Mixed Bag 7THURSDAY19 OCTOBER 2017CHENNAI

Chennai, Oct 19 (PTI): In a striking example of showing

empathy towards winged crea-tures, several villages in State on Wednesday celebrated Deepavali

- the festival of lights - without burst-ing fi recrackers to avoid scaring birds and bats in their areas.

For a long time, people of Kooth-ankulam village in Tirunelveli dis-trict, which has a bird sanctuary, have avoided bursting fi recrackers during the festival. Interestingly, they also avoid using loudspeakers in places of worship or during family functions out of concern for birds in their village. A variety of birds

like flamingo, pelican, spoonbill, painted stork, egret, duck, tern and ibis visit the lake in the sanctuary where several migratory birds also arrive.

Similarly, the people of Vavval Thoppu in Salem, Perambur, a village near the temple town of Seerkazhi in Nagapattinam and Vishar near Kancheepuram re-frained from bursting fi recrackers so as to not scare bats in their areas. Villagers of Perambur say the decision to abstain from burst-ing fi recracker was taken about a century ago so the bats and birds are not scared.

New Delhi, Oct 19: The air quality in the national

capital has reached at the hazard-ous levels today during Deepavali celebrations.

According to the pollution moni-toring website aqicn.org, Anand Vihar topped the chart of the most polluted areas in the national capital. The website recorded 740 micro-

grammes per cubic metre of PM 2.5 in the area.

Based on the Air Quality Index, Anand Vihar was marked at 740 (Hazardous), Punjabi Bagh was at 466 (Hazardous), while RK Puram was at 298 (Very unhealthy).

Similar levels were recorded in Shadipur and Delhi Technological

University. However, Ram Krishna Puram and Chanakya Puri re-mained less polluted this morning.The continually worsening condi-

tion of air quality in Delhi had led the Supreme Court on 9 October to ban the sale of fi recrackers in New Delhi and adjoining regions till 1 November, with the view to reduce pollution.

However, the ban ordered mere 10 days before the festival on the sale of crackers has not stopped the citizens from bursting crackers.The experts have warned that

the air quality in Delhi is likely to turn ‘severe’ and may even enter the ‘emergency’ zone on Deepavali night due to burning of crackers in parts of the city.

NT BureauChennai, Oct 19:

Actor Kamal Haasan, about whom speculation is rife that he may take the political plunge soon, has apolo-gised for hastily supporting demon-etisation, and said Prime Minister Narendra Modi should accept his mistake.

Kamal Haasan said he was duty-bound to openly apologise for his haste in lauding the noteban, an-nounced by the Prime Minister on 8 November last year.

Writing for his Ennul Mayyam Konda Puyal, a column in Tamil weekly Ananda Vikatan, the actor said, ‘If the Prime Minister admitted the mistake...without being obstinate, another salaam (salute) from me is waiting for him.’ He, however, did not make it clear what aspects he wanted Modi to admit as the mistake -- the demonetisation decision per se or the implementation part of it. Prime Min-ister Modi had in a surprise decision announced scrapping Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes, invalidating nearly 86 per cent of currency in circulation.‘Correcting the mistake...and impor-

tantly admitting it is the hallmark of great leaders. Mr. Gandhi (Mahatma) was able to do it. It is possible even today, let us wait and see,’ he said.

Kamal said he never hesitated in tendering an apology if he made a mistake. After Modi announced demonetisation, Kamal said, ‘I ex-pressed my view on Twitter, saying this has to be lauded transcending party lines’.

In his article, the actor said he had then felt that besides extending full

Air quality reaches hazardous level

A representative from Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) receiving the Best Exhibitor Award from Union Minister for Science and Technology Harsh Vardhan at Indian International Science Festival 2017 held at Anna University in Chennai recently.

� Anand Vihar most polluted during Deepavali celebrations in Delhi

Why Kamal apologised for lauding noteban?

AIIMS in Madurai likely: L Ganesan

Rajya MP and senior BJP leafer L Ganesan said that AIIMS centre in Tamilnadi is most likely to come up in Madurai. A couple of days ago, Union

Minister of State for Helath Ashwini Kumar said that foundation stone for AIIMS centre in Tamilnadu will be laid in six months. He said, ‘In three months, a place would be identifi ed’.

