The mom and her baby along with the team of doctors at the hospital . —DC
Salem:
In a rare feat for a taluk government hospital, doctors at the Thiruchengode taluk hospital in Namakkal district performed an ABO incompatible blood transfusion procedure on a newborn successfully. The baby, suffering from severe jaundice, is now stable and recovering fast, doctors at the hospital said.
Nandakumar (30) and Shobanavalli (25) from Konniayaru village near Thiruchengode had their first child on October 5, 2013. The infant, whose blood group was different from the mother’s, had a severe attack of newborn jaundice and was in a critical condition.
The child was rushed to the Thiruchengode government hospital on October 6 and a three-hour-long blood transfusion took place at the hospital. Doctors at the GH said they had replaced 480 mg of blood from the newborn through the navel following the procedure.
“Now the child is recovering very well and is stable. The jaundice is almost cured and the baby is healthy,” said Dr Prakash from the hospital. He pointed out that while patients usually have to go to bigger cities like Salem or Coimbatore to do these transfusions in the past, government taluk hospitals were now equipped with facilities to perform such complicated procedures.
“Thanks to the insurance scheme for poor, our hospital also gets paid for the treatment given to poor through insurance companies which has helped us procure latest equipment for care of mother and child,” he said.
source: http://www.deccanchronicle.com / Deccan Chronicle / Home> News> Current affairs / DC / October 13th, 2013
Auspicious deco: Palaniappan inspecting the raffia strings holding up the ‘thoranam’ in Sri Thendayuthapani Temple. — The Straits Times / Asia News Network
It took more than 2,200 strings of leaves and flowers to set a new record for the longest thoranam – a decoration done for auspicious Indian events.
The 371m long thoranam hanging in the hall of Sri Thendayuthapani Temple will be entered in the Singapore Records.
About 150 people took part in the “Thoranam 1000” event organised by the Chettiars’ Temple Society. They made strings of jasmine and rose flowers and coconut and mango leaves and strung them all around the temple.
The youths connected with Indian culture through learning how to make flower garlands.
Among the participants was S. Palaniappan, 54, who was seen standing on a mobile scaffold to put up the strings of flowers.
The event was held in conjunction with Navarathiri, a nine-day Hindu festival. — The Straits Times / Asia News Network
source: http://www.thestar.com.my / The Star Online / Home> News> Regional / Monday – October 07th, 2013
P.S. Seshadri looks like any other person in their sixties, but perhaps what sets him apart from others of his age is his passionate devotion to a hobby. Seshadri has been a philatelist for the last 51 years. He is also the holder of the Limca Record for having the largest collection of commemorative stamps of a single design in the country.
Speaking of the record he says, “I made it in 2010 and am all set to break it now. Currently, I have 1,70,071 stamps of the same design.” The year was 1962 at the Don Bosco School in Salem and Seshadri was then in Class 8. “I was in the principal’s office,” he recalls, “and glancing at his table when a stamp lying there below the glass triggered my interest. It was a rare Italian stamp. Father was more than happy to part with it, and quite unwittingly, this gesture of his made a stamp collector out of me in due course.”
Seshadri’s parents too were supportive of his hobby, and his father, especially, would return with a new and rare set for him every time he visited Chennai. He kept his hobby alive through the years even as he pursued his studies with equal diligence. He sought out pen pals who could be a source of stamps, a magazine providing the avenue of making friends with like-minded interests. “And that’s how I was able to collect stamps from other countries too,” he says.
He continued to collect stamps even after taking up a job, but he thinks that at that time he did not have sufficient guidance in his task. Then a Swiss friend whom he met through his work – introduced him formally to the world of philately, and then on, there was no looking back. Seshadri’s collection was on display on Saturday at the DAV school, Velachery.
source: http://www.deccanchronicle.com / Deccan Chronicle / Home> News> Current Affairs / DC / by Jackson Jose / August 25th, 2013
Lt. Col. G.S. Gill was among the first of the prominent Punjabis who settled in the city and made important contributions./ Photo: Special Arrangement / The Hindu
Lt. Col. G.S. Gill was among the first of the prominent Punjabis who settled in the city and made important contributions
Fellow heritage enthusiast Sreemathy Mohan posted this photograph on Facebook leading to much merriment. Ironically, the ‘Gill’ who is commemorated was a doctor and therefore, technically, a giver of life.
