Category Archives: Arts, Culture & Entertainment

Kongu’s evolution chronicled in a book

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Historical Links, Pre-Independence, Records, All

Coimbatore :

It is a compilation of the Kongu Region’s evolution, primarily Coimbatore, Erode and Tirupur districts.

Similar to the Kansas cyclopedia or the more recent Salem cyclopedia, it lists entries on various personalities, localities, monuments, landmarks, events and historical findings from Coimbatore and surrounding areas that shaped the evolution of a rural landscape into a bustling industrial hub. For CR Elangovan, a former employee of a private educational institution in Coimbatore and a self proclaimed historical chronicler of the region, the 250 page book with more than 1000 entries has been the realisation of countless trips, discussions and persuasions since 2013.

“I have collected around 15,000 photographs and have met numerous people to prepare this manuscript. I could say that I have travelled across the entire region on my motorcycle to collect the photographs and information listed in this book,” said CR Elangovan, author of Coimbatore cyclopedia.

Aptly titled as Coimbatore cyclopedia ( encyclopedia), the hardbound book was initially planned as Kongu cyclopedia but the idea was dropped since a Salem cyclopedia had already been published by B Rajannan, another historian and librarian. The Coimbatore cyclopedia includes entries about eminent personalities from the region, temples, cave inscriptions and even prominent towns and villages in the region. Koniamman Temple, major mosques, forgotten freedom fighters, local chieftains and prominent industrialists and entrepreneurs all find mention in the compilation.

“There might have been some omissions and a few grammatical errors in this edition but it will be identified and rectified. I have been helped and supported by numerous people from the city without which this would not have been possible,” Elangovan added that the book also mentions the first pump set manufactured in Coimbatore, the first eye clinic started in Town Hall in 1928 and interesting tit bits about the region ranging from the final resting place of Hugo Wood, a British forest officer who propagated teak cultivation in Top Slip and was buried in the forests as per his final wish. The traditional customs and religious rituals of almost all communities residing in Coimbatore are also mentioned in the book.

“The Salem cyclopedia was done on a wider scale with the support of government and research institutions. It took almost nine years for them to complete the research and bring out the manuscript. It was published in 1992,” Elangovan said.

Elangovan resides at RS Puram here in the city and is presently working as a full time author and historian. He has already written two books on the history of Coimbatore and Siruvani river. K Subramanian, Former Assistant Editor of Tamil Encyclopedia along with prominent industrialists and philanthropists from the city were present at the function.

source: http://www.articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Coimbatore / by Binoy Valsan, TNN / November 06th, 2013

A cracker of a Deepavali

Arts, Culture & Entertainment
A scene from Anandha Deepavali organised by Udhavum Ullangal Public Charitable Trust./ Photo: R. Ragu / The Hindu
A scene from Anandha Deepavali organised by Udhavum Ullangal Public Charitable Trust./ Photo: R. Ragu / The Hindu

Volunteers of Udhavum Ullangal provide inmates of 20 orphanages a day to remember: gifts, good food and above all, oodles of love. Vipasha Sinha reports

It was a cracker of a celebration for the 1,616 children from 20 orphanages across Chennai and Sivakasi, who came together at Krishnaswamy Kalyana Mandapam, T. Nagar, on Sunday last. It was a special Deepavali, one that enabled them to make friends beyond their own orphanage. More than that, they received the message that people are looking out for them..

“I have been part of these celebrations for eight years and I love coming here. I get to meet old friends and make some new ones,” says 13-year-old Baskaran, from Karunya Illam, Madambakkam. What makes him happier is the time he gets to spent with volunteers of Udhavum Ullangal, a public charitable trust that reaches out to people in distress.

“This is a one-of-a-kind event where the beneficiaries, the NGOs, the volunteers and donors come together and celebrate the festival of joy,” says Sankar Mahadevan, founder trustee. The preparations started two months in advance, with volunteers having to do lot of leg work.

They were asked to go to orphanages and take measurements of every child to get new clothes stitched for them. “They also noted down the children’s choice of colours and design. We gave the children breakfast, lunch, snacks and dinner. All of them got watches. The girls earrings and hairclips as well, ” adds Sankar.

Most volunteers who spared their time for the event work in IT companies. Even people from the entertainment industry had come along. .

“It was a day-long programme, where people put up a dance show, sang, conducted a magic show and several other entertainment programmes.

