Brahma Kamalam flower in full bloom at a residence in Varadaraja Nagar in Tirupati. Photo: K.V. Poornachandra Kumar / The Hindu
‘Brahma Kamalam’ made a surprising appearance in the Bonsai garden of Lakshmi Bharathi, a resident of Varadaraja Nagar in Tirupati on Saturday night.
The blossoming of the flower is a rare event, given the fact that it is believed to be endemic to the Himalayan region. However, it is nothing new to Ms. Bharathi, a member of the Bonsai Club, as the flower did bloom in her courtyard on October 10, 2007.
The sapling was given much earlier to her by a priest at Kedarnath temple during her Himalayan yatra. The flower did not bloom for several years in spite of her best efforts to nurture it, make her lose hope. “But one day in 2007, it was suddenly in full bloom. After that, it blossomed only now,” Ms. Bharathi told The Hindu. The snow white flower has a sweet fragrance and is known to grow only in the pure water and pristine environment at the Himalayas. “We pour water purified through Reverse Osmosis technology to this plant,” she added. The rare flower is drawing neighbours and strangers alike to her courtyard.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> National> Andhra Pradesh / by A. D. Rangarajan / Tirupati – October 13th, 2014
Barely hours after Hudhud made landfall close to Visakhapatnam, fishing operations resumed in parts of Krishna district on Monday. The fishing activity along the coast of Andhra Pradesh has come to a standstill since the weathermen alerted about the storm.
Spared by the Hudhud without any damage to crops or fishing materials, fishermen in few locations including Nagayalanka on Monday returned to the sea, via backwaters of Krishna near the latter’s confluence point.
However, the Gilakaladindi harbour authorities have announced warning number three on Monday, suspending fishing activity.
Speaking to The Hindu, Gilakaladindi fishermen said that they were gearing up for fishing from Tuesday. “Hudhud had no impact on Krishna district including the strategic coastline. We have no reports of damage of standing paddy fields or fishing material,” Hudhud In-charge of Machilipatnam coast A. Varaprasada Rao told The Hindu. However, a field level team was roped in by the government to stay in the villages to register any damage claimed by the local communities.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News>Cities> Vijayawada / by Staff Reporter / Gilakaladindi (Krishna) / October 13th, 2014
U. Shrinivas, who cast a spell on audiences with his Western instrument, the mandolin, died here on Friday. He was only 45 and is survived by his father, mother, two sisters and brother Rajesh, who is also a mandolin player.
Mandolin Shrinivas, as he came to be known, had been ailing for a while. He reportedly was being treated for liver failure at the Apollo Hospital. He had lately received a liver transplant and had recovered, but a lung infection proved fatal. In a statement, Apollo Hospital said “the transplant procedure was uneventful, and his liver function showed signs of recovering. After initial improvement of five days, he developed a secondary lung infection leading to shock and multi organ failure.” Shrinivas was a man of clean habits, and had been ignoring an infection for a long while, friends told The Hindu.
Born in Palakol in Andhra Pradesh in 1969, Shrinivas was the son of clarinet player Sathyanarayana. Young Shrinivas, however, was attracted by mandolin used by his father’s friend in recording studios. He quickly mastered it and his skills were further honed by Rudraraju Subbaraju, a student of late Chembai Vaidhyanatha Bhagavathar.
His first concert was held at Kudivada in 1980 and later mridhangam player organised a concert for him in Kumbakonam in 1981. As Chennai is the capital of Carnatic Music, his family settled here and he was promoted by Updendran and his uncle, late thavil maestro Valangaiman Shanmugasundaram, who accompanied him in thavil.
As a child prodigy, a permanent smile on his face and with joy apparent while playing his instrument, he created waves in the Carnatic music world.
He instantly caught the attention of late Chief Minister M.G. Ramachandran, who declared him the musician of the Tamil Nadu Government when he was just 11 yeas old. He was awarded Padmashree in 1998.
