2,500 Feet Above Sea Level

High Range is a name given to a few districts in the State of Kerala which are literally atop mountain ranges, 2,500 feet above sea level. One these districts is Idukki where WV has a 15-year area development program covering Kattapana and Nedumkandum blocks. I was in Idukki from April 27 to May 2 as part of WV team to evaluate the program.

Kattapana, which is the capital town of Idukki was where we stayed during the evaluation. To get to Kattapana, I had to take a 45-minute flight from Chennai (where I spent a week for evaluation preparation) to another city of Tamil Nadu called Maduarai. From Madurai , another 3-hour drive coursing through a winding road scaling up the mountains was needed to reach Kattapana.

On the day of my trip to Kattapana, I was wakened at 4.00am by WV logistics officer, James, informing me that my flight was cancelled by Jet Airways. He personally came to the hotel to send me and another colleague from Philippines Regional Office, Remy Geraldes, to the airport and negotiate with Jet Airways to find a way to get us to another flight to Madurai. Jet Airways, true to its claim for unparallel service managed to get a seat on another airline called Paramount. To top it off, we were upgraded to business class!

Benjamin Benji, a WV staff from High Range ADP met us at the airport and brought us to a farm hotel resort. The hotel, called Carmelia Hotel and Resorts, is situated in a 55-acre farm where cardamom, tea, pepper and fruit bearing trees are cultivated. It is about 8 kilometers from downtown and considered by many as sanctuary, what with its large pool, tree houses and lakes. The rooms, although large, are not properly maintained nor cleaned. I found it ghastly. In the evening, the sound of crickets and other nocturnal animals served as lullaby that brought me to sleep while the chirping of the birds served as alarm clocks in the morning.

After three days, I had to move to downtown Kattapana to join other WV colleagues at the Edassery Hotel. Despite its modesty, the hotel is well-maintained and the staff very helpful. My room was huge with mini receiving and dining rooms. The drawback was, it had no air conditioning and it faced the road so that I could hear the honks and sound of motor engines all night long.

The evaluation was a learning experience. There were about 30 of us in the team including WV national office staff and volunteers. I was assigned to lead a five member- team to assess the sustainability of CBOs. CBOs are classified as District Family Forum (1), Regional Family Forums (5), Wards (45) and self-help groups (355). In my team were Shanti Hopper, KK Thomas, Sanal Mathai and KD Kuriakose. We visited five villages but I could only remember the names of three: Nirmalycity, Vazhavara and Nedumkandum. Using the assessment tool I have developed while I was still at ICOMP, we held dialogues with representatives of regional forums and wards. Between 10 -40 people participated in each meeting. We have talked to all 5 regional forums and 5 wards. Very typical of Indian gatherings, women were seated separately from men. However, women were most of the time more vocal in the discourse. In Nedumkandum, after the assessment, the women asked so many questions about my life and the Philippines. They showed keen interest to learn about other cultures. Although reports showed that the people are poor in the villages, the men and women came in their best bib and tucker. Women were even adorned with jewellerie, I wondered if they owned a pawnshop.

In the course of our stay, we had also the chance to meet with the ADP Fellowship Support Group composed of different churches and other stakeholders. During our evening, I had goosebumps seeing pastors and priests who were wearing cassocks and robes similar to those worn by Sadducees and Pharisees. I facilitated a two-hour session with them to discuss their vision for High Range, their contributions towards this vision and strategies to achieve this vision. The discussion went well although some of my Indian colleagues were shocked to see me engaging the representatives in small group discussions. They told me that these high ranking members of different churches are not accustomed to such kind of activity and might get offended. Contrary to their fears, the discussions went well and they even congratulated me for facilitating the session well.

The initial results of the evaluation was shared to several stakeholders on May 2. The event was participated by about 50 community leaders and members, some government officials and even a tribal king! I had a chance to present my team's finding for 30 minutes.

Rubbing Elbows with a King

Yes, I had the opportunity to talk to, shake hands with and even wrap my hand around the shoulders of a king. It's no joke. He's is the only tribal king in India. His name is Ariyan Raja Mannan and is known as the Kozimala King of the Mannan tribe. He is not your typical king living in huge palaces but he has quite a large number of subjects living in several hamlets in Idukki. He does not have a car, yet people show deference to him. Despite being poor, he radiates confidence and exudes regal composure. He seldom smiles and is laconic in his conversation. According to colleagues, he is actually one of WV sponsored children in the past.
Here are some of my photos with him.

The devil to pay

Impending trouble or other bad consequences following from one's actions.

People seem to love ascribing nautical origins to phrases. Here's a good case in point. The 'devil' is a seam between the planking of a wooden ship. Admiral William Henry Smyth defined the term in The Sailor's Word-book: An Alphabetical Digest of Nautical Terms, 1865:

Devil - The seam which margins the waterways on a ship's hull. 'Paying' is the sailor's name for caulking or plugging the seam between planking with rope and tar etc. 'Paying the devil' must have been a commonplace activity for shipbuilders and sailors at sea. This meaning of 'paying' is recorded as early as 1610, in S. Jourdain's Discovery of Barmudas:

Some wax we found cast up by the Sea... served the turne to pay the seames of the pinnis Sir George Sommers built, for which hee had neither pitch nor tarre.

Many sources give the full expression used by seafarers as "there's the devil to pay and only half a bucket of pitch", or "there's the devil to pay and no pitch hot". Nautical origin; case closed? Well, no.

The phrase doesn't originate from the name of the ship's seam, as is sometimes supposed. It is the name 'devil' in this context which comes from the phrase 'the Devil to pay', rather than the other way about. The other meaning of paying the Devil alludes to Faustian pacts in which hapless individuals pay for their wishes or misdeeds by forfeiting their soul. This allusion, and the everyday usage meaning 'I am in trouble now, I will have to pay for this later', date from the 18th century. For example, Thomas Brown's Letters From the Dead to the Living, 1707: Don't you know damnation pays every man's scores... we knew we should have the Devil to pay one time or other, and now you see like honest men we have pawn'd our Souls for the whole Reckoning.

This quotation predates the earliest recorded usage of 'devil' to mean the seam of a ship (Smyth's Sailor's Workbook, 1865) by more than a century. Given the known nautical meaning of 'paying' a seam and the well-established phrase 'the Devil to pay', sailors probably adopted the phrase in reference to the unpleasant task of seam caulking.

