Santhome Cathedral Basilica in Chennai

Each religion has a particular place of worship. For example-: the Hindus visit the temples; the Muslims visit the mosques and the Christians to the church. But usually the non-Hindus or non-Muslims, or even non-Christians will have a peculiar type of curiosity towards the holy place of the other religion, as they don't visit them often. They are not quite acquainted to the atmosphere of that holy place. And if it has some historical facts buried in it then the curiosity doubles up.

Here we are going to speak about such a holy place. The Santhome Cathedral Basilica Church in Chennai is a sacred place, especially for the Catholic Christians. Santhome was a small settlement of the Portuguese who arrived in the Mylapore shores in the 16th century. Santhome has many Catholic institutions including 100 year old buildings, garden houses, convents and the pride of the place, Santhome Basilica. A walk down the area gives the hint of what the Portuguese era would have been like in the 1600s.

It is believed that St. Thomas arrived on the coast of Malabar and after building churches and converting many locals, came to Mylapore in 52 A.D., where he built a small chapel. The Portuguese repeatedly built on the ruins of the St. Thomas Church. The church was then taken by the British in 1740 when the Portuguese power began to wane in the region. This church has the status of a minor basilica. So, originally the old church was built in the 16th century by Portuguese explorers and rebuilt again with the status of cathedral by the British in 1893. The British version still stands today.

The name of Santhome Cathedral Basilica is the Tamil version for the name St. Thomas, who is an archbishop of the Catholic Christians. St. Thomas who was one of the twelve apostles of Jesus Christ was buried in this place and as a tribute to his soul; a church has been built up in this southern part of Marina beach.

This church in Chennai, erected in accordance to the Neo-Gothic style of architecture, was favoured by the British architects of the 19th century. Its 183 feet high spire was built in 1894. Also, you can read the stained glass, where the divine moment of St. Thomas's meeting with the resurrected Christ is been depicted. Some remains of the corpse and also a part of the St. Thomas's bone have been preserved in the crypt that is situated in the centre of the church.

There is also a museum where all the artefacts related to St. Thomas and the era, have been carefully assembled. An interesting object in the museum is the spear that killed the saint. Inscriptions on stones tell the deeds of St. Thomas and also the two postage stamps that were released. There is also a mini theatre where visitors can view a short film on the life of St. Thomas. Recently, the Santhome Basilica Cathedral celebrated its 400 years of the Diocese of Mylapore.

Touring to this Madras Santhome Cathedral Basilica church is pretty easy, as you will get auto rickshaws, 'call taxis' and even luxurious cabs. Auto rickshaws are the cheapest ones but bargain carefully before you get into one. The standard charge is Rs.8 for every kilometre. The call taxis are the cabs that you get on your doorstep at any time whenever you call them. They charge higher but they are very active in their service.

San Thome is not only a beautiful place for visitors, holy church for Christians but also a lovely destination for Christians who love animal. In a rare move, Santhome Church in Chennai opened its doors for pets during special prayers, apparently taking a cue from the Pope Francis' call to protect all animals. On the occasion of World Animal Day on Sunday, October 4, families turned up at the church with their pets, mostly dogs. The priests conducted special prayers and blessed the pets sprinkling holy water. 

One of the only two vaishnavi devi temples in the world

The Vaishnavi Temple is dedicated to Divine Mother Shakti as Vaishnavi located in Thirumullaivoyal. Navarathri fest is the most famous event which draws huge crowd from across the world. There is also an ashram in the campus for sadhaka-members devoted to Sri Vaishnavi Devi and visiting sannyasis.

Vaishno Devi Mandir dedicated to the Hindu Goddess, located at the Trikuta Mountains within the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir and the second one is located in Thirumullaivoyal. Sri Vaishnavi Devi is worshipped at this temple by large number of devotees from all over the country and abroad and experienced the ecstasy and bliss apart from immense peace. The number of devotees is increasing day by day and this temple has been included as one of the few by the Tamil Nadu tourism. The shrine is open for all bhaktas and sadhakas without distinction of caste, colour, creed, religion or gender.Right on the National Highway 205 you can see the police station and next to this you can see the arch of the temple leading into a serene temple situated in lush 50 acres of private land. The temple is run by volunteers and you have the privilege of doing pooja archanai or abhishekam yourself all under guidance by the volunteer devotees. The temple houses the idols of Ganesha and Muruga. A small shrine for Ganesha near the tree and another for Dakshinamurthy are also found. Navagraha idols are also installed in this temple. The temple entrance has two small idols of Hayagreevar and Agastya. Sri Parthasarathy, the son of Srinivasa Iyengar, a famous Indian national leader, got the idol of Vaishnavi Devi as a gift from some unknown person maybe a siddhar. He built this temple of Vaishnavi Devi in 1954. The main idol of the temple Vaishnavi Devi is extraordinarily beautiful. The samadhi of sri Parthasarathy can be seen in the fore front here. The temple is open on all days except first Monday of every month in the mornings.

