Chennai: With increasing casesof stalking and eve-teasing in thecity, women safety has become amajor concern. However, pepperspray, a primary medium of self-defense is not very popular amongwomen here.

Akhila, a student of EthirajCollege, said that most peoplehere were not familiar with theconcept of using pepper spray forself-defense. In fact, many herewaited for something to happen tothem and then learnt safety mea-sures.

She added, “Even I haven’towned a pepper spray until now,but now that crime against womenare on the rise in the city, we allmust be cautious and keep such ahandy device for safety.”

After the 20-year old Ashwiniwas killed in front of her col-lege,in broad daylight by a stalker,women in the city have becomemore alert while on the road.

H o w e v e r ,when askedabout the safetymeasures theytake, they saidthey complainedto the police orsnapped back atthe stalker, butother than thatthey didn’t useany self defensetechniques.

Another college student Nive-ditha said, “I travel in MTC busesand many a times people try andtouch women inappropriately.Most women shout back and the

men shy away because of thecrowd, however that may not bethe case when one is alone, there-fore carrying a pepper spray is amust.”

Back in2016, Swati,an IT sectore m p l o y e ewas murde-red by a stal-ker, at thec r o w d e dNungambak-kam railwaystation, withmute specta-

tors around. She was hacked todeath at around 7 a.m. in the mor-ning.

Even after such incidents,where no one stepped forward tohelp, it’s high time women realize

that there will be situations wherethey might be alone and will haveto act swiftly to escape the danger.

It is strange despite realizingthe need to carry pepper sprays,which is handy and is as cheap asRs. 130-180, not many women doit.

However, commenting on theavailability of the product in themarket Niveditha said that peppersprays were mostly available onlyin malls, which was not an affor-dable option for many women.

Narayanan, owner of CobraPepper Spray Dealers in Thiru-vanmiyur, said that in the courseof past few months the demandfor pepper spray had increased butnot as much as it should be. Ex-plaining why there were notenough shops in the city he said,“There are no buyers. Only when

there are buyers, shopkeepers willstart selling any specific product.”

When college going girls wereasked if any lectures or works-hops happened on their campusesto teach simple self-defense tech-niques and train them against se-xual harassment, most of themsaid that no such training tookplace.

However, Delviya, a collegestudent said, “No such workshophas taken place yet in college, butback in school, we were taught afew self-defense measures. Ho-wever, it is equally important tohold such workshops in college aswell.”

When asked if she used a pep-per spray she said there were noshops in her area that sold peppersprays and hence she had to buy itonline.

Pepper sprays are still slow-moving goods in Chennaiand is available only in select stores

LAB JOURNAL OF THE ASIAN COLLEGE OF JOURNALISMOla, Uber driverswant better deal

Bikers floutinghelmet rules

How Nehru andSukarno hit it off

Page 2 Page 3 Page 4

Volume No 18Issue No 8March 16, 2018

Chennai: The Supreme Court’s re-cent decision on euthanasia has de-fined what was not previouslydefined and has provided for a wellset out comprehensive procedure tobe followed for passive euthanasia,according to Nilofar Absar, an ad-vocate practising in the Delhi HighCourt.

The Indian laws of euthanasiaare the best one can “give to a so-ciety such as the one we live inwhere crime rates are extremelyhigh,” she added.

The Supreme Court in its rulingon March 9 announced that “per-sons of deteriorated health or ter-minally ill patients should be ableto execute a document titled ―MyLiving Will and Attorney Authori-sation” for euthanasia.

An advance directive stating anindividual’s wish to end treatmentwill be given the status of a ‘livingwill’ and that “can be presented tothe hospital” when the executant isunable to communicate his wishesdue to his suffering from a seriousterminal illness.

The court judgement followedPinky Virani’s plea in the case ofAruna Ramachandra Shanbaug, anurse who went into a coma after

she was sodomised by an attendantin the King Edward Memorial hos-pital in Mumbai. Shanbaug was ina permanent vegetative state for 42years before she died of pneumo-nia.

Absar said, “It would be correctto say that passive euthanasia was

given the color of Law followingthe Aruna Shanbaug Judgement.However that did not lay down theguidelines to be followed while im-plementing the decision and did notprovide for checks and balances inthe system.”

Neurosurgery resident Dr Sai

Sriram welcomed the judgementand said that the patient’s wish toleave in dignity should be respec-ted totally.

“It is an informed decision andthe doctors are not taking it unila-terally,” he said, adding that, thequestion was whether you want toprolong the suffering of the patientand his family, “both financiallyand emotionally”.

About palliative medicine beingused to counter the need for eutha-nasia, he said it involved adminis-tering stronger painkillers whichagain makes it another form of pas-sive euthanasia. The Do Not Re-suscitate (DNR) laws are notfollowed in India yet.

The right to live with dignity, ac-cording to the judgement, guaran-teed under Article 21 of theConstitution means availability offood, shelter and health and doesnot include the right to die withdignity.

The right to die with dignity ishowever “inherent” and “inextrica-ble” and hence the “right to diesans pain and suffering is funda-mental to one‘s bodily autonomyand such integrity does not remo-tely accept any effort that puts theindividual on life support withoutany ray of hope”.

SC rules on mercy-killingMEHNAZ YASMIN

‘Living Will’ will now permit doctors to carry out euthanasia

AMMK is TTV’s new partyChennai: Sidelined AIADMK lea-der and RK Nagar MLA TTV Di-nakaran launched his new partynamed Amma Makkal MunnetraKazhagam (AMMK) in Melur,near Madurai on Thursday.

Unveiling the party flag, he saidthat this was “just an interim arran-gement till the original party is re-trieved from betrayers likeEdappadi Palaniswami (EPS) andO.Panneerselvam (OPS).” His flagbears the colours of the AIADMKflag with a sketch of former ChiefMinister J Jayalalithaa in the mid-dle.

“I will not rest till I get back thetwo leaves symbol from them,” heannounced at the function.

TTV Dinakaran, nephew ofV.Sasikala, a long-time aide ofJayalalithaa, had won the RKNagar seat as an independent can-didate, which had fallen vacantafter Jayalalithaa’s demise. He con-tested on the “Cooker” symbolafter having lost the “Two Leaves”symbol to Palaniswami.

AIADMK had split into two fac-tions- one led by Sasikala, who no-minated Palaniswami as the ChiefMinister and the other led by Pan-neerselvam after the death of Jaya-lalithaa. After Sasikala wasimprisoned in the DisproportionateAssets case, the two factions mer-ged, with Panneerselvam becoming

the Deputy Chief Minister. TTVDinakaran was evicted from theparty.

This led to a few AIADMKMLAs switching over to TTVcamp. The case against thoseMLAs is pending in the MadrasHigh Court.

