Monthly Archives: January 2014

German technology for book stalls

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Science & Technology

GermanKF12jan2014
Madikeri :

More than 300 book stalls that have come up in a sprawling 1 1/2 acre area in the town, as part of the literary fest, is expected to be a hit among the participants and the general public.

The book stalls are set-up using German technology, adjacent to Field Marshal K.M. Cariappa College ground, with each stall measuring 10×15 ft.

A 16-member Committee is supervising the maintenance of these stalls, with one stall reserved exclusively for Kodagu writers.

Apart from the book stall, commercial stalls featuring fancy stores, food outlets, textiles etc., too have come up. Also several women self help groups (Sthree Shakthi Sanghas) have taken up some stalls in order to promote their products.

The Committee has fixed a rent of Rs. 2,500 to each stall for the 3-day literary fest, with book-sellers from different parts of the State including Bangalore, Dharwad, Udupi, Gadag, D.K. and Mysore districts having booked the stalls.

‘Kodagu-Bedagu’ handbook to be distributed at Kannada meet

Madikeri, Jan. 6 (KBM&DM)- A handbook on Kodagu district titled “Kodagu-Bedagu” is ready for free distribution among those arriving for the All India Kannada Literary Meet to be chaired by renowned writer Na. D’Souza tomorrow at Madikeri.

The 20-page handbook, contains information on the geographical features of Kodagu district, a former Princely State, and its magnificent scenic valleys and other spots. It contains vital information on all religious places, including the dress code to be observed while visiting some prominent temples and tourist spots across the district.

The handbook, brought out with an attractive cover page, contains detailed information on the famous tourist spots in Madikeri including the Fort, Raja’s Seat, Archaeology Museum, Omkareshwara Temple, St. Michael’s Church and other scenic spots like Abbey Falls, Makkalagudi Betta, Talacauvery-Bhagamandala, Padi Shri Igguthappa Temple, Thadiyandmol Hill, Yemme Madu, Sufi Shahid Dargah, Rajiv Gandhi National Park in Nagarahole, Irupu Falls, Cauvery Nisargadhama, Harangi Dam, Dubare camp, Virajpet’s St. Anne’s Church, etc.

Handbook Committee President H.T. Anil said that the Committee had earlier planned to bring out a more exhaustive 48-page handbook but it was later scaled down to 20 pages on account of cash crunch.

The handbook will be distributed free of cost amongst more than 8,000 representatives and journalists attending the meet.

source: http://www.starofmysore.com / Star of Mysore / Home> Feature Articles / January 06th, 2014

CM to inaugurate Kannada literary meet at Madikeri tomorrow

Arts, Culture & Entertainment

Sammelana President Na. D’Souza to be brought in a procession
Sammelana President Na. D’Souza to be brought in a procession

Madikeri :

Chief Minister Siddharamaiah will inaugurate the 80th Akhila Bharata Kannada Sahitya Sammelana here at 12 noon tomorrow.

The fest will formally commence with Kodagu District in-Charge Minister Dr. H.C. Mahadevappa hoisting the national flag at 8 am at Field Marshal K.M. Cariappa College Ground, which will be followed by the hoisting of Kannada Sahitya Parishat flag by Kannada Sahitya Parishat State President Pundalika Halambi and hoisting of ‘Naada Dhwaja’ by Kannada Sahitya Parishat District President T.P. Ramesh.

The main platform of the fest has been named as ‘Bharatisuta Pradhana Vedike,’ named after Bharatisuta, which was the pen name of the great writer S.R. Narayana Rao, while another stage erected has been named as ‘Ichettira N. Muthanna Mahamantapa’

Renowned writer Na. D’Souza who is to chair the fest, will be brought in a grand procession at 9 am tomorrow from Gandhi Maidan passing through CMC, Private Bus Stand, Indira Gandhi Circle and College Road, before reaching Field Marshal K.M. Cariappa College ground.

The procession will be flagged off by Kodagu DC Anurag Tewari at 9 am. Naganoor Rudrakshi Mutt Seer Siddarama Swamiji and Arameri Kalancheri Mutt (Virajpet) Seer Shamba

Mallikarjuna Swamiji will grace the occasion. The Sammelana Immediate Past President Ko. Channabasappa will deliver the inaugural address. Na. D’Souza will deliver the presidential address.

