Officials standing near the vessel SSL Gujarat bound for Dubai at the VOC Port in Thoothukudi on Tuesday
Thoothukudi :
The first regular container service to Dubai from VOC Port was inaugurated on Tuesday by VOC Port Trust chairman S Anantha Chandra Bose.
The service, which would start from the wee hours of Wednesday, is expected to reduce shipment time by about four days from the port to Dubai as at present ships go via the Port of Colombo.
But now with the services of large container ships such as mv SSL Gujarat, which could carry 487 containers of 507 TEUs and is called in for the inauguration, the Port of Colombo could be avoided, hence saving both time and cost, sources said.
VOC Port will in a month run four container services, which would sail from berth 8 at the port run by Dakshin Barath Gateway Terminal Pvt Ltd (DBGT), to Jebel Ali Port in Dubai.
Addressing the media, DBGT CEO Ramji S Krishnan said with the mainland container service, ships no more need to go to the Port of Colombo for transshipment. “Both time and transshipment tariff should greatly be reduced due to the service.”
It has been taking 10 days for ships to reach Dubai via Colombo, but the service would reduce this to just six days, he said.
Addressing the media after the inauguration, VOC Port Trust chairman S Anantha Chandra Bose said the port, ranked third among 12 major ports in the country, will submit the report on the outer harbour expansion project to the Centre for cabinet approval within a week.
When asked about the ferry service to Colombo, he claimed that two private parties had shown interest in the project and added that VOC Port Trust would offer every help to companies.
The port would also introduce the radio frequency identification (RFID) system for containers which would reduce time and paper work and enable online transactions, the chairman said
source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> States> Tamil Nadu / Express News Service / February 11th, 2015
As the new year gets underway, it’s time what is now rather unrecognisably being called Vivanta by Taj Connemara begins thinking of how to celebrate its 125th birthday on November 27th and to tell everyone that it is the oldest Western-style hotel in South India still-in-business. Its roots, however, go back to even before 1890.
On the Connemara’s site by what was once called the Neill statue junction there was one of Madras’s earliest Western-style hotels, The Imperial, dating to 1854 and long pre-dating the controversial statue to one of the hangmen of the Great Revolt, Gen. James Neill. An 1880 advertisement referring to the Neill Statue location and the date of establishment has its proprietor T. Ruthnavaloo Moodeliar stating that the “Premises consist of a large Upstair House, detached Bungalow, and Bachelor’s quarters” and urging the public to take a look at the hotel’s “Testimonial Books, which certify to the respectability, comfort and good management of the Establishment.” The buildings referred to were no longer those of John Binny, who sank the roots of Binny’s in 1799 after having been in the Nawab of Arcot’s service from 1797 and from whom he had acquired the property. He lived in this garden house till his death in 1821 after which Binny’s sold the property which eventually came into Ruthnavaloo Moodeliar’s hands.
Somewhere along the way, The Imperial became the Albany, no doubt the name given to it by a new lessee, and then became the Connemara, the name given to it in 1890 by the brothers P. Cumaraguru and Chokalinga Mudelly who took it on a three-year lease. On December 3, 1890, the brothers “solicited” in an advertisement a trial of their new establishment which was only “a minute’s walk to the Madras Club”. The advertisement (alongside) promised “nothing is wanting to constitute it a really first class hotel” and also “guaranteed” an “excellent table”. Its new name, however, is unexplained.
But The Madras Mail of November 27, 1890, reporting on the opening of the Connemara wrote, “In the dim and distant future when people as yet unborn will bend their steps to Chennaipatnam (a remarkably prophetic quote, your columnist thinks) and seek boarding and lodging at the ‘Connemara’, they may be induced by a laudable curiosity to enquire ‘why does this hotel bear the name of a district of the County Galway in Ireland’. Then will the phenomenally well informed, old inhabitant make reply, and enlarge on the halcyon days when my Lord Connemara ruled the land, lived his little span, and then passed away, neither unregretted nor unsung. Well may his Excellency exclaim with the bard, when he reads the legend in large characters that spans the chief entrance to the Hotel referred to:
‘Nor fame I slight, nor for her favours I call,
She comes unlooked for, if she comes at all.’ ”
Eugene Oakshott of Spencer’s, bent on expanding his empire, acquired the hotel on April 23, 1891 and let the lease to the Mudelly brothers run till its end in 1893 when he got his partner James Stiven to run the hotel. At the time garden houses were the spaces used for hotels. Stiven reconstructed the Connemara and in May 1901 it became Madras’s first hotel to be housed in a building specifically built to be a hotel. On July 1, 1913, Eugene Oakshott’s sons Percy and Roy sold the hotel to Spencer’s in whose hands it still remains a hundred years later, though it is managed by The Taj Group.
