Category Archives: World Opinion

GIT student designs watch for Swiss firm

Amazing Feats, Education, Science & Technology, World Opinion

Belagavi  :

Parth Sabnis, an electrical and electronics engineering student of KLS Gogte Institute of Technology (GIT) who designed the smart PDG wat ch for Switzerland-based Luxius M’iWatch, will represent the brand at the annual GPHG Awards event at Geneva on November 10.

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Parth Sabnis, 22, is thrilled by the appreciation he’s been getting.

“The company specialises in simple yet sophisticated designs. It was a challenging task as watch design was a new domain for me. I considered it an opportunity when I got the assignment,” Parth told TOI.

Parth, who is from Mumbai, said initially it was a challenge to identify the appropriate tool for the design. After some research, he decided to use Autodesk Maya software due to its sheer versatility. After dis cussions with several clients, he decided to go for a traditional design that incorporates modern technology. The objective was to offer something more than usual ensemble of high-end watches.

Smart PDG Watch features a digital face that would run on Android Wear OS along with a fully hand-crafted analog dial. Parth said the watch symbolises two things which never stop — time and news of the world. “I did not realise the magnitude of the project until I received the invitation to attend the awards function. It couldn’t have happened without the support of the college faculty. They allowed me to got Bengaluru to work on the project and resume classes later. The college authorities appreciated my effort,” he said.

The Smart PDG Watch is a hybrid watch with two interchangeable watch cases and two time zone dials. The first watch case contains a Swiss manual winding, mechanical tourbillon movement. The second case integrates a connected smart watch movement, with a digital dial face, with a notification screen streaming real-time world news at the bottom.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / News Home> City News> Hubli / TNN / October 29th, 2016

G Balakrishna, Bengaluru driver, wins Mr. Asia 2016 title

Sports, World Opinion

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25-year-old water tanker driver from Bengaluru has won two distinctive bodybuilding titles – the Mr Asia 2016 and “Arnold Schwarzenegger of Whitefield” – during the 5th Phil-Asia bodybuilding championships in the Philippines. G Balakrishna, a gym instructor, is a resident of Ramagondanahalli near Varthur, who has a list of accolades behind him.
“I am proud of my achievement and hope to repeat it more often with some financial support,”I owe it to my mother, Parvathamma, and brother Rajesh who have been my pillars of support,” he said.

Balakrishna, an ardent fan of Arnold Schwarzenegger, said he practices nearly six hours a day and is trained by renowned bodybuilders from Mumbai and Punjab, named Sangram Chougla and Manish Kumar respectively. Balakrishna adds that he’d followed strict diet to bring down his weight for the tournament.

“I am maintaining my position with a rich daily diet that includes 750 gms of chicken, 25 eggs, 300 gms of rice, 200 gms of vegetables along with fish for extra protein and fruits,” he said.

He has earlier won the Mr Universe Under-24 junior contest in 2013 in Germany and the Mr Universe title in the same category at the world championship in Athens in 2014. He joined the water-tanker business in 2010 in Whitefild, Bengaluru.

Balakrishna’s journey to the Mr Asia platform was not easy. Whitefield Settlers’ and Residents Association funded helped him raise funds for the competition. Despite winning the championship, he says, With no government support, I still struggle to participate in bodybuilding championships outside the country,”

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> Beauty Pageants> Others / TNN / October 26th, 2016

Self-repairing road could fix crater mess

Business & Economy, Green Initiatives / Environment, Nri's / Pio's, Records, All, Science & Technology, World Opinion

Thondebhavi (Chikkaballapur District) :

The last time Thondebhavi came under the spotlight was almost a year ago when a cloud of ash from a nearby cement plant enveloped it. Now, this nondescript village is grabbing headlines for becoming the first in the country to have a self-repairing road.

Thondebhavi, 65km from Bengaluru and with a population of about 1,200 people, has a 700-metre road with a crack healing capability. This road is the brainchild of Prof Nemkumar Banthia of the civil engineering department at the University of British Columbia, Canada.

This will be a game-changer in road-building, especially in a country where roads are dotted with cracks and potholes. M Suresh of the National Institute of Engineering-Mysuru, who coordinated with Thondebhavi village authorities and University of British Columbia, said: “This road has been built with high strength concrete supplemented with fibres which have a hydrophilic nano-coating. This coating absorbs water. Since most road cracks develop because of unhydrated cement, the hydrophilic coating produces silicates that closes the cracks.”

The lifespan of these roads is 15-20 years. The road, about 100 mm thick and comparatively less than the usual cement road, would go a long way in reducing road-laying cost. Since fly ash is used for these roads, the carbon output is low.

