Two chefs set up the highest altitude pop-up restaurant in the world
Chennai-based Soundararajan P, Corporate Executive Chef at Mahindra Resorts and Holidays, India, and Sanjay Thakur, Chef at Etihad Airways, called their mission Project Triyagyoni (which translates to organic Nature in Sanskrit)and it was was certified by Guinness World Records as the world’s highest pop-up restaurant at 5,585 metres, the first record of its kind. Set up on May 30, the pop-up was certified by the Guinness authorities on June 2. An aerial survey was done by the representatives of the Guinness World Records to assess the pop-up and its height.
“Sanjay Thakur, had already done an 80-kilometre trek up the Himalayas, and when we met at one of the Club Mahindra Resorts at Naldehra in Shimla, we took Thakur’s idea of cooking on the highest altitude on earth a step further, and Project Triyagyoni came into being,” says Soundararajan.
The pop-up was set up at Imja Tse (popularly known as Island Peak), tucked away up the Chukkung valley, flanked by the stupendous Lhotse/Nuptse South Wall to the north and Baruntse to the south, making it seem like an actual island amid the gigantic mountains. At a temperature between three and five degrees centigrade, it took the team all of eight hours to set up, and three hours to cook. The meal was served to trekkers who were scaling the Himalayas to get to Imja Tse and the higher peaks.
They reached there after a choppy and nerve-racking helicopter flight from Lukla to Kathmandu, before proceeding to climb. The chefs and their team of seven foraged the scattered Himalayan flora and fauna on their way to their destination to supplement what they had bought at Namche Bazaar, a small town in Solukhumbu district. They collected mint, oregano, small green chillies, green onions, yak cheese and Rhododendron flowers amongst other things. The fresh unadulterated ingredients heightened their experience of cooking in the Himalayas. The team ensured that it was a zero-trash project, and kept the meal, the cooking, the dining area and even the furniture eco-friendly and left nothing behind on the mountains.
Their menu included traditional Indian recipes as well as dishes borrowed from Nepalese cuisine. “We cooked a total of seven dishes, including shisno mousse with mushrooms that we had foraged locally, and basa fish with wild spinach,” says Soundararajan. They also made daal bhat arancini stuffed with nak cheese, which is made from yak’s milk. The cheese is pressed to get rid of the water and then dried over a wood fire which gives it its smoky taste. The dish is served with herbal lemon tea. And on the menu for dessert was yak milk panna cotta.
Soundararajan says he worked hard on his physical fitness before the mission. He had been practising pranayama, and also began to walk 10 kilometres a day. The pranayama helped him with his breathing in the high altitude.
Even so, he says he doesn’t clearly remember a lot of the trip, as people get forgetful, thanks to the drop in oxygen supply to the brain. It also made the cooking process more challenging: the food took longer than usual to cook.
Nepalese lore has it, that sometime in the 90s, there was once a famished Australian, by the name of James Scott, who had to wait for 43 days — lost in the Nepalese Himalayas — to be found and fed. Wouldn’t stumbling upon a pop-up like this have been heavenly for the poor man?
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> Life & Style> Travel / by Rajashree Das / June 13th, 2018
The work by a French engineer explains mechanical concepts vividly
The mention of ‘pop-up books’ often has one conjure up images of three-dimensional colourful pictures popping up out of children’s classics when opened.
A French book published nearly 105 years ago had used the technique to graphically explain mechanical and electrical concepts for students.
With over 2,500 illustrations hidden in layers, the book, which now needs careful handling, depicts complex concepts of machines through its movable layers.
‘Grande Encyclopedie Pratique-de Mecanique et d’Electricite’, which translates into a comprehensive guide to mechanical and electrical machinery in English, was authored by Henri Desarces, a French engineer.
The book belongs to Gayathree Krishna, a Chennai resident.
“My father, C.R.Narayanan, who was a mechanical engineer, bought the book in Puducherry that was a French colony in 1950s. I discovered it in our parental house in Puducherry recently and was fascinated that a pop-up book was published a century ago.”
She handed it over to historian K.R.A.Narasiah to be preserved for posterity.