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Of shells and bombs
At a lunch the other day, my neighbour at the table wanted to know whether I learn something new from the readers who write to this column. I told her that I learn something new every day not only from all those who keep the postman and other means of communication busy but from the journals and other publications I receive as well as the places I visit.
The plaques at the Fort Museum
I mention this because of something I learnt from a picture of an exhibit in the Fort Museum that I found in a publication I received recently. For years I’ve been visiting the Fort Museum but till now had not really read the information on two brass plaques there. After reading the first few lines on the first plaque, I had skipped the rest thinking that all of it had to do with the shelling of Madras by the SMS Emden in 1914, a subject which I had read much about. But to my surprise the picture I looked at the other day showed the second plaque providing me a more positive answer to a question I’ve often been asked about whether Madras had been bombed by the Japanese during World War II and to which I always tended to give uncertain answers. And there the answer has been all these years in the Fort Museum. Yes, Madras was bombed — not in 1942, as all who’ve asked me the question tended to believe, but in 1943. That raises a mystery or two, which I’ll come to in a moment.
First the two plaques. One is titled ‘Bombardment of Madras’, the other ‘Bombing of Madras’. The first displays a fragment of a ‘shell’ fired by the Emden and presented to the Museum by V.K. Ratnasabapathy of Bangalore and the other displays a fragment of a ‘bomb’ — all the terminology, I note, is perfectly correct — “dropped by a Japanese fighter craft on Madras on 12th October 1943…” It was presented to the Museum by A.V. Patro, Commissioner of Police, Madras. And it can’t get more official than that.
But despite the official seal to the information there remains a mystery or two. Few fighter aircraft carried bombs during World War II. Fighters were also short range aircraft, particularly if it was a Mitsubishi Zero (or its seaplane version) as many surmise it was. So did it come from an aircraft carrier? But by 1943, the Japanese had virtually quit the Indian Ocean. So where was there a carrier? Answers from anyone?
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The Boddam statue
Justice Hungerford Tudor Boddam, a Puisne Judge of the Madras High Court (1896-1908), is one of the few British High Court judges to have a statue of him raised in the city. And I have often wondered why, particularly as he was said to be a mediocre judge. I recently came across an account which might explain why he was so privileged. Apparently he took a considerable interest in the activities of the Madras Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA). This included getting its handsome building on Vepery High Road built and inaugurated in 1900 and persuading leading local citizens like Raja Sir Ramaswami Mudaliar, Lodd Govindoss and G. Narayanaswami Chetty to get involved with the Society’s activities. The statue was first raised near the Willingdon (now Periyar) Bridge on Mount Road but was later moved to Napier Park from where it’s gone into seclusion till the Metro authorities keep their promise and return it to Napier Park once their work in finished.
The statue of Justice Boddam
A proposal for such a society was first discussed in 1877 by some of the leading Europeans of Madras, but it was established only in 1881, with the Duke of Buckingham and Chandos its first Patron and Bishop Frederick Gell its first President. It had in its first years an entirely European membership, Indians showing little interest in its activities which focused on preventing the ill-treatment of animals and improving the conditions under which they were maintained. It was Boddam’s efforts that led to Indians joining the Society from 1903. By then Boddam had got Raja Venugopala Mudaliar to fund the Hospital for Animals that stands in Vepery in the donor’s name.
The society had no plenary powers during the first years of its existence. In 1894, Government conferred on it plenary powers and the SPCA was granted police powers to charge persons ill-treating animals. Starting with action it took when, in 1936, 23 goats were slaughtered in a mutt in Kumbakonam to the chanting of mantras and the flesh offered to the deities, it did much to bring down animal sacrifice in the State.
Boddam was also responsible for persuading the local citizenry to found a pinjrapole. The same citizenry, mainly the Gujaratis of Madras, were possibly those whose “subscription” made possible the 1911 statue.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> Features> MetroPlus / by S. Muthiah / February 08th, 2015
Western classical music maestro Zubin Mehta will perform with over 100 musicians of the Australian World Orchestra (AWO) in Chennai in October this year. This programme has been made possible in part thanks to funding support announced by the Australian Government.
