Fresh fish and the massive Marina Beach are two of the many staples of life in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. And while the beach is rightfully famous for its crowds, small fairs, toasted corns and, occasionally, massive political moments, there is another side to it that few visitors notice.

For the fishing community that lives and works out of Marina, the beach is simply home – part of their daily struggle to make ends meet while catching thousands of fish off the coast.

And while their catches are enjoyed with relish across the city, they themselves are rarely noticed by anyone.

But this is changing thanks to a new project, which seeks to make these hard-working folks the center of attention.

The project is known as the ‘Marina’s Makkal’ and was conducted by PhotoConcierge to celebrate World Photography Day. A team of eight photographers set out to create evocative photographs that capture the energy, enterprise, and hopes of these small-time entrepreneurs. The portraits and images, shot in the morning, were displayed for viewing at the Nochi Kuppam fish market. Later, the pictures were presented to the subjects themselves.

Have a look a few of the amazing pictures:

Lakshmi

“The first time I saw my husband take off into the sea to catch seer fish, I fainted. I was standing on the shore and the waves were very high. The boat was thrown into the air as the first wave lashed it mercilessly. My husband couldn’t get back to the shore as he was a few kilometers in. He signaled to his friends on the shore to help me.

I used to be terrified every time my husband went out into the sea. I would wait longingly for his return. Nowadays, I feel restless when he doesn’t set sail during bad weather as the nets are kept idle and we can’t make ends meet.

(On being asked if she fears sending her family into the sea.) “We fear humans and not the sea. We are able to put food on our plates, build houses and send our kids to school because of her generosity. The sea is our mother. We believe that she will take care of us and send our men to carry out their job.”

Velayutham, 64

I have been fishing for the past 40 years. Two or three of us would set off into the sea at around 3 am on a catamaran. We used to cast the fishing net in spots marked by our previous generations. We would confirm these positions by looking at three major light points on land – that is Mylapore Kapaleeshwaran Temple tower light, Mount Road LIC building terrace light and St. Thomas tower light. Today other buildings have obscured these points so we use GPS to find our catch.”

Ethiraj, 43

“On a good day, we catch between 4000 to 5000 fish. On an average, we catch about 1000 to 1500, which we have to divide among all the people who set sail. We row our catamaran into the sea and wait for the sail to catch the wind. Sometimes, if the wind is not favorable when we are heading back to the shore, the catamaran doesn’t inch forward no matter how much we row.

On occasions, we have even taken an entire day just to get back safely on the shore. Once, our catamaran got stuck in a storm and split in two as the ropes used to tie the logs together gave way. We had to hold these logs for over hours to stay afloat. We then managed to tie the catamaran back and made it to the shore. That was a scary experience.

Now, although we have switched to fiber boats with engines, we are always afraid that they may get damaged when hit by huge waves.”

Kumaran

“I used to play on the beach all the time and would occasionally join my dad on his fishing expeditions. I eventually took it up as a full-time job once I completed the tenth standard. I work for about 20 to 25 days in a month when the sea is calm. I usually start at 3 AM and get back to the shore at around 7 AM.

We usually pack food and water in case we get stranded. When we go on longer expeditions, we even carry a stove and an ice box. Eighteen years ago, we got stuck in a storm in a double engine boat for more than three hours. We couldn’t reach out to bigger boats, nor could we find our way back to the harbor. We somehow made it back alive to the shore with half a broken boat.

These days, incomes are not very great. We have to shell out nearly Rs. 20,000 to Rs. 30,000 in repairs if our boat gets toppled. Hence, most of us don’t risk venturing into the sea when the weather is rough.”

Santhavel

“I started fishing 19 years ago. I moved from a basic catamaran to a fiber boat. The sea is very unpredictable. Although it is a huge asset and fortune for us, it poses some difficulties too. The physical work is significantly reduced after buying an engine boat. But it is quite dangerous too. Many people have lost their lives while getting back to the shore when the waves hit the propeller.

We can never predict the weather. Even though the sea looks calm at the shore, when we set out, sudden winds or rain can strand us midway. Sometimes our engines get damaged in the middle of the sea or our fishing nets get cut by bigger trawlers.

We faced very difficult times when the tsunami hit Chennai. Until then, we didn’t even know what it meant. The monster waves dragged in all our nets. When I tried to pull them back in, I was getting dragged too. I had to let go of them in order to survive.”

You can check out the rest of the pictures in the series here.

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Ever wondered what it would be like to grow your vegetables at home? One might looked puzzled and say, “Sure! But in an urban setting? Is there even enough space?”

Well, one program manager based in Singapore is on a mission to change the concept of traditional agriculture by practicing hydroponic farming on unused spacious rooftops.

Srihari Kanchala is not only focused on growing produce locally but aims to impact the lives of senior citizens. The produce from his hydroponic farm will help feed underprivileged senior citizens in old age homes and NGOs, with none of it being commercially sold for profits.

“Urban farming seemed to be the best option not only to promote locally grown vegetables and fruits but also utilize unused open spaces, in the concrete jungle that the cities have turned into,” says Srihari

What is hydroponic farming?

Hydroponics is a subset of hydroculture. It is a method of growing plants using mineral nutrient solutions in water. These plants grow directly in water and require no soil. The two important factors to be controlled include the nutrients in the water, as well as the air temperature. Even though the effort one has to put in is double than that of outdoor agriculture, the method allows an urban farmer to grow veggies efficiently year-round.

This method of farming uses water and space efficiently. Most experts deem it the ultimate future of farming.

Read more: This Software Engineer Sold His Company to Start a Vertical Hydroponic Farm in Goa

Is Urban farming a new concept?

Well, no! You can trace the history of urban agriculture to 3,500 BC when Mesopotamian farmers set aside plots in their growing cities to carry out farming. During World War II, urban farmers had what came to be called ‘victory gardens’ that produced crops to feed underprivileged neighborhoods too. One of the prime reasons for the implementation of this concept is the lack of clean produce. It is expected to pick up pace in India.

Speaking about the inspiration behind Urban Chennai, Srihari told Milaap, “One of the biggest examples of the urban citizens helping each other during crisis was Chennai floods. That inspired me to do something and contribute back to the society.”

The idea behind the initiative is to encourage and promote small communities to grow healthy fruits and vegetables locally. “I believe that food brings people closer, which in turn brings communities together,” he says.

Srihari’s goal is to help apartments, gated communities, and corporate offices with large terrace spaces join hands and grow healthier vegetables, not only for their personal use but also share what’s left with underprivileged communities that can’t afford meals.

The financial capital investment for hydroponics even though on the higher end of the scale, is
cost effective and energy efficient. It can provide more yields, ensuring surplus locally grown produce at a lesser cost.

Charity and experiments, all begin at home. So, Srihari wants to start this project by transforming 1,000 sqft of his family rooftop and convert it into a model urban farm and community space.

Technology used after funding

Speaking about financial aid to realise his dream, Srihari says, “We have reached out to some of our friends and corporates to fund this project. A family friend of ours, funded 50% of the project as a part of his company‘s CSR and the rest 50% was funded by my brother and I.”

The urban farmer’s 1000 sqft greenhouse is built using polycarbonate instead of plastic sheets. This helps the farm withstand the heavy rains and storms that Chennai is infamous for.

To ensure natural ventilation, it has side openings and an insect mesh over the top. The power requirement for the greenhouse is very minimal.

To ease problems of controlling leaf temperature, Srihari has installed Aluminet screens on the top that bounce off 50% of the sunlight. This helps them control the temperature and ensures the plants don’t burn out.