Heritage value
Mr. Narasiah, who is also a mechanical engineer, said: “This book helps readers unravel the mysteries of machines that were relatively new then through its movable layers. Nearly 14 engineers assisted the author in publishing the book in 1913 in Paris.”
Mr. Narasiah said: “SS France, a ship that sailed a century ago, has been depicted intricately — from its exterior, cabin design, passenger spaces to boiler rooms to machinery spaces.
“There are a total of 25 plates in the book. Some of the other fascinating illustrations include an antique rotary dial telephone, Bleriot aircraft, steam turbine engine, motor cars, locomotive engine, balloon airship and submarine.
The book used different printing techniques, such as halftone, blueprints and chromolithographs, as early as 1913. A copy of the book was recently auctioned in London for $586 by Christie’s.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Chennai / by K. Lakshmi / Chennai – June 09th, 2018
The Daibutsu in Tōdai-ji , the world’s largest bronze statue of Buddha. | Photo Credit: Getty Images/ iStock
The oldest recorded Indian in Japan impacts the country’s culture even today
The Indian diaspora in Japanhas historically been small, but has encompassed a colourful cast, from revolutionaries to textile traders. The oldest documented Indian resident in Japan, and arguably the most influential, was Bodhisena, a monk from Madurai whose outsized impact on Japanese culture persists even some 1,300 years after he docked on the archipelago’s shores.
Bodhisena, or Bodaisenna as his name is pronounced in Japanese, was born around 704 AD. His life and journeys exemplify the multi-directional flows of Buddhist influence and the complex ways in which these tied swathes of Asia into a civilisational embrace. Like many South Asian Buddhist monks, Bodhisena came to believe that Manjushri (the bodhisattva of wisdom) lived on the Chinese mountain of Wutai, and therefore travelled there to pay obeisance. While in China, he met the Japanese ambassador to the Tang court, who persuaded him to carry on to Japan on the invitation of the then Emperor, Shomu (701-756 AD), a devout Buddhist.
Influence of Sanskrit
Bodhisena voyaged to Japan via Cambodia and Champa (central and southern Vietnam) with a gaggle of theological glitterati that collectively shaped much of the contours of Japanese Buddhism and courtly culture.
On board was Genbo, a bureaucrat of Emperor Shomu’s court at Nara, who had spent 17 years in China collecting over 5,000 Buddhist texts. Another shipmate, Kibi no Makibi, is linked to the development of the Japanese syllabary and script of katakana, still in use today. The influence of Sanskrit on katakana is sometimes attributed to the time Makibi spent travelling with, and learning from, Bodhisena. Makibi also introduced to Japan the art of Chinese embroidery, as well as the lyre, which as the koto, became a standard feature of Japanese court music.
The Indian themes
A disciple of Bodhisena from Champa, Buttetsu, rounded off the band of monastic travellers. Buttetsu went on to teach a style of dance that featured themes taken from Indian mythology, set to a musical rhythm, common in South Asia, but unknown at the time in Japan. These dances became known as rinyugaku and were absorbed into the local artistic oeuvre.
Bodhisena’s ship docked at Osaka in 736 AD and the group made their way to the capital: Nara. It was during the Nara era (710-784 AD) that Buddhism, buttressed by learnings from Tang dynasty China, became firmly established in Japan, overcoming initial resistance from the Shinto-devoted elite. Under Emperor Shomu Buddhism was granted official recognition as a religion that was a “protector of the state.” Temples in Nara began to accumulate vast landholdings and wielded huge political influence.
The Kegon school
Bodhisena’s arrival in the capital took place within this context. Until then, Japan’s knowledge of Buddhism had been entirely mediated through either Korea or Japan. As an Indian, Bodhisena was immediately held in reverence and housed at Daian-ji temple, the preeminent education and research institute for Buddhism at the time. The Indian monk taught Sanskrit and helped establish the Kegon school of Buddhism, a variant of the Chinese Huayan school. He died in 760 AD and is buried in Ryusenji-temple on the slopes of Mt. Omine.
The Tōdai-ji temple | Photo Credit: Wiki Commons
Unlike some historical Buddhist sects, the Kegon continues to flourish today, with its headquarters at Nara’s Tōdai-ji temple, a Unesco World Heritage site. Founded in 738 AD and officially opened in 752 AD, Tōdai-ji is best known for its 500-tonne, 15-metre-high Buddha — the largest bronze statue in the world.
