Anjanappa performing at an event.— photo: by Special Arrangement
70-year-old Anjanappa from Gudibande taluk learnt to play Mukhaveni, an instrument that resembles a flute, from his father and grandfather
If you happen to see this 70-year-old musician at a public place seeking alms while playing an instrument that resembles a shehanai or a flute, do not dismiss him as just a beggar. Anjanappa is not only a gifted musician, but also one of the last links to Mukhaveni, a wind instrument.
The art of playing Mukhaveni is in his genes as Anjanappa, who hails from Gauguntehalli of Gudibande taluk in Chickballapur district, learnt it from his father and grandfather, who were professional musicians. He has mastered the art of playing Karanji, a piped instrument that involves taking in water from one nostril and leaving it through another, besides Panchavaadhya. Sometimes, he also enthrals the crows by playing all three instruments at once.
Besides Karnataka, Anjanappa has performed in Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Kerala. “I play the songs from the films of matinee idols of the respective States at concerts,” he says. Despite mastery over this instrument and huge popularity, Anjanappa lives in poverty.
“My music is not for sale. I will never fix a price for my music,” says Anjanappa, when asked why he should not quote a price for the music shows, which he performs at the request of various organisations.
“But, I accept whatever these organisations give me. While some pay a few hundreds, some have even paid Rs. 25,000. However, what they give is not my concern at all, because my main aim is to entertain the crowd with my music,” he says. He does not feel bad about getting alms from people after playing music. “It is a reward they give if they are satisfied. And this is how I lead my life,” says the humble musician.
The Kannada and Culture Department has sanctioned a monthly pension of Rs. 1,000 for him. But, that is not enough for this musician, who has a family of 10 members, who are farm labourers.
“I got a cash reward of Rs. 3 lakh. I used it to build a house for my family. I have built the walls. But I do not have money to put the roof over them,” says Anjanappa, whose dream is to complete his humble house.
However, more than completing the construction of the house, what bothers him is that nobody is willing to learn his music. “I taught these skills to one of my sons. But once when he was playing it outside a house in Mysuru, the owner got annoyed and scolded him by saying that he was wasting his life like his father. My son took it seriously and broke the instruments. Since then, he has not touched them,” says Anjanappa, who is eager to pass on the music tradition so that there will be somebody to carry forward his legacy.
Anjanappa (70) from Gudibande taluk learnt to play Mukhaveni, an instrument that resembles a flute, from his father and grandfather
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities / by B.S. Satish Kumar / Bengaluru – January 11th, 2016
The St Joseph’s Indian Educational Institutions located on Vittal Mallya Road is all set to celebrate 110 years of its existence. The institutions have relentlessly transformed thousands of lives over the years.
It was started in 1904 by priests of the Paris Mission Society. They first began working out of the basement of St Joseph’s European School building on Residency Road before the management of the school was taken over in 1937 by the Society of Jesus. In 1968, the school moved to its current location on Vital Mallya Road. In the last 110 years, the institutions have had more than 50,000 students pass out.
Currently, St Joseph’s Indian Educational Institutions encompass a complete range of educational institutions such as St Joseph’s Indian Primary School, St Joseph’s Indian Middle School, St Joseph’s Indian High School, St Joseph’s Indian Composite PU College and St Joseph’s Community College.
Talking about the philosophy of the school, Fr Sunith Prabhu SJ, director St Joseph’s Indian Composite PU College and director of St Joseph’s Indian Middle School, says “We have always mentored and trained our students to be able to face the competition in the outside world. We not only prepare them academically but also to face life. There are 23 clubs in the school and every club has its unique activities that do well to mould the personality of the students,” he explains.
The education is predominantly value-oriented with a special emphasis on providing educational opportunities to the poor and the disadvantaged sections of society. Fr Gerald Furtado, principal of St Joseph’s Indian Composite PU College, says one of the biggest strengths of the institution is the importance given to sports.
“We not only give importance to academics but also to sporting activities so as to keep the students physically, emotionally and mentally active,” he shares. He also says, in addition to sports the management also stresses on every student enrolling in extra-curricular activities.
