380th Madras Day: Anna Nagar through the ages

About Chennai(Madras) / TamilNadu, Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Records, All

From a village settlement to the commercial and residential hub it is today, locals trace the history of their neighbourhood.

The twin arches that leads to Anna Nagar (File photo | Express)
The twin arches that leads to Anna Nagar (File photo | Express)

Chennai :

A scene from the 1971 film Rickshawkaran featuring the late actor-former chief minister of Tamil Nadu MG Ramachandran racing in a wagon on the roads of Anna Nagar is one that’s etched in the minds of Tamil film enthusiasts.

A closer look at the background, and one can spot the 51-year-old Anna Tower, one of the popular landmarks of Namma Chennai. While not much has changed about the magnificent edifice, the locality where it stands has seen exponential changes since its origin.

Since 2013, Nam Veedu, Nam Oor, Nam Kadhai, a social history group headed by architect-planner Thirupurasundari has been recording the evolution of Anna Nagar. As part of the Madras Week celebrations, the group curated a two-day exhibition featuring panels of the history and heritage of the neighbourhood, at Joy of Books.

Community initiative

“A few years ago, when preparations for Madras Day were in full swing, I noticed that no heritage events were being conducted in this part of the city. That’s when I decided to form this group to simply understand the locality. But, I didn’t want to constrain myself to just hosting walks or talks,” said Thirupurasundari, a resident of Shenoy Nagar.

The initiative spread like wildfire — thanks to community tabloids and the locality’s heritage crusaders. “When we began, we had a simple concept — to explore and document the history and heritage of the neighbourhood I was from. Six years later, it has grown and become a community initiative. There’s a sense of ownership among the residents about the area now,” she said.

A rural flavour

Before the 1950s, the village of Naduvakkarai had a truly rural flavour, with paddy fields and a serene river flowing nearby. Impressed by the true rural essence in the otherwise busy city as seen in Mount Road and Parrys, a few people settled down here to appreciate its silence and serenity, writes Thirupurasundari in a booklet released by the group in 2014.

People from other busy pockets of the city, including Mylapore and Triplicane, began migrating to Naduvakkarai in the 1940s and 50s. An illustrated depiction of this event by Akshayaa Selvaraj was on display. “When we interviewed the residents, some senior citizens even told us that they moved here because palm jaggery and first-class toddy were available here. Naduvakkarai had an abundance of palm trees,” said the architect.

Post-freedom rush

In the early 1960s, due to mushrooming of industrial pockets and rapid migration in the city, the housing board was formed to provide necessary housing facilities. In the wake, the West Madras Neighbourhood Scheme, which initiated subsidised development schemes and other structures was born. “The blueprint of contemporary Chennai was beginning to emerge. The idea of an integrated system of housing, meant for all classes possibly for the first time in the country, was initiated,” she said.

Guided through

Since the roads in Anna Nagar are designed based on matrix structure or similar to roads in developed countries in the western world, for many, hunting for the right lane and street is a task. Thirupurasundari said that between 1968 and the early 80s, Anna Nagar had guides who used to help people navigate. “These guides used to charge `1 or `2 and would guide you to whatever place you wanted to go to in the locality,” she said.

A historic fair

The 1968 Indian International Trade and Industries Fair, aimed to show India’s industrial development, changed the face of the neighbourhood. Brands like Voltas to Ovaltine had put up stalls as part of the fair. One of the main attractions was the Panchsheel tower (now called the Anna Tower) from which a panoramic view of the fair-site could be seen for a rupee or less.

After the fair’s success, more people were drawn towards the locality. “Interestingly, my amma and appa had attended the fair too. He was five and she was three years old. They both remember sitting in the Russian pavilion. This was the time when paper cups were emerging, and they both remember refusing to drink from a cup made of paper!” she said.

Interactive tour

We took a tour of the exhibition — from touch and feel exhibits depicting layouts of the State Housing Board’s West Madras Neighbourhood Scheme, panels of the 1968 Indian International Trade and Industries Fair, the evolution of Chandramoulishwarar temple, vintage images of the parabolic archway, screengrabs of film scenes that featured Anna Nagar, and other representational panels were on display. A drawing competition, quiz, storytelling session about Madras, display of household heritage items by Venkatraman Prabakaran and Sivagamasundari T, and early residents sharing anecdotes about the area were also part of the event.

