Published on Page 2, The New Indian Express
Coimbatore city edition, Dated December 30, 2006
By Francis P Barclay
Coimbatore, Dec 29: As time nears to bid adieu to 2006 and ring in the New Year, the city feels the thrill tickling the stomach and gets ready for the grand finale. Merrymakers, stiffen your waist and buckle your shoes.
The night of revelry, how to take it in? Will it go without dance, music, carousal, party and merrymaking? Certainly not. The hotels in the city are offering special New Year packages. But each individual has his or her own way of celebration. Some sit with cellphones sending messages, while a few celebrate with stage shows and tea party with friends. Others go beyond. Those who can't afford parties and dances prefer to walk along the streets and be happy seeing people merrymaking. Junketing starts at about 8 p.m. and would last hours after midnight.
James, a resident of Podanur, says he and his friends would make an effigy, stuff it with straw and crackers and burst it at midnight. ``We would bring a music system and dance,'' he adds.
Even for students preparing for semester exams, celebration is there. Anugraha, a first year engineering student who stays in a college ladies hostel, says: ``We would enjoy the night with games and competitions. We have our hefty New Year cake too.''
For the rich, the Residency is offering a DJ night with dances, games and feast. Couples ready to shell out Rs 3,333 each could find a place there. For children, however, the entry fee is only Rs 1,111 while for singles, it
is Rs 2,222. The hotel offers a sumptuous spread of dishes and welcome drinks too.
If that proves too costly, plan the night at Black Thunder Resort. At the buffet dinner, amid the fast beats serving as background, about 40 dishes would be served. It's Rs 1,800 for a couple and Rs 1,000 for singles. Also
enjoy participating in a Jaya TV comedy programme.
Deepthi, working in a media firm, says she would have some stage shows and tea party. ``Anyway, I won't miss the TV programmes,'' she says.
Looking for another hangout in the city? CAG Pride arranges special programmes for revellers with DJ, cinematic dance and games. The entry fee is Rs 1,750 for couples.
Ishwarya, a student, wants to begin the year with a balsamic song.
``A new set of happenings is awaiting us. With the experiences we have had this year and yesteryears, make a better life next year,'' says Saranya, a student of Thiyagarajar College of Engineering.
Rajasimman, an employee with a software firm, says he will celebrate New Year with his friends. Vimal, his colleague, adds: ``Certainly, we won't stay at home and sleeping. We plan a place out.''
Shalu, a diploma student, says: ``We are 12 of a group and would go for a new release in the theatre.''
Any New Year resolutions? Nishad, working in media, has one. He wants to write a novel in the coming year. It was his dream project.
``New Year reminds that you have grown one year old, and you must do something bold. I will announce my resolution and, of course, wouldn't keep up,'' college student Yumnya Yongam says.
Nithya, an English literature student, says she plans to read more novels the coming year. ``I am also going to do some charity work,'' she adds.
December 30, 2006
December 23, 2006
Now, 425 to celebrate Xmas at FFC
Published on Page 1, Weekend, strip
Coimbatore Edition, dated December 23, 2006
Blurb: Oblivious to the realities of life, the children at FFC are waiting for
someone to come with gifts
By Francis P Barclay
They were 420, but 425 now; and they all will celebrate Christmas, for which preparations are on. And in the merriment on the day of revelry, they will try to sink their pangs of destitution; of course not all, because the latest to join the fest are just infants. Accepting them as Christmas gifts from God and also including them in its burly family, the FFC is all set to celebrate the day.
Special kids, orphans, destitute and people with disabilities are in the three houses of FFC - Families For Children - in Podanur near Coimbatore. The mission of each house now is `beat others in decoration'.
The five who joined them on the midnight of December 20 were Amudhan (born on October 21, 2006), Nandhini (March 25, 2006), Oviya (December 5, 2006), Swetha (December 17, 2006) and Madhuri (November 7, 2006) - all from Salem.
The inmates of FFC have sponsors from abroad apart from some local philanthropists as well wishers. A few kids have got new dress for Christmas while some got `new' old clothes. And, there are many who got nothing. Yet, they are waiting for the festival. They are making their own greeting cards to send them to their sponsors.
Each house is making a Christmas crib, decorating the rooms with streamers and lanterns. They hope Santa will come on the day and give them gifts.
A few may get special food from sponsors. Others will have to be happy with their usual meal.
Children, who get education in FFC's own pre-school, are sent to government schools. Students aspiring for higher education are sent to colleges also. After they are settled in life, they are given in marriage and they leave the home. In the case of special people and those with disabilities, they stay in the home for life.
Vocational training is given to all. They spin silk threads from the coocoon they buy at government auction and sell it to the Sericulture Department. They make greeting cards, purses and foot rugs using waste polythene bags.
They have a library and a computer lab, which is also open to the public. They also rear goats. The milk is given to the babes.
Sunbeam Viswanath, Administrator of the FFC, says local philanthropists render good help to the children. They sponsor meals, give clothes and gifts during special occasions.
Saravana Kumar and Naseer, who can neither speak nor hear, use their talents to make attractive greeting cards. Karthiga (17) and Sudha (18) make silk handbags.
Mood is upbeat among them, as only a few hours are left for Christmas. Oblivious to the realities of life, the children are waiting for someone to come with gifts. But, will anyone come?
Coimbatore Edition, dated December 23, 2006
Blurb: Oblivious to the realities of life, the children at FFC are waiting for
someone to come with gifts
By Francis P Barclay
They were 420, but 425 now; and they all will celebrate Christmas, for which preparations are on. And in the merriment on the day of revelry, they will try to sink their pangs of destitution; of course not all, because the latest to join the fest are just infants. Accepting them as Christmas gifts from God and also including them in its burly family, the FFC is all set to celebrate the day.
Special kids, orphans, destitute and people with disabilities are in the three houses of FFC - Families For Children - in Podanur near Coimbatore. The mission of each house now is `beat others in decoration'.
The five who joined them on the midnight of December 20 were Amudhan (born on October 21, 2006), Nandhini (March 25, 2006), Oviya (December 5, 2006), Swetha (December 17, 2006) and Madhuri (November 7, 2006) - all from Salem.
The inmates of FFC have sponsors from abroad apart from some local philanthropists as well wishers. A few kids have got new dress for Christmas while some got `new' old clothes. And, there are many who got nothing. Yet, they are waiting for the festival. They are making their own greeting cards to send them to their sponsors.
Each house is making a Christmas crib, decorating the rooms with streamers and lanterns. They hope Santa will come on the day and give them gifts.
A few may get special food from sponsors. Others will have to be happy with their usual meal.
Children, who get education in FFC's own pre-school, are sent to government schools. Students aspiring for higher education are sent to colleges also. After they are settled in life, they are given in marriage and they leave the home. In the case of special people and those with disabilities, they stay in the home for life.
Vocational training is given to all. They spin silk threads from the coocoon they buy at government auction and sell it to the Sericulture Department. They make greeting cards, purses and foot rugs using waste polythene bags.
They have a library and a computer lab, which is also open to the public. They also rear goats. The milk is given to the babes.
Sunbeam Viswanath, Administrator of the FFC, says local philanthropists render good help to the children. They sponsor meals, give clothes and gifts during special occasions.
Saravana Kumar and Naseer, who can neither speak nor hear, use their talents to make attractive greeting cards. Karthiga (17) and Sudha (18) make silk handbags.
Mood is upbeat among them, as only a few hours are left for Christmas. Oblivious to the realities of life, the children are waiting for someone to come with gifts. But, will anyone come?
December 20, 2006
City gets into the Christmas mood
Published in the New Indian Express, Page 3
Coimbatore Edition, dated December 20, 2006
By Francis P Barclay
Coimbatore, Dec 19: Wine pots are getting their final stir, pastries are ready and the cake dough is getting into the oven. The festival fever has gripped the city, which is now eagerly awaiting Santa's tap at the door.
``This is turning out to be a chilly Christmas. Like how it must have been when Jesus was born. This year's celebration involves much thought... focussing on the real meaning of the great day. Churches are aiming at
spreading the good news,'' Caroline Johanna, a plus-two student and a regular church-goer, says.
Take a late night stroll through Podanur, where the Anglo Indian and Christian population is high and there are myriad churches. Christmas carols are echoing through the wintry night air. Many homes are decorated with
streamers and lanterns to give the choristers a warm welcome. They all have the whitewashed look and Christmas stars are shining bright on rooftops.
With Christmas round the corner, people here have begun preparing their saccharine pastries. Christmas sweets are something especial and most Christians see to it that the traditional ones are made. Kal Kal, Dhol Dhol,
a pastry made of Black Puttu rice which is bought from Chennai, plum cakes, seed cakes, diamond cuts, Biblique, a pastry made of raw rice, sweet coconut puffs and ginger biscuits are part of them.
``We have prepared all of them,'' Kenneth Thomas, a resident of Podanur, says.
Rose cookies is also a Christmas sweetmeat. A few prepare murkoos too.
Usually, pastry preparation ends two or three days before Christmas. Cakes are baked at the last. Wine, which is fermented for 30 to 40 days depending on the way people want it strong or sweet, gets its final stir now. It is ready to get served for Christmas and the New Year. Very few prepare wine and others buy it for them. Plum cake and wine are the hit of the season.
Despite the exams, children are ecstatic as they have got their Christmas dresses. But a few are yet to purchase new apparels. They are those who go in for ready-mades.
Christmas shoppers are thronging the Big Bazaar Street and the Five Corner area, where outlets selling decorative items are aplenty. Shopping complexes are glittering with colourful starts and balloons to lure customers. New collections have arrived.
A few bake cakes at their homes while others prefer the easy way of buying it from bakeries. Churches and a few houses build their Christmas crib and tree. A few like Colleen Thomas want X-mas cakes to be home-made. Says she: ``Making our own cakes always excites us and Christmas comes once in a year. How can we miss it?''
Maud Jones, a septuagenarian, recalls how in those days Christmas used to be. ``We were 13 children in our family. We used to go for Christmas shopping a month before the festival. The Christmas fervour would start
months before it and we would be awaiting the festival as we would get new things. Nowadays, things have changed, but yet the festival remains still auspicious,'' she says.
Christmas is a day to relish, rich or poor.
``A star and angels announced the birth of Jesus Christ that day, we also have our star and would get and give gifts as the three kings did that day. It is a day for hymns, to learn about Jesus and be good people,'' Mohana
Priya, a school student, says.
Santa Claus is ready with his bag of gifts. The geese are getting fat. Yes, the day to invite friends and relatives and share happiness is coming closer.
Coimbatore Edition, dated December 20, 2006
By Francis P Barclay
Coimbatore, Dec 19: Wine pots are getting their final stir, pastries are ready and the cake dough is getting into the oven. The festival fever has gripped the city, which is now eagerly awaiting Santa's tap at the door.
``This is turning out to be a chilly Christmas. Like how it must have been when Jesus was born. This year's celebration involves much thought... focussing on the real meaning of the great day. Churches are aiming at
spreading the good news,'' Caroline Johanna, a plus-two student and a regular church-goer, says.
Take a late night stroll through Podanur, where the Anglo Indian and Christian population is high and there are myriad churches. Christmas carols are echoing through the wintry night air. Many homes are decorated with
streamers and lanterns to give the choristers a warm welcome. They all have the whitewashed look and Christmas stars are shining bright on rooftops.
With Christmas round the corner, people here have begun preparing their saccharine pastries. Christmas sweets are something especial and most Christians see to it that the traditional ones are made. Kal Kal, Dhol Dhol,
a pastry made of Black Puttu rice which is bought from Chennai, plum cakes, seed cakes, diamond cuts, Biblique, a pastry made of raw rice, sweet coconut puffs and ginger biscuits are part of them.
``We have prepared all of them,'' Kenneth Thomas, a resident of Podanur, says.
Rose cookies is also a Christmas sweetmeat. A few prepare murkoos too.
Usually, pastry preparation ends two or three days before Christmas. Cakes are baked at the last. Wine, which is fermented for 30 to 40 days depending on the way people want it strong or sweet, gets its final stir now. It is ready to get served for Christmas and the New Year. Very few prepare wine and others buy it for them. Plum cake and wine are the hit of the season.
Despite the exams, children are ecstatic as they have got their Christmas dresses. But a few are yet to purchase new apparels. They are those who go in for ready-mades.
Christmas shoppers are thronging the Big Bazaar Street and the Five Corner area, where outlets selling decorative items are aplenty. Shopping complexes are glittering with colourful starts and balloons to lure customers. New collections have arrived.
A few bake cakes at their homes while others prefer the easy way of buying it from bakeries. Churches and a few houses build their Christmas crib and tree. A few like Colleen Thomas want X-mas cakes to be home-made. Says she: ``Making our own cakes always excites us and Christmas comes once in a year. How can we miss it?''
Maud Jones, a septuagenarian, recalls how in those days Christmas used to be. ``We were 13 children in our family. We used to go for Christmas shopping a month before the festival. The Christmas fervour would start
months before it and we would be awaiting the festival as we would get new things. Nowadays, things have changed, but yet the festival remains still auspicious,'' she says.
Christmas is a day to relish, rich or poor.
``A star and angels announced the birth of Jesus Christ that day, we also have our star and would get and give gifts as the three kings did that day. It is a day for hymns, to learn about Jesus and be good people,'' Mohana
Priya, a school student, says.
Santa Claus is ready with his bag of gifts. The geese are getting fat. Yes, the day to invite friends and relatives and share happiness is coming closer.
December 19, 2006
Join politics to make a difference, youth told
Published in the New Indian Express, Page 3
Coimbatore Edition, dated December 19, 2006
It's the need of the hour, says Tharoor
By Francis P Barclay &
Haripriya V
Coimbatore, Dec 18: Politics, for Shashi Tharoor, is an entirely different art. Though he is yet to try his hand as a politician, indications are that he may do so in the near future.
The United Nations Under Secretary General for Communications and Public Relation was in the city for a `Face to Face' interactive session with students of various colleges.
During a lively session at the Assembly Hall of the PSG College of Technology, jointly organised by PSG Institute of Management and Rotary Club of Coimbatore Texcity, Tharoor said he is yet to give a thought on whether to venture into politics. But he called upon educated youth to enter politics so as to make a difference. It is the need of the hour, he said.
Asked whether he was disappointed when he withdrew, midway, from the race for the UN Secretary General's post, Tharoor quipped, "actually not."
``But learning the very fact that Indians were disappointed, disappointed me, but no regrets,'' he added.
On the possibility of India getting a permanent seat in the UN, he said it is unlikely in the near future.
But will a permanent seat change the way countries look at India?
``It's like putting the cart before the horse. First, India should make a difference, permanent seat would come in search of the country.''
Anyway, he said, the UN is planning for semipermanent seats, under which countries like India would be included. On the Volcker Report, he said the UN officials were not to be blamed as it was the middlemen and the Saddam Hussain Regime, responsible for it. ``But certainly there was mismanagement in the oil-for-food scam and the irregularities must have been spotted earlier.''
People have to give more thought to individual welfare, he replied to another question. Individual growth would contribute to the growth of a nation. A nation succeeds when its citizens succeed. ``But sometimes a larger social good would be more fruitful than the collective individual good,'' he pointed out.
On tourism potential of the country, he said India has still a long way to go. ``India, with its mosaic of culture, tradition and people, is not able to attract more tourists like a small country, Singapore."
India has invented more things long before Western countries thought about it. But the disgusting fact is that it failed to get the due recognition.
The UN diplomat, who is author of several books including `The Great Indian Novel', said writing was his passion since his childhood. He did not have any other leisure activities other than reading and writing.
``I started writing at the age of six and got my work printed at ten.''
So his favourite book?: "Dictionary."
Tharoor released a Rotary poster for a `Polio free world' on the occasion. Rotary former district governor K A Kuriachan, R Nandagopal, director, PSGIM, and G Rangaswamy, managing trustee, PSG Institutions, attended.
Coimbatore Edition, dated December 19, 2006
It's the need of the hour, says Tharoor
By Francis P Barclay &
Haripriya V
Coimbatore, Dec 18: Politics, for Shashi Tharoor, is an entirely different art. Though he is yet to try his hand as a politician, indications are that he may do so in the near future.
The United Nations Under Secretary General for Communications and Public Relation was in the city for a `Face to Face' interactive session with students of various colleges.
During a lively session at the Assembly Hall of the PSG College of Technology, jointly organised by PSG Institute of Management and Rotary Club of Coimbatore Texcity, Tharoor said he is yet to give a thought on whether to venture into politics. But he called upon educated youth to enter politics so as to make a difference. It is the need of the hour, he said.
Asked whether he was disappointed when he withdrew, midway, from the race for the UN Secretary General's post, Tharoor quipped, "actually not."
``But learning the very fact that Indians were disappointed, disappointed me, but no regrets,'' he added.
On the possibility of India getting a permanent seat in the UN, he said it is unlikely in the near future.
But will a permanent seat change the way countries look at India?
``It's like putting the cart before the horse. First, India should make a difference, permanent seat would come in search of the country.''
Anyway, he said, the UN is planning for semipermanent seats, under which countries like India would be included. On the Volcker Report, he said the UN officials were not to be blamed as it was the middlemen and the Saddam Hussain Regime, responsible for it. ``But certainly there was mismanagement in the oil-for-food scam and the irregularities must have been spotted earlier.''
People have to give more thought to individual welfare, he replied to another question. Individual growth would contribute to the growth of a nation. A nation succeeds when its citizens succeed. ``But sometimes a larger social good would be more fruitful than the collective individual good,'' he pointed out.
On tourism potential of the country, he said India has still a long way to go. ``India, with its mosaic of culture, tradition and people, is not able to attract more tourists like a small country, Singapore."
India has invented more things long before Western countries thought about it. But the disgusting fact is that it failed to get the due recognition.
The UN diplomat, who is author of several books including `The Great Indian Novel', said writing was his passion since his childhood. He did not have any other leisure activities other than reading and writing.
``I started writing at the age of six and got my work printed at ten.''
So his favourite book?: "Dictionary."
Tharoor released a Rotary poster for a `Polio free world' on the occasion. Rotary former district governor K A Kuriachan, R Nandagopal, director, PSGIM, and G Rangaswamy, managing trustee, PSG Institutions, attended.