The gargantuan sculpture, known as the Daibutsu, was commissioned by the Emperor in hope of gaining divine favour and thereby reversing the effects of a devastating drought, compounded by an outbreak of smallpox that had ravaged the area in 737AD.
The hall that houses the Daibutsu is one of the world’s largest wooden structures. It is Nara’s most popular tourist draw and is thronged with visitors from around the world. After gawping at the Daibutsu, they usually head to a hole in one of the pillars that holds up the edifice. According to legend, the hole is the exact size of one of the Buddha statue’s nostrils and anyone who crawls through it will gain enlightenment, albeit in their next life. No one seems to know the exact dimensions of the hole/ nostril, but it is large enough for a child to tunnel through with relative ease. A number of adult Chinese tourists attempt to pass, but all get stuck at the hip.
To one side of the main temple are the living quarters of the Morimoto family, the head priests of Tōdai-ji. The lodgings comprise a series of low-roofed rooms, interconnected by covered walkways, overlooking classical Japanese gardens, dotted with pine trees and rockeries. Seated in a reception area facing a late-blooming, weeping cherry tree, Kosei Moritomo sips from a cup of green tea. The Elder Moritomo (as he is respectfully known) has retired as the 218th head of Tōdai-ji and leader of the Kegon school of Buddhism. But he remains sprightly, his eyes lively and darting when he talks of Bodhisena, as though an old friend.
He dwells on the role of the Indian monk in the consecration ceremony of the Daibutsu. For it was Bodhisena, of all the eminent Buddhist scholars in Nara at the time, who was chosen to perform the statue’s “eye opening” ceremony. In front of a huge, cosmopolitan gathering that included ambassadors from Persia, Korea, Vietnam, China and Central Asia, Bodhisena painted the pupils on the eyes of the Buddha statue, inviting the spirit in to animate the sculpture.
“I think in India you understand about the spirit coming into the statue?” the Elder Moritomo asks. “It is a very difficult concept to explain to Westerners.” The former head priest turns reflective. He says that Japan has tried to dominate the world first by military means and then with its electronic industry. Both failed. “I believe it is in Buddhism that it can most exert an global influence,” he concludes.
Then he smiles and offers this writer another cup of tea.
The writer is a globetrotter who is currently parked in Japan.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> Society> History & Culture / by Pallavi Aiyar / June 09th, 2018
Lekha Washington is multi-tasking — with a new Social project, installations, and a lunar-inspired artwork that she is planning to cycle with at the Burning Man festival in August
Behind the wooden doors of an ancestral property in Bandra’s quaint Ranwar village, Lekha Washington’s design space, The Upstairs Studio, is buzzing with activity. As I head to the upper storey, I find the actor-designer-entrepreneur in the middle of several works in progress. Keeping her cool in a casual-chic grey robe and strappy silver Steve Maddens, she explains that she and her team, grouped across the room, are grappling with several projects — from an upcoming test run at Bandstand, of the installation she is showcasing at this year’s Burning Man festival, to four new designs (including a moon light) for her company, Ajji. Meanwhile, Shanto, the pet cat, snoozes, curled up in one of her signature Squair chairs.
Chatting about the neighbourhood, now home for the past five years, gives me a fair idea of her easy familiarity with the people and the culture of the place. And also the fact that while Washington may not be acting at the moment, the frenetic pace of her life has not calmed in any way. “I am a dissatisfied soul. I’ll finish a great project and then feel the need to do something big in a totally different field. I need to be constantly evolving,” she says. Just this year, she teamed up with luxury vodka brand Belvedere for their artistic endeavour, Studio B — creating A drop of the universe, an artwork speckled with tiny white dots, that is at once like a disco ball apt for a launch party and an enigmatic spatial body reflective of her current style of work. She is also working on a breath installation she hopes to showcase at the Kochi Biennale (“I have not had the bandwidth to contact them yet”), and her first interior design project, Riyaaz Amlani’s soon-to-open Social in Bengaluru.
