People Web International

By Anita Mathew Perumal, PWI Reporter Tamil Nadu

A Sanctuary for Indian Arts – TFA, established in 1981 built on a sublime foundation of Love, Faith, Dedication and Vision carries forward the legacy of their spiritual Guru and the founding fathers.

One of the founding members of THE TEMPLE OF FINE ARTS, Late Mr.V.K.Sivadas, an artiste from Kerala, who gave away his dancing anklets, promised his parents never to dance again and travelled to Malaysia way back in 1952 to look for a job and earn his living.

Was it destiny or Irony that took, late Mr.V.K.Sivadas all the way from Gods Own Country, Kerala in South India to Malaysia? Despite promising his father, very reluctantly on the request of his friends and with much persuasion performed during an Indian festival in Serdang, Malaysia. That was the day, his destiny was being sculpted as he was enthralling the audience with his one and only passion, Indian classical dance. Among the audience, was the father of 10 year old Vatsala. Mesmerised by his performance, Vatsala’s father requested him to take lessons in dance for his daughter. And thus began a new journey for, the teacher, the student, and the art lovers and for the country.

During my recent travel to Kualalumpur, I was fortunate to meet Mrs.Vatsala Sivadas, wife of Late Mr. V.K.Sivadas. She is recognised as one of Malaysia’s living heritage treasures for her contribution to Art and culture. This title was awarded to her in the year 2009.

When Vatsala was 15 years of age and a young dancing beauty, Sivadas and she decided to get married. It was soon after, THE SIVADAS VATSALA DANCE TROUPE was formed and they together charmed audiences in Malaysia and Abroad. Some of their most popular choreographies were the Peacock dance and Shiva Parvathi.

While all this was happening, there was another dancing couple in Malaysia, Late Mr. Gopal Shetty and his student, Radha who also got married almost around the same time and formed their own troupe and was teaching and performing like Sivadas and Vatsala. They have been friends since the 50’s and still continue to be friends and the 2 pillars of THE TEMPLE OF FINE ARTS.

In the year 1972, was their first encounter with the spiritual Guru Swami Shantananda Saraswati who travelled to Malaysia for his discourses. A great lover of  Indian classical dance and music, Guru Swami Shantananda Saraswati completely taken aback by the potential and sincerity of these two dancing couples to teach and communicate the values and traditions of the Indian culture through Art, convinced the two couples to get together and start an academy and have all their students under one roof. Both the couples disbanded their individual troupes and with immense blessings, support and guidance from their spiritual Guru formed THE TEMPLE OF FINE ARTS with 30 students in the year 1981. Unfortunately after a couple of years, both Vatsala Sivadas and Radha Shetty lost their husbands and  a few years later, both of them decided to move on and continue doing what they love.

Almost 30 years since, THE TEMPLE OF FINE ARTS has moved its base from a humble beginning to a very aesthetically designed multi storey building in a very prominent locality in Kualalumpur and houses several dance and music studios, 500 seater performance hall, recording studio, library and other amenities. An institute that started in 1981 with 30 students today has over almost 1000 students being trained in various styles of dance and music.

The faculty has 30 very qualified instructors imparting our ancient Art forms and ensuring the young generation of today would stay focussed on the great values our forefathers and teachers taught us. The teachers and students have some outstanding productions to their credit, some of which are Ramayanam, Lady White Snake- a Chinese folk tale, A Mid Summer Night’s Dream and Taj Mahal.

The legacy continues and THE TEMPLE OF FINE ARTS with the support from a lot of well wishers strives very hard to fulfil the vision of their spiritual Guru, Swami Shantananda Saraswati.
The directors of the Temple of Fine Arts, Mrs.Vatsala Sivadas, Mrs.Radha Shetty and Mrs.Thava Malar Gunaratnam along with the trust members are very proud and happy to have made the dream a reality. TEMPLE OF FINE ARTS also has within the building premises -ANNALAKSHMI, a vegetarian restaurant which is completely under the care of dedicated volunteers and guests are not charged for the meals. The guests are however free to donate what they wish. They also have an in-house souvenir gift shop- LAVANYA ARTS, a travel agency- HAMSAVAHINI and their own design and communications facility – HANSA COMMUNICATIONS. The newly built building is open for tourists and is a must visit when one is in Kualalumpur, Malaysia.