One other significant wing of the institution is Community College which was started 10 years ago. Fr Melwyn Lobo, director of Community College, states that the courses have been thoughtfully designed in keeping with the current business trends in the market.
“Our emphasis is on the character formation of students through our many programmes, giving equal importance to students, from all classes of society and the importance on sports has given us that extra edge,” explains Fr Melwyn.
The school has produced some of the best minds across the country which includes several social activists, sports personalities and politicians. The list is rather exhaustive but a few notable names among them are TV Mohandas Pai, Kumar and Madhu Bangarappa, Ashok Kheny, actor Prakash Rai, singer Rajesh Krishnan and theatre artiste Sunder Raj just to mention a few.
St Joseph’s Indian Educational Institutions will celebrate the completion of 110 years with a two-day programme on January 10 and 12.
source: http://www.deccanherald.com / Deccan Herald /Home> Supplements> Metrolife / by Nina C. George, DHNS / January 08th, 2015
After completing the solo golden quadrilateral nationwide ride, covering nearly 7,000km in 2014, Esha Gupta, 37, aka Lone Gal Traveller, from Bengaluru has set her eyes on another mighty trip in this year.This time, she will attempt at creating a new Guinness World Records (GWR) for the longest journey on a motorcycle in a single country by a female. Esha will start the tour of 17 states, crossng 110 townscities, in an equal number of ing 110 townscities, in an equal number of days on January 10. Her faithful companion of 2014, Mike – her Bajaj Avenger 220DTsi will again carry her desire and hunger and to prove a point that “India is not an unsafe country” for women or women travellers.
Esha says: “By doing a solo ride across the Golden Quadrilateral, touching four metropolitan cities, I wanted to send a message out that India is not unsafe country for women. This time around, I will visit smaller towns and cities to put across the same message that India is safe. I plan to ride 38,000+ km in 110 days.” Esha says she is not challenging miscreants with the ride. “It is just to remind people that we are concentrating so much on the negativity that we have forgotten the positivity and good people around us. My solo ride is meant to shift people’s focus towards positivity,” she says.
She started preparing for the record in September last year by contacting GWR.”They have certain stringent rules and regulations that I have to meet to get my name in the GWR, which includes daily log in entries of my ride from start to end time apart from proof that I have visited the cities,” says Esha.
Her ride position and route will be tracked by twin GPS provided by OSS Technologies, which will also provide her a safety net. “The twin GPS is to avoid any complications in case one of the units fails. I cannot take any chance,” she says.
The expenses towards this ride will be al most 10 times that of her 2014 one. “I still have not got sponsors. I hope to get help from philanthropists if sponsorship does not materialize,” she asserts.
Esha quit her job as a senior facility manager four years ago, planning a small break, but never joined back.
source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / News Home> City> Mangalore / by Stanley Pinto, TNN / January 05th, 2016
The Yadahalli Chinkara Wildlife Sanctuary will be spread over 9,636.91 hectares in villages of Bilagi and Mudhol taluks.
Karnataka will get its first wildlife sanctuary for chinkaras (Indian Gazelle) at Yadahalli in Bagalkot district.
Karnataka will get its first wildlife sanctuary for chinkaras (Indian Gazelle) at Yadahalli in Bagalkot district.
The government, in its notification, said the sanctuary is spread over 9,636.91 hectares in villages of Bilagi and Mudhol taluks. The region has a lot of wildlife significance since it is the only habitat for endangered Indian Gazelles.
The forests with beautiful mosaic of shrubs, grasslands and rocky patches are the habitat for critically endangered wolves, jackals, wildcats, stripped hyenas, and a variety of other mammals, reptiles and birds, the notification said. The area has numerous seasonal nalas, which drain into river Krishna in the north and into the Ghataprabha on the southern side of the sanctuary. “It acts as an important catchment for the two rivers,” it said. The sanctuary does not cover patta lands and revenue lands.
M.R. Desai, Honorary Wildlife Warden of Bagalkot, said the notification now provides a complete legal backing for habitat improvement of the region as well as ensuring the population of the endangered chinkara population remains on the upswing.
