Category Archives: Amazing Feats

MAKING A DIFFERENCE – Making a difference: Shelter of Compassion

Amazing Feats, Inspiration/ Positive News and Features
P. Ramar, project coordinator (extreme left) with the team. Photo: R. Ashok / The Hindu
P. Ramar, project coordinator (extreme left) with the team. Photo: R. Ashok / The Hindu

Meet the people who have been successfully running Madurai Corporation’s Home for the Homeless Urban Poor as the State’s best

Till four years ago, in the blur of the Temple Town’s crowded streets, they were just different faces mostly found begging or doing some menial job during the day and at night huddling at bus stands or shops to snatch a few moments of sleep.

In 2010 when the Madurai Corporation repurposed an old marriage hall into a shelter for the abandoned and homeless senior citizens, some of them found a place to stay, eat, sleep and live with dignity. Today, there are 50 of them aged between 50 and 85 years benefitting from the night shelter running successfully in Sellur.

For the last 48 months, the Home for the Homeless Urban Poor — the first in Tamil Nadu to be supported by the civic body — has become known as a place of last resort for several senior citizens whose children or family have no time, money, interest or inclination to take care of them.

M.Murugesan took up the job of a part time security guard after his wife’s death. His married daughter was not in a position to take care of him. When loneliness took over his life, he started searching for a way out and happened to read about the Corporation’s shelter home in the newspaper four winters ago.

Today at 63, Murugesan feels there could not have been a better decision. “I have found a big family here and am happy,” he says. He is not only a resident of the Home but also is an important member of the core team that runs and helps to maintain it as the State’s best Corporation-run Home for the shelterless.

Along with two other residents — Jaganathan, in charge of cleanliness and Sundaravadivu, the care taker — besides Shanmuga Eeshwari, the cook and J.Vimala who handles accounts, Murugesan says, their endeavour is to keep the people’s house as a family home.

Leading and motivating them is P.Ramar, the project coordinator from Madurai Jesuit Downtrodden People Welfare Trust that has been handed over the management of the shelter.

Ramar, a double M.A. in History and Tamil and with a B.Ed degree had the option to refuse the work. But he chooses to undertake a two-hour bus ride daily from Rajapalayam to ensure that the Home runs smoothly and the residents are comfortable.

Though we get some support and donations now, he says, still there are days when we struggle. There are days when Ramar spends from his pocket to arrange the day’s meals for the residents.

“I have always been service-oriented,” he says. While in college, he would gather all his village kids on weekends and give them a hair cut and a bath, help the illiterate villagers fill up various application forms, provide free tuitions and educational support to children of conservancy workers.

“Society doesn’t care for the older people,” he says, “God has given me a chance to serve.” His job is to arrange for all the basic needs of the residents, maintain cleanliness, scout for sponsors, liaise with the Corporation and keep the people in their twilight years in good health and humour.

“I spend a lot of time with them,” says Ramar, who was orphaned early. “But now I have 50 parents,” he adds. He has identified their interests and talents and involves them in activities of their choice from gardening to cleaning, singing devotional songs or cutting vegetables. They get a small pocket money of Rs.200 each for the work they do at the Home.

During free time, Ramar chats with them on social issues and such is his influence that he has even motivated Murugesan to donate his body after death. “I have pledged my body to Government Hospital here for any research or organ transplant,” Murugesan beams.

And so does Vimala, who works tirelessly without salary. Due to paucity of ready cash, even Ramar has foregone his salary for past few months. The money that comes from the Corporation every month and the donation raised is distributed on priority as pension to the residents and for meeting all other costs of running the Home.

“I can’t bear to see distressed old people by the roadside, forgotten by their families,” says Vimala, “I want to help as many if situation permits.” With equal enthusiasm, Shanmuga Eeshwari effortlessly whips up three tasty meals a day for the residents. “They smile when they like the food and I love to see their happy faces,” she says, adding, “they all are like my amma and appa.”