December 17, 2006
The Dialogue of Two Cities
Published in Weekend, The New Indian Express,
Coimbatore Edition, Page 4 Blitz, on December 16, 2006
By Francis P Barclay
Benares, an otherworldly town with the tranquil Ganges, steep shrines and palmers, has a lot to contribute to the creative consummation of artists and thinkers. But what George K's lens has found there interesting is something
at odds - the modesty and senses of habitual life. In high contrast, he reveals the danger and destruction behind the still edifices of Srinagar in shots with touches of paint.
A self-taught artist and photographer, Chennai-based George presents contrasting moods complimenting each other at the `A tale of two cities - Benares and Srinagar,' a five-day exhibition of photographs organised by Vibe, a lifestyle store in Coimbatore, and the HSBC which ended on December 13.
The photographs of Srinagar radiate a wave of silence behind the touches of silver or ash, fiery red, gold, ivory white, yellow and blue. The structures are worn-out. A spray of paint like barb wire on the photographs give a
sense of danger behind it. The photographs, mostly of low contrast and with the touches of dull colours, aren't refreshing to eyes. Yet, they demand a second look. It is for their contradictory foreground and background, which give the art pieces a new meaning.
And for the elements of composition. The ravaged walls, made of mud coloured bricks, are artistic in appearance with their irregular dark crevices. Colours are played well in the pictures. The monochromatic colouring with touches of red reflects the looming sadness of the region. Srinagar is deserted and lifeless.
Whereas Benares is bright with red, orange and chrome yellow. The theme seems to be simple - portrayal of routine life. But it instills a billow of mysticism. His scenes hover on the banks, capturing interesting moments,
like a dog yawning under a huge umbrella and the windless expression of a man when the shaving blade is drifting along his throat.
According to the 57-year-old artiste, photography is a visual inspiration portraying reality. The pilgrimage city has a medley of populace and also contributes a comely background that is different from a cramped city. Another reason for him choosing the city is the high vibrancy of life there. People come there in search of peace and salvation, washing their sins in the sacred river. Some find it in death, yet they receive it joyfully and without fuss. In the photograph `Dare to dream', a middle-aged man is seen slanted on a pillar in an unruffled state. ``He has come there to die and is awaiting his death. He eats what is given to him and doesn't ask why if not given,'' he says.
These scenes, though ordinary, are with the astounding meaning of life, he adds.
Like the German artist Gerhard Richter, he combines two different modes of representation, the abstract and the realistic to create a visually stimulating effect.
Although a sense of death and stillness reverberates in the photographs of both the cities, the portrayal and perspectives vary. The dialogue between the two cities is explicit.
Coimbatore Edition, Page 4 Blitz, on December 16, 2006
By Francis P Barclay
Benares, an otherworldly town with the tranquil Ganges, steep shrines and palmers, has a lot to contribute to the creative consummation of artists and thinkers. But what George K's lens has found there interesting is something
at odds - the modesty and senses of habitual life. In high contrast, he reveals the danger and destruction behind the still edifices of Srinagar in shots with touches of paint.
A self-taught artist and photographer, Chennai-based George presents contrasting moods complimenting each other at the `A tale of two cities - Benares and Srinagar,' a five-day exhibition of photographs organised by Vibe, a lifestyle store in Coimbatore, and the HSBC which ended on December 13.
The photographs of Srinagar radiate a wave of silence behind the touches of silver or ash, fiery red, gold, ivory white, yellow and blue. The structures are worn-out. A spray of paint like barb wire on the photographs give a
sense of danger behind it. The photographs, mostly of low contrast and with the touches of dull colours, aren't refreshing to eyes. Yet, they demand a second look. It is for their contradictory foreground and background, which give the art pieces a new meaning.
And for the elements of composition. The ravaged walls, made of mud coloured bricks, are artistic in appearance with their irregular dark crevices. Colours are played well in the pictures. The monochromatic colouring with touches of red reflects the looming sadness of the region. Srinagar is deserted and lifeless.
Whereas Benares is bright with red, orange and chrome yellow. The theme seems to be simple - portrayal of routine life. But it instills a billow of mysticism. His scenes hover on the banks, capturing interesting moments,
like a dog yawning under a huge umbrella and the windless expression of a man when the shaving blade is drifting along his throat.
According to the 57-year-old artiste, photography is a visual inspiration portraying reality. The pilgrimage city has a medley of populace and also contributes a comely background that is different from a cramped city. Another reason for him choosing the city is the high vibrancy of life there. People come there in search of peace and salvation, washing their sins in the sacred river. Some find it in death, yet they receive it joyfully and without fuss. In the photograph `Dare to dream', a middle-aged man is seen slanted on a pillar in an unruffled state. ``He has come there to die and is awaiting his death. He eats what is given to him and doesn't ask why if not given,'' he says.
These scenes, though ordinary, are with the astounding meaning of life, he adds.
Like the German artist Gerhard Richter, he combines two different modes of representation, the abstract and the realistic to create a visually stimulating effect.
Although a sense of death and stillness reverberates in the photographs of both the cities, the portrayal and perspectives vary. The dialogue between the two cities is explicit.
December 12, 2006
Ghost voice that launched a thousand calls
Published in The New Indian Express, Coimbatore edition
Dated December 12, 2006
By Francis P Barclay
Coimbatore, Dec 11: The public booth in Mettur near Podanur was unusually crowded at 11 am. They all had one exiting mission: talk to the ghost.
As each caller took the phone tremulously and dialled 09388882007, the ghost, in a girl's voice, answered in Malayalam: "Hello, hello, who's this? Your name? Mine? I will tell later. First tell me yours. Can't hear you. Tell me who you are, no, sorry, bye." The ghost hung up. The story began to spread. A newcomer came running to the booth. He was breathless. Is it really a ghost? He never had time to think. He was overwhelmed by curiosity. He took the number and dialled.
She spoke for about a minute and hung up. Then a voice said: ``The voice mail box is full''. Then only, the caller realised it was a prank and that nobody was speaking from the other end. It was just a recorded voice. He lost only Rs 4.
But another man cried: ``I lost Rs 7 in the morning.''
Among those who indulged in this ghost talk were some school students. A Standard VIII boy of a private school nearby said: ``Many of us got this number and tried in vain.''
``Actually, somebody has recorded the voice and the owner of the number must have stored it in the voice mail. So when people call, they hear the voice speak and get fooled that somebody is speaking from the other end,''
James, a resident of the area, said.
He said phone is for communication and people using it to play pranks like this should be punished.
Meanwhile, another person came with a different number. His friends had given it to him saying a girl will speak to him in a sweet voice. The number -- 09388338388 -- had the same recording.
``There is another number in which an eunuch talks for about one-and-a-half minute in abusive language,'' he added.
For callers, it was a day of disappointment, but booth owners had reason to cheer.
Dated December 12, 2006
By Francis P Barclay
Coimbatore, Dec 11: The public booth in Mettur near Podanur was unusually crowded at 11 am. They all had one exiting mission: talk to the ghost.
As each caller took the phone tremulously and dialled 09388882007, the ghost, in a girl's voice, answered in Malayalam: "Hello, hello, who's this? Your name? Mine? I will tell later. First tell me yours. Can't hear you. Tell me who you are, no, sorry, bye." The ghost hung up. The story began to spread. A newcomer came running to the booth. He was breathless. Is it really a ghost? He never had time to think. He was overwhelmed by curiosity. He took the number and dialled.
She spoke for about a minute and hung up. Then a voice said: ``The voice mail box is full''. Then only, the caller realised it was a prank and that nobody was speaking from the other end. It was just a recorded voice. He lost only Rs 4.
But another man cried: ``I lost Rs 7 in the morning.''
Among those who indulged in this ghost talk were some school students. A Standard VIII boy of a private school nearby said: ``Many of us got this number and tried in vain.''
``Actually, somebody has recorded the voice and the owner of the number must have stored it in the voice mail. So when people call, they hear the voice speak and get fooled that somebody is speaking from the other end,''
James, a resident of the area, said.
He said phone is for communication and people using it to play pranks like this should be punished.
Meanwhile, another person came with a different number. His friends had given it to him saying a girl will speak to him in a sweet voice. The number -- 09388338388 -- had the same recording.
``There is another number in which an eunuch talks for about one-and-a-half minute in abusive language,'' he added.
For callers, it was a day of disappointment, but booth owners had reason to cheer.
December 10, 2006
Drive against graft starts yielding results
Published in The New Indian Express, Coimbatore edition,
dated July 19, 2006
By Francis P Barclay
Coimbatore, July 19: The Right to Information Act (RTI) 2005 has started showing results, indicating how it has armed the common man to take on corruption, bribery and red tapism.
Taking recourse to the Act, the Anti-Corruption Movement (ACM), with nine branches in Coimbatore district, has already started fighting irregularities in government organisations.
The Act entitles the common man to get any information regarding the functioning of the government departments and organisations, quasi-government bodies and public sector undertakings.
N K Velu, retired additional superintendent of police and secretary of the district unit of the ACM, says that the agricultural engineering department in the district, entrusted with the duty of providing subsidy for the setting up of drip irrigation facility, was granted substantial amount for implementing the scheme. But complaints reached the ACM saying that subsidies were granted to some fictitious beneficiaries also. The ACM approached the designated public information officer for information pertaining to the subsidy disbursal, but in vain. Then an appeal was made to the chief information commissioner, who, in turn, directed the authorities concerned to furnish the information, after conducting an inquiry. At last, the ACM got the necessary information. It is now planning the next course of action.
The same order of the chief information commissioner also directed the secretary of the agriculture department to instruct all the officials in the department to learn how RTI is enforced.
In a similar case, the ACM asked the district supply officer to furnish him information on the number of ration rice smuggling cases detected, quantity of commodities seized and the action taken. As the official was dilly-dallying, the chief information commissioner's help was sought. The information then provided revealed that in 2004-06, 270 PDS commodities smuggling cases were detected by the civil supply CID sleuths. But only in one case, chargesheet was filed and the accused convicted. In the 269 cases, the accused were let go after slapping a meagre fine on them, though the commodities seized were of high value.
In another case, the ACM received a tip-off that contractors and officials were trying to embezzle a lion's share in the construction of a culvert near Perur. After the movement sought information on the outlay of the project
and its specifications and started inspecting the work, the contractor abandoned the work. Another contractor took up the work and completed it.
In a few more cases, through the information received, irregularities were detected and criminal action initiated.
Now the ACM is urging youth to curb corruption. It organises meetings and workshops in higher educational institutions where students are taught about the evils of corruption and are trained to fight it. The movement enrols students without any subscription.
For any person, who intends to fight corruption, the Act is a knife-edged device.
dated July 19, 2006
By Francis P Barclay
Coimbatore, July 19: The Right to Information Act (RTI) 2005 has started showing results, indicating how it has armed the common man to take on corruption, bribery and red tapism.
Taking recourse to the Act, the Anti-Corruption Movement (ACM), with nine branches in Coimbatore district, has already started fighting irregularities in government organisations.
The Act entitles the common man to get any information regarding the functioning of the government departments and organisations, quasi-government bodies and public sector undertakings.
N K Velu, retired additional superintendent of police and secretary of the district unit of the ACM, says that the agricultural engineering department in the district, entrusted with the duty of providing subsidy for the setting up of drip irrigation facility, was granted substantial amount for implementing the scheme. But complaints reached the ACM saying that subsidies were granted to some fictitious beneficiaries also. The ACM approached the designated public information officer for information pertaining to the subsidy disbursal, but in vain. Then an appeal was made to the chief information commissioner, who, in turn, directed the authorities concerned to furnish the information, after conducting an inquiry. At last, the ACM got the necessary information. It is now planning the next course of action.
The same order of the chief information commissioner also directed the secretary of the agriculture department to instruct all the officials in the department to learn how RTI is enforced.
In a similar case, the ACM asked the district supply officer to furnish him information on the number of ration rice smuggling cases detected, quantity of commodities seized and the action taken. As the official was dilly-dallying, the chief information commissioner's help was sought. The information then provided revealed that in 2004-06, 270 PDS commodities smuggling cases were detected by the civil supply CID sleuths. But only in one case, chargesheet was filed and the accused convicted. In the 269 cases, the accused were let go after slapping a meagre fine on them, though the commodities seized were of high value.
In another case, the ACM received a tip-off that contractors and officials were trying to embezzle a lion's share in the construction of a culvert near Perur. After the movement sought information on the outlay of the project
and its specifications and started inspecting the work, the contractor abandoned the work. Another contractor took up the work and completed it.
In a few more cases, through the information received, irregularities were detected and criminal action initiated.
Now the ACM is urging youth to curb corruption. It organises meetings and workshops in higher educational institutions where students are taught about the evils of corruption and are trained to fight it. The movement enrols students without any subscription.
For any person, who intends to fight corruption, the Act is a knife-edged device.
`Alagana Kovai' gets a boost as one more residential assn goes for it
Published on Page 1, TNIE, Coimbatore
Dated August 6, 2006
By Francis P Barclay
Coimbatore, Aug 6: From home to neck of the woods, it's the duty of the indwellers to see to it that everything is spic and span. Propagating this, the residents of Sivanandha Colony have come together to clean up their
locality.
Holding ``self help'' as their core principle, these indwellers, in association with the Residents Awareness Association of Coimbatore (RAAC), launched the `Alagana Kovai' project in their area today.
`Alagana Kovai' is aimed at encouraging the people to keep their environment clean. It was first started on April 30 in Bharathy Colony. With the help of RAAC the residents of the colony made a wonderful change in their locality, thus tempting 12 colonies in the city to follow suit them.
Today, as the 13th colony to emulate Bharathy Colony, the 150 families of Sivananda Colony came up to clean their locality. Members of the RAAC and the NCC volunteers of Gopal Naidu School joined them in their endeaour, and they all worked for about three hours.
Under the `Alagana Kovai' initiative, the residents would meet on the third Sunday of every month and clear garbage and bush on either side of the roads, fill potholes and desilt the drains.
Each household will be provided with two garbage bins - one for biodegradable waste and the other for non-biodegradable waste like plastic.
Ramasamy, who is the secretary of the Sivananda Colony Residents' Welfare Association, which was started in 2002, said ``We have heard about the success story of the residents of Bharathy Colony and wanted to emulate
them. So, first we distributed pamphlets in our colony to create awareness on clean and green environment, and today, we launched the `Alagana Kovai' project.''
He added ``It is the responsibility of the people to keep their premises clean especially when the Corporation is understaffed.''
Sivalingam, president of the association and Soundararajan, vice-president of the RAAC and Devaraj, president of the Ramalingam Colony Residents Welfare Association were present during the launch of the project.
Soudararajan said ``A nominal amount will be collected from the residents to bring tractors and dozers to remove garbage. At least one member from each family should participate in this drive. People should realise that
it is their duty to keep their environment clean. We would soon make all the people of Coimbatore realise this and make the city neat and clean.''
Dated August 6, 2006
By Francis P Barclay
Coimbatore, Aug 6: From home to neck of the woods, it's the duty of the indwellers to see to it that everything is spic and span. Propagating this, the residents of Sivanandha Colony have come together to clean up their
locality.
Holding ``self help'' as their core principle, these indwellers, in association with the Residents Awareness Association of Coimbatore (RAAC), launched the `Alagana Kovai' project in their area today.
`Alagana Kovai' is aimed at encouraging the people to keep their environment clean. It was first started on April 30 in Bharathy Colony. With the help of RAAC the residents of the colony made a wonderful change in their locality, thus tempting 12 colonies in the city to follow suit them.
Today, as the 13th colony to emulate Bharathy Colony, the 150 families of Sivananda Colony came up to clean their locality. Members of the RAAC and the NCC volunteers of Gopal Naidu School joined them in their endeaour, and they all worked for about three hours.
Under the `Alagana Kovai' initiative, the residents would meet on the third Sunday of every month and clear garbage and bush on either side of the roads, fill potholes and desilt the drains.
Each household will be provided with two garbage bins - one for biodegradable waste and the other for non-biodegradable waste like plastic.
Ramasamy, who is the secretary of the Sivananda Colony Residents' Welfare Association, which was started in 2002, said ``We have heard about the success story of the residents of Bharathy Colony and wanted to emulate
them. So, first we distributed pamphlets in our colony to create awareness on clean and green environment, and today, we launched the `Alagana Kovai' project.''
He added ``It is the responsibility of the people to keep their premises clean especially when the Corporation is understaffed.''
Sivalingam, president of the association and Soundararajan, vice-president of the RAAC and Devaraj, president of the Ramalingam Colony Residents Welfare Association were present during the launch of the project.
Soudararajan said ``A nominal amount will be collected from the residents to bring tractors and dozers to remove garbage. At least one member from each family should participate in this drive. People should realise that
it is their duty to keep their environment clean. We would soon make all the people of Coimbatore realise this and make the city neat and clean.''
Rhythm of ecstasy
Published in Weekend, 2006
By Francis P Barclay
Born in 1951 in Udmalpet, Manickavachagam did his schooling in Poolavadi village. His father, a goldsmith, was his first art teacher. He used to make sculptures and clay models and teach him. He had also played miruthangam and harmonium and his house was filled with music every night.
Though Manickavachagam has not learnt music, he has a fervour for it. That's why he never misses music concerts and classical dance programmes.
Even while working in the telephone department (he worked there for 16 years) he was conducting art exhibitions. He took BFA and post-graduate diploma in fine arts at the age of 30 and joined the Regional Engineering College (now National Institute of Technology), Trichy as a lecturer.
A recipient of several awards, he has conducted about 19 exhibitions so far and his collections are scattered across the world.
Are dance and music the ways to vent ecstasy? P Manickavachagam, lecturer in the Department of Architecture of the National Institute of Technology, Tiruchy will say `yes'. They are also the languages of joy, he will add.
That he is right will be the first reaction of a person who goes around the Kasthuri Sreenivasan Trust Art Gallery, watching the beauty of a set of tranquil expressions - `mudras' or the hand movements and `adavus' or the
leg movements of the traditional Indian dance styles - on the canvas. The rhythm of ecstasy, he calls them.
Manickavachagam calls his paintings a fusion of visual and performing art. ``Whatever may be the concept, an artiste will feel elated while presenting it in a sequence. An artist, too, will get the same ecstasy while portraying
the movements of hands and legs in canvas,'' he explains.
Though his paintings are in contemporary style, they are about the traditional Indian dance and music. He has contemplated on the cubic and surrealistic art styles in his paintings and experimented them with varied colour schemes.
His keen observation of the performers is portrayed in lines and expressive faces. ``Man would have started expressing joy through body movements and voice. Later, when these movements were coordinated and a grammar was laid down they turned out to be different forms of dance or music,'' he says.
