TVS Group company Sundaram Clayton has appointed Lakshmi Venu and Sudarshan Venu as Joint Managing Directors of the company, according to a press release.
Lakshmi Venu, who has been redesignated, was previously Director – Strategy, in the rank of managing director of the automobile components manufacturing company. Sudarshan Venu was a non-executive director prior to the present appointment.
The release said the board took the decision considering the increasing business of the company.
source: http://www.thehindubusinessline.com / Business Line / Home> The Hindu Bureau / September 11th, 2014
The life of ‘Kappalottiya Tamilan’, V.O. Chidambaram Pillai (VOC), took a drastic turn after his release from prison / by Special Arrangement / The Hindu
He was a famous lawyer, a noted Tamil scholar, and a redoubtable freedom fighter.
Cocking a snook at the mighty British Empire, he ran the Swadeshi Steam Navigation Company but eventually paid a heavy price for it.
Kappalottiya Tamilan, as V.O. Chidambaram Pillai (VOC) came to be known, was arrested and put in Coimbatore jail — where he had to pull the oil press — for his revolutionary activities.
Post prison, VOC’s life turned out to be more heart-rending. He had to eke out a living by running outlets that sold rice and ghee, in Mylapore, Chintadripet and Perambur.
“He wrote about his pathetic condition in a small poem,” said V. Arasu, editor of the collected works of VOC.
‘I used to rain rewards on Tamil scholars, but my condition is now so wretched that I have to literally beg for survival,’ VOC said in the poem.
After being imprisoned on charges of treason, VOC was released in 1912. He stayed in Coimbatore with C.K. Subramania Mudaliar, who published Periyapuranam.
He even worked as a clerk in a bank for a while, but eventually came to Chennai in 1916 and remained here until 1932. He returned to Thootukudi to spend his final years.
“It seemed everything had turned against him. He was a follower of Bal Gangadhar Tilak, but by the time he was released from jail, the Gandhians had the Congress firmly under their control. As the British government had cancelled his advocate’s licence, he could not practise law,” said Prof. Arasu.
At one point, he wrote to the founder of Dravidar Kazhagam, E.V. Ramasamy Periyar, who was a Congress leader before his transformation, requesting him to help his son find a police job so his family could be sure of at least two square meals a day.
“But poverty never killed VOC’s spirit. While in Chennai, he worked with Tamil scholar and trade unionist Thiru.Vi.Ka., and organised textile workers and postal department employees. He was the first person to organise a union for postal employees,” said Prof. Arasu.
He also joined hands with Prof. Vaiyapuri Pillai and published Tholkappiyam with the notes of Ilampooranar in 1922. He also wrote commentary for the Arathupal part of Thirukkural.
Once, he wrote an angry letter to Va.Ra., the great reformer and freedom fighter, wondering how he could afford to live in peace in Thirupazhanam, while the country was in bad shape. He persuaded him to take up the editorship of Colombo-based Veerakesari.
VOC spent his final days in his home town, Thoothukudi. The British government had, at last, allowed him to practise law.
He continued to write and publish Tamil literary works, besides giving lectures on Sivagnana Bodham, a treatise on Saiva Siddantha.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Chennai / by B. Kolappan / Chennai – August 18th, 2014
Robert Fellowes Chisholm’s spirit lives on in the iconic buildings he designed
In the death centenary of architect Robert Fellowes Chisholm, it’s only fitting that we “remember the man who changed the skyline of Beach Road,” says writer and historian Sriram V. at his tribute talk on Chisholm, ‘The Indo-Saracenic Man’, as part of Madras Week celebrations. At a time when the predominant architecture was either Greek-inspired or in military-garrison method with minimal ornamentation, Chisholm is credited with blending indigenous building styles with classical British staples to popularise an architectural language that came to be called ‘Indo-Saracenic’. It defines colonial Madras to date.
