Category Archives: World Opinion

A global sound with an Indian touch

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, World Opinion
Lagori
Lagori

Bengaluru folk rock band Lagori share their thoughts on a one-of-its-kind music venture tying up with international DJ trio Above And Beyond

Music lovers across genres in the city were in for the ride of a lifetime as Bengaluru folk rock band Lagori launched a brand new track in collaboration with Girish Pradhan from hard rock/heavy metal band Girish And The Chronicles on June 12. What makes this collaboration actually epic is that the track and its accompanying music video is a remixed cover of English progressive trance group Above And Beyond’s title track from their latest album We Are All We Need.

Invited by the DJ trio themselves to work on the track, Lagori’s version of ‘We Are All We Need’ is a non-EDM take on it, which, the much impressed Above and Beyond are launching on their YouTube channel, simultaneous to its official release in India.

Comprising vocalist Tejas Shankar, electric/acoustic guitarist Geeth Vaz, acoustic guitarist Edward Rasquinha, bass guitarist Shalini Mohan and percussionist/drummer Vinyl Kumar, Lagori teams up with one of the rising stars in the indie scene – Girish — for the music video that blends a range of Indian elements and rock to its unique soundscape. Tejas says they are excited “in capital letters!” What got Above and Beyond’s attention on Lagori was an earlier cover of their song ‘Sun And Moon’, explains Edward. “We were approached by their label Anjunabeats to do a cover for the title track of We Are All We Need and when we heard it the first time, we knew that it’s going to be an amazing venture.”

Tejas elaborates: “We could relate to this track a lot since it’s about travelling and exploring ourselves. We all love that though we do get bored of touring and each other sometimes,” he jokes. “The song is all about hitting the road and the journey. We thought we could write a nice Hindi version of it and rope in a kick-ass western singer for the English bit.”

Shalini adds: “We retained the original feel of the song so Above & Beyond fans connect while we’ve added a bit of Lagori to it. It’s a nice mashup of Hindi and English where Girish comes in.”

They admit that Girish was the best thing that happened for the track. Tejas emphasises: “We couldn’t have found a better singer. He was our first choice. He came in and nailed it in one take.” Vinyl adds that though it is a non-EDM track going to Above and Beyond fans, it is different and appealing. “When we did ‘Sun And Moon’, we shot the video in City Market among cows and vegetable vendors. It was a massive hit.” Tejas pitches in: “That gave us the confidence that it doesn’t matter if the audience is an EDM listener base or not. At the end of the day if you can relate to the music, it’s good enough.” Shalini sums up: “It’s just our way of saying that if we can relate to EDM by covering their song, the other way round is also possible.”

Shalini points out that they are quite kicked about the video they shot for the track. “We look quite cool in it,” she beams. Tejas explains: “It’s got the whole road feel.”

Edward elaborates: “We shot the video in a garage that services bullets and other bikes. We ride in on our bikes in the biker outfits for the video.” Shalini adds that the first shot is that of a regal-looking sitar player in the midst of all the rugged bikes since the intro of the song has a sitar piece.

Tejas says they have added a whole repertoire of elements in the song – from Indian to dirty garage to even a scene on a railway track. “It’s a neat mishmash of everything.”

“The only challenge in making the video was getting Girish and Edward to ride the bikes,” Shalini laughs. “They have this whole biker appearance but they didn’t know how to ride the bikes.” Edward joins in and says: “We had a lot of cool ideas and some of them turned out to be funny like this one.”

Tejas adds that having co-written the Hindi lyrics for the track with composer Abdul, giving the completely EDM track an Indian feel and taking the challenge up made it a fun process.

What’s the take away for listeners and viewers in ‘We Are What We Need’? Shalini one lines it: “Girish’s vocals and Lagori, of course.” Tejas adds: “And the fact that an Indian band has done something cool like this. This proves that Indian music can blend with a range of other genres.”

The video is available on YouTube and was aired on Pepsi MTV Indies.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> Features> MetroPlus / by Allan Moses Rodricks / June 12th, 2015

Hubballi optometrist gets UK fellowship

Business & Economy, Education, Records, All, Science & Technology, World Opinion

Hubballi :

Kunal Shah , 35, a BS optometry graduate from BITS, Pilani-Sankara Nethralaya, and CEO of Hubballi-based startup Eyesavers has got a fellowship from the British Contact Lens Association (BCLA). He is the fourth India optometrist to receive the BCLA fellowship. Professor James Wolffsohn of Aston University honoured Shah in Pune recently.