A scene from Anandha Deepavali organised by Udhavum Ullangal Public Charitable Trust. / Photo: R. Ragu / The Hindu
A scene from Anandha Deepavali organised by Udhavum Ullangal Public Charitable Trust. / Photo: R. Ragu / The Hindu

A team from Infosys, Bengaluru, comes every year to participate in the event. All performances were given free of cost. The owners of Krishnaswamy Kalyana Mandapam give us the space for free every year,” says Chandrasekar, another volunteer of the NGO.

Udhavum Ullangal works towards education and health care of less privileged children. The volunteers of this organisation have mentored and adopted many children and supported them in their education, many of whom are first-generation literates.

Vijaya from Sivakasi used to work in the brick-making section of a construction company after finishing standard 12. A volunteer spotted her and helped her join Mac School of Nursing. “I want to work hard and get a good job. I have come this far because of some good-hearted people. I want to be like them and help as many children as possible.”

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Chennai> Down Town / by Vipasha Sinha / Chennai – November 01st, 2013

A heritage station

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Historical Links, Pre-Independence, Records, All

RoyapuramHeritageCF11nov2013

Most residents of Chennai hardly know about the existence of the Royapuram railway station, north of George Town. The station is now in the news because of a proposal to demolish it. The Royapuram railway station is one of the oldest stations in India and the oldest in South India. Almost immediately after the establishment of the country’s first railway line linking Bombay with Thana in April, 1853, the British wanted a railway station for Madras. The choice of the present location for the Royapuram station was its proximity to Fort St. George and George Town that was then emerging as a prominent residential-cum-commercial hub of the city.

The Royapuram station initially linked the city of Madras with Wallajah Road in Arcot. Designed by William Tracey, the station was formally inaugurated by the Governor of Madras. Originally surrounded by a beautiful garden, the station represents the quasi-Classical style of architecture of the Late Renaissance period.

The most attractive feature is the quadrangular porch with its fluted Corinthian columns. Till the construction of the Chennai Central railway station in 1873, the Royapuram station was the main rail terminus for the city. In its initial years, the latter station served as the venue where the top British dignitaries including the Viceroy and st July, 1856 by Lord members of the royal family were formally received on their arrival in the city.

Historically and architecturally, the Royapuram station is comparable to the more famous Grand Central Station in New York city, and the Paddington Station in London. But unlike, the other heritage stations, Royapuram has not been put to optimum use in recent decades.

source: http://www.deccanchronicle.com / Deccan Chronicle / Home> Lifestyle> Travel / DC / Dr. S. Suresh / July 03rd, 2013

Have you visited the ‘Allah-Rakha Rahman st’ in Canada yet?

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

New Delhi:

AR Rahman’s music is remembered throughout the world for its charm and variety, but now, even his name will be remembered as a road’s name. A street in Markham, Ontario, Canada is named after him. It will be called ‘Allah-Rakha Rahman st’.

AR Rahman, who is also known as the Mozart of Madras, has been honoured for his contribution to the world of music and arts.

He is one of the few Indians to have won two Grammy awards and two Academy Awards, yet he retains the humility of a common man.

A street in Canada is named after AR Rahman. He has been honoured for his contribution to the world of music.
A street in Canada is named after AR Rahman. He has been honoured for his contribution to the world of music.

The music maestro made history when he became the first Indian to win two Oscars in a year, 2009, for Danny Boyle’s ‘Slumdog Millionaire’, the rags-to-riches story of a Mumbai slum-dweller. Rahman had also bagged two awards at the 52nd Annual Grammy for his song ‘Jai ho’ from the same film.

source: http://www.ibnlive.in.com / IBN Live.com / Home / November 06th, 2013

Dhanush croons with legendary singer Janaki

Arts, Culture & Entertainment

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Actor Dhanush, who is clearly a multi-faceted personality, shot to fame as a singer with Anirudh’s “Why this Kolaveri Di”, although he has also lent his voice to popular songs, like “Enga Area” from ‘Pudhupettai’, “Un Mela Aasaithaan” from ‘Aayirathil Oruvan’ and “Voda Voda” and “Kadhal En Kadhal” from ‘Mayakkam Enna’. After ‘Why this Kolaveri Di’, every song that’s sung by Dhanush is received with extra expectation and enthusiasm. But Dhanush hasn’t seemed to have disappointed his fans with his songs.

The next song that is keenly awaited is the track that he has crooned for his upcoming film, ‘Velaiyilla Pattathari’, which is also his 25th film. Dhanush broke the surprise on his microblogging website, “Velaiilla Pattadhaari team is honoured with the return of the legend S. Janaki amma. I am blessed and lucky to have sung along with her. Schedule three starts today. The film is 60 per cent complete. Audio soon. First look sooner.”