Born to artist parents in 1840 in London, Chisholm came to India as a special engineer to the Government of Bengal in 1859, married the very next year and had six children in quick succession. In 1863, as part of the Puri division, Chisholm submitted drawings for an architectural competition the Government of Madras was conducting for its proposed university and senate house, which were to compete with the grandeur of Bombay’s Gothic architecture. Among 17 nationwide entries, Chisholm’s’ won. The new Governor of Madras, Lord Napier, got Chisholm immediately transferred as ‘consulting architect’ and the two became thick friends.
While the university (the present-day Presidency College) was completed by 1867, it was discovered years later that Chisholm had lifted this Italianate design from one reserved for a British hospital in Malta. “The arch of moulded bricks around the windows, an element Chisholm faithfully added to every building, marks the College as his,” says Sriram. Chisholm went on to build the Lawrence School, Lovedale, and the Nilgiris library, once again with similarly plagiarised designs, notes Sriram. Later, he built Madras’ PWD building, reminiscent of Scottish-baronial architecture, specially commissioned by Napier to hide the Chepauk Palace that Napier felt irritatingly reminded him of a time before British rule. A clue to Chisholm’s future direction in architecture though, lies in the tower he built to connect the Humayun and Khalsa Mahal wings of the Chepauk Palace. It seems inspired by the designs in Charminar, thus suggesting that Chisholm was finally acknowledging and adopting the beauty of native architecture.
A view of Senate House in Chennai. Photo: K.V. Srinivasan / The Hindu
In 1872, Napier sent Chisholm to visit the Thirumalai Nayak Mahal, an event that changed his life. “It was love at first sight,” says Sriram. Chisholm wrote extensively of the Mahal’s ornamentation, went on to restore it, returned to Madras, and reworked his designs for the Senate with numerous ‘Hindoo’ elements, winged gods and angels, columns typical of the Mahal, and in nine years, completed the building considered his best ever work. Next, Chisholm visited the Maharaja of Kerala to design a museum there in honour of Napier and fell in love all over again with the Kerala architectural style, its sloping Travancore roofs and Mangalore tiles. Madras’ General Post Office, was to incorporate much from Kerala, in its three-storeyed building whose central hall was only one storey that stretched upward to the iconic sloping roof. “The restoration of the building sadly retains little of Chisholm,” notes Sriram.
Chisholm went on to hone his brand of the Indo-Saracenic with Madras’ Victoria Public Hall, P. Orr and Sons office, a tower of the Central Station and eventually grew “above himself,” especially in matters of accounts corruption. In 1886, he resigned, and was snapped up by the Maharaja of Baroda, where he completed work on the Lakshmi Vilas Palace, the Baroda Museum, the Makarpura Palace, law courts and a library. “All along, he was building confidence to build the Sayajirao University of Baroda, with its 74-feet diameter dome, which was the biggest free-standing dome built by the British.”
For this, he was honoured by the Royal Institute of British Architects, where he was a Fellow and lectured often. Once Chisholm returned to England in 1901, he designed the First Church of Christ, Scientist in 1907 in Sloane London, which is today a concert hall, but bears a tower distinctly similar to Chisholm’s towers at the Senate House and Chepauk, observes Sriram.
Chisholm died in London on May 28, 1915, but Chennai’s skyline still remembers him well.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Chennai> Madras 375 / by Esther Elias / Chennai – August 20th, 2014
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
India-born scientist Dr. Thomas John Colacot has won the American Chemical Society’s ACS Award in Industrial Chemistry , one of the top honours in the field.
He studied at St. Berchman’s College, Changanacherry, Kerala and IIT, Chennai, and is the first Indian to get the award in industrial chemistry. He also holds an MBA degree and was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry.
The award is sponsored by the ACS Division of Business Development and Management and the ACS Division of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry.
Currently Global R&D manager in the homogenous catalysis area at Johnson Matthey, a specialty chemicals company, Mr. Colacot directs research in US, UK and in Indian labs.
“The ACS is proud to recognize your outstanding contributions to the development and commercialization of ligands and precatalysts for metal-catalyzed organic synthesis, particularly cross-couplings, for industrial and academic use and applications,” a letter from Tom Barton, president of ACS noted.
The 2015 national awards recipients will be honoured at the awards ceremony in conjunction with the 249th ACS national meeting in Denver, Colorado in March next year.
