015

Students Plan Huge Tricolour with Salt

January 21, 2015Amazing Feats, Education, Records, All, World Opinionadmin

Vellore :

Students, faculty and trustees of Sigaram Matriculation School in Vaniyambadi , on the eve of the 66th Republic Day celebrations, will be creating the world’s largest Indian national flag using plain salt scheduled to take place in the school premises on Sunday, January 25.

Students will be using around 40 tons of plain salt to create the largest national flag measuring 3,456 square meters (72 meters in length and 48 meters in breadth) on the ground. In addition 300 kgs each of Red and Green coloring powders and 90 kg of blue color power will be used.

The event will begin by 7.30 am on Sunday morning and the salt flag should be ready by 2.30 pm well within the 12 hour period the world record authorities have allowed for setting this particular record.

The world record will be judged by officials from various World Record agencies such as Asian Records Academy (Singapore), India Records Academy (Mumbai) and Tamilan Book of Records who will be present on the occasion. Each participant in the event will also receive a certificate after the acceptance of the record by the adjudicating agencies.

“We have conducted special classes and training to all the students and they have been practicing for the big day for two months,” said the college principal Kalpana.

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> States> Tamil Nadu / by Express News Service / January 21st, 2015

Celebral palsy-afflicted girl brings home prestigious national award

December 10, 2014Amazing Feats, Education, Inspiration/ Positive News and Features, Records, All, Science & Technologiesadmin

Trichy :

Finding the exact day of any given date in 110 years is not an easy task for most people, but N Priyanka, a 14-year-old girl affected with cerebral palsy, can accomplish that within a five seconds. This extraordinary talent has brought national recognition to the Trichy girl, who has just got back from meeting the Indian President.

Priyanka, daughter of N Kannan and B Banu, won the ‘national award for the empowerment of persons with disabilities’ last week, presented by President Pranab Mukherjee at New Delhi. She met the collector and received accolades from the district administration and a cross-section of people on Monday.

She showed off some of her talent at the grievance day hall here in the presence of district collector Jayashree Muralidharan, instantly calculating the day for the dates mentioned between 1941 and 2050. Her questioners needed to check the calendars to ascertain the answer, but Priyanka never required any outside help

Though she is affected with cerebral palsy and mental retardation, this Class 8 student of Ramakrishna middle school in Puthur has an extraordinary memory power. The discovery of her talent was purely accidental. Her mother, K Banu, tells the story, which took place sometime in June this year.

“I was trying to figure out the day of August 17, 2014 to apply for a leave to attend a function. To my surprise, my daughter said that it was Sunday within a few seconds. When I cross checked with the calendar, her answer was perfectly correct,” she said, who is a caretaker in a private school in the city.

Unlike some normal people who have such talent, but who may have to depend on some formula to find out the day, Priyanka relies solely on her memory power.

When her teacher asked her how she could find out the answer within a fraction of second, she simply said with a smile, “I don’t know, madam.”

She is also capable of listing out the dates of a day in all weeks in a month. For instance, if we want to know the dates of ‘Wednesday’ in a month, she will list out the dates within few seconds.

Her father Kannan, who is an auto rickshaw driver, proudly says that this is only the first step for his daughter, ahead of a brilliant future.

“It takes only two to three seconds for my daughter to find out the days. I feel her talent can help children like her. My aim is to make her a doctor to serve the poor people,” said Kannan.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Trichy / TNN / December 09th, 2014

Together, they fly Guinness flag

December 8, 2014Amazing Feats, Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Records, All, World Opinionadmin

An aerial view of the national flag formed by volunteers who created a Guinness record in Chennai on Sunday / PTI

30,000 Chennaiites break record with ‘human Tricolour’

At 4 a.m. on Sunday, Chennaiites started gathering at the YMCA grounds here; a few hours later, a Guinness World Record was broken. Over 30,000 people came together to create the world’s largest human formation of a national flag, surpassing Pakistan in this feat.

