Prashanth with the Asia Book Of Records certificate B P Deepu
Thiruvananthapuram :
City-based genius Prasanth C, who recently entered the India Book of Records for his memorisation skills, has broken his old record. This time, the differently-abled youngster recalled the days for the most number of dates given within the timeframe of a minute earning him an entry into the Asia Book of Records. The record breaking feat was held on Thursday at Hotel Hycinth in the city.
Those who attended the event included former Chief Minister Oommen Chandy, noted magician Gopinath Muthukad and Asia Book of Records representative L Franklin Herbert Das among others.
The youngster earned the title by writing down the days for a set of seven random dates with the particular year, all in 45 seconds. Speaking about the record-breaking feat, Franklin, Asia Book of Records said, “It gives me great privilege to be part of this event. Youngsters like Prasanth are unique in the sense that they have high focus on a particular innate ability. He is a great learner and his parents have been supporting him immensely by providing him with the best of resources.”
Besides being visually impaired, Prashanth suffers from speech and hearing impairment. He also has a congenital heart defect.
However, in spite of these problems, the youngster has a number of wonderful skills. Apart from having a photographic memory to recall the days for random dates in the Gregorian calendar, he has the ability to calculate the exact temperature of any particular place he stands on.
The 19-year-old youngster is also talented in the keyboard and can play the instrument using only his right hand. His parents Chandran and Suhita as well as his elder sister Priyanka are equally overjoyed as Prashanth now adds another feather to his cap. Priyanka says, “I can’t describe my happiness. Now that he has entered the Asia Book of Records, he plans to compete for other record titles, especially the Guinness Book of World Records. I hope that he will achieve more.”
source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Cities> Thiruvananthapuram / by Express News Service / July 29th, 2016
The author of Tamil prayer Neeradum Kadaludutha was a philosopher, historian and epigraphist
He is known as the author of the Tamil prayerNeeradum Kadaludutha , which is part of his verse drama ‘Manonmaniam’. But few people know that P. Sundaram Pillai was a philosophy professor at the Maharaja’s college in Trivandram for over 15 years and the work was dedicated to Robert Harvey, Professor and Head of the Department of the College.
Sundaram Pillai, who died at the age of 42 in 1897, was also a historian, an epigraphist and a government official who held the post of Commissiones of separate revenue.
“He dedicated his work to Dr. Harvey as it was he who had recommended the appointment of Sundaram Pillai in his place after he decided to leave for England. He had even named his house as Harverypuram,” said A.K. Perumal, whose new book Manonmaniam Sundaranarin Innorupakkam (‘The other side Manonmaniam Sundaram’, NCBH), throws light on the multi-faceted personality of the author of the Tamil prayer.
‘Manonmaniam’ has its roots in Lord Litten’s ‘The Secret Way’, which was part of the collection of ‘The Lost Tales of Miletus’.
It was made into a film by Modern Theatres in 1942. The prayer song was set to music by late M.S. Viswanathan, but M. Karunanidhi, the then Chief Minister, deleted a few lines.
Sundaram Pillai’s family was from Kalakadu in Tirunelveli district and moved to Alapuzha in the 18th century.
“He had studied Tamil in school. It is not clear how he had learnt Tamil literature in Kerala even though he was in touch with great Tamil scholars of his time, including U.Ve. Swaminatha Iyer and C.V. Damodaram Pillai,” said Mr. Perumal.
When he was the principal of the MDT Hindu School he learnt Saiva Siddantha from Kodakanallur Sundara Swamigal and held a long discussion with Swami Vivekananda during his visit to Kerala.
As the Commissiones of separate revenue, the temple management was under his control and it came in handy for his research on epigraphs.
“As a historian he established with substantial evidence that Saivaite saint Thirugnana Sambandar belonged to 7th century and his English essay on the subject was published in the journal of the Madras Christian College. He also wrote an early sovereign of Travancore, an in-depth study of Travancore history,” said Mr Perumal, who has collected the essays.
Lost letters
“Unfortunately, we are not able to get many of his letters and photographs. Since he was a Congressman, police seized many documents from his residence, including his correspondence with Swami Vivekananda. They are lost permanently,” said Mr. Perumal.
‘He was in touch with great Tamil scholars of his time, including U.Ve. Swaminatha Iyer’
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> Cities> Chennai / by B. Kolappan / Chennai – July 24th, 2016
Terminator 2, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows and X-Men: First Class are all top Hollywood productions and what sets these movies apart are their perplexing visual effects (VFX). The man credited for leading the VFX team behind these movies, and many others, Michael Karp, held a session on the visual effects trends in Hollywood and Bollywood here on Saturday. The session was jointly organized by the Kerala Chalachitra Academy and Toonz Animation Academy.
