The real meaning behind the lines-"Ganesha banda: Chikkere gedda, dodda gere biddha

Do you know the real meaning of the lines "Chikkere gedda, dodda kere biddha" chanted during the Ganesha festive?
Our forefathers had framed this line with loads of meaning....
In those days every village had its own lakes and other water bodies. It was the duty of every villager to clean up the lake when it goes dry. But many villagers ignored it and did not take part in the de-silting activity.
So the concept of ganesha festival was cleverly planned where the villagers moulded a ganesha idol from the clay derived out of the water bodies in their villages.
They worshipped that idol with all respect. They moved to the nearby villages to dissolve the worshipped idols. This ensured that the mineral resources in the idols gets distributed to the water bodies in other villages too.
As time elapsed the clay ganesha was given some paint and other decorative things just for business which is posing a serious threat to the nature.   

Kannada novels in the comic book format

Worried that your children do not have the habit of reading novels. Gift them a Indya Comics book, they will surely cultivate it says Aknisree Karthik

Bangalore: How do you feel when somebody tells that you can read renowned Kannada novels in comic book format without diluting their theme and seriousness within half an hour?

Here is Indya Comics, a Bangalore based firm that aims at creating awareness about the rich heritage of Kannada novels among children. Indya Comics aims to enhance reading habits. It appends knowledge and networks the reader to their literary roots apart from depicting a gripping novel in a simple, concise and enjoyable manner. It takes you through the literary world of India and connects you to the Indian literary heritage.

How do Indya Comics work?

They have a team that works towards selecting eminent Kannada novels. Their art team gives shape to the main characters in the novel. The background team works towards giving the binge of feel in which the entire novel runs. The scripting team writes the script for the comic novel.

The comic books will have a summary of the whole story at the beginning. An introduction to the main characters of the comic will also be there. Novels that normally run into several hundred pages are reduced to about 2,500 words in about 32 pages and come with attractive illustrations. Though works are condensed, care is taken to see that nothing is misrepresented.

 “It is sad that students pass out of schools and colleges without knowing anything about our Indian culture and heritage. The literary heritage of India is as old as civilization itself, the greatness and pro-foundity of Indian literature is manifested among its several regional language publications” said B S Raghuram of Indya Comics.

“We select novels from seven Indian languages- Kannada, Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Bengali, Marathi and Malayalam and convert it into comic book format. Novels with positive social meaning are selected. We do not select novels with vulgur outlook. By our comics we make children develop optimistic and positive attitude. We have a selection team. It takes about two months to convert one novel into comic book format. We have art team which works on painting the characters for the novel. Our background team works in giving the feel in which the novel runs, say the period in which the novel was written, setting of the village etc. Our scripting team will work towards the script” added Raghuram.

“We have already released four Kannada novels-Dr Anupama Niranjana’s ‘Madhavi’, Sudha Murthy’s ‘Dollar Sose’, Aa Na Kru’s ‘Sandhyaraga’ and Beechi’s ‘Aridha Chaha’. These 32 pages book is priced at Rs 50. One can buy and view our novels online also. Our team is working towards many other such eminent novels. Several schools like Jain School and Surana have made our comic novels as a part of their curriculum by prescribing our novels for projects”.

“We pay royalty to the novels which we convert. In this fast moving world people find no time to spare to read novels. We convert the novels into comics without hampering the main jist or theme of the novel. One should love Kannada and promote Kannada. Parents should encourage reading habits in their children. We are getting enthusiastic response from the people. We are constantly working in converting many novels and have plans to release one comic book every month” said Raghuram. 

These comic books are available in all leading book stores across the state. Interested can visit ‘www.indyacomics.com or dial 080-40849999 for further details.

Read this if you are planning to buy a ‘gift’ for your dear ones

Aknisree Karthik

Bangalore: Planning to gift something unique to your loved ones or your friends? Fed up celebrating birthday, marriage and other events in the same way by getting dressed yourself and posing for the cameras?

The memories we want to preserve is immense. If you wish to make your birthday, marriage day, anniversaries, or any other event as a memorable one just plant a tree in your name at Spoorthivana, which was started with a vision to preserve the eco-system for future generation. You can even plant a sapling on occasions of death of your near and dear ones. Spoortivana will be a ‘live museum of memories’.

It evolves itself by adjusting to the changes of the nature and will establish equilibrium in the nature. It also gives shelter to innumerable birds, insects and animals. It absorbs the poisonous gases coughed out by the industries and vehicles which heat up the earth. Prevention of soil erosion, preservation of moisture and the fertility of the land will be ensured.

Spoorthivana, an environment protection organization and a registered NGO spread over 400 acres about 35 km away from the city. Near the confluence of river Arkavathi and Kumudvathi Rivers, Spoorthivana is located on the reservoir catchment area of Tippegondana Halli (T G Halli) on the way to Magadi.

It is a combined initiative of Government of Karnataka, Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board, Forest Department and Parisara Trust which was started in the year 2005.

Spoorthivana is claimed to be the third biggest park in the city next to Lalbagh and Cubbon Park. The canopy of the so called ‘Garden City of India is decreasing. The city in some ways is in no difference with a ‘concrete jungle’. The city has lost many of its trees in the developmental activities like road widening. ‘Spoorthivana’- a garden of inspiration in the local lingo, is sure to make up the loss of all the greens here it the city.

How do I plant or gift a tree?

