LAB JOURNAL OF THE ASIAN COLLEGE OF JOURNALISMRFID tags fornewborns

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Wide variety atShort Film Festival

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Volume No 19Issue No 4

February 22, 2019

Parties line up in TN ahead of LS electionsAIADMK-BJP alliance Allying to fight Modi govtChennai: After days ofspeculation, the ruling AIADMKfinally announced on February 20Tuesday its decision to join handswith the BJP to contest the LokSabha elections in Tamil Naduand Pondicherry expected to beheld in April-May this year..Of the 39 seats and one in

Pondicherry, the AIADMK hasoffered 5 seats to the BJP and 7seats to another ally, the PattaliMakkal Katchi (PMK).Seat sharing talks with the

DMDK are still reportedly goingon with the DMDK leaderVijayakanth insisting that hisparty be treated on par with thePMK.The AIADMK and the BJP

announced their alliance at theend of their meeting in Chennaion Tuesday afternoon.Union Railway Minister

Piyush Goyal, who was the BJP’s

representative for the meetinginstead of BJP President AmitShah, Union Minister PonRadhakrishnan and BJP StatePresident TamilisaiSoundararajan took part in thetalks with Tamil Nadu ChiefMinister Edapaddi KPalaniswami and Deputy ChiefMinister O Panneerselvam.Piyush Goyal said, “All parties

will work together and strengthenthe BJP-ledNational DemocraticAlliance. All the 40 seats will bewon by the NDA under theleadership of Prime MinisterNarendra Modi, Edappadi KPalanaswamy andPanneerselvam.”“Our job together will be to

carry forward the legacy that“Amma” left behind and servethe people of Tamil Nadu to thebest of our ability,” he added,referring to former chief ministerJayalalithaa.The AIADMK’s decision has

received mixed reaction. Someare of the opinion that joininghands with the BJP will help inthe development of the state. However, Sam Pradeep, who

works as a journalist inSatyamTV said that allowing theBJP to gain a stronghold in TamilNadu would only help it preachits Hindutva agenda in the state,something many local people areworried about. Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi

(VCK) President TholThirumavalavan pointed out thatthe AIADMK’s alliance with theBJP would work against thepublic sentiment and improve theprospects of a DMK alliance withhis party. Thirumavalavan said “The

anti-incumbency factor will workagainst them. Moreover, thepeople of Tamil Nadu will neveraccept the BJP coming intocontention in this region becauseof their apathy towards thereligious jingoism.”“Previously, there was a wave

in favour of Prime MinisterNarendra Modi but now the partyis suffering setbacks. The resultcan be seen in Karnataka and inrecent elections as well. And weall know what kind of activitiesthe RSS carries out so there isvery little chance of the BJPgaining ground here.” he said.Vinoj P. Selvam, President of

the BJP’s Youth wing in TamilNadu said, “We are looking formore likeminded parties to jointhe alliance and bringdevelopment in Tamil Nadu.” Taking a dig at DMK, he said,

“The alliance was important tofight against the left orientedparties like DMK which areagainst development.”

Chennai: The Opposition DMK(Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam)and the Congress announced analliance to fight the upcomingparliamentary election.DMK leader MK Stalin said in

Arivalayam that the DMK wouldgive the Congress nine seats inTamil Nadu and one seat inPuducherry.Stalin added that ”the alliance

is only for the Parliamentaryelection and party will decidelater about alliance in the by-elections to 21 legislativeassembly seats. Theconstituencies to be contestedwould be decided only after theDMK signed alliance with otherlike- minded parties.DMK spokesperson Tamilan

Prasanna said,”This grandalliance is to fight against theModi government which hasdestroyed the secular fabric of thenation.” Both the Congress and

the DMK have this basicprinciple of upholdingsecularism in the country and thishad made them join hands for thesixth time in a parliamentaryelection. Prasanna recalled the words of

the late DMK leader Karunanidhiwho would say “self governmentin State and alliance at theCentre.”“We do have some differences

with Congress but we will push adevelopment agenda with thisalliance,” he added.Prasanna criticized the alliance

between the BJP and theAIADMK as one driven bymoney and not by ideology as theDMK-Congress alliance was.CPI (M) spokesperson

R.Sindhan said, ”The Congress-DMK alliance is better as it atleast has an agenda but theAIADMK alliance is just powerand money driven to continue thepuppet rule of the BJP in TamilNadu.”

”Alliance politics as such is notbad but it has to push somedevelopment like how CPI (M)pushed many social developmentschemes like MNREGA in UPA-2(2009-2014),” he added.However BJP Yuva Morcha

leader, Vinoj P.Selvam said,”Thisalliance has no great agenda; itonly has an anti developmentagenda and will instigate peopleagainst big projects that arebrought by BJP to Tamil Nadu.”Selvam said everyone was

criticizing PMK leader RAnbumani for joining the BJP-AIADMK alliance; but for thelast six months even Stalin hadbeen saying that the DMK wouldnot forge an alliance with theCongress.Meanwhile it is said that the

Congress had been pushing theDMK to give actor KamalHassan’s MNM (Makkal NeedhiMaiyam) at least one seat and thatthe DMK was totally opposed toit.

Congress and DMK party leaders after forging an alliance in Arivalayam

VIVANESH PARTHIBAN

BJP state chief Tamilisai Soundararajan, Deputy ChiefMinister O Panneerselvam, Chief Minister EPalaniswami and Union Minister Piyush Goyal aftersealing the deal for the alliance

SWAPNAJIT KUNDU

Chennai: Local pharmacies in thecity saw a dip in their sales after aDivision Bench of the Madras HighCourt stayed a ban on the onlinesale of medicines on January 2 thisyear. “Say if a doctor prescribes ten

medicines, many patients come tous only to purchase one or twomedicines that they can’t findonline. Even on those, they ask fordiscounts at par with the onlineseller which isn’t feasible for us,”said S Shanmugam (39), a chemistwho owns a retail store in Adyar. Shanmugam added that people

purchased medicines online eitherwithout a prescription or byuploading a copy of the same,

which was risky as there wereinstances where forged or even oldprescriptions were used to getscheduled drugs. Showing an image of a

prescription he had received from apatient on WhatsApp, he explainedhow the medication prescribed wasodd and why no doctor generallygave it to patients. He pointed outthe seal on it without any signatureand that everything else on it wasvisible except the date. He said thatsuch things need to be verified and,in this regard, online platforms area loophole patients use to buy drugsotherwise not sold in the market. Some drugstore owners blamed

the Central Government fordelaying the law to regulate onlinedrug trade.“The Centre has asked

for six months time to formulaterules for online trade of medicinesand to make amendments to theexisting Drug and Cosmetics Act,1940, that governs the sale of drugsin India. They probably want towait till the elections are over sincethey know that our community (oflocal pharmacists) won’t vote forthem if they don’t meet ourconcerns,” said G Thiyagarajan,owner of Guna & Co Pharmacyand Secretary, Chennai district unitof the Tamil Nadu Chemists andDruggists Association (TNCDA). “We have been in the business

for almost 60 years now and wehave a diverse inventory so wedon’t fear competition from theseonline sellers. We have a loyalcustomer base and their trust in us

is high. The threat is to the smallchemists who don’t have a biginventory and storage space and areunable to sustain their businessesowing to unfair competition fromthe e-pharma companies,” hefurther added.According to Thiyagarajan, sale

of online medicines is risky as thereis little or no accountability. Cases of malpractices,

counterfeit drugs, delayed deliveryof drugs needed urgently andabsence of regulation is rampant inthis online trade which exposes thecustomers to risks of all sorts. Hecited a case wherein a customer hadordered a Pantocid (Sun Pharma)which costs around Rs 9 per tabletbut had received Omeprazole(same brand) which costs around

Rs 4. Online sellers resort to suchprofit making mechanisms, heexplained. S Manikandan, owner of Sippy

Medical and Surgicals, added thate-pharmacies offered discounts ashigh as 25 per cent while theregular drugstores’ profit marginwas only around 18 per cent.“Hence, we can’t compete on thatfront with these online traders,” headded. Thiyagarajan said that the

members of the TNCDA knew thatthere was no stopping these onlineplayers from entering thepharmaceutical market. Hence,what the local pharmacists werenow seeking was a strict statutoryframework to regulate the onlinesale and distribution of medicines.

