Niyog traversed the Arctic with 19 adventurers from across the globe. | Photo Credit: HAND OUT
Niyog, the first Indian to take part in Fjällräven Polar, recounts the expedition’s high points
The extreme cold was expected. Niyog had prepared himself for it by spending some days in Manali, Himachal Pradesh, in winter. But, the 26-year-old from Punalur, the first Indian to take part in Fjällräven Polar, a dream expedition of adventure travellers, found that no preparation was good enough to face the wild Arctic wind. “The wind was such that we couldn’t stand on the ground. We had to build ice walls around our tents so that they wouldn’t be blown away. Breathing was tough at some point,” Niyog recalled his journey across the Arctic with 19 selected adventurers from all over the world.
Fjällräven Polar is an annual expedition being organised by the Swedish company Fjällräven since 1997. The participants, selected through an online poll, travelled 300 km in -30° Celsius through the Arctic wilderness in Norway and Sweden on sleighs pulled by six Siberian Husky dogs.
The participants had to adopt different methods to make fire as it was an integral part of survival in the Arctic. “We were provided stoves to cook food, that worked on Super Fuel. We used magnesium coils to make fire and then brought them to compressive mode. On another day we collected fibres from the bark of a tree to make fire,” Niyog said.
Danger in sweating
Cooking using melted ice for water and sleeping in a sleeping bag inside a trench, when the snow could bury them any time, were part of the adventure.
“We had to be careful about sweating, as sweat turning into ice could be very dangerous. The ice settled anywhere in 10 seconds and the wind made the situation worse,” he said.
Niyog found controlling the dogs easier than expected as the animals were trained to follow the well defined path. But he had a hard time balancing the sleigh in the unpredictable terrain and was thrown off many a time.
The trip over, Niyog cherishes watching the Northern Lights (Aurora Borealis) and enjoying the hospitality of the Sami tribe that served the adventurers with reindeer meat dishes. It took several baths alternatively in steam and ice cold water besides dipping in an ice hole to acclimatise. Now, back home, the young man who is always driven by adventure finds himself unfit for more — for at least a few weeks.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> States> Kerala / by Aabha Raveendran / Kozhikode – April 20th, 2018
Yesudas is getting national acclaim after 24 years, at the age of 78
In the list of the national film awards, announced in New Delhi on Friday, there were quite a few familiar names.
Like K.J. Yesudas.
It was after a long gap of 24 years that he was returning to the winners list, at the age of 78. And it was a record eighth national award for the best playback singer for him.
The latest one was for his song Poyimaranja kaalam… (Viswasapoorvam Mansoor). It was composed by Ramesh Narayan.
“I am delighted that I tuned the song that fetched Yesudas a national award after a gap of so many years,” Ramesh told The Hindu.
“He had sounded very happy when he spoke to me after the awards were announced on Friday; and it proved a day of double delight for me, as I had won the national award for music in the non-feature section.”
Ramesh was only a student of music when Yesudas won his first national award, way back in 1973. That was for the song Manushyan mathangale srishtichu... (Achanum Bappayum).
It was composed by G. Devarajan and the lyrics were by Vayalar Ramavarma.
The lines of that timeless song – about the meaninglessness of religious strife – would sound truer than ever in the present time.
His second national award came the following year, for the film Gayathri(Padmatheerthame unaroo…).
That classic song was also created by the Vayalar-Devarajan combine.
Yesudas’s third award, which he won four years later, though was for a Hindi song written and composed by Ravindra Jain. Gori tera gaon bada… (Chitchor) was a phenomenal hit and made him popular beyond the southern States.
His fourth award, which he won in 1982, too was in another language – Telugu.
The film was Meghasandesam and the composer Ramesh Naidu.
All his other national awards have been for the songs he sung in Malayalam – Unnikale Oru Katha Parayam (1988), Bharatham (1992) and Sopanam (1994).
Ramesh said when he came up with the tune for Poyimaranja…, he was convinced that only Yesudas could sing it.
“Nobody else could have done justice to it,” he said.
“He has sung about 15 songs for me. And it is the song Oru narupushpamaayi… (Meghamalhar) that established me as a composer.”
