Category Archives: Arts, Culture & Entertainment

‘Fruit-Bearing trees help survival of birds’

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Green Initiatives / Environment, Nature

Caption: Zoo Executive Director B.P.Ravi watering a sapling at the Vanama-hotsava programme at Snehakiran School for specially-abled children in Bogadi here on Wednesday. SVYM founder Dr. R. Balasubramanyam, Snehakiran Spastic Society President A. Raghunath and others along with the children of the school look on.

Mysore, Jun 15- Planting saplings of fruit and flower bearing trees will help in conserving bird species, opined Zoo Executive Director B.P.Ravi.

He was speaking at the Vanamahotsava programme organised at Snehakiran school for specially-abled children at Bank Colony in Bogadi here on Wednesday.

Ravi said that we have trees that bear fruit twice in a year and neem and sandalwood trees attract more than 25 variety of birds.

He said society should be ready to accept specially-abled children and parents should ensure that these children are trained in such a way that they can lead a life without depending on others.

Swami Vivekananda Youth Movement founder Dr. R. Balasubramanyam, Snehakiran Spastic Society President A. Raghunath, Secretary A.P. James, K. Abraham, Principal Chitralekha and others were present.

source: http://www.StarofMysore.com / General News / Thursday, June 15th, 2012

ORI conservation work to be completed by August

Arts, Culture & Entertainment

Caption: Corinna Ybarra Arnold, Acting Public Affairs Officer, US Consulate-General, Chennai, seen with ORI Director Vid. Shivakumaraswamy in city on Wednesday.

Mysore, June 15- Oriental Research Institute (ORI) Director Vid. Shivakumaraswamy has said that the ongoing repair works at the Institute would be completed by August. It may be mentioned, the US Consulate-General, Chennai, had provided a grant of $ 50,000 in January this year for the conservation of the heritage building that houses palm leaf manuscripts.

Corinna Ybarra Arnold, Acting Public Affairs Officer, US Consulate-General, Chennai, who was in city on Wednesday, paid a visit to the ORI to apprise herself of the work in progress and to gather additional information about the institute.

According to ORI Director, the focus of present exercise is to ensure that the leaking roof of the heritage structure is repaired so that manuscripts are not damaged. Nearly 70,000 palm leaf manuscripts are housed here.

Apart from repairing the roof, the glass works of the structure would be replaced and minor repairs carried out, he added.

As it was a heritage structure neither the façade nor the profile of the building would be altered, he said.

The ORI was constructed in 1887 to mark the golden jubilee of Queen Victoria’s ascension to the throne and was converted into a library in 1891.

source: http://www.StarofMysore.com / General News / Friday, June 15th, 2012

Docs on call for seva

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

DFS is a platform for volunteers from the medical and non-medical professions to help the needy

December 26 2004, tsunami struck the southern coast. Dr Dayaprasad G. Kulkarni was an intern at a hospital in Kolar. He raised about Rs 2 lakhs and went with a couple of his doctor friends to Nagapattinam to help with the relief work. After which he “knew I had to do something more.”Armed with a MBBS degree from the Devaraj Urs Medical College, Kolar, he did a stint with Doctors Without Borders in Chattisgarh treating villagers who were affected by the Naxal presence there.  “I realized that there were international doctors working these areas, but our own Indian doctors were absent,” says Dayaprasad. “In fact, there are so many international organizations like Red Cross and iVolunteers but specifically for the medical fraternity, there isn’t anything on a national scale.”