Riding in the desert
The Chennai girl, who now calls Ranwar’s hipster neighbourhood home, is no stranger to community living and alternate cultures. Washington is the only Indian artist to be given the honoraria grant for Burning Man (won after an elaborate two-step, year-long selection process) this year. Held annually in Nevada, in the middle of the Black Rock Desert, Burners (as the 70,000 attendees are known) create what the fête’s website describes as a “temporary metropolis dedicated to art and community”.
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It isn’t lunacy
The moon — larger than life but universally relatable — is a recurring motif in Washington’s art. Explaining her interest, she says, “It doesn’t belong to anybody, yet belongs to all of us, and it symbolises a lot: notions of the continual cycles of things, inherent change, lunacy, etc.” Interestingly, in keeping with the concept of change, her work, This too shall pass, has also gone trough multiple iterations since she first created it (and exhibited it at a collateral at the 2014 Kochi Biennale), the final version of which will light up the sky at Burning Man between August 26 – September 3. A self-confessed geek, technology also informs much of her work. “There is so much to explore. I feel technology is the next level when it comes to art — to make it intuitive, real, and not a gimmick, that is fascinating for me.”
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The designer, who is returning for a third time, describes how it is a unique art festival in terms of its non-commercial culture. In what looks like a set straight out of the post-apocalyptic world of Mad Max: Fury Road, the vibe is quite the opposite — one of freedom of expression, free love and creativity. The week-long fair sees people from the world over, living as a community, being part of this alternate shared experience.And all this while braving the extreme weather and figuring out their own means for survival. “It’s a sort of gifting culture, outside of the capitalist system we’ve all been indoctrinated with. It’s why I like it so much; it’s incredibly refreshing to engage with a new system,” she shares.
The focus, she says, is on interactive public art that holds immediacy — reflective of life’s ephemerality — in high regard. Works, often as large as 40 feet high, are set up on location, with the help of teammates and Burners. Incidentally, it was a photograph from Black Rock City — “of an installation of a series of balloons, one tied to the other, very basic in its concept” — that inspired Washington’s moon artwork. “So, for me, it’s coming full circle to show them here,” she says. Her excitement though, is tinged with anxiety. Her helium work from last year did not fare too well in the harsh climate, where the intense dust storms ended up “sandpapering” the work.
This year, she is introducing a newer iteration, This too shall pass – Moondancer— a ginormous 12-foot helium globe modelled on the moon, designed to rotate on its axis, reflecting the changing phases of the lunar cycle. While last year saw her clambering up a stationary plane to hoist her five balloons, this year the single globe will be pivoted on a tricycle that she and two others will ride around the grounds each night, while the shape-shifting ball waxes and wanes against the desert sky.
A fine balance
Washington’s work, though large scale, has a simple idea at its core. “We’ve been trying to create work that positively affects people’s lives in terms of art,” she tells me, leading the way across the wooden floorboards to a smaller room. With Theheraav, a work in progress, one needs to lie down under a sonar sensor placed within a spangle of lights, which picks up one’s micro-movements. The light bulbs grow brighter or dimmer in reaction to levels of stress or calm and, in the process, one is forced to focus on one’s breathing
Currently the centrepiece at the studio is the 18-foot Whirling Dervish, a touch sensitive art piece being readied for Amlani’s co-working space. Both the artwork and the space are designed by Washington, who strays from the norm with a clean, whitewashed look instead of the usual brick-exposed grunge feel of most Socials. It will also include several other artworks, from textile and paintings to 3D, neo-pixel and sound interactive work — the idea being that the space resembles an artist’s incomplete studio, one that is messy and alive, quite like her own. “It is set to open next week. There will be art supplies, each table will have calligraphy pens, and we will have a library of art books and local zines,” adds the designer, who is inspired by artist Salvador Dali and architect Zaha Hadid.
This would not be the first time that Washington’s personal and professional worlds collide. She believes her work, be it art or acting, revolves “around ideas and creativity”, and hence is actually all the same thing. “My work is a sort of reflection of myself”, even when the “nature of the medium” is slightly different.