Nine months ago, a sports club in Lahore made the first attempt to create a human national flag of Pakistan with 28,957 people and held the record for the largest formation till Sunday.

Seyda Subasi-Gemici, adjudicator of Guinness World Records Ltd., said, “It is a big historical day for India. I was very touched when I saw people gather around 5 a.m. and wait till noon in this heat to be a part of this event. They have truly showed their unity today.”

India is prepared to create such huge records and they can recreate this at any point in time, she added.

She recollected how she visited Chennai last year for “Parle Golu Galatta 2011,” the largest doll collection.

Isak Nazar, Governor of Rotary Club International 3230 that organised the event, said, “This achievement that people of Chennai have made is special. We organised this event to instil patriotism among the people and let future generations know about the importance of national flag.”

Planning for the event started 10 months ago.

“We mobilised people from colleges and corporate firms over a period of time. We had a set of architects who planned this,” Mr. Nazar said.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Chennai / by Staff Reporter / Chennai – December 08th, 2014

When Chennai’s own freedom fighter stood by Netaji

December 5, 2014Amazing Feats, Historical Links, Pre-Independence, Leadersadmin

Despite being captured by the British, Captain Lakshmi’s support and reflections on Bose’s dubious death reveals fascinating insights — Photo: The Hindu Archives / The Hindu

The controversy of making public Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose’s classified files has yet again spawned speculation surrounding the freedom fighter’s last days.

This is not surprising considering the leader’s radical politics always invited polarised public opinion.

The city’s tryst with the Indian National Army’s (INA) fight for independence was best embodied by ‘Captain Laxmi’ or Dr. Laxmi Swaminathan, who hailed from then Madras. Having earned an MBBS and made Singapore her home, Dr. Swaminathan led the INA’s women-only ‘Rani of Jhansi’ regiment in 1942, under Bose’s command.

Despite being captured by the British in Burma soon after, Captain Lakshmi’s unwavering support and reflections on Bose’s dubious death, as recorded in The Hindu’s archives, reveals fascinating insights.

A rare interview given in the Burmese capital on November 15, 1945, to Douglas Lackerseen of Associated Press, unveils an intimate portrait of the trailblazer.

Dressed in a plain white sari with a green border, as Lackerseen described the 31-year-old national, she came across as being formidable, on the defensive, and often fronting an impervious silence to questions. When she was asked about her loyalties, given that she was offering medical aide to wounded civilians on the behest of the British military, she said, “Never – I shall never be pro-British. I still think of myself as a member of the INA. ”

Despite facing a precarious future with INA undergoing a trial in New Delhi for its ‘terrorist’ acts, Captain Laxmi held a dogged defence. She said, “I do not regard them (members of the INA) as war criminals. How can I? In that case even I am a criminal.”

Reiterating the dominant suspicions over Mr. Bose’s death, the leader confessed to believing there was a possibility of him being alive. “I sincerely hope he lives. Subhas Chandra Bose was never a traitor to India. What he did, he did for India,” she said.

The admiration was mutual. The Hindu quotes Mr. S. A. Aiyer, a minister in Bose’s Azad Hind government, in a tribute offered to the leader in Madras on January 1, 1946: “Bose had a special relationship with Captain Lakshmi and wanted to appoint her as a minister in the provisional government. I remember him once saying, ‘She is a wonderful child, God bless her’.”

With front men of INA refusing to accept their leader’s death even then, it is not surprising that decades after, the conspiracy theories continue to thrive.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Chennai / by Nitya Menon / Chennai – December 02nd, 2014

After 15 Miscarriages, 40-year-old Neyveli Woman Gets Bundle of Joy

December 1, 2014Amazing Feats, Inspiration/ Positive News and Features, Records, All, Science & Technologiesadmin

S Abhirami along with her newborn baby girl | express

Chennai :

After suffering 15 prior miscarriages, a 40-year-old mother delivered a healthy female baby at a private hospital in the city recently.

