december-2010 by Projects Abroad

VOLUME 2, ISSUE 13 December 2010

Positive Voices: How Women with HIV have Rescripted their Lives Sponsored by:

CONTENTS

Contents December 2010 | Issue No. 13 Editor

Dr. Nandini Murali

EDITOR’S CORNER

03 The Miracle of Being Ordinary COVER STORY

Assisted by

Ezhil Elango Media Relations Officer Coordinator

Joel Powel Abraham

05 Dawn of a New Day in India MAKING A DIFFERENCE 10 Widening the Ring of Hope TRIBUTE 12 A.K. Kuppuram: An Ordinary Man, an extraordinary Life

Sivakasi Projects Abroad Pvt. Ltd., Reporters and Designers:

Camille Jucker Jessica Hall Thibault Bachmann Kester Clark Vera Weidenbach

Contact:

WEEKEND WANDER

14 Haunting Hanoi

ISSUES

16 Journalism: How Free? How Fair?

TIME OUT

18 Madurai: Blending the Old and the New

EVENTS

20 It’s Circus Time, Folks!

editor@maduraimessenger.org

MADURAI MESSENGER

22 Read Between the Lines of Love

No. 17, T.P.K Road Pasumalai Madurai – 625004 Tamil Nadu India Tel. 0452-2370269 Cover Picture & Design:

Camille Jucker Vera Weidenbach

BOOK REVIEW

Madurai Messenger December 2010

The Miracle of Being Ordinary And while it takes courage to achieve greatness, it takes more courage to find fulfillment in being ordinary. -Marilyn Thomsen Thomsen The greatest truths are simplest. Profound insights lurk in everyday occurrences. To discover them we need not trek to mountain tops or explore caves, but just open our ways of seeing by being aware that in the ordinary lies the extraordinary. Like nectar in a flower or oil in the infinitesimal mustard.

The Uncarved Stone Syndrome

I recently came across a simple stone bench in a manicured garden. It rested on bricks that acted as its legs and its naturalness caught my attention. Although it was a stark contrast to the artificiality of the surroundings, it did not call attention to itself or flaunt a standalone quality. Its utter simplicity and un-self-consciousness seemed intrinsic. Its essence permeated its entire be ing and stone seemed so aware and alive to the Presence within. The stone celebrated its ordinariness. Something stirred within me. In contrast, unlike the stone I camouflage myself through wearing myriad situation specific masks that distanced me further and further away from my essence and thereby from others too. Paradoxically, as we move into a state of awareness and begin to peel away our centuries of masking, life become simpler and joyful. Benjamin Hoff in The Tao of Pooh writes about the wisdom of leaning from the ordinary every day events and occurrences that have hidden messages for our souls—the P’u or the Principle of the Uncarved Block. “The essence of the Principle of the Uncarved Block is that is that things in their original simplicity contain their own natural power, power that is easily spoilt or lost when that simplicity is changed… From the state of the Uncarved Block comes the ability to enjoy the simple and the quiet, the natural and the plain. Along with that comes the ability to do thing as spontaneously and have them work, odd as it may appear to others at times,” writes Hoff. Hence it is hardly surprising that among the characters in this delightful Taoist fable, it is the bear Pooh with his simplicity and harmonious way of living who epitomizes the Taoist ideal of “going with the flow” in contrast to the intellectual Rabbit, Owl, or Eyeore (the donkey).

Seeking the Extraordinary

Ordinary. The word stems from the Latin ordinarius that means regular, normal, customary, boring or commonplace. It seems to me that we humans have a natural affinity to latch on to literal or denotative meanings of words. Like we have done with ordinary. If you ask any person to respond to the word ordinary, chances are that most often, they will react negatively to the O word. Few words have been as stigmatized and thereby the target of our discriminatory attitudes and prejudices as ordinary. I often wonder why advertisements use celebrities with their halo of “extraordinariness” to peddle “ordinary” products used by “ordinary” consumers! Or ads that use Einstein look¬ alikes, the morphed version of the crown of Albert Einstein over a young child’s “ordinary” body to suggest a sort of extraordinary striving towards excellence! Certainly ordinary is the warp and weft that weaves together the fabric of what it means to be human. GK Chesterton spoke about the “ecstasy of being ordinary.” Chesterton derived an immense satisfaction at being able to connect with the essential nature of things. He delighted in the “sudden yellowness of dandelion,” the “wetness of water,” the “fierceness of fire,” or the “steeliness of steel.” According to David Fagerberg, for Chesterton, “on every encounter, at every turn, with every person, there is cause for happiness…We have been given world filled with a million means to beatitude.” In other words, our ordinariness is the kernel that holds the promise of fulfillment and contentment. Yet, disconnected as we are from our intrinsic nature of being “perfect, whole, and complete,” we seek to fill our emptiness from the outside. For most of us, this quest to fill our emptiness comes from the striving to be somebody.

EDITOR’S CORNER

Fear of Being Ordinary

All our lives we fear being ordinary. The ordinary frightens us. Therefore we strive to stand out from others through competition and achievement. Stemming from our own deeply held inadequacies and insecurities, this fear of being nobody is a powerful force that propels us to camouflage our own neediness with achievements, awards and accolades. Indeed in the process, many of us overachieve or overcompensate. Ironically, the more we do so, the more dissatisfied and empty we feel.

The Charisma of Being Ordinary

People who have embraced their ordinariness come across as individuals who are loved for their unpretentiousness, openness and simplicity. A person who embraces his ordinariness is former president of India APJ Abdul Kalam whose simplicity and authenticity were endearing and refreshing. As a teenager, I was an avowed fan of the late Princess Diana. Today when I look back at her life and times, I relate to her trials and tribulations as the struggle of a person who just wanted to be: Ordinary. She paid a heavy personal price for her courageous struggle, and the People’s Princess is certainly an example of a person who dared to challenge the establishment and just wanted to experience the joy of being herself. A friend recently told me about two doctors (both physicians) with divergent approaches to life and living. One was a successful doctor who worked round the clock with a hugely successful practice. The other was content with his work in a local medical college and instead of pursuing private practice at a feverish pace preferred to devote his evenings to his passion for violin. Mainstream culture would probably award the apparently “successful” doctor with its stamp of approval. But in my opinion, the second doctor exemplifies a life of being rather than doing. Perhaps in his ordinariness lies his extraordinariness! In this issue of Madurai Messenger we have portraits of ordinary people who lead extraordinary lives. The women infected with HIV who have rescripted their lives into one of courage and hope and are a beacon to many like them and several others too. Or the late A.K. Kuppuram of Turning Point Book Store who believed that he was “an ordinary man who wanted to be different! And what a difference they made in the lives of people who knew them. Nandini Murali Editor

Madurai Messenger

COVER STORY

December 2010

Dawn of a New Day in India Changing Care and Support for HIV/AIDS On the occasion of World AIDS Day (December 1), Jessica Hall provides glimpses of how people, mostly women, who are HIV positive, have rescripted their lives with courage and hope. In effect these women are change agents as they join in helping to spread awareness about their disease, and relate to newly infected individuals on a compassionate level. An ‘infectious’ compassion is slowly spreading, overriding the fear and hopelessness traditionally associated with HIV/AIDS in India, creating a future for those who had formerly abandoned all hope. Jessica Hall Victoria, Canada Deivamani shows her teeth through a giant, all encompassing smile. She is sitting on a small rock near her palm leaf hut in a small village called Manalmettupatti, explaining how she first learned she was infected with HIV. Deivamani knows that her husband contracted the disease while he was living away from home, working in Mumbai. He in turn infected her. She confidently replied that she bore no resentment towards him, smiled again and said they were still married. He works as a waiter in a hotel in Chennai. The mother of three had no idea she was infected until after the birth of her third child, a son. When her baby boy showed no signs of being able to walk after his first year, Deivamani began to worry. She knew something was awry as she saw her child battle to accom-

plish routine tasks, and finally brought him to a hospital. After multiple tests, doctors confirmed that he was HIV positive, and to her horror, that she was the one who infected him.