If you wish to plant a tree you must make a cheque or DD in the name of ‘Spoorthivana’ payable at Bangalore. ‘Team Spoorthivana’ will plant a tree in your name and look after it by giving a serial number to it. A receipt and certificate will be issued for the same. There are no limitations on the number of trees you can sponsor.

You can also lend your hands by sponsoring and supporting the activities held at Spoorthivana. What more? The list of plants and its sponsors will be made available at Spoothivana website very shortly.

“Saplings of local trees will be planted here. Till now about 4,500 trees are planted. A block will be made for every 250 trees and a serial number will be given for each tree. Every day here at Spoortivana is like a Parisara Habba and we take extra care and maintain it as unwanted weeds and plants may play a foul game. Each sampling will be planted at 7 mts space” said Eshwar Prasad, convener of Spoothivana.

Schools too can take their children on excursion to Spoothivana and create awareness about the nature.

Some hidden facts about Sir M Visvesvaraya

Bangalore: While most of the major discoveries and inventions were contributed to the world by India, many were buried without any lime light due to various reasons. Either the early Indians did not have the habit of recording those or even the British who are known to record everthing did not wish to see Indians taking a lead always. One such example to it is the far sightedness and vision of none other than Sir Mokshagundam Visvesvaraya, one of the legendary nation builders of India.

How many of you will believe me if I say that Sir M Visvesvaraya was the one who practiced the ‘planning model’ much prior to the Soviet Union? Yes. It was Sir M V who practiced the planning model during his tenure as chief engineer and Dewan of Mysore during the first decade of 20^th century.

Yes there are lots more of hidden facts about Sir M V waiting for you at the exhibition named “Sir Mokshagundam Visveswaraya-The Legendary Nation Builder” at Visvesvaraya Industrial and Technological Museum here at Kasturba Road in the city.

Apart from being an engineer Sir M V was statesman, a visionary and a nation builder. The first Prime minister of the country Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru who is considered to the architect of modern India borrowed his ideas of planned economy from Sir M V who lead an active life for almost a century.

-Sir M V suggested India to be put under the industrialized nations as he believed that India can become through industries.

-Sir M V strongly believed in establishing an empirical relationship between industry and scientific research institutions. 

-He gave the vision to start the Department of Metallurgy, Aeronautics, Internal Combustion Engines at the Indian Institute of Science.

-Since river beds were costly, he came with an efficient ways of filtering water through ‘Collector Wells’ in 1895 which was rarely seen anywhere in the world.

-He has the credit of inventing ‘automatic sluice gates’ and ‘block irrigation system’ which are still considered to be marvels in engineering.

Wonder Car by city students

Aknisree Karthik

Bangalore:  Do you still have a doubt in the words of American President Barrack Obama? He has warned the students of his nation to work hard as he fears that Indians students might take the lead. True. You will firmly believe it after reading this article based on the project report of the mechanical engineering students of P E S Institute of Technology.

How do you feel while your car automatically drives you to the destination you wish while you sit back and relax watching a movie of your choice on your car wind shield while you are on a long drive? Do you believe when I say that a car can adjust its colour, music and light matching your mood variations?

Do you think all these are possible? Yes it is possible. The mechanical engineering students of PESIT have designed a mechanism for a car, where the car will take you the destination which you wish on its own. The car has a mechanism which enables one to park it automatically.  

The students have worked on a project statement given to them by PACE and fully supported by General Motors. They had to conceptualize, design and build a ‘Sustainable Urban Transport’ (SUT) for the year 2030, which has to be economical with negligible carbon footprint.

The problem required the students to develop the entire manufacturing and industry scenario for the car after a comprehensive market research. They conceptualized this project statement and applied it to an Indian scenario by taking Ahmadabad as the city for targeted market research.

 “We wanted our car to be suitable for Indian roads and the Indian scenario while also being in conformance to all the rules, regulations and conditions set by PACE.

We have been involved in this project for over a year now. It began in August 2010. There were seven teams, consisting of five universities each working on this project. We were heading Team 3. Our team included National Institute of Design (Ahmadabad), Universidad Iberoamericana (Mexico), SJCE (Mysore) and Michigan Tech University (USA)” said Vishwanath Sundaram, a team member, PESIT.

Team 3 is currently headed by PESIT, which is working on ‘Steering and Propulsion systems’. The students have done comprehensive analysis on the chassis design and propulsion of the car.  They have also incorporated special steering mechanisms to combat the increase in traffic at 2030. The car has sensors which will detect any obstacles while driving and avoid it. This is an electric car which runs on battery and the steering can be turned up to 90 degree.

“PACE provided the college with the necessary hardware and software to complete the entire project. If we require any special software from one of its partners we can ask them for the same and they will provide it for free” said Vishwas Pai, a team member from PESIT.

As of August 2011, Phase I of the project is complete. Phase I consisted of conceptualization of the car, virtual design and modeling and engineering of the various subsystems. Phase II of the project involves manufacturing of a prototype, providing complete technical specifications of all inner workings of the car and providing data about the different infrastructures and manufacturing units required to actually start the production of the car. Phase II is set to begin by the end of August 2011 and is scheduled to be completed by July 2012.

“The car has many distinct features. Its body will be covered by LED where one can change the whole colour and design of the car whenever he wishes. All the things will be networked. The nearest gas station, food station, the battery levels, etc will be displayed. This will be a gift to parents as they can send their children without any feat anywhere as the car will be monitored and they will know as where the car is” said Prof Sathish, research guide to the project.