It is a nice feeling to see happy faces inside a shelter home. Periodic health check-ups and geriatric care has kept them all fit. In the last four years, there have been only four age-related deaths, a fact that Ramar prides on.

It takes the hearts and hands of ordinary people like Ramar and his team that humbly serve to help others. It is people like them who do their best to share and carry love and hope to humanity everywhere. “When you do service to others,” says Ramar, “you feel more connected to your spirit and more grateful for what you have.”

(Making a difference is a fortnightly column about ordinary people and events that leave an extraordinary impact on us. E-mail soma.basu@thehindu.co.in to tell her about someone you know who is making a difference)

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> Features> MetroPlus /  by Soma  Basu / Madurai – November 19th, 2014

Keeping Down Syndrome patients’ morale up for 30 years

Amazing Feats, Inspiration/ Positive News and Features

Chennai :

When her daughter Babli was diagnosed with Down Syndrome, Surekha Ramachandran refused to give up hope. Since little was known about the genetic disorder in the early 1980s, she educated herself. Now she shares her knowledge and experience to help other parents and children like Babli lead normal, full lives.

On Sunday, the Down Syndrome Federation of India (DSFI), which she established, will turn 30. After three decades of service, Surekha says she is yet to see societal attitudes change. “There has been more awareness about DS but attitudes have not yet changed, which makes a parent very apprehensive about taking a child out anywhere.”

Three weeks after Babli was born, doctors said she had visual problems. “When she was eight weeks, they told me she had mongloid features,” says Surekha. “Asking doctors questions was considered impertinence.” There were few experts on DS, and no specialized centers for treating the disorder.

In 1984, Surekha established the Down Syndrome Association of Tamil Nadu (DSAT), with six children and an educator. “They were of varying ages. By watching them, we learned where the lacunae were,” says Surekha, who then began establishing parent support groups across the country, starting with Maharashtra. She identifies an anchor person in each place, who then networks with other parents. Today, there are support groups or associations in every state. So, 10 years ago, she started DFSI to bring them all under one umbrella.

Along with DSAT, in 1984, Surekha also started Mathru Mandir, a centre that helps in early intervention. The airy, roomy place in Mylapore has mothers working along with their children and experts. “Even newborns are referred to us,” says Surekha. The older children also learn baking and weaving as part of occupational therapy. DFSI also counsels distraught families, train children to overcome shortcomings, provides physiotherapy and speech therapy, and works to spread awareness about DS.

On Sunday, as part of the 30th anniversary celebrations to be held at AVM Rajeshwari Hall on Radhakrishnan Salai, children of Mathru Mandir, along with children from Deepa Athreya’s School of Success will perform a short play. “It will show how you deal with a child with DS in your class, and it benefits other children as well,” says Surekha who works for inclusive schooling. “Being with a child with DS teaches other children qualities like tolerance and patience.”

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Chennai / by Priya Menon, TNN / November 16th, 2014

The trailblazers who made a case for women in law

Amazing Feats, Historical Links, Pre-Independence, Inspiration/ Positive News and Features, Leaders, Records, All
In 1928, B. Ananda Bai was the first woman law graduate in then Madras Presidency. Photo: The Hindu Archives
In 1928, B. Ananda Bai was the first woman law graduate in then Madras Presidency. Photo: The Hindu Archives

B. Ananda Bai was the lone female law graduate in then Madras Presidency, which included parts of Kerala, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh.

Cornelia Sorabji, the first woman to practice law in India, was born on November 15, 148 years ago. She was only one among the many pioneers who worked long and hard to breach the glass ceiling for women in courtrooms across the country.

For the women of Madras, the foundations of this struggle were laid by B. Ananda Bai in August 1928. After graduating with a degree in law from Madras University, she became the lone female law graduate in then Madras Presidency, which included parts of Kerala, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh.