“This is a shrub forest that has seen some damage owing to plantations. For the past two years, we have tried to halt these activities. A sanctuary status will ensure that the commercial exploitation of the region stops,” he said.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Bengaluru / Nagesh Prabhu / Bengaluru – January 01st, 2016
In future, students of Bangalore University, which has around 600 colleges affiliated to it, need not go to its Jnana Bharathi campus to sort out issues related to academics and admissions. Last week, in a special gazette, the state government notified the trifurcation of BU.
The three new varsities will be Bengaluru University that will continue functioning from the BU’s existing campus at Jnana Bharathi; Bengaluru Central University that will function from Central College and Bengaluru North University that will be established near Hoskote.
The existing 600 colleges will get affiliated to these three universities based on their respective legislative assembly constituencies. For the two new varsities, two new VCs will be appointed. A special officer appointed by the state government will take necessary steps to establish Bengaluru Central and North universities.
In February, a subcommittee headed by the then higher education minister RV Deshpande disclosed that BU will be split into four varsities, but in May the cabinet approved trifurcating BU.
source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / News Home> Education> News / TNN / December 30th, 2015
Celebrating Life In Namma Bengaluru Photo: K. Murali Kumar
Bengaluru immersed itself in a world of music, books, and theatre this year. IT city also became app-city, becoming very dependent on them to get anything from cabs to food. Here’s looking back at some highlights…
BOOKS
Writers etch their mark
It was good year for Bangalore authors. Anjum Hasan’s The Cosmopolitansfollows 53-year-old Qayenaat in a changing world. The author says she didn’t set out to write a novel about art, she set the novel in the art world because it is a world of imagination. She sees Qayenaat as a rasika, a lover of arts. The colourful Hari Majestic is back in Zac O Yeah’s A Hero for Hire. The erstwhile Tout of Bengaluru returns as a detective and with his cronies including Doc, Triplex and AC Gaadi sets out to rid the world of evil doers including shady hospitals and manic goons.
The end of the year saw Anita Nair’s Alphabet Soup for Lovers, telling the story of Lena Abraham and the movie star Shoola Pani partly through the eyes of the cook Komathi as she learns the English alphabet through ingredients from the kitchen. Preeti Shenoy’s Why We Love The Way We Do, a collection of essays that explore the various aspects of love and relationships was launched at The Park. Nandita Bose’s Shadow and Soul, revolving around the lives of Devika and her younger lover, an artiste, Shaurjyo, was launched at Atta Galatta.
PERFORMANCE
The city a stage
This year there was the usual run of theatre festivals. The sixth edition of The Hindu Theatre Fest saw the staging of three plays in Bengaluru. God of Carnage, written by Yasmina Reza, translated by Christopher Hampton and directed by Nadir Khan, about two sets of parents meeting to sort out an issue between their children, which eventually devolves into chaos. The Government Inspector, presented by Akvarious Productions, Mumbai, and directed by Akarsh Khurana, a satirical play on political corruption. Two to Tango, Three to Jive, about a middle-aged man going through mid-life crisis, who decides to spice up his love life, marked actor-director Saurabh Shukla’s return to theatre after 18 years. Bengaluru was also the only city where Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre performedHamlet in October.
The Ranga Shankara Festival was another success with plays staged from all over the country. Among the plays staged were Main Huun Yusuf, Aur Yeh Hai Mera Bhai, directed by Mohit Takalkar, who won the Shankar Nag Theatre Award 2015.Still and Still Moving, a production by Delhi-based Tadpole Repertory, directed by Neel Chaudhuri, a love story between two men against the backdrop of the cities they inhabit, Delhi and Gurgaon. Sharanya Ramprakash’s Akshaya Ambara, presented by Dramanon, which explores gender in Yakshagana, a traditional Karnataka folk theatre form and Abhishek Majumdar’s Dweepa, written originally in Bengali, premiered in Kannada, at the festival. Gender Bender, presented by Goethe-Institut in association with Max Mueller Bhavan, was a series of performances, a video presentation and installations, which brought to the fore the undoing conventional notions of gender and sexuality.