Lights, camera, action
For someone who walked away from an acting career in an industry that reeks of “patriarchy and nepotism”, she has seen herself grow alongside her company. “The change for me has been much more personal. I’m very comfortable in my own skin and I now have the financial wherewithal to have a freedom of choice: I’m creating exactly what I want to create.” Her studio, she thinks, is an extension of her need to nurture creative expression of all kinds. So it hosts poetry readings, film screenings and experimental plays. “Educationally, creativity is not very nurtured. Academics is, industry is, but thinking out of the box is not. This is what I’m trying to do with this space.” Of course, the access to her space is conditional and open to only “those I like”, she mentions as an afterthought.
Washington is also making a return to cinema, and she hopes the industry post her sabbatical of half a decade is “less insular”, thanks to corporatisation and the influx of online platforms like Netflix or Amazon. This time, in addition to acting (and penning lyrics for Vishal Bhradwaj for Rangoon), she is collaborating on a script.
Taking a stand
Straddling multiple careers has proven to be quite an uphill task, though. She often finds herself in conflict with things beyond her control. From non-existent patenting laws to a basic lack of confidence in one’s talent, she feels India is living in a “design shadow”. As proof, she narrates an incident where her chair, The Pink Sink, was replicated by a German artist just six months after she showed it at the 2014 International Contemporary Furniture Fair in New York. The artist in question ended up winning a Red Dot award! Earlier this year, she also spotted an iteration of The Dot chair at the Salone del Mobile Milano. “The Indian design community needs to come together and make an impact. In isolation, individual designers can’t fight it,” she says.
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Burning Man checklist
Dust goggles: Because it is “extremely hot and dusty”
Spirit of adventure: “You must be willing to say yes to anything that comes your way”
Minimal yet outlandishclothing:“It’s all about radical self expression. I get to be as ridiculous as possible and there’s no one to judge me,” says Washington, who will also be carrying a red gown to wear while riding the tricycle.
Food and water: She will be putting together enough for a team of 20-odd people, friends from various parts of the world, who will be joining her as co-campers. “I will also be carrying tiny bottles of Old Monk rum to gift people, because it is a gifting culture.”
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Her plate full, she is not exactly complaining. But she is always open to collaborations — earlier ones include works with couture embroiderer Jean-François Lesage and designer Pinakin Patel. “I like the variety, hence the performance, the writing, the art. I just need to find people who are also pushing boundaries,” says Washington, who takes this joie de vivre into her travels, too — deep sea diving, sky diving and “engaging with life” everywhere. And along the way, if she claims to look a tad frazzled, one can nod in (false) agreement. Meanwhile, Shanto, now awake, disappears beneath the dervish, even as her team bustles around.
— With inputs from Surya Praphulla Kumar
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> Life & Style / by Tejal Pandey with input from Surya Praphulla Kumar / June 08th, 2018
Cleaning of Kasturiba Colony at Kandal in Udhagamandalam began on Tuesday.
The director of the Nilgiri Documentation Center presented the Nilgiri Conservation Award to the District Collector, Innocent Divya and to the former superintendent of police, Murali Rambha, on the occasion of World Environment Day here on Tuesday.
They were selected for the award for their teamwork to successfully organise the Summer Festival 2018, coinciding with the bicentenary of modern Nilgiris, in an innovative , participative and orderly manner, said Mr. Venugopal Dharmalingam, the director of the NDC.
As Mr. Rambha was unable to be present for the function, Ms. Divya accepted the award from Mr. Venugopal.
The award was instituted to recognise individuals and institutions who significantly contributed to the protection and preservation of the Nilgiris.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Coimbatore / by Staff Reporter / Udhagamandalam – June 05th, 2018
The homecoming of the ancient bronze icons of royal couple Raja Raja Chola I and his regal consort Lokamadevi is an incredible development and marks a watershed development in the sustained efforts to retrieve the priceless stolen treasure, according to art enthusiasts of Thanjavur. They say it is important to sustain the momentum and bring back as many stolen artefacts and idols and as early as possible.
“The return of the priceless icons of Raja Raja Chola I and Lokamadevi to Tamil Nadu is akin to consecrating the Sri Brihadeswarar temple afresh. I feel as if the emperor himself is returning home,” an elated Kudavayil Balasubramanian, Chola historian and epigraphist, told The Hindu on Wednesday.
