CEAT has tied up with music and youth entertainment channel MTV to launch ‘CEAT MTV Chase The Monsoon’ – a social reality show featuring a 21 day biking roadtrip where 8 riders, in teams of 2, set out with a limited budget to explore the sights, scenes & life during Indian monsoons.
The show will premier on the web on 24 July and will show the participants sharing their experiences live online through updates, pictures and videos on the website chase.mtvindia.com and on social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. The teleivision premier is slated for the last week of August and will be hosted by MTV VJ, Nikhil Chinapa & VJ Bani.
Participants for biking road trip can register as a couple or team of two and submit a video, photographs or blog entry about their adventurous biking experiences. CEAT and MTV will shortlist a total of 12 entries for the final event. Once shortlisted, the teams need to gather votes from friends and families till the 15 of July to get selected for the road trip. The teams finally selected will embark on a journey from Pondicherry to Mumbai over 21 days performing tasks and earning credits/money on the way in the stipulated task checkpoints. The journey will cover cities of Madhurai, Kanyakumari, Kochi, Munnar, Ooty, Mangalore, Hampi, Hubli, Goa and Pune.
Arnab Banerjee, Executive Director, CEAT said, “We at CEAT are constantly seeking to engage with the youth. The show perfectly represents the passions and adventures of riding in the monsoon in India, but also keeping it safe all the while. We hope that the show will capture the attention and imagination of audiences across the country.”
Aditya Swamy, EVP and Business Head, MTV India said, “At MTV we are constantly creating content and engagement around the smaller screens. We have a large digital footprint which reaches over 20 MM people. Its this reach combined with our understanding of young people that gives us the advantage in creating successful web content. In CEAT we have a partner who values the power of content in engaging with consumers, and we hope that this is the beginning of a long partnership.”
source: http://www.business-standard.com / Business Standard / Home> Companies> News / by BS Reporter / Mumbai – July 19th, 2013
It is unconventional and a shift from the regular dosas and idli. South Indian food is much meatier than we ever think. Dakshin at Sheraton Hotel brings a quirky menu from the southern belt at its ‘Taste of Coorg Festival’. IKNOOR KAUR checks it out
When you first think of Coorg food, images of pork curry, fishchutney, tamarind rice and bamboo shoot curry pop up. But visiting Dakshin at Sheraton for the ‘Taste of Coorg Festival’ was a different experience. Contrary to the conventional Coorg preparations, they have twisted the menu into an interesting blend.
For coconut admirers, Dakshin seems to be a paradise. And for someone like me, who abhors it, the restaurant has the surprising ability to revise the taste-buds. Served to you as a welcoming drink is a mix of ginger — ale and mint in shot glasses. This is followed by a menu that opens a door to the vast variety of dishes including the ones from the sub–regions of South. So, the place brings here South Indian flavour with its authenticity.
Served on traditional banana leaves, the food majored itself around pork and mutton. Kodava food has pork as an important component and their pork dishes owe their magic to the masalas used in their making.
Plated as starters, traditionally called Prarambham, was one of their unique preparations of pork called Chilkana Pandi where the pork was marinated in local spices, Coorg vinegar and was browned in onion and green chillies. Along with it was the Prawns Rave Fry with sermolina coated prawns which were lightly batter fried. The distinct flavour of pepper highlighted the pork while the tangy taste of the prawns made for a good appetizer. Both of these were served with four kinds of chutneys, coconut, tamarind, tomato and coriander.
Digging into sub–regions of Coorg, known for its exceptional flavours of the Western Ghats, the fine–dining experience brought out a rustic feel. The main course, known as the Saivam called for a nice variety of dishes including pork, mutton and chicken. Their main dish started with Koli Mangyepajji which was boneless chicken cooked in green chilli, raw mango paste and drum stick.
Pandi Curry was festival’s trademark dish with Coorgi boneless pork preparation, enhanced with Coorg vinegar and pepper, eye chilli and Coorg spices. This was accompanied with kadumbuttu (rice dumpling). The subtle flavour of coconut with enhanced tanginess made this chew an exceptional experience. Another dish part of the same course was the Dry Pepper Yerechye which was tender mutton marinated with spices and fried with onions, tomatoes and chillies.
