The New Indian Express CHENNAI,Monday, 5 April, 2010

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Tai chi as a panacea

STAYING FIT
Forget counselling and ditch the drugs, well-being can be yours with a
Page:3 touch of tai chi says K R Swathi Iyengar. Venkadesan S in conversation
PARTY with the expert who has dabbled in nutrition and electronics too
TIME CHENNAI-BORN Swathi
SHANE WARNE
LOUNGES ABOUT
WATCHING MODELS
STRUT THE RAMP AT
C Iyengar speaks with such sin-
cerity about the forces of east-
ern mysticism and tai chi, that
it is hard to believe that this man was
an electronics manufacturer just a few
THE IPL PARTY years ago. But not one to let his pas-
sions die down, in 1994 he took the
plunge and became a nutritionist and
has developed hundreds of nutritional
Page:4 supplements, that today are retailed all
across the globe. Swathi loves to travel
SUPER and has visited more than sixty coun-
tries and has lived in Austria and
MOM neighbouring Czech Republic before
shifting base back home. He attributes
FOR ALL YOU REALITY his cultural sensitivity and under-
SHOW FANS, VIJAY TV IS standing to these experiences.
LAUNCHING A NEW Swathi is also the first Indian to be
certified in tai chi, a Chinese martial
SHOW CALLED SUPER art form, by a reputed Honk Kong as-
MOM FROM TODAY sociation. Prefixing his name with
‘Sifu’ Swathi calls Hong Kong his “sec-
ond home,” a place where his dreams
took shape. Speaking of Tai Chi he
smiles, “It’s a lifestyle and it is rooted
in the knowledgeable pages of Tao- who takes his brand of wellbeing to law
ism.” So, is ‘wellness’ too commercia-
lised today? “There is a renewed inter-
est in health and well-being today. But
there are grey areas in the field. Choice
has to be clear about the organisation
and teacher with who one wants to ex-
enforcement agencies too shares, “I
have made my own fluid intelligence
programme with slight alterations to
suit the needs of Indians.” How about
women? “Many women come to me
asking to get a slim look and so called
plore alternative forms of exercise and size zero,” he smiles and adds, “But I
mental stimulation. Awareness about don’t encourage it. You can get slim-
the healthy life has certainly increased mer but there are repercussions to it
but the process has to be structured
and disciplined. My training does just
too. But my fluid intelligence pro-
gramme will give them their natural
that,” he gushes.
The main focus of his training, he
shape with which they can lead a hap-
py life, which is what everyone ulti-
shares, is healthy food and lifestyle. “It
includes physiological, psychological
mately wants,” he sings off.
To experience his Tai Chi pro-
and psychosomatic management of gram, call him on 9444746444 or
individuals.” Once trained by him, email him at
what can one expect? “Increased im- krswathi@gmail.com
munity, agility, memory, psy-
chosomatic condition
and a whole lot of pa-
tience,” he says,
adding that, “You
can’t do it over-
night.” Swathi

bTai chi based exercise programs have martial and combat-

been hailed as a breakthrough in the
fight against diabetes, mental disor-
ders, depression and weight issues
bFor many practitioners the focus is
mostly meditative, and to some its
ive
bAs the tai chi movements
have their origins in the martial
arts, practicing them does have
some martial applications

Page:6
HAUNTING The main focus of my training is
healthy food and lifestyle. It
EX-HUBBY includes physiological,
KATIE PRICE IS
SEEKING psychological and
PROFESSIONAL HELP psychosomatic
TO GET OVER HER EX-
HUBBY PETER ANDRE

MUST SEE | MUST DO

management ]]
DIGITAL DEPICTIONS
FILM FESTs M R Rajamaran indulges Shankaran Malini in his world of cutting-edge caricature of celebrities from Rajinikanth to Michael Jackson
Do not miss the Chinese Film Fest
at South Indian Film Chamber The-
atre. On till April 7

TN’s first digital caricaturist ture says the artist, “I predominantly

A FIRST look at this artist’s carica-
take celebrities for my caricatures. I
run a search for their images and I
try to retain their expressions. And
the rest of the image is my imagina-
tion. I use the primary colours. I had
I HAVE CARICATURED problems moving my neck and that’s
Jeyaraj and till date he takes a lot of
inspiration from cartoonist Madhan.
Talking about the salient features of
his caricatures he elaborates, “The
head is never too big when compared
to the body and the head tapers to-
wards the top. I use a lot of bright

