The city recently witnessed riot of colours and traditions in Palace Grounds as folk artistes from across the state performed during the Kempegowda Jayanti celebrations.
Several traditional and folk artistes were present and performed traditional art forms like Hulivesha and mask show at the event.
source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> News> City News> Bangalore News / TNN / June 28th, 2018
And the stage is set for the newest edition of German Spotlight in Bengaluru.
Over the past four years, this arts project has facilitated a lot more than just a cultural exchange between India and Germany. It’s a discourse between actors, directors and playwrights of two countries that aims at helping the audience “discover the fact that people around the world have more in common than we think”.
A collaboration between Sandbox Collective band Goethe-Institut/Max Mueller Bhavan, the 2018 edition of the initiative will showcase English translations of four German plays in the form of dramatized readings.
Debosmita Dam, who is spearheading the project alongside Nimi Ravindran, says, “German Spotlight is a cultural exchange of a different kind. The scripts chosen for the dramatized readings are written by contemporary German playwrights, who are quite excited about their work being presented to the Indian audience. Although there is no set theme for the readings, the stories – which are made accessible through an online bank at Goethe-Institut – are interesting and quite relatable.” In the past, some of the German Spotlight scripts had been staged as full-length theatre productions in the city.
Laced with interactive sessions before and after the act, dramatised readings have been quite popular among theatre lovers of all age groups in the city. “It’s a curious storytelling format that the audiences usually find to be more engaging than watching a play at an auditorium, as they can almost visualise the scenes and be part of the experience,” adds Debosmita, who is also directing one of the four acts, titled Norway Today.
The show is opening on June 30 with the reading of Peer Pleasures, directed by Karen D’Mello. Speaking about the experience, she says, “Rehearsed play readings give a lot of freedom to the actor as well as the director to explore varied modes of acting within the performance. It’s a flexible format – something like the experience between writing a short story and a novel. Cut to Peer Pleasures, although it’s a German script, the story holds universal relevance. The plot is set in 2006, when SMS was the preferred mode of communication. It was fun to work around the basic emojis of that time.” The cast of this play includes artistes Honey Raza, Nisha Abdulla, Pranay Pandey, Sneha Ram, Vishnu Narain and Sunayana Premchander.
The four plays…
Peer Pleasures – directed by Karen D’Mello
The play is about six university students struggling to find their way through their dreams, their longing for love and their insecurities in the quest for something permanent.
Nightblind – directed by Kanchan Bhattacharyya
It deals with issues of familial discord, friendship and abuse in a relationship from a young and urban viewpoint.
The Jazz Conductor – directed by Lekha Naidu
The play speaks of music and war and hope. It brings to life the romance and nostalgia of the Jazz age, love for theatre and the good-old family amid unspeakable horrors.
Norway Today – directed by Debosmita Dam
This story is essentially a conversation between two young people, who belong to a generation where most of their interactions happen through technology.
source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> News> City News> Bangalore News / by Reema Gowalla / TNN / June 29th, 2018
A Junior Commissioned Officer from the Madras Engineering Group (MEG) Bengaluru has qualified for the Wimbledon Main Draw.
By qualifying for the Wimbledon Main Draw, Naib Subedar Sriram Balaji has become the first player from the services to do so.
Balaji’s partnership with Vishnu Vardhan qualified for the main draw after a win over Denys Molchanov and Igor Zelenay in the second round of the Wimbledon qualifiers.
“Naib Subedar Sriram Balaji has qualified for the Wimbledon Main Draw. First in the history of Services, player to qualify and reach this level,” tweeted the Additional Directorate General of Public Information (ADG PI)-Indian Army
Balaji started his career in tennis in the year 2000 when he was 10 years old and ranked 1st in India in under 12 categories in the year 2002.
He joined Madras Sappers in February 2017 and till date he has won five ATP Challengers Cup.