Union Petroleum and Environment Minister Veerappa Moily will release the souvenir brought out on the occasion.

Legislative Council Chairman D.H. Shankar Murthy will inaugurate the book stalls. Home Minister K.J. George will release ‘Kannada Dinadarshike.’

Litterateur Dr. Malali Vasanthakumar will release books brought out by the Kannada Sahitya Parishat, while Madikeri MLA Appachu Ranjan will release books of Kodagu writers and MP H. Vishwanatha will release works of different authors.

Food and Civil Supplies Minister Dinesh Gundu Rao will inaugurate commercial stalls, while Kannada and Culture Minister Umashree will inaugurate the cultural programmes.

Former Assembly Speaker and Virajpet MLA K.G. Bopaiah will inaugurate a painting exhibition organised to mark the occasion.

MLC T. John will inaugurate the Pradhana Vedike, while MLC M.C. Nanaiah will inaugurate the Mahamantapa and MLC Ganesh Karnik will inaugurate the fest’s main entrance arch. Kodagu ZP President B. Shivappa, Lt. General (Retd) B.C. Nanda, State Government Employees’ Association President L. Bhyrappa, Kannada and Culture Department Secretary K.R. Niranjan will be the guests of honour on the occasion.

Following the inaugurals, seminars will commence at 3.30 pm, followed by cultural programmes later in the evening at 7 pm.

Seating arrangements have been made for over 20,000 participants. Welcome arches
have been erected on the roads leading to Mysore, Mangalore and as well on other prominent roads.

The city is wearing a festive look for the literary fest. Meanwhile, the District Administration has declared holidays for schools and colleges across the district from Jan. 7 to 9, on account of the 80th Kannada Sahitya Sammelana.

source: http://www.starofmysore.com / Star of Mysore / Home> General News / January 06th, 2014

The roots of Kannada in Kodagu…

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Historical Links / Pre-Independence

The coffee land is all set to witness the 80th Kannada literary meet scheduled to begin on January 7, after a long gap of 32 years. Earlier, Madikeri has witnessed two literary meets – the 18th literary meet in 1932 under the leadership of D V Gundappa and the 54th literary meet in 1982 under the leadership of Dr Shambha Joshi.
RootsKF11jan2014

Interestingly, despite being one of the smallest districts in Karnataka, it has a wide variety of culture as well as languages that include Kodava, Arebashe Gowda and Malayalam, yet the region has managed to retain the flavour of State language.

If one goes down the pages of history, the little district with unique weather and culture has contributed immensely for the development of Kannada language. The Ganga – Kongwala – Hoysala and Haleri dynasties, perhaps laid the strong foundation for Kannada through inscriptions way back in the 9th century. In the 10th century, Nagaverma had created ‘Chandombudi’ and ‘Punyashrava,’ according to the reference available at ‘Kodagu Sahithya – Sanskrithi Darshana,’ published by Kodagu District Kannada Sahithya Parishat.

During the Chengalva dynasty, the third Mangarasa had published ‘Jayanrupa Kavya’ and ‘Samyukta Kaumudi’ (1508), while his cousin Nanjunda had written ‘Kumara Ramana Kathe.’

There are documents to prove that the first epic ‘Rama Vijaya Kavya’ was written by Devappa, a Jain poet in 1540. Similarly, Dodda Veera Rajendra, who ruled Kodagu between 1789 and 1809, has the credit of documenting history titled ‘Rajendra Name’ in Kannada. The II Linga Rajendra, who ruled Kodagu between 1810 and 1820 had written a book pertaining to land in Kodagu entitled ‘Lingarajana Shisthu.’

The 19th century

The leading name of 19th century pertaining to literature is that of Panje Mangesh Rao, who served as a teacher in Kodagu in 1920s. He had penned poems pertaining to Hutthari festivities among other literary works. In fact, he was the president of All India Kannada literary meet held in Raichur in 1934.

Haradasa Appacchha Kavi, popularly known as the Adi Kavi of Kodagu had penned many plays including ‘Savithri,’ ‘Yayathi,’ ‘Kaveri’ and ‘Subramanya’ in Kodava language. The same were translated to Kannada language by Dr I M Muttanna, who also hailed from Kodagu.

