Strings from the past

Arts, Culture & Entertainment

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A resident of Saligramam is making the bulbul taarang heard across the city

For K.G. Jawahar, playing the bulbul taarang is a passion and a mad passion. He seems keen on bringing this string instrument back from oblivion.

Over the last two years, Jawahar has not let go of any opportunity to put the instrument on a stage. He has played it at gatherings of residents’ welfare associations, clubs and government departments. He has appeared on DD Podhigai with his pet instrument.

“Recently, I was invited by the government library in Ashok Nagar to play the instrument. They gave me a fee for it. With the money, I bought library membership cards for students of nearby government schools,” says Jawahar, who started focussing on playing the instrument after his retirement from a bank.

Without any formal training, 63-year-old Jawahar plays the compositions of M. S. Viswanathan, R.D. Burman and other stalwarts of film music on his bulbul taarang. A few strings are missing in the instrument, but that does not detract from its value. When Jawahar was around five years old, he received it from his father as a gift.

“Each of my brothers also received a bubul taarang, and I continue to cherish the one I received. In those days, it was known as the “poor man’s veena’. The knowledge of crafting this instrument is now almost forgotten. The versions of the bulbul taarang available at shops are more toys than instruments,” says Jawahar, a resident of Saligramam.

Jawahar takes utmost care with his bulbul taarang, which bears the name and memory of his wife Rani Jawahar, who has passed on.

“I consider the instrument an old man who has to be hand-held while walking. I have to be careful with the strings, as getting a replacement must be next to impossible. Only once has the instrument gone for repairs; that was 20 years ago,” says Jawahar.

He seeks the support of other musicians in reviving the instrument; he is also keen on teaching people how to play it.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Chennai / by L Kanthimathi / March 30th, 2018

The hands that toil, create

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Education, Records, All

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Archiving Labour examines history, society and art through the lens of labour

Between sweltering skies and sea breeze at the tiled-roof veranda of Spaces, a prodigious handcrafted volume titled ‘Create’ is the first exhibit. In it, student artist Kamashewaran has explored the plight of bonded labourers at brick kilns in his village. We turn the pages to find endearing portraits of brick makers, and hand impressions alternating with words such as ‘sengal’ (brick). At the bottom, a brick sits in a deep receptacle, engraved with the word ‘Labour’. This bond between labour and creation is at the core of Archiving Labour curated by CP Krishnapriya, an alumnus of the College of Fine Arts.

Produced by a collective of 33 students from Government College of Fine Arts, Chennai and Kumbakonam, the exhibition, which was part of the Student Biennale, Kochi 2016-17, garnered a national award. Of 15 emerging curators, Krishnapriya won the Tata Trusts International Award, granting her a trip to experience the Venice and documenta Biennales.

Raison d’etre

Her vision for the year-long project was bi-fold — one, leading the students of the two schools to re-examine their artistic practice and two, re-visiting the Madras School to trace its roots to industrial crafts. On their trail, the artists discovered a brick kiln at the Chennai campus where bricks were once manufactured. The evidence, a replica of an old brick with the ‘School of Arts Madras’ insignia sits like an unassuming marker on a pedestal.

With intensive workshops for reading and criticism over four months, Krishnapriya steered the group away from the sacrosanct white cube gallery. The artists took the path less trodden, using low-cost and accessible materials to explore art in a small, meaningful way. The mysterious locked-up school museum became the imaginary site which photos, videos and impressions would bring alive. These innocuous exhibits are magical when you unlock their codes.

Positioned against the grand metaphor of the Triumph of Labour statue (1959) at the Marina by erstwhile sculptor and then Principal DP Roy Chowdhury, the artists queried — how does labour triumph? “Many of the students come from rural backgrounds and their families are engaged in brick making, weaving, metalwork and labour,” says Krishnapriya, whose mentoring opened channels for the students to examine their own origins and communities. Student artist Karthikeyan’s portrait of his father is accompanied by a sign, ‘My father is a signboard artist’, painted by his father. Such paradoxes resonate throughout the show.