George Lemon put forward his understanding of how the phrase was coined in English Etymology, 1783. Lemon explains that, when sailors were ready to start caulking seams before the tar was melted, they used the phrase 'here's the Devil to pay and no pitch hot'. As Lemon put it: "Here's the black gentleman come to pitch the vessel's sides and you have not so much as made the pitch kettle hot enough to employ him."

Whether we accept Lemon's version or prefer the 'pact with the Devil' derivation, it is clear that the devil in the phrase was originally a reference to Satan, not the seam of a ship.

The 48 Laws of Power

by Robert Greene and Joost Elffers

Law 1
Never Outshine the Master
Always make those above you feel comfortably superior. In your desire to please or impress them, do not go too far in displaying your talents or you might accomplish the opposite – inspire fear and insecurity. Make your masters appear more brilliant than they are and you will attain the heights of power.

Law 2
Never put too Much Trust in Friends, Learn how to use Enemies
Be wary of friends-they will betray you more quickly, for they are easily aroused to envy. They also become spoiled and tyrannical. But hire a former enemy and he will be more loyal than a friend, because he has more to prove. In fact, you have more to fear from friends than from enemies. If you have no enemies, find a way to make them.

Law 3
Conceal your Intentions
Keep people off-balance and in the dark by never revealing the purpose behind your actions. If they have no clue what you are up to, they cannot prepare a defense. Guide them far enough down the wrong path, envelope them in enough smoke, and by the time they realize your intentions, it will be too late.

Law 4
Always Say Less than Necessary
When you are trying to impress people with words, the more you say, the more common you appear, and the less in control. Even if you are saying something banal, it will seem original if you make it vague, open-ended, and sphinxlike. Powerful people impress and intimidate by saying less. The more you say, the more likely you are to say something foolish.

Law 5
So Much Depends on Reputation – Guard it with your Life
Reputation is the cornerstone of power. Through reputation alone you can intimidate and win; once you slip, however, you are vulnerable, and will be attacked on all sides. Make your reputation unassailable. Always be alert to potential attacks and thwart them before they happen. Meanwhile, learn to destroy your enemies by opening holes in their own reputations. Then stand aside and let public opinion hang them.

Law 6
Court Attention at all Cost
Everything is judged by its appearance; what is unseen counts for nothing. Never let yourself get lost in the crowd, then, or buried in oblivion. Stand out. Be conspicuous, at all cost. Make yourself a magnet of attention by appearing larger, more colorful, more mysterious, than the bland and timid masses.

Law 7
Get others to do the Work for you, but Always Take the Credit
Use the wisdom, knowledge, and legwork of other people to further your own cause. Not only will such assistance save you valuable time and energy, it will give you a godlike aura of efficiency and speed. In the end your helpers will be forgotten and you will be remembered. Never do yourself what others can do for you.

Law 8
Make other People come to you – use Bait if Necessary
When you force the other person to act, you are the one in control. It is always better to make your opponent come to you, abandoning his own plans in the process. Lure him with fabulous gains – then attack. You hold the cards.

Law 9
Win through your Actions, Never through Argument
Any momentary triumph you think gained through argument is really a Pyrrhic victory: The resentment and ill will you stir up is stronger and lasts longer than any momentary change of opinion. It is much more powerful to get others to agree with you through your actions, without saying a word. Demonstrate, do not explicate.

Law 10
Infection: Avoid the Unhappy and Unlucky
You can die from someone else's misery – emotional states are as infectious as disease. You may feel you are helping the drowning man but you are only precipitating your own disaster. The unfortunate sometimes draw misfortune on themselves; they will also draw it on you. Associate with the happy and fortunate instead.

Law 11
Learn to Keep People Dependent on You
To maintain your independence you must always be needed and wanted. The more you are relied on, the more freedom you have. Make people depend on you for their happiness and prosperity and you have nothing to fear. Never teach them enough so that they can do without you.

Law 12
Use Selective Honesty and Generosity to Disarm your Victim
One sincere and honest move will cover over dozens of dishonest ones. Open-hearted gestures of honesty and generosity bring down the guard of even the most suspicious people. Once your selective honesty opens a hole in their armor, you can deceive and manipulate them at will. A timely gift – a Trojan horse – will serve the same purpose.

Law 13
When Asking for Help, Appeal to People's Self-Interest, Never to their Mercy or Gratitude
If you need to turn to an ally for help, do not bother to remind him of your past assistance and good deeds. He will find a way to ignore you. Instead, uncover something in your request, or in your alliance with him, that will benefit him, and emphasize it out of all proportion. He will respond enthusiastically when he sees something to be gained for himself.

Law 14
Pose as a Friend, Work as a Spy
Knowing about your rival is critical. Use spies to gather valuable information that will keep you a step ahead. Better still: Play the spy yourself. In polite social encounters, learn to probe. Ask indirect questions to get people to reveal their weaknesses and intentions. There is no occasion that is not an opportunity for artful spying.

Law 15
Crush your Enemy Totally
All great leaders since Moses have known that a feared enemy must be crushed completely. (Sometimes they have learned this the hard way.) If one ember is left alight, no matter how dimly it smolders, a fire will eventually break out. More is lost through stopping halfway than through total annihilation: The enemy will recover, and will seek revenge. Crush him, not only in body but in spirit.

Law 16
Use Absence to Increase Respect and Honor
Too much circulation makes the price go down: The more you are seen and heard from, the more common you appear. If you are already established in a group, temporary withdrawal from it will make you more talked about, even more admired. You must learn when to leave. Create value through scarcity.

Law 17
Keep Others in Suspended Terror: Cultivate an Air of Unpredictability
Humans are creatures of habit with an insatiable need to see familiarity in other people's actions. Your predictability gives them a sense of control. Turn the tables: Be deliberately unpredictable. Behavior that seems to have no consistency or purpose will keep them off-balance, and they will wear themselves out trying to explain your moves. Taken to an extreme, this strategy can intimidate and terrorize.

Law 18
Do Not Build Fortresses to Protect Yourself – Isolation is Dangerous
The world is dangerous and enemies are everywhere – everyone has to protect themselves. A fortress seems the safest. But isolation exposes you to more dangers than it protects you from – it cuts you off from valuable information, it makes you conspicuous and an easy target. Better to circulate among people find allies, mingle. You are shielded from your enemies by the crowd.

