TNSA Sailor Wins Gold Medal

Navyn Prabhakar, an Optimist sailor from the Tamil Nadu Sailing Association competed in the 30th KFC-MYA-MILO/NSC NATIONAL OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP 2013 held from November 27th to December 1st at Langkawi, Malaysia and won Gold in the ‘C’ division. Navyn, who is not yet 10 years old has already taken part in several national and international events and established himself as the best among sailors of his age.

He is the current under-10 (sub-junior) champion of India; now also of Malaysia! Navyn competed in a fleet of 92 boats with the best sailors of Malaysia, many of whom participated in the India International Regatta in Chennai in October and won medals. Navyn Prabhakar won the Gold in the C division and finished a creditable 27th overall in the series of 12 races, ahead of the three other Indian sailors participating in the event and ahead of many of the A and B division sailors.

Out of the 92 sailors, there were 38 sailors in ‘A’ (under-16), 35 in ‘B’ (under-12) and 19 in ‘C’ (under-10).The event didn’t start easily for our champion; caught in the wrong side in a wind shift, Navyn could not finish his very first race of the event. But fighting his way up, he finished 8th in each of the next three races and caught up to finish ahead of many of the junior (B) and senior (A) sailors and clinched the Gold in the sub-junior category.

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World Disability Day

International Day of Persons with Disabilities is annually observed on 3rd December to focus on issues that affect people with disabilities worldwide.

To mark the occasion a cultural programme and prize distribution function was held on 3rd December 2013 at Schizophrenia Research Foundation-SCARF located at North Main Road, Anna Nagar West Extn, Chennai.

The guest of honour for the event was Mr.D.N.Kar, Director of Income Tax, Exemptions. He gave an encouraging speech about upliftment of people with disability and shaping their future for all around development. Dr.R.Thara, SCARF Director presented a memento to Mr.D.N.Kar.

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Honoured For Outstanding Performance In The Field Of Bharatanatyam with Global Recognition

Dr.Anita Ratnam was given the Viswa Kala Bharathi Title by Bharath Kalachar on 1st December 2013 during the Twenty Seventh Margazhi Mahotsav inaugural ceremony held at T.Nagar,Chennai. Anita Ratnam is an accomplished Indian classical and contemporary dancer and choreographer. She is also seriously engaged with the imaging of Indian and Asian women via the prism of performance.

Over the years, she has received numerous awards and recognition for her work in the performing arts in India and abroad as a choreographer, scholar and cultural activist. She trained in Bharatanatyam as well as Kathakali and Mohiniattam, the classical dances of Kerala. Anita Ratnam has received several awards and recognition for her work in the performing arts in India and abroad. Some of them are Nritya Choodamani in 1996 by Sri Krishna Gana Sabha, Chennai, Kalaimamani (1998) for Dance Research by Govt. of Tamil Nadu, Media Achievement award (1991) by National Organisation of women in New York, Mahatma Gandhi Award for Cultural Harmony, Lalithakalaratna (2003) by Sri Lalithakala Academy Foundation Trust (Inc.),Mysore, 2003 and Natya Ratna (2003) by Sri Shanmukhananda Sangeeta Sabha, New Delhi.

Anita Ratnam’s many solo and group choreographies have been of a collaborative nature. She worked with Theatre Directors (Dipankar Mukherjee, Pangea World Theatre, Minneapolis),Richard Armstrong (New York University), Visual artistes (Photographer Cylla Von Tiedeman, Toronto) and Asma Menon, Painter, Chennai, Visual and Costumes designers Rex (Toronto) and Sandhya Raman (New Delhi)’Writers Joy Harjo (Albuquerque,USA),Shobita Punja (New Delhi) and Choreographers Hari Krishnan (Indance, Toronto)and Mark Taylor (Dance Alloy, USA).

Her ability to connect through storytelling, musical theatre and gestures to a wide variety of audience had enabled international assignments and diverse spaces like Queen Elizabeth Hall in London, Korzo Theatre in The Hague, Substation, Singapore, Newark Museum and Peabody Essex Museum in America.

Dr.Anita Ratnam also visits academic environments like Wesleyan University, Columbia University, Mount Holyoke College, Barnard College, University of California in Irvine and University of Chicago, Fordham University, Middlebury College all located in America. In addition she has lectured at University Catholica, Santiago, Chile, University of Cape town, South Africa, Goldsmiths College and Roehampton University in London, UK and Arts University in Kyoto, Japan. In these settings Anita Ratnam interacts with students of dance, theatre, mythology and religion.

Her dissertation was on the role of women in the reconstructed performance of the original 13th century theatre ritual Kaisika Natakam in Southern Tamil Nadu.

Anita Ratnam is a widely sought speaker on women’s issues relating to South Asia and she has been repeatedly honoured and awarded for furthering the profile of Indian contemporary dance around the world. Anita Ratnam serves on several National and International Cultural Boards.

She is a voting member of the Dance Critics Alliance, USA, a member of the World Academy of Arts and Science, Italy and she is also on the Executive Board of Sangeet Natak Akademi, New Delhi, India’s apex cultural body as well as a member of the ICCR selection committee on contemporary dance for International festivals.

