Not sure of what is
happening elsewhere in the State or in other cities – Chennai is outright mad !
– it is under lockdown for 115 days officially and not sure whether it would
open up in Aug 2020 too .. .. yet, if you venture out on road [actually everyone
of us should be inside and go out only for essentials and when absolutely
needed !] – but market places are crowded, shops are open, people are busy
walking, driving, speaking on phone and .. .. .. Public transport – Chennai
metro buses, EMU, Parakkum Rail, Metro train are not available and hence people
have trouble in going to Offices – otherwise there appears an air of festivity
– people do not fear Corona nor take any precautions. .. .. and claim that
‘curve has been flattened and numbers are coming down !’ Factually, Tamil Nadu
recorded its highest COVID-19 fatality mark yesterday with 79 people
succumbing to the virus, pushing the death toll in the state to
2,315.
Pearls
are attractive; they are valuable ! - a pearl is a hard, glistening object
produced within the soft tissue (specifically the mantle) of a living shelled
mollusk or another animal, such as fossil conulariids. Just like the shell of a
mollusk, a pearl is composed of calcium carbonate in minute crystalline form, which has deposited
in concentric layers. The ideal pearl is perfectly round and smooth, but many
other shapes, known as baroque pearls, can occur. The finest quality of natural
pearls have been highly valued as gemstones and objects of beauty for many
centuries. Because of this, pearl has become a metaphor for something rare,
fine, admirable and valuable.
Natural
Pearls form when an irritant - usually a parasite and not the proverbial grain
of sand - works its way into an oyster, mussel, or clam. As a defense mechanism,
a fluid is used to coat the irritant. Layer upon layer of this coating, called
'nacre', is deposited until a lustrous pearl is formed. A cultured pearl undergoes the same process.
The only difference is that the irritant is a surgically implanted bead or
piece of shell called Mother of Pearl. These 'seeds' or 'nuclei' are most often
formed from mussel shells. Quality cultured pearls require a sufficient amount
of time - generally at least 3 years - for a thick layer of nacre to be
deposited, resulting in a beautiful, gem-quality pearl. Lower-quality pearls
have often been 'rushed' out of the oyster too quickly (sometimes a year or
less) and have a too-thin coat of nacre.
Now, some researchers are working on making out a material with
interlocked mineral layers that resembles nacre and is stronger and tougher
than previous mimics. Bengaluru-based C
Krishniah Chetty Group of Jewellers recently said it has stopped using
Chinese-origin pearls in their jewellery and also urged the government to
discourage imports from the neighbouring country. The 150-year-old jewellery
group''s gemologists would stop procurement and use of Chinese-origin pearls,
and instead use Japanese, Venezuelan or Indian pearls, according to a
statement. The decision also comes at a time when there is rising clamour for
boycotting Chinese products after at least 20 Indian Army personnel died during
a violent standoff between the two countries in Ladakh. "Although Chinese
pearls are much cheaper and plentiful, with
the possibility of China being behind the global pandemic, we profess a total
ban on use of Chinese gems by Indian jewellery industry," the jewellery
group''s MD and Director C Vinod Hayagriv said. China has increased production
of freshwater pearls and has been cultivating pearls surpassing Japan in
quantity over the last decade.
முத்துக்களோ,
வைரங்களோ, நன்பொன்னோ ~ வேறு ஏதும் விலை மிக
அதிகமான பொருளோ ? - நமக்கு எதிலே நாட்டம் ?? ஐயம் கிஞ்சித்தும் உளதோ ?? : சுவாமி
நம்மாழ்வாரின் வைர வரிகள் :
*பெருங்கேழலார்
தம் பெருங்கண் மலர்ப்புண்டரீகம் நம் மேல் ஒருங்கே பிறழுவதே ** ~ அன்று பிரளய வெள்ளத்திலழுந்தின
பூமியை மீட்டு எடுத்த மஹாவராஹரூபாயமயானவர்
தம்முடைய பெரிய செந்தாமரைப்பூப் போன்ற திருக்கண்களை,தன்னை எம்பெருமான் குளிர
நோக்கினமை கூறியவாறு, நம்மேல் வைத்த கடாக்ஷத்தை
பற்றி மட்டுமே பேருவகை கொள்தல் நலம்.