Without these aluminet screens, the greenhouse temperature would be 8-10 degrees above the temperature outside. So, even the process of controlling temperature is 100% natural without the use of huge mechanical exhaust fans.

An installed RO Unit(Reverse Osmosis water filter) ensures clean water supply to plants.

This 1000sqft place can grow 1600 plants at any given point. Once the plants are transplanted into the grow systems, they don’t need any manual work as they are irrigated automatically until harvest.

There are sensors that monitor the amount of nutrients given to the plants and control it as per requirements. So, the urban farmer only intervenes at the harvest stage.

This urban farm grows vegetables such as tomatoes, brinjals, capsicums and greens like spinach and lettuces. In addition, a lot of herbs like basil, fenugreek, coriander, and curry leaves are also grown.

“I see this project as a means of bringing huge difference. The whole thing seems more personal and fulfilling,” he says.

A newly imported vertical Aeroponics system from Germany is now allowing them to grow more plants in a space as tiny as 20sqft in a vertical tower. Is aeroponics the future then? Well, it’s hard to predict but it certainly more water efficient than hydroponic farming.

You can connect to Srihari at Srihari@me.com

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Not wearing your helmet in Chennai won’t cost you a fine, but your dignity.

Get ready to wear a T-shirt with a message on the front that says “Where is helmet?” and “Wear [image of a full-face, crash helmet]” on the back. Once you are done swapping the shirt on your back for this T-shirt, you have to ride around a specified locality with a group of fellow offenders to promote the safety of headgear.

Chennai police are implementing the shame-tactic to get offenders to comply, willingly or otherwise, and spread a message on road safety, the Times of India reported.

Deputy commissioner of police, traffic, North Chennai, D Shanmugapriya, came up with the idea when she realised that fines alone were not working.

Officer Shanmugapriya even paid for the printing of 50 of these T-shirts. The DCP and a team of traffic policemen started the drive in Parry’s on Thursday and followed it up in Washermenpet on Friday, where they caught at least 30 bikers riding without helmets.

Most offenders had to wear the T-shirts and follow a police jeep on their bikes through neighbourhoods like Ratan Bazaar, Burma Bazaar and Mint on Friday, halt along the way and advise members of a very confused public about the importance of wearing helmets.

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DCP Shanmugapriya says the move has been effective and could be moved to other parts of the city too.

Srinivasan, one of the violators who took the penalty in good spirit, told the Times of India that he’d never again forget to wear a helmet after this.

“I removed my helmet as I was riding to my destination and then the policemen stopped me. But I’ve learnt a lesson and will be careful from now on,” he said to ToI.

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Gujarat’s Kheda district has a special place in Indian history for many reasons. It was the home of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, the place where Mahatma Gandhi started his second Satyagraha on Indian soil and the launchpad of the historic white revolution that led to brand Amul.

What few people know is that Kheda was the location for a project that was instrumental in decentralizing television broadcasting in India. Here’s the little-known story of Kheda Communications Project.

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Television was introduced in India for the first time on September 15, 1959, in Delhi, a little over two decades after the first television service of the world was started by British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) in 1936. With help from UNESCO, programmes about topics such as citizens’ rights, civic duty, traffic sense and community health were broadcast twice a week for an hour a day.

Two years later, these broadcasts were expanded to include educational programmes for school children. In 1972, India’s second television station was opened in Bombay, followed by stations in Amritsar and Srinagar (in 1973) and Madras, Calcutta and Lucknow (in 1975). Nevertheless, television still remained a distant dream for the greater part of rural India.

However, during this time, one of India’s greatest visionaries had already started taking steps to change this situation.

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A man passionate about harnessing science to build a modern India, Vikram Sarabhai had been appointed the Chairman of Atomic Energy Commission in May 1966 (after the sudden death of Homi Bhabha in an air crash). He wanted to harness the power of space science to find solutions to the hurdles India was facing in the fields of communication, meteorology, and education.

In the same year he joined as Chairman of AEC, Sarabhai started a dialogue with NASA that formed the base for Satellite Instructional Television Experiment (SITE). Launched in 1975, SITE marked the first major India-US partnership in space. It was also this nation’s first attempt to use technology for education.

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The core idea behind this experimental project was to use NASA,s first direct broadcasting satellite ( with a powerful, nine-metre antenna that opened in space like an umbrella) to beam television programmes to remote Indian villages. While the satellite would be foreign, the hardware (like the direct-reception equipment, the TV sets and the earth stations for uplinking programmes to the satellite) would be designed and made in India.

It was with this concept in mind that the Kheda Communications Project was set up under SITE as a pilot project that would be replicated in rural India. The village selected for India’s first local rural television telecast was the obscure hamlet of Pij in Kheda district of Gujarat.

A low-powered transmitter gifted by United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and a local production studio was set up at Pij while a satellite earth station was set up at Ahmedabad’s Space Applications Center (SAC). Next, 651 televisions sets were distributed among the residents of 400 villages in a 35 km radius.

The much-awaited moment finally arrived on a sultry evening in July 1975. Over 100 excited villagers huddled together at a ground in Pij, their eyes glued to the wooden box with a blank glass screen in front of them.

There was a crackle of static, and then the screen blinked to life with an audio-visual of people discussing issues in the local language. Nothing less than magic for the awestruck villagers, the moment would remain etched in their memories forever.

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The Kheda Communications Project did not end with this historical transmission. It continued to experiment with the process, style and content of the audiovisual communication to create a model that would be effective in taking development programmes to rural India.

The ISRO campus in Ahmedabad hosted a motivated band of people, young and old, which included scientists, engineers, folk culture experts and film makers. Such an eclectic environment had never been seen before in space organisations anywhere in the world!

Producers (both independent as well as those under SAC patronage) drove into the villages of Kheda to shoot programmes that would use local artists, realistically portray local issues of social importance and suggest local solutions. This connect with the audience was what made this project so unique as well as highly effective.

For example, weekly features such as Daad Fariyad chose a specific problem and discussed it in detail with both affected villagers as well as government officials before providing an implementable solution. Another sensitive serial, Hawe Na Saheva Paap created awareness about the exploitation of Harijans by upper caste farmers.

Kheda Communications Project also gave much importance to understanding and measuring the impact of the television programmes that were broadcast. As the villagers became familiar with television, the initial amazement gave away to easy acceptance. Studies conducted by SAC’s research cells showed that villages covered by the project had a greater level of awareness as compared to those who weren’t.

For instance, after a broadcast on immunisation, it was found that 96% of the villagers who watched it knew of the benefits of immunisation as opposed to 24% otherwise.

Kheda Communications Project was intended as a year-long experiment but such was its success that even after project term ended in 1976, it was extended indefinitely.

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Replicating the concept, TV sets for community viewing were set up in some of the most backward and remote villages of six states (Bihar, Orissa, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka), with programmes covering crucial subjects such as health, agriculture and education.

In 1984, Kheda Communications Project won the UNESCO Prize for rural communication efficiency. However, in 1985 (when Doordarshan set up its full-fledged facility at Ahmedabad) it was decided that the Pij transmitter would be moved to Chennai for a second channel. This decision was greeted by vociferous protests by the locals who were deeply attached to the historic transmitter and even started a ‘Pij TV Kendra Bachao’ movement.

Despite these protests, the 1-kilowatt transmitter tower was finally shifted to Chennai in 1990. Today, the land on which it was set up is used for growing vegetables while the transmitter itself has become a fond memory for the elderly villagers of Pij.

