With just a month left for the canonisation of Fr Kuriakose Elias Chavara and Sr Euphrasia, the number of people who have registered for the travel package to attend the canonisation ceremony in Rome has crossed around 200. This includes around 80 priests also.
“This is the number of people registered via Chavara Cultural Centre (CCC) alone. People from other cities and Malayalees living in various countries are also expected to attend the function in Vatican on November 23,” said CCC authorities.
A cell has been functioning at the CCC to coordinate and assist the faithful who wish to attend the historic event to participate in the ceremony. Chavara Cultural Centre, which has tied up with tour operator Oasis Holidays offers two packages – a five-day package (Nov 21-26) at `81,500 per person and a seven-day package (Nov 19-26) for `98,500 per person. “Chavara Cultural Centre’s target was to send 300 persons for the ceremony through the special package.
Two other Kochi-based tour operators have also announced special travel packages in connection with the canonisation ceremony. Besides private pilgrims, the Kerala Catholic Bishops Council has urged the state and Union Governments to send an official delegation to the function.
source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> States> Kerala / by Express News Service / October 04th, 2014
Actor Asif Ali is stepping into entrepreneurship with a food outlet, called Waffle Street.
Located in Panampilly Nagar, Kochi, Waffle Street will serve Waffles, Crepes, Donuts and more. Asif, along with two friends are behind the venture which launched on Monday evening.
Actor Prithviraj inaugurated the outlet officially.
Asif told media that he always wanted to start an exclusive food outlet and felt that Waffles was a good option.
source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> Entertainment> Malayalam> Movies / by Asha Prakash, TNN / August 26th, 2014
It was a bolt from the blue for K G Paulose, 68, when Ravi Deecee, the Managing Director of DC Books, a reputed book publisher in Kerala, approached him four years ago with a unique project: to bring out the 18 volumes of the Puranas in a single edition.
Initially, Paulose was unsure about taking it up, considering the magnitude of the project. Though he had robust knowledge and passion for Sanskrit, he was never obsessed with the Puranas. Later, he realised that it was a ‘divine assignment’.
The 18 Puranas extend to over 18,000 pages, with each Purana varying in size and content. This historical work in Malayalam will be four times bigger than the Mahabharata in terms of the number of verses used.
“It is the first time that anyone is trying to compile the Puranas into a comprehensive, holistic, single edition,” says Paulose. “Sanskrit is the golden key to unlock any treasure of Indian history.”
At his house in Tripunithura, Paulose is busy working on the final pages which would soon be sent to the publisher. Titled 18 Puranangal, the book will be released on the auspicious day of Vidyarambham, which falls on October 3 this year.
Paulose knew he could not do the work single-handedly. So he divided it among his colleagues and associates. There were fifteen people or “fifteen think-tanks”, as Paulose calls them, including his wife T K Sarala.
One such think-tank is M V Gopalakrishnan, 67, a retired professor from the Maharaja’s College in Kochi. “I was assigned the task of composing Vishnupurana, one of the prominent Puranas and one half of Agnipurana,” he says. “It took me two years to complete Vishnupurana, as it was a difficult job to translate and simplify the complex Sanskrit verses. I would spend 18 hours a day for the research and writing.”
The team used to meet every week at Paulose’s house to review everyone’s work. “There were several give and takes, disputes and suggestions,” says Gopalakrishnan. “It was a discussion forum in which doubts got cleared and we were able to give birth to a clean and accessible edition.”
Paulose was the first Vice Chancellor of Kerala Kalamandalam, a deemed university for Art and Culture. He has also been the registrar of Sree Sankaracharya University, Kalady, chief editor, publications of Aryavaidyasala Kottakkal, and the principal of Government Sanskrit College, Tripunithura.
Ravi says it has been a stupendous effort by Paulose and team to make this venture a reality. “It was my father D C Kizhakkemuri who first came up with the idea in 1997,” says Ravi. “He approached a handful of scholars, but the project was shelved mid-way owing to lack of research.” However, in 2009, Ravi met Paulose and asked him to take up the project. “His expertise was a necessity,” says Ravi. “Since the project also needed a team of scholars, we were lucky to get the right people at the right time.”
