Inculcating the spirit of patriotism in young minds is his objective. Painting portraits of freedom fighters is his passion. GJMehandale who has been working for 30 years as drawing teacher at AdityaBirla Public School, Kumarapatnam, in Renebennurtaluk ofHaveri has been pursuing his passion with an objective.
He has made the portraits of over 100 Indian freedom fighters using water proof ink on khadi cloth of 4×5 feet size. His works include the portraits of Mahatma Gandhi , Motilal Nehru, Rabindranath Tagore, Lokamanya Balagangadhara Tilak, Lala Lajpat Rai, Gopalakrishna Gokhale, Bipinchandra Pal, Chhatrapati Shivaji, Dadabai Naoroji, Mangal Pande, Rajaram Mohan Roy, Sangolli Rayanna, Jhansi Lakshmi Bai and Kittur Rani Channamma. Mehandale also enjoys collecting the biographies of freedom fighters and has published a handbook of over 100 freedom fighters in Kannada.
Mehandale has organized over 95 exhibitions in schools, colleges, as well as at literary events and other socio-cultural platforms. His paintings have drawn the attention of students and general public across the state, besides other Indian cities. “I conduct exhibitions with the support of Rashtra Gourava Samrakshana Parishat, a Bangalore-based NGO. Thousands of students and others have so far come to see my paintings,” he says with pride.
Mehandale also displays paintings to commemorate the birth anniversaries of freedom fighters as well as days of historical importance like the Quit India movement day.
Harihar’s DRM school headmaster H Chandrappa said such exhibitions are helpful in developing the spirit of patriotism among youngsters. “They encourage the students to know more about the nation’s history as present school curriculum gives them very less information on the same,” said Bhuvaneshwari, an English teacher.
source: http://www.articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Hubli / by S A Gangaraju, TNN / August 15th, 2013
District Minister Sreenivasa Prasad is seen felicitating the freedom fighters as (from left) MLA Tanveer Sait, MP H. Vishwanath, Police Commissioner M.A. Saleem, DCP A.N. Rajanna, Deputy Commissioner C. Shikha and SP Abhinav Khare look on
Mysore :
Five freedom fighters amongst the few survivors of a generation that took part in the freedom struggle, were felicitated for their contributions during the I-Day celebrations yesterday.
The District Administration, which identified five out of the 50 members of Mysore District Freedom Fighters Association, honoured them. They are:
1. P. Venkata Swamy: Born in 1927, he was arrested during the Quit India Movement despite being a student. He had also been taken as a political prisoner for participating in the movement and imprisoned for a month. Currently, he is the Secretary of the District Freedom Fighters Association.
2. M.B. Hale Gowda: Born in 1930, he was involved in picketing during anti-tobacco and anti-liquor movements in the district and also took part in social reconstruction besides being involved in the Mysore Chalo Movement. He too underwent imprisonment at the Srirangapatna Sub-jail.
3. C.N. Ashwathnarayana Shetty: He took part in social movements connected with freedom struggle and was arrested along with scores of Congress leaders during such struggles. He was sent to Mandya jail before being shifted to Bangalore central jail for one month.
4. M.Somashekaraiah: He took part in Mysore Chalo agitation and was taken into custody while on a Prabhat Pheri at Hassan.
5. B. Lingaiah: He was felicitated for his participation in the Goa Liberation movement.
source: http://www.starofmysore.com / Star of Mysore / Home> General News / August 16th, 2013
Gururaj ‘Desh’ Deshpande is an Indian American investor, best known for cofounding Sycamore Networks and the Deshpande Center for Technological Innovation at MIT in the US. In Bangalore, he co-founded Tejas Networks. Three years ago, US President Barack Obama appointed him co-chair of the National Advisory Council on Innovation and Entrepreneurship. For those new to this space, he is related to Infosys’ N R NarayanaMurthy (his and Murthy’s wives are sisters ), and it is said that Deshpande used to be introduced as Murthy’s brother-in-law in India, and vice-versa in the US. Deshpande spoke exclusively to TOI on a visit to Bangalore on Thursday:
How do you see the immigration debate in the US?