In Dire Straits

During the first few years after learning she was infected, Deivamani sunk into a deep depression. Impoverished and faced with raising three children while her husband was away was daunting, and Deivamani’s health deteriorated quickly. When she finally went to a hospital, it was clear she was in extremely dire straits. “I thought I would never come back from the hospital, and that I would die there,” Deivamani said. Her first check up and CD4 test (used to count t-helper cells which fight off infections and play an integral role in the immune system), revealed that her t-helper cell count was Deivamani who found courage to face HIV below 50, whereas the average healthy person has a cell count of over 1,200 . With support from her fellow village members, today Deivamani eats a much more balanced diet. She takes ART medication (antiretroviral treatment) twice a day, in the mornings and evenings with her son. The medicine is provided free by the Indian Government to 335,232 patients at 281 centres as on June 2010 all over India . She was proud to report that her blood count has climbed over 1,100 today, and that a bal-

Supportive village women helping Deivamani battle HIV/AIDS

COVER STORY

anced diet has helped her stay healthy. Deivamani has yet to tell her ten-year old son that he is infected with the virus. “He just needs more time” she said with a pleading look spread across her face.

port the most. India being one of the largest and most populated countries in the world, with over one billion inhabitants, it estimated as having approximately 2.27 million people currently living with HIV .

Finding Help

“About ten years ago, discrimination was at its worst,” Raman said. There were a lot of myths surrounding the realities of HIV and the truth was never discussed. Raman explained how one man infected with HIV thought drinking the blood of a goat would cure him—instead it killed him. Uneducated villagers were scared of their HIV positive neighbours, and were confused as to the different ways HIV can spread.

Deivamani got help through a small project called PACHE Trust, an acronym for People’s Association for Community Health Education . The project is a Community Based Care and Support Project, meaning that PACHE Trust promotes community members to take responsibility for addressing HIV themselves, with the support of others where necessary. Communities make decisions together and take responsibility for their actions together. The programme reaches out to 15 Panchayats comprising of 56 villages in Melur and Kottampatti block of Madurai district . C. Raman, the Project Coordinator, gave up a life as a Tamil teacher in order to pursue his passion for social work. He works with 20 other volunteers, to bring people to both government and private hospitals for check ups, counseling, and education awareness. Sixteen of the volunteers working for PACHE Trust are HIV positive. According to C. Raman, Melur was chosen as a project destination because of the many men and women who work as transient labourers and simple farmers in Melur. As truck drivers pass through and the transient labourers leave Melur, disease is brought in and taken out of the small district. Men engage with sex workers all over India, only to bring HIV home with them, unknowingly infecting their families. The people continue to travel from place to place, and the disease is spread in a destructive wake behind them. Farmers and village people are uneducated about HIV and have unprotected sex without understanding the risk they are taking. “More than 600 people are infected with HIV in Melur,” Raman said. He explained that the number is probably higher, but people are ashamed to admit they have the disease. Fear of discrimination is one of the biggest obstacles to spreading awareness and educating the poor. HIV positive people were once horribly stigmatised by their fellow village members, and left to fend for themselves when they needed sup-

faithful in their marriage. As little as ten years ago, stringently victimised women would simply fade into the disease with no one to care for them. PACHE Trust and Raman have been working to reverse this abhorred past. PACHE Trust assisted Thyagum, an

“HIV positive women weren’t allowed to draw from wells while other people were there, they had to stay away from everyone,” Pandiammal bounced back from depression with the Raman said. Even help of PACHE Trust family members would shun their infected relatives, acting company to conduct educational leaving them sick and alone to fend for skits and plays in the streets of small themselves. During this time doctors villages. By targeting 15 of the most were afraid of HIV, making it difficult severely affected villages first, PACHE for people to receive proper treatment. Trust built a reputation for itself. InThe world turned its back on HIV posi- stead of singling out only infected famitive people. lies to treat and counsel, which would expose them to the discrimination of their village, a volunteer would visit Worse for Women For women infected by HIV, the stigma every household in an entire village to was worse. They were often blamed educate on safe sex, parent-to-child for contracting the disease, and looked infection, medication and the imporupon as sexually liberal and irrespon- tance of nutrition. PACHE Trust is given sible. With tradition and marriage held medication to treat minor illnesses that in such esteem in India, this stereotype plague HIV infected people, all provided held the power to ruin the lives of vil- free of charge from government hospilage women. They are also burdened tals. They distribute pills for stomach with the task of caring for a family, so aches, headaches, flu, and colds to poor women became trapped in a commu- families as they visit from village to vilnity that judged them mercilessly and lage. wrongfully. Interestingly, every woman interviewed for this article contracted From these visits, PACHE Trust was HIV from their husband, while being able to change the stringent stigma sur-

Madurai Messenger December 2010

rounding HIV/AIDS. Self Help Groups (SHG) have flourished in many of the villages which work to empower those infected, as they find their voice and regain their confidence once lost in the ruin of an incurable disease. SHG’s create solidarity in the villages, as infected people band together emotionally and physically to support each other when problems arise. Community mobilisation for HIV means that people most affected by HIV, in particular people living with HIV, play an active and influential role in shaping responses to HIV. Participatory methods are important features of community mobilisation, as is the principle of sustainability. Community mobilisation builds the capacity for communities to have sustained, responsive and locally owned programmers or services .

Changing Prejudice

The courage behind the change in prejudice took years to overcome. But change is finally being felt. Doctors are now doing what Raman calls, “Reverse Referral,” meaning that they seek out PACHE Trust in order to find support and care for infected people, rather than PACHE Trust berating doctors to treat

people. Until five years ago, ART medication was not available in Madurai, and families would have to make the long nine- hour train trip to Chennai to receive treatment. Today, medicine is freely available, testament to the progress made in the last few years. Another volunteer for PACHE Trust, named Pandiammal spoke openly about her experience with HIV. She contracted the virus nine years ago, when she was 19, also from her husband. Unlike Deivamani, Pandiammal divorced her husband and embarked upon her battle with HIV alone. She was pregnant, and quickly sought medical help to prevent her baby from getting the disease. An intervention known as ‘“prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV,” or PMTCT, provides drugs, counselling and psychological support to help mothers safeguard their infants against the virus,” a treatment that saved Pandiammal’s daughter from contracting HIV . Her daughter is eight years old, an avid student, and HIV-free. “The doctor told me not to breast feed my baby, during this time I became very depressed. I went to work only 15 days after giving birth to try to cope

with the sadness and get money to buy milk” Pandiammal said. She tried to commit suicide out of desperation and depression, but found PACHE Trust’s support enough to turn her life around. She thinks of Raman as a father figure, and now leads a happy and healthy life. Regular CD4 check ups every six months ensure that Pandiammal is aware of her t-helper cell count. “After getting so much help from PACHE, I wanted to give back,” Pandiammal explains, she has now been volunteering as a home care guide for eight years. She works under the PACHE Trust umbrella, visiting different villages and giving counseling. No one knows that Pandiammal is infected with HIV. She is afraid of the discrimination she would face from her village even though she admits recognising its rapid decline. With special interest in prenatal care, Pandiammal has been trained through PACHE Trust to help HIV infected women during delivery. Years ago, when doctors were still afraid of delivering babies from HIV infected mothers, Pandiammal stepped in to help.