This is the second party launchin Tamil Nadu in less than a month.Actor-turned politician Kamal Haa-san launched his party MakkalNeedhi Maiam on February21.Another actor Rajnikanth is all setto come up with a new party. Inte-restingly, Dinakaran and Kamallaunched their parties in Madurai.

Dinakaran has the support of the18 MLAs, all members of theAIADMK, who were disqualifiedby the Tamil Nadu assembly spea-

ker last year. They supported Dina-karan and expressed lack of confi-dence in the Palaniswamigovernment.

AIADMK leader and FisheriesMinister D Jayakumar dismissedDinakaran's party as a "mosquito"and called the ruling AIADMK a"lion".

Journalist Dharani Thangavelusaid the launch a new party by Di-nakaran might change the internaldynamics of the ruling AIADMK.

Social media user Srinivasanfrom Chennai tweeted, “So‘Amma’ is more relevant todaythan ‘Anna’ and Dravidam’. Thiswas in reference to the fact that theword ‘Dravidian” which figures inmost regional parties in Tamil Naduis missing in the new party.

Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam (AMMK) features asketch of J Jayalalithaa in its flag

MEGHA KAVERI &JAGDISHOR PANDAY

THE WEEK

Traffic chokes ‘108’ vansChennai: A 25-year-old womandied after an ambulance was unableto reach her on time in Tiruvidant-hai on the East Coast Road here onMarch 13.

Kuppulakshmi was travelling ina share auto along with her familywhen the auto driver lost controland the vehicle overturned. Kuppu-lakshmi’s leg was severely injuredon impact. “A ‘108’ call was madeimmediately but the ambulancetook over two hours to reach them,”said her husband Nagooran.

Residents living south of Chen-nai, on the busy areas of Old Ma-habalipuram Road do not have easy

access to government-funded me-dical facilities as the nearest hospi-tal is at least 30 km away inRoyapettah.

Traffic on this 30 km stretch is amajor impediment. Ambulances areunable to get to the patient in time,or are not able to return to the hos-pital so that proper treatment can begiven.

“Most people are in such a hurrythat they pay no heed to an ambu-lance. Sometimes, even if they arewilling to move, traffic is so chock-a-block that they are not able to,”says M. Selvakumar, a traffic poli-ceman stationed on KamarajarSalai, one of the busiest roads inChennai.

Even though according to theCode of Medical Ethics, 2002, hos-pitals cannot deny treatment to roadtraffic accident (RTA) victims, pri-vate hospitals turn them away, ma-king government hospitals the onlychoice.

“Private hospitals are reluctant totake road accident cases for twomain reasons. One, it was earlierrequired for the police to be infor-med. Even now, these hospitals arestill afraid of police harassment.Second, because it is unsure whet-her the patient can pay for the treat-ment he receives. More often thannot, the treatment procedures areexpensive and complex,” says Dr.Gaurav Sharma.

GVK EMRI, the company thatprovides the ‘108’ ambulance ser-vices, however denies the claimsthat ambulances are unable to reachthe accident victim on time.

“In areas where there’s moretraffic, the number of ambulancesare almost doubled. The ambulanceis required to go to the hospital thatthe patient asks for. Private hospi-tals will not stop us from enteringbecause we’re carrying a road acci-dent patient. The woman died be-cause of her injuries and notbecause an ambulance couldn’treach her,” said an official at theGVK EMRI.

KATHLENE REENA

Traffic snarls on busy roads block ambulances from rea-ching the spot on time WWW.INDIABOOKOFRECORDS.IN

The SC ruled ‘Living Will’ to state an individual’s wishes toend treatment WWW.EVERPLANS.COM

Doctors seek OBC quota in PG seatsChennai: Various doctors and medical studentsassociations of Tamil Nadu have come togetherto press their demand for 27 per cent reservationfor Other Backward Class (OBC) in the all Indiaquota seats in postgraduate medical courses inTamilnadu.

Representatives from the Doctors Associationfor Social Equality (DASE), Government AllDoctors Association (GADA), Service DoctorsWelfare Association (SDWA), Tamil Nadu Me-dical Students Association (TNMSA), and In-dian Doctors for Peace and Development(IDPD) presented their demands related to me-dical education here on Tuesday.

As much as 50 per cent of the PG seats in themedical colleges in Tamil Nadu is being ear-marked as All India quota which is filled basedon the results of the National Eligibility cum En-trance Test (NEET-PG). Their demand is to pro-vide for OBC reservation in this quota.

“The current process of NEET-based admis-sion is against social justice and reservation. Wehereby ask the Tamil Nadu Government to re-quest the Centre to take action and allocate 27per cent for OBC candidates,” said Dr. G.R. Ra-vindranath, General Secretary, DASE.

Till 2017, the candidates serving in govern-ment hospitals were given grace marks between10 and 30 per cent in NEET based on the num-ber of years they had served in those hospitalsand reservation of up to 50 per cent in admis-sions. The Supreme Court, in 2017, had abolis-hed reservations for in-service candidates,thereby directing the States to follow Medical

Council of India (MCI) regulations in this re-gard.

“The abolition of service quota reservation isdetrimental to the government doctors and hos-pitals and the poor people. We want the deci-sion-making power regarding reservations to begiven to the State Governments and the MCIrules to be amended accordingly,” said Ravin-dranath, referring to the SC judgement.

Other demands of the collective includes prio-rity for candidates for Tamil Nadu for seats in

the colleges in the State, building helipad and es-tablishing fire and trauma care centres in districthospitals, establishing emergency medicine andburn injury treatment as a separate course in thecurriculum and increasing the state governmentdoctors’ emoluments and other benefits on parwith that offered by the Centre.

The collective has requested the Chief Minis-ter to write to the Prime Minister detailing theirdemands failing which the members of the as-sociations plan to go on strike from March 20.

Dr.G.R.Ravindranath, the General Secretary of DASE speaking to reportersabout the demands put forth by the associations.

MEGHA KAVERI

MEGHA KAVERI

Pepper sprays not popular among Chennai women

WWW.TWIMG.COM

KANISHKA SARKAR

There are no buyers. Onlywhen there are buyers,shopkeepers can startselling pepper sprays. -Narayanan

The Word Edition 8 Page 1_Layout 1 3/19/2018 10:56 AM Page 1

CHENNAI March 16, 20182 THE WORD CITYSCAPE

Chennai: An open-air gym is to beinaugurated at Nageswara Rao Parkin Mylapore. The date of inaugura-tion is yet to be decided.

Aiming to woo more people intoembracing a healthier way of life,the gym, located adjacent to thechildren’s play area, has 12 piecesof equipment to cater to differentworkout routines.

It will now be an added attrac-tion to the fitness-oriented crowdthat visits the park.

“I think it is a good initiative. Itgives something extra for the peo-ple who are bored of just walkinghere. However, I am doubtful aboutthe weather conditions, since this isan open-air gym,” said Preetha whohas been a regular visitor to the

park for over twenty years. Dev, a finance professional, said

“I have been coming here regularlyfor the past seven years and I feelthis is great for old people whowant something different. I hope itwill be maintained in good condi-tion, with regular servicing of theequipment.”

