CHENNAI
2 CHENNAI
CITY
Manuscripts shed light on history
Exhibition begins at Government Museum, Egmore
Staff Reporter
CHENNAI: From 4,000-year-
old tablets bearing Mesopo-
tamian writing to two vol-
umes of the original
handwritten poems of Sub-
ramania Bharathi, includ-
ing, ‘Pudumai Penn’ and
‘Kaani Nilam Vendum,’ with
markings by the poet him-
self - the history of the hu-
man race in words is the
focus of ‘Rare manuscripts’,
an exhibition being orga-
nised by the National Mis-
sion for Manuscripts here.
The week-long exhibition
that got under way at Gov-
ernment Museum, Egmore,
on Monday is part of an at-
tempt to acquaint visitors
with the role of manuscripts
in deciphering history, and
methods to promote their
conservation.
Diverse display
Hundreds of manuscripts
of different shapes and sizes,
with various illustrations,
many of them dating more
than a thousand years are
part of the display. It also
includes manuscripts on
ivory and some bordered
with gold brocades, apart
from models of manuscripts
preserved by polythene
lamination.
Discipline in schools: teachers
under the scanner
Meera Srinivasan
CHENNAI: The recent cases of a
college student committing
suicide after some lecturers
allegedly humiliated her, and
a school student’s death after
her teacher who suspected
her to have copied in an ex-
amination allegedly threat-
ened her, have brought to
focus the role of teachers.
Some teachers say they are
in a fix. “People forget we are
human. It is important to be
sensitive to students’ emo-
tions, but teachers are ex-
pected to leave behind
natural emotions such as an-
ger,” says a higher secondary
school teacher.
Acknowledging the need to
be careful in their choice of
No separate polling booths for men and women in Kancheepuram
Staff Reporter
KANCHEEPURAM: The practice
of setting up separate booths
for men and women voters is
being dispensed with by the
Election Commission with
respect to the 11 assembly
segments falling under Kan-
cheepuram Revenue
Fuel prices drive resurgence of public transport Extension of co-incineration
Patronage for both MTC and MRTS services on the rise; decline in number of vehicle registrations
Ajai Sreevatsan
CHENNAI: On every alternate
day, Vinod Velayudhan (36),
an IT professional, leaves his
car in the garage and takes a
train to work. He has increas-
ingly started using public
transport as driving a car has
become a “costly affair”. “The
fuel price is a huge hit on my
weekly budget,” he says.
Though he mostly relies on
a train, sometimes he takes a
bus to cover the 15 km dis-
tance from Villivakkam to his
workplace in Velachery. “I
don’t like Chennai’s buses. I
find them crowded and suffo-
cating,” he says. “But I spend
Rs.1,200 on fuel expenses per
week if I regularly use a car.”
Ever since oil prices were
deregulated in June 2010, the
price of petrol has gone up six
times. However, there are a
few strategies which you can
adopt to limit the pinch on
your pockets.
Shifting to public transport
at least for certain journeys is
an obvious move. The Metro-
politan Transport Corpora-
tion operates 100 air
conditioned buses. Though
there is no database of all the
routes and timings, there are
services such as http://bus-
routes.in/chennai/routes/
State takes exception to Kerala’s stand
Tamil Nadu has taken exception to Kerala’s statement that it
had prepared a detailed project report for construction of a new
dam at Mullaperiyar and the work would start this year: Page 9
CURIOUS ONLOOKERS: Visitors look at the manuscripts at an exhibition in the
Government Museum, Egmore, on Monday. — PHOTO: R. RAVINDRAN
Manuscripts explaining
the Tholkappiam and Thiru-
vasagam, the Old Testament
in Hebrew, stories from the
Ramayana and line drawing
words in class, some teachers
say positive reinforcement is
the only way out. “Corporal
punishment is not allowed.
You can’t be sarcastic or
harsh with students. Building
camaraderie is the only pos-
sible solution. But it requires
patience and time,” says an-
other teacher, who takes
mathematics for class X in a
government school.