The Australian Minister for the Arts George Brandis QC announced that the government will provide $2,50,000 (AUD) in funding to support the AWO’s tour to three Indian cities – Mumbai, Chennai and New Delhi, said a press release here from the Australian Consulate General, Chennai.
The AWO’s musicians have performed in leading world orchestras including the London Symphony Orchestra, the Berlin and Vienna Philharmonic and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.
Arriving in Mumbai, then coming to Chennai and going to Delhi. The final details are being worked out.
Mr. Mehta has previously conducted the AWO for concerts in Sydney and Melbourne and was so impressed with them that he decided to invite the orchestra to perform in India.
Australian Consul-General to South India Sean Kelly said: “I am delighted that we can help bring the Australian World Orchestra and Maestro Zubin Mehta to Chennai this year.”
As part of the tour, orchestra will also deliver an education program to young Indian musicians and perform Haydn’s Toy Symphony in a series of concerts for underprivileged children, with the involvement of a number of Australian and Indian cricketers.
Australian High Commissioner to India, Patrick Suckling, said the concert tour would be a rare opportunity for Indian audiences to experience the finest talents in Western classical music from India and Australia.
“This is a wonderful example of the growing cultural engagement between Australia and India, which is a critical foundation of the relationship between our two countries,” Mr. Suckling said.
The press release also said that cultural engagement has been a key priority for both the Australian and India Governments and during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Australia in November 2014, Mr. Modi and Prime Minister Tony Abbott witnessed the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding on Arts and Culture.
Mr. Modi also announced a Festival of Indian Culture in Australia in 2015/16 to showcase the dynamism and diversity of contemporary Indian culture. Further information on the AWO can be found on their website www.australianworldorchestra.com.au
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Chennai / by Prasanth Radhakrishnan / Chennai – February 09th, 2015
Three streets (a main road and two connecting roads) near St Britto School in Gnanaolivapuram here, called Sister Rose street, bear the name of a Canadian nun who pioneered girls’ education in Madurai and founded three important educational institutions in the temple town.
Sr Rose Benedicte Benoit (1898 – 1968), known as Mother Rose in Madurai, was born as Marie Ange Benoit at le Conte de Drummont in Canada. She joined the congregation of Sisters of St Joseph of Lyons in the year 1913 and became a nun in 1915. She came to down to India in the year 1924 and was the first American missionary of the congregation to work in the country. During her service in Madurai, she found that girl children were seen a burden and many daughters used to be abandoned. Realising that empowering women through education will put an end to their misery, she started Holy Family Primary School in 1953 inside St Britto School campus, which she shifted to an adjacent plot in later years.
She eventually went on to found renowned educational institutions for girls here like St Joseph’s School and Fatima College.
“Sr Rose was the pioneer of promoting women’s education in Madurai and she founded three important education institutions for women here,” said Sr A Sahayamary, Head Mistress of Holy Family Girls School in Gnanaolivapuram.
Sr Kulandai Therese, 68, correspondent of the school and hailing from the locality, remembers the personality of Sr Rose. “She was the most compassionate and tender-hearted nun I saw as a girl when I was growing up here. Most of this area included slums inhabited by poor people. She would go to every house and bring girl children from houses, convincing parents to educate them. She did a phenomenal service to women’s education,” she said.
Sr Rose died of lung infection, believed to have been caused by the excess cement she inhaled during the construction of Fatima College. While she was alive, to honour her service, Madurai municipality offered a medal, but she declined to accept it. After her death, her statue was erected in old Kamarajar University Campus inside the city, Sr Therese added.
D Solomon, 62, a resident of Melaponnagaram, said that it was a mostly-dalit area and nuns from the convent helped them a great deal. They educated their children and the streets were named after the foreign nun who worked tirelessly for the cause of women’s education.
source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Madurai / by J. Arockiaraj, TNN /February 08th, 2015
Doctors addressing mediapersons at Apollo Hospitals on Friday | D SAMPATH KUMAR
Chennai :
About 300 international and national delegates including surgeons, gastroenterologists and oncologists, will participate in the one-day International conference on pancreatic cancer by Apollo Hospitals on February 8.
“With the detection of pancreatic cancer at an early stage being tougher than detecting other cancers, sensitising people about the disease is of prime importance. This one-day conference will shed light on the disease and its treatment,” said Dr Sathya Bhama, director of Medical Services (DMS), Apollo Hospitals, talking to reporters on Friday.
