A trip to Yanam, a part of the Pondicherry Union Territory.

Yanam (French: Yanaon) is a town in the Indian union territory of Puducherry, located in Yanam district, which forms a 30 km² enclave in the district of East Godavari in Andhra Pradesh. It has a population of just 56,000, most of whom speak Telugu. For 200 years it was a French colony, and, though united with India in 1954, is still sometimes known as French Yanam. It has one MLA who is also a Minister in most of the governments formed at Puducherry who has been getting elected continuously for many terms now.

Though I had been in Pondicherry for almost 30 years now, I never had gone there before and I had the opportunity to go to Yanam for a training programme. As it turned out, most people take the Circar Express which goes upto Kakinada and take a bus from there to Yanam. Myself and my friend Segar also did the same taking catching the Circar Express from Tambaram at about 4.20 pm which proved to be a long journey. It seems that the Indian Railways consider this as a second rate train as we saw that this train had to give the track preference to all kinds of trains some times four to five trains in a row and at one station, the train was side-tracked for almost 90 minutes. But interestingly, the train gains speed and makes up the time (the train schedule itself is designed in such a manner).

The huge statue of Rajiv Gandhi

The route of the Circar Express is a scenic one. Lush green rice fields interspersed with aquaculture ponds which are being aerated by propellers and it seems the rice fields and the aquaculture farms co-exist quite well, though only a detailed analysis will bring out any inherent problems exist or not.  One has the feeling that you are travelling through  Kerala as the rice fields were green with adequate water, ponds and channels having water being flowing etc. 

Anyhow, we reached Kakinada town quite late about 45 minutes later than its scheduled time. We took an auto to the Kakinada Complex (Bus stand as it locally called) and from there took a bus to Yanam. Though the distance is just a bit over 27  km and a bus fare of Rs.23 per person, the bus journey was so slow, with the condition of the road so bad and also the bus stopping at every single stop. It took about 90 minutes to reach Yanam in the extreme hot and humid climate prevailing.. 

If you ever had been to Pondicherry or Karaikal or Mahe which are parts of the old colony, one obvious thing you will notice is the sudden change of roads, shops, petrol bunds, liquour shops and one can obviously notice the sudden change of the state with a noticeably richer quality of homes, infrastructure etc. But to our surprise, we hardly noticed that we had reached Yanam and became aware only after Conductor asked us whether we wanted to get down at the old bus stand or new bus stand in Telugu and translated to us to Tamil by a Tamil traveler from Salem who was there in the bus.  Too many houses, too small shops, cemented roads but in bad conditions and definitely not maintained well. As soon as we got down, we took an auto to the Government Guest House and the first indicator that Yanam was much backward compared to other enclaves of Pondicherry was when the auto driver demanded Rs.40 only, for which if you were in Pondicherry, the auto drivers would have fleeced at least Rs.60-Rs.80. 

The Yanam Guest house is a decent place but lacks maintenance. First thing we noticed that there was no drinking water facility within the Guest House. The window has a grill not fixed to the frame and one can easily remove it which is light and made of aluminium. The AC was working but there was no cooling effect at all. And after about 1 hour of running, it started leaking from one end and we had to keep a bucket which got filled up every three hours or so. We complained to the person who came next day morning to the room and he said that he will inform the management.  

These white elephants embodies the development of Yanam

We went out and had lunch around 2 pm at the Balaji Hotel which was quite reasonable with Rs.60/meals as the nearby Le Cafe or Govt. Canteen (as we could not read Telugu we are not sure what is the actual ownership of this) did not serve meals. 

We went out in the evening to the river front to have a walk and see around. One thing that I noticed was the over doing of all the civil works. The so called ferry road had statues in golden colour on either side of the road for every 20 feet gap. The statues had the names of the leaders written in English followed tens of names of ministers, officers etc. with the same font size. Interestingly, the name of the person whose statue is kept has no description of who he was but the names of others clearly mentioned whether they were ministers, Engineers, with designations etc. One wonders whose purpose these statues serve. May be, the more statues, the more expenditure and the more someone earns !!!.. May the distance between the statues should have been reduced a bit more so that we could include statues of many more dignitaries and hence more "development" also.

The ever locked out toilets.

With just 30 sq.km and a population of just 5000 or so in 1928, the population has grown to 32000 in 2001 and to 56000 in 2011. How this growth rate of about 75% or more per decade has happened is worth to be researched. Some people say, every five years, new people are brought from neighbouring Andhra Pradesh, ration cards and stateship given to them and they become new voters. Obviously, the poverty level of the majority of Yanam people are much higher than the other three enclaves. Till recently (about five or six years before), the educational pass percentage of 10th board exam students (here they write the Andhra Pradesh Board exams) were also not so good. The literacy rate of Yanam is the least in Pondicherry UT, though it might look good compared to other states. Fisheries is one the main occupation of the people other than of course, the government servants themselves..