The product of labour — be it a beautiful monument or a Kanjivaram saree — belongs to the one who commissions it, while its real makers are never credited. Material becomes message in Sindhuja’s portraits of weavers on silk sarees, documenting her family of weavers. And so, who do we celebrate? Artist Thalamuthu chose Revathy, a cleaner of railway tracks and made her bust, displayed at Chennai Central for several days.

“This was planned as an exhibition where you have to spend time, read the notes and make an effort,” says Krishnapriya. The exercises linked ‘how do you view?’ to ‘how are we viewed?’ using writing, sound recordings, photography and video, relatively inexpensive media. Reviving the context of the old photography department at the College of Arts, a group selected images from the British Library archives to compare anthropological views of Indians from the Colonial era with present day.

The artists posed, mimicking the earlier orchestrated set-ups: a girl with a food processor versus 20th Century women at grinding mills. In another exercise, P Parthik’s photo-collage of the hands of labourers from Kumbakonam show their hardships. Extensive sketchbooks of brick workers, railway cleaners and launderers reveal an empathetic understanding of the gaps in our society. A 10-paisa coin — a paltry sum paid for husking one coconut — is framed and positioned next to calloused hands.

The inquiry to find the artist’s role and the institution’s throws up several questions. Can anyone make art? Who can sculpt? Who can create? Here, the lens turns to people relegated to toil in our society, to ask: ‘Are not bricks, baskets and woven handloom, art?’

The exhibition with evening lectures is on at Spaces, Besant Nagar, till March 30.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> Society / by Sujatha Shankar Kumar / March 28th, 2018

A woman mechanic’s tale, from the temple town of Kumbakonam

Business & Economy, Inspiration/ Positive News and Features, Sports

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Meet ‘Bullet Rani’ Rohini who recently became popular after a news clip of her working as a mechanic with her father and test-driving the signature motorcycle went viral on social media

R Rohini is squatting on the ground, tightening some screws on a Royal Enfield Bullet’s innards. The petite 24-year-old is dwarfed by the hefty machine, which is balanced on a small wooden platform, but she works with a quiet confidence born out of long years of experience. It’s an unlikely sight in the little temple town of Kumbakonam.

Rohini became popular recently as ‘Bullet Rani’, after a news clip of her working as a mechanic with her father and test-driving the signature motorcycle went viral on social media, but she is reluctant to accept the sobriquet. “I can repair two-wheelers of all types, not just the Bullet,” she says. “Besides, I like my name as it is!” She has been working for her father J Ravi since 2008, in the two-wheeler garage that he has maintained at the same spot on the southern side of the Mahamaham Tank in Kumbakonam for 20 years.

A mechanic with over 40 years of experience, Ravi had a reason for training his female family members to help out at the garage. “I wasn’t able to employ male assistants easily, because this road leads to a women’s college, and I was worried about discipline problems if I recruited young men in my garage,” Ravi says. “So my wife used to help me out with the basics in the daytime.” An elder daughter was also trained as a mechanic, but stopped working after she got married.

For the girls in her town: Rohini, the ‘Bullet Rani’. | Photo Credit: M. Moorthy
For the girls in her town: Rohini, the ‘Bullet Rani’. | Photo Credit: M. Moorthy

Rohini, the youngest of four daughters, used to relieve her mother for the evening shift from 5 pm, while still a senior student at the ARR Matriculation School. “I would bring my books to the garage, and try and complete my homework while helping Appa out,” she says.

Turning around

Besides apprenticing for her father, Rohini also worked part-time as a delivery girl for a grocery store. “I wasn’t especially fond of two-wheelers; it was just a way to help my father,” she says. Life took an unexpected turn on July 7, 2008, when she was hit by a bus while returning from a delivery round on her bicycle.

“I had crossed the road, but the bus hit and dragged me on my cycle for a short distance,” she recounts. “I was bleeding from my ears and nose. The accident happened on the main road. I only remember falling down, not what happened after.” Badly injured and confined to bed for 20 days, Rohini had to miss out on her board exams, and eventually, higher education as well. “Though my external wounds have healed, I still get sudden headaches and body pain, so I had to drop the idea of resuming school,” she says. A police case was filed, but little has happened in the past nine years.

