Filmmaker K. Balachander passes away

December 25, 2014Arts, Culture & Entertainmentadmin

Veteran director K. Balachander, who was known in the South Indian film circles as ‘Iyakkunar Sigaram’ (a peak among directors), breathed his last on Tuesday evening, leaving behind a rich legacy of not just film and television work but a long list of technicians and actors he introduced in a career spanning nearly five decades.

The two biggest stars of the Indian film industry — Kamal Hassan and Rajinikanth — are among those whom he mentored.

The 84-year-old, who was suffering from age-related ailments and admitted to a private hospital here last week, was declared dead around 7. 30 p.m.

According to sources, the final rites are to be performed on Thursday. The mortal remains would be taken to his house on Wednesday morning, where it would be kept for the people to pay their tributes. One of the doctors who treated him said the director showed a fighting spirit against his ailments just like the hero of his classic Ethir Neechal.

Mr. Balachander was the recipient of the Dadasaheb Phalke Award in 2010. He has directed over 100 films in all major South Indian languages. His most prolific decades in cinema were the 1970s and the 1980s, while in the 1990s he focussed on television serials. Among the first to visit Kauvery Hospital, where Mr. Balachander was undergoing treatment, was DMK president M. Karunanidhi, along with Rajathi Ammal and Kanimozhi. Prominent directors, including R. Partheban, Ameer, S.P. Jhanannathan and Cheran, all rushed to the hospital. Actor Rajinikanth reached his residence around 10 p.m.

The former Chief Minister, Jayalalithaa, has condoled the death.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> Entertainment / by Karthik Subramanian / Chennai – December 23rd, 2014

SASTRA Prize for 27-yr-old Oxford Scholar

December 25, 2014Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Education, Records, All, World Opinionadmin

Kumbakonam :

The 2014 SASTRA-Ramanujan Prize was awarded to James Maynard of Oxford University, England, and the University of Montreal, Canada, at a function held in Sastra Ramanujan Centre here on Sunday.

Mangalam Srinivasan, Special Advisor, Kennedy school of Government in Harvard University and fellow of Certified Trust and Financial Advisor (CFTA), Harvard University, presented the prestigious award to the 27-year-old Maynard.

Professor Krishnaswami Alladi of Univeristy of Florida and Chairman of the award committee read the citation for the award. He said James Maynard is being awarded the 2014 Sastra Ramanujan Prize for his revolutionary contributions to prime number theory, for making strongest advances thus far on various long standing problems of primes and for the ingenious techniques he has introduced which influence future research in the field.

The citation also pointed out James Maynard, who received his Doctorate in Philosophy from Oxford University in 2013, has been a Post-doctoral fellow at the University of Montreal, Canada. Prof.Krishnaswami Alladi while reading the citation, recalled the genesis of this Award in 2005.

S Vaidhaysubramaniam, Dean, Planning and Development of Sastra was also present during the occasion.

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> States> Tamil Nadu / December 22nd, 2014

‘Vanoli Anna’, voice that made waves on AIR, fades

December 25, 2014Arts, Culture & Entertainmentadmin

Koothapiran joined All India Radio in the 1960s. File photo / The Hindu

Koothapiran was the voice behind the programme Siruvar Solai, for over 30 years. He also gained popularity as a cricket commentator in Tamil.

Master storyteller and veteran dramatist Koothapiran, fondly known as ‘Vanoli Anna’, died on Tuesday morning. He was 83.

According to his son, N. Ganesan, Mr. Koothapiran suffered a heart attack at a relative’s residence in Hyderabad. Even on Sunday, December 21, he had acted in the play Oru Robo Vin Diary by N. Rathnam, his other son, in Chennai.

Mr. Koothapiran was born Nagapattinam Vittal Iyer Natarajan in Chidambaram, and assumed the pen name after his wife, Lalitha, suggested it. His penchant for children’s literature began during his school days. Born in August 1932, he moved to Chennai before Independence and studied theatre here.

He joined All India Radio as an announcer in the 1960s, and later started assisting with the production of children’s programmes when R. Aiyaswamy was ‘Radio Anna’.

Mr. Koothapiran was ‘Vanoli Anna’, the voice behind the programme Siruvar Solai, for over 30 years. He also gained popularity as a cricket commentator in Tamil.