The team has won prizes at the International PACE Forum 2011, Vancouver held recently. They have secured 1^st places in design and market research. They have won 2^nd places in product engineering and manufacturing and has managed to emerge as the winners of overall best collaboration.

National Institute of Design is responsible for the design and the market research of the car. They have provided an intensive research report on the market analysis and what type of car is favorable for the same. SJCE is responsible for the GPS and networking. They are responsible for providing the interface between the user and the car and also the inter car communication protocols.

UIA is responsible for the braking and suspension. They have designed state of the art swiveling suspensions, which is required for slot parking and rough Indian suspension. Michigan Technological University is responsible for the electrical controls in the car and incorporation of drive by wire technology.

 

Untapped potential of human mind

Aknisree Karthik

Bangalore: All normal human beings have five senses. You hear from your ears, see through your eyes, feel with the skin, taste with the tongue, and smell through your nose. Do you have any sense other than this? I bet that you have it.

Apart from those above said five senses humans have one more sense and that is ‘The Sixth Sense”. Everybody has it in them but they wouldn’t have known about that.

For instance, while walking on a deserted area have you ever felt as if someone is following you and did you really find anyone really following you?  I am sure that you would have experienced this and the thing which poked your mind by hinting someone is following you is what is known as ‘The Sixth Sense’.

Here is Praveen C A, a mentalist who can train and guide you to develop your “Sixth Sense”. What more? He can enter your mind and pluck out your thoughts. There are only few select people who know to enter the minds of the people and tell them what their thoughts.

We caught up with Praveen after he performed all his mind readings, magics, spoon bends etc at an interactive session with the media here in the city recently said “Everyone has that sixth sense in them up to a certain degree. The only thing is they fail to use and train it. For example it is like a muscle and you need to exercise it so that you can flex and pose it”.

“The sixth sense is probably the most hilarious, captivating, interactive, motivating and baffling show one would have ever seen. It is a unique way of entertaining people and not many people know about it. There are hardly very few people who do it in an intellectual and professional way” said Praveen.

When we asked Praveen about how he achieved and mastered this art he said “I always did this as my pass time when I was in my navy. My wife Feena happens to be a psychiatrist. The common thing we always discussed was about the way people think, their behavior and psychology. I was inspired by the TV shows of magician Darin Brown. I reached this stage by studying many book on human psychology”.

He is capable of many things which one must see to believe it. The range of his abilities includes speed calculation, heightened memory, subliminal suggestions, psycokinesis.

He can bend a metal spoon by combining his mental powers and applying it on it. He even has the potential to break it by just concentrating by using his mental powers.

In his ‘mind experiments’ he asks some of the people from the audience to volunteer and select a book of their choice from the bunch of book he offers. The volunteer can think of a word from any page of a book selected at random from a choice of books given to him. The mentalist will unlock the volunteer’s mind and reveal what word he was thinking.

The Mentalist who was born and brought up in Kerala is also an expert in revealing your thoughts of your childhood friends name, a geometrical design, your mobile numbers, the colour you think etc.

“It is all about practice and correct timing one must have to enable these acts successfully. I may not be correct at all the times but I achieve 99% out of 100% most of the times” said Praveen.

Praveen has many things in his store for the school children and corporates. “As we advance, children are fed with new knowledge and the schools do not teach the children to remember it. What they do is, they make the children to learn all the things by heart with more repetitions”.

He has logical and new techniques which will increase ones memory power irrespective of their age. It will increase your level of intuition and the hidden potential of sixth sense.

A whitener turned to paint the life of rag pickers in black

Aknisree Karthik

Bangalore: A whitener can be used to re-write and correct the mistakes or errors committed by us while typing or writing. But the rag pickers at the fruit market have a different meaning and purpose of the whitener.

They mix it with a cloth waste or toin rope and start smelling it. As they inhale it they get high and repeat the same. Due to this the crime rates have shooted up in and around K R Market area. The fruit merchants are facing lot of problems due to these rag pickers who inhale solution.

“We do not have any shops here. We sell all our good openly and these rag pickers threaten us with a razor or knife and demand money from us. They elope with the money while we are busy with our business. Many of the fruit merchants have hit them hard till they bleed. But nothing seems to have an effect on them. All their nerves have become lose due to the effect of continuous inhalation of solution. They have become nub to all our blows and even we are fed up with these fellows who spoil our business” said Sathya B Lazaras, fruit merchant.

All these rag pickers are in their age of 8 years and above. They earn their living by picking plastic covers, milk covers, plastic products, etc. They dare to do anything to get their solution bottle. They steal goods. They threaten and grab money from the people. The rag pickers can always be seen inhaling a toin cloth dipped with the solution.

“Even all the petty shops are catering with whiteners in and around market area. This was not here earlier. What purpose does this whitener serve here? The petty shops have started to make money out of this. These rag pickers quarrel among themselves when they get high. They take out their razors and start playing with it. They cut each other and enjoy doing that. Most of them reside here below the city market flyover.” said Joseph, banana merchant.

Even the police cannot do anything regarding this. But these rag pickers have accelerated the number of crime rates in and around city market area. Market is the apex of all businesses and lakh together of money if turned over throughout day and night. With increasing activities of all these rag pickers all the vendors and business man with fear. The vendors have to keep a constant vigil on their goods.

