Monthly Archives: October 2012

A toast to The Lalit Ashok’s chefs

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Leaders, Uncategorized

What better way to celebrate an occasion than over food and wine with friends. And so, when it was time to celebrate the achievements of certain chefs in the city, Bangalore’s glitterati headed to The Lalit Ashok to make it an evening of fun and bonhomie.

Everyone raised a toast to Chef Nimish Bhatia, who was recently promoted as the Corporate Executive Chef, and cheered for Chef Subodh Goyal who is the hotel’s new Executive Chef.

The city’s gourmets enjoyed a delectable spread as they reminisced over their favourite memories with Chef Bhatia. We spotted stand up comic Rubi entertaining her friends while Abhay, Alok and Rishad were also seen having a good time with their pals.

source: http://www.articles.indiatimes.com / Home> Life & Style> Parties / TNN, October 07th, 2012

Oscar Fernandes bats for R.K. Narayan Memorial

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Historical Links, Pre-Independence, Leaders

Mysore, Oct. 8:

Following objections to convert R.K. Narayan’s house at Yadavagiri into a memorial in his name by some Kannada litterateurs, the matter was taken up by the Rajya Sabha member Oscar Fernandes who wrote a letter in this regard to the Union HRD Minister Kapil Sibal urging him to allocate funds to set up the memorial. The full text of the letter written by Oscar Fernandes is produced here below:

Dear Shri Kapil Sibal Ji, 5th October 2012

R.K. Narayan, the celebrated writer who wrote in the English language, was a resident of Mysore. A memorial was conceptualised to honour his memory. The creation of ‘Malgudi’ was his contribution to the literary world, as also his creation of so many loved and memorable characters. A controversy has recently broken out with some Kannada writers aligned to the Right-Wing claiming that R.K. Narayan was not a Kannadiga and therefore opposed the establishment of a memorial for him. Some others like Girish Karnad, U.R. Ananthamurthy and others support his memorial. I am enclosing an article written by Prof. K.C. Belliappa, former Vice- Chancellor, Rajiv Gandhi University, in the Outlook Magazine dated 8th October, 2012 for your kind perusal.

In this light, it may be a step in the right direction if your Ministry may kindly consider making some contribution to erect a memorial for Shri R.K. Narayan, who is indubitably one of India’s finest writers in English. I shall be grateful, if you could kindly consider the request and do the needful.

With kind regards,

Yours sincerely,

(Oscar Fernandes)

source: http://www.StarofMysore.com / Home> General News / October 08th, 2012

MTR Foods earmarks Rs 150-cr investment in next two years

Business & Economy
Chennai:

MTR Foods, an instant food manufacturer has lined up an investment of close to Rs 150 crore over the next two years, as part of its target of generating Rs 1,000 crore revenue by 2015.
MTR Foods Chief Executive Officer Sanjay Sharma said, “We continue to make investments. We will be making investments of Rs 100-150 crore in the next two years. We are a profitable company. The funds will be raised through internal accruals.”
During the fiscal (2011-12), the company reported revenues of Rs 350 crore and in this financial year the company is aiming to garner Rs 450-crore revenue.
Launching the new ‘MTR Sambar Masala Podi’, ‘Rasam Podi’ and ‘Kulambu Podi’ exclusively for the Tamil Nadu market. The company hopes to achieve a double-digit share in the masala market in Tamil Nadu valued at Rs 712 crore.
Besides MTR Foods, ‘Aachi Masala’ and ‘Sakthi Masala’ are the competitors in Tamil Nadu. The southern region (comprising Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka) contribute 70 per cent to the company’s sales.
The investments would be utilised to improve the basic infrastructure at its integrated manufacturing facility in Bangalore.
Recently, the Bangalore-based company had acquired Pune-based Rasoi Magic to enter into the ‘meal mixes’ market.
source: http://www.news.indiamart.com / Home> SME News> Business News / SME News, Friday, October 05th, 2012

City Doctor-Couple awarded in the US for contribution to Ayurveda

Leaders, Records, All, Science & Technology, Uncategorized

Captions: 1) Dr. N.V. Krishnamurthy (left) receiving the award. 2) Dr. Poornima Krishnamurthy receiving the award.

Mysore, Oct.6:

City’s doctor couple Dr. N.V. Krishnamurthy and Dr. Poornima Krishnamurthy, Directors and Chief Consultants of Prajna Kuteera Ayurveda Centre and Abhijna International Academy of Ayurveda and Yoga, Mysore, were presented the Aryabhata award for excellence in ayurveda research and Dharma award for outstanding contribution to promotion of ayurveda globally, respectively.