TANYA KHANDELWAL

We do have somedifferences with

Congress but we will pusha development agenda

with this alliance. -Tamilan Prasanna

(DMK spokesperson)

All the 40 seats will bewon by the NDA under theleadership of PrimeMinister Narendra Modi, EdappadiK Palaniswami and Panneerselvam.-Piyush Goyal(Union Railway Minister)

What decides the vote of youth in Tamil Nadu?Chennai: A majority of the youth in TamilNadu surveyed by The Word prefer to votefor a party with a strong ideology rather thanother considerations.The survey was conducted with a sample

size of 136 middle class and upper middleclass urban and sub-urban youth in the agegroup 18 to 30. The youth vote on the basisof ideology, charisma of the leader,environmental concerns, identity, policiesand schemes, caste and family influence. The current trend in social media and main

stream media also has someinfluence. The two factorsstrongly ingrained areDravidian ideology and Tamilidentity. The other thing whichthe urban youth seek is jobcreation especially in theprivate sector. The Caste factorhas the least influence.However, the leaders of the

youth wings of some politicalparties had a different view.R.Sindhan, CPI(M) youth

wing leader, said, ”If ideologyis the main criterion then evenHindutva is an ideology andthe ideology which is deeplyingrained in Tamil Nadu is theDravidian ideology but thathas been now diluted over theyears.”However, Sinthan said that

since the sample group had more of urbanyouth, the ideology factor might hold true. “Itis not just one factor, but rather multiplefactors and the events in the last 6 monthsbefore the elections that influence the youtha lot.”One good thing was that the influence of

caste was very weak among the Chennaiyouth but this didn’t hold good for the Konguand Madurai belt, he added. DMK spokesperson Tamilan Prasanna was

dismissive of the role of the youth and theirinfluence.“The youth are too superficialabout political happening and over react tothe things in social media. They are carriedaway by the fake news and hear only one sideof the story. Many youth just plan for a filmon the day of election and this is their dutytowards state,” he said.Countering the DMK spokesperson’s

view, BJP Yuva Morcha leader, Vinoj P.Selvam said,”The youth are well aware ofthings and vote for the party which givesdevelopment.”The youth in Tamil Nadu were sometimes

misguided against development but now theywere slowly realizing it, he said. Prime Minister Naranedra Modi “won in

2014 election mainly because the youth in

the country followed him and even now hehas the charisma to pull them,” he added.Edumbavanam Karthikeyan, youth wing

member in Naam Tamilar Katchi (NTK)said,”Ideology and identity played asignificant role but only if they werepropagated by a strong leader.”However, “the younger generation is

devoid of the knowledge of their ancient pastand fell prey to distorted facts and speechesby Dravidian parties,” he added. Tamil Nadu Youth Party leader Dr. Raja

Sekar said “The youth cast their vote basedon the recent trends in the media; so themedia has a great role in swinging the votes.”Ilaya Thalaimurai leader, Shankar said,

“The present generation of youth is not muchdifferent from the last generation becausethey don’t have a bare minimum agenda topresent to the politicians.”“For example if you take an unemployed

youth he thinks he is the reason behind hisunemployment and forgets to question thegovernment which is responsible for theunemployment problem,” he added.Calling for increased political awareness,

he said “There are still youth who don’t knowthe difference between election of an MLAand an MP.”Survey results on voting patterns

VIVANESH PARTHIBAN

Running out of space for

the deadChennai: At the Kilpauk cemetery,450 burial vaults resembling lockerroom boxes line the three buildings.The multi-tier vault system wasbuilt in 2007 to combat overcrow-ding in the cemetery, but were fil-led to capacity within eight years.“One of my relatives gave a

party to her friends when her burialspace clearance came through after20 years,” says Michelle AnnJames (28). According to her, ac-quiring space for burials is a chro-nic problem in Chennai.Opened in 1903 under the British

rule, the Kilpauk cemetery reachedits full capacity in 2005, after ha-ving 50,000 bodies buried in its 18acre space. It is owned by the Ma-dras Cemeteries Board Trust, a ma-nagement body for the burial ofChristians of all denominations.“The board previously owned

the Quibble Island cemetery, whichis now closed for burials too. TheKasimedu Cemetery under theboard is filling up fast and shouldbe closed soon enough too,” said aformer MCBT member.“The trust did not plan well

enough for the future generations.Now the problem is so big that citi-zens have to travel 25-30 kilome-ters to bury the dead in the city’soutskirts. There they get into con-flicts with village and town chiefs.The last option remains to buy pri-vate land,” he added.“The multi tier vault system at

Kilpauk filled up faster than expec-ted. The 450 vaults can be reusedafter 7 to 13 years, but only forother family members. We also re-commend ash burial for which onlyone foot space is needed and can beprovided easily by us. We also en-courage cremations, but that is

usually only done by Indians livingabroad,” says S. Jayashankar, se-cretary of the MCBT. According to Bosco Alangar

Raja, treasurer of the MCBT, ashburial and cremation are not popu-lar due to religious implications."The body is supposed to be intactfor resurrection later," he says. Buthe hopes that awareness willspread, and more people will startlooking at more viable options forresting their loved ones after death. He adds that the Board has been

putting pressure on Chennai Cor-poration to supply Poromboke(wasteland) for more burial spacebut that there have been no replies. "Right now the cemeteries in

Mandaveli, Poonamallee, and Ka-simedu are being used. But thesewill soon fill up, and the only spaceleft will be for family burials. I un-derstand that it is not so easy to ac-quire the uninhabited land forburials, but time is running out andthere are also issues with the cor-rect and appropriate time for reope-ning graves, as there is no officialfigure given," he adds. When Shanti Corera's mother

died, she was buried in her grand-mother's grave at St Rock's ceme-tery in Royapuram. "Due to lack ofspace, my grandmother's grave wasopened, and since only her boneswere there, they were shifted to asmaller space within the grave andmy mother was buried in the samespace," she says. That has become the custom

with many cemeteries now openonly for family burials. A letter pin-ned in the Kilpauk cemetery officeboard lists the documents neededfor family burials- a doctor's certi-ficate; church letter; previous list ofmembers buried; no objection let-ter signed by family members and arequest letter.