Law 19
Know Who You're Dealing with – Do Not Offend the Wrong Person
There are many different kinds of people in the world, and you can never assume that everyone will react to your strategies in the same way. Deceive or outmaneuver some people and they will spend the rest of their lives seeking revenge. They are wolves in lambs' clothing. Choose your victims and opponents carefully, then – never offend or deceive the wrong person.

Law 20
Do Not Commit to Anyone
It is the fool who always rushes to take sides. Do not commit to any side or cause but yourself. By maintaining your independence, you become the master of others – playing people against one another, making them pursue you.

Law 21
Play a Sucker to Catch a Sucker – Seem Dumber than your Mark
No one likes feeling stupider than the next persons. The trick, is to make your victims feel smart – and not just smart, but smarter than you are. Once convinced of this, they will never suspect that you may have ulterior motives.

Law 22
Use the Surrender Tactic: Transform Weakness into Power
When you are weaker, never fight for honor's sake; choose surrender instead. Surrender gives you time to recover, time to torment and irritate your conqueror, time to wait for his power to wane. Do not give him the satisfaction of fighting and defeating you – surrender first. By turning the other check you infuriate and unsettle him. Make surrender a tool of power.

Law 23
Concentrate Your Forces
Conserve your forces and energies by keeping them concentrated at their strongest point. You gain more by finding a rich mine and mining it deeper, than by flitting from one shallow mine to another – intensity defeats extensity every time. When looking for sources of power to elevate you, find the one key patron, the fat cow who will give you milk for a long time to come.

Law 24
Play the Perfect Courtier
The perfect courtier thrives in a world where everything revolves around power and political dexterity. He has mastered the art of indirection; he flatters, yields to superiors, and asserts power over others in the mot oblique and graceful manner. Learn and apply the laws of courtiership and there will be no limit to how far you can rise in the court.

Law 25
Re-Create Yourself
Do not accept the roles that society foists on you. Re-create yourself by forging a new identity, one that commands attention and never bores the audience. Be the master of your own image rather than letting others define if for you. Incorporate dramatic devices into your public gestures and actions – your power will be enhanced and your character will seem larger than life.

Law 26
Keep Your Hands Clean
You must seem a paragon of civility and efficiency: Your hands are never soiled by mistakes and nasty deeds. Maintain such a spotless appearance by using others as scapegoats and cat's-paws to disguise your involvement.

Law 27
Play on People's Need to Believe to Create a Cultlike Following
People have an overwhelming desire to believe in something. Become the focal point of such desire by offering them a cause, a new faith to follow. Keep your words vague but full of promise; emphasize enthusiasm over rationality and clear thinking. Give your new disciples rituals to perform, ask them to make sacrifices on your behalf. In the absence of organized religion and grand causes, your new belief system will bring you untold power.

Law 28
Enter Action with Boldness
If you are unsure of a course of action, do not attempt it. Your doubts and hesitations will infect your execution. Timidity is dangerous: Better to enter with boldness. Any mistakes you commit through audacity are easily corrected with more audacity. Everyone admires the bold; no one honors the timid.

Law 29
Plan All the Way to the End
The ending is everything. Plan all the way to it, taking into account all the possible consequences, obstacles, and twists of fortune that might reverse your hard work and give the glory to others. By planning to the end you will not be overwhelmed by circumstances and you will know when to stop. Gently guide fortune and help determine the future by thinking far ahead.

Law 30
Make your Accomplishments Seem Effortless
Your actions must seem natural and executed with ease. All the toil and practice that go into them, and also all the clever tricks, must be concealed. When you act, act effortlessly, as if you could do much more. Avoid the temptation of revealing how hard you work – it only raises questions. Teach no one your tricks or they will be used against you.

Law 31
Control the Options: Get Others to Play with the Cards you Deal
The best deceptions are the ones that seem to give the other person a choice: Your victims feel they are in control, but are actually your puppets. Give people options that come out in your favor whichever one they choose. Force them to make choices between the lesser of two evils, both of which serve your purpose. Put them on the horns of a dilemma: They are gored wherever they turn.

Law 32
Play to People's Fantasies
The truth is often avoided because it is ugly and unpleasant. Never appeal to truth and reality unless you are prepared for the anger that comes for disenchantment. Life is so harsh and distressing that people who can manufacture romance or conjure up fantasy are like oases in the desert: Everyone flocks to them. There is great power in tapping into the fantasies of the masses.

Law 33
Discover Each Man's Thumbscrew
Everyone has a weakness, a gap in the castle wall. That weakness is usual y an insecurity, an uncontrollable emotion or need; it can also be a small secret pleasure. Either way, once found, it is a thumbscrew you can turn to your advantage.

Law 34
Be Royal in your Own Fashion: Act like a King to be treated like one
The way you carry yourself will often determine how you are treated; In the long run, appearing vulgar or common will make people disrespect you. For a king respects himself and inspires the same sentiment in others. By acting regally and confident of your powers, you make yourself seem destined to wear a crown.

Law 35
Master the Art of Timing
Never seem to be in a hurry – hurrying betrays a lack of control over yourself, and over time. Always seem patient, as if you know that everything will come to you eventually. Become a detective of the right moment; sniff out the spirit of the times, the trends that will carry you to power. Learn to stand back when the time is not yet ripe, and to strike fiercely when it has reached fruition.

Law 36
Disdain Things you cannot have: Ignoring them is the best Revenge
By acknowledging a petty problem you give it existence and credibility. The more attention you pay an enemy, the stronger you make him; and a small mistake is often made worse and more visible when you try to fix it. It is sometimes best to leave things alone. If there is something you want but cannot have, show contempt for it. The less interest you reveal, the more superior you seem.

Law 37
Create Compelling Spectacles
Striking imagery and grand symbolic gestures create the aura of power – everyone responds to them. Stage spectacles for those around you, then full of arresting visuals and radiant symbols that heighten your presence. Dazzled by appearances, no one will notice what you are really doing.

Law 38
Think as you like but Behave like others
If you make a show of going against the times, flaunting your unconventional ideas and unorthodox ways, people will think that you only want attention and that you look down upon them. They will find a way to punish you for making them feel inferior. It is far safer to blend in and nurture the common touch. Share your originality only with tolerant friends and those who are sure to appreciate your uniqueness.

Law 39
Stir up Waters to Catch Fish
Anger and emotion are strategically counterproductive. You must always stay calm and objective. But if you can make your enemies angry while staying calm yourself, you gain a decided advantage. Put your enemies off-balance: Find the chink in their vanity through which you can rattle them and you hold the strings.