“Talking to people who witnessed the stages of the neighbourhood’s development was essential. We have so far done 672 interviews of residents, senior citizens…they’ve all been kind and generous. Most of what you see here is a collation of all the information they gave us. From old photographs, maps and layouts of the area, they came forward to share whatever they know about Anna Nagar,” she shared.

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Cities> Chennai / by Roshne Balasubramanian / Express News Service / August 22nd, 2019

App uses AI to detect banana pest, diseases

Business & Economy, Green Initiatives/ Environment, Nature, Records, All, Science & Technologies, World Opinion
Versatile: The App can detect symptoms on any part of the crop and is trained to read even images of lower quality. | Photo Credit: Special arrangement
Versatile: The App can detect symptoms on any part of the crop and is trained to read even images of lower quality. | Photo Credit: Special arrangement

An App using this tool can diagnose the disease and give treatment options

Identifying diseases and pests on banana crops will now be just a click away. Researchers have developed a new artificial intelligence system (AI) which can look at photographs and tell what disease the plant has and also give recommendations and treatment options to the farmers. The results showed that the model was over 90% accuracy.

Training the network

The neural network was given about 20,000 images showing diseased and healthy plants. “Just like teaching a kid to tell an elephant from a horse, we taught the AI to identify leaf, root, fruit diseases and pests. Pictures from Uganda, Colombia, Congo and India were fed into the system for the training,” says Dr. Sivalingam Elayabalan from the Department of Biotechnology, Imayam Institute of Agriculture and Technology (IIAT), Trichy, Tamil Nadu. He is one of the authors of the study published in Plant Methods.

The tool is now incorporated into an App called Tumaini, meaning hope in Swahili, and being tested.

Expansion of scope

The team is planning to add more diseases based on regions and also make the App available in local languages. “When users take the photo, it gets uploaded to a global system for large-scale monitoring. Also, it is automatically GPS-tagged so we know what and where the problem is. We are also planning to incorporate high-resolution satellite monitoring to check the health of large fields,” explains Dr. Michael Gomez Selvaraj, from the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT), Colombia in an email to The Hindu. Dr. Selvaraj is the senior author of the paper. The App can detect symptoms on any part of the crop, and is even trained to read images of lower quality.

Major Indian diseases

The app is now being tested across many countries and when the confidence of 100% is reached it will be available for free download. “Yellow leaf spot and Fusarium wilt are the major fungal diseases in India and farmers spend a lot of money on fungicides. Apart from the fungal disease, the viral disease such as Banana Bunchy top virus is a big problem in hilly areas of Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Northeast region. The App can tell the farmers in advance bringing down the treatment costs,” says Dr. Elayabalan. “We are now testing the App in Tamil, and it will soon be available in Hindi and Malayalam. The National Research Centre for Banana (NRCB) and the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) have shown interested in the App.”

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> Sci-Tech> Science / by Aswati Pachi / August 17th, 2019

IIT-Madras develops cells to be used in cancer research

Records, All, Science & Technologies, World Opinion

The research is significant as stem cells are difficult to isolate and grow. Research is being conducted all over the world, to extract and culture CSCs for cancer understanding and drug development.

Chennai :

Researchers of the Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IITM) have found that subjecting cancer cells to microgravity, results in the formation of giant cancer cells with stem-cell characteristics, which can be used for cancer research and drug development, said a statement issued by the Institute.

The research was led by Professor Rama S Verma, Stem Cell and Molecular Biology Laboratory, Department of Biotechnology, IIT Madras. Speaking about the research, Verma said the stem cells obtained using micro. The research is significant as stem cells are difficult to isolate and grow. Research is being conducted all over the world, to extract and culture CSCs for cancer understanding and drug development. gravity can also be used to understand the nature of the cancer cells, their proliferation and cell death pathways, which in turn, can help in the identification of target zones for drug development.

