Around Town 3TUESDAY5 SEPTEMBER 2017CHENNAI

NT BureauChennai, Sept 5:

Teachers should be repository of knowledge and experience, and sharing of their rich values will help students to succeed in their life, said Tamilnadu Governor Ch Vidyasagar Rao. Extending his greetings to teach-

ers on Teachers Day (birthday of former President Dr Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan), he said, ‘ the foundation for a strong country is built on the young and talented minds. A teacher is the role model for most of us and has been infl u-ential in changing each and every student’s life’. ‘I strongly believe

that the teacher-student relation-ship will nurture good character, discipline and commitment to set high standards. My sincere appeal to the teaching fraternity is to come forward and dedicate their quality time to guide the abundant youth force to build India into a developed nation,’ the Governor said in his message on Monday.He further said that we should

pay respect to Dr Sarvepalli Rad-hakrishnan for bringing respect to the teaching fraternity. ‘I extend my heartiest greetings and best wishes to the teachers for their dedicated service to build a knowledge and harmonious society,’ he said.

NT BureauChennai, Sept 5:

Ramakrishna Mission School will host alumni reunion at Ra-makrishna Mission Matricula-tion Higher Secondary School, Bazullah Road, T Nagar, on 17 September.Objective of meetingTo enhance the bondage be-

tween the students and the school and to offer tributes to the giants in the teaching profession who had carried the light over 84 years. Alumni spanning over the age group of 90s to 20s will participate.

September 10 is Suicide Prevention DaySeptember 7-13 is Suicide Prevention Week

PREVENTION IS CURE� September is National Suicide Prevention Month� Experts talk on how to cope with depression

NT BureauChennai, Sept 5:

‘Today, our nation is faced with a profound new challenge - our mighty rivers are depleting. Over 25 per cent of India is turning into desserts and it is our duty to nurture and nourish them back to health,’ said Apollo Hospitals executive chairman Dr Prathap C Reddy.Greeting spiritual leader Sadhguru

Jaggi Vasudev on his 60th birthday and his project ‘Rally for Rivers’ on Monday, he said, ‘We all should make a promise that we will un-dertake in small and big ways to rejuvenate the rivers and make a signifi cant impact supporting Sadh-guru’s vision’.‘The spiritual leader has embarked

on a historic mission to save our rivers. Entitled ‘Rally for Rivers’ - our nation’s lifelines, it calls upon each of us as responsible citizens to participate, to give ideas and also to encourage all our families, friends and associates to join hands and work for this national cause,’ he said in a press release. ‘Rally for Rivers is a land mark

movement and supporting it is pivotal to the survival of the generations to come. It has been estimated that by 2030, India will have just about 50 per cent of the water that we would need for our survival,’ he added. Union Minister Harsh Vardhan on

Monday flagged off the ‘Rally of Rivers’ from Coimbatore. The nation-wide campaign will cover 7,000 km

traversing 16 States to save rivers in the country. It will culminate in Delhi on 2 October.‘It is our duty towards the society to

pass on to the next generation many good things we have inherited from our ancestors...like components of a great and pious environment,’ Harsh Vardhan, who holds the ad-ditional charge of the Environment Ministry, said.He said the ‘Rally for Rivers’ model

has to be replicated across the coun-try and added that it was ‘ironical that a rally has to be taken out to create awareness for protecting rivers and also to keep the environment clean’.Speaking on the occasion, Jaggi

Vasudev said, ‘It is time we did something to bring back the fertility of the soil and water in our peren-nial river which are slowly turning seasonal.’