The "tiled" river front which had very few people to see around

Some people when enquired also said that the drop out among students is high as boys go for fishing with their fathers. Another interesting fact told by one of the teachers was that the rate of cancer in Yanam is very high , though he could not give any specific reason for the same. 

Anyhow one thing is obvious. There is no dearth of money when it comes to "developmental" projects like river front beautification or installation of statues or other mammoth structures which have little or no relevance to the people of Yanam. The quality of infrastructure and their maintenance is much to be improved, whether it is the condition of roads, sewerage channels etc. 

One of the very few French time buildings left in Yanam

But one thing good about Yanam is the cost of living - transport, food etc. May be like in Pondicherry, the autos are not monopolized by politicians or goondas and may be administration is still relevant to the people. Anyhow it shattered the rosy picture of Yanam that I had from others who had gone there before .. I dont know what thefofficial  statistics talk about Yanam, but being an over-pampered enclave, the results are no where visible ...!!!

While coming back our train was from Rajahmundry as there are no evening trains from Kakinada to Chennai. Actually Puducherry should have pleaded with the Indian Railways to reschedule the timings of Circar Express so that the train reaches at Kakinada at least by 6 am in the morning and leaves from Kakinada Port by 6pm in the evening so that this will be of immense time consuming for the officials and public who regularly commute from Puducherry to Yanam and back.  

We left Yanam at 4.30 pm reached Kakinada by 6pm and took a non-stop bus to Rajamundry which took 2 hours. Finally we boarded a train at 10pm which reached Chennai Central around 9.45 am the next day.  May be we should have gone to Ramachandrapuram which is about 27 km and from there to Rajahmundry which is another 37 kms, but there were conflicting advises given to us regarding connectivity and travel time etc. Being first time travelers did not want to take the risk and loose the train.. May be next time? .. Not sure..

A typical Yanam street at night

Anyhow, a small tiny town with some suburbs also, can be made a wonderful place provided we have the right type of governance with what people actually need. Provided people are made the focus of development, not the contractors or others who have little relationship with the people. 

Moringa or Drumstick Tree: : Backyard nutrition ...

The drumstick tree is a common sight in most parts of India, especially in South India. Every household, you could see a drum stick tree, especially in villages. They have beutiful small white flowers, and long fruits which are the basic ingredient in the mouth watering South Indian Sambar and finds also its place in other recipes like Aviyal etc.
Its leaves are also edible and one can make innumerable curries with its leaves, or chutneys with garlic, ginger, green chillies etc (some times also called thuvayal in Tamil.

Those days, when you have mouth ulcers, when Vitamin B complex capsules or tablets were difficult to procure (especially for those in villages), a handful of its leaves is chewed or you make a Poriyal (Tamil) or Thoran (Malayalam), you are assured of immediate relief.  The flowers are also a delicacy and rich in nutrients and vitamins. The drumstick leaves are known to have high levels of Calcium, Iron, Magnesium and Manganese and many more minerals other than Vitamin A, B and also C.

Now the trees have started to flower everywhere in Pondicherry and you can see long tender fruits (the drum sticks) emerging . as bunches. One can also see a heightened increase in the awareness about this humble tree as urban elites have started buying drum stick leaf extracts and powder in online shops.  For the rural people, it is a ready-made vegetable at their backyard which can be harvested anytime.

The leaves being rich in Calcium and iron, this is a must include the diet of all women, especially mothers who breastfeed their kids. Consumption of drum stick leaves have to found to have good impact on the yield of breast milk and one can get away from the so called baby foods which actually do more harm than good.  So next time you see a drumstick tree, get a small cutting or get a seed from a dried fruit in your back yard or in a large HDPE bag so that you need not store those coloured vitamin tablets anymore..

Another interesting use of the drumstick seeds is in the purification of turbid water. When crushed moriga seeds are mixed with turbid, impure water, it clarifies the water which can be boiled and drunk. This is part of a traditional knowledge system in many parts of India. Anyhow, traditional knowledge also tells us that one must not consume the leaves during rainy season, possibly due to its high fibre content could create problems for our gut. 

faites de la science - Make Science Competitions 2017-Puducherry, India: 11th Edition

It has been a long, quite long break since I have jotted anything.. I had been busy shooting, editing, sub-titling the Edition 11 of the faites de la science or Make Science Competitions science projects for 2017 edition. To give a short introduction, faites de la science is an International Science programme being conducted by the University of Paris, South 11, Orsay in collaboration with the Pondicherry Science Forum exclusively for students of government schools in the Puducherry district of the Union Territory of Puducherry. And it happens to the 11th year this time since this programme was launched.