Though Coorg is primarily famous for red preparations, a bit of green was experimented too. Part of their vegetarian menu was Kuroo Curry which was an amalgamation of red beans and vegetables simmered in local masala gravy, flavoured with ginger and green chillies.
As it is said, ‘either you have it with rice or a rice based roti’, Dakshin provided a range of items to choose from as acoompaniments. Some of them were akki ooti, kadumbuttu and paaputtu. They had a non-vegetarian version of this too called yerchi koolu which was mutton cooked with rice and served with mango paji and raita. Even though the menu consisted of limited dishes, it managed to whet the appetite for Coorg food. Dessert Mangai Rasayana was a nice blend of ripe mango puree in sweetened milk with shopped mango. The texture of the pudding reminded us of kheer.
Fondly referred to as the ‘Coffee Cup of India’, this is one epithet that Coorg proudly carries with itself. Living up to that, the meter coffee of the region has a taste in the blend that comes only with precision while mixing the coffee. The chefs at Dakshin boast of this ability and offered some to us as a post meal beverage. With keeping a definite distance during the mixing process, the chef managed to bring out a blend that one would only find in Coorg.
The chefs in the Dakshin kitchen have personally spent months in Coorg, understanding and learning the authentic preparation of the food. That is one of the main factors that provide the authenticity in the food.
source: http://www.dailypioneer.com / The Pioneer / Home> Vivacity / Friday – June 28th, 2013
The Tamara resort in Coorg recently won the award for most romantic resort at a travel awards show hosted by a Hindi business channel. It is listed in the top 20 honeymoon destinations by Conde Nast Traveller India.
This is a luxury 56-key resort located in the hills of Coorg near Madikeri. It has been set up within an estate of 170 acres that produces coffee, cardamom, pepper and honey, and claims to be one of the few places in the world that is built inside a functional coffee plantation.
Its promoters say that it is set on a slight slope, and offers a breathtaking view of the Western Ghats and lush green forests along with two waterfalls flowing within the premises. Tourists either head out on guided treks and nature trails, or opt for a plantation tour with the coffee experience.
A bridge overlooking one of the waterfalls serves as a multi-cuisine restaurant. The resort is in the second phase of development that will have new luxury cottages and premium suites apart from sit-out decks at a height of 3,600 sq ft overlooking the hillside. An indoor private jacuzzi and spa is also on the anvil.
source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> Business> India Business / by Bella Jaisinghani, TNN / July 06th, 2013
Gustasp & Jeroo Irani encounter the Cauvery in the forests of Karnataka.
A deep trench, meant to keep elephants away from the lush coffee plantation, had the imprint of a large footprint. An elephant had just lumbered past. “He is in the vicinity,” whispered Ganesh, our naturalist-guide.
As we soldiered on through the Dubare Forest in Kodagu or Coorg, Karnataka, past stands of dead bamboo and soaring rosewood and sandalwood trees, the jungle resonated with an air of menace. “Shhh! He’s there, not too far away!” Ganesh said, as our hearts beat a harsh tattoo against our chests. We were in search of the legendary river Cauvery and it seemed like in the process we would be trampled by an elephant. We stood as still as the tall matti trees from whose sturdy trunks tribals draw water to drink. And then, to the huge relief of our group of four, we heard the lone tusker tramp away in the opposite direction.
Parting thickets of leaves and dry twigs that clawed at us, we trod up and down red paths to suddenly arrive at a clearing. An expanse of emerald-green waters, rippled below, tripping over smooth boulders… the Cauvery at last! The mythical maiden river had played truant even with Sage Agastya who fell in love with her. Legend says the sage asked a disciple to keep an eye on his beautiful wife Cauvery and put her in a vessel. The mischievous and self-willed lady was upset and started to flow away. When the young lad protested, she went underground. That is why, it is said, the river disappears from her source at TalaCauvery, high in the Western Ghats in Coorg, to re-emerge at Bhagamandala, a few kilometres away where a charming temple is dedicated to her.
In the land of her birth, the river is worshipped as a living goddess. Every Coorg or Kodava home is adorned with a photograph or oleograph of the Cauvery and a heavy brass lamp is lit every morning and evening to honour the ancestors. We, however, washed our faces in her life-giving waters and splashed it on one another, while Ganesh sang a song to Ma Cauvery, his voice riding over the sound of the rushing river.
