2017 ഫെബര്വ്രി 8 രധ്ൻ

PROJECTS / FEATURES

Coffee is said to have been discovered by a ninth-centuryEthiopian farmer, who realizedhis goats were going crazy over

coffee beans.

The huge whale shark (as big as abus) has 3000 teeth, but eatsonly tiny shrimp and fish.

7

Europe has no deserts - it is theonly continent without one.

Heat is a measurable quantity,and so can be treated

mathematically.

Heat

One of the best-known figures in theclassical dance scene today is Dr. PadmaSubrahmanyam, an authority in her fieldwho effortlessly combines the diverseroles of dancer, research scholar, chore-ographer, singer, composer, teacher andauthor.Padma was born on February 4, 1943,

into a distinguished family of Madras(now Chennai). Her father, K.Subrahmanyam, was a pioneering film-maker, freedom fighter and socialactivist, while her mother Meenakshiwas a music composer, probably Tamilcinema’s first woman lyricist and musicdirector. Padma was the youngest of thecouple’s eight children. She grew up in avibrant and creative atmosphere, watch-ing rehearsals for various performancesby well-known artists at her home.At the age of five, Padma started learn-

ing Bharatanatyam from a young teacherin Nrityodaya, a dance school set up byher father. Later she was trained underthe famous dance guru VazhuvoorRamaiah Pillai. She had her arangettamor stage debut in 1956. Unlike other new-comers, she never experienced any nerv-ousness or jitters as the stage had alwaysbeen a second home to her.Because she had a melodious voice,

Padma’s family persuaded her to learnclassical music. However, dance waswhat held her interest right from thebeginning.

At 14, while still a stu-dent, Padma startedteaching atNrityodaya on herfather’s behest. Asshe started teach-ing her studentswhat she had

learnt from her own masters, somedoubts on the theoretical aspects ofdance crept into her mind. The quest forthe answers set her off on what was tobecome a long voyage of discovery. Shebegan to study on her own, poring overtranslations of ancient texts and danceclassics, and compiling her own noteswhich she passed on to her students.After doing her BA in Music and her

MA in Ethno Musicology, Padma beganher research on dance sculptures. She didher thesis on ‘Karanas in Indian danceand sculpture’ as seen in the temples ofChidambaram, Thanjavur andKumbakonam, and highlighted the factthat the 108 Karanas (basic units ofdance) are actually movements and notjust static poses. It took her ten years ofhard work to complete her Ph.D. Forthis she received a lot of support fromher brother Balakrishnan, a researcherand documentary film-maker, and hiswife Shyamala, a renowned singer andresearch scholar in classical and folkmusic.Padma’s extensive research was

reflected in her choreography. In hercritically acclaimed dance-drama,Krishnaya Tubham Namaha, she didaway with several accepted norms andprojected movements that were not inthe Bharatanatyam grammar. She alsostaged other dance-dramas in collabora-tion with her sister-in-law Shyamala. As

part of her attempts at experimentation,she depicted Jatayu Moksham, based onthe episode in the Ramayana, set toTchaikovsky’s ballet Romeo and Juliet,and Gajendra Moksham set to the musicof Miagi Michio of Japan.In the course of her performances and

academic research, Padma has travelledextensively, conducting workshops andparticipating in seminars in variouscountries. She has also written manybooks, including Bharata’s Art – Thenand Now, Natya Sastra and NationalUnity, and Bharakkalai Kotppadu inTamil. She scripted, choreographed andperformed in an award-winning tele-film, Bharatiya Natya Shastra, directedby her brother Balakrishnan. She is her-self the subject of many films, includingRussia’s Queen of Dance and FilmAustralia’s Padma.Awards and honours won by Padma

include the Padma Shri, the PadmaBhushan, the Sangeet Natak AkademiAward, the Kalaimamani Award fromthe Government of Tamil Nadu, KalidasSamman from the Government ofMadhya Pradesh and the Soviet LandNehru Award, to name a few. She wasalso the world’s first dancer to receiveJapan’s prestigious Fukuoka AsianCultural Prize for her contribution todevelopment and harmony in Asia. Shehas served on the executive committeesof the Indian Council for CulturalRelations and the Sangeet NatakAkademi and is on the advisory commit-tee for Doordarshan, Chennai.Today, Dr. Padma Subrahmanyam

with her extensive knowledge and talentcontinues to be a force to be reckonedwith in the field of classical dance.

- A Dancer Unmatched

Dr. PadmaSubrahmanyam

Dry ice is the common name for thesolidified (frozen) form of carbon diox-ide. It is so called because it does notmelt into a liquid, but changes directlyfrom solid to gaseous form when heat-ed, in a process known as sublimation.Because of its extremely cold tempera-ture – 109.3° Fahrenheit or -78.5° Celsius-, dry ice is very useful for refrigeration.Its main use is as a cooling agent. Beingsimple to use and easy to handle usinginsulated gloves, as well as non-toxic andcompletely dry, it is widely used as arefrigerant to ship frozen food or medicalproducts or to cool materials during pro-duction. Food-grade dry ice can also beput into beverages to cool them (but mustnot be eaten or swallowed).Another important use of dry ice is forblast cleaning, an effective and environ-ment-friendly way to clean industrial

equipment. This methodinvolves shooting pelletsof dry ice from a jet nozzleon to the equipment ormachinery to be cleaned.This effectively removesresidues of materials suchas ink, glue, oil, paint, etc.

An interesting use of dry ice is in fogmachines. When it is kept in water, subli-mation ensues, creating dense clouds ofsmoke-like fog. This is very useful fordramatic effects in stage plays, dances etc.Hence fog machines containing dry iceare used in nightclubs, theatres, filmshooting sets, and amusement parks.Dry ice is also an excellent material toenliven science lessons andis commonly used in schoolprojects to make a volcano, acloud chamber, etc.

What is dry ice, and what are its uses?

Have a frog in your throatThis phrase means to find it difficult tospeak clearly because you want to coughor feel dry throat.There was a belief that if you drankwater containing frogspawn, the frogswould grow inside your body. People, inolden days, believed that sore throatsand coughing could be caused by frogstrying to escape from your stomachthrough your throat!

History Behind theIdioms

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