It is a pleasure to fill the canvas with colours, but what makes it a absolute work is the balance, colour scheme, spatial arrangement and the rhythm. Manickavachagam's paintings speak a lot about them. Significantly, earthen colour schemes are incessant in his paintings.
The twisted torsos, broken limbs and the eloquent faces scattered in his paintings instill a sense of movement and rhythm.
The paintings are offered for sale.
The exhibition will be on till Monday from 10 am to 7 pm. For further details call 0422-2574110.
By Francis P Barclay
Born in 1951 in Udmalpet, Manickavachagam did his schooling in Poolavadi village. His father, a goldsmith, was his first art teacher. He used to make sculptures and clay models and teach him. He had also played miruthangam and harmonium and his house was filled with music every night.
Though Manickavachagam has not learnt music, he has a fervour for it. That's why he never misses music concerts and classical dance programmes.
Even while working in the telephone department (he worked there for 16 years) he was conducting art exhibitions. He took BFA and post-graduate diploma in fine arts at the age of 30 and joined the Regional Engineering College (now National Institute of Technology), Trichy as a lecturer.
A recipient of several awards, he has conducted about 19 exhibitions so far and his collections are scattered across the world.
Are dance and music the ways to vent ecstasy? P Manickavachagam, lecturer in the Department of Architecture of the National Institute of Technology, Tiruchy will say `yes'. They are also the languages of joy, he will add.
That he is right will be the first reaction of a person who goes around the Kasthuri Sreenivasan Trust Art Gallery, watching the beauty of a set of tranquil expressions - `mudras' or the hand movements and `adavus' or the
leg movements of the traditional Indian dance styles - on the canvas. The rhythm of ecstasy, he calls them.
Manickavachagam calls his paintings a fusion of visual and performing art. ``Whatever may be the concept, an artiste will feel elated while presenting it in a sequence. An artist, too, will get the same ecstasy while portraying
the movements of hands and legs in canvas,'' he explains.
Though his paintings are in contemporary style, they are about the traditional Indian dance and music. He has contemplated on the cubic and surrealistic art styles in his paintings and experimented them with varied colour schemes.
His keen observation of the performers is portrayed in lines and expressive faces. ``Man would have started expressing joy through body movements and voice. Later, when these movements were coordinated and a grammar was laid down they turned out to be different forms of dance or music,'' he says.
It is a pleasure to fill the canvas with colours, but what makes it a absolute work is the balance, colour scheme, spatial arrangement and the rhythm. Manickavachagam's paintings speak a lot about them. Significantly, earthen colour schemes are incessant in his paintings.
The twisted torsos, broken limbs and the eloquent faces scattered in his paintings instill a sense of movement and rhythm.
The paintings are offered for sale.
The exhibition will be on till Monday from 10 am to 7 pm. For further details call 0422-2574110.
The taste of Maharashtra
Published in Weekend, 2006
By Francis P. Barclay
It was all about making the eyes bigger than the stomach at the ninth Kitchen Carnival of the VLB Janakiammal College of Arts and Science, Coimbatore, which completed its 10 years stint in hospitality education.
This time the Coimbatoreans had the opening to taste from a ritzy spread of Maharashtrian dishes under the title `Mumbai Mirchi', and as the name suggested the event was h-o-t and hotter than ever.
It was Sunday, March 19, and the sun was trying to veil itself in the billows of the west, when the gourmets of the city flocked to the college grounds. To welcome them were the students of the Department of Hotel Management and Catering Science of the college, all dressed in black `n' black with a picture of red chilly stuck on their shirts.
By 6.30 the venue was jam-packed. The students were busy bringing and placing the dishes in the stalls, which ran from one end to the other.
The function was formally launched with the lighting of the kuthuvilakku by M Krishnan, chairman of the Sri Krishna Sweets Pvt. Ltd., Coimbatore. The dias was full with bigwigs in the profession from across the country as Ajeet Kumar Lal Mohan, Head, Department of Hotel Management, welcomed them.
The crowd could not sit patiently to hear the 38-odd dignitaries speak. Soon they scurried to the stalls to taste the sundry dishes. The students had prepared 35 dishes in Maharashtrian style and placed them in separate stalls for families, couples, singles, staff and parents.
Every year, a state is selected and its cuisine is prepared and placed for the Coimbatoreans to taste. This year it was Maharashtra, and the food items included Chawal Ka Mirchi - a spicy stuff made of rice and capsicum and
flavoured with Maharashtrian masala, Ajwain Ka Pulao - rice flavoured with omam and garnished with crispy fried onions, Murgh Kolhapuri Briyani, Romali Roti, Gobi Batata Bhaji and so on from Tossed Salad, Aloo Chaat and Papad to Murgh Makhanwala (butter chicken) and Doodh Peda.
On the other side, a Chennai-based troupe shook their legs for some latest tunes, which relished the crowd even as they were pelting with the plates. Tambola and other games organised for the couples, parents of the college
students and the participants added fizz to the fiesta.
While the college boys, dressed in black and with a red chilly on their shirt, branded well the event, the girls, all in the pink of joy, were galavanting in the crowd.
Sanjay Sharma, general manager, Le Meridien, Kochi, felicitated and presented gold medal to the Best Academic Performance Award in memory of the late Shri N K Mahadeva Iyer, founder of the Sri Krishna Sweets while Joseph Graham, regional manager of HR, Taj Coromandel, Chennai, released the department magazine.
The dignitaries, all from the leading hotels across the country, who participated in the fest include Neeraj Chadha, general manager of Goa Marriott International, Kannan, executive chef of Taj Madras Flight Kitchen, Chennai, Pradeep Shinde, director of the HR, Hyatt Regency, Mumbai, and Sandeep Shenava, HR manager, The Leela Palace, Bangalore.
By Francis P. Barclay
It was all about making the eyes bigger than the stomach at the ninth Kitchen Carnival of the VLB Janakiammal College of Arts and Science, Coimbatore, which completed its 10 years stint in hospitality education.
This time the Coimbatoreans had the opening to taste from a ritzy spread of Maharashtrian dishes under the title `Mumbai Mirchi', and as the name suggested the event was h-o-t and hotter than ever.
It was Sunday, March 19, and the sun was trying to veil itself in the billows of the west, when the gourmets of the city flocked to the college grounds. To welcome them were the students of the Department of Hotel Management and Catering Science of the college, all dressed in black `n' black with a picture of red chilly stuck on their shirts.
By 6.30 the venue was jam-packed. The students were busy bringing and placing the dishes in the stalls, which ran from one end to the other.
The function was formally launched with the lighting of the kuthuvilakku by M Krishnan, chairman of the Sri Krishna Sweets Pvt. Ltd., Coimbatore. The dias was full with bigwigs in the profession from across the country as Ajeet Kumar Lal Mohan, Head, Department of Hotel Management, welcomed them.
The crowd could not sit patiently to hear the 38-odd dignitaries speak. Soon they scurried to the stalls to taste the sundry dishes. The students had prepared 35 dishes in Maharashtrian style and placed them in separate stalls for families, couples, singles, staff and parents.
Every year, a state is selected and its cuisine is prepared and placed for the Coimbatoreans to taste. This year it was Maharashtra, and the food items included Chawal Ka Mirchi - a spicy stuff made of rice and capsicum and
flavoured with Maharashtrian masala, Ajwain Ka Pulao - rice flavoured with omam and garnished with crispy fried onions, Murgh Kolhapuri Briyani, Romali Roti, Gobi Batata Bhaji and so on from Tossed Salad, Aloo Chaat and Papad to Murgh Makhanwala (butter chicken) and Doodh Peda.
On the other side, a Chennai-based troupe shook their legs for some latest tunes, which relished the crowd even as they were pelting with the plates. Tambola and other games organised for the couples, parents of the college
students and the participants added fizz to the fiesta.
While the college boys, dressed in black and with a red chilly on their shirt, branded well the event, the girls, all in the pink of joy, were galavanting in the crowd.
Sanjay Sharma, general manager, Le Meridien, Kochi, felicitated and presented gold medal to the Best Academic Performance Award in memory of the late Shri N K Mahadeva Iyer, founder of the Sri Krishna Sweets while Joseph Graham, regional manager of HR, Taj Coromandel, Chennai, released the department magazine.
The dignitaries, all from the leading hotels across the country, who participated in the fest include Neeraj Chadha, general manager of Goa Marriott International, Kannan, executive chef of Taj Madras Flight Kitchen, Chennai, Pradeep Shinde, director of the HR, Hyatt Regency, Mumbai, and Sandeep Shenava, HR manager, The Leela Palace, Bangalore.
Shining cool & bright
Published in the Express Properties, a special supplement, 2006
By Francis P Barclay
GONE are the days of giant and pricey chandeliers that enjoyed an imperative place in every opulent household. Now people are looking for futuristic lighting. Interior lighting has taken a new shape in the contemporary lifestyle.
When it comes to lighting, people look beyond its primary purpose and there are sufficient outlets in Coimbatore that can provide them what they yearn for.
In olden days, the size of the chandeliers was considered to be the mark of royalty. But that trend is no more prevalent. A few more aspects are also looked into decorative lighting.
Chandeliers come in a plethora of shapes and sizes. From expensive metals to precious stones to equally sparkling glass, different materials are used to make chandeliers. Modern chandeliers are sleek and ornate with abstract designs. Although they are not found in a mass scale, chandeliers still continue to adorn modern homes. The shapes and sizes of chandeliers have adapted to the looks of the modern interiors.
Structurally, chandeliers are much heavier than other ceiling light fixtures. Some even need special attachments to the ceiling and specially reinforced ceilings.
The manager of a showroom on the Avinashi Road says: ``Most of the decorative lightings for the city come from countries like Austria and Egypt.''
Earlier, brass was used to make lighting fixtures but the metal soon turned dull. Manufacturers now prefer aluminium and its alloys.
He feels that plenary awareness on lighting is still lacking among the Coimbatoreans when compared to residents in metros.
Modern chandeliers are two to three feet tall and do not need a high ceiling to get them fixed. Customers like Raghuram come asking for lighting fixtures that are the latest and unique in style. Indeed, the trend is changing and lighting is an area where innovations could be endless. But many others have clear views about the shapes and designs of lamps they want to go in for.
Most people go in for cost-effective lighting and restrict it to open bulbs and tubes and there are good Indian brands available. It is a general notion that decorative lighting is expensive and people tend to generally spend
less on it. The showroom manager rejects this notion. He says that if they are ready to spare just one percent of what they spend on building their house, that meagre share would enrich the look of their houses in toto.
People mostly prefer embedded fixtures or the chic and futuristic lightings to huge ones. Yet when the room is filled with antiques, one is naturally tempted to go in for traditional models.
A noted city-based environmentalist says she uses concealed and embedded fixtures to light up her home. She uses energy savers too, i.e. low watt bulbs, and dimmers, to save power.
Chandeliers are quoted at from Rs 4,000, while the price of table lamps starts from Rs 500. Ceiling and wall fixtures are much cheaper.
By Francis P Barclay
GONE are the days of giant and pricey chandeliers that enjoyed an imperative place in every opulent household. Now people are looking for futuristic lighting. Interior lighting has taken a new shape in the contemporary lifestyle.
When it comes to lighting, people look beyond its primary purpose and there are sufficient outlets in Coimbatore that can provide them what they yearn for.
In olden days, the size of the chandeliers was considered to be the mark of royalty. But that trend is no more prevalent. A few more aspects are also looked into decorative lighting.
Chandeliers come in a plethora of shapes and sizes. From expensive metals to precious stones to equally sparkling glass, different materials are used to make chandeliers. Modern chandeliers are sleek and ornate with abstract designs. Although they are not found in a mass scale, chandeliers still continue to adorn modern homes. The shapes and sizes of chandeliers have adapted to the looks of the modern interiors.
Structurally, chandeliers are much heavier than other ceiling light fixtures. Some even need special attachments to the ceiling and specially reinforced ceilings.
The manager of a showroom on the Avinashi Road says: ``Most of the decorative lightings for the city come from countries like Austria and Egypt.''
Earlier, brass was used to make lighting fixtures but the metal soon turned dull. Manufacturers now prefer aluminium and its alloys.
He feels that plenary awareness on lighting is still lacking among the Coimbatoreans when compared to residents in metros.
Modern chandeliers are two to three feet tall and do not need a high ceiling to get them fixed. Customers like Raghuram come asking for lighting fixtures that are the latest and unique in style. Indeed, the trend is changing and lighting is an area where innovations could be endless. But many others have clear views about the shapes and designs of lamps they want to go in for.
Most people go in for cost-effective lighting and restrict it to open bulbs and tubes and there are good Indian brands available. It is a general notion that decorative lighting is expensive and people tend to generally spend
less on it. The showroom manager rejects this notion. He says that if they are ready to spare just one percent of what they spend on building their house, that meagre share would enrich the look of their houses in toto.
People mostly prefer embedded fixtures or the chic and futuristic lightings to huge ones. Yet when the room is filled with antiques, one is naturally tempted to go in for traditional models.
A noted city-based environmentalist says she uses concealed and embedded fixtures to light up her home. She uses energy savers too, i.e. low watt bulbs, and dimmers, to save power.
Chandeliers are quoted at from Rs 4,000, while the price of table lamps starts from Rs 500. Ceiling and wall fixtures are much cheaper.
Bringing revolution in dental care
Published in Weekend, 2006
By Francis P Barclay
Not contended with the traditional system of treatment Dr Vijayalakshmi was searching for something new that could be truely beneficial to her patients. Soon her quest ended with acquiring the latest treatment mechanism called Microscope Enhanced Dentistry. Today, standing in front of the sophisticated microscope, imported from Germany, in her `Aishwarya Dental Clinic' at RS Puram, Coimbatore she feels proud of having a machine, which may not be available with even one percent of US dentists.
Attached to the machine are among others a light source, video camera and a digital still camera. The camera, which can take the magnified picture of a tooth - up to 20 times of its normal size - helps in spotting even the tiny
rots and damages in tooth. The patient can also see what the dentist does in his/her mouth. The microscope is thus ideal to perform risky treatments.
Says Vijayalakshmi, ``Conducting surgery in mouth is a very risky job, for any damage to the root or the nearby bone would lead to small cracks. Here comes the importance of this microscope. About 85 percent of the
endodontists in the US are now trained in the use of it.''
She is also exploring the possibilities of the multiple use of this machine. ``The use of microscopes in surgical specialties has already been established. It has, in fact, improved the quality of treatment in ENT, neuro-surgery and plastic surgery,'' she says.
On dentistry, she says that the awareness among people about dental care has to be increased. ``People rush to a dentist only after the tooth starts giving problems. If the problems are spotted and treated well in advance, one can lead a happy life.'' she adds.
Of late, parents bring their children for preventive treatment. ``The children are taught about the apt way of brushing and maintaining hygiene. They get interested to see the structure of their teeth on a wider screen and realise the complications involved in improper brushing and poor hygiene,'' she says.
Vijayalakshmi, who worked for five years in many centres of excellence in UK and Ireland, gave an lecture on `Microscope Enhanced Dentistry: It's a Small World' at the fourth international meet and scientific session,
organised by Academy of Microscope Enhanced Dentistry (AMED), at Tucson, Arizona, USA. She was the only Indian to talk in the meeting.
She also delivered a lecture on the same subject at the recently-held 59th Indian Dental Conference organised by the Indian Dental Association in Ludhiana.
Vijayalakshmi, who is all set to popularise Microscope Enhanced Dentistry, can be contacted on 0422 2550458/5368458, 98422 68388.
By Francis P Barclay
Not contended with the traditional system of treatment Dr Vijayalakshmi was searching for something new that could be truely beneficial to her patients. Soon her quest ended with acquiring the latest treatment mechanism called Microscope Enhanced Dentistry. Today, standing in front of the sophisticated microscope, imported from Germany, in her `Aishwarya Dental Clinic' at RS Puram, Coimbatore she feels proud of having a machine, which may not be available with even one percent of US dentists.
Attached to the machine are among others a light source, video camera and a digital still camera. The camera, which can take the magnified picture of a tooth - up to 20 times of its normal size - helps in spotting even the tiny
rots and damages in tooth. The patient can also see what the dentist does in his/her mouth. The microscope is thus ideal to perform risky treatments.
Says Vijayalakshmi, ``Conducting surgery in mouth is a very risky job, for any damage to the root or the nearby bone would lead to small cracks. Here comes the importance of this microscope. About 85 percent of the
endodontists in the US are now trained in the use of it.''
She is also exploring the possibilities of the multiple use of this machine. ``The use of microscopes in surgical specialties has already been established. It has, in fact, improved the quality of treatment in ENT, neuro-surgery and plastic surgery,'' she says.
On dentistry, she says that the awareness among people about dental care has to be increased. ``People rush to a dentist only after the tooth starts giving problems. If the problems are spotted and treated well in advance, one can lead a happy life.'' she adds.
Of late, parents bring their children for preventive treatment. ``The children are taught about the apt way of brushing and maintaining hygiene. They get interested to see the structure of their teeth on a wider screen and realise the complications involved in improper brushing and poor hygiene,'' she says.
Vijayalakshmi, who worked for five years in many centres of excellence in UK and Ireland, gave an lecture on `Microscope Enhanced Dentistry: It's a Small World' at the fourth international meet and scientific session,
organised by Academy of Microscope Enhanced Dentistry (AMED), at Tucson, Arizona, USA. She was the only Indian to talk in the meeting.
She also delivered a lecture on the same subject at the recently-held 59th Indian Dental Conference organised by the Indian Dental Association in Ludhiana.
Vijayalakshmi, who is all set to popularise Microscope Enhanced Dentistry, can be contacted on 0422 2550458/5368458, 98422 68388.
Remembering the Mahatma
Published in Weekend, September- October, 2006
By Francis P Barclay
Now when the 9/11s and 7/11s have become the order of the day, a need is felt to think about the principles left behind by Mahatma Gandhi, a virtuoso of the last century.
But how many know about Gandhiji, his life and teachings, except for a few lines that appear in the text books?
Manikandan (24), a mediaperson who feels that Gandhian thoughts have great relevance today, says ``What people have to realise is that nothing pleasant and fruitful could be achieved through violence. Ahimsa or non-violence is the only way for a better, peaceful living.''
He had read a few books on Gandhiji and stopped eating non-veg food induced by his thoughts. Interestingly, the doctors suggest vegetarian food for a healthy living.