What is even more credible is that within these few years THE TEMPLE OF FINE ARTS has spread its wings to Singapore, Australia, and Ceylon and has also brought back a branch of the academy to Chennai and Coimbatore in South India where the style and tradition originated. THE TEMPLE OF FINE ARTS is recognised by the Government of Malaysia and will be officially inaugurated by the Prime Minister of Malaysia in July, 2011.

For more information on THE TEMPLE OF FINE ARTS, log on to: www.tfa.org.my

-- by Anita Mathew Perumal - PWI Reporter Tamil Nadu -tamil.nadu@peoplewebinternational.com
25 April 2011

By Anita Mathew Perumal, PWI Reporter Tamil Nadu

CHENNAI, INDIA - The entrepreneurial urge, driven by his passion and sense of commitment brought Mr. Valliappan Raju from Botswana back to Chennai. With a mission in mind it took him two years to set the ball rolling.

Media Arts & Science College is the only dedicated college in India to have a degree program in Animation, Gaming and Film Studies with collaboration from both, an Indian University and an International University.

With no capital in hand, no venture capitalist funding, Mr. Valliappan Raju, the Director of MASC took this bold step with the support from his family and his bankers to lay the foundation for this college in the year 2008.

The young generation of today is bubbling with knowledge and creativity. The founding member inspired by the talent and enthusiasm of these youngsters and also convinced of the great demand all over the world for professionally qualified Animators and Gaming Developers decided that MASC will not just be another academy but instead will be a college for Media studies.

MASC is associated with Manonmanian Sundranar University in Tirunelveli, Tamilnadu, which is recognised by University Grants Commission, Govt. of India and National Assessment and Accreditation Council. The degree awarded by the university is valid globally. The degree programmes at MASC offers integrated programs with their partner Universities abroad.

The college initially started in the year 2008 and offered only animation training that year but  in the year 2009, MASC opened doors to the Degree, Post graduate and diploma courses in various disciplines: Computer Arts and Media, Gaming, Film studies and Animation Arts.

MASC is an English medium, co-educational college with state of the arts facilities. They have both local and international faculties and have also implemented EDUSAT, video conferencing aided learning to assist in the interactive sessions.

MASC has a high quality curricula and the method of teaching is of international standards. The total number of students for the graduate and diploma courses is 120 and the ratio of lecturer to student is 1:20.

The post graduate course in film studies has a strong support of the film fraternity in Tamilnadu. Both, the post graduate and diploma students will undergo their internship with leading international animation studios with whom MASC has signed up.

MASC has also signed an MOU with the University of Wales, Newport in the United Kingdom whereby the students have an opportunity to extend their education if they qualify prescribed credits. Both the universities allow their students for a global exchange programme.

The majority of the students are from outside the city of Chennai. By November, 2012, the college will move over to a bigger campus with residential and other recreational facilities, all provided within the campus.

MASC is a unit of Rama Nama Educational Trust and is supported by a very aggressive Advisory and Governing Council of personalities from the field of Education, Media and Advertising and the Films.

Today, with a growing demand world over for qualified Animators and Gaming Programmers, MASC is all geared up to bring forth the best in this field.

For more details on MASC, log on to www.masc.asia

-- by Anita Mathew Perumal - PWI Reporter Tamil Nadu - tamil.nadu@peoplewebinternational.com

CHENNAI - An article, ‘Exploring city life on foot’’ captured my attention in our local newspaper.

From then on one thing led to another and I finally arrived at the office of Human trip India which is a part of a non-governmental organisation SPEED Trust.

