For the last two decades, in the 973 columns he wrote for Madras Miscellany, S Muthiah charted the course of people’s lives, the unexpected twists and turns, their triumphs and tribulations. A tribute to the man who loved to put the story back into history
Those of us who had the privilege of working closely with S Muthiah, the chronicler of Madras (he did not like the term historian), knew that Thursdays were sacred. He could not be disturbed that day as that was when he wrote his Madras Miscellany column to be published 12 days hence in the Monday edition of MetroPlus. The Chief, as I always referred to him, would make an elaborate production of it. He would first go to his library on the second floor and collect whatever reference material he wanted.
Having come down to the dining table, he would switch on the ultra-powerful table lamp and write whatever he wanted to in longhand. V Srinivasan and D Pushpa, his two faithful assistants, would then type this in, after which it underwent a few iterations. Towards the afternoon, G Shankar of Pace Systems (now Mot Juste Communications) would come in, collect the pictures to be scanned and go back to office to the needful. By evening everything would be in place, including the commentary on letters and additional points received from the vast and ever-growing readership; these falling under a section titled When The Postman Knocked. The correspondence was vast and varied. Branches of families reunited, people discovered ancestors. Several British families wrote in asking for help in tracing graves, houses and other markers.
Come Monday, when the column was published, the article would be carefully cut out, pasted on a sheet of paper, neatly dated and filed. Not for him the saving of soft copies. Yes, the Chief experienced great joy in putting Madras Miscellany together, as he did with all his work. By the time the column completed a decade in 2009, he noted with pride that 514 instalments had been published. He also added that the number would have been 520 but The Hindu did not bring out its paper on six Mondays owing to some holiday or the other. By the time he passed away, Madras Miscellany had appeared a record 973 times. It was his dearest wish that he touch 1,000 but fate willed otherwise.
To have kept the column going without a break spoke volumes about Muthiah’s work ethic and discipline. When he travelled abroad, he calculated the number of Mondays he would be away and wrote all the instalments before he left. Not for him the present practice of researching on the Internet and sending articles on the fly. Even the death of his wife did not occasion a break. The column that appeared immediately after her passing had an opening sentence addressed to her, stating that she would have wanted him to continue. And that was the truth.
If there was someone even more passionate about Madras Miscellany than he was, it was Valliammal Muthiah. And he paid her a handsome tribute in an interview — ‘Fortunately, I have a young and energetic wife… who manages the home as well as the finances. She makes sure I don’t have to worry about anything other than my work.’ Sadly, she passed away in 2013 and life became tougher for him.
There was however no stopping Miscellany. Who would have thought that the column, first suggested by Nirmala Lakshman to Muthiah when MetroPlus was born in 1999, would grow to have a life and identity of its own? He had wanted it to be called Madrasiana but Nirmala convinced him that Madras Miscellanysounded better. It was a unique tribute to a great city. It will be missed.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Chennai / by Sriram V / April 22nd, 2019
Social entrepreneur from Coimbatore Arunachalam Muruganantham has joined some of the global leaders in the list of World’s 50 Greatest Leaders 2019 by Fortune Magazine. He is ranked 45th in the list released recently.
Period. End of Sentence, a documentary that reflects his work, had won an Oscar in the Best Short Documentary category this year.
Mr. Muruganantham told The Hindu that the recognition should be an inspiration to youngsters to think of social issues, address those as a business model, and become job providers. “There are a very few people as social entrepreneurs. I have created self-employment opportunities for 1.25 lakh women in the country through my machines. And these are all semi-skilled job,” he said. Only by creating more job providers can India become a developed nation.
He recollects his addresses at several leading institutions even in the United States he urged youngsters not to aspire for listings based on wealth but to create jobs.
“They (Fortune magazine) had followed my work. We installed six machinery in Sri Lanka to be operated by war widows. It had a huge reach globally. The listing is a recognition to Coimbatore and the country. My responsibility has increased, especially when I address youngsters. They should not look for profits in business but have a social connect,” he said.
Mr. Muruganantham is currently working on taking projects to Pakistan and Afghanistan and in India, his focus is on the north eastern States. “Women in these States need to be empowered. We have installed a dozen units in these States. My focus is on Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh,” he said.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Coimbatore / by Special Correspondent / Coimbatore – April 21st, 2019
Mahindra Odyssea will set sail at the Manimuthar Dam
Tamil Nadu’s first solar-powered boat will soon operate at the Manimuthar Dam in Tirunelveli district. According to sources at the Kalakkad Mundanthurai Tiger Reserve, the boat will begin operations in the next 10 days.
