Manoj's Review on Books

It’s always interesting to learn about the city in which we grew up and hence there is no surprise in picking up a book that traces Chennai’s history especially when the same is authored by historian V. Sriram. Let’s first focus on tracing the roots of how Chennai got it’s name. Apparently, Chennai short form of Chennaipattinam points to Damarla Chennappa Naicker who ruled over Kalahasti and adjoining areas in the late 16 th century (a sketch of him is given below). Ayyappa Naicker who was the son of Chennappa Naicker gave permission to Francis Day for an English settlement back in August 1639, the rest as they say is history. But why did the British start calling it as Madras isn’t very clear. One legend points to a chief of fishermen community named Madarasa who was instrumental in parting areas of his community for George Fort and another points to a rich Portuguese women named Madeira who lived near San thome. However, there is no clear evidence for both these stories. The f

Vaclav asks an interesting question, can humanity realize all it’s aspirations within the safe boundaries of our biosphere? He attempts to determine the answer covering a range of human actions, right from farming practices, mode of travel, economic strata of different regions and also touching upon discoveries along the way. The broad intent of the book is to give indications on how the world is progressing towards net zero carbon emissions by 2050. Though Vaclav states quite a few times that he doesn’t prefer being optimist or pessimist, his indications were clearly pointed towards a global arena not even getting close to the 2050 target. There are definitely abundant reasons to justify his indications and the following pointers throw some light. *Even till the fag end of 19 th century, 90% of all mechanical energy was extracted through animate power, in simple terms it refers to physical effort of animals and humans aligned towards the output required for existential needs. Ina