‘Velaiilla Pattathari’ is the directorial debut of cinematographer Velraj. Actress Amala Paul pairs opposite Dhanush. The film is produced by the actor himself. The sensational combination of Anirudh and Dhanush comes together once again for this film.

source: http://www.deccanchronicle.com / Deccan Chronicle / Home> Entertainment> Kollywood / by DC / Deepika Ramesh / November 05th, 2013

Tee-shirts, denims the style quotient this Deepavali

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Business & Economy
Though traditional clothes are being rejected in favour of casual wear, Kanjivarams cotton saris seem be going strong | Express
Though traditional clothes are being rejected in favour of casual wear, Kanjivarams cotton saris seem be going strong | Express

Casual is the buzz-word, at least as far as the purchases made by people ahead of the Deepavali festival is concerned. Sales of clothing items such as tee-shirts and denim trousers for both men and women seem to be spiralling in the many textile showrooms of T Nagar, the shopping hub of the city. The trend, employees of these showrooms say, is normal and is visible ahead of many a festive occasion.

Speaking to City Express, the salespersons at a leading store in T Nagar, located near the Duraiswamy Road-Usman Road traffic junction, concur that casual wear has been witnessing maximum sales this season. “A large section of our customers from all over the State are looking for casual wear. These people, who belong to the younger generation, are keen on tee-shirts and jeans. It is registering maximum traction,” they added.

Balaji, a salesperson at an adjoining clothing store, which also has a jewellery store, concurs. “Casual clothing is the order of the day.” This doesn’t mean that other styles of clothing have been consigned to oblivion. Although selling in lesser numbers, he states slim and narrow-fit and the style statement of the yesteryear, the good old boot-cut trousers, are back this season. According to him, sales of formal clothing are expected to pick up in the post-Diwali season – which is a year-on-year trend.

Unsurprisingly, women are spoilt for choice when it comes to selecting their attire. Churidhars and salwar suits in a mélange of choices – be it the Anarkali or Patiala styles – are also a big draw, adds Balaji. This is in addition to the silk saris and skirts that register comparative amount of sales.

When it comes to silks, despite having an encycloapaedia of options to select from, Kanchipuram silks are the most-sought after. As the sales manager of an 85 year-old silk showroom located near Panagal Park, Vinayagam, explains, “We have a wide range of silk saris, in an equally wide range of budgets to suit practically every customer. However, most end up asking only for Kanchipuram silks. People are unmoved even when show them varieties like Belgaum, Benaras, Arani and Dharamavaram silks.”

DeepavaliCF05nov2013

This season, the showroom has launched a new range of upper-end silks, with a base price of nearly `14,000, which the customers seem to be lapping up eagerly.

Pricing dictates the sales volumes, as he explains. “Silk saris in the price-band of `2,000-5,000 are witnessing the maximum sales. Saris in this category include single-side silk variant and those made out of silk-cotton and silk-polyester blends.” From `2,000 to nearly `2 lakh, looks like there are saris priced to suit every budget.

Cotton saris are not lagging behind either. The ‘Karishma’ variant of cotton saris and cotton-polyester blends – traditional favourite of people for gifts – are equally popular.

He anticipates that the sales of veshtis, steady so far, might pick up once the muhurtham season sets in – a period considered auspicious to solemnise marriages.

However, sales of the half-sari seems to be on the decline. Once a traditional favourite of young girls, not many customers are keen on purchasing it. As a the salesperson at another showroom says, “We can stock only those items that our customers demand. We cannot have such items wasting our floor space.”

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Cities> Chennai / by Express News Service – Chennai / October 31st, 2013

A push for Tamil resources online

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Historical Links, Pre-Independence, Science & Technologies
There are few free online resources for users in Tamil. The biggest is Tamil Wikipedia, and its volunteers want to make more knowledge free and accessible to all./ File Photo / The Hindu
There are few free online resources for users in Tamil. The biggest is Tamil Wikipedia, and its volunteers want to make more knowledge free and accessible to all./ File Photo / The Hindu

Tamil Wikipedia volunteers offer to help State’s top universities digitise scholarly works

A group of volunteers who contribute regularly to the free online Tamil Wikipedia are lobbying with the State’s top universities to digitise volumes of Tamil encyclopaedia to make accessible valuable content under open knowledge networks.

“There are various Tamil development agencies and universities that get funded to produce scholarly works in encyclopaedias,” says A. Ravishankar, an active volunteer of Chennai’s network of contributors to Tamil Wikipedia.

