Malayalam University VC K Jayakumar (left) releasing the book ‘The Nectar of the Gods’ by Gopikrishnan Kottoor (centre) by handing it over to RBI regional director Nirmal Chand on Wednesday | Manu R Mavelil
Thiruvananthapuram :
If your Malayalam is not good, it only means that your linguistic skills have not been used to their full potential, and do not in any way contribute to a better fluency in English, K Jayakumar, Vice-Chancellor of Malayalam University, has said. He was speaking at the release of Gopikrishnan Kottoor’s book ‘Nectar of the Gods – King Marthanda Varma and Devasahayam’ at the Press Club here on Wednesday.
Applauding the chaste English employed by the author, the poet and former Chief Secretary said that writers like Gopikrishnan enrich Indian writing in English. He underscored the need to ensure proficiency both in English and Malayalam among our students. “For a writer, using English that is coloured by the influence of one’s mother tongue is like trying to escape the gravitational pull of the earth. Gopikrishnan has achieved this laudable feat,” he said.
‘Nectar of the Gods’ is Gopikrishnan’s twelfth book and is a play based on the little-known history of the execution of the Nair noble Devasahayam for converting to Christianity under the influence of the the Dutch naval commander Eustachius De Lannoy. Kottoor, a senior Reserve Bank officer, is the author of the book of poems ‘Vrindavan -The Coloured Yolk of Love’ and several other poetry collections and novels. He also founded and edited the poetry quarterly ‘Poetry Chain’ and currently edits the online poetry magazine undergroundflowers.com.
RBI regional director Nirmal Chand received the first copy of the book. S Adikesavan, Chief General Manager, SBT, shared his memories about growing up in Puliyoor Kurichi, where the play is set and which houses historically significant structures like the Udayagiri Fort and tomb of De Lannoy who was in the service of Marthanda Varma after being defeated by the king in the Battle of Colachel. C K Thomas, Deputy Director of Doordarshan Kendra, Thrissur, and Devi Prasad, General Manager, SBT, also spoke. The visual adaptation of two scenes from the play, shot by the author himself, was screened after the release.
source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Cities> Thiruvananthapuram / by Express News Service / October 22nd, 2015
The mortal remains of Bishop emeritus M.C. Mani, former head of the Church of South India, will be laid to rest at a specially constructed crypt at the CSI Cathedral, Chalukunnu, on Thursday noon.
Bishop Mani had died of age-related illness at a private hospital, near here, on Tuesday. His body was taken to his residence in the town on Wednesday where hundreds of people paid their last respects to the departed soul.
The funeral services will commence at 8.30 a.m. This will be followed by the Nagarikaanickalceremony. The last leg of the funeral service will commence by 11 a.m.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> National> Kerala / by Special Correspondent / Kottayam – October 22nd, 2015
Geetha Varma [CPI(M)], Urmila Varma (Congress), and Radhika Varma (BJP) will fight it out in a ward in the Tripunithura municipal election. Photo: Thulasi Kakkat / The Hindu
Geetha Varma, Radhika Varma and Urmila Varma — all relatives — are battling it out against each other.
They might belong to the same family that once ruled this part of the State. But in this local bodies’ election, relatives are divided on political lines and they are battling it out against each other.
In ward number 38 of the Tripunithura municipality, Geetha Varma, Radhika Varma, and Urmila Varma, three members of the royal family of Kochi, have started running their campaign ‘‘from different floors of the same house.’’ And with the family members pitted against one another, the fight has turned exciting.
For the masses
Married to Ramesh Varma of Edoop Palace, Geetha Varma, a CPI(M) candidate, hopes to serve society at the grassroots. ‘‘The decision to contest was rather easier as I enjoy the support of both the family and the party to the maximum,’’ said Ms. Geetha, a known Kathakali artiste.
Radhika Varma, who recently retired as the head of the junior wing of Chinmaya Vidyalaya School here, said being in the BJP would help her continue with her social work. The daughter of the late Captain Kerala Varma, she looks forward to learn from the straight-jacket demeanour her father had exhibited all his life. “He led a service-oriented life and never gave room to the dirty politics all through,’’ she said.
