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City girl packs a punch, wins bronze at taekwondo event

Education, Inspiration/ Positive News and Features, Records, All, Sports, World Opinion
Divya Nangaru Prabhakar with her parents, N.V. Prabhakar and T.M. Kusumavathi
Divya Nangaru Prabhakar with her parents, N.V. Prabhakar and T.M. Kusumavathi

We only hope that the State government or any sports organisation comes forward to help us and the girl realise her dreams T.M. Kusumavathi , Divya’s mother

Divya Nangaru Prabhakar is a reserved teenager, but she packs a punch, literally.

The 15-year-old city girl sheds her inhibition when she’s performing taekwondo. With little financial support but plenty of grit and determination, she won India a bronze at the Junior International Taekwondo Federation (ITF) World Championship three weeks ago.

“My dream is to head to the Olympics next,” said Divya who competed in the 70-kg category. According to her coach Pradeep Janardhana, her “power kicks” give her an edge. “It took five years of rigorous practice for me to get used to punches, kicks, power blows and knocks with rapid spinning in Taekwondo. Bagging the bronze was exhilarating,” says Divya, a class 10 student of Nava Prajna Public School on Whitefield Airport Road.

“It was rewarding to be there on the podium representing India. I owe this to my coach, school and my parents,” she said.

But it’s been an uphill struggle for the family “My father, N.V. Prabhakar retired from the Army, while my mother, T.M. Kusumavathi is a staff nurse at Vani Vilas Hospital. With their income they have strived to see my dreams take shape,” she said.

Taekwondo demands protein-rich food and daily practice. “This is something we provide Divya. For her practice sessions she has to travel 25 kilometres to Amruthahalli from Marathahalli at 5 a.m. regularly,” said Kusumavathi.

“It cost us Rs.1.75 lakh to participate in the Taekwondo World Championships at Italy. We have to repay this loan. We only hope that the State government or any sports organisation comes forward to help us and the girl realise her dreams,” is Kusumavathi’s appeal.

Divya has also won medals at the State and national level. “I am getting used to the punches. Sometimes I hurt my lips and they bleed, but that’s what martial arts is all about.”

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Bengaluru / by Ranjani Govind / Bengaluru – October 03rd, 2016

The Mahatma’s days in Namma Bengaluru

Historical Links, Pre-Independence, Leaders, Records, All

Momentous moments

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Mahatma Gandhi visited Bengaluru for the first time on May 8, 1915, four months after he returned from South Africa.

A photograph of a young Gandhi and his wife Kasturba, taken during this visit is one of the many that are on display at a week-long exhibition that began at the Rangoli Art Center at Metro station on Mahatma Gandhi Road on Sunday.

Vemgal Somashekhara, a former teacher from Kolar who wrote a book on Gandhi’s visits to Bengaluru, ‘Bengalurinalli Mahatma Gandhi’, explained the significance of Gandhi’s first visit.

Gopal Krishna Gokhale had passed away in February that year and Gandhi had come to Bengaluru for a condolence service organised for his mentor, said Somashekhara.

“Gandhi looks very different in the picture compared to his later avatar. He is seen wearing a ‘topi’ and a kurta in the picture. By the time he comes here for the second time in 1920, we see a different Gandhi, clad in only a dhoti.”

The exhibition is based on pictures and texts from Somashekhara’s book.
Between 1915 and 1936, Gandhi would visit the city a total of five times. Pointing at an old picture of the Eidgah Khuddus Saheb on Miller’s Road, Somashekhara said, “In 1920 on his second visit, Gandhi visited the Eidgah Khuddus Saheb and stayed in the city only for half a day. However, this short visit saw a gathering of around 40,000 people in and around the Cantonment. Such a huge gathering was never seen before.”

Then, there is a picture of the Mahatma getting down from a train at Yeshwantpur and offering prayers at the platform. This is from his third and the longest visit to the city in 1927.

Another picture shows Gandhi on a visit to the Imperial Dairy College in Adugodi (now the National Dai­ry Research Centre) flanked by William Smith, the then director of the college and nationalist leader Madan Mohan Malviya.

“Gandhi stayed in Bengaluru for 87 days during this visit and visited various places. He stayed at the Nandi Hills for 42 days,” said Somashekhara.

It was in 1990 that Somashekhara took interest in chronicling Gandhi’s visit and stay at Nandi Hills. Later, he expanded his project to include Gandhi’s visit to Bengaluru and published his book in 2006.

source: http://www.deccanherald.com / Deccan Herald / Home> City / DHNS – Bengaluru, October 03rd, 2016

Eminent psychiatrist Ashok Pai dies at 69

Leaders, Records, All, Science & Technology

Shivamogga :

Noted psychiatrist, chairman of the state’s mental health task force and award-winning film producer, Dr KA Ashok Pai, died of a massive heart attack in Scotland in the early hours of Friday. The 69-year-old was at an international conference with his wife Dr Rajani Pai.