Determined to make herself useful, she decided to become a full-fledged mechanic. Today, her father proudly says that she can manage his garage even in his absence. “Everything looks difficult when you are starting out. I’m proud to say that under my father’s training, I can pull apart any bike and set it right,” she says. “Appa always says that we should try our best, even if it means breaking the parts. Luckily, I have learned how to repair things without destroying the original components.” From fixing the engine to the tyres, Rohini just purses her lips and gets going. She draws the line at welding, though. “The smoke tends to blur my vision,” she says.

Career path

The young woman earns between ₹12,000 to ₹15,000 per month. But having a workplace situated opposite the Mahamaham Tank has some caveats too. “We have to close our shop to make way for the temple car festivities,” says Ravi. “Besides this, the business is very unpredictable. Some days, you get four or five customers. On other days, there’s nobody,” he adds. Rohini and her father are at work every day from 10 am to 9 pm, and usually it is the young woman who checks the vehicle first before the duo decides what is to be done. “I may not have been able to go to school, but I do know a lot about repairing two-wheelers. It’s an ideal career for women, especially homemakers in rural areas, who are no longer employed in the farms,” she says. “Though I am ready to train other women, very few are willing to give this career a chance, because they think it is meant only for men.”

Dreams unlimited

A survivor of a second serious road accident, this time caused by the failed brake of a two-wheeler she was testing, Rohini says she has always been a free spirit on wheels. “From my school days, I used to cycle around everywhere. Now, after I promised Appa that I will not drive at a high speed, I have got my very own Scooty Pep,” she says. Sundays are her off days to catch up on sleep, and to indulge in henna designing. Rohini has won accolades for her determination and professional excellence from numerous social organisations. But she still wonders how life would have turned out if she had completed her education. “Interviews remind me of those long-lost dreams,” she says. “But then I realise that I have become a role model for other girls in our vicinity. Anything is possible with hard work.”

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> Life & Style> Motoring / by Nahla Nainar / March 22nd, 2018

D’Angelis now dust

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Business & Economy, Historical Links, Pre-Independence, Records, All, World Opinion

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Yet another Madras Court-listed heritage building bites the dust with not a question raised by Authority. The latest victim of the wreckers’ hammers is a building better known in recent times as the Bata Showroom. The desecrators have been clever; they’ve left in place the Mount Road façade, and crushed the rear where remained many a feature of the building’s 100-year-and-more heritage . The façade itself is not the original; it was rebuilt in the Art Deco style sometime in the early 1930s.

To make sense of the paragraph above, let’s go back to 1880 when Giacomo D’Angelis, from Messina in Sicily and who had trained in France, arrived in Madras and set up shop in small, rented premises on this site, called it ‘Maison Francaise’ and announced he was a “manufacturing confectioner, glacie &c., general purveyor and mess contractor”. For this service he’d established a “Kitchen Department”, the “first of its kind” in South India. I think what D’Angelis was claiming was that he had an outdoor catering service for large parties, which the hotels of the time, like the Connemara, mostly residential, did not have. This service, supervised by a “First Class French Chef”, was, before long, catering to Government House and, in time, became the official caterer to Governor Lord Ampthill (1900-1906) for all his parties, balls and banquet.

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Once Ampthill set the tone, D’Angelis was sought by everyone who was anyone in Madras. With prosperity, the Italian decided to open “a small hotel on the premises, Mount Road, for our customers from up-country”. The property opened in 1906 and by 1908 had developed into Madras’s leading hotel.

Seen from the Mount Road entrance was a three-storey building with splendid decorative wrought iron railings on the first floor verandah. This is the beautiful façade (see picture) that was replaced by what still stands. Off this verandah were the rooms with Mount Road-facing entrances as well as entrances off a verandah at the rear facing Blacker’s Road. These rooms were identifiable even in recent years, being occupied by a variety of small shops. And it is this historic part of the building that has been pulled down.