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> States> Kerala / by P.K. Ajith Kumar / Kozhikode – April 14th, 2018
Malayalam cinema had one of its richest hauls ever at the 65th National Film Awards, sweeping 15 awards, including major awards for direction and acting. The awards, which do not include the big names of the industry, are a recognition for the new crop who have defined a fresh aesthetic over the past few years.
Jury Chairman Shekhar Kapur acknowledged the big strides that regional cinema, especially Malayalam cinema, has made in recent times when he said, “Bollywood films cannot compete with these regional films, not at the state in which they are”. Although he made a few light-hearted complaints about the unpronouncable titles like Thondimuthalum Driksakshiyum, which the jury members used to call ‘Chain Snatcher’, that did not spoil the chances of the films.
That film, directed by Dileesh Pothen, one of the high points of Malayalam cinema in recent times, fetched the best original screenplay award for Sajeev Pazhoor and the best supporting actor award for Fahadh Faasil. Mr. Kapur praised the film as an ‘unusual’ one with a brilliant screenplay.
After a disappointing decade at the beginning of the millennium, the industry here slowly began to veer away from the tried and tested route of formulaic masala films and super hero-centric subjects, with a set of films that came to be termed ‘new generation’. But many of these films were criticised for being shallow in their outlook, and for being metro, upper class-centric.
But the movement matured over the past four years, pushing the boundaries in all aspects, with realistic portrayals of the struggles of normal people. The National Award this year for production design, which Santosh Raman won for Takeoff is a sign of the strides even in the technical arena that the industry had taken. He had convincingly recreated war-ravaged Iraq in that film, which also fetched Parvathy a special mention in acting.
Indrans, once typecast as a comedian, started getting roles that challenged the actor in him, with the wave of change sweeping the industry. The jury on Friday took his name, saying that he lost out the best actor award by a whisker for Aalorukkam. The film, directed by debutant V.C. Abhilash, won the award for best film on social issues.
Director Jayaraj, who has moved effortlessly for years between mainstream and parallel cinema, won the best director award for Bhayanakam, part of his Navarasa series. The film, on the men from Kuttanad who went to fight in the Second World War, won the best cinematography award for Nikhil.S. Praveen. K.J. Yesudas won the best playback singer (male) award for his song from Vishwasapoorvam Mansoor.
Malayalam also had reasons to cheer for in the non-film category, with Aneez K. Mappila winning the award for the best documentary for The Slave Genesis, and Shiny Jacob Benjamin winning for best biographical reconstruction for Sword of Liberty. Nithin. R won award for best anthropological film for Name, Place, Animal, Thing.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Thiruvananthapuram / Staff Reporter / April 14th, 2018
Philanthropist V Damodar faced vicissitudes bravely and came out trumps on his terms
Sharjah, 1975: From a settlement with small palm-frond ‘arish’ houses hugging the creeks, the region, no more than a village-like city, was slowly moving towards development. That is when V Damodar landed there. In the 11 years he worked there, Damodar saw the Emirate grow into a centre of culture and industry, a growth in which he had a significant role.
“The Indian population, mostly Malayalis, in Sharjah was hardly 20,000. Only one restaurant there dished out Indian fare, which forced many like me to go to Dubai for lunch every Friday. There were just a few tarred roads and a couple of multi-storied buildings. I had to make adjustments to cope after having relocated from Bombay, a huge city even then,” says Damodar, who rose from humble beginnings to become the vice-president of GGP Group of Companies, one of the major business groups in the UAE.
This was a roller-coaster phase in Damodar’s life – along with success, fame and fortune, he slid down the road to desperation, forcing him to leave the Emirate, destroyed but not defeated.
Like his autobiography titled Fortitude, thoughts flow, unbroken, when Damodar talks. Shorn of political correctness and hypocrisy he allows memories to tumble. “Writing about my life was something I had not dreamed of. If it were planned I would have kept a diary. It was impulsive, the contents purely based on memories, and available records like photographs. There’s no attempt to edit my thoughts,” says Damodar, whose signal contributions include founding the Sharjah Indian School and Indian Association Sharjah.
