Back in 2000, a one-and-a-half-year-old played a demo game of chess with Grandmaster Vishwanathan Anand in Pollachi. Almost 20 years later, M. Madhuranthagi, a FIDE-rated player, recreated the logo of the 44th Chess Olympiad being held in Chennai, using 11,000 rice grains.
She made the 28x18 inch design in 20 hours for the love of the game. The words — '44th CHESS OLYMPIAD CHENNAI' — were written on each grain of shirt and dhoti section of Thambi, the official mascot. Ms. Madhuranthagi said, "My father taught me the game. I named the chess coins and interacted about the movement of coins with Grandmaster Anand."
"I did my first work when I was in Class V. I made a portrait of former Chief Minister Kamarajar. I made an awareness banner on polio vaccination using 2.5 lakh grains and about 100% polling in 2017," she said.
She attributes her success to her father, M. Manoharan, a drawing master at a government school in the district who taught her to use rice grains for artwork. “My father was recognised by former Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi for his work,” she noted.
The UPSC aspirant has many feathers on her hat. She recited Thirukkural to former President A.P.J Abdul Kalam when she was five years old, won Tamil Nadu Arts and Culture Department's Kalai Ilamani award from Coimbatore Collector in 2016 and the Tamil Nadu Handicrafts Development Corporation Ltd 'Adutha Thalaimurai Kaivinaignargalukkaana Kaithiran Poti' award in Chennai in 2017.
Ms. Madhuranthagi braved several cranial surgeries when she was studying Class VII and had to take multiple breaks from school. Yet, the fourth year B.E Agriculture student kept her pace going and is now aiming to become an IAS officer.