The two bronze artefacts assume enormous socio-cultural and historical significance, as they are the only icons of the royal couple cast and stamped with the regal authority during the emperor’s own lifetime, said Dr. Balasubramanian, whose magnum opus Rajarajecharam is rich in scholarly research inputs.
Art enthusiasts and Chola historians are happy with the development and hope that the momentum that has gathered steam now would be sustained to retrieve more Thanjavur treasures that were lost. Dr. Balasubramanian’s role in identifying, recording and bringing back the two icons, spread over almost two decades, is acknowledged as ‘enormous.’
Ex-Minister’s petition
Tracing the background, sources at the Idol Wing said a petition by former Minister V.V. Swaminathan prompted the Madras High Court to direct the Idol Wing to look into the case of missing ancient bronze idols, especially that of Raja Raja Chola I and Lokamadevi, from the icon safe at the Thanjavur Big Temple.
After a through field study aided by inputs from experts in Chola history and iconography, it was found that the ancient bronze icons, donated to the Big Temple during the 29th regnal year of Emperor Raja Raja I, had “somehow been stolen” and finally found their way to the Calico Museum of Textiles and the Sarabhai Foundation Galleries, Ahmedabad.
The two were part of the 13 bronze statues donated then and there is no word yet on the status of the other 11 idols. However, a complaint filed with the police on March 2 here also states that several other ancient valuable icons dating to the period of Raja Raja Chola I have been stolen from the Big Temple vault.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> States> Tamil Nadu / by L Renganathan / Thanjavur – May 31st, 2018
In a career spanning over six decades, he directed several memorable movies
Renowned director and producer Muktha V. Srinivasan died on Tuesday night in the city. He was 88 years old. The veteran film-maker directed his first film Mudhalaali in 1957. Starring S.S. Rajendran, the film won the national award for the best feature film in Tamil that year.
Through his career in films spanning over six decades, Srinivasan directed several memorable films, including Paanchali, Ninaivil Nindraval, Suryagandhi, Simla Special and Polladhavan and had worked with several notable actors including Sivaji Ganesan, Rajinikanth, Kamal Haasan and former Chief Minister Jayalalithaa.
Suryagandhi, which was released in 1973 starring R. Muthuraman and Jayalalithaa, was digitally re-mastered and re-released in 2016 and Srinivasan had spoken about how the former Chief Minister had given one of her best performances in the movie.
Srinivasan, who described himself as a ‘die-hard book lover’ to The Hindu back in 2009, had also authored several non-fiction and fictional works including novels, short story collections and essays.
‘A good orator’
Veteran script writer and playwright Chitralaya Gopu recalled the days when they used to meet regularly to exchange ideas. “We didn’t work together. But we often discussed cinema. He used to be called as Mudhalali Srinivasan during the 1950s after his debut film as a director. He planned his films well and released them on time,” said Mr. Gopu.
He founded the production house, Muktha Films, in 1961 and produced several films with his brother Muktha V. Ramaswamy, including the Kamal Haasan starrer Nayagan directed by Mani Rathnam. He has produced and directed nearly 50 films.
“He was a good orator and spoke fluently in English. I met him only two months ago when three of us, including film director C.V. Rajendran who too recently passed away, were honoured in a function,” recalled Mr. Gopu.
Srinivasan was also remembered by political colleagues as an “old Congressman” who remained a close friend of G.K. Moopanar.
Political stint
Srinivasan left the Congress to join Moopanar’s Tamil Maanila Congress. He was appointed general secretary and contested the 1999 general elections on the party’s ticket from the South Madras constituency, finishing third.
When Moopanar’s son G.K. Vasan merged the TMC with the Tamil Nadu Congress Committee, Srinivasan returned, and in 2002, was made a vice-president.
Interestingly, “BJP’s State headquarters in T. Nagar is located in a building once owned by Srinivasan,” recalled B.S. Gnanadesikan, senior vice-president of the TMC who was also a TNCC president.
