Thursday 28 April 2016

HAPPENING -- 17:

WHEN UKG CHILDREN DONNED GRADUATION GARB!


BY P S SUNDAR

It was an enthusiastic sight amidst parents and grandparents of children at Crescent Play and Primary School Ooty as they witnessed their wards being honoured for ‘graduating’ in UKG.

The 154 children donned the convocation garb, including the wise-man’s cap, as done in a University convocation when D Arumugam, Principal, Crescent Castle Matriculation Higher Secondary School, presented them the ‘graduation scroll’.



“This is the 15th year we have been conducting graduation ceremony for children who pass out of our campus completing their UKG.  As their primary education ends now, they all will move to other schools of our group for pursuing ICSI or state Board curriculum”, Crescent Correspondent Umar Farouk told me.

“This ceremony motivates parents to offer the highest and best possible education to their wards.  It has been instrumental in all our students studying well as they go to higher classes and passing in Tenth and Plus Two public exams with many of them scoring ranks”, he added.


Sunday 3 April 2016

AWARD -- 8:


US HONOUR FOR NILGIRIS SCIENTIST 
OPPORTUNITY TO STUDY IN VETHA UNIVERSITY IN USA


BY P S SUNDAR

Dr Shanmugamurthy Lakshmanan, a scientist hailing from a tea growing family in a small hamlet Jagathala near Coonoor, has done his village, the Nilgiris district and India proud by bagging the coveted ‘Star of the Universe’ honour.

This honour was conferred on him at the New Jersey Institute of Technology, USA, by the Society for Universal Oneness, an intellectuals’ organisation of scientists, researchers, engineers and doctors, working to use technology to create eco-friendly and peaceful world.

The citation said that the award was to hail Dr Shanmugamurthy’s initiatives to bridge the gap between ancient and modern science.

“My endeavour is to make available for the benefit of mankind the best of Eastern and Western sciences through the Vetha Centre for Trans-disciplinary Studies.    This is a unique educational facility offering comprehensive curriculum based on fundamental axioms found in Ayurveda, Siddha, Yoga and similar scientific traditions of the East which will be used with modern western scientific approaches”, he told me.

“This award hails my initiatives to establish a Vetha University in the USA with global partnership to facilitate students from all over the world study courses.  For the Indians, this is a great honour as most of their traditional sciences will now be learnt by foreigners”, said Dr Shanmugamurthy Lakshman, who holds Ph.D. in Applied Physics.

He said that this will open new doors for children to study life-oriented courses covering healthcare, lifestyle management, architecture, agriculture, and the arts, to name a few.  He said that they can contact the Vetha University for admissions.

“Ours is a traditional tea growing family.  We are also into vegetable cultivation.   I had the dream of making Shanmugham a popular personality in the USA so as to help ventilation of India’s supreme ethos.  He has now done that and this recognition is a credit to the entire tea growing families in the Nilgiris”, his father J B Lakshmanan told me.  But, Lakshmanan was also in Government service .. retired Deputy Collector...



(response can also be sent to: pssundar.coonoor@gmail.com) 

Friday 1 April 2016


HAPPENING -- 16:

ANOTHER RECOGNITION FOR MARIAM

BY P S SUNDAR

Tamil Nadu Government has honoured J Mariam Agnish (14), Coonoor-based billiards and snooker state and national champion with financial assistance through Sports Development Authority of Tamil Nadu (SDAT) for her participation at the World Snooker Championship in Russia.


“I have received ` 30,000 and thank the Government and SDAT for the recognition given to my performance.    This was to partly fund my participation at World Under 18 Snooker Championship conducted by International Billiards and Snooker Federation in Russia”, Mariam told me.



“I was the first sportsperson from the Nilgiris to represent India in an official international snooker tournament.   The present recognition from the Government is a definite encouragement for me to scale newer heights in international cue game”, said Mariam who is the current Tamil Nadu state championship title holder in Billiards sub junior and No: 2 in Billiards Sub-Junior National championship.


“For furthering my performance at international level, I need a world quality Billiards Table and global-standard coaching.  Hailing from a poor family background, I am unable to afford these.  I have appealed to Chief Minister to extend possible help to me for these”, added Mariam, ninth-standard student of St Joseph’s Girls’ Anglo-Indian Higher Secondary School, Coonoor.



(response can be sent to: pssundar.coonoor@gmail.com)