The ‘Tamil Thai Vaazhthu’ (hymn in praise of the Mother Tamil) was penned by Manonmaniam P. Sundaranar in the preface to his poetic drama ‘Manonmaniam’ published in 1891. The Karanthai Tamil Sangam demanded that the song, “neeraarum kadaluduththa nilamadanthai” (the earth personified as a woman...
The seller quoted a price of Rs 35,000. Girish may have been just 27 years old and looked white collar. But he knew the game. He relentlessly beat down the price without budging. He sensed that it was late evening and the seller must be eager to empty his inventory. When the price seemed about...
Tea is as much a Tamil drink though of foreign origins. Tea came from China originally. The British introduced it in a big way here inadvertently. They wanted tea for themselves and grew them in other colonies in plantations. British imperialism, being what it was, didn’t think twice about the...
Sexual violence against children is still a taboo subject for conversation. It is a vicious circle where the child is victimized twice. Parents don’t want to talk about it. Perpetrators go unpunished. Professor A Mangai’s new play Ulluram (strength within) talks about sexual violence against...
An organization in Chennai is on a tree-planting spree and they have completed planting 3.5 lakh trees in Chennai alone. This is not the typical tree-planting drive with volunteers. This is raising small forests in a systematic way. The objective is greening degraded, barren and empty lands...
The DMK government recently announced that the community kitchen scheme of Amma Unavagam would be supplemented by Kalaignar Unavagam, named after DMK leader Kalaignar Karunanidhi. Five hundred Kalaignar Unavagams were to be opened across Tamil Nadu, the government announced. Following this, in...
Former Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa whose death anniversary is being observed today has written that her favourite movie song is Chinna Payale Chinna Payale Seidhi Kelada. The song was written by leftist bard Pattukottai Kalyanasundaram who died when he turned 29. The song was featured in the...
Among this year’s Padma Shri awardees from Tamil Nadu is VK Munusamy, a self taught terracotta artiste. His creations include a 21 foot terracotta figure of Periyasamy that took him seven months to complete. It will be consecrated this January. Fifty-year old Munuswamy who has got the UNESCO...
Ever wondered why so many Latin words are found in English. All the botanical names are in Latin. Ad hoc, Habeas Corpus, Stat; the terminologies we use in official, legal and medical fields are all Latin. Latin acts as the root for many words in European languages. The major European languages...
In a recent judgment, the Madras High Court ruled that teachers not willing to take a jab need not come to schools. The first bench of Acting Chief Justice Munishwer Nath Bhandari and Justice P D Audikesavalu refused to hear the Public Interest Litigation challenging the vaccine mandate for...