``Gandhiji had travelled across the country to know how people lived. When he saw many among the villagers without proper dress he felt guilty of wearing good clothes and reduced his clothing to a loin cloth. Will any of
our present leaders do this? asks Indira, a college student. If at all anyone does, he will be doing it with some hidden motives, she adds.
``Do we have leaders like Gandhiji, who refused to lead the government after Independence, even after persistent requests by others?'' Rajesh, another college student, asks and adds ``we need such kind of leaders''.
Gandhiji felt that women should not be confined to the four walls of kitchen. Only when they are brought out of the kitchen their true spirit can be discovered. ``It does not mean that Gandhiji said women should not cook.
What he felt was that women should also share responsibilities with men and participate in the affairs of the nation,'' says Indu, an engineering college student. ``Gandhiji also criticised the passion for male progeny and
said as long as we don't consider girls as natural as our boys our nation will be in a dark eclipse,'' she adds.
Kalki, a writer and media specialist, says ``Terrorism and violence in the name of religion has become a way of life today. Shockingly, we seem to adjust, accept and accommodate ourselves to this. We have no time to think
about the well-being of our fellow beings.''
She adds: ``Unfortunately, the youth seem to ignore the country's history, and also our cultural, social and moral values. Slowly, they are falling victims to the materialistic influences of the West. The younger generation
should be free-spirited, individualistic and original in their thinking. Being patriotic and knowledgeable about our freedom struggle is very important.''
Gandhiji's first imprisonment, when he fought injustice, was in 1908. It took place not in India but in South Africa for organising `satyagraha' against Compulsory registration of Asiatics Act (The Black Act). He was sentenced to two months' imprisonment in Johannesburg. In his lifetime, he spent 2,336 days in jail.
``His selflessness and sacrifice must be taught to the children. Not through textbooks alone, but in practice by their elders and peers. The youth need to know the great many struggles and sacrifices in our freedom
movement. In our textbooks, we study only about the leaders. There were thousands of unknown people who sacrificed their lives for the country. The younger generation must know this. Parents and teachers should find ways to teach the children the Gandhian principles of non-violence, tolerance and simple way of living. Terrorism is due to lack of love, humanity and tolerance. It is high time we brought a change in accordance with the
Mahatma's principles,'' Kalki sums up.
By Francis P Barclay
Now when the 9/11s and 7/11s have become the order of the day, a need is felt to think about the principles left behind by Mahatma Gandhi, a virtuoso of the last century.
But how many know about Gandhiji, his life and teachings, except for a few lines that appear in the text books?
Manikandan (24), a mediaperson who feels that Gandhian thoughts have great relevance today, says ``What people have to realise is that nothing pleasant and fruitful could be achieved through violence. Ahimsa or non-violence is the only way for a better, peaceful living.''
He had read a few books on Gandhiji and stopped eating non-veg food induced by his thoughts. Interestingly, the doctors suggest vegetarian food for a healthy living.
``Gandhiji had travelled across the country to know how people lived. When he saw many among the villagers without proper dress he felt guilty of wearing good clothes and reduced his clothing to a loin cloth. Will any of
our present leaders do this? asks Indira, a college student. If at all anyone does, he will be doing it with some hidden motives, she adds.
``Do we have leaders like Gandhiji, who refused to lead the government after Independence, even after persistent requests by others?'' Rajesh, another college student, asks and adds ``we need such kind of leaders''.
Gandhiji felt that women should not be confined to the four walls of kitchen. Only when they are brought out of the kitchen their true spirit can be discovered. ``It does not mean that Gandhiji said women should not cook.
What he felt was that women should also share responsibilities with men and participate in the affairs of the nation,'' says Indu, an engineering college student. ``Gandhiji also criticised the passion for male progeny and
said as long as we don't consider girls as natural as our boys our nation will be in a dark eclipse,'' she adds.
Kalki, a writer and media specialist, says ``Terrorism and violence in the name of religion has become a way of life today. Shockingly, we seem to adjust, accept and accommodate ourselves to this. We have no time to think
about the well-being of our fellow beings.''
She adds: ``Unfortunately, the youth seem to ignore the country's history, and also our cultural, social and moral values. Slowly, they are falling victims to the materialistic influences of the West. The younger generation
should be free-spirited, individualistic and original in their thinking. Being patriotic and knowledgeable about our freedom struggle is very important.''
Gandhiji's first imprisonment, when he fought injustice, was in 1908. It took place not in India but in South Africa for organising `satyagraha' against Compulsory registration of Asiatics Act (The Black Act). He was sentenced to two months' imprisonment in Johannesburg. In his lifetime, he spent 2,336 days in jail.
``His selflessness and sacrifice must be taught to the children. Not through textbooks alone, but in practice by their elders and peers. The youth need to know the great many struggles and sacrifices in our freedom
movement. In our textbooks, we study only about the leaders. There were thousands of unknown people who sacrificed their lives for the country. The younger generation must know this. Parents and teachers should find ways to teach the children the Gandhian principles of non-violence, tolerance and simple way of living. Terrorism is due to lack of love, humanity and tolerance. It is high time we brought a change in accordance with the
Mahatma's principles,'' Kalki sums up.
Interview - K Kulandaivel, freedom fighter
AS Gandhi Jayanthi was celebrated on Monday, K Kulandaivel, Chancellor of Coimbatore's Avinashilingham Deemed University, and a freedom fighter, was interviewed.
Excerpts:
In a fast globalising India with farmer at the receiving end, how do you view the relevance of Gandhian economics?
"Gandhiji advocated the economy of self-sufficiency, non-exploitation and Sarvodaya, wherein every individual, irrespective of his societal status, will get an opportunity to grow. He advocated decentralised production and encouraged villagers to produce handicraft goods. He said the rural masses should get fair prices for their produce and that people should not mind paying a little higher prices. This is Dharma, he said, and added each of us has a responsibility to protect and assure a decent living for all.
Today, developing countries like India are unable to face the challenges posed by globalisation and the world trade organisations. Foreign commodities enter into Indian market. Naturally, people go in for the comparatively cheaper foreign products. Where is the Swadeshi spirit?
Producers of the country are hit. They incur losses. They find it hard to repay the loans they have availed. They are left with only one option, to commit suicide. This is a grave situation. We have won political independence. But we are losing economic independence. We should never allow this.
Gandhian spirit should come in. He says consume first all the products produced in the country. When the products produced in the country are insufficient, then go in for imports. So, Gandhian economics is relevant and
it is the need of the hour."
What hopes do Gandhian values hold up to a world caught under the shadow of terror?
"Gandhiji tells: love all. The terrorism of today is based on religious fanaticism, intolerance and greed for money. Is there a salvation? Yes, return to Gandhian values. He tells people to respect all religions. He is against covetousness. The tenets of all religions emphasise the same.
If it is not understood, barbarism would come round again".
In an IT-centric academic scenario, what are your views on introducing Gandhian studies as a compulsory subject in the curriculum?
"When the main target is money, IT-related courses and jobs are of prime preference. The professionals do earn a lot and lead a posh life. But are they really happy and peaceful? This is a serious question for the society in toto. The importance of Gandhian values and the need to introduce it as a compulsory subject is felt here."
How did Gandhiji change your views and way of living
"I came under the influence of Gandhiji in 1939, when I was just in the seventh standard. I studied his books and wore khadi and followed his teachings. I spun in a charka during college days, to the surprise of my fellows. But that brought great respect to me. As a follower of the Mahatma, I am happy and proud."
Excerpts:
In a fast globalising India with farmer at the receiving end, how do you view the relevance of Gandhian economics?
"Gandhiji advocated the economy of self-sufficiency, non-exploitation and Sarvodaya, wherein every individual, irrespective of his societal status, will get an opportunity to grow. He advocated decentralised production and encouraged villagers to produce handicraft goods. He said the rural masses should get fair prices for their produce and that people should not mind paying a little higher prices. This is Dharma, he said, and added each of us has a responsibility to protect and assure a decent living for all.
Today, developing countries like India are unable to face the challenges posed by globalisation and the world trade organisations. Foreign commodities enter into Indian market. Naturally, people go in for the comparatively cheaper foreign products. Where is the Swadeshi spirit?
Producers of the country are hit. They incur losses. They find it hard to repay the loans they have availed. They are left with only one option, to commit suicide. This is a grave situation. We have won political independence. But we are losing economic independence. We should never allow this.
Gandhian spirit should come in. He says consume first all the products produced in the country. When the products produced in the country are insufficient, then go in for imports. So, Gandhian economics is relevant and
it is the need of the hour."
What hopes do Gandhian values hold up to a world caught under the shadow of terror?
"Gandhiji tells: love all. The terrorism of today is based on religious fanaticism, intolerance and greed for money. Is there a salvation? Yes, return to Gandhian values. He tells people to respect all religions. He is against covetousness. The tenets of all religions emphasise the same.
If it is not understood, barbarism would come round again".
In an IT-centric academic scenario, what are your views on introducing Gandhian studies as a compulsory subject in the curriculum?
"When the main target is money, IT-related courses and jobs are of prime preference. The professionals do earn a lot and lead a posh life. But are they really happy and peaceful? This is a serious question for the society in toto. The importance of Gandhian values and the need to introduce it as a compulsory subject is felt here."
How did Gandhiji change your views and way of living
"I came under the influence of Gandhiji in 1939, when I was just in the seventh standard. I studied his books and wore khadi and followed his teachings. I spun in a charka during college days, to the surprise of my fellows. But that brought great respect to me. As a follower of the Mahatma, I am happy and proud."
A ray of hope for orphan girls
Published in Weekend, 2006
By Francis P. Barclay
Six-year-old Meena smiled again and took a gander at all around her with her sparkling eyes. It was the first time she was smiling after the death of her parents; and why she smiled was, Nirmala Matha Karunai Illam, an orphanage opened in Coimbatore on October 16, has adopted her. In fact, she was the first child to be adopted by the Illam.
Since the demise of her parents Meena was working as a help in a house - though the household claimed that she was their adopted child - at Sathyamangalam. That life was a hell for her at her foster parents is what her chafed hands suggest.
But now, she has got a big home, people to love and more than everything, a promising future. ``I want to become a software engineer,'' she says.
The Illam, a bounty of the Sisters of the Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament of Palakkad Province to the orphan girls, is a 1,300-sqft two-storey building with ---- bedrooms, a dining hall, kitchen and studyroom. It will house 20 girls in the age group of 5-8 and provide them all they need to come up in life.
The girls will get education at the Nirmala Matha Matric Higher Secondary School, which is next door. After schooling they will be given vocational training which will stand them in good stead.
Sister Dometilla, principal of the school, who envisaged the home, said ``Meena has been put in LKG in our school. She was very afraid when we brought her here. She used to hide somewhere hearing the word `stick'. She is with us for the past one month, and now she feels this is her home.''
She added: ``Girls left on the streets face a lot of problems including sexual abuse. Hence we envisaged this home to save them from the slump. Any organisation can refer orphan girls to this home.''
On funds, the Sister said ``The convent will ensure that the children's main needs are fulfilled. However, donations are welcome.''
The Illam was inaugurated by MLA SP Velumani at a function in which Mar Jacob Manathodath, the Bishop of Palakkad, was the Chief Guest.
Rev Fr John Dharman, the Director of Don Bosco Anbu Illam and Rev Fr Thomas Kavungal, the parish priest of Kuniamuthur, were present.
By Francis P. Barclay
Six-year-old Meena smiled again and took a gander at all around her with her sparkling eyes. It was the first time she was smiling after the death of her parents; and why she smiled was, Nirmala Matha Karunai Illam, an orphanage opened in Coimbatore on October 16, has adopted her. In fact, she was the first child to be adopted by the Illam.
Since the demise of her parents Meena was working as a help in a house - though the household claimed that she was their adopted child - at Sathyamangalam. That life was a hell for her at her foster parents is what her chafed hands suggest.
But now, she has got a big home, people to love and more than everything, a promising future. ``I want to become a software engineer,'' she says.
The Illam, a bounty of the Sisters of the Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament of Palakkad Province to the orphan girls, is a 1,300-sqft two-storey building with ---- bedrooms, a dining hall, kitchen and studyroom. It will house 20 girls in the age group of 5-8 and provide them all they need to come up in life.
The girls will get education at the Nirmala Matha Matric Higher Secondary School, which is next door. After schooling they will be given vocational training which will stand them in good stead.
Sister Dometilla, principal of the school, who envisaged the home, said ``Meena has been put in LKG in our school. She was very afraid when we brought her here. She used to hide somewhere hearing the word `stick'. She is with us for the past one month, and now she feels this is her home.''
She added: ``Girls left on the streets face a lot of problems including sexual abuse. Hence we envisaged this home to save them from the slump. Any organisation can refer orphan girls to this home.''
On funds, the Sister said ``The convent will ensure that the children's main needs are fulfilled. However, donations are welcome.''
The Illam was inaugurated by MLA SP Velumani at a function in which Mar Jacob Manathodath, the Bishop of Palakkad, was the Chief Guest.
Rev Fr John Dharman, the Director of Don Bosco Anbu Illam and Rev Fr Thomas Kavungal, the parish priest of Kuniamuthur, were present.
Spotless expressions
Published in Weekend, 2006
By Francis P. Barclay
In a fresh spurt for youth and orientation, Kasthuri Sreenivasan Art Gallery, Coimbatore has called upon the third year students of the Government College of Fine Arts, Chennai, to display their tempo. Among the 32 students K Murugesan, R Rajendran, C Saravanan, R Achudan, K R Aneesh, G Kamalavannan and M Madesh, who call themselves the `Rainbow', availed the chance and brought their best which are on display.
For these artistes, who capture life from their locale and add a little aura in their own style, this show would be of paramount importance.
Their 66-odd paintings are simple and honest as they are. The sanctity of human life is one of the attractions in their works. Beauty in all forms is captured. The themes are confined to their own locale and happenings that
they came across.
They feel it amusing and treasured to limn the silent waters with small ships anchored and the serene frame of a girl and women caught near the doorstep. The expressions, that are holy and spotless, are collared with the
mild backgrounds.
There are no dragging stories to tell or concepts to explain their paintings, and the artistes don't want it either. They capture the humble happenings and luring scenery and give them fresh to the viewers. They just intend to transpire the simplicity and the abstract emotions that words can't explain.
They never missed to remember the old buildings and the sculptural remnants in their college and their classroom when they sat to paint. Their other attractions include the style in which the boat stands at the lake in Kerala
and the green in Kodaikanal. Innocence is persistent in their works.
LIFE IN `WATERS': Rajendran is from the Andamans and he specialises in water colours.
What is obvious in his works is this. He is very much attracted to the landscape in the island. Most of his 11 paintings are about the Andamans and the tsunami that ravaged the islands.
``Indeed, the islands and the people are very dear to me,'' he says.
Rajendran is more obsessed with nature and the place where he is. He is able to interpret the emotional radiations from still nature. No doubt, his paintings include the busy marketplace of Parrys Corner in Chennai and the
cycle rickshaw with the pains of the rider.
Water colouring comes at ease in his hands, and he never misses to pay attention to fine details, courtesy a couple of Calcutta-based artists and his interest.
EMOTIONS IN OIL: The works of Murugesan and Madhesh are based on oil and are more realistic. Their works capture the traditional households, especially the women standing near the flame, bearing resilient emotions in their faces.
``While the viewers see it as an exhibition, it's really an experience and chance for us to know them,'' the `Rainbow' says.
The exhibition will be on till Sunday from 10 am to 7 pm. For further information contact 0422 2574110.
By Francis P. Barclay
In a fresh spurt for youth and orientation, Kasthuri Sreenivasan Art Gallery, Coimbatore has called upon the third year students of the Government College of Fine Arts, Chennai, to display their tempo. Among the 32 students K Murugesan, R Rajendran, C Saravanan, R Achudan, K R Aneesh, G Kamalavannan and M Madesh, who call themselves the `Rainbow', availed the chance and brought their best which are on display.
For these artistes, who capture life from their locale and add a little aura in their own style, this show would be of paramount importance.
Their 66-odd paintings are simple and honest as they are. The sanctity of human life is one of the attractions in their works. Beauty in all forms is captured. The themes are confined to their own locale and happenings that
they came across.
They feel it amusing and treasured to limn the silent waters with small ships anchored and the serene frame of a girl and women caught near the doorstep. The expressions, that are holy and spotless, are collared with the
mild backgrounds.
There are no dragging stories to tell or concepts to explain their paintings, and the artistes don't want it either. They capture the humble happenings and luring scenery and give them fresh to the viewers. They just intend to transpire the simplicity and the abstract emotions that words can't explain.
They never missed to remember the old buildings and the sculptural remnants in their college and their classroom when they sat to paint. Their other attractions include the style in which the boat stands at the lake in Kerala
and the green in Kodaikanal. Innocence is persistent in their works.
LIFE IN `WATERS': Rajendran is from the Andamans and he specialises in water colours.
What is obvious in his works is this. He is very much attracted to the landscape in the island. Most of his 11 paintings are about the Andamans and the tsunami that ravaged the islands.
``Indeed, the islands and the people are very dear to me,'' he says.
Rajendran is more obsessed with nature and the place where he is. He is able to interpret the emotional radiations from still nature. No doubt, his paintings include the busy marketplace of Parrys Corner in Chennai and the
cycle rickshaw with the pains of the rider.
Water colouring comes at ease in his hands, and he never misses to pay attention to fine details, courtesy a couple of Calcutta-based artists and his interest.
EMOTIONS IN OIL: The works of Murugesan and Madhesh are based on oil and are more realistic. Their works capture the traditional households, especially the women standing near the flame, bearing resilient emotions in their faces.
``While the viewers see it as an exhibition, it's really an experience and chance for us to know them,'' the `Rainbow' says.
The exhibition will be on till Sunday from 10 am to 7 pm. For further information contact 0422 2574110.
The colours of imagination
Published in Weekend, 2006
By Francis P. Barclay
An artist has no bounds to portray his imagination. Otherwise, how could he evince a woman riding on a herculean bull? Or how could he radiate emotion freezing the frame of a ship-collision, when the pieces of the ship are flying? or bring the enjoyment of participating in a pastoral gala?
A group of five artistes, Artiflys, display a plethora of images ensnared from lost civilizations to the busy streets in this day and age, at the Kasthuri Sreenivasan Art Gallery.
D Nedunchelian, a cavern artist, who gives an assorted set of neatly-finished and simple sketches, takes us to the people of Mohenjodaro, and relates the centuries-old civilisation with the Egyptian pyramids and mummies and Dravidian symbols. He gives life to the clapped-out sculptures in the Elephanta caves of Ajantha and Ellora, with a relic touch. He uses copper and gold hues with black, brown, cobalt and a few secondary colours to consign the mood of antiquity.