After a master’s degree in clinical research from UK, Dayaprasad  returned to India and  started an organization for the children and people from the marginalized society – Madhyama Prasaran and Scientific Research Foundation. Dayaprasad met  with Venkatesh Murthy, founder of the Youth For Seva, and was soon associated with Doctors For Seva (DFS).  He speaks of DFS: “Doctors For Seva was created in 2010 to change the mindset of how healthcare is perceived. Years back, doctors were respected for the services rendered. Today, it is about which hospitals they are associated with. Plus, in healthcare significant amount of money is spent in tertiary care (terminal days) rather than primary and preventive healthcare. The main ideology behind DFS is to create a  platform wherein doctors, nurses and anyone in the medical or the non-medical fraternity can volunteer to help provide better healthcare. This also includes homeopathy and Ayurvedic practitioners as well.”
DFS identifies areas needing healthcare, arranges for resources and creates a database of volunteers. It also interacts with the government for facilities and infrastructure. “The idea is to involve the neighborhoods as far as possible,” says Dayaprasad. He is excited about their flagship project Doctor At School that started off in Bangalore last year. He explains: “Doctor at School involves identifying a government school in the neighbourhood and finding volunteers – doctors, hospitals and pharmacies to serve here.” The project has one general pracitioner or pediatrician assigned to a school.  He/she along with other volunteers conduct general health checkups for the children at the school during the first three months. Volunteers will hold year round general health awareness programmes every weekend at the school. The following three months will see follow-ups with elective procedures (like deformity correction) taken up. Malnourished children are given supplements. Another three months,, children come up with skits and plays that are related to health care topics. The last three months being school holidays are used for maintaining records and other administration work. “As far as possible, we try to keep things absolutely free for the patients. Neighbourhood hospitals are requested to lend their facilities for free. The best part is that after a year, we now can scale it up anywhere in India. Those interested can use our handbooks detailing the processes involved,” says Dayaprasad. Today the project covers 100 schools.
Dayaprasad has consciously taken the path of community service. “I live with my parents so food and boarding is taken care of. An honorarium comes from my work at Jagruthi Trust, a home for HIV children, and Youth for Seva. I really don’t need much to live,” he says. A theater enthusiast, he has done several plays on the healthcare theme and short films on child abuse and homosexuality. His aim for DFS is simple: Get people involved for something as basic and important as primary healthcare.
If you want to know more about Doctors for Seva contact 9632306256 or send an email to info@doctorsforseva.org. They are also on Facebook.

source: http://www.bangaloremirror.com / Home> Sunday Read>  City> Special / Bangalore Mirror / by Jayanthi Madhukar / Sunday, May 27th, 2012


An evening with ‘the’ VOICE

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Records, All

He was the city’s first RJ. His popularity was unprecedented (an envelope with just ‘B.R.Shivaramaiah, Bangalore’, scribbled across it would reach him without fail). The septuagenarian takes Manasi Paresh Kumar down his memory lane

It was sometime in the 70’s. Ravindra Kalakshetra was bursting at the seams with bell bottoms and bee hive hairdos. The screaming audience jostled for shoulder space; extended necks tried to catch a glimpse of the man who brightened their mundane existence every week like a warm hug on a cold night. And there he was –a lean man with plump side burns. The hall erupted into  maniacal celebration. Soaking in the din of adulation was B R Shivaramaiah –the man with ‘the ‘golden voice; a voice the crowds knew as Uttara Bhadra; a voice that mesmerised the airwaves every Tuesday at 8.30 PM. He was Bangalore’s pioneering radio jockey.

Talking about that day, which was a celebration of his 25th week of radio success, the now  77-year-old B R Shivaramaiah recalls: “I was specially out-fitted for the evening with a dark suit and multi-coloured floral shirt. I was introduced on stage with booming music, then the spotlights framed me… It was crazy. Today, it seems surreal that people were so much in love with a voice on the radio. I got marriage proposals by the dozen from women much to the annoyed amusement of my wife…”
An income tax officer by profession, Shivaramaiah’s voice was discovered by chance, when Gubbi Veeranna’s son Shivanand praised his diction (which had irritated him then) instead of his acting when he had performed in A S Murthy’s first production Adhyakshate in 1959. He went on to act in several radio dramas after that, which his family heard on their neighbour’s radio. “Radio was a luxury at that time. I managed to buy my first radio only in 1970.”
In 1973, Shivaramaiah began his golden innings on the radio with the show Gana Sourabha on  Vividha Bharati.  Uttara Bhadra, his alter ego, on the show became so popular that the show itself came to be identified by that name. “Can you imagine an RJ, with a name like Shivaramaiah, becoming popular?” he asks, laughingly. No we can’t. Even  Shivaramaiah couldn’t understand how someone with an “old-man-sounding-name” became a popular RJ. “We actually called the character Maathina Malla (meaning smooth talker), but it didn’t sound right. I chose the name Uttara Bhadra, which was my birth star and ran with it. It just caught on,” says the man who later made the country’s first documentary film on the income tax department’s processes in the nineties – as part of the IT department’s initiative to become people friendly.
Today, Shivaramaiah is an A grade artist with AIR. “Radio compering in India at that time meant a very flat voice that had to stay somber and unemotional regardless of whether you were talking about a song or reading the news, except for an odd Amin Sayani (who worked for Radio Ceylon) who did things differently. So when we started the trend of ‘mad talk’ with emotion and humour, our listeners connected with the content and the program became a raging hit,” he explains.
The show which was the brain child of Gopinath Das and Jagannath of Prabhat Kalavidaru studios, was actually a sponsored program by Byrappa Saree House in the city -an extended commercial. The owner of the showroom Eshwarappa wanted something funky to catch the attention of the people. So the duo came up with the idea of this talk show intersperced with songs and mentions of the shop. “Many people don’t know this, but I was not the original voice for the program, the first couple of episodes that aired had someone else hosting the show and the writer was also a different guy. But it had not clicked with the audience yet. I and the late H N Dwarkanath (the writer of the show) came in when the pair had not turned up one day,” recalls Shivaramaiah. The trio of Shivaramaiah, Dwarkanath and Jagannath (who was the sound engineer for this show) brought magic to the air waves and then there was no looking back. 

