Kumbakonam filter coffee in London!

In a land where you wake up to English tea and remember to eat burger on the move, who cares for a filter coffee? Well, the Tamil community of London does! For an English person to get a feel of the Tamil culture and to enjoy authentic Tamil food, one need not travel all the way to Tamil Nadu! London's East Ham is comparable to Ranganathan Street of T Nagar in Chennai where a dozen of restaurants are located with English and Tamil sign boards. The Taste of India restaurant is a 'must to visit' place if you wish to rejuvenate yourself with a typical filter coffee. This restaurant has a branch in Kumbakonam, London and Paris. To an Indian, East Ham is a heaven to enjoy Tamil cusines. At the same time, get ready to brush up your Tamil skills as to your surprise, in the heart of England, the business transaction in this area takes place typically in Tamil! To all Tamil tourists, East Ham in London is a home away from Tamil Nadu.

This is anti- Tamils : Tamil Nadu CM

Nine personnel from the neighbouring country of Sri Lanka landed in Chennai for a nine month training. "It is inappropriate when countries are demanding action against Lanka for violation during the war" said Ms. Jayalalithaa. The training is believed to have been agreed by both the countries. There were protests by various political parties in Tamil Nadu. The Government of India seems to care little for its 70 million Tamil population. It is an insult to the Tamil people that personnel from Sri Lanka are being trained on the Tamil soil- perhaps one needs to be reminded that it is the same linguistic group in Sri Lanka. The Sri Lankan personnels are believed to be stationed at the Tambaram Air force in Chennai. The prompt response from the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister is commendable and it is hoped that the Union Government would act responsibly respecting the sentiment of the Tamils.

PDK defaces Hindi sign boards in Coimbatore

Around a week after the PDK party warned about removing Hindi sign boards in Coimbatore, the party engaged in defacing the Hindi sign board in Coimbatore. It is however claimed that the destination board in Hindi on a private bus on Ukkadam route was for the convinience of the migrants from Bihar, UP and Odisha however a resloution passed by Annadurai in 1967 states that no language other than Tamil and English could be used in public places across Tamil Nadu. While a few of them may condemn the act of PDK members, it is important to understand that Tamil is the only official language of Tamil Nadu and English is used as link language for Non Tamils.

'Vanakkam' London 2012

London, the English capital and the host of Olympic 2012, begins with 'Vanakkam'! In an advertisement to represent and celebrate London's diverse ethnicity, it has touched the hearts of over a million Tamils most of whom are of Eezham origin. On the contrary, India insists on 'Namaste'. Ilayaraja's music and the performance of a British Tamil M.I.A in the opening ceremony is considered as a great honour by the Tamil community world over. The world criticises the UK for asserting the English and British identity, but one fails to notice the subtle gestures by the same society that recognises, values and celebrates the presence of numerous languages and cultures in the UK particularly in England. It is estimated that over 300 languages are spoken in London. On this august occasion, the British society chose to begin with the Tamil word 'Vanakkam' which indeed is an honour and proves that it distinctly recognises the Tamil identity because the next word uttered by a young girl is 'Namaste'!

PDK warns: Hindi will be defaced across TN

The destination board in Hindi in a Coimbatore bus is perhaps a move to please the North Indian community of Coimbatore. If you carefully look at the picture, Podanur and Ukkadam are in Hindi and English and not in Tamil. Are Hindi speaking Indians any different to Sinhala speaking Sri Lankans in terms of imposition of Hindi? While it may appeal a Hindi speaking Indian, it is unfair to Non Tamil linguistic groups living in the city particularly Malayalees, Kerala being close to Coimbatore. Tamil Nadu must resort to either Tamil only sign boards or bilingual (Tamil and English) sign boards. This initiative of a private bus company was protested by the members of Periyar Dravida Kazhagam. The party warned that if the Government failed to issue notice to the owner of the private bus compay, it would deface Hindi signs across.

Indian rupee symbol promotes Hindi. Should Tamils follow ?

Indian rupee symbol promotes Hindi. Should Tamils follow ?

