Category Archives: Arts, Culture & Entertainment

Up Up… In the air !

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Records, All, Science & Technology, Travel, Uncategorized
Left: 1) An aerial view of Mysore Palace shot by Ramesh Sarkar with his Phantom Go Pro Hero-3 Camera (Right) ( 2) Ramesh Sarkar is seen operating the Phantom Go Pro Hero-3 Camera.
Left: 1) An aerial view of Mysore Palace shot by Ramesh Sarkar with his Phantom Go Pro Hero-3 Camera (Right) ( 2) Ramesh Sarkar is seen operating the Phantom Go Pro Hero-3 Camera.

A shot from above

by Anagha Mahesh

How about a camera that flies in the air just like a toy plane? Is it a toy camera or a real camera? It is indeed a proper camera, which can shoot upto 15 minutes of video or photo mid-air.

The camera — Phantom Go Pro Hero-3 Camera, with a quadcopter (four-winged tiny helicopter), is a brain child of a company in USA. The camera is fixed in the middle of a 4-winged small helicopter kind of thing (see pic). It comes with a monitor and battery operated remote with two joysticks for movement. The person operating this camera uses the monitor to view the images captured from the camera when in air. The camera can capture 60 shots within a second.

In India, only about ten people know how to operate this camera and one among the ten is Ramesh Sarkar, a photographer from city. Sarkar has been into photography since the past 35 years. Basically a Science graduate, he has many firsts to his credit — was the first person in city to use video coverage at a wedding, first to use a digital camera for wedding and the most recent and the coveted one, the first one to use an Aerial camera to shoot wedding videos and photos from the sky.

Apart from this, he has also done the wedding shoot for families of the Wadiyars, Cycle Agarbathi Brand, MPs and MLAs in city. He has made documentaries for Coorg Public School, Gonikoppa and KALS, Mysore. He was also the official Dasara photographer for covering the festivities in all its hues and colours from 1990-99 and again from 2006-12. Till date, he has shot more than 6,000 weddings! That’s quite a figure.

The Phantom Go Pro Hero-3 Camera was introduced to India in the year 2012 by AVCS Systems India Pvt. Ltd., New Delhi. They are the only agents, distributors in the country. The company provides a 10-day training at Delhi for those who buy this camera.

Camera Stats

Cost: Rs. 4 lakhs

Weight: In all, 750 gms.

Batteries: Runs on a rechargeable nickel-cadmium battery (comes with 4 batteries in total).

Kinds of shots: Wide-shot, narrow-shot and a normal-shot.

Has the option of shooting both videos and photos upto 10 hours; once in air it can shoot upto a max of 15 mins.

Usage: Mainly for weddings and for big industrial plants and other industries.

Memory: 32 GB; expandable upto 64 GB.

Application: GoPro

Video type: mp4

Monitor: Wireless and 14” wide

Compatible with any smart phone, tablet or ipad.

A higher version of the same is on the anvil with a 3-wing Tricopter instead of the 4-winged Quadcopter.

For more details, contact Ramesh Sarkar, Sarkar Video Trix, Saraswathipuram on Mob: 99800-89345 or e-mail: sarkar.camera@gmail.com.

source: http://www.starofmysore.com / Star of Mysore / Home> Feature Articles / October 12th, 2013

CM to present State Sangeetha Vidwan Award to Dr.V.S. Sampathkumarcharya this evening

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Records, All

VidwanBF11oct2013

Mysore :

City Scholar Dr. V.S. Sampathkumaracharya has been selected for the prestigious Rajya Sangeetha Vidwan award given by the Department of Kannada and Culture for outstanding achievement for the year 2013.

The award, carrying a certificate, a memento of Goddess Saraswathi and a citation will be presented to him by Chief Minister Siddharamaiah at a function organised at Mysore Palace premises today at 6 pm. District Minister V. Sreenivasa Prasad will preside. Kannada and Culture Minister Umashri will be the chief guest.

source: http://www.starofmysore.com / Star of Mysore / Home> General News / October 05th, 2013

Dr. R. Chandrashekar Kambar’s Dasara message

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Historical Links, Pre-Independence, Leaders, Travel
Dr. Chandrashekar Kambar with his family members.
Dr. Chandrashekar Kambar with his family members.