Each episode stretched the imagination and tickled the funny bone of the listeners all the while promoting the sponsor. “One episode was about a cricket match between current apsaras (filmstars) and retired apsaras (mythical Rambha, Menaka and Urvashi) with Chitragupta as the umpire. We plugged the sponsor saying that the women looked stunning in their sarees from the shop as they played the game. Another episode was about a woman who appeared as a premonition to me after I ate too many chilli bondas. In one episode that was aired close to the Ganesh festival, I played almost twenty five characters from Mahabharata, both male and female,” recalls Shivaramaiah. He would begin the show with a plethora of greetings at the speed of a bullet train and end the show with – “Will see you next week, take care. These were things unheard of at those times,” says Shivaramaiah who hardly rehearsed before the recording. “We recorded on Sundays from 12 in the night till three in the morning at Prabhat Studios. Then technology meant spool recordings and you had to be perfect with your tenor and bass. There was little you could do technologically if the voice  modulation was not right, unlike today.”

The show’s 25th week saw Dr Rajkumar share unbeknown personal anecdotes. “He was shooting for the movie Babruvahaan in Chennai. We had carried all our recording equipment from here. We were actually given only half an hour with him, but he ended up talking for more than three hours. From why he named Shivarajkumar as Nagaraj Shivaraj Puttasamy to how Parvathamma was actually called Pappachi, we spoke about everything at length. He even sang for us without any music, which he had never done.”
And suddenly it all ended without a warning. “The sponsor had enjoyed tremendous popularity with the show. His business had gone through the roof and I guess one day he decided not to produce the show anymore,” he recalls. So after five successful years the show, Gana Sourabha or Uttara Bhadra as it was popularly called was pulled off the air. “I don’t remember what the last show was because I did not know it was the last show. We had recorded a couple of other episodes as well, but then had to can them. So there was no formal goodbye as such,” he says. Also, by then, television was slowly taking over people’s imagination. Today all that Shivaramaiah has to remember his RJing days by are recordings of three episodes of the show. “Nobody had a tape recorder those days and I am not sure if AIR has the recordings of it. I doubt Prabhat also has the recordings of the program.”
As the city rediscovers its love affair with the radio, the man who started it for us, has no doubt that there is still a market for such a show despite the cosmopolitan mix of audience.  “There are no barriers for quality programs,” he says. Shivaramaiah is still among the most respected theatre artists of Kannada stage, works in television gives his voice to the radio and is one of the best known comperes for music shows. Though it rankles his family that he hasn’t been recognized by the government, the man himself shrugs off the apathy. “I miss the adulation of my listeners more than anything else.”
source: http://www.bangaloremirror.com / Home> Sunday Read>  City> Special / Bangalore Mirror / by Manasi Paresh Kumar / Sunday, May 27th, 2012

Art for Ever After

Arts, Culture & Entertainment

Her first show in Mumbai, opened to rave reviews. Now she is set to debut in the city, where she spent her childhood and initial years planning her art career. Iccha Bhojani, artist and independent designer will open her show, Ever After in Bengaluru this weekend.

Inspired by the Bahai faith, Iccha’s work showcases the philosophy of life. “My work talks about the service aspect of a human being’s life. The gap between the eternal and material world is something that is always bridged by the soul. The progress of our soul is directly affected by our service to the world and people. I have tried to express this through my work,” says the artist. Looking beyond the regular, her works are a culmination of different processes. “I photograph and then I make a collage and sketch on it,” says the artist. Starting at `20,000, her show will exhibit 35 works.

