Chennai-based filmmaker Amshan Kumar’s ‘Yazhpanam Thedchanamoorthy Music Beyond Boundaries, won the National Award under the art/culture documentary category. The filmmaker who has made more than 20 documentaries such as Third Theatre and Subramania Bharati, was also director of the feature film ‘Oruthi’ (2003) which was picked to be showcased in the Indian Panorama.
He hopes the recognition will enthuse documentary filmmakers in the state. Kumar said, “There is no institutional support from the state government or any corporate bodies when it comes to documentary filmmaking. There is a severe lack of forums to exhibit them.”
source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / News Home> City> Chennai / TNN / March 30th, 2016
K. Karuppiah, Deputy Superintending Epigraphist, at the exhibition on Sunday —Photo: S.R. Raghunathan
Permanent museum-cum-exhibition named after Indologist E. Hultzsch
Lovers of heritage and students of history can now head to Fort St. George and visit a newly-created centre that has impressions of inscriptions from all over India on display.
Estampages, as these impressions of inscriptions are called, are displayed at the newly-created Eugen Julius Theodor Hultzsch Memorial Museum-cum-Epigraphical Photo Exhibition at the historic fort. The permanent museum-cum-exhibition has been named after E. Hultzsch, a German Indologist and epigraphist, known for his work in deciphering the inscriptions of Ashoka, officials said.
The museum has been created by the Epigraphy branch of Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), Southern Zone, as part of its cultural awareness programmes on the occasion of the 159th birth anniversary celebrations of Dr. Hultzsch and also the silver jubilee year (1990-2015) celebrations of ASI, Southern Zone.
“We have displayed the estampages of Tamil-Brahmi inscriptions from across the nation,” K. Karuppiah, Deputy Superintending Epigraphist, ASI, told The Hindu . The inscriptions are from the period between the third century B.C. and second century A.D. “They are in Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada, Sanskrit, and Prakrit. The nature of these inscriptions is donative records and hero worship. The staff of the Epigraphy branch visit villages across India, copy the inscriptions and decipher them. The most important deciphered inscriptions are highlighted in Epigraphia Indica, a quarterly journal of the ASI,” he said.
Through Tamil-Brahmi inscriptions, ASI gets a lot of information about Chera, Chola, and Pandya kings, he added.
The exhibition will be formally inaugurated at the ASI Office, Clive Building, Fort St. George, on Tuesday.
It will remain open on all working days and entry is free. For details, contact the ASI on Ph: 25675783
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Chennai / by T.S.Atul Swaminathan / Chennai – March 29th, 2016
The crew with Superstar Rajinikanth / Special Arrangement / The Hindu
Sudhir Srinivasan talks to writer-producer Dhananjayan about his documentary on veteran screenwriter and producer, Panchu Arunachalam
The censor board wasn’t pleased when they learned they had to certify A Creator with Midas Touch, writer-producer Dhananjayan’s documentary on Panchu Arunachalam. For one, the screening was scheduled on New Year’s eve. Two, it was a documentary, over two hours long. But according to Dhananjayan, when the film ended at 10:30 that night, the officials were unanimous in expressing that they couldn’t have ended 2015 in a better way. “It turns out even they were unaware of the extent of Panchu’s contribution to Tamil cinema.”
Panchu Arunachalam has written close to 100 films, including Murattu Kaalai, Sakalakala Vallavanand Apoorva Sagodharargal, “of which at least 70 turned out to be profitable.” A nephew of celebrated lyricist Kannadasan, he is also known for introducing Ilaiyaraaja, and taking Kamal Haasan and Rajinikanth to the masses. “Balachander may have introduced me, but Panchu made me an artist,” says Rajinikanth. Dhananjayan’s original plan was to make a documentary about Balachander, but it didn’t happen “due to financial reasons”. He was then approached by two financiers to make a documentary about Panchu, an opportunity he jumped at. “India recognises Salim-Javed’s contribution to cinema, but not Panchu’s, even though he has written at least twice the number of films they did.”
Dhananjayan’s film has many film personalities—Rajinikanth, S. P. Muthuraman, Bharathiraja, Mahendran—talking about their experiences with the veteran scriptwriter. Dhananjayan is disheartened that Kamal Haasan couldn’t be convinced to feature in the documentary. “I don’t want to speculate on his reasons for deciding not to participate. We were also this close to getting M. S. Viswanathan and K. S. Gopalakrishnan, but the veterans sadly passed away before we could fix up a meeting.”