However, there are voices ofconcern against the idea.

“I am not so sure about the gym.In gyms generally the equipment isused by people aged over 18 years.I don’t know how that can be im-plemented in an open space like apark. The risk of children gettinginjured is very high,” said Abiis-hiek, a visitor at the park.

Vignesh, a Parkour trainer whotrains his group in the park, “I likethe idea but I think it would be

worthwhile only if asupervisor is aroundand adequate sign-boards are installedthere.”

“Not everybodyknows how to usethe machines and ifused wrongly, thechances of injuriesare high,” he adds.

The park, establis-hed in 1940 in Luzcorner, is now main-tained by SundaramFinance Limited.

New open-airgym at Mylapore

Ayurvedic Anomalies

KALYANI S.

Chennai: D.Elumalai, 34, has beenworking as a driver for Ola for thepast one year. His day starts fromaround 8 a.m. and he gets backhome at around midnight, workingfor over 16 hours. His savingsevery month is next to nil. If onesubtracts from his income, thecompany’s commission, theamount due for the loan he hastaken to buy the car, the expendi-ture for diesel and maintenance,nothing actually remains.

“Today I drive just so I can paythe dues. If my house wasn’t myown, then there would be no waythat I could sustain,” he says.

However, Elumalai’s is not anisolated case of ‘broken dreams’ inthe big city.

The lives of thousands of cabdrivers working under the two bigcab aggregators- Ola and Uber con-tinue to be plagued by issues of lowwages and harsh working condi-tions.

“Uber charges less than Rs.7 perkm and takes a 27% share per ride.I drive around 150-200 km in a day

and diesel for the same costs mearound Rs.800-1000. In addition tothis, it takes at least Rs.1 lakh everyyear for the maintenance or tire andoil service of this car. Add to thisthe Rs.20,000 that I have to payevery month for the money I borro-wed to buy the car. How do you ex-pect us to earn anything when thisis the reality?” asks Mayandi Daya-lan, Uber driver and Secretary ofthe Road Transport Workers Union,affiliated to the CITU.

However, things were not so badwhen the two companies started offin India, says Dayalan. Rates perkm were way higher than what it isnow.

C.K.Sami, former driver withUber, who started off by earningaround Rs.5500 a day, sensed trou-ble when his earnings dropped tobelow Rs.3000 after the companycut their per km rates.

“It will take wages from at leastfive years of hard labor to recoverthe losses I incurred while workingthere,” he adds.

Cheaper rates meant more custo-mers, however what will happen tothe workers, asks Dayalan.

Sri Kanth, a former LIC Agent athis village in Tirunelveli, drives hisfriend’s car for Uber. A few yearsago, his friend left his job as a soft-ware engineer and bought two carsto attach with Uber, driving onehimself. The prospect looked great.

However, as earning neared al-most nothing, he had to sell off oneof his cars. The friend has now star-ted a business on his own hopingfor a new beginning, while SriKanth still drives the other car.After subtracting the company’sshare, he gets 30% of the income,while the rest goes to his friend.

H.Abra, Business DevelopmentManager, Uber office, Chennai,says “We charge Rs.8 per km as percompany policy and take around20% per ride as our commission.There are no targets or anythingthat we set; we let them take on asmany rides whenever they want.We just provide them with incenti-ves to work.”

However, drivers say that thecommission rates are higher.

“The average working hours ofdrivers in these two companies isaround 18 hours a day. And there is

no statutory compliance by eitherof them. Workers don’t have Em-ployees’ State Insurance (ESI),Provident Fund (PF), gratuity orprovisions for bonus. The majorproblem is that unlike Karnataka,Tamil Nadu does not have a policyframework to regulate these taxiaggregators. It is necessary thatthey be regulated by the state,” saysJeevakumar Emmanuel Joseph,General Secretary, CITU, Chennai.

Karnataka in 2016 implementedthe Karnataka On-demand Trans-portation Technology AggregatorsRules, becoming the first State inthe country to have a strong regu-latory framework to control wor-king of cab aggregators like Olaand Uber.

“While passengers have an SOSbutton near them to use duringemergencies, the drivers don’t,”says Jeevakumar, talking about thelack of safety measures for drivers.

“Every three or four months, wetry to organize some kind of protestto attract the Government’s atten-tion, so that there is at least someminimal improvement in the wor-kers’ lives,” he adds.

Long working hours and company commissions as high as 27 percent leave next to nothing for the drivers TN’s lack of regulations for cab aggregators crushes workers

Herbal treatment centers in the city remaindivided over store-front structures

Chennai: The temperature thissummer in Chennai will be 0.5 de-grees Celsius more than the ave-rage normal temperature, accordingto the Indian Meteorological De-partment (IMD).Last year the ave-rage temperaturein summer was 31degrees Celsius.

The IMD haspublished this fo-recast on the basisof the MonsoonMission ClimateForecast System(MMCFS) which is adapted for In-dian conditions.

According to the IMD, Januaryand February are winter monthsand the March to May period isknown as summer or pre-monsoonperiod, while June to September isknown as the monsoon and cycloneseason. Summer is hotter than otherseasons in South India.

Last year, Chennai was in thegrip of blistering heat with Mee-nambakkam recording 43.6 degreeCelsius on May 19, the highesttemperature in the last 15 years.Meenambakkam had recorded 44.6degree Celsius in May 2003. Withthe lowest temperature of 27 de-grees Celsius recorded on May 04,the average temperature was 33 de-grees Celsius.

Last year the maximum tempe-

rature recorded in March was 35.1degrees Celsius on March 12 andthe lowest temperature was 22 de-grees Celsius on March 1. Earlier,in 2016 the maximum temperaturerecorded was 36.1degrees Celsiuson March 22 and 23 while, the lo-

west was 24.1degrees Cel-sius on March4.

Predictionsays, the sea-sonal averagem a x i m u mtemperature islikely to behigher thannormal by 1

degree celsius in the north espe-cially Jammu & Kashmir, Punjab,Haryana, Chandigarh, Delhi, Hi-machal Pradesh, west and east Ra-jasthan, Uttarakhand, west and eastUttar Pradesh, West and east Mad-hya Pradesh and Bihar.It is likely tobe 0.5 degrees Celsius over Kerala,Tamil Nadu, South Interior Karna-taka and Andhra.

“Beside this forecast there willbe a day to day observation. Thenthe daily temperature could be wor-mer or colder than our summer pre-diction,” said Dr. S. Balachandran,Director of Area Cyclone WarningCenter. “The level of temperaturedepends on several things. Mainlyforest and trees, sun declinationangle and pollution are highly res-ponsible for weather.”