Born on September 16, 1893, Gurdial Singh Gill was from Faridkot, Punjab. Sent to England to study law in 1912, he opted for medicine and moved to Edinburgh University from where he graduated in 1919, throwing in for good measure, a few months service in the Indian Field Ambulance Training Corps during the World War I.
Dr. Gill and his English wife Rena Lister Gill set up his practice and home at Bolton near Manchester for a while and raised a family of four sons. In 1923, they came to India where he joined the Indian Medical Service (IMS) and became Lt. Col. G.S. Gill, IMS. With the IMS being abolished in 1930, he moved to prison service and became inspector general of prisons, Madras, which meant all gaols in the presidency were under him. Most Madras-based Congress leaders arrested during the Quit India movement became his wards and there developed a close affinity between them and the warm-hearted Sikh.
Post independence, Gill opted to stay on in Madras. He and other prominent Punjabis settled here at that time were to make important contributions to the city. The Punjab Association was founded in 1937. The body was to be tested to the hilt in 1947 when scores of Partition refugees began arriving, most having no idea about the city to which they were making their way.
Lt Col. Gill would invariably meet them at the station. A ‘sharanagat rahat punarvas’ (refugee rehabilitation) committee was set up and with money obtained from donations, a colony was formed. The enterprising newcomers soon struck roots, becoming successful entrepreneurs and professionals. The colony became Gill Nagar.
Lt. Col. Gill was a close confidante of Maharani Vidyawati Devi Sahib of Vizianagaram, a princess from Keonthal near Shimla, who had married into a princely Andhra family and had, like him, been transplanted to the South. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan had been an early protégé of hers. In her, Gill found a powerful patron and supporter. In 1951, when the Punjabis in Madras felt the need for a gurudwara, it was the Maharani who helped. Work began in 1952, with Gill personally supervising the work. When the Maharani died she left her personal properties in a Trust to be administered by Gill, the income to be used for education.
Being the founder president of the Guru Nanak Society, in 1971, he got the Trust to part-fund the Guru Nanak College. Gill Adarsh Matriculation Higher Secondary School, set up in the 1980s and managed as one of the Adarsh Vidyalaya Schools run by the Punjab Association, also commemorates him. Lt. Col. Gill died in May 1982. His son was the celebrated Lt. Gen. I.S. Gill, PVSM, MC, whose life was documented in ‘Born to Dare’ by S. Muthiah.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Chennai / by Sriram V / June 04th, 2013
R. Kousalya Devi, Managing Trustee of Gandhigram Trust in Gandhigram, Madurai. / Photo: S. James / The Hindu
The oldest active gynaecologist at the Kasturba Hospital in Chinnalapatti near Dindigul, Dr. R. Kousalya Devi still goes on night calls and carries out her myriad duties from dawn till well past midnight.
What gives her so much energy at 83? “I am happily unmarried and still able to work by God’s grace,” she says with a warm smile. Having delivered three generations of babies and with people for miles around referring to her kai puniyam or blessed hands, she has quite a cult status in the region, but she doesn’t seem to notice it.
A 2009 file ohoto of Kousalya Devi with a child in Gandhigram. / Photo: S. James / The Hindu
Adviser to Kasturba Hospital and Managing Trustee of Gandhigram Trust, the apex body, Kousalya Devi initially came to this rural hospital in Tamil Nadu on a two-year deputation, quitting a secure government job, on the request of its founder, Dr. T. Soundaram, a disciple of Mahatma Gandhi and the daughter of eminent industrialist T.V.S. Sundaram Iyengar.
When she joined the unpretentious hospital nestled between the Sirumalai and Kodai hills 44 years ago, it had just 22 beds and she was the only doctor with clinical expertise. Today, Kasturba Hospital is a 350-bed top referral centre for high-risk obstetric cases, premature babies, and ailing newborns. It does nearly 400 deliveries a month and 4,000 tubectomies a year.
Under Kausalya Devi’s stewardship, the hospital has won the State Award 14 times and the National Award twice for its contribution to family welfare services. “Working here is a great experience because you see the direct impact you make on peoples’ lives. Acceptance of family planning has gone up, birth rate has decreased, and birth intervals increased,” she says.