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Chennai Corporation Repairs Kodambakkam Bridge

The Chennai Corporation has started the process of repairing and strengthening Kodambakkam Bridge. To facilitate this work, traffic movement has been diverted to the Rangarajapuram flyover.

The Kodambakkam Bridge will be closed for heavy vehicles movement until the repairs work gets completed. As for now only light vehicles are permitted along both ways.

MTC buses are diverted at Liberty junction towards Vishwanathanpuram Main Road, Station view Road, Rangarajapuram Flyover, North Usman Road and Valluvarkottam to reach their destinations.

Vehicles coming from Mahalingapuram flyover intending to go to Vadapalani are diverted towards Habibullah Road, Sadasivam Road, Bazullah Road, Rangarajapuram flyover, Chakkarapani Street and Five Light junction.

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Safety Barricades Along ECR

Safety measures on roads are needed and important for preventing accidents and ensuring safe driving. Chennai City Traffic Police officials are taking all safety aspects in to account to stop rash, negligent and drunk driving. Barricades have been placed by the Traffic Police officials along different spots on East Coast Road between Thiruvanmiyur and Injambakkam to prevent over speeding and to conduct checks.

Police officials stated that the barricades have been also placed for caring out vehicle checks on a regular basis by Low and Order Police officials for security reasons.

Though barricades are places for safety reasons, motorists feel that in some ways it also becomes a hindrance, especially when no police checking takes place.

Some road users also want the policemen to consider removing barricades from the road especially during peak hours when there is heavy flow of vehicle movement on both directions.

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Awarded For Yeomen Service In The Field Of Carnatic Music!

Meet Madurai T.N.Seshagopalan. He is disciple of Ramanathapuram Sri C.S.Sankarasivam the foremost disciple of Dr.Harikessanallur Muthiah Bhagavatar the doyen of music, musicology, prolific composer Harikatha exponent has been enthralling audience right from the tender age of seven.

He was inspired by his mother’s music initially. He had his schooling and college education in the Temple city of Madurai, the place that had been culturally and traditional rich in classical music and dance.

Endowed with a rich voice, remarkable creativity and his versatile style in raga delineation, rendition of krithis, execution of swaraprathara and the uniqueness in Ragam-Thalam-Pallavi execution has earned him copious appreciation and admiration from all over the world.

Madurai T.N.Seshagopalan is a multifaceted genius giving programmes on the instruments such as the Veena, Swara Ranga Pradarshini (Classical Music Keyboard) with equal proficiency styled to his vocal music and bringing out the art of traditional and classical form of Harikatha to the limelight.

As a brilliant composer of krithis,Thillanas in Carnatic and Hindustani Ragas and a tunesmith having composed music for Tamil Literary works Kamba Ramayanam, Nalayira Divya Prabandham and a thematic dance presentation titled Seasonscape for the dance institution Tanjeon and Kalabharathi of Montreal-Canada, his service towards popularizing new ragas in the realm of Classical Music is commendable.

Madurai T.N.Seshagopalan is the Managing Trustee of Gurukrupa Trust, an institution serving for the propagation and promotion of Classical Music and Arts.Madurai T.N.Seshagopalan has cut numerous CD’s and cassettes for commercial recording companies.

He has performed in countries like Singapore, Malaysia, Bahrain and Sri Lanka and has visited and performed in the United States of America numerous times. He got the Padma Bhushan in the year 2004.

He was honoured with the Kalaimamani by Tamil Nadu Government in 1984 and the Isai Kalai Vendan in the year 1998 by Australian Foundation of Canberra.

He has been a devoted and committed Guru. He has toured extensively over the globe.He has the unique prestige of being the First Indian Vocalist invited to perform at Australia in the year 1986.

A Carnatic musician of great virtuosity, Sri M.N.Subramanian was actively interested as a patron and contributor to various organisations.

He also was supportive of spiritual organisations and had contributed actively to various Temple festivals, construction activities etc. The family aims to see his good deeds transmitted into the future by the institution of a memorial award in his name.

The award is presented to an outstanding vocalist musician. Bharat Kalachar in association with Kalpathi Investments is jointly conducting the Twenty Seventh Margazhi Mahotsav from 1st December 2013 to 15th January 2014 at Sri YGP Auditorium, No.17 Thirumalai Road, T.Nagar, Chennai – 17.

On the inaugural day,1st December 2013,Dr.R.Seetharaman, Chief Executive Officer, Doha Bank Group, Doha presented the Gnana Kala Bharathi” (M.N.Subramanian Memorial Award) title on Madurai Sri T.N.Seshagopalan for his yeoman service in the field of Carnatic Music.

The award was given in the presence of His Excellency Sri Gopalkrishna Gandhi, Former Governor of West Bengal and Dr.(Mrs.)Y.G.Parthasarthy, Chairperson of Bharat Kalachar and Y.Gee Mahendra, Secretary of Bharat Kalachar. Madurai T.N.Seshagopalan has been a recipient of many top honours, awards and prestigious titles.