Dhananjeyan with Legendary Paanchu
Made at a budget of Rs. 15 lakh, the documentary traces Panchu’s childhood at Karaikudi, his apprenticeship under uncle Kannadasan, and his rise in Tamil cinema. The film ends on a tragic note, when it notes that the Panchu family has suffered many losses during the last two decades. “There’s a lesson to be learnt here. If your trust is misplaced, you will end up losing everything,” says Dhananjayan. In the case of Panchu, an independent house has now been reduced to a two-bedroom apartment. “His family has no fancy car, even though he was instrumental in many actors becoming crorepatis. We have plenty of footage that explains how Panchu trusted certain actors and directors in vain. But I wasn’t sure if we needed to stir trouble, and so ended up not using it.”
After some coaxing, Dhananjayan reveals that chief among the films that caused severe losses to the Panchu family is Vasanth’s Poovellam Kettuppar. “The movie overshot its budget by at least four-five times. But Panchu wouldn’t stop the project midway. ‘What would happen to Sivakumar’s son? What would happen to Ilaiyaraaja’s son?’ he’d ask. He cared about people far too much to be a good businessman.” Dhananjayan, of course, admits that this information is anecdotal, and that the directors could well have their own version of these stories. “That’s why I thought it best not to retain these bits in the film.”
It wasn’t always so bleak for Panchu. His Veera was the first Tamil film to collect Rs. 1 crore in the NSC area (North Arcot, South Arcot and Chengalpattu). Rajini wanted to remake his dear friend Mohan Babu’s Telugu film, Allari Mogudu. But Suresh Krissna didn’t think the Telugu film was even half decent. “Panchu redeemed the script. He asked Suresh Krissna for a couple of days, and gave him a modified script he couldn’t refuse. He could see the good in the bad… even in scripts.”
Our Team with Shiva Kumar
Dhananjayan disagrees that Panchu Arunachalam is mainly known for his work in commercial films likeVeera. “What about films like Bhuvana Oru Kelvi Kuri, Aarilirunthu Arubathu Varai, Engeyo Ketta Kural and Mayangukiral Oru Maadhu? He was capable of writing such sensible stories too.” But Panchu was ever the producer’s writer. “If they insisted that he change parts of his story, he would happily oblige. He was all for the producers making a profit.” Dhananjayan calls Panchu a rare variety of writer: one without ego. “After he wrote Niram Maaratha Pookkal, Bharathiraja approached his close friend Bhagyaraj for advice. The latter rewrote the screenplay. Another writer would have been offended, but when Panchu learned of this, he read Bhagyaraj’s version and recommended that it be made into a film.”
Dhananjayan, who plans to make a feature film next year, intends to submit this documentary for the National Awards. “I hope that it will get Panchu some much-needed recognition.” A few television channels are already vying for the documentary’s rights, and you can see why. “I have sixteen hours of footage, with lots of controversial anecdotes.” The television channels are eager to air the portions that he has removed from his documentary. But Dhananjayan doesn’t mind. “Whatever it takes for people to recognise the immeasurable contributions Panchu has made to Tamil cinema.”
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> Features> Cinema / by Sudhir Srinivasan / March 26th, 2016
Celebrating women icons, Raindropss conducted its 4th annual women achiever awards on Saturday at a ceremony presided over by its brand ambassador and music composer AR Raihanah.
Raindropss is a youth-based social organization.
It gave away awards to project director of Agni and ‘Missile Woman of India’ Dr Tessy Thomas, first Indian woman fire officer Meenakshi Vijayakumar, musician Sudha Ranganathan, acid attack fighter and model Laxmi Agarwal and film director Sudha Kongara. tnn
source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / News Home> City> Chennai / TNN / March 28th, 2016
Presidency College c.1900 / Photo: Special Arrangement / The Hindu
Marking its 175th year in muted fashion this year is Presidency College, the oldest college in South India and the seed from which Madras University grew. But its early history has always left me with a question or two and I wonder whether some academic will shed some brighter light on those rather murky beginnings.