“Symptoms of pancreatic cancer are deceptive. Most of the symptoms are usually mistaken for gastrointestinal problems such as indigestion, ulcer, uneasiness, abdominal pain, etc. Chances of missing early diagnosis are high due to this camouflaged nature of the disease. In the last 25 years, the hospital has performed about 2,000 pancreatic cancer surgeries,” added T G Balachander, senior surgical gastroenterologist at the hospital.
The idea behind conducting such conferences was to educate medical professionals about the latest diagnostic and treatment trends in the field of pancreatic diseases, said the doctors.
Delegates from Singapore, Delhi, Kerala, Mumbai and Coimbatore will be taking part in the conference.
Dr Prasanna Kumar Reddy, senior surgical gastroenterologist of the hospital also spoke about the conference.
source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Cities> Chennai / by Express News Service / February 07th, 2015
Suresh and Arul Murugan of Chloroplast Foods (second and third from left) with the organisers of IIT Bombay’s Entrepreneurship Summit 2015.
Chennai-based start-up Chloroplast Foods was one of the six start-ups to bag on-the-spot funding of up to Rs.10 lakh at IIT Bombay’s Entrepreneurship Summit 2015.
Founded seven months ago by three college friends, the start-up was shortlisted from 260 applications. Chloroplast Foods aims to supply 30 preservative-free snacks online, through their website www.snackexperts.com, by tapping into the growing healthy snacks market.
The team’s 10-minute presentation at the ‘10 Minute Million’ event on Sunday received instant funding pledges from four investors, including Ajeet Khurana, CEO of IIT-B’s Society for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, and angel investors Taha Nabee, V.C. Karthik, and Ravi Gururaj.
“We have created these products from unique recipes. Since this is a subscription-based model, they are prepared after a customer places an order. Within seven days, the customer gets a fresh product that has a 30-day shelf life. We offer five unique varieties for Rs.699,” said Arul Murugan Palanichamy, a co-founder of snackexperts.com.
The 27-year-old B. Tech graduate from Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, worked with a food processing company for seven years before starting his own venture.
He said the money would help them expand from a leased bakery unit to a bigger bulk production facility.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Mumbai / by Satish Nandgaonkar / Mumbai – February 03rd, 2015
In a move that turns investment banker into an investor by itself, MAPE Advisory Group and auto-component maker Igarashi Electric Works of Japan have bought out the entire 97.9% stake held by Blackstone Capital (Singapore) and BFIP (CAYMAN) in Agile Electric Sub Assembly for $106.4 million. Agile owns Igarashi Motors.
The transaction is subject to customary closing conditions and upon successful completion of transaction, Igarashi Electric Works and MAPE Advisory Group will be the new promoters of the company.
Agile Electric is involved in production of DC motor sub-assemblies, micro motors. It later started to make AC motors in 2012. The company can produce nearly 40 million components from its plant inside Madras Export Processing Zone (MEPZ). Agile exports majority of its products to Delphi Automotive, Inteva Products and Bosch.
Igarashi Motors was the original promoter of the company along with Crompton Greaves. “Igarashi stepped out of the company in favour of HBL Power Systems, after there was some financial stress back home,” sources said. HBL sold the company to Blackstone in July 2013. Blackstone completed a management buy-out with an investment of $74 million. Interestingly, Mape Advisory was the investment banker who facilitated Blackstone transaction. “Igarashi wanted a local partner and we decided we will join them,” said M Ramprasad, chairman, Mape Advisory.
With Blackstone exiting the company, Igarashi and Mape will make an open offer to the public shareholders of lgarashi Motors India as per the applicable provisions of SEBI SAST Regulations 2011 for acquisition of upto 26% of the voting share capital of Igarashi Motors. The obligation to acquire shares pursuant to the open offer will be triggered only on the successful closure of the transaction of Agile Electric Sub Assembly as this would lead to an indirect change in control of Igarashi Motors, the company said in a filing to the Bombay Stock Exchange.
Religare Capital Markets has been appointed as the Manager to the open offer and the offer price as per applicable regulations is expected to be in the range of Rs 307-308 per share. The estimated size of the open offer will be about $ 41 million, the company said.
source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Chennai / TNN / January 31st, 2015
Tamil Nadu Handloom Weavers Co-operative Society (Co-optex) is slowly gaining the attention of tech-savvy customers. Its e-commerce facility has sold products worth Rs 2.36 lakh in the last two months, with cotton saris the most popular.
