“I still remember the day when I heard about the murder of Gandhiji in the radio. My mother broke down hearing that,” said poet and social activist Sugathakumari”, while narrating her childhood memories when radio made its entry to the state. “For today’s youth addicted to television, all these stories will sound like a fairytale,” she said.
Sugathakumari was releasing the book ‘Aakaashathile Nakshathrangal, Memories at Akashavani’ written by S Saraswathi Amma, by handing over the first copy to Kudumbashree Mission director K B Valsala Kumari at a function held at Press Club on Monday.
Saraswathi Amma, who retired as assistant station director of All India Radio, Thiruvananthapuram, is well known for the women centric programme, ‘Mahilalayam’, she had produced for several years. She is known as ‘chechi’ among listeners and her advices were hugely popular among homemakers.
It is a blend of history, memories, observation and 25 years of service at AIR which she has narrated in simple language in her book. The book also describes the artists who worked with her at Akashavani. “The book is my gratitude to my AIR family,” said Saraswathi Amma.
Mentioning legends such as G Sankara Kurup, T N Gopinathan Nair, Nagavally R S Kurup and Jagathy N K Achary, who had once ruled the Akashavani Thiruvananthapuram station, Sugathakumari said, “It was through them we learned the language and its pronunciation properly. No doubt, it was the golden era of radio”.
The book contains interesting anecdotes about the stalwarts and like her programmes Saraswathy Amma has presented them in a manner that is appealing to the masses.
Kerala Sahithya Academy president Perumbadavam Sreedharan and others spoke.
source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Thiruvananthapuram / TNN / March 03rd, 2015
Artist Namboodiri will script a documentary on auteur-cinematographer Shaji N. Karun.
Veteran artist Namboodiri will script a short documentary film on auteur-cinematographer Shaji N. Karun. Their close association lasting several decades is what has inspired the master artist, known for his fluid sketches, to swap the brush for the pen this time around.
Artist Namboodiri will script a documentary on auteur-cinematographer Shaji N. Karun (above).
“It’s no doubt an honour for me that a visual artist of Namboodiri’s stature has decided to script the film. I have always believed that a filmmaker’s biography comes through his filmography. A creative artist is a bundle of nerves, so a synthetic approach to his works would not work. But when nonagenarian artist Namboodiri visualises it using his tremendous sense of imagery, architecture and visual sensibility, it gets a whole new dimension. It makes me proud that he’s writing the script of this bio,” says Shaji N. Karun.
“Nearly 70 per cent of the script is ready and the shoot is beginning very soon,” says Binuraj Kalapeetom, director of the documentary titled ‘Frames of a Light Bender’.
Binuraj, who has previously taken critically-acclaimed documentaries on literary critic M.K. Sanoo, jurist V.R. Krishna Iyer and artist Namboodiri (whose sequel is being canned at the moment), says the 45-minute long documentary will focus on Shaji the cinematographer.
“While we all see him as a filmmaker making artistic cinema, he’s primarily a cinematographer who handled the camera for the aesthetic films of G. Aravindan and several market-oriented films. In fact, he worked behind the camera for nearly 40 flicks,” says Mr. Binuraj. Which is why the documentary is being planned as a motion picture without any static shot. “Given that Shaji sir is known for using available natural light for shooting, we will be doing the same for the documentary, too,” he says. The film will have no interviews. The film is being made just when Shaji is busy carrying out final editing of his documentary on artist Namboodiri.
Art direction for the documentary is by Namboodiri’s son Devan. Produced by L. Santhosh under the banner of Universal Entertainers, switch-on for the film will be done by Namboodiri himself at BTH, near Rajendra Maidan on March 6 at 6 p.m.
Critic Sanoo master will preside and artist T. Kaladharan will light the lamp.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Kochi / by Special Correspondent / Kochi – March 02nd, 2015
It is 9 pm. Outside their house at Panathady in Kasaragod district in Kerala, Aleyamma and her husband Siby are hurriedly placing beehives inside a van. Later, they climb in and the van sets out towards the Coorg district in Karnataka, which is only 30 km away. Once there, they quickly place the hives in three-foot-high stands, below trees, at a distance of three metres. “We have to do this before the sun comes up,” says Aleyamma. “Because at sunbreak, the bees would want to come out in search of nectar and pollen. And if we keep the hives shut they will die of asphyxiation.”
Aleyamma is a breeder who practices migratory beekeeping. Once the honey is harvested at all the hives placed near her house from January to March, she sets off to Coorg and does bee farming there. “Somehow, the quality of the honey is far better there,” she says.
But there is a reason for that. In Kerala, the major source of nectar is from the leaves of the rubber tree. “This is called unifloral honey,” says Dr Stephen Devanesan, principal scientist, All India Coordinated Research Project on Honeybees and Pollinators, Kerala Agricultural University. “But in Coorg, the hives are placed in forests where there is diverse flora. So, the quality of this multi-floral honey is much better.”
However, the collection of honey is not an easy process. First the bees have to be warded off using smoke. Then the honeycombs are removed from the hive. With the help of a honey extractor, the honey is taken out of the cells and stored in containers. All this has to happen in less than an hour, before the bees start stinging the person.
“In the beginning, the stings used to hurt a lot and there would be swelling as well,” says Aleyamma. “But now, though there is pain, there is no swelling. This is my bread and butter, so I have learnt to tolerate the aches,” she adds.
The biggest problem with honey is that it crystallises and ferments. To avoid this, Aleyamma uses the double-boiling method. In this technique, she pours water into a large container. Then she places a smaller bowl, which contains honey, inside it, resting on three bricks. The bottom container is heated, so that the temperature inside the smaller bowl reaches 45 degrees centigrade. Then the honey is taken out, and put through a sieve, to get rid of wax particles, dust and pollen. Following this, it is reheated to 65 degrees centigrade for about 10 minutes. “After the honey cools, it is filtered,” says Aleyamma. “Once this is done, the honey will last for years, without going bad.”
Interestingly, Aleyamma is the only woman beekeeper in Kerala. Last year, she produced 40 tonne of honey, thanks to the 5,000 colonies of Indian and Italian bees that she has.
And thanks to this high productivity, Aleyamma was recently conferred the Stephen Memorial Award for the best beekeeper of 2014 by state Agriculture Minister KP Mohanan. This award has been instituted by the Federation of Indigenous Apiculturists.
To get a high productivity, Aleyamma depends a lot on the Tamil workers, who are experts at bee collection. “They are sincere, hard-working and not afraid of being stung,” she says.
Aleyamma also credits her success to a workshop which she attended. This was conducted by Devanesan, along with Dr K Prathapan, director of the State Horticulture Mission. Devanesan says: “I have imparted training to Aleyamma and other breeders on how to maintain the health of the bees, manage colonies, and do high-tech apiculture. Today, they are all doing well.”
Like most good things in life, Aleyamma came to bee breeding by accident. When she got married and went to stay at her in-laws’ home in Thodupuzha, she saw beehives for the first time in the backyard. In the mid-1990s, she and Siby decided to move to north Kerala to improve their economic prospects. They tried pepper farming and rubber cultivation.
“It did not do well,” she says. “That was when I thought about bee farming. And now, here I am, the only woman in Kerala doing this work.”
source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Magazine / by Shevlin Sebastian / February 28th, 2015