Law 40
Despise the Free Lunch
What is offered for free is dangerous – it usually involves either a trick or a hidden obligation. What has worth is worth paying for. By paying your own way you stay clear of gratitude, guilt, and deceit. It is also often wise to pay the full price – there is no cutting corners with excellence. Be lavish with your money and keep it circulating, for generosity is a sign and a magnet for power.

Law 41
Avoid Stepping into a Great Man's Shoes
What happens first always appears better and more original than what comes after. If you succeed a great man or have a famous parent, you will have to accomplish double their achievements to outshine them. Do not get lost in their shadow, or stuck in a past not of your own making: Establish your own name and identity by changing course. Slay the overbearing father, disparage his legacy, and gain power by shining in your own way.

Law 42
Strike the Shepherd and the Sheep will Scatter
Trouble can often be traced to a single strong individual – the stirrer, the arrogant underling, the poisoned of goodwill. If you allow such people room to operate, others will succumb to their influence. Do not wait for the troubles they cause to multiply, do not try to negotiate with them – they are irredeemable. Neutralize their influence by isolating or banishing them. Strike at the source of the trouble and the sheep will scatter.

Law 43
Work on the Hearts and Minds of Others
Coercion creates a reaction that will eventually work against you. You must seduce others into wanting to move in your direction. A person you have seduced becomes your loyal pawn. And the way to seduce others is to operate on their individual psychologies and weaknesses. Soften up the resistant by working on their emotions, playing on what they hold dear and what they fear. Ignore the hearts and minds of others and they will grow to hate you.

Law 44
Disarm and Infuriate with the Mirror Effect
The mirror reflects reality, but it is also the perfect tool for deception: When you mirror your enemies, doing exactly as they do, they cannot figure out your strategy. The Mirror Effect mocks and humiliates them, making them overreact. By holding up a mirror to their psyches, you seduce them with the illusion that you share their values; by holding up a mirror to their actions, you teach them a lesson. Few can resist the power of Mirror Effect.

Law 45
Preach the Need for Change, but Never Reform too much at Once
Everyone understands the need for change in the abstract, but on the day-to-day level people are creatures of habit. Too much innovation is traumatic, and will lead to revolt. If you are new to a position of power, or an outsider trying to build a power base, make a show of respecting the old way of doing things. If change is necessary, make it feel like a gentle improvement on the past.

Law 46
Never appear too Perfect
Appearing better than others is always dangerous, but most dangerous of all is to appear to have no faults or weaknesses. Envy creates silent enemies. It is smart to occasionally display defects, and admit to harmless vices, in order to deflect envy and appear more human and approachable. Only gods and the dead can seem perfect with impunity.

Law 47
Do not go Past the Mark you Aimed for; In Victory, Learn when to Stop
The moment of victory is often the moment of greatest peril. In the heat of victory, arrogance and overconfidence can push you past the goal you had aimed for, and by going too far, you make more enemies than you defeat. Do not allow success to go to your head. There is no substitute for strategy and careful planning. Set a goal, and when you reach it, stop.

Law 48
Assume Formlessness
By taking a shape, by having a visible plan, you open yourself to attack. Instead of taking a form for your enemy to grasp, keep yourself adaptable and on the move. Accept the fact that nothing is certain and no law is fixed. The best way to protect yourself is to be as fluid and formless as water; never bet on stability or lasting order. Everything changes.

April Fool’s Day

I got this one from Fact Monster.

April Fools' Day: Origin and History

The uncertain origins of a foolish day

by David Johnson and Shmuel Ross

April Fools' Day, sometimes called All Fools' Day, is one of the most lighth-earted days of the year. Its origins are uncertain. Some see it as a celebration related to the turn of the seasons, while others believe it stems from the adoption of a new calendar.

New Year's Day Moves

Ancient cultures, including those as varied as the Romans and the Hindus, celebrated New Year's Day on or around April 1. It closely follows the vernal equinox (March 20th or March 21st.) In medieval times, much of Europe celebrated March 25, the Feast of Annunciation, as the beginning of the new year.

In 1582, Pope Gregory XIII ordered a new calendar (the Gregorian Calendar) to replace the old Julian Calendar. The new calendar called for New Year's Day to be celebrated Jan. 1. That year, France adopted the reformed calendar and shifted New Year's day to Jan. 1. According to a popular explanation, many people either refused to accept the new date, or did not learn about it, and continued to celebrate New Year's Day on April 1. Other people began to make fun of these traditionalists, sending them on "fool's errands" or trying to trick them into believing something false. Eventually, the practice spread throughout Europe.

Problems With This Explanation

There are at least two difficulties with this explanation. The first is that it doesn't fully account for the spread of April Fools' Day to other European countries. The Gregorian calendar was not adopted by England until 1752, for example, but April Fools' Day was already well established there by that point. The second is that we have no direct historical evidence for this explanation, only conjecture, and that conjecture appears to have been made more recently.

Constantine and Kugel

Another explanation of the origins of April Fools' Day was provided by Joseph Boskin, a professor of history at Boston University. He explained that the practice began during the reign of Constantine, when a group of court jesters and fools told the Roman emperor that they could do a better job of running the empire. Constantine, amused, allowed a jester named Kugel to be king for one day. Kugel passed an edict calling for absurdity on that day, and the custom became an annual event.

"In a way," explained Prof. Boskin, "it was a very serious day. In those times fools were really wise men. It was the role of jesters to put things in perspective with humor."

This explanation was brought to the public's attention in an Associated Press article printed by many newspapers in 1983. There was only one catch: Boskin made the whole thing up. It took a couple of weeks for the AP to realize that they'd been victims of an April Fools' joke themselves.

Spring Fever

It is worth noting that many different cultures have had days of foolishness around the start of April, give or take a couple of weeks. The Romans had a festival named Hilaria on March 25, rejoicing in the resurrection of Attis. The Hindu calendar has Holi, and the Jewish calendar has Purim. Perhaps there's something about the time of year, with its turn from winter to spring, that lends itself to lighthearted celebrations.

Observances Around the World

April Fools' Day is observed throughout the Western world. Practices include sending someone on a "fool's errand," looking for things that don't exist; playing pranks; and trying to get people to believe ridiculous things.

