Monthly Archives: April 2018

This worker lifts the lives of the poor

Amazing Feats, Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Inspiration /Positive News and Features
Real needs: Hamali maistry Lakshminarayana distributes clothes to residents of Kuppam.
Real needs: Hamali maistry Lakshminarayana distributes clothes to residents of Kuppam.

Lakshminarayana collects old clothes and books for needy families in Kuppam

When Lakshminarayana saw the difficulties of many poor families, he decided to shift some of their burden on to his own shoulders. A load-carrying hamali worker in Kuppam, he is the go-to man at Muniyappa tea stall for poor families who cannot afford clothes, books, shoes and stationery for students when the academic year arrives.

Some people ask him for rice and provisions too, while others just want blessings on their children’s birthday. The hamalis’ charitable activity extends to payment of fees for students and even the passport application fee for youth seeking jobs abroad.

The worker, who hails from Shantipuram mandal of Kuppam Assembly constituency, is not literate. He has been pursuing social service along with his wife and children since they moved to Kuppam two decades ago in search of livelihood. His life as a hamali worker began at the Kuppam bus station. Over time he became maistry (leader).

The sight of two girls in tattered clothes loitering at the bus station two decades ago was the turning point for him. The children’s mother was dead and their alcohol-addicted father had deserted them. His first move was to get new clothes for them and send them to school, involving their relatives.

No cash donations

He put together essentials for migrant workers, needy families at Shikari colony and people abandoned at the bus station and elsewhere. But donations in cash are not accepted.

He also got a donation of ₹50,000 from the Hamali Union and presented it to Kuppam MLA and Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu to build Amaravati.

Recently, the hamali got praise, when he collected blankets, clothes and rice bags for the Charity Wall area of the police at the District Hospital in Chittoor.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> States> Andhra Pradesh / by K. Umashanker / Chitoor – April 04th, 2018

Kalamkari art museum comes up at Pedana

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Records, All, World Opinion
Visitors at the Kalamkari art museum at Pedana in Krishna district. | Photo Credit: T_APPALANAIDU
Visitors at the Kalamkari art museum at Pedana in Krishna district. | Photo Credit: T_APPALANAIDU

It has three galleries; traces link with Dutch and British

Former Union Minister for Textiles K. Sambasiva Rao and Professor N. Sridharan, School of Planning and Architecture, Bhopal, on Saturday inaugurated the ‘Kalamkari art museum’ here. The museum, developed by Pedana-based Pitchuka Srinivas and his son Varun Kumar, traces the history of the art and displays the process of extraction of natural colours from various sources. The museum has three galleries — wooden blocks, natural colours and history — which establish the connection with the Dutch and the British.

President of India award recipient K. Gangadhar inaugurated the history gallery in which the “Tree of Life” design was on display along with the other older works done in Machilipatnam and Pedana. The art has been flourishing in Pedana since the 1970s having been introduced by Pitchuka Veera Subbaiah. Machilipatnam was known for the art before that.

Give up chemicals

Speaking to newsmen, Mr. Sambasiva Rao appealed to the production units to give up the practice of using chemicals and use the natural colours. “The units need to understand the demand for the products across the globe and attempt to explore the market instead of killing it with unnatural practices,” he said.

He lauded the efforts of Mr. Srinivas in developing the museum. Professor Sridharan opined that the museum would serve as an education centre of Kalamkari and was arguably the country’s first one dedicated to the art. Mr. Sridharan played an instrumental role in developing the museum by extending academic and research support to the artisans.

“The idea of coming up with the exclusive museum has been realised now. It is a result of my serious effort to keep it alive in its true format,” said Mr. Srinivas.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> States> Andhra Pradesh / by Staff Reporter / Pedana (Krishna)  – March 31st, 2018

Guntur doctor wins Natgeo award for physical therapy app

Business & Economy, Inspiration /Positive News and Features, Nri's / Pio's, Records, All, Science & Technology, Sports, World Opinion
Asha J Gummadi
Asha J Gummadi

Therax Portal helps physiotherapists to share home exercise programmes with patients

A neuro physical therapist from Guntur has won the National Geographic Chasing Genius Challenge in the U.S. for designing a web/mobile application that helps patients with home exercise programmes in their native language.

Dr. Asha’s web application — Therax Portal — is now helping physiotherapists to prescribe, customise and share home exercise programmes with their patients in their native language.

Thousands of people living in rural areas across the world now use the app to get access to physiotherapy and rehabilitation exercises. In places where there is no internet facility, people are taking printouts of the programmes. “People in rural areas are forced to travel long distances to get quality treatment, and by using the application, they can do the exercises at home. The exercises can be modified by their physiotherapists during check-ups. I have watched my grandparents struggle to get access to effective rehabilitation as they were living in rural areas in India,” Dr. Asha said.

The Natgeo challenge is part of a marketing strategy to popularise a television series — Genius — and rewards innovative ideas. Participants have to create a one-minute video about an idea they had to solve a problem using wireless connectivity. Over 1,050 entries competed for the award, and of them, 10 ideas were considered for final round held in March and the winner was chosen based on votes through social media platforms such as Facebook.

Dr. Asha entered the competition with an idea, “Empowering Telerehabilitation with digital connectivity”, and stood out as the winner. She is at present residing at Philadelphia in the U.S. where she works at Bryn Mawr Rehabilitation Hospital. Daughter of former principal of Government College for Women, Guntur, Gummadi Narayana Rao, Dr. Asha graduated from Sri Venkateswara Institute of Medical Sciences, Tirupati, and later moved to the U.S. to pursue Master of Science in Physical Therapy at Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> States> Andhra Pradesh / by P. Samuel Jonathan / Guntur – April 01st, 2018