On Friday, Anand Mahindra, chairman of the Mahindra Group, posted a tweet saying, “Mahindra Marine proudly joins #Go Electric – Go Green objective of the group by launching its first solar-electric boat for Tamil Nadu Forest Dept. She is a 24 pax harbour cruise boat, powered by a keel cooled electric motor with shaft, and propelled by a lithium-ion battery.”
Called Mahindra Odyssea, the 26-seater (including two crew members) boat is 11.8 m long and 4 m wide. One of its unique aspects is that it has a German motor (20 KW).
“It has a solar roof on top which can generate 3.8 KW of power. The solar roof will help the boat get partially charged while moving,” said Hiten Ghelani, chief executive officer and managing director of Mahindra Marine, told The Hindu.He said the idea was devised during a visit to Dubai and Europe.
“We started developing the boat and when we were ready with the first one — we received a tender from Tamil Nadu for a similar boat. We asked the team to visit us to try this boat and they came down,” Mr. Ghelani said. To a question on the cost of the boat, he said, “I won’t be able to give the exact details. On an average these boats would cost anywhere between ₹80 lakh and can go up to a crore. These can be customised depending on what the client wants,” he added.
Sources said that two more boats would be supplied in the coming days.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> States> Tamil Nadu / by P Sudhakar & Sangeeta Kandavel / Chennai – Tirunelveli, April 13th, 2019
While he plays for 12 hours a day during weekends, he plays for four to five hours on weekdays.
Chennai :
Born and raised in Qatar, 21-year-old Monish Kumar was introduced to gaming in 2011 by his friends who asked him to casually play Counter Strike 1.6, a first-person shooter video game. He was instantly attracted to it, and today, he has played over 20 tournaments professionally and is part of Arknemesis gaming group.
“I loved the game and started gaming in Dubai servers. However, I did not know the local tongue, so I could not develop connections. In 2012, I came to Chennai for a vacation and realised gaming was a profession and people earned money through it. That day I decided to take it up professionally,” he says.
In 2016, Monish shifted back to Chennai to pursue Electrical and Electronics Engineering from Sri Venkateshwara College of Engineering, and also take forward his interest in gaming. “I started with League of Legends and one of my gaming friends introduced me to Overwatch, a team-based shooter game. I joined Arknemesis in 2017,” says Monish.
Though his parents were initially hesitant about him spending hours on gaming, when they realised Monish was being paid a salary and he was getting sponsors, they began supporting him.
Since 2017, Monish has been part of many tournaments. “My first was the Skirmish Tournament by Coolermaster where two Indian teams and one Malaysian team were battling against each other, and we bet both of them. At that point winning over an international team was a big deal. We came second in Indian Cyber Gaming Championship (ICGC), first in LXG Indian Land Gaming First Minor and second in LXG Indian Land Gaming Second Minor,” says the avid gamer.
While he plays for 12 hours a day during weekends, he plays for four to five hours on weekdays. After his graduation, he plans to pursue sports management. “E-sports is starting to get recognised as a sport. Getting into the management side might help organise and manage e-sports events,” he says.
source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Cities> Chennai / by K.V. Navya / Express News Service / April 20th, 2019
The Ma. Aranganathan Literary Awards for 2019 were presented to writers Veli Rangarajan and Yuma Vasuki in Chennai on Tuesday. The awards carry a citation and a cash prize of ₹1 lakh each from Munril Literary Society, run by Justice R. Mahadevan of Madras High Court.
He had instituted the awards last year in the name and memory of his father, a noted Tamil writer, who died on April 16, 2017 at the age of 83.
This was the second consecutive year that the awards were being conferred to honour and recognise the contributions made by authors, poets, playwrights and others to the growth of the Tamil language.
Presiding over the event, Sahitya Akademi general council member Tamilavan, recalling his association with Aranganathan, said, the latter had all through his life desired to institute an award for talented writers.