The VFX expert, who has been part of several VFX-centric movies like Titanic, Batman vs Superman and Hunger Games, has been residing in India for the past three years. “India has evolved to become a centre for all of Hollywood’s VFX needs. Availability of talented yet cheap labour has prompted producers to shift almost all animation activities to India. Most Hollywood movies are now animated in India,” said Karp. VFX work for a film which may cost $100 million in the US, could be made at a staggeringly low cost of $10 million in India without compromising on the quality, he said.
“There was a time when the quality of VFX facilities and talent available in India was inferior to what Hollywood has to offer. But the budget available for doing Bollywood movies are high nowadays and therefore movie makers do not have to compromise on quality,” Karp said. Asked about the quality of the animation training institutes in India, he said that though there are some which offer top notch training, majority fails to impart necessary skills required to work on Hollywood films. All VFX studios have their own in house training facilities that sculpture inductees to levels they require.
Though the movie industry is big and despite several VFX work of Hollywood movies now being done in India, Karp said only the ‘cream of the crop’ gets to work with the best studios in the country. “There are about 10,000 or 20,000 people making movies for billions of others. Therefore the rate of employment generation in VFX remains relatively low despite the industry’s large size,” Karp said.
source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / News Home> City> Thiruvananthapuram / TNN / July 10th, 2016
An incidental meeting with a wild tusker trapped in a trench in the Wayanad forest was the trigger which propelled Sangita Iyer to develop a deep bond with this majestic animal.
The incident happened in June 2013. The Canadian journalist and documentary film maker was on a visit to the state to take part in the rituals associated with the death anniversary of her father who hailed from Alathur in Palakad. “We were coming down from Ootty when I chanced to see the wild elephant in a trench. A wild life conservationist friend who was with me urged that I should visit Kerala again in December to see the difficult life of captive elephants,” says Sangita.
December is the time when temple festivals begin. And these festivals sans elephants, all decked up in the fineries, is something which the people of the state can’t think about!
However, what’s on display at these festivals is not caparisoned elephants but hapless victims of human torture who are made to stand for long hours in the blistering heat on legs pck marked with blisters and bruises. These hapless animals have to even bear extensive damage that the fireworks display wreak on them.
Birth of the documentary
What she saw at the festival grounds made Sangita to embark on a two year long crusade to bring to light the plight of elephants through a medium she knows best. She has made several environment related documentaries and short films in Canada and Bermuda where she worked. “But the documentary I was about to make was a bigger project. I had no money and I had to use my pension funds for the initial steps,” she says. But when people came to know about the magnitude of the project, money started pouring in. She managed to effectively crowd source the 300,000 CAD (Canadian Dollars) project. The filming started in May 2014 and by May 2016, Sangita and her team had over 200 hours of footage. She wanted to get the film screened in Kerala by December last year. But technical issues delayed it. The documentary was finally screened at the Legislative Assembly complex on June 29 before the members of the Legislative Assembly.
Accolades
After receiving accolades from Speaker P Sreeramakrishnan and other MLAs the film was subsequently screened at Thrissur. The screening was done under heavy police protection considering the fact that many festival enthusiasts had not taken the theme lightly.
According to Sangita the response she received so far is overwhelming.
When the documentary was again screened at Kalabhavan Theatre on Wednesday, not a single eye was dry. Sangita herself often gets emotional when she talks about Lakshmi, one of the female elephants featured in the documentary. “I got so attached to Lakshmi. After our initial bonding she now immediately recognises me whenever I visit her,” says Sangita. The most haunting scene in the documentary is about the crude treatment Lakshmi receives from her mahout, who pries open her eyes with his unsanitised hands to apply medicine on a wound allegedly adding to her discomfort.
Sangita doesn’t want to be just satisfied with the laurels, she wants to put an end to the plight of the captive elephants by sensitising the public.
She is in talks with leaders from religious-political and cultural sphere to spread the message.
She says she will talk to the Education Minister to seek his help in screening the documentary in schools. Her 13-part documentary series on environment awareness is currently being used as an education aid in schools in Bermuda.
A Malayalam version of the documentary with poet Sugatha Kumari’s narration is also planned.
source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Cities> Thiruvananthapuram / by Unnikrishnan S / July 08th, 2016
Two students from the district won medals at the International English Olympiad organised by the Science Olympiad Foundation (SOF). V. Abhiram, a Class 12 student of the Kendriya Vidyalaya, won the gold medal while P. Lekshmi, a Class 11 student of the school, won the bronze medal.
The SOF is an educational foundation and a non-profit organisation based in New Delhi, which promotes science, mathematics, introductory computer education and English language skills amongst school children in India.