S Abhirami (40) and G Sridhar (44), hailing from Neyveli, were married in 1995. Abhirami became pregnant that very year. However, a miscarriage occurred when she met with an accident. The couple did not realize, at the time, that the accident was not the cause of the miscarriage but what doctors would call “cervical incompetence.”

During the years 1996, 1997 and 99 Abhirami conceived, with all pregnancies miscarrying. Abhirami approached a private hospital in Cuddalore to help her deliver a healthy baby. The Cuddalore doctors put a surgical suture at the mouth of the uterus in an attempt to avoid a miscarriage and make the uterus capable of holding the baby. Several attempts to deliver of a healthy child with the surgical suture failed and the mother lost four more foetuses to miscarriage.

“Then she approached a private hospital in Coimbatore, who followed the same procedure for four more pregnancies unsuccessfully. Without losing hope and with determination, Abhirami approached the Aakash Fertility centre for help in 2011.”

After a few more miscarriages while being treated by the Aakash Fertility clinic (now adding up to 15) Dr K S Jeyarani, director of Aakash Fertility Centre, said on Saturday, “16th time I did not want to make any mistakes and we wanted to save the baby of the mother. After much diagnostic assessment, I sutured just above the mouth of the uterus using laparoscopy procedures, during the pre-conception period. After Abhirami conceived on February 2014, she was kept under observation, delivering a healthy, girl child, by caesarean section, weighing 2.5 kg, on November 27. It all happened because of the sheer determination and the confidence of Abhirami.”

Abhirami, visibly elated with her baby in her arms said that she did not want to use the services of a surrogate mother or even adopt a baby as she had no problem conceiving naturally. “All my babies, I conceived naturally, and again I was worried about the words of the society. People talk about a woman negatively and do not treat them nicely, if a woman cannot deliver of a baby. I had to face all these throughout my ordeal of delivering a term baby. I took up the challenge and succeeded in it,” added the mother.

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Cities> Chennai / by Express News Service / November 30th, 2014

MIOT Hospitals to launch hyperthermic chemotherapy to treat patients with abdominal cancers

November 23, 2014Amazing Feats, Science & Technologies, World Opinionadmin

Hyperthermic chemotherapy is done immediately after a surgeon performs a cytoreductive surgery.

Chennai :

In an attempt to reduce the risk of death and increase the life expectancy of a patient with abdominal cancer, MIOT Hospitals in Chennai has collaborated with its UK counterparts to launch a new treatment technique called the hyperthermic intraoperative peritoneal chemotherapy (HIPEC) as part of its Indo-British Health Initiative.

HIPEC is done immediately after a surgeon performs a cytoreductive surgery in which, using standard surgical methods, he will dissect all visible tumors that can be removed throughout the peritoneal cavity.

Then the abdominal lining is removed, and the surgeon will continuously circulate a heated sterile solution containing a chemotherapeutic agent directly into the abdominal cavity for an hour to 90 minutes.

Dr C R Selvasekar, consultant colorectal surgeon at the Christie NHS Foundation Trust Hospital in Manchester, where more than 400 patients have benefited from HIPEC, said, “The term ‘hyperthermic chemotherapy’ means that the solution containing chemotherapy is heated to a temperature greater than normal body temperature. The idea is to destroy any microscopic cancer cells that may remain post surgery. Heating the drug improves the effectiveness several folds.”

Despite numerous recent advances in chemotherapy, the overall chance of chemotherapy being curative is still low, and the side effects are difficult for the patient to endure.

“However, when the cancers are confined to the peritoneal cavity, HIPEC boosts their life expectancy from three weeks to a year or more,” said Dr Prithvi Mohandoss, joint managing director of MIOT Hospitals.

The procedure also improves drug absorption and effect with minimal exposure to the rest of the body. In this way, the normal side effects of chemotherapy can be avoided.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Chennai / by Janani Sampath, TNN / November 21st, 2014

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