Daily Archives: September 6, 2015

He sweats blood to keep others happy

Arts,Culture & Entertainment, Inspiration/ Positive News and Features
Jishnu Raj
Jishnu Raj

Kochi   :

When two-year-old Mohammed Altaf from Ooty was admitted to a city hospital for heart surgery on Monday, Jishnu Raj received a call in his mobile.

The request was something, which the 24-year-old, who is the Kochi area coordinator for Blood Donors Kerala, has become accustomed to by now. For, the hunt for blood donors in the city often ends with a call to this soon-to-be M.Tech graduate.

While everyone was enjoying a national strike-enforced holiday on Wednesday, Jishnu was busy arranging 50-odd blood donors, which for the youngster was a less hectic day! “I usually get 100-150 calls a day asking for blood donors,” he said.

He also found time to distribute food packets to the destitute under the Snehasadya campaign of We Help Kerala, a voluntary group engaged in charity and social works, of which he is an active volunteer.

Jishnu was drawn into the world of social work seven years back. When driven by the impulse to be a do-gooder, he mobilised youngsters at his native place Vengoor near Perumbavur by founding an organisation named the Vengoor Youths. It has since been active catering to the needs of the impoverished by pooling together the time and resources of its members.

He is also a link in finding organ donators and conducting awareness campaigns on the need to donate organs. He is also working in close association with Datri, the active blood stem donor registry in India. Thanks to the rapport he has built with doctors over the years, he often manages to hold medical camps, especially in areas lacking adequate health facilities.

Jishnu’s constant presence in the social media means that he has become the pointsman for non-resident Keralites looking out for local help. For instance, if someone in the Middle East needs a document back from home then he is the man to turn to. Driven by his guiding philosophy “youths are not useless but used less,” Jishnu believes that given a cause to work towards, youngsters who tread down the wrong path out of sheer idleness can be reformed.

M.P. Praveen

While everyone was enjoying a national strike-enforced holiday on Wednesday, Jishnu was busy arranging

50-odd blood donors.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> National> Kerala / by M.P Praveen / September 06th, 2015

Go, Get Your Stamp of Honour

Arts,Culture & Entertainment

Kottayam  :

Serving as a good gifting option for many, the ‘My Stamp’ facility of the Department of Posts (DoP) is now available in the district. Those who wish to personalise the postal stamp by adding their photograph, can avail of this facility now.

M Venkiteswaralu, postmaster general, Kochi Central Region, inaugurated the facility at a function held at the Head Post Office here on Friday. Assistant collector Divya Iyer was the chief guest.

According to postal authorities, My Stamp is the brand name for personalised sheets of Commemorative postage stamps of India Post. The personalisation can be achieved by printing a thumbnail photograph of the customer’s image, logos of institutions, images of art work, heritage buildings, famous tourist places, historical cities and wildlife.

A customer can get his image personalised through ‘My Stamp,’ for which an application indicating the choice of stamps should be submitted at the post office. The filled out order form along with the soft or hard copy of the photograph or selected image and ID proof will be accepted at the counter.

The cost is ` 300 for a sheet of 12 stamps. Applications from corporate customers will also be considered.

The facility is available at head post offices in Changanassery, Kanjirappally, Palai and other sub-offices in the district.

Customers can collect their sheetlets from the post office, where the order was placed. For those who desire delivery by post, the same will be dispatched by Speed Post at their own cost.

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> States> Kerala / by Express News Service / September 05th, 2015

Meet Lydia Sebastian, 12-Year-Old Keralite who is Smarter than Albert Einstein and Stephen Hawking

Amazing Feats, Education, Inspiration/ Positive News and Features, Nri's / Pio's, Records, All, Science & Technology, World Opinion
Meet Lydia Sebastian, 12-Year-Old Keralite Smarter than Albert Einstein and Stephen Hawkingaboutmodafinil.com/ Allan Ajifo/ Flickr
Meet Lydia Sebastian, 12-Year-Old Keralite Smarter than Albert Einstein and Stephen Hawkingaboutmodafinil.com/ Allan Ajifo/ Flickr

Lydia Sebastian, 12, has achieved the maximum score in the Mensa Intelligence Quotient (IQ) test, beating the IQ scores of physicists Albert Einstein and Professor Stephen Hawking.

In the mental ability test, the 12-year-old girl has scored the maximum, which is 162. With this, she has created a record as the IQ score of Einstein and Hawking were 160.

Born to 43-year-old Arun, a radiologist at Colchester General Hospital, and mother Erika Kottiath, who is an associate director at Barclays Bank, Lydia started reading books when she was just a few years old.

“She also had an early interest in reading. When she was a few years old she was reading books that were for children several years older than her. And maths is her favourite subject. She won a prize for that when she was at primary school,” her father told  The Daily Mail .

Hailing from the south Indian state of Kerala and settled in Langham, Essex in the United Kingdom, Lydia’s parents are astonished with the achievement of their daughter after the result was published on Friday, 28 August.

Lydia is a student at Colchester County High School in Essex.

source: http://www.ibtimes.co.in / International Business Times / Home> News> Science / by Anu James / September 03rd, 2015

Kerala Kaumudi photo editor passes away

Arts,Culture & Entertainment

RamKERALA06sept2015

S.S. Ram, photo editor of Kerala Kaumudi , passed away here on Thursday. He was 47. He was under treatment for the past one week following cerebral haemorrhage.

Mr. Ram joined as a photographer in Kerala Kaumudi in 1996. He has covered various national and international events, including the Commonwealth Games of 2010, party congresses and film festivals. He has won several awards, including the Raveendran Nair memorial award for Best News Photographer presented by the All Kerala Photographers’ Association in 2014.

The body was kept for public viewing at the Thiruvananthapuram Press Club and at theKerala Kaumudi office and was later taken to his house at Sreekanteswaram. The cremation will be held at the Brahmana samudaya crematorium at Karamana at 10 a.m.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Thiruvananthapuram / by Staff Reporter / Thiruvananthapuram – September 04th, 2015

Hundreds pay homage to Raman Chakyar

Arts,Culture & Entertainment
The police pay homage to eminent koothu artiste Kidangur Raman Chakyar in Thrissur on Thursday.
The police pay homage to eminent koothu artiste Kidangur Raman Chakyar in Thrissur on Thursday.

Hundreds of people from various walks of life paid homage to eminent koothu artiste Kidangur Raman Chakyar.

Raman Chakyar died at his residence at Vallachira on Wednesday. He was 88.

Career spanning

52 years

Raman Chakyar, who started his career at 14, performed ‘Mantrankam’ koothu for 52 years at Annamanada Mahadeva Temple.

He had performed koothu in 40-odd temples. He was recipient of State government’s Nrutha Natya Puraskaram, Kerala Kalamandalam Award, Kendra Sangeetha Nataka Akademi Award and Tripunithura Kulasekhara Puraskaram. His body was cremated with State honours.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> National> Kerala / by Staff Reporter / Thrissur – September 04th, 2015