Talking about her love for art, Ichha admits that it was here in Bengaluru that she found her love for art. “It was at Mallya Aditi School that my career began. My art teacher Ms Surekha would always encourage me. I was not the bright one but was the naughty rebel in class,” she reminisces adding, “This city is the best that could’ve happened to me in my childhood. The morals and values I have been imbibed with could have never been found in other cities.”

While she loves to paint, Ichha confesses that her best job was with Sathya Paul a few years ago. “I was in charge of doing up the windows —basically it was a visual merchandising job. I had so much fun coming up with a summer window or the monsoon concept and working on displaying the sarees. The window was my canvas. I worked for their Delhi and Mumbai stores,” says the artist. With a strong belief in divine powers, Ichha lives her life to the fullest, she loves to watch movies and read books. “I particularly like the Daughters of Arabia series. I like the way the life of princesses is captured through these stories,” she says.

For the past one year, Ichha has been focusing on her show. But with the current art scene, she says the market is tough for newcomers. “Galleries are not waiting to jump at my work. It is contemporary and is in mixed media. My plan ahead is to approach galleries and show my work. It is going to be tough but I have faith,” says Ichha. Her next plan is to work on a series of works based on the theme of equality of men and women. “It is something that I have been pondering over and would definitely work on it,” she concludes.

source: http://www.DeccanChronicle.com / Home> Tabloid> Potpouri / by Ayesha Tabassum / DC, June 11th, 2012

Japanese Food Festival in Bangalore

Arts, Culture & Entertainment

Bangalore’s Japanese expats love nothing better than to get a taste of their home country. And that’s precisely why Feast at Sheraton Bangalore Hotel at Brigade Gateway held a special preview of their Japanese  Food Festival on Wednesday afternoon.

Specialty Japanese Chef  Hajime Morita from Westin Tokya flew all the way to the Garden City to helm the festival, at which and the guests sampled various kinds of sushi and sashimi.

We spotted several members of the Japanese expat community in Bangalore in attendance at this sneak peek of the festival.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / Home> Life & Style> Parties> Bangalore / TNN > June 07th, 2012

Govt. has forgotten Nalwadi, bemoans Historian

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Leaders

128th birth anniversary of Krishnaraja Wadiyar

Caption: The achievers who were felicitated by Pathi Foundation are seen with Historian Prof. P.V. Nanjaraje Urs, Journalist Ravindra Bhat, Pathi Foundation President M.D. Parthasarathy, KEA Chairman B.P. Manjunath, Corporator Vidya Urs and others.

Mysore, June 5

Commemorating the 128th birth anniversary of Nalwadi Krishnaraja Wadiyar, a programme was organised by Pathi Foundation at Agrahara Circle here yesterday where historian Prof. P.V. Nanjaraje Urs felicitated six achievers in various fields.

Speaking on the occasion, Prof. Nanjaraje Urs recalled that Krishnaraja Wadiyar was instrumental in the construction of KRS Dam, industrial growth and hospital in city and also for the growth of the State. He added that Nalwadi improved education facility, established CITB and paved way for development of city.

However, Prof. Urs regretted that the great visionary has been literally forgotten by the people and the government. “Ironically, the government celebrates Jayanthis of several persons with little or no contribution to State,” ridiculed Prof. Urs.

The following persons were felicitated on the occasion: Chetan Ram Rao (acting), Dr. Sridhar Achar (medical service), Dr. Chandrashekhar (ayurvedic medicine), Vinutha Srikanth (education), District Kannada Sahitya Parishat President M. Chandrashekhar and upcoming artiste Nagarjun.

Pathi Foundation President M.D. Parthasarathy presided. Journalists Biligiri Ranganath & Ravindra Bhat, KEA Chairman B.P. Manjunath, MCC opposition leader Vidya Urs, Corporator Asha Lakshminaryan and others were present.

Mandya Ramesh and troupe staged a comedy play Sathrappo Sathra.

source: http://www.StarofMysore.com / General News / June 05th, 2012

128th birth anniversary of Nalwadi Krishnaraja Wadiyar ‘Morrow

About Bangalore(Bengaluru) / Karnataka, Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Historical Links, Pre-Independence

Mysore, June 3

Pathi Foundation and Ursu Mandali Sangha have organised separate programmes to celebrate the 128th birth anniversary of Rajashree Nalwadi Krishnaraja Wadiyar at different places in city tomorrow.