Case against Kamal

Police have registred a case against actor Kamal Haasan for his statement on Nilavembu Kudineer.

Social activist G Devarajan today submitted a four page complaint against the actor at Police Com-missioner Offi ce, based on which a case was fi led.

With rumours spreading in the social media that Nilavembu will lead to infertility, Kamal in a tweet asked his fans to ‘not engage in the distribution of Nilavembu till the results of proper studies are out.’ He said,’let other activities continue.’

Srinagar, Oct 19:Prime Minister Narendra Modi today

reached the Gurez valley along the Line of Control in Jammu and Kash-mir to celebrate Deepavali with

the troops posted in the forward area, the Army said.

A r m y c h i e f General Bipin Rawat, Northern

Command chief Lt General Devraj

Anbu and Chinar Corps Commander Lt Gen J S Sandhu were also in Gurez accompanying the Prime Minister, an Army offi cial

said. Jawans of the Indian Army lit up border in Poonch sector to celebrate festival of lights.

Poonch has been witnessing a spike in ceasefire violations, but this did not dampen the spirit of the jawans to celebrate the festival who lit ‘diyas’ on the Line of Control (LoC) to mark the auspicious day.‘Countrymen should celebrate

Deepavali with utmost joy. We are deployed here and are ready to reply to the enemy,’ a soldier said.The jawans were also seens shout-

ing ‘Bharat Mata Ki Jai’ slogans as they celebrated Deepavali with their colleagues and locals.

P T USHAChennai, Oct 19:

‘For me, age and family life are never a drawback for any woman. With grit and determination, any woman can shine in any fi eld,’ says Leela Ganapathy, a retired history of arts lecturer from the Government College of Fine Arts in Chennai.The artist is all set for a retrospec-

tive of her works to celebrate her 80th birthday on 20 October at the Lalit Kala Akademi on Greams Road, Chennai.

In a conversation with News Today, the classical dancer-cum-painter gives a glimpse of her works, wom-en’s independence and challenges faced in this male-dominated fi eld.

EXCERPTS FROM THE INTERVIEWQ: How did this interest in art

come by?A: Initially, I started my career as a

dancer. At the time (early 1950s), it

was hard to fi nd even school-going girls and so were artists. I developed an interest in classical dance and Kathakali right from my childhood and started training from my school days. I even did ‘arangetram’ right after Independence in 1947 at RR Sabha, Mylapore, with ‘Aaduvome Pallu Paaduvome’. My fi rst guru, Ka-lakshetra Rajagopal, who is an artist, used to paint all our Kathakali dance costumes and that kindled interest in me about paintings, too. Then I joined Stella Maris College in 1953 with art as my core subject, where only two of us were girls. Here, all our lecturers supported us so well. I joined as a lecturer in the early ‘70s the Government College of Fine Arts in Chennai, from when I became a full-fl edged artist.

Q: Do you follow a theme in your paintings?

A: I do abstract paintings and then change them into realistic ones

Never late for a woman, says septuagenerian artist

� Classical dancer-cum-painter portrays female struggles in her paintings� Plans to exhibit an array of portrayals on her 80th birthday

Leela Ganapathy with painting works at her house in Anna Nagar.

as well. Basically, whatever I see, I paint. It may be a tree, a well, a shelf, a woman or anything. Other than this, I have interest in portrayal

of powerful women. As I faced many challenges in getting recognition for my works, I love portraying woman as a powerful being.

Q: What were the challenges you faced?

A: My fi rst challenge was getting recognition. In that period, in a sup-pressing society, it was so hard to stand up as a woman, particularly in this fi eld. But one thing is that I never give up. I travelled almost all parts of the world and exhibited my works which is not an easy thing to do. The second challenge was handling my family. With three chil-dren, I initially struggled to balance my personal life and career but I succeeded thanks to my family and husband who backed me so well in those hard times.

Q: What do you want to say to women who struggle to get rec-ognition?