He authored over 20 books, novels and plays for children. He acted in over 6,500 stage plays and adapted many stories for the stage including Kalki’s Devaki yi Kanavan and Amara Dhara.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Chennai / by Special Correspondent / Chennai – December 24th, 2014

A dim outlook for the lamps of olden days

December 25, 2014Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Business & Economyadmin

The lamps are now purchased only by restaurants, cinemas, serial production houses and interior decorators. Photo: B. Jothi Ramalingam / The Hindu

Hurricane lanterns, once a common sight in households, are now a part of antique collections

If you were to search the loft in your house, you might find a hurricane lamp with the faint smell of kerosene still emanating from it. These lanterns, which were once a common sight in households, are now a part of antique collections.

Until about two decades ago, most homes in the city owned hurricane lamps with wicks. The flame would never get extinguished, not even on windy nights. The children of the house were often entrusted with the task of cleaning them in the evenings.

“As children, we had to remove the glass covering carefully, and clean the soot gathered from the previous day’s use. After this, kerosene was poured in the bottom chamber and the wick lit. We used to study under its light,” recalls V. Aryadevi, an octogenarian resident of Mylapore.

Now, these lamps are purchased only by some restaurants, cinemas, serial production houses and interior decorators. “Earlier, we used to sell around 300 lamps per month. But, now, the number has fallen to 100,” says Shair Ali, who has been selling lanterns since 1945 on Evening Bazaar Road.

Though electric lamps have replaced hurricane lights, he says the latter burn for a longer duration. “I use one in my house to this day. You can still spot them in villages,” he says.

K. Nizam, who also sells hurricane lamps in the locality, says those who sell food on Marina and Elliots beaches, and petty shop owners purchase the lanterns from him. “But most customers prefer electric lamps. They feel that pouring kerosene and lighting the lamps is too much of a hassle. Hurricane lamps are more of a decorative piece in most homes now,” he adds.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Chennai / by Vivek Narayanan / December 24th, 2014

Insurance scheme funds neurosurgeries

December 25, 2014Resources of Free Materials, Science & Technologiesadmin

R. Vetrivel and his wife Killiammal first noticed there was something wrong with their eight-year-old son when he felt dizzy at school.

The couple, from Tiruppattur in Vellore district, took him to several government hospitals, before being referred to the neurosurgery department at Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital.

There, doctors found the young boy had a rare condition — a paediatric brain aneurysm — a condition in which a portion of the artery which supplies blood to the brain bulges and becomes weak. If the aneurysm ruptures, it releases blood into the skull, causing a stroke.

“We performed a microsurgery on the child, delved deep into the brain, found the artery and clipped the protuberant portion, so that it does not pose a risk. This was only possible as we have recently bought two state-of-the-art microscopes costing Rs. 1 crore each. We also bought three aneurysm clips, each costing Rs. 20,000. The surgery was performed free, and it was only possible as we had funds from the Chief Minister’s comprehensive health insurance scheme,” said Ranganathan Jothi, head of the neurosurgery department.

This is just one of the many complex procedures the department can now perform thanks to high-tech equipment, Dr. Jothi said, speaking at a press meet recently. “Now we perform three of four such surgeries every month,” he said.

For 72-year-old Michael Raj, a surgery has changed his life. The retired driver suffered from uncontrolled twitching in the face accompanied by shooting pain. He had tried all kinds of medication but nothing had relieved him. “It was so bad that I couldn’t even brush my teeth,” he said. After a private hospital told him the surgery would cost Rs. 2 lakh, Mr. Raj came to GH.

“An MRI scan revealed that a blood vessel was compressing a nerve. We performed a surgery to separate the nerve and the blood vessel, and now, even six months later, he is fine,” Dr. Jothi said.

Two other complex surgeries were also performed recently on patients with problems in their vertebrae. “Since the screws, plates and rods required are patented products, they are all very expensive. But we were able to acquire them,” he said.

All the patients are reportedly doing well.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Chennai / by Staff Reporter / Chennai – December 19th, 2014

Anglo India hand

December 25, 2014Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Leaders, Nri's / Pio'sadmin

Eric Stracey talks about his book ‘Growing up in Anglo India’

“If as a little boy in the 1920s, I had been asked what I was, I would have said, ‘English’.” In Growing up in Anglo India (EastWest) Eric Stracey, 80, writes about an elusive 400-year-old community. Sometimes reviled, often used, rarely admired, the Anglo-Indians are a people who perhaps got as close to immortality as they ever would with Ismail Merchant’s Cotton Mary.