This was announced at a separate press conferences addressed by Ursu Mandali and Pathi Foundation President at Pathra-karthara Bhavan here yesterday.

Addressing media persons, Ursu Mandali President B.G. Choodachandra Raje Urs described Nalwadi Krishnaraja Wadiyar as an architect of the Mysore kingdom and announced that the 128th birth centenary of Wadiyar will be celebrated tomorrow on a grand scale.

As part of the celebrations, a grand procession of the portrait of Nalwadi Krishnaraja Wadiyar will be taken out from Agrahara Circle at 10 am to K.R.Circle and the event will be inaugurated by DCP Basavaraj Malagatti where Gopal Raje Urs of Ursu Mandali, A.V.Vidya Urs, Leader of the Opposition in the MCC and Corporator Jaishankar Swamy will be present as chief guests.

The statue of Nalwadi Krishnaraja Wadiyar at K.R.Circle will be garlanded, he announced.

Choodachandra Raje Urs also demanded that the government declare the birth anniversary of Nalwadi Krishnaraja Wadiyar who had taken up construction of many heritage buildings at Mysore, Bangalore and other places as general holiday and also to celebrate the occasion.

Pathi Foundation: Meanwhile, Corporator M.D. Partha-sarathy, President of Pathi Foundation, told media persons that the birthday of Rajashri will be celebrated in a grand manner at Agrahara Circle.

Lauding the services of Nalwadi in implementing various developmental projects during his regime, Parthasarathy said that the celebrations will begin with a Suprabhatha at 5.45 am at N. Madhav Rao Circle in Agrahara, colourful paintings of Nalwadi by Nagarjuna will be unveiled at 6 am, to be followed by a Sudar-shana Homa.

At 10.15 am, a souvenir on the late Maharaja will be released, a grand musical programme by Vishnu Nights will be held at 3 pm, he said and added that at 6.30 pm, a Smarana-Namana programme will be held. A humour play will be staged by Mandya Ramesh team at 8.45 pm.

Mayor Rajeshwari Puttaswamy, Bhashyam Swamiji, RSS leader Venkatram and others will be present, he added.

source: http://www.StarofMysore.com / General News / June 03rd, 2012

Lost in the ecstasy of melodies

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Leaders

Bangalore:

The ‘Sound of Music’ is one that will reverberate in the lives of those who breathe, eat and drink music. One such passion driven individual, who sings with his heart, is Belakavadi Rangaswamy Iyengar. In the overwhelming era of ‘Jhankar Beats’ and commercial tunes, traditional musicians rarely find a place to fit in. However, with his vibrant melodies and powerful voice he continues to uphold the family legacy, by indulging and immersing himself in the blissful ocean of raaga, taala and bhava. Having celebrated his 90th birthday last week, he is probably one of the oldest Carnatic musicians in Bangalore second only to R K Srikantan.

Well acquainted with all forms of Carnatic music, he specialises in singing

‘Pallavi’. A seasoned audience at a regular ‘Kacheri’ will be able to spot his tact in inaugurating the Varna and concluding the ‘Ragatana Pallavi’ with the same raaga. CP Rangaswamy Iyengar, his principled guru, endowed him with the rare art of mastering ‘Ragatana Pallavi’. His music is regularly punctuated with trills and challenging raagas, his favourite being the profoundly melodious and delightful, Todi and Kambhoji raagas. Many iconic figures of Carnatic music graced him with their teachings and appreciated his love for music. Some of them are Tiger Varadachari, Tirumakudalu Chowdiah, Veena Subbanna and Veena Sheshanna.

Over the years, the artiste has performed individually and in collaboration with other musicians, at many state level sabhas. He enraptures the crowds with his hypnotic voice and transcendental execution of traditional Indian music. In 1959, during the celebration of Hanuman Jayanthi, which also served as his first ‘Kacheri’, an enchanting performance was inscribed in his memory. Three generations of Belakavadis, with Rangaswamy as the lead vocalist, son BR Sridhar and grandson LV Mukund (flute), captured the attention of the listeners in a bewitching musical endeavour. “It was an unforgettable evening”, he recalls. Yet another surpassing event added to his collection of memorable performances, during the Ram Mahotsava celebrations at Shimoga. The musical standards of the evening soared with the presence of violinist, M Chandrashekar. According to Rangaswamy’s family, he even set down the instrument and bowed to him to commemorate his superior quality of music.