However, the lasting impact of Kheda Communications Project (and SITE as a whole) can never be forgotten. Not only did project touch and positively change the lives of millions of rural Indians, but it also set a strong message about independent India’s advancing technological prowess. As Arthur Clarke, renowned science fiction author, said on the 40th anniversary of SITE in 2015, ” It was the greatest communication experiment in history.”

Also Read: Transported on a Bicycle, Launched from a Church: The Amazing Story of India’s First Rocket Launch

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In Tamil Nadu, slum dwellers have been forcefully evicted in the past after being coerced by the government to move into ‘affordable housing’ settlements that are essentially ghettos. With these settlements being far away from the city, it has further complicated their lives with no provision of security provided to them.

In an attempt to change that, the Tamil Nadu Slum Clearance Board (TNSCB) has decided to build tenements within the city centre for the economically weaker sections.

These will be constructed in Moolakothalam near Seven Wells in Chennai.

Apart from this, around 40 localities have been identified for the resettlement and relocation of slum dwellers and the homeless in and around the city reports The Hindu.

Financial assistance will be provided for these houses that are being built as part of Affordable Housing in Partnership (AHP) and the Housing for All (Urban) Scheme under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana, reports the publication. The purpose of this scheme is to have such localities closer to the city centre, unlike the previous ones that were 50 km away.

“We have received approval for three locations so far from the Centre. Construction work will soon begin. While we have identified several other areas, they are under the jurisdiction of various departments with whom talks are underway,” a senior official from TNSCB told The Hindu.

Not only Moolakothalam, but slum dwellers will also be relocated to Manali New Town and Thailavaram in Maraimalai Nagar. At first, 648 tenements will be constructed in Moolakothalam, and 400 tenements will prop up later. The Board has got approval to build over 5,000 multi-storeyed tenements, which will help relocate around 1.48 lakh families.

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Kilikili, a Kannada term, translates to the warbling laughter of a child. It is also the name of a registered trust, formed by parents of children with special needs.

Driven by volunteers and supported by professionals, its aim is to make play areas accessible to all children, regardless of their disabilities.

Taking stock of the lack of such facilities in Chennai, the Greater Chennai Corporation is working with Kilikili to create such a public play space near Santhome. The special park will not only be used by children with disabilities, but by all kids, the Times of India reported.

The park is part of Chennai’s Smart City Mission endeavor.

The wheelchair-friendly park will cost Rs 1.3 crore to build. Among other play equipment, it will have apparatus that stimulate the sensory development of children.

Kilikili managing trustee Kavitha Krishnamoorthy told ToI that the park would also be open to youngsters without special needs as well, to allow all children to interact with each other. Making play inclusive is what the organisation wishes to do.

Kilikili mission, Krishnamoorthy said to ToI, is to create an “inclusive society where all children, all people are respected for their unique abilities, where diversity is viewed as a societal strength”.

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The trust, which has in the past received recognition for its work from Unicef, has set up three such parks in Bengaluru with help from the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP). The respective locations of such parks are Basavangudi, Coles Park and Rajajinagar.

Bengaluru is said to have the highest number of disabled friendly parks in the country.

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Kannadapalayam is a dumping site in Tambaram, Chennai, which gets about 300 tonnes of garbage every day from three municipalities. It can hold only 110 tonnes, hence, the rest of the garbage just piles up.

Since the site has existed for decades, it continuously produces harmful gases like methane from the garbage.

For years, the locals have struggled with the stench and the smoke caused by burning garbage at the site.

There have been several attempts to remove the garbage, cover the dumping site and ban garbage burning, but to no avail.

However, the National Green Tribunal has now ordered the Tambaram municipality to clear the dump yard. And this time, they will use a new technology – the bio-mining method, which they believe is quite efficient.

Through this popular process used at huge landfills, they hope the land will return to its original form. Nagesh Prabhu, director of Zigma Global Environ, told The New Indian Express that the bio-mining method is a near-zero emission process, using which the dump yard can be cleared as if it never existed.

Speaking about the process, he told the publication that an automatic machine would be used near the dumping site, which will segregate combustible and noncombustible materials.

Then bio-culture will be sprayed for pre-stabilisation, which will help in degrading material that hasn’t been fully biodegraded.

The combustible material will be sent to cement factories to be used as alternate fuel, and the non-combustible material will be dumped again at the site as it can decay easily and maintain the carbon content.

A sanitary inspector told the publication that removing the 1.5 lakh tonne garbage heap from 2.3-acre land will be done within a year. Though the tender has been issued, they’re just waiting to finalise a contractor and will begin the process after.

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An Indian husband and wife duo, Sharath Sriram and Madhu Bhaskaran, are the proud recipients of Australia’s prestigious Eureka Award.

The award recognises efforts in the field of science; the categories include research & innovation, leadership and journalism among others.

Sharath and Madhu won the award in 2016 and 2017 respectively.

Madhu, who works in the field of wearable electronics such as smartwatches, could be the first woman of Indian origin to win the award.

She won it for her research over the last five years on the use of stretchable oxides for resilient and transparent devices that is practically “electronic skin”, which could become an integral part of health-care.

The product can help in the fight against skin cancer and even detect dangerous gases in mines.

Madhu got her engineering degree in Coimbatore, which is where she met Sharath. They had similar career goals which led them both to Australia, where they went on to pursue academic careers.

“It is an amazing honour, and I am certainly pleased and also very happy that the work has been recognised. I am very thankful to my hard-working research group and also to my family for motivating and supporting us,” says Madhu Bhaskaran to The New Indian Express.

The awards won by them are in two different categories. Sharath won it in the Emerging Leader category for his work in the development of a memory cell which can imitate key electronic aspects of the human brain, which can help neurological conditions such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases says Madhu Bhaskaran to NIE.

The talented duo have no plans of coming back to India as they have permanent jobs in Australia.

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Call it what you will: a fondness for tradition, an excuse to be part of a communal experience or simply nostalgia. But most Indians love festivals. From decorations and dances to fireworks and food, we delight in every aspect of festivals.

And as far as festivals are concerned, Dussehra brings all these aspects together in the grandest of manners.

Eagerly awaited across the country, Dussehra embodies the concept of unity in diversity. From fasting and feasting to fireworks, it is celebrated in different ways in different parts of India even as the central essence of the festival – the triumph of good over evil – remains the same.

So if you are looking for a diverse Dussehra experience, here are 12 places in India that celebrate this festival in an exceptional way. From Kolkata to Kulasekarapattinam, mountain heights to sunny skies, these places definitely do Dussehra better than the rest!

1. Kolkata Durga Pujo

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The biggest festival of West Bengal, Durga Puja (or Pujo, as Bengalis say) literally transforms Kolkata into the city of joy. From hopping between elaborate pandals (each has a unique theme and tells its own story) and indulging in delectable bhogs to doing the dhunuchi dance to the fervent beats of the dhaak, Durga Puja in Kolkata is a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

However, while Kolkata’s public Durga Pujas tend to hog all the attention, a little-known yet unique experience can be found at the traditional ‘Bonedi Bari’ pujas held in the city’s time-worn palatial mansions (like Sovabazar Raj Bari and Rani Rashmoni Bari).

2. Mysore Dasara

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According to local folklore, Mysuru Dasara is celebrated with much pomp and grandeur to commemorate the event from which the city is believed to have got its name — the slaying of demon Mahisasura by Goddess Chamundeshwari (another name of Durga).

As the deity is revered as a warrior goddess, the celebrations include military parades, athletic competitions and cultural performances.

Other highlights of the event are the special Durbar at the spectacularly lit Mysuru palace (attended by members of the royal family, officials and the masses) and the majestic Dasara procession known as the Jumbo Savari.