Deeply influenced by the founder’s ideals — it is said that despite being an affluent businessman’s daughter Soundaram owned just three saris, one to wear, one to wash, and one to spare — Kousalya Devi says, “I advocate and practise simplicity and whoever works here with me does so by choice and not for want of money and fame.”
Kousalya Devi has refused several awards including the Padma Shri. “It is team work,” she says, “we are serving the rural poor, not doing anything unique.” Kasturba Hospital has a record of treating every patient irrespective of the individual’s capacity to pay or not. For 25 years, the hospital has also run an orphanage and is one of the recognised institutions in Tamil Nadu for in-country adoption.
Over the years, she has busted several myths by introducing the path-breaking re-canalisation procedure, promoting artificial insemination, and raising awareness on hygiene. “Today,” she says, “when a girl from Chinnalapatti gets married, she first checks whether her marital home has a toilet. This is real achievement.”
A two-decade-old battle against breast cancer is another hardship she wears lightly. “God has been kind to me. He has not burdened me with worries,” says the self-effacing doctor.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> Features> The Yin Thing / by Soma Basu / September 30th, 2013
Mylapore’s history is inexhaustible and every day, something new comes up. My latest discovery has to do with Devadi Street, a small thoroughfare that links Appu Mudali Street and Kutchery Road. For long, I had assumed that this was once the courtesan quarter of the old town of Mylapore-San Thome, arguably one of the oldest parts of what is Chennai. That was because the name sounded exactly like the Tamil term for the handmaidens of god.
Recently, while reading the biography of the dramatist Pammal Sambanda Mudaliar, I came across an interesting reference. He lived on Acharappan Street in George Town. A part of this street, he wrote, was known as Mahfuz Khan Devadi as it housed a garden belonging to a noble of the Nawab’s Court.
That set me thinking. Could Devadi Street in Mylapore too have some link to a Muslim nobleman? A search in old Corporation records threw up a surprise. The street was registered as Deodi Sardar-ul-mulk Dilawar Jung Bahadur. Deodi or Deorhi is the Persian/Urdu term for a doorway and that made this the street that led to the door of Sardar-ul-mulk Dilawar Jung Bahadur, whoever that was. Over time evidently, the owner was forgotten and only his door was remembered. More probing revealed that this was not a name but actually a string of titles that belonged to none other than Mohammed Ali Wallajah, the Nawab of the Carnatic, who was such a staunch ally of the British. By the 1760s, he had moved from his capital at Arcot to Madras. According to S. Anwar, the photographer who specialises in the Mohammedan history of this region, Wallajah first settled in Mylapore. By 1768, his Chepauk Palace in Triplicane was completed and he shifted there.
So did Deorhi or now Devadi Street once lead to his garden? It may well have, for this was once the outskirts of Mylapore, beyond which was the pasture land of Mandaveli. An ideal location for a ruler to settle — close to the town and yet just outside of it. The fact that this was once a garden is further confirmed by the presence of a mosque, named the Char Chaman (four garden) Masjid. An old structure that became dilapidated before being modernised, it still has an interesting archway with minarets as can be seen in this picture. This is on Appu Mudali Street, an extension of Devadi Street. Buildings hem it in but a walk around shows that it formed a block by itself once, surrounded by Syed Hameed Hussain, Syed Nadimullah and Syed Wahab Hussain Streets.
More Islamic clues follow. Mosque Street is not far away. And just after Devadi Street meets Kutchery Road is an even older shrine – the Jumma Mosque built in 1699. All this makes Mylapore an amalgam of Hindu, Muslim and Christian faiths. What better example of secularism can there be?
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Chennai / by Sriram V. / March 26th, 2013
A mushroom grower hailing from Villupuram district has bagged the Progressive Mushroom Grower award for this year for his outstanding contribution to the mushroom industry in Tamil Nadu.
A R Mohamed Khan from Kallakurichi in Villupuram district was earlier trained at Mushroom Research and Training Centre in Tamil Nadu Agricultural University (TNAU) in 2010.
The average mushroom production at his farm is 100 kg per day and he has also established a mushroom spawn laboratory with the production capacity of 300kg per day, said a statement from TNAU.