He further added, “We have shown that simulated microgravity can be used for the development of stem cell structures for drug testing, instead of animal models. Cancer Stem Cells(CSC) are important in cancer research because they not only instigate the formation of tumour, but are also involved in recurrence of tumours after cancer treatment.”

The research is significant as stem cells are difficult to isolate and grow. Research is being conducted all over the world, to extract and culture CSCs for cancer understanding and drug development. “These stem cells can be used for cancer research and drug development,” said Verma.

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Cities> Chennai / by Express News Service / August 21st. 2019

Innovative app fetches Chennai girls top spot in U.S. contest

Amazing Feats, Education, Inspiration/ Positive News and Features, Records, All, Science & Technologies, World Opinion
Girl power: Social Relay, the team which won the Technovation challenge.
Girl power: Social Relay, the team which won the Technovation challenge.

‘Baton’ designed to maximise the impact of initiatives started by interns in the field of social work.

‘Social Relay’, a team of three school girls from Chennai, bagged the first place at Technovation Girls organised in the United States of America by Technovation, a global not-for-profit organisation that focuses on technology education. The team won a prize money of $12,000.

The team members — Akshara Vasanth, a Class VI student of PSBB School K.K. Nagar, Ishwarya Kanagaraj, a Class VII student from the Panchayat Union Middle School Poothapedu and Stella Arokiasamy, a Class IX student of Our Angel Matriculation School — were mentored by Tanya Elizabeth Ken, a Class XI student of Kola Perumal Chetty Vaishnav School. Both Stella and Aishwarya stay at Paadhai, a home in the city for destitute children.

At the World Pitch 2019, the finals, Social Relay pitched their app ‘Baton’, which was designed to maximise the social impact of initiatives started by social work interns or students’ internships. “The app works around the idea of a relay race, where the baton is handed over and aims to hand over incomplete social work initiatives from one intern to another so that they are not affected by internships which last only for a limited time. It will bring together social workers, students, corporates, NGOs and volunteers,” the team said.

Dreaming big

Speaking from California, Akshara Vasanth said she was thrilled with her team’s win. “This is not just a great opportunity for me, but for girls from across the world. We are looking forward to develop our app further and take it across the country as well as the world,” she said.

The team from Chennai was among six from across the world in the junior division at the World Pitch, which was the final event of Technovation Girls, where they exhibited the functioning of their apps. Over 2,000 teams from 57 countries participated in the competition and six teams each were selected as finalists in the junior and senior division.

“Lack of a social worker empowerment tool is a problem across the world and the team believes that Baton is the solution, as it brings together key stakeholders for achieving social impact, while optimizing social work,” said Tanya, speaking from California.

“I hope more girls are inspired and encouraged to delve into technology and innovation,” she added.

The program encourages girls between the ages of 10 and 18 years from across the world to use technology and apply the skills needed to solve real life problems.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Chennai / by Staff Reporter / Chennai – August 19th, 2019

Health matters: This Chennai sexagenarian is invincible

Amazing Feats, Inspiration/ Positive News and Features, Records, All, Sports, World Opinion

Sprinting towards her dreams and knocking down stereotypes, T Rukmini Devi is yet to befriend retirement — her game is still on.

T Rukmini Devi. (Photo | R Satish Babu, EPS)
T Rukmini Devi. (Photo | R Satish Babu, EPS)

Chennai :

Training sessions at Jawaharlal Nehru outdoor stadium. Core strengthening at the gym. Badminton and table tennis for leisure. A toned physique, brisk gait and a sporty demeanour, T Rukmini Devi looks anything but 64. The sexagenarian’s daily schedule is packed with workout sessions, alongside other club roles. She is not hassled by her hectic routine. CE caught up with Rukmini after her morning practice to know what keeps her going.

“I took up sports out of my interest. My father served the military services back then. Our lifestyle was active, organised and disciplined. He brought me up as a bold girl. Right from inter-school competitions, parades, to international level competitions, I’ve taken part in all kinds of activities. After marriage, I had to take a break to focus on my children. Now I’m back after 15 years. That void is filled and I’m living my dream again,” said Rukmini who was born in Mumbai.
Rukmini moved to Chennai from Hyderabad in 1980 and started working with the Indian Overseas Bank (IOB). She retired as the assistant manager in the Public Relations Department four years back.

