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December 2010 - January 2011 Issue No 2Volume No 1

Guess Who? ! Given at the bottom of each page are the tips that will lead on to the photo of the person on the last page

Please send in your ‘Scribbles’ for use in this space.

C J Rajkumar, Application Engineering, Fisher Sanmar Karapakkam

Editorial teamSarada Jagan, Ramadevi Ravi, Shilpa Senthilkumar,

Lavanya Monangi

Location coordinators

E Arunkumar (Mettur), G Rengarajan (Cuddalore)

P Xavier Raj (Karaikal), S Murugesan (Shinoli)

M Thiagarajan (Berigai), R Sivakumar (Viralimalai)

P Aravindan (Branches)

(Contributed by R Christopher, HR, Corporate Division, HO)

From the Editor’s desk…The launch of Scribbles seems to have surprised many. The response has been tremendous and there have been quite a few employee contributions as well. We believe that the momentum on contributions will pick up full steam over the next few months.

In this issue we have brought together a variety – a delicious feast for the eye and mind indeed!!

The photo feature on the Factory Day celebrations across Sanmar locations would give you a fl avour of the fun that people had. The recipients of the Long Service Awards given away at these functions were featured in the last issue.

From this issue onwards, young minds can enjoy their exclusive page – young in mind and not in age. Hope you have fun!

Creative contests for kids have been announced and the best contributions would be published in the forthcoming issues. Interesting prizes await the young winners. Hope we get deluged with entries!

I thank my colleagues who have sent in the contributions that have been featured in this issue.

The article on ‘Where time has gone’, is particularly relevant to all of us who believe we do not have enough time - too much to do, too little time, no time to relax etc.

Is it not worth pondering whether the cause for this is within us? Are we effective? Do we prioritise? Do we catch the time thieves and kill them? How did our grandparents, with no technology, no modern transportation or communication to support them, manage? Their generation seems to have been more effi cient? Are there lessons to learn? Let’s ponder and share our thoughts.

Meanwhile, Ciao until the next issue.

Send us your contributions/ responses to scribbles@sanmargroup.com

2 Guess Who? ! Clue No. 1: Recipient of Bharat Ratna.

Factory Day celebrations across Sanmar locations - A photo feature

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Here is a ‘tug of war’ scene during Factory Day celebrations at Chemplast Mettur Plant II, with S Venkatesan in action at his best.

The Annual Factory Day was celebrated on 4 June 2010 at Plants I and III, Mettur. Ramkumar Shankar was the chief guest on the occasion.

Together we win - The Chemplast Sanmar team at Cuddalore posing for a group photograph on the occasion of the Factory Day celebrations on 21 September 2010.

The Factory Day celebrations across the Sanmar Group refl ected the factory’s upbeat mood with large number of employees and their family members actively participating in the function.

N Krishnamoorthy presided over the Factory Day celebrations at Karaikal and Vedaranyam which were celebrated on 1 & 2 August 2010 respectively.

A section of the audience during Factory Day celebrations.

At Karaikal

At Vedaranyam

The Annual Factory Day was celebrated on 4 May 2010 at Chemplast Sanmar, Plant II, Mettur. Long service awards were presented to the employees by KS Venkiteswaran.

A section of the audience at the Factory Day celebrations at Plants I and III, Mettur.

At Plants I and III, Mettur. At Plant II, Mettur.

Factory Day is the time when several sporting events are organised and the winning team rewarded.

Indoor and outdoor games including Carrom, Cricket,

Volleyball and Shuttle were played with great enthusiasm

at Cuddalore.

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Factory Day celebrations across Sanmar locations - A photo feature

Guess Who? ! Clue No. 2: Led Vedaranyam Salt Satyagraha. 3

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Sanmar Ferrotech, Gummidipoondi celebrated its second Factory Day on 1 Aug 2010. (L to R): LG Umesh Kannan, K Mohan, P Natarajan and A Regie Paul

The Factory Day celebrations across the Sanmar Group refl ected the factory’s upbeat mood with large number of employees and their family members actively participating in the function.