The book cover will have mural paintings depicting each of the Puranas created by a Thiruvananthapuram-based painter Athira Sajith.
“We will have a first print-run of 20,000 copies,” says Ravi. “They are all pre-booked.” The selling price is Rs 10,000, but as a pre-publication offer, it will be sold at Rs 4,999.
source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> LifeStyle> Books / by Krishnachand K / September 28th, 2014
Sooraj, winner of state govt’s Karshaka Jyothi Award, with the elephant foot yams grown in his farm | Express
Sulthan Bathery :
At a time when many farmers in the state are abandoning agriculture owing to poor yield and low income, Sooraj C S, a Plus-Two student hailing from Mathamangalam, near here, is scripting a success story with his experiments in zero budget farming.
The 17-year-old, who recently won the Karshaka Jyothi Award for the best student farmer, instituted by the state government, is now busy promoting ‘healthy eating habits’ through his Facebook page by highlighting the harmful effects of pesticides. His farmland also serves as a knowledge hub for aspiring farmers.
“There is no need to glorify a person who grows vegetables or fruits for his own consumption. It says a lot about our society’s misconceptions about agriculture. Each individual can make a difference by developing the habit of cultivating and eating organic foods,” Sooraj says with an air of maturity unusual in one so young.
Inspired by Subhash Palekar, a promoter of the concept of zero budget natural farming, Sooraj started farming as a hobby at the age of 15, but it has now become a full-fledged passion for him.
“During the summer vacation two years ago, I attended a seminar on zero budget farming, held in Sulthan Bathery. Subhash Palekar was the main speaker at the programme. The event helped me shape a new perspective on farming techniques. Following that, I took a pledge not to use chemical fertilisers and pesticides,” says Sooraj, a Plus Two student of Government Vocational Higher Secondary School, Ambalavayal.
He cultivates a wide range of vegetables, including cabbage, bittergourd, eggplant, tomato, capsicum, beans, green chilli, different types of yams, bananas, carrot, beetroot, and potato on his pleasingly congested four acres of farmland on the Kerala-Tamil Nadu border. There are also about 50 varieties of fruits such as rambutan, passion fruit, mangosteen and orange, besides about 60 types of medicinal plants in his field.
Last year, when he had a bumper crop of cabbage, he gave a major chunk of the produce to friends and neighbours, and then sold the rest of the vegetables in the local market.
source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> States> Kerala / by Aadharsh / September 27th, 2014
The match between Sita Bai of Tanjore and Kamala Bai of Malabar saw enthusiastic crowds but also led to controversy. / The Hindu Archives
The 1st all-woman boxing bout lasted only 3 rounds but ignited a fiery debate
Sunday was a fine day for Indian women’s boxing at the 17th Asian Games in Incheon. Olympic bronze-medallist M. C. Mary Kom, L. Sarita Devi and Pooja Rani entered the semi-finals, assuring medals for the nation. However, it was right here, in Madras city, that the first punches in women’s boxing in the country were thrown.
It was Saturday, the 15th of March, 1931, when two Indian women stepped into the ring for a bout of professional boxing at the famous White City Carnival held in the city. Looking fierce in knee-length shorts, sleeveless jerseys and gloved fists, the women appeared every bit combat-ready. Kamala Bai of Malabar and Sita Bai of Tanjore were trained boxers, touted to be in good form. Singapore’s English daily The Straits Times reported that this was arguably a first for India.
Visibly excited, The Hindu published an article five days prior to the event urging its readers to brace themselves to witness for the first time two ‘Indian ladies’ meeting in the boxing arena — until now the most exclusive preserve of men.