Bedroom dormitory for female children at the Arulagam Hospice

COVER STORY

darity and comradeship between those infected and affected by HIV/Aids. Not so dissimilar from PACHE Trust’s mission.

A Global Partnership

Sumathi looks forward to a bright future with her daughters “I’ve delivered babies!” she laughed. Her life has totally changed.

What it’s like for a Child

Children that are not lucky enough to be prevented from infection are born into a difficult world. Discrimination is ebbing away, but in small villages where adequate education is scarce, children still endure prejudice. The Arulagam Hospice in the Dindigul District has three large dorms, filled with bunk beds for the 20 children infected with HIV they are home to. All but five of the children are orphans, most of them losing their parents to HIV/AIDS. The children range from 2-17 years of age, the eldest having lived in the hospice his entire life. Most of the children are too young to understand the severity and seriousness of their disease, all they know and are told is that they have something inside them that makes them sick often. At their local school the hospice’s children band together. “They’re kind of like a family” said Joan, the Project Coordinator. The healthy children at school are afraid of them. Arulagam has three staff nurses that work around the clock, a project coordinator named Joan, lab technicians, a cook, janitor, doctors, and perhaps most importantly, a counselor named S. Rajesh. ART medication is prescribed, proper health and nutrition is taught

and enforced, and a caring environment creates stability for the children. The children take nutritional beverages, eggs, mutton and vegetables to make sure they stay as healthy as possible. Per day it costs Rs. 100 (2.20 USD) for Arulagam to support each child. The government helps Arulagam through various funding, but the staff work hard to fundraise for the extra money they need for medicine and food. They give out hundreds of condoms all over the larger villages to promote safe sex and spread awareness of sexually transmitted diseases. Arulagam does not have a website, so all fundraising is done through word of mouth. To build a website would cost Rs. 50,000, money Arulagam cannot afford. Arulagam is strictly a treatment centre, so permanent residency isn’t granted to anyone but children and those on their death bed. They simply can’t afford it. They work to provide drop in care for impoverished people in need of a healthy meal and medicine. They hold workshops to educate villagers, and put on skits and plays to help generate awareness. In addition to this they provide free counseling, where they mentor and listen to couples and families. W. Tamilselvan, the manager of the hospice explained that while they cannot offer permanent residency, they want to give tools to their community to make changes themselves; to help create soli-

Both of these programmes are supported by The International HIV/AIDS Alliance. Alliance is the Secretariat for a global partnership of nationally-based linking organisations and country offices working to support community action on AIDS in developing countries. It works as a financial support organisation to intermediate NGOs all over the world. This means that Alliance doesn’t actually work in India, but it supports NGOs established in India to help smaller programmes like PACHE Trust and Arulagam. They all work together, in a joint initiative to help prevent the spreading of HIV/Aids, give care and support for the infected, and provide medical treatment. An intermediate NGO that Alliance funds is called the Palmyrah Workers Development Society (PWDS). PWDS is a community development organisation based in Marthandam, Kanyakumari district, Tamil Nadu. Alliance and PWDS began working together in 2001, a time when all other agencies working in the HIV/AIDS sector were focusing on prevention. Since the PWDS-Alliance project was initiated, the need for care and support has been widely recognised as an important component of HIV/AIDS programmes. Care and support in India was largely pioneered by PWDS. It is through PWDS’s vision that care and support programmes like Arulagam and PACHE Trust were created. A cornerstone achievement for PWDS was in 2008, when they supported 943 children living with or affected by HIV/AIDS. As part of the care and support prograame, ain initiative later known as “A Handful of Rice.” scheme spontaneously emerged from the community. The idea is simple, the effects great: women set aside a handful of rice when preparing daily meals and the rice is then collected at community meetings and distributed to households with an HIV-infected family member. This initiative has helped support hundreds of sick and impoverished families, while at the same time helping diminish harmful stigmas about HIV/AIDS. It creates

Madurai Messenger December 2010

compassion, love and understanding in the place of resentment and discrimination. “I never let my self-confidence go down. When I get love and care, my confidence stays up, and so does my health,” Sumathi, 32 said. She has been infected with HIV for seven years now, but is healthy and a proud mother to two beautiful and HIV-free daughters. She receives a lot of support from her community, a small village just outside Melur. “PACHE Trust is doing more for us than a parent could for their child,” she said. Sumathi says her life was saved by PACHE Trust, and hopes that an organisation like it will exist always. “In the future, I want my youngest daughter to go to school,” Sumathi

dreams as she thinks about the future of her family and herself. Her future, once wrought with distress and fear for certain death has changed. Instead of focusing on her disease, Sumathi leads a normal life, determined to have her daughters married and happy. She lives in a beautiful home with her grandmother and youngest daughter, and plays an active role in her community. Determined to give back to an organisation that gave so much to her, Sumathi has been working as a volunteer home care giver for six years and counting.

Emergence of Hope

In a country where poverty, low levels of literacy, and poor health are rife, the spread of HIV presents a daunting challenge . But a dawn of a new day is rising in India. The cycle of community love and care has caught on quickly, especially in Tamil Nadu. Where discrimination used to overrule lives and ruin fam-

ilies, the disease brings communities together to band for support and provide for one another. The visible changes in society are clear and undeniable, thanks to programs and NGOs supported by Alliance like PWDS, PACHE Trust and the Arulagam Hospice. When one of their patients receives care despite all odds, they are inspired to return the favour. They join in helping spread awareness about their disease, and relate to newly infected individuals on a compassionate level, because members of peer groups and people directly affected by HIV bring expertise, a specific point of view, and empathy. An ‘infectious’ compassion is slowly spreading, overriding the fear and hopelessness traditionally associated with HIV/AIDS, creating a future for those who had formerly abandoned all hope.