A: Whatever society may say, keep going. At the end of the day, you are the one who is responsible for your life. If one has interest or talent for a particular thing, then

it will drive them automatically. All one should do is follow one’s dreams with grit. Personally, I be-lieve women have that extra skill in multi-tasking. So, do not waste it but stand for yourself.

Q: Are students opting for this fi eld nowadays? If so, what is the future in this?A: Of course, there is a consider-

able rise in the number of students opting for arts, culture and paintings. Coming to the future, the world is full of art. Right from cinema art direction to costume designing, jew-ellery designing, gadget designing, animation and graphic designing

- everywhere, artists are shining around the world.

Q: What do you look forward to in your exhibition tomorrow?A: One thing I am excited about

the exhibition is that I am meeting all my students once again. I am looking forward to it with hope.

� Actor says Modi should accept ‘mistake’ � BJP leaders hit back

support to the decision, since it is one of the ways to eradicate black money, people should also bear minor inconveniences caused by it. The actor said he faced strong criticism from many of his friends, some of whom had economic education, for support-ing the noteban.

He also writes that days after his tweet, he felt demonetisation was a good idea but implemented in a faulty manner. Criticism from some economic experts had gained mo-mentum by then. ‘I thought that some schemes, though brought with good intention, will fail in implementation,’ he writes.‘My suspicion gets stronger when

weak answers come from the gov-ernment to loud voices like the idea (of demonetisation) itself was a de-ceit,’ he adds. The actor, who has been unrelent-

ing in his attack on the AIADMK government, had so far not openly targeted the Central government or the BJP. Meanwhile in a strongly-

worded reaction, a section of BJP leaders, said, ‘The actor is making allegations in haste’. They said, ‘His comments are uncalled for’.

Nilvembu controversyFollowing reports of Nilavembu

Kudineer leading to infertility in men, in a Tweet, Kamal asked his fans to ‘not engage in the distribution of Nilavembu till the results of proper studies are out.’ He said, ‘let other activities continue.’

In his reaction, State Health Minis-ter C Vijayabvaskar said, ‘Nilavembu is a proven medicine, it was tested at King Institute (a State run institu-tion in Chennai) and it increases the platelet, it increases immunity, this has been proven. There is certifi ca-tion for this (Nilavembu), action will

be taken against those who spread in social media that it (Nilavembu) will lead to infertility.’Joining the issue, BJP leader L

Ganesan, said, ‘At a trime when there is a fi ght against dengue, let not spread rumours about Nilavembu’.

Modi celebrateswith jawans

Villagers give upbursting crackers

New Delhi, Oct 19 (PTI): External Affairs Minister Sushma

Swaraj said today that on the auspicious occasion of Deepvali, India will grant medical visa in all deserving cases that are pending, as she responded positively to a number of such requests by Paki-stani nationals.To a request for a visa by a Paki-

stani woman named Amna Shamin, whose father is already in Delhi for

treatment and she wants to visit him, Swaraj said, ‘Please contact Indian High Commission in Pakistan. We will allow this.’‘On the auspicious occasion of

Deepawali, India will grant medical visa in all deserving cases pending today,’ Swaraj tweeted.Yesterday, she had directed the

Indian High Commission in Islama-bad to issue a visa to a Pakistani child for medical treatment in India.

‘Medical visa for all deserving cases’

NT BureauChennai, Oct 19:

State-run Tasmac shops wit-nessed Rs 22 crore drop in sales during Deepavali this year, compared to last year. This fol-lows the Tamilnadu government increas-ing the price of liq-uour recently.

According to sourc-es, the liquor sales dropped to Rs 223 crore from Rs 245 crore last year. The sales were report-edly own 20% from last year

On an average, Tasmac sees liquor sales of Rs 50-60 crore on weekdays and Rs 80-90 crore on weekends. During festival days, there used to be brisk sales. It is said more than 70 lakh people consume liquor every day in over

6,000 outlets in the State. Tasmac is one of the major cash cows of the Tamilnadu government. The government decided to increase

liquor prices at a Cabinet meeting held a couple of weeks back. This move, say authorities, will

add Rs 5,320 crore to the State’s coffers. Only government-owned Tasmac shops are authorised to sell liquor in Tamilnadu.

Tasmac sales dip during Deepavali

� Down 20% from last year