Spraying the colours, he brings out clearly the sculptural texture in his portraits of Trimurthi and Arthanaleswaran. He gives new forms and shapes to the entities of the past, supported by the Tamil manuscripts in Harappan
calligraphy. Out of the convention, he limns landscape using a finger of his. He also portrays the image of Lord Ganesha, which was brought by scrapping off wet paint with a blade in consonant with the flow of a music.
S K Rajasekaran, with a strong influence of cubism, talks about balance and direction in his paintings. He captures emotion from a freezed skirmish, relinquishing the physical part of the objects. With quick strokes of
brushes and broken curves and lines, he radiates emotion and force in his paintings.
K Ravi finds it easy to convey his emotions through women. His paintings in pink, purple, green and yellow, all in harmony, are a delight to the eyes. They embody women with flowers and birds to convey the meaning of love and innocence. Even the shape of the leaves in the background is altered to suit the mood. His style to leave a thin line of canvas unpainted along the borders of the objects adds visibility to the images.
V Dhakshinamurthy conveys his inspirations on the devout culture and society. With his bold strokes and blurred border, he plays with the form of Lord Ganesha and portrays him as a tiny elephant as assumed by a child. His
obsession with nature and the gleeful mood is expressed in his portrayal of people dancing and playing traditional instruments in mirth. He catches the `Chamandhi sellers' and flower vendors with a highly sculptural backdrop,
all in bright hues. He conveys the mood of ecstasy with the angle-off postures of musicians playing drums and people performing their traditional `Kavadi' and `Mayilattam' dance.
V N Bharathan portrays the busy and familiar streets with a splash of strong colours. His random strokes of thick hot colour depict the simplified image of lillies in a pond. He finds peace in a tattered statue of Buddha and a crimson flower with `loose' petals and `withered' leaves. His imagination go pale for a old house of his grandfather.
The exhibition will be on till Sunday, from 10 am to 7 pm.
By Francis P. Barclay
An artist has no bounds to portray his imagination. Otherwise, how could he evince a woman riding on a herculean bull? Or how could he radiate emotion freezing the frame of a ship-collision, when the pieces of the ship are flying? or bring the enjoyment of participating in a pastoral gala?
A group of five artistes, Artiflys, display a plethora of images ensnared from lost civilizations to the busy streets in this day and age, at the Kasthuri Sreenivasan Art Gallery.
D Nedunchelian, a cavern artist, who gives an assorted set of neatly-finished and simple sketches, takes us to the people of Mohenjodaro, and relates the centuries-old civilisation with the Egyptian pyramids and mummies and Dravidian symbols. He gives life to the clapped-out sculptures in the Elephanta caves of Ajantha and Ellora, with a relic touch. He uses copper and gold hues with black, brown, cobalt and a few secondary colours to consign the mood of antiquity.
Spraying the colours, he brings out clearly the sculptural texture in his portraits of Trimurthi and Arthanaleswaran. He gives new forms and shapes to the entities of the past, supported by the Tamil manuscripts in Harappan
calligraphy. Out of the convention, he limns landscape using a finger of his. He also portrays the image of Lord Ganesha, which was brought by scrapping off wet paint with a blade in consonant with the flow of a music.
S K Rajasekaran, with a strong influence of cubism, talks about balance and direction in his paintings. He captures emotion from a freezed skirmish, relinquishing the physical part of the objects. With quick strokes of
brushes and broken curves and lines, he radiates emotion and force in his paintings.
K Ravi finds it easy to convey his emotions through women. His paintings in pink, purple, green and yellow, all in harmony, are a delight to the eyes. They embody women with flowers and birds to convey the meaning of love and innocence. Even the shape of the leaves in the background is altered to suit the mood. His style to leave a thin line of canvas unpainted along the borders of the objects adds visibility to the images.
V Dhakshinamurthy conveys his inspirations on the devout culture and society. With his bold strokes and blurred border, he plays with the form of Lord Ganesha and portrays him as a tiny elephant as assumed by a child. His
obsession with nature and the gleeful mood is expressed in his portrayal of people dancing and playing traditional instruments in mirth. He catches the `Chamandhi sellers' and flower vendors with a highly sculptural backdrop,
all in bright hues. He conveys the mood of ecstasy with the angle-off postures of musicians playing drums and people performing their traditional `Kavadi' and `Mayilattam' dance.
V N Bharathan portrays the busy and familiar streets with a splash of strong colours. His random strokes of thick hot colour depict the simplified image of lillies in a pond. He finds peace in a tattered statue of Buddha and a crimson flower with `loose' petals and `withered' leaves. His imagination go pale for a old house of his grandfather.
The exhibition will be on till Sunday, from 10 am to 7 pm.
Join the brandwagon!
Published in the Deepavali special supplement
October, 2006
By Francis P Barclay
THE myriad readymade outlets showcasing big brands indicate the fast changes men's world of fashion is witnessing in this texcity.
Whether it is casual wear or formal wear, most men of today prefer branded items to its variant. There are also semi-casual wear to go with the changing lifestyles. And when cheaper apparels are readily available in the local market, why is this craze for the dearer branded ones? Is it for the perception that wearing branded clothing would add to one's image or the tempting media commercials? Or is it for the feel-good-factor or the notion
that branded ones last longer?
The exotic brands started entering the city market just during the last decade, and now there are about 20 foreign brands at hand. While a few foreign companies have based their manufacturing units in the country, others have exclusive dealers here.
Clothing, beyond any doubt, is important. One's wardrobe reflects the professional face and influences others' perception of him or her. When it comes to formal clothing, the world of brands has lots to contribute to its
symmetry.
An occasional wardrobe change is mandatory. A fashion-conscious 24-year-old Rajasimman, a HR recruiter in an MNC, says: ``Brand is one thing that can be counted on. It evokes better cognitive responses among people. When it comes to formal wear, I go for branded items. Of course, the price will be a bit high, but we need not worry about quality.''
He feels proud to say that he wears only Louis Philippe and Peter England apparels.
``People identify me with the brands I use,'' claims Kandavel, a software professional, while Johnson, who works in the administrative department of the Cognizant, feels that brands have a socio-cultural impact among the peer
group.
Rajendran, proprietor of a showroom dealing with a US-based brand Bostton, says: ``Casual wear is moving like hot cakes. The festival season started only this week and of the apparels sold so far, 60 percent are formals.''
He says people prefer striped shirts and think it's better to buy wrinkle-free ones.
The new arrivals in his showrooms include cutaway collars, Linon and Tenzil fabrics and shirts of dobby weaving.
Printed shirts also record good sale. He says Boston deals with about 250 designs in shirts alone. Their prices start from Rs 600.
Gopal, who deals with the Mumbai-based brand Cambridge, says ``I have been dealing with the brand for the past 16 years. I feel the response to this brand is picking up from the start of this decade.''
Branded clothing are available in comparatively cheaper prices also. Cambridge offers shirts for Rs 175, Jean for Rs 300 and T-shirts for Rs 99. The prices can compete with those from any local brands and are much lesser
than those of any foreign brand.
The branded ones are fashionable and, to some extent, affordable also.
October, 2006
By Francis P Barclay
THE myriad readymade outlets showcasing big brands indicate the fast changes men's world of fashion is witnessing in this texcity.
Whether it is casual wear or formal wear, most men of today prefer branded items to its variant. There are also semi-casual wear to go with the changing lifestyles. And when cheaper apparels are readily available in the local market, why is this craze for the dearer branded ones? Is it for the perception that wearing branded clothing would add to one's image or the tempting media commercials? Or is it for the feel-good-factor or the notion
that branded ones last longer?
The exotic brands started entering the city market just during the last decade, and now there are about 20 foreign brands at hand. While a few foreign companies have based their manufacturing units in the country, others have exclusive dealers here.
Clothing, beyond any doubt, is important. One's wardrobe reflects the professional face and influences others' perception of him or her. When it comes to formal clothing, the world of brands has lots to contribute to its
symmetry.
An occasional wardrobe change is mandatory. A fashion-conscious 24-year-old Rajasimman, a HR recruiter in an MNC, says: ``Brand is one thing that can be counted on. It evokes better cognitive responses among people. When it comes to formal wear, I go for branded items. Of course, the price will be a bit high, but we need not worry about quality.''
He feels proud to say that he wears only Louis Philippe and Peter England apparels.
``People identify me with the brands I use,'' claims Kandavel, a software professional, while Johnson, who works in the administrative department of the Cognizant, feels that brands have a socio-cultural impact among the peer
group.
Rajendran, proprietor of a showroom dealing with a US-based brand Bostton, says: ``Casual wear is moving like hot cakes. The festival season started only this week and of the apparels sold so far, 60 percent are formals.''
He says people prefer striped shirts and think it's better to buy wrinkle-free ones.
The new arrivals in his showrooms include cutaway collars, Linon and Tenzil fabrics and shirts of dobby weaving.
Printed shirts also record good sale. He says Boston deals with about 250 designs in shirts alone. Their prices start from Rs 600.
Gopal, who deals with the Mumbai-based brand Cambridge, says ``I have been dealing with the brand for the past 16 years. I feel the response to this brand is picking up from the start of this decade.''
Branded clothing are available in comparatively cheaper prices also. Cambridge offers shirts for Rs 175, Jean for Rs 300 and T-shirts for Rs 99. The prices can compete with those from any local brands and are much lesser
than those of any foreign brand.
The branded ones are fashionable and, to some extent, affordable also.
Think Big! Think Plasma!
Published in the Deepavali special supplement
October, 2006
By Francis P Barclay
Are you giving thought to an ideal compliment to your home as the festival oomph has set in? Imagine a whole new audio-visual experience with theatre quality. Bring home the next generation Plasma or the LCD television.
These television sets are big enough to take you to the world of breathtaking realism. The CRT televisions (the normal picture-tube ones) are slowly giving way to their successors: Plasma and LCD.
In a couple of years from now, only the Plasma and LCD sets would be in the market, says Jagannathan, a television showroom sales assistant.
``These television sets have an edge over the ordinary ones in many aspects. They are slim and sleek, broad and big, durable....Picture comes alive even in darkness, brighter and more detailed, with style and sophistication and with theatre effect,'' he points out.
LCD and Plasma television sets give flawless and realistic images in about 500 billion colours. They bring a vivid living picture whatever the kind of input signal may be.
At the heart of the Plasma TVs are chemical compounds called phosphors. In a plasma TV, each pixel is made up of three phosphors -- one red, one blue, and one green. These phosphors emit light when struck by beams of electrons. The intensity of the electron beam determines the amount of light emitted. It is the phosphors that create the light you see on a plasma screen.
LCD TVs use millions of crystals, which are suspended in a liquid that is sandwiched between transparent panels. Behind this liquid crystal sandwich is bright fluorescent light. The crystals are instructed to either let the light pass or not. Filters are used to determine the colour.
Plasma television sets don't come in smaller sizes. They come in sizes larger than 42". You have a wider selection of larger sizes with Plasmas. The size range of LCDs is 20" to 42" in the local market. Many who have a smaller living room go for LCDs. LCDs are lighter than Plasmas. LCDs produce sharp and lively colours while Plasmas come out with warmer and more accurate colours. LCDs tend to do better in bright-light conditions. Plasmas, technically, have a higher contrast range.
One more advantage of having these television sets is that they can be used as a monitor for your PCs.
Swaminathan, another sales assistant in a television showroom, quotes Plasmas at from Rs 1.5 lakh. LCDs are available from Rs 35,000 (20") and the price changes with the size. In a few more years, only LCD sets would be for sale. Even the Plasmas would be outdated.
LCDs are fast-moving than Plasmas. Only those with bigger living space go for Plasma. ``It's no more a rich man's entity. LCDs are becoming cheaper day-by-day. We also arrange loans for the purchase of these televisions,'' he adds.
Local showrooms come out with discounts, gifts and special offers, making this festival season an ideal time to buy Plasmas and LCDs.
On the after-sale service, he points out that there are manufacturers' service centre available in the city. Also, when a person buys such a television, the details of the customer reaches the television company. If there is any problem with the product, the company would send its people to set it right.
So, why don't you turn your living space into a mega entertainment centre with the home theatre systems?
October, 2006
By Francis P Barclay
Are you giving thought to an ideal compliment to your home as the festival oomph has set in? Imagine a whole new audio-visual experience with theatre quality. Bring home the next generation Plasma or the LCD television.
These television sets are big enough to take you to the world of breathtaking realism. The CRT televisions (the normal picture-tube ones) are slowly giving way to their successors: Plasma and LCD.
In a couple of years from now, only the Plasma and LCD sets would be in the market, says Jagannathan, a television showroom sales assistant.
``These television sets have an edge over the ordinary ones in many aspects. They are slim and sleek, broad and big, durable....Picture comes alive even in darkness, brighter and more detailed, with style and sophistication and with theatre effect,'' he points out.
LCD and Plasma television sets give flawless and realistic images in about 500 billion colours. They bring a vivid living picture whatever the kind of input signal may be.
At the heart of the Plasma TVs are chemical compounds called phosphors. In a plasma TV, each pixel is made up of three phosphors -- one red, one blue, and one green. These phosphors emit light when struck by beams of electrons. The intensity of the electron beam determines the amount of light emitted. It is the phosphors that create the light you see on a plasma screen.
LCD TVs use millions of crystals, which are suspended in a liquid that is sandwiched between transparent panels. Behind this liquid crystal sandwich is bright fluorescent light. The crystals are instructed to either let the light pass or not. Filters are used to determine the colour.
Plasma television sets don't come in smaller sizes. They come in sizes larger than 42". You have a wider selection of larger sizes with Plasmas. The size range of LCDs is 20" to 42" in the local market. Many who have a smaller living room go for LCDs. LCDs are lighter than Plasmas. LCDs produce sharp and lively colours while Plasmas come out with warmer and more accurate colours. LCDs tend to do better in bright-light conditions. Plasmas, technically, have a higher contrast range.
One more advantage of having these television sets is that they can be used as a monitor for your PCs.
Swaminathan, another sales assistant in a television showroom, quotes Plasmas at from Rs 1.5 lakh. LCDs are available from Rs 35,000 (20") and the price changes with the size. In a few more years, only LCD sets would be for sale. Even the Plasmas would be outdated.
LCDs are fast-moving than Plasmas. Only those with bigger living space go for Plasma. ``It's no more a rich man's entity. LCDs are becoming cheaper day-by-day. We also arrange loans for the purchase of these televisions,'' he adds.
Local showrooms come out with discounts, gifts and special offers, making this festival season an ideal time to buy Plasmas and LCDs.
On the after-sale service, he points out that there are manufacturers' service centre available in the city. Also, when a person buys such a television, the details of the customer reaches the television company. If there is any problem with the product, the company would send its people to set it right.
So, why don't you turn your living space into a mega entertainment centre with the home theatre systems?
Ready for a roaring start? Do with a mini
Published in the Deepavali special supplement
October, 2006
By Francis P Barclay
MAKE this festival a roaring start with a vrooom as you rev the engine. Driving a car is always a pleasure and owning one is no more a dream for a middle-class bloke. It has all been made so easy thanks to the myriad schemes offered by manufacturers who are facing a cut-throat competition.
Want to own one? Yes, this is the best time to buy with so many special offers.
The four-wheeler companies are pulling up their socks to make their vehicles affordable to the common man. Cars are available for as low as Rs 2 lakh. This festival season is marked by a spurt in the buying trend as manufacturers and retailers have come out with special offers and discounts to woo customers. The buying-spree in this domain started a fortnight back.
Coimbatore being a conservative market, auto dealers are offering free accessories, discounts and gifts.
Discounts are up to Rs 15,000 for a Rs 2.18-lakh car. It's even more when one exchanges his/her old car.
Showroom managers are encouraged by the jump in the sales this month. For Prakash, senior manager (sales) of Ambal Autos, a person with an annual income equalling the price of a car is a potential buyer.
With the boom in the industry sector, the affordability has increased, he points out.
``Small cars are additional family vehicles and not necessarily the replacement of two-wheelers,'' he says.
He beholds safety as the main reason for people prefering cars to two-wheelers. Seat belts and collapsible steering columns are among the safety features. India is becoming a small car manufacturing hub and myriad
small industries and people are dependent on this sector. Car manufacturers strictly follow the emission norms, he adds.
Says Vasudev of Hyundai Chandra: ``We received about 60 bookings this month alone.''
People, nowadays, prefer mini cars to two-wheelers, he points out. The profile of the customers is highly varied. Riding a car is safer than going on a two-wheeler.
``You can buy a car without spending even a single rupee. Certain banks offer such schemes for purchasing a car. Normally, the banks offer loans up to 85 percent of the vehicle cost,'' he says.
The feel-good-factor and the ads being bombarded through media also compel one to go in for a mini, he says. The purchasing power of the people in cities has increased with the advent of software firms and buying a car is
no more a dream.
There are small cars which give mileage up to 20 kmpl. Diesel cars further reduce the fuel expense. LPG-run cars are bound to be cheaper with regard to fuel cost, but there is no LPG refill station in the city, he points out.
``The quality aspect of cars is getting better day-by-day, with leaders like Volks Wagon and Renault set to enter the market. Cars with more power, acceleration, safety features and luxirious interiors are to come in the
near future,'' he adds.
October, 2006
By Francis P Barclay
MAKE this festival a roaring start with a vrooom as you rev the engine. Driving a car is always a pleasure and owning one is no more a dream for a middle-class bloke. It has all been made so easy thanks to the myriad schemes offered by manufacturers who are facing a cut-throat competition.
Want to own one? Yes, this is the best time to buy with so many special offers.
The four-wheeler companies are pulling up their socks to make their vehicles affordable to the common man. Cars are available for as low as Rs 2 lakh. This festival season is marked by a spurt in the buying trend as manufacturers and retailers have come out with special offers and discounts to woo customers. The buying-spree in this domain started a fortnight back.
Coimbatore being a conservative market, auto dealers are offering free accessories, discounts and gifts.
Discounts are up to Rs 15,000 for a Rs 2.18-lakh car. It's even more when one exchanges his/her old car.
Showroom managers are encouraged by the jump in the sales this month. For Prakash, senior manager (sales) of Ambal Autos, a person with an annual income equalling the price of a car is a potential buyer.
With the boom in the industry sector, the affordability has increased, he points out.
``Small cars are additional family vehicles and not necessarily the replacement of two-wheelers,'' he says.