These rag pickers if left unattended now will surely turn into an anti-social element posing a serious threat to our society in future. Also they dare to do anything to grab their solution bottles. So other people might use these people for their own selfish gains by just fetching them a whitener bottle.

These rag pickers do not have any family or people who guide them. It will be better if some NGOs can come forward by uniting with the police department and take them under counseling and rehabilitation.

First of its kind theme park in the country

Aknisree Karthik

Bangalore: As the Bangalore Water Supply and Sewarage Board (BWSSB) has made it mandatory for all the existing buildings with an area of 40x60 along with a dimension of 2400 sq km to compulsorily implement the Rain Water Harvesting (RWH) within December 31, 2011, the people are left confused with what type of rain water harvesting to set up at their homes which suits best.

Don’t be confused. You have an answer and solution for all your queries at Sir M Visvweswaraya Rain Water Harvesting Theme Park here in the heart of the city at 40^th cross, 5^th block, Jayanagar. The theme is said to be first of its kind in the country which is built at a whooping cost of 3.5 crore.

All models of RWH are on display and there will be BWSSB junior engineers who will explain each model to you in a simpler way. The visitors will be showed a small documentary about the water essentials, uses of RWH, how do the people go ahead with installations and other things stretching up to half an hour creating awareness about saving water with heart touching audio visuals.

Once you are done with that, the junior engineers will be taking you around the theme park where 28 models of RWH are set up. The engineers will be explaining you the mechanisms by giving you a free book on RWH along with a leaflet and will be giving the approximate cost of each model and the technical details. One can select among those which he feels as it suits his home or apartment the best.

The theme park which was opened for the public on April 16, will be working from Monday to Saturday between 10 am- 5 pm. Entry is free for all only the schools must take prior appointments just to avoid overcrowding. Every visitor will be given a free book –Amruthavarshini, a guide of RWH written by A R SHivakumar, principal investigator at the Karnataka State Council for Science and Technology. 

The BWSSB has already invited all schools to bring their children to the theme park to derive the practical experiences regarding RWH. Already the BWSSB officials has got the list of schools from their officials who take the reading and has divided the schools according to their respective constituency and has already written letters inviting about 63 schools under Jayanagar constituency. All the schools need to do is to select the standards of children, take a prior appointment at the theme park by telling them the number of students whom they are about to take to the park and fix a schedule. The junior engineers will divide the number of students and take them in batches around the theme park.

 “The impact of this theme park is huge among the children especially the high school ones. Even many NGOs have visited the site. Some set of foreigners too had come here and opined that they had not seen such theme parks run by a water body like BWSSB in their countries. Once we play the video, the people get a general idea and as we take them along the park explaining the various models they get a clear picture and importance about the whole concept” said Rekha, junior engineer who took us through the theme park explaining things.

We were able to see the students keenly observing the audio-visual media at the mini theatre and cleared all their doubts by asking for clarification from the engineers.

What more the theme park is enough spacious and will surely relieve you from some routine stress. All the installation works are running at a rapid pace to set up the water themes which will be eye catchy.

The theme park has an open auditorium too where street plays, dramas and other useful activities can be done.

Also the theme park provides technical assistance on every Fridays between 11 am to 1 pm where experts will be attending to your queries and will be giving you possible solutions with their immense knowledge. IT giant like Wipro, Commando Hospital, apartment owners, NGOs, engineers and other builders have already taken the expert opinion.

Do you wish to increase your water table? Do you wish to rejuvenate the ground water levels? Do you wish to give life to your dead bore wells?, Then you can attend the Friday workshop and derive the maximum benefits out of it.

What after getting the expert opinion and how to go ahead with the RWH installations?

Simple. Just login to the BWSSB website. You will get the numbers of the plumbers in your area who are exclusively trained by the BWSSB to set up the RWH. Call them, fix an appointment and you are done.

Also people can contact the help desk at 080-26653666 to get their queries answered.

“Parents and teachers please watch out”

Aknisree Karthik

Bangalore: Children are those who are very busy and are constantly trying out different all types of indoor and outdoor games to keep them entertained. We checked out as which type of game the children of today’s generation like the most. It’s the cyber where the children hit at to play both online and offline games.

The shocking thing is that most of the games played by the children below teenage have only the destructive factor. The much more shocking thing is that these games are comprised of obscene scenes and other things which are not needed for the children at this age.

Such games have taken a toll in the molding of the attitude in among them. “I like to play a particular game because if I win in that game I will be kissed by a girl. Also if I get bored, I can press a button where a girl will come and sit next to me in my bike” said Suresh, a student of St Joseph’s Primary School.

The student further added that most of his batch mates play the same game for hours together. There are games which have no end; the game will never end at all. “I feel excited when I see my name in the top scorer list for the whole Bangalore city. I spent days together to achieve that by sacrificing my sleep and food” said a busy teenage boy who answered us while he was playing at a cyber café at Chamrajpet.

The games of today’s generation had no end. We even found students who said that they were playing the same game years together. “They play for at least 3-4 hours a day. There are games where one can play the same game along with his friends with different computers. Today’s games are filled with guns, blood, flesh and all anti-social things which has a great influence in molding the character of the children. They go out and implement the things which they saw in the games. They ride their cycles and bikes very rashly. Also they experiment the different stunts also” said a cyber café owner who didn’t wish to disclose is name.