VIDUSHI SAGAR

Local pharmacies against online drug sale

| SAM PRADEEP

Seat share may change for AIADMKand DMK with entry of new parties

| AR

IJIT

SAHA

| VIVANESH P

Edition 4 Page 1_Layout 1 2/25/2019 10:47 AM Page 1

CHENNAI February, 22 20192 THE WORD CITYSCAPE

Premium burden for autoCHENNAI: The increasedinsurance premium has emerged asa cause for concern for many autodrivers in Chennai.

“As it is the insurance premiumwas quite high before. Now it hasskyrocketed to a point where it isbecome impossible to pay,” says

V. Dinesh Kumar (33), an autodriver based in Taramani. Therecent hike has seen insurancepremium rise up to Rs. 9,000 permonth.

According to Murugan Mani(37), who does regular trips toBesant Nagar – “I read the newsabout the Coimbatore auto-rickshaw drivers’ protest. AlthoughI’ve taken a private insurance formy vehicle, I think it is unfair forthe government insurance agenciesto force people to cough up somuch money.” According to arecent article in The Hindu, severalmembers of the auto rickshaw

drivers’ trade unionsstaged aprotest condemning the increase invehicle insurance premium.

“We are yet to sit together andhave a discussion about it. Beforewe take any action, we want tomake sure that we can gather alarge number of people who feelthe same burden as us.” saysMurugavel K., a member of theauto-rickshaw workers’ union in

Taramani which is affiliated toCITU.

Section 147 of the MotorVehicles Act, 1988 makes therequirement of an insurance policymandatory for all vehiclesincluding auto-rickshaws.Currently, the United IndiaInsurance Company offers a‘Package policy’ which covers –‘loss or damage to the

vehicleand/or accessories due toaccidents, fire, burglary and theft,terrorist activity, riot, strike andmalicious damage, earthquakes,floods, cyclones and landslides.’The company also offers a‘Liability Only policy’ whereby theinsured's legal liability fordeath/disability and a loss of life ofthe third party or damage to theirproperty is paid for. Auto rickshawdrivers also rely on the otherbenefits like compensation up toRs. 1 lakh for accidental death ordisability assured to them as a partof Unorganised Workers WelfareBoards.

According to the data fromTamil Nadu Manual Worker’sWelfare Board, there are currently2,14,521 registered workers ofwhich only 55.2% (1,18,450 arebeneficiaries.

The sanctioned board, as ofDecember 31, 2018, has sanctionedRs. 3.45 crore towards the welfareschemes.

Few takers for Metro nowChennai: Almost a week after thecommencement of new metro linefrom AG-DMS in Teynampet toWashermenpet in North Chennai,only a few commuters are makingmake use of the facility due toincreased fares and lack of networkconnectivity throughout thejourney.

Thousands boarded the trainswhen they were offered free ridesfor three days after the line wasinaugurated on Sunday (February10).

“I travelled on the first day ofinauguration. The train was almostcrowded. I use the metro rarely,when I am running short of time. Icannot afford it daily,” saidBhanuprasanth, a softwareengineer from Saidapet.

The fares are Rs. 40 for NormalClass and Rs. 80 for Special Class.Travel cards are provided based onthe number of trips as 10, 30 or 60rides at a discount of 20 percent.

Bala Amudhanadhan, President ,Advocate Association , said “Lackof networks is the major issue inthe underground metro rail route.When there is an emergency,especially for women, they cannotcontact anyone.

There are police patrols at busstops and the railway police can becontacted in the other trains, itwould be great if similar service is

started in metro as well.,” For some language is a problem.S. Harikrishnan, an automobile

marketing executive, said “Most ofthe staff do not speak English.Chennai has people from different

regions of the country as well aspeople from abroad; hence it isnecessary to hire staff who speakmultiple languages mainly at theticket counter and the boardingpoints to guide the passengersappropriately.,”

JayanthiP, Advocate, Practising in the Chennai high court said,”Iuse metro when I am in short oftime. I can’t afford to use it daily.Monthly pass service with adiscount can be provided”

G. Gopinath, Income Taxinspector, said “On Sundays thetrain services commence only by 8in the morning while it starts by

5:30 AM the rest of the week. Most of the flights and trains

reach at night. If metro wasfunctional throughout the nightwith necessary security measures,then it would be useful.,”

“There are only a few feederservices. If adequate feederservices are provided then it wouldattract few more people to use themetro,” he added.

According to The Hindu theofficials at the Chennai Metro RailLimited (CMRL) have claimed thatthe crowd was coming back to themetro.

CMRL wanted to improveconnectivity for commuters in afew months to help office-goers.

An NRI passenger said “Metrohelps in taking the congestion offthe road. I can reach the airportquicker and compared to an autofrom Guindy to the Airport, metrocosts less. If the tickets areprovided at cheaper rates then extracare must be taken on maintainingcleanliness. Digital maps can be putup in the train.”

According to the CMRLofficials, dynamic maps are to beintroduced in the metro.

The new map will show theroute through which the commuterstravel and also the subsequentstations.

It will also have advertisementsthrough which the Chennai MetroRail can earn some revenue.

Students unwilling to take NEET

Chennai: A. Sneha, studying XII, isthe only student from her class of54 students in Government HigherSecondary School, Thoraipakkam,to go for training classes in JaiGopal Goradia Girls High Schoolin Nangainallur. With the boardexams now approaching, she hasshifted her focus from NationalEligibility cum Entrance Test(NEET) to the former. Though theschool authorities say there are 12students who were inclined towardstaking the medical entrance exam,only four of them, one from XIIand three from XI, actually attendthe coaching classes offered by theState government.

Sneha, whose practical examsare starting on Saturday, said, “Lastyear, there was a screening test forus, at the beginning of the classes.Based on our performance,

students were selected for NEETcoaching classes.”

The classes are usually held onthe weekends (Saturday andSunday), from 9.30 am to 4.30 pmin selected schools, like one each inNangainallur, Mylapore andAlwarpet. “But, the classes havebeen suspended for quite some timenow. After the teachers’ strike lastmonth, we haven’t had anyclasses,” she added.

The Principal of the School, whois also a coordinator atSathyabhama Institute of Scienceand Technology (Sholinganallur),which has been made into atraining institute of NEET forgovernment school kids, said, “Wechose only bright ones from thosewho applied for NEET from ourschool. Those who passed the testhave been going for classes.”

Speaking about the traininginstitute, she said, “At this institute,

there are students coming from 32districts. Of them, only one boyfrom Cuddalore got admission intoone of the State medical collegeslast year. The classes ran for nearlya month after the board exams.There is no compromise in thequality of education. Moreover,these are smart classes. The job ofthe teachers, holding a PG degree,is only to clear their doubts.”

According to the Principal ofVelachery Government HigherSecondary School, which too hasonly few students, the reasonbehind a poor representation ofstudents from government schoolsin NEET classes is because they arenot hard working like theircounterparts in private schools,where a strict regimen is followedin studies. “All of them choose aneasy way out and end up takingparamedical courses,” she said.

All four schools that were

surveyed had improvement interms of the number of studentsgoing for classes when compared tolast year; Velachery school saw anincrease from 6 to 14, Perungudischool-from 2 to 4, Arignar AnnaGovernment School(Taramani)-from 0 to 2 students andThoraipakkam school-from 3 to 4students.

All these schools also concurredon one point that there is a lack ofinterest among students. In all ofthese five schools, even when therewas no NEET, there was not onethat got into medical colleges, butthey also agree that getting into oneof these was a lot easier through themarks based on XII, , than takingan exam which is not even based ontheir syllabus.