The rituals offered daily are as observed by the founder together with the evening abhishekam, archanas with special pujas on Thursdays, Fridays, purnimas, moolams and poorams as a routinely throughout the year. All these alankarams and rituals are as directed with appropriate jeweler, vahanams and other requirements.

Youth group takes up tree plantation drive to pay tribute to Kalam

M.Sowmiya

Chennai, 26 Oct 2015:The youth group takes up tree plantation drive in the Nolambur to pay tribute to the former President APJ Kalam.

It all began in the terrace of R Goutham Raj’s house at Eleventh Avenue in Banu Nagar, while chatting with school friends. He did not want to lose touch with them after school and suggested they form a group called ‘Jatayu’ and involved themselves in charitable activities.

Out of 40, just a few responded initially, but he was let down. After carrying out few activities the neighbourhood began taking them seriously and more volunteers started trickling in.

In its latest project, the 30 member youth group is planning on ‘Vithai Kalam’, a sapling planting drive across Nolambur and neighbouring areas starting from 15 October as a tribute to former President Dr. APJ Kalam, says T Sai Kishan from Thiruvengada Nagar.

K V Shiva Rama Krishnan also from Thiruvengada Nagar says, their target is to plant 8400 saplings as it is the 84^th birth anniversary of Kalam from approaching various residents welfare association to door to door campaigning, we are roping in individuals to facilitate the drive, and the members are keen on giving at least one plant to each house, he adds.

A sapling contributor, S Kannan of Lenin Nagar, says medicinal plants, vegetables, flowering, non-flowering and other saplings will be given free of cost. T Vignesh Sridhar, another member, says their responsibilities extends to conducting monthly review of the plants as well.

For Sathish Venkatraman from Oragadam, he is part of Kalam’s dream to make the nation a greener place and the project is timely for the neighbourhood. Though occupants of few apartments have turned down the request to take in a sapling, S Priyadharshini from Lenin Nagar is not let down.

In remembrance of SaintThiruvallur

Have you looked at it from  inside?

Valluvar_Kottam pictures on Wikipedia

It architectural pattern is 39 m high and that  is where you would find the huge stone effigy  the saint  Thiruvallur.
Right   at the intersection  of the Kodambakam High road  and the Village road there it  has been  standing.
It  has  bigger auditoriums said to  be accommodating more than  39 000 people.

Vulluvar  Kottam one the historical  place one visiting India or living  in  India should visit.  Not only  because it  is a nobility toward saint Thrivallur who is honored for his well- known  intellectual poet and philosophic contribution  to the Tamil Nadu  literature and that  of the world.

Besides the history  of the Saint  who  was a greatest  scholar  during  Sangam period,  whom his effigy found in  Vulluvar  Kottam Temple the pace is use for two  main  events during the the year.
If you visit  Vullavar  kottam in  August  and September you would be among  the lucky  people who enjoy the trades fairs hosted in  their larger auditorium every year.  

As they  continued to  remember a great  philosopher who  was sometimes called as Theiva Pulavar - Divine Poe,  Vullavar and many  other names they  use bring  together Indians products from  different  items made by Indians from  all  states across it  nation.

It  construction  is like a like a temple chariot  and it  is said to  be a duplication of the temple chariot  in  Thiruvarur.  It  is also  another/among  those great  representation  of south Indian  Indian architectures.

Apart  from  the temple there is also  a park close to the temple where visitors and resident can rest.

Mount of Martyrdom

St. Thomas Mount is a small hillock located in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India, near the neighbourhood of Guindy.