Apart from this, he is the only manufacturer of mushroom rusks in Tamil Nadu having the production capacity of 500 kg rusk a day.
Mohamed has also engaged around 10 dealers to supply mushroom rusks in Tamil Nadu and Kerala. His other products include mushroom pickles and mushroom pakodas and he has also developed the technology for producing mushroom noodles and mushroom bathing soap.
Considering such outstanding achievements in the mushroom industry, the award was presented to him by Directorate of Mushroom Research, Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR).
Dr Vijay Singh Thakar, Vice-Chancellor of Dr.Y.S.Parmar University of Horticulture & Forestry at Solan in Himachal Pradesh presented the award during the National Mushroom Mela held recently at Solan. TNAU officials said that his keen interest in providing support to small and marginal mushroom growers and efforts taken to popularise mushroom consumption needs special mention.
Mohamed Khan also gives free consultations to budding entrepreneurs and is a pioneer in introducing value addition of mushroom.
source: http://www.articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Coimbatore> Agri Research / TNN / September 30th, 2013
The glamour, glitz and crowds are elsewhere, as the celebrations for the 100 year of cinema culminate in another grand finale in the city. In contrast, it’s nearly idyllic in Film News Anandan’s flat in Mylapore. South Indian cinema’s chronicler is instead following up on the latest releases, updating his filmography.
Film News Anandan is, to use a cliché, a living encyclopaedia of Tamil cinema, and up to the 1980’s South Indian cinema. For journalists writing on film and harking back to the past, the absolute ‘go-to’ man is still this elderly person, his faculty of seeing dimmed, but his memory razor sharp even at 87. Give him a keyword, and he rattles off statistics and events, merely drawing on his memory.
A drama enthusiast and organiser, Anandan, whose parents named him Mani when he was born, entered films when he was about 25 years. Some friends of his had started the Film Fans Association and they decided to honour best performances in cinema at that time.
They asked Anandan to take pictures at the awards function, and the young man, already in love with cinema, swung by, with his Rs. 12 box camera. “It was too dark to shoot inside the Gaiety Theatre complex where the function was taking place. So I took pictures of the best actor B. Nagaiah, and best heroine Padmini when they came out,” he recollects.
It was in 1954 that Anandan acquired ‘Film News’ to his name, when he joined one of the early magazines to focus on cinema in the region as a photographer. By then, he had also wandered serendipitously into the office of the South Indian Film Chamber of Commerce and found himself a job with their journal. “I was asked to compile, every month, details about films releasing in all four south Indian languages. That is how everything began.”
Haridas, starring M.K. Thiagaraja Bhagavathar (pic) had the longest run ever. It released one Diwali, and ran through the second and third Diwali too.
He went from studio to studio gathering this information, driving his father’s car. Striking up friendships at the studios, he managed to get stills, memorabilia, and song books. That grew into a collection – piling up to an awe-inspiring 6,000 films – dating from the 1930’s talkies. With his collection of photos, he grew famous for preparing 100-film albums of the stars of those days – Sivaji Ganesan, MGR, K.R. Vijaya, Jayalalithaa, Sivakumar, even Kamal Haasan. These albums, that contained 100 stills, one from each of the films, were exhibited during the launch of their 100 films, to much applause.
These stills are today stored in two of his children’s homes. “I don’t think anyone else has this kind of database, in any of the languages,” he says, as a matter of fact but tinged with faint pride.
He fills up a sheet painstakingly, listing out key facts about films, even those that are being released today. “I can’t see any more, so my family helps me.” He’s also learnt the power of the net, and finds it easy to download stills of the newer films. In 2003, Chief Minister Jayalalithaa financed one of his long-pending dreams: she funded the publication of a book, which, arguably, is the most comprehensive filmography of Tamil cinema since 1930, till that date.
Film News Anandan is not a very happy man today, he feels ignored by the industry that he has helped chronicle. Regret is trying to peek in, held in restraint only by his love for cinema. “I loved it so much. I spent my entire time and money on my passion, even ignoring my family.” Even today, the meagre sum that he earns is spent on buying stills of films. “I don’t let a single still go, if I know about it,” he says, pride forcing its way back in.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> Features> CinemaPlus / by Ramya Kannan / Chennai – September 30th, 2013
Narayana Vadivu./ Photo: A. Muralitharan / The Hindu
When 39-year-old Narayana Vadivu cranked the diesel locomotive to haul a goods train on Friday morning assisted by her deputy Jhansi Rani, it was indeed a moment to cherish for both women.