When we were there recently, the river was fairly shallow but coracles bearing locals drifted along its length to the various villages. We too twirled down the river in a coracle to the riverside village of Karadigodu, with trusty Ganesh, when the fragrance of freshly-baked local bread wafted over the slowly-awakening hamlet. Children were getting ready for school, cramming into an auto rickshaw that doubled as a school bus, while grandmothers packed tiffin boxes with lunch for their men-folk on their way to work in the coffee plantations. Mothers swung infants on ample hips and waved to older children heading for the nearest college, heaving backpacks on frail backs. The village has an aura of sleepy prosperity. / Photo: Gustasp and Jeroo Irani / The Hindu
The village had an aura of sleepy prosperity. Neat little cottages were strung in rows, painted in vivid shades of pink, purple, mauve and green and, in some, TV sets played out the latest South India soaps. We stopped at a local stall (grandly called The Riverside Hotel) for some South Indian filter coffee, fresh sweet bread and smoke-flavoured onion bhajias that had just been whipped off a wood fire. And in front of the village flowed the mercurial Cauvery which, when it is in spate, can break its banks and flood the hamlet and the first row of houses! Yet when we took part in harvesting coffee berries in a plantation, we began to understand how the locals feel an almost mystical attachment to the river.
“Without the river and the land that it waters, we are nothing,” said one of the women coffee pluckers whose nimble technique of prying coffee berries off the bush, we tried hard to imitate. “Ma Cauvery is our goddess!” she exclaimed.
After coffee harvesting ends in February, pepper is culled and so it goes on till June when, with the rains, the Cauvery brims with revitalising waters again, the soil sprouts anew and the cycle of life is renewed.
We met the river goddess again in Kabini, a three-hour drive away, past fields of ripening corn, sugar cane and paddy. The forests of Nagarahole were a dark-green tangled smudge beyond the coiling river Kabini which, incidentally, is a tributary of the Cauvery!
As our boat put-putted down the Kabini that circles the south-eastern edge of the Nagarahole National Park, we saw a couple of wild elephants, long tusks grazing the ground, a marsh crocodile sunning itself on a bank, as still as a log of wood, an iridescent kingfisher that dived for his meal and emerged triumphant. All around us was a world as fresh as at the dawn of time and we thanked Ma Cauvery for her life-nurturing presence which even embraces the wilderness.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> Features> Sunday Magazine / by Gustaspjeroo Irani / July 13th, 2013
Actor Nishan will romance Keerthi in the upcoming film Geethanjali. The film is directed by Priyadarshan and has Mohanlal doing the role of Dr Sunny, a psychiatrist. Nishan will be the second lead after Mohanlal in the film.
The actor is elated that he has bagged a role in his favourite director Priyadarshan’s film and is looking forward for the shooting to begin.
Kodagu District In-Charge Minister Dr. H.C. Mahadevappa is seen inspecting the damaged Mysore-Madikeri road yesterday. Former Minister T. John, MP H. Vishwanath and others are seen. Madikeri :
Kodagu District In-Charge Minister Dr. H.C. Mahadevappa, who visited the district yesterday, inspected the damaged road at Boikeri village linking Mysore and Madikeri. He also visited Thayagaraja Colony in Madikeri town where houses were damaged due to heavy downpour.
Later, speaking to press persons at Sudarshan Guest House, Dr. Mahadevappa, who holds the PWD portfolio, said that as per the preliminary report submitted by the district administration, the district has incurred a loss of at least Rs. 24 crore due to heavy rainfall. Based on the consolidated report, the government is committed to sanction funds to take up relief works, he said.
Stating that the district had received more than double the amount of rainfall than last year by this time, he said that the average rainfall this year till date was 219.79 cms (86.54 inches), while it was 91.67 cms (36.03 inches) last year. “I am aware the heavy downpour has adversely affected normal life. I have directed the DC to undertake relief work on a war footing,” he said.
Gabion technology for Madikeri road repair
Karnataka Road Development Corporation Limited (KRDCL) Managing Director R. Srinivas, speaking to press persons here yesterday, said that there were two options to repair the massive breach in Mysore-Madikeri road at Boikeri village – either build a concrete retaining wall or use the Gabion technology. “Senior officials have been told to inspect the spot and submit a report, based on which repair work will be undertaken,” he said.