“They don’t take any precautionary measure like wearing any spectacle to avoid the rays and glares emitted from the systems. They even do not care about their fingers which they use to play the games for hours” added the café owner.

The physical education is given least importance due to all above factors. They fail to concentrate in their academics too and the most discussed thing among the peer group in the class room is about that day’s top scorer among them. The top scorer is seen with respect and this in turn kindles the others to play the game whole night by skipping their daily school assignments sitting in front of computers for hours to break the record of their friends. The children even have to do lot of circus in arranging money to pay the fees at the cyber cafes as their pocket money will not enough to bare the game played by them for hours together.

 “In 2004, a survey was conducted for the top ten violent channels. Among the top ten three channels were exclusive children ones. If just TV channels have this much impact, we can just imagine about the impact of the games. The parents need to surely monitor their children. A child comes home after his school by 4 pm and sits in front of TV or computer till 8 pm. This time must be filled or replaced with some interesting things or games like puzzles etc which will occupy them and which will be useful also. These games are just like drug and alcohol addiction which needs to be removed with the help of parents and teachers by conducting regular discussions with psychologists” said Dr Akila Sadasivan, a child Neuro Expert.

We requests the parents and the faculty fraternity to create some awareness among the school children about the ill effects of violent games which over shadows their other potential hidden talents by organising regular discussions.

Bike lovers cheer up…. You reached your destiny….

Aknisree Karthik

Bangalore: All eyes on the stone building at No.15 Wheeler Road, Frazer Town. It is here a first of its kind museum for the ‘vintage bikes’ is opened under the banner Legends Motor Cycling Café and Museum.

A pony tailed hardcore bike lover S K Prabhu emerged from the museum and welcomed us. Prabhu who has traversed all the over the country with his bikes spoke to us as the last minute preparations like fixing a glass pane, arranging the furniture was going on at the museum.

“I always have a feeling that I was born to ride bikes. I always had passion for bikes. It was there in me right from my childhood. I had been to many countries across the globe and found that India was the place which did not have a museum for vintage bikes” said S K Prabhu in an exclusive chat.

Prabhu has about 25 rare vintage bikes. What is surprising is that most of the bikes are in their original colour. Hold on your breath, what is more surprising is that most of the bikes are in running condition.

“I have travelled the whole country with my bikes. I always have the habit of getting something memorable from places wherever in travel. I started collecting bikes as my passion kindled it and lined on by one at my home. Then I was struck with an idea to open a café along with a museum” added Prabhu.

The visitors can have a wide range of things offered here at my café mostly in the British style. As they sip their coffee they can have a look at the book collections and magazines which I will be placing here in one of the corners.

The vistors can have a look at the 1924 BSA 250cc, 1928 BSA 500cc, 1960 Innocenti, 1960 Fantabulous Scooter 125 cc, 1960 Florettee 60cc, Java Colt Racer, 1962 Czeta and Military bikes like 1942 BSA 500 cc, 1942 Norton 500cc, 1942 Matchless 350cc etc. Prabhu even said that he has plans to flood the museum with much more bikes in the future.

One will surely remember his childhood days once he steps in to the café at the ground floor and move on to the museum at the second floor by opening the doors of the museum which is fixed with a bike handle. What more? The café is too filled with all antique collections right from the fans with wooden blades to the wall clock, and even the toasting machine and refrigerator are antique ones.

Prabhu showed us the LP player and said that he will be playing jazz music for his visitors. The museum too has a huge collection of ash trays which was picked by Prabhu while his journey to various countries. The wall of the museum is filled with charcoal paint pictures. You can even see the oil tins which were used in olden days.

“Even I have plans of serving wine on the museum where all bike lovers can sit and have a chat sharing their experiences. There is no such bike clubs exclusively for the bike lovers in the city. The café will be open from 6 am to 11.30 pm serving scrambelled eggs, cheese omblet, Danish Open, Mutton Biriyani, Chicken Biriyani, Prawn Biriyani, Seer Fish, cakes, and ice creams” said Prabhu.

It’s all about Kannada….

Aknisree Karthik

Bangalore: When most of the software engineers elope to foreign countries forgetting their motherland just to multiply the money they earn, here is Lakshmikanth V who has taken a U turn by setting an example to all those who fail to contribute to their country and its language.

Are you a hardcore Kannadigas who has been searching for the right place where you can find all Kannada books, movies and CDs.  Here is ‘Total Kannada.com’ an answer to all your search related to Kannada.

Must be wondering how it started so here is the answer for you ?

Lakshmikanth V who happens to be a software engineer quit his well-paid job in the United States and came all the way back to ‘Namma  Bengaluru’ to contribute something  worthy for the is language he loved right from his childhood. Lakshmikanth, the founder of Total Kannada.com spoke to and said “I always had passion for the language but I could not do anything about it.  I could not see Kannada books being shelved under the regional category in leading book stores in the city which was very disappointing, there I decided to open an exclusive showroom for all the Kannada buffs”.

Total Kannada.com is sure to greet all its customers with a new pinch of experience which they would not have experienced anywhere else in the city.  The owner claims that he has a collection of 9000 books, 2500 movies, 500 audio CDs, CD roms, greetings, T shirts and wrist watches etc.