The youngest candidate among the three, Urmila Varma, is the grand-daughter of Mangu Thampuran, the present Valiyamma Thampuran of the family. Having started her professional career as an HR trainer in Chennai, she has been involved in social work for a long time through an NGO. With her father Ravi Varma being an active Congress worker, Urmila’s name came up as a natural choice for the party.
‘‘Camaraderie in the family remains unaffected with political affiliations,’’ says Ms. Urmila.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> National> Kerala / by Shyama Rajagopal / Kochi – October 19th, 2015
Attinad Software, a leader in SMACT (Social, Mobile, Analytics, Cloud and IoT) space announced that it has been named as ‘Vendor to Watch’ in the upcoming product space of Rapid Mobile Application Development. Attinad Software’s flagship product called Cantiz Mobility platform has been featured in the Gartner report.
Attinad Software CEO, Mohammed Rijas, credits this acknowledgement by worlds renowned IT research firm to its award winning products in the SMACT space. He said, “I dedicate this fabulous recognition to the entire team at Attinad Software and thank them for the hard work and dedication which has got us this recognition.”
Attinad Software has been on a fast track growth path over the years aiming at being the preferred SMACT partner for enterprises across the globe. Attinad Software has a strong footprint in verticals such as Oil n Gas, Education, Media and Entertainment, Healthcare and Logistics. Attinad, had won numerous international awards including the prestigious Deloitte Technology Fast 50, Red Herring Top 100 Global Award. “Cantiz Mobility platform has created immense value for number of leading enterprises,” said Shafeer Badharudeen, CTO, Attinad Software.
source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Cities> Thiruvananthapuram / by Express Features / October 17th, 2015
Observing lives and reading literature go a long way in making a film in its absolute form, said cinematographer Sunny Joseph at the valedictory ceremony of the three-day long second Padmarajan Documentary Short Film Festival held at VJT Hall here on Wednesday.
“Cinema is an art form most lapped up by youth. There is an overdose of film festivals as well. It spreads the wrong notion that having a mobile phone camera alone is enough to make a film. They should understand that a knowledge on life is essential for making a film and literature takes you to the lives of the lesser known,” he said. At the Kerala State Youth Welfare Board organised festival, he recollected his experiences with “Pappettan” on the sets of the movie ‘Arapatta Kettiya Gramathil’, where he had a 12-day stint with him. Radhalakshmi, wife of director Padmarajan, in her keynote address said those who pursue film-making should have a serious approach towards art. Film critic M F Thomas, cinematographer K G Jayan and film maker Santhivila Dineshan were present.
Winners
‘Soochiyum Noolum’ by Aneesh Kairali bagged first in the short film category. ‘Feet in the Sand’ by Krishnakumar and ‘Achanariyan’ of Saji Palamel came in the second and third positions.
In the documentary section, ‘Strokes of Nature’ by Faisal Muhammed got the first prize. ‘Vithachathu Koyyunnavar’ by Vinod T S and ‘Living the Green Dream’ of Sabil Krishnan emerged second and third. Priyan Prince’s ‘The Newspaper Boy’ received a special jury award. Best short film director is Aneesh Kairali and Faisal Muhammed was chosen as the best documentary film director.
source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Cities> Thiruvananthapuram / by Express News Service / October 15th, 2015
By bringing together movers and shakers from different segments of the business world on a single networking platform, the Kitchen has become a go-to destination for entrepreneurs and businesses alike
It started out with a group of fifty-odd people meeting up at the rooftop recreational area of the Centre A business centre six months ago, with the aim of creating a platform for entrepreneurs, designers, businesses and people with an idea to get together and network.
Despite having plenty of start-ups and a lot of indigenous development, all the participants of the event agreed that Kochi did not have a space for all these people and businesses to come together and network. This gap is what entrepreneur Andrine Mendez sought to bridge when he gathered these people, a mix of different ingredients with flavours of their own, put them all in one place and called the gathering, Kitchen.
“The prevailing trend is that the business events space lacks a middle ground. The big companies meet up at a Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) meet and the startups have their startup weekends. But participating only in events geared towards one segment limits opportunity; so we came up with the formula of having 20 per cent big businesses, 40 per cent professionals, ten per cent from the investor community and the remaining 30 per cent consists of entrepreneurs, established and aspiring,” says Andrine, outlining the blueprint that the platform is based on.