He beholds safety as the main reason for people prefering cars to two-wheelers. Seat belts and collapsible steering columns are among the safety features. India is becoming a small car manufacturing hub and myriad
small industries and people are dependent on this sector. Car manufacturers strictly follow the emission norms, he adds.
Says Vasudev of Hyundai Chandra: ``We received about 60 bookings this month alone.''
People, nowadays, prefer mini cars to two-wheelers, he points out. The profile of the customers is highly varied. Riding a car is safer than going on a two-wheeler.
``You can buy a car without spending even a single rupee. Certain banks offer such schemes for purchasing a car. Normally, the banks offer loans up to 85 percent of the vehicle cost,'' he says.
The feel-good-factor and the ads being bombarded through media also compel one to go in for a mini, he says. The purchasing power of the people in cities has increased with the advent of software firms and buying a car is
no more a dream.
There are small cars which give mileage up to 20 kmpl. Diesel cars further reduce the fuel expense. LPG-run cars are bound to be cheaper with regard to fuel cost, but there is no LPG refill station in the city, he points out.
``The quality aspect of cars is getting better day-by-day, with leaders like Volks Wagon and Renault set to enter the market. Cars with more power, acceleration, safety features and luxirious interiors are to come in the
near future,'' he adds.
Greens attack trial site of GE rice
Published in The New Indian Express, Page 1
All editions, November 10, 2006
By Francis P Barclay
Coimbatore, Nov 10: Around 100 activists belonging to the Tamil Nadu Velan Kappu Kuzhu today destroyed a trial site of genetically engineered (GE) rice at Ramanathapuram village in Alandurai near here.
Velan Kappu Kuzhu is an umbrella organisation of farmers' groups like TNFA, TN Green Movement and TN Organic Farming Movement who have raised a banner of revolt against genetically engineered (GE) crops in the State.
They were protesting today against the field trials of GE crops being conducted by a firm, throwing caution and guidelines to the wind.
The protesters entered the field, uprooted the plants and put up a banner declaring the plot as a GE rice field trial location. They also planted bio-hazard sign posts and demarcated the area.
A private sector seed company has leased the 20-acre village land and is using it as a testing ground by planting genetically engineered rice seeds, allegedly in a discreet manner.
This site is stated to be one among the several locations across the country where field trials of `untested' variety of Bacillus Thuringiensis (BT) rice is being carried out.
``The company should not be allowed to step into the State,'' K Chellamuthu, chairman of the Tamil Nadu Farmers Association (TNFA) and president of the Farmers Workers Party, said while leading the protest.
These plants have toxins in them right from the root to the tip, he said.
The protesters demanded the district Collector, who heads the district-level committee for monitoring field trials of genetically doctored crops, to pay heed to this trial and the blatant violation of guidelines by the company.
Chellamuthu alleged that the same company sold Bt cotton seeds across India with much hype resulting in farmers' suicides in Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra. The firm's real intention is to destroy the traditional
varieties of seeds and spread hybrid varieties, conceived by foreign companies. Nothing else can be grown in the area where such hybrid varieties are grown, he said.
The Centre's Department of Biotechnology had granted permission to the seed company with objectives including evaluation of performance of the hybrid variety, savings in terms of pesticides and yield. The department also put
forth certain norms to be followed, while conducting the trials.
But, sadly, in this case, the owner of the land, Rangaraju, who leased the land to the company, was completely unaware of the nature of the trial being carried out in his land. Neither the trial spot was isolated nor the
panchayat officials knew about what was going on.
Jeevanandham, president of the Tamil Nadu Green Movement, said that though genetically engineered crops posed a big threat to environment and biodiversity, the Tamil Nadu Agricultural University and the State
government failed to pay heed. About 1,500 people who consumed GE grains got crippled and 37 others died, he cautioned.
``In Tamil Nadu, GE rice is being grown at several places but we see to it that they are burnt,'' another activist added.
All editions, November 10, 2006
By Francis P Barclay
Coimbatore, Nov 10: Around 100 activists belonging to the Tamil Nadu Velan Kappu Kuzhu today destroyed a trial site of genetically engineered (GE) rice at Ramanathapuram village in Alandurai near here.
Velan Kappu Kuzhu is an umbrella organisation of farmers' groups like TNFA, TN Green Movement and TN Organic Farming Movement who have raised a banner of revolt against genetically engineered (GE) crops in the State.
They were protesting today against the field trials of GE crops being conducted by a firm, throwing caution and guidelines to the wind.
The protesters entered the field, uprooted the plants and put up a banner declaring the plot as a GE rice field trial location. They also planted bio-hazard sign posts and demarcated the area.
A private sector seed company has leased the 20-acre village land and is using it as a testing ground by planting genetically engineered rice seeds, allegedly in a discreet manner.
This site is stated to be one among the several locations across the country where field trials of `untested' variety of Bacillus Thuringiensis (BT) rice is being carried out.
``The company should not be allowed to step into the State,'' K Chellamuthu, chairman of the Tamil Nadu Farmers Association (TNFA) and president of the Farmers Workers Party, said while leading the protest.
These plants have toxins in them right from the root to the tip, he said.
The protesters demanded the district Collector, who heads the district-level committee for monitoring field trials of genetically doctored crops, to pay heed to this trial and the blatant violation of guidelines by the company.
Chellamuthu alleged that the same company sold Bt cotton seeds across India with much hype resulting in farmers' suicides in Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra. The firm's real intention is to destroy the traditional
varieties of seeds and spread hybrid varieties, conceived by foreign companies. Nothing else can be grown in the area where such hybrid varieties are grown, he said.
The Centre's Department of Biotechnology had granted permission to the seed company with objectives including evaluation of performance of the hybrid variety, savings in terms of pesticides and yield. The department also put
forth certain norms to be followed, while conducting the trials.
But, sadly, in this case, the owner of the land, Rangaraju, who leased the land to the company, was completely unaware of the nature of the trial being carried out in his land. Neither the trial spot was isolated nor the
panchayat officials knew about what was going on.
Jeevanandham, president of the Tamil Nadu Green Movement, said that though genetically engineered crops posed a big threat to environment and biodiversity, the Tamil Nadu Agricultural University and the State
government failed to pay heed. About 1,500 people who consumed GE grains got crippled and 37 others died, he cautioned.
``In Tamil Nadu, GE rice is being grown at several places but we see to it that they are burnt,'' another activist added.
TNAU justifies GE crops trial
Published in The New Indian Express, Coimbatore edition
November 12, 2006
By Francis P Barclay
Coimbatore, Nov 12: Close on the heels of the protest by farmers against genetically engineered (GE) crops at Ramanathapuram village in Alanduari, over 20 km away from here, the Tamil Nadu Agriculture University (TNAU) has come out with a release allaying the fear of the farmers against GE crops.
``Development of genetically modified cultivars has been recognised world over as one of the methods of crop improvement for the past two decades,'' TNAU Vice-Chancellor Ramasamy said and added that modern biological approaches were employed to improve specific desired traits of crops, which ``is otherwise difficult through conventional methods''.
Driving home his point, he said ``No resistance source is available for cotton bollworm among cultivated genotypes. So, none of the traditional cotton varieties or hybrids is resistant to these pests. This made the
scientists look for alternative sources, and expression of Bt proteins in plants was the answer to the problem of bollworms.''
On the claim that cultivation of Bt cotton led to the suicide of farmers in Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra, Ramasamy said the area under Bt cotton had increased phenomenally from a few thousand acres in 2002 to over 3.25 million acres in 2005. The farmers' suicides were largely due to drought and use of spurious chemicals for pest control.
Balasubramanian, director of the Centre for Plant Molecular Biology, TNAU, said ``Bt rice has a gene from Bacillus Thuringiensis. It has been introduced to express `Cry1ac' protein to kill pests such as stem borer and
leaf folder. They are not capable of killing insects belonging to the non-target groups.''
Allaying the fear of farmers, he said ``Bt rice is not at all a threat to biodiversity. In fact, the Bt genes can be introduced in any variety or hybrid that is popularly cultivated.''
The scientists from TNAU recently visited the rice field in Alandurai for monitoring, and the trial is conducted as per biosafety guidelines with the approval of the Centre, he claimed.
Reacting to the TNAU's justifications, Jeevanandham, of Green Movement said ``They are mere gimmicks.''
Farmers and Toilers Party president Chellamuthu said ``The GE crops, which are toxic, are a threat to traditional varieties. Besides, the company, which conducts the trials of GE crops, does not follow the government norms
like isolation and placing of placards at the trial site.''
To note, on Friday, members of various farmers' groups like Tamil Nadu Farmers Association, TN Green Movement, TN Organic Farming Movement and Greenpeace, who have been protesting against GE crops and their trials under the umbrella organisation TN Velan Kappu Kuzhu, entered the field of a Rangaraju and destroyed the GE crops under trial there. The field was given in lease to a private sector seed company which has a foreign tie-up.
The company has lodged a complaint and the police have filed a case against 90 persons, including K Chellamuthu and Jeevanantham.
November 12, 2006
By Francis P Barclay
Coimbatore, Nov 12: Close on the heels of the protest by farmers against genetically engineered (GE) crops at Ramanathapuram village in Alanduari, over 20 km away from here, the Tamil Nadu Agriculture University (TNAU) has come out with a release allaying the fear of the farmers against GE crops.
``Development of genetically modified cultivars has been recognised world over as one of the methods of crop improvement for the past two decades,'' TNAU Vice-Chancellor Ramasamy said and added that modern biological approaches were employed to improve specific desired traits of crops, which ``is otherwise difficult through conventional methods''.
Driving home his point, he said ``No resistance source is available for cotton bollworm among cultivated genotypes. So, none of the traditional cotton varieties or hybrids is resistant to these pests. This made the
scientists look for alternative sources, and expression of Bt proteins in plants was the answer to the problem of bollworms.''
On the claim that cultivation of Bt cotton led to the suicide of farmers in Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra, Ramasamy said the area under Bt cotton had increased phenomenally from a few thousand acres in 2002 to over 3.25 million acres in 2005. The farmers' suicides were largely due to drought and use of spurious chemicals for pest control.
Balasubramanian, director of the Centre for Plant Molecular Biology, TNAU, said ``Bt rice has a gene from Bacillus Thuringiensis. It has been introduced to express `Cry1ac' protein to kill pests such as stem borer and
leaf folder. They are not capable of killing insects belonging to the non-target groups.''
Allaying the fear of farmers, he said ``Bt rice is not at all a threat to biodiversity. In fact, the Bt genes can be introduced in any variety or hybrid that is popularly cultivated.''
The scientists from TNAU recently visited the rice field in Alandurai for monitoring, and the trial is conducted as per biosafety guidelines with the approval of the Centre, he claimed.
Reacting to the TNAU's justifications, Jeevanandham, of Green Movement said ``They are mere gimmicks.''
Farmers and Toilers Party president Chellamuthu said ``The GE crops, which are toxic, are a threat to traditional varieties. Besides, the company, which conducts the trials of GE crops, does not follow the government norms
like isolation and placing of placards at the trial site.''
To note, on Friday, members of various farmers' groups like Tamil Nadu Farmers Association, TN Green Movement, TN Organic Farming Movement and Greenpeace, who have been protesting against GE crops and their trials under the umbrella organisation TN Velan Kappu Kuzhu, entered the field of a Rangaraju and destroyed the GE crops under trial there. The field was given in lease to a private sector seed company which has a foreign tie-up.
The company has lodged a complaint and the police have filed a case against 90 persons, including K Chellamuthu and Jeevanantham.
Fabulous Fabindia
Weekend
Published on December 1, 2006
By Francis P Barclay
How about shopping in an old heritage edifice with a homely ambience and a vintage decor, and where the products ranging from household furnishing to quilts to furniture to jams to pickle are available? Sounds interesting? Then, visit Fabindia's retail outlet at RS Puram in Coimbatore, a new entrant into the supermarket realm of the city.
An old heritage house on the TV Samy Road has been transformed into a colourful ethnic store. It is the 51st outlet of Fabindia. Fabindia offers a wide range of household items. ``You can be the decorator of your own home, it's easy with Fabindia'' says Rajani Gopi, in-charge of the home division. Also, to give a rustic touch to homes, there are furniture, cane baskets, lightings and painted pottery with high intricacy. Ready-to-wear garments are available for people of all age groups and gender. ``The specialty here is that cotton, silk, wool, linen and jute are the basic fibres used. No synthetic fibre is used,'' says Nandita, merchandiser for the garment
section.
Fabindia also offers organic products like jams, pickles, fruit concentrates, tea, coffee and spices. Besides, it has a burly section for cosmetics under the brand name Sana. The specialty is `all under one roof'.
Fabindia sources its products from over 7,500 craftsmen and artisans across the country. It supports the craft traditions of India by providing a market and thereby encourage and sustain rural employment. It has retail outlets in all major cities of India and also in countries like Rome, Italy, Dubai, UAE and China.
Says store incharge Preethi Balaji: ``Holding these major product lines together is our commitment to the rural and crafts sectors of India. Fabindia was founded with the strong belief that there was a need for a
vehicle to market the vast and diverse craft traditions of India and thereby help fulfill the need to sustain rural employment.''
Indigenous craft techniques are blended with contemporary designs to bring aesthetic and affordable products to today's consumers.
Products are sourced mainly from villages. Fabindia works closely with artisans by providing various inputs, including design, quality control, access to raw materials and production coordination. The vision continues to
maximize the hand-made element in products, whether it is textiles, printing, embroidery or home products.
However, the products carry a little higher price tags. ``It's because our products are organic and handmade,'' they say.
For more information call: 0422-4370101,02,03.
Published on December 1, 2006
By Francis P Barclay
How about shopping in an old heritage edifice with a homely ambience and a vintage decor, and where the products ranging from household furnishing to quilts to furniture to jams to pickle are available? Sounds interesting? Then, visit Fabindia's retail outlet at RS Puram in Coimbatore, a new entrant into the supermarket realm of the city.
An old heritage house on the TV Samy Road has been transformed into a colourful ethnic store. It is the 51st outlet of Fabindia. Fabindia offers a wide range of household items. ``You can be the decorator of your own home, it's easy with Fabindia'' says Rajani Gopi, in-charge of the home division. Also, to give a rustic touch to homes, there are furniture, cane baskets, lightings and painted pottery with high intricacy. Ready-to-wear garments are available for people of all age groups and gender. ``The specialty here is that cotton, silk, wool, linen and jute are the basic fibres used. No synthetic fibre is used,'' says Nandita, merchandiser for the garment
section.
Fabindia also offers organic products like jams, pickles, fruit concentrates, tea, coffee and spices. Besides, it has a burly section for cosmetics under the brand name Sana. The specialty is `all under one roof'.
Fabindia sources its products from over 7,500 craftsmen and artisans across the country. It supports the craft traditions of India by providing a market and thereby encourage and sustain rural employment. It has retail outlets in all major cities of India and also in countries like Rome, Italy, Dubai, UAE and China.
Says store incharge Preethi Balaji: ``Holding these major product lines together is our commitment to the rural and crafts sectors of India. Fabindia was founded with the strong belief that there was a need for a
vehicle to market the vast and diverse craft traditions of India and thereby help fulfill the need to sustain rural employment.''
Indigenous craft techniques are blended with contemporary designs to bring aesthetic and affordable products to today's consumers.
Products are sourced mainly from villages. Fabindia works closely with artisans by providing various inputs, including design, quality control, access to raw materials and production coordination. The vision continues to
maximize the hand-made element in products, whether it is textiles, printing, embroidery or home products.
However, the products carry a little higher price tags. ``It's because our products are organic and handmade,'' they say.
For more information call: 0422-4370101,02,03.
NH-A road to chaos
By Francis P Barclay
Coimbatore, Dec 1: Chaos and danger rule the Nawab Hakkim (NH) Road stretching between the Five Corner and the Coimbatore Corporation building. The road is too narrow to serve the bounteous vehicles that ply on it and poses threat to the safety of pedestrians and shopkeepers there.
Heavy vehicles, two-wheelers and three-wheelers, besides buses use this road. It was constructed many years ago when vehicular movement was less and steps were not taken to widen it. Now people face tough time to squeeze through the crowd even though it is one-way.
The temple standing on the road constricts it further. Besides, vehicles are also parked on the roadside. Pedestrians do not have proper platforms to walk and the buildings are too crowded. Potholes add to the woes.
A resident of the area, M S Sivakumar, says: ``Heavy vehicles find it extremely difficult to ply on this route. For drivers, tension mounts while passing through this route.''
``A few months ago, Route no: 5 lost its control and entered into a bag-making shop. A boy, who was there, died on the spot,'' he recalls.
Before that, a CTC bus Route no: 3 hit an electric lamp post and the wires got snapped. Fortunately, the live wires from the post never fell on the bus.
Last year too, a tempo traveller was hit by a route bus.
``Road mishaps are frequent and verbal clashes quite common here,'' says Sivakumar.
Bus route nos 3, 3D, 4, 4M and 4K ply on this route. Traffic congestion is frequent.
But there seems to be a solution, according to T M Sethu Anwar Hussain, president of the Coimbatore District Consumers Protective Council. He suggests that heavy vehicles like buses, trucks and tanker lorries can be
diverted from Five Corner towards east and Raja Street and made to take a turn near the Clock Tower and reach the Corporation building.
``There are also bus stops in between and hence, there will not be any inconvenience for the transport authorities and drivers. Passengers can be picked up from the bus stop in front of the Corporation building,'' Sethu
says.
Encroachments in the Raja Street need to be removed, he adds.
The Council has sent letters to Local Administration Minister M K Stalin, the Cheran Transport Corporation, the Deputy Transport Commissioner and the Inspector General of Police (West Zone) in this regard, and is hoping for necessary action to ease traffic on the route.
Coimbatore, Dec 1: Chaos and danger rule the Nawab Hakkim (NH) Road stretching between the Five Corner and the Coimbatore Corporation building. The road is too narrow to serve the bounteous vehicles that ply on it and poses threat to the safety of pedestrians and shopkeepers there.
Heavy vehicles, two-wheelers and three-wheelers, besides buses use this road. It was constructed many years ago when vehicular movement was less and steps were not taken to widen it. Now people face tough time to squeeze through the crowd even though it is one-way.
The temple standing on the road constricts it further. Besides, vehicles are also parked on the roadside. Pedestrians do not have proper platforms to walk and the buildings are too crowded. Potholes add to the woes.
