The 20th Kamukara Foundation award was presented to playback singer P. Madhuri at a function at the University Senate Hall here on Sunday.
Actor Madhu presented the award in memory of yesteryear playback singer Kamukara Purushothaman. The award consists of a sculpture and citation.
Madhu said that Kamukara was a singer who had sung far less number of songs compared to other singers, but each one of them had a unique quality.
“Much before I had a chance to meet him, I had fallen in love with one of his songs Aathmavidhyalayame from Harishchandra .
I used to listen to them endlessly, imagining the visuals.
Later, I had the luck of acting out one of his songs, Ekandhathayude apaara theeram , which remains one of my favourites. It is such a powerful song and I had so much trouble lip-syncing that song. I feel blessed to have got a chance to act out his songs,” he said.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Thiruvananthapuram / by Staff Reporter / Thiruvananthapuram – May 23rd, 2016
The growing popularity of Kalaripayattu has triggered hopes that the sport form could find a berth in the Olympics sooner than later.
The martial art form, widely practised in Kerala, has quietly grown into a popular sports form among enthusiasts, said V.A. Shiad, national secretary of the Indian Kalaripayattu Federation.
He said that around 1,000 participants from 24 States had arrived in Kochi for the fourth national championship beginning at the Rajiv Gandhi Indoor Stadium in the city. The competitions are scheduled to start at 10 a.m. on Monday.
The national championships got under way in 2013 as a small affair but have grown in popularity. Ranjan Mullaratt, who is the Kalari guru for the 19-member team from Karnataka, said that Kalaripayattu was getting popular in centres like Bangalore. He said that young people were keen to take up the martial art form and it was gaining ground fast.
The popularity of the sports form has spread internationally too. There are registered Kalaripyattu federations in 32 countries now. Once the number of countries with registered federations goes up to 40, the Kalaripayattu can vie for space in the Olympics competitions.
The national championships are conducted under age categories and there are separate sections of competitions such as Meypayattu, Chuvadu, Urumi, Vaalpayattu, freehand fight and Vadipayattu.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> National> Kerala / by Special Correspondent / May 23rd, 2016
Tourist attraction:Abseilers giving a fresh coat of paint to the Tangasseri Lighthouse in Kollam city.
The 114-year-old, 135-foot-tall structure is getting a fresh coat of paint
The 114-year-old iconic Tangasseri point lighthouse will soon sport a fresh look.
Painters have begun work to provide a fresh coat to the spiral red and white day mark stripes of the landmark lighthouse. Contractors say that if the weather is fine, the work could be finished in two days.
Painting the 135-foot-tall lighthouse, the biggest on the Kerala coast, is not an easy job.
It has to be done from top to bottom rather than bottom to top and it is impossible to put scaffolding around. So the work is being done by two abseilers.
Since the dimensions of the stripes have to be strictly maintained, the work will be a slow process.
The inside of the lighthouse is also being painted.
The work on directions from the Directorate of Lighthouses and Lightships is part of a process to give a facelift to the Tangasseri lighthouse complex.
The lighthouse was last painted in 1910, said Salim Jose, the head light keeper.
The grand old lady of Tangasseri had her origin as a raised column with an oil lamp built by the British East India Company at the same site during the mid-19th century.
The purpose was to guide their merchant vessels that came from the Malabar Coast to Anjengo (now Anchuthengu) and went further down to enter the Bay of Bengal via Ceylon.
The present structure, also erected by the British, was commissioned on March 1, 1902.
Mariners now identified the Tangasseri light house with its distinctive character of three flashes every 15 seconds, said Mr. Jose.
Visitors are allowed to go up the lighthouse everyday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
They have to climb a spiral staircase comprising 193 steps to reach the lantern room.
The entry fee is Rs.10 for an adult and Rs.3 for a child. From the gallery on top, one could get a majestic aerial view of Kollam city and beyond.
Painting the lighthouse, the biggest on the Kerala coast, is not an easy job.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> National> Kerala / by Special Correspondent / Kollam – May 23rd, 2016
A 12-year-old Sacramento student who already has three community college degrees and has been accepted to two University of California campuses says he plans on studying biomedical engineering and becoming a doctor and medical researcher by the time he turns 18.
Tanishq Abraham has been accepted to UC Davis and received a regents scholarship to UC Santa Cruz, but he has yet to decide which university he’ll attend, reported Sacramento television station CBS yesterday.
“I think I’ll be 18 when I get my MD,” he said.
Tanishq started community college at age 7 and last year he received associate’s degrees from American River College, a community college in Sacramento, in general science; math and physical science; and foreign language studies.
Professors at the college didn’t initially want him in their classes because of his age. But finally a professor agreed to let him attend if his mother, a doctor of veterinary medicine, also took the class. “There were times when I had to explain general relativity and special relativity to my mom,” he said.
Biology professor Marlene Martinez said he was never afraid to ask lot of questions. “In lecture he would always pop up with ‘so, does that mean …’ or ‘what about this?’ ” Martinez said.
Tanishq, who joined the IQ society Mensa at a tender age of 4 has always picked up knowledge quickly, his father, Bijou Abraham, told NBC News.
“We tested him and discovered that he was pretty smart,” he said. “We were surprised when we started giving him advanced stuff and he was picking it up really fast.”
Tanishq says child geniuses are often seen as odd. “When you think of a genius, you think of a mad scientist kind of thing,” he said.
But he pointed out he’s just an ordinary kid who likes learning and microscopes but also playing video games. “I just think learning is fun,” Tanishq said.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> International / PTI / Sacramento – May 23rd, 2016