This cross-segment nature of the event, where one is likely to find well-connected corporates as well as the upstart CEOs looking to build the next big thing, is what brings Jofin Joseph, one of the co-founders of Vibe, an app that collects publicly available information about people and businesses in one single profile, to the Kitchen. “I’ve been attending the Kitchen since its third edition, and its appeal is that you get to meet people from across the spectrum. For people like us, who have just started finding our feet, it is an opportunity to meet the established names and learn from them, broaden our horizons.
“But at the same time, we meet people younger than us as well, who we can help on some level too. This is beneficial for the new entrepreneurs, because every startup has to go through a learning phase, and events like this help accelerate that learning phase,” says Jofin.
Having recently completed its sixth edition, the Kitchen, which is usually held on the second week of every month, has seen its share of big names, such as Ernst & Young, Asset Homes, Muthoot Group and V-Guard.
The event is usually divided into casual networking sessions, a panel discussion, individual addresses, and even a time for entrepreneurs to make a pitch to investors. Among the speakers who attended have been names associated with a diverse spread of fields, ranging from finance, IT, app development and even virtual reality.
Brijeesh Mohamed, one of the partners of Waffle Street, believes that Kochi needs such gatherings to amp up the scale on which businesses and investors think. “All business starts from a contact. It is about reaching a point where you meet and interact with the right people,” says Brijeesh, who is among the newer entrants into the fold of the Kitchen. “In larger cities like Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru, such meet-ups happen every other week, and the scale of doing business is on a whole other level. The unfortunate problem we face here in Kerala is a lack of opportunity. If businesses here had the same opportunities that the ones in the other cities do, things would be different,” he adds.
Jofin explains that while youngsters can use the exposure to more experienced people provided by the event to their advantage, it is also an opportunity for established names to reflect on their own paths and give back to the community, a point that Andrine agrees with.
“This is as much an opportunity for big businesses to meet future market disruptors as it is a learning opportunity for the new start-up. One of the most welcome surprises for me in the past six months that we have hosted the event is how many women have participated, given the trend where such meet-ups tend to be male-dominated,” says Andrine.
With a tasty recipe established, Andrine reveals that the Kitchen has also been helping emerging businesses with skill sets they may lack, such as design, branding, marketing and sales. It will soon have Thiruvananthapuram and Kozhikode editions as well.
For more information, visit http://www.atkitchen.org/ or www.facebook.com/makesomethingnew.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> Features> MetroPlus / by Sooraj Rammohan / Kochi – October 15th, 2015
In 1949 August, Radio Moscow aired the name of a tiny village in Kannur suburbs in a news bulletin for writing a new chapter in the history of democracy. The village panchayat there was elected through voting and for the first time in India’s history a communist local government came to power through electoral process.
That is the history of Chirakkal panchayat, the capital of the erstwhile Chirakkal dynasty, and a major hub of the handloom textile industry in Kerala. The polls were held on August 16, about a month after the panchayat was formed in July 1949.
It was then part of the Madras state. The communist party came to power in Chirakkal at a time when it was banned in the country and party leaders were mostly operating from underground fearing arrests. Unlike today, there was no ballot paper and votes were taken by counting the raised hands of the voters. As per the existing law in the Madras state, only those who can read and write and have completed 21 years of age, were eligible for voting.
The government had appointed the local village officer Chengalath Nanu Menon as the polling officer and the election was held at Raja’s Higher Elementary School, where nearly 600 voters gathered, according to the panchayat records. While the Congress had nine candidates, the communists could field only seven, as two candidates refused to contest. Though the Congress objected to the communists contesting the elections claiming there were criminal cases against them, the police or the complainants could not provide any evidence and the polling officer allowed their candidatures.
The communists romped home by winning seven seats while the Congress candidates bagged five. The next day the panchayat council elected communist leaders K P Narayanan as president and T C Madhavan as vice president. Since the panchayat didn’t have a building of its own, it functioned out of a rented building.
Senior CPM leader and former MLA M Prakashan master hails the event as “unparalleled in the history of Indian democracy”. Barring 1988 elections, the panchayat has always retained that tradition. “The communist party came to power for the first time in a panchayat in the country when the party was banned and that was why it was a big news even in the Soviet Union and the Radio Moscow aired it,” he said. “And we keep that tradition alive.”
source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / News Home> City / TNN / October 14th, 2015
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