Creativity is her USP

December 23, 2015Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Business & Economy, Inspiration/ Positive News and Featuresadmin

Reetika Vaish discovered the art of decoupaging, fell in love with it, and made it her profession

Most people belonging to the growing breed of crafters in the city have “always cherished” the dream of starting their own art/craft venture. But, Bengaluru–based Reetika Vaish has a different story. “I was never an art or craft person until my son was born two and a half years ago. As I stayed home to care for him, I surfed the net and chanced upon the nuances of decoupaging (art of decorating an object by gluing coloured paper cut outs onto it in combination with special paint effects, gold leaf and so on.) What started out as a hobby soon turned into something I was extremely passionate about to make a career out of it,” says the founder of RTK’s Creations (www.facebook.com/rtkcreations).

Reetika’s work primarily revolves around exhibiting prints of Indian culture and the beauty of nature. She says, “I do my best to keep my creations unique and not use the prints again for another product. I also customise them with my clients’ pictures to their products.”

With time, her product line has expanded and RTK’s Creations now offers items such as handmade trays, coasters, watch organisers, keepsake boxes, metal planters, etc. Wallets, mobile cases, tablet sleeves, up-cycled bottle lamps, and candles are also among her popular products. In addition to creating and retailing, Reetika also conducts workshops over weekends.

Reetika, who holds a double post-graduation in finance and commerce, says, “The need to exhibit my creativity and connect with people encouraged me to give up the corporate world and pursue my passion. Having the full support of my family and friends sure made the switch easy,” Reetika narrates.

She adds, “That apart, things weren’t easy for me when I started this. I had no clue how to market my products. Gradually I started posting my work on craft portals like Bangalore Craft Lovers and Fevicol Hobby Ideas. I finally got down to creating a page of my own on Facebook and that’s when orders started coming in. Free time is still an issue as my son keeps me on my toes when he is awake. So I work on my projects/experiments/orders in the night after he sleeps or over weekends. My husband has also been my biggest encouragement.”

Like many other crafters, Reetika too took to the internet for lessons. Later, she attended workshops to learn the techniques in depth and to gather contacts of suppliers to source base materials. The challenge she faces is to “convince people that these products are handmade and that it involves time and effort. It is therefore a challenge to explain our pricing to them. But personally, the most interesting challenge is to keep experimenting and enhancing the appeal of my products.”

This column features those who choose to veer off the beaten track.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> Features> MetroPlus / by Neeti Sarkar / Bangalore – December 01st, 2015

Medallists aim high

December 23, 2015Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Education, Records, Alladmin

Winners of the gold medal in various fields at the convocation of the Karnataka State Dr. Gangubai Hangal Music and Performing Arts University in Mysuru.— PHOTO: M.A. SRIRAM

R. Raghu, son of Ramu, a truck driver in KMF, got two gold medals in B.A. in classical music at the Karnataka State Dr. Gangubai Hangal Music and Performing Arts University. Mr. Raghu said that he got interested in music from his school days and is aiming to pursue his studies in classical music before being a teacher.

Ashwini, who also secured two gold medals in M.A.(Hindustani Vocal), said that she is the disciple of the granddaughter of Gangubai Hangal – Vaishnavi Hangal. She wanted to do PhD in Hindustani music. M.S. Archana, who got the gold medal in M.A. in Bharatanatyam, is the daughter of a priest in Kolluru Mookambika temple. Her husband is a vocal artist. She said that she was inspired by musicians and noted dancers who had come to Kolluru.

S.C. Katyayini who got the gold in B.A.(Bharatanatyam) said that she was disappointed when her teacher refused her to include in the dance troupe to perform at the school day function. Then she decided to learn dancing.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> National> Karnataka / by H.S. Narasimha Kumar / Mysuru – December 01st, 2015

Hyderabad-Karnataka’s first private varsity to start functioning soon

December 23, 2015Education, Records, Alladmin

Sharnbasav University, the first private university to be established in the Hyderabad-Karnataka region, is all set to start functioning from the ensuing academic year, offering undergraduate and postgraduate courses in different disciplines here.

The private university is a dream project of Poojya Sharanbasvappa Appa, president of the Sharanabasaveshwar Vidya Vardak Sangh and the 8th peetathipathi of the Sharanabasaveshwar Samasthan.

The University has cleared all the hurdles of getting permissions and is awaiting the visit of a high-level team of State government officials to inspect the infrastructure facilities available.

Based on the findings of the high-level team, the State government would formally give a notification for the establishment of the private university and notify the courses which would be available for the students, which was only a formality.

The government has already given its green signal for using the 61 acres of agriculture land available on the outskirts of the city for the construction of the buildings to house the Sharnbasav University.

Dr. Sharanbasvappa Appa told The Hindu that the establishment of the private university was his dream. All out effort would be made to provide quality education at an affordable cost, which has been the hallmark of the educational institutions run by the Vidya Vardak Sangh.