It was in March 1835 that the Government of India stated that “the object of Government ought to be the promotion of European literature and sciences among the natives of India.” It was an affirmation of Macaulay’s Minute on Education. But none of the Presidency governments knew quite what to do with this statement of policy. Of suggestions there was no shortage, but while Calcutta and Bombay did get around to action on some of these suggestions, Madras kept a debate going till there arrived a new Governor, Lord John Elphinstone, in 1838. To him George Norton, then the Advocate-General, and a few other eminent personalities presented a petition in November 1939 signed by 70,000 ‘native inhabitants’ seeking institutions of higher education.
Their petition read in part, “We see in the intellectual advancement of the people the true foundation of the nation’s prosperity… We descend from the oldest native subjects of the British Power in India, but we are the last who have been considered in the political endowments devoted to this liberal object…Where amongst us are the collegiate institutions which, founded for these generous objects, adorn the two sister presidencies?” The petition also promised that the citizenry would also gladly, “according to our means”, play a role in establishing such institutions if Government gave the lead.
A month later, Elphinstone responded positively with a proposal which is still what confuses me, even if it finally resulted in the birth of Presidency College. He proposed establishing a “collegiate institution, or a ‘University’” with two departments: A high school offering English Literature, a Regional language, Philosophy, and Science, to prepare students for the second department, the College, which would provide instruction in the higher branches of these subjects. A University Board, headed by Norton, was appointed in January 1840 to implement this proposal.
My confusion arises when I wonder whether there were no high schools before this — Madras history is full of schools of different types from at least 1715 and couldn’t they have years before 1840 been developed into high schools? Even as we wonder over this, there comes another poser. The University Board gets down to work and, believe it or not, starts a preparatory school! This school, started in Edinburgh House, Egmore, and later moved to Popham’s Broadway, was meant to prepare students for the High School! What were the other schools in Old Madras doing?
The High School opened its doors on April 14, 1841, in D’Monte House, Egmore, where the Chief Magistrate’s Court now is. Elphinstone, inaugurating the School, told the gathering, which included the School’s first 67 students that they were “witnessing the dawn of a new era, rather than the opening of a new school.” After studying English Prose and Grammar, Arithmetic and Algebra, Moral Science, History, Mechanics, Natural Philosophy, a vernacular and, in due course, Political Economy, the students graduated as ‘Proficients’. But what did they do for a degree?
Eyre Burton Powell, a Cambridge Wrangler, was appointed Headmaster and in 1853 saw the High School elevated to collegiate status. Two years later, in 1855, he became the first principal of the school that had attained collegiate status and which had been named Presidency College. But with no University in sight — The University of Madras was still two years away — where were the students getting their degrees — if any — from? Another mystery. The College moved to its new buildings on the Marina in 1870-71 by when its students were getting University of Madras degrees.
I don’t know whether a centenary or an earlier jubilee history of the College was written providing answers to all these strange goings-on in the early years of the institution. If not, one should be written now to explain why a major policy decision had to be taken to establish a prep school and a high school and how a college was founded with no University affiliation. Or perhaps someone will provide answers before a book is even thought of.
The Connemara Hotel main block before remodelling began in 1934 / Photo: Special Arrangement / The Hindu
… And a 125-year-old one
To mark its 125th year as the Connemara Hotel — without seeking to celebrate the years before that when it had been a hotel under different names — this landmark institution in the city is soon to start a year-long refurbishment and when that’s over I hope it will just be the Connemara again. I also hope it will then commemorate someone who has long been forgotten by it — Eugene Oakshott.
An architect’s sketch of what the remodelled Connemara (1930s) was expected to look like when complete — and as it remains today
The hotel has a Wallajah Room and an Arcot Room recalling the name of the Nawab, as well as that of his fiefdom, on whose once-upon-a-time land-holding the hotel came up. It also has a Binny Room, recalling the owner of a property successive hoteliers took over before it became the Connemara’s, but nowhere in the hotel is there anything named after the man who took over in 1891 the hotel that had been renamed the Connemara in 1890.
Eugene Oakshott was the boxwallah who took over in 1882 a small store called Spencer’s on Mount Road and by 1895 moved it into a palatial home further up the road and got it on its way to becoming the biggest retailing empire in Asia. He then bought for himself the neighbouring Connemara on the advice of a colleague James Stiven, who became a partner in, and General Manager of, the Connemara. It was Stiven who took the first steps towards making the Connemara what it became from the 1930s, the leading hotel in Madras till the 1970s.