He pointed out that Aranganathan had migrated from Nagercoil to Chennai in 1952, served as a clerk at Chennai Corporation and ran a Tamil literary magazine titled Munril despite his meagre income. The office of Munril served as a joint for literary enthusiasts to sit together, discuss and analyse each other’s works.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Chennai / by Special Correspondent / Chennai – April 17th, 2019
PM Modi had announced the renaming to Puratchi Thalaivar Dr MG Ramachandran Central Railway Station at a public meeting.
Chennai Central Railway station. (File Photo | Kajol Rustagi)
Chennai :
The State government has notified renaming of Chennai’s Central Railway station after late Chief Minister MG Ramachandran, giving effect to an announcement made by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at a public meeting on March 6. The station is now the Puratchi Thalaivar Dr MG Ramachandran Central Railway Station.
On March 9, the Union Home Ministry conveyed its ‘no objection’ to the proposal. Sources said the State then got permission from the Election Commission of India to notify the name change and issued an extraordinary notification in the government gazette on April 5.
Sources said the notification did not violate the model code of conduct as the announcement and ‘no objection’ were made ahead of notification of Lok Sabha polls. Senior advocate S Doraisamy filed a complaint with the Chief Electoral Officer against the notification, claiming it was issued in violation of the model code and should be withdrawn.
source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Cities> Chennai / by Express News Service / April 07th, 2019
The souvenirs for World Tamil Conferences at Chennai and Madurai and the souvenir for ‘World Semmozhi Conference’ at Coimbatore were prepared under his supervision.
Silamboli Su Chellappan
Chennai :
Well known Tamil scholar and an orator Silamboli Su Chellappan (91) passed away on Saturday due to age-related ailments at his residence at Tiruvanmiyur here. Leaders of political parties, including DMK president MK Stalin, MDMK general secretary Vaiko, TNCC president KS Alagiri and PMK founder S Ramadoss have condoled the death of the scholar.
Chellappan was born on September 24, 1928 at Siviyampalayam village near Namakkal and his discourses on Tamil epic Silappathikaram were well known and the late Tamil scholar RP Sethupillai hailed him as Silamboli Chellappan. Souvenirs for World Tamil Conferences at Chennai and Madurai and the souvenir for ‘World Semmozhi Conference’ at Coimbatore was prepared under his supervision. He also served as Director of Tamil Nadu government’s Tamil development department and Director of publications, department of Tamil University in Thanjavur.
He had travelled widely across the globe to attend many international conferences on literary events. Sanga Ilakkiya than and Semmozhi Thamizh Agapporul Kalanjiam were among the books authored by Chellappan.
In his message, Stalin said, “I convey my condolences on behalf of DMK over the demise of Silamboli Chellappan. His worked for Tamil and his deep relationship with the language would last eternally. ”Thol Thirumavalavan, VCK president said” He worked hard to spread Silapathikaram, an epic, among the masses. His death would be a big loss to Tamil and Tamil scholars”.MDMK’s Vaiko, Alagiri; S Ramadoss; and ER Eswaran, general secretary of Kongu Nadu Makkal Desiya Katchi, also condoled the death of the Tamil scholar.
source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> States> Tamil Nadu / by Express News Service / April 07th, 2019
Film director J. Mahendran. | Photo Credit: The Hindu Archives
Noted film director J. Mahendran, 79, passed away early on Tuesday morning, following a brief hospitalisation. His son John Mahendran confirmed his passing on social media.
He was admitted to Apollo Hospitals on March 27, after he became sick following a dialysis session. He was on a ventilator, according to hospital sources, but was discharged on Monday.
Mahendran has directed several memorable films including Mullum Malarum, Johnny and Nenjathai Killadhey. He was recently seen in Vijay Sethupathi’s Seethakaathi, the Rajinikanth-starrer Petta and Boomerang, starring Atharvaa Murali that released earlier this month.
Renowned for his writing, he is also a part of the Blue Ocean FIlm and Television Academy(BOFTA) in Chennai where he heads the filmmaking and direction course.
Mahendran’s remains will be laid at his home from 10 a.m. where the public can pay their respects. The funeral is set to be held at 5 pm.
Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam president M.K. Stalin tweeted out his condolences. “Director Mahendran was a hero among the directors of the Tamil film world. He was multifaceted – a writer, he made realistic films and an actor as well and his passing away is a great loss,” he said.