“Cheap novelists and scriptwriters have often found in the Anglo-Indians ground for sensationalism,” says Stracey. Stracey’s writing is a nostalgic, picturesque, sometimes brutally honest journey through the times, places and achievements that characterised the lives of his parents and 11 siblings.

“There was the realisation that we were an unusual lot and that our story called for some kind of record,” he says. “Another reason was that Bangalore and the conditions prevailing there when I was growing up in the cantonment – the best of weather, pure air, clean water, fine schools, a moral climate and cheap living – have changed beyond recognition. Unfortunately for the worse.”

Stracey migrated to Australia for “family reasons” in 1980. During a retirement marked by “boredom and low spirits”, his writing flourished. He updated his first, unpublished novel Odd Man In – memoirs of his years in the police service, which climaxed when be became director general of police, Tamil Nadu, in 1979.

Growing up in Anglo India is in a sense a literary tribute to his people: “Among our proudest qualities are our sense of loyalty and steadfastness. We stuck to our post and did our duty when others faltered.” It is no wonder then that cities as far afield as Calcutta and Bangalore have their own mini-legends about Anglo-Indian police officers like Stracey.

And despite great distances, this father of two sons, Mike, 52, and John, 54, is as close as he ever was to his community. So while he writes with regret that a lack of financial resources has led to conditions among the Anglo-Indians “going downhill”, he might take consolation in the fact that he will always be remembered for knowing well and writing truly of a time when it was otherwise.

source: http://www.indiatoday.intoday.in / Indiatoday.in / Home> Society & The Arts> Books / by Sonia Faleiro / September 04th, 2014

Sahitya Academy award for Poomani for Agnaadi

December 22, 2014Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Records, Alladmin

Chennai :

Tamil writer Poomani has won this year’s Sahitya Akademi award for his historical novel ‘Agnaadi’. The novel has been called “a landmark work” and covers a period of more than 170 years from the beginning of the 19th century, revolving mainly around the lives and fortunes of several families in villages in Virudhunagar district.

The 1,200-page novel looks at caste conflicts in the region over the past two centuries. It has also won the inaugural Gitanjali literary prize.

While last year’s award winner, Joe D’Cruz’s novel ‘Aazhi Soozh Ulagu’ (Ocean-Ringed Earth), was based on imagination and creative writing, Poomani’s book is a research-based story – similar to Su Venkatesan’s ‘Kaval Kottam’ that is a saga of the kallar community. Poomani, though born in a dalit-pallar family, has written about families belonging to various communities including nadars whose socio-economic and cultural advancement in the 100 years, giving rise to a prosperous business class in Virudhunagar, is a remarkable story in modern Tamil society.

Pooliththurai Manickavasagam, aka Poomani, collected information on events and developments during the colonial period using archival sources in the region. In addition, the author also collected source materials from National Archives and the Nehru Memorial Museum and Library in New Delhi, National Library in Kolkata, and the India Office Library in London.

“Poomani is an acclaimed author and is famous for his writings on dalits. He deserves to receive the award,” said writer S Ramakrishnan.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Chennai / TNN / December 20th, 2014

Training given in sea turtle conservation

December 22, 2014Education, Green Initiatives/ Environment, Natureadmin

J. Vinodh, a home guard in Kadapakkam on East Coast Road, has been assisting the police in patrolling the areas and checking vehicles during weekends. Now, he has learnt to collect eggs laid by Olive Ridley turtles and translocate them properly.

Mr. Vinodh was one of the 75 people who underwent training in protecting and conserving marine resources on Saturday. A total of 17 home guards, 20 forest watchers, six panchayat presidents and 31 sea turtle protection force volunteers underwent the training on Saturday.

Jebastian Emmnuel, a forest watcher who completed the training, will now take care of the coastal stretch between Napier Bridge and Lighthouse. He says: “Earlier, I did not know that when the weather is hot, adequate cover is needed around the spot where the eggs are translocated. I learnt this during the training.”

Forest department sources said a total of 15 field staff, including the wildlife headquarters range officer, underwent the training. The department has proposed to post five persons along the Marina stretch, and another five along the Besant Nagar stretch and along the east coast up to Mahabalipuram. These watchers will help local marine life conservationists to relocate the eggs, rescue stranded turtles along the coast and count dead Olive Ridley turtles.