And here are the 12 project videos of this year. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLZUYFpO-Bqvzkmx5vnC-Mw.

As you can see they are attempts by small children to do science and they are going to be evaluated by an Expert jury of researchers constituted by the Faculty of Sciences, Paris 11 University and they take the extra effort to give their valuable feedback as to what mistakes they did in formulating their projects, what processes they should have additionally done to make it more scientific, how controls should have been there, how not to be biased while jumping to results etc. which is a very rare thing. Somewhere we do not have a link between the school education system and of the higher education system - and very little interaction and feedback to the school teachers who shape our future children. No programme is a perfect one, but somewhere there should be a starting point. And this is exactly this that keeps us all engaging with science.

Now 11 years is quite a long one. And it has been quite a wonderful experience to interact with small children in the rural and urban government schools, who with a passion, present their scientific works. Sometimes, some projects are not very good, sometimes they struggle for words and sentences while explaining scientific principles. Sometimes, they find the time limit (about 8 minutes) inadequate to present their findings. Sometimes, they are forced to present their findings half way through their research. But the process - that is what more important in dong science. The end result may be fascinating sometimes, sometimes not so interesting. But the process of doing science - that is what interests and shape the thought process of children. And that is what programmes like faites de la science stands out. This is also true for programmes like the National Children's Science Congress with which also I am associated with at the national level.

There are several programme on promoting science education. There are several prizes, incentives, workshops, seminars, activity based learning programmes - too many are there. But still, there is very little impact those programmes have on the actual thought process of understanding, conceptualising, internalisation of scientific concepts and on the method of searching for scientific solutions to problems around us. We are in a world of "instant" solutions, too much focus on technology and little stress on the steps ...Another programme that I like very much is the one initiated by the Homi Babha Centre for Science Education (Mumbai) where they run whatsapp based groups doing actual science where groups of science students engage in a healthy, experiment based approach to understanding and learning science. This is something no school curriculum is offering now. This is something which is way beyond what teachers are trained to transact in the schools, what is way too far for Indian science education should have done. There are very few such approaches and they are not given the focus they actually deserve - some of which are the Eklavya, the Vigyan Ashram, the Gram Mangal, the Peoples's Science Movements's approach to science education and several standalone science education experiments of famous institutions. But their outreach to the common, rural,poor children need to get a big push. That is where programmes like the Make Science Competitions and the National Children's Science Congress stand out.

For me, personally, this has been a long journey of about 25 years with the National Children's Science Congress - partly in Puducherry and partly at the national level. About 11 years in an international programme like the Faites de la science. And I hope I will have the time and most important - the energy - to continue this for the years to come.. !!!

Congratulations to all the children, guide teachers to take that extra pain to venture out and explore science - especially in an age where rational thinking and scientific temper is taking a back seat...

World Forests Day & World Water Day at Raj Nivas with a difference

This year, Pondicherry Science Forum and CERD had celebrated the World Forests Day and the World Water Day with a difference.

More than 200 children including special children, 40 teachers and PSF activists gathered at the Raj Niwas, Pondicherry along with the Hon'ble Lt. Governor of Pondicherry, Dr.Kiran Bedi IPS and her team including LG's Secretary, Mr.Deva Neethi Das IAS, Mr.Devaraj, IFS, OSD Mrs. Amrita Bahl, Controller Mrs.Asha Gupta - all gathered at the Raj Nivas Lawns on the 21st March (World Forests Day) and eve of World Water Day.

After a brief introduction by Mrs.Asha Gupta, an Introductory Speech by LG's Secretary, Mr.Deva Neethi Das IAS, the first programme was a Mass Theatre on Forests, its intricate roles and how a forest supports all kinds of life forms and hence the future of human kind.


The theatre had all the children as participants and including the Hon'ble LG, Dr.Kiran Bedi IPS who acted as a beautiful bird of the forests.


The programme ended with a beautiful mass rendering of Hum Honge Kaamyaab. Dr.Kiran Bedij danced and ran and played with the children and she also paused for a photo session with all the children running around the lawns.

The Forests' Theatre had special sound effects, various species of trees, birds, animals, a live stream of water performed by girls with their blue duppattas, waves of rain and wind by special children of Ananda Ranga Pillai Special School and Satya Special School.



PSF had also conducted a photography contest for school children on the themes of Forests & Energy and Why waste water? . More than 200 children had send their entries out of which the best 25 were shortlisted and there was an exhibition of these photos. From these 25 entries, the best three in Junior and Senior categories were honoured with certificates and prizes by Dr.Kiran Bedi.

There was also an interesting demonstration of children as to how to save water while bathing and washing of kitchen utensils. The children demonstrated how to take bath with a mug of water!. This was followed by Activity corners on water where children tried out several water based activities.