The new initiative on www.cooptex.gov.in has impressed many. N Swaminathan of Trichy said, “I never thought a government product would be available online. I thought I will try the quality and design and it was very impressive.” About 2.54 lakh weavers are part of Co-optex, which was established in 1935 and has more than 200 showrooms, including 60 outlets outside Tamil Nadu.
“Co-optex products are sought after, especially during weddings and functions because of the quality. We are trying to use technology to give a new experience to customers, especially youth. We are also focusing on the global market,” said managing director T N Venkatesh, who was instrumental in the makeover.
He said they introduced soft silk sarees with designs and patterns inspired by ancient temples, monuments and historical places. and “also came up with new generation shirts, especially for youth.”
Online figures show customers from other states and foreign countries ordered Co-optex sarees and shirts online. Products are delivered within 24 hours for customers in TN and upto 72 hours for those in other states.
An official said they held discussions with private e-commercial firms to increase sales. “Purchasing online is a trend. Online sales are important especially when real estate costs are going up”. On www.facebook.com/CoOptex, officials interact with customers and showcase their products. A shopping facility introduced by Tamil Nadu Handicrafts Development Corporation, or Poompuhar, on tnpoompuhar.org has also received good response with shoppers able to choose nearly 1,600 items, including bronze, brass, wood and stone carvings.
source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Chennai / TNN / January 28th, 2015
STILL AS STONE: Akshintha La Se Shu Babu has already entered the Limca Book of Records
Madurai :
On Monday, people attending the Republic Day celebrations at NMSS Vellaichamy Nadar College were surprised to find what was, at first glance, a brand new statue of Mahatma Gandhi. Till Sunday evening, no such statue had been spotted on the premises, and many believed that an Aluminium structure had been mounted for the special occasion.
In fact, the Gandhi ‘statue’ was Akshinthala Seshu Babu, a 44-year-old man from Vijayawada in Andhra Pradesh, who is attempting to set a new record by standing still for at least 36 hours at a stretch. Dressing in Bapu’s attire, Seshu Babu began his stillness feat at 10.30 am on Monday here, and is aiming to continue in the pose till 10.30 pm on Tuesday.
Sesha Babu, who began standing still in public in 1993, when he stood motionless for four hours at a function in Vijayawada, has already entered the Limca Book of Records and has won several competitions. With the latest stunt, he is hoping to break his own record of 35 hours which again, he performed dressed as the Mahatma.
According to Sesha Babu, standing still is not as easy task. It requires painful preparation, and being a regular yoga practitioner has helped him a lot, he said. Moreover, he tried to keep his physique fit by running and cycling, he said.
He had been fascinated by Gandhi since childhood, Babu added, and the objective of his performance was to demonstrate the principles of Gandhi to the nation’s youth, which he hoped might influence them to fight the evils in the society in a non-violent way.
“Most people know about Gandhi but remain ignorant of the principles he stood for. Since there is a lot of violence in the world today, I want to create this record and spread the message of living in harmony,” he said.
Besides, the performance would also demonstrate the importance of leading a healthy life, he said, without which such a feat would be impossible to achieve.
source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Madurai / TNN / January 27th, 2015
Slaughterhouses are not meant for intimate relationships. But it proves otherwise in the case of Efrain, who has been working as a reaper in a slaughterhouse for more than 25 years.
The protagonist in this Mexican documentary filmmaker Gabriel Serra’s ‘La Parka’ (the Reaper) tells a tale of his stuggle to live on the face of death.
Chennai International Documentary and Short-film Festival 2015 that commenced from Monday is treat to all the movie lovers.
Organised by Marupakkam, at least 50 documentaries will be screened at various venues in the city namely the Panuval Book Shop, the Discovery Book Palace, Periyar Thidal and the University of Madras as part of the festival.
Indian as well as foreign documentaries, music, experimental films are the centre of attraction in the festival. The festival has it all from screening of old to new films. “We are screening a number of Indian as well as international documentaries as part of this seven-day festival. The idea is to reach out to people from all walks of life,” said R Amudhan, curator of the festival.
The documentary has a list of films made by veteran filmmakers like SNS Sastry, Mani Kaul and S Sukhdev under the Film Division.
Released in 1967, SNS Sastry’s ‘I Am Twenty’ is a 20-minute documentary interviews those who were born in 1947. Shubradeep Chakravorthy’s ‘En Dino Muzaffarnagar’ is s et against the backdrop of the Muzaffarnagar riot. The festival will conclude on Februrary 1.
source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Chennai / by M.T. Saju, TNN / January 27th, 2014