As Finance Manager of the company, Damodar had to oversee numerous capital projects in keeping with the developments in Sharjah. “Almost simultaneously we were working on the construction of a modern airport and over a dozen high-rise buildings to be called Rolla Square. We had new divisions within the company and our Sheikh, who was the brother of the Ruler, was building a 11-storey tower for himself. Our organisation was also growing, diversifying into transport, aluminium, carpentry and also a travel agency, Sharjah National Travel and Tourist Agency (SNTTA). And all of them prospered.”
Founding the Indian Association Sharjah in April 1979 as a service organisation for the welfare of the community especially in Sharjah and establishing the Sharjah Indian School remain Damodar’s enduring contributions to the Indians in particular and the Emirate in general.
For the people
“We started the school on September 3, 1979 with 346 students and had classes from nursery to the fifth standard. We upgraded it to eighth standard the next year. In four years time the first batch wrote the public examination successfully. We constructed our own building on the land provided to us by the Ruler. The school has progressed steadily and presently has about 15,000 students. The Indian Association Sharjah, as a community organisation, owns and manages the school.”
Getting Air India to commence operations to and from Sharjah in 1981 was possible only through Damodar’s persistence. “It began when I was snubbed by the then regional director of Air India who termed my idea as ‘ridiculous’. I decided to pursue it. Meeting Ravindra Varma, then Minister of Labour and Parliamentary Affairs, Government of India, was the turning point. I managed to convince him to visit Sharjah and took the Minister and his entourage to the airport and met the Director General of Civil Aviation. I also showed him the correspondence I had with the Air India Chairman. The Minister returned to Delhi and did not forget his promise. And soon things fell in place and in March 1981 the first Air India flight landed in Sharjah. It was an unexpected but gratifying moment.”
These were ‘happy moments’ in a life that was punctuated by long phases of struggle and gloom. Like some passages in the book where the prose becomes intimate, Damodar’s eyes well-up, his voice breaks, when he speaks of his life’s struggles.
Damodar relives past events with insightful intent. His writing appears like a soul-cleansing exercise.
“Looking back at my life, it sometimes appears unbelievable considering where I began. Kaipuram, in Palakkad district, was an extremely undeveloped village. I had to walk nearly 15 kilometres every day to school. Childhood was a mix of fun and the constant worry of trying to meet basic needs. Perhaps this made me responsible even as a child encouraging me to do odd jobs to supplement the family’s income. Though I completed my Secondary School Leaving Certificate exam with high marks I could not continue my education.”
After a short stint at a typewriting and shorthand institute, Damodar left for Bombay looking for a job. “When I left home in 1960 the whole world was open before me. And it opened unexpectedly. Bombay shaped my career. I found a job as a typist with a meagre salary, studied part-time, took a diploma in secretarial practice, gained a university degree, Associateship from the Corporation of Secretaries, London and Fellowship from Institute of Company Secretaries of India.”
Joining Nagpal Ambadi Petro-Chem Refining Limited as Company Secretary, Damodar worked from its inception to public issue of share capital and arranging of institutional financing. He then moved on to another major group before moving to Sharjah.
Hard times
“In Sharjah I knew that I was surrounded by people who were envious of my growth. The Sheikh himself had warned me many times that ‘my own people,’ the same people I had employed nurtured, had approached him with complaints against me. A Palestinian/Jordanian and a Pakistani also joined them. They managed to sway the Sheikh’s opinions. When I realised that he seemed to have lost confidence in me , I resigned. I was vice-president of the group but left without getting a penny as the Sheikh refused to settle my accounts.”
Undeterred, but having decided not to work as an employee for anyone again, Damodar set up businesses in the UAE, India, Botswana and Zimbabwe. “The soft drinks company in India collapsed owing to misappropriations. In Botswana, I was part of a business but had to quit owing to ethical differences. I founded the Afroworld Group that grew into five active member companies; started a similar venture in Zimbabwe but had to leave, disillusioned and disgusted, owing to politically motivated difficulties. Right through I was let down by people I considered close to me.”