3. Kullu Dussehra

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At the centuries-old Kullu Dussehra, spiritual fervour and ancient beliefs mingle harmoniously with the beats of dhadaks, the sonorous calls of Narsingha trumpets and the crisp Himalayan air.

Over 200 local deities and demigods from neighbouring villages are brought to participate in Lord Raghunath’s rath yatra (a palanquin-chariot procession) to Dhalpur Maidan.

Started by Raja Jagat Singh (the erstwhile ruler of the Kullu valley) in 1637, the Kullu Dussehra is the only festival in India where such a large number of deities are assembled at one place. What also makes this festival unique is that unlike other places, the celebrations begin on Vijayadashami, the day when the Dussehra festivities end in the rest of the country.

Interestingly, instead of burning effigies of Ravan, the festival concludes its celebration with the Lankadahan ceremony or the burning of the Lanka (symbolised by dry leaves, grass and twigs) on the banks of river Beas.

4. Hyderabad’s Bathukamma

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A beautiful floral festival dedicated to the Goddess Gauri, Bathukamma literally translates to ‘Mother Goddess, come alive’ in English. Celebrated across Telangana and in parts of Andhra Pradesh, the festival starts with the worship of Lord Ganesha followed by women dancing around a flower arrangement (that is made by placing seven concentric circles of wood on top of each other to resemble a temple gopuram).

Coinciding with Navratri, Bathukamma starts on the day of Mahalaya Amavasya and culminates on on Ashwayuja Ashtami (also known as Durgashtami). It is then followed by Boddemma, a 7-day festival that marks the ending of varsha ritu (monsoon) and the advent of sharad ritu (autumn). Interestingly, each day of Bathukamma is named after the type of food (naivedyam) that is offered to the deity on that particular day.

5. Bastar Dussehra

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A unique 75-day festival celebrated in the tribal heartland of Chhattisgarh, and the Bastar Dussehra is all about nature, spirituality and Devi Danteshwari (the presiding deity of Bastar). This tradition is believed to have been started by 13th century Bastar King Purushottam Dev in Bade Dongar the erstwhile capital of the Kakatiyas that lies near the present day city of Jagdalpur.

Unique rituals at this age-old tribal festival includes pata jatra (worship of wood), deri gadhai (posting of the pillars, kalash staphna (urn installation), kachan gaadi (throne installation for Devi Kachan), nisha jatra (nocturnal festival), muria durbar (conference of tribal chieftains) and on the last day, ohadi (farewell to deities).

6. Chennai’s Bommai Kolu

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Come Dussehra, and the streets of Chennai get decked up with kolus (simple tier-wise arrangement of idols of gods and goddesses on wooden padis). While the brightly-coloured tableaux usually represent the assembly of Goddess Durga during her battle with the demon Mahishasura, it also has displays with other themes such as episodes from Ramayana and Mahabharata.

Often abstract concepts add to the layers of stories on the tableaux. From local wedding rituals and folk songs to contemporary heroes (such as Olympic medal winners), over the years, the all-encompassing tradition of Bommai Kolu has transformed into an annual exhibition of creativity and innovation.

Similar versions of this unusual festival are also celebrated with great enthusiasm in the neighbouring states of Karnataka (Bombe Habba) and Andhra Pradesh (Bommala Koluvu).

7. Varanasi Ram Lila

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One of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world, Varanasi is famous for its Ram Lila that has been performed beside the Ramnagar Fort since the early 1800s (it was started by the then Maharaja of Benaras, Udit Narayan Singh).

The entire area around the fort is transformed into a stage with permanent structures being built to represent the main locations of the story like Ayodhya, Lanka, Ashok Vatika etc.

As the actors (aided by music, masks and huge papier-mache figures) move from location to location while performing the epic saga, the audience moves along with them. Incredibly, the performance hardly uses mikes and loudspeakers, even when viewers number in the thousands!

8. Madikeri Dasara

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9. Ahmedabad’s Navratri Mahotsav

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A much-awaited annual event in Gujarat’s calendar, Navratri Mahotsav in Ahmedabad (or Amdavad) is celebrated with dazzling gaiety and fervour.

Nine nights of bustling midnight buffets, energetic garba dances and vibrantly coloured chaniya cholis, kediyus and kafni pajamas twirling to the beat of the dhol, this festive extravaganza is sure to leave a lasting impression on visitors.

Another reason to swing by Ahmedabad for Navratri is the iconic Gujarati aarti dance performed in honour of the mother goddess; Thousands of people dancing in circles around intricate arrangements of earthen lamps to commemorate the triumph of good over evil is a stunning sight to behold.

10. Delhi’s Ram Lila

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Delhi dons a bright, festive avatar during Dussehra with hundreds of special stages set up across the city for Ram Lila musicals enacted by theatre actors. The most popular place to view the same is at Ramlila Maidan, the aptly named fairground in Old Delhi.

It is believed that this particular Ram Lila musical was started by Mughal Emperor Bahadur Shah Zafar nearly 170 years ago.

If that is not interesting enough, the mela-like atmosphere that engulfs the capital during Dusshera sure is. Kanjak Puja (with their delicious puri-halwa-channa offerings), Navratri specials in restaurants and setting fire to the sky-high effigies of Ravana, Meghnath and Kumbhakarana on the last day are other things that people look forward to.

11. Kulasekarapattinam Dasara

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A rather nondescript coastal town in Tamil Nadu, Kulasekharapattinam comes alive during its 10-day Dussehra festival (also called Kulasai festival). Revolving around the Mutharamman Temple (an important pilgrimage spot in the region), the annual celebration is a melting pot of music, dance, drama and an astounding repertoire of colourful costumes.

Another unusual aspect of this festival is a trance dance in which pilgrims in fancy costumes sway to the pulsating beats of thara thappattam (with fire bearing clay pots in their hands) for hours on end and far into the night.

12. Kota Dussehra

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Kota celebrates Dussehra with a fun-filled mela (fair) that includes cultural performances, costume plays, spectacular displays of fireworks and a plethora of stalls serving delicious festive food. The tradition of organizing a Dussehra fair (which runs for 25 days) is believed to have started in the reign of Maharaj Durjanshal Singh Hada in 1723 AD.

On Vijayadashami, massive effigies of Ravan, Meghnath and Kumbhakarna are set aflame to commemorate Ram’s victory over the demon king of Lanka. This is followed by a series of kavi sammelans, mushairas and moustache competitions!

Also Read: Brilliant! Hundreds create Longest Ever Alpona in Kolkata for Mahalaya!

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How many of us still feel the jitters when thinking about Trigonometry? Ask any engineer about Fourier transforms, and Laplace transforms, and it is highly probable that you will see a pained look on their face.

To change this is the mission of Premanand Sethurajan, Founder-Director of Let’s Make Engineering Simple.

By founding this organisation, he aims to make science accessible and understandable to everyone. He says everything in life has a science behind it if you look closely.

“The buildings around us conform to the laws of trigonometry – if one can simplify and exemplify concepts, the students can grasp and retain even the most abstract of theory.”

Prem belongs to a village called Thinaikulam, in Tamil Nadu. Having completed his basic school education from his village, he went on to pursue engineering, like most students in his vintage.

Speaking to The Better India, Prem says, “I studied electronic engineering and went on to work in HCL. That was my first job.”

His journey continued, and he moved to the United States where he was working in the aviation and aerospace industry for several years.

Working with some of the best companies meant rubbing shoulders with the world’s best engineering minds, and that made Prem realise that the shortcomings of his education and the education system in India.