45 lakh students
According to a press release issued here on Tuesday, around 45 lakh students from Indian schools participated in the Olympiad.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Thiruvananthapuram / by Staff Reporter / Thiruvananthapuram – June 22nd, 2016
Kerala entrepreneur Shaffi Mather’s MUrgency has won the third annual Challenge Cup 2016 among 3,000 start-ups from 59 cities across the world.
It won the first prize of $50,000 and AUS$10,00,000 in fresh investments. There were 65 semi-finalists and eight finalists in the competition.
MUrgency is using the power of mobile technology and networks to build One Global Emergency Response Network. The start-up provides an app which alerts the nearest available doctor, nurse or paramedic who come to the rescue of a patient within minutes.
The emergency feature of the app has been launched in Punjab. The firm plans to reach out to rest of India in 2018 and around the world by 2020.
According to MUrgency founder and CEO Mather, with this latest win his start-up has won three of the largest tech competitions in the world this year. The other competitions were Startup Grind 2016, SXSW 2016 and 1776 Global Challenge Cup 2016.
“This validates our idea and the fact that emergency response sector is ready,” said Mather who was economic adviser to former Kerala Chief Minister Oomen Chandy.
MUrgency recently received investments from Ratan Tata, and Infoys founders Kris Gopalakrishnan and S.D. Shibulal.
MUrgency was launched in 2015 with membership in Business Call to Action at the United Nations Development Programme , in academic partnership with Stanford Change Labs, Harvard Asia Center and MIT Global Health, and as an initiative of the World Economic Forum’s Forum of Young Global Leaders Community.
–IANS / sg/bim/dg
source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / News Home> City> Kochi / IANS / June 20th, 2016
Sports Hub, the stadium complex in Karyavattom, has been adjudged the winner of the prestigious David Vickers Award under the category of New Venue of the Year.
For the first time, a venue in India has been selected for the recognition at the Stadium Business Awards 2016 that was held at the famed Santiago Bernabéu Stadium in Madrid, Spain on June 1. The stadium beat other contenders, including Parc Olympique Lyonnais, France; Estadio BBVA Bancomer, Mexico; Kyle Field at Texas A&M University, USA; Matmut Atlantique, France; Suita City Football Stadium, Japan; Vodafone Arena, Turkey; and T-Mobile Arena, USA; for the coveted award.
The judging panel commented, “A very strongly-contested category with international entries but this world-class sports facility is the first privately-funded stadium on the Indian subcontinent and a development model for more to come.” According to sources, the Sports Hub as been designed as a multi-use facility capable of hosting international sporting events of cricket and football. It has been developed by Karyavattom Sports Facilities Ltd. (KSFL), an spv set up by IL&FS Transportation Networks Ltd.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Thiruvananthapuram / by Staff Reporter / Thiruvananthapuram – June 04th, 2016
Hajime Asama (Robotics Challenges co-chair) with Chandykunju Alex, Lentin Joseph (Team Lead of Team Autobots), Achu Wilson and Raj Madhavan
Kochi :
Team Autobots, a collaboration of two robotic start-ups in Kochi – Qbotics Labs and Sastra Robotics – has bagged the first prize in the Humanitarian Robotics and Automation Technology Challenge (HRATC) held in Stockholm, Sweden.
HRATC is the biggest global robotics conference organised by Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE). The International Conference of Robotics and Automation (ICRA 2016) brings together the brightest scientists and researchers working with cutting-edge robotics.
Team Autobots is one of the top four teams from across the world that made it into the finals of the challenge and is the team with the leading score.
Team Autobots comprises expert engineers from Qbotics Labs, which specialises in mobile robotics research, and Sastra Robotics, which specialises in robotic arms for testing of devices.
The members of the team are Lentin Joseph (CEO/founder, Qbotics Labs), who is leading the team, Achu Wilson (CTO/co-founder, Sastra Robotics) and Chandy Kunju Alex (robotics engineer, Sastra Robotics).
The challenge of the team was to find and defuse hidden unexploded landmines in an area, autonomously using a robot without human intervention.
The competition tries to find the best software solutions to avoid and defuse mines using a robot called Husky. There are three phases in the challenge. The first algorithm phase involves teams proposing ingenious algorithms to tackle the challenge.
The shortlisted teams enter the second phase called simulation phase, which involves implementation of the proposed algorithm on robotic simulator Gazebo using software platform Robot Operating System(ROS). Teams which perform best in simulation phase enter the testing phase, in which the algorithm runs on the real robot itself. The testing phase is the final phase and Team Autobots emerged victorious with top score.
source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Cities> Kochi / by Express News Service / May 29th, 2016
Rajashree Warrier Photo : Thulasi Kakkat / The Hindu
Danseuse Rajashree Warrier on manodharma, aharya, inspiration and more.