The 700-metre stretch, which connects the village with the road to nearby Gauribidanur town, has enthused residents. Kantharaj, a resident and also president of Kolar Chikkaballapur Districts Co-operative Milk Union Ltd (KOMUL), said: “Earlier, people used to have a tough time on the slushy road. This stretch has come as a boon to villagers and they can transport their agricultural commodities to various places without any hassles.”

Jyothi Reddy, president, Thondebhavi gram panchayat, said the road has been of great help to people of the village. She said she’ll convince nearby cement factory authorities to take up many more roads in the village panchayat. Aswathachar, manager, Pragathi Krishna Gramina Bank, Thondebavi branch said the quality and finish of the road is fine and it’s expected to last longer compared to the normal cement one.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / News Home> City News> Bangalore / TNN / October 18th, 2016

Driving forward: First woman racer to represent India at Malaysian rally event

Records, All, Sports, World Opinion

Life in the fast lane brings Anitha Kholay many accolades

Bengaluru-based actor, stylist and fashion designer Anitha Kholay is all set to be the first Indian woman rallyist to represent the country at the Asia Pacific Rally Championship (APRC) in Johor, Malaysia, which is to be held from October 28-30.

Declared the fastest woman rally driver of the country at earlier events in Bengaluru, Ms. Kholay, an alumna of Bishop Cottons Girls School and Christ University, began her career in rallying as a navigator at the age of 16, and was instantly intrigued by the sport. The ‘Miss Bangalore 1998’, who has been an Indian national race and rally driver since 2003, said she was elated, and added: “This is a stepping stone to aspire for greater heights, a milestone in my career.” An MRU Motorsports team from Malaysia is preparing her car, a Proton NEO 1600 CC, which will touch speeds of up to 120 miles per hour in the 3-day championship.

Long road to success

Recalling her hard work for over two decades, Ms. Kholay said she is brimming with pride to be representing Karnataka and India at the international level. “My husband, Rupesh Kholay, discovered the potential of my proficiency behind the wheel in 1994. I haven’t looked back, and crave to steer and zoom. My favourite rallies have been the K-1000, which is the Bangalore Rally, because I enjoy the terrain the most,” she said.

Nearly 50 medals gleam in her residence in Koramangala. “I started with two wheelers, then enjoyed being a navigator, and then hopped on to full-time rallying and racing. I even love my drag racing, and the defined path in the autocross race!” says Ms. Kholay, who couldn’t have asked for a better start. She was also the first woman to lead a national rally championship with a woman’s team in 2003, and she gradually gathered experience in the inner workings of motor sports to become among the most awarded women rally drivers in the country.

Passion for speed

“I won most of my racing and rallying awards from 1994-2011 in the ladies category. I took a break when I had my two children, and have been constantly taking part in national rallies from 2003, travelling mostly to Nashik, Chikmagalur, Hyderabad and Cochin, amongst other cities,” she said. She added that she relies on a “perfect support system” of a workshop and tuners to mind her car’s health.

What does the fastest woman driver behind the wheel think of her pace on traffic-jammed Bengaluru roads? “My city driving is customised with music for relaxing, which I enjoy. Race and rally fulfil my passion for speed,” she said. “As a woman, I try my best to disentangle myself from negative criticisms and drive forward.”

Cloud-based system to study heart condition wins international prize

Records, All, Science & Technology, World Opinion

The Kalaburagi based software developer and innovator Rupam Das has done it again and won the first prize in the General Health Category of “Code Healthy Challenge” organised by Red Hat Linux’s Open Shift based Cloud platform by New York based website Devpost. He bagged the award for his cloud based online system “Hrydyalysis” to study the ECG signals of a patient and detect the heart condition of the patient.

Along with the award, Mr. Das has won a purse of $10,000. Mr. Das, who has developed several techniques to detect heart diseases including Myocardial Ischaemia, Bradycardia, Tachycardia, Coronary Artery, partial epilepsy, Venticular arrhythmia, T wave alternans and others, claimed that his recent invention was a major breakthrough in the heart-care system.

He said that the system can be adopted widely in rural areas where the health care facilities is still minimal. The Hrydyalysis is now being developed as a full fledged end to end system to convert it into a commercial low cost cardio solution.

