S Muthiah and the writing of Madras Miscellany

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For the last two decades, in the 973 columns he wrote for Madras Miscellany, S Muthiah charted the course of people’s lives, the unexpected twists and turns, their triumphs and tribulations. A tribute to the man who loved to put the story back into history

Those of us who had the privilege of working closely with S Muthiah, the chronicler of Madras (he did not like the term historian), knew that Thursdays were sacred. He could not be disturbed that day as that was when he wrote his Madras Miscellany column to be published 12 days hence in the Monday edition of MetroPlus. The Chief, as I always referred to him, would make an elaborate production of it. He would first go to his library on the second floor and collect whatever reference material he wanted.

Having come down to the dining table, he would switch on the ultra-powerful table lamp and write whatever he wanted to in longhand. V Srinivasan and D Pushpa, his two faithful assistants, would then type this in, after which it underwent a few iterations. Towards the afternoon, G Shankar of Pace Systems (now Mot Juste Communications) would come in, collect the pictures to be scanned and go back to office to the needful. By evening everything would be in place, including the commentary on letters and additional points received from the vast and ever-growing readership; these falling under a section titled When The Postman Knocked. The correspondence was vast and varied. Branches of families reunited, people discovered ancestors. Several British families wrote in asking for help in tracing graves, houses and other markers.

Come Monday, when the column was published, the article would be carefully cut out, pasted on a sheet of paper, neatly dated and filed. Not for him the saving of soft copies. Yes, the Chief experienced great joy in putting Madras Miscellany together, as he did with all his work. By the time the column completed a decade in 2009, he noted with pride that 514 instalments had been published. He also added that the number would have been 520 but The Hindu did not bring out its paper on six Mondays owing to some holiday or the other. By the time he passed away, Madras Miscellany had appeared a record 973 times. It was his dearest wish that he touch 1,000 but fate willed otherwise.

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To have kept the column going without a break spoke volumes about Muthiah’s work ethic and discipline. When he travelled abroad, he calculated the number of Mondays he would be away and wrote all the instalments before he left. Not for him the present practice of researching on the Internet and sending articles on the fly. Even the death of his wife did not occasion a break. The column that appeared immediately after her passing had an opening sentence addressed to her, stating that she would have wanted him to continue. And that was the truth.

If there was someone even more passionate about Madras Miscellany than he was, it was Valliammal Muthiah. And he paid her a handsome tribute in an interview — ‘Fortunately, I have a young and energetic wife… who manages the home as well as the finances. She makes sure I don’t have to worry about anything other than my work.’ Sadly, she passed away in 2013 and life became tougher for him.

There was however no stopping Miscellany. Who would have thought that the column, first suggested by Nirmala Lakshman to Muthiah when MetroPlus was born in 1999, would grow to have a life and identity of its own? He had wanted it to be called Madrasiana but Nirmala convinced him that Madras Miscellanysounded better. It was a unique tribute to a great city. It will be missed.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Chennai / by Sriram V / April 22nd, 2019

Global conference on retinal care and ophthalmic services

The ninth edition of Reticon, an annual conference on retina surgery, was organised by Dr Agarwal’s Eye Hospitals, on Sunday at ITC Grand Chola, Guindy.

Around 600 delegates were part of Reticon 2019  Ashwin Prasath
Around 600 delegates were part of Reticon 2019  Ashwin Prasath

Chennai :

The ninth edition of Reticon, an annual conference on retina surgery, was organised by Dr Agarwal’s Eye Hospitals, on Sunday at ITC Grand Chola, Guindy.

The event was inaugurated by the Governor of Tamil Nadu, Banwarilal Purohit. “New technology offers a significant improvement in treatment. Expert ophthalmic care, which is in your own hands, can mitigate the increase of retinal diseases,” said the Governor in his speech.

This year’s conference saw  the participation of 600 delegates — all retinal specialists — from both India and abroad. “The idea of Reticon is to educate all. We have brought in top faculty members from across the country for this event, and I thank the delegates for their support,” said Amar Agarwal, director, Dr Agarwal’s Eye Hospitals. The foreign guest faculty member at the event was Dr Sunir Garg, professor of Ophthalmology, Thomas Jefferson University.

Panel discussions were conducted, and surgeries that were being conducted at Dr Agarwal’s Eye Hospitals were live streamed. Surgeries such as Macular Hole Surgery, Diabetic Retinopathy, and IOL Drop were conducted and telecast live.

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

Arunachalam Muruganantham ranks 45th in list of World’s 50 Greatest Leaders

Arunachalam Muruganantham  / | Photo Credit: S_SIVA SARAVANAN
Arunachalam Muruganantham / | Photo Credit: S_SIVA SARAVANAN

Social entrepreneur from Coimbatore Arunachalam Muruganantham has joined some of the global leaders in the list of World’s 50 Greatest Leaders 2019 by Fortune Magazine. He is ranked 45th in the list released recently.

Period. End of Sentence, a documentary that reflects his work, had won an Oscar in the Best Short Documentary category this year.

Mr. Muruganantham told The Hindu that the recognition should be an inspiration to youngsters to think of social issues, address those as a business model, and become job providers. “There are a very few people as social entrepreneurs. I have created self-employment opportunities for 1.25 lakh women in the country through my machines. And these are all semi-skilled job,” he said. Only by creating more job providers can India become a developed nation.

He recollects his addresses at several leading institutions even in the United States he urged youngsters not to aspire for listings based on wealth but to create jobs.