Mr. Colacot had received Royal Society of Chemistry’s RSC Applied Catalysis Award in 2012 for his contributions to the area of catalysis. His work on ‘cross-coupling’ is particularly acclaimed.
Mr. Colacot joined Johnson Matthey, USA in 1995 and started working in the area of palladium catalyzed cross-coupling.
The catalysts developed in his labs are currently used to make new drugs for Hepatitis C, a deadly disease with no cure, one pill per week for type II diabetics, and many hypertension drugs.
His work involves developing and commercializing ligands and catalysts for applications in metal-catalyzed synthetic organic chemistry.
His book on ‘New Trends in Cross-Coupling: Theory and Applications’ is scheduled to be published in October, 2014 by the Royal Society of Chemistry.
He is also PhD thesis examiner to many IITs and visiting faculty at Rutgers University.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> S&T> Science / by IANS / Washington – September 03rd, 2014
The 1,000th anniversary of the coronation of Chola ruler Rajendra Chola began at Gangaikondacholapuram in Thanjavur on Thursday in the presence of scholars from across the country.
The city is said to have been founded by King Rajendra Chola to commemorate his victory over the Pala dynasty. The city was founded by king Rajendra Chola to commemorate his victory over the Pala dynasty. The name means “the town of the chola who brought Ganga (water from Ganga) or who defeated (the kings near) Ganga.” It is now a small village that has totally gone dry.
The village’s past eminence is only remembered by the existence of the great Siva Temple. The entire temple resembles to that of the Big Temple in Thanjavur with a the statue of a huge Nandi in the front.
The majestic gopuram of the temple can be viewed from all sides of the village. The architecture and the engineering skills of Chola kings that are widely spoken about across the world still stand tall in this temple. Gangaikondacholapuram is among the three popular temples that was built by Chola rulers.
The other two temples are Big Temple in Thanjavur and Darasuram Shiva Temple in Kumbakonam. S Muthukumar, secretary of Indian National Trust For Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH), said that as part of the celebrations, a procession of torch along with a bike rally will begin on Friday morning from the Big Temple to Gangai Konda Cholapuram with college students taking part in it.
He further added that among the three temple rulers, Rajendra Chola at Gangai Konda Cholapuram was the most powerful as his army is believed to have at least 1.7 million warriors.
source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Trichy / TNN / July 25th, 2014
Pratap Sinha Raje Bhosale at the Sadar Mahal Palace, in Thanjavur. Photo: M. Moorthy / The Hindu
Pratap Sinha Rajebhosle, sixth descendant of Maharaja Serfoji II, has many ideas to create greater awareness about Thanjavur
The general cacophony of urban life recedes into the shadows at the centuries-old Sadar Mahal, part of the residential-cum-museum complex of the erstwhile royal family in Thanjavur. The faded grandeur and haphazard (government-funded) restoration cannot deflect visitors’ attention from what would have once been a master class in stucco wall detailing.
Showing some of us around on this hot afternoon is Pratap Sinha Rajebhosle, sixth descendant of Maharaja Serfoji II, who is convinced that the only way to promote Thanjavur’s heritage is “Facebook, Facebook, Facebook.”
The young prince, who also leads another life as a Bachelor of Technology student in Chennai, admits that his interest in his royal lineage is pretty recent.
“I used to come to Thanjavur during school holidays before, but for the past three years, I’ve become a regular visitor here. I am worried that very little of our heritage is left. That little bit has to be saved.”
His Facebook page on the Maharaja Serfoji Memorial Hall Museum (established in 1997) was also done on a whim, but the royal (who prefers to be known simply as Pratap), decided to keep it going after the interest it evoked from readers.
He refers to the city’s residents with the interesting Tamil-Marathi appellation “Thanjavur-kars”, and says many of the city’s expatriates from Singapore and Hong Kong got in touch after reading his online posts.
Pratap has also written a book on the contributions of the Thanjavur-Maratha kings with the help of scholars and rare documents, which is being readied for publication by the Saraswathi Mahal Library Museum, itself a treasure trove of rare documents.