Mysore :

“May the Dasara festivities continue to bring in unity and harmony among the people,” said renowned litterateur Dr. Chandrashekar Kambar, in an interview with SOM yesterday.

Dr. Kambar, 77, who arrived in city yesterday at 2 pm, inaugurated the Dasara festival atop Chamundi Hill this morning.

Dr. Kambar said that he is penning another novel in Kannada, but refused to divulge its name as yet. Here are the excerpts of the interview:

SOM: How do you feel about inaugurating Naada Habba tomorrow?

Dr. Kambar: I feel honoured. The royal tradition is now being carried forward under a democracy. The Vijayanagar empire’s tradition was revived by the erstwhile rulers of Mysore, the Wadiyars. We must really appreciate the patronage given by them to art, literature, culture and Kannada language.

SOM: The religious festivities of yore are being continued even now… aren’t they?

Dr. Kambar: So, what’s wrong in that? True religion that preaches good things must be accepted. This is not only a religious festival, but encompasses art, culture and literature.

SOM: Can’t Dasara be bifurcated from religion and celebrated as Naada Habba?

Dr. Kambar: Why oppose religion? But too much religion is also not good. Mysore State had given the first people’s representative government. They also introduced the reservation facility which became exemplary for the country. People of different communities have been living in harmony here. There are some Mutts that have Samadhis of Muslims. The Veerashaiva Swamijis of the Mutt wear green cloth and visit the Dargahs for 15 days while the Muslims, wearing saffron, visit the Mutts. Why I am saying this is there should be no individuality.

SOM: Have you seen Dasara before?

Dr. Kambar: I had inaugurated the Dasara cultural programmes once and also inaugurated Dasara Poets’ Meet a few years ago. That apart, I had heard a lot of legends about Dasara, which I liked.

SOM: There is a dissent from some about the achievements of the Wadiyar rulers…

Dr. Kambar: The erstwhile rulers might not have fought wars. But their model of administration, foresight and public services are truly commendable.

source: http://www.starofmysore.com / Star of Mysore / Home> General News / October 05th, 2013

Bangalore boy is India’s numero ‘Uno’

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Records, All, Sports, World Opinion
Family helps: Raghav Reddy learnt the tricks of Uno from his sisters. / Photo: K Gopinathan / The Hindu
Family helps: Raghav Reddy learnt the tricks of Uno from his sisters. / Photo: K Gopinathan / The Hindu

It is his family’s favourite pastime, but to 13-year-old R. Raghav Reddy, it is a serious game: Uno. Raghav, who is the first ever national Uno champion (the national finals were held in Mumbai recently), will now represent India at the Uno Asia Championship among seven countries in Tokyo in November. This is for the first time that India will participate in a world championship in Uno.

“I am very happy that after a challenging and tough round, I have emerged as India’s champion. I thank my family for introducing this game to me,” says Raghav, a class 8 student at Narayana e-Techno School in R.T. Nagar.

Raghav was initiated into the game when he was in class 2. His elder sisters Ramya and Raksha, who were then in class 5 and 8, were his gurus. It wasn’t always an equal match with his older siblings, but soon the little boy learnt the tricks of the trade. “Later, I was able to point out all their ploys and we always had a hearty laugh,” says Raghav.

Uno is as much a game of skill as it is about luck, explains Raghav. “There are five different sets of cards – skip, reverse, wild, draw four, and draw two. You need to display your skill at saving important cards, knowing when to put down those cards, playing the colour change card to your own advantage and finally yell ‘UNO’ to win the game!”

Speaking about the national competition, Raghav says that after the semi-final round held in various cities, contestants from Pune, Bangalore, Mumbai, Delhi and Chennai battled it out in the final rounds at Mumbai. About 50 children participated in the Bangalore round. Raghav was accompanied by his sister and father to the finals at Mumbai. His sister Raksha, now a medical student, provided tips to Raghav so he could improve his game in the finals. “My family is a great source of inspiration,” Raghav says.