The ancient Syrian Christian community of India trace the origin of their church to St. Thomas the Apostle, believed to have attained martyrdom in St. Thomas Mount. From the 17th century, this part of Chennai was populated predominantly by Anglo-Indians.

A shrine dedicated to "Our Lady of Expectation" (Mother Mary) was built in 1523 on top of the mount. The altar of this shrine was built on the spot where St. Thomas' death has occurred. At the northern foot of the mount, is a gateway of four impressive arches surmounted by a cross bearing the inscribed date 1547. A flight of 160 steps leads up to the summit of the mount. There are 14 stations of the cross erected on the way to the summit.

 

It is a well known historical fact that Christianity was first introduced into India by St Thomas. After the Death and Resurrection of Christ, Thomas became acquainted with Habban, a merchant of king Gondophare of India. It was in the company of this merchant that Thomas landed at Cranganore on the Malabar Coast of present day Kerala in 52 A.D.

After building seven churches on this coast, St Thomas crossed over to Coromandel Coast of India's eastern seaboard and enriched the southern part of India with the seeds of the Gospel in a land that had never known what this Gospel of salvation was. It was a hard fight which made him to go into hiding in the Little Mount. When at last he reached the Parangi Malai (present St Thomas Mount), perhaps he found that this place was better suited for his life of solitude and prayer. But that very spot and that very moment of prayer were sealed and sanctified when he became a libation for the Gospel in the year 72 A.D.

His mortal remains were shifted to Santhome where the huge Basilica of St Thomas was erected later to entomb the Apostle's body. Thus the three punctuations of his itinerary in the city of Chennai – Little Mount, St Thomas Mount and Santhome – became places of spiritual energy in the years to come.

Look at our city!

We can’t not denied that each and every place has its own set of positives and also negatives. Mumbai is an idea city for travel with Bollywood, mouth-watering chat, trains and weekend gateways but a lot of large slums exist along with the beauty. Delhi has its rich historical architecture and planned transportation but safety should be concerned. Let’s look at our Chennai and think about the “beauty and beast” it has.

Chennai is one of the safest cities in India. Look at any crime number and Chennai is way behind Mumbai or New Delhi. Crime rate per 100K people is 169 for Chennai, for Bengaluru it is 566, Delhi - 359, Mumbai - 207. Now anecdotally speaking, how often do you read of rapes in Chennai? Or how about organized gangs or Mafias? How about terrorism? How often do you find bombs bursting in Chennai? 

Richly soaked in culture. Until very recently, Chennai was the only major city to retain a lot of elements of Indian culture. We have 1000 year old temples and we are the epicentre of classic Indian arts such as Bharatanatyam or Carnatic Music. Whether it be learning Vedas or music, Chennai is the place to be. No other Indian metro comes close. 

The city of ancient cultural remaining but work opportunities in both the old and new world (IT). Its economy is more diverse than Bangalore or NCR.

Sportive people. It’s easy to see that Chennai people love cricket. I can hear the sound of supporter blowing up from the Chepauk Stadium whenever they have a match.

Throwing the bigoted glasses and look at the lovely point of Chennai’s weather. I agree that heat is uncomfortable but at least there is no weather extreme. It’s extremely predictable because it’s always hot. It’s not like Delhi that can get brutally hot in the summer and frozen in the winter.

People are friendly and kindly. I often buy fruit at a store near my house and the old woman always offers a good price (as I compare with other stores and super market) and gives more fruit than I buy. And one of my friend, she left her phone at a train station and no hoped to get it back but luckily, someone picked it up and gave to a policeman. These are small stories but make me love the city more and more.

And this is the time for a judgement, Chennai has some negatives besides.

Although it has no weather extreme, Chennai weather can be brutal if unprepared. We have beaten around this too many times.

It is hard to get good non-vegetarian food. Large parts of core Chennai (Mylapore, T.Nagar, Vadapalani, Triplicane, Adyar) have deep Brahminical roots and many high end restaurants are vegetarian.

Many places in the city are dirty, crowded, without dustbins or footpaths.

All the things above are personal feeling and experience therefore they may be right or wrong.  

 

Chennai Egmore in the sunset

A flock of crows

Have you ever heard about HR sangam ???

Shashi is a seasoned HR professional, motivational speaker, student transformational expert and convener of HR Sangam.He has provided operational, strategic and functional leadership in the areas of Recruitment, L&D, Performance Management, Talent retention, development&engagement .

