Read in : தமிழ்
Thandatti — forgotten history on earlobes!
The image of my grandmother is strikingly alive and fresh in my mind. Sporting an affable, paan-stained smile and her wavy hair tied in a careless knot, my grandmother was a vivacious village woman, born decades before Independence in the interior Dindigul district...
Better Tamil Nadu
First woman PG degree holder from Kurumbar tribe a crusader for tribals
Sobha Madhan (37) is the first woman post-graduate from the Betta Kurumbar tribe, hailing from the hilly hamlet of Thenampadi in Pandalur taluk in the Nilgiris district. Armed with the PG degree in social work, she has advocated the rights of the marginalized. Through the Nilgiris Particularly...
Tamil medium student is now post-doctoral researcher in UK
A student hailing from a below poverty line family in Vayaloor near Kalpakkam studied in a Tamil medium school and went on to complete his Phd in Physics and later joined the prestigious Bangor University in Wales, England as a Post Doctoral Research Officer. At 34 years of age, E Jayaprashath...
This village Tamil medium school run by bank employees is special
It is a Tamil medium school with a difference. Functioning in Kurichi village 7 km from Pattukottai, the school, run by the Indian Bank Employees Association Trust does not torture the students with homework, and neither does it terrorise them with rank cards. Even before it was prohibited by...
Last week he became the first doctor from his village in Tamil Nadu
At the recent Madras Medical College convocation, R Selvapandi became the first doctor from Maravaikkudi village in Ramanathapuram district of Tamil Nadu. Among the Ramanathapuram Elite School students who made good is R Selvapandi. Born in a Scheduled Caste family, Selvapandi did well in...
First generation techie pulls her family out of financial misery
The perseverance and determination of this Tamil Nadu woman, a first-generation graduate, Balasundari, a native of Kovilpatti town in southern Tamil Nadu has transformed her family's fortunes overnight. The daughter of an employee of a provisions store, Balasundari broke through the barriers of...
Opinion
Tamil Nadu’s power tariff hike is long overdue after a decade of official mismanagement
If Tamil Nadu aims to achieve double-digit economic growth in a sustained manner, the state needs to reform core economic infrastructure sectors like power to break free from its current corrupt practices, the power tariff hike and decades of mis-governance. Case in...
Sri Lankan President: The more things change . . .
Amid an on-going economic and social upheaval Ranil Wickremesinghe has made a transition from Premier to President of Sri Lanka. After embattled former Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa resigned on May 9, and former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa fled the country, for...
Savukku Shankar: More sinned against?
As Savukku Shankar lurches from one tryst with law to another, as a friend of yesteryears, I can wish him well alright, but am also nagged by an uncomfortable feeling that the contempt proceedings against him in the Madras High Court is not going to end well at all,...
Mathi Memes
Mathi Memes: He can’t act, he can’t dance. Yet Ajith’s Valimai is a smash hit
Actress Khushbu was referring to the reception to Ajith's film Valimai. In what seemed like a mix of admiration and envy, she tweeted in Tamil: “Only you [Ajith Kumar] draw such crowds.” On Wednesday (Feb 24) evening, at a theatre in Thoothukudi, there was a large...
Editor’s Pick
Legend Saravanan is only as silly as MGR, Rajini, Vijay, Ajith
Legend Saravanan has realized the dream that every actor has -- becoming a mass hero. The mass hero is a status in Tamil films. His journey in the film world depends on how successful he is in reaching that goal. The adulation the mass action hero gets from fans is what actors pine for. But for...
Why Tangedco needs to pay us for damaging our fridges, TVs, A/Cs
The recent power tariff hike has thrown the spotlight on the quality of services offered by Tangedco. Many consumers may not mind paying higher tariffs to keep Tangedco in business but would prefer that the services rendered match the charges they pay for the power. Many households across the...
Tata Motors’ Kutti Yaanai grows up, goes green
The appellation ‘kutti’ in Tamil conjures up images of lovable young children and animals and it is perhaps fitting that a mini-truck called “Kutti Yannai” has endeared itself to many businesses and small enterprises across Tamilnadu. From hauling tonnes of goods across the State to being a...
Doping in sports: TN’s speed queen a symbol of Indian woes
Neeraj Chopra might have stolen the limelight with his history-scripting silver in javelin throw at the World Athletics Championship in Oregon last week but the event exposed India's doping in sports problem after Tamil Nadu trailblazer Dhanalakshmi Sekar tested positive for banned steroids....
Animal carcass: Dignity in death applies to wildlife too
Animal carcass formed by wildlife that dies in the deep forests of Karnataka due to natural causes or in fights for territory will now rest there. Those that die closer to human habitations in the fringe areas of the forests will get dignified last rites in the form of a burial or cremation....
Politics
Opinion: Freebies flout financial logic
For a long time now, no steps were taken to find a long-term solution for the problem of freebies. It was not the top priority of policymakers, constitutional authorities, or statutory and autonomous bodies — neither the executive nor the...
The Rajpaksa regime’s series of blunders turned their Sinhala supporters against them
While there have been continuous protests against former Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa for more than three months, the initial demand from the Sinhala crowd was for him to step down from the presidency. But what really happened is he...