Damodar is now settled in Coimbatore, where he lives with wife Thankam. Their son Sumod who is the chief of Afroworld Group in Botswana, is an avid cricketer and administrator. He played for Botswana, holds various administrative posts with Botswana Cricket Association and Africa Cricket Association. Last year Sumod was elected to the Chief Executive Committee of the International Cricket Council.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> Books / by K. Pradeep / March 19th, 2018
Kudumbasree member Bindu Wilson narrates her experiences at a talk show in the city on Wednesday. | Photo Credit: S. GOPAKUMAR
Awe-inspiring stories of Kudumbasree women who overcame many odds.
From running a small neighbourhood unit in 2004 to an Amritha Nutrimix unit with a turnover of ₹2.5 crore today, M.V. Bhagirathi has indeed come a long way. She was among the 28 women from the Kudumbasree network across the State who narrated inspiring stories of overcoming steep odds at Prathidhwani, a talk show, here on Wednesday.
Some of the women, like Bindu Wilson, a community counsellor, had been part of the Kudumbasree for long while others like Prasanna Kumari were recent entrants. But the common thread running through their lives was how Kudumbasree opened a door of opportunities for them, motivating them, and honing their innate talents.
Many odds
These women have overcome many odds – Prasanna Kumari belonged to an impoverished family, while T.T. Ramla of Wayanad got married at the age of 15, and Bindu Wilson’s husband was paralysed.
The support from Kudumbasree helped them overcome these challenges and face life with confidence.
Bhagirathi who was a postgraduate when she joined Kudumbasree has now registered for her PhD, while Ramla, who could not even complete her class 10, is a postgraduate in psychology and became a district panchayat standing committee chairperson.
Besides being a gender resource person, Bindu is also a community counsellor who helps other women to emerge stronger from their circumstances.
Besides gaining from the Kudumbasree network, the women have given back to society and the network and inspired others to dream and succeed.
Ramla’s microenterprise has grown to 15 women and she designs clothes and is planning to go online soon.
Bindu launched a two-wheeler army of women to provide the elderly in her area support such as taking them to hospital or going to the market for them and also a blood donation group.
Aji, another Kudumbasree member who is a municipal councillor today, works in palliative care, associates with the KeralaSasthra Sahithya Parishad on environment issues, and is a Nirbhaya gender team member. Bhagirathi has developed a software for handling accounts of the Nutrimix units in the district, and conducts classes across the State to inspire other women to start Nutrimix units.
Prasanna Kumari wants to teach girls from poor families so that they can stand on their own feet, like she did.
The women, each with their unique story, are a testament to the difference Kudumbasree has made in lifting women from poverty to becoming leaders, capable of initiating more change.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Thiruvananthapuram / by Staff Reporter / Thiruvananthapuram – March 22nd, 2018
Retired principal translates 101 compositions of the saint-poet
The Telugu compositions of Sri Thyagaraja have reached God’s Own Country and are available to music connoisseurs in “His own language”.
This was made possible by the efforts of Latha Varma, retired Principal of Madurai-based Sri Sadguru Sangeetha Vidyalayam College of Music and Research Centre. Quite surprisingly, Tamil acted as the bridge in translating the Telugu compositions into Malayalam.
Ms. Varma, who belongs to the royal family of Ernakulam, joined the famed college in Madurai when she was 24 and retired a couple of years ago. As Malayalam is her mother tongue and she gained proficiency in Tamil with her prolonged stay in Madurai, she decided to go the extra mile to learn Telugu literature too. And she did master it with élan through a certificate and diploma course from Madurai Kamaraj University.
Though Thyagaraja kritis are sung world over by people of all languages, many are do not know Telugu and as such miss out on its literary beauty. The mellifluous note and rhythm come in for appreciation, but the ‘Bhava’ (substance) more often than not gets lost. It is this void that the musicologist wanted to fill, at least in Malayalam.
She hand-picked 101 most popular compositions of the saint-poet and gave a word-by-word translation (Prathipadartham) and also a gist (Thathparyam) of each verse. As senior Telugu professor T.S. Giriprakash Rao translated the Telugu verses into Tamil, she picked them up for translation into Malayalam.
An academician, performer cum researcher, Ms. Varma spoke to The Hindu on the sidelines of a seminar on “Group kritis of different vaggeyakaras,”organised by Sri Padmavathi Mahila Viswa Vidyalayam’s (SPMVV) Department of Music and Fine Arts, where she was the key-note speaker.
