The 143rd birth anniversary of freedom fighter V O Chidambaram Pillai, popularly known as VOC, was observed here on Friday.
Leaders of political parties and organizations garlanded VOC’s statue at Simmakkal. Those who garlanded the statue include Tamil Nadu co-operative minister and the AIADMK’s Madurai district secretary K Sellur Raju, Madurai South MLA R Annadurai (CPM), Tamil Nadu Congress Committee president B S Gnanadesikan, DMK leader Jayaraman and representatives of VOC Peravai and Hindu Ilaignar Peravai.
Hindu Ilaignar Peravai activists raised slogans asking people to support indigenous products and avoid foreign goods.
VOC was born in Tuticorin district on September 5, 1872. A disciple of Bal Gangadhar Tilak, he launched the first indigenous Indian shipping service between Tuticorin and Colombo. He died on November 18, 1936.
source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Madurai / byL. Srinivasan, TNN / September 05th, 2014
The death of a close relative in a road accident has prompted a 13-year-old student in the Nilgiris to invent a device he claims can alert drowsy drivers and help avert accidents.
The ‘Eye Blink Infrared Sensor’, the result of a year’s efforts by M Gokul, provided the class 8 student of the municipal middle school at RK Puram in Ooty, a chance to participate in the state-level exhibition for INSPIRE Award conducted by the Union government’s department of science and technology, Tamil Nadu science and technology centre and Shivani College of Engineering and Technology, Trichy on Saturday.
The device is aimed at preventing accidents due to the drowsiness of the drivers of all vehicles, including two-wheelers. The infrared sensor is designed to sense the blinking of the eyelids. If the lids remain idle for a few seconds, the sensor will pass a signal through a pic micro controller to the vibrator under the driver’s seat. The activated vibrator will shake the seat, jolting the driver awake.
“It was the death of my uncle P Kumar, a government bus driver, which kindled my innovation to design a device to avoid accidents. He met with the accident as he slept while driving the bus. The accident forced me to think that no one should die due to the drowsiness of the driver,” Gokul told ToI. He said he had been working on the device after class hours.
The signal will also stop the engine and make the vehicle come to halt gradually. L Sundaram, the science teacher who supported Gokul in his project, said they were making efforts to test the device in vehicles with the government’s help. “It is not costly and can be used in all vehicles. We need support from the government to take it to the next level,” he said.
Gokul’s father A Mani, a tea agent, is proud of his younger son. “When he expressed his thoughts to invent a device, I wholeheartedly supported him.
His continuous efforts have helped him create such a device. I will encourage him to go on in his career,” said Mani, whose elder son also won a competition at the INSPIRE programme in Chennai.
source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Trichy / by Gokul Rajendran, TNN / September 07th, 2014
“I’m deeply moved to receive an honorary doctorate from such a distinguished school which has contributed so much to the world of music,” said Rahman.
In recognition of his two-decades-long musical legacy, the prestigious Berklee College of Music is all set to honour Oscar-winning composer A R Rahman with an honorary doctorate.
The honour will be conferred on Rahman, 47, best known globally for the original scores and songs in ‘Slumdog Millionaire’, ‘127 Hours’, ‘Elizabeth: The Golden Age’ and ‘Million Dollar Arm’, at an event at the Berklee College of Music on October 24, a media statement said.
“I’m deeply moved to receive an honorary doctorate from such a distinguished school which has contributed so much to the world of music,” said Rahman.
“I’m especially proud and honoured the college is graciously establishing a scholarship in my name for future generations of musicians to follow their dreams,” he added.
Berklee College of Music president Roger H Brown said, “A friend from India described A R Rahman to me as John Williams and Sting rolled into one – a leading film composer and a wildly popular, brilliant songwriter and performer.
“We welcome him to Berklee, where the college and our students look forward to paying our respects.”
At a concert celebrating his career on October 24, 2014 in Boston, students and faculty will perform songs paying tribute to his distinguished work with Rahman performing alongside them for select pieces.
In addition to the performance, Rahman will conduct a master class at the Berklee Performance Center, the college said in a statement.
In honour of Rahman’s new relationship with Berklee, the college will establish a scholarship in his name to help bring students from India to Berklee. All proceeds from the October 24 concert will go toward this scholarship fund, the statement said.
source: http://www.indianexpress.com / The Indian Express / Home> Entertainment> Music / Press Trust of India, Washington / July 18th, 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
Dipika Pallikal and Joshna Chinappa being felicitated by MCC President Ajit Kumbhat. Photo : M.Vedhan
Madras Cricket Club (MCC) on Saturday honoured two of its “own children” — Joshna Chinappa and Dipika Pallikal — for having won the squash doubles gold at the Glasgow Commonwealth Games.
MCC president Ajit Kumbhat, hailed Joshna and Dipika as “role models for future generations.”
Tamil Nadu Squash Rackets Association founder member Dr. Ravi Santosham described the duo as “world champions”. Also, Joshna’s comeback from a grave knee surgery a few years ago was the stuff of legends, he said.
