Category Archives: Education

Math maker of Bengaluru uses out-of-the-box methods

Amazing Feats, Education, Inspiration/ Positive News and Features

Mahesha M, who quit his corporate career to teach maths, makes the subject easy for young students with his innovative pedagogical methods.

Mahesha M with his students. (Photo| EPS)

“The only way to learn mathematics is to do mathematics,” said the mathematician Paul Halmos. Mahesha M of Prajna Mathematics at Hebbal in Bengaluru lets his students do this, but with his out-of-the-box methodologies.

Whether it is the touch-and-feel method for teaching geometry or origami to drive home the concepts of algebra or even ancient folklore to make students get a grip on numbers, Mahesha is always on the look-out for innovative teaching methods.

“I have come across books published way back in 1882 that explain the basics of algebra and its application in real life in a wonderful way. The methods I use today is the result of years of research, experimentation and developing my own materials based on these learnings,” adds the 46-year-old.

In fact, Mahesha has a sack full of tamarind seeds at his centre (marbles are hardly available these days, he says) for younger children to count in order to develop a knack for numbers. “I just ask them to pick out, say, 200 seeds in a given time; it is up to them to find out the fastest method,” quips Mahesha, who also studies how mathematical concepts are taught in schools across Europe and America.

He has bought several such materials which he either modifies or improvises on to suit the needs of his students. This is particularly useful while teaching concepts like fractions, Mahesha says. From mathematical games like the Rubik’s cube to models like the tower of Hanoi and techniques like mental and Vedic maths, Mahesha uses a combination of multiple tools to make maths fun for children.

As a result, he says, his students are easily able to recite tables up to 100 using simple methods like splitting and distributive property. “I developed a love for the subject with Mahesha Sir when I was struggling in school. With his coaching, I completed my MSc in maths and became a maths lecturer. Now I plan to enrol for a PhD in the subject,” says his student Shalini, who now lives in Germany.

Being physically challenged since he was an infant, Mahesha spent his formative years confined indoors. Playing with marbles and counting them in groups of 2,5,10 etc. made him develop a liking for numbers. But it was not until high school that he developed a true love for maths.

Mahesha went on to finish his engineering in computer science and worked for over 15 years in the corporate sector. Teaching, however, remained his first love. “Teaching is something that I truly enjoy. I want students to be aware, think and ask questions,” says Mahesha who has been a full-time teacher since 2017.

With two batches a day, close to 60 students from Class III to X and four other teachers, Mahesha has his hands full. The morning batch of 30 high school students from Hebbal Government School are coached free of cost.

Crippled at the age of two by polio, Mahesha faced issues of mobility and poverty. Therefore, he helps many people struggling with these issues too. “Mahesha’s story is one that needs to be told and his contribution in the academic success of several students, including my son, is invaluable,” says Anitha, a teacher with an international school, and whose son Parikshit is a student of Prajna.

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Cities> Bengaluru / by Rashmi Gopal Rao / Express News Service / May 02nd, 2021

Japan to confer Order of the Rising Sun, Gold and Silver Rays decoration to Bengaluru teacher

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Education, Inspiration/ Positive News and Features, Leaders, Records, All, World Opinion

Bengaluru teacher Shyamala Ganesh, the former director of the Japanese Language School, will be conferred the Order of the Rising Sun, Gold and Silver Rays.

In a press release, Consulate-General of Japan, Bengaluru highlighted Ms. Ganesh’s contribution to the spread of the Japanese language and culture in Karnataka.

The decision to confer the decoration is the first of its kind since the establishment of the Consulate-General of Japan in Bengaluru, the release stated.

Ms. Ganesh is also former President of the Bengaluru Chapter of Ohara-ryu Ikebana, and helped popularise not just the language but also other cultural traditions such as Ikebana, Japanese flower arrangements, and hosting exchange events.

As the Director of the Japanese Language School, Ms. Ganesh contributed to the spread of the language and trained candidates for the Japanese Language Proficiency Test course.