Rukmini02CF18aug2019

Aging while playing

She finished her schooling in Bengaluru and moved to Hyderabad for higher studies. “Nowadays, I take part in flag hoisting, we distribute sweets to underprivileged kids and spend our time at old age homes or Corporation schools,” said Rukmini, who lives with her husband Chandrakanthan and two daughters in T Nagar.

After completing her MSc in Physics from Osmania University, she joined the Indian Railways through sports quota and worked there for two years. She was part of the Indian Railways Basketball Team. Between 1974 and 1980, she represented and captained the Andhra Pradesh Basketball Team and the Andhra Pradesh Handball Team in the years 1978 and 1979. In 1982, she joined the Indian Overseas Bank. She headed the basketball and tennikoit team.

After a gap of 15 years, she represented India at the Veterans Athletics (now known as Masters Athletic Meet) in Thailand in 2008, Malaysia in 2009, Taipei in 2012 and Singapore in 2016. In the 2016 Masters Athletic Meet, she won a gold medal in the pole vault, a silver medal in the high jump and a bronze medal in the hammer throw. At the National Masters Athletic Championship held at Bengaluru in 2017 in the above 60 age category, Rukmini won a gold medal for the high jump, pole vault and 4×400 relay with a silver medal in the hammer throw and 4×100 relay.
The laurels continued at the nationals championship held at Guntur from February 6 to 10 where she won three gold medals in the above 60 age category for the high jump, hammer throw and pole vault. She has created a national record for pole vault covering a distance of 1.65 m with the previous record being only 1 m.

Second innings

Rukmini seems invincible at this point as she also won gold medals for the hammer throw and triple jump and a silver medal for triple jump at the first-ever Women’s Athletic Nationals held at Goa on June 29 and 30. Rukmini has received many awards at the club, district and international level. Recently, she was also honoured with Lifetime Achievement Award in sports by the All Indian Lioness Multiple and Lions Clubs.

“One needs the right exposure. I prefer working out on the field or dancing in my class any day over watching television. We get to meet people from different countries on international tours. Our fitness is nothing compared to their dedication. So I want to make the best of what’s available here, train people, learn, and achieve. I’m glad to see many women taking part in these competitions and bringing pride to our nation,” she said.

Passionate about dance from a young age, she recently joined the Athmalaya School of Dance for Elders. She is also being trained for badminton and table tennis for the veterans group. Rukmini is known to be passionate towards service to mankind. She enjoys singing and dancing in her spare time. She has also learned Kuchipudi from guru Rajasulochana and comperes for Doordarshan along with tournaments and meetings.

“My family motivates me. People can always find their second calling at any point in life. One needs to speak their mind to the children and set their priorities right. Never use taking care of grandchildren or retirement as an excuse. It will make you sluggish and invite unwanted thoughts. As parents, we need our independence too,” said Rukmini who is preparing for an Asian meet in December in Malaysia.

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Cities> Chennai / by Vaishali Vijaykumar / Express News Service / August 17th, 2019

President’s medal for CRPF IGP T. Sekar

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His distinguished service recognised

T. Sekar, Inspector-General of Police of CRPF’s Cobra School of Jungle Warfare Training in Khanapur in Belagavi, has been awarded the President’s police medal for distinguished service on the occasion of Independence Day.

Hailing from Thirumazhisai in Tamil Nadu, he joined CRPF in 1986 as Deputy Superintendent of Police.

He has served in crisis situations in Punjab, Jammu and Kashmir, Assam, Tripura, Manipur and Maharashtra. He has commanded Operational Range Gadchiroli (MH) and led and planned many Anti-Naxal operations. He has led various anti-terrorist operations in disturbed areas to curb terrorism and militancy. He has also served as an SPG officer from 1989 to 1998 on the security wing of VVIPs, including Prime Ministers and former Prime Ministers.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> States> Karnataka / by Special Correspondent / Belagavi – August 15th, 2019

He has made feeding the poor his mission

Amazing Feats, Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Inspiration/ Positive News and Features
Noble service: Ram Prasad, a follower of Ramalinga Vallalar, distributing food among the poor in Kanniyakumari district.
Noble service: Ram Prasad, a follower of Ramalinga Vallalar, distributing food among the poor in Kanniyakumari district.

