Category Archives: Arts, Culture & Entertainment

Narahari nails his colours to the mast

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Records, All
M. Narahari's collection of painted nails./ Photo: K. Ramesh Babu / The Hindu
M. Narahari’s collection of painted nails./ Photo: K. Ramesh Babu / The Hindu

The artist is the proud owner of a jewellery box which has nails of all colours, painted and preserved over the last 23 years

M. Narahari cannot afford to bite his nails. For this artist from the city, fingernails amount to a treasure. In a jewellery box he carries around, one finds nails of all ‘colours’, painted and preserved over the last 23 years.

Dabbed with more hues than can be imagined on their diminutive surfaces, the fingernails sport not only simple depictions such as the national flag, but also carry intricate portraits of national leaders. Adorning the nails in oil and acrylic are distinguished personalities such as Ambedkar, Mother Teresa, Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, Mahatma Gandhi, Rabindranath Tagore and Pranab Mukherjee.

“I got the idea when I was just about 20 years old. I began to grow the nails of my thumb and little finger, and suddenly it occurred to me that I could paint on them. Thus began my hobby,” the Fine Arts graduate recalls. Soon, he decided to paint on his own nails and become the first to do so to get into the Guinness Book of World Records.

M. Narahari at work during a demonstration at The Hindu office in Hyderabad on Friday. - Photo: K. Ramesh Babu / The Hindu
M. Narahari at work during a demonstration at The Hindu office in Hyderabad on Friday. – Photo: K. Ramesh Babu / The Hindu

Narahari, who also teaches art at a private school, allows the nails on his left hand to grow for up to two years. So far, he has stored away 85 well-grown nails, besides painting most of them. Apart from portraits, he has also depicted vivid sceneries and monuments such as the Eiffel Tower, Taj Mahal and the Charminar on nails.

Though he also paints larger canvasses, nail care has become an integral part of his life – be it positioning the arm while asleep or changing the grip so as not to break the nails.

“I refrain from hard work, too. Sometimes cracks do develop on nails, but I glue them up quickly. I take calcium tablets once or twice a month, so that the nails grow strong.”

For now, he is trying hard to find place in the India Book of Records. The Guinness Book will have to wait till he finishes a hundred.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Hyderabad / by Swathi V. / Hyderabad – January 04th, 2014

Flamingo festival takes off at Pulicat

Arts, Culture & Entertainment
District Collector N. Srikanth at the inaugural function of Flamingo Festival at Sullurupeta in Nellore district on Friday. / Photo: K. Ravikumar / The Hindu
District Collector N. Srikanth at the inaugural function of Flamingo Festival at Sullurupeta in Nellore district on Friday. / Photo: K. Ravikumar / The Hindu

The venue at Sullurupeta Boys High School was decorated for the festival

The annual ‘Flamingo Festival’ began at Sullurupeta near the Pulicat lake bird sanctuary in Nellore district on Friday.

District Collector N. Srikanth, Sullurupeta MLA Parasa Ratnam and a host of people’s representatives and district officials took part in the inaugural function. People from the surrounding mandals and especially fishermen’s families attended in large numbers.

Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Srikanth said that the festival was being held every year to bring together the people and various Government departments in the task of preserving the Pulicat lake and surroundings. Arrival of a wide variety of migratory birds always held a special charm at Pulicat.

Various departments like the Tourism, Animal Husbandry and Agriculture put up their stalls featuring their respective activities. The venue at Sullurupeta Boys High School was decorated for the festival.

The authorities made special arrangements for the facility of visitors on the SHAR road for seeing the migratory birds in the lake. People are also thronging the Nelapattu bird sanctuary at DV Satram in the vicinity of Sullurupeta.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> National> Andhra Pradesh / by Staff Reporter / Nellore – January 11th, 2014

Secunderabad – the prodigal twin

About Seemandhra / Andhra Pradesh, Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Historical Links, Pre-Independence

It all began in 1798 when the Nizam entered into a Subsidiary Alliance with the British. As part of the treaty the Nizam was to foot the bill for a contingent of Imperial troops who arrived shortly thereafter along with a motley assortment of camp followers and encamped in the vicinity of Bolarum, north of the Hussain Sagar. Within no time the makeshift city of tents transformed into a well defined settlement.