According to his family, Pai, who landed in Scotland three days ago, had a heart problem on Thursday night and was rushed to hospital  where he passed away. His body is expected to reach Shivamogga on Saturday or early Sunday.

Pai was committed to promoting mental health among people and set up the Manasa Trust, which treated lakhs of patients suffering from mental diseases. He would produce films which highlighted the problems of mental health. His films Prathama Ushakirana and Kadina Benki and tele-serial Antarala  bagged awards.

Pai was a writer, brilliant orator, TV presenter on psychoanalysis, environmentalist/filmmaker Suresh Heblikar said. Pai felt psychiatry shouldn’t be restricted within the confines of a counselling chamber… he wanted to popularize it as a treatment available to all, he added.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India /News Home> City News> Bangalore / TNN / October 01st, 2016

Mysuru is N0. 1 ‘ Open Defection-Free City ’

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Green Initiatives / Environment, Resources of Free Materials, Travel

Mysuru :

Adding to its Clean City fame, Mysuru has bagged the Number 1 position as the ‘Open Defecation-Free City’. It has been recognised as the first city with a million-plus population to achieve this distinction.

For two years in a row, Mysuru has topped the list of the cleanest cities in the country. It was named the cleanest in the country by a nationwide survey Swachh Survekshan 2016, which was carried out under the Swachh Bharat Mission that was launched on October 2, 2014 by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

It may be mentioned here that about a couple of months back, representatives from the Quality Council of India visited Mysuru for an inspection and had submitted a report to the Union Urban Development Ministry that the city qualifies the parameters of an open defecation-free city.

The report also mentioned about the city’s cleanliness, waste disposal and drainage systems.

The MCC will be presented with the award by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sept. 30 in New Delhi which will be received by Mayor B.L. Bhyrappa, Deputy Mayor Vanitha Prasanna and MCC Commissioner G. Jagadeesha, according to MCC Health Officer Dr. Ramachandra.

source: http://www.starofmysore.com / Star of Mysore / Home> General News / September 24th, 2016

Bengaluru researchers discover rat-like mammal species in Sikkim Himalayas

Green Initiatives / Environment, Inspiration/ Positive News and Features, Nature, Records, All, Science & Technology

Bengaluru :

When PhD student Nishma Dahal  embarked on her first trip to east Sikkim, little did she know it would lead to a stunning discovery in the eastern Himalayas . The efforts of Nishma and other researchers from National Centre for Biological Sciences (NCBS) have led to the identification of a new species of pika, a mammal which resembles a tailless rat.

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The new species, Ochotona sikimaria, is an important part of the ecosystem and is vulnerable to climate change. Members of the rabbit family, pikas have been in the news in North America for their sensitivity to increasing temperature, which has caused several populations to go extinct. Pikas live on high altitudes in mountianeous regions, which makes them more susceptible to habitat loss due to the increasing global temperature.

The discovery was a great challenge for Nishma as most pika species closely resemble one another. She started her work by collecting pika pellets to extract the DNA and identify the species.

Though the pellets are puny, Nishma was successful in amplifying the mammal’s DNA from them. When Nishma compared these DNA sequences to those of other pika species in the world, she found them to be quite different. But this was only the beginning of her mission.

To prove it was indeed a new species, Nishma had to compare the Sikkim pika to its close relatives, which are found in China. It took Nishma and Uma Ramakrishnan, whose laboratory at NCBS led the study, two years to build collaborations with researchers from the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Zoological Museum of Moscow and Stanford University  to get detailed data on the sister species.

The NCBS research reveals while Ochotona sikimaria appears similar to the Moupin pika (found in China), they are quite distinct from a genetic and ecological perspective. So far, the new species seems to be limited to Sikkim. The NCBS team searched for the Sikkim pika in other Himalayan regions, including  Arunachal Pradesh, central Nepal (Annapurna and Langtang), Ladakh and Spiti but to no avail.
All is not well for this tiny mammal, says Nishma. “Unlike other mammalian species inhabiting such harsh environments, Pikas do not hibernate. They prepare for winter by collecting and storing hay piles. We must investigate their vulnerability to increasing global temperatures, and to do so we must better understand their ecology and population dynamics. Such information is lacking in the case of Asian Pikas,” she said.
“The opportunity to work on Himalayan biodiversity has been amazing, and I have learned how little we know about our own species. Pikas are ecosystem engineers, and we must understand more about them to protect them,” said Uma. The study has been published in the journal Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / News Home> City News> Bangalore / TNN / September 27th, 2016