Expressing joy on receiving the fete, Kunal told TOI that the adoption of technology has been instrumental in getting the fellowship.

“Our startup, floated two years ago, has been the first in India to adopt I-profiler technology by Zeiss and Visio Office Plus by Essilor from France which can calculate the position of eyes in front of the lenses at a precision of 1/10th mm at a click of a button. Now, 4-5 other optometrists have borrowed these technologies in India,” he said.

Kunal’s father Prakash Shah, who is also involved in optical business for the past five decades, said that he was worried when Kunal wanted to invest Rs 20 lakh on I-profiler and Rs 8.50 lakh on Visio Office Plus. “Now I am convinced by his innovations. Though we have Hubli Opticals since 1953, he floated separate brand at his own risk,” he said.

Kunal is offering free service using Visio Office Plus technology to avoid fitting errors. . “Usually, we don’t consider the size of nose, eyes and forehead while suggesting a frame for patients. This technology considers whether the wearer of the glass is head-mover or eye-mover while preparing the perfect frame,” he claimed.

Kunal is the only optometrist in North Karnataka to provide cosmetic eye to fill self-confidence among people who have only one eye by birth.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Hubballi / by Sangamesh Menasinakai, TNN / June 10th, 2015

City teen selected for international chemistry Olympiad

Education, Records, All, Science & Technology, World Opinion

Bengaluru :

Ameet Deshpande, a 17-year-old student from AECS Maruti Public School, has been selected for the International Chemistry Olympiad (ICO) to be held in Bratislava, Slovakia.

Of the 30 students who participated from India, four students were selected for the International Olympiad and Ameet is one of them. Ameet has also enrolled at FIITJEE Bangalore.

Ameet is also an avid footballer. The Olympiad consists of two sessions that run for five hours each and the winner will be decided by a scientific jury set up by the host nation.

“I enjoy chemistry because it is one of the most practical subjects, but I am undecided whether I will pursue it as a career. I am very happy and thankful to all my teachers who helped me to achieve this goal,” said Ameet.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Bengaluru / TNN / June 07th, 2015

Hassan students win prize

Education, Records, All, Science & Technology, World Opinion

A student, native of Hassan, has won a prize at the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair held at Pittsburgh, US recently.

S. Komal, a native of Nittur village near Hassan, participated in the fair with his classmate Aditya Bhargav. The device designed and displayed by the duo is used for knowing the carbon monoxide in air. The duo won the fourth award carrying $ 500. Both are class XII students at Sharada Vidyanikethana Public School in Mangaluru.

The fair was organised by the Society for Science and the Public in partnership with the Intel Foundation at Pittsburgh between May 10 and 15. Students were selected for the fair through competitions. Aditya Bhargav and Komal presented highly sensitive Nano-Ferrite meant for detection of carbon monoxide in air.

“Air pollution is a big problem in India. Vehicles have been contributing high rates of carbon monoxide to environment. We made efforts to develop a device to detect carbon monoxide content in the air, ” he told the media.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> National> Karnataka / by Satish G.T, / Hassan – June 02nd, 2015

A bevy of beauties

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Historical Links, Pre-Independence, Records, All, World Opinion

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Passion has little to do with euphoria and everything to do with patience,’ said American author Mark Z Danielewski. Having an unaltered passion for antique beauties is Ashwath Narayan, an automobile engineer. A collector of vintage and classic cars, Ashwath bought his first car when he was 15 years old. “My first ride was a Morris Minor,” Ashwath says proudly. An automobile consultant then, his career doubled his love for cars, which he says will never perish. 

“The love for cars dates back to my childhood. My father had Dodge, Rampage and Plymouth…then. I grew up with these cars and this is the root to my enduring passion,”  he explains. A youthful person, he now owns the 1936 Austin, 1956 Super 10, 1949 Morris Minor and 1964 Morris Traveller. The list does not end there as he has a unique and a popular two wheeler — Rajdoot Runabout. “This bike was not very popular at the time of its manufacture. But it became a household name after Dimple Kapadia and Rishi Kapoor’s movie ‘Bobby’. In the movie, the hero and the heroine elope on this bike. It is after the success of this movie that this bike came to be called as ‘Bobby’ bike and everyone wanted to own this then,” he explains.