The French call April 1 Poisson d'Avril, or "April Fish." French children sometimes tape a picture of a fish on the back of their schoolmates, crying "Poisson d'Avril" when the prank is discovered.

Why texting harms your IQ

Txts n emails mk ppl stupid coz they R worse than smking pot & lead 2 a st8 of 'infomania'. Read the link below to know why....
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/education/student/news/article384086.ece

Where Have All the Leaders Gone?

After several years of being away from international limelight or should I say news, Lee Iacocca came up with another book. This time he talks about the leadership qualities America so urgently needs. What I like about this old man is his humorous no-holds barred writing and straight-to-the point analysis that touches the very chord of issues of the day. He captures the zeitgeist of the times in this book.

According to him, true leadership should be tested by nine C's. They're not fancy or complicated. Just clear, obvious qualities that every true leader should have. He purposely avoided ten tests for fear of being accused he is thinkinh like Moses! Using the nine C's he examined George Bush's leadership style as well as those of the frontrunners in the upcoming November 2008 US elections.

CURIOSITY

- He has to listen to people outside of the "Yes, sir" crowd in his inner circle
- He has to read voraciously, because the world is a big, complicated place.
- If a leader never steps outside his comfort zone to hear different ideas, he grows stale.
- If he doesn't put his beliefs to the test, how does he know he's right?
- The inability to listen is a form of arrogance. It means either you think you already know it all, or you just don't care.

CREATIVE
- He should go out on a limb, be willing to try something different - think outside the box
- Leadership is all about managing change—whether you're leading a company or leading a country. Things change, and you get creative.
- He should adapt.

COMMUNICATE
- Facing reality and telling the truth - communication has to start with telling the truth, even when it's painful
- Know how to talk straight.

CHARACTER
- That means knowing the difference between right and wrong and having the guts to do the right thing
- Abraham Lincoln once said, "If you want to test a man's character, give him power."

COURAGE
- Swagger isn't courage. Tough talk isn't courage
- Courage in the twenty-first century doesn't mean posturing and bravado
- Courage is a commitment to sit down at the negotiating table and talk
- If you're a politician, courage means taking a position even when you know it will cost you votes.

CONVICTION
- Fire in the belly - passion.
- Desire to get something done

CHARISMA
- Not really being flashy. Charisma is the quality that makes people want to follow you
- It's the ability to inspire
- People follow a leader because they trust him

COMPETENT
- The ability to know what you're doing
- Ability to surround oneself with people who know what they're doing
- A leader has to be a problem solver

COMMON SENSE
- The only thing you've got going for you as a human being is your ability to reason and your common sense. He said: "If you don't know a dip of horseshit from a dip of vanilla ice cream, you'll never make it."

The World Is Flat

This is the book I'm currently reading. About two years old but still relevant. Below is the summary I've got from wikipedia.

In the book, Friedman recounts a journey to Bangalore, India, when he realized globalization has changed core economic concepts. He suggests the world is "flat" in the sense that globalization has leveled the competitive playing fields between industrial and emerging market countries. In his opinion, this flattening is a product of a convergence of personal computer with fiber-optic micro cable with the rise of work flow software. He termed this period as Globalization 3.0, differentiating this period from the previous Globalization 1.0 (which countries and governments were the main protagonists) and the Globalization 2.0 (which multinational companies led the way in driving global integration).

Friedman recounts many examples of companies based in India and China that, by providing labor from typists and call center operators to accountants and computer programmers, have become integral parts of complex global supply chains for such companies as Dell, AOL, and Microsoft. Friedman's Dell Theory of Conflict Prevention is discussed in the book's penultimate chapter.

Friedman repeatedly uses lists as an organizational device to communicate key concepts, usually numbered, and often with a provocative label. Two example lists are the ten forces that flattened the world, and three points of convergence.


Ten flatteners

Friedman defines ten "flatteners" that he sees as leveling the global playing field:

#1: Collapse of Berlin Wall--11/'89: The event not only symbolized the end of the Cold war, it allowed people from other side of the wall to join the economic mainstream. (11/09/1989)

#2: Netscape: Netscape and the Web broadened the audience for the Internet from its roots as a communications medium used primarily by 'early adopters and geeks' to something that made the Internet accessible to everyone from five-year-olds to eighty-five-year olds. (8/9/1995)

#3: Workflow software: The ability of machines to talk to other machines with no humans involved. Friedman believes these first three forces have become a “crude foundation of a whole new global platform for collaboration.”

#4: Open sourcing: Communities uploading and collaborating on online projects. Examples include open source software, blogs, and Wikipedia. Friedman considers the phenomenon "the most disruptive force of all."

#5: Outsourcing: Friedman argues that outsourcing has allowed companies to split service and manufacturing activities into components, with each component performed in most efficient, cost-effective way.

#6: Offshoring: Manufacturing's version of outsourcing.

#7: Supply chaining: Friedman compares the modern retail supply chain to a river, and points to Wal-Mart as the best example of a company using technology to streamline item sales, distribution, and shipping.

#8: Insourcing: Friedman uses UPS as a prime example for insourcing, in which the company's employees perform services--beyond shipping--for another company. For example, UPS itself repairs Toshiba computers on behalf of Toshiba. The work is done at the UPS hub, by UPS employees.

#9: In-forming: Google and other search engines are the prime example. "Never before in the history of the planet have so many people-on their own-had the ability to find so much information about so many things and about so many other people", writes Friedman.

#10: "The Steroids": Personal digital devices like mobile phones, iPods, personal digital assistants, instant messaging, and voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP).

Triple Convergence

In addition to the ten flatteners, Friedman offers "the triple convergence," three additional components that acted on the flatteners to create a new, flatter global playing field.

Up until the year 2003, the ten flatteners were semi-independent from one another. However, around the year 2003, all the flatteners converged with one another. This convergence could be compared to complementary goods, in that each flattener enhanced the other flatteners; the more one flattener developed, the more leveled the global playing field became.

After the emergence of the ten flatteners, a new business model was required to succeed. Instead of collaborating vertically (the top-down method of collaboration, where innovation comes from the top), businesses needed to begin collaborating horizontally. Horizontalization means companies and people collaborate with other departments or companies to add value creation or innovation. Friedman's Convergence II occurs when horizontalization and the ten flatteners begin to reinforce each other.