“After listening to him play in a temple, I recorded him for the Doordarshan. The audition test was attended by great musicians such as Emani Sankara Shastry. When we telecast the programme, we received a call from the then Chief Minister M.G. Ramachandran, requesting a copy of the recording and his address,” said Sampath Kumar, who worked for both the All India Radio and Doordharsan.
Humility personified
Shrinivas, humility personified, always gratefully acknowledged the contribution made by others towards his career.
Mridangam maestro Umayalpuram K. Sivaraman, who accompanied Shrinivas since he was 10, said his greatest quality had always been to absorb the best from the stalwarts and infuse nuances into his magical instrument.
Even though western instruments such as violin, clarinet and saxophone were metamorphosed into a complete carnatic classical instrument by the handlers, Shrinivas secured an unparalleled status for the mandolin. He performed along with the English guitarist John McLaughlin and top Indian musicians Zakir Hussain, V. Selvaganesh, Shankar Mahadevan, Shivkumar Sharma, and Hariprasad Chaurasia.
In India, the instrument was mostly used in light music and Hindustani musicians, it was Shrinivas brought it to the mainstream Carnatic music world. I am still not able to understand how he was able to produce ghamakas in a Western instrument,” said Mr. Sampath kumar, who also produced a documentary on Shrinivas.
Recalling his association with MGR, Shrinivas once told The Hindu that since he did not have a telephone, the Chief Minister’s secretaries visited his house.“The Chief Minister’s secretaries visited my house and wanted to know whether I could perform at a function. Since I had a concert on the same day, they gave me another date and the occasion — a felicitation function for actor Kamal Hassan for his role in the film ‘ Ek duje ke liye’ . Mr. MGR and our present Chief Minister Jayalalithaa listened to the entire concert,” Shrinivas once reminisced.
At one concert, T.N. Seshagopalan, moved by his music, presented a gold ring to Shrinivas.
Shrinivas joins late N.C. Vasanthakokilam, Karukurichi Arunachalam and Needamangalam Shanmugavadivel, other Carnatic music greats who left the world when they were at the peak of their career.
Carnatic music world mourns its loss
The Carnatic music world is in a state of shock over the untimely death of Mandolin U. Shrinivas here on Friday.
He was reportedly being treated for liver failure at the Apollo Hospital here. He had lately received a liver transplant and had recovered, but a lung infection proved fatal.
The greatness of his place in this world is probably best explained by a small story that the late violinist Lalgudi G. Jayaraman’s family recounts.
It happened when Jayaraman, along with his son Krishnan and daughter Vijayalakshmi stepped into the elevator of a restaurant. While everyone wondered how he was able use a western instrument so successfully to render gamaka-laden Carnatic music, Shrinivas explained the modifications he made to achieve the result, says Ms. Vijayalakshmi.
“We happened to listen to the sweet strains of Shrinivas playing our guru’s [Jayaraman] Yamunakalyani tillana. With a smile our guru stood there listening to it, not minding that the elevator doors had closed and we were moving on to the next floor,” recounts Mr. Krishnan.
“Doing away with the eight-string model, I transformed the instrument into a four-stringed one early in my career. Later, I added a fifth string on the advice of my father,” Shrinivas used to say. His achievement is explained by music historian V. Sriram: “It is not often that someone gets to introduce a new instrument in Carnatic Music and yet be welcomed with open arms.”
For mridangam player Umayalpuram K. Sivaraman, his death is a great personal loss. He provided accompaniment to Shrinivas in hundreds of concerts. “We were to play two concerts this December. Alas! it is a great loss,” he says.
Describing Shrinivas as a great scholar and inventor both in melody and rhythm, Mr. Sivaraman said that his name became synonymous with the instrument and made him an icon. He was humble and respectful.
Another senior musician who accompanied Shrinivas in a number of concerts is Ghatam maestro Vikku Vinayakram. Unable to overcome his grief he said, “Only his body is dead. His music will continue to live on.” Music director Ilayaraja, one of the great fans of Shrinivas, paid homage to him at home. Music composer A.R. Rahman (@arrahman) has tweeted his message: “Emotionally shaken to hear of Carnatic shining star Mandolin Shrinivasji’s demise… May God bless him with happiness in the next world.”
