Category Archives: Arts, Culture & Entertainment

Cauvery Tussle: Who’s siding with the Gods ?

Agriculture, Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Green Initiatives / Environment, Nature

As Tamil Nadu gets set to mark rare event, devotees in the state seek a share

When it comes to Cauvery, nothing is simple between Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. This time, it’s about the puja being offered to the river on the occasion of Cauvery Pushkara, an event that is marked once in 12 years. The religious ceremony is a puja offered to the river aimed at plentiful rainfall and prosperity. While the Karnataka government has not made any plans to celebrate the occasion, Tamil Nadu, at the behest of Kanchi Mutt, has decided to hold elaborate rituals at three places.

The Pushkara tradition is associated with 12 major rivers of India, and this year it is the Cauvery’s turn.

According to Vidwan Ganesh Galapati, the Kanchi mutt has not only written to the Tamil Nadu government but also planned major functions at several places, including Hogenakkal, Nerur, Trichy, Thiruvaiyaru, Kumbakonam, and Mayiladuthurai. While the rituals will be held between September 12 and 23, the pundits in Karnataka are not happy with the fact that there has been no communication from the Religious Endowment department of Karnataka on the celebrations.

“The government did Parjanya japa in the first week of June and similarly it should also take up Pushkara ritual that has come after 12 years. Cauvery has been the backbone for both states. We all know what it would mean to not have any water in the river. As the purpose of the ritual is to pray for bounteous rains and prosperity of the state, the government must initiate a programme to take up the rituals either at Talacauvery or T Narasipur,” said Galapati. Bhagandeshwara Temple’s executive officer Jagadish Kumar confirmed that, so far, no such orders have been issued. “If the government issues any such order, we will arrange for such rituals.”

About the Puja

Vidwan Ganesh Galapati explains: “Each river is associated with a zodiac sign. Depending on where Jupiter is positioned during the cycle, the puja is done. This time, Jupiter will enter Libra (Tula) sign from Virgo (Kanya) by first week of September, which will be regarded as Pushkara Kala. The rituals will not only purify the river but also bring prosperity,” he explained.

source: http://www.bangaloremirror.indiatimes.com / Bangalore Mirror / Home> Bengaluru> Others / by Niranjan Kaggere, Bangalore Mirror Bureau / July 03rd, 2017

Take A Look! Puneeth Rajkumar & Rashmika Mandanna Shoot For A Song In Scotland

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Famous Personalities of Kodagu / Coorg

Power Star Puneeth Rajkumar and Cute Doll Rashmika Mandanna have flown to Scotland for the filming of their song from the upcoming movie, Anjaniputra.

The Anjaniputra cast and crew, flew to Scotland, after having completed a one-week schedule in Rajasthan. Apparently, some of the main scenes and the film’s climax was filmed in Rajasthan.

RashmikaScotlandKF26aug2017

Currently, the team is in Scotland, and will shoot for two songs from the film. Shooting for one of the songs seems to have completed as we have a few pictures available for you.

These pictures have gone viral and are trending on all social networking platforms. Interestingly, Bollywood actor Mukesh Tiwari will be seen playing the antagonist in the movie.

Anjaniputra stars Puneeth Rajkumar and Rashmika Mandanna in the lead roles. Directed and choreographed by A. Harsha, the film is produced by M. N. Kumar.

source: http://www.filmibeat.com / FilmiBeat.com / Home> Kannada > News / by Lalitram / Wednesday – August 09th, 2017

Preserving a home full of memories

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Famous Personalities of Kodagu / Coorg, Leaders, Records, All

Madikeri :

The government has not done anything to keep permanent the memory of the first commander in chief of the Army Field Marshal Kodandera M Cariappa. But the house he lived in, in Madikeri, has some remarkable things intact that remind people of his disciplined way of life as a soldier.

Cariappa had purchased a house in Madikeri in 1944 and had named it Roshanara. The house is now maintained by his son, retired Air Marshal Cariappa and his wife Meena, a native of Punjab. Inside Roshanara, a ‘sulking’ room of the Field Marshal is still maintained without change. “It was my father’s favourite room,” says Air Marshal Nanda Cariappa. He invariably spent an hour or so every afternoon, catching up on newspapers, reading mail or catnapping for 10 to 15 minutes. The room was so named because it was a particularly bright and cheerful place that had been added after he had retired.