MERCY ANGELINE CChennai, Sept 5:

Suicide is not confi ned to a particu-lar age, gender or persons from a given economic status. It is a major concern for health experts. With the Blue Whale Challenge also surfac-ing, in which the end task is to kill oneself, psychologists are more worried about fi ghting the menace.A person feels suicidal especially

when s/he feels depressed, says Keerthana Rajeev, psychiatric counsellor in the city. Taking into account the deaths of Blue Whale Challenge victims and Anitha, a young girl who couldn’t get into the medical fi eld, suicide is now being considered a solution for many of life’sproblems. But it is not, says the psychiatric.Many do not know that Septem-

ber is National Suicide Prevention Month. Says Keerthana, ‘Many

patients who come to me are not aware of their present mental sta-bility and are mostly seen lonely or in a depressed mood. Since I work as a counsellor in a private college,

the stu-d e n t s w h o c o m e t o m e face problems both in their studies or in their family. Sometimes, there are girls who come to me with prob-lems regarding their relationships.

There is no problem that cannot be solved. I give the girls some counselling but even to give that, they must be mentally prepared.’‘In some extreme cases, just

counselling won’t help and we opt for pharmacotheraphy where we give treatment through drugs,’ she adds. About the recent death of children who took up the Blue

Whale Challenge, she says, ‘It is not surprising that nowadays many kids are addicted to gadgets and parents too

do not worry much. But the recent events have changed their per-spective and now they are keep-ing a watch on what their child is

doing. Many kids who are normally active, suddenly become less sociable and this is the fi rst stage of depres-

sion. If the depressed person had someone to talk to, many deaths could be avoided.’Athma Hospital, Tiruchi, is one

such place that has prevented the death of many who have attempted suicide by giving them counselling and proper guidance. Dr K Ramakrishna, one of the doc-

tors there, says, ‘Every hour, there

WORRISOME STATS

In Tamilnadu, in the past few years, more suicides are re-ported in Chennai.With about 36.7 per cent male

suicides reported, it is consid-ered the highest among Indian metros.In the past three years, the

suicides of farmers have be-come prominent in Tamilnadu.Puducherry has about 40.3

per cent male suicides among Union Territories.

• CAUSES FOR SUICIDE IN CHENNAI

• FAMILY PROBLEMS

• DRUG ABUSE

• DEBT

• LOVE FAILURE • UNEMPLOYMENT

• MARITAL ISSUES

• FAILURE IN EXAMS

• DOWRY DIVORCE

is someone who commits suicide in the State. Statistics show that mostly young girls top the list. We started this initiative on 2 October 2000 and we have helped prevent deaths to a major level wherein we give direct or indirect counselling. We do not disclose the details to anyone. It is purely confi dential.’Many of the clients are brought

either by their parents or strangers, he says. ‘We get a call where a person tells us about a young boy standing near railway tracks or about a girl sitting alone in a dull mood. We immediately go to the spot and we have a talk with them. We have around 20 social work-ers and fi ve psychologists in our premises who extend their services throughout the day, year-round. ‘Every September, we conduct

around 25 programmes in 40

schools and colleges. We also take this initiative to the rural ar-eas wherein we target even alco-holism, that has become a major problem in many households. We treat our clients mostly free of cost and we get funds through public donations. We have a trust called Athma Educational Trust that helps us fi nancially,’ he adds.Asked about his reaction to Ani-

tha, whose suicide has shocked the entire nation, he says, ‘If counselling had been given, girls like Anitha could be saved. Even though many protest for her death and the way the gov-ernment rule had spoiled her future, committing suicide won’t solve problems.’‘There are many Anithas like

her, who aspire to achieve something but get depressed when they are not able to. I believe that the awareness pro-grammes that we conduct will help them know that everything is a battle worth fighting for,’ he says.Peop le who are lone ly or

feel depressed / worried over something, can call Dr Ram-akrishna of Athma Hospitals at 9894722221 or their 24/7 helpine at 9842422121.