The US wants highly talented people to be part of its economy. When we went to the US in the ’70s, we didn’t have that many opportunities to come back. Now, a lot of people going there for education are not staying back and the US is getting to the point where their education is the best in the world and they are not benefiting from it. They are pro-immigration for highly talented people. But there are also 20 million illegal immigrants in US, hence there’s this big debate about granting citizenship to immigrants.
You advise Obama on innovation and entrepreneurship. How is that initiative going?
Innovation is as important in the US as it is in India. In the US, for the last 15 years, 5 lakh new companies have started every year, generating 4 million new jobs each year. This has happened independent of slowdowns . The only way to solve the long-term problem is to create more jobs and take it to 8 or 10 million. The question is how do you get startups and how do you bring them up to speed? We cameup with a policy on how to generate ideas, promote entrepreneurship and provide access to capital. The key message that applies to India also is that government should not be in the game of picking winners and losers. They should explore co-investing opportunities or give tax breaks to angel investors and VCs.
What is your assessment of the startup ecosystem in India?
I’m excited. Sometimes in India people’s expectation goes out of hand. People think that they can create entrepreneurship by building infrastructure and incubators. It doesn’t happen. It happens only by people actively engaging in it. The best policy is, you let a lot of people play and not pick the winners and losers. It’s like having a cricket team with a lot of street cricket. Once you have big platforms, you have good people coming to it.
You’ve set up what you call a Social Innovation Sandbox to nurture social enterprise and innovation in the Hubli-Dharwad region. How is that going?
If impact is what you desire, you have to get connected to real problems. If you want social innovation to happen, you have to have a deep understanding of the problem itself and then to solve it. You need new ideas that needn’t be patentable and looking for huge competitive advantage. Relevance is the most important piece in social innovation. We have 10,000 college students in Hubli-Dharwad doing about 2,000 projects. You’re using society as a lab. Even if 3-4 % of them become entrepreneurs and employ 10 or 100 people, it’s a huge booster to the economy. When you bring execution excellence to the compassion of the non-profit , magic happens. Ratan Tata was a part of the Sandbox last year. I met him in Mumbai recently and he said he wants to do something similar. Ratan is motivated to solve huge problems . He thinks Akshaya Patra can scale from feeding 1.2 million to 100 million.
source: http://www.articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> Tech> Enterprise IT> Entrepreneurship / by Shilpa Padnis & Sujit John, TNN / August 09th, 2013
Replica of theDandi March statue at Freedom Fighters park in city.
The city of the Mysore is usually identified for its tradition, culture and aesthetics. Thousands of tourists from across the globe visit Mysore every day to view various tourist spots across the city. While the Government has been chalking out plans to improve city’s tourism, little is done to promote the city’s role in the freedom struggle and freedom fighters who laid their lives. Tyagis such as Thagadur Ramachandra Rao, M.N. Jois, Yashodamma Dasappa, Ramaswamy and many more fought for the freedom. Mysore, which was a Princely State then, witnessed ‘Mysore Chalo’ agitation against the rulers, for disagreeing to join the Union of India. Prior to Mysore Chalo, freedom fighters took active part in the ‘Quit India Movement.’
This Weekend’s Star Supplement tries to give an insight into the freedom struggle in Mysore.
Freedom Struggle and Mysore
Mysore :
As India celebrates its 67th Independence Day on August 15, 2013, people in Mysore also remember the contributions of freedom fighters from Mysore, who braved their hearts to fight for Independence and also during ‘Mysore Chalo,’ the post-independence struggle to bring the Princely State of Mysore under the Union of India.