The awards were presented to the couple at a glittering ceremony at Los Angeles, USA recently by AAPNA (Association of Ayurveda Professionals of North America). The ceremony was a part of the 4th Intl. Ayurveda Conference on Skin, Spa and Beauty at Los Angeles, California.

Dr. Poornima was also conferred upon the ‘Vachaspathi Award 2012’ for her presentation on The Beauty Concepts in Ayurveda, a paper prepared based on extensive research and documentation over the years. Her paper presentation was adjudged the best amongst all presentations from ayurveda practitioners who had attended from all over the world.

The couple, both gold medallists from the University of Mysore, are prominent scholars in ayurveda and yoga. They have been treating generic and degenerative diseases of patients from all over the world. Dr. Krishnamurthy is also the Head of the Department of PG Studies in Panchakarma at JSS Ayurveda Medical College.

Their medical institutions Prajna Kuteera and Abhijna Academy in Ramakrishnanagar and Keragalli have been rendering yeomen service to needy patients. The institutions are a part of Swami Vivekananda Research Institute of Medical Sciences and Rural Development Centre, Mysore

source: http://www.StarofMysore.com / General News / October 06th, 2012

When Gandhi Came To Mysore

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Historical Links, Pre-Independence

The year was 1931, Gandhi on his itinerary stayed back in Mysore to recover from his illness.

When Gandhi was in Mysore, he gave his speech at the Town hall  The place he stayed was Diwan Sheshadri Iyer’s house which today is the commercial tax office of Mysore. He visited the then Holageri which is now the Ashokpuram of Mysore. The KR mills were fortunate to get a visit from this man where he inspired the workers with his presence.

Gandhi was pleased with the administration of the state of affairs here and also the way of life. He called the kingdom – ‘Ramarajya’ . The then king Nalvadi Krishnaraja Wodeyar was called – ‘Rajarshi’ – king amongst the sanyasins. A sanyasin is known for sacrificing his comforts for the well being of people – a title like this to a king, especially from a man like Gandhi stands for itself. Nalvadi’s certainly was the golden reign of Wodeyars for Mysore and Gandhi undoubtedly the golden era of our independence struggle.

Sadly we lost Gandhi on an unfortunate day- 30th Jan 1948. His ashes were immersed close to Mysore and even to this day we see a stone which commemorates it. Any guesses where?

And before we say goodbye.. Happy Gandhi Jayanti!!

source: http://www.royalmysorewalks.com / Home> Blog / by Vinay Nagaraju / October 02nd, 2012

First anniversary of Ognora in Bangalore

Arts, Culture & Entertainment

It’s been a year since Nayana Jhawar and Prathiksha Hedge realized their dream of working with designers from across the country to offer a one-stop shop solution to fashion-conscious women in Bangalore.

And now the duo is marking the first anniversary of Ognora tonight with a bash at City Bar, UB City.

Top models will showcase designs by Prathiksha, Deepika Arora, Huemn by Pranav Kirti Misra and Shyma Shetty, Deepankshi and Reena, and Chaiti from Confusion Accessories.

Sandalwood stars, including the boutique’s brand ambassador Aindrita Ray, and other celebrities will make an appearance at this do.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / Home> Life & Style> Parties> Bangalore / TNN / October 06th, 2012

Aaron claims first gold; Richa, Khade dazzle

Sports

Aaron D’Souza kept his composure during a frustrating 50-minute delay and beat back the challenge of Sandeep Sejwal to nail down his first individual title of the 66th Senior National Aquatic championships here on Thursday.

A power failure caused by heavy afternoon showers delayed the start of the fourth day’s proceedings even as the swimmers and technical officials took their respective positions at the pool deck. It took almost an hour to sort out of the problem.

Aaron, who had faltered in his bid in the 50 backstroke and 200 freestyle earlier, had to swim the first event of evening finals — the men’s 200M individual medley. The Karnataka lad, however, faced no problems as he touched the wall in two minutes 07.38 seconds for the gold. “It was really frustrating. But I am happy that I won. I wasn’t in the best of my form here,” said Aaron, who have the 100M freestyle and 200M butterfly on Friday.

Sejwal of RSPB claimed silver in 2:11.38 while another Karnataka lad, Arvind M, pocketed the bronze in 2:12.95.

From lane three, Aaron was quickly off the blocks, completing the butterfly segment in 26.76 ahead of Arvind (27.65). Sejwal was in sixth position, timing 28.17 seconds. Aaron gained momentum in the backstroke segment (58.81), taking a good two seconds lead over Arvind while Sejwal climbed to third position.

