Category Archives: Records, All

Over a cup of evening tea : A sentimental journey and a narrow escape

Amazing Feats, Inspiration/ Positive News and Features, Leaders, Records, All, Travel

by  Dr. K. Javeed Nayeem, MD

Last Sunday my wife and I went on a journey that we had wanted to undertake for the last thirteen years ever since she lost her brother who was serving in the army as an officer. Major S. M. K. Ghori, a former student of the Maharaja’s College here, laid down his life in the cause of the motherland while fighting insurgency in the forests of Baramulla District in the State of Jammu and Kashmir on 1st July 2001. Two of his most trusted men too went down fighting alongside him on that fateful evening. Four days later while we were waiting with all our grieving family members at the Bangalore Airport for his body to arrive, I told my wife that we should try and visit his unit not only to see where exactly he was serving when his end came but also as an act of homage to his sacrifice.

A trip to Kashmir somehow never materialised over the next thirteen years and finally when a chance came up last week in the form of a group tour with about a dozen doctors’ families, my wife and I felt that it was the right time for us to go there. Having finished our sight-seeing in and around Srinagar with the others members of our group we extended our stay by a further two days to accomplish what we had been looking forward to. Upon contacting the army top brass through my brother-in-law’s wife we were told that his unit was still stationed near Baramulla and arrangements would be made to allow us a visit.

Very soon a Colonel who was the chief of the unit called us up and said that he would be happy to show us around the place and also insisted that we stay back for lunch. We very politely declined this part of the invitation as we did not want to intrude on the time of officers and men who were expected to be in a state of operational readiness round-the-clock. However, we agreed to have a cup of tea with them without wasting much of their time. A friend in Srinagar who used to meet us every evening arranged for a trusted cab driver to drive us to our destination and back since he did not consider it safe for us to go there with an unknown person. As he was from the nearby town of Sopore where he had his ancestral house, he said that we should be his guests for lunch which would expose us to the traditional Kashmiri hospitality. This was a suggestion to which we readily agreed and left early in the morning. The drive from Srinagar towards the western border of the country was full of security bottlenecks with all vehicles being stopped and photographed by heavily armed men in combat readiness. The road lined on either side by tall poplar trees passed through some very fertile countryside, full of verdant apple orchards nourished by a maze of mountain streams with snow-clad hills in the not too distant background. The apparent tranquillity of the hills belied the turmoil that they have been witness to from time to time.

After a drive of about thirty kilometers from the town of Baramulla through some of the most remote and lonely stretches, we reached the army unit where we were welcomed with a warmth that we had never expected from men in uniform. The Colonel himself was standing with his deputy to receive us with fighting men’s iron handshakes and they escorted us to the drawing room of their barracks. It had a large life-sized portrait of my late brother-in-law on one of its walls since he was the only officer of the unit who had died in action since its inception while it had lost twenty-nine Jawans whose sacrifice was in no way less significant. Their photos too adorned another wall in a close cluster which perhaps was a reflection of the close ties they shared while they were alive.

The Colonel briefly told us about their life as soldiers and the uncertainty that comes with it. Later he himself drove us in his personal vehicle to the place from where we could see the hill across a lush valley at the base of which my brother-in-law and his men went down fighting. We stood in silence trying to visualise the final moments of their brave stand. Returning to the base we were a little surprised and even embarrassed to discover that the tea was almost a meal prepared and served by men in uniform in a manner that would have put the most talented hostess to shame.

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We were then invited to stand alongside the painting of my brother-in-law and have a picture clicked as a keepsake of our visit which we did [see pic]. It was a very sentimental moment against which I had warned my wife well in advance and thankfully she put up a brave face.

After I signed the visitors’ book it was time once again for iron handshakes but this time to say goodbye. It was a very short drive to Sopore, a Spartan town with horse-drawn carriages and tin-roofed houses that seemed to have been frozen in a time warp like the rest of the Kashmiri countryside. The atmosphere seemed a little eerie as we found that every entry point was guarded by heavily armed soldiers alongside their armoured personnel carriers. We located our friend’s home which was tucked in a maze of narrow alleyways and were soon lost in another session of tea accompanied by some traditional Kashmiri snacks and dry fruits. The tea itself was a very distant cousin of what we drink here as it is salted instead of sugared. My host then suggested that he would take us for a traditional lunch to a resort overlooking the Wular Lake, the largest freshwater lake in Asia which was just a stone’s throw from his village. The breathtaking view from the place was something to be treasured forever in the mind’s e

ye. It is because of sights like this that Kashmir has come to be called a ‘Paradise on Earth’. After a hearty meal we parted company as it was time for us to get back to Srinagar. On the way back too we noticed unusually hectic military activity along the main road and on the outskirts of the town we even saw an ambulance and a large convoy of army vehicles parked around a house. We did not make much of it and reached Srinagar safely for a good night’s rest.