As per Times of India report,there is a 17% increase in thenumber of applicants from 1.2 lakhin 2017-18 to 1.4 lakh in 2018-19.

CHENNAI: The Institute ofMental Health has changed its ageold green uniforms, for the inmates,to ones with colourful floral prints.

According to the MentalHealthcare Act 2017, patients havethe right to wear their personalclothes and should not be forced towear uniforms applied by theorganisation.

IMH’s Director P. PoornaChandrika said, “We are trying toapply what the act mandates aboutnot forcing inmates to wearuniforms.We are trying to break thestigma about colours such as green,blue and violet that they indicatemental illness.”

“On a steady pace we’ll beenforcing the practice of letting theinmates wear their own clothes andfor those who don’t have theirpersonal clothes we’ll get floralprint materials and give themstitched dresses.”

An article in Scientific Americandescribes the theory of “colour

cure,” which was first used in amental asylum in Wards Island tocure mental illnesses likedepression or melancholy (inbright, red rooms), violentbehaviour (with calming blue orgreen), insanity (using purplerooms), or mania (with blackrooms).

“Colours do have an impact onthe mental health of a person but itdiffers with changing perspectives.Colour theory is used to createenvironments that feel safe, healingand inspiring.”

“Similarly, it is believed thatdifferent colours can inducespecific emotional or mental statesthat can change mood, the level ofanxiety, or the individual’sperception,” added Dr. Chandrika.

Earlier, in 2009, nearly 2000 setsof new uniforms were distributed tothe inmates as a part of the socialinitiative of the Rajasthan CosmoClub Foundation.

After that this is the first timewhen the culture of wearing greenuniforms is being broken.

The institute has been trying tosensitise its employees for thischange and looks like they arebeing positive about it.

“How will you feel if you haveto wear the same clothes everyday?It becomes very monotonous andcan have a negative affect of thesepatients.”

“ We made sure to let them weartheir personal clothes during theirrecreational activities and theywere very happy about it. So, wewant to follow that tradition onregular days as well and bring asplash of colour and prints to theirlife,” said Arunachalam Shanti, astaff nurse at IMH.

As the act is progressing, theinstitute is trying to adapt to seeingcolourful printed clothes on thecampus.

“It is okay for the inmates towear them as it’ll only help inmaking their conditions better,”said Dr. Chandrika.

The State’s ‘Differently AbledPension Scheme’ does not providefor the mentally ill.

Muthulakshmi (35) cannot leaveher house after 8 p.m. for fear ofbeing robbed or harassed. This wasnot the case at her previous homein Surya Nagar, Kotturpuram.

Two years ago, she moved toPerumbakkam's resettlementcolony with the promise of apermanent home with betteramenities.

But now, she, like many others,faces a plethora of problems fromunemployment issues to poorlybuilt houses, largely unaddressedby the authorities.

"There is only one police boothin the colony, and no police officertakes regular rounds around thearea despite constant incidents. Theproblem has increased due to lackof streetlights in our block, anddespite making requests to the localadministration they have not beeninstalled. Men out of work donothing but drink alcohol everydayand cause trouble," saidMuthulakshmi, resident of Block Cand former member of SaadhaniPengal (women of achievement), alocal body formed to address civic

issues.Nagarajan(40) has been

unemployed since a year of movinghere from Anna Nagar where hehad been a Tandoori cook. He hadto quit his job after moving since itcost him too much to travel backand forth from work every day.

"That's the case with a lot ofpeople here. The government doesnot realise that they are moving usaway from our jobs," he said. Tomake ends meet, his wife nowworks as a housekeeper nearTeynampet.

"The Tamil Nadu SlumClearance Board provides trainingto people for jobs nearby.

However, even that has aproblem as only those who havestudied till 8th standard are eligiblefor it," said Ramai (28) a residentand member of Uravugal, an NGOworking in the colony.

According to Vettivel (33), aresident advocate, people movedreadily to the area after the 2015November floods.

However, within just a few yearsof living, the poor quality ofconstruction began to plague theinhabitants. "In the building where

I live there is a lift, so the residentshave to pay Rs. 750 for themaintenance cost, versus thenormal amount of Rs. 250. And yet,the lift malfunctions every otherweek, often leaving a persontrapped inside for hours before the

electrician comes for repair," hesaid. He added that the water pipeswere of substandard quality andresulted in damp walls.dotted withgreen algae, attracting 'kosus'(mosquitoes) in big amounts andcausing dengue.

Using colour to curemental health patients

Resettled in a pile of problems

Radio Frequency Identification Tags for the newborns protection

SRINJOY DEY

Autorickshaw drivers protest against hike in insurance costs

The number of Metro commuters have started dwindling

SRUTHI

Baby with RFID tag in GKMC Hospital HINDU

ANUSHKA DEEPAK

Chennai: The Government KilpaukMedical College (GKMC) Hospitalhas introduced Radio FrequencyIdentification (RFID) Tags toprevent the “theft” of babies in thehospital.

These systems are widely usedby leading hospitals to maintain asystematic record of patients,doctors and equipment. Thisapplication can provide significantbenefits to the healthcare industryby ensuring patient’s safety bytagging them and updating theirdata. It also helps managedistribution of medications, andprevent theft.

The RFID in the GKMC hospitalalerts the security staff with an

alarm, if the baby is carried byanyone else other than the motherand the patient attendant. Thesecurity system has a display andscanners attached to computersoftware to give the informationwith photographs of the baby,mother and the attendant.

The photographs of the newborn,mother and the respective attendantwill be taken and stored in thesystem for the process and tags willbe issued to all three.

Dr.K. Vasanthamani, Dean ofKMC, said, “The mother willreceive green tag and the attendantwill wear orange on their necks.While the RFID tag for the babywill be on the ankle.”

“When the mother moves thebaby, the screen will show pictures

of the baby and mother with agreen background. And if thepatient attendant holds baby thebackground color will be orange.Whereas if a stranger is carryingthe baby the system will notrecognize it and the back groundwill be red, indicating danger,” sheadded.

The siren alaram has beeninstalled a little away from theentrance of the ward.So that it willbe eaiser to alert security. In amonth more than 500 deliveriestake place at Government KilpaukMedical Hospital, said Dr.Vasanthamani.

A report in The Times of Indiasaid that at least five children gomissing in the state each day. Themove came after repeated incidents

of baby thefts were reported to thehospital administration.

The RFID system was firststarted in the goverment GeneralHospital In Madurai three yearsago and was expandedtoGovermeny hospital for womenand children, Egmore and KasturbaGandhi Hospital last year.

R. Mahadur, who recently gavebirth at the Kilpauk MedicalHospital said, “I am now feelingcomfortable with this new securitysystem. And I think people wouldfeel secure and confident to deliverin government hospitals.”

“It’s good to see that thegovernment is taking adequatesteps and measures to stop babytheft. Hope this system getsimplemented in all hospitals.