Warmer summerto hit Chennai

Chennai: The stray dog menacehas increased over the years and thecanines now prevent children fromwalking to school in Adyar.

Gandhi Nagar in Adyar is linedwith premium educational institu-tions like St. Patrick EducationalInstitutions, Bala Vidya Mandir Se-nior Secondary School, Kumara-rani Meena Muthiah MatriculationSchool and many others.

Many children in the neighbour-hood walk to their schools fromtheir homes.

After four incidents of strays at-tacking pedestrians in GandhiNagar were reported in February,students and their guardians havebeen apprehensive about them wal-king to school.

Nandini Prabhakaran, mother ofa student studying at Bala VidyaMandir Senior Secondary School,said "My daughter Revathi is in thesixth standard and she would walkto school every day since we liveonly fifteen minutes away. Lately,she has been scared to walk homealone or with friends because thereare strays roaming in these lanesand they tend to follow the chil-dren.”

“One of these strays attacked one

child last month. It is tough for meor my husband to come and pickher up around this time. Both of uswork and it is nearly impossible to

commute back to work around thistime,” she said.

Organisations such as AnimalWelfare and Protection Trust basedin Chennai took an initiative to pro-mote and implement birth controlmeasures regularly.

A recent government order ins-tructed these organizations to putan end to this and directed the civic

body to carry out the necessarymeasures.

Ranjana Padmavathy, a volun-teer at the organization said, "We

were asked to stop the operationsand now the civic body operates inPulianthope, Lloyds Road in Roya-pettah and Kannammapet in TNagar."

However, there are others whoare concerned about the ill-treat-ment of the stray dogs.

Apurvi Vidhya, a class XI stu-dent at Bala Vidya Mandir Senior

Secondary School said, "I am a doglover and I don't find these straysscary but some students have com-plained and the watchman oftenhits the animals to drive them awayand it saddens me to see the dogs insuch a poor condition."

Akansha Banik, an animal wel-fare activist said," You cannotblame the poor dogs because theyare often starved of food and tortu-red by pedestrians on the road andthey develop a sense of fear. Thecivic body needs to feed them, treatthem and find them a home."

The Greater Chennai Corpora-tion had fixed the number of straydogs in the city at 85,000. Howe-ver, this number comes in sharpcontrast to the data derived from a2016 census that clearly states thenumber of strays present in the cityis much higher at 1.02 lakh.

Dr.A.Vinod Prakasam at theChennai Veterinary Hospitals andShelters insists that the GreaterChennai Corporation needed to rec-tify the number and account for thestrays roaming the streets.

He said, “The government handsout so many freebies. Why don'tthey feed these dogs and look afterthem? The civic body needs to sup-port us and other welfare organisa-tions to control the growth of straydogs in the city."

Stray menace intensifies

Chennai: It has been a week sinceKodambakkam’s Lalitha Ayurve-dic Pharmacy owner M. Vijayga-nesan reopened the pharmacy. Hehad only shut doors for ten daysand yet, he spent those days ma-king house calls and deliveringmedications while simultaneouslyoverseeing renovations that hecalled “absolutely unnecessary.”

“We received notice from theAyush Medical Association of Indiathat as a private alternative medi-cine clinic, our medicines must bekept in enclosed areas to avoid heatcontamination anD modification ofour products,” he explained.

The sudden order forced Vijay-ganesan to close shop, investingRs. 1.2 lakhs in order to extend thesmall clinic. While the pharmacypreviously displayed select medici-nes and herbal powders on a ledgeoutside, saving the interior spacefor physician consultations andmore expensive products, the newstructure removes products fromeasy visibility, a move that Vijay-ganesan said might negatively af-fect product sales.

“Many of the herbal powdersand tonics sold outside previouslydid not require a prescription and

were often last-minute purchasesby customers. Having them on dis-play helped me sell more units, butnow that those are hidden behind

this glass, I do not know how muchwe will be able to sell,” he told us.

The sudden structural modifica-tion has been replicated in the CNRHerbs Psoriasis Clinic, located nearthe Power House junction in Ko-dambakkam. Owner Philip Thomasfaced the same struggles. He saidthat the renovation had made the

building look nondescript due tothe new plain white exterior andsliding glass that hid the clinic’ssign board.

“Our clinic took many walk-inclients and referrals. Since we arelocated at a busy junction, havingan open entryway and a large signhelped draw attention to our clinic.Now, it looks like any other allo-pathic pharmacy,” Thomas lamen-ted.

FILE PHOTO

Chennai: Slightly worn out by thetwo-hour journey from Kanchipu-ram 82-year-old K. Lokesh digs outa carefully-folded maroon-and-emerald Kanjeevaram saree fromhis hefty rucksack and lays it acrossthe display table in the Amortelashowroom on J.J. Road. The show-room is filled with Chennai’s elite;it is the first time he has met a cus-tomer outside of his 6x6 feet hum-ble showroom in Kanchipuram.

Under dimmed lights, a ladyadorned in a pastel green Jamdanicotton weave spins away from a to-wering man as the crowd watches,transfixed.

On one side sits Bengali weaverAmrish Basu, caressing the fabricthat will soon be presented to theaudience for sale. Meanwhile, anarrator tells the infamous tale ofDraupadi’s disrobing in the Kau-rava Court.

The exhibition, a coming-toget-her of native weavers, garment sel-lers, storytellers andBharatanatyam artists, is the first ofits kind in Chennai.

“We often host exhibitions, butthis is the first time we’ve been ableto host the weavers of these fabricsthemselves instead of selling theirproducts in a commercial fashion,”says Amortela owner Tija Indrajith.

The showroom, a multi-designerconcept store, sources fabrics fromvillages all over India. While In-drajith has interacted with indige-nous weavers from the beginning,

the exhibition, titled Divas andDrapes, marks the first urban inte-gration of the weavers into theChennai elite.

“I have only been to Chennaionce before, as a boy. I am proudthat now, I can come sell my pro-ducts and tell my story to the peo-ple, instead of seeing them boughtby large saree stores,” Lokesh smi-les.

Bharatanatyam dancer N. Saras-wathi calls the collaboration “unu-sually thrilling.” She is one of twodancers that have been asked tobring the fabrics to life in front ofthe weavers and the audience.

“As a dancer, we are often dres-sed in the most ornate of costumes,rarely knowing their origins. Inte-racting with the weavers has givenus a new perspective on the way wedress our characters,” she says.

Apart from Lokesh and Basu, the

exhibition features Satyarao Kani-kalli’s Pochampally Ikkat creationsfrom Kappaladoddi, a rural area inAndhra Pradesh. It also featuresBenarasi silks woven by F. Ansari.

“It is exciting, even for us, tomeet the creative minds behind oursarees. Earlier, we would have topersonally travel to Kanchipuramto even think of finding such a gar-ment,” says customer Shantha Ra-maswamy.