Early the next morning one of my friends who had been in our group and who had returned with the others a day earlier called me up from Mysore to tell me that Sopore had been the scene of a fierce gun-battle between security forces and insurgents the previous night. Since a civilian youth too was killed in the crossfire it appears there were widespread protests and an indefinite curfew had been imposed on the whole town with all roads completely blocked. Occurrences like these are a very common feature of life in Kashmir and the ensuing inconvenience is accepted as a normal part of living there. The whole of Monday and Tuesday, till we left Srinagar, life remained completely paralysed in the entire valley. My wife and I thanked God that we had been able to get away in the nick of time from what could have become a tricky situation blocking our exit. Our ‘Mission Kashmir’ had been accomplished at last !

e-mail: kjnmysore@rediffmail.com

source: http://www.starofmysore.com / Star of Mysore / Home> Feature Articles / Friday – June 27th, 2014

Konkani Christian Association fetes Jagannath Shenoy , Fr. Noronha

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Leaders, Records, All

Konkani Musical Nite held in city

Sitting from left: Rev. Fr. Louis Noronha, M. Jagannath Shenoy and Rev. Fr. Denis Noronha are seen with the dignitaries after the felicitation.
Sitting from left: Rev. Fr. Louis Noronha, M. Jagannath Shenoy and Rev. Fr. Denis Noronha are seen with the dignitaries after the felicitation.

Mysore :

The Konkani Christian Association, Mysore, had organised a mega Musical Nite in Konkani on June 22 at the “Konkan Bhavan” in Vijayanagar here.

J.R. Lobo, MLA of Mangalore, was the chief guest. Gracian Rodrigues, President of the Association, welcomed the gathering. The Musical Nite was presented by well-known singer Melwyn Peris and his troupe from Mangalore with Konkani songs, dances and jokes.

On the occasion, M. Jagannath Shenoy, Managing Partner of Ganesh Beedi Works, Mysore, was honoured with the title “Sarasvathicho Suputhru, Mahadhani M. Jagannath Shenoy” for his dedicated service to the poor and needy.

Also two well-known priests from Mysore diocese Rev. Fr. Denis Noronha and Rev. Fr. Louis Noronha were honoured for their selfless service as Priests for more than 50 years.

On behalf of the Association, the chief guest J.R.Lobo distributed books and financial assistance to the needy students.

John William D’Souza, General Secretary and John Rebello, Vice-President of the Association, conducted the programme. Vincent Crasto, Treasurer, proposed a vote of thanks. More than 700 Konkani speaking people attended the programme.

source: http://www.starofmysore.com / Star of Mysore / Home> General News / June 25th, 2014

Export Excellence Award for SKANRAY

Business & Economy, Records, All
Tourism Minister R.V. Deshpande is seen presenting the award to Rohit Mehta, CEO, Skanray, as Union Minister Ananth Kumar and others look on.
Tourism Minister R.V. Deshpande is seen presenting the award to Rohit Mehta, CEO, Skanray, as Union Minister Ananth Kumar and others look on.

Bangalore :

Skanray, a Mysore-based Primary Healthcare Technologies Company, has won the prestigious Export Excellence Award in recognition of its significant contribution to the State’s Forex earnings.

Union Minister for Chemicals and Fertilisers Ananth Kumar and Tourism Minister R.V. Deshpande presented the award to Rohit Mehta, CEO and Executive Director, Skanray Healthcare business unit, at a function held at Hotel Taj Westend in Bangalore on June 21.