The rapid pace of development bears testimony to British ingenuity for the crafty ‘shopkeepers’ made the Nizam pay, not just for upkeep of the Subsidiary Force but also for the infrastructure. Alternatively coercing and appeasing the Nizam and his government, the British spent lavishly on the emerging city and according to some accounts, enriched themselves individually too, by fudging accounts and claiming inflated payments with the resultant burden on the exchequer eventually leading to financial ruin of an otherwise affluent state.

To curb growing resentment against such nefarious activities, the Resident sought permission to name the new settlement after Sikandar Jah when he succeeded as the third Nizam in 1803. The ploy, clearly designed to satiate eastern vanity, ensured that Hyderabad kept honouring dubious and exorbitant claims. So brazen was the conduct of the British and so lax the accountability that ‘poor Nizzy pays for all’ became an accepted axiom in condoning financial irregularities of dishonorable officers who were caught lining their pockets at the Nizam’s expense. The fact that the cantonment at Secunderabad enriched Hyderabadi culture is indisputable as also the verity that the two share a common history. It is therefore a travesty that the cantonment, a large and culturally significant quarter of Secunderabad, has been kept isolated from the administrative protocols governing the rest of the city.

Amongst the multitude of structures with a rich history is the Rashtrapati Nilayam, the old Bolarum Residency of the British which now serves as the southern retreat for the President of India. Although well maintained, the sprawling complex consisting of buildings and exquisite gardens has lost one of its most significant elements – the monumental Flagstaff on which the national flag was first hoisted when Hyderabad merged with the Indian Union. To their credit, the engineers in charge did commission a miniature model of the steeple before knocking it down but a competent conservationist would have insisted and saved such an important cultural asset.

Though many in the city are familiar with a some examples of built heritage within the cantonment limits, few are aware about the existence of structures like Deccan House, The Abbey and numerous other monumental buildings which have survived despite the passing of two centuries. Amongst buildings with high associational value is ‘The Retreat’, one of several quaint colonial bungalows, which served as Sir Winston Churchill’s residence in 1896. It was during his sojourn at Secunderabad that the redoubtable statesman first met his early flame Pamela Chichele-Plowden, daughter of the then British Resident at Hyderabad, at a polo match. Churchill, then a subaltern in the British army was the star performer of the meet and is said to have swept the lady off her feet. Their courtship, which lasted till 1902, was amicably terminated in England. The traumatic change from the warm and romantic climes of Hyderabad to damp and frigid London seems to have brought the lady to her senses, for Churchill, who had by then barely advanced in rank to captain, paled in comparison to her new suitor Victor, the 2nd Earl of Lytton, who had already succeeded to the peerage upon the death of his father Lord Lytton, the Viceroy of India. A practical choice if one considers the fact that in later years Victor lorded over Bengal as Governor while Winston offered little other than ‘blood, toil and tears’!

Though administrative control of a large part of Secunderabad was returned to the Nizam’s government towards the close of British rule, public perceptions of the twin city as being a parasitic appendage to Hyderabad has lingered. This is largely due to core cantonment areas being kept insulated from planning and development controls, especially those which safeguard the city’s built heritage. It is time that the Cantonment Board accepts established criteria for listing of heritage buildings and brings unique specimens of architectural and cultural value within the gambit of the HMDA protection programme. Only then will the people of Hyderabad consider that the prodigal twin has truly returned to the family fold.

(The writer is a well known heritage activist)

source: http://www.articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Hyderabad> Nizam /by Sajjad Shahid / January 12th, 2014

Hyderabad to host annual national symposium of poets tomorrow

Arts, Culture & Entertainment

Over 20 poets from different regional languages will participate in the annual National Symposium of Poets organised by the All India Radio (AIR) here tomorrow.

Andhra Pradesh Governor E S L Narasimhan would be the chief guest at the event.

“It is the biggest gathering of the national poets from all regional languages. We are organising it in Hyderabad this year with 22 poets from different regional languages,” AIR Director General R Venkateswarlu said here today.

The 22 poems in regional languages will be translated into Hindi and English.

“That is the tradition All India Radio do for the promotion of national integration, communal harmony and promoting literary values,” he said.

According to Venkateswarlu, total 66 poets (comprising the 22 original poets and 44 others who will translate the poems into Hindi and English) will participate in the symposium.

The recording of the event will be broadcast on January 25 at 10 PM throughout the network of AIR radio stations.