Former men’s National squash champion Ali Ispahani urged Joshna and Dipika “to stay out of the country for eight months (in a year)” if they wished to succeed. “If they stay out of India (and practice abroad) they can reach the top 5 (in the world),” he said. The day is not far off when the “girls from our club” will become world champions, he added.
The Hindu Sports Editor Nirmal Shekar said the growth of squash had a lot do with “N. Ramachandran (World Squash Federation president) and clubs like MCC.” He added: “they (Joshna & Dipika) will be right on top (in world rankings) in the next few years.”
Former World women’s champion Sarah Fitz-Gerald, now coach of Dipika, said both the players had “the ability to go higher.”
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> Sport> Other Sports / by Special Correspondent / Chennai – August 31st, 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
Ten teachers, including four from higher secondary schools and six from elementary schools received the State Best Teachers Award for this year.
They are: K Visalakshmi, head master of Government Girls Higher Secondary School, Poigai, P Karunanidhi, (PG teacher at SRK BHEL school at Ranipet, K Veermani of TVKV Aided High School at Vaniyambadi and G Tamilselvan of Governemnt Higher Secondary School at Vellakuttai, all from higher secondary school category.
In the elementary level, six teachers from the government middle schools received the award. They are: Jayaseelan, head master Panchayat Union Middle Schools at Thandalam, A P Janakiraman, head master, Panchayat Union Middle School at Mohamadhipettai, S Shanti, headmaster, Panchayat Union Middle School, Kalacheri, Bharathi Kandoji Rao, secondary grade teacher, Panchayat Middle School at Vandaranthangal, N Narumalar, headmaster, Panchayat Union Middle School, Anna Nagar, Natrampalli and C S Raja, Head master, Panchayat Union Middle School, Kavaraiyur.
source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> States> Tamil Nadu / by Express News Service / September 06th, 2014
She’s spent the last few years tracking down her ancestors but when Australian social anthropologist Lesley Branagan reached the cemetery where the graves of her great-grand uncle and aunt are located in Kotagiri she was disappointed to find it in ruins and overrun with thorns and brambles.
The cemetery in Dimbatty village, about 1km from Kotagiri, is the first Christian burial ground of the Nilgiris and contains the graves of a number of British-era personalities who contributed to the entire state’s development. It was founded as an Angilican burial ground in 1822 on land gifted by modern Ooty’s founder John Sullivan.
Among the people buried here is Ralph T H Griffith of Corsley estate who was the first to translate the Vedas into English around 1900. According to Dharmalingam Venugopal, director of Nilgiri Documentation Centre, the entire Cockburn family is buried there. M D Cockburn of Hope Park, former Salem collector and regarded as the ‘father of Yercaud’, was the first to introduce coffee cultivation in Kotagiri. The popular tourist spot of Catherine Falls is named after his wife who loved to paint near them. The schools and churches the Cockburns helped build are still in use.
“The families in the British India Society Database’ contains the details of the graves along with their photographs taken 10 years ago,” said Venugopal. “Family members like Branagan who came hoping to see the graves are greatly disappointed. Even about five years ago the cemetery was well maintained.”
The cemetery is supposed to be undergoing restoration with the assistance of British Association for Cemeteries in South Asia. “The cemetery is part of Nilgiri history and heritage and needs to be cared for properly,” he said. Robert Stanes and his wife of the famous Stanes family of Coimbatore, E J Boesinger, one of the pioneering photographers of the Nilgiris, and noted archeologist A H Longhurst are other notable persons buried in the cemetery, apart from several planters and missionaries.
source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Coimbatore / TNN / August 12th, 2014
If ever there was a ‘piece of action’ that charted the course of history’, Captain D P Ramachandran believes it was the Battle of Adyar. Which is why the battle forms the opening chapter of his book, the “Empire’s First Soldiers”, detailing how the Madras Soldier was the reason for both the rise and fall of the British empire in India.
“Several years ago, I was asked to research the military history of Madras city for the Association of British Scholars and that ultimately led to the book,” says Captain Ramachandran, now 68.
Although the book was released several years ago, Ramachandran is still called on for Madras Week celebrations to speak about the Madras troops.
“I have visited every battle-field mentioned in the book so I could visualize the possible strategies and blueprint how the battle might have taken place,” says Ramachandran. “In terms of the Battle of Adyar, if you stand overlooking the mouth of the river, even today, it is not difficult to visualize the two armies facing off. I believe that battle, led to the creation of the Indian army,” he says.
The Madras soldiers returned to the spotlight when the British began recruiting them for fighting overseas wars. “Troops from North India would refuse to cross the blackwater (sea) but the Madras soldiers were willing to travel,” says Ramachandran.
“The Madras Army was the first the British created in India. This was followed by the Bengal army and then the Bombay army. It was after the First War of Independence in 1857 that the military operation went northwards,” says Ramachandran.
After this year, he adds, British interest in soldiers from the south waned. “The south Indians too lost interest in the British army. The British later began recruiting them as sappers or engineers in the army.” To date, the Madras Sappers, which include men from all the four southern states, have distinguished themselves both in the armed forces as well as in the area of Indian sport.
source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Chennai / TNN / September 05th, 2014