Though he is busy attending his mid-term examinations, preparations for the international competition are in full swing. “Everyday, I play Uno for an hour with my family and I am trying to hone my skills further,” says Raghav who wants to train to be an aeronautical engineer in future. As for Uno he says: “I think this game comes naturally to me.”

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Bangalore / by A. B Sudhindra / October 01st, 2013

At 9, Nidhi Prakash set to launch her own book

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Education

Nidhi Prakash’s first book, Animation World, will be launched on Saturday in the garden city of Bangalore.

- A Veeramani / DNA
– A Veeramani / DNA

Bangalore’s youngest author at nine years, Nidhi Prakash (see picture) is set to launch her book on Saturday.

Nidhi, a 5th standard student of Bangalore’s Bishop Cotton Girls’ School, started writing the book Animation World when she was eight years old.

The 50-page book, published by Goa-based CinnamonTeal Publishing, will be officially launched at the Easy Library in Koramangala on Saturday.

Animation World is about 10-year-olds Annie and Sarah who see a number of shooting stars as they walk near the woods. Both enter the woods to see the stars  disappearing into a mysterious blue portal.

Do they jump into the portal? What do they find at the end of the portal? Will they ever be able to come back home or will they be stuck there for eternity? To find out one has to read the book.

What motivated Nidhi to write this book? “My cousin Sona wrote a book, A Slip in the Summer. Sona’s hard work motivated me to write this book,” Nidhi said with a smile.

She claimed that it took her a week to write Animation World. She thanked her English teacher Priscilla for going through the draft and making necessary corrections. “I am grateful to Insha Ummehani, the art faculty at Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, Bangalore, for illustrating the book. I also thank my class teacher Priscilla for helping me write this book.”

She acknowledged the support of her parents and sister. Her father K Prakash is director, postal services department, and mother Durga Rani Prakash is the GM, BSNL, Bangalore.

Nidhi’s favourite author is Mary Pope Osborne. “My second book Old Creek Mansion will be published shortly… I am working on my third book. It’s about a girl living in Korea,” she said.

Nidhi is fond of story books and wants to pursue writing as a hobby. But she wants to become a civil servant. “I want to become a deputy commissioner to serve the people.”

source: http://www.dnaindia.com / DNA / Home> Bangalore> Report / by Y Maheswara Reddy / Place:Bangalore, Agency:DNA / Thursday – September 12th, 2013

Tailor finds Rs 12,000 in shirt pocket, returns it

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Inspiration/ Positive News and Features

Waseem Pasha, a tailor near Brigade Road, has good reason to hold his head high. The 22-year-old returned Rs 12,000 that a customer forgot in the pocket of the shirt she gave him for alteration.

On Saturday afternoon, Imola Jamir walked into his small shop in Tibetan Plaza — the basement of Indo-Dubai Complex, on Rest House Road, off Brigade Road — and gave her husband’s new shirt for alteration.

Later, when Pasha picked up the shirt to work on it, Rs 12,000 fell out of its pocket. The sole breadwinner in his family, who earns Rs 15,000 a month altering clothes, decided then and there to return the money. But he didn’t have the contact info of his customer. He had to wait till Imola returned.

Meanwhile, Imola and her husband Ben Dang Aier, both aged 47, realised the money was missing only on Sunday evening. She said, “My husband didn’t like the shirt’s collar. So, I decided to give it for alteration and surprise him. But I had no clue he had left Rs 12,000 in that shirt’s pocket. That money was meant to pay the school fees for one our daughters.”

The couple from Nagaland, who run a paying-guest in their house in Koramangala, rushed to Pasha’s shop. When they asked him if he had found any money in the shirt’s pocket, Pasha took the receipt from them, confirmed the shirt was theirs and promptly returned the altered shirt along with Rs 12,000. Imola and Ben couldn’t believe they had got the money back. They thanked Pasha and offered him Rs 500 as a reward for his honesty.

source: http://www.bangaloremirror.com / Bangalore Mirror / Home> Bangalore / by Bellie Thomas / October 01st, 2013

Philanthropy has to be spontaneous, can’t be forced: Azim Premji

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Business & Economy, Inspiration/ Positive News and Features, Leaders, Records, All, Science & Technology

New Delhi :

Referring to the issue related to Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), which has been made mandatory by the new laws that govern companies, IT czar Azim Premji today said philanthropy cannot be forced and it has to be spontaneous.