How about an Oakshott Hall and a Stiven’s Bar to remember them both when the hotel opens in its new avatar next year?
When the postman knocked…
* Recalling the founding of Vidya Mandir, (Miscellany, March 14) C.L.R. Narasimhan, an old boy of Rosary Matric, remembers what a shock it was to parents like his who found their wards being suddenly asked to leave Rosary in the middle of its year when they were in the 4th Class. “It created a lot of consternation among parents, many of whom were active members of the Mylapore Ladies Club.” The concerted reaction of many such parents, he adds, led to the founding of Vidya Mandir 60 years ago. Nearby St. Bede’s and St. Patrick’s did not offer State Board finals and getting into Madras Christian College High School or Hindu High School was not only not easy but they were quite a distance away. So there was born of the determination of the MLC members Vidya Mandir with just one class, Class Four, and two “outstanding” teachers, Ammini, the daughter of noted scholar P.N. Appuswamy, and Stella, who later migrated to Australia.
Narasimhan also points out that there was a time when the Mylapore Ladies Club had an emphasis on sport, Ball Badminton being the most popular game. The five-a-side game played with a fluffy yellow ball is little heard of today, but till the 1960s it was one of the most participated in sports activities in South India. Shantha Narasimhan, my correspondent’s mother, was a regular member of the MLC team, which was one of the strongest teams in the city. Noteworthily, all its members played in nine-yard sarees! “It was comfort personified, my mother used to insist, whether playing badminton or tennis or rowing in the Kodaikanal regattas,” concludes Narasimhan.
* Going past the San Thomé cathedral, on the same side, you cross a narrow lane and then a pair of very impressive gates. To whom do these gates belong, asks G. Shantha. Judging from her description, I think the Church Shantha refers to is the St. Thomas Basilica. In which case, the handsome gates are those of the Archbishop of Mylapore’s Palace. The Palace is on the site of the large garden house John de Monte, a knight of the church, built in 1804. It passed through many hands, including Thomas Parry’s, before it was bought by the Church in 1838. Just before the consecration of the Basilica in 1896, Bishop Dom Henriques da Silva made it his Episcopal Palace. After the Archdiocese of Madras-Mylapore was created on December 12, 1952, its first Archbishop, Rev. Dr. Louis Mathias, had the Palace renovated and considerably expanded over the next year. The handsome gates were made by the Salesian Technical Institute, in Basin Bridge. He even created a museum of Catholic antiquities in the Palace grounds. But this has now been moved to buildings in the rear of the Basilica.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> Features> MetroPlus> Madras Miscellany / by S. Muthiah / Chennai – March 26th, 2016
Mention of an outer main-belt asteroid now brings to mind an endangered bird. It has been named after Akikiki, a critically endangered Hawaiian honeycreeper bird.
Prakash Vaithyanathan
The credit for this goes to Prakash Vaithyanathan, a science teacher from the city. Mr. Vaithyanathan said he had written to the International Astronomical Union (IAU) suggesting that new planetary bodies and other objects in space could be named after endangered or extinct animals, birds and plants. “In class, I keep speaking to my students about endangered and extinct flora and fauna and also encourage them to give each other nicknames based on such species. Most new planetary bodies and other objects discovered in space are given complicated names through a scientific protocol of the IAU and I wrote to ask them if they could name objects in space in the manner,” he said.
Mr. Vaithyanathan wrote to them on May 29, 2015, and received a reply the same day from a database manager with the IAU stating that they would be interested in implementing his idea.
“They contacted me again and asked me to suggest a name and I went with ‘Akikiki.’ The reason for choosing the name of the Hawaiian honeycreeper was because the IAU annual conference was happening in Hawaii in May,” Mr. Vaithyanathan said. Nearly ten months after his suggestion, the IAU implemented this and named an asteroid ‘Akikiki.’
In the small body database on the Jet Propulsion Laboratory website of the California Institute of Technology, credit for the name ‘7613 akikiki,’ assigned to an outer main-belt asteroid, is given to Mr. Vaithyanathan. It says: ‘name suggested by Indian high-school teacher P. Vaithyanathan, on the occasion of the 2015 IAU General Assembly.’