Noted playback singer S.P. Balasubrahmanyam on his Facebook page, said Shrinivas had elevated Indian classical music to “universal level.” He recalled his first meeting with him at Gemini Studios in 1980 where he was doing the background score for Hum Paanch directed by Telugu director Bapu who passed away recently.
Playback singer Shankar Mahadevan who performed with Shrinivas for ‘Remember Shakti,’ is poignant in his message. “A very important part of my music is over…. praying for your soul U.Shrinivas, my friend my brother …in extreme sorrow.”
Tabla maestro Zakir Hussain tweeted: “Today mother India cries, today a part of Indian music died and we are orphaned, RIP my dear brother Mandolin Shrinivas.”
“I got to know today that Shrinivas is no more. I am very sad to hear that. When he was 14-year-old, I saw his performance on TV. He used to play Indian classical music brilliantly. It was quite tough to play classical music on mandolin… May his soul rest in peace,” noted playback singer Lata Mangeshkartweeted.
Sonu Nigam tweeted: “The great mandolin exponent U. Shrinivas is no more unfortunately. Was going through a liver transplant.”
(With additional inputs from PTI)
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> National / by B. Kolappan / Chennai – September 19th, 2014
Tents those were used at official quarters in Kurnool in 1953. – Photo: By Arrangement
The capital of Andhra State after its separation from Composite Madras State in 1953 was built in 40 days. The land required for the purpose was acquired in a single day and tents were put up in a week.
The planning and dedication of officers and staff helped the administration secure all records intact and shift them to Kurnool. Kurnool was a sleepy town when the Madras Assembly voted it to be the next capital of Andhra State. Despite the caution by C. Rajagopalachari to Tamil MLAs not to join the voting, five MLAs had voted in support of Kurnool. The most difficult task was accomplished by a team of dedicated officials headed by then Special Collector C. Narasimham, Collector P.V. Madhava Rao, SP B. Kalyan Rao, Chief Engineer Frederic and Superintending Engineer Coil Pillai, while Chief Secretary O. Pulla Reddy monitored the shifting operations from Madras. After deliberations, the officials decided to vacate all district offices suitable for State offices in three to five days and shift them to Nandyal and Banaganapalli. The Collector’s office and District Board (Zilla Parishad) were found suitable for secretariat, District Court for Assembly, SP Office for the office of Inspector General of Police, Secondary Grade School hostel for Legislators residence and executive engineer’s office for Raj Bhavan. For staff quarters, the team decided to acquire land on the city outskirts, which was named as ABC camps later. Within a day, the Special Collector’s team conducted a meeting with the land owners and decided a compensation of Rs 150 per acre for the crop loss. The team put up 600 military tents in the layout after constructing dust-free roads, water lines and toilets. The government placed an order for the tents with the Military stores and sourced them from Pune. A team of 200 Malabar workers were deployed to erect tents. The government also made available Rs 50 lakh from the treasury for meeting the emergency expenditure and carrying out repairs to the Old Buildings.
The government took over Tungabhadra Industries Rest House and one retiring room at the railway station to accommodate the VIPS. A special train was run from Chennai for shifting the furniture, records and another to bring people for the inaugural function on October 2.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> National> Andhra Pradesh / by D. Sreenivasulu / Kurnool – August 16th, 2014
Thirteen-year-old Vizag girl Sriperambuduru Jaahnavi, an adventure enthusiast, is probably the first girl from Andhra Pradesh to attempt scaling Stok Kangri, which is 6,125 metres (20,080 feet) above sea level and the highest peak in the Stok range of Himalayas in the Ladakh region. She will start her journey from August 2.
Young Jaahnavi, who is trained in trekking, rafting, parasailing, hot-air ballooning, rock-climbing, always dreamt of a being a mountaineer inspired by Bachendri Pal and Malli Mastan Babu. The young girl has completed two high attitude treks — 16,000 feet Roopkund ranges in 2010 and the 10,000 feet National Himalayan Trek in 201“Adventure involves risk but it is necessary for all-round growth and development. I don’t know the meaning of fear” said Jaahnavi, who completed the 15 most difficult treks across the country.