The first ever Bengaluru Comedy Festival, presented by Comedy Wagon, brought together stand-up comics from different cities, including Bengaluru — Sundeep Rao, Praveen Kumar, Kenny Sebastian, Sanjay Mankatala, Saad Khan, Sumukhi Suresh and Richa Kapoor.
TECHNOLOGY
Pehle App!
For IT city, apps was the buzzword in 2015 as it changed the way we commuted to work, ordered in food and groceries, worked on our fitness regimes and much more. If you were fed up with overcharging auto drivers and irregular bus services and wary of taking the car out, apps such as Ola and Uber made commuting within the city a breeze at the swipe of a smartphone. Ola, Uber, Meru became one of the most convenient ways to travel back home after a late night party or head to work for a early morning assignment you could not afford to miss.
In the later part of the year, motorbike rentals and ridesharing apps such as Lyft and Ridingo made commute something you did not dread about much on a weekday. As more and more app based services offer ridesharing options, urban experts feel that it will lead to lesser traffic snarls and bring down pollution levels in the city. Self driven car rentals, lead by companies such as Zoomcar and Bla Bla car ensured that you do not need to own a car to drive in the city.
Ordering in food got a new dimension in Bengaluru in 2015, as a plethora of food apps, ranging from those that just deliver food such as Swiggy to apps that make and deliver food such as Freshmenu. You no longer needed to call a restaurant, pour through reams of paper menus. You could just download one of the apps and get food from your favourite restaurant or service provider in quick time Customers also had the option of getting hot breakfasts via apps such as Brekkie. Home cooked food also became very popular and saw home sick youngsters using apps and the internet to connect with homecooks across the city, for a taste of homemade dal and parathas and much more. Apps such as Easydiner were also launched, allowing customers to book tables at a restaurant by a swipe.
MUSIC
The city’s sonic trailblazers
While 2015 marked several significant changes in the city’s soundscape, it was also the year in which Bengaluru bands etched their mark on the international music circuit.
Here’s a look at some of the city’s sonic history makers.
Peepal Tree
Rooted from trailblazers like Bhoomi, Thermal and a Quarter and the Raghu Dixit Project, Peepal Tree emerged as a rapidly successful band with their infectious high energy and distinct sounds making them very popular. They went on to make their international debut at the Asia-Pacific Broadcast Union Radio Song Festival in Yangon, Myanmar. The band was selected by All India Radio to represent India at the festival, which featured artistes from countries ranging from Pakistan and South Korea to Australia.
Moonarra
The world music band is often attributed to be synonymous with the city’s vibrant potpourri of music. While they have been making inroads in the global music circuit for close to a decade now, their most recent venture took them to Morocco for the Tangier’s Jazz Festival featuring the jazz of five continents as the only Indian band from Asia. Moonarra performed not once but twice in front of international artistes with a unique collaboration with Moroccan ensemble Gnawa Express. The expert artistes also conducted a workshop at the fest where they shared about their world jazz Indian classical fusion backgrounds.
Thermal And A Quarter
Fresh off their sixth studio album The Scene, the Bangalore Rockers embarked on a new direction with an album that took them to Bonn, Germany. What started as a conversation with Dr. Mathew Kurian, a scholar at the United Nations University in Dresden, Germany, evolved into a full-fledged album titled No Wall Too High commemorating 25 years of the collapse of the Berlin Wall. The album, a work that dwelt on divisions, also saw a collaboration with a German choral singer and took the band to Bonn to launch the record and perform at the United Nations Day celebrations along with other European bands.
The Raghu Dixit Project
The city-based folk rock band, best known for their infectiously addictive songs and lungi statements, returned earlier this year from yet another international tour. From the Kala Utsava in Singapore and Bangkok’s Festival of India to showcasing for the Indian community by the Indian Consulate in Jakarta and performing at the Java Jazz Festival in Jakarta, the unofficial ambassadors of Bengaluru’s music culture left a lasting impression on the international circuit.