In May, the Balaji Vishnu Vardhan pair won the Doubles title in Challenger ATP men’s tournament held tournament held at Samarkand, Uzbekistan, defeating Mikhail Elgin of Russia and Denis Istomin of Kazakistan. With that, the duo has qualified for Wimbledon Men’s Doubles. They are the only Indian pair to take part in this Wimbledon.
His present world ranking is 117.
Last year in April, he won the Davis Cup match in doubles category, defeating Uzbekistan.
The MEG personnel also known as Madras Sappers have a rich sporting tradition. Over the years, MEG has had many Olympians and sportsmen.
source: http://www.bangaloremirror.indiatimes.com / Bangalore Mirror / Home> Bangalore> Others / by Bangalore Mirror Bureau / June 20th, 2018
Niranjan says that being a para swimmer has never been an easy task. “People initially thought that being a para swimmer wouldn’t do me any good. They always thought that we are not on par with other able-bodied athletes. But, I believe and hope that I’ve broken that stereotype. Individuals who are into para sports have broken that thought process by winning several medals regularly,” he says.On asking what changes he would like to bring into the system in order to support other para athletes, he says, “People usually think that being a differently abled person, you won’t be able to achieve anything but look at other para athletes. They have achieved so much with very less support from others.” The swimmer says that though people are more inclined to sports like cricket, the mindset is slowly changing now. “Over the years, we have seen many sports come up and many athletes win medals for the country. However, a little bit more support will do wonders for people like us,” he adds.
Bengaluru has one of the best facilities for athletes in the country
Bengaluru, according to Niranjan, has top-notch facilities for swimmers and some of the best coaches in the country. “The city is known as a swimmers’ hub and people from all across the country come to Bengaluru to train as we have the best facilities, in addition to the good weather and infrastructure, that favours them,” he says. However, his love for Bengaluru doesn’t stop there, says the self-confessed movie buff. “I am a complete foodie and a movie buff. Though I follow a strict diet, whenever I find time and I’m in Bengaluru, I like to hang out with my friends. MG Road, Indiranagar, Koramangala are some of my favourite places to hang out in the city,” he adds.
Preparing for Asian Games
Next on his mind is the Asian Games, scheduled to be held in August-September. “Though I’m training and preparing for the Asian Games now, my ultimate goal is to qualify for the Paralympics in 2020 and win a medal there,” he sums up.
source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> News> City News> Bangalore News / by Sandra Marina Fernandes / TNN / June 28th, 2018
AZB & Partners has hired Shreya Rao , the founder of Rao Law Chambers, as a partner in Bangalore to co-head its private client practice. She will join from 20 June with her team of two lawyers.
She is a 2006 Nalsar Hyderabad graduate with a 2009 LLM from Harvard Law School, working with Nishith Desai Associates from 2006 until 2015, where she eventually led the private client practice and co-led the international tax practice.
In April 2016, she had founded her own boutique private client firm Rao Law Chambers, which specialised in private wealth and tax work.
Between 2009 and 2013, she was also visiting faculty at NLSIU Bangalore, teaching around direct tax and international taxation, and from July 2016 she also began teaching at Azim Premji University in Bangalore as visiting faculty.
“Her arrival will ensure an even greater push for AZB’s private client practice and international tax practice,” AZB noted in a statement.
Her fellow AZB private client co-head is partner Anand Shah.
Private client work has become increasingly interesting – and potentially profitable – for the large Indian law firms, though it remains niche.
Former J Sagar Associates (JSA) senior partner Berjis Desai, for instance, now focuses on private client work, which he explained in detail in our interview in 2017.
source: http://www.legallyindia.com / Legally India / Home> Law Firms / June 14th, 2018
Age and the choppy, cold waters are no deterrents for 72-year-old Gopal Rao, who lead a team of eight swimmers across the English Channel between France and Britain earlier this month.
He was part of the Master Swimming Relay team, comprising six male and two female nation-level swimmers from Bengaluru, which crossed the 36 km long channel in under 15 hours.