“Adventure involves risk but it is necessary for all-round growth and development. I don’t know the meaning of fear” said Jaahnavi, who completed the 15 most difficult treks across the country.
source: http://www.deccanchronicle.com / Deccan Chronicle / Home> Nation> Current Affairs / by DC Correspondent / July 15th, 2014
Paulus Raveendra Eduri shows how the photographs are digitised.
Hyderabad:
Bruno Jehle arrived in India in 1983, “when India was still taking shape”. Soon after his arrival in Mumbai, the tall Swiss hopped on a train and embarked on a very long, 30-hour trip to what was then, the grand city of Madras.
“I remember the slums around Adyar. People looked at me and immediately assumed that I had lots of money and that I could help them out of their many problems. But I didn’t have a penny and yes, life in the slums was tough, demanding and challenging.”
But Jehle soon started helping out in a business selling eggs, dealt with thugs and made life-long friends. It is that very link with “that true India” that left an indelible mark, which was clearly evident during his meeting with the DC, where he explained what the Switzerland-based BJ Institute is doing in the bylanes of West Marredpally.
The Nizam’s photos
One of the founders of the institute, Jehle, a lithographer by trade, has over the past seven years, managed to train a small team of Hyderabadi photo specialists to restore and digitise some of the first photos taken of the city and beyond.
These photographs, dating back at least a 100 years, were taken by the Hyderabad Department of Archeology — a rag-tag bunch of photographers commissioned by the erstwhile Nizam’s government to shoot and document historical structures, artifacts and excavations across the dominion and the neighbouring regions. What the photographers did then, was the first ever photo survey of the region, taking over 60,000 photographs of structures ranging from the 1,000-pillar temple at Hanamkonda to the Ajanta Elora caves of Maharashtra.
The photographs were stored as negatives, inside crates that piled from floor to roof. When the state of Andhra Pradesh was formed in 1956, the photos moved into the hands of the newly-designated Department of Archae-ology of Museums and the officials then moved the precious photos into a room, where they rested for 99 years, subject to heat, dust and the elements.
That’s until Jehle’s and his Indian partner Paulus Rave-endra Eduri pitched to the government that they had the means and motivation to restore and preserve the photographs, with a 300-year warranty.
Paint and polish
So in the October of 2012 began the task of sorting and cataloguing the thousands of photo negatives. An entire ‘clean room’ was built from the ground up, equipment was brought in, personnel were hired, documents were signed and a small, tight team, along with representatives from the government, went to work.
“We had to guard the room against natural light, clean it up and then take photos of the negatives. But then we knew what the challenges were and this was not the job where we could’ve cut corners,” said Eduri.
The final product is stunning. Printed on the choicest of paper, the collection of restored photographs offer a never-seen-before insight of the monuments and people from an era that’s mandatory study for several experts. The photographs show clothing, modes of transport, trade, layouts of towns and much more.
“This is what I want people to see. Our small team in Hyderabad has managed to bring out the life and times of a forgotten people,” adds Jehle.
And in that little house in West Marredpally is also where the Indo-Swiss collaboration has come full circle. In 1948, just after India’s Indepen-dence, the nation’s leading lights had sent out a sort of SOS to the Swiss government, asking for help in infrastructure development. Jehle and Eduri’s work then is the coming together of a 65-year-old idea, an initiative… that is finally taking form in Hyderabad.
source: http://www.deccanchronicle.com / Deccan Chronicle / Home> Nation> Current Affairs / DC / by Govind Vijaykumar / December 15th, 2014
Mohammed Khurshid Hussain currently holds the world record for typing A to Z on a keyboard in 3.43 seconds. – Photo: G. Ramakrishna / The Hindu
The youngster types a sentence using his nose in 47.44 seconds, more than half-a-minute faster than the current world record
Mohammed Khurshid Hussain, who holds the Guinness World Records for typing the English language alphabet in 3.43 seconds on a keyboard, attempted to break the record for typing a 103-word sentence in the shortest time, with his nose, here on Thursday.