After the fall of the Berlin Wall, countries that had followed the Soviet economic model—including India, China, Russia, and the nations of Eastern Europe, Latin America, and Central Asia—began to open up their economies to the world. When these new players converged with the rest of the globalized marketplace, they added new brain power to the whole playing field and enhanced horizontal collaboration across the globe. In turn, Convergence III is the most important force shaping politics and economics in the early 21st century.

Ménage à trois

Ménage à trois is the French term describing a relationship or domestic arrangement in which three people, often a married couple and another lover, share a sexual relationship, although the relationship might or might not involve all three persons having sexual relations with each other.[1] The French phrase literally translates as "household of three".

It is also used to refer to an arrangement where three people share sexual relations, and this has become the predominant definition. Some also use it to describe any sex act involving three people, otherwise known as a threesome. Ménage à trois, two women with one man, has become more common, perhaps due to its presentation in porn films.

There are ménage à trois arrangements involving two men and one woman, and these are also becoming more common. Sometimes ménage à trois is called Hot Wives, referring to a married woman who has sex with men other than her spouse, with the husband's consent. In most cases the husbands take a vicarious pleasure in their wives' enjoyment, or enjoy watching, hearing, or knowing about their wives' adventures. Husbands may also take part by engaging in threesomes, or arranging dates for their wives.

Ten Things About "Heel"

1. To furnish with a heel or heels: To repair or replace the heels, as for shoes.

2. To heel: Arm (a gamecock) with gaffs.

3. To press or strike with the heel: heel a horse.

4. To follow at one's heels: The dog won't heel

5. Out on the heel
a. Having one's shoe heels worn down.
b. Shabby; rundown; poor.

6. Lay by the heels: To put in fetters or shackles; imprison.

7. On/upon the heels of
a. Directly behind.
b. Immediately following.

8. Out at the heel/heels
a. Having holes in one's socks or shoes.
b. Rundown; shabby; seedy.

9. Take to (one's) heels: To run away; flee.

10. To heel
a. Close behind: The hound followed his master to heel.
b. Under discipline or control: The army swiftly brought the rebels to heel.

Mamallapuram in Photos

Mamallapuram, India

My curiosity about Mamallapuram was quenched when I made a trip to this fabled place on March 1, 2008. It is about 58 kilometers from Chennai which took us about a couple of hours. Mamallapuram is a spectacular site built in the 7th century by the Pallava King, Narasimha varman I, also known as Mamalla, " Great Wrestler." Located along the Bay of Bengal, it extends across a boulder strewn landscape and comprise rock caves and monolithic shrines, structural temples and huge bas-reliefs. As I was overwhelmed by the intricacy and beauty of the rock carvings, I wondered how their artists created them without risking their limbs and lives.

At the village center is the celebrated bas-relief known an Arjuna's Penance or the Descent of the Ganges. The panel depicts in great detail the story of the sacred river's decent from the sky. This divine act, made possible by the penance of the sage Bhagiratha, is witnessed on the panel by celestial and semi-celestial beings ascetics and animals. Nearby are the unfinished Panch Pandava Cave Temple and Krishna's Butter Ball, a natural boulder perched precariously on a slope.

There were other artistic depictions of divine and historic significance which we have not covered due to the heat which was unnerving. Nevertheless, from what I've seen, I can already tell how India's early civilizations used their talents to honor the divine.

More Dakshina Chitra Photos

Dakshina Chitra

The workshop on nutrition that I participated in Chennai was for five days; however, most of the sessions from the third day onwards were not relevant to my job. Instead of getting bored at the session hall, my colleague and I went to visit our office branch in the city and met with the officials. The meetings did not go well with so many people we were supposed to meet not turning up. On Friday afternoon, February 29, 2008, we decided to visit some tourist areas in the city. We were brought by the driver assigned to us to several places which not catch our attention. Finally, we visited Dakshina Chitra in East Coast Road, Muttukadu which is about an hour from the hotel. It is like a museum of sorts showcasing different types of traditional houses and crafts of Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka. After paying the entrance, the staff gave us a map for our self-guided tour of the area. It is like a small village where you hop from one house to another. Inside these houses – fragments of which were part of antique houses somewhere – are dioramas of people engaged in what look like normal day-to-day tasks like weaving and cooking. Here are some photos I took during the visit.

Beautiful Windows

Intricate Doors

Sculptures and Carvings
The Hallway

av·oir·du·pois [àvvər də póyz]

noun

1. measurements. Same as avoirdupois weight
2. somebody's weight: the amount that somebody weighs (humorous)

[14th century. < Old French aveir de peis "goods of weight"]
Microsoft® Encarta® 2008. © 1993-2007 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

BANKER TO THE POOR

BANKER TO THE POOR
Micro-Lending and the Battle Against World Poverty
MUHAMMAD YUNUS

I'm currently reading this interesting book on the life of Muhammad Yunus, founder of the renowned Grameen Bank in Bangladesh. Here's the excerpts of the book from http://www.publicaffairsbooks.com/publicaffairsbooks-cgi-bin/display?book=9781586481988


This autobiography of the world-renowned, visionary economist who came up with a simple but revolutionary solution to end world poverty--micro-credit--has become the classic text for a growing movementMuhammad Yunus is that rare thing: a bona fide visionary. His dream is the total eradication of poverty from the world. In 1983, against the advice of banking and government officials, Yunus established Grameen, a bank devoted to providing the poorest of Bangladesh with minuscule loans.

Grameen Bank, based on the belief that credit is a basic human right, not the privilege of a fortunate few, now provides over 2.5 billion dollars of micro-loans to more than two million families in rural Bangladesh. Ninety-four percent of Yunus's clients are women, and repayment rates are near 100 percent. Around the world, micro-lending programs inspired by Grameen are blossoming, with more than three hundred programs established in the United States alone.

Banker to the Poor is Muhammad Yunus's memoir of how he decided to change his life in order to help the world's poor. In it he traces the intellectual and spiritual journey that led him to fundamentally rethink the economic relationship between rich and poor, and the challenges he and his colleagues faced in founding Grameen. He also provides wise, hopeful guidance for anyone who would like to join him in "putting homelessness and destitution in a museum so that one day our children will visit it and ask how we could have allowed such a terrible thing to go on for so long."

The definitive history of micro-credit direct from the man that conceived of it, Banker to the Poor is necessary and inspirational reading for anyone interested in economics, public policy, philanthropy, social history, and business.