Coming from a family of renowned musicians, the culture of orchestral music was imbibed in his blood and flowed through his veins. Having learnt from his father, B Srinivas Iyengar — an extremely popular musician of his time, Rangaswamy and his brothers practised a ‘voice culture’ throughout their training period. “From 4 to 8 in the morning, my brothers and I would rehearse from A-kara to O-kara in three varying speeds”.

With such rigorous training and discipline he was able to develop his gifted voice, and channelise his vocal strength in a positive direction. A traditional Iyengar, he never gave up on food or followed a strict diet. He believes that discipline and self imposed coaching is the key for developing an efficacious voice. Apart from music, he was extremely pro active in sports. He was an acclaimed football player, local wrestler, yogi and an athlete.

He has many awards to his credit some of which are the Karnataka Rajyothsava Award, Nritya Academy Award and Karnataka Sangeetha Vidwan Award.

Yet, he is disappointed that his music could not bring home a national recognition. Having taught hundreds of students worldwide, he is responsible for shaping the musical sculpture of many a young lads. One of his students, S M Haricharan, CEO of ISAC Global writes in his blog, “My outlook towards music changed predominantly due to the influence of my guru Vidwan Belakavadi Rangaswamy Iyengar.” He is currently training 15 individuals to pursue their career in music. Along with students, he trained his sons and daughter to consummate their love for music. His daughter B R Geetha, has been a staff artist at the All India Radio for 22 years.

The aptitude for learning conventional Indian melodies and rhythmic instruments is inculcated in each of the Belakavadis. When his father and brothers trained at the brink of sunrise it seemed as if ‘the 24 walls of the house resonated in the mesmerising Sangeeth’.

With determination and infinite divinity, he is often seen with a wooden tambourine in his lap, lost in the ecstasy of euphony.

source: http://www.ibnlive.in.com / Home> South> Southern News / by Mandara Vishwanath / The New Indian Express / May 30th, 2012

Bangalore: Doctors upgrade state-run maternity home’s condition

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Science & Technology

Bangalore:

A team of gynaecologists in Bangalore have taken it upon themselves to upgrade a corporation-run maternity home. Dr Latha Venkataraman and her team of 15 specialists are improving the rate of institutional deliveries in their area.

“I believe this hospital was functioning very well. I think it was started in 1962 and most of the people from this area used to come here. Unfortunately, as years went by the facilities and also the availabilities of the doctor fell or became a rarity. Thereby, the patient’s attendance to the hospital also fell,” says Venkataraman.

Two months back, Dr Venkataraman and her team of 15 specialists from the nearby private Rangadurai Hospital decided it was time for change. They roped in two gynaecologists for 8 hours daily, procured funds to get better equipment. Now, the maternity home boasts of at least 6 to 7 deliveries every week and has logged 3 surgeries.

India has the highest number of obstetricians and strangely also ranks among the highest in maternal mortality. Deaths of mothers soon after childbirth are mostly preventable. It’s in that scenario that this kind of an initiative speaks volumes.

Dr Prabha Ramakrishna, Gynaecologist, says, “See childbirth is not a disease, it is something which happens naturally to most women and it is sad that people lose lives during childbirth and that is where we need to be alert. I want to put a stop to it completely, because it is not feasible.”

Venkatraman says, “It is time we gave quality care to all women irrespective of socio-economic status. Specialists and superspecialist care should be available in their vicinity. These are simple things and simple medications can save lives. Simple things done in a simple way without missing and messing can save lives.”

And Dr Venkatraman’s efforts are showing. Over the last few weeks, the maternity home has seen a steady rise in the number of patients. In six months, the doctors plan to have enough support for 24/7 operations and the Bangalore Mahanagara Palike is looking out for more private-public-partnerships to revive its 93 hospitals.

Shankarlinge Gowda, Commissioner, BBMP, says, “Shortage of qualified doctors is an issue because we do primary care and most of the doctors are just MBBS and we send these doctors after recruitment, to these PG courses. But if the non-governmental organizations can bring in expertise in maternity care, in pediatric care and other specialties, we would welcome them.”

In a country where healthcare is out of reach to the poor, doctors like Latha Venkatraman are truly a messenger of God!

source: http://www.ibnlive.in.com / Home> India / by Deepa Balakrishnan , CNN-IBN / May 30th, 2012