The highway work between Sampaje and Maani, which is progressing in a slow pace, will be expedited to complete by May 2014, Srinivas said.
What is Gabion technology
A gabion is usually a box filled with concrete or sometimes sand and soil for use in civil engineering, road building, and military applications. A gabion wall is a retaining wall made of stacked stone-filled gabions tied together with wire. Gabion walls are usually battered (angled back towards the slope) or stepped back with the slope rather than stacked vertically. The most common civil engineering use of gabions is to stabilise slopes against erosion. Other uses include retaining walls, temporary floodwalls and silt filtration from runoff.
source: http://www.starofmysore.com / Star of Mysore / Home> General News / July 29th, 2013
Sree Kaveri Kodagu Mahila Sangha’s Advisor Parwati Cariappa (extreme left) and Sangha President Sarasu Nanaiah are seen lighting the lamp at the inauguration of the free health camp in city yesterday as chief guest Dr. P.A. Kushalappa, Sangha Organising Secretary Gowri Mandanna and Hon. Secretary Lovely Appaiah look on. Mysore :
A free health check-up camp was held under the aegis of Sree Kaveri Kodagu Mahila Sangha at the Kodagu Sahakara Sangha premises in Jayalakshmipuram yesterday.
The camp was inaugurated by dermatologist Dr. P.A. Kushalappa and Mahila Sangha’s Advisor Parwati Cariappa.
The health camp was held in memory of late Ursula Kariappa, wife of Karthamada Kariappa.
Sangha President B. Sarasu Nanaiah presided. Hon. Secretary P. Lovely Appaiah welcomed.
A large number of people availed of the opportunity at the camp in which Physician Dr. Latha Muthanna, Dr. Padmini Kaveriappa, dentist Dr. Manasa Sendil, Paediatrician Dr. Jyotsna Prasad, Dr. P. P. Aiyanna (Ayurveda), gynaecologist Dr. Kamalamma, orthopaedic surgeon Dr. Ajay Hegde and Dr. Rajesh of Vasan Eye Care participated.
Sangha Vice-President Bollamma Appanna and the guests presented mementos to the doctors who participated in the camp.
Treasurer Jyothi Kashi, Joint Secretaries Bollamma Kuttappa and Kavya Kuttappa, Organising Secretaries Gowri Mandanna and Sumi Gopal and other members were present on the occasion.
source: http://www.starofmysore.com / Star of Mysore / Home> General News / July 29th, 2013
The brands that will be given a global push are Tetley, Tata Tea, Himalayan and Eight O’ Clock Coffee
The beverage arm of the $100-billion (Rs 6 lakh crore) Tata Group has prepared a blueprint that will see it devote its attention to four “power brands” in its quest to achieve a turnover of $5 billion (Rs 30,000 crore) in the next three years.
The list will include products such as Tetley, Tata Tea, Himalayan and Eight O’ Clock Coffee, which will be given a global push. At the same time, the Rs 7,271-crore Tata Global Beverages (TGB) will not take its eyes off regional products either, pushing these aggressively in their home markets. On this list are brands such as Kanan Devan, Chakra Gold and Gemini in South India, Vitax in Poland and Joekels in South Africa.
The blueprint, explains TGB Managing Director Harish Bhat, is in keeping with company Chairman Cyrus Mistry’s vision to invest significantly behind the firm’s brands. At the company’s recently-concluded annual general meeting in Kolkata, 44-year-old Mistry, who became chairman last year, said that the foundation for investment behind the firm’s products had been laid. “It is crucially important to grow our brands in India and overseas. There is also a need for innovations which need funds,” he said.
TGB derives 65-70 per cent of its revenues from international markets and the balance from India.
Tetley, one of the products on the global power list, already sells in a number of markets outside its home turf of the UK. This includes India, where it competes with Twinings and Brooke Bond Taj Mahal from Hindustan Unilever. Tata Tea, an Indian product, meanwhile, has been taken to markets such as Canada and West Asia, while plans are afoot to take Himalayan packaged water, also an Indian product, which was acquired in 2007 by the company, to Southeast Asia in the near term.