A healthy handful of rice Sources: AVERT International HIV & AIDS Charity http://www.avert.org/antiretroviral.htm Dances with Shadows Website http://www.dancewithshadows.com/pillscribe/india-supplies-free-hivaids-medicines-to-335232patients-says-govt/ PACHE Trust Official Website http://pachetrust.org.in/ International HIV/Aids Alliance Website http://www.aidsalliance.org/homepagedetails.aspx?id=1 PACHE Trust Official Website http://pachetrust.org.in/ UNAIDS (2009) ‘AIDS Epidemic Update International HIV/Aids Alliance Website http://www.aidsalliance.org/homepagedetails.aspx?id=1 UNICEF Website http://www.unicef.org/aids/index_preventionyoung.html International HIV/Aids Alliance Website http://www.aidsalliance.org/homepagedetails.aspx?id=1 “Reasons to Smile.” A Report on PWDS-Alliance HIV/Aids Community Based Care and Support Programme. 2005. AVERT International HIV & AIDS Charity http://www.avert.org/antiretroviral.htm

MAKING A DIFFERENCE

Widening the Ring of Hope Kester Clark meets ophthalmologist Dr Usha Kim of Aravind Eye Care Systems, Madurai, whose efforts to reach out to eye cancer patients in the low income group through the Ring of Hope Foundation, is an example of medicine with a social face. Kester Clark Devizes, U.K

“We’re building on it one step at a time.” This was how Dr. Usha Kim described the continuing development of the Orbit, Oculoplasty and Oncology department at the original Madurai branch of the Arivind Eye Hospital. Initially dealing only with the physical structure of the eye and its surrounds (orbit and oculoplasty), since Dr. Kim was made its head in 1998 the department has developed into one of the very best specialised eye cancer (oncology) clinics in the world today. The reason for this expansion is quite beautiful in its simplicity, and mirrors perfectly the development of the Aravind Eye Hospital as an institution. The hospital was founded in Madurai in 1976 by well-known ophthalmologist Dr. G. Venkataswamy, with a simple mission statement: ‘To eliminate needless blindness’. At that time, the hospital consisted of one rented house, with eleven beds. It is now the largest and most productive eye care facility in the world.

A Collective Responsibility

From April 2009 to March 2010 over 2.5 million patients were treated, and to around two-thirds of these was entirely free of charge. It is an incredible institution, with the fees of its richer patients paying for the treatment of those less well off. The hospital and members of its staff have received numerous accolades for humanitarian acts, and hundreds of stories could be told of its successes. One common belief unites all its efforts, however, and that is the central doctrine of social responsibility that the institution is built on: it is every individual’s duty to help others. Thus, the hospital developed because there was a needless problem in the

world, which required to be addressed. In the same way, as head of a department, it was within Dr. Usha Kim’s ability to save lives and ease the suffering of people with eye cancer in South India (for whom the only provision was previously in a hospital in Chennai – an unfeasible journey for many) and so this is what she and her department are doing, treating more than two hundred eye-cancer patients every year. “We are interested in the common person,” she says, and is keen to spread the word about the hospital and her cancer clinic, encouraging people to drop in for advice on any problems they may have with their sight. With cancer, “an early diagnosis is always good,” adds Dr. Usha Kim.

A Pressing Challenge

As one might expect, her work is far from easy. Cancer is one of the most difficult clinical entities for the medical profession to deal with. It appears in a whole array of different forms, it is always fatal if left undetected or untreated for long enough, and its treatments are frequently ineffective and tend to come with damaging side-effects. It is a disease that frequently leaves doctors limited in what they can do for a patient, and being powerless to heal never sits easily with the healer. Dr. Usha Kim spoke of two current patients. One, a 38-year-old man, is currently taking a course of chemotherapy, but Dr. Kim knows that the tumour that has taken his sight is spreading into his brain and will eventually take his life. Another, an 18-year-old student, was going through chemotherapy as we spoke. ‘He’s always nagging me, ‘when can I go back to college?’, said Kim, “but I know... he’s not going to see.” We met both of these patients later on. Knowing the full details of their conditions when they did not - knowing that

Dr. Usha Kim their lives were not going to return to normality - was a deeply shocking experience, and unlike anything I’d known before. Speaking to these polite, strong-looking men, chatting about what we were going to have for lunch, was far, far removed from the simple detachment of discussing them as patients with a professional in an office. However, it was clear that for Dr. Kim, and indeed for all doctors, forming an emotional bond with each individual patient is a vital part of the job. As she said, “You can’t treat every new person as just another patient.”

Treat the person, not the disease

And she’s right. Dealing with cancer patients can never be a simple matter of adding up medical problems and deciding on the best solution. There are always other factors to consider. “We have to work around their emotions, work, and their economy,” Dr. Kim said. Essentially, she and the other staff dealing with cancer patients must, with certain individuals, weigh up all the aspects of the individual’s life in order to decide on a treatment that makes the best compromise between length, and quality of life. Dr. Kim mentioned

Madurai Messenger December 2010

one patient who, for a chance at a permanent cure, needed both eyes removed. Permanent blindness would obviously considerably reduce the individual’s quality of life, and indeed, being relatively poor, he would not be able to work. Thus, the department could not condone making this attempt to cure him. These are just a few examples of the traumatic situations Dr. Kim, and many people like her, have to deal with on a day-to-day basis; a brief glimpse into a world where emotional connections have to be made with patients who may not live, and yet doctors and staff still must function professionally. But function Dr. Usha Kim does, businesslike and smiling as she moves through the myriad halls of the hospital, greeting people left and right, patiently showing us around as we trail behind with three or four members of her exceptionally committed staff (whose own enthusiasm for their work is quite obvious from their attentive smiles). ‘The motivation doesn’t come from me, it comes from my patients’, she explains, mentioning one incident in particular: “One of the patients I knew was going to die of eye cancer... I could not keep this from him... All he said was, “Doctor, give me enough time to prepare myself to die.” He had a wife and two children, he said he couldn’t just leave.”

A Turning Point

Dr. Kim credits this particular incident with setting her on the career path she now walks. After hearing the words of this man, she knew that this was

important work, and it was within her power. While she couldn’t save this man, she could give him, and people like him, the time they needed. Moreover, with an expanded department equipped to deal with cancers, she could save lives that might otherwise have been lost in the days when people could not afford, or did not know about, the possibility of the long trip to the cancer hospital in Chennai.

A Team Effort

In fact, Dr. Usha Kim was keen to credit a lot of people with setting her on her particular career. She quickly brushed off any suggestion that her department, which bears little resemblance to what it was twelve years ago, is largely her own creation. She spoke strongly about the role her staff, and her family, have played in making her work possible. She also stressed that her expansion into dealing with eye cancer was only made possible by the incredibly supportive atmosphere that exists at Aravind Eye Hospital. Her superiors were quick to provide her with the resources she needed and the words of the institution’s founder, Dr. V (as he is affectionately known) rather sum up the trust and freedom offered by Aravind. ‘He told me: “Do what you think is right.”’ But it was not only from her superiors that she received support. What Dr. Kim had to say about the attitudes of the staff working under her was equally inspiring. Low paid workers in the hospital frequently donate whole days of their salaries to her department’s work. One cleaner, for example, once said to her: ‘Madam, I have only Rs. 50 to donate.’ Dr Kim stressed that this was far, far more than she would have expected her to give.

The Power of Collective Efforts

Care-given to an young patient

She also spoke of the help she gets from outside the hospital. She was keen to pass on the message that “anyone is welcome to come

in and volunteer” – an open invitation typical of the hospital’s relaxed, friendly attitude. Age is clearly not a factor either, the ten-year-old children of some of her staff being regular volunteers who spend whole days playing with other children undergoing therapy. One goes so far as to tell her parents: “Everything new goes to the chemo room,” and donates her own toys and games to the hospital so that other children can enjoy them during their stay.