VIDUSHI SAGAR

Block C in the Perumbakkam colony NIKITASINGH

I use the metro rarely, when Iam running short of time. Icannot afford it daily -Bhanuprasanth, softwareengineer

Schools say difficulty in the syllabus is a primary reason for thisSHRAVANI NELLORE

Covering the premium has become impossible

SONAM CHOKI

SRINJOY DEYSOHEIB AHSAN

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CHENNAI February 22, 20193 THE WORDCITYSCAPE

Organic farming gains tractionSans chemicals and middlemen, it is providing impetus to both farmers and buyersTANYA KHANDELWAL

Cops-students

join handsChennai: In what is termed to bethe first-of-a-kind student-policeinteraction organised at PoliceHeadquarters here on Saturday,Director General of Police TKRajendran, IPS emphasised theneed for participation of students inensuring a safe society. “Students play a centric role inamplifying the good work done bythe police by dispelling falserumours. Nowadays, there is agreater concern over the menacespread on the social media sites,”said Rajendran. Exhorting students to beambassadors of police, AdditionalDirector General of Police C.Sylendra Babu, IPS, added, “Amisconception of police isprevalent in the minds of thepeople. A policeman is not a God.We cannot bring about a justsociety without help from public.Students should build the gapbetween us and the people.” The three-hour-long interactionincluded a panel discussion on theimage of the police in society, theimportance of community policing,leveraging technology for people’s

needs and finally, on the variousapps and websites that are designedto make hassle-free complaint-registering process. “In a first, the Tamil Nadu policehave made themselves accessible toeveryone more easily. We can havea direct conversation on our socialmedia sites, which is alwaysactive,” said Dr. M. Ravi IPSADGP (Headquarters). B Shridevi, Additional DeputySuperintendent of Police, PoliceComputer Wing, said, “There isDigicop, an app, where one canreport thefts of phones online.While purchasing a new mobile,one can also find out if the phone isa stolen one, by entering the IMEI.”“For women's safety, we havelaunched Kavalan SOS app lastyear, which can be used to registercomplaints of sexual assault,harassments and chain snatching.Then there is GRP (GovernmentRailways Police) app for railwaypassengers. Help from GRP wouldcome in a matter of five minutes.” She listed out the various onlineservices offered, including thepolice verification service and lostdocument report. The Conclavewas attended by over 120 studentsfrom 55 colleges.

A splash of colour over ordinary homes

Chennai: More and more peopleare buying organic fruits, vegeta-bles and food grains and an increa-sing number of farmers areswitching to chemical-free cultiva-tion to cater to the demand.In Chennai alone, there are cur-

rently over 400 stores that procure,distribute or directly sell organiccereals and pulses, other fresh pro-duce and even processed products,according to the National Bank forAgricultural and Rural Develop-ment.“Initially it was very difficult for

us to even explain what organicmeant or what millets are, butthings have changed over time.Earlier we had to call up and askfarmers who undertook organic far-ming and wanted a market for theirproduce, but now they approach uson their own, owing to the increa-sed demand for their produce,” saidGopi Devarajan, Coordinator, Or-ganic Farmers Market (OFM).OFM works like a cooperative

(although not formally registered asone) and serves as a market for or-ganic farmers to sell their producewithout any middlemen taking uptheir share of profits. This elimina-tes the farmer’s hassle of having to

travel long distances to sell smallquantities (say 15 kg to 20 kg) toindividual traders, making the pro-cess viable. “About 80 per cent of the items

are procured from farmers withinthe state while the remaining 20 percent comes from across India; weget it from Rajasthan, Karnatakaand all the way from Kashmir,”Gopi added. “This is done with the help of

like-minded groups in different sta-tes, who help us check productsthere for authenticity and visitfarms on our behalf as part of amonthly exercise we undertake atOFM for quality control.” Selling organic items ranging

from traditional varieties of whiteand brown rice, millets, whole andground spices, oils, country and hillvarieties of vegetables and a fewprocessed beauty products, OFMhas a varied customer base. Pradeep Kuttuva, volunteer at

OFM, added that the prices of ve-getables was generally kept fixedhere, with country vegetables(gourd, tomato, lady’s finger) beingsold at around Rs 45 a kg and hillvegetables (capsicums, potatoes,beans, cauliflowers) at around Rs60 a kg, which is only 10 per centto 15 per cent different from regu-

lar, chemically nurtured produce.“Comparing organic produce

with ‘poison’ (crops grown withchemical fertilisers and pesticides)is a little unfair, considering thehealth benefits that come with ea-ting healthy,” Kuttuva added.Dharani (28), an organic farmer

from Arani in Tiruvannamalai dis-trict said “The Government helphasn’t reached us and our custo-mers are our main source of help.” “Consumers, especially in Chen-

nai, understand and recognise ourefforts and are willing to pay aslightly higher price than what they

pay for regular produce, and that ismy biggest satisfaction,” he added. Dharani said he hoped the go-

vernment would repair rainwaterstorage tanks since rainwater hasenough micro nutrients to nurturethe organically grown crops. Headded that the price wasn’t verydifferent and he pegged his produceat only around Rs 5 to Rs 7 abovethe regular market price for chemi-cally grown crops. Dharani said he didn’t have to

invest much in his farm as he star-ted out with organic crops itself.But usually for farmers who swit-

ched from the regular farming met-hods to an organic one, the processwas a little difficult since the soiltook a little over a year to adjust tothe changed conditions. Hencesuch farmers might require assis-tance in the early stages of theirswitch, he added. Venkataraman Srinivasan, a re-

gular customer at OFM, said, “Thisplace sells long forgotten traditio-nal varieties of rice. The best partis that the prices are not differentfrom regular items, which makes itpossible for us to buy organic itemswithout much extra expenditure.”

Student-fuelled dreamsmake it to outer spaceChennai: It was during an officelunch that the team of Space KidsIndia (SKI) decided it wanted tomake a satellite which was as smalland weighed as much as a gulabjamun. Named after India’s Missile

Man, Kalamsat was a cube-shaped,64-grams satellite launched in2017. It couldn’t make the worldrecord of being the smallest satel-lite as it was only sub-orbital, but itpaved the way for a more ambitiousproject that would bring wides-pread recognition to the city-basedaerospace research start-up.Weighing 1,200 grams and with

a life expectancy of two months,Kalamsat-V2 was launched fromSriharikota on January 24, beco-ming the lightest satellite in theworld and the first one to be madeby students and launched by the In-dian Space Research Organization(ISRO). “A team of 14 members-8 stu-

dents between the ages of 19 and21 and 6 backing staff - made it ina record time of 6 days,” said ChiefInnovation Officer Vijaya LakshmiNarayan, who was also the LeadSatellite Architect for the project. “Every single person brought

their core strength to their depart-ment, whether it was coding, archi-tecture, or electronics.”“As of January this year, SKI has

launched nine satellites- six Near

Space Launch Vehicle (NSLV) stel-lites, two sub-orbital satellites, anda Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle(PSLV) satellite,” he added.The start-up which is one of

South Asia’s most prominent am-bassadors for the National Aero-nautics and Space Administration(NASA), is known for organizingcamps to promote the developmentof scientific temper in students.Their most recent project focuseson training students of governmentschools in and around Karaikal. When asked about the recruit-

ment process, founder Dr. SrimathyKesavan said, “We annually host a‘Young Indian Scientist’ pro-gramme and also attend severalcompetitions that have studentsfrom across India exhibiting theirinventions. These students don’tnecessarily have to be winners; wejust look for the right balance of ta-lent and potential.”She pointed out that just last

month they roped in Prateek, aclass-IV student from Chennai,who has been assigned the task ofbuilding a balloon satellite. With alife expectancy of two hours, thesatellite would be attached to a he-lium balloon and parked at a heightof 1.5 lakh feet, touching the earth’scurvature.Besides the production of satelli-

tes, the organization also encoura-ges innovations in technology tomake information accessible topeople from all communities.“We are in talks to develop

Mango PC, a palm-sized computerthat will be affordable for peoplefrom low-income backgrounds,”said Kunnal Vasanth, Chief Com-munications Officer. The team is presently involved in

building another satellite, Vikram-sat, to conduct biological experi-ments in space in an effort to aidfarmers. It is a tribute to Vikram Sa-rabhai, the founder of ISRO.