Kodagina Gowramma

The first woman story writer in Kannada literary field, Gowramma, hailed from Kodagu and she is known as ‘Kodagina Gowramma.’ Born in Madikeri in 1912, she did her early schooling in Madikeri and married to B T Gopalakrishna in 1928.

From 1931, she wrote a number of articles and stories in the name of ‘Mrs G T G Krishna’. Most of her stories were based on the theme of women’s problems. However, she passed away in 1940 when she was just 28 years old. When Mahathma Gandiji arrived at Kodagu, she had invited Gandhiji to her home and she had donated her jewellery for the cause of freedom.

Bharathisutha

A teacher by profession, ‘Bharathisutha’ was the pen name of S R Narayana Rao. Based on the life story of Kodagu ruler Siribai Dodda Veerappa, he had written ‘Huliya Haalina Mevu,’ which was later made into a film by the same name.

His other stories too have been made into films and they include ‘Girikanye,’ ‘Edakallu Guddada Mele’ and ‘Bayalu Daari’ among others. His work on ‘Solle Haraduva Rogagalu’ (Diseases transmitted by mosquitoes) and ‘Giliyu Panjaradolilla’ (The parrot is not in the cage) earned him Central government award and Karnataka Sahithya Academy award respectively.

Kittel’s footsteps

Rev Fr Ferdinand Kittel, who contributed immensely to the field of Kannada literature has left indelible marks in Kodagu, prominent among them include the Kannada – English dictionary.

A German missionary, who served in Kodagu church (presently knownn as Shanthi church) between 1871 and 1876, was the first parish priest of the church. Rev Kittel started learning Kannada after going around the coffee land, says the present parish priest of the church.
DH News Servcie

source: http://www.deccanherald.com / Deccan Herald / Home> District / by Srikanth Kallammanavar / Madikeri, DHNS – january 05th, 2014

MP’s book released in Madikeri

Arts, Culture & Entertainment

Releasing of the book ‘Malligeya Maathu’ penned by MP A.H. Vishwanath (third from right) at Hotel Coorg International, Madikeri, Kodagu on Jan. 4, 2014.

MalligaiKF11jan2014
Others are (from left) Kannada lecturer at Cauvery College, Gonikoppa Dr. Rekha Vasanth, Kodagu District Kannada Sahitya Parishat President T.P. Ramesh, advocate and litterateur Balasubrahmanya Kanjarpane, Shanthamallikarjuna Swami of Arameri Mutt in Virajpet, litterateur Cheppudira P. Belliappa and Akashavani programmer Abdul Rashid.

source: http://www.starofmysore.com / Star of Mysore / Home> General News / January 05th, 2014

Uthappa in for Mayank

Famous Personalities of Kodagu / Coorg, Sports

Opening batsman Robin Uthappa is all set to return for Karnataka’s Ranji Trophy quarterfinal tie against Uttar Pradesh from January 8.

The right-hander, who featured in a couple of matches for Karnataka in the league phase before suffering a hamstring injury, will replace Mayank Agarwal at the top of the order.

Agarwal, who has been relatively successful in his first season with 380 runs from seven matches, has been selected to feature in Karnataka’s Col CK Nayudu (under-25) Trophy quarterfinal match against Himachal Pradesh at Dharamsala on January 5 instead.

“The under-25 quarterfinal is important too so we decided that it would be better to have Mayank playing at Dharamsala instead of making him sit on the reserve bench here,” said chief selector Sudhakar Rao.

Karnataka squad: R Vinay Kumar (captain), CM Gautam (vice-captain/ wicketkeeper), Robin Uthappa, KL Rahul, Manish Pandey, Karun Nair, R Samarth, Shreyas Gopal, Ronit More, Abhimanyu Mithun, HS Sharath, Abrar Kazi, Ganesh Satish, Amit Verma, KP Appanna. Batting coach: J Arun Kumar. Bowling coach: Mansur Ali Khan. Manager: B Siddaramu. Physio: M Vasanth. Video analyst: Santhosh. Logistic manager: A Ramesh Rao.

source: http://www.deccanherald.com / Deccan Herald / Home> Sports / Bangalore – DHNS, January 02nd, 2014

My Wife’s Cool with Female Fans

Sports

BopannaKF10jan2014
Rohan Bopanna should consider himself a lucky man. Not only is the tennis star still head-over-heels in love with his wife Supriya Annaiah, he says that she doesn’t get mad with all the female attention that comes his way. Unfortunately, being a famous, tall and handsome tennis player send a lot of adoring female fans his way.