Between Blacker’s Road and the rooms was developed a Parisian Garden, one of Madras’s most popular places in its day for wine and roses. Within was a restaurant as famous for its French and Italian cuisine as for its Tea Service, mesdames dropped in to enjoy after shopping expeditions. D’Angelis also had Madras’s first electrical hotel lift, making possible a roof garden, hot water on tap, electric fans, an ice-making plant and cold storage. Its floors were of imported tiles and there was elaborate wrought iron embellishment everywhere. A three-table billiard room and a pub-like bar made it an inviting haunt of an evening for gentry who had no club to go to. With all these facilities, it was renowned as Madras’s No. 1 hostelry till 1937 when the completely rebuilt and refurbished Connemara re-opened after three years of rebuilding. But by then, D’Angelis had changed hands; an Italian confectioner in town, Bosotto, had taken it over and was probably responsible for the new façade. The continuing classiness of the hotel was attested to by Douglas Jardine’s English cricket team staying there in 1934, and Sassoon’s of Bombay, a five-star emporium, having a shop in it.

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Before the Bosotto transaction went through, Giacomo D’Angelis had left for France and the business was run by ‘Giacomo D’Angelis and Son’, the son being Carlo. A duck-and-teal shoot in a jheel 20 miles from Madras went wrong in 1920 and Carlo drowned. Giacomo’s youngest son, Louis, who was in New York, returned to Madras and from that time tried to sell the hotel, complaining the while that the attempt was going very slow. Eventually it was 1928 or 1930 before Bosotto bought it and the D’Angelis connection with Madras came to an end.

In later years, Bosotto’s was succeeded by Airlines Hotel, a restaurant and the Bata Showroom backed by cubby-hole shops which enabled the hotel rooms, their numbers, verandah-cum-corridors and toilets to remain recognisable. As usual, in the case of Madras’s heritage buildings, a fire, in 1986, threatened it but it survived – its fate uncertain. Your columnist had approached the Taj Group and a couple of other hotel groups to take the building over and develop it as a boutique heritage hotel. But I could never understand their lack of interest.

D’Angelis, legendary in many ways, also ran from the 1880s till 1925, Sylk’s Hotel in Ooty (owned by Sylks but which had started as Dawson’s Hotel in 1842-43). When D’Angelis gave up its management, it was re-named in 1943, but still later owners as the Savoy and continues to this day as such, owned by Spencer’s but run by the Taj Group.

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When the postman knocked…

Yusuf Khan continues to attract attention. Theodore Baskaran, a person well-versed in Tamil history, writes: “When Yusuf Khan (Miscellany, March 5) controlled Madurai, the people, impressed with his benevolent rule, called him the icon of Madurai — mathurai nayagam. In colloquial usage, particularly in the South, kuthirai morphs into kuruthai and mathurai becomes maruthai. It was an affectionate name given by the people.

“Secondly, in Tirunelveli’s Evangelical Christians: Two Centuries of Vamsavazhi Tradition edited by Packiamuthu and Sarojini Packiamuthu, (2003), there are chapters on 18 families. One on Chandran Devanesen, by Vasantha Appasamy, traces CD’s ancestry to one Shanmuganathan, who was working as an odhuvar(who sang hymns in temples). She makes no reference to the Yusuf Khan connection. Dr. Devanesen and I interacted often, particularly in Shillong, and we have talked about Palayamkottai. But he never mentioned the Khan factor.”

The chronicler of Madras that is Chennai tells stories of people, places, and events from the years gone by, and sometimes from today.

source:http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> Society> Madras Miscellany > History & Cultural / by S. Muthiah / March 26th, 2018

Hotline for domestic, burn violence survivors launched

About Chennai(Madras) / TamilNadu, Records, All

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National facility to provide legal advice; database on anvil

In an effort to support survivors of domestic violence and burn violence, the International Foundation for Crime Prevention and Victim Care (PCVC) launched a national hotline facility here on Sunday. The numbers are 044-43111143 and 18001027282 (24-hour toll-free number). It was inaugurated by Elke Büdenbender, wife of German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier.