Large crowds, including a number of Europeans, assembled to watch history in the making. While the first two rounds saw the boxers on the defensive, the third round saw them packing a punch, exchanging double jabs, hard rights, hooks, and uppercuts. Disappointingly, by round three, the session drew to a close with referee V.E.J Brackstone of Messrs. Parry and Company declaring it a draw.
Despite their underwhelming performance, both Kamala Bai and Sita Bai stayed in the news — even making international headlines for days to come.
‘Shocked and pained’
The fact that two Hindu women dared to ‘invade’ the boxing ring also left many Indian men and women ‘shocked and pained’. Florida’s The Evening Independent published a report on March 16, 1931 titled ‘Women Boxers arouse India’. The story stated that ‘feminine India was up in arms’ with the female boxers facing ‘social ostracism and disgrace,’ having engaged in a boxing match in Madras.
For a country that had for centuries relegated their women to rigid domesticity, ‘ladies boxing’ became particularly hard to digest.
Mahatma Gandhi for instance found this to be especially problematic. He was quoted in Pennsylvania’sReading Eagle as saying women boxing was ‘degrading, disreputable and totally unbecoming of the finer instincts of Indian womanhood.’
Today, as the country celebrates the laurels of our women boxers, it seems only appropriate to pause and acknowledge the spirit of Kamala Bai and Sita Bai. For if not for them, we as a nation may have not dared to imagine the likes Mary Kom, L Sarita Devi and Pooja Rani fighting the good fight.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Chennai / by Nitya Menon / Chennai – September 30th, 2014
People from all walks of life paid tributes to industrialist P.K. Mohamed, 73, who died here on Monday. He was the managing director (MD) of Western India Plywoods Ltd. (WIP).
He had been recuperating at his residence at Thana here after a recent cardiac surgery. The body was taken to Thalassery for burial at Elangol Juma Masjid, Chettamkunnu.
Early years
He followed his father, A.K. Kaderkutty, into the industry. After college education in Chennai, Mohamed went to Germany for extensive training in wood technology.
He joined WIP as production manager in 1962. He was made MD in 1993.
He was involved in the modernisation and diversification of the company.
He had functioned as office-bearer of the North Malabar Chamber of Commerce and was a sports organiser. He was a member of various industry organisations and was actively involved in the social sphere.
He is survived by wife and four sons. Political leaders including Rural Development Minister K.C. Joseph and E. Ahamed paid their last respects.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> National> Kerala / by Special Correspondent / Kannur – October 01st, 2014
The British resorted to many crueller acts during the Malabar Rebellion of 1921 than the Wagon Tragedy and it was because of the martial law clamped in Malabar that the world did not know about them, historian M. Gangadharan has said.
Delivering the keynote address at a seminar on Wagon Tragedy at Tirur on Tuesday, Dr. Gangadharan said the tragedy was not the cruellest act of British oppression during the Malabar Rebellion.
“We used to believe that the Wagon Tragedy, in which 67 of the 90-odd Mapilas packed in a goods wagon from Tirur to Podanur suffocated to death, was the worst and cruellest incident of the Malabar Rebellion. But it was not,” Dr. Gangadharan told a packed audience.
He argued that the world learned about the Wagon Tragedy as there was no martial law in Podanur and, therefore, the incident was reported by major newspapers of the world.
“The dastardly act of the British came to light when the goods wagon was opened at Podanur. Had it occurred anywhere in Malabar, where the martial law prevented publishing of sensitive information, it would have gone unreported,” he said.
Dr. Gangadharan said that as many as 215 Mapila youngsters were pulled out of their homes and massacred in front of their families. “It happened on October 25, 1921. The Wagon Tragedy wasn’t as cruel as the killing of those adult Mapilas in front of their family,” Dr. Gangadharan said.
MES Central School, Tirur, organised the seminar as part of the golden jubilee celebrations of the Muslim Educational Society.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> National> Kerala / by Staff Reporter / Mallapuram – October 01st, 2014
Malayalam poet and social activist Sugathakumari has been chosen for Mathrubhumi Literary Award (Mathrubhumi Sahitya Puraskaram) for 2014.