Well, I’m married, so I think the fans know by now to leave me alone,” Rohan jokes. “But jokes aside, Supriya’s cool with it. She says its a great thing to have so many fans come out and recognise you. They have every right to come and speak to you, no matter what they want to speak to you about,” he says seriously.

The doubles player, who is currently ranked no 13, visibly grins when this reporter asks about his lady love, ahead of his match against the pair of Benoît Paire and Wawrinka. “Marriage is super,” he tells us a year after he tied the knot. “It’s always nice to have family on the road with you, and with Supriya, it’s great to have her with me during tournaments!” he says with a grin. Ask Rohan his wishlist for 2014 and pat comes the answer – win a grand slam title. Prod some more and out comes the second one. “I want to show my wife the rest of the cities (on the Tour), the parts she’s not seen. She’s seen the cities from June to December. I want to show her the ones from January to June,” he says with an even bigger grin. Aside from tennis, marriage has also brought about another change in Rohan’s travel itinerary. He finally gets to look around the cities he travels to.

And it’s all because of the wife. “I’ve been to so many places, but I usually never go out,” he says and admits that when it comes to doing touristy things in a city, it is Supriya who does all the work. “Usually, I’d just be sitting in my hotel room after practise, ordering room service, not doing anything. Now that my wife is there, she makes an effort to read up on what to do in the city we’re in and makes me go with her,” he says. “Also, now there’s somebody to go see these places with,” he adds with a wry smile.

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Cities> Chennai / by Janane Venkatraman – Chennai / January 01st, 2014

The roots of Kannada in Kodagu…

About Kodagu / Coorg, Arts, Culture & Entertainment

The coffee land is all set to witness the 80th Kannada literary meet scheduled to begin on January 7, after a long gap of 32 years. Earlier, Madikeri has witnessed two literary meets – the 18th literary meet in 1932 under the leadership of D V Gundappa and the 54th literary meet in 1982 under the leadership of Dr Shambha Joshi.

Interestingly, despite being one of the smallest districts in Karnataka, it has a wide variety of culture as well as languages that include Kodava, Arebashe Gowda and Malayalam, yet the region has managed to retain the flavour of State language.

If one goes down the pages of history, the little district with unique weather and culture has contributed immensely for the development of Kannada language. The Ganga – Kongwala – Hoysala and Haleri dynasties, perhaps laid the strong foundation for Kannada through inscriptions way back in the 9th century. In the 10th century, Nagaverma had created ‘Chandombudi’ and ‘Punyashrava,’ according to the reference available at ‘Kodagu Sahithya – Sanskrithi Darshana,’ published by Kodagu District Kannada Sahithya Parishat.

During the Chengalva dynasty, the third Mangarasa had published ‘Jayanrupa Kavya’ and ‘Samyukta Kaumudi’ (1508), while his cousin Nanjunda had written ‘Kumara Ramana Kathe.’

There are documents to prove that the first epic ‘Rama Vijaya Kavya’ was written by Devappa, a Jain poet in 1540. Similarly, Dodda Veera Rajendra, who ruled Kodagu between 1789 and 1809, has the credit of documenting history titled ‘Rajendra Name’ in Kannada. The II Linga Rajendra, who ruled Kodagu between 1810 and 1820 had written a book pertaining to land in Kodagu entitled ‘Lingarajana Shisthu.’

The 19th century

The leading name of 19th century pertaining to literature is that of Panje Mangesh Rao, who served as a teacher in Kodagu in 1920s. He had penned poems pertaining to Hutthari festivities among other literary works. In fact, he was the president of All India Kannada literary meet held in Raichur in 1934.

Haradasa Appacchha Kavi, popularly known as the Adi Kavi of Kodagu had penned many plays including ‘Savithri,’ ‘Yayathi,’ ‘Kaveri’ and ‘Subramanya’ in Kodava language. The same were translated to Kannada language by Dr I M Muttanna, who also hailed from Kodagu.