It was Mr. Hussain’s second attempt to break the world record for typing the sentence ‘Guinness World Records have challenged me to type this sentence using my nose in the fastest time’ with his nose.
According to the Guinness website, the current record holder is an Indian named Neeta, who achieved the feat in one minute and 33 seconds at Guinness World Records Pavilion in Global Village, Dubai, UAE, on November 16, 2008.
Mr. Hussain’s clock stopped at 47.44 seconds when he finished typing the sentence with his nose, more than half-a-minute faster than the current world record.
“This is my second attempt to break the record. A few months ago, I typed the sentence with my nose in 54 seconds, for which I am yet to receive the certificate,” he said.
Mr. Hussain currently holds the world record for typing A to Z on a keyboard in 3.43 seconds.
The feat was achieved on February 2, 2012, according to the Guinness website. He performed the feat in the presence of S. M. Arif, Padmashree and Dronacharya awardee; Mohteshyam Ali, silver medallist at the Mr. World body building championship; Naina Jaiswal, an international table tennis player; and Iftekhar Shareef, who acted as witnesses for the record-breaking attempt.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Hyderabad / by Staff Reporter / Hyderabad – February 27th, 2014
Irfan Bin Hamed Al Hamoomi, the visually-challenged judoka from Hydeabad, who has been selected to represent India in the Junior world games (Paralympic) in Hungary, seen with his coach and mentor M. A. Aziz. PHOTO: K. RAMESH BABU / The Hindu
Irfan Bin Hamed Al Hamoomi is the only person from the State to compete at the ongoing Junior European and Junior World Games competitions in Hungary
He cannot see the world like us, but Irfan Bin Hamed Al Hamoomi, 20, is sure to make the world sit up and watch his exploits in judo.
The local boy is the only person from the State (among five from India) to be selected to represent the country at the ongoing Junior European and Junior World Games competitions in Hungary. The 90-per cent visually challenged student of Chanchalguda Junior College says his career took a turn for the good after meeting M. A. Aziz, former national champion, and a jury member in the 2012 London Paralympics.
“Things changed for the good after I met him, as I was facing difficult times,” Irfan says, even as he traces his humble origins. His father Irfan Hamoomi supports the family selling onion and garlic.
The boy’s career took off when he won gold in the 55-kg category in the Lucknow nationals for the visually challenged (Andhra Pradesh won the overall championship for the first time with six gold, three silver and two bronze).
Irfan is confident of doing well in Hungary where judokas from 35 countries are expected to vie for top honours.
“I don’t think of my handicap at all. I am just enjoying the sport,” says the youngster. Irfan trains with 20 others at the Quli Qutub Shah Stadium on a wrestling mat (not a judo mat), showcasing his indefatigable spirit to keep improving despite all odds.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Hyderabad / by V. V. Subrahmanyam / Hyderabad – December 05th, 2013
A team of doctors led by Dr Anurag Chitranshi from Prime Hospitals performed a highly complex surgery to re-implant an amputated arm of a 12 year old girl in Hyderabad.
The doctors from Prime hospitals acted in the right time and conducted a successful surgery to re-implant an amputated arm for the first time in Andhra Pradesh. Usually in many such cases, the other half of the amputated part of the limb becomes non-functional and useless unless an immediate medical care is given.
After eight long hours of the complex surgery the doctors declared the surgery as a rare success and the 12 year old girl is fast recovering as veins and arteries are functioning properly by supplying blood in to the re-implanted arm.
Going in to details, Thanishka was brought to the emergency department at Prime Hospitals in Ameerpet, on December 10, 2013 at around 1:30 pm with accidental entrapment of right arm in an elevator.