S. Mathialagan, who teach-
es at Hindu Higher Secondary
School, says knowing stu-
dents’ background is key. “A
lot of our students come from
modest backgrounds. We
need to know about their
families and the issues they
face,” he says.
Recalling an instance of a
student absenting himself for
District.
During previous elections
separate booths would be
earmarked as ‘all women’ or
‘all men’ polling stations if
total number of voters of re-
spective genders were high
in that area. But this time,
the District Election Officer
and Collector, Asish Chatter-
Switch off your engine if the idling time is longer
than 15 seconds to save fuel, say experts.
— PHOTO: N.SRIDHARAN
ROADS & RAILS
type/AC/ that map bus stops
of many of these buses.
There are also carpooling
web services such as http://
www.commuteeasy.com/ and
many others which can be
used to find someone to share
of Vishnu avatars and a Un-
ani medicinal tract in Arabic
are other attractions at the
exhibition. Mainly in Tamil,
Telugu, Pali, Grantha and
the practical examination
and revision tests, Mr. Math-
ialagan says enquiries re-
vealed that the class XII
student was living with his
uncle and aunt, and had some
problems with them. “It
would have been inappropri-
ate to just scold him for
absenteeism.”
Observing that it is impor-
tant to respect adolescents’
self-esteem, he says: “Even if
we want to question them or
speak to them about a prob-
lem, we must do it separately
and never in front of the
class.” As the head of a Chen-
nai Middle School puts it,
“Students don’t like it even if
we ask them to keep quiet.E-
ven our own children resist
criticism or advice. It is im-
jee has classified all the 2,811
polling stations in the dis-
trict as ‘all voters’ category
booths.
The newly formed Shoz-
hinganallur Assembly Con-
stituency topped the list with
382 polling stations followed
by another newly formed As-
sembly segment, Pallavaram
a ride with.
There has been a steady in-
crease in public transport us-
age through the period when
fuel prices rose. While 47 lakh
passengers used MTC servic-
es daily in January, 2009, the
Defeat Karunanidhi: Jayalalithaa
AIADMK general secretary Jayalalithaa called upon her party
cadres “to create a new history” by ensuring the defeat of Chief
Minister M. Karunanidhi in his own constituency: Page 5
Sanskrit, these manuscripts
are from museums and re-
search organisations across
the State and Puducherry.
A Kannada manuscript on
portant to win their trust and
faith,” she says.
Parents have their share of
concerns. V. Radhika, parent
of a teenager, says her daugh-
ter’s teacher does not treat all
students the same way. “If the
class topper is naughty in
class, it is usually a request for
silence. But my daughter has
told me how she felt bad when
the teacher said ‘All you do is
talk in class. How will you ev-
er pass?’”
Teachers feel parents also
have a role. “They are lenient
with children at home to
make up for their busy sched-
ules. They tell teachers to dis-
cipline them, and do so
without being strict. How is it
possible?” asks S. Radha, a
class XI science teacher.
with 297; Chengalpattu with
280; Kancheepuram with
268; Tambaram with 253;
Alandur with 250; Tiruporur
with 225; Sriperumpudur
(Reserved) with 224; Uthira-
merur with 222; Cheyyur
(Reserved) with 206 and
Madurantakam (Reserved)
with 204 booths.
number increased to 57 lakh
by January, 2011.
The increase of 10 per cent
is the minimum projected by
the detailed project report for
purchase of buses under
JNNURM (2009) that says
“Trend of passenger growth
requires addition of new fleet
to improve patronage”.
Though fleet strength has not
expanded much, the fuel price
rise seems to be driving more
people towards buses.
The usage of the Mass Rap-
id Transit System (MRTS) has
also improved with an in-
crease of 10,000 passengers
per day, compared to last year.
All of this at a time when the
number of vehicles being reg-
istered in the State per day
seems to be declining for the
first time this decade. Average
registrations per day since
April 2010 have been 3,722 as
against 3,902 in 2009-10.