All this was planned and executed with in 4-5 days, by a handful of PSF volunteers along with a dedicated team of teachers and students which is the strength of PSF. The novelty of the mass theatre, the excitement of the children and teachers while planning the programme was refreshing and when the programme actually unraveled at the lawns of Raj Nivas on the evening of Raj Nivas, the entire place exploded with laughter, cheers and happiness.

Science communication does need new forms of reaching out to the children, the public. And this is most refreshing when they themselves become part of the process, rather than just receivers of communication! .

Thanks to the entire team of PSF and the dedicated Raj Nivas team who rose to the occasion and made it to a grand success. And of course, special thanks to Dr.Kiran Bedi, the Hon'ble Lt. Governor, and her team!

The legend of Bangari and Singari and the historical town of Bahour.

Bahour is a small town bordering the two rivers, Then Ponnaiyar on the South and Malattar on the South and naturally a very fertile place which was the right mix of water resources, fertile soil, huge number of water channels and close to the Bay of Bengal, having pristine unpolluted beaches and a mix of primary production of agriculture, fisheries. No doubt, the ancient South Indian rulers had found Bahour to be a prosperous town to make it their focus.

Thus Bahour known as Chathur Veda Mangalam (land of four Vedas) had once, a famous Sanskrit College where the students who passed out from here, had preference and lucrative offers in Kancheepuram, and even far off places like the Kashi. The famous temple "Moolanathar Swami Temple" was built by the Paranthaka Chozha and later developed by the Pallavas, Rashtrakoodas and the Naickers. Intact, Puducherry had detailed information regarding this temple which is built on the Kaarana Aagamam and the Vimana of this temple has a square frame due to the name Chathur (another meaning being Square) Veda Mangalam which is typical of the Chozhas who used to include an element of secrecy in all their temples.

Another notable natural heritage of Bahour is the Bahour Tank itself which happens to be the oldest tank in Puducherry (older than the biggest tank of Oussudu) and have abeautiful network of smaller tanks. The history points to a big drought in Bahour, when two unmarried wealthy sisters Bangari and Singari donated their wealth to deepen the tank and strengthen the bunds and also to dig a channel from Then Ponnaiyar to the Bahour Tank which is now known as the Bangaru Channel named after the sister Bangari. Some older people say that these sisters used to live in the South Street of Bahour.

To celebrate the historicity of Bahour and its natural heritage the Puducherry Heritage Festival held a Dance Drama in the Moolanathar temple on the 5th of February 2017 on the legendary life of Bangari and Singari.


More about Bahour will be shared at a later time..
(Krithiga Ravichandran as Bangari and Divya Ramesh as Singari in the Dance drama of Salangai Cultural Academy).

A year gone...

It has been quite some time, that I published my last post - almost a year. The year that was gone was too full of so many things, too many activities that I did with Pondicherry Science Forum, too much as in my personal capacity. The Make Science Competitions 2016 was a mile-stone for me as this was the 10th year that I have been coordinating this programme along with the University of Paris, South 11, France. Every year about 12 teams of government school children get a small seed money to carry out small research projects and out of them, about 4 of them get special awards and cash incentives. I also finished my third year as the Chairman of the National Academic Committee of the Government of India's programme, the National Children's Science Congress 2016 which was held in Barmati, near Pune in Maharashtra where we had more than 700 children, 200 teachers and several experts, scientists gathered from 27th to 31st December 2016.

During this period, I lost one of my best friend, philosopher and guide Prof.SS Lokras, (in November 2016) who was a leading Fuel Efficient Chulah Innovator (Retired Scientist from Centre for Sustainable Technologies - formerly ASTRA-, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore) whose model of 2+1 pan ASTRA Stove continues to be one of the best fuel efficient Chulah in the world with efficiencies of above 40%.

The year 2016 also has been quite turbulent, the hottest in the decade, because of the Cyclone Varadah that created huge loss of property in Chennai and surroundings, the year with very little rainfall, the year of Indian de-monitization, the death of Jayalalitha, the Amma of Tamil Nadu, the resurgence of youth of Tamilnadu for "Jallikkattu", and many more...Though these are quite unconnected as it may look like, one can see a pattern of disturbing trends happening.

Pondicherry also witnessed a new government, a new active Lt. Governor who has brought about a very active governance system which the government should take forward. We also saw some very positive changes where the stakeholders of the traditional irrigation tanks were brought back for their upkeep and maintenance, though I doubt their fight to get mainstreamed is far from over.

Anyhow, another year has started, Hope the youth of India will emerge more rational, more scientific, and will start a new movement for better governance, argue for sustainable developmental initiatives, make our country free from corruption, free from all the bad things that destroy ourselves including the bad parasitic MNCs and their game plan for plundering the poor.