R Kumar addressing the employees of Ponneri during Factory Day celebrations on 6 September 2010.

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‘Tug of war’ of another kind was part of the 34th Factory Day celebrations at Karapakkam.

KR Varma, Chander Shekhar Saraf, R Venkataramani and B Venkataramani on the occasion of Factory Day celebrations on 1 July 2010 at Karapakkam.

K Manickam

Mettur (30)

Long Service Awardees

Dr V Satagopan

Berigai (10)

S Nallasivam

Ponneri (40)

We regret publishing his incorrect picture in

the last issue

A section of the audience at the Factory Day celebrations

on 4 July 2010 in Viralimalai.

A scene from “guess the price” game. Prizes were given based on the participant’s guess on the price of a product.

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Do you know?R Kumar, Trubore Piping Systems, HOWhen was Braille invented?It was invented by a Frenchman, Louis Braille, around 1829. It is an alphabet, which can be read by blind people using their sense of touch, consisting of an arrangement of raised dots. In 1819, when he was 10 years old, Braille went to Paris with a scholarship to study at the National Institution for Blind Children. The founder of the institution hit upon the idea of providing texts in embossed Roman lettering which the blind could decipher or read.

Two years after Braille’s arrival, Charles Barbier exhibited at the institution an apparatus by which a coded message in dots and dashes could be embossed on cardboard. Braille worked on this system and was able to adapt it to meet the need of the sightless. He published expositions of his system in 1829 and 1837.

Braille became a dedicated teacher at his school and also a talented organist. It was through his life’s work that thousands of blind people today can read. Thanks to Braille for his invention.

When was traffi c light invented?Traffi c lights were invented in the United States and were introduced in the city of New York in 1918 and they were fi xed-time traffi c lights. Eight years later the United States set up a Committee on Uniform Traffi c Control.

The purpose of traffi c lights was to control the fl ow of traffi c, determine the right of way at intersections and give greater safety to drivers. By linking successive traffi c signals together a progressive movement through the streets can be provided.

Traffi c lights were used for the fi rst time in Britain at Wolverhampton, Staffordshire, in 1928.

Eyes - a short storyS Sankaran, Quality Control, Xomox Sanmar, Viralimalai

The train had started to move. It was fully packed with passengers. Seated near the window was an old man with his son, about 30 years of age. As the train moved, the son was overwhelmed with joy, absolutely thrilled with the natural scenery outside… “Look dad”, yelled the son, “it is beautiful to see the green trees swaying in the wind”.

The co-passengers in the compartment found his behaviour strange. “This guy seems to be crazy,” whispered a newly married man to his wife.

It suddenly started to rain outside and rain drops fell on the passengers through the open window. The son was ecstatic. “Oh dad, how wonderful the rain is……..”

This time, it was the newly wedded wife who got irritated, with the rain drops falling on her new saree and making it wet. “Can’t you see that it is raining, you old man. If your son is not feeling well, then get him on to a mental asylum… don’t disturb the public”.

The old man hesitated for a moment and then replied in a low tone. “We are on our way back from the hospital and my son got discharged this morning. He was blind since birth, and only last week he has got his vision. Rain and nature are all new to his eyes. Please forgive us for the inconvenience caused…” The passengers were too shocked for words…

We always tend to see an object or an issue from our own perspective. When the truth is known, it will hurt the self more than anybody else. Let us try and understand the problem better before uttering any harsh words. The world would then become a better place to live…

Climate Change and SkepticsKN Shruti, daughter of KV Neelakantan, Administration, Corporate Division, HO

The climate of the past few thousand years has been amazingly kind to us. It has enabled us to spread into almost all regions of the world and to grow into the favourable ecological circumstances it has created. We currently enjoy the optimum conditions for supporting billions of people. While some understand the importance of the issue, some others state that the theory of global warming is the biggest, most dangerous and ruinously expensive con trick in history. Lack of evidence, inability to predict the future, unreliable temperatures, chaotic systems and many unsure scientists has given rise to another dimension where Global warming is a hoax.