With BJP welcoming EPS rise, OPS’ only trump card is two leaves
In what looks like a game of one-upmanship, Edappadi K Palaniswami (EPS) has successfully leveraged the AIADMK General Council to strip rival party coordinator O. Panneerselvam (OPS) of the top party post and effectively cut him down to size In...
Why getting Ilayaraja on Rajya Sabha is no small feat for BJP
Madurai Rajan was a journalist’s delight. A Dalit rights activist, he knew what reporters wanted and had the knowledge, sources, access and guts to take them to the story when Tamil Nadu was rocked by caste conflict in the mid-1990s. Rajan’s...
How proposed Area Sabha fails on empowerment, transparency
The Tamil Nadu Rules on Ward Committees and Area Sabha, to be set up to empower citizens under the Municipal Corporation Acts for Chennai and other cities, fall severely short on transparency and democratisation norms, reinforcing the criticism that State...
Culture
Honest man in TN police: Retired cop reminisces
Honesty is the best policy, as the cliché goes, but definitely a rare commodity in today’s world, more so, some would say, among the TN police. Appearance, educational qualifications and occupation or designation hardly help in assessing a...
An art-to-art connect between Chennai and Toronto
When Ashwathi Mohan moved from Chennai to Toronto in 2019, the visual arts graduate did not see herself as a virtual bridge across two cultures and artscapes. But three year later, the Stella Maris alumna has brought together her experience as...
Moto vlogger Girish Shet pulls off gruelling K2K ride on e-scooter
Among the biking community, the ‘K2K ride’ is considered one of the most challenging. While this route is usually taken by bikers riding high-powered motorcycles, one moto vlogger decided to step it up a notch. Girish Shet, who runs a Youtube...
Decoding the many layers of meaning in temples
There are a number of videos and blogs on temples. Unfortunately, most of the documentation gets stuck at the academic or spiritual level. To find a solution to this, Chennai-based conservation architect Madhusudhanan Kalaichelvan has launched a...
Thandatti — forgotten history on earlobes!
The image of my grandmother is strikingly alive and fresh in my mind. Sporting an affable, paan-stained smile and her wavy hair tied in a careless knot, my grandmother was a vivacious village woman, born decades before Independence in the interior Dindigul district...
Food
Steamed food: Tips to make the trendy ones healthy
Actor M R Radha famously derided Tamil love of traditions by saying Tamils use steam to make steamed food (puttu) whereas in Europe they use steam to drive engines. But today our steamed foods are discovered to be quite modern and healthy....
Nayan wedding trail: Is jackfruit biryani healthier?
Among the newsmakers in the Nayan-Shivan wedding was Jackfruit Biryani that was served to guests. This mock-meat dish may have helped guests eat a biryani with the texture of meat but without actually eating meat. But how healthy is jackfruit...
Organic certification: Much of the produce is uncertified
Organic produce is often marketed as non-toxic in Chennai but without any certification. Sales depends on trust created by word of mouth. Below is the second part of (read first part here) of the interview with Arogyam Organic Foods managing...
Ghost kitchen in Tamil Nadu: To stay or will go soon?
The spread of the ghost kitchen in Tamil Nadu has transformed the dining experience from eating in restaurants to enjoying cuisines delivered through food aggregators by delivery modes (i.e. outside a restaurant). This has changed eating habits...
The pleasures of home-made pickling
March and April were pickle season at home when we were children and the smell of salted mangoes filled the house. It was to fun to open the piece of muslin cloth that covered the tall porcelain jars of chopped and marinating fruit and pick a piece to taste it...
Civic Issues
Will a new law ensure coherent and viable planning of TN’s cities and towns?
The DMK government has set the ball rolling on enacting an upgraded Town and Country Planning law, one that fits the purpose of combatting climate change, environmental degradation, chaotic urbanisation, rent seeking and lack of redress mechanisms. Priorities for a...
Are we really ready to tap blue gold in Chennai?
The Akash Ganga Trust banks on a precious commodity that sells in bottles at Rs.20 a litre in your local store. This not-for-profit organisation has been working to promote harvesting of blue gold for years, led by Sekhar Raghavan. It runs the Rain Centre at Gandhi...
Environment
Legacy of delays hampers biomining, reclamation of waste dumps
The contemporary focal debate around the issues of urban development and protection of the environment has been given close attention by most stakeholders. There are several challenges in the area of waste management, especially what is called legacy waste, or...
Cauvery in spate: Is just Mettur dam enough?
A bountiful monsoon resulting in with brimming rivers has underscored Tamil Nadu’s inadequate storage on the Cauvery. Following copious rains in Karnataka, the Stanley reservoir at Mettur dam is releasing 25,500 cusecs into the river course. It would have been a...
Sports
Round 9: Team B draws with Azerbaijan, women’s team shines
In round 9 of the Chess Olympiad, India's Team B drew with Azerbaijan with stellar performer Grandmaster Gukesh drawing his game and Praggnanandha winning. Uzbekistan’s win against Armenia at 3 - 1 put it at top spot. With seven wins and two draws (no loss so far...
Round 8: India A loses to Armenia, B keeps hopes alive
Even as Armenia beat India seniors in round 8, India Team B beat US to stay in contention for a stab at the top spot. If India Team B wins against Azerbaijan next or if Armenia loses next game, then the kids will be in play for the top spot. Having said that, their...
Read in : தமிழ்