Ram Prasad, inspired by Vallalar, distributes 15 kg of rice to the hungry in Kanniyakumari every day

Ramalinga Vallalar launched poor feeding in Vadalur in 1867 heartbroken at the sight of “those who could not satiate their hunger even after begging from one house after another”.

Vallalar has since made a tremendous impact on 40-year-old Ram Prasad, a native of Asaripallam in Kanniyakumari district, who has dedicated his life to feeding the poor.

Every day, he cooks 15 kg of rice, prepares sambar and one vegetable curry and distributes it among the poor and destitute. “I have been doing it for the last 10 years. My father and mother help in cooking the food. I carry them in an autorickshaw and go up to Kanniyakumari to feed the poor. It will be enough to feed between 125 and 150 people. My father will always accompany me,” said Ram Prasad, who bought an autorickshaw for the purpose and is paying ₹6,000 as monthly instalment.

Resembling a sanyasi, Mr. Ram Prasad, a follower of Vallalar, wears only whites and sports a flowing beard. Asked how he managed to find money for his service, Mr. Ram Prasad said a few people contribute rice regularly and he visited the APTA market in Nagercoil to collect vegetables.

“Many traders know me and my work and donate vegetables. I need ₹200 a day to buy diesel for the auto,” said Mr. Ram Prasad, who had worked for three years in Dubai before returning to the country to start his work among the poor. His parents were weavers and the family’s financial position did not allow him to pursue any course after passing out of school and he was forced to eke out a living as a plumber and electrician.

“I joined a private ITI with the money I earned as a plumber and the qualification obtained me a job in Dubai,” recalled Mr. Ram Prasad.

But he worked there only for three years as he was already drawn towards the ideas of Ramalinga Vallalar. “I decided to feed the poor and have been doing it for the last 10 years,” he said.

His responsibilities as the elder son was over after getting his three sisters and a brother married. “I have no plans to marry. My objective is to sustain my work. It is my way of following in the footsteps of Vallalar,” he said.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> States> Tamil Nadu / by B. Kolappan / Chennai – August 16th, 2019

Dr. M.S. Swaminathan Award for Environment Protection presented

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Former Justice Prabha Sridevan, right, presenting the award to Kenneth M. Quinn. Rotary Club of Madras East vice-president T.R. Gopalakrishnan is also seen.
Former Justice Prabha Sridevan, right, presenting the award to Kenneth M. Quinn. Rotary Club of Madras East vice-president T.R. Gopalakrishnan is also seen.

Former diplomat Kenneth M. Quinn honoured at event

Former U.S. Ambassador to Cambodia and President, World Food Prize Foundation, Kenneth M. Quinn on Thursday underlined the need for encouraging small holder farmers, who are mostly women, to run their farms.

Speaking to reporters after receiving the Dr. M.S. Swaminathan Award for Environment Protection presented by the Rotary Club of Madras East and Cavinkare Private Ltd., he said post-harvest food waste must be brought down, which is why connectivity to small villages was important.

“Small farmers need to take their produce to markets and they need to be provided the latest scientific inputs so that they be able to have sustainable farming practices to produce quality food,” he said, adding more should be spent on agricultural research.

Speaking at the award ceremony, he suggested that agriculture scientist M.S. Swaminathan be awarded the Rotary International’s award for world understanding and peace. Former Judge of the Madras High Court Prabha Sridevan thanked Mr. Quinn for working to rid the world of hunger and ensure access to quality food. UN-WHO Chief Scientist Soumya Swaminathan, and daughter of Prof. Swaminathan, said Mr. Quinn had brought about many improvements to the World Food Prize, including increasing the cash award.

Appreciating the Rotary International’s efforts for eradicating polio, she said the campaign was in its final stages. Club vice-president T.R. Gopalakrishnan and Cavinkare CMD C.K. Ranganathan were present.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> States> Tamil Nadu / by Special Correspondent / Chennai – August 09th, 2019

2,200 participants, 3 minutes 46.89 seconds, 1 world record

Amazing Feats, Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Records, All, World Opinion

The feat was performed at Chennai Trade Center in Nandambakkam.