“They (Fortune magazine) had followed my work. We installed six machinery in Sri Lanka to be operated by war widows. It had a huge reach globally. The listing is a recognition to Coimbatore and the country. My responsibility has increased, especially when I address youngsters. They should not look for profits in business but have a social connect,” he said.

Mr. Muruganantham is currently working on taking projects to Pakistan and Afghanistan and in India, his focus is on the north eastern States. “Women in these States need to be empowered. We have installed a dozen units in these States. My focus is on Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh,” he said.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Coimbatore / by Special Correspondent / Coimbatore – April 21st, 2019

Tamil Nadu’s first solar-powered boat to begin operations soon

Mahindra Odyssea sailing at the Manimuthar Dam.
Mahindra Odyssea sailing at the Manimuthar Dam.

Mahindra Odyssea will set sail at the Manimuthar Dam

Tamil Nadu’s first solar-powered boat will soon operate at the Manimuthar Dam in Tirunelveli district. According to sources at the Kalakkad Mundanthurai Tiger Reserve, the boat will begin operations in the next 10 days.

On Friday, Anand Mahindra, chairman of the Mahindra Group, posted a tweet saying, “Mahindra Marine proudly joins #Go Electric – Go Green objective of the group by launching its first solar-electric boat for Tamil Nadu Forest Dept. She is a 24 pax harbour cruise boat, powered by a keel cooled electric motor with shaft, and propelled by a lithium-ion battery.”

Called Mahindra Odyssea, the 26-seater (including two crew members) boat is 11.8 m long and 4 m wide. One of its unique aspects is that it has a German motor (20 KW).

“It has a solar roof on top which can generate 3.8 KW of power. The solar roof will help the boat get partially charged while moving,” said Hiten Ghelani, chief executive officer and managing director of Mahindra Marine, told The Hindu.He said the idea was devised during a visit to Dubai and Europe.

“We started developing the boat and when we were ready with the first one — we received a tender from Tamil Nadu for a similar boat. We asked the team to visit us to try this boat and they came down,” Mr. Ghelani said. To a question on the cost of the boat, he said, “I won’t be able to give the exact details. On an average these boats would cost anywhere between ₹80 lakh and can go up to a crore. These can be customised depending on what the client wants,” he added.

Sources said that two more boats would be supplied in the coming days.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> States> Tamil Nadu / by P Sudhakar & Sangeeta Kandavel / Chennai – Tirunelveli, April 13th, 2019

Passion for playing video games keeps this college student going

While he plays for 12 hours a day during weekends, he plays for four to five hours on weekdays.

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Chennai :

Born and raised in Qatar, 21-year-old Monish Kumar was introduced to gaming in 2011 by his friends who asked him to casually play Counter Strike 1.6, a first-person shooter video game. He was instantly attracted to it, and today, he has played over 20 tournaments professionally and is part of Arknemesis gaming group.

“I loved the game and started gaming in Dubai servers. However, I did not know the local tongue, so I could not develop connections. In 2012, I came to Chennai for a vacation and realised gaming was a profession and people earned money through it. That day I decided to take it up professionally,” he says.
In 2016, Monish shifted back to Chennai to pursue Electrical and Electronics Engineering from Sri Venkateshwara College of Engineering, and also take forward his interest in gaming.  “I started with League of Legends and one of my gaming friends introduced me to Overwatch, a team-based shooter game. I joined Arknemesis in 2017,” says Monish.

Though his parents were initially hesitant about him spending hours on gaming, when they realised Monish was being paid a salary and he was getting sponsors, they began supporting him.

Since 2017, Monish has been part of many tournaments. “My first was the Skirmish Tournament by Coolermaster where two Indian teams and one Malaysian team were battling against each other, and we bet both of them. At that point winning over an international team was a big deal. We came second in Indian Cyber Gaming Championship (ICGC), first in LXG Indian Land Gaming First Minor and second in LXG Indian Land Gaming Second Minor,” says the avid gamer.

While he plays for 12 hours a day during weekends, he plays for four to five hours on weekdays. After his graduation, he plans to pursue sports management. “E-sports is starting to get recognised as a sport. Getting into the management side might help organise and manage e-sports events,” he says.

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Cities> Chennai / by K.V. Navya / Express News Service / April 20th, 2019

Literary awards conferred on two writers

The Ma. Aranganathan Literary Awards for 2019 were presented to writers Veli Rangarajan and Yuma Vasuki in Chennai on Tuesday. The awards carry a citation and a cash prize of ₹1 lakh each from Munril Literary Society, run by Justice R. Mahadevan of Madras High Court.

He had instituted the awards last year in the name and memory of his father, a noted Tamil writer, who died on April 16, 2017 at the age of 83.

This was the second consecutive year that the awards were being conferred to honour and recognise the contributions made by authors, poets, playwrights and others to the growth of the Tamil language.

Presiding over the event, Sahitya Akademi general council member Tamilavan, recalling his association with Aranganathan, said, the latter had all through his life desired to institute an award for talented writers.

He pointed out that Aranganathan had migrated from Nagercoil to Chennai in 1952, served as a clerk at Chennai Corporation and ran a Tamil literary magazine titled Munril despite his meagre income. The office of Munril served as a joint for literary enthusiasts to sit together, discuss and analyse each other’s works.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Chennai / by Special Correspondent / Chennai – April 17th, 2019