“These were initiatives started in the 1960s. So mostly they don’t have digital versions and are not accessible unless you buy the book. There are also many works that are out of print. We are looking to digitise these under open knowledge networks,” he says.

Unlike in Western languages, there are few free online resources for users in Tamil. The biggest free resource is the online encyclopaedia Tamil Wikipedia that recently celebrated its 10 anniversary in the city. It has over 55,000 articles written and edited by over 900 contributors, in an age group ranging from 11 to 77 years.

The transferring of such scholarly works online, under licences such as ‘creative commons’ or other ‘copyleft’ (opposite of copyright) agreements have already started around the world and in India. Recently, the University of Goa released its encyclopaedia in Konkani under the creative commons licence that allows for everyone to share information with proper crediting.

In 2008, Malayalam encyclopaedia ‘Sarvavijnjakosam’ was released under GFDL (GNU Free Documentation Licence) on the website mal.sarva.gov.in.

The task of digitising Tamil encyclopaedias would be labour-intensive even more than cost-intensive, and is an area where the Tamil Wikipedia network can pitch in, volunteers say. “There are no good OCR (optical character readers) for Tamil. So the work will have to be manual, and each of the articles will have to be physically typed. If we take up the work, we can save the universities a lot of money and also open up vast reams of knowledge for the common good,” Ravishankar adds.

The Tamil Wikipedia network has asked its volunteers to spread the message at all possible venues to free up knowledge. “You cannot lock up knowledge in books any more,” Ravishankar says. “It is time to free it for the world to read.”

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Chennai / by Karthik Subramanian / Chennai – November 04th, 2013

Learn winning strategies at MMA convention on Oct 25, 26

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Business & Economy, Education

Chennai :

Want to make ‘winning’ a habit? Block your calendar on October 25 and 26 to attend the 12th All-India Management Students’ Convention organised by Madras Management Association, in association with the University of Madras. This year’s theme for the convention is ‘Winning Strategies – how to make winning a habit’.

The convention will provide an insight into the strategies of winners and draw lessons for young, aspiring managers to understand the determinants of success. The convention will also focus on inspired learning from competitive professions such as sports, politics, media, cinema and the battlefield. The finale of various on-going events such as Chanakya – The Mastermind (best management student of the year), paper presentation, business plan, the big debate and management quiz will also take place during the convention. Around 300 management students from various institutions are expected to attend the event. The convention will take place at the Centenary Auditorium of University of Madras.

source: http://www.thehindubusinessline.com / Business Line / Home /  The Hindu Bureau / Chennai – October 23rd, 2013

Book fair at Ambur college starts today

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Education

Mazharul Uloom College in Ambur is hosting a two-day book fair on its campus beginning October 24.

According to the Principal Dr Adil Ahmed, the fair is being organised under the aegis of the departments of English and Tamil.

Abdul Razak, professor of Tamil from the New College in Chennai, and noted lyricist Yugabharathi would be the chief guest during the inauguration of the fair.

Poet Yazhan Adi, writer Azhigiya Periyavan and industrialist Sivakumar would be the chief guests during the valediction of the book fair.

A book titled Thaayumanavan written by the head of the English department A S Mohamed Rafi will be released at the fair, the principal said.

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Education> Student / by Express News Service – Vellore / October 24th, 2013

Co-operative bank donates books to District Central library in Tiruchi

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Business & Economy, Education
Collector Jayashree Muralidharan going through the books at Central Library in Tiruchi on Thursday. — PHOTO: M. MOORTHY / The Hindu
Collector Jayashree Muralidharan going through the books at Central Library in Tiruchi on Thursday. — PHOTO: M. MOORTHY / The Hindu

The books were handed over to Collector Jayashree Muralidharan by Managing Director of the Tiruchi District Central Cooperative Bank.

Civil service and other competitive examination books estimated at Rs. 72,000 and Rs. 67,000 were donated by the District Welfare Committee and the District Central Cooperative Bank respectively to the District Central Library here on Thursday.

The books were handed over to Collector Jayashree Muralidharan by Managing Director of the Tiruchi District Central Cooperative Bank. The event was organised for the benefit of book readers and members of the library.

The library currently has an enviable number of 1,52,665 books and 33,360 members.

An average of 750 people visit the library on a daily basis and 350 books are issued per day. Rs. 28,79,299 was spent for infrastructure and Rs. 6,84,375 for purchasing computers.

The library has received donations of Rs. 1,000 each from 273 patrons and Rs. 3,000 each from nine major patrons.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Tiruchirapalli / by Deepika Muralidharan / Tiruchi – October 18th, 2013