Ring of Hope

The Ring of Hope Fund, one of the principle mechanisms used to raise money for the expansion of the department into cancer care, is another excellent way by which many people offer their support to the fight against eye-cancer. Since its origins in 2004, it has paid for medical care for 80 children and adults who would not otherwise have been able to receive treatment. Her actions in the continuing fight against cancer, and the actions of those around her, fit perfectly with the ethos of social responsibility that is characteristic of the Aravind Eye Hospital. She does her work because people die needlessly because of eye cancer, and she can help. Even when asked what more she thought the government could do to help, she stuck to her ideals. “We shouldn’t just rely on the government,” she said. Now many people would argue that it is the government’s role to care for citizens’ lives, and leave it at that. For Dr. Kim, and all Aravind personnel, this is not enough. According to her, it is also every individual’s personal responsibility towards their fellow people. Now, most people in the world would certainly not admit they had a responsibility towards any stranger on the street. Aravind Eye Care Systems and Dr. Usha Kim, I think would. For Dr. Usha Kim - who, as we neared the end of the interview, cheerily announced that she ‘won’t stop until they throw me out!’ - Helping others is a lifelong philosophy and passion; an example to us all.

TRIBUTE

A. K. Kuppuram: An Ordinary Man, an Extraordinary Life Vera Weidenbach pays a tribute to A.K. Kuppuram, proprietor of Turning Point, Madurai’s most famous bookstore, who passed away on November 4, 2010. His lifetime commitment to introducing a culture of reading and buying books is his lasting legacy to the people of the city. Vera Weidenbach Meerbusch, Germany

“I am an ordinary man who wants to be different,” Mr. A.K. Kuppuram once said in an interview, referring to his favorite book Jonathan Livingstone Seagull by Richard Bach as his inspiration. Like the bird in the eponymous fable, Kuppuram too wanted to rise above mediocrity and aspire towards a life of excellence. He surely did do with his pioneering initiatives in book retailing.

Kuppuram identified so much with Jonathan Livingstone Seagull, that he was delighted if people called him so!

He Dared to Dream

Most book buffs in Madurai complained, (and still do) about the absence of a well-stocked book store in the city. Kuppuram struggled hard to change this with his store The Turning Point. The store, the first in Madurai with an impressive collection of English titles, certainly lived up to its catchy byline— A bookshop with a difference. Kuppuram learned about the pulse of the city’s readers by taking notes about books customers asked for. He then bought these titles in big cities like Chennai or Delhi. Gradually he created a collection that had something to suit the taste of every reader: classics, comics, magazines, contemporary fiction, spirituality, psychology, philosophy, self-help, and even college text books. Besides titles in English, the book store houses several regional language publications.

A picture of Mr. Kuppuram in The Turning Point

Even if Kuppuram

was not able to fulfill a customers’ request immediately, “he never said no to anyone”, recalls S. Guru Lakshmi, a member of his staff at Turning Point. “He would try to find it somewhere else and order it, only to fulfill the reader’s desire,” she adds.

A Social Innovator

Kuppuram was never tired of inventing new strategies to increase the number of his customers and get more people into reading, even if this meant spending some of his own profits. With the Turning Point’s VIP card for instance, members get a discount of 10 percent on their purchase. And on Saturdays between 10 and 11 am, customers can buy books for the lowest price they negotiate. All these activities were proof of Kuppuram’s passion for retail and books themselves. Among the city’s book lovers, he was popularly known as Mr. Bookram! He acquired this nickname even as early as the 1970s when he started his career as a staff member for the book retail chain Higginbotham’s. He sold textbooks for school children at a roadside store near Periyar Bus stand in the city. Usually, these books were only available in Government stores and nobody knew that Higginbotham’s would sell them too. In fact, Kuppuram spent his own money on posters and other advertisements in schools. Afterwards, the request for textbooks rose incredibly forcing him to hire two extra salespersons for his store and the profit Kuppuram made was higher than the store director’s salary! That was the time in his career when he read Jonathan Livingstone Seagull and decided to start his own business.

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After sixteen years of working for a big company, he wanted to do more than just sell books.

Mr. Bookram!

In 1986, together with some friends, he opened the bookshop Motherland – now ‘Malligai Book Store’ – right opposite the Madurai Railway station. Then he started his first independent and solely owned book shop called ‘Book Plaza’ on Perumal Road and finally, ‘Turning Point’ opened at Town Hall Road seven years later in 2001. Currently there are around 6700 Turning Point members in Madurai—a testimony to the success of Kuppuram’s business concept. The number is still increasing. Kuppuram once decided to rush into the business of selling books right af-

ter finishing his Pre-University Course at Sourashtra College, Madurai, even though his parents wanted him to join the family confectionery business. His staff at Turning Point praise Kuppuram’s sharp wit that he often used self-deprecatingly. For example, he often described himself as “not well-read but I love reading comics. But I want our children to be passionately interested in reading.” That is why he put all his energy into his work: “During all the decades of working, he only took one day off,” recalls Guru Lakshmi of her former boss “and that was his wedding day!” Besides Gurulakshmi remembers Kuppuram’s friendliness: “I never felt as a simple member of his staff, he was more like a father to me”, she says with tears in her eyes.

As if destiny willed it, Kuppuram died in his bookshop, arranging books and giving instructions until the last seconds of his life. His family will take care of the business and keep Madurai’s most famous bookshop open. And maybe one day, even Kuppurams last dream will come true. One month before he died, he had displayed a huge banner in front of his shop that asked, “Do you want to start a book business?” With this advertisement he intended to inspire people to open more bookshops like the Turning Point and he wanted to teach them his business strategies. Hopefully someone will be inspired to carry on the legacy of Kuppuram— maybe that would be the best tribute to Kuppuram: a man who dared to dream and rise above the ordinary—as only extraordinary people can.

Mr. Kuppuram’s family and staff who will take care of his business.

WEEKEND WANDER

Haunting Hanoi Camille Jucker visits Hanoi and comes back with treasured memories of a city that is a photographer’s delight. In Hanoi you can never be bored. After all how many cities offer you amazing experiences every five minutes? she wonders

The Red Bridge, Hanoi Camille Jucker Geneva, Switzerland

Located on the right bank of the Red River, Hanoi is the capital of Vietnam and the second-largest city in the country. Hanoi is the city where you can find everything you want and where everything is possible. The best way to explore the city is by walking. If you wander five minutes through the meandering streets you are certain to be swamped by the smell of roasted dog or by the amazing colors of the flower market. Take two minutes to buy a traditional hat for 50ct$ on the sidewalk, and continue your way towards the big market. Hanoi is one of those cities where you wish take a photo every time you blink your eyes. You lose control of your self when you are in the crowd and that is the part one enjoys the most.

A Slice of History

The Co Loa citadel was constructed around 200 BC and was one of the earliest known civilisations. The real city was founded in 1010 AD. Since then Hanoi has had many names, all of them of Sino-Vietnamese origin. For a long time it was known as Long ĐO, which means “dragon’s belly.” Hanoi was subject to a series of colonisations by different countries for many years. In 1408 Vietnam was attacked and occupied by China during the reign of the Ming Dynasty. Later, Hanoi was occupied by the French and Hanoi became the capital of French Indochina after 1887. The Japanese arrived in 1940 stayed until 1945, when Ho Chi Minh proclaimed the independence of Vietnam. The French came back and occupied the city for nine years of fighting between the French and Viet Minh forces.