The drawing room in the house is also maintained unchanged. “In one corner of the drawing room, my father’s chair has been left unmoved,” says Nanda Cariappa. The top wall portion of the chair is visible with four swords. These were presented to him by Hindu, Muslim and Sikh organizations. Another Katana of Japan was also gifted to him. In the drawing room, the depiction of a Kodava warrior, circa, 1850 used on a medallion, was awarded by the British. The table lamp was brought by an English lady Shone, during 1949.

Cariappa was cremated at Roshanara’s outer grounds during 1993, where the samadhi was built and is maintained by his daughter, a spinster, Nalini Cariappa, who lives in a separate house near Roshanara. Nanda Cariappa has four daughters and a son who are all settled outside. His son, Vikram, is interested in adventurous tours and once a year, Nanda Cariappa, also joins Vikram’s team in climbing the 18,000 feet high Himalayas.

Speaking to TOI, Nanda Cariappa called upon Kodagu youths to join the Army. He indicated the scope for minimum service of seven years in the Army for youths. Even girls can join administrative, accounts, electronic, electrical and other sections, he said.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / News Home> City> Mysore / by G Rajendra / TNN / December 12th, 2011

Coorg Kannada Type Family Gives 50 Million Newspaper Readers a Reason to Smile

Amazing Feats, Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Records, All
courtesy: Ramakrishna Saiteja / ITF
courtesy: Ramakrishna Saiteja / ITF

Name: Coorg Kannada Family
Designer: Ramakrishna Saiteja
Foundry: Indian Type Foundry
Release Date: Pending

Back Story:

23-year-old Saiteja of Bangalore, India, is this year’s Society of Typographic Aficionados Catalyst Award winner, in recognition of his significant achievement and future promise in the field of typography. His elegant design for the Coorg Kannada type family makes reading Indian-language newspapers more of a joy and less of a struggle. Kannada is a Dravidian language spoken by 50.8 million people in southern India. Its written form derives from a 5th century script, Kadamba, and can be a bit tricky for type designers: it has an inherently wide proportion, and an atypical reverse stress when compared with Latin type. Some forms fall below the baseline as subscripts to indicate added sounds. As if this wasn’t challenging enough, the height added to each character by the subscripts forces fewer lines per page.

Saiteja first began working on Coorg Kannada in early 2016 because he found the typefaces in local Kannada newspapers lacking. “The fonts used in most newspapers are poorly designed for text due to an unresolved and uneven texture, and don’t enhance the reading experience in any way,” Saiteja says. Guided and advised by his colleague, Satya Rajpurohit (one of ITF’s founders, along with Peter Bil’ak) he perfected and refined the design and followed up with Coorg Kannada Sans as a more neutral variant of the typeface.

Why’s it called Coorg Kannada?
The Coorg language, which uses Kannada script as a writing system, is widely spoken by the people of Kodava, India, and the type family is named in their honor.

What are its distinguishing characteristics?
Designed to maximize legibility, the Coorg Kannada family’s letterforms in both Classic and Sans follow the proportions of Kannada and are balanced so that they work well together. Certain characters bear stylized terminals plus angled head strokes and ink traps where needed. The subscripts are matched in terms of weight and gray value with the main characters, with a careful eye towards creating an even texture on the page. It adds up to a well thought out, visually coherent type system.

What should I use it for?
Coorg Kannada shines for setting text in any medium. It has five weights unlike previously available Kannada fonts, providing options for a wide range of text hierarchy within the same typeface. The heavier weights of both styles are intended to be used for display purposes.

What other typefaces do you like to pair it with?
The Classic Kannada sits well alongside ITF Gujarati in terms of Indic scripts. William Text is a good Latin typeface match. As for the Sans, try it with sturdy Equitan or Neutral.

source: http://www.eyeondesign.aiga.org / AGA Eye on Design / Home> Type Tuesday / by Angele Riechers / June 20th, 2017

‘Madikeri Dasara committee must comprise people from all walks’

Arts, Culture & Entertainment

CMC president Kaveramma Somanna, who is also president of Madikeri Dasara Samithi, has clarified that she wants people from the four Karaga committees, Dashamantapa members and those who have been in public service to adorn the post of working president of the Dasara committee.