What makes Rajashree Warrier different as dancer and choreographer is that she is not confined to the usual crossover items that often pass as today’s Bharatanatyam. There is in her art a proper understanding of her form, realising her forte, her limitations, and creating a contemporary Bharatanatyam rich in texture, rich in literature.
Manodharma is a salient feature of Rajashree’s dance. Manodharma is a bit more complex in Bharatanatyam than in classical music. This part of abhinaya is intrinsic in holding nritta (pure dance with no specific theme) and natya (representation of rasa through abhinaya) together. “It is this aspect that really excites me. When there is always something new, something surprising, each performance turns into a fresh experience for me and even for my orchestra. For the orchestra it can be a bit challenging as the rhythmic structures need to change according to my expressions and gestures. Personally, what makes classical dance an aesthetic experience is manodharma. Otherwise it can be mechanically traditional,” says Rajashree, who was initiated into dance when she was in school.
Fortunate to be moulded when she was six years of age by V. Mydhili in Thiruvananthapuram, Rajashree trained under her for nearly 18 years. Later, Rajashree learned under Jayanthi Subramaniam in Chennai.
Rajashree credits her growth as a dancer to her parents who supported her. “The early phase was enhanced watching many greats on stage and on available films. Watching legends like Balasaraswati and the ever charming Vyjayantimala helped form and deepen my appreciation and understanding of the poetry of Bharatanatyam.”
Dance was for Rajashree a logical extension of music. “Music was what my father insisted I study. Here again I was fortunate to get a teacher, Mullamottu Harihara Bhagavathar, who was a treasure trove of knowledge, especially on rare Swati Tirunal kritis. I studied, like any child of that age, rather reluctantly. Only later did I realise the greatness of my guru. When C-DIT was making a documentary on Swati Tirunal’s kritis I could help them as I was familiar with so many of them.”
She completed her degree, post-graduation and doctorate in music. But somewhere down the line dance took over. A dancer grows with the dance and this is true of Rajashree. She now performs her own compositions that are created from everything that inspires her.
“Words and concepts from the books I read, for example, Milan Kundera’s Slowness, where events are fused to movement, has helped me in creating the rhythm of my composition. Then the myriad art forms around me have inspired my dance but strictly within the structure of Bharatanatyam.”
Aharya can make an impact. Though it cannot make a great performance it can certainly mar it. The changes in Bharatanatyam today have also had its impact on aharya. “Aharya proclaims the identity of the dancer, her aesthetics. I feel that a dancer should choose suitable colours, a style that enhances her figure and ornaments that augment her features. I must feel comfortable in what I wear, should feel beautiful and confident when I step on to the stage. Here again innovation should be within the bounds of tradition rather than parading oneself, revealing too much skin and making the costume more important than the dance itself.”
These are times when there is a call for enriching the repertoire, making it contemporary. Rajashree feels that all this cannot justify sensationalism, undermining all the edifices and edicts of Bharatanatyam. “Organisers and audiences, fed on such a diet, demand this. In Kerala, the number of venues has increased but I have found a strange attitude prevalent. The organisers, most of them, want only customised dancers who would, with servility, agree to their whims and fancies. We have an audience today that does not look at Bharatanayam seriously. Their understanding of the dance form is only from the last 10 years. Unfortunately, I’m a sort of purist when it comes to my dance. I may not be perfect, but I have a style of my own, a mind of my own, and principles that I’m not willing to compromise.”
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> Features> Friday Review / by K. Pradeep / Thiruvananthapuram – June 02nd, 2016
Jayesh P., a post-doctoral fellow at the Cochin University of Science and Technology (Cusat), has won the prestigious Innovative Young Biotechnologist Award of the year 2015 instituted by the Department of Biotechnology to prevent brain drain of highly talented and motivated young scientists in biotechnology.
According to an official release issued by the varsity, Dr. Jayesh was selected for the award in recognition of the potential of his research in the area of “crustacean cell reprogramming” under the guidance of Prof. I.S. Bright Singh and its continuation to find application to study neurogenesis and neurodegenerative diseases.
The award consists of Rs.50 lakh research grant, monthly fellowship, gold medal, certificate and a citation.
The outcome of this project will help in understanding molecular mechanism in neurodegenerative diseases in humans, especially Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s using daphnia as a model animal.
Dr. Jayesh is a recipient of Brain Korea 21 Plus post-doctoral scientist award of Government of South Korea. – Special Correspondent
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Kochi / by Special Correspondent / Kochi – June 01st, 2016