The Indian Government accepted the symbol to represent the Rupee symbol. The credit goes to Mr. D Uday Kumar, an Indian citizen of Tamil origin who designed this symbol. It is said that the symbol is a combination of the Devnagari script and the Latin letter ‘R’. During the 2010 Union budget, the Finance Minister of India Mr. Pranab Mukherjee said that the proposed Indian Rupee sign would reflect and capture the Indian ethos and culture. This symbol was short listed from around 3331 responses. Guideline number 5 of the contest stated that “submitted symbols were required to be in the Indian National Language Script or a visual representation". Apparently this violates the Constitution of India as it does not specify any script as a ‘National language script’.

While the need of a currency symbol for a country like India to stand out in the global market is appreciated. What irks is that the symbol does not represent or capture the complete Indian ethos and culture. It has apparently ignored the South India particularly the Tamil culture which is often referred to as the ‘last surviving classical civilization’. It has on the other hand promoted the Devnagari script and the symbol in my opinion, fails to represent the diversity of India.

It may not be possible to make both ends meet however, it could have been possible to select an old or perhaps the oldest living Indian language which is Tamil. It appears that the Union Government has taken the states into confidence without approaching the state government for its comment while introducing the new rupee symbol which is unacceptable in a federal set up. Recognizing a language or civilization based on its antiquity in my opinion would only enhance India’s image. Indian Government’s various initiatives to thrust Hindi on Tamil Nadu could actually lead to a loss of a treasure. Today Hindi in Tamil Nadu could be seen in the form of an anglicised version for instance :‘Jiyo life bindaas’. On one hand, there is a civilization that is trying to preserve its identity, culture, language and tradition and on the other hand, we have not just Government but also people trying to promote Hindi in the pretext of ‘National language’.

I think, the Tamils of Tamil Nadu must learn from the Mauritius Tamils where Tamil numbering is used in the currency. It is time to revive our own language and learn the missed lessons and encourage the use of Tamil where ever possible within Tamil Nadu and Puducherry including the currency notes. If the Government intends to use a language as a medium of expression to reach out to the common mass, then I would want to see it in my mother tongue when I am in my home state, Tamil Nadu. Perhaps it would be a nice idea to use ௹ symbol in Tamil Nadu to represent the Indian rupee as my concerns are that the next generation could mistake it for a non-existing Tamil letter from the 10th century!

I welcome your comments.

Vignesh Raj

United Kingdom

e-mail: vickey_24@yahoo.com

Conjoined twin sisters set to get separated by surgery.

Madhya Pradesh: They were born into a poor family in Betul in Madhya Pradesh. Their father, a farmer with barely two acres of land and their mother, abandoned them immediately in the hospital where they were born, unable to figure out how to treat their twin daughters, who were joined at the chest.

The girls were named by the doctors who run the hospital in Betul located 200 kilometres from Bhopal. For the last 11 months, the ward where they lie in a single bed in Padhar Hospital has been home for Aradhana and Stuti. The babies have been looked after by the nurses and doctors here. Later this month, they will go through a major operation that will hopefully separate them, and allow them to really enter the world.

This historic operation is about to take place tomorrow while millions of people pray for a successful surgery.

Serious safety concerns. Anti- Nuclear activists demand to halt Koodankulam Nuclear Power Project

Anti- Nuclear activists demand to halt Koodankulam Nuclear Power Project. In a letter they sent to the Atomic Regulatory Board , anti-nuke activists demanded to stop the Koodankulam power project immediately for safety concerns.

The letter states...

From,

The People’s Movement Against Nuclear Energy (PMANE) Idinthakarai & P.O - 627 104 Tirunelveli District Tamil Nadu koodankulam@yahoo.com

To,

The Chairman Atomic Energy Regulatory Board

Niyamak Bhavan

Anushaktinagar

Mumbai 400 094

Dear Sir: Greetings!

We, the members of the People’s Movement Against Nuclear Energy and people of southern districts of Tamil Nadu and Kerala, write to demand immediate halt of the Koodankulam Nuclear Power Project (KKNPP) at Koodankulam in Tirunelveli district, Tamil Nadu, and a thorough scrutiny of the following issues before AERB (Atomic Energy Regulatory Board) gives a green signal to the commissioning of the Koodankulam project.

The KKNPP reactors from Russia are being set up without sharing the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA), Site Evaluation Study and Safety Analysis Report with the people, people’s representatives or the press. After a 23-year-long struggle, we obtained a copy of the outdated, incomplete and erroneous EIA only a few months back. No public hearing has been conducted for the first two reactors either.