As an administrative executive of the “Lotus and Chrysanthemum Trust” whose establishment she has contributed to, Ms. Ganesh contributed enormously to the promotion of understanding and mutual understanding of both Japanese and Indian cultures, stated the release.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Bengaluru / by Special Correspondent / Bengaluru – April 30th, 2021

St. John’s develops new test to measure Vit B12 absorption

Education, Records, All, Science & Technology, World Opinion
Researchers Anura V. Kurpad (left) and Sarita Devi from St. John’s Research Institute who have developed a new test to measure Vitamin B12 absorption.  

Vitamin B12 deficiency arises mainly due to malabsorption

A team of researchers from St. John’s Research Institute (SJRI) has developed a new test to measure vitamin B12 absorption in humans with stable 13C isotopes. Earlier, this was possible only using the radio-isotopes-based Schilling test.

This major clinical development has been published in American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

Vitamin B12 deficiency, that is widespread in India, is linked to many poor health outcomes. It is mainly due to a low intake of animal source foods or malabsorption. The problem lies in measuring whether it is well absorbed from the diet or from remedial supplements. Unless the absorption is known, it is very hard to design the appropriate dose to remedy deficiencies.

Sarita Devi from St. John’s Research Institute, who is the lead author of the paper, said unfortunately, the measurement of vitamin B12 absorption is not performed now, because the original or modified Schilling’s test requires radioisotopes. “The problem is the use of radioactive isotopes (Cobalt in this case), which is heavily restricted, to ‘label’ vitamin B12 so that it can be traced to quantify its absorption. This problem has continued for the last 70 years, since Dr. Schilling first published his eponymous testing method,” she explained.

The study describes the re-engineering and innovation of a new method to measure Vitamin B12 absorption. “We did this by biosynthesizing a novel Vitamin B12 molecule that was labelled with a ‘stable isotope’ of carbon 13C. This, as the name implies, is stable (not radioactive and therefore does not emit any harmful radiation) and is therefore safe for human use,” she said.

The molecule that the team of researchers synthesized, is a form of Vitamin B12 called 13 C-cyanocobalamin. This (cyanocobalamin) is one of the commercial vitamin B12 supplements that are prescribed. “We then used this to measure vitamin B12 absorption in humans, and also defined a new mathematical or pharmacokinetic model for this purpose. This test is safe and can now be used in a clinic and in any age group safely without radiation concerns,” Dr. Devi explained.

“This is a major development in nutrition that also changed the daily requirement of Vitamin B12 in a recently published report by the ICMR-National Institute of Nutrition for Indians,” she said. Anura V. Kurpad, senior author of the paper and chair of the ICMR Expert Committee on Nutrient Requirement of Indians, said the earlier thinking was that dietary vitamin B12 was 100% absorbed.

As the researchers’ team led by Dr. Devi had measured this at about 50% absorption, Dr. Kurpad said: “This effectively doubled the daily dietary requirement from 1 microgram to 2 microgram/day. Since Vitamin B12 is only available from animal source foods, it is critical to ensure that an adequate intake of milk or eggs/meat is available in the diet.”

From a therapeutic viewpoint when treating the deficiency, the study also showed that the absorption of Vitamin B12 was very tightly regulated, in that it could not go above a certain amount. Hence, a high intake does not necessarily mean more absorption, she added.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> States> Karnataka / by Afshan Yasmeen / Bengaluru – March 02nd, 2021

Tribal girl who cleared NET has plans for IAS

Amazing Feats, Education, Inspiration/ Positive News and Features, Records, All
V.P. Srujana with her parents Veena and M.B. Prabhu at Nagaprura Tribal Rehabilitation Centre.   | Photo Credit: SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT

Srujana of Nagapura is the first Adivasi to clear eligibility test in Karnataka

An advasi girl from Nagapura on the outskirts of Nagarahole has become a source of inspiration for other girls from the tribal community to take up education and pursue an independent career.

Meet V.P. Srujana of Nagarahole Tribal Rehabilitation Centre at Nagapura, who created history of sorts when she became the first primitive tribal in the State to clear the National Eligibility Test (NET) for assistant professor conducted by the National Testing Agency on behalf of the University Grants Commission (UGC).

In recognition of her achievement, Ms. Srujana was felicitated at a function at the centre on Wednesday. She had appeared for the UGC-NET in October 2020, the results of which were announced last month.