Muhammad Yunus was born in Bangladesh and earned his Ph.D. in economics in the United States at Vanderbilt University, where he was deeply influenced by the civil rights movement. He still lives in Bangladesh, and travels widely around the world on behalf of Grameen Bank and the concept of micro-credit. Muhammad Yunus was born in 1940 in Chittagong, a seaport in Bangladesh. The third of fourteen children, five of whom died in infancy, he was educated at Dhaka University and was awarded a Fulbright scholarship to study economics at Vanderbilt University. In 1972 he became the head of the economics department at Chittagong University. He is the founder and managing director of the Grameen Bank.

Strait and Narrow

A conventional and law-abiding course.

Origin

'Straight' is a much more frequently used word than 'strait' these days and so the most common question about this phrase concerns the spelling - should it be 'strait and narrow' or 'straight and narrow'? Well, that depends on just how pedantic you want to be. The source of the expression is the Bible, specifically Matthew 7:13/14. The King James' Version gives these verses as:
Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat:Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.

That clearly opts for 'strait' rather than 'straight', as it calls on a now rather archaic meaning of strait, that is, 'a route or channel, so narrow as to make passage difficult'. This is still found in the names of various sea routes, e.g. the Straits of Dover. Such a nautical strait was defined in the 1867 version of Admiral Smyth's Sailor's Word-book as:

"A passage connecting one part of a sea with another."
Smyth also offered the opinion that strait "is often written in the plural, but without competent reason".

The 'confined and restricted' meaning of strait still also lingers on in straitjacket, dire straits, strait-laced and straitened circumstances. All of these are frequently spelled with 'straight' rather than 'strait'. These spellings, although technically incorrect, are now widely accepted and only 'dire straights' comes in for any sustained criticism.

The use of 'straight' is quite understandable, certainly in 'straight and narrow'. After all, it means 'direct and reliable', as in the phrase 'as straight as a die', and the imagery of a direct and unwavering route to salvation would have been attractive to Christian believers in the 17th century, when that version of the spelling first appeared. It was included in an 1827 publication of A Journal of George Fox, Volume 1, which claims to be a facsimile reprint of the 1694 original journal. The earliest definitive documentation that I can find comes from a few years later, in

The Critical Works of Monsieur Rapin, 1706:
"The soul of the common people seems too straight and narrow to be wrought upon by any Part of Eloquence."

This version of the phrase is old enough and close enough in date to the earliest example of 'strait and narrow' that I can find in print as to match it in status. That example is in A Vindication of the Government in Scotland: During the Reign of King Charles II, 1712:

"Strait and narrow is the way that leadeth unto life."

'Straight and narrow' is now the more common spelling and you will be in good company if you opt to use it, even though 'strait and narrow' might be a better choice if you want to get high marks in that English language test.

New Friends

At the Nutrition Workshop in Chennai, I gained new friends. One of whom is Dr. Mikey, a dentist from Myanmar. He reminds me of my former colleague and friend in KL Weng. Both are short but funny. Weng is a Chinese and Mikey looks like a Chinese although he's a Burmese.

Brain Scan Study

This is the photo scan of a malnourished child's brain. It has less gray matter which is essential to intellectual development.

Now, here's the photo scan of a health child....

Note that the gray matter covers almost all the spaces of the skull. Experts say that malnutrition causes irreversible damage to children under two.

The Nutrition Workshop Misnomer

Part of my itinerary while India was to participate in a South-Asia Sub-Regional Nutrition Workshop. The five-day workshop (February 25-29, 2008) aimed to develop a sub-regional nutrition strategy to improve capacity and strengthen partnerships to implement interventions to reduce malnutrition (stunting, underweight and anemia) in the region.

Based on recent studies, about 34 percent of world’s malnourished children are found in South Asia. Anemia which is one of the main indicators and precursors of mal/undernutrition is severe in the region affecting 79 percent of children and 58 percent of women in India alone. In addition, 30-60 percent of child mortality under the age of five in the sub-region is closely linked to malnutrition.

Approximately 25 participants composed of World Vision senior program/operations managers and technical staff from India, Nepal, Bangladesh, Myanmar and Sri Lanka will take part in the gathering.

Now, why I call it a workshop misnomer? Simply because the workshop was supposed to come up with nutrition strategies for South Asia and each of the participating countries. However, to my horror, during the workshop, the process used by the facilitators was operational planning! Apparently, the workshop team facilitators was composed of management and nutrition technical experts. The nutrition technical experts are extremely competent people but the putatively management “expert” turned out to have a very lame understanding of strategy development. Of course, the technical experts, who were engrossed with their own technical presentations did not realize it until my colleague pointed it out. Some changes were made along the way, but eventually, at the end of the workshop, the participants came up with operational plans rather than strategies.

I’ve learned a lot from the technical aspects of the workshop though. Although common sense tells us that nutrition is very important, I did not realize how essential it is for child survival and well-being and in preventing irreversible brain damage, chronic diseases and mortality. According to a study of brain scan results, an undernourished and sickly child’s brain has lesser gray matter essential for growth and development compared to that of well-nourished and healthy child. Applying economic analysis, an empty brain (otak kosong in Bahasa) results in loss of opportunity with the child eventually becoming society’s burden. In contrast, a smart child experiences life in all its fullness and eventually becomes a society’s resource.

Timing is very critical in addressing under nutrition. Health experts call this “-9 to + 24 mantra.” It means that any nutrition intervention should start from the onset of pregnancy right to delivery and at least until the child is two years old. Undernourished children before the age of two will have irreversible brain damage and will never be able to catch up with their health peers. In South Asia, 27 percent of children are already born undernourished.

To arrest malnutrition, the experts recommend what they call 3 + 6 packages. What are these packages?

- Pregnant women. During pregnancy, women should do the following three things: (1) Two additional meals, (2) Take Iron (Fe/folate) supplements, (3) Undergo deworming after 4 months of pregnancy.

- Under two (additional packages: Once the child is born, the following six things should be undertaken: (1) Exclusive Breast feeding, (2) Complementary feeding after 6 months, (3) Provision of Iron supplements to child, (4) Deworming after 6 months, (5) Taking of ORT, and (6) Vitamin A supplements.

The packages are simple to follow, yet, malnutrition persists due to poverty and ignorance!

Origins of Teddy Bear

Talking of teddy bears, I found out this one from the Fact Monster.