“Till now about 3000 movies are released in Kannada of which I have 2500 collections with me.  When I was in my pre university, I had written letters to the theater owners requesting them to run Kannada movies but I could not do anything more than writing letters. I had written articles to some of the leading Kannada papers too.  Even today, I am striving hard to get the copy rights of many Kannada movies to convert it into DVDs but I am not getting the proper response. When I was working in the US, I used to visit all the book show rooms over there and ended up seeing all other books on Indian languages but could not find any on my mother tongue, so I started a website –Total Kannada.com in 2001.

I posted articles on Kannada. I gradually started to import Kannada books to US and started to sell it.  As the days passed my collection of books rose and I had no place to store it then something stuck me and I thought that why should not I go back to my country and start my own book store exclusively for Kannada.  So here I am now” smiled Lakshmikanth V.

The T shirts which are sold here contains kannada quotes printed on it like “Mande Bisi”,  “Wonder Gunnu”, “Ella Okay Ellenedrelli Kasa Bisadodhu Yaake” and some other humourours and interesting civic sense quotes.

There is a piece of good news for the students because they can learn all their poems line by line with meanings and themes conveyed on the same of  through audio CDs and those who missed out their favorite teleserials can get in DVDs.

Ravikanth has plans of converting great novels into audio where one can listen to the audio and understand the story. He has plans to convert Masti Venkatesh Iyengar’s-Sanna Kathegalu, stories of Ganesh Ayya and Beechy etc.

What more could you expect?  Lakshmikanth his team has ensured that his books are available in mobile vans which will be going all around the city catering to the needs of Kannada buffs who have spread all over the city.  You can also place your orders online by logging into Total Kannada.com and the things what you have ordered will reach you crossing all the geographical boundaries by post or courier without any delay.

It is service and satisfaction which matters, not the money

Aknisree Karthik

Bangalore: Was it your dream or sole interest to serve the society and you couldn’t find any right platform serve the society? Here’s is one. You can become a traffic warden, and serve the society by controlling the traffic by wearing a uniform and it’s so simple.

“Behind every successful man there is a woman” goes a saying. Behind the smooth functioning of Bangalore City Traffic Police, there are the Traffic Wardens, whose services have remained unacknowledged.

What is this Bangalore City Traffic Warden Organisation? What do they do?

BCTWO is a volunteer organization with a motto of road safety. It was set up in1985 on a notification by the Government of Karnataka with the following motives.

-To make the road users aware of their responsibilities in respect of road rules

-To conduct road safety and traffic education campaigns in collaboration with traffic police for the benefit of motorists, pedestrians and school children

-To assist the traffic police in directing and regulating the vehicular and pedestrian traffic, whenever requested upon to do so

-To collect or formulate suggestions for improvement of traffic and forward the same to the higher authorities

 The Bangalore City Police Traffic Warden Organisation has been assisting the City Traffic Police effectively in all its activities right from its inception.

Under whose control are these BCTWO? How many members are there now?

The Commissioner of Police is the chief patron of the BCTWO. There are about 200-250 active people in the present scenario of which 10-15 are women, who are basically doctors, engineers, advocates, teachers, bank employees, business people, industrialists, IT & BT professionals. They have voluntarily joined this organisation with a sole interest to serve the organization and the public.

How they work? How many hours they work?

They compulsorily work for four hours per week. The traffic wardens perform duties in their area twice in a week and few of them throughout the week and assist the traffic police. They also take part during special duties like cricket match, air show, religious functions etc., and work day and night with traffic police. Their role is eminent during traffic chaos caused due to accidents.

Once you join you can select the traffic junction which is near to you, either near your office or home.

Our sources said that the recruitment is going to be held by the end of this year.  All you need to do is apply with all necessary documents. The minimum qualification which was a degree earlier has now been reduced now. Those who have passed PUC or equivalent exams can apply for this. One must be between 20-55 years of age and mainly should not have any criminal background and should not be convicted by the court of law. You must know one local language along with Hindi and English. Once you clear the interview, you will be trained accordingly at the Traffic Training Institute at M G Road for one and half days.

You will not be given any salary. But you can boast that at the end of the day that you have served the society. It is considered to be an honorary work. The respect you derive here is what it matters. You will be given a uniform and a badge.

Also other than controlling traffic, these traffic wardens educate the school children. They are doing education programs from past many years under the banner, “Catch Them Young”.

They visit schools across the Bangalore city. The schools will be divided into zones and a nodal officer will be appointed for it. A team of 2-3 traffic wardens will be visiting the schools in their zone. A one hour educative program will be held along with the distribution of free books which create awareness about traffic rules and regulations.

Traffic wardens will be conducting interactive sessions with the school children. They have also designed an audio-visual presentation for the school children depending upon their ages.

What more? The wardens in association with the Traffic Police will be educating the school children at ‘Traffic Park’ with all the practical set up. The children will have the practical experiences here. They will be educated in how to cross roads, lane discipline, how to get down from a bus, when and where to stop in traffic signals, cycling etc.

“This year we are expecting to teach about one lakh school children. They in turn will be educating and creating awareness about the things they learn here to their parents, friends, brothers and sisters. It is at this age the children will be tender and we can implement the rules at its best among them” said Prof Dr K Mohanan Nambiar, Chief Traffic Warden.