Hanoi became the capital of an independent North Vietnam in 1954. When the Vietnam War ended in 1976 North and the South Vietnam were reunited. Finally, Hanoi became the capital of Vietnam on July 2, 1976. Hanoi is widely regarded as the most interesting Vietnamese city because of its amazing architecture. Because of war not all cultural and historic monuments survived. However, several of them still exist and constitute a significant part of Vietnamese heritage. Hanoi has over 600 pagodas and temples. The Old Quarter is certainly the most interesting district of the city. The 36 streets which formed this district had merchants and households who specialised in a particular trade. These specialisations are reflected in the names of those streets. It is in the Old Quarter that you find the best silk and

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jewelry shops. This area also offers the best local cuisine specialties. You just have to step through the door of one of the small restaurant and you can taste the world’s best Pho, a delectable soup made of vegetable broth, herbs, and sometimes, a dash of meat thrown in. The night market which opens every Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights is something that cannot be missed. The lights mixed with the market smells transport you to another planet!

Architectural Splendour

The French colonial heritage is present everywhere in the city. The Grand Opera House, the Presidential Palace and the famous Hotel Metropole are certainly the three most famous buildings by the French and are certainly worth visiting. Hanoi also showcases many beautiful museums. The National Museum of Vietnamese History is undoubtedly the most interesting. The Vietnam National Museum of Fine Arts is also very original. Water puppetry is the traditional art form of Vietnam and of Hanoi from the 11th century CE. It originated in the villages of the Red River Delta of northern Vietnam. The water puppetry is a unique variation of the ancient Asian puppetry. Modern water puppetry is performed in a pool of water with the water surface being the stage.

A Pagoda

The West Lake Up to eight puppeteers stand behind a split-bamboo screen, decorated to resemble the façade of a temple. The puppeteers control the puppets with long bamboo rods and string mechanism hidden beneath the water surface. The puppets are made out of wood. A traditional Vietnamese orchestra provides the music and singers tell the story through songs. Hanoi is popularly known as the “City of lakes”.

City of Lakes

Indeed, this city has many scenic lakes because of its location between two rivers. The largest, the West Lake (HO Tây), is also the most popular. People go there to spend time and to relax. Some boats restaurants are available and a little trip in one of those is romantic. If you take a walk near the Sword Lake you can see the Turtle Tower which has been erected to form a fishing site. In Hanoi you can’ never be bored. After all how many cities offer you some amazing experiences every five minutes?

The Market

ISSUES

Journalism: How Free? How Fair? As conscience keepers of society, journalists are whistle blowers who alert the public by presenting information adhering to the highest standards of truth and objectivity. Yet in a contemporary context, the pressures on a journalist to deviate from the tortuous path of ethical, free and fair journalism are several. Thibault Bachmann analyses the dilemmas and challenges of the profession, and reasons that journalism must retain its role as a “mirror of society.” Thibault Bachmann Geneva, Switzerland

On July 19, 2010, A.S. Mani, editor of Tamil newspaper Naveena Netrikkan, was arrested by law enforcing authorities because he published an article about police corruption. Mani was charged with attempted murder of a police informer. The journalist was arrested at 10 a.m. however, this attempted murder did not take place until 11 a.m, after his arrest . Reporter Without Borders, the famous worldwide NGO fighting for free press, reported that in addition to being denied the right for a lawyer, A.S. Mani was subject to violence from the police during his detention. Mani was released on bail on September 3, 2010, a month a half after his arrest. He told Reporter Without Borders “Press freedom and

Wor(l)ds of journalism press rights are being considerably curtailed by political pressures, particularly in Tamil Nadu. The press is not able to expose the evil at the roots of the society.” So the press is not able to mirror a true reflection of society.

Fight for ‘ethical journalism’

It seems clear that this particular instance is an attack on the freedom of press. India is not alone in experiencing this kind of threat to freedom of press. China by example knows the highest restrictions with Facebook interdiction and Google censorship. France sees its media being a buy out by the same interest group people. Many pressures may divert journalists from the

path of truth and freedom, detorting the picture that should be reflected. Despite this, an increasing number of journalists such as Mani fight to preserve the honesty of information publication or broadcast and support of ‘ethical journalism’.. As a “pillar of democracy, only an ethical journalism would ensure free and truthful information to the public”. Because journalists are “first of all accountable to citizens”, ethical journalism is the best way to protect the public face from propaganda, miscommunication and distorted reality. Indeed, “the profession of journalism is submitted to a box of rule that defines the ethics of journalism” . The multitude of technical and academic rules that define ethical journalism can be summed up in four adjectives: objectivity, neutrality, independence and verity. Objectivity. Following the path of scientific investigation, journalism tries to present the maximum information available about an event. Based on an observation of reality, journalists relate a description of fact after investigation on sources. Sources are a primordial aspect of a good report. There could be human, published in official

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or civilian report or available on Internet but the more there are, the more complete the information will be. Objectivity therefore means presenting all facts without any omissions or twists. Neutrality is the offspring of objectivity. Arising from the need to highlight all aspects of an investigation, an article reports the different opinions or perspectives of a story that could generate controversies, debates, arguments or opposition. Especially in politics, the reality is mainly aggregated opinion and arguments from different sources and the quotes belong to the person quoted; not the journalist. Moreover the various sources provide a considerable amount of information that is crucial to the understanding of the issue being written about. Independence is the condition for neutrality, a most crucial aspect. All those adjectives could seem really close to one another, but the distinction is of the utmost importance. Media has privileged links to the public and then draws attention and desires to it. So channel directors, newspaper owners, radio and TV broadcasters have to resist many pressures. Independent journalism means investigation without any incentives or limits. Ethical journalism does not depend on doles or orders from sponsor or influential organisations or persons. Reporters are free to choose any fact they define as public interest because they are accountable to citizens and as a bulwark of democracy they are empowered to divulge the good and the bad part of society, without fearing controversies. Verity is the final goal of journalistic information. Respect of ethics naturally leads to the truth. However it’s also easy to deviate from a truthful description. Truth/verity is the point that journalists keep in mind all along their investigations and research. Journalists “should” always keep in mind that each piece of information they come across will be subject to their own interpretations and coloured by heir personal world views. So ethical journalism recommends working with open-mind as much as possible. And that’s a challenge! Many pressures are exerted on journalists in their pursuit of truth. In a contemporary context, the temptation to stray

is multiple. Hence people in search of power could try to exert pressure from behind the scenes and use the media to further their ends. If they don’t succeed, they could still try to censor news. A former broadcast journalist who worked for a TV News channel in Chennai, talks thus about his experience, “In India, and perhaps in many other counties, most of the media are under political influence. It’s impossible to be neutral because political pressures are always strong. ” The story of A.S. Mani is a powerful reminder of the threats to free and fair journalism. It is more a rule than an exception. Following the path of capitalism, a new management of censorship appeared. “Some people call the public relations director of broadcast firms or newspaper agencies and ask for coverage of a particular event or request not to reveal some information in exchange for gifts or money,” says the broadcast journalist. “Many journalists fall into this trap because of poor salaries!” he adds. Journalistic information is not a product with a market value that could be sold to the highest bidder . So this raises the question of paid journalism. The main part of media revenue is collected from advertisements. Some put the figure as high as 80% - but if you want to spread your news to the people, it should be cheap and numerous. Consequently, the border between informations and adervtisements become more and more thin. “While a journalist is always walking on a knife, their sacrifice is to serve society” reminds the former broadcast journalist from Chennai.