Dr. Appa said as per the conditions imposed by the State government, a corpus fund of Rs. 10 crore would be kept in the joint account of the State government and the Vidya Vardak Sangha.

Another Rs. 5 crore as bank guarantee would also be provided. The State government would allow 25 per cent of the interest accrued from the Rs 10 crore deposited in the joint account for the development work of the university every year and the remaining 75 per cent would be added to a corpus fund. Dean of the Appa Institute of Engineering Technology Anilkumar Bidwe, who is closely involved in the work of establishing the University, said that all the unaided undergraduate and postgraduate courses offered in different educational institutions of the Vidya Vardak Sangh would be affiliated to the private university.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> National> Karnataka / by T.V. Sivananadan/ Kalaburagi – December 01st, 2015

Sweet corn turns into money-spinner for him

December 23, 2015Business & Economy, Green Initiatives / Environment, Natureadmin

Basavaraj Arjun Rao Patil taking a look at the sweet corn crop in his field at Udnur, a village on the outskirts of Kalaburagi, on Monday.— PHOTO: ARUN KULKARNI

Basavaraj Arjun Rao Patil has earned a profit of Rs. 50,000 from one acre of land

For progressive farmer Basavaraj Arjun Rao Patil, the cultivation of sweet corn on his 14-acre agriculture plot has turned out to be a virtual money spinner.

While a majority of the farming community is reeling under heavy loss by taking up the cultivation of traditional crops due to failure of rain, it has been a windfall for Mr. Patil, who reaped a profit of Rs. 50,000 from one acre of land by taking up the cultivation of sweet corn.

He has turned out to be a benevolent seller of green fodder to needy farmers at a time when the farmers are facing severe shortage of fodder to feed their cattle. Talking to The Hindu in his agricultural field, Mr. Patil said that the market for sweet corn was very good and the traders come to his agriculture field to purchase the crop which was in great demand in Kalaburagi and outside. .

Average income

He said that the average income by selling the fodder and the sweet corn in an acre was around Rs. 55,000 to 60,000 and after deducting the cost of the cultivation the average profit from one acre of land was around Rs. 50,000. Mr. Patil said that the green fodder was edible and mixed with jaggery and salt water, the fodder would be more acceptable to the cattle.

Mr. Patil said that the maintenance and cultivation of the sweet corn was very easy compared to other crops.

Another added advantage was that it was a short duration crop and the harvest of the crop can be done after 75 days. The only costly thing in the cultivation of the sweet corn was the seeds, he said. “I used to cultivate sugarcane and banana.

The average income generated was around Rs. 50,000 per season and the duration of the cultivation of these crops was one year, whereas sweet corn is a short duration crop,” he said.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> National> Karnataka/ by T.V. Sivanandan / Kalaburagi – December 01st, 2015

Carnatic musician S. Krishnamurthy passes away

December 23, 2015Arts, Culture & Entertainmentadmin

Nonagenarian vocalist S. Krishnamurthy, grandson of renowned composer Mysore Vasudevacharya, passed away on Saturday morning at his residence in the city. He was suffering from lung congestion for the last few weeks.

Krishnamurthy, who retired as the Station Director of Dharwad Akashavani in 1980, had served AIR for more than three decades at various places in Karnataka and outside. After he retired from Akashavani in 1980, he served at the Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan as its programme director.

Born in 1922 in Mysuru, Krishnamurthy was an economics graduate who spent nearly four decades with his grandfather Mysore Vasudevachar who was then the Mysore Palace Vidwan. After his graduation, when he was supposed to go over to Bombay to take up a job, it was Vasudevacharya who had requested the Mysuru king Jayachamaraja Wadiyar to provide him a job in the city. That was how he came to be appointed in Akashavani Mysore as Additional Programme Assistant, a job created specially for him then.

“My father’s sense for music was paramount as he was not just a Carnatic vocalist but a trained Western Classical musician too,” says his daughter Kusuma, an art and craft enthusiast. At the palace, young Krishnamurthy had been trained in Western Classical by musicians of the London Trinity School. He also played the piano and the jal-tarang. He was adept at the English numbers played by the western music orchestra there.

It was this kind of variety musical nurturing that earned him a unique place during Jayachamaraja Wadiyar’s time when Krishnamurthy helped translate several musical lessons from Vasudevacharya into Western staff notations for the king.

Musician S. Shankar recalled that his Krishnamurthy’s English transliteration of Mysore Vasudevachar’s kritis was released only recently. One of S. Krishnamurthy’s close colleagues in AIR, N.S. Krishnamurthy, recalled the time when he and Krishnamurthy, with stalwarts such as R.K. Srikantan and Selvapillai Iyengar, delved into newer formats and experimentations when radio was a new medium.