Inner Sanctum
Fresh after an eight-city tour of Europe and releasing their full-length album, the death metal giants headed to Oslo, Norway, to play at the Inferno Metal Festival on its 15th anniversary. Sharing stage with metal legends like Behemoth, Enslaved, Arcturus and Bloodbath, Inner Sanctum delivered a charismatic show with some tight metal work that went down well with the metalheads.
Sulk Station
The trip hop duo headed to the UK to perform at the Southbank Centre’s Alchemy Festival, with shows in London and Glasgow, along with sets at the Great Escape Festival in the beach town of Brighton, going along the coast to Bristol as well. Comprising vocalist-keyboardist Tanvi Rao and producer Rahul Giri, the band delivered their eclectic alternative electronic music to packed audiences in every show.
Space Behind The Yellow Room
The four member, post metal and rock band won the Pepsi Unbox hunt this year out of 450 bands and went on to perform in Singapore at Music Matters Live 2015, an independent music festival featuring over 70 bands. Apart from playing in front of an international audience, they also attended a conference at the Music Matters Academy.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> Features> MetroPlus / by Mini Anthikad Chhibber & Sravasti Datta & Nikhil Varma & Allan Moses Rodricks
It was during his school days that he got interested in the art of cake-making. Little did C Ramachandran then know that his hobby would eventually turn into a career spanning almost 50 years and earn him a place n the Limca Book of Records. Ramachandran, 75, has epitomized the art of cake sculp ures in India having been an integral part of he successful Annual Cake Show for more han four decades.
“Cake sculptures require a lot of patience and time to make. I head a team owith whom I discuss the model. We start off with a plan and design.
We use the cardboard for making the stencil and then decide on the color scheme.
We start baking the cake and add sugar to the model whil giving proper shape to it. While working together as a team, we take hours, days or even months on cake sculptures every year,” Ramachandran said.
During his career, he has worked and studied abroad in European countries, learning from the best in cake art. The Nilgiris Cake Show which began n 1970 was his brainchild. When asked about the problems that he faces during his shows, he says, “Transportation is the biggest problem as a lot of fragile cakes get damaged while moving. We usually make a spare one ust in case the sculpture falls apart.”
What makes his happy is the admiration of ittle children on seeing his work. “It takes me down memory lane when I was a little child and loved seeing it myself,” he said. As for the future, he says, “I see the same passion and love or cakes in the younger generation that I used o have. I would really love to see them carry forward our dream for many years to come.”
As the saying goes, ‘Make the edible incredible’, hese ‘sweet’ representations of the fantasy world have been given life through this sugarcrafted sculptures by the students of Institute of Baking and Cake Art under Ramachandran’s leadership and are on display on St Joseph College Grounds until January 3 from 11am to 9pm.
source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / News Home> City> Bangalore / TNN / December 25th, 2015
According to a legend, a local powerful Jain woman, Padmavati, fell in love with a Shaivate merchant, Abbayya, who had come down to Lakshmeshwar.
Abbayya agreed to marry her on the condition that she should adopt Shaivism. After their marriage, the idol of Somanatha, which Abbayya brought with him from Saurashtra was installed inside the structure, which was originally a Jain shrine.
Though this story is not backed by historical evidence, historians opine that the temple was originally a Jain shrine and was called Suvarana Basadi.
It was believed to have been constructed in 1080 AD and has the features of Kalyan Chalukya, Rashtrakuta and Vijayanagar style of architecture.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> National> Karnataka / December 26th, 2015
Two fundraiser concerts are being organised in the city in support of India’s first experiential music museum, IME (Indian Music Experience) to be launched next year.
Carnatic vocalist Manasi Prasad and veena artiste Suma Sudhindra will be presenting two fusion concerts at Chowdiah Memorial Hall, on December 27 at 6 p.m. Sukanya Ravi Shankar is a special invitee.
Manasi Prasad, accompanied by Sahana Ramachandra and Aditi Prahlad on vocals, will present ‘Samarpan’ as a tribute to renowned Carnatic vocalist M.S. Subbulakshmi’s centenary proceedings, with B.K. Raghu on violin, Shadrach Solomon on keyboard, B.S. Anand on mridanga and Adarsh Shenoy on tabla.