Belonging to the Pani Yerava community, which is a primitive and vulnerable microscopic tribe, she is also among the handful of Adivasis who have completed their post-graduation. Ms. Srujana, daughter of Veena and M.B. Prabhu, completed her M.Com. from the University of Mysore with a first class in 2019 and appeared for NET and cleared it, qualifying for assistant professor’s post.

She is from Balekovu tribal haadi in Virajpet taluk and did her primary schooling in Nallurupala Government Primary School in Hunsur. She stayed with her grandparents as there is no school at Balekovu. Her grandfather was working in the Forest Department at Hunsur as a Group D employee and hence Ms. Srujana stayed with them and went to school.

She completed her high school and PUC from the Government Junior College for Girls, Hunsur, and graduation from the Government Women’s College, Hunsur, after which she studied M.Com. Incidentally, her mother is the first graduate among the tribes and completed her degree from the University of Mysore in 1988.

Ms. Srujana told The Hindu that she drew inspiration from her parents who were supportive and now wishes to pursue Ph.D for which she is scouting for a guide. As someone conscious of the social backwardness of the community, Ms. Srujana intends to take up a topic relevant to the tribes.

This apart, she is also taking up the civil services examination conducted by the Union Public Service Commission. “Now that I have completed PG and cleared NET, I will prepare for the IAS preliminary examination which will also help in appearing for the KAS examination,” said Ms. Srujana. “It is a proud privilege to say that she is our daughter,” said her elated parents who aver that she will inspire other members of the tribe to take up education.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> States> Karnataka / by R Krishna Kumar / Mysuru – January 28th, 2021

MIT students ace IIT Bombay’s TechFest

Education, Records, All, Science & Technology

A team of four students from Manipal Institute of Technology (MIT), Manipal, recently won the first place at the TechFest conducted by IIT, Bombay, for developing a model that could prevent the spread of COVID-19.

A release from MAHE said that IIT Bombay’s annual technical event, TechFest, wanted students to innovate and find ways to stop the spread of the virus and distribute vaccines after its successful invention. The event was sponsored by L&T Electrical and Automation.

The problem statement was to develop a model that could be put in place to achieve the goal by devising methods that were practical, applicable and cost-effective.

The team’s solution was to introduce a vest consisting of wearable electronics and sensors that could be used to keep track of various physiological data of the user’s body, including heart rate, pulse rate, oxygen content and body temperature. The data was then transferred wirelessly to a cloud server through WiFi or through SMS, if WiFi was not available, along with user’s location.

The idea was judged on creativity, scalability, cost/ market value and other factors.

An abstract of the idea, a detailed report on the working of the model and an 18-minute pre-recorded presentation were judged in the three rounds that started on November 3 and ended on January 5.

The team comprised Paresh K.V., fourth year student, ECE, Sai Arvind Chinthanippu, fourth year, Mechatronics, Anukul Jindal, fourth year, ECE, and Sreerag Mahadevan Cheeroth, fourth year student, Mechanical.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> National> Karnataka / Mangaluru – January 18th, 2021

Meet Niharika, the comedian behind viral Instagram videos

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Education, Nri's / Pio's, World Opinion

Bengaluru’s funny girl Niharika NM talks to CE about her Netflix debut, life in California, and the muse behind her characters

Niharika NM (Photo | Instagram screenshot)

Bengaluru :

A South Indian aunty or a Californian girl – Niharika NM can imitate any with the same ease. Currently riding high on her latest stint in Netflix’s Behansplaining, featuring Srishti Dixit and Kusha Kapila, and her viral comic video strips on Instagram, Niharika has a lot to be beaming about these days. Getting into a show where comic artistes like Dixit and Kapila have made their niche might be a risk, but Niharika says she was ready to give it her best shot.

“It feels great to be a part of the Behensplaining universe. I was super stoked when Netflix reached out and wanted me to be a part of it. Kusha, Srishti and Aisha are super talented and I’m just trying my best to match their awesomeness,” says the Bengalurean, who is currently pursuing her MBA in Los Angeles.