The translation work, which she calls her “pet project”, lasted for two years. “The copies are now available at the Maharaja’s College for Women and Kerala University, both in Thiruvananthapuram, and the Chittur College in Palakkad. I will soon present some [copies] to the Maharaja’s College in Ernakulam,” Ms. Varma said.
Ms. Varma was felicitated by SPMVV Rector V. Uma, Dean (Social sciences) D.B. Krishnakumari, seminar coordinator K. Saraswathi Vasudev and academic Dwaram Lakshmi on the occasion.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> States> Andhra Pradesh / by A.D. Rangarajan / Tirupati – March 21st, 2018
As rice biodiversity continues to shrink in the state, the result of the first grassroot-level survey conducted in Wayanad comes as a silver lining.
The survey, covering 23 panchayats and three municipalities in the district, was conducted to ascertain the traditional rice varieties preserved by farmers. It has found that farmers, including tribal cultivators, have managed to cultivate and preserve 62 traditional rice varieties, including rare and endangered varieties.
The survey was conducted from February 20- 26 by the state agriculture department and Kerala Agriculture University (KAU) with participation of 43 students from the College of Agriculture, Padannakkad.
The survey has also been able to collect some important facts about the native rice varieties like duration of crop, unique features, geographic location, yield, nutritional value, size and colour of the varieties and seed, and climate-change and pest resistance qualities of the varieties. The information along with the contact details of the farmers have also been compiled into a directory.
P Rajendran, associate director of research at the regional agriculture research station (RARS) of KAU at Ambalavayal said that detailed information about the 62 rice varieties were collected by meeting the farmers directly.
“The fact that the farmers of the district have managed to preserve such a significant number of indigenous rice landraces despite facing several odds is commendable. The value of silent food biodiversity conservation undertaken by them is invaluable and they should be honoured for their service apart from providing financial and technical incentives,” he added.
Among the indigenous Wayanadan varieties, many of which are rare and confined to small pockets in the district, are ayiram kana, edavaka, onamottan, karimbalan, kumkumashali, kurumbali, peruvazha, vethandam, karutha njavara etc,.
Many traditional rice varieties of Wayanad are highly resilient against climatechange and are stress-tolerant apart from having aromatic and medicinal properties.
The district used to have highly-diverse rice varieties numbering around 105.
Deputy director of agriculture, Rani S K said that a detailed genetic-level study on the rice varieties of Wayanad should be conducted for a varietal evaluation.
The government has already announced a special agriculture zone for floriculture and speciality rice in Wayanad and various schemes are under implementation for helping farmers preserve the native rice varieties.
source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / News> City News> Kozhikode News / by K.R. Rajeev / TNN / March 19th, 2018
The first Indian woman botanist, E K Janaki Ammal, ought to be more widely known for her huge contributions to science. But she remains unknown within the country and outside academic circles and even our textbooks have failed to teach our children about her glorious scientific history
: Just a fortnight before the International Women’s Day, the John Innes Centre in Norfolk, UK, announced a new scholarship for post-graduate students from developing countries in honour of an Indian woman botanist. Under the scheme, 88 applicants who wish to study plant and microbial sciences can apply in commemoration of the distinguished work and contributions of Dr.E.K.Janaki Ammal who was an international alumni of the leading research and training centre between 1940 and 1945.
A heart warming gesture from an institution abroad, but may be India should have done something similar for the country’s first home grown woman scientist, who went overseas and returned accomplished breaking every caste and gender barrier through her work.
Just take a moment to think where we would be without the inventions of this brilliant mind.
Janaki Ammal in younger days | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
After laborious crossbreedings in the laboratory of Sugarcane Breeding Institute in Coimbatore in the 1930s, she created the indigenous variety of sweetened sugarcane that we consume today. Till then India was producing sugarcane in abundance and yet importing as they were not as sweet as the ones grown in the Far East.
During the World War II bombings in the 1940s, she continued her phenomenal research into chromosomes of thousands of species of flowering plants at the John Innes Horticultural Institute, Norfolk, where she worked with some of the best names in cytology, genetics and botany . While working on the gorgeous Magnolia, she co-authored The Chromosome Atlas of Cultivated Plants with renowned biologist CD Darlington.
