India’s Coral Woman
Uma Mani
The story of Uma Mani, a PADI certified scuba driver from Chennai, reminds us of fairy tales. She fell in love with her own creation and then adventured in quest for them braving all the obstacles– only to find an amazing world of wonders, a piece of heaven that’s stunningly colourful and throbbing with life. But for her dismay the inhabitants there were in a peril and in the verge of extinction. She could not bear this; she now stands up for their cause and is fighting tooth and nails to protect them.
Uma Mani, a native of Chennai had been in Maldives with her husband and her only son , and once she got more free time at her hand, she took a small course in painting. When she was thus enjoying this creative flows in and feeling fulfilled, she thought of exhibiting her art works. But exhibitions are usually theme centred and she too have to pick up a theme. At first it was roses that came up to her mind, but as the saying goes we don’t know which way the wind blows, she changed her mind and took the theme of coral reefs and corals – a theme where she had a scope for mixing up colours and create various hues and shades on the canvas.
The more she worked on it , the more curious she became ! She fell in love with their world and now the urge to experience and see them in real was getting stronger. Uma, who even did not know how to swim took up a scuba diving course. “In Maldives, we could see corals through the crystal clear water. I had never been underwater, but I was curious to see what the corals looked like. That led me to learn diving at the age of 49. I even didn’t know how to swim, but I needed to come out of my comfort zone and explore my skills”. Once she mastered the skill, she cannot sit simply somewhere instead she was often back to the underwaters to forget herself in the coral world . Once back home, she simply painted what she saw there into her canvas . The more she painted , the more she wanted to know them. The life of corals, touched her heart and she realised that the corals are soon to get vanished due to acidification and pollution of the sea water . A pained Uma, called the authorities to make them take some actions .One of the calls was to the NDTV, and they responded and it made way to a documentary called ‘coral woman’ by Priya thuvassery . When Uma wanted to do a documentary to save the underwater life, Priya also got interested in the woman who stood up for corals and she made Uma Mani as the protagonist. The documentary, produced by Public Service Broadcasting Trust, is both a profile of Uma Mani and her efforts to address the threat to coral reefs from bleaching, pollution and global warming.
Every one has a mission in this life, some without even their knowing will be pulled to undertake the mission destined on them. Uma Mani’s was to create an awareness of the predicament of the corals and coral reef. Hope the world will see it and more actions would be taken to protect this heavenly underwater world.
The more she worked on it , the more curious she became ! She fell in love with their world and now the urge to experience and see them in real was getting stronger. Uma, who even did not know how to swim took up a scuba diving course. “In Maldives, we could see corals through the crystal clear water. I had never been underwater, but I was curious to see what the corals looked like. That led me to learn diving at the age of 49. I even didn’t know how to swim, but I needed to come out of my comfort zone and explore my skills”. Once she mastered the skill, she cannot sit simply somewhere instead she was often back to the underwaters to forget herself in the coral world . Once back home, she simply painted what she saw there into her canvas . The more she painted , the more she wanted to know them. The life of corals, touched her heart and she realised that the corals are soon to get vanished due to acidification and pollution of the sea water . A pained Uma, called the authorities to make them take some actions .One of the calls was to the NDTV, and they responded and it made way to a documentary called ‘coral woman’ by Priya thuvassery . When Uma wanted to do a documentary to save the underwater life, Priya also got interested in the woman who stood up for corals and she made Uma Mani as the protagonist The documentary ,produced by Public Service Broadcasting Trust, is both a profile of Uma Mani and her efforts to address the threat to coral reefs from bleaching, pollution and global warming.
Every one has a mission in this life, some without even their knowing will be pulled to undertake the mission destined on them. Uma Mani’s was to create an awareness of the predicament of the corals and coral reef. Hope the world will see it and more actions would be taken to protect this heavenly underwater world.