“This recording is also made available to all regional stations, so they can highlight the regional poets and can also translate into the regional language and broadcast from the respective stations based on their programme arrangements,” he said.

source: http://www.business-standard.com / Business Standard / Home> PTI Stories> National> News / by Press Trust of India / Hyderabad – January 08th, 2014

Governor to Inaugurate Hyderabad AIR National Symposium of Poets Today

Arts, Culture & Entertainment
All India Radio director general R Venkateswarulu (left) along with deputy director general MA Prasad addressing a media conference in Hyderabad on Wednesday | Express Photo
All India Radio director general R Venkateswarulu (left) along with deputy director general MA Prasad addressing a media conference in Hyderabad on Wednesday | Express Photo

All India Radio (AIR), Hyderabad, will organise a Sarva Bhasha Kavi Sammelan (National Symposium of Poets) on Thursday at APSRTC Kala Bhavan in  Baghlingampally.

Governor ESL Narasimhan will inaugurate the event. As many as 66 poets (comprising the 22 original poets and 44 others who will translate the poems into Hindi and English) will participate in the symposium.

Speaking to reporters here on Wednesday, AIR director general R Venkateswarlu said the national symposium of poets is an annual event and was being organised regularly since 1956.

The event is special this year as it is being organised in South for the first time and that too in Hyderabad, he said.

This symposium of poets is an endeavour to provide a creative platform to national integration and linguistic harmony through mutual interaction and coordinated presentation of the best in contemporary poetry of all Indian languages, he said. “This programme is a reflection of the rich cultural and literary heritage of Indian languages, incomparable with any other programme in its status and grandeur,” he remarked.

He said the poems in regional languages will be translated into Hindi and English and the recording of the event would be broadcast on the national network of AIR on January 25 at 10 p.m. “This recording is also made available to all regional stations, so they can highlight the regional poets and can also translate into the regional language and broadcast from the respective stations, he said.

Venkateswarulu said along with poets from Telugu, Hindi, Sanskrit, poets from 22 Indian languages like Assamese, Bangla, Gujarati, Kannada, Konkani, Kashmiri, Maithili, Malayalam, Manipuri, Marthi, Oriya, Punjabi, Sindhi, Tamil, Urdu, Santali, Bodo, Dogri would participate in the event.

Rise in Listenership

The AIR director general said that in the last one year there has been an increase of 30 percent in AIR listenership.

Keeping the evergrowing demands of the listeners, AIR was planning to set up new FM stations across the country, he said.

AIR presently has 407 FM stations including 22 FM Rainbow and 4 FM Gold and 585 broadcasting centres in the country.

Similarly, there are about 242 private FM stations across the country and the government was planning to allow another 839 new private FM stations.

He said AIR programmes are now available in DTH and internet. “FM Gold and Urdu service are available in internet and more services would be made available on internet soon,’’ he said 80 p.c Increase in Revenue: The AIR was expecting 80 percent increase in revenue in the financial year 2013-14. “Last year our revenue stood at Rs 376 crore and this year till now we have crossed Rs 307 crore and by the end of the financial year we are expecting to touch Rs 440 crore.

The AIR has been allocated Rs 800 crore for the year 2013-14.

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Cities> Hyderabad / by Express News Service – Hyderabad / January 09th, 2014

Irshikaa Mehrotra, Sindhura Kaviti dazzle at the fbb Femina Miss India 2014 auditions in Hyderabad

Arts, Culture & Entertainment

City girls were ready and raring to go at the fbb Femina Miss India 2014 Hyderabad auditions hosted by The Park, Hyderabad on Monday afternoon. fbb Femina Miss India 2014 is a once in a lifetime opportunity for the selected confident and beautiful girls to be fast-tracked to the Bangalore regional auditions. Over 100 entries were received in the city auditions, out of which six were short-listed.

FeminaHF21jan2014

The first round, which was judged on the basis of confidence and personality, saw the participants walk the ramp in ganjis and hot pants. The second round saw the gorgeous ladies change into cocktail outfits and take the runway by storm. After much debate and discussion, six girls — Irshikaa Mehrotra, Sindhura Kaviti, Monika Thangalapalli, Aparna Yadavalli, Prachi Chauhan and Jaya Vishwanathan — were shortlised for the regional auditions, that will be held in Bangalore. With a dynamic and holistic training programme for the contestants, the gratification the winners stand to gain is expected to run into crores.