Breaststroke specialist Sejwal then almost caught up with Aaron in the next leg. By the end of the 150-metre mark, the 20-year-old Aaron was just 0.16 seconds ahead (1:38.55) of Sejwal. The Karnataka swimmer, however, sped away in the freestyle segment to beat Sejwal by three seconds.

Pooja R Alva, who won the 100M butterfly on Wednesday, completed a double by claiming the women’s 200M individual medley in 2:28.30.

In the morning, Karnataka men’s 4x100M freestyle relay team of Gagan AP, Saurabh Sangvekar, Rohit R Havaldar and Aaron D’Souza set a new meet mark, clocking 3:32.14. The relay quartet sliced more than two seconds from their own record of 3:34.55 created last year in Ranchi.

Richa Mishra and Virdhawal Khade stayed on course to bag the individual honours with convincing wins on the penultimate day. Richa dethroned Surabhi Tipre in the 1500M freestyle with a time of 17:46.76 for her fifth gold while Virdhawal bagged the 50M freestyle in 22.84 for his fourth title. In the process, Virdhawal also attained the ‘B’ Standard mark for the 2013 Barcelona World Championship which stands at 23.11.

On the penultimate day, Karnataka look set to retain their crown with 10 gold, 11 silver and 7 bronze. Leading on the gold medal count, though, is Maharashtra (11 gold, 5 silver, 10 bronze).

Results:

Men: 50M freestyle: Virdhawal Khade (Mah) 22.84 seconds, 1; Anshul Kothari (Guj) 24.04, 2; Arjun JP (RSPB) 24.12, 3.

100M backstroke: MB Balakrishnan (TN) 58.97 seconds, 1; Rohit R Havaldar (Kar) 1:00.60, 2; Rohit Imoliya (MP) 1:00.73, 3.

200M individual medley: Aaron D’Souza (Kar) 2:07.38, 1; Sandeep Sejwal (RSPB) 2:11.38, 2; Arvind M (Kar) 2:12.95, 3. 4x100M freestyle relay: Karnataka (Gagan AP, Saurabh Sangvekar, Rohit R Havaldar, Aaron D’Souza) 3:32.14. New Meet Record (Old: 3:34.55, Karnataka, 2011 Ranchi) 1; RSPB (Sajan Prakash, Arjun JP, G Mohan, Sharma S Nair) 3:34.69, 2; Maharashtra (Amar Muralidharan, Aniket Shedge, Apurva Sharma, Virdhawal Khade) 3:41.14, 3.

Women: 50M freestyle: Talasha Prabhu (Goa) 27.76 seconds, 1; Shivani Kataria (Har) 27.81, 2; Aditi Dhumatkar (Mah) 27.85, 3. 1500M freestyle: Richa Mishra (Pol) 17:46.76, 1; Surabhi Tipre (Kar) 18:03.13, 2; Aakanksha Vora (Mah) 18:51.67, 3. 100M backstroke: Jyotsna Pansare (Mah) 1:07.69, 1; Arti Ghorpade (Mah) 1:08.12, 2; Sony Cyriac (Ker) 1:08.87, 3. 200M individual medley: Pooja R Alva (Kar) 2:28.30, 1; AV Jayaveena (TN) 2:29.06, 2; VKR Meenakshi (TN) 2:32.25, 3.

4x100M freestyle relay: Maharashtra (Arti Ghorpade, Aditi Dhumatkar, Aakanksha Vora, Jyotsna Pansare) 4:07.09. NMR (Old: 4:08.63, Karnataka, 2009 Trivandrum) 1; Karnataka (Sneha T, Malavika V, Pooja R Alva, Surabhi Tipre) 4:10.96, 2; Tamil Nadu (AV Jayaveena, Kavya G, Mugdha M, Anusha Mehta) 4:20.25, 3.

Water polo (semifinals): Men: SSCB bt Police 12-7; RSPB bt Maharashtra 8-1.
Women: Kerala bt Maharashtra 7-5; Bengal bt Police 2-0.

source: http://www.DeccanHerald.com / Home> Sports / by Josey Samuel / Pune, October 04th, 2012

India’s Karnataka begins electronic auction sales of manganese ore

Business & Economy, Science & Technology, Uncategorized

Singapore (Platts)

Indian state-owned trading company MSTC Ltd has begun electronic auction sales of minehead stocks of manganese ore available with Karnataka miner Sandur Manganese & Iron Ores (Smiore).

The auctions are on the lines of the iron ore e-auction sales the trader has been holding in the southern Indian state since September 2011.

An estimated 25,000-30,000 mt/month of manganese ore is expected to be auctioned over the next two to three months, Platts learnt from the Indian Supreme Court-appointed monitoring committee, which is overseeing the auction.