Bai’s original career path, however, did not involve becoming a lawyer. According to the Palaniappa Brothers’ book Madras: the Land, the People and their Governance, it was only after being rejected in the government services that Bai considered entering the chambers of law. Finally, after a rigorous apprenticeship under V.V. Srinivasa Iyengar, she enrolled in the Madras High Court on April 22, 1929, to become the first woman advocate trained and specialised in the city of Madras.

Hailing from the South Kanara region (present day districts of Dakshina Kannada and Udupi), Bai’s father, Dr. Krishna Rao, was particular that all female family members receive a ‘liberal and academic education’.

While admitting that Bai represented a privileged minority, historian V. Geeta points out the 1920s and 30s were a time of churning for women. “With the social reform movement gaining ground, law became central to a lot of the debates regarding women, which were governing civil discourse. Both Hindu and Muslim women with The All India Women’s Conferences, for instance, were very vocal about their aspirations for empowerment through social legislation,” she says.

However, as Rukmani Lakshmipathi, president of the League of Youth, said at a meeting to honour Bai in 1929, “Education and medicine are becoming more and more popular with girls. That is not the case with law. We are glad that a beginning has been made in this direction, and an impetus has been given.”

K. Shantakumari, president, Tamil Nadu Federation of Women Lawyers, points out that storming the male bastion of law was far from easy. She says, “In those days, people were apprehensive and would not give cases to women. Societal taboos also forbid women from taking criminal cases. Because of this, many had to work under male lawyers and did not receive fair remuneration.”

By setting a precedent, in spite of these daunting obstacles, the likes of Bai and Sorabji made a career in law a distinct possibility for women. Today, as we celebrate the latter’s birthday, it only seems fitting to raise a toast to these pioneers for the new ground they broke.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Society / by Nitya Menon / Chennai – November 15th, 2014

For this blind student, PhD is another feat

Amazing Feats, Education, Inspiration/ Positive News and Features, Records, All

Coimbatore :

When Anjum Khan received her PhD on Monday, it meant more than it does to most doctoral candidates-the 27-year-old lost her vision at the age of five after an attack of measles and has studied entirely in Braille.

Anjum is an assistant professor of English at Avinashilingam University. Her family moved from Gwalior in Madhya Pradesh to Coimbatore in 1993 for her treatment but doctors said she would never regain her vision.

“While my parents were thinking what next, the doctors told us about Avinashilingam school for girls,” says Anjum. She began learning Braille and use audio technology to help her read, write and study.

Her father, Mehmood Khan got a job at a private cement company in Madukkarai, 27km from Coimbatore. If Anjum had to continue her studies, Avinashilingam was among the few options as it had facilities and faculty to help her.

“I decided I would live in hostel and study. It is then that I realised that to gain something, one has to sacrifice something,” Anjum says. She lived in the hostel for 12 years from Class 6 till she finished her postgraduate degree.

After finishing school, Anjum joined the Avinashilingam University for Women to pursue a Bachelor of Arts in English Literature. “She finished her masters’ degree and applied for her doctoral studies in 2009,” says S Kalamani, Anjum’s guide and an associate professor in the department of English, Avinashilingam University. “Anjum had to leave thehostel after her MA, but, regularly visited me every Friday and told me how her research was progressing,” she says.

Anjum’s younger brother Abid Ali died in a road accident eight years ago while she was doing her masters’ degree. “My father had bought him a bike to make his commute between college and home easier,” says Anjum.

“It was a difficult time for the family. But, I have faced so much that I treat happiness and sorrow equally,” she says. Anjum has dedicated her PhD to her brother.

Anjum did her research on ‘Ethnic Silhouettes: An Interpretation Of The Community In Select Works Of M G Vassanji In The Light Of New Historicism’. She became an assistant professor in January 2013 in the university in which she studied.

Besides teaching at the university, Anjum also teaches blind children Braille and computer operations. “I consider teaching a means to reach people,” she says.’