‘Make a promise torejuvenate rivers’� Apollo Hospitals chief backs

Jaggi Vasudev’s project

‘Teachers should sharerich values with students’� Guide the youth force to build India

into a developed nation: Vidyasagar Rao

Rewinding the past� Ramakrishna Mission School to host alumni reunion 17 Sept

Value-based educationRamakrishna Mission Ashrama

Schools were established in pursu-ance of Swami Vivekananda’s state-ment that education is the manifesta-tion of the perfection already in man; seeds were sown for establishing ideal educational institutions with a service-orientation. The schools in T Nagar have been serving the cause of educa-tion focusing on the value-education. Exemplary studentsMotivating the children through

character-making education, the schools in T Nagar have created exemplary students like General Sundarjee, Ramanathan Krishnan,

Dr S S Badrinath, actor R S Manohar, civil servants B S Raghavan, M R Sivaraman and Dr Y V Reddy, Justice Bhaskaran, Justice Chitra Venka-taraman, Justice Chandru, Dr K V S Gopalakrishnan, journalist Lena Tamizhvanan and industrialist Nalli Kuppuswami Chettiar to name a few.Call to alumniThe Alumni Association has called

all its alumni who are spread across the country and world to take part in the event.For more details abd registration,

contact: alumnirkm@gmail.com and deecee.d@gmail.com. Website: www.rkmchennai.org

Success storiesBesides honoring their teachers

of the school during the occasion,

the alumni would also share their success stories to the outgoing students of the present batch.

State Ministers D Jayakumar, Kadambur Raju, P Benjamin, K Pandiarajan, Tamilnadu Textbook and Educational Services Corporation Chairman B Valarmathi, Tamil Development and Information Department Secretary R Venkatesan and Information and Public Relations Director P Shankar paid fl oral tributes to the portrait of freedom fi ghter VOC Chidambaranar kept near his statue at Rajaji Salai in Chennai to mark his 146th birth anniversary today.

NT BureauChennai, Sept 5:

Chennai-based logistics tech startup Lynk and Ramco Systems are organ-ising ‘Lynk Hacks’, a two-day hacka-thon at Adyar from 16 September.The hackathon is around the use of

computer vision in logistics, and is aimed at automating authentication and KYC processes which is integral to the day-to-day operations in the industry, a press release said. The hackathon will witness keynote

presentations by industry experts and networking sessions to engage the hackers.The registrations for the hackathon

is on from 4 September, where the participation is free and is open to all. Final codes will be showcased to the panelists, who will pick the best three teams. The entries will be judged on parameters such as originality, accuracy in solving the challenge and minimal margin of error. The winner, runner-up and the second runner-up will get cash prizes worth Rs 50,000, Rs 30,000 and Rs 20,000 respectively, the release said.One can register and get more de-

tails on the following link: http://www.lynk.co.in/hackathon/

Applications invited from techies for

‘Lynk Hacks’

Send questions, interact with

noted violinistsNT Bureau

Chennai, Sept 5:As a pre-event to the Indira Siva-

sailam Endowment Concert, The Indira Sivasailam Foundation is host-ing ‘Anwesha - Quest for the best’ on 20 September.‘Anwesha’ is an interactive platform

for Carnatic music enthusiasts to interact with the winners of the year’s Indira Sivasailam Endowment Medal through a question and answer ses-

sion. ‘Anwesha’ invites questions re-lated to Carnatic music, of which the best ones will be shortlisted by the contest jury - from The Music Acad-emy, Madras, a press release said. The top 30 fi nalists will be invited for an interactive Q&A session with Carnatic violinists Lalgudi Krishnan and Lalgudi Vijayalakshmi, the win-ners of this year’s Indira Sivasailam Endowment Medal.One can participate by posting the

questions to The Indira Sivasailam Foundation Facebook page (face-book.com/theISfoundation) inbox or by emailing them to info@isfounda-tion.in. The contest is open till 13 September. Lalgudi Krishnan and Lalgudi Vijayalakshmi will perform at The Indira Sivasailam Endowment Concert 2017, on 22 September at the Music Academy.

Dr K Ramakrishna

Walking sticksfor elders

NT BureauChennai, Sept 5:

The Senior Citizens Group of Be-santnagar (SCGOBN) proposes to distribute walking sticks free to the needy senior citizens on 2 October as a symbolic gesture in honour of Mahatma Gandhi. Those who wish to donate walking

sticks contact SCGOBN president V Chandrasekhar at 9884224480 or

scgobn@gmail.com.

Lalgudi Krishnan and Lalgudi Vijayalakshmi