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Chennai / by S. Poorvaja / Chennai – March 23rd, 2016
Indian Institute of Technology, (IIT) Mumbai conferred the distinguished alumnus award on Dr Shantikumar V Nair, the dean of research and director of Amrita Centre for Nanosciences and Molecular Medicine at Amrita University in Coimbatore.
The Award was given in recognition of Dr Nair’s contribution as an outstanding academic and researcher in the field of nanosciences and molecular medicine.
He is known for his innovations in tissue-engineered products, nano-medicines, energy conversion and storage devices.
source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / News Home> City> Chennai / TNN / March 20th, 2016
Swetha (in red) with people from the Narikuravar community at the Marina beach Photo: R. Ravindran / The Hindu
Meet M. Swetha, Tamil Nadu’s first Engineering graduate from the Narikuravar community.
“Did you hear what he said?” asks M. Swetha, widening her eyes. We’re at the Marina beach for a photo shoot, and a small crowd has gathered. An onlooker makes a rude comment directed at one of the gypsy girls standing next to her. Swetha is disgusted. This is perhaps what sets her apart from her tribe. Narikuravar herself, she refuses to ignore the way society crinkles up its nose at the sight of people from her community. Swetha is the first Narikuravar girl in Tamil Nadu to get an Engineering degree — a feat that took her years of struggle to achieve.
The 22-year-old is caught between the excitement of the new possibilities that life brings her, and the responsibilities that rest on her shoulders. “Right now, all I want to focus on is my parents’ NGO, Narikuravar Education and Welfare Society in Tiruchi,” she says. Swetha is now the voice of her people. They have so many things to prove to the world — demands such as a Bill that provides them ST status. And it’s people like her who give the community hope.
But behind her every move is her mother M. Seetha, who hides a fiery nature beneath her smiling demeanour. Seetha had studied till Class X herself, and was bent upon educating her children. It began as a protest against the cloistered nature of her people. “We are from Devarayaneri on the outskirts of Tiruchi,” says Seetha. “When Swetha started school, there were no buses between our village and the outside world.”
And so, a whole community lived as though on an island. Parents sold beads and trinkets for a living, and their children stayed at home to cook and care for their younger siblings or followed them on their work trips. Girls as young as 13 were married off, and those who dared to marry outside their community were ousted from the village. “We are extremely traditional and have been following certain customs for years,” says Seetha.
But she wanted a change. How long could they go on this way? Young, and a little fearful back then, Seetha took a revolutionary step: she sent her daughter to school. She went with Swetha to school and back; for there were deserted stretches along the way to be covered on foot. “I would wait till school got over and bring her back,” remembers Seetha.
Swetha studied under the tutelage of her hawk-eyed mother, who faced opposition from her community every day. “Someone or the other would block our path as we walked to school, asking me why I was earning everybody’s hatred,” says Seetha. Swetha faced discrimination at her end too; sometimes veiled, and sometimes downright. “She would hush me if I spoke our language when I accompanied her to school,” laughs Seetha. “She didn’t want anyone to know who we were.”
Hostel wardens who used crude casteist language, incidences that made her almost quit college, constant threats from her community… Swetha grit her teeth through it all to get an engineering degree. Some others from her community followed suit — today, there are several youngsters who are educated and working in mainstream society.
But not all of them make it past Class X. Seetha states instances where Narikuravar children are asked to bring beads from home for their classmates. “Won’t this embarrass them?” she asks. As a result, they drop out of school and take to what their parents and grandparents did.
Swetha now attends fundraiser meetings with her mother and goes door-to-door to request Narikuravar people to send their children to school. Her parents run a school for children from their community that’s fallen on hard times, and she’s helping them get back on their feet. Ask her if she wants to work in the field of her education — she’s trained in Computer Science Engineering — and she hesitates. “I’ve not thought about that for now,” she smiles. One step at a time.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> Features> MetroPlus> Society / byAkila Kannadasan / March 18th, 2016
Asked to name warrior queens from the country, few would go beyond the Rani Laxmibai of Jhansi, and probably none would be able to name women from south India. Though history may make it seem that the first revolution of Independence in 1857 was an orchestration of north Indian rulers, Lucknow-based researcher Kirti Narain is bringing to the fore contribution of the forgotten heroes.