The magnolia saplings she planted on the Battleston Hill in Wisley continue to bloom every Spring and one of the pure white blooms is named after her, the Magnolia kobus Janaki Ammal and apparently only few nurseries in Europe have the variety today.
At a time when most Indian women did not even attend school, she received scholarship and obtained her MS from University of Michigan in 1925 and later returned as the first Indian Oriental Barbour Fellow. She remains one of the few Asian women to be conferred honorary doctorate (DSc. honoris causa) by her alma mater in 1931. There she discovered a new variety of brinjal that exhibited triploidy instead of the normal diploid, where there are two sets of chromosomes in the cells.
The flower Magnolia Kobus Janaki Ammal | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
At the insistence of Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, she returned to India in the 1950s and restructured the Botanical Society of India travelling to several remote areas of the country in search of the plant lore of the indigenous people and scouting for medicinal plants in her home State, Kerala.
A fascinating figure of the early 20th Century she was. E.K.Janaki Ammal lived a life which perhaps very few women of her time could dream of. The distinguished geneticist, cytologist, global plant geographer studied about ecology and biodiversity too and did not fear to take on the Government as an ardent environmental activist. She played an important role in the protests against the building of a hydro-power dam in Kerala’s Silent Valley in the 1970s. She made a mark with her paper on “Man’s Role in Changing the Face of the Earth” at an international symposium in Princeton in 1955 and two decades later, she was awarded the Padmashri in 1977.
With a profile like hers, Janaki Ammal never got into spotlight. If anything she fought her status as a single woman from a caste considered backward and problems with male mentorship in her field. But she proved through her work that Science knows no caste, gender or social boundaries.
Yet for her extraordinary journey from small town Thalassery to the finest institutions across the world, there is no archive related to her in India. Her papers are available only in hard copy at the Bodleian Library in Oxford, according to Vinita Damodaran, who teaches South Asian History at University of Sussex and has also published a well researched paper on “Gender, race and science in twentieth century India: E.K.Janaki Ammal and the history of science.”
Luckily, the Nikari series of talks held under the banner of ‘Manarkeni’, a Tamil research journal, brings to light the works of lesser known women in different fields. In the previous years, the focus was on women in literature and history. This year it chose science and brought the story of Janaki Ammal to the fore.
The talk delivered by S Krishnaswamy, former professor at the School of Biotechnology, MaduraiKamaraj University, highlighted various stages of Janaki’s career both in India and overseas. “Her career shows that scientists must speak their mind with social consciousness even if it means going against the policies of the government. In today’s context, it becomes necessary to bring achievers like her to the forefront,” he asserts.
Janaki Ammal must have conquered her fears and broke the glass ceiling for a rewarding career in science. “She wanted to be known only through her work. Let her work be known to all successive generations, who have much better opportunities” says Krishnaswamy.
An inspiring role model, Janaki Ammal passed away in 1984 at the age of 87 at Maduravoyal near Chennai, while working in the field laboratory of the Centre for Advanced Study in Botany, Univerity of Madras. She perhaps did not receive the acclaim she deserved but devoted herself to research, opening up a universe of possibilities. Let our children not be bereft of that knowledge. It is worth knowing and remembering leaders in science like Janaki Ammal.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> Society / by Soma Basu / Madurai – March 09th, 2018
Chef Harikumar Nair | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
Meet the pastry chef behind the success of Hearts Together as One, which entered the Asia Book of Records
This one’s more than the sum of its parts. The attempt by UDS Group of Hotels to enter the Asia Book of Records with a display of more than 150 varieties of ‘heart-shaped desserts’ at Uday Suites, Shanghumugham, on Valentine’s Day easily took the cake.
From Sugar Hearts to Tinted Angel Cake to Valentine’s Day Chocolate Bark to Grilled Choco Raspberry Yummy Quesadilla to the ubiquitous Black Current Souffle to the very Indian Kaju Katli, there was a breathtaking range of sweetmeats – cakes, pastries, muffins, sweets, mousses, soufflés – for one to behold. As arrangements for the record-making display went on, MetroPlus caught up with Harikumar Nair, corporate pastry chef with the UDS Group of Hotels, who has had his hands full in the past few weeks.
