Rameswaram Fishermen will miss their Good Samaritan
After a fruitful life of 75 years and 50 years of service to the fishermen community, U Arulanandam of Alliance for the Release of Innocent Fishermen at Pamban in Rameswaram Island passed away on Sunday after suffering a cardiac arrest. Tamil fishermen arrested by...
PTR makes peace; painful reforms postponed
Like Manmohan Singh, Tamil Nadu’s Finance Minister PTR Palanivel Thiaga Rajan has learned quickly that good economics is bad politics. Much of the promises in his White Paper on the state’s financial position, regarding re-structuring and minimizing the amount of...
Rangaraj | Oct 12, 2021 | 3 min read
A family of veteran nagaswaram artistes
Three nagaswaram artistes on stage was itself an awe-inspiring sight. For the artistes, it seemed routine. Throughout the concert they played naturally. Within five minutes of playing, they left a mark on the listener – evidence that they were veterans. The trio...
Aarvalan | Oct 11, 2021 | 3 min read
On NEET, TN govt up against SC’s moral stance on capitation fee
The Tamil Nadu government’s case against NEET is well established. NEET tramples states rights when it’s the state that can set such policies to suit local conditions. The Tamil Nadu system of selecting students for medical colleges served its need well, at least...
What makes children flee from safe ‘homes’? Urgent reforms needed
Last month seven children escaped from the Government Juvenile Home in Chennai. When the guard dozed off for a short while early in the morning, these children, who were lodged in the reception centre of the home, managed to flee from the home. Among these seven,...
The couple’s bond was as strong as the Nagaswaram-Gambiranattai link
So when did Nagaswaram and Raga Gambiranattai form a bond? The answer is not known but the bond has sustained to this day. And that bond was vividly brought out by the alapana that Ochira Sivadas and his wife, Prasanna Sivadas started their concert with. The kriti...
Aarvalan | Oct 9, 2021 | 2 min read
Bigg Boss Tamil 5: Voyeurs welcome
The buildup is there. Bigg Boss 5 kicked off on October 3 with Kamal Haasan saying viewers should expect the unexpected. The critical views of Abhishek, a participant, on Bigg Boss have gone viral on social media. Though this season promises to be different, what...
Pipe up ladies! Featuring Karunanidhi-Maheshwari
The seventh couple to be featured in the Parivadini Navaratri Nava Shakti series is TC Karunanidhi and TK Maheshwari. Vidushi Maheshwari, a second generation nagaswaram artiste in her family, first learned from her father, KS Ponnusamy. “After marriage, having to...
Why TN should retrace Manimekalai’s journey, help Sri Lanka during crisis
The ancient Tamil epic, Manimekalai composed by poet-saint Chithalai Sathanar describes how a small island nation then called Manipallavam located across the Palk Strait faced severe famine marked by an acute shortage of food and water. Manimekalai was a beautiful...
Pipe up ladies! Featuring Soundararajan-Santhanalakshmi
The sixth couple to be featured in the Navaratri Nava Shakti series of Parivadini is Soundararajan-Santhanalakshmi of Chettikulam. A third generation nagaswaram artiste in her family, Vidushi Santhanalakshmi, however, had to coax her father Thammapatti KS Ponnusamy...
Takeover of temples: Religious Omandur’s misplaced faith in government – I
Today, when India is approaching the 75th year of its Independence, clear, categorical and influential voices are heard in the public sphere demanding freedom for Hindu temples from the clutches of the government. But if we hark back to the time when the British...
Vamanan | Oct 7, 2021 | 5 min read