It was the first time in the history of Southern Railway that an “all-women loco crew” was deployed to pilot an empty freight train on the 55-km stretch from Vriddhachalam to Ariyalur falling within the Villupuram–Tiruchi chord line section.
Hours later, the same crew was deployed to pilot another ‘Alco’ type broadgauge diesel loco, this time to haul a fully loaded goods train, transporting cement, from Ichchangadu to Vriddhachalam (24 km) in the same section.
Upon accomplishing both assignments, the two women returned to Tiruchi from Vriddhachalam piloting a triple light engine (wherein one loco will pull two engines).
Appointed initially as a Track Woman in 2004, Ms. Vadivu became an Assistant Loco Pilot in 2006 assisting Loco Pilots in goods, passenger, and express trains. It was in 2011 that she rose to become a diesel shunter piloting shunting locos individually from the Tiruchi coaching yard to the platform and back.
The new assignment of piloting a goods train was entrusted to her for the first time after she was elevated to the category of “Goods Loco Pilot” recently. “Although my earlier stint as a diesel shunter gave me enough experience to operate a diesel locomotive, the new task of piloting a goods train carrying heavy load with greater speed and to a longer distance was really exciting,” said Ms. Vadivu, a mother of two.
“I felt really elated while piloting a goods train single handed in an open line although a Loco Inspector travelled along with us on the first day to guide us on the section,” added Ms. Vadivu, a native of Ramchandra Nagar village near Vadakkankulam in Tirunelveli district.
As a diesel shunter, Ms. Vadivu says, she can pilot the loco at a slow speed of 15 km per hour. But being a loco pilot of a goods train is different.
It is essential to know complete details of the section that you are assigned, including the number of signals it has and its gradient to increase and reduce the sectional speed accordingly, she said.
However, the transition from piloting a shunting loco to a goods train was smooth for Ms. Vadivu.
Jhansi Rani. / Photo: A. Muralitharan / The Hindu
For Jhansi Rani, fresh out of induction training at the Diesel Traction Training Centre (DTTC) and at the Zonal Railway Training Institute (ZRTI) both in Tiruchi, it was her maiden mission as an Assistant Loco Pilot on board a diesel loco with the loco pilot also being a woman.
A senior railway officer here said Ms. Vadivu was put on the new job after she underwent hands-on training in learning the “roads” in the entire division and after requisite preparations. This is the first time in the history of Southern Railway that an “all-women loco crew” was deployed to pilot a goods train, the officer said.
Since it was the crew’s first assignment, a Loco Inspector was deputed to travel along with them in the ‘Alco’ type diesel engine to guide them in the section, the officer said.
Ms. Vadivu would henceforth be deployed for piloting goods trains regularly in different sections falling within the Tiruchi Division.
The officer said all Assistant Loco Pilots recruited in the Southern Railway zone are trained at the DTTC that is equipped with a diesel loco simulator and the ZRTI.
Refresher courses are conducted both for loco pilots and assistant loco pilots at periodic intervals to enhance their driving skills.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Tiruchirapalli / by R. Rajaram / Tiruchi – September 30th, 2013
Erode’s Karthick Maruthi and co-driver Shankar Anand won the Express Inn Rally of Nashik, the first round of FMSCI Indian National TSD Rally championship here Sunday.
The winning combination received a penalty of 54 seconds while Babno Machian and Rajanna Natrajan finished behind the Erode pair, some 56 seconds adrift while the experienced Girijashankar Joshy and Shrikant Gowda were third with 2:03.
Last year’s championship winners Satish Gopalkrishnan and Savera D’Souza, the husband-wife duo from Bangalore, were among 10 pairs who were excluded for finishing the rally outside the maximum permitted lateness.
There were no finishers in the Stock pro category while Paritosh Kohok and Nitin Nagar bagged the title in the two-wheeler section with a penalty of 37:27.
source: http://www.business-standard.com / Business Standard / Home> News-IANS> Sports / by IANS / Nashik – September 29th, 2013