Preliminary examination showed her hand to be amputated at a level just above the wrist and she was bleeding from the amputation stump but conscious and co-operative all the while. The amputated arm was brought in a plastic bag put in a thermacol box filled with ice pieces and ice packs, as is desired for a successful re-implantation. The doctors in the emergency department resuscitated, stabilized her and did dressing for the arm. The amputated hand was sent to the operation theatre immediately.
The re-implantation surgery took a marathon of eight hours by a team comprising of plastic surgeon Dr Anurag Chitranshi, orthopaedic surgeon Dr Sathish Reddy and Dr BSV Raju, neurosurgeon & director to operate on her. Initially she was giving general anaesthesia and the arm bone was fixed. Subsequently the veins, arteries, nerves and tendons were repaired and the surgery was completed. The blood circulation was re-established in the cut hand within 6 hours of amputation. She was discharged after a two weeks stay at the hospital with the limb surviving in its entirety.
The expeditious presentation of the patient at the hospital, preservation of the amputated hand in a clean bag, with the bag surrounded by ice cubes, the immediate attention of the team at casualty and expertise of specialist doctors at Prime Hospital in promptly re-implanting and ensuring arterial blood flow, is what helped in salvaging the arm, says Dr Anurag Chitranshi.
Galla Jayadev, vice-chairman and managing director of Amara Raja Batteries performing puja at the inauguration of the company’s new plant at Nunegundlapalle near Chittoor on Sunday. His mother and mines minister Galla Aruna Kumari is also seen | EXPRESS PHOTO
Extending its business base in the district, Amara Raja Batteries Limited group, belonging to the Galla family, announced its expansion by launching the world’s largest integrated medium VRLA plant at Nunegundlapalli near Chittoor on Sunday.
The first factory in the 500 acre land, set up with an outlay of `350 crore, was inaugurated here on Sunday. With an employment generation capacity of 1,500 in the first plant, the plant can manufacture 3.5 million UPS batteries every year, ARBL managing director Galla Ramachandra Naidu said.
“The second plant is under construction and two more plants–one for tubular and other for plastic–will soon commence operations. The second unit, with an outlay of `350 crore, would provide jobs to another 1,500 people,” he said.
Emphasising that the company will focus on employment generation, Ramachandra Naidu said, “Chittoor is enveloped with barren hills. There is no agriculture and only industries here are dairy and poultry. For the economic growth of the district, industries are the only option and we are providing them.’’
Ramachandraiah Naidu said after the completion of all the plants, the company will provide jobs to as many as 20,000 persons.
Speaking on the occasion, ABRL vice-chairman and managing director Galla Jayadev said the UPS batteries cater to the need of industries and can be used domestically too.
He said Chittoor is a strategic location for development of industries. “Every one thinks that Chittoor is not viable as it is far off from the capital, Hyderabad. But, it is a strategic location as it is located three hours away from Chennai and Bangalore,’’ he said.
Jayadev said economic development will increase commercial activity at the place and also nearby towns. “Thanks to our Karakambadi plant, which is providing employment to 17,000 persons, the local economy increased by 30 per cent in Tirupati. Similarly, with a potential of 30,000 here, Chittoor town and nearby villages will develop,’’ he said.
On their future plans, Jayadev said though they have not yet finalised, they are going to invest in other districts including in coastal Andhra and Telangana.
District collector K Ramgopal, Putalapattu MLA Dr Ravi and others also took part.
Galla Aruna Praises YSR
Mines and geology minister Galla Aruna Kumari heaped praises on former chief minister late YS Rajasekhara Reddy. Speaking on the need of industrial development and his family’s contribution to it, Aruna Kumari said it was YSR who took an initiative in the industrial development of the district. “During talks Rajasekhara Reddy offered lands at three different places to us and we selected this one. It was like a forest then and a lot of effort has gone in transforming the area,” she said. Expressing her gratitude to YSR, she said her appreciation should not be politicised.
No to Division
“We are opposing bifurcation and we will continue to do it,’’ she said. Reacting on the reports of the chief minister likely to float a new party, Aruna Kumari said she was not aware of any such move.
source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> States> Andhra Pradesh / by Express News Service – Chittoor / January 20th, 2014