While the dancers showcase atotal of six different weaves duringtheir presentation, the weavers setup individual tables to present theirworks. Indrajith watches the inte-ractions closely: she says it is thestart of something “huge.”

“The market is saturated in termsof commercial fabrics. It’s time tonow focus on the roots and respectthose who preserve tradition,” saysIndrajith.

Bringing creators to the fore

LAVANYA NARAYANANLAHOMA BHATTACHARYA

More than 1.02 lakh stray in city, GCDA says just 85,000

Animal welfare organisations have taken initiatives to im-plement birth control measures THE HINDU

MD EYAMIN

Month/year

Max.temp.

Min.temp.

Mar2016 36.1 C 24.1 CMar2017 35.1 C 22 C

LAVANYA NARAYANAN

The exhibition, is the first of its kind in Chennai and hoststhe weavers themselves DT NEXT

People feel having a supervisor at theopen-air gym is necessary

MEGHA KAVERI

MEGHA KAVERI

SOURCE: IMD

On Januray 3 this year, a large number of Uber and Ola drivers in Chennai affiliated withthe CITU went on strike demanding the Government introduce auto meters for call taxisand regualte their long working hours. This had caused a surge in prices and travellers inthe city had to pay high fares. However, despite staging protests and voicing their con-cerns, the government seems to pay no heed to these workers. THE NEW INDIAN EXPRESS

Edition 8 page 2_Layout 1 3/19/2018 11:00 AM Page 1

Chennai: In the 10 minutes from2.30 p.m. on Tuesday as many as420 two wheelers crossed the

Chennai Central Station. At leastone hundred of the riders were ri-ding without helmets.This is despite the regular crack-

down by the police on people ri-ding two-wheelers without helmets

and goes against the police claimthat about 90 percent of motorcy-clists wear helmet in Chennai. According to the Traffic Police

rules, wearing a helmet is a manda-tory requirement for two wheeler

drivers. Those found without hel-mets would be fined Rs 1,000. Ear-lier it was Rs 100. The Traffic Police Department

has been organising awareness rai-sing programme to increase the hel-met use. “The number of helmet users has

been increasing,” said R. Vellu,Traffic Inspector.Vellu said “People are now

awarded enough punishment forviolating rules. They get away witha fine.” Others accused the police of ta-

king bribes of Rs 50 to Rs 100 andletting the helmet-less riders getaway. “In my eight years of motorcycle

riding, I was fined twice. First timeI could manage the traffic policeoffering him a cup of tea and the se-cond time by offering Rs 100,” saidV. Sathish, a sales manager of YesBank. Satish added that “Health pro-

blem is also responsible for less useof helmet. Due to use of helmetsome people suffer from hair fall.And, some motorcycles don’t havehelmet locker.”

CHENNAI March 16, 2018 3THE WORDCITYSCAPE

Riding without helmetsMD EYAMIN

No facilites for the handicapped

Chennai: When Vaibhav Kumar,owner of Red Box, a Chennaibased restaurant, signed up for theZomato food delivery service, hewas amazed that the Zomato teamrequired no licence issued by theFood Safety and Standards Autho-rity of India and did no verificationof the quality of food. “They did no food tasting, no-

body came to check where the res-taurant was or what quality orquantity we were serving”, saysVaibhav.

According to the agreement thata restaurant signs with a deliveryservice, ‘any violation of the Foodsafety and Standards Act, 2006 isthe sole responsibility the seller,vendor, or restaurant ‘and the ser-vice provider is not accountablefor any violation. Malaravan Ka-lyan, owner of the Mama Shop,says“Many outlets are registered withtwo names, with different prices onthese delivery services apps sincethere is no verification process.”“There is lack of communication

on part of these companies aboutcustomers’ complaints,” he added. B. Balasubramaniam, an official

at FSSAI, Chennai office says “Every outlet small or big shouldhave a licence from us. The entireprocess is online and simple, if de-livery services like Zomato startdemanding licences before registe-ring a business, people will have nochoice but to get a licence .” .“In Chennai there are thousands

of outlets which are not registeredand yet are on these food deliveryapps. With the level of hygiene or the

quality of material being monito-red, these delivery services compa-nies should be held liable” addedanother official.

A man riding his moped without helmet at the Tharamani main road as he goes pastvehicles. Two bikers were seen wearing helmets. MD EYAMIN

.Chennai:After two months ofcontinuous drop in prices ofvegetables in the Koyambeduwholesale vegetable market here,wholesalers finally found relief asprices showed a gradual increase.However the prices of not manyvegetables have increaseddrastically. For two weeks now, theprice of beans has been increasing.It was between Rs. 8 and Rs 12 lastweek, and is now between Rs. 18and Rs 22. It is being sold for Rs.30-45 at retail shops, said Soundar,a wholesaler here.Another wholesaler-cum-retailer,Ajith Kumar, said, “Except foryellow and red capsicum whoseprice has come down from Rs. 90to Rs. 50, prices of all othervegetables have increased. Earlierwhen the prices were low, ourwholesale and retail prices were thesame. However, with the increasewe are able to stabilize the businessby stating fairly high retail prices.”Due to the drop, not many peoplewere coming here since they gotthe vegetables at very low prices attheir nearby vegetable shops itself,but now that the prices haveincreased buyers in the wholesalemarket have increased, he added. Explaining the reason for thechange in prices, Ajith said, “Nowthat the climate has changed andthe yield has reduced, and there isno surplus. Therefore, prices havebecome stable. For instance, ifearlier I was getting 600-700 boxesof vegetables, now I have to takeonly 500 boxes, which can beeasily sold.”P. Sukumar, treasurer of the

Koyambedu Vegetable and Flowermarket Association, said that thefluctuations in supply due toweather change happened everyyear. However, this year owing tothe good yield, and surplusproduce, prices unexpectedlydropped a lot. According to Sukumar, now that

the weather in Andhra Pradesh andKarnataka had changed, andvegetable supply had becomestable, prices were on the rise by atleast 10%. Prices were expected toincrease further, however, onlyuntil March. In April again, therewould be a marginal drop, headded.

Price-rise brings relief to vegetable vendors KANISHKA SARKAR

Chennai: About 200 children bet-ween ages 12 and 18 were identi-fied as runaway children and wererescued at the Chennai CentralRailway Station, here, in the last sixmonths, according to officials atChennai Central office of ChildIndia Foundation, an NGO thatoperates a telephone helpline calledChildline, for children in distress.“We see children coming in fromstates all over India, especially,Bihar, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh,and Orissa. Usually they are 8 to 18years old; they run away fromhome for all sorts of reasons –exams, running away from school,family problems like abusive and

alcoholic fathers. Last week a group of 6 children ranaway from their school in Coimba-tore and told us that they came hereto see Marina beach. There are even cases of mentalhealth problems in the children werescued,” said Malini, Coordinator,Child India Foundation, ChennaiCentral. “Almost 90% of the cases, we wereable to contact the parents and reu-nite the children. Parents come down and collecttheir children. We have two bunkbeds here at our facility, and weprovide food and accommodationfor a week till the parents arrive.If it takes more than a week, thechildren are shifted to governmenthomes,” she added.