Prasanna Gettu, founder of PCVC, said the facility would help women get counselling, legal awareness and information. The PCVC helpline receives about 300 new crisis calls every year.

“The national hotline facility aims to reach out to more women and will be staffed by trained personnel. This is piloted in the State for two years and We want to create a database of stakeholders in all districts of a State. The database will have everything that survivors will require, from information on rehabilitation and government schemes to job opportunities,” she said.

“Many don’t know that such a helpline, that we already have, exists and people who call find the number through the internet; more women who want to reach out need to know about the hotline,” she added.

Research done in four locations — the National Capital Region, Telangana, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu — has revealed that incidents of domestic violence are quite high

Rehabilitation process

Swetha Shankar of PCVC said 90% of burn violence incidents are reported as accidents and 75% of the victims die. Many calls from burn survivors come from the Kilpauk Medical College (KMC) and they need a sustained rehabilitative process, which takes a few years. But many of them don’t come for the rehabilitation because there may not be post-hospital services available or because their families are not keen. “For instance, of the 800 women who came to KMC last year, only 80 came for rehabilitation,” she said.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Chennai / by Staff Reporters / Chennai – March 26th, 2018

Not just any old wall

Amazing Feats, Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Inspiration/ Positive News and Features

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Kavitha Jenarthanan talks about why she created a Wall of Kindness in the city

“My parents have never turned away anyone who asks for help. They are very kind people and I got that quality from them,” says Kavitha Jenarthanan, founder of Kavitha’s Ini Oru Vidhi Seivom, a trust in Tirupur.

The outside view | Photo Credit: The Hindu
The outside view | Photo Credit: The Hindu

She has set up three Anbu Suvar (Wall of Kindness) in the state, one being in Coimbatore.

This is not a new concept, says Jenarthanan. “It is very popular abroad. I read about it on social media. I loved the idea and wanted to do it too. The first was set up at Komarapalayam in Erode; then in Tirupur and the latest in Coimbatore (September 2017).

The wall belongs to the Corporation and is situated near Devanga Higher Secondary School, RS Puram.”

This 300 sq ft wall took a week to be made. “After I received permission from the Corporation Commissioner, K Vijayakarthikeyan, I designed the wall with two plywood cupboards. These are open and accessible to anyone at any time. The walls are painted with instructions on what to and what not to keep and with verses from the Thirukkural.”

The public can leave old reusable clothes, books, toys, slippers, bags or any other items in the cupboards to be picked up by people in need.

Jenarthanan also has volunteers who tidy the shelves. “Corporation workers also arrange the shelves everyday. The wall is for the people in our city and so it is everyone’s responsibility to maintain it.”

She admits that there are challenges. “People sometimes leave dirty and unusable clothes. Please don’t. The whole idea is to provide decent items to those in need. Those who pull out the clothes do not rearrange them properly. I wish there would be a change in this attitude.”

Jenarthanan is happy that with the positive response. “The racks will always have something to offer and that is a good sign.”

Jenarthanan plans to have more such walls in and around the city.

She also recently organised a Womanathon in Tirupur. “It was to create awareness on women’s safety and education. With the proceeds, 11 children from underprivilaged background were given ₹ 5000 each for their education and healthcare.”

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> Life & Style / by Susan Joe Philip / March 24th, 2018

Doctors of Royapettah Hospital bring out a book on toxicology

Education, Inspiration/ Positive News and Features, Records, All, Science & Technologies

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Doctors of the Department of Internal Medicine at Government Royapettah Hospital have brought out a book, Manual of Toxicology — An Indian Perspective, which, they say, will fill a lacunae in the knowledge about poisons.

“Most toxicology manuals are silent on many of the Indian posions, as they have been written from a western perspective. This book is based on our experience treating cases involving toxins,” says Dr. A. Shaik Sulaiman Meeran, one of the doctors who spearheaded this book project.

Dr. P. Paranthaman was the editor-in-chief. Dr. Sulaiman, Dr. A. Samuel Dinesh and Dr. D. Venkateswaralu served as associate editors and Dr. P. Raja as co-editor. The book has been brought out by Chess Educational Publishers.