Narain says the popularly held belief that the revolution of 1857 was concentrated to north and central India was not true. “Southern India also responded to the first movement for Independence.Some of these southern rulers were women,” says Narain who was in the city recently with her assistant Amina Hasan to delve into the Tamil Nadu government archives. Narain is engaged in a study , on participation of women in the 1857 uprising under the aegis of the Indian Council of Social Science Research and the Giri Institute of Development Studies, Aliganj in Lucknow.
Instead of going by British records, Narain’s study has unearthed forgotten Indian writings. Backing her findings, Narain cites examples of powerful women like the 18th century Sivaganga queen Rani Velu Nachiyar, besides Belawadi Mallamma and Kittur Rani Chennamma of Karnataka.
“Rani Velu Nachiyar was the first queen of Tamil origin to fight against the British in India. She formed an army and fought and won against the British in 1780, with military assistance from Hyder Ali,” says Narain, head of Giri Institute of Development Studies. Nachiyar, the princess of Ramanathapuram, was married to the king of Sivaganga, Muthuvaduganatha Periyaudaiyathevar. She was drawn into battle after her husband was killed by the British. Living under the protection of Hyder Ali of Mysore near Dindigul, Nachiyar was said to have come up with idea of a human bomb. She also formed a women’s army and was one of the few rulers who regained her kingdom and ruled for 10 more years.
Inspiring women in the south was another queen from Karnataka Kittur Rani Chennamma. Born in 1791, she was best known for leading an armed rebellion against the East India Company in 1824. The resistance ended with her arrest and she was imprisoned for life.Adept at horse riding, sword fighting and archery from her youth, Channamma called for a war when the British refused to accept her adopted son as ruler. “Kittur Rani Chennamma was the first woman activist who fought a lonely , but courageous battle against the British. She did not succeed in driving them away , but she inspired many women,” says Narain.
Prior to these women, Belawadi Mallamma was a popular warrior queen from Bailhongal, in Belgaum district of Karnataka. She was the first woman to form a women’s army to fight against the British and the Marathas in the 17th century. “Belawadi Mallamma fought with the Maratha king, Shivaji, while defending her husband’s kingdom. She was defeated and taken to Shivaji, who was quite impressed by her valour and decided to return the kingdom.”
During the turbulence of revolt, there were many women who participated in their own way. While many gave away their jewellery to finance the revolution, some requested their masters to train them in warfare. “Our study also looks at unknown women and tribal women who have no identity. These women played a significant role in the revolt,” says Narain.
source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / News Home> City> Chennai / TNN / by CDS Mani / TNN / March 17th, 2016
R. Madanagopal, professor and head, ENT, Government Vellore Medical College Hospital along with V. Anandan who underwent the surgery. Hospital dean, Usha Sadasivam, is also in the picture.- Photo: C. Venkatachalapathy
After experiencing difficulty in swallowing food and losing close to 15 kilos in two months, 21-year-old V. Anandan is returning to normal life. Little was he aware that a cricket ball-sized tumour was growing in his oral cavity, giving him a tough time even for breathing.
It was only 15 days ago that Anandan, a carpenter from Ambur, knew he had a tumour in the oral cavity after being examined by ENT doctors at Government Vellore Medical College Hospital (GVMCH), Adukkamparai.
“We did a MRI scan and found that he had a parapharyngeal mass present in the oral cavity. This has been causing difficulty in swallowing, breathlessness, change of voice and loss of weight,” R. Madanagopal, professor and head, ENT, GVMCH told reporters on Tuesday.
Following this, the doctors planned a surgery to excise the tumour.
“However, we did not want to perform the procedure by cutting open the neck as the nerves and blood vessels will be compromised. Instead, we did a tracheostomy to enable him to breathe. We secured his airway, and performed the procedure through the oral route and excised the mass,” he said.
A team of five doctors performed a two-hour surgery on March 11 and removed the tumour. Also a Fine-Needle Aspiration Cytology found that the tumour was benign.
However, the cause of the tumour is not known, Dr. Madanagopal observed. “The tumour could have started to grow slowly at least in the last six months,” he said.
The surgery was covered under the Chief Minister’s Comprehensive Health Insurance Scheme. Usha Sadasivam, GVMCH dean, was present. Doctors -Bharathi Mohan, ENT professor, R. M. Elango, Kalidas and Thilagavathy – assistant professors – were part of the surgical team.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> National> Tamil Nadu / by Staff Reporter / Vellore – March 16th, 2016