Supraja Dharini of TREE Foundation said the training was scheduled just before the commencement of the nesting season of Olive Ridleys along the Chennai coast. The training focussed on the integrated sea turtle conservation programme, which is imparted in association with the wildlife wing of the State forest department, she said. Protocols, interaction and exchange of information on sea turtle monitoring and conservation methodologies were part of the training, she added.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Chennai / by P. Oppili / Chennai – December 21st, 2014

V Balasubramanian, Vikatan editor and animal lover, dead

December 21, 2014Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Green Initiatives/ Environment, Natureadmin

Chennai :

Veteran media personality and Vikatan group chairman V Balasubramanian passed away at a private hospital in Chennai after a brief illness. He was 79. He had served as editor and publisher of Ananda Vikatan, a widely read Tamil weekly founded by his movie-moghul father S S Vasan.

During his tenure, Balasubramanian launched Junior Vikatan, a racy, tabloid-like weekly that set a new trend by dishing out an exciting fare consisting of political reporting, investigative stories and serialized historical novellas.

Balasubramanian became a test case of the extent of legislative privileges when in 1987 the assembly speaker ordered his arrest for publishing on the cover of his magazine a cartoon on legislators. M G Ramachandran was chief minister at that time. While speaker P H Pandian insisted he had “sky high” powers, Balasubramanian stuck to his guns and went to jail.

Observers at the time couldn’t miss the irony of Balasubramanian having produced an MGR-starring film ‘Sirithu Vazha Vendum’ (Live life smiling) earlier.

“He was released in two days after protests erupted all over the country but our editor was not satisfied with that. He filed a lawsuit against his wrongful arrest, asked for token compensation and won his case,” cartoonist Madhan, who served as joint editor of the Vikatan group, said. “He framed the cheque for the compensation amount and displayed it in his room,” said Sudhangan, veteran journalist who started career with Vikatan.

Balasubramanian was an expert farmer, with special interest in the cultivation of high-yielding winter crops. A dog lover, he bred German shepherds. He was a successful aviculturist and is known for having bred many types of parrots.

His father, S S Vasan, was a celebrated journalist, freedom fighter and film magnate – he was the proprietor of Gemini Studios.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Chennai / TNN / December 20th, 2014

10 Pilots Get ‘Wings’ at INS Rajali Passing Out Ceremony

December 21, 2014Business & Economy, Education, Records, Alladmin

Vice Admiral R K Pattanaik, Deputy Chief of Naval Staff, inspecting the cadets during the 83rd Helicopter Conversion Course, held at Naval Air Station, INS Rajali at Arakkonam on Saturday | express

Vellore :

Deputy Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral R K Pattanaik, AVSM, YSM, awarded ‘wings’ to 10 pilots – eight naval and two coast guard pilots at the passing-out parade held at the 83rd Helicopter Conversion Course at Naval Air Station (NAS), INS Rajali, in Arakkonam on Saturday.

Vice Admiral Pattanaik also awarded ‘The Governor of Kerala Rolling Trophy’, for the best all-round trainee pilot and a book prize, for standing first in ground subjects to Himanshu Kukreja and awarded ‘The Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Eastern Naval Command Rolling Trophy’ for the trainee pilot standing first in order of merit in flying, to Praffur Kishor Itape.

Speaking on the occasion, Pattanaik congratulated the trainee pilots, and wished them success in their future endeavours. “You (trainee pilots) have faced and overcome many difficulties during the trainee period to gain success. But, this is not the end but is instead the beginning of your career. The real problems are waiting for you, outside the base.”

The pilots underwent rigorous training for 22 weeks in flying and aviation subjects at the Helicopter Training School (HTS) INAS 561 located in the NAS at Arakkonam. The HTS commanded by Paul Mathew has graduated 616 pilots for the Indian Navy and Coast Guard till date.

The squadron was awarded the ‘Best Training Squadron’ trophy for the year 2013-14. The school was also recently awarded ISO 9001:2008 certification and has also been adjudged ‘The Best Naval Air Squadron’ for the year 2012-13 among all the naval air squadrons of the Navy. The squadron is 43 years old and was initially established at INS Garuda, Kochi and later in June 1992 was re-based in INS Rajali in Arakkonam.

Graduating pilots will be joining operational flights in Mumbai, Port Blair, Goa, Kochi, Visakhapatnam, Daman and Chennai.