Tamil Nadu

Bharata Natyam is a style of classical Indian dance that originated in the temple of Brhadeshvar in the area of Tamil Nadu. This style of dance can be traced back to the Natya Shasta, a Sanskrit Hindu text, which was written sometime around the 1st century BCE – 3rd century CE. In this text, written by Bharata, where Bharata Natyam gets its name, is an outline of the different facets of Sanskrit Theatre. Although in the west typically associates theatre with drama, classical Sanskrit theatre encompasses many different art forms such as dance, acting, music and poetry. This book acts as a tool to help draw connections between the classical Indian performance arts and reaching religious enlightenment. Bharata Natyam can also be found referenced…

India’s Water Scarcity The Cauvery River is one of the most revered water systems located in India. Spanning close to 750 kilometers, with a river basin that supplies water to four Indian states, its significance in Indian agriculture, industry, and hydroelectric power is what has supported the bulk of South Indian living for thousands of years. But on September 5, 2016, the supreme court of South Indian state, Karnataka, ordered to “release 15,000 cubic feet of water per second per day from…

connections that are being placed within urban areas of the country. Depending upon the demand related to any product or technology, various financial differences can be seen by different users. This simply makes a community and content quite rich with the help of integrating and aggregating different people. Similarly, research is very important for any field and organization. These aspects can also give rise to this research aspect, as well. SARI Phase of Pilot The phase of Pilot of this…

One of the classical depictions of the Hindu God Shiva shows his dancing. Nataraja is considered to be the ultimate depiction of the dance, Nataraja meaning “Lord of the Dance”. Here we see Shiva with his left leg on top of his right, and his hands holding fire and a drum. His other set of appendages are in a very distinct form. Fire encircles him in a ring while he stands on a man. This is commonly attributed to overcoming darkness/negativity and ignorance. This beautiful illustration of…

India has a glorious history of drama from the ancient times. Drama begins its journey in India with the Sanskrit plays. Indian drama is characterized with the rituals, folks, cultural heritage etc. But the major concern of contemporary Indian drama is the representation of socio-political scenario, marginalization, gender discrimination, oppression, poverty and hunger. A general consensus seems to have emerged that though the social criticism, corruption, oppression, gender discrimination can…

On July 16, A function was organized in Chennai to celebrate the completion of 25 years of the formation of the Tamil Nadu Pharmaceutical Sciences Welfare trust. I was invited to that the function, which was attended by several dignitaries such as, Dr. V. K. Subburaj, former secretary, Department of Pharmaceuticals, Dr. J. Radhakrishnan, secretary for health and family welfare, Govt. of Tamil Nadu, Prof. B. Suresh, President, Pharmacy Council of India, Dr. Shailesh Ayyangar, MD, Sanofi India…

Disregarding Sri Lankan culture, the aid groups rushed in with their PTSD diagnostic manuals that don’t match with how Sri Lankans experience trauma. Few groups even bothered to actually register with the government or ask what kind of help the country needed. The aid groups spiraled into chaos where “rivalries broke out between counseling groups over which populations would receive which services” (Watters, 2010, p. 78). Making things even worse, what Watters termed “parachute researchers”…

southern tip of India is the island of Sri Lanka which was formerly known as Ceylon (BBC, 2013). It is an island about the size of Tasmania. The population of Sri Lanka is 20.27 million, with 2.3 million people living in the capital city of Colombo (DFT, 2012). Sri Lanka has been a key-trading hub of the Indian Ocean world for more than a thousand years. (Szcezepanski, 2014). The capital of Sri Lanka is Colombo (Kwintessential, 2013). Sri Lankan Tamils or Ceylon Tamils are also known as Eelam…

Sri Lanka was relatively poor as it was still a developing country. Their average income was roughly $1,000 US dollars. Nobel prize winner, Mohan Munasinghe, describes the community as primarily homeless and unprepared for this catastrophic event. He uses the term civil society to describe the mass of people who came together and formed local groups to help evacuate remaining survivors. The groups set up refugee camps in safe neighborhoods and schools as well as provided food and water. The…

will be one of my favourite things to read and analyse. Therefore last night, I decided to go watch the ongoing theatre adaptation of his new book, Anil’s Ghost. For those who still haven’t read it, this authentic and touching novel follows the thoughts of many Sri Lankan Tamils with different background during the dreadful civil war. It especially follows the eponymous character Anil, a slightly morose and independent forensic pathologist. Just like the theatrical presentation of Tolstoy’s War…