As per the new online cloud based system Hrydyalsyis, the patients’ ECG signal as input can be taken and analysed for detecting if the heart condition was normal or not. In case of any abnormality, the system detects the type of diseases and notifies what kind of heart disease the patient was suffering and the severity of the condition. Any low cost ECG machine can be connected to Hrydyalsis and patient’s heart condition monitored accurately, he added.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> National> Karnataka / by Special Correspondent / Kalaburagi – October 15th, 2016

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

City Artist Ganjifa Raghupathi Bhat Honoured in USA

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Records, All, World Opinion
Artist Ganjifa Raghupathi Bhat with his paintings at Arizona, USA.
Artist Ganjifa Raghupathi Bhat with his paintings at Arizona, USA.

Arizona, USA :

The Mayor of the City of Tempe, Arizona, USA, Mark W. Mitchell, has honoured the well-known Mysuru artist Ganjifa Raghupathi Bhat, a visiting artist at the local temple, by declaring September 16, 2016 as Sri Ganjifa Raghupathi Bhat Day in Tempe, Arizona.

This honour is for his two painting masterpieces of Hanumantha and Garuda, two Hindu mythological characters, for the temple in Sri Venkatakrishna Kshetra, Tempe, established by Sri Sri Sugunendra Theertha Swamiji, the 30th pontiff in the lineage of Puthige Matha, Udupi, India.

The proclamation of the Mayor says that his paintings are exhibited in the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. He is also the first artist to revive the dying ancient Indian art of Ganjifa miniature painting and has done much acclaimed work in the field.

He is also known as a restorer of ancient, heritage paintings and buildings like temples and Palaces. His restoration work of walls and ornate pillars at the Mysore Palace was much appreciated by the connoisseurs and qualified experts.

source: http://www.starofmysore.com / Star of Mysore / Home> General News / September 19th, 2016

Meet Aditi Ashok, India’s future in women’s golf

Records, All, Sports, World Opinion
Aditi Ashok became the youngest and first Indian to win the Lalla Aicha Tour School and get a Ladies European Tour card for the 2016 season. — Photo: Getty Images
Aditi Ashok became the youngest and first Indian to win the Lalla Aicha Tour School and get a Ladies European Tour card for the 2016 season. — Photo: Getty Images

The 18-year-old from Bengaluru, the only Indian woman golfer competing int the Rio Olympics, 2016, turned professional earlier this year after a sparkling amateur career.

Eighteen-year-old Aditi was slotted 58th among the women who had qualified for the Rio Games. She’s ranked 439th on the official women’s world rankings list but that didn’t make any difference to her approach coming into the Games and facing off against higher-ranked opponents.

In the 2016 Summer Olympics at Rio de Janeiro, Aditi, the youngest contender and only Indian woman golfer in the fray, was able, for the most part of the first 36 holes, to tail the top spot on the leaderboard. She even shared the lead briefly before falling away in the third round.

A student at Bangalore’s Frank Anthony Public School, Aditi has been a consistent figure on the Indian amateur golfing scene. She turned professional in January 1, 2016, after an illustrious amateur career.

She made history when she became the first player from the country to win the Ladies British amateur stroke-play championship at Leeds, in 2015.

She won the St. Rule Trophy at St. Andrews and finished second in the 2015 European Women’s Amateur Championship, also claimed the overall title called ‘The Nicholls Trophy’ as well as the ‘Dinwiddy Trophy’ given for the lowest score by an under-18 player.

She is the only Indian golfer to have played the Asian Youth Games (2013) Youth Olympic Games (2014) and Asian Games (2014).

She is a three-time National Junior Champion for 2014, 2013, 2012 and a two-time National Amateur Champion for 2014, 2011.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> Sport> Other Sports / Internet Desk / August 20th, 2016

Excel Public School student attends GSA Summit at New York

Education, Records, All, World Opinion

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Mysuru :

Prithve K. Shekar, a Class X student of Excel Public School (EPS), attended GSA (Global STEM Alliance) Summit, an initiative of The New York Academy of Sciences (NYAS) held at New York recently.

Being the only Indian student selected, Prithve was part of the virtual program by The Junior Academy’s Innovation Challenge for creating novel solutions addressing major planetary challenges.

He was selected to be one among the 123 students from 13 countries to network with international students and STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) experts. He was invited for an all-expense paid trip to New York recently for the Award Ceremony, where he also got a chance to interact with top-notch scientists and executives. The team was also invited to the R&D unit of the PepsiCo at New York.

Prithve is the son of Roopa Viswanath and Kiran Shekar residing at Gokulam. It is the second time that an Excelite was selected to the prestigious scholarship of Junior Science Academy, New York.

source: http://www.starofmysore.com / Star of Mysore / Home> General News / August 09th, 2016