Shaida Mohammed Abdali, Ambassador of Afghanistan to India; Dr. Nahid Rashid, Commercial Consul, Embassy of Bangladesh; S. Sampathraman, President-Elect, FKCCI; R. Shivakumar, President, FKCCI; Tallam R. Dwarakanath, Sr. Vice President-Elect; K. Shiva Shanmugam, Immd. Past President; Sudarshan Tirunarayan, Secretary General, FKCCI; R. Krishna, Chairman, International Trade Committee, FKCCI, were present on the occasion.

source: http://www.starofmysore.com / Star of Mysore / Home> General News / June 25th, 2014

Ann Sarah Koshy, a Bangalore doctor is Obama-Singh fellow

Records, All, Science & Technology, World Opinion

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Bangalore :

Ann Sarah Koshy is happiest pulling out sticky, wailing babies into the world. For her, delivering the bundles of poor women and sharing their joys matters most. Now, the young intern with a rural hospital off Sarjapur Road is off to Harvard University to research how Vitamin B12 helps in neonatal growth.

Ann, 22, who completed MBBS at St John’s Hospital, Bangalore, is the recipient of the Obama-Singh 21st-Century Knowledge Initiative. This fellowship was planned as a part of US aid in Indian education when President Barack Obama came to India in 2010. Ann was one among 10 students selected for the research mentorship.

“It hasn’t sunk in yet. I can’t believe they would approve my research and allow me to do a course in global nutrition,” she told TOI.

Ann, though, never wanted to be a doctor. She recalls, “When I was selected to give a farewell day speech in school, I saw my mother walk out to attend a surgery while other parents listened to me in rapt attention. I told myself I’d never become a doctor. I haven’t got enough of my parents because both are doctors. But I don’t know why I gave up maths and studied MBBS, though I scored 99 in mathematics and 95 in biology. I wanted to be an astronaut but they broke my heart when they said I was short.”

It was in 2008 that St John’s Research Institute was chosen under this initiative, and tied up with National Institute of Health, USA.

Ann’s mother Dr Annamma Thomas is professor of obstetrics and gynaecology, and father Dr Reji Koshy Thomas is professor of ophthalmology at St John’s Hospital. She owes her leadership skills and go-getter attitude to her father. “I was the first woman general secretary of the students’ association in St John’s College. I knew I had to break the glass ceiling. I like my job in hospital as I’m the resident doctor and have to take my own decisions,” she added.
At Harvard, Ann will research how vitamin B12 can boost neurological development in a foetus. As a prelude, she’s begun research on 300 pregnant women in Bangalore, across economic strata, and treated 150 of them with vitamin B12 supplements. She plans to compile the research at Harvard in the next six weeks. She also applied for a course in clinical epidemiology and audit course on global nutrition which the US varsity has accepted.
Missed by nurses, patients

Karunapalyam, the rural hospital off Sarjapur Road where Ann Sarah Koshy works, is going to miss their only resident doctor. “Nurses say they’re sad as they won’t have a doctor for the next six weeks. But I’ve promised to come back and complete my internship. My patients also look on me to bring them better service,” says Ann.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> India / TNN / June 28th, 2014

3.77 Lakh Aspirants to Write KARTET Tomorrow

Education, Records, All

Bangalore :

The first ever Karnataka Teachers Eligibility Test (KARTET) to be held on Sunday will draw as many as 3,77,277 candidates. The test will determine their eligibility to apply for teaching posts in primary schools.

According to the Centralized Admission Cell (CAC)conducting the KARTET, 1,87,886 candidates will write Paper 1 from 9.30 am to 12 pm seeking to become eligible to teach Classes 1 to 5 and 2,14,492 will write Paper 2 for Classes 6 to 8 from 2 pm to 4.30 pm. Candidates are allowed to appear for both papers.

Each test will have 150 multiple-choice questions from five subjects. Candidates are required to secure 60 per cent (90 out of 150) to become eligible to apply for teaching jobs (55 per cent or 83 marks for reservation categories).

At present, candidates wishing to teach Classes 1 to 8 should hold a pre-university or degree certificate and a Diploma in Education or Bachelor of Education. Now, TET scores will become mandatory to become eligible for recruitment.

The KARTET will be held in 694 centres across the state and prohibitory orders will be issued in areas near each test centre, according to a statement released by CAC special officer B V Rajashekhar.

The test will be conducted under the supervision of deputy commissioners. Candidates will be allowed inside the centres 30 minutes prior to the TET.

Legal action will be taken against candidates who attempt to indulge in malpractice, the CAC has stated, adding that chief superintendents and other officials will be present at the centres two hours before the test to ensure everything is in order.