While Krishnamurthy’s distinguishing career saw him producing several musical programmes, directed ensembles and musical-dramas, he also wrote several books. His “Vaggeyakara Vasudevacharya” is a well-known book.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Bengaluru / by Ranjani Govind / Bengaluru – December 05th, 2015

Dancers set Guinness Record

December 23, 2015Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Records, All, World Opinionadmin

Kuchipudi dancer Roopa Rajesh’s accomplishment of performing an eight-minute Kuchipudi Tarangam piece with 1,054 dancers from her Noopura Fine Arts Academy, performed in 2013, has bagged a place in the Guinness World Records.

“The process of verification by Guinness authorities took a long time. This year, we received the Certificate from Guinness World Records,” says Ms. Roopa who trained, directed and guided the entire dance capsule.

The academy will distribute the Guinness World Record certificate to the participants at its annual fest at NMKRV College on December 5 at 10.30 a.m.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Bengaluru / by Ranjani Govind / Bengaluru – December 05th, 2015

PSLV bags two more US launch orders

December 23, 2015Business & Economy, Records, All, Science & Technology, World Opinionadmin

To lift weather company PlanetiQ’s first two satellites next year.

Two more U.S. satellite launch contracts have come the way of ISRO’s PSLV rocket, this time from commercial weather satellite company PlanetiQ.

A couple of space industry observers noted this as an inevitable trickle of business, if not a flow yet, from a top space market such as the U.S. to the now proven Indian player.

PlanetiQ, the Colorado-based commercial weather satellites operator, recently signed a deal with Antrix Corporation, ISRO’s marketing arm, for launching its first two weather satellites. Its final fleet totally will have 12 to 18 satellites.

Secondary passengers

The two spacecraft, just 10 kg each and carrying a special sensor to glean weather data globally, are planned to be put in space in the last quarter of 2016 as secondary passengers of a PSLV, according to the company.

PlanetiQ quoted its Chairman and CEO Chris McCormick mentioning “the stellar track record of the PSLV” in its Thursday night’s announcement of the contract.

The global launch market scene for small satellites and PlanetiQ’s keenness for the Indian launcher may well bring its remaining weather fleet also to the PSLV, said ISRO Chairman A.S. Kiran Kumar on Friday.

Antrix has bagged nine such U.S. launch orders for 2015-16.

The PlanetiQ satellites are small bites for the PSLV, which can launch up to 1,200 kg to medium distances (36,000 km) and 1800-kg satellites to low-Earth (below 2,000 km) orbits.

Until about a year ago, U.S. satellite operators could not conceive of launching from India because of a longstanding U.S. policy bar. In recent years, established U.S. launch companies have moved on to lifting far heavier satellites [ten tonnes and beyond], leaving a demand for launchers that can put smaller satellites in space.

In September, US operator Spire Global became the PSLV’s first US customer by getting four 4-kg-each Lemur satellites from Sriharikota. Antrix, which has won around 55 foreign launch orders to date, a bulk of them small ones, prefers to get bigger foreign satellites to launch from here.

Lobbying works

Susmita Mohanty, co-founder and CEO of Earth2Orbit, the country’s first space start-up, who is familiar with the Indian and U.S. space industry scenes, said: “[US] companies can benefit tremendously now that PSLV has been added to their portfolio of international launch options. This has been made possible by the companies themselves lobbying for access to the PSLV, the export control reforms introduced by the Obama administration and the efforts of “NewSpace companies” such as hers.

Russia’s converted missile launcher, Dnepr, Soyuz and the newer European vehicle Vega are in the same category as the PSLV.

Space industry tracking agency Euroconsult estimated in February this year that by 2020, governments and private operators would launch a total of 510 small satellites. The biggest number of small satellites is foreseen to come from the U.S. in the next five years. That country has also launched almost half of 600-plus smallsats in the last decade, the report says.

This article earlier mentioned PlanetiQ as a Maryland-based company. It is a Colorado-based firm.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> National / by Madhumathi D.S. / Bengaluru – December 06th, 2016

Workshop on papaya farming on Dec. 8

December 23, 2015Business & Economy, Green Initiatives / Environment, Natureadmin

The University of Horticulture Sciences, Bagalkot, will hold a workshop on papaya farming at the varsity on December 8.

A release said that 250 papaya growers had registered for the event which would be inaugurated by progressive farmers and the former Minister Ajaykumar Sarnaik. Vice-Chancellor D. L. Maheshwar would be present. An interaction programme between farmers and experts would be held and farmers could share their views and seek clarifications from the experts.

Second session

The second session would deal with pest management in papaya plantations and the last session would deal with the equipment required for papaya farming, preservation of the fruit and its marketing.