Speaking to PTI, the filmmaker’s long time associate and producer G. Dhananjayan said Mahendran redefined the Tamil cinema at a time when it was dominated by the trend of delivering lengthy dialogues.
“He brought the touch of realism into Tamil cinema and it made people connect more to his movies. Mahendran is the forefather of realistic Tamil cinema,” Dhananjayan added.
Filmmaker A.R. Murugadoss took to Twitter to pay homage to the director.
“It is deeply saddening to hear the demise of one of the pioneer filmmaker #Mahendran sir. You and your films live forever in our hearts sir. Rest in peace,” he wrote.’
(With inputs from PTI)
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> Entertainment> Movies / The Hindu Net Desk / April 02nd, 2019
Team members after installing the smart fence for early elephant warning system in Parsa Wildlife Reserve in Nepal.
It was developed by a team of researchers from Bannari Amman Institute of Technology
A team of researchers from Bannari Amman Institute of Technology, Sathyamangalam, has installed a smart fence for early elephant warning at Parsa Wildlife Reserve in Nepal.
The team headed by Sanjoy Deb, and comprising R. Ramkumar and L. Rajasekar, designed and developed the system with active support from the college management. The long range LASER-based smart fence has already been installed at two places in Sathyamangalam Tiger Reserve.
Since crop raiding by elephants was a major issue in areas located near Parsa Wildlife Reserve in Nepal, the fence was installed there in collaboration with the Nepal Biodiversity Research and Conservation Centre, a NGO based in Nepal. The team visited Nepal recently and installed the fence near the reserve area.
The team members said that the system was specially designed with minimum electronic components. Local team members in Nepal have been provided training in maintaining the system.
They said that the team was now working on improving its features and cost minimisation to make it a true global solution.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Coimbatore / by Staff Reporter / Erode – March 27th, 2019
Lakshmi Krishnamurthy tells us how Kalakshetra’s Visual Arts Department is coming out of the shadows
Visual appeal: Sringeri Amman (Tanjore painting)
For decades since its establishment in 1936, Kalakshetra in Chennai has been known as a premier institution for Bharatanatyam and applauded for its dance drama productions. The music department has been a close second. But the visual arts section, despite being a vibrant training ground led by eminent artists and an inexhaustible support for the institution’s stage craft requirements, never got the same exposure as the performing arts.
Things are changing though. This February, the institution’s visual arts students, staff and alumni put up an exhibition in Chennai’s Lalit Kala Akademi — “Kalanubhava”, featuring paintings and sculptures. Organised by the Kalakshetra Alumni Association along with Kalakshetra Foundation, this exhibition was, somewhat shockingly, the first ever such event to take place since the department started in 1942.
In early March, when the Kalakshetra Alumni Reunion was organised in North India to coincide with Rukmini Devi’s birth anniversary celebrations, the visual arts alumni once again exhibited. The event that travelled from New Delhi to Chandigarh and Kalka included illustrated talks by Lakshmi Krishnamurthy, currently heading Kalakshetra’s Visual Arts department.
Lakshmi Krishnamurthy
Lakshmi was honoured on a platform shared with Gurus N.S. Jayalakshmi, Shanta and V.P. Dhanajayan, C.V. Chandrasekhar, and C.K. Balagopal. “I was humbled to represent Visual Arts along with stalwart dance gurus,” says Lakshmi. The camaraderie, the presence of chief guest Yamini Krishnamurti and the praise showered on the exhibition by reunion organisers Swagata Sen Pillai and senior dancer Jayalakshmi Eshwar, she says, “brought tears to my eyes.”
She notes it was Kalakshetra’s current director Revathi Ramachandran who first addressed the visual and performing arts faculty on an equal footing and broached the idea of including an exhibition in Kalakshetra’s famous Art Festival, which for the past eight decades has featured only dance and music performances. These deliberations and alumni interest set the ball rolling.
The exhibitions paid homage not only to the aesthetics of Rukmini Devi (the topic of one of Lakshmi’s presentations) but also to the department’s first head, the late K. Sreenivasulu (1923-1995). A Fellow of the national Lalit Kala Akademi, Sreenivasulu is remembered alongside Jamini Roy for his love of rural art traditions and the ability to blend ancient techniques with modern sensibilities.
Lakshmi says, “Kalakshetra was/is synonymous only with dance. Now it is the genesis of the Visual Arts Department.”