At a time when the struggle for independence had begun, Mysore was also influenced by the national awakening which was being evidenced by newspapers such as The Hindu, The New India, Maratha and some of the local newspapers such as Karnataka Prakashika, Suryodaya Prakashika and Vrittanta Chittamani.
There was definite activity in the direction of national awakening as was evidenced during the I World War when Thagadur Ramachandra Rao started his movement against the foul criticism of the Hindu Society by the Christian Missionaries and also started selling pictures of Jalianwallah Bagh tragedy at his shop in Mysore in 1919.
When Bal Gangadhar Tilak passed away on August 1, 1920, there was a huge procession of mourners and shops in Mysore were closed. Even the district court was forced to shut. The procession was led by the students of Maharaja’s College followed by the boys of Marimallappa High School and other schools and among the leaders were Devudu Narasimha Shastry, a college student then, M. Venkatakrishnaiah, who was the Principal of Marimallappa High School, who were responsible for bringing in leaders such as Thagadur Ramachandra Rao, M.N. Jois, Palahalli Sitaramaiayya and Agaram Rangayya to the national cause.
When KPCC was formed in the Nagpur Congress convention, its branches were opened all over Karnataka in 1921 and M. Venkatakrishnaiah was the first President of Mysore District Congress Committee. In the mofussil areas, Visveswara Gowda of Nanjangud, T. S. Subbanna of Thagadur, T. Rama Rao, Siddhoji Rao and T.P. Boraiah at T.Narasipur, advocate M.A. Srinivas Iyengar and G. Krishna Murthy of Hunsur and Ganapathi Shastry of Saligrama were some of the early leaders of Congress during 1920s and early 1930s who spearheaded the freedom movement.
The Congress in this part of the region was funded by philanthropists like Sahukar D. Banumaiah, P.N. Sangappa and hotelier Badri Prasad.
By 1938, the struggle for independence intensified after the Shivapura Congress was held. Many leaders were imprisoned after the Shivapura Satyagraha and Dwaja Satyagraha in Mysore region. Freedom fighters from Chamarajanagar and K.R. Nagar actively participated in the freedom struggle which resulted in about 6000 people being sent to jails across Karnataka.
Speaking to Star of Mysore, Mysore District Freedom Fighters Association President D.S. Jagadish said that at the time of Quit India Movement people involved in freedom struggle laid a siege on the post offices, damaged the railway tracks and cut off the telephone lines in protest. The protest intensified after news about Mahatma Gandhi’s arrest was announced.
Majority of the planning regarding the freedom struggle was being done at Subbarayana Kere, which is located opposite Anathalaya on Narayana Shastri Road in city.
Mysore also witnessed the visit of Mahatma Gandhi during the freedom struggle on August 19, 1927 to propagate the cause of khadi following which a khadi production unit was started at Badanawal in Nanjangud Taluk.
Later, at the time of the Simon Commission visit to India, Thagadur Ramachandra Rao published a booklet ‘Simon Commissionnige Dhikkara’ (Down, Down Simon Commission) and addressed a public meeting in Mysore. He was sent to 15 days imprisonment and thus became the first political prisoner in Mysore State (1928).
The Tricolour was hoisted by M.N. Jois and L.V. Rajagopal on January 26, 1930 at Mysore as per the call of the All India Congress Committee. When the Civil Disobedience movement was launched in the British territories, two batches of volunteers — one led by Siddhanath Pant and another led by G.R. Swamy — went to Bombay-Karnataka area and returned after the signing of Gandhi-Irvine Pact in 1931.
Mysore also witnessed the commencement of Diamonds’ League, a nationalist youth organisation started by B. Srinivas Murthy and Krishnamurthy Padaki with the help of A.N. Suryanarayan Rao at Chamundipuram. The organisation was started to mobilise youths for the national movement. It also organised an exhibition of Swadeshi goods in 1932 at Chamundipuram.