While the youngest in the team is aged 35 years, Mr. Rao was the oldest participant. “We were selected by our coach Satish Kumar, who is secretary of the Karnataka Swimming Academy,” he said.
Mr. Rao is the secretary of Sadashivnagar Swimming Club.
Preparation for the feat took nearly six months, spanning sessions in Goa and Mangaluru. However, the warmer tropical waters did little to prepare them for the frigid conditions of the English channel.
“It was very tough in France. Heavy tides made swimming difficult. And, the water was freezing cold,” said Mr. Rao.
Relay swimming sees one person swimming for an hour before another person from the team takes over. The rest of the team and support staff travelled by boat next to the swimmer. The team started at 6 a.m.
They achieved the feat in 14 hours and 52 minutes, and had enough energy to participate in the world Yoga Day celebrations in London the next day.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Bengaluru / by Staff Reporter / June 26th, 2018
Samsung R&D Institute – Bangalore (SRI-B) has been recognized as the ‘Champion for Local Markets’ at the prestigious Zinnov Awards 2018.
The awards recognize achievements of Indian R&D centres and honour stalwarts in the technology space. SRI-B is Samsung’s largest R&D centre outside South Korea.
The jury deemed SRI-B as the winner based on parameters such as its vision, initiatives, implementation and impact in the local market.
Under Samsung’s ‘Make for India’ initiative, SRI-B has been developing several India-specific innovations by understanding Indian consumers’ lifestyle and pain points. As part of this program, SRI-B has developed innovations for various B2C, B2B and Business to Government products.
“It is imperative to understand the challenges and pain points that Indian consumers face in their day to day lives and provide suitable technology solutions. Samsung has recognized this early on and has been continually innovating along this path to empower Indians and their businesses under its ‘Make for India’ program,” said Dr. Aloknath De, Chief Technology Officer, SRI-B.
SRI-B has more reasons to celebrate this year at Zinnov Awards 2018 as Karthik Krishnan, who is a member of the Health and Medical Equipment (HME) Team at the R&D centre working on Medical Imaging and Visualization Technology, won the award for ‘Technical Role Model (Mid-level)’. He was awarded for his capability to influence others within SRI-B as well as beyond, to follow a technical career path.
“I am elated to have won this award from Zinnov as it is a testimony to the vibrant ecosystem that we are able to work within and create new technology. I would like to thank my team for all their support through the years, as well as SRI-B which has given me the opportunity to collaborate with others in our ecosystem and build my technical skills,” said Karthik after winning the award for ‘Technical Role Model’.
Over the last three years, SRI-B has introduced several products and services for its Indian customers. When Bixby Voice came to India with the Galaxy Note8, it was optimized for India by the SRI-B team to understand English in Indian accents. The device was also embedded with a feature that recognized text messages written in Hindi with the S-Pen and converted the message into Devanagari script. Engineers at the R&D centre had recently developed the Social Camera mode that was launched in the Samsung Galaxy J7 Max Smartphone. The Social Camera mode allows users to instantly edit and share photos and videos directly to social media sites from their camera app. SRI-B has also developed the Samsung Tab IRIS, which is the first commercial IRIS integrated tablet to be approved by UIDAI for Aadhaar and KYC verification.
This is the 9th year of the Zinnov Awards and the fourth consecutive year that SRI-B has won a Zinnov Award. SRI-B has won the Zinnov Award for ‘Great Place to Innovate’ in 2017, ‘Center of Excellence’ in 2016 and ‘Design Thinking’ in 2015.
source: http://www.news.samsung.com / Samsung Newsroom / Home> Brand> People & Culture / June 25th, 2018
Mysuru:
Here is a case that sounds as if it has come straight from Ripley’s Believe It Or Not TV show. A root from jungle is heated and tied to the arms of children suffering from jaundice, severe stomach ache and other ailments in the belief that Goddess Yellamma cures the pain and trauma. And believe it or not, according to patients who have undergone this painful practice, it actually cures!