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Coimbatore / by Adarsh Jain, TNN / October 14th, 2014

When a duo punched above their weight

Amazing Feats, Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Historical Links, Pre-Independence, Inspiration/ Positive News and Features, Records, All, Sports, World Opinion
The match between Sita Bai of Tanjore and Kamala Bai of Malabar saw enthusiastic crowds but also led to controversy./ The Hindu Archives
The match between Sita Bai of Tanjore and Kamala Bai of Malabar saw enthusiastic crowds but also led to controversy./ The Hindu Archives

The 1st all-woman boxing bout lasted only 3 rounds but ignited a fiery debate

Sunday was a fine day for Indian women’s boxing at the 17th Asian Games in Incheon. Olympic bronze-medallist M. C. Mary Kom, L. Sarita Devi and Pooja Rani entered the semi-finals, assuring medals for the nation. However, it was right here, in Madras city, that the first punches in women’s boxing in the country were thrown.

It was Saturday, the 15th of March, 1931, when two Indian women stepped into the ring for a bout of professional boxing at the famous White City Carnival held in the city. Looking fierce in knee-length shorts, sleeveless jerseys and gloved fists, the women appeared every bit combat-ready. Kamala Bai of Malabar and Sita Bai of Tanjore were trained boxers, touted to be in good form. Singapore’s English daily The Straits Times reported that this was arguably a first for India.

Visibly excited, The Hindu published an article five days prior to the event urging its readers to brace themselves to witness for the first time two ‘Indian ladies’ meeting in the boxing arena — until now the most exclusive preserve of men.

Large crowds, including a number of Europeans, assembled to watch history in the making. While the first two rounds saw the boxers on the defensive, the third round saw them packing a punch, exchanging double jabs, hard rights, hooks, and uppercuts. Disappointingly, by round three, the session drew to a close with referee V.E.J Brackstone of Messrs. Parry and Company declaring it a draw.

Despite their underwhelming performance, both Kamala Bai and Sita Bai stayed in the news — even making international headlines for days to come.

‘Shocked and pained’

The fact that two Hindu women dared to ‘invade’ the boxing ring also left many Indian men and women ‘shocked and pained’. Florida’s The Evening Independent published a report on March 16, 1931 titled ‘Women Boxers arouse India’. The story stated that ‘feminine India was up in arms’ with the female boxers facing ‘social ostracism and disgrace,’ having engaged in a boxing match in Madras.

For a country that had for centuries relegated their women to rigid domesticity, ‘ladies boxing’ became particularly hard to digest.

Mahatma Gandhi for instance found this to be especially problematic. He was quoted in Pennsylvania’sReading Eagle as saying women boxing was ‘degrading, disreputable and totally unbecoming of the finer instincts of Indian womanhood.’

Today, as the country celebrates the laurels of our women boxers, it seems only appropriate to pause and acknowledge the spirit of Kamala Bai and Sita Bai. For if not for them, we as a nation may have not dared to imagine the likes Mary Kom, L Sarita Devi and Pooja Rani fighting the good fight.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Chennai / by Nitya Menon / Chennai – September 30th, 2014

TN Girl’s Journey From Kiln to French Stardom

Amazing Feats, Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Inspiration/ Positive News and Features, Records, All, World Opinion
Janagi with friends
Janagi with friends

Nagercoil :

A poor girl’s dream to make a mark in Tinsel Town was more than fulfilled when she got the chance to act in a major role in a French film. Thirty- year-old Janagi, the daughter of a brick kiln worker from a remote village near Aralvoimozhy in the district, bagged the role of Gracie in Son épouse (His Wife). But Janagi’s journey to stardom was not easy. A performing artiste from Devasahayam Mount near Aralvoimozhi, she was the youngest of five children to Devasahayam, a brick kiln worker, and Virisithal, an anganwadi worker. “After completing my plus-two, I was compelled to go for tailoring and other menial jobs as my family was very poor. During that time, I was attracted to what my cousin Selvi did — she was part of a local cultural troupe Kalari and she used to act in plays,” said Janagi, speaking to Express. She later joined the troupe and learnt various folk arts. She was with them for three years, during which time she also managed to complete BA Tamil through correspondence. When she joined another cultural troupe Murasu, she got the opportunity to participate in a workshop organised by the National School of Drama held in Nagercoil. The workshop helped her hone her acting skills and she later enrolled in a three-year full-time diploma course in dramatic arts at NSD and successfully completed the course. In the course of time she got to know Prema Revwathy, who was a member of director Gautham Menon’s production team.