Studies indicate that over 50% of India’s forests are likely to experience a shift in forest types which in turn is going to affect the associated bio-diversity, regional climate and livelihoods in the forest, with even a rise of even 1 degree in the temperature 4-5 million tons of wheat production is to be affected in India and with rising sea levels, we are going to witness the coastal areas to submerge slowly.

Climate change deniers don’t answer their critics. They make what they say are defi nitive refutations of the science. When these refutations are shown to be nonsense, they do not seek to defend them. They simply switch to another line of attack. They never retract, never apologise, never explain, just raise the volume, keep moving and hope that people won’t notice the trail of broken claims in their wake.

Today, we can live without a new trade agreement; we can’t live without a new climate agreement. We witness the impacts of climate change happening in every corner of our country yet, if people deny that, then clearly they are convincing themselves. It might not concern you today, someday it will and that day might be too late. The so called Climate Skeptics haven’t fooled themselves, but they might have fooled you. Who, among those of you who claim that climate scientists are liars and environmentalists are stooges, has thought it through for himself?

It is time for us to be the change we want to see.

The train had started to move. It was fully packed with passengers. Seated near the window was an old man with his son, about 30 years of age. As the train moved, the son was overwhelmed with joy, absolutely thrilled with the natural scenery outside… “Look dad”, yelled the son, “it is

The co-passengers in the compartment found his behaviour strange. “This guy seems to be crazy,” whispered a newly married man

It suddenly started to rain outside and rain drops fell on the passengers through the open window. The son was ecstatic.

This time, it was the newly wedded wife who got irritated, with the rain drops falling on her new saree and making it wet. “Can’t you see that it is raining, you old man. If your son is not feeling well, then get him on

Guess Who? ! Clue No. 3: Nick named ‘Mango of Salem’.

Carving - Th e SelfKA Ravindran, Marketing, Chemplast Sanmar, HO

Coarse stone,Carved to Beauty.

Beauty shows imperfections...Sculpture carves the sculptor!

Changes the chisel...Changes the stone...

Sculptor continues ....So the Beauty ....I am the Sculptor

I am the Beauty too!

5Guess Who? ! Clue No. 4: Founder of Swatantra Party.

Get C

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It appears that our days have shrunk a lot in the last fi fty years. Now we can only hear people of all ages complaining about lack of time. Where did we lose it, how did we lose it and how can we retrieve it again, we all must ponder.

Slow and steady, neat and tidy, careful and economical, silent and suffering, hardworking but not complaining, caring but not pampering, a mother-teacher for her children, angry at times but not for long – how will I describe that lady who had to take care of the family and cook for ten members all 365 days of the year. The rhythm with which she did her chores like manual grinding, cooking, cutting vegetables, cleaning rice and provisions, storing them, indenting the correct requirement every month etc., was admirable. In her beautiful handwriting, she had time to unfailingly write letters to her brothers, sisters, or any relatives as and when required. She loved reading and had time for that too. She hand-stitched many small items of clothes. She never allowed a bath towel to be used without hemming its edges. She literally followed the policy of ‘a stitch in time saves nine’. She had style, she had beauty and she maintained them well too.

More than seven decades ago, she studied upto Matriculation in English medium. In a village, it was something great. It helped her guide her children in their studies. But in real life she was destined to be an M.Tech (Mother of ten children!) but ended up only as an M.Sc (Mother of seven children) for lack of medical facilities then. She was a perfect home-bird in all respects. She stepped out of the house only when it was unavoidable. She is no one else, but my beloved mother!! In my view, she is the symbol of womanhood, motherhood and discipline.

In the unit families today, with both spouses working hard, both inside and outside the family, to make both ends meet, as they claim, there is a dearth of everything. Money, material and even minutes! Facilities like electricity, pipe water, fan, air conditioner, pressure cooker, grinder, oven, mixie, washing machines, vacuum cleaner, electric iron, gas stove and lighter (to avoid the effort of lighting a matchstick!), computer, telephones and mobile phones of all types, vehicles, internet, ready-to-eat food items, provisions, fl ours and grains that do not require any cleaning or special storing, fastest modes of transport, clothes that require minimum attention to wash and maintain - are all bundled into a small house or fl at now.