Chennai: Thirty-four year old en-trepreneur Aarthi Sivaramakris-hnan knew she was always inclinedtowards art, but never pictured thepossibility of her being sought afterfor creating quirky, customized pie-ces. “Even when I was working as

HR, I dabbled in painting as ahobby but over time people startedapproaching me saying they’d payfor a product like that,” she says. Inspired, she started The Colour

Company in 2016, and specializedin personalizing everyday house-hold objects like bottles, coasters,trays, tin cookie boxes, pen-hol-ders, photo-frames, and vintagetrunks.“Indians are quite sentimental

about their belongings, but the per-sonalized-gift market is unexploredin the country. Once I saw it couldbe a viable business opportunity, Ithought I’d take the plunge; so farso good!” she adds with a laugh. The bottles at her studio bearing

intricate, colorful designs are com-pletely recyclable, and would ot-herwise be in the trash.“Once people get conscious of

their usage, responsible disposalisn’t that hard to implement. At thispoint, I get several calls every weekwith people volunteering to droptheir stock to my office.” When asked about her most fun

project till date, she says “I had aclient who had two sons sharing a

bunk-bed. The younger one wantedto have something to look at whenhe slept below, and I was able topaint a solar system on the woodendivider.” About half of her income comes

from organizing workshops on al-ternate weekends in Adyar, AnnaNagar, Alwarpet, and ECR, whichsee a lot of participation from wor-king professionals. “My longest-running workshop

has been on decoupage bottles, theyoungest participant, a ten-year oldboy and the oldest one, an 88-yearold woman,” she says.“Most participants are interested

in taking charge of beautifying theirhomes - I try to actively stay intouch and conduct follow-up mee-tings to help them brush up their

skills.”Another anonymous city-based

street artist who goes by the nameof Lotuzhead can be approachedfor abstract, domestic wall-art foras less as Rs.400. Although he hasgained prominence through art di-rection and commercial gigs acrossthe city, he enjoys dabbling in inte-rior work.“It is important to meet the client

in person and understand what theywant, to visit the space beforehandand assess what can be done withit,” he says about the creative pro-cess.“They can be extremely specific

with their requirements which takedown the creativity by a notch, butI experiment with different me-diums of expression and try to

build a story to make it more enga-ging.”“The income is highly erratic

and seasonal, and you could makeanywhere between Rs.5,000 andRs.5 lakh for a single project,” hepauses. “When it comes to art, nota lot of people are willing to expe-riment because of the slow progressof work.”Lotuzhead says that aspiring ar-

tists are limited by what they knowand shouldn’t hesitate to spendtime on polishing their skills if theywish to pursue it professionally. “When it comes to any form of

creativity, there is an inner inertiathat drives you to learn more. Aninstitution would help you focusyour energies a lot more producti-vely,” he quips.

TULIKA CHATURVEDI

Two city artists break the barriers of conventional forms of art

Left: A recycled decoupage bottle; right: anonymous artist Lotuzhead poses with hisgrafitti; he has kept his identity under wraps since 2015

Chennai: Neeraj Sablok witnessedthe happiness on his grandmother’sface when he gifted her with a vin-tage radio. This inspired him tomake speakers that mix the retrowith the present.To promote the use of radios in

this technologically-bound world,NRJ Ventures manufactures blue-tooth speakers with four radiobands. These speakers are designedin retro style with the brand name,Noizzy box.Sablok, founder of Noizzy box

said, “I wanted to mix the vintageand the current trend of using blue-tooth speakers. After research anddevelopment for eight to ninemonths, we came up with our pro-duct. It was fast moving and hencewe had to double our production.”The products are out for sale

only after a check for almost amonth. They are designed in such away that there is a balance betweenvintage and technology. Analog output is used instead of

digital output to improve the qua-

lity of sound. “I started this on 2016. An exhi-

bition was set up in the ChennaiTrade Centre when a few youngs-ters declined to buy it as it was aChennai product,”he said.“I then decided to make this pro-

duct a benchmark. Now we havegot clients even from Bollywood,”he added.Safety measures are taken for

every product. These bluetoothspeakers work only when it is notconnected to the charger. This helpsin avoiding battery damage.“If a product is senior citizen

friendly, then it can be used byanyone irrespective of their agegroup,” Sablok said.According to him, Chennai has a

good customer base. Kolkata haslarger number of customers for theproduct.The Noizzy box has released

five models of Bluetooth speakers.The features includes four radiobands (FM, AM, SW1 and SW2) ,USB, TF card, AUX and Bluetooth.The price ranges from Rs. 1499 toRs.4000.

Chennai: The walls of the Agat-heeswarar Temple in Kolapakkamlook ordinary at first glance. Upclose, the inscriptions on the 8thcentury Pallava shrine, coated withlayers of blue oil paint, have a dif-ferent tale to tell. The temple, believed to be over

1200 years old, has Tamil inscrip-tions all along the outer walls of thesanctum sanctorum. “The problem is that we don’t

have value education on heritage. Ifyou look at these old temples, thewalls are full of inscriptions thattell stories. But people painted thewalls,” said historian SivagnanamBalasubramani.

In bigger temples like the Briha-deeswara temple in Thanjavur,painting is restricted because of thestrict rules in place, he added. The Agatheeswarar temple also

has an Indonesian connection thatis hidden in its backyard. King Sri-vijaya who ruled over Sumatra inthe 8th century had donated fundsto the temple to dig a water tank.Four stone-slab inscriptions fromthat time are lying abandoned in thetemple compound. The Chennai coast, along the

Bay of Bengal or the Chola Lake asthey called it back then, had alwaysbeen a trade hotbed, said journalistR. Rangaraj. Through the Mylaporeport, the city was well-connectedwith the Chinese and the Greek as

well as countries like Malaysia,Thailand, Burma and Indonesia.But a lot of Chennai’s history waseither lost or could be found inother countries, he added. Speaking about heritage sites

getting lost in obscurity, Balasu-bramani mentioned the spot in Pal-lavaram where Britisharchaeologist and geologist RobertBruce Foote discovered Asia’s firstlower Palaeolithic era stone axe in1863. A study undertaken by theSharma Centre for Heritage Educa-tion in Chennai revealed that thestone tool could be over one mil-lion years old, putting Chennai onthe prehistoric world map. In Chennai alone there are more

than 169 spots where such axes and

tools have been found. Foote’s firstspot, very close to the airport, wassupposed to have been taken up bythe ASI for further excavation butran into trouble with the corpora-tion and real estate players, saidBalasubramani. Today, the possible spot where

the axe was found lies under a layerof garbage and oblivion. “Whenever you go abroad, even

200 or 300 years of history is well-marked with descriptions. But herewe aren’t doing it,” said Balasubra-mani, who has worked with the Ar-chaeological Survey of India (ASI)as a freelance archaeologist, assis-ting it with multiple excavations.“They should put up a board at

the Chennai airport saying ‘This is

the place where the Asia’s firststone axe was discovered,’” headded. The ASI, he said, was also facing

a personnel crunch and wasn’tequipped to undertake excavationsby itself. The organisation allowedthe Sharma Centre for HeritageEducation, a private foundation, tocarry out excavations in Attiram-pakkam, another prehistoric siteclose to Chennai. Stone-age toolsdating back to 1.5 million yearswere found there. “Tamil Nadu, over the years, has

given more importance to temple-based history. We need more phy-sical anthropologists to trace thehistorical significance of the city,”added Balasubramani.