Not only did she get the opportunity to work as an associate director in the French movie Son épouse, directed by Michel Spinso, but Revwathy also got her the role of Gracie, said Janagi.

Gracie is the friend of the main character, Catherine, a drug addict, etched by Charlotte Gainsbourg. After Catherine’s untimely death her spirit enters Gracie. “I learnt French to act in the film,” said Janagi. The film was released in Paris a few months back.

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> The Sunday Standard / by S. Mahesh / September 07th, 2014

Jaw can be reconstructed with abdominal fat, says expert

Amazing Feats, Inspiration/ Positive News and Features, Leaders, Records, All, Science & Technologies
Dr. S.M. Balaji (Photo: DC)
Dr. S.M. Balaji (Photo: DC)

Chennai:

Many of his surgeries are first-of-its kind and he is the doctor who introduced the latest technological advancements in reconstruction of facial defects to the city.

Director of Balaji Dental and Craniofacial Hospital at Teynampet and famous facio-maxillary surgeon Dr S.M. Balaji, says more specialists are needed in this particular field. Noted for making a great difference to the confidence and life of his patients, Dr Balaji is known for some of the most dynamic innovations in his field of specialty. In an interview to Deccan Chronicle, Dr Balaji explains how patients with jaw defects can expect to be completely normal people after surgery.

Excerpts from the interview:
Q) You are a pioneer in applying latest technology of tissue engineering. Can you explain the recent developments in the field?
A) Earlier, we used to remove the tumour of the jaw and take the bone from the hip or the leg and do a microvascular surgery for reconstruction of the jaw. It used to be a long procedure as it would go on for 10-12 hours. Also, anaesthesia is prolonged and the scar is so visible in the leg.
Now you can take the abdominal fat to reconstruct the jaw. Adipose stem cells present in the fat have inherent ability to grow into other tissues like bone, cartilage and tendons. People do liposuction and throw away the fat but it can be utilised. Since this technique is new, so far only three patients have undergone the reconstruction using abdominal fat.
Q) What kinds of defects are seen?
A) If somebody meets with an accident, a part of the bone, say, in the upper jaw, is lost and reconstruction is needed.
In case of oral cancer, after the cancer treatment, the person has to undergo reconstruction, otherwise there will be disfigurement. Given the incidence of oral cancer, more specialists are required in this field and the cost of reconstruction is affordable.
Reconstruction of facial defects has evolved over the recent years due to latest technological advancements. Craniofacial defects, be they congenital (by birth) or acquired (by accidents) or removal of tumour or cysts, they could be successfully rehabilitated.
Q) Recently, you rehabilitated a one-year-old Maldivian child with a rare type of facial bone disorder. Please explain.
A) He was born with a disorder in which the jaw bones are destroyed and gradually replaced by fibrous tissue which would cause difficulties in eating, speaking and disfigured appearance. His jaw tumour was entirely removed through the mouth without any scar in the facial region.
Using rhBMP-2 and titanium plate we reengineered the jaw bone and six months later, we could see a good amount of normal bone jaw formation and the boy was given fixed dental implants to replace his missing teeth. For the first time in the world, a rare type of jaw bone disorder was rehabilitated completely.
Q) What is rhBMP-2 and explain its benefits.
A) Recombinant human bone morphogenetic protein-2 is a biotechnologically engineered version of a protein that is otherwise normally found in the human bone.
Yes, this miracle protein stimulates the body’s own cells to convert into bone forming cells. Such cells lay down new bone at the site where the protein is placed.
By using this technology, the second additional surgery for grafting bone from the hip or rib to close the defect is entirely avoided. This technique is a boon in cases for closure of bone defects, such as alveolar cleft, a common birth defect (gap in the teeth-bearing region of the jaw).
Distraction osteogenesis is another revolutionary new technology that besides lengthening the bone, associated structures such as skin, soft tissues, nerves and blood vessels are also created.
In cases that require extensive removal of jaw bone in case of tumour or cysts, the residual jaw defect is reconstructed using plate-guided transport distraction osteogenesis that enables growth of new bone and soft tissues along the customised plate in accordance with each patient.
source: http://www.deccanchronicle.com / Deccan Chronicle / Home> Nation> Current Affairs / DC / Uma Kannan / August 31st, 2014