The first e-auction for manganese ore was held on September 21 in which some 27,560 mt were sold, a Bangalore-based monitoring committee official told Platts. The second auction is yet to be scheduled but is planned for the third week of October. Smiore has about 80,000 mt of manganese ore stock available to be auctioned over the next three to four months, the official added.

In the September 21 auction, the booking price of most cargoes was at a premium of about 25% on average over the respective floor price for lot sizes of 500 mt. Larger-sized cargoes were mostly sold at floor price levels, bid documents show.

The floor price for ore cargoes containing 36-68% Mn had been set at Rupee 6,500/mt ($125/mt). A 500 mt lot of this ore grade was sold at Rupee 7,950/mt and another at Rupee 7,800/mt.

A 4,012 mt cargo of the same ore grade was auctioned at Rupee 6,500/mt to SAIL Refractory Unit, a part of state-owned Steel Authority of India Ltd (Sail). All prices are on ex-stockyard basis. Royalty charges of 4.2%, VAT of 4%, and forest development tax of 12% are additional.

Smiore had been forced to suspend manganese mining operations in addition to iron ore production when Karnataka’s mining ban took effect in August 2011.

Prior to the ban, the company had had environmental clearances to mine up to 600,000 mt/year of manganese ore though production itself had averaged only 300,000 mt/year.

With the Indian Supreme Court and allied investigative authorities reassessing ore production limits in the wake of the illegal mining scandal in the state, Smiore would be permitted to mine only up to 180,000 mt/year of manganese ore when it is allowed to resume mining operations, a Bangalore-based company official told Platts.

It could take another two months for Smiore to resume manganese ore production, the official added.

Smiore operates a 4,000 mt/month silico-manganese smelter at Vyasanakere in Karnataka’s Bellary district, some 60-70 km east of Sandur. The works hosts two furnaces of about 2,000 mt/month capacity each but only one furnace is presently operational, producing about 1,500-2,000 mt/month of silicon manganese, the official said. The furnace is fed with manganese ore from stocks presently available with Smiore.

Although MSTC has been conducting e-auction sales for Karnataka-origin iron ore since September 2011, it was only in May this year that the Supreme Court permitted the sale of silico-manganese ore from Smiore’s stocks, Platts noted from the company’s announcement to the Bombay stock exchange earlier this year.

Only domestic end-users are permitted to bid in the auction sales while traders and exporters are barred from participation.

source: http://www.platts.com / Singapore (Platts) / Home> News & Analysis /  October 03rd, 2012

–Anitha Krishnan, anitha_krishnan@platts.com –Martin O’Rourke, martin_orourke@platts.com

Kundapur: Auto Rickshaw, Vehicle Drivers’ Assn Holds Scholarship Distribution Prog

Education

Kundapur, Oct 3:

The fifth annual scholarship distribution programme was organized by Kundapur Taluk Auto rickshaw and Vehicle Drivers Association (CITU) at Karmika Bahavana, here, on Tuesday October 2.

H Karunakar, honorable president of Kundapur Taluck Auto rickshaw and Vahana Chalakara Sangha (CITU) presided over the programme.

G  Dattanand, businessman from Kundapur, Y  S Haragi, KES principal, P U S Sarojina  Madhusudan, Kushe  government higher primary school Kundapur, H Narasimha, president (CITU) were the chief guests for the occasion.

G  Dattanand distributed scholarships to 80 students from class 9 to degree.

Speaking on the occasion, he said that such programmes will encourage students. “Students should work hard in order to have a bright future. In future they should help others”, he added.

source: http://www.DaijiWorld.com / Home> Karnataka / by Silvester D’Souza / Daijiworld Media Network – Kundapur / Wednesday, October 03rd, 2012

Vyomesh Joshi joins Wipro board

Business & Economy, Science & Technology

Wipro on Monday announced the appointment of Vyomesh Joshi, an information technology industry veteran to its board of directors with immediate effect.

Joshi will serve as an independent member on the board and has spend having spent over three decades in the industry. He was until recently the executive vice-president of Hewlett-Packard’s Imaging and Printing Group.

Welcoming him to the board, Wipro Chairman Azim Premji said, “He brings in a unique combination of wisdom and technical capabilities. I am sure that Wipro will benefit from his insights and experience.”

Joshi received Masters’ Degree in Electrical Engineering from Ohio State University, US and had joined Hewlett Packard in 1980 as a research and development engineer and retired in March 2012 after a 32-year career with HP

source: http://www.DeccanHerald.com / Home> Business / New Delhi, DHNS / October 01st, 2012