Parked with utter care in his garage, the Super 10, a raven beauty with red upholstery, is as good as it was during its time of manufacture. “This car was restored completely by me from scratch. I am its only owner and I have done everything from suspension, gear box, tinkering, painting and upholstery. It was in complete clapped out condition when I bought it,”  he says. The Morris Traveller, an English beauty with wooden framed doors, was directly imported from the UK in its original form. The other convertible car — Austin, is part of a family as his sons Sanjay and Rajeev say, “We have grown up with Austin.”

Sanjay adds saying, “Austin is a very reliable car that has a rich heritage. We have spent our childhood in this and there were times when the car has given up on us, especially during the rallies. But the power of this car is such that people came readily to help push it to start. However, these things are very rare to be experienced now. There is no such camaraderie anymore and there is no human touch to all of it, which I sometimes miss.”

As the phrase goes — like father, like sons — Sanjay and Rajeev both share a connection with the classic machines and Rajeev puts it across as, “We have this passion in our DNAs.” While Rajeev is enthusiastic about these cars, Sanjay has added more to this inherited passion as he has developed an ultra-lightweight road bike Colnago Master, which is the only surviving bike of its sort in India. The passion bug has also smitten Ashwath’s wife Sulochana and Ashwath says, “My wife is very supportive about my passion and she is equally enthusiastic about these cars.”

The rallies are also a time for family outing in these cars. Ashwath, has also driven his Super 10 and Morris Minor till Mysuru to take part in the rallies.

Maintained in first-rate condition, Ashwath says, “I am sometimes scared to take these cars out on the roads as there is a lot of attention pouring in while driving them, which sometimes becomes disturbing.” He comments on the technology of these cars as rough and tough. “It is a costly affair. But once restored and maintained well, they will not give you any problem,” he adds.

source: http://www.deccanherald.com / Deccan Herald / Home> Supplement> Metrolife / by Prajna GR,  DHNS / May 26th, 2015

SPI among top 100 fastest growing Pvt. Cos in Atlanta

Business & Economy, Records, All, Science & Technology, World Opinion

Receives Atlanta Business Chronicle Pacesetter Award-2015

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Mysuru :

Software Paradigms International Group, (SPI) was honoured as one of the fastest growing private companies in Atlanta, Georgia, at the Atlanta Business Chronicle Pacesetter Awards ceremony held recently at the Georgia World Congress Centre.

The Atlanta Business Chronicle Pacesetter Award publishes the list of top 100 fastest growing privately held companies in Atlanta, Georgia. This year’s Pacesetter event saw participation of over 500 attendees.

“SPI is a technology provider of choice for Retailers worldwide. The firm’s growth has been driven by changes in the Retail industry particularly the rapid adoption of online and mobile channels by shoppers. SPI’s expertise in multi-channel planning and analytics as well as supplier management have helped our retail clients come out ahead in creating a world class experience for their customers across channels,” said Sid Mookerji, Global CEO, SPI

The 100 Pacesetter companies were announced in their index ranking order from 100 to 1. Top 5 companies included 1-800-COURIER, Castle Medical, SalesLoft, Ely Concrete Construction, and Priority Payment Systems. SPI ranked 44th in the top 100.

This is the second Pacesetter award for SPI.

Caroline Dunn, Head of Marketing, SPI, received the award on behalf of SPI.

source: http://www.starofmysore.com / Star of Mysore / Home> General News / Saturday – May 23rd, 2015

Bengaluru-based band all set to rock it in Singapore

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, World Opinion

Bengaluru :

Four buddies join hands to make rocking music in a heady mix of creativity and passion – that’s Space Behind the Yellow Room, a city-based band exploring new frontiers. The foursome will represent the country in Singapore on Saturday at Music Matters Live, 2015, an independent fest.

Fresh into college, Shoumik Biswas, a music lover from Kolkata, along with three others from Srishti Institute of Art Design and Technology decided to set up this band in 2011. While lead vocalist Shoumik also plays the drums, Devasheesh Sharma and Nihar Apte strum the guitar; Eshaan Sood, bass guitarist, joined the trio in 2013 after one of the band members quit.