A soldier from every home is tradition here

About Chennai(Madras) / TamilNadu, Amazing Feats, Inspiration/ Positive News and Features, Records, All
The memorial at P. Thippanapalli village. Photo: N. Bashkaran / The Hindu
The memorial at P. Thippanapalli village. Photo: N. Bashkaran / The Hindu

A crow perched atop the high flag mast scans a sleepy kutcha stretch while a cement statute of a turquoise uniformed-sepoy sporting a twirled moustache stands upright, the right hand raised in a salute. Hidden in a corner is a plaque with names of persons who perished in the two World Wars.

The sleepy village of P. Thippanapalli, nestled away from the yawning highways, is some 20 km from Krishnagiri. The village, with 345 households, has over 400 men in the armed forces while over 160 persons draw ex-servicemen’s pensions.

Even today lanky young boys in the village want to continue in the footsteps of their fathers and grandfathers in what has become an unwritten tradition spanning over a century since World War I. According to P. Chinappan, district president of the ex-servicemen welfare association, poverty and lack of education drove the villagers to take up jobs in the army during the world wars. Later, army jobs became a lucrative proposition for them as it ensured job security.

The village had one of its own get martyred only once; in 2008, when Govindasamy, deployed in Afghanistan, was killed in a suicide-bomb attack. “Whoever went away always returned. Perhaps, that may also be the reason why we do not fear sending our men,” says 35-year-old Anuradha, whose husband returned to Sikkim last weekend.

“My father and uncle were in the Army, and now my husband is posted in Sikkim,” says 34-year-old Saradha while Kannamma, 45, whose husband has been in the Army for over 25 years, says: “We are used to this. It is a pride for our village, and for the country.”

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> National> Tamil Nadu / by P. V. SriVidya / Krishnagiri (T.N.) – August 28th, 2014

Faith is a fortress

Amazing Feats, Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Historical Links, Pre-Independence, Inspiration/ Positive News and Features, Leaders, Records, All

The boy took a lock out of his pocket, fixed it to the grill and turned the key. He closed his eyes, prayed and left. “He has relinquished all his troubles here,” said Nawaz, the khadim-e-dargah (caretaker). “The Pir will now take care of them.” He added that people also consigned ill health and those possessed by spirits to the locks. Everything was possible in the saint’s durbar. All you need is faith.

FaujdarMPOs11aug2014

Faith is what drove Bahadur Khan, the Killedar of the Bangalore Fort, to defend it with his life on March 21, 1791, during the Third Anglo-Mysore War. Like his fellow soldiers, the fort Commandant fought for Mysore and its freedom.

The former Faujdar of the Krishnagiri Fort had been recently shifted to Bangalore under Tipu Sultan’s orders. Tipu himself was busy fighting a determined and desperate General Lord Cornwallis. He trusted that Bahadur Khan, assisted by Muhammad Khan Bakshi and Sayyid Hamid, would be an able protector of the oval Bangalore Fort. The ancient mud structure had been reinforced in stone around 1761 by its erstwhile Killedar, Hazrat Ibrahim Khan, Hyder Ali’s maternal uncle and a Sufi pir of the Shuttari order.