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Cities> Bangalore / by Express News Service / June 21st, 2014

Wins BodyBuilding contest

Records, All, Sports

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Mysore :

City bodybuilder Najeeb Khan, who participated in the bodybuilding competition organised at Dundamma Government School at Ashokapuram in city recently as part of Dr. B.R. Ambedkar’s birth anniversary celebration, won ‘Dr. B.R. Ambedkar-2014’ title.

source: http://www.starofmysore.com / Star of Mysore / Home> Sports News  / June 22nd, 2014

AITA talent series U-14 Tennis : City girl Zeba Amina finishes runner-up

Education, Records, All, Sports

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Mysore :

City girl, Zeba Amina, a 8th standard student of Delhi Public School, Mysore, taking part in the AITA Talent series Under-14 National Level Tennis Tournament held at Trivandrum Tennis Club, Trivandrum, Kerala, from June 16-20th emerged runner-up in the Girls Under-14 singles event.

Zeba Amina, a product of the R. Nagaraj Tennis Academy, Mysore and daughter of Saleem and Shehnaz, performed well in the National U-14 talent series tennis tournament and finished runner-up. In the under-14 singles final, Zeba Amina lost to Tamil Nadu’s Kiran Rani 1-6,2-6.

In the semi-final, Zeba beat Janaki (TN) 6-4, 6-4 and in the quarter-finals beat Ananya (Kerala) 6-1, 6-2 to progress further.

The results: Final: U-14 Girls: Kiran Rani (TN) bt Zeba Amina (Kar) 6-1, 6-2.

Semi-finals: Zeba Amina bt Janaki (TN) 6-4, 6-4; Quarter-finals: Zeba Amina bt Ananya (KER) 6-1, 6-2.

source: http://www.starofmysore.com / Star of Mysore / Home> Sports News / June 20th, 2014

Students of MIT design and test fly their unmanned aerial vehicle

Education, Records, All, Science & Technology

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Mysore :

The Eighth Semester Mechanical Engineering students of Maharaja Institute of Technology (MIT), Mysore, have excelled in their project with the ‘Design and Frabication of Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) – Y4 Copter’ recently.

The project was carried out by Mohan Keerthi, S.T. Savanth, K. Ashwini and P.B. Pramod under the guidance of Dr. Mohamed Khaisar, Professor and HoD, Department of Mechanical Engineering and Dr. Y.T. Krishnegowda, Professor, Dept. of Mechanical Engineering and Secretary,Maharaja Education Trust (MET), Mysore.

An Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV), commonly known as a drone and referred to as a Remotely Piloted Aircraft (RPA) by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), is an aircraft without a human pilot aboard. Its flight is controlled either autonomously by onboard computers or by the remote control of a pilot on the ground or in another vehicle.

They are usually deployed for military and special operation applications, but also used in a small but growing number of civil applications, such as policing and fire-fighting, and non-military security work, such as surveillance of pipelines. UAVs are often preferred for missions that are too ‘dull, dirty or dangerous’ for manned aircraft.

As a tool for search and rescue, UAVs can help find humans lost in the wilderness, trapped in collapsed buildings, or adrift at sea.

The name Y4 Copter is named after the shape of the aircraft resembling the alphabet ‘Y’ and ‘4’ is due to number of propellers used are four. The complete design and all the stages of fabrication process and assembly were solely carried out by the students at the college premises.

Automation is implemented to maintain the desired roll, pitch and yaw. There are two propellers and motors at the front on two separate arms and two co-axial propellers and motors at the rear end. The relative motions of roll and pitch are achieved by tilting mechanism by servos. There are two servos, one for the roll movement and the other for the pitch movement. The total system is powered by the battery.

The flight and movement of the Y4 Copter is controlled by the wireless system called radio controller. A custom remote is built to communicate with the Y4 Copter which offers long range and security. Dr. B.G. Naresh Kumar, Principal-Maharaja Institute of Technology witnessed the testing and first flight of the Y4 Copter and appreciated it.

source: http://www.starofmysore.com / Star of Mysore / Home> General News / June 20th, 2014

UK Marks Centenary of Indian-Origin WW II Spy Noor Inayat Khan

Amazing Feats, Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Historical Links, Pre-Independence, Inspiration/ Positive News and Features, Leaders, Nri's / Pio's, Records, All, World Opinion

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London: 

The birth centenary year of Noor Inayat Khan, the famous Indian-origin World War II spy, was observed in the UK this week.