Malini also said that, though few,there are cases of child labour in thelast few months – runaway childrenwho start off as cleaners in tea stallsand other small hotels were sent toindustrial areas like Ambattur forwork. In such cases, it takes longertime to track the children, morethan two weeks. “We go for roundsonce every three hours, day andnight. If we find any unattendedchildren we bring them to our cen-tre. When these children arrive,some find work at tea stalls, me-chanic shops, and as hawkers sel-ling toys on streets. Within tendays, they are tired from the workand want to go home; they wanderaround on the platforms and wefind them,” said V Ganesh, staffmember at the NGO.

Runaway children

Wholesale vegetable vendors selling their produce at the Koyembedu Vegetable market. KANISHKA SARKAR

Children between ages 8 and 18 sitting on the footpath by the exit gate at ChennaiCentral Railway Station

Towards a Smoke-Free ChennaiChennai:The Prohibition ofSmoking in Public Places Rules,2008, seems to have reduced theinstances of people puffing awayin public, according to policesources. “There are very few offenders

we caught in the past few months.

Most people go out of the stationand smoke. They are very muchaware of the no-smoking rule inrailway stations and bus stands,”said V Mohan, Inspector RailwayProtection Force, Chennai CentralRailway Station.“The fine is just Rs. 200 and

there is no jail term according to thelaw. What we do is this: we takehim to the court, collect his identi-fication details and the magistratewould book a case and levy a fineof Rs. 200 and in all this process

the entire day is gone for the offen-der. So next time, he will be morecareful not to smoke in public pla-ces,” Mohan added. However, Sudarshan P, who is a

non-smoker said, “People who doit still do it; they even smoke in thebathrooms of trains. I know peoplewho were caught smoking in trains,

but they weren’t asked to get out ofthe train. But there is more aware-ness among the public for sure.They won’t stay quiet if someone issmoking around them in a publicspace.” L Ranganathan, who is a smoker,

said “I don’t smoke in public pla-ces as a matter of principle, but it isnot so strict otherwise. Usually eve-rywhere, if you are caught smokingthey charge you Rs.200 and let yougo. Sometimes they take you tocourt, but that is very rare.”

LAKSHMIKANTH K A

A college student smoking in front of the Institute of HotelManagement in Taramani LLAKSHMIKANTH K A

P. Sukumar, treasurer of the Koyambedu Vegetable andFlower market Association, said that the fluctuationsin supply due to weather change happened every year.However, this year owing to the good yield, and surplusproduce, prices unexpectedly dropped a lot.

LAKSHMIKANTH K A

Chennai: Siva Kumar, 31, is blind.A white-stick is his friend fromchildhood. He lives temporarily inThiruvikanagar and is a student ofTamil Language at the Internatio-nal Institute of Tamil Studies in Ta-ramani. "Coming to college andgoing back to my room every dayis hard for me. Using public trans-portation like bus and train is bur-den for people like us," said Kumarin his office. Lack of handicap-friendly in-

frastructure makes people like Ku-mar's life harder every day. Forexample, the Rajiv Gandhi Salai ITexpressway highway (45km) is amajor road connecting Chennaiwith Mahabalipuram, in Kanchipu-rum district, and local train (19.8km) connect Velacherry to ChennaiBeach are tough places for handi-cap people. The purpose of building these

networks are to make people to ac-cess it. But these infrastructures re-

main burden for those handicappeople. V. Karthick, 34, is an officer at

Directorate of Tamil EtymologicalDictionary project in Taramani. Hedoesn't have legs and has beenusing a wheelchair from his child-hood. "But it is a tough job for me to

attend office from house and a re-tune back," he said. Moreover,there is no wheelchair friendlystructure in his office too. "I haveto roll my body every day to climbto the first floor of my office,"Karthick added. The entire infrastructure in local

railway, express highway and go-vernment office's infrastructures isnot handicap friendly people. In local railway stations, there

are no facilities for wheelchair peo-ple. At Indiranagar railway station,there are big ladder steps, pyramidlike slope path where wheelchaircan't move up and down easily, andno proper toilet system for handi-cap people. S. Krishna Kumar, 58, is a tem-

porally handicap person. He had an

operation on his right leg knee. He became friends with a stick

for a few months. "But, I can't ea-sily walk around from Tiruvan-miyur (house) to Indiranagar," helamented. "Though, I am tempo-rary a handicap person I experien-ced many things in the short time."He questioned, "The train will stopfor two minutes here. But, how willa handicap person get into thetrain?" He said that government should

introduce the handicap friendlytrains, roads, stations, and offices assoon as possible.He added, "How a handicap per-

son can buy ticket at the busy sta-tion like the Central Station inChennai." An officer Karthick said that

even though government had giventhem a discount while travelling atthe bus, but a conductor took moremoney from them. "They will ask full money. So-

metime they also ask wheelchairmoney saying that it occupiedspace in the bus," he said.

JAGDISHOR PANDAY

LAKSHMIKANTH K A

Take care when you orderMIRAH ZAMIN

S. Krishna Kumar, 58, isa temporally handicapperson. He had anoperation on his right legknee. He became friends witha stick for a few months."But, I can't easily walkaround fromTiruvanmiyur (house) toIndiranagar," helamented. "Though, I amtemporary a handicapperson I experiencedmany things in the shorttime." He questioned,"The train will stop fortwo minutes here. But,how will a handicapperson get into thetrain?"

Lack of handicap-friendly infrastructure makes people likeKumar's life harder every day.

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CHENNAI March 16, 20184 THE WORD CITYSCAPE

Chennai: In a historic match, theTamil Nadu women's football teamrecently won the 23rd edition of theSenior Women's National FootballChampionship, lifting the nationaltitle on their first ever final. But the national champions, who

defeated their opponent Manipur 2-1,did not receive any prize money fortheir win. Their top player Indumathireceived a cash prize of Rs 25,000. This comes in sharp contrast to the

large sums of money that male foot-ball players receive during the IndianSuper League (ISL). ISL paid Atletico de Kolkata, the

winners last season, a cash prize of Rs8 lakh while other men's football tour-naments like the I-League, offer cashprizes worth Rs 1 crore.Defender Imdrani N said, "Foot-

ball doesn't cover my expenses, mostof us work part-time to earn enoughmoney to support our families. Prac-tice sessions often get interrupted be-cause some of us remain at work."Most players in the 20 member

women's team come from lower mid-dle class backgrounds and some of

them are the sole bread earners fortheir families."These girls are studying with the

support of the government. TheSports Development Association ofTamil Nadu (SDAT) has been coa-ching them since 2012, and some ofthem are still studying in college,"said coach Muruhuvendan.He added, “Football may be cat-

ching up in India, but women playingthe sport are yet to be taken as se-riously as the men's teams are. The si-tuation has improved after sportsinstitutes and private academies were

opened by the Sports Department ofTamil Nadu from 2003. These insti-tutes often provide free education andlodging, drawing more players in totrain."Battling all odds, the women in the

team remain hopeful about the future.The unequal pay and risky nature ofthe game does not unnerve them.Midfielder Geethanjali S said,"My

family arranged my marriage; theytold me they won't allow me to play.It was very hard to convince them butwe overcame everything and won thetournament.”