Bhat declines to indicate whether new products would be added to the global or regional list through new acquisitions. Outgoing Vice-Chairman R K Krishna Kumar, at the TGB AGM, had hinted that the company was looking at a new acquisition. He had said, “TGB will make a major acquisition and be a truly worldclass company, not in the tea or coffee space but in new beverages.”
As things stand, TGB derives nearly 70 per cent of its revenues from tea, 20 per cent from coffee and five per cent from water. The plan is to take the contribution of water and coffee to 10 per cent and 25 per cent, respectively, in the next three years, Bhat said. Tea’s contribution, on the other hand, would come down to about 60 per cent, he added.
TGB proposes to achieve this by pushing its joint ventures with PepsiCo and Starbucks aggressively in the next few years. “A total of 18 stores have been opened so far by Tata Starbucks in Mumbai and Delhi. This count will go up as we move forward,” he said.
On the joint venture with PepsiCo (called NourishCo), Bhat indicated that in-house brands Tata Water Plus and Tata Gluco Plus were doing well.
“Tata Water Plus has seen higher growth than Himalayan packaged water (in the June quarter). But this is in the markets of Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh, where the brand is currently present. The plan will be to take it to other markets in the country,” he added.
source: http://www.business-standard.com / Business Standard / Home> Companies> News / by Viveat Susan Pinto / Mumbai – August 03rd, 2013
Ashwini Ponnappa
Ashwini Ponnappa, the glamourous Bangalore shuttler, is gearing up for the World championships to be held in Guangzhou, China, from August 5 to 11.
Ashwini, who won the Commonwealth Games gold partnering Jwala Gutta, now has a new doubles partner in Pradnya Gadre of Maharashtra.
She launched the Banga Beats Indian Badminton League team from her home city but quite shockingly, wasn’t picked up by them. In the player auctions, it was Pune which bagged her for a sum of $25,000.
The IBL has decided not to have women’s doubles in the championships and as such, Ashwini will have to only depend on the mixed doubles apart from the women’s singles, if she is in the fray for that event as per the decision of her team.
But on a positive note, according to her, whatever controversy that has been generated, is good for Indian badminton. “Rubbing shoulders with top players will give us a lot of benefits. The experience of playing them will remove the psychological barrier when we meet them in bigger events. Also, the game in the country will get a big boost. Not often do big names come and play here. So people will get a very big opportunity to watch them in action. I am sure Indian badminton is poised for a big leap,” said Ashwini.
Championship preparation
With the World championships coming a lot before the IBL, she has a huge advantage at the moment as she can concentrate on doing well in a championship that matters the most. Certainly, a lot more than any national league or Grand Prix in the World.
“In the past few days, the IBL distraction did disrupt my training but now I am back on court and practising hard for the upcoming World Championships. I am training in Bangalore right now while my doubles partner, Pradnya Gadre is training in Hyderabad. We hope to put in some work together soon. Having played with each other earlier, we know our games well and combining with her should be no problem,” Ashwini said.
According to her, the preparation has been good and she is working on her fitness more than any other aspect. “I have always taken one match at a time. It does not make sense predicting things, so I am concentrating on the first round right now. We have a tough first round, let’s first clear it. We will be facing Damkjaer Kruse and Marie Roepke from Denmark and we have not played them earlier. So it is going to be a very important game for us,” said the shuttler who won the bronze in the 2011 World championships with Jwala to become only the second Indian to do so after the 1983 singles bronze that the legendary Prakash Padukone won way back in 1983.
“I am partnering Tarun Kona in the mixed doubles and there I think we will meet a Japanese pair – Hirokatsu Hashimoto and Miyuki Maeda – in the first round. Let’s see how it goes,” said Ashwini.
source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express/ Home> Cities> Bangalore / by S S Shreekumar / ENS – Bangalore / August 01st, 2013
The tiny hill district of Kodagu (Coorg) in Karnataka is facing an ecological disaster with the President of India giving his assent to a controversial legislation which allows the disposal and sale of Jamma lands in Kodagu located in the fragile Western Ghats. It is feared that the resultant denudation of the forests in the region could trigger an environmental damage with unpredictable consequences.