Mr. Albert Selvakumar, Manager-Operations of Human Trip India, enlightened me on the humanitarian work SPEED Trust does for the upliftment of the slum dwellers.

SPEED - SLUM PEOPLE EDUCATION AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT was founded in the year 1999 and registered as SPEED Trust in 2004 by Mr. Philip Malet of French origin and his Indian wife Denise. This organisation aims at supporting both, the economically and socially deprived women and children from the slum area of Gandhi Nagar-Sathyavani Muthu Nagar in Chennai, comprising of more than 2,600 families. The priority of SPEED Trust is to inculcate a sense of confidence and responsibility in order to understand the dignity of Labour. Mr. Philip, the founder, emphasised that the sole responsibility of SPEED Trust lies in educating the women, who are either widows or deserted. These women are not financially independent and are most often ill-treated by their husbands. The income they earn working as house maids is hardly anything to take care of their families or to even educate their children.

As the saying goes, when you educate a woman, you educate a family. With this mantra in mind, SPEED Trust today has provided fantastic opportunities for these women and their children. In a city where the auto rickshaw drivers are traditionally men, this organisation today has shown these women that they too can earn a living, educate their children and live in dignity. These women benefit from the auto training which is given for a period of 3 to 6 months and once they pass the driving test, SPEED not only helps them to procure a license, but also buys them a vehicle provided they are responsible enough to pay back a monthly sum until they have the full ownership of the vehicle.

The children of these working women have a crèche, established by SPEED Trust. The children of these families are also encouraged to join schools of certain standard, so the crèche prepares the little ones in order to be admitted in proper English medium schools. The older children have an evening tuition centre, computer classes, library and various extracurricular activities. The education of these children is sponsored by SPEED Trust and the Trust also provides educational loans up to professional courses. The schooling rate is 80% as against an average of 50% in the other slums of Chennai. The school drop outs are provided with vocational training. SPEED Trust has a family follow-up programme to ensure the children attend school regularly. The families are also provided with a Universal health insurance plan.

SPEED Trust also has a home for the Orphan and Abandoned children.

VARNAJALAM, yet another venture of SPEED Trust is a slum showroom that markets the old traditional wire baskets, recycled bags made of rexine and jewellery made from recycled newspaper. All this is made by around 50 disadvantaged and physically challenged women who work for a daily wage and for which the raw materials are provided by the organisation. These products apart from having a market in India are also exported to all over the world through BALADARSHAN, a fair trade export company which is a part of SPEED Trust and is a member of the World Fair trade organisation. Mr.K.S. Prasad is the Products Development Manager for VARNAJALAM and has been associated with SPEED Trust since the year2007.

Behind all these various programs, in charge is Mr.Philip Malet, a humble and dedicated soul who made Chennai his home 12 yrs ago not knowing that he would be one among the many chosen to serve these slum dwellers here in Chennai and to help them live a more meaningful and fulfilling life. However, he hopes that our country will soon become less dependent on foreign contributions both physically and financially and looks forward to more Indians contributing towards a child’s education.

Today, SPEED Trust in partnership with fair tourism agency HUMAN TRIP INDIA has 15 Auto rickshaws with lady drivers, 11 of which are used by Human Trip India that provide an opportunity for tourists from world over to discover Chennai in a unique way.

With the support and help from NGO’s such as SECOURS POPULAIRE and INDE EDUC ‘ACTIONS from France, HAPPY KIDS, an NGO from Switzerland and BNPPARIBAS bank from Chennai, SPEED Trust moves on to educate and empower many  more helpless and deserving women and children who are the future of our country.

For more details log on to www.humantripindia.blogspot.com or http://baladarshan.blogspot.com.

To contact SPEED Trust: speedtrustindia@gmail.com

-- by Anita Mathew Perumal - PWI Reporter Tamil Nadu - tamil.nadu@peoplewebinternational.com

Tamilnadu has its first professional college for contemporary Jazz, Rock and World music

TAMILNADU - SAM, as this academy is called is a boon to all the upcoming musicians of various genres. Not far from Chennai, SAM is located 75 kilometres from Chennai and 60 kilometres from Pondicherry. 