A view of The Maharaja Serfoji Memorial Hall Museum at Sadar Mahal Palace. Photo: M. Moorthy / The Hindu
Personal museum
The Maharaja Serfoji Memorial Hall Museum is located at the first floor of the Sadar Mahal palace. It is reached by climbing a dark stairwell of steep steps that leads off from a courtyard that is in urgent need of a lawn mower. Once known as the ‘anthapuram’, the courtyard used to house the private bathing pool of the royal women before the British decided to cover it up and re-lay it as a garden due to its weak foundation.
Gold-inlaid religious artefacts at the museum. Photo: M. Moorthy / The Hindu
Exhibits in glass cases line the hall, whose cement-less walls are held up by wrought iron pillars.
The collection is a medley of what would have been considered novelties in those days – travel souvenirs and currency notes from around the world, pill boxes made of porcelain and crystal and a zinc-lined wooden ‘refrigerator’ that had to be cooled with external blocks of ice.
Detail of an intricately carved silver box. Photo: M. Moorthy / The Hindu
The more traditional artefacts include some of the personal effects of the royals – silk saris and turbans, huge utensils used during ‘bada khana’ (banquets) in the wood-fire fuelled kitchens, teakwood cupboards that once had silver beading in all the shelves and so on. Elaborately carved silver and wooden boxes to store the bath accessories of the queens are also on show.
Pratap points out to the more contemporary part of his family history in the collage of rare photographs down the ages. “The Thanjavur royal family has done a lot of public service, but among the more recent are the donation of hundred acres of land to the Bhoodan Movement of Vinobha Bhave. We also gave our weapons, two lakh rupees and 40 sovereigns of gold to the war effort during the Indo-China and Indo-Pakistan campaigns in the 1960s,” says Pratap.
The museum suffered a setback when it was burgled in April last year. As many as 14 articles, including lingams made of spatika (quartz) and maragatham (emerald), ivory idols of Krishna and old bronze knives were reported stolen in the daylight incident.
As a result, security has been stepped up, though it hasn’t stopped visitors from defacing the walls of the historic structure with crude etchings of their names and their proclamations of love.
Most of the glass cabinets have been sealed up, and the more precious artefacts (such as a gold dinner service used by the king), has been removed from public view.
No special treatment
Assimilating the ways of a life outside the royal cocoon has been an ongoing process from childhood says Pratap, who arrives for the interview on a decidedly plebeian two-wheeler.
“Our family has always believed in mingling with the public irrespective of social status,” he says. “In Chennai, we have more exposure, and my friends are pretty cool about my family history. I don’t expect special treatment from anyone.”
Most of the younger generation of the Thanjavur royal family has opted for graduate studies (most of Pratap’s cousins are engineers). Pratap has decided to supplement his regular course work with additional qualifications in document conservation and in the ancient Marathi language variant ‘Modi’.
“I will try my best to improve and preserve my family’s heritage,” he concludes.
For I Mayandi Bharathi, a veteran freedom fighter, one of the issues that is constantly running in his mind is the large amounts of black money stashed in various banks abroad.
Now, the 97-year-old freedom fighter wants the government to take concrete steps to bring back the money. Not only this, one of his other demands is to execute the Ganga-Cauvery rivers interlinking for the welfare of the farmers.
Bharathi said this while attending the 68th Independence Day celebrations held in the AR ground on Friday.
Bharathi himself has spent 13 years in various jails including Madurai, Trichy, Vellore, Coimbatore, Chennai and Palayamkottai along with many other veteran freedom fighters.
Besides being a freedom fighter, Bharathi has also been a journalist for nearly 50 years and has served in various capacities for different publications.
On Friday, he was seated in the row meant for freedom fighters and he had brought along his recent publication of his second edition of Tamil book “Porukku Thayar” (Ready for war). “He is very much interested in releasing books. So far, he has released 20 books,” said his assistant Manikandan.
When asked about today’s scenario, Bharathi said the country has developed in many fields.