Popular English novelist and political commentator Frederick Forsyth was among the key guests at a special memorial event in London to celebrate the life of Noor, the great-great-great-grand-daughter of Tipu Sultan, who became the first female radio operator to be sent from Britain into occupied France.

“What is so remarkable about Noor Inayat Khan is that she owed us nothing; she didn’t have to go,” said Forsyth, the well-known thriller writer behind books such as ‘The Day of the Jackal’ and ‘The Odessa File’ who compared her to the 18th century ruler, Tipu Sultan, known as the ‘Tiger of Mysore’.

“When it came to being recruited for the SOE (Special Operations Executive), she could have said ‘thank you but no’…but she volunteered. There must be something of the old tiger in her genes. It is recorded that she fought like a tigress…Noor absolutely did not die for nothing.

“She is an amazement, a remarkable and extraordinarily brave woman who did what she did for a country to which she owed nothing,” Forsyth said.

The memorial event was organised by the Noor Inayat Khan Memorial Trust set up by Shrabani Basu – author of the World War II heroine’s biography ‘Spy Princess’.

It coincided with the dates of June 16-17, 1943, when Noor – under her codename Madeleine – was flown to the landing ground in Northern France.

“She combined the rational side of her personality with her hatred of injustice and became one of our greatest heroines. My hope is that she would have gone back to that inner life that sustained her,” said Christine Crawley, a Labour party politician who has campaigned for the contribution of women agents in the war to be commemorated.

The SOE was an underground force established in Britain in 1940 by war-time Prime Minister Winston Churchill to “set Europe ablaze”.

It recruited men and women to launch a guerilla war against Hitler’s forces.

Noor, born in September 1914 to an Indian Muslim father and an American mother, grew up in Britain and France.

Despite her pacifist views, she decided to join the war effort to defeat the Nazis and was eventually captured.

In spite of being repeatedly tortured and interrogated, she revealed nothing and was executed by an SS officer on September 13, 1944, at Dachau concentration camp at the age of 30.

She was later awarded the George Cross, the highest civilian decoration in the UK, in recognition of her bravery.

A bust in Noor’s memory now stands at Gordon Square in central London, a stone’s throw from the home she briefly lived in.

source: http://www.ndtv.com / NDTV / Home> Diaspora / Press Trust of India / June 19th, 2014

Country’s first government Liver Clinic brings hope

Records, All, Science & Technology, World Opinion

Bangalore :

Chethana (name changed), 10, had a virtual rebirth on Friday when she underwent a bile duct enlargement correction surgery at the newly-launched Liver Clinic here.
The nation’s first government-owned liver clinic offers a glimmer of hope for thousands of chronic liver disorder patients. The north Karnataka girl was among six persons who underwent surgeries at a surgical gastro8enterology workshop. The operations, which were done at the Victoria Hospital premises, were beamed live to the inauguration venue.
The Liver Clinic, run by the department of gastroenterology, Bangalore Medical College and Research Institute (BMCRI), offers to %conduct liver transplants on poor patients for Rs 5 lakh as against Rs 40 lakh charged by corporate hospitals. The state government has %sanctioned Rs 7.5 crore for the clinic.
As many as 150 patients with various liver disorders have been awaiting transplant and have registered with the Zonal Coordination Committee for Organ Transplants in Karnataka (ZCCK). Thirty other patients have been screened for transplant. The Liver Clinic is likely to conduct transplants in a couple of months.

Launching the clinic, medical education minister Sharan Prakash Patil said: “There are 20,000 patients waiting for liver transplants in India and only 1,000 of them have the access and financial capability to undergo it. Through this initiative, we want to encourage our surgeons to help poor patients. There is need to establish an autonomous gastroenterology institute.”
“We have a highly trained team of transplant surgeons, anaesthetists as well as nurses ,” said Dr Nagesh NS, %transplant surgeon and %clinic chief.

Dr K V Ashok Kumar  , retired head of the department of gastroenterology at BMCRI, and one of the brains behind the clinic, said: “After I retired, I came back to work for Rs 20,000 only to make this dream come true. We believe the poorest patient sho8uld get treated with the best of facilities.”

According to WHO data, there are annually over 2 lakh deaths due to liver disorders in India accounting for 2.31% of total deaths in the country.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> India / TNN / June 14th, 2014