The Park played the perfect hospitality and venue partner to the Hyderabad auditions, while Page 3 Entertainments, the event partner for the auditions, made the event a huge success with their support. Hyderabad falls under the South zone of selection for fbb Femina Miss India 2014, powered by Neutrogena, the premier dermatologist recommended brand for healthy skin. To be the next Miss India and for more information,log on to www.missindia.in

source: http://www.articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> Entertainment> Events> Hyderabad / by Elina Priyadarshini Padhiary, TNN / January 08th, 2014

BITS alumni walk down memory lane at Hyderabad meet

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Education, Science & Technology

Mumbai : 

It was a congregation of BITSians from across the globe, aimed at bringing alive a mega reunion of all Birla Institute of Technology and Science (BITS), Pilani student batches spread across four campuses, five decades and seven continents.

The BITSAA Global Meet (BGM) 2014 at the Hyderabad campus coincided with the golden jubilee celebrations of BITS Pilani. Octogenarians and sexagenarians going back to 1950s, when BITS Pilani was called Birla Engineering College, went down memory lane as more than a 100 BITSians shared their experiences at the meet. BITSAA is the global alumni association.

Ranging from Padma Shri D Balasubramaniam of the 1953 batch, to young achievers from the current batch who have incubated their own companies and started research projects, an array of BITSians shared their perspectives.

Some of the hot ventures by current BITSian students that were represented at the event included Exotel, a smart virtual phone number for businesses; Cubito, a smart car-pooling service; Amaterasu Electronics, offering home automation and voice control solutions for India; Sattva Healthcare, a low-cost fetal heart monitor which can give sufficient warning to medical practitioners and save lives, along with several others.

Since 2005, every three years, the organisation presents 30-under-30 awards, to honour outstanding BITSians under the age of 30 who have demonstrated excellence in their chosen area. At BGM 2014, some achievers who showcased their work included Phanindra Sama, Founder and CEO, RedBus, an online bus ticket booking service; Kavikrut, co founder of Mobile Medics Healthcare, a venture aimed at solving the last mile problem of rural healthcare through travelling teams of doctors and mobile vans. The latter was later acquired by the Piramal group to start Piramal eSwasthya. Mahesh Ramasubramanian, a specialist in producing computer graphics imagery for feature films was also felicitated. He has been associated with movies such as Madagascar 3, Shrek, Over the Hedge, Bee Movies and Monster Vs Aliens among others.

Commenting on 50 years of BITS Pilani, V.S. Rao, Director, BITS Pilani Hyderabad, said with Vision 2020, the institute would aim to be one of the top universities in Asia by 2020.

As a run-up to BGM 2014, top BITSians rang the opening bell for Nasdaq. Plans were also announced for the next BGM to be held in Dubai in 2016-17.

source: http://www.thehindubusinessline.com / Business Line / Home> Industry> Education / The Hindu Bureau   amritanair.ghaswalla@thehindu.co.in / Mumbai – January 09th, 2014

Rs 35 cr handloom institute to be set up in Machilipatnam

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Business & Economy, Science & Technology

Machilipatnam  (AP):

The state government has decided to set up a handloom in Krishna district headquarters of Machilipatnam, Union Minister for Textiles Kavuri Sambasiva Rao said.

The All India Handloom Technology Institute would be set up with a project cost of Rs 35 crore, Rao said last night, after inaugurating a training programme of Jamdani saree weaving under integrated skill development scheme in Kappaladoddi village of Guduru Mandal in Krishna district.

At present, only four handloom technology institutions are functioning in the country, he said.

Rao said the central government has decided to abolish the outstandings of handloom weavers’ loans, including interest.

“We have sanctioned Rs 45 crore subsidy for Siricilla constituency handloom weavers,” the minister said, adding that the amount under Rajiv Arogya Yojna has also been increased.

Later, Rao inaugurated a handloom exhibition in Pedana town and also laid the foundation stone of a Common Production Centre costing Rs 3 crore.

He also distributed cheques of Rs 6 crore of bank linkage amount to Pedana and Gudur SHGs (Self help groups).

All India Handicrafts Commissioner  S Gupta and Krishna District Collector M Raghunandana Rao were also present on the occasion.

source: http://www.articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com / The Economic Times / Home> News> News By Industry> Cons. Products / Garments – Textiles / by PTI / January 03rd, 2014

The Oscar hopeful

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, World Opinion

OscarHF17jan2014

Ajita Suchitra Veera’s short film, Notes on Her, was first nominated for the Oscars in the Honorary Foreign Film Category. This time, the student of St. Ann’s College in Mehdipatnam has her full-length feature, Ballad of Rustom, featuring in the Reminder’s List at the Oscars. With 288 other films from across the world in the best film category, the city girl is likely to be up against Gravity and other noted movies from last year.