THE MARG SWARNABHOOMI is a township that houses SAM. This fully residential academy is set in a 4 acre campus. With the world renowned guitarist, composer Mr. Prasanna as its President, SAM has revolutionised the method of music training in India. With a faculty of world class international musicians, state of the art facilities, this music academy offers an enriched learning experience for the upcoming musicians.

SAM started its first 6 months diploma program in July, 2010. The second batch commenced on 31st Jan, 2011 and is in progress. The diploma program focuses on majors in Guitars, Bass, Drums, Indian percussions, Piano and Voice. 

They also conduct short term workshops during the course in which students from various states in India take part along with the residential diploma students. One such 5 day workshop was recently conducted on 26th Feb, 2011 until 2nd March, 2011. The students of the workshop and the diploma students together learn and enjoy the interactive sessions. They are also offered a one to one session with the faculty.

However the curriculum is based on a multi-cultural musical vocabulary and prepares the students for the music of the future.

SAM, one of its kinds in India, is well equipped with world class gear and their lecture halls, practice rooms, ensemble rooms, labs, recreation halls, library, media centre and modern residential facilities are of high standards.

Undoubtedly SWARNABHOOMI ACADEMY OF MUSIC is an institution of a kind that musicians and students alike would love to be associated with.

For more details on the Academy and the present faculty - www.sam.org.in

-- by Anita Mathew Perumal - PWI Reporter Tamil Nadu - tamil.nadu@peoplewebinternational.com

HYDERABAD - The just concluded Brahmotsavam festival was a witness to the revival of an ancient temple tradition of the Devadasis. These week long celebrations were held from 10th Feb, 2011 to the 17th Feb, 2011 at the Rangbagh temple of Sri Ranganathaswamy in the city of Hyderabad. The celebrations at this temple are special as this is the one and only active temple in India of the present day which has re-aligned rituals of worship with traditional dance. This bold initiative was taken in 1996 and has surely marked the beginning of the revival of a tradition that was banned and abolished during the British times. However, worship at this temple has been continuing uninterrupted since 1861 and this temple is estimated to be over 350 years old. The main temple houses the idol of Sri Ranganathaswamy, depicted in a reclining posture under the hood of a five headed snake with the consorts of the Lord, Sridevi, Bhudevi and Neeladevi by his side.

Dance originated in India almost over 2000 years ago and is considered divine in origin. The dancers were well versed in the Art of music too. Initially dance was performed only in the temples as a ritual. The dancers or the Devadasis as they were called were believed to be married or dedicated to the deity or the temple. The Maharajas or the Kings who were the patrons of the temple became powerless and soon the rights of the Devadasis or the temple dancers were banned and in time abolished. This practice did not exist anymore after that.

This near obsolete temple dance was revived by the internationally renowned dancer, singer, performer and choreographer, Swapnasundari who belonged to an entirely different social background than the earlier temple dancers. After painstaking research and direct learning from the last living traditional dancers of the Telegu land, Swapnasundari, in order to ensure that the dancing in the temple does not become extinct once more, she along with the temple Trust, decided to conduct regular free classes in VILASININATYAM wherein coaching in this style and also the repertoire of Vilasininatyam is imparted to a few select students.

And it is during this Annual festival of Brahmotsavam at the Rangbagh temple that since 1996, she initially adapted Vilasininatyam along with the daily temple rituals. Now, she along with her dedicated students accompanied by a traditional live orchestra performs inside the temple along with the various rituals of the day, invoking the deities and seeking the protection of the temple and its surroundings. During this festival, apart from the temple dances, diverse cultural programmes are held every evening on an improvised stage.

The atmosphere during this festival is extremely blissful and reminds us of the great traditions and values that make our culture so rich and unique.

-- by Anita Mathew Perumal, PWI Regional Reporter Tamil Nadu - tamil.nadu@peoplewebinternational.com