Relationships have distanced, parent-child bond and affection are reduced – all for want of time. Many of the simple and pleasant words like ‘Hello’ are disappearing from our dictionary and tougher words of distress are ruling the languages now.

Where time has gone? Or is it only an excuse?

Where time has gone… KR Induchudan, Corporate Affairs, Corporate Division, HO

Paintings by Lavanya Venkatesh,Corporate Division, HO

Chatpate Dahi BreadA simple yummy breakfast with bread and curd. A recipe of Tarla Dalal, cookery expert.

Ingredients

5 bread slices - cut into cubes, 1/2 cup curd,1/4 tsp turmeric powder, 1/2 tsp chilli powder,1/2 tsp cumin seeds, 1/4 tsp asafoetida, 3 to 4 curry leaves, 1/2 tsp grated ginger, 1 onion - sliced, 2 tbsp oil, salt to taste.

For the garnish

1 tbsp chopped coriander

Method

1. In a bowl, combine the curd, turmeric powder, chilli powder and salt with 2 tablespoons of water and mix well.

2. Add the cubes of bread and mix well till the bread is coated with the curd mixture.

3. Heat the oil in a non-stick pan and add the cumin seeds.

4. When they crackle, add the asafoetida, curry leaves and ginger and sauté for a few seconds.

5. Add the onion slices and sauté till they are lightly browned.

6. Add the bread mixture and sauté over low heat, stirring occasionally till the bread browns lightly.

7. Serve hot, garnished with the coriander.

Safe kitchen Dr P Ashok, Medical Services, Chemplast Sanmar, Karaikal

Step 1 Keep your refrigerator temperature at 4° C or less. This is important because it slows the growth of most bacteria.

Step 2 Refrigerate cooked perishable food as soon as possible but within two hours after cooking. Date leftovers so that they can be used within one day. If in doubt, throw it out!

Step 3 Keep the cutting boards clean with soap and hot water after each use to prevent any contamination of the future preparations.

Step 4 While manually washing dishes, it is better to wash them with warm water and detergents within two hours of usage. Air dry dishes to avoid recontamination.

Step 5 Clean kitchen counters and wash dish handling clothes, which may come in contact with food, with hot water and detergent or a solution of bleach and water to prevent the growth of bacteria.

Step 6 Sanitise your kitchen dish clothes and sponges regularly. Wash with solution of one teaspoon (5 ml) Chlorine bleach and water or a commercial sanitising agent following product directions. It’

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Guess Who? ! Clue No. 5: Penned ‘Kurai onrum Illai’ sung by MS Subbulakshmi.6

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ung S Smriti won the zonal level dance

competition held at Mettur. She was placed third among 500 participants. Smriti’s mother, Preetha Sivasubramanian, claims that her daughter is an energetic child and does consistently well both in her curriculum and extra curricular activities.

Smriti, daughter of P Sivasubramanian, Mechanical Maintenance, Plant II, Chemplast Sanmar, Mettur, is a student of class VI at the Malco Vidhyalaya.

R Madhumita stood fi rst among 8 5 0 s t u d e n t s from 60 schools who participated in the State Yoga Competition held on 23 October 2010 at Chennai. This State level programme was organised by the

Tamil Nadu Sports Authority and Tamil Nadu Yoga Sangam.

Madhumita, a student of Standard VII, is the daughter of S Ravichandran, Safety, Chemplast Sanmar, Cuddalore.

Connect to fi nd who is hidden!!

One Name For AllJyotsna Jagan, daughter of Sarada Jagan, HR, Corporate Division, HO

In India in the village of Gunnalli of Karnataka every resident has a common name, regardless of the caste and religion. All men are called Gyanappa and the women Gyanavva, in honour of Saint Gyaneshwar. The saint is believed to have lived in the village and protected it. The villagers believe that anyone who does not follow their tradition of having the same name invites misfortune. Since pet names and nicknames are not allowed, some concession is made to elders, who are given the prefi x ‘Dodda’, and to the youngsters, who are called ‘Chikka’.