It’s an interesting achievement as this is a shortlist of last year’s best films, and it’s not the honorary foreign films category where Indian films normally get nominated,” remarks Ajita, who grew up on World Cinema classics and always wanted to make the kind of films she loved watching.

Her film, she says, focuses on imagination, dreams and a passion for life. “Rustom is a young man from a small town, with very vivid imagination. He does not have a college education but has a great scientific disposition. He is like a village inventor. In the film, he travels, meets people and falls in love with a painter.”

It’s a film about the Indian countryside. And about people like Rustom, who seem ordinary but are so extraordinary,” Ajita explains.

The film has kept her pre-occupied for the past four years.

“It was shot over four months in a remote countryside location in Coorg. I wanted to shoot amid the mist and fog and was very clear on how I wanted the film to look. So the negative underwent a special process known as bleach bypass, wherein the colours are de-saturated and you get high contrast images,” she shares.

In the age of digital filming, she decided to stick to good old 35mm cinemascope.

“So, it’s a ‘big film’ in that sense. I love 35mm because of the certain kind of aesthetics, colours, saturation and light and dark shades, which are important for a film. Digital doesn’t give you that kind of richness. The film has vast landscape shots, mountains, hills and valleys, for which we needed the cinemascope format,” she says.

While Ballad of Rustom has been touring film festivals and winning accolades since 2012, Ajita is still waiting for it to release in India. “At first, I was not in a hurry to release the film because it had already received international acclaim. I wanted the international audience to know that there are Indian directors who are also focused on their craft. Now, I want the film to release here because it’s where I come from,” she says.

source: http://www.deccanchronicle.com / Deccan Chronicle / Home> Lifestyle> Offbeat / DC / by Amrita Paul / January 05th, 2014

New Dept for Development of Telugu Language Set Up

About Seemandhra / Andhra Pradesh, Arts, Culture & Entertainment

A separate department for development of Telugu language was constituted. Chief minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy cleared the related file on Tuesday and orders were issued immediately to that affect.

It may be recalled that in the fourth World Telugu Conference held at Tirupati in last December, the chief minister announced that a separate department for development of Telugu language would be created.

Accordingly, the government created a new department called ‘Department of Language and Culture’ duly redeploying the posts.

Posts redeployed to the new department of Language and Culture are: One deputy secretary to government from general administration department, one assistant secretary to government from general administration department, three section officers from general administration department, five assistant

section officers from general administration department, three inspecting officers from general administration department, one deputy secretary to government (Culture) from YAT & C  department, one assistant secretary to government (Culture) from YAT&C department, one section officer (Culture) from YAT&C department and one assistant section officer (Culture) from  YAT&C department will be posted in the new department.

The new department will be headed by secretary to government (Culture) as secretary (Language and Culture) under overall supervision of special chief secretary, youth advancement, tourism and culture department, the orders said.

Department of Language and Culture will deal with subjects in addition to the subjects – Official Language – now being dealt by general administration department and the subject of culture now being dealt by youth advancement, tourism and culture department.

The other wings – Official Language Commission now under general administration  department, three Akademies – Sahithya Akademi, Lalitha Kala Akademi and Sangeetha Nataka Janapada Akademi under Youth Advancement, Tourism and Culture Department, and theatres under general administration department.

Centre of Excellence Studies in Indian Languages from Higher Education Department and Telugu Akademi from Higher Education Department will also come under the newly created department.

CM Greets Telugus on New Year

Chief minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy on Tuesday greeted the people of the state and Telugus all over the world a happy, peaceful and a prosperous New Year. The chief minister, in a special message, hoped that 2014 will bring peace, joy and cheer to the people. He hoped that state will progress in all sectors. The chief minister said that even in  difficult situations, the  state made rapid strides in all sectors in the last three years.

He said it was a matter of pride and satisfaction that Andhra Pradesh bagged the ‘Best Performing State in Governance”. He said that the state stood first in citizen services and people’s welfare schemes in the country.

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> States> Andhra Pradesh / by Express News Service – Hyderabad / January 01st, 2014