Brinda Vishwanathan of
the Madras School of Eco-
nomics says that there has
been a marginal shift to public
transport due to a combina-
tion of congestion, pollution
and the fuel price. “Transpor-
tation has become a big issue
in the city as it is on a high
growth path. A lot of innova-
tions need to take place and a
more fuel efficient means of
a blackened cloth written
with white stone and a 200-
year old manuscript giving
Tamil equivalents of English
words also attracted much
interest.
Painted wooden planks
that were used to cover the
palm leaf bundles in the 18th
century are part of the dis-
play as is a precious piece of
paper containing Mahatma
Gandhi’s signature in Tamil
and Hindi.
Workshop
A two-week workshop on
curative conservation of
manuscripts coinciding with
the exhibition was also inau-
gurated. The workshop is to
help the participants know
about the different modern
methods to conserve manu-
scripts. “The workshop will
help them understand the
causes of the deterioration
of manuscripts by natural
causes, microbial attack or
mishandling,” said J. M.
Gandhimathi, curator,
chemical conservation cen-
tre, Government Museum.
Dipti.S.Tripathi, director,
National Mission for Manu-
scripts, inaugurated the ex-
hibition. T.S. Sridhar,
Principal Secretary and
Commissioner of Museums,
participated.
Entrepreneurial spirit
SNACK TIME: Youth from north India on their way to Royapettah from Mint to sell ‘chat
items’ to make both ends meet in the bludgeoning metropolis. A scene on Pallavan Salai. —
PHOTO: R. RAGU
transportation must emerge
out of this high fuel price sce-
nario,” she says.
While such innovations on
the battery operated and hy-
brid fuel front are either too
expensive or too niche as of
now, R. Thanasekaran, Gen-
eral Manager, Institute of
Road Transport, says that the
fuel efficiency of the current
fleet of vehicles can be im-
proved by following certain
steps.
Reduce speed!
“One of the best ways to
save fuel is to simply reduce
your speed. As speed increas-
es, fuel economy decreases
exponentially. The optimum
fuel efficiency speed is 45
kmph, but it is fine to travel up
to 60 kmph,” he says. Trav-
elling at 55 kmph gives 21 per
cent better mileage when to
compared a speed of 65 kmph.
Other strategies are to tune-
up the vehicle’s engine regu-
larly, sparing use of air condi-
tioner in case of a car, and
reducing the idling time at in-
tersections “Switch off your
engine for any waiting time
longer than 15 seconds.
Spending 10 minutes idling on
a 30 minute road trip can dou-
ble fuel consumption,” he
adds.
Not many takers for
this ‘deciphering’ art
Vasudha Venugopal
CHENNAI: Chandrasekhar. V.,
pursuing postgraduation in
Sanskrit at Vivekananda Col-
lege, firmly believes that
study of certain subjects de-
mands more than mere inter-
est and dedication from
students. Manuscriptology,
he says, is one. Pointing to the
broad margins in an ancient
manuscript, he says, “The
scribes used this to denote er-
rors, or they would simply
mark a line over the wrongly
written words,” he explains.
Though he is much interested
in the discipline, he would not
want to pursue it full time,
and rather just know what is
required to supplement his
research. “You have to be
endlessly motivated and pa-
tient,” he says.
While libraries, museums
and research institutions in
the city contain a significant
number of manuscripts on
literature, science, culture
and history, experts say that
the number of those who can
read and decipher them is
dwindling. Collected over
several decades, a large num-
ber of them are in various lan-
guages, including Tamil,
Telugu, Grantha, Prakrit,
Brahmi and Sanskrit, and
of non-recyclable plastics
India Cements has installed 3 plastic shredders
B. Aravind Kumar
CHENNAI: Following the suc-
cess of co-incineration of
non-recyclable plastics in
cement kilns in three south-
ern districts, the govern-
ment is in the process of
introducing the concept to
keep the environment clean
of hazardous plastic in
Chennai city and municipal-
ities in the northern region.
“Talks are on with the
Chennai Corporation and
major municipalities. The
government will fund in the
initial stages. The plan is to
introduce the programme
before the election code of
conduct comes into effect,”
State Environment Minister
T.P.M. Mohideen Khan told
The Hindu.