Kodagina Gowramma

The first woman story writer in Kannada literary field, Gowramma, hailed from Kodagu and she is known as ‘Kodagina Gowramma.’ Born in Madikeri in 1912, she did her early schooling in Madikeri and married to B T Gopalakrishna in 1928.

From 1931, she wrote a number of articles and stories in the name of ‘Mrs G T G Krishna’. Most of her stories were based on the theme of women’s problems. However, she passed away in 1940 when she was just 28 years old. When Mahathma Gandiji arrived at Kodagu, she had invited Gandhiji to her home and she had donated her jewellery for the cause of freedom.

Bharathisutha

A teacher by profession, ‘Bharathisutha’ was the pen name of S R Narayana Rao. Based on the life story of Kodagu ruler Siribai Dodda Veerappa, he had written ‘Huliya Haalina Mevu,’ which was later made into a film by the same name.

His other stories too have been made into films and they include ‘Girikanye,’ ‘Edakallu Guddada Mele’ and ‘Bayalu Daari’ among others. His work on ‘Solle Haraduva Rogagalu’ (Diseases transmitted by mosquitoes) and ‘Giliyu Panjaradolilla’ (The parrot is not in the cage) earned him Central government award and Karnataka Sahithya Academy award respectively.

Kittel’s footsteps

Rev Fr Ferdinand Kittel, who contributed immensely to the field of Kannada literature has left indelible marks in Kodagu, prominent among them include the Kannada – English dictionary.

A German missionary, who served in Kodagu church (presently knownn as Shanthi church) between 1871 and 1876, was the first parish priest of the church. Rev Kittel started learning Kannada after going around the coffee land, says the present parish priest of the church.
DH News Servcie

source: http://www.deccanherald.com / Deccan Herald / Home> District / by Srikanth Kallammanavar, Madikeri / DHNS / January 05th, 2014

Bangalore: Lit fest returns to Madikeri

Arts, Culture & Entertainment

80th All-India Kannada Sahitya Sammelana starts on January 7.

As many as 80,000 people are expected to attend the Sahitya Sammelana, for which a pandal is being erected at Field Marshal Cariappa College Grounds. - DNA
As many as 80,000 people are expected to attend the Sahitya Sammelana, for which a pandal is being erected at Field Marshal Cariappa College Grounds. – DNA

This hill station, under the grip of a typical winter, is getting ready to host the 80th All-India Kannada Sahitya Sammelana after 29 years.

It was last held here in 1984. The three-day Madikeri Sammelana will open on 7 January. Despite the shortcomings in logistics, the city is making all-out effort to make it a success. Huge pandals were being erected at the Field Marshal Cariappa College grounds, which will accommodate more than 10,000 people at a time. The expected inflow of Kannada literature enthusiasts has been pegged at 80,000 people. Out of them, 8,000 are registered delegates from Karnataka and some from states like Maharashtra, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu.

“One of the concerns we are tackling is the accommodation of the delegates. We have booked various schools and colleges, which will host about 2,000 delegates. We have also booked 50% of the homestays and requested the resorts to accommodate a few VVIP delegates,” deputy commissioner of Kodagu Anurag Tiwari told dna.

The second challenge is handling traffic. “We are expecting more than 5,000 vehicles to come to Madikeri during the three days of the sammelana in addition to the special buses coming from all over the state. To facilitate smooth movement of traffic, we have made several roads of the city one-way, especially the two-kilometre stretch of road leading to the Sammelana site,” additional deputy commissioner HC Prasanna told dna.

One of the issues likely to crop up during the sammelan is the separate political set up for Kodagu. The activists who have been fighting for an autonomous region or hill council for Madikeri might press for a resolution in the sammelana, according to the leader of the activists, U Nachappa Codava.

Prof N Karibasappa, in charge of the book exhibition, said the Sahitya Sammelana will have a record number of book stalls. He said they have registration from 332 publishers and sellers from all over the state and 50 other commercial book and Kannada related stalls.

President of the Kodagu district Kannada Sahitya Parishat said: “The official business committee has chalked out elaborate sessions with an eye for quality and meaningful deliberations. Dr Na D’Souza, president of the 80th Akhila Bharata Kannada Sahitya Sammelana, will participate in a special dialogue with the upcoming Kannada poets and writers.