Importantly, Kalakshetra’s dance students were never led to believe their art could flourish without the allies of music and visual arts. An important aspect of their training was a perspective on the interconnectedness of the arts and their relation to everyday life. The students learnt about the importance of raga choices, colours and fabrics, sculpture traditions and the intricate craft of coconut frond decorations; shared the campus with the Kalamkari unit and the dairy, and saw the moods of the sea close-up. Their routine included drawing and painting classes under Sreenivasulu, as well as informal training as his assistants during the preparation of props and sets.
Lakshmi and her colleagues too have designed sets and headgear and helped in restoration. The symbiotic relationship between performers and visual artists was underlined by Lakshmi at the Delhi alumni meet where she told the gathering, largely comprising dancers, “Your aharya (costuming and set design) needs us!”
Rukmini Devi’s first performance of Bharatanatyam in the 1930s highlighted this “confluence of visual and performing arts,” remarks Lakshmi. “She used a temple in the backdrop, and the front curtain had Nandi – The vahana of Shiva Nataraja.”
Experiencing the aesthetics of a performance in Kalakshetra, she feels, “spoils” viewers who then cannot settle for less. “The stage is set in a semicircular format, with puja area one step down on the right of the stage and the accompanists’ area on the left, also one step down. Lighting leads you to the puja area where the lamp devoid of the stem is aglow with five wicks and placed on a floral plate, thus avoiding visual disturbance. Focus is generated from accompanists’ area to the puja to the performer. The triangle is effective and alluring, the (spectators’) eyes dance with the dancers. The symphony is so phenomenal that the performance reaches a crescendo. From the entrance, the simple thorans, kolam and other decorations declare that minimal is beautiful.”
“Elixir 2” from the series “The Quintessential Elixir” | Photo Credit: Thyagarajan. N
Symbiosis aside, dancers trained at Kalakshetra tend to carry a stamp — adhering to a recognised ‘gharana’ or bani of Bharatanatyam — while the visual artists display no such gharana allegiance. Perhaps, this came about because under Sreenivasulu, the training was individualised.
“With sir, it was one-to-one,” says Lakshmi, who enrolled in 1986. “He could turn a moth into a butterfly.” She did follow a syllabus, but when she asked for old techniques, “the floodgates opened.” She learnt various mural traditions, Thanjavur painting, glass painting and folk styles among others, bolstered by her penchant for academic research.
“When you are learning a new technique, copying is allowed — but not tracing — to focus on the nuances of the technique,” says the noted artist. But once the technique is acquired, “a little of one’s self should be there. It should come from within.”
Appointed as HOD in 2011, Lakshmi consolidated the syllabus as a tribute to her predecessor and guru. While artist Palaniappan helped her organise the other areas of study, explains Lakshmi, the Indian art component was completely designed by her. Topics include the shadangas (the six essential aspects of painting, including appearance, emotion, precision, etc.), human figure proportion based on the Shilpa shastras, miniature paintings, besides different mediums including glass and jewellery design, art direction and creative composition in pan-Indian techniques. In the fourth year, students choose a specialisation.
After the course, “they can pursue post-graduation in Madras University and post graduate diploma course in Santiniketan,” says Lakshmi, adding, “We are trying to open up to more universities.”
Pointing out that Kalakshetra is “the only college giving such a detailed Indian art programme,” Lakshmi states that students can enter teaching, art direction, advertising, logo designing, digital arts, and more.
Lakshmi submitted a proposal in 2013 to paint murals on the cottages along the path to the auditorium, featuring scenes from Rukmini Devi’s iconic Ramayana series of dramas, using various Indian painting traditions. “The idea was to invite artists, and students could help and learn at the same time.” She has discussed the scenes from each drama with Guru A. Janardhanan, among the handful of veteran dancers remaining, on whom Rukmini Devi choreographed the productions over 14 years starting 1955.
The purpose of the Kalakshetra Foundation Act of 1993, under which the Government declared Kalakshetra an institution of national importance, was to further the objectives for which Rukmini Devi founded it. With some artists who worked with Rukmini Devi still in the field, the time is more than ripe to build on the enthusiasm engendered by recent events and implement the mural painting proposal among others. Such projects, provided they are well thought through, would help clarify the significance of this institution to the current generation.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> Entertainment> Art / by Anjana Rajan / March 29th, 2019