A resident of the area, M S Sivakumar, says: ``Heavy vehicles find it extremely difficult to ply on this route. For drivers, tension mounts while passing through this route.''
``A few months ago, Route no: 5 lost its control and entered into a bag-making shop. A boy, who was there, died on the spot,'' he recalls.
Before that, a CTC bus Route no: 3 hit an electric lamp post and the wires got snapped. Fortunately, the live wires from the post never fell on the bus.
Last year too, a tempo traveller was hit by a route bus.
``Road mishaps are frequent and verbal clashes quite common here,'' says Sivakumar.
Bus route nos 3, 3D, 4, 4M and 4K ply on this route. Traffic congestion is frequent.
But there seems to be a solution, according to T M Sethu Anwar Hussain, president of the Coimbatore District Consumers Protective Council. He suggests that heavy vehicles like buses, trucks and tanker lorries can be
diverted from Five Corner towards east and Raja Street and made to take a turn near the Clock Tower and reach the Corporation building.
``There are also bus stops in between and hence, there will not be any inconvenience for the transport authorities and drivers. Passengers can be picked up from the bus stop in front of the Corporation building,'' Sethu
says.
Encroachments in the Raja Street need to be removed, he adds.
The Council has sent letters to Local Administration Minister M K Stalin, the Cheran Transport Corporation, the Deputy Transport Commissioner and the Inspector General of Police (West Zone) in this regard, and is hoping for necessary action to ease traffic on the route.
December 09, 2006
A weightlifter in need of succour, Published in Weekend, Coimbatore, April, 2006
By Francis P. Barclay
Forty-four-year-old Rukmani, who has a definite reason to rejoice, is glum. She has been selected for the international power lifting championship to be held in the US this year, but she is not sure whether she can make it. For she needs Rs 1,30,000 and she does not have it.
Living in Sundarapuram on the outskirts of Coimbatore city with her husband and two children, Rukmini got silver in the 60-kilo category at the national-level power lifting championship held at Orissa in 2004. She had
also got second prize in the national championship held in Udaipur in Rajasthan last February. State-level gold is already there in her profile.
Reckoning her ability, the Indian Power Lifting Federation has sorted out her for the international power lifting event to be held in Texas from October 4 to 8, 2006. But she lacks financial assistance.
Hailing from an economically poor family, Rukmani, right from her childhood had a passion for weightlifting. That prompted her to spend six hours a day for practice session, despite all difficulties.Her trainer is M A Velusamy, a stalwart power lifter and the vice-president of the Coimbatore District Power Lifting Association.
``In 2003,'' he recalls, ``I was selected to attend the international power lifting championship at Kajakisthan and I had nobody to help me go there. At last, determinedly, I sold my house and attended the event. And now I can
call myself an Asian champion.''
``I have dedicated my life to train people in power lifting, particularly women, whose talents should be showcased in the world arena,'' he says with a fervent smile.
Inspired by her trainer, Rukmani is eager to attend the international event and trying all possible ways to get financial help.
``The one-lakh-and-odd is a big sum for me. Already I am finding it hard to run the family with the minimal salary of my husband who is working as a fitter in a cotton mill,'' she says with a tinge of sorrow.
Her deadline to arrange the money was March 31, but she had suscessfully applied for extension.
``My only carnal desire is to fetch a gold medal for India,'' she says even as her face asserts the worry as to how she is going to attend the event.
Will any sports buffs or philanthropists help her?
Forty-four-year-old Rukmani, who has a definite reason to rejoice, is glum. She has been selected for the international power lifting championship to be held in the US this year, but she is not sure whether she can make it. For she needs Rs 1,30,000 and she does not have it.
Living in Sundarapuram on the outskirts of Coimbatore city with her husband and two children, Rukmini got silver in the 60-kilo category at the national-level power lifting championship held at Orissa in 2004. She had
also got second prize in the national championship held in Udaipur in Rajasthan last February. State-level gold is already there in her profile.
Reckoning her ability, the Indian Power Lifting Federation has sorted out her for the international power lifting event to be held in Texas from October 4 to 8, 2006. But she lacks financial assistance.
Hailing from an economically poor family, Rukmani, right from her childhood had a passion for weightlifting. That prompted her to spend six hours a day for practice session, despite all difficulties.Her trainer is M A Velusamy, a stalwart power lifter and the vice-president of the Coimbatore District Power Lifting Association.
``In 2003,'' he recalls, ``I was selected to attend the international power lifting championship at Kajakisthan and I had nobody to help me go there. At last, determinedly, I sold my house and attended the event. And now I can
call myself an Asian champion.''
``I have dedicated my life to train people in power lifting, particularly women, whose talents should be showcased in the world arena,'' he says with a fervent smile.
Inspired by her trainer, Rukmani is eager to attend the international event and trying all possible ways to get financial help.
``The one-lakh-and-odd is a big sum for me. Already I am finding it hard to run the family with the minimal salary of my husband who is working as a fitter in a cotton mill,'' she says with a tinge of sorrow.
Her deadline to arrange the money was March 31, but she had suscessfully applied for extension.
``My only carnal desire is to fetch a gold medal for India,'' she says even as her face asserts the worry as to how she is going to attend the event.
Will any sports buffs or philanthropists help her?
Feelings and emotions
Intro: The simplicity and chastity of Indian culture is a recurrence in Raviraj's paintings
By Francis P Barclay
Artistry has been in him right from his childhood. But giving in to the pressure of his parents, he studied science and business management. And he got a clerical job, which soon proved itself to be a barrier to his creative mind. At last, with confidence, he called it quits. S Raviraj, the neo-realistic painter, was thus born.
Revelling in the pool of art, he also took up the job of teaching art. He worked for about 10 years at the Tamil Nadu Agricultural University (TNAU) as an art instructor and then went to Saudi Arabia for a two-year assignment as art director in a print publication.
Proving himself to be a versatile genius, he learnt dance and guitar in his leisure time.
Now, Raviraj, recipient of National Award for Best Artist in 1985 and winner of several State-level awards for painting and writing, is the director of the 13-year-old Lalit Kalakshetra, an art school which is teaching over 700 students.
Art buffs had much to relish inside the Jayams Hall this Pongal. They had in front of them 25 assorted odds of serene emotions and feelings captured by Raviraj, director, Lalit Kalakshetra, from the culture and locale of today.
In his neo-realistic way of expressing things, he recreated the scenes that he had come across in real life. He altered them in his own metaphysical style and its values and displayed them for the public at his maiden
exhibition.
Sparking off the aesthetic spirit in a set of styles, the acrylic and oil on the canvases catogorise the mild expressions of Mahatma and Swami Vivekananda.
The artist is accurate in portraying an expressive smile on the broad lips of a gypsy playing the drums, supported by a whistling kid with a doleful heart.
His skill to tickle the emotional aspect of life comes to the fore in the depressed face of the slender and nervous parrot vendor. He finds it easy to butt in on the temperamental prospect, transpiring the scene in a way that
is almost real.
The simplicity and chastity of Indian culture is a recurrence in his paintings. He records people's life in the rural background and the rituals and customs performed by them.
In his paintings, from the tranquil scene of women bathing in a pond and the rituals performed when a girl attains puberty to the curious eyes of stony-broke children posing for a photograph, he is skillful in bringing out
emotions.
The highlights of the exhibition were the paintings on the famous Tamil movie songs Poovirkul olinthirukkum kanikuttam adhisayam (Jeans) and Ovvoru pookalume solkirathae (Autograph).
In a set of other styles with jagged edges and random cluster of lines, he limns people tussling for flood relief. He opens to view his dexterity in handling the hues and organising the space on the canvases and devolves the
collection of reminiscences, for he believes it's the job of an artist.
By Francis P Barclay
Artistry has been in him right from his childhood. But giving in to the pressure of his parents, he studied science and business management. And he got a clerical job, which soon proved itself to be a barrier to his creative mind. At last, with confidence, he called it quits. S Raviraj, the neo-realistic painter, was thus born.
Revelling in the pool of art, he also took up the job of teaching art. He worked for about 10 years at the Tamil Nadu Agricultural University (TNAU) as an art instructor and then went to Saudi Arabia for a two-year assignment as art director in a print publication.
Proving himself to be a versatile genius, he learnt dance and guitar in his leisure time.
Now, Raviraj, recipient of National Award for Best Artist in 1985 and winner of several State-level awards for painting and writing, is the director of the 13-year-old Lalit Kalakshetra, an art school which is teaching over 700 students.
Art buffs had much to relish inside the Jayams Hall this Pongal. They had in front of them 25 assorted odds of serene emotions and feelings captured by Raviraj, director, Lalit Kalakshetra, from the culture and locale of today.
In his neo-realistic way of expressing things, he recreated the scenes that he had come across in real life. He altered them in his own metaphysical style and its values and displayed them for the public at his maiden
exhibition.
Sparking off the aesthetic spirit in a set of styles, the acrylic and oil on the canvases catogorise the mild expressions of Mahatma and Swami Vivekananda.
The artist is accurate in portraying an expressive smile on the broad lips of a gypsy playing the drums, supported by a whistling kid with a doleful heart.
His skill to tickle the emotional aspect of life comes to the fore in the depressed face of the slender and nervous parrot vendor. He finds it easy to butt in on the temperamental prospect, transpiring the scene in a way that
is almost real.
The simplicity and chastity of Indian culture is a recurrence in his paintings. He records people's life in the rural background and the rituals and customs performed by them.
In his paintings, from the tranquil scene of women bathing in a pond and the rituals performed when a girl attains puberty to the curious eyes of stony-broke children posing for a photograph, he is skillful in bringing out
emotions.
The highlights of the exhibition were the paintings on the famous Tamil movie songs Poovirkul olinthirukkum kanikuttam adhisayam (Jeans) and Ovvoru pookalume solkirathae (Autograph).
In a set of other styles with jagged edges and random cluster of lines, he limns people tussling for flood relief. He opens to view his dexterity in handling the hues and organising the space on the canvases and devolves the
collection of reminiscences, for he believes it's the job of an artist.
In communion with nature
By Francis P. Barclay
Born in 1971 in Mettukkundu, a small and beautiful village near Virudhunagar, a humble K Subburaja was never conscious of his fervour for nature. For it was a hidden feeling in him, and it was not until he wrapped up his school studies he felt it awakening in him. In 1992, advised by his friends, he went to Chennai to do the drawing instructor course. After completing the course he joined the TI Cycles where his brother was a manager. But it took only a couple of months for him to realise that at TI Cycles he was a square peg in a round hole. He listened to his instincts and then took the brush. Starting with portraits of people, he graduated to recreating nature on canvas. The landscape artist KAS Rajaa was thus born. With 1,200-odd paintings and 200-odd exhibitions in his graph, Rajaa is all set to scale new heights in the world of colours.
A blithe Raaja presented the eighth mega series exhibition of paintings on `The Nature' at Kasthuri Srinivasan Trust Art Gallery in Coimbatore for five days from March 23 and the visitors relished an assorted set of serene
landscapes.
The Ayyanar river gushing through the rocky banks, the darkly menacing forests of Assam, the evening silhouette of MAC Cricket Stadium in Chennai had something more to transpire than beauty. It was the landscape artiste's
adulation for Nature. When man has forgotten that he is a part of Nature, Rajaa just spoke the language of Nature.
A shy person outwardly and an intellect within, he said, ``Normally, people don't specialise in drawing scenery. But I decided to go the road less travelled by, for Nature and her beauty have always been alluring me. In
fact, I am charmed with my own works on Nature.''
No doubt all the 38-odd paintings displayed are all about Nature. It takes one for a blithesome errand to the crimson Sri Lankan ocean, Kodaikanal forest range and the second avenue of Besant Nagar, to experience the bleak faces of earth.
His brush bends to portray the browbeaten dark walls and the sky dressed in orange, with the beamy trunk of trees and lush green leaf bunches glittering in sunlight. Though his paintings are all about greenery, none looked like another.
He told Weekend, ``I work a lot in a scrap chart before starting on the canvas. I prepare shades and shades of green and practise each stroke till I am appeased. Even a random stroke has a particular form and meaning.''
His works are soothing to the eyes of those who are in a drift from Nature, living in city. It is impelling to see in his paintings the freezed frame of the fast flowing water or the motionless coconut grooves. His Nature is calm and graceful.
Apart from garnishing hues of green, his realistic portrayals include the beach of Kozhikode, Mancholai tea estate and Courtrallam waterfalls. In all of them his obligation to artistry and his amity towards Nature are overt.
Born in 1971 in Mettukkundu, a small and beautiful village near Virudhunagar, a humble K Subburaja was never conscious of his fervour for nature. For it was a hidden feeling in him, and it was not until he wrapped up his school studies he felt it awakening in him. In 1992, advised by his friends, he went to Chennai to do the drawing instructor course. After completing the course he joined the TI Cycles where his brother was a manager. But it took only a couple of months for him to realise that at TI Cycles he was a square peg in a round hole. He listened to his instincts and then took the brush. Starting with portraits of people, he graduated to recreating nature on canvas. The landscape artist KAS Rajaa was thus born. With 1,200-odd paintings and 200-odd exhibitions in his graph, Rajaa is all set to scale new heights in the world of colours.
A blithe Raaja presented the eighth mega series exhibition of paintings on `The Nature' at Kasthuri Srinivasan Trust Art Gallery in Coimbatore for five days from March 23 and the visitors relished an assorted set of serene
landscapes.
The Ayyanar river gushing through the rocky banks, the darkly menacing forests of Assam, the evening silhouette of MAC Cricket Stadium in Chennai had something more to transpire than beauty. It was the landscape artiste's
adulation for Nature. When man has forgotten that he is a part of Nature, Rajaa just spoke the language of Nature.
A shy person outwardly and an intellect within, he said, ``Normally, people don't specialise in drawing scenery. But I decided to go the road less travelled by, for Nature and her beauty have always been alluring me. In
fact, I am charmed with my own works on Nature.''
No doubt all the 38-odd paintings displayed are all about Nature. It takes one for a blithesome errand to the crimson Sri Lankan ocean, Kodaikanal forest range and the second avenue of Besant Nagar, to experience the bleak faces of earth.
His brush bends to portray the browbeaten dark walls and the sky dressed in orange, with the beamy trunk of trees and lush green leaf bunches glittering in sunlight. Though his paintings are all about greenery, none looked like another.
He told Weekend, ``I work a lot in a scrap chart before starting on the canvas. I prepare shades and shades of green and practise each stroke till I am appeased. Even a random stroke has a particular form and meaning.''
His works are soothing to the eyes of those who are in a drift from Nature, living in city. It is impelling to see in his paintings the freezed frame of the fast flowing water or the motionless coconut grooves. His Nature is calm and graceful.
Apart from garnishing hues of green, his realistic portrayals include the beach of Kozhikode, Mancholai tea estate and Courtrallam waterfalls. In all of them his obligation to artistry and his amity towards Nature are overt.
Colouring culture in easy strokes
By Francis P Barclay
The artistic and esoteric V Rajagopal radiates his resilient reverence to the traditional aspects of the devout Indian culture through a plethora of art works.
From abstract and contemporary art portraying the rustic pillars of temples and animals in fortuitous postures to the ones with the touch of cubism, oil, acrylics and realistic pastels and the tiny clay faces, the 80-odd art
works on display at the Kasthuri Sreenivasan Art Gallery speak volumes of the lost and divine tradition.
Rajagopal, who had conducted many one-man shows and participated in the All-India Artists Kala Mela held at New Delhi, is the seventh man to exhibit paintings under the series `Meet Coimbatore Artists'.
This artiste's most numb and brusque painting titled `Ganesha', which visitors would hardly accept it as a painting at the outset for its simplicity, well would explain Rajagopal. He blots out the message in the sumptuous spread of colours.
The lucid painting has a couple of blunt broad strokes of deep brown with its edges off figuring the Ganesha idol. To be critical, he never missed out to add the tiny stone figures that usually accompany the Ganesha idol under
a pepal tree, which shows his fervour for religious folkfore. One can maneuver and master the style with ease and he intends to propagate this message to the viewers, especially children.
An art teacher at the government high school in Devarayapuram, Rajagopal took inspirations from his father who owned a printing press. Winner of a national award for art teacher, he learnt it from trial-and-error. He had
participated in the Noyyal river project awareness campaign also and used his knack to serve.
He is more a contemprory artiste and handles the abstract style, albeit he works out on other stlyes like the Tanjore style and realism.
His creased elephants are limned of knife. He uses realistic and contemporary abstract styles in a single painting.
His temples are the old clapped-out ones which have a relic touch. He gives life to the rugged temple art of the olden days and inds the contemporary style serving.
He says, ``Painting is not an arduous job to perform. Simplicity in style is recurrent in my paintings, for I intend to say people that anyone can do it but with knowledge about the basic elements of perspective and colours.''
Complexity is, however, hidden behind the simplicity in his paintings. He comes readily to translate the language of art. In one of his paintings, which has a touch of cubism, he hides the image of a woman. A deer and an ox
are mixed up with the stature of the woman. He says our scriptures visualise the abdomen of a woman like the head of an ox and associate the character of women with that of the animals.
His Nataraja is painted with a circle like the `Vitruvian Male' of Da Vinci, but with an array of hues. When each colour is considered separately, Nataraja is seen gesturing different meanings. He says, the principles of Da
Vinci, the proportions of human body and the way it is portrayed within the circle, is also there in our ancient scriptures.
The exhibition will be on till April 30, from 10 am to 7 pm. For further details contact 0422-2574110.
The artistic and esoteric V Rajagopal radiates his resilient reverence to the traditional aspects of the devout Indian culture through a plethora of art works.
From abstract and contemporary art portraying the rustic pillars of temples and animals in fortuitous postures to the ones with the touch of cubism, oil, acrylics and realistic pastels and the tiny clay faces, the 80-odd art
works on display at the Kasthuri Sreenivasan Art Gallery speak volumes of the lost and divine tradition.
Rajagopal, who had conducted many one-man shows and participated in the All-India Artists Kala Mela held at New Delhi, is the seventh man to exhibit paintings under the series `Meet Coimbatore Artists'.
This artiste's most numb and brusque painting titled `Ganesha', which visitors would hardly accept it as a painting at the outset for its simplicity, well would explain Rajagopal. He blots out the message in the sumptuous spread of colours.
The lucid painting has a couple of blunt broad strokes of deep brown with its edges off figuring the Ganesha idol. To be critical, he never missed out to add the tiny stone figures that usually accompany the Ganesha idol under
a pepal tree, which shows his fervour for religious folkfore. One can maneuver and master the style with ease and he intends to propagate this message to the viewers, especially children.