Already, the non-recycla-
ble plastic waste collected
from various parts of Tiru-
nelveli, Tuticorin and Ka-
nyakumari districts are
being used as an alternative
fuel in the cement kilns of
India Cements in Sankarna-
gar. At a temperature of
1400 degree Celsius, the ce-
ment kilns provide extreme-
ly high destruction removal
THE HINDU TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 15, 2011
Handicrafts fair gets under way
‘Sourcing Show’, a handicrafts fair, being organised by the
Development Commissioner (Handicrafts) and
Poompuhar at Valluvar Kottam opens at 5 p.m.
Arabic
The decrease in number of
youth ready to invest time in
learning the art is disheart-
ening, says J. Lalitha, curator,
Kuppusamy Sastri Library.
Only 10 per cent of the avail-
able manuscripts have been
published, and even less de-
ciphered, says Sinirudha
Dash, Head of Sanskrit De-
partment, University of Ma-
dras. “Unfortunately, with a
surge in lucrative jobs, even
research scholars prefer
teaching to deciphering man-
uscripts,” he adds.
The translation process,
says Chandrasekhar, requires
not only a thorough knowl-
edge of at least two languages
but also expertise in grammar
and history, and this discour-
ages many aspirants. Com-
paring translations and
interpretations can be labo-
rious, sometimes without fa-
vourable results. Other issues
include the procedure in-
volved in accessing the manu-
scripts and the missing leaves
of the manuscripts.
Experts, after a certain
point of time, especially re-
tirement, do not find many
employers and since it is not a
well paying job, many do not
consider it in the first place,
says V. Jeyaraj, Research Su-
Cement kilns provide extremely high destruction
removal efficiency for the plastic waste
TNPCB plans to adopt co-incineration in other
parts of the State, especially Chennai city
efficiency for the plastic
waste.
The objective is to en-
hance awareness among the
people about the ill effects of
hazardous disposal of plastic
waste and to encourage the
practice of segregation,
eventually making cities
plastic-free, officials of Ta-
mil Nadu Pollution Control
Board (TNPCB) said. In the
three southern districts, the
local bodies have entered in-
to an agreement with India
Cements for co-incineration
of plastic waste for which
the factory has invested in
facilities required.
As the TNPCB had plans
to adopt co-incineration in
other parts of the State, es-
pecially to cover Chennai
city, India Cements has in-
stalled three plastic shred-
ders at a cost of Rs.25 lakh in
three of its plants for co-in-
cineration of plastic waste in
pervisor, University of Ma-
dras. M. Shanmughavalli, an
epigraphist employed by the
government, adds the process
of recruiting transcribers and
manuscript readers is strin-
gent. “Wrong interpretations
and incorrect translations
can drastically affect the no-
tion of history of coming gen-
erations,” she says.
“It is necessary that cata-
loguing and deciphering
takes place in a time-bound
fashion to prevent loss of in-
formation, “ says T.S. Sridhar,
Principal Secretary and Com-
missioner of Museums. “But
not many institutions have a
scope to impart training on
such skill-based discipline”
To promote awareness
among college students about
manuscriptology, Prof. Jeya-
raj says, “Training them in
digitising records can help
develop an interest in deci-
phering text, after which
eventually they would be
drawn to the taking it up.”
Apart from building the ca-
pacity to decipher and trans-
late manuscripts, experts say
the need of the hour is to lo-
cate and preserve manu-
scripts, and enhance access to
encourage their use for edu-
cational and research
purposes.
about 200 to 250 km radius
of Chennai, company offi-
cials said. At present, the
shredders are manual but
investments to make them
automatic will be made once
agreements are signed with
Chennai Corporation and
other municipalities, offi-
cials add.
According to TNPCB offi-
cials, the delay in introduc-
ing co-incineration of
plastic waste was primarily
due to the transportation
cost involved.
As the government has
come forward to provide
funding in the initial stages,
the city could be made plas-
tic free in the ensuing
months, officials said.
The TNPCB’s plan is to
cover the entire State in a
year’s time linking local
bodies with cement facto-
ries for elimination of non
recyclable plastic waste.
...CH-CH