Journalism as a profession

Students of the Department of Journalism in Madurai Kamaraj University are proud of their choice of profession. “Instead of sitting in front of a computer all the day” said one of them, “we have to open our minds to new subjects everyday and try to understand them.” Students, who conscientiously listen to their teachers, realise that journalism is a “mirror of society”. Their challenge as New Age Journalists is how to tell the truth as it is and thereby create public awareness of important socio-political issues. A kind of watchpersons of democracy.

Mass communication

TIME OUT

Madurai: Blending the Old and the New One of the most ancient cities in the world, Madurai today is poised on the brink of change. Kester Clark wanders through the by lanes of the ancient Madurai and also through its more contemporary quarters, and concludes that such developments are certainly not harmful to the city’s historic and cultural legacy. Kester Clark Devizes, U.K

Madurai, the ancient capital of the Pandya kingdom in south India, is a city famous for its rich history. Records stretching back almost two-and-a-half thousand years describe the city’s rich cultural and political history: its importance as a global trading centre, even with the ancient Greeks and Romans; its religious significance; its thousandyear rise to prosperity as the capital of the Pandya Kings; its status as a centre of Tamil poetry; and its architecture, which the Greek ambassador Megasthenes found impressive even in the 3rd Century BC. Indeed, among its numerous other names, the city is also known ‘The Athens of the East’. For a newcomer to the city, particularly a foreigner, it is easy to get lost in Madurai’s history, and look no further. However, venture off the tourist trail, and one will quickly find that Madurai, like much of India, seems to be entering a period of dramatic change.

Frozen in Time

‘Old’ Madurai remains much as it has been for hundreds of years, and has only developed slowly. Indeed, the street layout in the city centre has remained largely unchanged since the first centuries AD. The area is still dominated by the stunning MeenakshiSundareshwarar temple complex. The towering gopurams of which came as quite a shock to an unsuspecting foreigner trying to navigate his way through the heat and noise (and, at this time of year, the water) of the busy streets. They are stunning: a twisting mass of beautiful figures twisting in a

Street-level view of Meenakshi temple east tower riot of bright colours, rising high above the surrounding buildings. The streets themselves, arranged around the temple in a lotus-like pattern of concentric squares, are perhaps less beautiful, but no less engaging. Again, Madurai centre has not changed greatly with the 21st century: small-independent shops tucked into the bottom floor of buildings vie with each other to sell a variety of merchandise, some traditional goods, some modern appliances, while freshly-made omelettes and parota are easy to pick up from a number of traditional eatinghouses. Rubbish inevitably piles up along the roads, picked over by wandering cows and street dogs, while in the air the fumes of auto rickshaws compete with the ever-present smell of incense from

the city’s many temples. The area buzzes with life and colour, and for tourists who never leave the city centre - practically devoid of high rise buildings and global retail chains - Madurai is ‘an example of a typical South Indian City’. However this is certainly not all the modern city is today.

At Cross Roads

Mr Sethil Kumar is the area manager for Coffee Day Cafe, a major international chain of coffee shops which opened a branch in Madurai in 2004, and as such is an a position to appreciate the changing face of Madurai. The café is doing well, with customer counts rising to more than two hundred customers a day on weekends. He was quick to point out that major changes had occurred in Madurai in recent years, but that ‘many people do not see them.’

Madurai Messenger December 2010

This is a valid point. Unlike the well-developed hubs of commerce and industry (for example Chennai, or Bengaluru) Madurai has not gone through a period of rapid expansion. However, there is much evidence to suggest that in the next few years such an expansion will begin. Most of the changes Mr Kumar referred to are not obvious ones, but are simply changes in the attitudes of the government, big business and industry towards the city. Madurai, a tourist hot-spot with excellent health-care and education facilities, plenty of space for expansion, and a status as the pre-eminent city of the far South is becoming increasingly attractive to investors. The city is also famous for its overland transport links, also very important for investment. The rail division repeatedly receives the award for the best-maintained stations in the Southern Railway, despite Madurai Junction being one of the busiest stations in the country. The Junction is currently undergoing expansion, and another terminal is being constructed at Koodal Nagar. Madurai’s bus links are also well known; it being the only city in Tamil Nadu to have a 24-hour bus service, earning it the nickname Thoonga Nagaram – ‘The City Which Never Sleeps’. Critically, in the next few months Madurai airport should receive international status, a development which is bound to bring in more tourists and investment.

Exciting Developments As of now, these changes have not greatly affected the city. In certain areas, however, the first signs of expansion are becoming apparent. For example, the recently constructed 90,000sq.ft Milan-em shopping mall is the only shopping mall in Tamil Nadu outside Chennai. Moreover, another mall, twice the size at 175,000sq.ft, is under construction two kilometres from the city centre. Vishaal Mall will house a five-screen INOX cinema multiplex, as well as a variety of major brand shops, and fast-food outlets. The mall should be at least partly open by March 2011. A number of other major retailers have plans to open new supermarkets, and outside the world of retail four new technology parks are currently under construction around the city, furthering Madurai’s increasingly important IT industry.

Levi’s showroom on New Vakkil Street. Developments such as these, together with improved transport links and an international airport, should bring in more people from the surrounding areas, as well as bringing the increased numbers of tourists out of the city centre. This in turn should stimulate even more development, and Madurai could, perhaps, come to resemble much larger Indian cities with many global chains and greater facilities.

works in a hotel, was equally positive. He is proud of being a resident of Thoonga Nagaram, and expressed a desire to see more change, particularly ‘more indoor games, table-tennis, snooker, bowling...’ It seems to me increasingly likely that Alagan’s wish will come true over the next few years. Madurai is well-placed to grow and develop at an accelerated rate, and, with good management and respect, there is no reason why such development should be harmful to the city or its culture. Indeed, it is far more likely to bring international fame to the city, and wealth and prosperity to many.

Whether this is a good thing or not is for everyone to decide for themselves, however many Maduraiites are hopeful and relish the thought of development. Sasitapur, 34, a resident of Madurai for seven years and a regular customer at the recently opened Domino’s pizza restaurant said that ‘Madurai needs some more change ... some more places like [Domino’s], more complexes’. He also went on to stress his belief that the presence of more international chains and a modern consumer lifestyle could coexist easily with the city’s historic culture. His thoughts were echoed by many other customers, as well as shoppers at the Milan-em mall. Alagan, 25, who Milan-em Mall interior

EVENTS

It’s Circus Time, Folks! How Circus Lollipop, a Swiss professional theatre company, and the Madurai-based Nigazh theatre introduce children to the enchanting world of circus. Vera Weidenbach Meerbusch, Germany

“Welcome to our colourful circus day,” a little girl from Jain Vidyalaya says with an excited smile into the microphone. She is greeting her 400 schoolmates attending the first circus performance in their school. A part of the shady schoolyard is transformed into a stage, with a wall of umbrellas in the background. The rest of the yard is crowded by curious children. As the circus performance unfolds, the audience is fascinated by the living pyramids on stage and enthusiastic about every successful juggled ball, jumping role and hula-hoop dance. They watch somersaults through rings, boys and girls walking on a barrel and bouncing on a bamboo while swinging colourful flags above their heads.