A heart-shaped gateau | Photo Credit: Harikumar J.S.
“What’s happening here [Hearts Together as One] is the result of painstaking preparations that had been afoot for about a month. It’s the joint effort of a team of about 15 staff members, all well-trained in pastry-making and baking, who deserve kudos for making the dream come true,” said Harikumar. The display was all arranged in alphabetical order for easy cataloguing for the Asia Book of Records adjudicators.
Harikumar said he was not daunted when the CEO Raja Gopala Iyer pitched the idea. “It was all about teamwork. I was just leading the team, which has been very efficient,” said the 52-year-old, who has previously worked with hotel chains in Abu Dhabi and Oman.
Once the project was green-signalled, the process commenced with purchasing of ingredients for the garnishing and fillings. “These were made first as they needed to be stored or kept frozen. The different varieties of creams were prepared next, followed by bases and fruit mixes. All these items were then mixed with the respective flavours before the finishing touches such as piping and icing were done,” said Harikumar. Some of the flavours predominantly used were vanilla, chocolate, strawberry, pista, kiwi and mango. After baking and conditioning, the mousses were kept frozen, while most of the other items were stored at room temperature.
For such a massive project, it’s not just the labour that counts but the ingredients too. “Over all, approximately, 100 kg of maida, 150 kg of sugar and about 30 kg of butter was used. We also imported some berries for fillings, such as blueberry, strawberry and raspberry,” said Harikumar.
The display included savouries from multiple cuisines such as Indian, Arabic and French. Heart-shaped casts of various sizes were used during preparation. Around 20 items were sugar-free. Individual pastries weighed about 150 grams and several of the same variety were made. Apart from the inventoried items prepared exclusively for the record, the display showcased around 10 gateaux of one-kg each, all heart-shaped and some with multiple layers, for decoration. The Three-layer Chocolate Cake and Red Velvet Brownie were probably the toughest of the lot owing to their longer preparation methods, said Harikumar. Buoyed by the success of the venture, the hotel group plans to submit the accomplishment to the Guinness World Records too.
So, since there was no sale as the one-of-a-kind endeavour was only for display, what did they do with all the pastries? “Most of it were eventually given away as compliments to the visitors and the rest was distributed among families of senior members of the hotel group. Some were served as part of dinners hosted by us,” said a spokesperson of the group.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> Life & Style> Food / by Harikumar J.S. / Thiruvananthapuram – February 15th, 2018
The sarcophagus discovered from a rock-cut cave at Viyur village of Kollam.
A rich culture existed in the region
A rare sarcophagus (stone coffin), said to be 2,000-year old from the Iron Age–Megalithic era, was discovered from a rock-cut cave at Viyur village of Kollam, near Koyilandy, in Kozhikode district on Monday.
The coffin containing bone fragments was found during an excavation. “So far, such a rare finding has been discovered only from two sites in Kerala . Both these sarcophagi were recovered from Megalithic sites at Chevayur and Atholi, also in Kozhikode district,” K. Krishnaraj of the Archaeology Department, who is supervising the excavation, said.
The bone fragments could be of either a man or a woman. They will be sent for carbon dating using accelerator mass spectrometry at the Beta Analytical Laboratory in California, he said. Excavation at the site commenced after a hemispherical rock-cut chamber was discovered in a compound while flattening land using an earthmover. The cave, with an inside pillar, measuring 1.9 metres in diameter, has a height of 90 centimetres.
The entrance of the cave was on the eastern side. “The square-shaped door has equal length of 50 centimetres on all sides. Different types of pottery, mostly four-legged jars and iron implements, were found in the cave, ” he said.
Sarcophagi was found in many archaeological sites in South India earlier. Some are adorned with a sculpture or inscription. But two types are usually found with bovine features or with legs.
“As of now, we have obtained preliminary details about the excavations. However, it can be confirmed that a rich Megalithic culture existed in the region following the discoveries of pre-Iron age civilisation earlier. The excavation will continue for another week,” Mr. Krishnaraj said.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Kozhikode / by Biju Govind / Kozhikode – January 16th, 2018