“It was during my stint in the U.S. that I realised that while I remembered the theoretical concepts, and had the requisite marks, my knowledge and sense of application of many theories were nearly non-existent.”

In India, he says, we study for the marks rather than to gain knowledge. The applicability of knowledge, however, was where Indian engineers had issues. He realised that one needed to make science interesting and relatable to real life and that led to the creation of a YouTube channel called – Let’s Make Engineering Simple.

“On August 19, 2014, I published the first video on YouTube which was based on Bernoulli’s principle, something that all engineering students are familiar with in theory but not in practice. I demonstrated this principle with the help of a bottle of deodorant.”

The likes, comments, and shares that this video got encouraged Prem to take the channel further.

Interestingly, for many who aspire to migrate to the U.S., Prem was living the American dream.

However, after a lot of deliberation, passion prevailed, and Prem decided to move back to India to work in the education space.

“For me, this decision was not something I arrived at overnight. I had been thinking about it for almost a year when I decided to move back finally. It took a while to convince my parents. No one was able to understand immediately why I would give everything I had in the U.S. up for teaching.”

Eventually, Prem’s father became his support. Prem says, “My father was confident of my educational qualification. He would always say ‘go ahead and live your dreams’, in case you feel you aren’t making progress you always have your education, and that will get you a steady job again.”

The key objective of LMES is to make the students and teachers understand how to apply every scientific concept and principle that they learn and teach.

Speaking about the importance of good educators, he says, “When I was in grade 12, I had a teacher by the name Peter Paul Sahayaraj. It was his passion in teaching physics that instilled in me the enthusiasm to learn. When I was unable to understand concepts, he would break it down and explain it in a very simple manner.”

What started off as a single man’s passion has today resulted in the opening of the LMES academy. LMES has worked with 63 schools so far and has reached around 7,500 students.

The target students are the secondary level students and college-goers. Social media platforms like YouTube and Facebook have played a very important role in his growth.

Prem says, “Even though only a very small segment of the students have full access to the Internet, social media platforms are a great way to reach many. LMES has about 1,50,000 subscribers, and most of them are students who are looking for new content and teachers who want to make a change in their teaching methodology.”

Feeling the impact that their work is doing is what motivates team LMES. “Everyday we get many e-mails from students and even teachers thanking us for what we are doing.”

If you wish to subscribe to LMES’s YouTube channel, click here.

To like their Facebook page, click here.

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Lactating mothers no longer need to feel helpless listening to the cries of their hungry babies in public, at least at major bus stations in Bengaluru.

Thanks to the Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation’s (BMTC) plan to launch women’s lounges that aim to provide a separate space for lactating moms to feed their babies.

These lounges will also be equipped with waiting rooms, toilets and drinking water facilities.

To kickstart the project, BMTC officials have requested a budget of Rs 2.25 crore from the Centre under the Nirbhaya fund.

Speaking to the Times of India, a senior BMTC official said “A dedicated room will ensure privacy for mothers breastfeeding their newborns. It will also benefit women staffers especially conductors. We have adequate space in traffic and transit management centres to set up the lounges by the end of this year.”

The concept is not new but is a one step ahead to encourage breastfeeding. Two years ago, the then Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalithaa introduced breastfeeding rooms at bus stations. The move gained immense popularity and was widely appreciated by travelling lactating women who faced great difficulty and would be shamed while breastfeeding their newborns in public spaces. Over 40 bus stands set up breastfeeding rooms in the city of Chennai.

Read more: Meet Dr Rajalakshmi, All Set to Represent India at the Miss Wheelchair World!

The move has been lauded by many activists working in the sector. Activists have welcomed the initiative.

Women’s rights activist, K S Vimala told the publication, “Many women passengers wait at terminuses for long hours, but there are no facilities at most places to help mothers breastfeed comfortably.”

She reiterated the need for breastfeeding rooms at railway stations, government and private offices too.

“There are dedicated smoking rooms in most offices, but there are no efforts to set up an adequate space for breastfeeding. The government should maintain the dedicated rooms and prevent their misuse by miscreants,” she said.

Emphasising the power of breastfeeding, UNICEF states it can save over 1.8 lakh under-five children from diarrhoea and pneumonia in India every year.

A report mentions, “Optimal breastfeeding of infants under two years of age has the greatest potential impact on child survival of all preventive interventions, with the potential to prevent over 800,000 deaths (13 per cent of all deaths) in children under five in the developing world (Lancet 2013). Breastfed children have at least six times greater chance of survival in the early months than non-breastfed children.”

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State and transport departments across the country collated data that said for every 100 accidents, nearly 30 people died every day in 2016 because they were not wearing helmets.

States reported that one of every five bike occupants, who died in accidents, was not wearing a helmet, bringing the total number up to 10,135. Experts said the number of deaths due to not wearing helmets could be more as the available data might not have captured the details in entirety.

Uttar Pradesh accounted for nearly a third of those deaths, followed by Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra.

A helmet increases a biker’s chances of survival when he/she is in an accident. This isn’t a revelation, but a simple and age-old truth. Sadly, however, it’s one that many choose to ignore at the cost of their lives.

Such callousness has prompted states to implement measures that go beyond monetary fines – a tactic that just does not seem to be effective.

Earlier this month, the Chennai police realised merely fining motorists did not get bikers to wear helmets. So, they proceeded to shame them instead. Not wearing your helmet in Chennai won’t cost you a fine, but your dignity. The law-breaker will have to wear a T-shirt with a message on the front that says “Where is the helmet?” and “Wear [image of a full-face, crash helmet]” on the back. Once they swap the shirt on their back for this T-shirt, the biker will have to ride around a specified locality with a group of fellow offenders to promote the safety of headgear.

Joining the movement with a different pressure tactic is Andhra Pradesh. On Thursday, the ‘No helmet, no petrol’ rule for two-wheeler riders to reduce road accidents came into force with chief minister Chandrababu Naidu urging all the petrol bunk dealers to cooperate, the Times of India reported.

“People should change their mindset and know the fact that they are wearing the helmet for saving their precious lives and not for the sake of the government or police,” Naidu said while discussing the rule with officials, reported ToI.

The CM also said that he would not hesitate to take action against the officials if they failed to discharge their duties properly regarding the rule.

You may also like: The Helmet Doesn’t Make You Invincible: 5 Things Everyone Needs to Know about Road-Safety

The Chief Minister (CM) has sanctioned Rs 10 crore for equipment to implement this rule, which will remove road encroachments and rectify block spots on roads. The CM has also ordered officials to conduct routine checks on motorists for effective implementation of the rule.

According to the data, the total number of road deaths was nearly 1.51 lakh in 2016 as compared to 1.46 lakh in 2015. About 68% of the total number of people killed were in the age group of 18-45 years. Last year, transport minister Nitin Gadkari termed the situation as “an emergency”.

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Meet Harini Sivakumar, mother to two boys and an entrepreneur based in Gurugram. A typical day in the life of this lady begins at 6 am when she goes out for her daily cycling fix.

At 7:30 am, she gets back home and gets her boys ready for school, after which she completes her emails and pending work.

From 1 pm, it’s again taking care of the children – making lunch, afternoon naps and park – play time till 6 pm. In between, she snatches some time to finish some more work. In the evening, its homework, dinnertime, and bedtime by 9 pm.

This seems like a routine you and I would follow with our kids, right?

The only difference here is that Harini’s older son, Bhargav, has Down Syndrome. This is the inspiring story of one mother and her son.