Srinivasan had reportedly, on former Chief Minister and actor M.G. Ramachandran’s insistence, helped with the founding of the Tamil Film Producers Council.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> Entertainment> Movies / by Special Correspondent / Chennai – May 30th, 2018
This volunteer helps the needy people in getting justice
When she is not attending to her duties as the leader of her Self-Help Group Federation at DHAN Foundation, S. Senthamaraican be seen reading legal procedures in India. This 54-year-old legal aid volunteer works twice a week at several clinics stipulated by the District Legal Services Authority. She provides counselling and direction to people belonging to low-income groups, who come to places such as offices of the Commissioner of Police, Superintendent of Police, district court, High Court, Madurai Collectorate and Social Welfare department in search of justice. She tells Sanjana Ganeshthat in the six years of volunteering service, she has seen a wide range of helpless people from the lowest rungs of society.
Having come from a humble background herself, she says connecting with their plight came easily. “I struggled to make my children study because my husband had a lot of debts. I joined the DHAN Madurai Federation with several other women from my community. Soon, I picked up and eventually became their leader. The senior people at the DHAN Foundation felt I had legal acumen and sent me for a two-day camp. After that, I began volunteering at Legal Aid Clinics,” she says.
For Ms. Senthamarai, the legal world has been her greatest learning curve yet. Her interest has grown with time, along with apathy for the voiceless. She provides counselling and shows people directions to legal courses. She helps in getting the right guidance for resolving disputes in courts, tribunals or other authorities. She also helps petitioners in finding lawyers who take up their cases pro-bono or for a meagre sum.
She focuses on civil cases such as property disputes, education loan issues and motor accident claims. Her area of interest, however, is women’s welfare. “I once helped a woman whose husband cheated her, sold her kidney, her jewellery and house because he had many loans. He went to Dubai and abandoned her.
When she realised her folly, she went to Dubai in search of him, but could not find him. After some clandestine work at some houses to feed herself and her two children, she was deported as she didn’t have valid documents. “At this stage, I helped her procure Aadhaar and family cards. This case changed my life,” Ms. Senthamarai says.
As a basic piece of legal advice, Senthamarai amma (as she is fondly called), says: “Read all your documents before you put your signature.”
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Madurai / May 28th, 2018
The swarna surya katari that was donated to the Tirumala temple on Tuesday. | Photo Credit: G.P. Shukla
Thanga Dorai, a noted textile merchant from Teni, Tamil Nadu, on Tuesday donated a golden sword worth ₹1.75 crore to the famous hill temple of Lord Venkateswara on Tirumala.
About six kilograms of gold is estimated to have gone into the making of the golden sword or ‘surya katari’.
Mr. Dorai handed over the precious offering to the temple authorities during the Suprabhata Seva early this morning.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> States> Andhra Pradesh / by G.P. Shukla / Tirumala – May 29th, 2018
P. Mohanprasath and N. Satheesh with their book Butterflies of Tamil Nadu in Chennai. | Photo Credit: K.V. Srinivasan
It is the culmination of a two-year project
Did you know that Tamil Nadu has 326 species of butterflies identified so far? And did you know that the fragile vannathu poochi (or pattaam poochi) we chased as children are important ecological indicators?
“If you find butterflies in parks or in your gardens, it means these areas are fine for living. Butterflies are very sensitive to environmental changes and will migrate if they cannot survive,” explains N. Satheesh, Conservator of Forests, Tamil Nadu Forest Plantation Corporation Limited (TAFCORN), Tiruchi.
Mr. Satheesh, along with P. Mohanprasath, who works with the NGO, Act of Butterfly, has authored a book titled Butterflies of Tamil Nadu. Volunteers with the Act of Butterfly study the activities of the pretty insects, including their annual mass migration.
The book, with colourful photographs of 316 species found in the State, was recently released in the city.
The culmination of a two-year project, the book explains the ecological role of butterflies, their life cycle, and a list of 32 butterfly ‘hotspots’ in the State. It would make a good addition to any library.
Tamil Nadu has two butterfly parks — one in Srirangam in Tiruchi, and another in the Arignar Anna Zoological Park in Vandalur near Chennai. “If you want to watch butterflies, the best time is either between 6 a.m. and 9 a.m. or from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. When it’s hot, they would rather hide in the shade than flit around in the sun,” Mr. Satheesh says. The book is priced at ₹ 900.
Copies can be purchased at the Forest Department office in Saidapet after a few days.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Chennai / by Deepa H. Ramakrishnan / Chennai – May 29th, 2018