The feat was performed at Chennai Trade Center, Nandambakkam /  Ashwin Prasath
The feat was performed at Chennai Trade Center, Nandambakkam /  Ashwin Prasath

Chennai :

In a move to spread awareness on the importance of protecting skin from the sun, VCare professionals on Tuesday created a world record for the largest skincare workshop and for most people applying sunscreen at the same time. The feat was performed at Chennai Trade Center in Nandambakkam.

  • As many as 2,200 beauticians working at different salons took part in the workshop that went on for 30 minutes. Later, they all applied sunscreen simultaneously to show their support for the protection of skin against skin cancer and other skin-related issues.

 

  • “Summer or winter, monsoon or spring, the need for shielding your skin from the harsh rays of the sun is essential. Sunscreen is the most important product that many people tend to ignore. It helps shield your skin from the harmful UV rays, prevents premature ageing, lowers skin cancer risks, lowers blotchiness on the face, prevents tanning and sunburns among lot other things,” said chairperson of VCare Group, E Carolin Praba.

 

  • She also said, “Despite being in the field for many years, even professionals do not understand the importance of sunscreen. We thought a world record is a perfect way to bring the community together to educate them about it.” R Priyamani, a participant, who owns a salon said, “What was new is how and when to apply it.

We were told one must apply sunscreen at least 30 minutes before stepping out in the sun for getting desirable results. Also, if you are outside, you must reapply sunscreen every two hours.”

The previous Guinness World Record for the most people applying sunscreen simultaneously was 1,822 — achieved by the Ann’s Hope Foundation (USA) in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA, on May18, 2014.

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Cities> Chennai / by Express News Service / August 14th, 2019

‘Panchamirtham’ of Palani temple gets GI tag

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Business & Economy, Nature, Records, All
The Palani Panchamritham
The Palani Panchamritham

First prasadam in T.N. to get the status

The famous Palani panchamirtham, given as ‘prasadam’ at the Murugan temple there, has been granted the Geographical Indication (GI) tag.

This is the first time a temple ‘prasadam’ from Tamil Nadu has been bestowed with the GI tag. The application was filed by the Joint Commissioner/Executive Officer, Arulmigu Dhandayuthapani Swamy Thirukkoil, North Giriveethi, Adivaram, Palani.

Chinnaraja G. Naidu, Deputy Registrar of Geographical Indications, confirmed that the GI tag had been given for the panchamirtham.

“The certificate will be posted on the GI website soon,” he said.

The panchamirtham is a combination of five natural substances — banana, jaggery, cow ghee, honey and cardamom. Dates and diamond sugar candies are added for flavour.

The panchamirtham is an ‘abhishega prasadam’ (food that is a religious offering), which is served in a semi-solid state. It is sweet in taste and one of the main offerings for Lord Dhandayuthapani Swamy, the presiding deity of Arulmigu Dhandayuthapani Swamy Temple, situated on Palani Hills.

Not even a single drop of water is added during the preparation of the panchamirtham. This gives it its classic semi-solid consistency and taste. No preservatives or artificial ingredients are used.

As per the GI application, the geographical area for production of panchamirtham is Palani town in Dindigul district, Tamil Nadu. It lies within latitude of 10.44 ° and longitude of 77.52 °.

According to the GI application filed, the Palani panchamirtham is prepared under the guidance given by the CFTRI (Central Food Technological Research Institute) Mysore, a government of India undertaking.

The whole process of producing the panchamirtham is automated. It is doubly ensured that the hygienic aspects are maintained. Devotees who visit the temple are offered the panchamirtham as a prasadam in the hill temple as well as in stalls run by temple administration at Adivaram. Is is believed that the panchamirtham cures diseases of devotees.

Chennai-based IP attorney P. Sanjai Gandhi pointed out that the GI tag would boost the local economy in Palani. He added, “Tamil Nadu has so many temples, mosques and churches. Each of them has a unique historic origin.”

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> States> Tamil Nadu / by Sangeetha Kandavel / Chennai – August 14th, 2019