‘Edakoodam’ is a word familiar to most Malayalis, which means ‘a puzzle which is difficult to solve’. However, not many people know about a curious toy similar to the Rubik’s cube. Made up of six wooden blocks, the ‘edakoodam’, once dismantled, can be assembled to its original position only with proper mathematical skills.
Art director and painter Rajasekharan Parameswaran popularly known as Marthandam Rajasekharan is attempting a world record by making a huge edakoodam. The blocks made of wood and metal frame, which is almost ready at Parasala, will be shifted to Raviz, Kollam, where it will be a permanent exhibit.
Currently, the Guinness record for the largest wood block-puzzle is held by a firm Foffa Conrad in Valchava, Switzerland.
The record winning puzzle is a Devil’s Knot, ( a puzzle similar to edakoodam’) has six pieces, each measuring 6m (19 ft 8 inch) x 40cm(1 feet 3 inch) x40cm (1 feet 3 inch). Rajasekharan said that his ‘edakoodam’ will have six pieces each having size 24 feet x 2 feet x 2 feet. “We have informed Guinness authorities about the plan to break the previous record,” he said.
Breaking a world record is nothing new for Rajasekharan who holds Guinness record for the largest easel painting, with his portrait of EMS Namboodiripad in 2008. The easel was 56.5 feet tall and 31 feet wide and held a 25 feet tall and 50 feet wide portrait of EMS.
Rajashekharan is also the recipient of the state award for art direction for Naalu Pennungal directed by Adoor Gopalakrishnan in 2007. The film was his debut work as art director. When asked how he was drawn to ‘edakoodam’, he said that he knew about the toy from his childhood days. “Since I am a mathematics graduate, I know how to reassemble it. The structure is the blow-up version of the small ‘edakoodam’. You can play the game if you know mathematics,” he said.
The 53-year-old artist is from Marthadom in Kanyakumari district.
source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / News> City News> Thiruvananthapuram News / TNN / December 19th, 2017
In its effort to provide assistive technology to people with motor disabilities, International Centre for Free and Open Source Software (ICFOSS), an organization under state IT department, will collaborate with AsTeRICS Academy in Austria.
The European academy will support ICFOSS in developing its capabilities in a range of assistive tools to support individuals with motor disorders for using computers and other electronic equipment.
An Austrian group consisting of two technologists from the University of Applied Sciences Technikum Wien is currently in the city in connection with Swatantra 2017, the two-day triennial free software conference being organized by ICFOSS. The team will lead a workshop from Monday at ICFOSS in Technopark for assembling and production of various products they have developed.
“This will be a milestone in Kerala’s efforts in using assistive technology for the welfare of the masses, especially marginalized sections of the society,” said IT secretary M Shivasankar. “ICFOSS is poised to take a lead in this regard and it has already established a research facility jointly with College of Engineering Trivandrum,” he added.
One of such technologies is FlipMouse that acts as an alternative input device for challenged people who prefer or need other input variants than a standard computer mouse or keyboard. Using a FlipMouse, keyboard and mouse activities can be created via slightest finger or mouth interaction. This enables precise control of computer mouse or keyboard actions. Click activities can be created via sip and puff activities, or by attaching external switches to the device. This can be used to control wheelchairs, play games on computers and other activities.
“These technologies and products will be offered to ICFOSS as a do-it-yourself construction kit,” said ICFOSS director Jayashankar Prasad. “This will help us in the production of the equipment at very low cost,” he added.
source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India . News> City News> Thiruvananthapuram News / TNN / December 18th, 2017
District panchayat president A.G.C. Basheer releasing the logo of the internet radio services to be launched by the district administration in the presence of Collector K. Jeevababu and Superintendent of Police K.G. Simon in Kasaragod on Tuesday. | Photo Credit: K. Vinaya Kumar
The venture is district administration’s effort to disseminate info on government projects
An Internet radio service, to be launched here from December 23, is the State’s first effort by a district administration for dissemination of information on government-initiated programmes and schemes to the public.
The online radio service would be inaugurated at 11 a.m. by Revenue Minister E. Chandrasekharan in Neeleshwaram, Collector K. Jeevanbabu told a press conference here on Tuesday.
The new generation radio service that could be accessed by visiting www.thejaswiniradio.com would help a person get acquainted with various services and schemes offered by the district administration as well as the local bodies and other institutions like schools, hospitals and other government and utility establishments.
“Usually, the public come to learn about any government-initiated schemes through newspapers. The situation needed to be addressed by putting in place a mechanism so that the people are informed about the schemes well in advance,” Mr. Jeevanbabu said.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> States> Kerala / by Staff Reporter / Kasaragod – December 20th, 2017
Asked to point out some of his best works is probably the stupidest question one can pose to Narayana Bhattathiri, a name synonymous with Malayalam calligraphy. Rather than point out some his unforgettable drawings for the titles of novels ‘Randamoozham’ or ‘Neermathalam Pootha Kalam’, he gently prods you to look up his Facebook page ‘Bhattathiri Calligraphy’. Bhattathiri is that rare artist who draws energy from his work and not from society’s acceptance.