Following a row over amendments to by-laws to the Dasara committee and working president of the committee, Kaveramma told reporters on Saturday that, “The members of various organisations have echoed my viewpoint. At present the CMC president is the president of Dasara Samithi while the vice president is CMC general secretary and another member has been elected treasurer. If the CMC members are elected as working president of Dasara committee, then it would become a Madikeri CMC members committee which would be objected to by the government. Hence, I wanted someone apart from the CMC members to become the working president of the committee.”

“The public must extend financial assistance for Dasara. If the post of the working president is entrusted to politicians, then there will be opposition from the general public. I am committed to organise Madikeri Dasara utsav in an organised manner,” she said.

“The present by-law is old. It was decided to bring in amendments to the by-law through a by-law committee. However, a few persons created unwanted confusion and chaos in the second meeting. As a result, we could not bring in amendments as per the expectations of the people. A few have been disappointed,” she said.

“The government expects amendments as per its guidelines. We cannot seek financial assistance for Dasara as per the old by-law. Hence the amendment was necessary. A few disrupted the meeting by creating confusion and chaos,” she said.

Barring CMC members, a working president would be appointed shortly. We have to value public opinion by setting aside vested interests. A meeting will be convened to put an end to all the confusion,” Kaveramma said.

“Dasara utsav should not be used for political gain. Dasara should be organised under the guidance of the working president. MLA, MLC, and zilla panchayat members should cooperate and sort out their differences.”

source: http://www.deccanherald.com / Deccan Herald / Home> District / DH News Service, Madikeri / July 29th, 2017

Two books to be launched tomorrow

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Famous Personalities of Kodagu / Coorg
Author Lakshmi Palecanda with her two new books in Mysuru.
Author Lakshmi Palecanda with her two new books in Mysuru.

The city will witness the launch of two works by scientist-turned-author Lakshmi Palecanda on Sunday – one of which is a romantic novel titled The Fifth Wedding.

The other work ‘Indian American – Then Indian Again’ is a collection of her writings over the years in an Indian-American magazine India Currents.

Lakshmi Palecanda, who is a molecular biologist and has worked in the U.S. for many years, returned to India and has settled in Mysuru since 2009. She writes both romantic fiction and creative non-fiction. The Fifth Wedding is a romance based in South India and any south-Indian reading it will recognise the characters, places and scenes used, said the author.

The book Indian-American…Then Indian Again is laced with humour and encapsulates laugher, tears, loneliness and feelings of accomplishment that come with moving to a new country and then returning to find that “home” has changed , Ms. Palecanda explains. “I was smitten by the written word and decided to turn into a full-fledged writer a few years ago while taking a small class,” she said.

The launch is by Book Clubs 2015 at Hotel Roopa Elite (above Saravana Bhavan) behind Vontikoppal Post Office, 6th Main, Vontikoppal, at 5 p.m.

The books will be released by Javeed Nayeem and Lalitha Rao. Ms. Palecanda will be in conversation with Sujatha Rajpal, another author from Mysuru, sharing her experience about the books.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> States> Karnataka / by Special Correspondent / Mysuru – July 29th, 2017

Arebhashe academy honour for 6 veterans

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Records, All

Six achievers have been selected for honorary awards of Karnataka Arebhashe Samskruthi and Sahitya Academy.

A Kepu Ajila from Sullia in Dakshina Kannada (Arebhase Janapada Matthu Samskruthi), Pattada Prabhakar from Avandur in Madikeri (literature and art), Ammajeera Ponnappa from Bengaluru (music) have won the award for the year 2016.

Dr Purushotham Bilimale from Panja in Sullia (research), Kullachana Kariappa from Kumbaladalu village in Madikeri taluk (literature), M G Kaveramma from Sullia (Arebashe literature) have bagged the award for the year 2017, academy president Kolyada Girish said at a press conference.