The ‘Naada Chitra Crossover Project’ that follows will be an instrument ensemble with artist B.K.S. Varma painting on the stage as the music progresses. Suma Sudhindra on Carnatic veena will be accompanied by Rakesh Chourasia on Hindustani flute, Ned McGowan on the western key flute, Anoor Ananthakrishna Sharma and B.C. Manjunath on mridanga, Karthik Mani on western drums, and Satyajit Talwalkar on tabla.
“The 41-crore project is from the IME Trust that is looking forward to getting funds. The museum concurrently started its research wing for content acquisition for its exhibit space of 20,000 sq ft with varied installations and two mini theatres,” says Suma Sudhindra, director, Outreach, IME.
“One may choose to have their name engraved in the bricks of IME museum building at J.P. Nagar by contributing Rs. 5000,” she says.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Bengaluru / by Special Correspondent / Bengaluru – December 25th, 2015
Liver team at Pandorum Technologies: Dr. Abdullah Chand, senior scientist (left); Arun Chandru, co-founder and managing director (centre); and Dr. Sivarajan T., senior scientist / @ABHINAV_MAURYA
Pandorum Technologies, a Bengaluru-based biotech startup, has developed an artificial tissue that performs the functions of the human liver.
Pandorum said these 3D printed living tissues made of human cells would enable affordable medical research with reduced dependence on animal and human trials. It will also eventually lead to full scale transplantable organs.
Arun Chandru, 30-year-old co-founder of Pandorum, said liver toxicity and drug metabolism are the key hurdles, and contributors to failed human trials.
Pandorum’s 3D bio-printed mini-livers that mimic the human liver will serve as test platforms for discovery and development of drugs and vaccines. The firm said these drugs would have better efficacy, less side-effects and be developed at lower costs.
“We developed everything here in India,” said Mr. Chandru. “We can grow thousands of these tissues in the laboratory and test the efficacy of drugs on them for diseases including cancer.”
He said large pharma companies on an average spend about $10 billion (Rs. 66,290 crore) and 10 years on research and development to get a single new drug to the market.
Tuhin Bhowmick (34), another co-founder of Pandorum, said development of artificial organs has numerous clinical uses. The cell-based miniature organs can be used to develop bio-artificial liver support systems for preserving life in patients who have developed liver failure.
“In the near future, such bio-printed organs will address the acute shortage of human organs available for surgical transplantation,” said Dr. Bhowmick, who holds a Ph.D. from the Indian Institute of Science.
Pandorum was founded by a group of friends in 2011 who were pursuing their higher studies at IISc. They came together to work on the development of artificial human organs after winning a business competition.
Surviving initially on money from friends and family, the team approached the Department of Biotechnology with their vision. The company was awarded funding support by the Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council in 2012. The same year, the company got incubated by the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Platforms in Bengaluru.
Mr. Chandru said they created the innovation with a funding of about Rs. 1 crore, more than half of which came from the government.
Scientists and startups across the globe are growing artificial organs made of human cells to better study diseases and help test drugs. A team of researchers led by Hebrew University professor Eduardo Mitrani is growing pancreas in a petri dish to better regulate blood sugar in diabetic patients.
The global artificial organ and bionics market is expected to reach $38.75 billion (Rs 2.5 lakh crore) by 2020 at an estimated CAGR of 9.3% from 2014 to 2020, according to a study by Grand View Research.
Pandorum’s ultimate aim is to make personalised human organs such as lungs, liver, kidney and pancreas on demand, according to Mr. Chandru.
Pandorum’s innovation takes the area of making artificial organs to the next level. Bengaluru-based bioinformatics firm Strand Life Sciences founded by IISc. professors had earlier developed a virtual liver that mimics the functions of liver through software simulation. It is a predictive method that integrates data and insights for deeper understanding of the impact of a drug on the liver. The platform can predict the toxicity of several known drugs and toxins and explain the mechanism.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> Sci-Tech / by Peerzada Abrar / Bengaluru – December 23rd, 2015