Confessing that she started comedy with her ‘terrible dad jokes’, Niharika never knew it would go so far. “I did computer science engineering for my undergrad, and a year into it, I just knew that I’d be a useless engineer. I also knew that the only thing that made me tolerable to most people were my dad jokes, that were so bad they were almost good.

“So, I started a YouTube channel as a creative outlet. I started making comedy skits, sketches and rants about everything under the sun,” says Niharika. She initially started by creating characters from her childhood. “I’ve been trying to showcase my personality while creating content because it just feels more authentic to me right now and I’m getting slightly comfortable just being myself and dipping into my South Indian roots,” says the 23-year-old, who moved to LA in 2019.

“Life in the USA is different, but quite exciting. Quarantining by myself wasn’t the greatest feeling in the world especially as it was the first time I was ever away from my family. However, I did try my hand at cooking, which I very quickly realised I absolutely suck at,” jokes Niharika, who tried her hand on short format content for the first time during the lockdown.

“I think the Instagram rant that I made about the quote, ‘If you love someone, let them go’, has been a game changer for me. I did not expect it to get the type of response it got, but it definitely surprised me to see how many people could relate to it,” says Niharika, whose video was shared by South Indian actors like Khushbu Sundar.

“Every time a celebrity reposts my videos or tells me I’m funny, I can never digest it and I’m always excited about it,” says Niharika, who tries her best to stay calm while responding to them. “But Khushbu is such a legend that I could not even act calm about getting her attention,” she laughs.

Winning hearts

Earlier this month, Niharika NM posted a video on the popular saying – ‘If you love someone, let them go’. In it, she angrily rants to ask if she’s running a lodge, where one could come and go as they please. With heavy usage of Bengaluru street lingo, the video managed to reach, and crack up, all kind of audiences. The video has garnered close to 5.5 lakh views and has been shared by many. Actors Samyukta Hornad and Kavya Venkatesh left comments on it too.

Frizzell D’Souza’s début single is as new as freshly brewed coffee

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Education, Records, All

Bengaluru-based singer-songwriter Frizzell D’Souza’s début single is about a relationship on the cusp of feeling jaded

For this fourth-year student of RV College of Architecture in Bengaluru, success as a singer-songwriter was something she stumbled upon by accident.

“Growing up, my sister and I were encouraged to learn music,” says 21-year-old Frizzell D’Souza, over phone from Mangaluru. “She had piano lessons, while I learnt the violin for eight years. However, I took to the guitar and ukelele a few years ago, on my own.

“I started doing music about two-and-a-half years ago, with covers of some of my favourite artistes such as Ed Sheeran, Frank Sinatra, Michael Jackson and Eric Clapton. When Prateek Kuhad himself shared my rendition of his ‘Cold/Mess,’ it boosted my confidence and my viewership.”

Frizzell D’Souza – New (Official Lyric Video)

It was only in the thick of the lockdown, that she began meeting independent artistes online who had started going live. “Established musicians such as Ehsaan sir (of Shankar Ehsaan Loy fame) and others kept encouraging musicians to use the time to work on their own music.” That was when she began working on creating an original number.

“I did not have any real experience writing before; I’m not even much of a reader,” she admits candidly. “When I saw others trying their hand at composing lyrics, I realised I couldn’t go on singing covers forever. Writing my songs was the next step up.”

Frizzell began by writing a few lines every day and would keep honing it till she was satisfied. “When I finished ‘New,’ a few of my friends encouraged me to put it out there.”

Frizzell says that over the course of the lockdown, she not only came up with the music and lyrics for ‘New,’ but also got down to producing it. “It was pretty challenging to produce it on your own especially when you are restricted to working from home. The Urban Weaver, an artist collective, helped me with it, and they released ‘New’ in August.”

Apart from online classes for her semester, Frizzell says she has been working on her music and is set to release another single. “When I’m not drawing or drafting for class or working on my music, I do a lot of painting.”