The KKNPP project has been imposed on an uninformed and unwilling population throwing all democratic precepts and values of our country to the wind. The Central Information Commissioner (CIC) has ordered “to provide an attested photocopy of the Safety Analysis Report and Site Evaluation Report after severing any proprietary details of designs provided by the suppliers to the appellant before 25 May, 2012.”

But the NPCIL refuses to share these two public safety reports by arguing that the Safety Analysis Report (SAR) “is a ‘third party document’ and therefore, without the prior consent of the third party, the same cannot be shared with anyone.” Obviously, the NPCIL is more interested in the safety of the Russian company and the Russian benefactors but not in the safety of the people of India. NPCIL has informed the CIC in their recent letter dated May 18, 2012 that “the ‘Site Evaluation Report’ for Reactor I & II at Koodankulam could be made available to the Appellant.

Accordingly, a copy of the said ‘Site Evaluation Report’ has been sent to the Appellant.” On May 17, 2012 we received a letter and a bunch of 12 lose papers without any head or tail as the ‘Site Evaluation Report.’ When we questioned the validity and integrity of this so called SER, Dr. S. K. Jain, the chief of the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd. (NPCIL), claimed that it was the executive summary and not the whole report.

The KKNPP and the NPCIL officials have not conducted any mock drills and evacuation drills in the 30 km or even the 16 km radius of the project.

On June 9, 2012, the Tirunelveli district administration and the NPCIL officials conducted a haphazard safety drill in a remote hamlet called Nakkaneri of hardly 300 people and claimed that the mock drill was a great success. If we organize fire drills in all the schools and movie theatres all over the country, should we not conduct nuclear safety drills in all villages and towns in the project area?

More than 1.5 million people live within the 30 km radius of the KKNPP which far exceeds the AERB stipulations. It is quite impossible to evacuate this many people quickly and efficiently in case of a nuclear disaster at KKNPP. According to AERB instructions of 1998, the Koodankulam project requires two sources of water from the reservoirs of Pechiparai and Upper Kodayar in Kanyakumari district to ensure adequate supply in the event of a loss-of-coolant accident. Since water from Pechiparai and Kodyar is ruled out, four desalination units, each producing 106,000 litres of water an hour, are provided for the first two units of KKNPP. The desalination plants that are close to each other and vulnerable to accidents and terror attacks cannot be the reliable sources of fresh water.

However, the Site Evaluation Report clarifies that Pechiparai dam water will be taken for the KKNPP reactors. There are so many conflicting and contradictory reports about the fresh water needs of KKNPP and its fulfillment. The issue of liability for the Russian plants has also not been settled yet. Defying the Indian nuclear liability law, Russia insists that the Inter-Governmental Agreement (IGA), secretly signed in 2008 by the Indian and Russian governments, precedes the liability law and that Article 13 of the IGA clearly establishes that NPCIL is solely responsible for all claims of damage.

If the Russian reactors are the best in the world, as claimed by Russians, why do they refuse to offer any liability? Most importantly, the VVER reactor under commissioning at Koodankulam nuclear power project differs from the one featured in the inter-governmental agreement between Russia and India. According to documents published in 2006, there was no weld on the beltline (middle portion) of the reactor pressure vessel (RPV).

NowAERB says that there are two welds on the beltline of the RPV installed at KKNPP. This is a breach of the contract by the supplier in Russia. NPCIL officers who have known this are guilty of installing an unsafe machine with high risk of RPV failure leading to offsite radiological contamination besides causing financial loss to the company in case of premature retirement of the reactors.

By consenting to its erection, AERB has also reneged on its responsibilities. If the reactor is hot-commissioned, it will be virtually impossible to subject the vessel to a detailed inspection. This will lead to destruction of evidences of the crimes.

From a safety perspective, the IAEA-mandated study of pressurized thermal shock (PTS) has to be done before commissioning the reactors at Kudankulam.

The people of Tamil Nadu and Kerala are deeply concerned about our safety and wellbeing as the KKNPP reactors pose grave and serious threats. The actual siting of the reactors, the quality of construction and the pipe work and the overall integrity of the KKNPP structures have been called into question by the very workers and contractors who work there in Koodankulam.

Our own Expert Team has identified several serious safety issues with regards to the geology, hydrology, oceanography and seismology issues of the KKNPP project such as Karst, geysers and sub-volcanic intrusions in our locality; slumps in our sea and possible tsunamis; recurrent huge earthquakes in the Indian Ocean and so forth.