Meeting Bhattathiri a day after the announcement of the Jikji international award for the best calligraphy work instituted by the South Korean government in memory of their first printed book ‘Jikji’, he was, as usual, busy with his work at his office on the first floor of his house at Forest office lane, Vazhutacaud.
It was an employee of the Indian embassy in Seoul – Dinesh Moorakkal – who saw his works on Facebook and suggested to Bhattathiri to send some of them over. Last year, the Korean government included Bhattathiri’s three calligraphy works as a permanent exhibit at Cheongju culture centre in North Chungcheong.
This year, Bhattathiri collected and sent 27 works of around 14 calligraphy artists in the country to Seoul. Among those, Bhattathiri’s work on Jikji won the award. He will receive the award in Seoul on December 8.
A native of Pandalam, 59-year-old Bhattathiri started his career in Kala Kaumudi while doing his degree at Fine Arts College in Thiruvananthapuram. He also worked in Samakalika Malayalam. During his tenure in magazines, he drew titles for various novels such as O V Vijayan’s Pravachakante Vazhi, M Mukundan’s Daivathinte Vikrutikal, Malayatoor Ramakrishnan’s Aaram Viral to name a few. He also did titles for all the works of M T Vasudevan Nair when Malayala Manorama made a CD of the writer’s works. Though Bhattathiri could not recollect the exact number of films he worked for, the list includes most films of Padmarajan to latest films like ‘Ennu Ninte Moideen’ and ‘Clint’.
The calligraphy style of Bhattathiri is that even a person who is unfamiliar with Malayalam script might get a feel of it. With a few strokes and some dots, he can write ‘Niram Marunna China’ resembling Chinese characters. His ambigrams are highly popular.
“Earlier, people used to hang quotes from the Bible on the wall, which were excellent calligraphic works. I wish such a culture would come back where people could hang calligraphic works on their walls,” Bhattatiri exclaims.
It was the exhibition ‘Ka cha ta tha pa’, that brought together a few of his innumerable works, organized on the pestering of his late friend Sundar Ramanatha Iyer in 2013, that made Bhattathiri popular.
The exhibition was an eye-opener to several artists. Orion Champadiyil, who is a senior art director at Maitri advertising, says that it was from the ‘ka cha ta tha pa’ that he started thinking about Malayalam calligraphy.
“Till then, my calligraphy experiments were limited to English. After learning about his works, I started asking myself why I didn’t try Malayalam calligraphy. I was more into typography and it was after getting inspired by him that I started doing Malayalam calligraphy,” he says.
Bhattathiri once saw a Gulf-based music band using his calligraphy as their logo which he had originally designed for a musical event of musician Ramesh Narayanan. Out of curiosity, he asked how they got it. They replied that it was from the internet. Of course, using his works without permission or credit was not a concern for Bhattathiri. When asked about recognition and money, he says it is up to the people who use his work to decide. “I already got my reward from the satisfaction of doing it,” he says.
While Malayalam is experiencing a dearth of Unicode fonts, Bhattathiri and free software developer Santhosh Thottingal, who is the designer of Malayalam Unicode fonts Chilanka and Manjari, have been planning to develop a new Unicode font for a while.
“With the support of Bhattathiri, we could create a unique Malayalam font. I am ready to provide all technical support for developing a new font,” Santosh says. “Among the present calligraphy artists, Bhattathiri is the greatest. He can be considered a continuation of the great lineage of Vasu Pradeep, C N Karunakaran and Bharathan.”
source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / News> City News> Thiruvananthapuram News / Jisha N / December 18th, 2017
Niyog who has been selected for the polar expedition | Photo Credit: NP
Niyog is first Indian to take part in Fjällräven Polar, an expedition across the Arctic, in 2018
Niyog is all set for the adventure of a lifetime. This 26-year-old adventure traveller from Punalur in Kollam has just got through an online poll that will make him the first Indian to take part in Fjällräven Polar, an expedition across the Arctic set to be held in April 2018.
Fjällräven Polar is a dream expedition of adventure travellers across the world. It is an annual expedition organised by the Swedish company Fjällräven since 1997. The participants will have to travel 300 km at minus 30 degrees Celsius through the Arctic wilderness in Norway and Sweden on sleighs pulled by eight Siberian Husky dogs.
As only around 20 aspirants get the chance to take part in the expedition, and with thousands of adventurers across the world aspiring for it, the competition is quite tough. Entries are invited from adventurers in 10 wide categories of countries, most of which are for people residing in the Arctic belt. Indians get to participate in the poll under the category ‘World’.