Dr. Sulaiman says that knowing the sources of danger will prevent accidental ingesting of poisons or strikes by venomous reptiles and insects.

Knowing where to seek help will be a crucial factor in recovery.

He says snake bite cases from the southern suburbs, which include Tambaram and surrounding areas, parts of Old Mahabalipuram Road and East Coast Road are common. Anti-venom serum for treatment of bites by cobra, viper and krait is available. Government general hospitals have them.

Residents of semi-urban areas can face the problem of snake bikes, it is available in primary health centres, he says. Here is a word of caution. “Ninety percent of the sea snakes are poisonous and there is no anti-venom serum for them. Only supportive treatment can be given. Sea snakes are sometimes found near fishermen’s settlements. They get entangled in fishermen’s nets and are brought ashore. There is always a high possibility of finding them near fishermen’s hamlets on East Coast Road,” says Dr. Sulaiman.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Chennai / March 23rd, 2018

Saluting women trailblazers

Business & Economy, Inspiration/ Positive News and Features, Leaders, Records, All

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The Hindu ‘World of Women 2018’ awards presented

The Hindu ‘World of Women 2018’ awards that were given away on Friday celebrated talent, excellence and the accomplishments of women across various fields. The awardees were recognised not only for their contribution to their respective fields but also to society at large.

Nirmala Lakshman, director, The Hindu Group, welcomed the audience and the chief guest Kiran Bedi, Lieutenant Governor of Puducherry, gave away the awards to 11 achievers.

Mrs. Y.G. Parthasarathy, founder and dean, P. S. B. B. Group of Institutions, was awarded The Hindu Torchbearer award — recognising excellence in education. The 92-year-old came to receive the award with her grand daughter-in-law, who spoke on her behalf. “I began my career as a journalist with The Hindu. I was the first woman journalist back then and I remember interviewing the cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin. I still have miles to go in keeping up with technological developments. I accept this award with all humility,” she read.

R. Tara, director, SCARF, received the Excellence in Healthcare award. She recalled the story of a young girl, Shanti, from a village in Tamil Nadu, who topped her school but developed schizophrenia. Since her brother didn’t know how to handle her, she was chained near a cowshed for over a year. “Today, she can take up a part-time job,” she said.

Beno Zephine N.L., the first visually-challenged IFS officer, was awarded the Inspiration award, in absentia. The Entrepreneur award was given to Nina Reddy, joint managing director, Savera Hotel; Visalakshi Ramaswamy, founder of M.Rm.Rm. Cultural Foundation, received The Hindu Agriculture and Rural Development Award. Akhila Srinivasan, MD, Shriram Life Insurance, was presented The Hindu Business Woman Award. The team from Tamil Nadu, which won the 23rd National Women’s Football Championship, was awarded The Hindu Flying Colours Award for Excellence in Sports.

Supriya Sahu, IAS, Director General of Doordarshan, received the Contribution to Society award. “My journey as an IAS officer from U.P. and Bihar to Kanniyakumari and The Nilgiris district has taught me how much I can serve as a government officer,” she said. Dancer Malavika Sarukkai, who received The Hindu Heritage in Arts and Entertainment Award, spoke of the need to look at dance beyond the ‘performative’. Actor Nayanthara won the Dazzler award.

Lifetime of service

The Hindu Lifetime Achievement Award was given to V. Shanta, founder/chairperson, Cancer Institute, Adyar. “I dedicate this award to the memory of Dr. Muthulakshmi Reddy. It is 62 years today and I continue with this institution. We have been unique because we continue the same ethos even when health, which was a human service, has now become an industry,” she said.

“Each one of us women has fought our own battles to reach the centrestage; we must continue to be a support system for each other,” said Ms. Bedi.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Chennai / by Staff Reporter / Chennai – March 24th, 2018

Tirupur athlete lands in Australia to take part in Commonwealth Games

Sports, World Opinion
Dharun Ayyasamy | Photo Credit: HANDOUT
Dharun Ayyasamy | Photo Credit: HANDOUT

Dharun Ayyasamy (21), an Olympian athlete from Tirupur who recently qualified for Commonwealth Games, has reached Gold Coast in Australia in advance to get acclimatised to the conditions at the Games venue.