SNEHA KANCHAN

Heritage dying slowly under paint, obscurity

Increasing demand of organic eatables has empowered the farmers|

Noizzy Box: Makingall the right noises

SRAVANI NELLORE

TULIKA CHATURVEDI

The team that built a 62 g satellite, Kalamsat

Inscriptions on the walls of an 8th century Pallava temple in Kolapakkam defaced by layers of oil-paint

FORBES INDIA

| THE COLOUR COMPANY, THE HINDU

THE HINDU, JUSTDIAL

SRUTHI VENUGOPAL

|SNEHA KANCHAN

page 3 EDITED_Layout 1 2/22/2019 5:12 PM Page 1

Film: AcideDirection: Just Philipot

Based on a short fast forward inthe 21st century when acid rainshave become very common, Acidedepicts a family of three looking forshelter to escape a storm on its way. It also shows how dangerous si-

tuations affect the attitude of the ge-neral public in a time of scarceresources. It points to an eerily po-tential future with depleting resour-ces on the earth. Acide shows the struggle of a

couple struggling to protect theironly son.It also shows the efforts a parent

goes through to protect the inno-cence of their children while dea-ling with the skeptical societyaround. Above all else, the film is a show

of how nature fights back when it isthreatened and how ruthless it canbe. This film is a wakeup call and a

reminder for all of us as to what wecan expect if nature keeps deterio-rating at the rate it already is. It is also a heart melting tale of

ordinary people which could end upbeing our own tale if the horren-dous future of this film comes

Chennai: The 6th edition of theChennai International Short FilmFestival (CISFF) is an attempt tobuild a community where you canjust sit back, watch and appreciatefilms, said Shylaja Chetlur,Additional Festival Director,CISFF. The 8-day festivalhappening at the Tagore FilmCentre NFDC will conclude on23rd February with an awardceremony highlighting the bestfilms. The festival saw an online

submission of short films from 61countries including entries fromcountries like Iran, Afghanistan,Turkey, Ecuador, Estonia, France,the US and a bunch of Indian films.It has collaborated with theNational Film DevelopmentCorporation of India and CinemaRendezvous, a Chennai-based filmclub headed by Chetlur. “These arethe kind of films that you won’tfind on YouTube or any otherstreaming sites. We’ve carefullycurated the list,” said Chetlur. The films, divided into

categories like fiction, animationand documentary, are beingscreened in three slots from 11 a.m.to 8 p.m. A total of 186 films willbe screened during the course of the

festival. So far, 111 films have beenscreened with wide themescovering climate change, socialalienation and family drama amongothers.Speaking about the response

they’ve been receiving halfwaythrough the festival, Chetlur saidthat the response has been decentbut the there was definitely a needto spread the word. “It will pick upas the festival progresses,” sheadded.In a bid to facilitate audience

interaction, the festival this year hasdesigned a separate session calledthe Celebrity Interaction with filmindustry personalities like directorRajiv Menon, acress LakshmiPriyaa Chandramouli, musicdirector Ramani Bharadwaj,filmmaker Jayendra and others.These sessions have given thefestival a boost and were attractingthe right audience.For instance, thesecond day of the festival whichhad a session titled ‘Designing afilm – top to toe’ with visualdesigner Siddharth Chandrasekharhad a big group of students fromthe National Institute of FashionTechnology.The reception from the younger

audience has been overwhelminggroups of students “We’re alsoplanning to have a shorter versionof the festival in Coimbatore later,”she added.

CHENNAI February 22, 20194 THE WORD CITYSCAPE

Kalakshetra alumni come together to drive visual arts forwardChennai: A.D. Saju (32), whograduated in Visual Arts fromRukmini Devi College of Fine Artsin 2010, says he had been waitingfor this moment for nine years. Aseries of his paintings hang next toeach other at the Lalit KalaAkademi. On February 11, the KalakshetraFoundation alumni and visual artsfaculty announced ‘Kalanubhava’,the first art exhibition that theywould organize since thedepartment’s inception in 1940s.Although there was no overarchingtheme that ran throughout theevent, it was dedicated to Prof. K.Sreenivasulu – a veterancontemporary artist who pioneeredthe Madras Art Movement in1960s, and was one of the foundingfaculty members of the departmentof Visual arts.“We had been trying, but music anddance is usually promoted in thefoundation,” Saju says, claimingthat the foundation will henceforthwork with the alumni association toorganize art exhibitions every year.According to a report in The IndianExpress last year, KalakshetraFoundation alumni met with Union

Culture Minister, Mahesh Sharma,to discuss a greater role for thealumni in running of the institution.The alumni demanded that the“board have 50 per cent membersfrom Kalakshetra Alumni”, andalso an alumni director for the

foundation.“The exhibition brings together ageneration of art students ofKalakshetra reflecting the routetaken to evolve an authenticlanguage for rigorous practice andunderstanding historical contexts of

art.” says Rm. Palaniappan, thecurator and former RegionalSecretary of Lalit Kala Akademi,Chennai.“This collection is a manifestationof new realities portrayed incontemporary art,” Lawanya

Vikram (28), says. The exhibitiontook place between February 16and 20.According to Saju, Sreenivasulu’slegacy lives on through hisstudent’s works – “With the chosenfigurative expressions based on

folk traditions, he was able tocreate paintings that could stand thetest of time – we are blessed tohave had him as one of the pillarsof our institution.” Palaniappan says the presentupgraded and revised syllabus

matches the trend in art pedagogy– “The expansion of facilities andprogress of the students’ skill andcreative ability indicate that thedepartment will become a part ofKalakshetra’s legacy and gainnational reputation for its uniqueapproach in visual arts education.”

The exhibits at ‘Kalanubhava’ were an experimental blend of contemporary and traditional art forms that has been practiced in Kalakshetra | SRINJOY DEY

SRINJOY DEY

Film: Katran Direction: Prem Singh

Screened on the fourth day of theChennai International Short FilmFestival, Katran deals with love andturmoil. The film revolves aroundan aged couple who has spent mostof their married life fighting witheach other. Finally, the husband(Piyush Mishra) decides to get di-vorce from his wife (Alka Amin).They visit a lawyer (RajendraChawla), and after a series ofevents their life takes a differentturn. The film shows the complex uni-

dentified layers of love that existsbetween every middle class couple.The concept of love changes its de-finition according to the class struc-ture of society. The narrative of thefilm has been aptly complementedby the sublime direction of PremSingh. The length of the film isshort and the dialogues crisp. In theacting department, both PiyushMishra and Alka Amin did an ex-cellent job with Rajendra Chawladoing his bit with aplomb as a la-wyer. The film traverses the boun-dary of time and depicts the subtleemotions of marriage deftly.