PremjiBF07oct2013

Premji, founder-Chairman of Wipro  – India’s third largest software services exporter added however that efforts towards social good need to be “meaningful” and the government alone is not responsible for “social good”.

“They are trying to force something. It should be spontaneous,” Premji said while commenting on the issue of mandatory CSR during his address at the All India Management Association’s (AIMA) 40th national convention here.

The billionaire philanthropist added that giving back to the society is important for the growth of a better world, but it should come from within.

Premji said the stipulation of spending 2 per cent of profits should not become a tax at a later stage.

Under the new Companies Act, 2013, all profitable firms with a sizable business will have to spend every year at least 2 per cent of three-year average profit on CSR works.

This would apply to companies with turnover of Rs 1,000 crore and more, or net worth of Rs 500 crore and more, or a net profit of Rs 5 crore and more.

The new rules, which would be applicable from fiscal 2014 -15, also require firms to set up a CSR committee of their board members, including at least one independent director.

However, Premji said: “If things have to change in the society then the involvement of the whole ecosystem is must. One cannot rely on government alone to do social good and one has to become a co-sharer of the goal and the outcome.”

Outlining the key factors for making CSR successful, he emphasised on the need to define the purpose and scale of CSR activities and choose a focus area.

Premji, however, cautioned against making CSR a substitute for personal philanthropy.

“There should be a distinction between a company activity which is CSR and personal activity that is philanthropy,” he added.

Known for his business acumen as well as philanthropy, Premji said the company’s and entrepreneur’s responsibility to the society are two different issues.

In 2010, Premji had donated 8.7 per cent from his personal stock-holding in Wipro for philanthropy forming the endowment for the Azim Premji Foundation , a not-for-profit organisation set up in 2001.

In February, he announced transfer of 295.5 million Wipro shares worth Rs 12,300 crore held by certain entities controlled by him to an irrevocable trust.

source: http://www.articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> News by Company> Social Responsibility / by PTI / September 26th, 2013

Gear up for Miss Bangalore

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Business & Economy, Records, All

MissBangaloreBF06oct2013

Running in its 20th year, Max Miss Bangalore 2013 is set to inspire many beautiful and talented girls aspiring to make headway into the glam world. The Miss Bangalore beauty pageant is getting a notch bigger with every passing year. With over 500 girls making a beeline for the auditions at Le Meridien today, it only goes to show the event’s impressive caliber that has assisted many fashion careers down the past two decades.

Feroz Khan of Dream Merchants, who started Max Miss Bangalore and has seen many runways sizzling shares, “Max Miss Bangalore is in its 12th edition and this year we will be selecting 16 girls out of over 500 that have auditioned today. We have fashion choreographer Sreedhar who will be assisting us in picking girls with the X-factor and we will be announcing the results tomorrow. The age group of these girls is 16 to 22. Most of them are college students, while some are even working with MNCs in the city. The criterion for selection is the overall confidence, height, figure and also general awareness and speaking skills which will be judged at the question round. We have categories like Miss Catwalk, Miss Hair, Miss Skin, Miss Figure, Miss Beautiful Eyes and Miss Photogenic.”

Adds, Sajad Mahajan, partner Dream Merchants and Max Miss Bangalore, “Many girls who used the Miss Bangalore pageant as their launch pad over the years have made exciting careers in celluloid, modelling, television and advertising. We can also boast of some of the previous Miss Bangalore Queens like Ruchita Prasad who became a Kannada and Tamil movie star and Sara Corner who was crowned Miss India. They also walk the ramp for the Bangalore Fashion Week that has now gone international.”