“Some of us have so many pro-blems like erratic menstrual timingsand the game can be extremely chal-lenging physically. By the end of thepractice sessions, we are left with noenergy for anything else."The Tamil Nadu police have a job

quota for female footballers and manyplayers quit football and take up thejob. Three girls in the team are studying

in Ethiraj College in Chennai andthey hope to use the sports quota tofind work afterwards. Midfielder Nandhini R said, "I just

want to make my country and my pa-rents proud. I have two siblings tolook after and unless I continue stu-dying, there are less chances of get-ting a job. We are restricted by age inthis game because we cannot keepplaying forever."Indumathi was named player of the

tournament and the final and has alsorepresented India at the Asian Games. The young player said, "My dream

is to play national and I will not quitfootball until I get there. As a sports-woman, you earn your respect and thehard work will surely amount to so-mething for all of us. I am extremelyhopeful."

Chennai: Meet A.V.Ilango whouses art for therapeutic purposes.In 1973, upon completing his

Masters in Mathematics at theBangalore University, A.V.Ilangotook up artistic research.This self taught artist grew up in

Gobichettipalayam in Coimbatoredistrict. The Blue Mountains with their

green carpet, and the Bhavani Rivernurtured the creative muse in him.Now based in Chennai, he teachesart at Ilango's Artspace. Childrenand adults attend his classes.Back then, there was no

electricity in his village. Whilesome families used kerosenelamps, some sat under the lamppost. Ilango spent his childhoodfishing and swimming along withthe water snakes. He recalls his first experiment

with art. “I was in my fifth gradewhen I used to draw caricatures ofmy grandmother on my slate.”Those were the times when he

abundantly enjoyed his life.“My wife gifted me 25 volumes

of Time and Life series. She was aFrench professor in Madurai,” he

recalls.In 1981 he had

his first show inAllianceFrançaise. One ofhis paintings wassold for Rs.800. “I was always

an angry youngman,” he says.The only way todeal with hisemotions wasthrough art. Ilango

continues totranslate his innerchaos into beautifulillustrations on a canvas. Hebelieves, “As an artist, I don’tretire. I keep running this endlessrace.”His favourite genre of art is

using space, line and form as theessential core of artistic practice.Through Chandra Ilango’s

Visual Art Foundation, started inloving memory of his wife, Ilangocontinues to support his wife’spassion for art by encouragingyoung artists. Ilango’s believes in the

traditional guru-sishya system. In a

society teeming with issues such asenvironmental degradation,poverty and violence, Ilango finds away to portray the reality throughhis nuanced sketches and painting. According to Ilango the journey

to self-discovery as an artist beginswith introspection andcontemplation. Through art Ilango revisits his

subconscious mind andcommunicates the desires of hisheart. “Art transcends, touchesyour soul and makes you happy,”says Ilango.

Chennai: Swimming poolsare going to be the place tobeat the heat this summer inChennai.The city has several swim-ming pools, both govern-ment-run and private, tocater to the large number ofpeople who swim, both pro-fessionally and for pleasure.The Marina Beach

stretch houses two swim-ming pools and a skatingrink. The Marina pool is oppo-

site Presidency College andit is maintained by theChennai Corporation. Thesecond one called the Annaswimming pool is locatedopposite the University ofMadras building. The Anna pool is the first

Olympic-size swimmingpool in Chennai and ismaintained by the Sports Development Authority ofTamil Nadu (SDAT). “The Anna pool is where most professional swim-

mers go to train in Chennai,” says Ajith. S, a nationallevel swimmer.The Tamil Nadu Government opened up several

swimming pools in the city to encourage the sport. TheMarina pool was opened as early as 1947. The SDATmaintains four pools- in Velachery, Shakti, Shenoynagar and Madras University. Other governmentowned-pools are maintained by the Chennai Corpora-tion.Public pools cost less and are therefore not well-

maintained. However, for people looking for a low-costoption, they are ideal. “If I’m practising every day, and I am not with a

swimming team, these are more feasible than the pri-

vate pools, which are usually in hotels,” says Ajith. However, compared to the other states, Chennai’s

public pools need improvement. “The changing rooms and swimming pool mainte-

nance is poor here in Chennai. In fact, most swimmingteams travel to Bangalore to practise during competi-tion season,” says Sharan, another swimmer. “Banga-lore has better facilities, even with their governmentpools as tthere are more swimmers,”he adds.Authorities say that they clean the pool and the was-

hrooms on an hourly basis but the visitors do not main-tain them. “The visitors pay no heed to cleanliness. They leave

the washrooms dirty and the pools too. They are re-quired to take a shower before getting into the pool butmost people jump in with dirty, muddy feet,” says Ra-jamani, maintenance staff at the Anna swimming pool.

Chennai: Trekkers should never takethe chance of entering a forest withoutobtaining permission from the ForestDepartment, said Anand Kumar,owner of Chennaibased Nature Trails NTreks.Kumar said he had

“seen a lot of forestfires during trekssince the companystarted ten yearsback”, His son Praveen

Christopher said“forest fires are so bigthat you can eitherspot smoke from adistance of 15 to 16km or you can smellit, so the forestofficials wouldalways know.”“More than the fun

of trekking, safety isimportant,” he added. Eleven trekkers

lost their lives whenthe forests in theKurangani hills inthe Theni district caught fire onSunday. The trekkers “went out on their

own without taking any permissionfrom the Forest Department and alsodid not follow the regular route,”Christopher said.

Kumar said “Before youundertake a trek, you have to inquirewith the particular area and seekpermission from the ForestDepartment. You have to pay a government fee

and a declaration is signed by all theparticipants.” People of late ventured

into forests without any knowledge ofthe terrain, natural calamities orwildlife, Christopher said. Forestguides must always accompanytrekkers. These guides or Anti-Poaching Watchers (APW),

appointed by the State Governmentwere residents of local tribalsettlements “who know the forests inand out”. They were also equippedwith wireless devices like “walkietalkies” to alert officials duringemergencies, because mobilenetwork receptivity was uncertain insuch areas, he added. Oishee Mitra, who recalled her

school trekking trip to Barsey inSikkim said that they neverconsidered forest fires. “We onlyconsidered animal attacks and the trekleader had first aid kits to treat snake

bites, insect stings, bruises, frostbites,sprains and fractures,” she said. Forprotection against animal attacks,firewood, rubber bullets and kniveswere carried. The school authoritiesconfirmed that the students were only

guided by their school teachers andthat no Forest department officialaccompanied them. To ensure safety,trekkers should always abide by rulesand regulations. The ForestDepartment staff would list outinstructions before the trekkersentered the forest. The trekkers shouldalways wear dark colours for“camouflage”. They should“maintain silence,” so as to ensurethat wildlife was not disturbed.Cigarettes should not be taken insidethe forests, because “forests aremostly dry” and caught fire easily.