“As far as the present Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s approach towards the neighbouring nations, he is doing well. At the same time, he should focus on domestic issues,” he said.
source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Madurai /L. Saravanan, TNN / August 17th, 2014
There are many who practice medicine as profession. But, very few like Dr T Chellaiya stand out from the crowd. The 75-year-old old city doctor may be a man of a few words, but the medical community speaks more about him. They say that most of the doctors in the city approach him whenever they suffer from an ailment. Doctors who worked closely with him know his diagnosis will be simple and accurate. The general medicine practitioner who has put in 31 years of unblemished service in various government hospitals, has finally got his dues.
According to representatives of the Medical Council of Tamil Nadu he had been immaculate in his service and inspired many. However, he was not honoured by any awards. But now, the Medical Council of Tamil Nadu has proposed an award for Dr Chellaiya, which he will be receiving soon.
“It is only the second time since the Medical Council of Tamil Nadu instituted award for the medical practitioners who have rendered exemplary service to the people. In fact, we are honoured to felicitate him with the award,” said Dr K Senthil, vice-president of the council.
Apart from Chellaiya, five more doctors from the state including Dr George Abraham, a renowned nephrologist, Dr David Rajan, orthoscopy expert and Dr S Geethalakshmi, a microbiologist and presently the director of medical education will be honoured. Dr Chellaiya is the only doctor from the southern districts to get the award.
Chellaiya, a native of Salem, did his MBBS and MD in Madurai Medical College. He started working in Salem government hospital in 1965 where he worked for two years. He served in Government Rajaji Hospital, Madurai for 29 years since 1969.
Dr M Ramesh, surgical oncologist, one of his students noted him as one of the best teachers Madurai Medical College has ever seen. He used to stay with the patients in the wards for at least 10 hours. He stood as an example by his hard work. The students who followed him inculcated his habits like treating others without any bias and doing the job without any remarks. The students of Dr Chellaiya possess unique characteristics inspired by him, he said. Dr Chellaiya has taught 20 batches of students from the Madurai Medical College. At the age of 75, he is still practicing in his modest clinic on Vakkil New Street in the heart of the city. Talking about young doctors, Dr Chellaiya said “They are very brilliant. The secret is we have to be sincere to the patients and not to the hospital. Doctor-patient relationship should be good.”
source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Madurai / TNN / August 26th, 2014
Prominent city personalities were honoured at the awards ceremony on Saturday Photo: K. Pichumani / The Hindu
Historians, chroniclers and natives of the cities of Tamil Nadu should make the history and tradition of their places known to the world, said Governor K. Rosaiah.
Historians, chroniclers and natives of the cities of Tamil Nadu should make the history and tradition of their places known to the world, said Governor K. Rosaiah.
He was addressing the audience at Doyens of Madras–2014, an award ceremony organised by the Ambassador Group on Saturday.
Eight persons — M.S. Swaminathan, agricultural scientist, Prathap C. Reddy, founder of Apollo Hospitals, V. Baskaran, former Indian hockey team captain, A. Vellayan, executive chairman of Murugappa Group, B.A. Kodandaraman, chairman and managing director, Viveks, Bhaskar Ramamurthi, director of IIT-Madras, Priyadarshini Govind, director of Kalakshetra, and Vijay Amritraj, tennis player — received the award.
In his speech, Mr. Rosaiah said every place in Tamil Nadu should come out with celebrations like the one just observed in Chennai.
He said Madras stands as a symbol of national integration, growth, peace and prosperity.
“Above all is its uniqueness in preservation of its rich tradition and culture,” said the Governor.
He said the places and buildings in localities like Mylapore and Triplicane may have changed, with multi-storeyed and commercial buildings cropping up, but the lifestyle around the temples and the street houses haven’t changed much. “These are really marvels of Madras,” he said.
The role played by various forums, organisations, historians, and the media, especially The Hindu, in conduct of Madras Day celebrations, are laudable and stands for emulation, said Mr. Rosaiah.
He also stressed the importance of enlightening the youth of our historical past, rich traditions and culture.
Some of the awardees too shared their memories about Madras with the gathering.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Chennai / Staff Reporter / Chennai – August 24th, 2014