“A special session on just the problems faced by Kodagu district—which includes local Kodava writers and intellectuals—will present papers pertaining to the theme on problems of Kodagu, with particular emphasis on challenges of modernity on Kodagu, problems of western ghats and impact on Kodagu and the challenges faced by the original inhabitants of Kodagu.”

source: http://www.dnaindia.com / DNA / Home> Bangalore> Report / by M. Raghuram / Place:Madikeri, Agency:DNA / Sunday, December 29th, 2013

Nikhil Chinappa: Came to Goa with no expectations

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

NikhilKF05jan2014
Goa :
The first two days of the VH1 Supersonic festival witnessed a positive response in terms of number of attendees, sponsors and the artistes. The price of the tickets was as low as Rs. 1000 per day and the people, who attended the event on the first day, were automatically invited for the second day. According to local newspaper the event had close to 7000 people attending the event.

Nikhil Chinappa the curator is extremely happy with the response that the festival has received so far. Talking to Radioandmusic.com’s Dhairya Ingle, Chinappa said, “Honestly I came with no expectations to Goa, for the festival. But the people out here supported the new event whole heartedly, for which I am thankful to them.”

When asked the reason behind inviting the first day’s attendees to the second day free of cost he said, “There was an emotional reason for it. This festival is very dear and since it was put up in 21 days, we wanted to tell people if they took the trouble to attend the first day of the just created baby, we wanted them to be our guests for the second day. Looking at the crowd the second day, we decided to invite them for the third day too.”

However, Chinappa does feel that he could have done a lot more had he had three months to organise the event. “There is always a scope for improvement. I think everything out here at the festival needs to be improved; be it the parking facilities, to the ticket selling process. I do not say that I am happy.”

According to him the ticket that has been priced by the organisers is not low as they are still at the testing phase and everything is an experiment and of course ticketing is one of them. “I feel money has a great value whether it is 100 or 1000,” he added.

He sincerely wishes the EDM community to grow in India. “I want people to learn the nuances of EDM from me and start their own things,” concluded Chinappa.

source: http://www.radioandmusic.com / RadioandMusic.com / Home> Review / by RnM Team / December 30th, 2013

Bopanna-Qureshi express is back on track

Sports, World Opinion

It was a pairing made for the headlines, a young Indian and a young Pakistani playing together and, quite apart from the novelty value, doing well. ‘Stop War, Start Tennis’ – their campaign – even earned them the Arthur Ashe Humanitarian Award for 2011, but that same year, the duo- Rohan Bopanna and Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi – split up.

It was a pity. More so because they had no problem with each other; other people had problems with other. The issue was the 2012 London Olympics and at its core, the problem was between Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi.

Bopanna joined hands with Bhupathi in his preparations for the Olympics. Qureshi stepped back; what choice did he have anyway? But now Bopanna is back with Qureshi. And that’s awesome news. For how long though, and to what end?

Both men are 33 now. Bopanna is ranked No. 13 in the doubles world, and Qureshi is at No. 15in the last update. They were both late bloomers and came into their own only in each other’s company -in 2007.

And just before they separated, they had reached the 2010 US Open final, and in 2011, won the ATP World Tour Masters 1000 title in Paris and made the ATP World Tour finals in London. They were, clearly, at their best, or getting there.

Seeing that they haven’t slipped much in the rankings, it would only be fair to assume that they can still do some good things together. But the question is whether the 2011 split might repeat itself come 2015.

Bhupathi is still there and thereabouts , but not the force he once was. But Paes is still up there, ranked No. 10 in the world, and has confirmed that he is aiming sharp for the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics.

Keeping that in mind, and keeping in mind the fact that a pair should play together for at least a year before taking part in a major competition, the life of the New Indo-Pak Express looks set to be just a year and a half, destined to last only till the middle of 2015.

That would be terrible, both for the pairing and for ‘Stop War, Start Tennis.’ But then again, considering the value of an Olympic Games medal, forget Paes, can Bopanna chuck up the opportunity either if it comes calling, at Qureshi’s expense if necessary?

Shamya Dasgupta is Senior Editor, Wisden India

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> Sports> Tennis> Top Stories / by Shamya Dasgupta / December 27th, 2013