Exhibition

A special exhibition of material related to papaya cultivation too would be held, the release said.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> National> Karnataka / by Staff Correspondent / Bagalkol – December 07th, 2015

V.S. Malimath dead

December 23, 2015Inspiration/ Positive News and Features, Leaders, Records, All, World Opinionadmin

Justice V.S. Malimath, Chairman of the Karnataka Border Protection Commission and former Chief Justice of Karnataka and Kerala High Courts, breathed his last at Manipal Hospital in Bengaluru at about 11 p.m. on Tuesday. He was 86 years old and survived by wife Prema Devi V. Malimath, a son and four daughters.

Family members told The Hindu that Malimath was admitted to the hospital following viral bacterial infection about a week ago. The last rituals would be held at Chamarajpet graveyard in Bengaluru on Thursday morning at about 10-30 a.m.

According to official information, V.S. Malimath, born on June 12, 1929, secured the first rank in LL.B. and a postgraduate Diploma in Public International Law from the University of London in 1952. He began practising in the High Court of Bombay in 1952 and shifted to Bengaluru in late 1956. He was appointed as Advocate General in 1968 and as Judge of the Karnataka High Court in March, 1970. He was appointed as Chief Justice of Karnataka High Court on February 2, 1984. He was transferred to Kerala in same position in 1985. Post-retirement he was appointed as Chairman of the Central Administrative Tribunal and later as Member of the National Human Rights Commission. Malimath also headed the Committee on Reform of Criminal Justice System in India and was the United Nations Representative to monitor human rights enforcement in Nigeria and Sri Lanka. He also served as an International Observer to oversee the referendum in Sri Lanka. During his service, he represented India in several international conferences.

In recognition of his yeoman services, he was conferred with the National Citizen’s Award by the President of India, Karnataka Rajyotsava Award by the Government of Karnataka and Honorary Doctorate of Law by Karnataka University.

He was appointed as chairman of the Karnataka Border Protection Force by the Karnataka Gvernment in June this year to provide legal counselling on the boundary dispute with Maharashtra and also to look into the issues and problems of the people living in boundary areas of Karnataka, particularly in north Karnataka.

Belagavi District Kannada Organisation Action Committee President Ashok Chandargi and veteran leaders including former Mayor Siddangouda Patil and Raghavendra Joshi have expressed their condolences and decided to hold a public condolence meeting in the city on Sunday.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> National> Karnataka / by Special Correspondent / Belagavi – December 23rd, 2015

President pays tribute to HK region’s cultural legacy

December 23, 2015Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Education, Leaders, Records, Alladmin

Vice-Chancellor of the Central University of Karnataka H.M. Maheshwaraiah felicitating President Pranab Mukherjee in Kalaburagi on Tuesday. —Photo: Arun Kulkarni

‘Karnataka is a land of a multi-cultural, multi-ethnic and multi-lingual nature’

President Pranab Mukherjee has paid rich tributes to the unique features of Karnataka and its rich historical background and termed the State as the land of “a multi-cultural, multi-ethnic and multi-lingual nature”.

He also spoke very highly about the rich cultural legacy of the Hyderabad Karnataka region, while delivering the convocation address of the Central University of Karnataka at the ESIC Medical Education Complex auditorium here on Tuesday.

The President said that religions such as Buddhism, Jainism, Veerashaivism (Lingayatism) and Islam flourished in the region. The Vachana movement, Sufi movement, keertanakars and thatva padakars had shaped the hearts and minds of the people, Mr. Mukherjee said.

The Hyderabad Karnataka region had its own indigenous identity as Urdu and Persian literature along with Kannada folk literature flourished here.

“The land also carries with it a rich legacy of diverse educational experiments and experiences,” he said.

Mr. Mukherjee said that the region was the seat of two universities in the past –Anubhava Mantap of the 12th century and Mahmud Gawan’s Madarsa which attracted intellectuals from across the country and abroad. The ancient Buddhist centre of learning was located at Sannati in Chitapur taluk in Kalaburagi district and Nagavi Ghatikasthan too was located at Chitapur. “It is incumbent on the contemporary educational institutions in the State to take forward this tradition of knowledge.”

Mr. Mukherjee said that the Central University of Karnataka could set its educational priorities in its nascent stage itself to achieve the lofty ideals set by the seers and educationists.

The university, which had a modest beginning, made tremendous progress in a short period of time, the President said.

He said that the university was proceeding in the right direction to mould the destinies of the youth of this region. Mr. Mukherjee paid compliments to the university authorities for waiving the fees of girl students from economically weaker sections of society.

Mr. Mukherjee said that the students passing out with merit from the university had been provided with implements to shine wherever they go and flourished whatever they do. The students should comprehend the hopes and expectations of their relatives, society and nation at large and they were duty bound to uplift the underprivileged and the alleviate the burning problems of society.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> National> Karnataka / by T.V. Sivanandan / Kalaburagi – December 23rd, 2015

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