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Jazz Concert

Double bass player and composer Carlos Bica is one of the most innovative sound artists in Portugal. His melodies are haunting and unforgettable, like songs without words. Together with Frank Möbus (Ge
Their debut album of the same name was voted “Best jazz record of the year” in Portugal. The trio’s performance will take place on Thursday, 12 December 2013, 7.00 p.m.

For details contact Geetha Vedaraman/Programme Coordinator at Goethe-Institut/Max Mueller Bhavan located at or call .

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City Bee

Saliyar Monthly Meeting

The monthly meeting of Saliyar Mahajan Sangh Chennai Branch will be held on 29th December 2013 at Door No-4, Tamil Nadu Housing Board Complex, Luz Corner, behind Vinayagar Temple) Mylapore, Chennai-4. For details contact A.Palanichamy on .

Music Concerts

A great musical evening by Malladi Brothers will be held on 25th December 2013 at 7.15pm. Enjoy a spectacular performance by the immensely talented artist V. Deepika on Thursday, 26th December 2013 at 4.15pm. Both the concerts takes place at Sri Anantha Padmanabhaswamy Temple located at No. 2, 2nd Main Road, Gandhi Nagar, Adyar, Chennai.

Humour Club Meeting

Anna Nagar Humour Club is holding its monthly meeting on Sunday, 8th December 2013 at 4.00 p.m. at Shri Krishnaswami Matriculation Higher Secondary School, Vaigai Colony (near Anna Nagar West Bus Depot), Anna Nagar West, Chennai.Mr. M.T. Vedantham, Humorist, will be the Chief Guest and speak on “Humour for Freedom and Worries”. All are welcome to attend and share their jokes.

Prize Distribution

Tamil Nadu Science and Technology Center, Gandhi Mandapam Road, Kotturpuram had organized a maths talent test for students. The prize distribution will be held on 22nd December which is observed as National Mathematics Day. For details and talent test registration call .

Temple Cleaning

The members of Loka Dharma Seva Foundation Trust members are doing the 96th Monthly Temple Cleaning at Shri. Vedantha Desikar Devasthanam Temple, near Chitrakulam, Mylapore. The cleaning programme will be held on Sunday 24th November 2013 at 10am onwards. For details contact DR.R.Subramanian, Managing Trustee of Loka Dharma Seva Foundation Trust on or .

Painting Exhibition

A painting exhibition of Mr.K.Ravi will be held at “La Galerie D’Expression,” at Hotel Ambassador Pallava, from 1st December to 15th December 2013. Ravi is qualified in B.F.A. from Govt. College of Arts & Crafts, Chennai. His paintings are mainly on heritage temple sculptures of India. For details contact Ravi on and .

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Prizes Distributed To Competition Winners

Indian Railways is celebrating 160 years of service to the Nation. As a part of the celebration, Southern Railway had organised a drawing competition for children from various schools at Railway Mixed Higher Secondary School, Perambur, Chennai.

A large number of children from all over Tamil Nadu participated in the competition. The final event took place on 1st December 2013 at Chennai Central Railway Station.

Mrs. Manjula Misra, President, Southern Railway Women’s Headquarters Organistion, Chennai was the Chief Guest for the prize distribution function. She gave away the medals and certificates to the winners and the participants.

The Drawings painted by the students were displayed at the venue for the public to see and appreciate. In category I K.Rahul Selvan of SBOA,Anna Nagar Western Extn,Ch-101 secured first place. In category II the first place went to S.Niveditha .

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Musicians And Dancers Awarded With Prestigious Titles

The inaugural and award distribution ceremony of the Twenty Seventh Margazhi Mahotsav organised by Bharat Kalachar in association with Kalpathi Investments took place on 1st December 2013 at Sri YGP Auditorium located at Thirumalai Road in T.Nagar,Chennai.

The event was inaugurated by Dr.R.Seetharaman,Chief Executive Officer, Doha Bank Group.His Excellency Sri Gopalkrishna Gandhi,Former Governor of West Bengal presided over the inaugural ceremony and released the annual souvenir of Bharat Kalachar.

The first copy was received by Dr.Nalli Kuppuswamy. Dr.(Mrs) Y.G.Parthasarathy,Chairperson of Bharat Kalachar, Mr.Y.Gee.Mahendra, Secretary, Mrs.Sudha Mahendra, Joint Secretary and Mrs.Madhuvanthi Arun, Cultural Consulant were present on the occasion and made the inaugural event a memorable success.

Prestigious titles were presented to Madurai T.N.Seshagopalan, A.Kanyakumari, Rajesh Vaidhya,Anita Ratnam,S.P.Muthuraman, Guruvayur Dorai,Charumathi Ramachandran, Dr.Radha Bhaskar,Dr.Sunil Kothari, S.N.Sundar,B.K.Shafeekuden, Radha Badri and Veda Krishnan.

The Yuva Kala Bharathi Awardees for 2013 were namely, Sandeep Narayan, Chaitrra Sairam, G.Abilash,R.Raghul, M.S.Venkatasubramanian,S.Sunil Kumar, Pallavi Sriram,Bhavajan Kumar,T.M.Sridevi and T.N.Saranya. The 45 day Carnatic music and dance fest will have concerts and performances daily till 15th January 2014. For more details call , .

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