The history of
Chennai, is far older than British settlements, the black town area came to be known as George
Town from 1911 in honour of King George
V when he was crowned, the Emperor of
India. The Western part of George Town
is the Muthialpet area, traversed by couple of
roads running from Madras High Court to Clive Battery, nearer Royapuram
Railway. One
among the many lanes is Pavalakkaran
Street housing Sri Venugopala Temple. It
was once the place where diamond and coral trade flourished.
The Jews imported
corals, both in the form of beads and in rough. The place in Muthialpet where
they lived was known as Pagadalpet [Coral-town] dating back to 1700s. A book titled – ‘The English Gentleman
Merchant at Work: Madras and the City of London 1660-1740’ by Soren Mentz,
mentions that the financial crisis affecting the English market even ruined
some of the private merchants in Madras, through respondentias, as they
suffered financial losses when the Captains were declared bankrupt. After a voyage to Madras in 1721, Captain
Martin was declared bankrupt and private merchants like John Adams lost their
investment.
Pearls are
attractive. Palliative care is an
approach, an ethic, a multi-disciplinary sub-speciality, not just a new element
that can be added and stirred into health systems. Pearl jewellery that
glitters needs to be taken care of nicely.
Thousands of miles away, two out-of-town jewelry makers who were selling
their work at the “Art in the Pearl” festival a couple of years ago in Northwest Portland stated that someone stole $300,000 of their inventory from
the trunk of their car. It is reported
that the woman and her friend had made a
10-minute stop at a store after the festival closed for the day on a Saturday. While the pair were in the
store, someone opened up their trunk and made off with black jewelry bags
containing years’ worth of handmade work,
it was claimed. The artisan added that some of the stolen
items took her weeks to craft -- and that one of the missing necklaces took her
more than 200 hours to make. May not be of any interest to us ~ but this dress adorned by Emperuman, made of Pearl
[Muthangi] certainly does. Sri
Parthasarathi Emperuman adorning Muthangi.
India
has been creating a “Necklace of Diamonds” to counter the “String of Pearls” created by China. Sri Lanka, Maldives, Pakistan, Bangladesh and
Somalia are some of the countries where China is establishing maritime bases as
a “String of Pearls” to improve its influence and military networks. The
“Necklace of Diamonds” comprises Changi Naval Base in Singapore, Chabahar Port
in Iran, the Assumption Islands in Seychelles, and Duqm Port in Oman. In
addition to this, India is creating strong ties with Vietnam and Mongolia to counter
the Chinese “String of Pearls” strategy.
China’s
investments in its String of Pearls exceed the investments made by India for
its Necklace of Diamonds. China has
invested US$60 billion in Africa under its String of Pearls strategy, whereas
India’s largest investment for its Necklace of Diamonds amounts to $8 billion,
in Chabahar Port. Though both countries have strong allies, during the current
pandemic crisis, no country wants to get into a cold war with China, which
supplies essential pharmaceutical products to nations worldwide. Hence India’s
Necklace of Diamonds strategy to counter China’s influential networks may not
work in the current situation. Therefore,
India-China border relations are not just about guns but also about the rising
economic power of China, which has resulted in countries being dependent on it
for essential supplies.
Covid 19
has made us sit at home and reminisce the past – here are some photos of Sri
Parthasarathi Perumal Muthangi Sevai of 2008 taken with Konica Minolta Dimage
Z10 camera.
Adiyen
Srinivasadhasan
Mamandur Veeravalli
Srinivasa Sampathkumar
18.7.2020
No comments:
Post a Comment