All about Bangalore ‘Karaga’

Aknisree Karthik

Bangalore: Caste- No bar, religion- No bar, language- No bar. This is how one of the oldest traditional festivals of Bangalore, ‘Karaga’ is celebrated. All eyes on Sri Dharmaraya Swamy Temple. It is this temple in S P Road, where the Karaga festival is celebrated from centuries together. This year the Karaga will be held on midnight of April 18. It is a well-known tradition of Tigala community in southern parts of the state.

How it all started?

We have all read in our epics like Mahabhartha and Ramayana that in order to relieve the people from the clutches of the evils, god used to take one or the other avatar. Likewise, Draupadi, wife of Pandavas took the avatar of Adishakthi and formed a team of soldiers called Veerakumaras and demolished the demon Asura.

Veerakumaras insisted Draupadi to stay back. But she managed to convince the Veerakumaras and said that she will come back every year during the first full moon day of the first month of the Hindu calendar. This group of Veerakumaras is believed to be the present Tigalas. Later year by year Karaga became a sense of celebration of India’s rich culture and tradition.

What does Karaga stand for?

‘Ka’ means without touching by hand. ‘Ra’ means carrying it on the head. ‘Ga’ means coming around carrying it.

What is in the Karaga? Who will carry it? How they decide that?

The Karaga is made of flowers in the shape of a pyramid. In the top of the pyramid, Vishnu resides followed by Brahma in the bottom. In the middle part, ‘Mathrugana’ and ‘Rudra’ (Shiva) this will be balanced on the head of the carrier who will be selected by the senior heads of the Tigala community. The physical and mental strength of will be given prominence during the selection. This year the Karaga will be carried by C M Lokesh. The people see the Karaga carrier, who will be dressed as female as Draupadi. The Karaga goes around the city covering all temples. One special thing is that the Karaga will also visit Tawakkal masjid at Cottonpet. The Karaga will even visit all the houses of all Veerakumaras, who believe that Adishakthi Draupadi has come to their homes truly in the guise of Karaga carrier.

How the Karaga festival commence?

It commences with a yellow colour flag-hoist inside the temple court yard, termed as ‘Dwajarohana’. This year the flag was hoisted on April 10. After the flag hoist, the Karaga along with the Veerakumars, ‘gante’, ‘kalasha’, ‘vadya’, ‘trishoola’, ‘panchavarna dwaja’-symbol of Pandavas will go around eight direction for eight days and the Karaga carrier will take bath each day in one water body in one direction. The Karaga is believed to have powers which will completely eliminate the evil forces in the route by which it goes.

Also the history says that the one who sees the Karaga will be blessed and relieved of the sins following him from past seven generations.

“People will pour in lakhs together on the day of Karaga. It is celebrated as a ‘Nada Habba’. There is an increase in population of people other than Hindu. This year we have made special arrangements. We have put up about 200 flex banners for enough publicity. This is celebrated as a grand festival. People get dressed in a new dress and participate in the celebration. All religions and castes come together. For example, the Balijigas look after the chariot pulling, the Kumbaras look after the ‘anna chatra’ and the Jains distribute prasada and water” said K Lakshmana, dharmadarshi, Sri Dharmaraya Swamy Temple.

What women cannot do?

They have changed the history in politics. They have revolted up the norms by which they were bound all these years says Aknisree Karthik

Bangalore: How many of you know about ‘Yakshagana’- one of the most popular folk dramas of Karnataka which was performed by the men only during the 11^th century. I guess most of you know about it. But how many of you know that even women can perform Yakshagana? Not many.

The traditional folk dance which was once dominated by the men lot has shifted its equilibrium and has reached the women. Yakshagana is a unique and rare blend of powerful music and vigorous dance, marked by vivacious foot work. Choreographic group movements coupled with colourful costumes and elaborate makeup creates an ethereal world on stage. Stylized extempore dialogues with folk and literary charm bring out the subtle nuances of the local language-Kannada.

Karnataka Mahila Yakshagana has taken the lead and has been conducting Yakshagana for females of all age groups from past 12 years.

“Initially women were not allowed to perform Yakshagana. We started about 12-15 years ago. Even when I was interested to learn this art there were no academies or institutions where women can learn Yakshagana. So we came up with this initiative of setting up an institute where women of all age groups can learn and perform Yakshagana” said Gauri K, secretary, Karnataka Mahila Yakshagana.

Gauri and her troupe are involved in the growth and development of Yakshagana. They have been staging performances in various parts of the state. A lot of women empowerment is happening.

“We always had that fear that whether we will be received well or not in our early days. We were discouraged too. Yakshagana was performed in a very orthodox way throughout the night by men in those days. We just thought why we women cannot enter this and make a mark. There are housewives, working women, college and school going girls, who are staging Yakshagana” added Gauri.

Here is Pavithra who is doing her 2^nd PUC in Mount Carmel College. When other girls of her age are attached toward the western culture, this girl has set an example by sticking to the traditional Indian culture. While her other members are hitting at the pop, jazz and salsa dances she has expertise the art of Yakshagana.

She drew all her inspirations from her mother V Latha who is an employee at Reserve Bank of India. “I am practicing Yakshagana for more than 12 years. I drew my inspirations when I was doing my schooling. My daughter used to accompany me whenever I go to perform or practice this traditional art and she gradually involved herself in Yaksahgana without hampering her curriculum” said Latha.

When we asked about the future of Yakshagana with Latha who always manages to find some time for Yakshagana in spite of her busy schedule she said “Time has changed now, people look out in curiosity for us when they hear that women perform Yakshagana. It is sure to go places and if this art is introduced as curriculum in some universities it will be good”.