Nicole Padival, who was crowned Miss Bangalore last year is happy to be getting a lot of work. “It’s nice to get the respect and recognition from the fashion industry and modelling assighments,” says Nicole.

source: http://www.deccanchronicle.com / Deccan Chronicle / Home> Lifestyle> Fashion-Beauty / by Namita Gupta / DC – September 04th, 2013

India’s 1983 World Cup triumph song released

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Historical Links, Pre-Independence, Records, All, Sports
Cheteshwar Pujara, Captain-India ‘A’ team, releasing the ‘World Cup 1983 World Cup triumph song” at Gangothri Glades on Saturday evening. Also seen are (extreme left) Lalchand Rajput, India ‘A’ team coach, P. M. Vijendra Rao, S. Vijayprakash, KSCA, Mysore Zone, Convener and Ashvini Ranjan, Chairman, KSCA Mysore Zone.
Cheteshwar Pujara, Captain-India ‘A’ team, releasing the ‘World Cup 1983 World Cup triumph song” at Gangothri Glades on Saturday evening. Also seen are (extreme left) Lalchand Rajput, India ‘A’ team coach, P. M. Vijendra Rao, S. Vijayprakash, KSCA, Mysore Zone, Convener and Ashvini Ranjan, Chairman, KSCA Mysore Zone.

Mysore :

On the occasion of the 30th year of India’s World Cup triumph over West Indies in the 1983 World Cup at Lords, a song dedicated to the Indian team’s triumph, composed by Mysorean P. M. Vijendra Rao was released by India ‘A’ team’s skipper Cheteshwar Pujara at the Gangothri Glades Pavilion on Saturday evening. Both the Indian ‘A’ and West Indies ‘A’ team members were present on the occasion.

S.Vijayaprakash, KSCA Mysore Zone Convener and Ashvini Ranjan, Chairman, KSCA Mysore zone were also present. To listen to the song log on to www.vijil365.com.

source: http://www.starofmysore.com / Star of Mysore / Home> Sports News / September 29th, 2013

‘Bangalore is the best in the world’

About Bangalore(Bengaluru) / Karnataka, Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Green Initiatives / Environment, Nature

My-BangaloreBF04sept2013

The city is arguably the best city to live in India. The first thing that comes to the mind when any Bangalorean thinks about the city is its conducive climate.  The moderate temperature and the luscious and vast greenery make anyone to love this place. The fastest growing metropolitan city has always attracted tourists and immense talent from all over the country as well as across the globe.

A diverse city founded by Kempegowda it is the software hub of India due to the presence of large number of software companies and industries. Along with these highlights Bangalore has many tourist attractions. Starting from the Kengal Hanumanthiah built Vidhana Soudha to the Tippu palace, Lal Bagh, Cubbon Park, etc.

Another thing that makes Bangalore likeable is its variety of food. Irrespective of where you are from, you get all kinds of food here, be it Chinese, Rajasthani, Punjab etc.

The quality of education here is excellent with more than 25 engineering colleges which is very high. Bangalore is a vibrant and colourful city with fashion weeks, musicians, comedians and artists performing everyday. Bangalore also has a high number of public sectors and government organisations. These are only few of the reasons for anyone who is staying or has stayed in this beautiful city to fall in love with it.

Now coming to what I dislike or things I would want to see changed in Bangalore. First thing anybody would agree is the Bangalore traffic. The heavy traffic, the traffic jams and the accidents are a major drawback. Also, the nightlife here dies after  10. Bangalore being a metropolis should have a better deadline. There is also the garbage disposal problem. We see garbage thrown everywhere on the road. Another issue people face is the poor roads. While some roads like Nice road or the Malleswaram flyover are good, there are many roads which are filled with potholes; roads which are dug up and left unattended and constructions going on from eons causing inconvenience to the citizens. Bangalore also has a very high water  scarcity problem which is hampering our daily lives.

Irrespective of these problems, being a Bangalorean since my birth, I love this place and for me without doubt it is the greatest city in the world and I believe that the present, past and future residents and tourists of Bangalore will agree with me.

(The writer is a resident of Yelahanka)

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Cities> Bangalore / by Sagar Kashyap – Bangalore / September 25th, 2013