Daily Archives: June 19, 2015

A Bibliophile Who Made Heads Turn, Page by Page

Arts,Culture & Entertainment, Inspiration/ Positive News and Features, Records, All
Kuttichetan with his collection of books, mainly novels, at his home in Valya Thovala in Idukki
Kuttichetan with his collection of books, mainly novels, at his home in Valya Thovala in Idukki

Idukki :

For octogenarian Kuttichetan, as he is known in his village Valiya Thovala near Kattappana here, books have always been his companions. Till day, he has not let anything come between them, even the truth that he is a school dropout.  He does not need a pair of spectacles even at this age to read them. What makes Kuttichetan different from other book lovers is that he has been sharing his vast collection of books at his home with his villagers to enrich their cultural life.

Kuttichetan, aka Mathew C Mutholy, was dismissed from school when he was in Class IV for participating in a strike against C P Ramaswamy Iyer.

However, that never stopped him from having a tryst with letters. He started writing for children’s literary magazines, the likes of ‘Kuttikalude Deepika’, after dropping out from school. His love for books made him a good friend of yesteryear writers, editors and publishers such as Muttathu Varkey, Veloor Krishnankutty, K M Mathew and DC Kizhakkemuri.

Kuttichetan has a publication of his own, ‘Hill Desh,’ the Malayalam fortnightly which he began to publish from Kottayam in 1972. It is still being brought out at his village and has a circulation of 5,000 copies.

Kuttichetan, who worked as a Merchant Navy seaman for years, has seen almost all the countries except China which was not in good terms with India at that time. He also follows many foreign languages viz Italian, Latin, Japanese and German.

“Through books, I got acquainted with many places where I could not go. I want others also to explore unknown things, places, even feelings with the help of books. I find happiness in sharing my books, the only asset of my life which I can share with all,” says Kuttichettan who has the wholehearted support of his 75-year-old wife Mary and eight children.

Kuttichetan is now trying to set up a library in his own panchayat. With his initiative, four libraries were set up at Elikulam, Meloram, Iratayar and Bathel in 1947, 1954, 1963 and 1969 respectively.

However, he feels youngsters refrain from reading books. “May be because they have other means to gain knowledge,” says Kuttichetan who does not watch TV. The man, who finds happiness in sharing his collection with others, is a tad sad as some never returned his precious books.

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> States> Kerala / by Sruthi Paruthikad / June 19th, 2015

A fab lab where anything can be made

Science & Technology, World Opinion
The fab lab at the Startup Village in Kochi. — PHOTO: BY SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT / The Hindu
The fab lab at the Startup Village in Kochi. — PHOTO: BY SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT / The Hindu

MIT’s digital fabrication laboratory makes its way to Kochi

Imagine this. What if there was a device that lets you record your emotional outbursts like screams and later release them in the same degree?

Well, a student from the University in Sunderland, despite her very little coding and engineering experience came up with an innovative portable device called scream body, which effectively allows one to record the scream and release it later.

The innovation was made possible by the digital fabrication laboratory, a concept developed at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). The amazing world of fab lab, as it is globally known and, which has by now popularised the slogan ‘anyone can make anything’, has come to the city. Startup Village, the telecom incubator, has set up a fab lab spread over 2,600 sq.ft in its campus at Kalamassery through the Kerala Startup Mission (formerly T-TBI).

MIT professor Neil Gershenfeld, who pioneered the concept of fab lab, was in the city on Tuesday. A second such facility in the State has been proposed at Technopark in Thiruvananthapuram.

“To put it very simply, fab lab is a mini factory of sorts where anyone can work on an idea and build a prototype, which would then help to figure out potential market for the product,” said Pranav Kumar Suresh, CEO, Startup Village. Experts from MIT will train a group of 10-12 selected hands for a week at Startup Village on the functioning of the fab lab.

The fab lab has already been equipped with a slew of equipment including shopbot (a do-all tool for precision cutting, carving, drilling or machining), laser cutter, milling machines, 3D printers moulding machines, mini furnaces, systems, desktops and relevant software.

Mr. Suresh said that though they propose to make the facility accessible to school students in the near future, the present focus is on college students and young startups. Hardware startups and even staff from smaller companies can also make use of the fab lab. “It’s not a complicated set up and involves a brief learning curve where after those interested can undergo online fab academy courses,” said Mr. Suresh. Since only 10 teams can work in the fab lab at a time, the Startup Village is planning to draw up a calendar to make the facility accessible to all.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Kochi / by M.P. Praveen / Kochi – June 18th, 2015