Kids Create!We invite children to enter these creative contests for a chance to win fun prizes.

Creative drawing contest: Draw, paint, sketch or colour in A4 size paper.

Topic: Your Dream World

Eligibility groups: Students of 1) Class I to Class III 2) Class IV to Class VI

Creative writing contest: Write an original essay in 100 words

Topic: My Superhero

Eligibility group: Students ofClass VII to Class IX

Submit your entries to scribbles@sanmargroup.com

on or before 15 December 2010.

Creative writing contest: Write an original essay in 150 words

Topic: A Leader whom I admire.

Eligibility group: Students ofClass X to Class XII

Contests

Write your name, class, school and name of the parent who works with the Group along with your entries.

Entries should be handed over to the location coordinators, to enable reach Shilpa Senthilkumar, Corporate HR, HO.

7

Guess What? Where?Where is this well-known monument

in East India? Write in to scribbles@sanmargroup.com

Guess Who? ! Clue No. 6: Last Governor General of India.

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Answers to the last issueDo you Know?

1. Rukmini Devi Arundale, as she was also associated with the animal welfare board 2. Cenotaph – and hence the name of the road in Chennai – originally, there was a Memorial to Lord Cornwallis at the junction of this road and Mount Road 3. They were the first recipients of the Sangitha Kalanidhi Award of the Music Academy in 1929 4. The winner of the Chess Oscar presented by the Chess magazine “64” 5. Confucius Institute 6. Guinness world records itself 7. Apollo – now we know where the hospital gets its name from 8. Rx, the symbol used in medical prescriptions 9. Hiccup 10. Birdie and eagle – in golf, a birdie is one under par, eagle is two under par, albatross three under par, condor four under par and ostrich five under par 11. Jolyon Wagg, from the world of tintin 12. Manufacture of bowling equipment and pin setters – this is AMF whose name we can see in the bowling lanes 13. The Economist 14. Abraham Lincoln – he held a patent for “a device for buoying vessels over shoals” – it was never commercialised 15. Dhristadyumna.

Crossword Sudoku

The Peruvudaiyar Kovil, popularly known as the Brihadisvara temple, Thanjavur, is an exemplary creation of King Rajaraja Chola I of the Chola dynasty. Inaugurated by King Rajaraja himself in his 19th regal year, the most celebrated temple was completed on the 257th day of the twenty-fifth year of the reign in 1010 AD. This Saiva temple is appropriately called Brihadisvara and Dakshina Meru, the grandest creation of the Chola emperor.

The temple is a tribute and a classic reflection of the power of its patron Rajaraja Chola. This glorious temple is part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site - “Greatest Living Chola Temples.”

Brihadisvara temple is a monumental production in the Dravidian style of temple architecture. Lord Brihadisvar, surrounded by two rectangular enclosures built from blocks of granite and in part, from bricks, is crowned with a pyramidal 13-storey tower,

topped with a bulb-shaped monolith. This Sivalinga is probably the grandest in existence. The 60 m tall ‘vimana’ is still the tallest extant in South India. One very interesting feature of this tall structure is that the shadow of the ‘vimana’ does not fall outside itself.

Architecturally, this temple is the most ambitious structural temple built of granite. It is made up of 130,000 tons of granite. The inner Prakara is 240.90m long (east –west) and 122m broad (north–south) with a Gopura at the east and three other ordinary Torana entrances one at each lateral sides and the third at rear. The walls of the temple are adorned with rich sculptural decorations. Double-storeyed Malika and Parivaralayas surround the Prakara. The Sikhara, a cupolic dome, is octagonal and it rests on a single block of granite, a square of 7.8m weighing about 8.0 tons.

The sculptures and paintings in the surrounding passage of the sanctorum and the inscriptions in elegant Chola Grantha and Tamil letters are a proof of the great art that flourished under King Rajaraja.