Her next track ‘Drown Away’ is about her childhood memories of Goa and will be released shortly.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> Entertainment>Music / by Ruth Dhanraj / November 25th, 2020

Exploring ancient skies

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Education, Green Initiatives / Environment, Historical Links, Pre-Independence, Leaders, Nature, Records, All, World Opinion

Former Planetarium director studies stone inscriptions to understand past celestial events

Bengaluru :

Looking at the stone and understanding the sky is what she does. And she is leaving no stone unturned to understand the celestial events of the past. The celestial world has always fascinated B S Shylaja. And therefore, opting for astrophysics to understand the astronomical occurrences and phenomena was not at all surprising. In 1994, she joined as an educator in Jawaharlal Nehru Planetarium, Bengaluru. Till her retirement in 2017 as the Director of Planetarium, she taught basics of astronomy and astrophysics to graduate students.

But now she is busy studying inscription stones to know how much ancient people knew about celestial occurrences and how they followed and recorded some rare and common events. Usually Indian stone inscriptions are edicts for grants and donations of land and kind to individuals or temples. The tradition of getting edicts recorded on stone can be traced back to 3rd century BCE. Stone inscriptions have been studied, translated and published right from 19th century by Indian epigraphists, British scholars and is now continued by the Archaeological Survey of India.

However, these inscriptions also provide records of eclipses, solstices and planetary conjunctions, Shylaja informs. She has studied not only Indian inscriptions but extended her studies to South and South East Asia – Cambodia, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Nepal and Thailand. This has thrown light on many new aspects such as the evolution of calendars independently from the influence of Indian system of time measurement as early as the 3rd century BCE.

Shylaja says, “We find a wealth of information on planetary positions in a limited geographical region. The words that are used to describe vary from place to place and from time to time. It must be possible to find many more records in India and nearby countries by a detailed scrutiny. Many interesting records of planetary conjunctions are also available.” This voluminous exercise has involved scrutiny of 38,000 inscriptions from 6th to 17th century and gathering of 1,100 useful information about celestial events.

The result of her effort has led to deciphering records of solar and lunar eclipses, solstices, equinoxes and planetary conjunctions. In all these cases, the dates and timings are meticulously written down while the details on the positions of planets are also available. She has also traced Kannada inscriptions to far off regions like Myanmar. She was assisted by Geetha K G (project assistant/co-researcher) for some discoveries in 2016.

Data was sorted out using software but was not an easy task. Astro-information was hidden as an adjective or as a simile in the long texts on praise of a donor/awardee.  Shylaja explains, “The event descriptions are very long, phrases are hidden, language tough with many technical terms. Simple phrases were hidden, difficult to scoop out. We undertook to scrutinize all inscriptions which require knowledge of astronomy and language command.

Our minute study has been useful in understanding observational tools and methods for eclipse predictions.” In the 2016 studies, Shylaja and Geetha mainly dealt with inscriptions found in and around Karnataka. Shylaja says, “A good number of Kannada inscriptions are found in AP, TN, Maharashtra and Goa. Many are bi-lingual. All inscriptions in Tirupati are in Kannada, Sanskrit and Telugu and at times, Tamil.

Three volumes from Tirupati cover 15-17th century — the peak period of Vijayanagar empire. During Krishnadevaraya reign, every auspicious event was used as an opportunity to offer gifts and donations.”


Most inscriptions begin with information about dates. In some, an eclipse is mentioned in the beginning of the text or at the end. The earliest stone inscription of total eclipse in 754 CE has been found in Pattadakal. In fact, European visitors learned the procedures of calculations from Indians. Records of total eclipses have made for an exciting study for Shylaja.

The mentions of totality in eclipse records have provided data for understanding the variation of the speed of rotation of earth over centuries. Now how has ‘time’ been marked on inscriptions? They are recorded as Saka Year, Samvatsara (a cycle of 60 years), lunar month, tithi (the phase of the moon) and Vara (the week day). “We see examples of the naksatra citation (each day is associated with a star, naksatra, the one closest to the moon among the 27), while in some examples, lagna, the ascendant zodiacal sign is cited, giving the time of the day,” Shylaja says.