This was announced by M.P. Veerendrakumar, managing director, and P.V. Chandran, managing editor of Mathrubhumi, here on Wednesday. The award carries a purse of Rs.2 lakh, a citation, and a statuette. A judging committee comprising poet Vishnu Narayanan Namboodiri as chairman and poet K. Satchitanandan and literary critic M. Leelavathi as members chose Ms. Sugathakumari in recognition of her contributions to Malayalam literature for the past 50 years.
Major works
Some of her prominent works arePathirappookal; Raathrimazha; Ambalamani; Krishnakavithakal; Radhayevide; Kurinjippookkal; and Thulaavarshappacha.
The 80-year-old poet was honoured with the Padma Shri in 2006 for waging a struggle against the destruction of environment in the name of development.
She is the founder editor of Thaliru, a children’s magazine published by the Kerala State Institute of Children’s Literature and former chairperson of the Kerala State Women’s Commission.
Ms. Sugathakumari is also the founder secretary of Prakrithi Samrakshana Samithi, an organisation for the protection of nature and of Abhaya, a home for destitute women. The literary award is being presented to her on the occasion of the 90 year of Mathrubhumi.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> National> Kerala / by Special Correspondent / Kozhikode – October 02nd, 2014
While cleaning programmes mark the observance of the Gandhi Jayanthi across the country, the house and property donated by Gandhiji’s fellow freedom fighter Raghava Poduval in Paruthipra near Shoranur to Sarvodya Sangham stand in utter neglect.The house is located in the three acres of land on the banks of the Nila. The property was donated by Shoranur Parathipra Mahadevamangalam Neduvilpat Raghava Poduval alias Raghavji to the Sarvodaya Sangham before his death in December 1992.
Raghavji was one among the 78 persons participated in the Dandi Yathra led by Mahathma Gandhi. “When we were children, we used to purchase gingelly oil from the mill set up here. Soap, honey and khadi clothes were also made at Raghavji’s house. Weaving classes were alsoconducted here,” said social activist Prasad Shoranur. “After India attained Independence, Gandhiji exhorted all freedom fighters to return to their villages and continue their work. And Raghavji returned to Parathipra near Shoranur and continued his selfless service here,” he said.
Manager of the building Vanaja said that most of the buildings were in a dilapidated condition. “Only a few buildings here are safe.
“ We collect clothes, honey and oil from the various Sarvodsaya Sanghams now and keep it in this building. During this Onam, we clocked a sale of `2,40,000,” said Vanaja. “We are not getting any other funds for maintenance,” she adds.
source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> States> Kerala / by A. Satish / October 12th, 2014
The eToilet has an automatic flush, which works before and after use, sensor controlled water usage and eliminates the need for manual cleaners in schools. / The Hindu
Eram Scientific, manufacturers of the country’s first eToilet, on Tuesday unveiled the world’s cheapest unmanned, self-cleaning eToilet with inbuilt solar panel and metallic platform for schools.
“This is our contribution to the nation and comes as a response to the “Clean India Campaign” announced by the Central Government. It perfectly matches with the “Make in India” campaign as well,” said Siddeek Ahmed, chairman of Thiruvananthapuram-based Eram Group.
Built of stainless steel base, mild steel super structure and occupying 25 sq.ft space, the eToilet comes with a price tag of Rs.99,999 ex-factory, which is inclusive of insurance charges and one-year warranty.
It has got an inbuilt solar panel, which eliminates the need for electricity connection while the metal platform avoids civil construction too.
It has an automatic flush, which works before and after use, automatic floor wash, sensor controlled water usage and eliminates the need for manual cleaners in schools.
“The present problems in sanitations at schools are known to be not because of the dearth of toilets. The lack of maintenance and requirement for manual cleaning has made them dysfunctional. We are out to address that gap and that is why we are now launching this comprehensive solution for schools,” said K. Anvar Sadath, CEO.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Thiruvananthapuram / IANS / Thiruvananthapuram – September 30th, 2014