This practice came to light when volunteers from Rural Literacy and Health Programme (RLHP) were conducting physical examination as part of ‘Anti Child Labour Day’ event organised by RLHP at Bal Bhavan at Bannimantap this morning.
The volunteers came across at least eight to nine children who bore a deep round scar on their arms. So deep was the scar that the RLHP authorities were shocked to see the wound and they applied medicines after cleaning them.
When the volunteers questioned the children about the scars, they told them the scars were caused after a treatment for jaundice. Later, it was discovered that a certain community that resides behind Srinivasa Talkies at Bannimantap have been practicing astrology, collecting hairs to sell as wigs and curing ailments using roots since 20 years.
One of the community members, speaking to SOM said, “Hundreds of parents come to us with their suffering children. We then assess the ailment and get a special root from the forest, heat the root and tie it tightly around the arms of the children who are sick. Later, we wrap the root with a cloth and sprinkle water.”
“The root is tied for 24 hours and after that the ailment is cured. By the grace of Goddess Yellamma, so far our treatment has not failed and parents are happy that their children are cured,” he said. Many adults in that area were seen with these scars as they had undergone this treatment when they were children.
Dr. Christida Pais of RLHP who noticed this at the Bal Bhavan event expressed shock that even in these modern times, certain beliefs are being followed even by educated class. “These scars are permanent and there is no way to remove them except surgery. We will visit this particular area and educate the people about modern medical system,” she said.
Women and Child Welfare Department Deputy Director K. Radha who was informed about this practice by volunteers said, “I will visit these practitioners and conduct awareness programmes within a week.”
source: http://www.starofmysore.com / Star of Mysore / Home> News / June 28th, 2018
Bandstand
England witnessed the brass band movement in the 1800s at the peak of the industrial revolution. Musical ensembles using a standardised range of brass and percussion instruments were in demand among the working classes. The latter appreciated cheap and good entertainment. By the late 1800s, as industries expanded and working-class numbers rose, brass bands became very sought-after in that country.
It did not take long to reach the colonies. Bengaluru’s bandstand came up in the 1870s. According to the Mysore Gazetteer (1897), there was a double-pillared, ground-level bandstand near the Bowring Institute. Then, around 1914, a proposal was mooted to demolish it and construct a bandstand inside the Cubbon Park. An ornamental, eight-pillared iron structure was imported from Walter Macfarlane & Co in Glasgow.
“Shipping such ornate structures from England was a way to show British strength and dominance in the colonies,” said Poornima Dasharathi of Unhurried.in, who conducts heritage walks in the Cubbon Park. “The bandstand hosted the best regimental bands and catered mostly to the soldiers and residents in the civil and military station here.”
Initially, the bandstand was located in a rose garden. Officially inaugurated in 1918, the Mysore Infantry Band performed there every Wednesday and Saturday, while the Madras Pioneer Group performed on the fourth Thursday of every month. The latter also put up a grand show there in 1927 to commemorate the silver jubilee of Nalwadi Krishnaraja Wadiyar’s rule. Even the Royal Air Force band played here.
Soon, the popularity of the bandstand increased and it became difficult to accommodate the crowds that turned up for the performances. At the suggestion of prince Jayachamarajendra Wadiyar, a music aficionado himself, it was shifted to its current location in front of the State Central Library. “According to old Anglo-Indian residents of the Cantonment, patriotic songs and Kannada music played at the bandstand post-Independence,” said Dasharathi. Performances were organised by the Bangalore Municipal Corporation every weekend. “This died down in the 60s because many other venues of entertainment started mushrooming.”