The repercussions of the legislation — The Karnataka Land Revenue (Third Amendment), Act, 2011, which received Presidential assent early this year after the bill was referred to the President by the Karnataka governor last year, will not only be severe on the Western Ghats region, considered as one of world’s bio-diversity hotspots, but will also take its toll on the customary laws, traditions and culture of the indigenous communities.
Jamma land tenure is unique to Kodagu district and it is estimated that the extent of ‘Jamma Baane’ land in Kodagu is around 2.55 lakh acres in possession of the local people — Kodavas, Amma-Kodavas, Heggades, Airis, Koyavas, Moplas and Gaudas. Jamma lands consist of wetland for growing paddy and the accompanying Baane land, initially used for cattle grazing and held free of assessment, now converted into coffee estates.
According to Sir J B Lyall, a British expert on tenures in Coorg who traced the origin of Jamma, it was originally a military tenure held on payment of half the assessment in consideration of military service. Jamma was granted under ‘sanads’ largely by the Coorg Rajas (1600 AD to 1834 AD) and to a smaller extent by the British till 1895 to the local inhabitants.
Hitherto, there was a ban on the sale of Jamma lands as the cultivator was only a ‘deemed owner’. The new legislation will confer the title of ‘occupant owner’ and allows the sale of land. The legislation, it is feared, will legitimise large scale denudation of trees and the formation of human settlements on Jamma Bane lands as there will be heavy influx of population from the neighbouring states. The presence of increased human habitation will have its impact on the adjoining forest land, its flora and fauna.
For generations, the life of the local communities, centered around the cultivation of the Jamma lands, the principal tenure in Kodagu. The Jamma lands could not be alienated as there was no provision for transferring the title of the property. The ownership was jointly held by the clan and it was managed by the head of the clan (Pattedara).
The issue went before the Karnataka high court and a full bench of the court held in its judgement delivered in October, 1993 that Jamma Baane landholders had limited privileges for cattle grazing, supply of firewood and timber for the domestic and agriculture purposes, but had no right to exploit the trees for commercial purposes, unless the holder had paid full timber value to the government. The court also held that the land-owner had no right to the sub-soil.
Customs and traditions
Once the ban on the sale of Jamma lands is lifted, the indigenous communities will be removed from their traditional Jamma holdings which formed the basis of their customs and traditions. The ‘ain-mane’ or the ancestral houses of the clans, was the focal point of all festivities and religious usages. It is feared that once the Jamma lands are sold to outsiders, the new land owners could lay claim to the ‘ain-manes,’ considered sacred to the local communities. This could lead to social tensions and law and order problem.
The biggest threat will come from the real estate mafia who were eyeing the Jamma lands all these years. With tourism boom in Kodagu, the local communities will be under pressure to sell their lands as the state will not have any control over them. It is learnt that already Jamma lands are being sold in anticipation of the new law taking effect.
The amendment to the Jamma tenure was effected during the previous BJP regime. The amendment was politically motivated and passed in haste without much debate in the Legislative Assembly, reportedly at the instance of the then Speaker K G Bopaiah who wanted to take political advantage. One of the reasons for Bopaiah’s re-election from the Virajpet constituency was on account of the political mileage he gained by getting the amendment passed.
The new amendment will create more problems than it hopes to solve. Those who drafted the amendment bill have failed to recognise the fact that apart from Jamma Baane lands, there are other types of Baanes — ‘Hithlu’ and ‘Sagu Baane’ lands.
Advocate K Sarojini Muthanna, who is knowledgeable on Jamma tenure matters, has suggested that the government should carry out further amendments to the Karnataka Land Revenue Act, 1964, devoting a separate chapter for the Jamma lands of Kodagu. The main support for the amendment has come from Akhila Kodava Samaja, representing a small section of the Kodavas. The president of the Samaja, Mathanda C Monnappa, opined that the amendment removed ‘irritants’ by way of government circulars which gave the impression that the land belonged to the government.
A large section of people, however, feel that in the interest of preserving the culture of Kodagu, and maintaining the ecological balance in the Western Ghats, the Siddaramaiah government should not give effect to the amendment to the Jamma land tenure.
source: http://www.deccanherald.com / Deccan Herald / Home> Panorama / by P T Bopanna / July 24th, 2013
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