Harini Sivakumar was born and raised in Chennai. After completing her MBA in retail management, she worked for a while before getting married in 2009. She moved to Hyderabad post marriage, and within a year, Bhargav was born.

Speaking to The Better India, she says, “I was 22 when Bhargav was born. I vividly remember the doctor giving us the news that our child has Down Syndrome. I had no idea what it even meant, and I lay there on the hospital bed googling it to try and understand what it is. Would he walk, would he talk, would he look different? I had so many questions.”

Harini, like most parents, went through various phases before finally coming to terms and accepting her child.

“I was in a state of shock and denial, in the beginning, telling myself that this could not happen to me. That gave way to trying to accept the situation and empowering myself with knowledge about what Down Syndrome meant, and finally, after a long struggle, acceptance came. Post acceptance, it was all about the need and desire to make the environment around Bhargav as conducive as possible.”

It was also a difficult time for Harini because she knew that she would not be able to go back and work full-time in the corporate sector.

“I knew it was next to impossible ever to go back and work. I just had to be there for Bhargav, and take care of him.”

Harini moved to Bengaluru where she enrolled for a Master’s Degree in Special And Inclusive Education. “My primary motive in doing this was to help Bhargav. I felt that there were only limited resources that were available for nurturing children with Down Syndrome. More often than not, it is the lack of understanding.” she said. Harini wanted to equip herself to be able to take care of her son.

“In doing the course, I realised how unaware people are about Down Syndrome. While some of them had heard about it, no one could say for certain what the issue was, and how to address them. Most schools proclaim to have the resources to address special children, but mostly they would just have a separate section in which club all the children with different disabilities together – ADHD, Autism, Down Syndrome amongst many others. That I realised was a huge mistake,” says Harini.

“There is no one size fits all – each of the issues are different and needs different means to address them.”

Children with Down syndrome are sociable, and they like meeting people and spending time with other children. Children with Autism spectrum disorders, on the other hand, may or may not like being in the company of many others. Clubbing them all together means doing them all a huge disservice.

Inclusivity doesn’t mean putting children with special needs together in one class. The idea is to let them express their emotions and feelings by being among other ‘normal’ children.

Having to give up a corporate job where she was drawing a salary of almost a few lakhs was difficult for Harini.

“I knew I had to do something for myself. Yes, I had Bhargav to look after, but I knew that I shouldn’t make that the only thing I did in my life. What I couldn’t cope with was the fact that I wouldn’t ever be able to do anything for myself. I didn’t want to blame Bhargav for my not being able to do anything,” she says.

That was when the entrepreneurial bug caught Harini. She started her venture called Soap Works.

“That was the time when many people were shifting to using natural products, organic ingredients etc. I felt that was the right time to launch my soaps as I saw a huge potential for it.”

The death of her mother in 2014 came as a huge blow for Harini. “She was the healthiest person I knew. She was only 50 when she passed away from Cancer. She would walk regularly, ate healthy and yet cancer struck. I remember shouting in frustration at the doctor asking him how my mother could get cancer.”

While the doctor didn’t say anything at that time, some time later he told Harini that while we may be leading healthy lifestyles, our environment is becoming so toxic that we are becoming increasingly susceptible to diseases like cancer.

“Soon after Bhargav was born, the one question that was often asked of me was if I ever visited Kalpakkam anytime during my pregnancy.”

“This not only surprised me but also left me thinking about the kind of environment we are living in,” she says.

Kalpakkam is where the Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research is located and also co-habits a nuclear power plant.

That one question remained with Harini even years after Bhargav’s birth. She started making small changes around the house.

She actively started looking for vegetables and fruits that are organically grown. While the changes were small, she feels that they will help her and her children in the long run.

“March 21st every year is celebrated as Down Syndrome awareness day, and that is when I decided to put up a video of Bhargav in a bid to educate people about it. I started doing this in the year 2015. My biggest achievement in making the videos is that I got people talking about it and changed the perception of many,” she says.

Harini says it is very important for parents to remove worry from their lives. There will always be a reason to worry – if your child isn’t crawling when he’s supposed to, if your child doesn’t speak when he is supposed to, and even if you feel your child is underperforming in class.

She urges all parents to try and enjoy the small moments and not worry about everything. Through her journey with Bhargav, the biggest lesson that Harini has learnt is to let the children be. They will all achieve their milestones, some early on in life and some maybe later, but eventually they all get there.

Speaking about the biggest life lesson she has learnt from Bhargav, she says, “Bhargav taught me to truly enjoy and appreciate my life. He taught me that going slow is good.”

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India is not a water deficient country, but the amount of water that goes wasted or untreated every day, the country has a bleak future ahead in the cards.

From every dripping tap that can be fixed to a heavy downpour of rain from which water can be harvested, there are myriad possibilities that can reduce the country’s burgeoning water burden.

Worried by the city’s water lack and need to water his plants, one man in Chennai has found the perfect use for wastewater generated from his household and is setting an example that all of us should take a note of.

When T. Siva Ramalingam had moved to the city sometime in the early 2000s, he found that not only was Chennai sweltering hot; there were also very few trees and plants in the surrounding areas that further aggravated the heat.

Following which, he planted some seedlings and saplings on the curbs of Coastal Road and Gangai Street in Besant Nagar. However, non-availability of water in the city proved to be a crisis, which led Ramalingam purchasing water from private water tankers to water the plants.

This, in turn, ended up being a costly affair.

You may also like: How to Purify & Recycle Wastewater From Your Home While Also Creating a Beautiful Garden!

That’s when the idea of using recycled water hit Ramalingam and what could be better than the wastewater from one’s household.

“As there were no trees in the surroundings, the heat made living in my own house unbearable. I thought that growing couple of trees would bring shade and thus cool the house. So out of necessity, I started looking for different ways to get water. Suddenly a brainwave struck to my amazement, and I realized that the water used for bathing and in the kitchen could be used for watering the trees,” he says.

The ingenuity of the man’s idea, if incorporated by every household, can help reuse millions of litres of water that goes down the sewers every day.

“Close to 5000 litres of water is used by each household. This water, if recycled, can be water over 10-20 trees sufficiently,” explains Ramalingam.

However, not everything that goes down the drain is used to water the plants. Using only ‘grey’ water, which includes only water used for only bath and kitchen usage, Ramalingam channels the used water into separate drums that are installed like sumps.

To avoid any kitchen waste get in the way, he has fixed a filter that strains away everything. The water is then pumped out through a small motor and let flow along the street through a simple underground pipe network and released through taps at different points. “The entire cost of plumbing amounted to ₹500,” he adds.

Inspired by the man’s simple yet powerful idea, many of his neighbours have taken up greywater recycling over the years and are channelling their wastewater to a better and greener purpose.

So far, the octogenarian has planted 300 trees and has been watering all of these using the wastewater from his home. The man hopes that his simple method would be adopted by not just households but incorporated by municipal corporations as a large-scale project.

“While millions of litres of wastewater in Chennai ends up in the sea through the sewers, a little change can make a huge difference. By recycling and reusing this water, we could not only nurture millions of trees but also keep a tab on the rising climate change,” Ramalingam adds.

To get in touch with T. Siva Ramalingam, you can write to him at tsiva1929@gmail.com.

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Madhi is the Tamil word for ‘knowledge’. In 2015, Merlia Shaukath started a non-profit in Chennai, naming it ‘Madhi Foundation’.

Currently, Madhi focuses on training teachers and student learning outcomes in classrooms- mobilised with the help of technology, with an acute awareness of all the constraints that exist in under-resourced schools.