“Training at the host country in advance will enhance the chances of a medal,” said J. Alagesan, the athlete’s personal coach.

Dharun qualified for the Commonwealth Games by finishing with a national record performance of 49.45 seconds in the men’s 400 m hurdles at the Federation Cup event at Patiala on March 8.

“What makes the selection fascinating is that the timing was exactly the one set worldwide for selection to the Commonwealth Games this time. The performance at Patiala thus broke the 10-year-old national record held by Joseph Ganapathiplackal Abraham of Kerala in 2007”, Mr. Alagesan said.

Dharun, who represented India in the Rio Olympics in 2016 in 4X 400 metres relay, had started his preparations for the Commonwealth Games immediately after the Patiala event.

“I practised at Sports Authority of India’s training facility at Patiala before embarking on the Australian trip”, Dharun told The Hindu over phone.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Coimbatore / by R. Vimal Kumar / Tirupur – March 22nd, 2018

Dravidian language family is 4,500 years old: study

About Chennai(Madras) / TamilNadu, Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Historical Links, Pre-Independence, Records, All, World Opinion

The Dravidian language family’s four largest languages — Kannada, Malayalam, Tamil and Telugu — have literary traditions spanning centuries, of which Tamil reaches back the furthest, researchers said.

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The Dravidian language family, consisting of 80 varieties spoken by nearly 220 million people across southern and central India, originated about 4,500 years ago, a study has found.

This estimate is based on new linguistic analyses by an international team, including researchers from the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History in Germany, and the Wildlife Institute of India in Dehradun.

The researchers used data collected first-hand from native speakers representing all previously reported Dravidian subgroups. The findings, published in the journal Royal Society Open Science, match with earlier linguistic and archaeological studies.

South Asia, reaching from Afghanistan in the west and Bangladesh in the east, is home to at least six hundred languages belonging to six large language families, including Dravidian, Indo-European and Sino-Tibetan.

The Dravidian language family, consisting of about 80 language varieties (both languages and dialects) is today spoken by about 220 million people, mostly in southern and central India, and surrounding countries.

The Dravidian language family’s four largest languages — Kannada, Malayalam, Tamil and Telugu — have literary traditions spanning centuries, of which Tamil reaches back the furthest, researchers said.

Along with Sanskrit, Tamil is one of the world’s classical languages, but unlike Sanskrit, there is continuity between its classical and modern forms documented in inscriptions, poems, and secular and religious texts and songs, they said.

“The study of the Dravidian languages is crucial for understanding prehistory in Eurasia, as they played a significant role in influencing other language groups,” said Annemarie Verkerk of the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History.

Neither the geographical origin of the Dravidian language nor its exact dispersal through time is known with certainty.

The consensus of the research community is that the Dravidians are natives of the Indian subcontinent and were present prior to the arrival of the Indo-Aryans (Indo-European speakers) in India around 3,500 years ago.

Researchers said that it is likely that the Dravidian languages were much more widespread to the west in the past than they are today.

In order to examine questions about when and where the Dravidian languages developed, they made a detailed investigation of the historical relationships of 20 Dravidian varieties.

Study author Vishnupriya Kolipakam of the Wildlife Institute of India collected contemporary first-hand data from native speakers of a diverse sample of Dravidian languages, representing all the previously reported subgroups of Dravidian.

The researchers used advanced statistical methods to infer the age and sub-grouping of the Dravidian language family at about 4,000-4,500 years old.

This estimate, while in line with suggestions from previous linguistic studies, is a more robust result because it was found consistently in the majority of the different statistical models of evolution tested in this study.

This age also matches well with inferences from archaeology, which have previously placed the diversification of Dravidian into North, Central, and South branches at exactly this age, coinciding with the beginnings of cultural developments evident in the archaeological record.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> Science / by PTI / Berlin – March 21st, 2018