The bandstand soon dilapidated because of neglect. Two years ago, the horticulture department decided to restore the physical structure to its former glory. It also collaborated with the Bal Bhavan and the Department of Kannada and Culture to organise 6 am to 6 pm cultural events on Sundays. Mahantesh Murgod, deputy director of horticulture (Cubbon Park), said: “We have made arrangements to accommodate 100 people. So far, our slots are running full. Music and dance engage beautifully with visitors in the park.”
source: http://www.economictimes.indiatimes.com / The Economic Times / Home> Magazines> Panache> City Life / by Divya Shekhar, ET Bureau / June 28th, 2018
From just another lake in the city with a walking path along the bund to a biodiversity park, Madivala lake has undergone a massive transformation over the last two years. The 272-acre park in BTM Layout, which was under development since the end of 2016, is now home to many native species of flora and fauna. It is set to be inaugurated in the coming months.
The transformation was the result of a proposal by the Karnataka Knowledge Commission to develop the lake into a unique biodiversity park. Recently, Chairman of the Karnataka Knowledge Commission Dr. K. Kasturirangan met Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy requesting him to inaugurate the park.
At present, only parts of the park, which is maintained by the Forest Department, are open to the public.
Under the project, an open butterfly park, conservatory of insectivorous plants and orchids, cycad and palm grove, herbal garden, island ecosystems and a scented garden are among the features that have been developed.
Professor C.R. Babu, Professor Emeritus, Centre for Environment Management of Degraded Ecosystems, University of Delhi, who is spearheading the project, said the park is being developed with an underlying theme to recreate self-sustaining ecosystems with native flora and fauna. It’s a one-of-its-kind park in south India, focusing on creation of the entire ecosystem of flora and fauna, unlike a botanical garden, where the focus is on flora. A biodiversity park offers ecological services like retention of groundwater and prevention of floods, he explained.
Officials said their idea was to make the park not only a place where citizens could relax and get a breath of fresh air, but also make it a place where people, especially children, could come to learn about native flora and fauna.
Butterfly park
Among the prominent features of the park is an open butterfly garden, developed by collecting plants from forests in and around Bannerghatta National Park, Cauvery Wildlife Sanctuary, and Kanakapura region. Around 132 plant species of both nectar and larval host plants have been nurtured to create a breeding space for butterflies. So far, around 40 species of butterflies belonging to five families have been spotted within the butterfly garden, officials said.
Orchids and carnivorous plants
Another significant feature is a collection of nearly 30 species of orchids, 20 Nepenthes pitcher plants, 25 varieties of succulents, ferns and aroids. Developed in separate temperature-controlled enclosures, they are being planted to educate public about the different species of flora. That apart, about 50 species of rare, endemic and threatened (RET) plants native to the Western Ghats have also found space in this park.
Islands and birding area
The park is also being developed to attract birds. Nearly a 100 fruit-bearing plants from 10 species have been planted to attract frugivorous birds, such as bulbuls and parakeets.
An island has been created in the lake as a nesting ground for birds and reptiles.
With the creation of this island, the lake area has been expanded by 10 hectares. This has enhanced the capacity of the lake to hold an additional 250 MLD of flood water during the monsoon. This would prevent flooding of areas surrounding the lake, Prof. Babu said.
According to project coordinator Dr. Padmavathi, there are a lot more features in the offing, which will be developed eventually. These include a rainforest ecosystem, swamp forests and wetland systems.
This project came about after Karnataka Knowledge Commission, in 2015, submitted a recommendation to the government to establish a biodiversity park at Madiwala lake on the lines of the Yamuna Biodiversity Park in Delhi. The government allocated Rs. 24.72 crores for the same and Karnataka Lake Conservation and Development Authority (KLCDA) was chosen as the nodal agency.
Proposal for management
The Knowledge Commission has urged the State government to create a separate board to manage the park. “The park requires maintenance. Having a dedicated board will help in the upkeep of the park,” said Dr. Padmavathi. Also, while the KLCDA was in charge of the project, with the wrapping up of the Authority, the project work was slowed down. Officials are now hoping that the park would be handed over to a dedicated management, which could take care of the maintenance work.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Bengaluru / by Shruthi H.M. / June 25th, 2018