C tures instantaneously rings a bell of a

certain commonality which runs
through all his works and of a certain inspi-
ration that reflects through all his work. And
RAJINIKANTH IN A
YOGIC POSTURE
when I started experimented with
digital caricaturing where you don’t
need to strain your neck in any way.
All you need to have is a digital pen.
colours in my paintings and pastels
for the background. The challenge I
faced was when drawing caricatures
of female celebrities. They surely
EXHIBITION: Functional Art —
fancy his imagination. He has caricatured WEARING And the output will be on screen.” have a beauty and their features are
An exhibition of art
that can be used in the iconic Michael Jackson playing the mri- A BLACK Rajamaran takes a lot of inspira- so soft and feminine that you cannot
everyday life at the dangam, Bruce Lee in a yogic posture and tion from Rajinikanth. “I have cari- caricature them, or else the original
Forum Art Gallery Tom Cruise selling tender coconuts. In all TOP AND catured Rajinikanth in which look of their faces cannot be re-
Honeymoon: An ex- his 29 works of art currently on display at SAFFRON he is portrayed in a yo- tained,” he adds. But Katrina
ART: hibition of collages the LaGalerie D’ Expression, Hotel Ambas-
DHOTHI gic posture wearing a Kaif, Kareena Kapoor, Hillary
by Werner Dornik sador Pallava, M R Rajamaran, the first black top and saffron Clinton, Oprah Winfrey, Ser-
at the Apparao digital caricature artist in Tamil Nadu says, dhothi. The ‘Super ena Williams and Aish-
Gallerries “I don’t want to convey any message through Star’ does a lot of warya Rai are all part of
Antharyami - A Way my work, but whatever I have caricatured is meditation, which his collection.
LEISURE: of Life, a 2-day work- the output of my imagination. We have seen was what was on my Rajamaran now runs an
shop from 8.30 am at all these foreign celebrities at their best. But mind when I drew his animation academy called
Media Centre, what they would look like in desi terms is caricature. Even in Oscar Animation where he
Thiruvanmiyur
what I have tried to project.” other caricatures teaches digital caricaturing
Rajamaran has caricatured Indian celebri- certain expressions and plans to conduct work-

EXHIBITIONs ties like Prabhu Deva, John Abraham, Ran-

Do not miss Ganesha — Paintings
by Ritu Gupta at the Vinnyasa
Premier Art Gallery, Mylapore.
On till April 10
FILMs
Watch The Book of Eli starring
Denzel Washington and Mila Kunis
at Sathyam
bir Kapoor, Hrithik Roshan, Sanjay Dutt, M
of his like the way he
sports a cigarette, the
shops on the same. “I
want others to learn
F Hussain and more. Born on 18th November, way he flaunts his index the art of digital cari-
1966 in Pudukottai, Tamil Nadu and brought finger, I have incorporated caturing,” he smiles.
up in Rameswaram, Rajamaran started car- in many caricatures.” For further details,
icaturing at the age of four. After his gradu- In his childhood days he call 9841551967 or visit
ation at Madurai, he took up a job as a Health was inspired by leading art- www.artpotonline. com
Inspector in a Government Primary Health ists like Chellam, Shankar,
Centre. His love for art never faded even
when he worked in a different atmosphere.
But what started as an amateurish hobby
turned into a full-fledged passion, for which
he even gave up his government job. “It
would not have been possible had it not been
for my wife, who has supported me tremen-
dously in this. Actually my name was R Kan-
damaran. And after effecting numerology, I
use my current name. Ever
since then, a lot of positive
things started happen-
ing in my life. I exhib-
ited my caricatures
at the Lalit Kala
Academy in 2009
and then at the
Gover nment
Fine Arts
College in
2010, I have
given lec-
tures and
demonstra-
tions on
“ Pe n t a b -

WE ARE
let”, he
G! says.
LISTENIN Ta l k -
i n g
SEND US QUETS about
U
YOUR BO digital
AND carica-
TS TO
BRICKBA sbuzz.co
m
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