THE WALES CONNECTION
N.NANDHIVARMAN
Pondicherry is a place, which attracts
peoples of various cultures and from Pondicherry a bright student, went to
Wales for higher studies in law. He came back deeply impressed by the Welsh
culture. Everyone thinks that English is spoken all over England, yet there
remains Wales, where people are proud of their regional culture. Cardiff is the
capitol of Wales since 1955 and a place of government from 1999 with the
opening of the devolved Welsh assembly government. It has a population of
3,25,000. and out of this 5% speak Welsh one of the oldest languages in Europe.
Cardiff University where the Pondicherrian Michael.M.Antony went to study his
LL.M has given due place to welsh tongue too, thus bilingual publications are
common sight there. And Cardiff University is a place that promotes research.
Among the 106 universities and colleges of United Kingdom, Cardiff was placed 7
th by a study.
To protect its regional culture the Museum of
Welsh life was opened on 7 th July 1948. It is one of the Europe’s foremost
open-air museums. The last 500-year history of Wales is depicted in all its
facets at the St.Fagans Castle, a 16 th century fort. The statues of wax will
make us believe that we are in the presence of the Late Personalities, as could
be seen in pictures where Antony will be with Queen Elizabeth, Princess Diana
and Mahatma Gandhi. “This museum teaches us on how our Arikamedu museum in
Pondicherry should be constructed to be a living demonstration of the bygone
centuries. As you all know people who have read about Arikamedu and its
archaeological excavations of a hoary past go disillusioned after their visit
to that site, since a damaged building and some shrubs and bushes alone remain
to be seen. The model of National museum of Wales if emulated and an open air
museum is set up it will promote our tourism,” opines M.M.Antony. The present
government has acquired land to set up a site museum. The dynamic Minister for
Tourism of Government of Pondicherry K.Lakshminarayanan is determined to make
Arikamedu Museum a memorable experience for tourists who throng to Pondicherry.
And in this hour comes this suggestion from a student of Pondicherry.
Aerial view of Wales
M.M.Antony during his studies at Cardiff
University brought out a beautiful book titled “ Environmental Liability: The
stretch of company directors accountability in the United Kingdom”. He became
interested in the subject inspired by the words of a British Minister.“ It is
not acceptable for a company to make highly priced goods for highly paid consumers
in the developed world by ruining the health of the children in the sweatshops
of the developing world. It is not acceptable for a company to make beautiful
furniture for the homes of rich families in the west but leave a devastated
forest landscape in Brazil” said then Minister for Corporate Social
Responsibility and Member of Parliament Douglas Alexander.
Since India is facing lot of environmental
problems M.M.Antony applied his mind on researching in environmental law. His
forays into the subject made him analyze the impact of European Community’s
environmental laws and that of the USA and UK.
With such rich experience
gained at Cardiff University, he could have opted for a good job overseas, yet
he chose to be in India. As only son born after 16 years of wed lock he is even
now mummy’s child deeply attached to his mother Mercy and a possessive father
K.M.S.Devadasan eager to groom his son in his mould as a fire brand journalist
editing the only bi lingual weekly of Pondicherry appearing since 1966.
courtesy : The New Indian Express-week end
29.01.2005
No comments:
Post a Comment