An art teacher at the government high school in Devarayapuram, Rajagopal took inspirations from his father who owned a printing press. Winner of a national award for art teacher, he learnt it from trial-and-error. He had
participated in the Noyyal river project awareness campaign also and used his knack to serve.
He is more a contemprory artiste and handles the abstract style, albeit he works out on other stlyes like the Tanjore style and realism.
His creased elephants are limned of knife. He uses realistic and contemporary abstract styles in a single painting.
His temples are the old clapped-out ones which have a relic touch. He gives life to the rugged temple art of the olden days and inds the contemporary style serving.
He says, ``Painting is not an arduous job to perform. Simplicity in style is recurrent in my paintings, for I intend to say people that anyone can do it but with knowledge about the basic elements of perspective and colours.''
Complexity is, however, hidden behind the simplicity in his paintings. He comes readily to translate the language of art. In one of his paintings, which has a touch of cubism, he hides the image of a woman. A deer and an ox
are mixed up with the stature of the woman. He says our scriptures visualise the abdomen of a woman like the head of an ox and associate the character of women with that of the animals.
His Nataraja is painted with a circle like the `Vitruvian Male' of Da Vinci, but with an array of hues. When each colour is considered separately, Nataraja is seen gesturing different meanings. He says, the principles of Da
Vinci, the proportions of human body and the way it is portrayed within the circle, is also there in our ancient scriptures.
The exhibition will be on till April 30, from 10 am to 7 pm. For further details contact 0422-2574110.
Breeding goodness in young minds
By Francis P. Barclay
Got any doubt about credit or debit cards? Contact 16-year-old Prathyusha. She will explain to you all about the credit and debit cards. Ask Abhay (15) about jurisprudence. He will explain it including the difference between the civil and criminal cases. Thirteen-year-old Hariram can narrate how prayers are administered in a church. Vivekanand (13) will tell you one has to remove the slippers, wash hands and dip the legs in water before entering a Gurudwara. He will also talk about `Adi Granth,' the holy Scripture of the Sikhism.
These students are well aware of the things happening around them and up-to-date in general knowledge, thanks to the 10-day camp `Empowering adolescents and leadership training' organised by the Divyodaya, an
inter-religious centre.
The camp was aimed at creating a positive attitude and religious harmony in the minds of the children apart from identifying their talents and honing them.
Twelve children in the age group 13 to 16, who were strangers to each other, entered Divyodaya on May 1. For 10 days, from 9 am to 4.30 pm they spent their time singing, meditating and learning Yoga, besides discussing
self-awareness, positive thinking, problem solving, goal setting etc.
The Divyodaya staff who took care of them were Brother Linson, Joseph and psychology graduates Usha Rani and Vanitha.
The children were taken on an inter-religious pilgrimage during which they visited places of worship of all religions. Basic knowledge about religions were imbibed in them by the clerics there. They received the sacred
sandalwood paste from the temple with the same fervour they showed while taking holy water from the church.
Vanitha, who led them to the places of worship, said, ``This is the age when children are most receptive and apt to imbibe divine thoughts in them. I could realise a phenomenal change in their attitude during the camp.''
They visited a bank where the staff explained to them about the functioning of banks. Then they visited the court and learnt about the proceedings there. Judge Mohandas, who interacted with them, underscored the need to
teach them about the functioning of court.
The best part of the camp was that it was successful enough to bring about an attitudinal change in the children. They came as strangers and developed a bond, forgetting all about their cast, creed and religion.
The name Divyodaya stands for divine awakening. Through a plethora of activities, Divyodaya seeks to realise the vision enshrined in its motto `The bonds that unite us are stronger than the barriers that separate us'.
Prabakar, a kid who was among the 12, said, ``There are no barriers between us here.''
Got any doubt about credit or debit cards? Contact 16-year-old Prathyusha. She will explain to you all about the credit and debit cards. Ask Abhay (15) about jurisprudence. He will explain it including the difference between the civil and criminal cases. Thirteen-year-old Hariram can narrate how prayers are administered in a church. Vivekanand (13) will tell you one has to remove the slippers, wash hands and dip the legs in water before entering a Gurudwara. He will also talk about `Adi Granth,' the holy Scripture of the Sikhism.
These students are well aware of the things happening around them and up-to-date in general knowledge, thanks to the 10-day camp `Empowering adolescents and leadership training' organised by the Divyodaya, an
inter-religious centre.
The camp was aimed at creating a positive attitude and religious harmony in the minds of the children apart from identifying their talents and honing them.
Twelve children in the age group 13 to 16, who were strangers to each other, entered Divyodaya on May 1. For 10 days, from 9 am to 4.30 pm they spent their time singing, meditating and learning Yoga, besides discussing
self-awareness, positive thinking, problem solving, goal setting etc.
The Divyodaya staff who took care of them were Brother Linson, Joseph and psychology graduates Usha Rani and Vanitha.
The children were taken on an inter-religious pilgrimage during which they visited places of worship of all religions. Basic knowledge about religions were imbibed in them by the clerics there. They received the sacred
sandalwood paste from the temple with the same fervour they showed while taking holy water from the church.
Vanitha, who led them to the places of worship, said, ``This is the age when children are most receptive and apt to imbibe divine thoughts in them. I could realise a phenomenal change in their attitude during the camp.''
They visited a bank where the staff explained to them about the functioning of banks. Then they visited the court and learnt about the proceedings there. Judge Mohandas, who interacted with them, underscored the need to
teach them about the functioning of court.
The best part of the camp was that it was successful enough to bring about an attitudinal change in the children. They came as strangers and developed a bond, forgetting all about their cast, creed and religion.
The name Divyodaya stands for divine awakening. Through a plethora of activities, Divyodaya seeks to realise the vision enshrined in its motto `The bonds that unite us are stronger than the barriers that separate us'.
Prabakar, a kid who was among the 12, said, ``There are no barriers between us here.''
Eat wheatgrass to keep docs away
By Francis P Barclay
Fed up with trying high-scheduled and high-priced drugs? Return to nature and eat grass. Yes, eat grass, with a rethinking that it is meant for you also.
In the 1940s, Yoshihide Hagiwara, a Japanese and owner of a pharmaceutical company, had personally formulated many medications. But, working with drugs made him ill. He thought, ``If drugs made of chemicals could make one sick, then how could they make a person well?''
He began to study the Chinese way of healing, and found what the father of Chinese medicine said ``It's the diet that maintains true health and it's the best drug''.
But the food value of what we eat is almost lost in the way we deal with it. Cooking and processing. Here comes wheatgrass, which can satisfy most of the nutritional demands of human body.
Wheatgrass (Agropyron Elongatum) is one of the best sources of living chlorophyll. It can cure a wide range of ailments - from simple anaemia to leukaemia; from an ordinary skin rash to skin cancer and from worms to
ulcers.
Apart from chlorophyll, wheatgrass has over 100 elements, essential for man. If grown in organic soil, it will absorb 92 out of the 102 known minerals from the soil.
A doctor says, 15 kg of wheatgrass is equivalent to 350 kg of carrot and lettuce. It can bring down sugar level in blood.
People are however unfamiliar with wheatgrass and its benefits. In Coimbatore, it is being sold in the form of juice at a few places. In Chennai, the grass is sold in 20 gram packets at a few food stores.
According to Dr N S Shanmuga Vel, Director, Sri Gayathri Nature Cure, doctors in Coimbatore prescribe wheatgrass for anaemia, ulcer, skin alergy, diabetes, piles. ``Acidity increases due to infelicitous food habits, and it can cause cancer, rheumatic ailments apart from inflammation in heart and kidney. The clorophyll in wheatgrass helps cleaning the blood and restores alkalinity in the blood.''
A research officer in botany at the Central Research Institute for Siddha, Dr Sasikala Ethirajulu, says, ``People here have profound belief in `Arugam pullu', denoted as `Durva' in Ayurveda. Numerous researches have proved the efficacy of it. However, on wheatgrass, it's quite a nought. The 2,000-year-old `Chakra's Samhita' tells about the benefits of wheatgerm oil, which is used in cosmetics. But it doesn't tell anything about wheatgrass.''
Dr T Thiru Narayanan, physician at the Centre for Traditional Medicine and Research, says, ``Wheatgrass of seven-day-old in juice form is good for health, for it contains a lot of enzymes and vitamins.''
Boxes
HOW TO TAKE
One can take a mouthful of it in the morning and chew it till the cud becomes white. The cud can also be eaten for roughage. In juice form, a healthy person can take 1/4 to 1/3 of a glass everyday. But, it must be taken immediately after juicing. For a patient, 1/4 to 1/2 glass is needed to start with. This can be increased to two to three times during the day.
Wheatgrass can be applied externally on the spot of cancer or ulcer as a poultice. Its juice can also be used as a rectal implant for cleaning, using an enema syringe.
HOW TO GROW
Growing wheatgrass is quite simple. Soak unpolished wheatgrains for a night in water. The next day, it can be sown in the ground or in a pot or container. Keep it covered with a newspaper till green blades appear. When
the grass is about eight inches long (usually happens around the seventh day from the day of sowing), it's ready for harvest.
Fed up with trying high-scheduled and high-priced drugs? Return to nature and eat grass. Yes, eat grass, with a rethinking that it is meant for you also.
In the 1940s, Yoshihide Hagiwara, a Japanese and owner of a pharmaceutical company, had personally formulated many medications. But, working with drugs made him ill. He thought, ``If drugs made of chemicals could make one sick, then how could they make a person well?''
He began to study the Chinese way of healing, and found what the father of Chinese medicine said ``It's the diet that maintains true health and it's the best drug''.
But the food value of what we eat is almost lost in the way we deal with it. Cooking and processing. Here comes wheatgrass, which can satisfy most of the nutritional demands of human body.
Wheatgrass (Agropyron Elongatum) is one of the best sources of living chlorophyll. It can cure a wide range of ailments - from simple anaemia to leukaemia; from an ordinary skin rash to skin cancer and from worms to
ulcers.
Apart from chlorophyll, wheatgrass has over 100 elements, essential for man. If grown in organic soil, it will absorb 92 out of the 102 known minerals from the soil.
A doctor says, 15 kg of wheatgrass is equivalent to 350 kg of carrot and lettuce. It can bring down sugar level in blood.
People are however unfamiliar with wheatgrass and its benefits. In Coimbatore, it is being sold in the form of juice at a few places. In Chennai, the grass is sold in 20 gram packets at a few food stores.
According to Dr N S Shanmuga Vel, Director, Sri Gayathri Nature Cure, doctors in Coimbatore prescribe wheatgrass for anaemia, ulcer, skin alergy, diabetes, piles. ``Acidity increases due to infelicitous food habits, and it can cause cancer, rheumatic ailments apart from inflammation in heart and kidney. The clorophyll in wheatgrass helps cleaning the blood and restores alkalinity in the blood.''
A research officer in botany at the Central Research Institute for Siddha, Dr Sasikala Ethirajulu, says, ``People here have profound belief in `Arugam pullu', denoted as `Durva' in Ayurveda. Numerous researches have proved the efficacy of it. However, on wheatgrass, it's quite a nought. The 2,000-year-old `Chakra's Samhita' tells about the benefits of wheatgerm oil, which is used in cosmetics. But it doesn't tell anything about wheatgrass.''
Dr T Thiru Narayanan, physician at the Centre for Traditional Medicine and Research, says, ``Wheatgrass of seven-day-old in juice form is good for health, for it contains a lot of enzymes and vitamins.''
Boxes
HOW TO TAKE
One can take a mouthful of it in the morning and chew it till the cud becomes white. The cud can also be eaten for roughage. In juice form, a healthy person can take 1/4 to 1/3 of a glass everyday. But, it must be taken immediately after juicing. For a patient, 1/4 to 1/2 glass is needed to start with. This can be increased to two to three times during the day.
Wheatgrass can be applied externally on the spot of cancer or ulcer as a poultice. Its juice can also be used as a rectal implant for cleaning, using an enema syringe.
HOW TO GROW
Growing wheatgrass is quite simple. Soak unpolished wheatgrains for a night in water. The next day, it can be sown in the ground or in a pot or container. Keep it covered with a newspaper till green blades appear. When
the grass is about eight inches long (usually happens around the seventh day from the day of sowing), it's ready for harvest.
To gain mastery over mind
By Francis P Barclay
Are you worried about oppressive assaults of life? Are you into addiction which you want to but cannot come out of? Are you smote with depression or insomnia? Or suffer the losses of possessions, or disheartened in personal
relations? Don't worry, there's a way out. Do `Vipassana'.
A recent international conference of doctors noted that almost 95 percent of diseases are mind-related and no medication can cure them.
But there is a way to control all mind-related problems, and it is meditation.
`Vipassana', a Pali word meaning `insight,' was one of the two principal meditation techniques used by Gautama the Buddha to conquer his mind. It is a simple and practical way to achieve peace of mind.
`Vipassana' originated in India and spread to the neighbouring countries like Burma (now Myanmar), Sri Lanka, Thailand and some other eastern countries. Five centuries after the Buddha, it disappeared from India. In
other countries also, this technique has lost its purity. In Myanmar, however, it is still preserved by a chain of devoted teachers.
In India, it was reintroduced by S N Goenka, who is basically a Rajasthani doing business in Myanmar. Now, people who call themselves `sevaks' are spreading the technique through `Vipassana' meditation centres all over the country, with the head office at Igatpur in Maharastra.
`Vipassana' enables the meditators to gain mastery over the mind and develop experiential wisdom to eradicate all the defilements of `craving' and `aversion'.
``Thousands of prisoners do `Vipassana' and a phenomenal change has been noticed in them. They avow their faults with tears rolling down their cheeks, instead of resentment festering in thoughts of vengeance,'' says a
teacher of `Vipassana'.
The specialty of `Vipassana' is that it does not give any false hope. It is a practical method which helps to understand the impermanence of sensations and thereby helps to get out of craving and aversion, he adds.
``The meditator discovers for himself, that every time he generates hatred or animosity against anyone, at that very moment he becomes agitated and loses peace of mind. And he wishes to be free from animosity, hatred and
anger,'' Goenkaji says and adds: ``Anger is harmful as it tries to control one from time to time. To solve the problem, one has to seek a deeper reason for the anger within oneself. Simply diverting the mind to some other
activity is only a temporary solution. One must go to the root of the problem and learn to observe anger.''
He explains how `Vipassana', which involves equanimous observation of sensations with the understanding of their impermanent nature, helps one to overcome anger.
``Unwanted things happen quite often. It is impossible for all our desires to be fulfilled in spite of the abundance and the extent of resources at our command. We may possess this wisdom but when time comes we give in to our emotions and lose the balance of our mind. We surrender ourselves to our desires and become the slaves of our mind. `Vipassana' helps in conquering emotions and helps us to be the master of our mind,'' Goenkaji explains.
The Vipassana Meditation Centre has been organising 10-day residential course since 1997. The participants would have to meditate for about 10 hours a day. For the first three days the participants would observe their
natural breath in `Ana pana'.
``It is to prepare the base of the mind and remove the surface-level agitations in them. And they would observe the sensations of the body and realise their impermanence,'' he says.
This year, the free course would commence on May 22 and end on June 1. There would also be a two-day course for children from May 30. For registration and further details contact Bharat N. Shah - 98423 47244,
0422-2472441, 2470949 or Mahesh Agarwal - 98434 51153.
Are you worried about oppressive assaults of life? Are you into addiction which you want to but cannot come out of? Are you smote with depression or insomnia? Or suffer the losses of possessions, or disheartened in personal
relations? Don't worry, there's a way out. Do `Vipassana'.
A recent international conference of doctors noted that almost 95 percent of diseases are mind-related and no medication can cure them.
But there is a way to control all mind-related problems, and it is meditation.
`Vipassana', a Pali word meaning `insight,' was one of the two principal meditation techniques used by Gautama the Buddha to conquer his mind. It is a simple and practical way to achieve peace of mind.
`Vipassana' originated in India and spread to the neighbouring countries like Burma (now Myanmar), Sri Lanka, Thailand and some other eastern countries. Five centuries after the Buddha, it disappeared from India. In
other countries also, this technique has lost its purity. In Myanmar, however, it is still preserved by a chain of devoted teachers.
In India, it was reintroduced by S N Goenka, who is basically a Rajasthani doing business in Myanmar. Now, people who call themselves `sevaks' are spreading the technique through `Vipassana' meditation centres all over the country, with the head office at Igatpur in Maharastra.
`Vipassana' enables the meditators to gain mastery over the mind and develop experiential wisdom to eradicate all the defilements of `craving' and `aversion'.
``Thousands of prisoners do `Vipassana' and a phenomenal change has been noticed in them. They avow their faults with tears rolling down their cheeks, instead of resentment festering in thoughts of vengeance,'' says a
teacher of `Vipassana'.
The specialty of `Vipassana' is that it does not give any false hope. It is a practical method which helps to understand the impermanence of sensations and thereby helps to get out of craving and aversion, he adds.
``The meditator discovers for himself, that every time he generates hatred or animosity against anyone, at that very moment he becomes agitated and loses peace of mind. And he wishes to be free from animosity, hatred and
anger,'' Goenkaji says and adds: ``Anger is harmful as it tries to control one from time to time. To solve the problem, one has to seek a deeper reason for the anger within oneself. Simply diverting the mind to some other
activity is only a temporary solution. One must go to the root of the problem and learn to observe anger.''
He explains how `Vipassana', which involves equanimous observation of sensations with the understanding of their impermanent nature, helps one to overcome anger.
``Unwanted things happen quite often. It is impossible for all our desires to be fulfilled in spite of the abundance and the extent of resources at our command. We may possess this wisdom but when time comes we give in to our emotions and lose the balance of our mind. We surrender ourselves to our desires and become the slaves of our mind. `Vipassana' helps in conquering emotions and helps us to be the master of our mind,'' Goenkaji explains.
The Vipassana Meditation Centre has been organising 10-day residential course since 1997. The participants would have to meditate for about 10 hours a day. For the first three days the participants would observe their
natural breath in `Ana pana'.
``It is to prepare the base of the mind and remove the surface-level agitations in them. And they would observe the sensations of the body and realise their impermanence,'' he says.
This year, the free course would commence on May 22 and end on June 1. There would also be a two-day course for children from May 30. For registration and further details contact Bharat N. Shah - 98423 47244,
0422-2472441, 2470949 or Mahesh Agarwal - 98434 51153.
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