This Big Temple has turned 1000 years. To mark this 1000th year anniversary of the building, 1000 dancers from various parts of India and abroad rendered a dance concert for the recorded 11 verses of divine Music Tiruvisaippa, ninth of Thirumurai, composed by Karuvur Thevar, the guru of Rajaraja Chola. The performance took place on 25 September 2010.

A Rs.5 special commemorative coin has been released by the Reserve Bank of India to mark the Millennium year celebrations. It is interesting to note that as early as April 1, 1954, Reserve Bank of India released a Rs.1000 currency note featuring a panoramic view of Brihadisvara temple to mark the cultural, architectural and epigraphical history and heritage significance of the temple.

Brihadisvara Temple, Tamil Nadu

Charminar, Hyderabad

Congratulations first correct respondent: Dr P Ashok,

Karaikal.

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1 It maintains temperature in a storm that rages around the east (10)7 Old place in the South-east, no doubt about it (4)9 A crane collapsing is difficult to understand (6)10 Look back in exotic Venice and see use of force (8)11 It tells you how far you have gone (8)12 Leaving out hint of rhetoric in a passage from the book (6)

Sudoku

Do you Know?1. The United States Secret Service has two roles – one is to protect

the current and former US national leaders and their families. What is the second?

2. We have all heard of PNR when we book train tickets, flight tickets etc. What does PNR stand for?

3. Newspapers talk of people who lose their deposits in elections. So what is the amount of deposit that a candidate has to deposit for a Parliamentary election in India?

4. Which South Indian monument (not in Tamil Nadu) was originally built towards the end of the sixteenth century by the local ruler to commemorate the end of an attack of plague in that region? (Clue: note the question number)

5. What word is derived from the Arabic word which means “the kohl, a powder used as an eyeliner”?

6. Which Japanese company’s name actually means “Three Diamonds”? (hint – think of Japanese company logos)

7. As per the rules of cricket, a batsman can get out in ten different ways – six of these are as follows: Bowled, LBW, caught, stumped, run-out, hit wicket. What are the other four?

8. Till 2009, while many Indian films have been submitted for consideration for an Oscar, only three have made it to the nomination list for Best Foreign Language Film. One of course is Lagaan. Name the other two.

9. If the Mumbai film industry is known as Bollywood and the Chennai film industry as Kollywood, what is the Kannada film industry known as?

10. Which classical Indian art form owes its origins to a dance-drama forms called Ramanattam?

11. If California is nicknamed the Golden State and Chicago the Windy State, what is the nickname of New York State (think landmarks)?

12. The Bureau of Indian Standards lays down the standards for the production of various articles. The very first standard issued by them, IS 1, related to the making of which “product”?

Contributed by Ramkumar Shankar, Chemplast Sanmar, HO.

Chakravarthy Rajagopalachari - called as Rajaji with affection

Guess Who? !

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(Answers in the next issue)

13 Break in a ritual covering telepathy (7)16 Would a goat ail, however, from this pain? (7)17 Kind of writing as may be left by a spinner? (7)19 Show disrespect for admirer beginning to exasperate (7)22 Greeting one with a sausage (6)23 Needy policeman figuring in an order (8)26 Suspicion about a girl’s property arrangement (8)27 One of those preferred by gentlemen? (6)28 Old author revealed in a spring evening (4)29 She saw what happened! (10)

Down

2 Such help needs to be paid for (5)3 A pro mad about a travellers’ guide (4,3)4 Love, green, is not hidden (5)5 Make a statement in a southern state about a public house (6)6 Vehicle built by a swotter with energy (3-6)7 Design for a kind of gun insurers rejected (7)8 Welcome do (9)14 Atonement by former detective followed by performance without a

trace of conscience (9)15 True pundit, nameless, troubled by depravity (9)18 One conscripted, a floater in a river (7)20 It provides a warning to ships in low visibility (7)21 What necessity may be turned into (6)24 State what sounds like an entreaty to shoppers (5)25 Lumps formed by electrodes with top removed (5)

8Designed by Kalamkriya Limited, 9, Cathedral Road,

Chennai 600 086. Ph: + 91 44 2812 8051/ 52For Internal Circulation Only.

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