Chennai: Five years back theGreater Chennai Corporation builta running track along the BesantNagar Beach but with time thetrack is in ‘no use condition’ andcovered with sand.“The track was never made even;

they had used stones of differentsizes to build the walking track.And, with time the wind broughtsand from the beach,” says PrakashJaganathan, a resident of BesantNagar.The senior citizen group ofBesant Nagar has initiated a driveto clean the track and is waiting toget permission from the corpora-tion.“We wrote several times to thecorporation to remove the sand co-vering the running tracks but noheed was paid to the request and sowe have decided to do it on ourown,” says V. Chandrasekar, presi-dent of the group. “We are waiting for permission

from the corporation because if westart removing sand, the corpora-tion will file a case against ussaying we are sand mining at thebeach,” he adds.

Walking on the roads is difficultfor senior citizen owing to the mor-ning rush. The road is used by thechildren and young for cycling andskating which makes the area acci-dent prone for senior members whocome for a walk.“My wife and I both have arth-

ritis we cannot walk fast, the wal-king track gave us that freedom towalk on our own pace, but withsand covering the uneven surfacewalking is not possible now on thetrack,” says K. Jayakumar.Subha, Jayakumar’s wife, says

“On both sides of the track there isa raised platform to sit, for seniorcitizen like us we could take restwhen tired.” The Vendors are res-ponsible for the litter.Sundar, a general physician, says

“At night the vendors take over thetrack and use it to put up stalls, veryoften one can find pieces of glass,plastic and left over food on thewalking track in the morning.” A group of five sexagenarians

had nurtured a row of trees on thewalking track which were cut bythe corporation to lay the track. “After our trees were cut down,

we again have planted saplings andwe water them every day but withsand absorbing all the water theplants don’t grow,” says L. Anitha,resident of Kasturba Nagar.

Chennai: “Jai Hind,” Nehru wouldrepeat thrice at the end of everyspeech, each time louder andlouder. However, in 1950, whenSukarno, Indonesia’s first Presidentwas visiting the Delhi University(DU) for the convocationceremony, he ended his speech byrepeating “Jai Hind” thrice. Nehru wasn’t someone to lag

behind in style, and he ended hisspeech by saying ‘Merdeka’ thrice.In Bahasa Indonesia, it meansfreedom, and was the cry of theIndonesians, when they struggledagainst Dutch imperialism.Such was the fondness the two

leaders had for each other, and thisstands testimony to the kind ofrelationship the two nations had “What is fascinating about

Indonesia is its pride in its culturalheritage. This pride in culture, wedo not have. And it’s unfortunatethat we don’t,” said ProfessorV.Suryanarayan, a specialist inSouth and Southeast Asian studies.He was talking at the launch of

his book on India-Indonesiarelations.The book, ‘’Together instruggle: India and Indonesia 1945-1949’ was launched at the PressInstitute of India, Taramani. Thebook focuses most importantly onthe inspiration that India was to theIndonesian Nationalist leadersduring their struggle than won themfreedom on August 17, 1945, fromDutch colonial rule. Talking about India’s cultural

contributions to Indonesia,M.Ganapathy retired IFS officerand Chief Guest at the event said:“There is an image of Sarawsatioutside the Indonesian embassy inWashington. Interestingly, evenSukarno’s name comes from thename of one of the characters in theMahabharata, Karna. Such isIndonesia’s ‘syncretic culture’.”The book narrates an instance

from when Sukarno and his wifePadmavati visited Pakistan. ThePakistani media went into a frenzyabout a Muslim woman with aHindu name, and one of thenewspapers said: “Sukarno, with

his wife Fatima, is coming toPakistan today”.Speaking of his inspiration to

write the book, Suryanarayan saidthat it was his encounters withjournalist turned IFS officerP.R.S.Mani that motivated him towrite on this subject. P.R.S.Maniwas a Captain in the British armydeployed in Indonesia in 1944 tofight against the nationalist forces.His dispatches from the time arethe only existent account of anIndian about the said events. Theway many Indian troopers desertedthe British army to fight on the sideof the Indonesians is an interestingaspect of his dispatches. He laterworked as a foreign correspondentfor the Free Press Journal. “There are a lot of

commonalities between thefreedom struggles of both thesenations. And the events inIndonesia’s freedom struggle arediscussed by the professor throughthe lives of leading men of the timelike Sukarno and MohammadHatta. Western Scholars have for

years sidelined this contribution ofIndia to Indonesia’s struggle but noother country has helped it as muchas we have,” said Ganapathy,adding that this book could nothave been written by anyone better.However, after Sukarno’s years,

India-Indonesia ties faltered due toa number of reasons. Sukarno wasthe guest at India’s Republic DayCelebrations in 1950, but after thatit was only in 2011 that a leaderfrom the country was invited tograce the Republic Daycelebrations, said Ganapathy.But now, there is a revamp in

India’s relations with Indonesia, hesaid. However, the author pointedout that Prime Minister NarendraModi had not yet paid an officialvisit to Indonesia. M.R.Sivaraman, retired IAS

officer and former RevenueSecretary pointed out how thetimes that followed the period indiscussion were extremelytumultuous for Indonesia andsuggested the idea for a sequel tothis new book.

KALYANI S.

They launched an era of togetherness

it was the friendship between Nehru and Sukarno thatsowed the seeds for the relationship between the twocountries that we see today. MERDEKA.COM

2 crores spent five yearsago to build these tracks.

MIRAH ZAMIN

No place to run or walkMIRAH ZAMIN

One of the Nature Trails’ N Treks trip to Pambadum Shola National Park PRAVEEN CHRISTOPHER ANAND

MEHNAZ YASMIN

Treks safe only if rules arefollowed: Chennai trekkers

During summers, many children take to swimming to beat theheat at the Dolphin Swimming Academy in Chennai

TRAVELLERSWORLDWIDE.COM

Chennai swimming poolshave seen better days KATHELENE REENA

The girls practice rigourously on a daily basis THE NEW INDIAN EXPRESS

No hurdle big enough forWomen's football team

Therapy for inner selfwith the paint brush

A.V. Ilango creating one of hismasterpieces ALCHETRON

S. KANIMOZHILAHOMA BHATTACHARYA

Maintenance is poor, say swimmers

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