“I think the inspiration [for Madhi] was my time with Teach For India, and being in classrooms and seeing how children’s lives were being impacted. I wanted to bring the same impact in non-TFI classrooms as well,” says Merlia.

This year, Madhi will impact 150 schools.

She spent two and a half years at Teach For India, first as an operations associate, and then as a government relations manager. These roles gave her a rare opportunity: “It took me to classrooms, but it also gave me the chance to interact with people within the system. A lot of my skills today were honed during that time,” she says.

Already armed with a masters degree in governance and public policy, Merlia then joined Athena Infonomics as a policy consultant. She wanted to focus on the implementation aspect of policy and wanted to figure out how to make systemic impact possible.

“It gave me the perspective I needed to take both into consideration – how policy can trickle down to the grassroots and how ground realities can impact policy,” she explains.

Merlia combined her understanding of policy formulation and implementation, and experience in the education sector to start the Madhi Foundation.

This process was not without its fair share of challenges. Getting people to have faith in a startup non-profit is not easy, but as Merlia states, “Trust can only be gained with time.”

“If we continue doing the work we do, consistently and with an unflinching commitment to the cause we believe in, people will eventually start trusting us,” she says. “The way we see Madhi is that it’ll implement different programs addressing different pieces of the education sector puzzle. Right now we’re working with teacher capacity-building and creating content for students. In the future, we’re looking at school leadership, and capacity-building of trainers for teachers employed by the government,” she says, commenting on Madhi’s goals.

Madhi’s work is tied to interaction with the government systems currently in place.

“Working with the government is exciting, but it’s also challenging because it requires a certain temperament. There are uncertainties and ambiguities, but the government is the only machinery that you can work with if you want to create scalable impact,” says Merlia.

In one of her blog posts, she talks about the difficulty of settling on one system of education that is ‘the best’.

“At Madhi, we do not believe there ever can be one ‘best way to teach’ children. We work with the core belief that children are unique, their learning needs different and their socio-cultural backgrounds diverse,” she writes.

They work with the system that is currently in existence, slowly trying to “chip away a few rough edges at a time.”

With this goal in mind, Madhi launched the ‘Transformational Academic Program’ (TAP) in June 2015. After conducting surveys and data analysis, they identified the practical problems teachers were facing in classrooms every day and sought to develop solutions.

“The Transformational Academic Programme is the result of a lot of learning, listening and empathising with what our teachers and children had to say,” writes Merlia. TAP provides teachers with bilingual lesson-plans, a toolkit with all requirements, and simple technological assistance.

TAP was implemented across 15 primary schools under the Corporation of Chennai’s Department of Education – reaching 1600 students and 42 teachers!

“Working to change the system is frustrating and exhausting, but it’s worth it, and with the kind of dedicated and passionate team that Madhi has, it’s an exciting journey despite all the challenges” says Merlia of her long journey.”

It’s people and organisations like these, relentlessly pursuing equity, that will convert it from vision to reality.

Written by Ananya Damodaran – Communications at Teach For India.

Applications for the 2018-2020 Teach For India Fellowship program are now open. Please visit here to submit your application by October 29th, 2017.

To learn more about Teach For India, visit www.teachforindia.org.

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If you were a parent who had to choose between sending your child to a government or a private school, what would you choose?

While most of us would enrol our kids to private schools, a World Bank employee from Chennai shifted his son from a reputed private English Medium school to study in a government primary school.

But that isn’t what this story is about.

It is the story of how, this very World bank employee and parent to a Grade 2 student, shelled money out of his own pocket to facelift the government-run primary school in Mugalivakkam.

It was only a few months ago that Magendran Pandian visited the school on his usual duty to drop his son at the school when he noticed the teachers of Grade 1 evacuating kids from their usual classroom to move them to another room.

The heavy rains had taken a toll on the old building. Water started leaking from the ceiling, and huge cracks marred the side walls.

Moved by the inconvenience the teachers and students were going through to conduct daily classes, Magendran decided to take the matter into his own hands. He sought permission from the headmistress to repair the building with his own money.

Overwhelmed by the initiative, the headmistress and higher-ups agreed. Taking over ten days and spending over Rs 38,000, Magendran in association with some parents and teachers transformed the building into a more safer place for the students.

Read more: Don’t Know How to Correct Your Aadhaar Card Details? Here’s a Step-By-Step Guide!

While Magendran grew up studying in an English-medium school, his rationale behind shifting his son to a government primary school was to let the Class 2 boy learn the basics in a simple way.

Speaking to the Times of India, Magendran said, he believed that the syllabus and style of teaching at government schools made children self-sufficient and independent in life.

“Lack of basic amenities is the biggest problem in these schools. I wanted to take the initiative in this mainly because I got tremendous support from the headmistress and teachers in the school. A parent also contributed Rs 10,000 to the repair work. I am glad that it worked out well,” Magendran told TOI.

The headmistress lauded Magendran’s contribution to the primary school with a strength of 230 students, saying “If parents come forward and do such minor repair works, it will help a lot. I am very happy that Pandian came forward and did a great job. It will definitely support schools like this where we need to write to the government for everything. I wish more parents could come forward and do such great works in other government-run schools that lack basic amenities.”

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Dengue deaths continue to sweep across Tamil Nadu. The State has recorded the highest number of cases after Kerala and Karnataka

Government hospitals have reported dengue deaths in Chennai, Coimbatore, Tiruchy, Dindigul and Karur.

To tackle the mosquito menace, the Greater Chennai Corporation started a mass cleaning drive, albeit a little too late.

The drive is to check mosquito breeding sources, including abandoned vehicles on the roads, the Hindu reported.

Corporation Commissioner D Karthikeyan took charge of it, asking traders in areas such as Pudupet to remove mosquito breeding sources like damaged and deserted vehicles.

Over 175 tonnes of scrap from old vehicles were removed from Pudupet on Thursday by corporation workers.

The civic body has formed 200 teams, made up of 2,825 malaria labourers and 14,902 conservancy workers to carry out the mass cleaning drive.

As many as 331 fogging machines and 32 vehicle-mounted machines were used.

The civic body has also organised 76 medical camps, where it identified fever cases. “We imposed a fine of ₹51,000 on violators,” said an official said to the Hindu. Violators would be individuals responsible for improperly disposing of abandoned vehicles, which are breeding grounds for mosquitoes.

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ruling All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) government has been severely criticised for the handling of the menace, but it claims to be taking all the possible measures to counter it.

About 30 fresh cases are recorded in Chennai every day, according to the state health department.

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For the localities that receive inadequate service by the Postal Department, the Tamil Nadu Circle of India Post has introduced a Mobile Post Office. This service was inaugurated on October 10 by the Chief Post Master General M. Sampath, to celebrate National Postal Week and World Postal Day.

The Mobile Post Office was flagged off at the St Thomas Mount Head Post Office and will operate from noon to 6 pm, reports The Hindu. It will offer speed post, registered letter, electronic money order, among other services.

However, savings bank and postal life insurance services will not be offered here.

According to the publication, it will be stationed for one hour at these locations: Ezhil Nagar from 1 pm to 2 pm, Semmenchery from 2:30 pm to 3:30 pm, near Infosys office on Old Mahabalipuram Road from 3:45 pm to 4:30 pm, Race Course Road in Guindy from 5 pm to 6 pm and Independence Day Park at Nanganallur from 6:30 pm to 7:30 pm. The Mobile Post Office will return to the St. Thomas Post Office at 8 pm.

Customers will get ‘My Stamp’ services on the spot. The service, however, will be on an experimental basis. The Postal Department will first analyse the response it receives in the selected locations, and only then extend it to other areas. Postal services at the counter get over by 4 pm, so the Mobile Post Office wants to provide late-evening booking facility, officials told The Hindu.