Shashi has worked for ABN AMRO Bank, Reliance Retail & Bajaj Allianz Life Insurance setting up HR systems and enabling process improvements in the people function. He is credited with introducing innovation in cost optimization, workforce rationalization, business alignment and people development.

He presently heads the global HR function for TVS Automobile Solutions Limited, a group company of TVS & Sons. Shashi is a graduate in Electrical and Electronics Engineering and holds a post graduate diploma in Human Resource Management. He is certified in the People Capability Maturity Model by KMPG and Leadership models by the Dale Carnegie institute

Shashi excels in Execution as much as strategy. He has been passionately driving his dream – HR Sangam since 2006 with an objective of transforming the landscape of the capabilities of the HR fraternity. He is very active among the various professional associations in Chennai and is part of the Tamil Nadu HR Forum of the CII and SICCI.

As an insightful and dynamic speaker, he is much sought after at various forums and B Schools. He has a keen interest in behavioral sciences and spends his time reading management books and mentoring budding HR professionals

Aminjikarai market complex lacks basic amenities

The Aminjikarai Market hosts very fresh vegetables, some roadside makeshift vegetable shops offer very fresh vegetables at nominal rates. The market complex lacks basic amenities such as drinking water taps, separate toilets for men and women, proper fencing, uninterrupted power supply and security.

 In fact, the existing small building, in which the market operates now, is in a dilapidated condition, resembling a godown. As fish and meat stalls are operated on the premises, the meat wastes, in addition to the rotten vegetables, are dumped near the premises, making it nauseating for consumers to visit the market. Every day, on an average, at least a tonne of garbage is generated by the market. But, the accumulated garbage is collected only once in a week or a fortnight depending upon the availability of the civic body’s garbage truck.

“Traditionally, the market is also known for selling ayurvedic medicines and herbs. A handful of traders have such outlets in the market and a variety of cereals and pulses are also available here,” Ajay and vignesh, a traders in Aminjikarai, says.

Longer than it is wide, the brightly lit market is lined with raised platforms, selling big and little fish. A mini-lorry parks itself just outside and several men stand around with iron hooks, to drag down thermacol boxes.But it’s not easy to give way; the passage is filled with salesmen and customers crowding around crates and trays of fish; men tear unopened boxes and unpack the fish; they part a layer of ice, lift the fish with both hands, and gently place them on the cleaned cement platforms.

Education is the only way out!

In outskirts of Ritchie Street in Chennai is where you would find Priya  Suran,  who  takes advantage of the daylight for studying due to the lack  of electricity  in  her home.
 It  is because of not having  power in  her home Priyar find herself  spending  her afternoon  studying instead of playing  with her friends.
Priya  who live with  an extended family of seven, believes that  education is the only  way  out of their problem.  Both her dad and mom work in  the nearby construction site earning  a small  salary  that  brings bread at home.

Even if she is only 10 years old Priya understand that  only  through education that  soon  when  she is a grown woman she would be able to  provide her family with  a good home.
" My  father told me to  study always" Priya is very  close to  her dad who  encourage to  study.  Priyar  also  understood that  for a girl  to  live a better  life one should be educated.

With an ambition  to  live in  a better  community  she said her father and the family  at large motivate her to  acquire the first  position in  her school.

 " maybe I  would be a teacher or a builder"

There is no particular reason of her dreams choice, Priya  believes that  hard work  starts at  the young  age. She therefore have hope that  if she keep  working  until  her older age nothing  would stop  her from  achieve her dreams.

By  the end of the year Priya said she very  sure she will  go  to  the next  standard.  Not only passing  well  is very  important to  her however she is motivated to  keep climbing the education leader until she secure herself and her family  a better  life style.

In her free time she walk around the street, sometimes playing  with  her friend but she have the best  two  dogs that  she play with  all day.

Fire accident at waste paper mart

M.Sowmiya

Chennai, 12 Oct 2015: Transformer bursts and a major fire broke out in the Old Waste Paper Mart in Ambattur around 5.30 in the evening.

Workers noticed the fire and a thick smoke emanating from the bursted transformer and they alerted the other people and moved out from the shop. Three fire engines were rushed to the spot and extinguished devastating flames after one hour.