A New Experience

Georg Hessen and Philippe Blanc, members of Circus Lollipop, a Swiss professional theatre company, volunteers from the Madurai-based NGO CESCI, and members of the Nigazh theatre centre in Madurai, taught the sixty fifth standard students of Jain Vidyalaya School a repertoire of performance-based circus activities. The workshop consisted of games and acrobatic exercises that are the core of a circus performance. Every stuffdent had had an opportunity to thoroughly rehearse their activities before the final performance on the second day in front of an invited audience. All children enjoined the totally new experience. “It is so much fun to learn all these games,” said 11-year-old Anchal.

Children in the Lime Light

Philippe Blanc, who plans to do a Master’s in Special Education, explains, “We want to give the kids a chance to discover more about circus, discover new possibilities.” The circus workshop in Jain Vidyalaya School is not the only activity CESCI (Centre for Socio-Cultural Interaction) organises in Madurai and its surrounding villages. CESCI was founded in 1993, in cooperation with Rajagopal PV, the leader of the Ekta Parishad, a social reform movement. It supports cultural exchange between Switzerland and India and works to maintain specialist cultural skills. “We want to do the circus project in more schools in Madurai again and our

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The scary Chippichung visiting Jain Vidyalaya school

goal is to make one big performance with all pupils together,” says Georg Hessen, also from Circus Lollipop, who has a Master’s in Pedagogical Psychology. “We made all the material for the show by ourselves – the last barrel was painted yesterday night,” he chuckles. Involved in the circus project to the same extent as CESCI, is another well-established institution in Madurai: the Nigazh theatre centre. Its founder Shanmuga Raja, directed the children’s performance.

golz and Shanmuga Raja. This monster emerges from the underworld and tries to play with a little boy who is afraid of it and refuses to teach the monster his games. So the monster tries to make up his own game and learns about the story of the rainbow fish who doesn’t want to share its colours with the other fish in the sea. In fact, the rainbow fish becomes very lonely until he finally shares his colours. To teach this game to his friends in the underworld the Chippichung leaves the earth again. All actors of Nigazh theatre group played their parts with enthusiasm and talent. It was a pleasure to watch them enact the story.

Director Shanmugaraja graduated from the National School of Drama (NSD) in New Delhi and then started the Nigazh theatre centre in Madurai. He has already done about 150 performances all over Tamil Nadu with school children and students. Be-

sides he stages plays for several theatre festivals in South-India. All his plays have a thematic focus on education and medicine. Therefore the Nigazh collaborates with several NGOs. For example, for a play on alcohol addiction, the theatre group interacted with the Anonymous Alcoholics and tried to reach people who were as yet unable to talk about the problem of alcohol dependency wither because they were unaware of it or did know where or whom to ask for help.

A world beyond all learning

As the show in Jain Vidyalaya ends with the enthusiastic applause of eight hundred hands, the Principal of the school said, “Theatre gives us so many opportunities to learn something important about life which is beyond all learning in school.” The collaboration between CESCI and the Jain Vidyalaya School will continue to enable schoolchildren to practice theatre and stage performances by themselves. The art form of circus both entertains and educates. It fosters communication skills in children and fosters their latent creativity and talents. Can anyone ask for more?

Learning through Theatre

After the last somersault is executed and the last ball is thrown, the show continues: Four monsters in red costumes made of feathers and with scary masks on their heads, appear to the sound of a drum dancing and singing wildly. The children’s eyes follow the events on stage fascinated – unsure weather to be scared or fascinated. The children enacted the story of Chippichung , a monster from the South Indian mythology, specially scripted and directed by Mireille Gu-

George Hessen (left) and Philippe Blanc(right) from CESCI together with Shanmugaraja, Director of NIGAZH

BOOK REVIEW

Read Between the Lines of Love A quick overview of award winning writer Elif Shafak’s historical fiction The Forty Rules of Love Jessica Hall Victoria, Canada Imagine learning that there are simple rules of love to live by, and that they will alter you forever. That is exactly what Elif Shafak shares with her readers in her book The Forty Rules of Love. Ella Rubenstein, a middle aged mother of three is thrust into an unknown world as she discovers the deeper meaning of love and a new purpose for her life. Shafak is an award winning writer of Turkish decent, known for her style of blending Western and Eastern culture to create a story that speaks to people universally. Ella’s life is clockwork routine, with little wriggle room for spontaneity or for passion. She looks into the past with pangs of regret and is only confronted by the here and now when she gets hired on as a reader for a literary agent. Her first project is to read a mysterious manuscript titled Sweet Blasphemy by author Aziz Z. Zahara. Throwing herself into the book in an effort to escape from the confines of her life, Ella is taken on a journey that forever changes her. Ella has long since abandoned the notion of love. Her marriage is regimented and unfeeling, as her husband conducts obvious affair after affair. Depressed and alone, Aziz’s story couldn’t be more opposite from Ella’s life. Submerged into the thirteenth century, Ella reads about poet Rumi and his life-altering relationship with a wandering dervish named Shams of Tabriz. Their friendship is the rare kind of companionship that comes along once in a lifetime, and their love and devotion to one another shakes the core of Ella. Shams is an unruly Sufi, with fanatic ideas of love. As he wanders in search of Rumi and God, he shares his 40 rules of love to live by.

Shams encounters people from all walks of life, and treats each one with respect and love. He meets a Harlot named Desert Rose while in Konya, and Shafak takes this opportunity to include a feminist tone. The two women, Ella and Desert Rose, are aligned in their story, as both battles to break free of a life that is holding them back from discovering true love. They are afraid of what change might bring. Flabbergasted by the impact the book has on her and left needing to know more, Ella shyly writes to Aziz. A correspondence flourishes as brief emails turn into long ones, which turn into letters. Aziz’s words open Ella’s eyes to a world of possibility she had once thought had passed by her. She changes her life at once, inspired by the story and her relationship with a faceless author, and sets out in search of love. The book has rotating points of view from Shams to Ella, to Rumi, to a leaper named Hasan begging on the street in 13th century Konya.. Each character encountered by Shams has a voice and is given a place in the narrative—adherence to Sufi ideals. While the chapters are brief, and the voices ever changing, the narrative doesn’t lose focus. Ella’s story and discovery of love aligns with Rumi and Shams’ story, making for an interesting comparison and an ever changing timeline jolt readers. Shams becomes a present day Aziz, teaching Ella the ways and wonder of love and the power it has to change lives, while Ella finds her inner romantic. The rhetoric is undemanding, making the 13th century story easily acces-

sible and straight forward. However, Shafak intermittently drops pearls of wisdom into the narrative that remain quotable and vividly memorable, often via one of the 40 rules. The story of Shams and Rumi is extremely interesting, and the bits of poetry Shafak includes from Rumi entices readers to research more. Their companionship is ephemeral, but transcends time by it relevance to Ella, and to readers today. In the beginning, Ella seems to be a weak character, bemoaning the inability to change her life and take control. Her story almost interrupts the smooth flow of Shams and Rumi as she complains of her children and husband. In the end however, Ella is transformed into a new woman, strong, independent and (most importantly) full of love.