Only one person from each of the 10 categories is selected in the online poll. The rest are nominated by a jury. After physical tests and intense training to survive in the Arctic for almost a month, the team of 20 sets out for the expedition.
This year’s entries started pouring in from November 16. Niyog registered only on December 1, with bare minimum expectations. But his friends and followers took over the campaign requesting people to vote for him.
Within four days, Niyog emerged as the top competitor in all categories. When the polls concluded on Thursday, he scored 51,078 votes, around 10,000 more than his nearest competitor.
Niyog is used to travels and adventure since childhood. He had travelled solo to different parts of the Himalayas and believes it has conditioned him for adverse climatic conditions. He was in news just a few months ago for his nomadic journey across the country as a penniless hitch-hiker.
Niyog is excited about the polar expedition that starts on April 8 from Norway, yet a bit apprehensive. “More than the temperature, the sleighs thrill me. Managing the sleigh and the dogs is quite hard. Besides, we have to look out for thin ice, which only a trained eye can notice,” he told The Hindu.
Having won the poll, it’s now preparation time for Niyog.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> States> Kerala / by Aabha Raveendran / Kozhikode – December 16th, 2017
At a time when most women’s dreams were limited to finding a good match for themselves, Anna Rajam Malhotra broke the stereotypes associated with a woman to become India’s first IAS officer. She also became the first woman to hold a secretarial post in the Central government.
Anna had to face many prejudices for being a woman, and people constantly doubted her capabilities. She was even mocked by her female colleagues for making this decision, and soon she made history.
Anna cracked her Civil Services examination back in 1950, and was requested by the panel to join either Foreign service or Central service despite her merit. However, Anna stood her ground and was given a secretarial post instead of district sub-collector by the then Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu.
Anna was not just good academically, she also excelled at rifle and pistol shooting, and horse-riding. She did not wish her capabilities to be questioned for any reason. However, she still faced discrimination and was allegedly asked to not get married during her service tenure. The rule, which was applicable only for women, was removed a few years later.
Anna was born on July 17, 1927, in a village in Kerala. She was brought up in Calicut and had completed her intermediate education at Providence Women’s College there. After completing her graduation from Malabar Christian University in Calicut, she went to Tamil Nadu to pursue her Masters in English Literature from University of Madras.
During her service, elephants entered into a village, and Anna was pressurised to pass an order to kill them. However, she did not want to kill a harmless animal. Hence, she decided to take intelligent measures to send these elephants back to the forest. She was successful, leaving everyone thoroughly impressed.
It was during Anna’s service that the first computerised contained port was built in Mumbai, known as the Jawaharlal Nehru Port. She also assisted Nehru in 1982 during the Asiad Conference. She travelled with Indira Gandhi to eight States to understand the food production pattern despite her ankles being broken.
source: http://www.yourstory.com / YourStory.com / Home> Her Story> December 15th, 2017
Chiman Singh interacting with naval divers at the Naval Base on Friday.
It will be known as Chiman Singh Block
A newly-constructed modern dive training facility at the DivingSchool of the Southern Naval Command, christened as Chiman Singh Block, was jointly inaugurated by Chief of Staff of the Command Rear Admiral R.J. Nadkarni and former Petty Officer Clearance Diver and Maha Vir Chakra holder Chiman Singh at an event held at the Naval Base on Friday.
The facility houses a state-of-the-art recompression chamber complex and a laboratory, besides modern stores. It will make dive training at the school comparable with the best in the world.
Chiman Singh, after whom the new facility is named, was awarded the second highest gallantry medal for his exploits as a Leading Seaman in the 1971 Indo-Pak War.
Unmatched valour
Deployed off the Bangladesh coast, he displayed unparalleled gallantry in the face of the enemy in rescuing several of his colleagues, despite being severely injured.
The sailor was eventually taken prisoner-of-war (POW) and released on culmination of the war.
This is the highest gallantry award ever received by a naval person. Bangladesh honoured him with the Friends of Bangladesh Liberation Award in 2013.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Kochi / by Special Correspondent / Kochi – December 16th, 2017
Tessy Thomas receiving the Dr. Pinnamaneni and Smt Seethadevi Foundation Award in Vijayawada on Saturday. | Photo Credit: CH_VIJAYA BHASKAR
Advises students to draw inspiration from Abdul Kalam at a college here
‘Missile Woman of India’ and Director of Advanced Systems Laboratory (ASL) Tessy Thomas was presented the Dr Pinnamaneni and Smt. Seethadevi Foundation award here on Saturday. Foundation Managing Trustee C Nageswara Rao and trust member and daughter of Pinnamaneni Venkateswara Rao after whom the awarded is named, Ch Sudha, presented the award.