Our Expert Team’s findings and our long struggle against the KKNPP are completely ignored by the concerned authorities and the governments ignoring our safety and wellbeing completely. In the light of the above situation, we would very much like to request you to intervene in the KKNPP matter, halt its commissioning immediately and order a thorough enquiry into all of the above issues.

Looking forward to hearing from you soon, we send you our best regards and all peaceful wishes.

Cordially,

S.P.Udayakuamr, Ph.D.

M. Pushparayan

M. P. Jesuraj

Fr. F. Jayakumar

Coordinator

Why Tamils simply cannot accept Hindi imposition?

We have now completed 65 years of Independence. A cartoon which claims it depicts the Anti- Hindi agitation has shaken the whole country and the Tamil community world over.

It may well be that Hindi is spoken by over 40% of the Indians but that is not a good reason for a democratic government to impose the language in any form (directly or indirectly) in a region like Tamil Nadu which has existed thousands of years with Tamil as the language.

Had the Tamils not agitated in 1965 against the imposition of Hindi, India might have lost English today.

The problem with Tamils and Tamil Nadu is not with the language Hindi, but with its imposition. The myth of Hindi is the National language is still prevailing in many parts of the country. Today, Hindi imposition in Tamil Nadu continues in many forms.

I remember a time when I could see ‘Paasi paruppu’ written in English or Tamil. Today, I could see it as ‘Moong Daal’. What has Moong daal and Toor daal got to do in a place where it is not understood by over 98%?

If I were to go by the 2001 statistics, Hindi is spoken by around 0.30% of the people in Tamil Nadu. Perhaps the most disgusting and ridiculous factor is trying to satisfy the 0.30% of the population in the name of ‘National language’.

I remember seeing a notice board in TN airport which says ‘We feel happy when you speak Hindi. Think, speak and write in Rajbhasha Hindi’.

My question is the necessity to promote Hindi in TN when the Union Government has clearly specified in its department of official languages states “In exercise of the powers conferred by section 8, read with sub-section(4) of section 3 of the Official Languages Act, 1963 (19 of 1963), the Central Government hereby makes the following rules, namely

1. Short title, extent and commencement -

(i) These rules may be called the Official Languages (Use for Official Purposes of the Union) Rules, 1976.

(ii) They shall extend to the whole of India, except the State of Tamilnadu.

(iii) They shall come into force on the date of their publication in the Official Gazette.

My concern is not just ignoring the passion and love of the Tamils for their mother tongue and their Tamil identity but also mocking at them.

India is a beautiful country with diverse ethnicity and cultures. In my opinion, it is not hard to accept them as they are. Promoting Hindi and other languages in a region where it shouldn’t be particularly in Tamil Nadu could have adverse consequences.

I wish to reiterate that India has no National language and Tamil is the only official language of Tamil Nadu.The imposition of Hindi in Tamil Nadu is already sorted as the rule clearly exempts Tamil Nadu.

It is up to the leaders of Tamil Nadu to ensure that the rule is fully implemented in the state. I welcome readers point of view. Please feel free to e-mail your comments to me in either Tamil or English.

Long live classical Divine Tamil!

- Raj Vignesh (United Kingdom)

email: vickey_24@yahoo.com

Sonia silently flies to the US and will be back in a week

Reports released from New Delhi has confirmed that Congress President Sonia Gandhi flew out to the US on Tuesday night. Sonia will be back in the country next week on Tuesday in time for the announcement of the Presidential polls.

However the purpose of her visit is unknown. Sonia had gone to the US in August 2011 for a medical treatment. It is widely rumoured that Sonia is suffering from cancer and she visits US for periodical treatment.

Disabling the Aishwarya Dhanush next film for the job.

After winning accolades and some brickbats for her maiden directorial venture 3, Aishwarya R Dhanush, dasughter of Super Star Rajnikanth is all set to kickstart her next venture soon.

Says Aishwarya, 'am working on the script. Hope to start by end of this year.'

I want to put 100 percent as writer and director to ensure that the film turns out to be better than my previous one.

I don’t let the director in me overshadow the writer in me and vice versa, when I start directing the film, she says.

3 was recently screened at the International Indian Film Festival in New York.