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The Madras Observatory offers little to the visitor’s eye. Stone slabs and broken pillars lie ignored in a fenced-off section of a local weather centre in the southern Indian city of Chennai. Few tourists venture out to see the ruins of the 18th-century complex. On the other side of the subcontinent, in northern Indian cities such as New Delhi, Varanasi and Jaipur, remains of the Jantar Mantars, vast astronomical stations, are far more popular attractions.

Built in the same century as the Madras Observatory, their stark geometric structures, with looming proportions and vibrant colours, make for mandatory stops on travellers’ itineraries. Yet it is the Madras Observatory, and not the spectacular Jantar Mantars, that marks the triumphal fusion of scientific knowledge and imperial power.

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South Asians had been studying the heavens long before the 18th century. The subcontinent’s first texts on astronomical phenomena date back more than 3,000 years. As was common throughout the ancient world, observations about the movements of stars and planets often served the needs of astrologers and priests. Nevertheless, they formed an impressive body of scientific knowledge, one that was further enriched by contact with other cultures.

The Islamic conquest of South Asia in the medieval era brought Persian and Arab discoveries along with it, and the Mughal Empire promoted a blend of South Asian and Islamic astronomical knowledge in the 16th and 17th centuries. The city of Lahore, in modern-day Pakistan, became a centre in the production of sophisticated astronomical instruments such as celestial spheres.

By the early 18th century, as Mughal rulers lost control of most of the subcontinent, local rulers used astronomy to promote their own authority. They built the flamboyant Jantar Mantars across northern India to show that, just like the great dynasties before them, they too were patrons of knowledge.

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The era’s greatest promoter of astronomy was Jai Singh II, the 18th-century raja of Jaipur. He oversaw the construction of monumental observatories across his domains, using them not only to overawe subjects but also to gather useful knowledge about the lands he ruled.

His Jantar Mantars, like others in South Asia, featured massive sundials, sextants and other instruments of observation, but lacked telescopes, which had been invented in Europe a century before. Eager to capitalise on European knowledge, and to show the global reach of his influence, Jai Singh II came into contact with French missionary scientists.

A team of Jesuit astronomers arrived at Jaipur in 1734, and demonstrated the practical value of their scientific advances. By establishing the exact time that the Sun was at its highest over a given spot, the missionaries could determine its longitude, or distance east or west of other points on the Earth’s surface. They established the longitude of several of Jai Singh II’s cities, just as other Jesuit teams were doing for the Qing emperors in China.

Offering their astronomical knowledge to Asian rulers, these Catholic missionaries hoped to win approval for their Christian faith, while the rulers they served used foreign expertise to increase their own power. The Jesuits also learned from South Asian science, studying Sanskrit, the classical language of science in South Asia, in order to translate the greatest works of South Asian astronomy.

This peaceful exchange of scientific patronage, technology and texts between Europe and Asia was short-lived. After the raja’s death in 1743, scientific activity in his network of observatories faded, and Jaipur’s collaboration with the Jesuits came to an end. New forces entered the fray, as both the subcontinent and astronomy became arenas for the rising empires of Britain and France.

Throughout the second half of the 18th century, as the two rival powers fought for control of North America, they also competed against each other in South Asia, staging proxy wars through networks of local allies. They also competed to gather scientific data, sending rival astronomical expeditions across their far-flung empires and using the knowledge gained to control their colonies. While only a few generations before, it might have seemed that the global circulation of astronomical knowledge would bring a new era of understanding between Europe and Asia, this was not to be.

In 1792, the British East India Company delivered a stinging defeat to Tipu Sultan of Mysore, France’s only remaining ally in South Asia. In the same year, it completed the construction of the Madras Observatory, one of the first modern observatories in Asia. It was armed with impressive telescopes, still rare in the Indian subcontinent.

The observatory was the brainchild of Michael Topping, a British surveyor tasked with mapping the shoreline of southern India. He argued that an observatory was crucial to his task, since astronomy was the ‘parent and nurse of navigation’. But the site was also a tool of colonial rule, a means of showing that Britain was now the dominant power in South Asia. As Topping insisted, astronomy held the key to ‘the sovereignty of a rich and extensive empire’.

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The East India Company destroyed what remained of Tipu Sultan’s power in 1799, when Tipu himself died in a desperate last battle at his capital of Srirangapatna. Most of his sultanate was annexed by the Company, which soon began an extensive survey of his former dominion. Fanning out from the Madras Observatory, British surveyors used it as a fixed location from which they could calculate the exact location of sites in Mysore.

This was a first step to assessing the value of the lands for tax purposes, and bringing the region under direct British control, where it would remain for the next century and a half. The observatories of Jai Singh II, symbols of his kingdom’s independence and cosmopolitan collaboration with European science, were a thing of the past.

Alongside other massive British projects of scientific knowledge-collection, such as James Cook’s expeditions to the Pacific (1768-1778), the Madras Observatory heralded the rise of a new kind of science, serving the needs of a global empire and imposing its sway on subject peoples.

– Written By Blake Smith

This article was originally published at Aeon and has been republished under Creative Commons.

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In a world where affordable healthcare is a distant dream to many, one 67-year-old doctor in Chennai has been serving patients quietly as a little consultation fee of Re 2 since 1973.

Living up to his Hippocratic oath, this 67-year-old medic, Thiruvengadam Veeraraghavan dedicated his life to make affordable medical attention accessible to the most underprivileged sections in Vyasarpadi situated in North Chennai since the last 40 years.

It is difficult to imagine the struggle this man went through when despite having been born and brought up in Vysarpadi, he had to leave the neighbourhood after the 2015 floods washed away all he had. But he continues his service from his hospital that still operates from the same area from 1973 till date.

Every day the senior doctor looks at patients at a clinic in Erukancherry from 8 pm to 10 pm. From 10 pm to midnight or even later, he continues to attend to more patients near Ashok Pillar in Vyasarpadi.

His training at the Madras Medical College also equipped him to dress the wounds of leprosy patients, who most medics hesitate to attend in the absence of enough resources and precaution.

Read more: Over 300 People Left to Die on the Streets of Hyderabad Were Saved by This Man

Fondly referred to a the Two-Rupee Doctor, who completed his MBBS from Stanley Medical College, he started off his career accepting only Rs 2 residents of Vyasarpadi, which he later increased to Rs 5 under immense pressure from his own patients.

The word of his selfless service spread like a proverbial wildfire and many doctors in the neighbourhood got together and demanded that the man at least charge Rs 100 for consultation.

But Thiruvengadam was quick to respond to this demand with a smart technique of his own. He stopped asking his patients for fees completely. He decided just to take whatever they were able to afford or shell out as per their understanding or merely accept eatables, snacks or food in exchange. Most of the times, he accepts nothing at all!

Thiruvengadam spoke to the Times of India, sharing the reason behind his service saying, “I studied without any expenses, thanks to the policies of former chief minister K Kamaraj. It made me resolve not to charge patients.”

While most of his batchmates and contemporaries either worked in government or private hospitals to only settle abroad with their families, his vision is a lot different.

He dreams of constructing a hospital for the slum dwellers of Vyasarpadi, and serve them until death with his family including his wife, Saraswathi, a retired Railway official and his two children T Preethi & T Deepak who trained for medicine in Mauritius.

The only steady source of income for this man is his position as an Associate Fellow in Industrial Health (AFIH), a corporate hospital, to screen job aspirants.

Feature Image credit: Times of India.

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