Even Sanjana and Sharavani too had the same story to say. They said “It is a good experience. We have dared to be different. We love doing it. There are some misconceptions. Many fear to take up this as they feel that the costumes are heavy enough to carry on. But it is not the case and we totally deny that”.

The themes of Yakshagana are largely based on Hindu epics like 'Ramayana, Mahabharata and tales from the Puranas. The makeup of Yakshagana artists are rich and differ with the character. They are closely related to the ornamentation found in the scriptures.

 It is the era of women. They are no longer looked like a commodity. There are no less than any men. Now you need to tell me what women cannot do.

Dabbawala gyan to the city students

AknisreeKarthik

Bangalore: Can you identify your tiffin box if it gets shuffled among the tiffin boxes of your colleagues? Are you capable of performing your tasks without any technical aid? Yes. Your answers might be a big ‘no’. Okay how often do you or your company commit error? Your answer should be very often. Okay can you think of one company or sector which never had any police cases or any protests?

But if we ask the same question to the Dabbawalas of Mumbai they will boldly say that they commit error once in 6 million times. Isn’t that figure shocking? Yes it should be. The Dabbawalas are the wokers who perform the job of transferring the tiffin boxes given by housewives to their husbands working at offices.

Dr Pawan G Agarwal, chief executive officer of the Mumbai Dabbawala Association was here in the city yesterday to participate in an interactive session with the management students of Adarsh College.

“For the Dabbawalas work is worship. They did not apply for any ISO certificate or Sigma certificate. But they were awarded 6 Sigma certificate and the ISO certification came to them without any application. They might not know how much value or weight the above certificates carry, but they know that they need to deliver the ‘dabbas’ to their customers’ in-time for the lunch” said the ‘management guru’ who has done his PhD on the ‘Supply Chain Management of the Dabbawalas of Mumbai in his motivational speech inspiring the future managers.

Agarwal further carried the students all the way through his presentation and said “Students expect packages before work. They must expect the packages after work and not before it. Also honest matters a lot in the work we do. For instance fearing the increased number of thefts some customers have sent their salaries through the empty tiffin boxes with a confidence that it will reach their homes safely in the empty boxes by evening. That’s the result of the confidence we earned all these years”.

 Many high profile companies are inviting the dabbawalas to deliver talks in their successful supply-chain system. Virgin Mobile fame Richard Branson too visited them and insisted of taking a snap with them so that he would hang that at his office and set the Dabbawalas as an example to his workers.

Currently Pawan Agrwal is carrying out his research on the ‘paperwalas’ and he is all set to meet former president of India Dr A P J Abdul Kalam for his research as our past president too has worked as a paperwala.

Value Added Services of the Dabbawalas free of cost

In a hurry their customers forget to carry some things like spectacle, files etc to their offices. The Dabbawalas carry the forgotten things given to them along with the tiffin boxes.

Also there are instance where these dabbawalas have united angry couples. In an instance, a husband left to office after quarrelling with his wife with a note that he will not return home. But the wife sent a letter in the tiffin box to his angry husband apologizing and expressing her long hidden love via the dabbas. The husband in return sends the tiffin stuffed with two movie tickets for the night.  Dabbawalas are evident in exchanging the messages between husbands and wives.

Coding

The Dabbawals use simple resources like match sticks to code the tiffin boxes. If the customer works at different floors they use the floor numbers. They use the names of the towers say EX for Express Towers. They use no name and no address to code.  

Anna hum tere saat hai

The recent replies given by the Central Government for the nation wide protests of Anna and his team sounds very funny.... When the whole nation was desperately looking for a leader to lead them ahead, they got Anna... What's wrong in that? The parliamentarains who could not digest this have come out asking who selected Anna? How can he be a leader?... Arre you people fund your elections by all our hard earned money collected as taxes as and when you wish..., you buy your votes by paying for it by the money which you loot... Still you people come out asking such questions with out any shame.... !!! The next time you step on to roads for votes, people will tell you who voted Anna Hazare....

Dear IAC volunteers, what if the central government does not keep up its promise made to Anna?

‘India against Corruption’ campaign ended on a positive note with the central government agreeing to 3 demands of Anna Hazare.... Anna ended his fast on a note- 'Battle is won, but the war is yet to be'.... The involvement of youths with this magnitude in the protests was one of the key factors which brought down the central government on to its knees... What if the central government does not keep up its promise made to Anna?
The masses in the villages could not do much as they had no awareness about the Jan Lokpal bill drafted by team Anna. Dear IAC volunteers in order to keep this movement alive kindly move out to the nearby villages during weekends and conduct camps where you create awareness about the bill, what is the bill capable of, what does it fetch if it gets implemented etc.
This will ensure that the villagers will come out to join the protests once they are given a call by Anna. Also it is said that this movement is by the middle class and of the literate ones. It is so, as they know what they derive out of the bill. But the illiterates do not know much. Create awareness camps and keep the flow. Conduct seminars, debates, quiz programs across the nation in schools, colleges.
Divide the area street, ward and constituency wise. Go on a door to door canvassing too. If this is done you can surely have one person from each home participating in all of your protests. So the numbers increase and the central government and the politicians cannot ‘divide and rule’ the nation by their concoctive versions and stories.
They will always be left with one option and that will be to pass the bill.