In November 1902, President Theodore Roosevelt and some of his friends went on a hunting trip to Mississippi. After hours of searching, Roosevelt and his group had not come across any wild animals. Finally, the group did track down and surrounded a helpless bear. One of the guides asked the president to shoot the bear so he could win a hunting trophy. The president refused, and news reporters throughout the country spread the story of Roosevelt's kind act.

Not long after this took place, a famous cartoonist named Clifford Berryman drew a cartoon based on Roosevelt 's rescue of the bear. When a store owner in Brooklyn saw the cartoon, he decided to make toy bears to sell in his shop. He asked president Roosevelt for permission to use the name “"Teddy's Bear"” for his toys, as a reminder of the bear Roosevelt had set free.

Nowadays, everyone knows these toys as Teddy Bears, but few people know that they were named after President Theodore “"Teddy"” Roosevelt.

In January 16, 2008, I joined an international non profit in Canada covering the India and Bangladesh portfolio. This Christian organization is a partnership with several support and national offices worldwide. I traveled to India in February 22 as part of my orientation to my new role. The orientation involved participating in a workshop, courtesy calls to the powers that be in the India national office and visits to community development programs.

I travelled with my boss which made my orientation a lot easier as someone expert in the organization’s operations was there to mentor and guide me. We took Emirates Airways via Dubai to Chennai in the state of Tamil Nadu. The trip was a bit tiring since we had a layover of about seven hours in Dubai. This is my nth time to India and my first to Chennai, formerly called Madras. Based on the information sent to us by our national office in India, we should change our USD at the airport. That was a big mistake. Aside from a low rate of Rs 36.50, the agent (Thomas Cook) also collected a commission. We later found out that it is Rs 39.50 in the city. First lesson learned: always take the national office’s advice with a grain of salt. Thankfully, we were picked up at the airport, so we did not have to haggle with taxi drivers for your ride to Green Park Hotel in the district of Vadalapani where we were billeted.

We arrived to Chennai on Sunday, February 24th morning. To avoid going to slumber immediately – which will worsen the feeling of jetlag later – we decided to take a look at the city’s surroundings. Of course, the easiest was to visit a mall. We were told by the hotel staff while Chennai has several small shops, the largest is Spencer’s. We took an auto taxi (actually a motorized rickshaw or tricycle) to Spencer’s. The hotel bell boy negotiated for our fare to Spencer’s which was Rs 120. The mall is about five kilometres away. Considering that crowded streets of the city, the trip took longer than initially thought as the driver had to adroitly squeeze the vehicle in between lorries, other auto rickshaws and cars not to mention avoiding people who cross the street without warning. As normal in any Indian city, Chennai is so dusty and excruciatingly humid. Loud honks and shouts filled our ears. The city is replete with movie posters and bill boards. I found our later that Chennai is the epicentre of Kollywood, which is the Tamil counterpart for Hindi tinsel town’s Bollywood in Mumbai.

Spencer is a three or four-storey mall which reminds me of MBK in Bengkoko. It’s underutilized as many spaces are not yet occupied. It contains a mix of internationally-branded outlets and low-quality stuff from China and the middle-East. Lots of bootleg products of course. We had our lunch at the food court and explored a bookstore inside a shop called Landmark. The book store is considered the largest in Chennai, although it is nothing compared to other large book shops in Asia. I bought two books – The Document by Irving Wallace and My Name is Red by Orhan Pamuk a Turkish Nobel Prize awardee for literature. Books in India are cheap – about 30 – 50 percent cheaper than US or Canada prices.

The ride back to the hotel was a real headache. We had to negotiate with several auto taxi drivers. The first driver we approached asked Rs 250 citing bad traffic at the time. I reasoned that the traffic in India is bad all the time anyway. When I said that we only paid Rs 120 on our way to Spencer’s, the driver got clever. He said the return trip is much longer by two kilometres since we have to make several U-turns. Obviously, we attracted attention as other drivers joined the fray. When we decided to talk to other drivers, the first one we approached lowered his price saying we will only pay Rs 200 but on condition that he would show us some shops along the way (where he presumably gets commission – what a racket!!!). I raised my hands in frustration and shouted NO and proceeded to look for other drivers. He followed us and offered Rs 150. It was getting dark so we relented. On arrival to the hotel we gave him the Rs 150 and he protested saying we agreed on Rs 180. I called the hotel bell boy to deal with him. Only when we were inside the hotel, I found out that we actually agreed on Rs 180 when my colleague told me about it. The problem was I did not hear it right. I felt guilty of course but well, this people are really trying to milk foreigners out.

That was a (mis) adventure! By the time we reached the hotel, it was already about 8pm and I was a bit tired. I tried not to sleep too soon and succeeded. The hotel is quite expensive. For Rs 4,500 (more than USD 100) the hotel room looks very basic. However, there is a kettle for free coffee and tea. Two liters of water, two bottles of softdrinks, chocolates and a mix of snacks are also for the taking daily. On top of that, there is broadband Internet connection which made our communication with the outside world much convenient. Not bad, afterall!

St. Thomas Basilica

Do you know that there are only three churches in the world built atop a tomb of an apostle of Christ? These are the St. Peter's Basilica in Vatican, the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela (St. James) in Spain and the St. Thomas Basilica in Channai in the state of Tamil Nadu in India. On March 1, 2008, I was blessed to visit St. Thomas Basilica and pray before the remains of St. Thomas. The basilica, which is smaller compared to its counterparts in other part of the world, is situated along one of Chennai's marinas. Gracing the walls of the church are paintings of Christ and His apostles with inscriptions highlighting their famous words and contributions in Christian faith.

The basilica is considered as the center for Christian pilgrimage in India and the main church for the Mylapore-Chennai archdiocese. It was declared an international shrine in 2006. Underneath the basilica is a chapel which houses the remains and relics connected to St. Thomas. It has a separate access outside of the church to allow pilgrims to pray to St. Thomas without disturbing the functions of the church. It looks like a dungeon - dark but gives an ambience of calmness and serenity. From the photos at the entrance of the chapel, I gathered that Pope John Paul II paid homage to the apostle known for doubting the resurrected Christ during one of his visits to India. Displayed in front of the chapel is a glass oesophagus which encases a ceramic sculpture of St. Thomas which purportedly cloaks his remains .

The church was built by the Portuguese in the 16th century and was rebuilt by the British in 1893 using the neo-Gothic architectural design. St. Thomas the doubter is said to have preached in Chennai between 52 to 72 AD and was killed in what is now known as the St. Thomas Mount.