Close to midnight, the English army stealthily attacked the fort. They crept along its walls (now busy KR Road), scaled its ramparts and cut soldiers down quietly by moonlight. A popular conspiracy theory whispers that the Mysorean army was betrayed from within and that the breach blown through earlier by English cannons was deliberately left unguarded. Bahadur Khan and a handful of soldiers fought fiercely till he died of a gunshot through the head. His body was stabbed repeatedly by bayonets.

Approximately 2,000 men lost their lives that night. The prosperous town of Bangalore had been laid siege to earlier, and now the fort had fallen. A victorious Lord Cornwallis commended his bravery and wrote to Tipu asking him where his noble Killedar should be buried. Tipu is said to have wept publicly, and replied that a soldier must be buried where he fell. He requested that the Killedar be handed over to the Muslim population of Bangalore who would ensure that his last rites were attended to appropriately

Bahadur Khan was buried near what is now the KR Market flyover. Flags flutter high over his green domed mausoleum at the corner of Avenue Road and SJP Road. It is revered by local populations and also called ‘The Lock and Key Dargah’ of Hazrath Mir Bahadur Shah Al-Maroof Syed Pacha Shaheed. Other warrior-saints sleep inside the Pete’s labrynthine streets. They create a sacred landscape that is interwoven with this densely commercial area.

The seventy-year-old Killedar was described by historians as a majestic figure, “a tall robust man… with a white beard descending to his middle.” The prophet-like reference only adds to the shrine’s reputation. People of all faiths walk in and out all day. They petition the saint and pray quietly amidst jasmine flowers and incense sticks, while buses ply and frantic commuters run to and fro outside. At dawn, the shrine is surrounded by roses in buckets, as wholesalers from KR Market squat outside its door. Sometimes, I find musicians with harmoniums and percussion instruments singing devotional songs as offerings. There is no courtyard or wall. Its doors remain open for the busy world to take refuge within. The custodian of Bangalore’s historic fortress continues to watch over the city’s population, centuries later.

The writer is a cultural documentarian and blogs at aturquoisecloud.wordpress.com
source: http://www.bangaloremirror.com / Bangalore Mirror / Home> Columns> Other / by Aliyeh Rizvi, Bangalore Mirror Bureau / August 03rd, 2014

Success stories from slums

Amazing Feats, Education, Inspiration/ Positive News and Features

Chennai :

For professional courses in Tamil Nadu, the number of applications increases every year, leading to greater competition for jobs and a raised benchmark for an employable graduate. Considering the scramble for jobs among those who had pursued professional courses, graduates from other streams need to go the extra mile to equip themselves.

Twenty-two-year-old Selvi, a graduate in Botany from Pulianthope, narrated her success story which landed her a job at Data Mark, a BPO.

“After my graduation, I couldn’t get a job. With three months of training in Tally and spoken English, I was made employable. As the eldest of my siblings, I can support my family now,” she said at a graduation function held in Kolathur by Aide et Action, a non-governmental organisation.

Along with Selvi, 473 graduates aged between 18 and 35 received their certificates on Sunday.

They had successfully completed their MAST – iLEAD course conducted by Aide et Action for students and dropouts from slums in the city.

Since 2005, the NGO has been training students in batches, in automobile engineering, ITES, data entry, tailoring etc..

“We have our faculty reaching out to slums and other places with below poverty line (BPL) people through ‘Community Mobilisation Hive’. They visit homes with success stories of the previous batches and find students for the new batch. After that, an employability assessment test to gauge the student’s abilities will be conducted and appropriate training will follow in the trade they are good at,” said S Martin, programme officer, and Manikandan P, a trainer.

They also said that the organisation provided holistic training, equipping students with technical and soft skills needed to excel at their work place. The students would be given comprehensive training with industrial visits that facilitate a clear understanding of the industry’s needs.

With these skills imparted, the organisation produces employable graduates who are poised to deliver and exceed the expectations of the industry and society.

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Cities> Chennai / by Express News Service / July 22nd, 2014