Residents in the nearby said that they heard a thunderous noise and the entire shop was engulfed with smoke. ``Nothing was visible for some time and after a few minutes we realised that it was only papers burning, said Mr. D. Ashok, proprietor of the Bakery shop.

It took more than one hour to control the fire with the help of three fire engines. Not only that a normal water tanker lorry was also used to putup the fire as the three fire engines was not sufficient. Though it was a busy road, it was sheer luck that no person was injured when the transformer burst, residents said.

 

Gateway of South India

Chennai Central, is the main railway terminus in the city of Chennai. It lies adjacent to the current headquarters of the Southern Railway, as well as the Ripon Building, and is one of the most important railway hubs in South India. The other major railway hub stations in the city are Chennai Egmore and Tambaram. Chennai Central connects the city to New Delhi and prominent cities of India such as Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Bhopal, Coimbatore, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Kolkata, Lucknow, Mumbai, Patna, Varanasi, Thiruvananthapuram etc. The 142-year-old building of the railway station, one of the most prominent landmarks of Chennai, was designed by architect George Harding. The station is also a main hub for the Chennai Suburban Railway system.

 

Chennai Central serves as a symbolic landmark for people in South India as this station served as the main gateway for all people who travelled to South India during the British times. About 350,000 passengers use the terminus every day. Chennai Egmore, Coimbatore Junction and Chennai Central are the most profitable stations of Southern Railways.

 

The station has bookshops, restaurants, accommodation facilities, Internet browsing centers, and a shopping mall. In spite of being the most important terminus of the region, the station lacks several facilities such as drinking water facility, a medical unit and coach position display boards. The main concourses too have long exhausted their capacity to handle the increasing passenger crowd. There are passenger operated enquiry terminals and seven touch-screen PNR status machines in the station. The station has three split-flap timing boards, electronic display boards and Plasma TVs that mention train timings and platform number. Passenger information center in the station has been upgraded with "Spot your Train" live train display facility, information kiosks and passenger digital assistance booths. The station, however, has only less number of toilets, which is inadequate to its 350,000 passengers.

A visit to the tomb of St. Thomas

The Santhome Cathedral Basilica Church in Chennai is a sacred place, especially for the Catholic Christians. The church and its ambience are so beautiful and peaceful. The construction and architecture is mind blowing. This santhome church is among the three churches in the world where Jesus Christ’s apostles were buried. So that this church occupies a special place in the hearts of people especially Christians.

 Santhome was a small settlement of the Portuguese who arrived in the Mylapore shores in the 16th century. Santhome has many Catholic institutions including 100 year old buildings, garden houses, convents and the pride of the place, Santhome Basilica. A walk down the area gives the hint of what the Portuguese era would have been like in the 1600s.

 

It is believed that St. Thomas arrived on the coast of Malabar and after building churches and converting many locals, came to Mylapore in 52 A.D., where he built a small chapel. The Portuguese repeatedly built on the ruins of the St. Thomas Church. The church was then taken by the British in 1740 when the Portuguese power began to wane in the region. This church has the status of a minor basilica. So, originally the old church was built in the 16th century by Portuguese explorers and rebuilt again with the status of cathedral by the British in 1893. The British version still stands today.

 

The name of Santhome Cathedral Basilica is the Tamil version for the name St. Thomas, who is an archbishop of the Catholic Christians. St. Thomas who was one of the twelve apostles of Jesus Christ was buried in this place and as a tribute to his soul; a church has been built up in this southern part of Marina beach.

 

This church in Chennai, erected in accordance to the Neo-Gothic style of architecture, was favored by the British architects of the 19th century. Its 183 feet high spire was built in 1894. Also, you can read the stained glass, where the divine moment of St. Thomas's meeting with the resurrected Christ is been depicted. Some remains of the corpse and also a part of the St. Thomas's bone have been preserved in the crypt that is situated in the center of the church.

 

There is also a museum where all the artefacts related to St. Thomas and the era, have been carefully assembled. An interesting object in the museum is the spear that killed the saint. Inscriptions on stones tell the deeds of St. Thomas and also the two postage stamps that were released. There is also a mini theatre where visitors can view a short film on the life of St. Thomas. Recently, the Santhome Basilica Cathedral celebrated its 400 years of the Diocese of Mylapore.