Chennai: From regular meetingsfor playing board games, Arjun Su-kumaran (31) and Chitra BiancaAppasamy (31) have opened alounge for the same.Unlike other cafes that provide

board games to its visitors, ‘TheBoard Games Lounge’ focuses onthe games primarily while also pro-viding a few beverages for their ga-mers. They charge Rs. 200 perperson on weekdays and Rs. 300 onweekends.The idea of starting a board

game lounge had wandered in theirminds for years but they beganworking towards it in October lastyear. Out of 200 games, most wereowned by them beforehand and afew were lent to them by closefriends. The idea was kept underwraps at first, family and close

friends being the only ones whowere told about it. Arjun and Chi-tra say the response from their fa-milies was not only positive butextremely enthusiastic as well.“They offered to help design thisplace, even brought decorationsfrom their own home for it” saidChitra.In the past three days since the

lounge has opened, they have re-ceived an overwhelming responseover the weekend as the place wasjam packed on Sunday. On week-days they barely have any visitors.They plan to extend their workinghours as some people have showninterest in visiting on weekdaysafter they finish working.Although they haven’t targeted

any specific audiences, their visi-tors are of all ages from 12 andabove. “We are hoping to get moreyoung children because let’s face it,

which one would their parents pre-fer for their kids - an internet cafeor a board games lounge?” asksArjun. They have been visited byteenagers and adults wanting to re-live their younger days as well asby an elderly couple.Chitra and Arjun are working as

writers. While Chitra writes foodblogs, Arjun writes game reviewsfor the new Indian express. Theyhave no plans for the growth or ex-

pansion of their lounge. As of nowit is only an experimental projectfor them to see where board gamesstand in the hearts of people.

Chennai: International Mother Lan-guage Day has been observed everyyear on February 21 since 2000 topromote linguistic and cultural di-versity. To mark the day, the Inter-national Institute of Tamil Studies(IITMS) celebrated ‘Tamizh’through poetry.K. Pandiarajan, Minister for

Tamil Official Language and Cul-ture said, “Languages are importantto preserve our heritage. Every twoweeks a language disappears, ta-king away the culture connected toit. Hence, the UNESCO’s announ-cement that a day like this shouldbe celebrated makes me veryhappy. This effort by IITMS is away to spread awareness about ourdying languages.”According to a UNESCO report,

43 per cent of the estimated 6000languages spoken in the world areendangered. India has about 22 of-ficially recognised languages, 1635rationalised mother tongues, 234identifiable mother tongues, accor-ding to Census 2001. R. Ventakesan, IAS, Tamil De-

velopment and Information Depart-ment said, “Our mother tongue isthe first thing we learn to speak. Ifit is under a threat of disappearingwe should take steps to preserve itand this day marks a major step torevive our lost heritage.”To celebrate International Mot-

her Language Day 2019, the Officeof the United Nations Ombudsmanand Mediation Services invitedpeople to send their favourite pro-verbs in their particular mother ton-gue on various topics such as peace,harmony, conflict resolution/com-petence to deal with conflict, mind-fulness, resilience, and well-being.These proverbs will be compiled,and published on its website andother digital platforms. Dr. G. Vijayaraghavan, Director

Directorate of Tamil Development,recited a poem. “Our mother lan-guage is what makes us united.Tamil is not a language, it’s our re-ligion.”

Short films from all over the world

| FACEBOOKChetlur in conversation with Ramani Bharadwaj

SNEHA KANCHANSWAPNAJITH KUNDUSOHEIB AHSAN

Reviving culturediversity andlinguistics

Old age homes under scanner Board games lounge to attract kids

ANUSHKA DEEPAK

Film: Blue TomorrowDirection: Numan Ayaz

Released in 2018, Blue Tomorrow is an animation that deals with thejourney of a man who lives alone in an Island. When the water level ofthe ocean begins to rise, the man is forced to leave his home and go to acity, which is already destroyed by the menacing ocean. His journeycontinues, and in the end he finds solace in an unexpected place. The film borders on surrealism, with the prime example being the boat

tied to a flying kite that works as its engine. The willing suspension ofdisbelief is further highlighted by the picture of the submerged city, wherepeople have transformed into stones, depicting the agony of emotionlessmodern man so often seen in the writings of Beckett and Camus. It portraysthe dangers of global warming, and the apocalypse awaiting mankind. Inthe end, it gives a ray of hope, but also shows that human being will alwayssuffer from an existential crisis caused by our own deeds.

Film: PaduvarahalliDirection: Jamadagni Manoj

The film is set in the colonial era at a time when numerous Indian rebelsare arrested and executed on a daily basis. Set in the city of Paduvarahalli in Mysore,the protagonist, Hari Samashti isa barber whose family has been in the profession for generations. He is a se-cret informant for the rebels. His dilemma starts when a local officer Avinashworking for the colonials visits the shop for a shave. Hari is torn between hissense of duty to his rebel friends and his family and professional reputation. The film’s narrates all the thoughts going through Hari’s mind as he gives

Avinash a shave. The film is more than a simple good and bad person story.It shows the effect of colonial control as two characters of the same countryare pitted against each other. The audience is also shown the different perspectives that go unnoticed in

a rebellion and how difficult it can be to decide

20 - 25 screened in a dayRelationship, ecology, alienation and repression in focus

Acide

Chennai: Old age homes are fin-ding the procedures of inspectioncumbersome and random after theMadras High Court ordered the ins-pection of all private and charitableold age homes following a publicinterest litigation filed from Coim-batore by a senior citizen.Charu Old Age Home officials

said “We have made all changes inthe building and necessities accor-ding to the rule in Social welfaredepartment rules 2016”. They offi-cials said they had spent aroundRs.10 lakh on the changes. The old age home in T.Nagar

was started in 2016 after the Chen-nai floods. M.S Charles, the foun-der, turned a part of his own houseinto an old age home. His mother Jennie (65) said

“This is wholly my son’s idea,

when he saw many old womenstranded in the street during the2015 flood he gave us a idea thatwe can accommodate two or threeof them in our own house, in roomsbuilt for guests.” “Then we got funds from an

NGO which transformed this ideainto a charitable trust- aided old agehome.” Charles said “many people espe-

cially from software companies do-nate a lunch or breakfast for thepeople here.” Now there are 33 oldwomen in the home.Arjunan, who is with the Satiya-

meh Jaya Charitable Trust (Rama-puram), “The palliative care for anold person is different from that fora young person. In the last sixmonths out of six people who joi-ned our old age homes three diedbecause of some health issues. Thisearned me a bad name as many bla-

med for inadequate facility beingprovided to the old ones in mytrust.” Now Arjunan is planning to send

the remaining three old people toanother old age home as he cannotprovide necessary care toward theold ones. “When people came for inspec-

tion they told me to give special at-tention to the old ones and told usto comply with the rules mentionedin the 2016 social welfare depart-ment rules as soon as possible.” The 2016 social welfare depart-

ment rules states that inmates mustbe provided nutritious meal thricea day, at least 7 square meter spacefor an inmate in the home, recrea-tion, outings to a religious place ,park or cinema once a week andchanges in infrastructure like theramps, railings, toilet with handholdings and wheel chairs.

VIVANESH PARTHIBAN

“We are hoping to get moreyoung children”

Arjun, CEO of the board gamelounge

SOHEIB AHSAN

A still from the short film Acide

Poster of the short film Paduvarahalli

The board games provided to visitors |SOHEIB AHSAN

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