Function in August
The awards will be presented at a programme to be held in August and the awards comprises a purse of Rs 50,000 in cash, Girish informed.

source: http://www.deccanherald.com / Deccan Herald / Home> District / by DH News Service, Madikeri / July 28th, 2017

Implementation of Satwa scheme in Kodagu district mooted

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Business & Economy
Women and Child Development Committee chairman N A Haris speaks at a meeting in Madikeri on Thursday. DH photo
Women and Child Development Committee chairman N A Haris speaks at a meeting in Madikeri on Thursday. DH photo

The Satwa scheme, implemented in Chamarajanagar district to eradicate malnutrition, should be implemented in Kodagu district as well, said Women and Child Development Committee chairman N A Haris.

He was speaking at a review meeting to discuss progress of welfare programmes taken up under Women and Child Development Department in the city on Thursday.

“Through Satwa scheme, 500 children suffering from malnutrition in Chamarajanagar district have been already brought to mainstream. Children suffering from malnutrition in Kodagu district should also be brought to the mainstream. The officials should show special concern towards such kids,” he said.

He said officials should ensure that pregnant and puerperal women get nutritious food.

Haris expressed displeasure over failure to utilise Rs 21 lakh released by the government to provide financial assistance to pregnant and puerperal women under Scheduled Tribe Special Component Plan. He observed that the number of Stree Shakti groups in the district is less and said there is a need to increase the number of groups to get the facilities from the government.

Haris directed the CDPOs and the department’s deputy directors to visit anganwadi centres and inspect the quality of food being supplied.

MLC Veena Acchaiah said that Women and Child Development Department, Education and Labour Department officials should work in coordination to bring school dropouts back to the portal of the school.

Women and Child Development Committee member Sudhakar Lal said that anganwadi centres should be opened at Basavanahalli and Byadagotta where Diddalli tribals have been rehabilitated.

source: http://www.deccanherald.com / Deccan Herald / Home> District / DH News Service, Madikeri / July 21st, 2017

Go gaga over crabs, bamboo shoots

Agriculture, Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Nature
Crabs being sold near Madikeri KSRTC bus stand and Bamboo shoots laid out for sale. DH Photos
Crabs being sold near Madikeri KSRTC bus stand and Bamboo shoots laid out for sale. DH Photos

It’s that time of the year when the sale of crabs and bamboo shoots in Madikeri goes up. Monsoon is indeed an ideal time to indulge in crabs as they are considered good for generating heat in the body which helps in braving the chill in the air.

To keep oneself warm, people in Kodagu adjust their food habits during monsoon. Likewise, the roadsides in the town are lined up with crabs and bamboo shoots.

Earlier, crabs were available in plenty at paddy fields and water bodies but in spite of an increase in demand, crab sellers have been on the decline. A deficit in rainfall has affected the availability of crabs.

“Demand for crabs increases in the month of Aashada. Since paddy fields have declined in the district and many have been converted into homestays, I collect crabs from Harangi reservoir, Periyapatna, HD Kote and Beemanahalli and bring it to Madikeri for sale. The price of a kg of crab is Rs 200 while a bundle of crab (12 crabs in a bundle) costs Rs 250. A pack of bamboo shoots is sold for Rs 50,” H L Kumar, a seller from Indira Nagara told DH.

Venu said that, “Earlier, crabs were available in the shandy market but with chemical fertilisers and insecticides being sprayed in paddy fields, the number of crabs have declined,” he said. Venu signs off by stating that crabs are delicious to savour as crab fry instead of curry.

source: http://www.deccanherald.com / Deccan Herald / Home> District / DH News Service, Madikeri / July 22nd, 2017

Harshika Poonacha can’t wait for Chitte’s release

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Famous Personalities of Kodagu / Coorg
Still from the film
Still from the film

Harshika Poonacha has completed the talkie portions of Chitte, and the actress says she is excited with the way the film has taken shape.

Sharing a few pictures from the film with City Express, she tell us, “I’m only left with two more songs. From whatever few scenes of mine I have watched on screen board during spot editing, I can say that every scene is beautiful. I can’t wait to share my excitement with the audiences when it releases,” she says.

The film, directed by ML Prakash, is a thriller, and explores the life of a newly married couple. She is paired opposite Yashas in the film. Chitte is special because it’s all about me,” says Harshika.

Meanwhile, the actress will be off to UK soon, where she will be shooting songs for her first Tamil film. “I’m just waiting for my passport to get my UK visa stamped,” says the actress, adding, “I want to complete these two projects before I sign my next.”

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Entertainment> Kannada / by Express News Service / July 24th, 2017