The Missile Woman now shares the award with distinguished scientists like A.P.J.Abdul Kalam— who was also her mentor, M.S.Swaminathan and Prof C.N.R. Rao.
Prof V Ramalingaswami and Sribhashyam Appalacharyalu were the first to be conferred the award in 1989. The other eminent persons who received the award include V Kurien, Lata Mangeshkar, S.P.Balasubramanyam, R.K Laxman, K.J.Jesudas, Karan Singh, B.G.Verghese, Ramanand Sagar, Sudha Murty, E.Sreedharan, Zakir Hussain, Y.V.Reddy and Changati Koteswara Rao.
The Gramapragathi Puraskaram was presented to the Swacha Sundara Challapalli Udyamam represented by doctor couple D R K Prasad and Padmavati.
Earlier the Missile woman spoke to the students of the V.R. Siddhartha Engineering College, Kanuru.
She asked the students to ensure a strong hold on the basics of engineering, mathematics and physics to be successful in any area.
Sharing her experiences of working along with former President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam on the missile technologies, she urged the students to take Abdul Kalam as their role model and work hard for the overall growth of the nation.
She stressed on the need to be skilful in the latest technologies such as cloud computing, big data analytics, Internet of Things and cyber security as there were many opportunities across the nation in both public and private sectors.
Space technologies
Students were all charged up after listening to her talk and actively participated in the interaction that primarily centred around missile and space technologies.
President of the Siddhartha Academy N. Venkateswarulu, vice-president C. Nageswara Rao, Principal A.V. Ratna Prasad, CSE HoD V. Srinivasa Rao and heads of other departments M. Suneetha and PVRL Narasimham were present.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> States> Andhra Pradesh / by Special Correspondent / Vijayawada – December 16th, 2017
Kerala’s senior IPS officer, R Sreelekha, has become the first woman in Kerala to become Director General of Police (DGP). She is renowned for bridging the gender gap and working for women empowerment.
Image Source: The Week
The police officer was accused of corruption, faced harassment and there were many efforts to pull her down. However, she did not let anything deter her spirit, and Sreelekha is now seen as a trendsetter.
She first shot into the limelight in 1987 when she became the first woman IPS officer of Kerala. Before joining the force as an IPS officer, she had earlier worked as a lecturer and was also employed with the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).
Sreelekha was posted in Thrissur, Alappuzha, and Pathanamthitta as District Police Chief, following which she joined the CBI. She earned the epithet, ‘Raid Sreelekha’ for conducting many raids during her CBI stint, and was made Inspector General (IG) of crime branch.
She represented India in the United Nations to form protocols to combat women trafficking. She received police training in Scotland Yard.
Sreelekha has written nine books in Malayalam during her police stint, of which three are books on crime research, and included the perspective of an assassin and the sufferings of the victim. Despite her diverse responsibilities, Sreelekha always makes time for literature as her father is a professor, and reading had always been encouraged at home.
Before her latest appointment, Sreelekha worked as Additional Director General (ADG) of Police. Out of her eight contemporaries, she was one of the three to be appointed to the post at that time. She was also honoured with the President’s Award for her exemplary service.
Sreelekha was promoted along with her rival, Tomin J Thachankary, and appointed as Transport Commissioner. As Transport Commissioner, the number of road accidents has reduced, while awareness on road safety has increased.
source: http://www.yourstory.com / YourStory.com / Home> Her Story > Think Change India / December 14th, 2017
C.J. Thomas award presented to Chandrasekhar Kambar
Poet-writer Chandrasekhar Kambar was presented with the first C.J. Thomas memorial award at the C.J. Thomas birth centenary function here on Tuesday. Delivering the C.J. Thomas memorial talk at the function, organised by the Kerala Sahitya Akademi and the M.K. Sanoo Foundation, writer and orator M.K. Sanoo said those who seek freedom would face lots of problems.
“Seekers of freedom will march forward though they sometimes have to fight their own earlier policies. People like Gandhi had re-written his own principles. They become immortal due to their willingness and courage to change themselves.”
Questioned everything
C.J. Thomas believed that disobedience was the best value of life, Prof. Sanoo said. He proved that the ability to question would sharpen one’s thinking power. While trying to tell the truth, he challenged his own ideas. There was a child in CJ, who always questioned everything while holding the truth tightly, he said. Prof. Sanoo presented the award to Mr. Kambar. Speaking after receiving the award, the Jnanpith winner said English education had negatively affected regional theatre activities in the country. The folk theatre lost its vibrancy due to the western system of education, he said.
Akademi president Vaishakhan inaugurated function. Kerala Sangeetha Nataka Akademi secretary N. Radhakrishnan Nair presided.
Mr. Kambar released the book Essays of CJ.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> States> Kerala / by Staff Reporter / Thrissur – December 12th, 2017