GROUPING OF 6 PLANETS
There is one prominent mention of planetary grouping in 1665 when there was a solar eclipse. This is recorded as śadgraha yóga – grouping of six planets. They are sun, moon, descending node (Kétu) considered as planet and the other three planets. This occasion was used to donate special grants called “tulāpurushadāna”, which means gold of weight equivalent to the weight of the king was disbursed. This particular record pertains to the then Mysore Maharaja.

LANGUAGES USED         
Languages used in earliest inscriptions are Pali, Prakrit, Nagari and Sanskrit. Subsequent ones are in Kannada, Tamil, Telugu and Persian. Earliest Kannada inscription dated back 
to 450 CE.

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Cities> Bengaluru / by Meera Bharadwaj / Express News Service / November 22nd, 2020

Subbanna Ambesangi passes away

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Education, Records, All

Writer Subbanna Ambesangi (70) died in Eklaspur in Bidar district on Monday.

He retired as a college lecturer.

Apart from creative works, he produced scholarly thesis on the problems of Kannada-speaking population in the border districts.

His poetry collections, Kadinalli Hidida Grahana, Aralu, Chetana and Balliya Hoo, have won awards.

He was also a recipient of the district level Rajyotsava award.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> States> Karnataka / by Special Correspondent / Belagavi – November 09th, 2020

Wipro’s Azim Premji emerges as most generous Indian in FY20

Amazing Feats, Business & Economy, Education, Inspiration/ Positive News and Features, Leaders, Records, All, World Opinion

Premji pipped HCL Technologies’ Shiv Nadar, who had earlier topped the list collated by Hurun Report India and Edelgive Foundation, by a wide margin.

Wipro Chairman Azim Premji (File Photo | PTI)

Mumbai :

IT major Wipro’s Azim Premji donated Rs 22 crore a day or Rs 7,904 crore in a year to emerge as the most generous Indian in FY20 and top a list of philanthropy.

Premji pipped HCL Technologies’ Shiv Nadar, who had earlier topped the list collated by Hurun Report India and Edelgive Foundation, by a wide margin.

Nadar’s donations stood at Rs 795 crore for FY20 as against Rs 826 crore in the year-ago period.

Premji had donated Rs 426 crore in the previous fiscal.

Richest Indian Mukesh Ambani of Reliance Industries retained the third spot among the list of givers by donating Rs 458 crore as against Rs 402 crore a year ago, it said.

The raging pandemic had the corporate honchos repurposing their donations to fight the COVID infections, and the top giver on this turned out to be Tata Sons with a Rs 1,500- crore commitment, followed by Premji at Rs 1,125 crore and Ambani’s Rs 510 crore.

A bulk of the corporate commitments seemed to be given to the PM-CARES Fund, with Reliance Industries committing Rs 500 crore, and Aditya Birla Group donating Rs 400 crore, the report said.

It can be noted that Tatas’ commitment also includes a Rs 500 crore donation to the newly created fund.

Premji’s generosity pulled the total donations up by 175 per cent to Rs 12,050 crore in FY20, the list said.

Azim Premji Endowment Fund owns 13.6 per cent of the promoter’s shareholding in Wipro and has the right to receive all money earned from promoter shares, the report said.

The number of individuals who have donated more than Rs 10 crore increased marginally to 78 from the year-ago period’s 72, the report said.

With a donation of Rs 27 crore, Amit Chandra and Archana Chandra of ATE Chandra foundation are the first and only professional managers to ever enter the list.

The list has three of Infosys’ co-founders with Nandan Nilekani (Rs 159 crore), S Gopalkrishnan (Rs 50 crore) and S D Shibulal (Rs 32 crore).

The list of 109 individuals who have donated over Rs 5 crore has seven women, led by Rohini Nilekani’s Rs 47 crore.

Education is the highest beneficiary sector with 90 philanthropists, led by Premji and Nadar, donating Rs 9,324 crore, the report said, adding healthcare came second with 84 donors and was followed by disaster relief and rehabilitation with 41 donors.

The financial capital led by donor count at 36, followed by New Delhi at 20 and Bengaluru at 10.

E-commerce firm Flipkart’s co-founder Binny Bansal was the youngest donor at 37 with a commitment of Rs 5.3 crore and the average age of the donors on the list was 66 years, it said.

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Business / by PTI / November 10th, 2020