“We are the first band from Bengaluru to win the Pepsi Un-box talent hunt that’s into its 5th edition. We were selected from among 450 teams from across the country,” says an elated Shoumik.

On Friday, the quartet attended a pre-event conference which saw discussions on various aspects of music, online marketing of music and branding. “There were many takeaways from the conference. It’s the best award we could have received for winning the competition back home,” added Shoumik.

Inspired by the band’s work, Thomas Jose, also from Srishti Institute of Art Design and Technology and an aspiring movie-maker, has planned to come up with a music video and documentary on the team. Explains Thomas, “I have been with these guys from the time the band was formed. Their dedication has taken them to where they’re today. Finding an international platform in four years is amazing.”

The band delves into experimental and space rock music and is known for creating magic sans fanciful recording rooms or costly production process. “These music fanatics work from a hostel room, doing all pre- and post-production work themselves,” says Thomas.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Bengaluru / TNN / May 23rd, 2015

TechXpo to host Chinese delegates

Education, Science & Technology, World Opinion

Mangaluru:

Delegates from China will attend TechXpo 15 that gets under way at P A College of Engineering (PACE) on Friday.

The college’s mechanical engineering department will host an auto engineering show. Chinese delegate Schichun Tao, sales director, Asia Pacific, Middle East, North Africa and Latin America of Launch Tech Pvt Limited will be the chief guest .

A seminar will be conducted on technologies related to high performance lubricants, automobile diagnostics evolution and future trends.Indoor exhibits on latest technologies in the automotive industry, outdoor exhibits on modified and vintage cars and bikes will be open to public. Free auto diagnostic scanning for new generation cars with OBD 2 and Entice 15, a technical competition, will be held. Joy Yan, sales manager, Launch Tech, Sasi Menon, retail head, Mobil 1, and Shamnas Mohammd, managing director, Candour Auto Tech, will be present.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Mangaluru / TNN / May 07th, 2015

IISc Professor Now a Royal Society Fellow

Science & Technology, World Opinion
Bengaluru :
A physics professor from the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) has been elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society.

Ajay Sood, who has had a career spanning over four decades, was chosen for his work on nanotechnology and for initiating several contemporary researches and providing deep insights into some of physics’ long-standing questions.

The Royal Society is the United Kingdom’s national academy of science and includes several prominent scientists and engineers from the Commonwealth. So far, 42 Indians including Srinivasa Ramanujan, Sir C V Raman and C N R Rao have been elected Fellows of the Society.

This year, 47 new Fellows and 10 new foreign members were inducted. In its citation, the Royal Society has said “the originality, diversity and significance of Professor Sood’s contributions are truly remarkable and noteworthy”. It recognises him as “one of the important leaders of Indian science in general and physics in particular”.

Reacting to the honour, Prof Sood told Express, “I feel happy, honoured and humbled. It is humbling because of the other people elected as Fellows.”

He called this a recognition of Indian science. “I not only feel good for me, I feel good for my students, collaborators, department, the institute, and the country.”

In 2003, Sood and his team at IISc generated electricity by allowing liquid and gas flow over carbon nanotubes, thereby unveiling a new kind of physics. The discovery, often called the ‘Sood Effect’, finds application in many areas, from medical appliances like pacemakers to gas pipelines.

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Cities> Bengaluru / by Express News Service / May 07th, 2015

Worthy son immerses Dad’s ashes at Triveni Sangama

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, World Opinion

TriveniBF07may2015

Srirangapatna :

The last wishes of the 75-year-old Britisher, John Gascoigne, whose body was cremated in Mysuru on Apr. 30 as per Hindu rituals, was fulfilled yesterday with his son Ben Gascoigne immersing his father’s ashes at Triveni Sangama here.

Ben was accompanied by Velu and Anand, good friends of John Gascoigne.

Speaking to Star of Mysore, Ben said that he was happy to fulfil the last wishes of his father. He expressed gratitude towards the locals who helped him. He said that he would leave for the UK after getting the death certificate of his father.

When Ben was asked whether any items of John was missing, he replied that John’s passport was not traceable but he was not keen in lodging a Police complaint.

source: http://www.starofmysore.com / Star of Mysore / Home> General News / Saturday – May 02nd, 2015