Again, a large number of youths went to Bombay in 1932 and underwent imprisonment. Among them were M.N. Jois, his wife Subbamma Jois, Suryanarayan Pandit, N.D. Srirangachar and T.S. Subbanna. Many faced social boycott on return and M.N. Jois and his wife were even refused entry into their house.
Thagadur Ramachandra Rao organised temple entry programme for untouchables at Nanjangud and also founded a Harijan hostel in Thagadur in 1934. Gandhiji visited Mysore to advocate the eradication of untouchability and raised contributions for Harijan fund. After this, Thagadur Ramachandra Rao and his colleagues like M.N. Jois had to face lot of humiliation and insults when they went to work among the villagers. They were denied food and shelter even by the hostels and were greeted by pelting of stones, footwear and cowdung.
In later years, student leaders like Ramachandra Jois, H.S. Sadashivaiah and T.S. Subbanna conducted nationalist programmes at Maharaja’s College including flag hoisting in 1937, 1938 and 1939. To curb the nationalist activities among students, an order was passed in June 1938 that students failing in annual examination of the high school classes should not be allowed to attend classes for a second year. This resulted in Congress leaders like M.N. Jois taking initiative to start the Mahajan High School for victimised students in 1938.
Student strike continued even after the students spread themselves in groups to mofussil areas. Eight student leaders including H.Y. Sharada Prasad and Abdul Gafoor were arrested and 26 elder detainees from Mysore Jail were shifted to Bangalore Central Jail with a view to keep the students in ‘isolation’ in Mysore Jail. Despite all efforts by the Government to stop the students from striking, it continued. But, the death of a student, Shankarappa, in Mysore jail due to lathi charge on October 29, 1942, created panic among both the jail inmates and their parents. A student meeting at the Town Hall on November 23, 1942 which was chaired by Bhupalan Vasudeva Murthy, was attended by more than 1000 students who passed a resolution to withdraw the strike and return to classes and engage themselves in national and constructive work.
This was followed by the release of H.Y. Sharada Prasad and other convicted leaders on December 3, 1942. Even after the schools and colleges reopened, incidents of explosions were reported from Maharaja College Library on December 9, 1942. M.V. Krishnappa, one of the leaders, who was underground, offered satyagraha and courted arrested in January, 1943. The 11- week student struggle in Mysore went on to become one of the unique factors in Karnataka’s history of Quit India Movement.
Even today, freedom fighters in Mysore observe Quit India Movement Day. The District Freedom Fighters Association organises special function on August 9 every year and remembers those who sacrificed their lives during independence struggle.
Mysore Chalo
Even after India achieved independence from the British Rule on August 15, 1947, the celebrations in Mysore were subdued due to the resistance from the administrators of the Princely State. The then ruler Jayachamaraja Wadiyar refused to establish Responsible Government. Even the Indian Tricolour was not allowed to be hoisted. This prompted for yet another struggle called as ‘Mysore Chalo’, the last phase of freedom struggle. Even when the nationalists hoisted the flag at Subbarayana Kere, the Police intervened and removed the flag on September 3.
The Congress gave a call to volunteers from all parts of the then Mysore State to organise jathas to officially announce the commencement of ‘Mysore Chalo’ on September 4, 1947. Everyone including the students, workers, railway employees from all parts of the State rushed towards Mysore to take out rallies against the rulers of Mysore. Several liquor shops were attacked, taluk offices gheraoed, telegraphic wires delinked and railway lines removed.
At the time of intense protest, one high school student, Ramaswamy, died in Mysore when the Police opened fire at a procession at the Circle in the junction of JLB Road and Chamaraja Double Road, which has been appropriately named after him. A boy called Chandrashekar managed to hoist the National Flag on the Palace. As the jails were full, the arrested were taken in vehicles to be let off in far off places.
Later, Maharaja Jayachamaraja Wadiyar climbed down by accepting the demands on September 24, 1947 which was announced by K.C. Reddy at Subbarayana Kere. Following this, a responsible K.C. Reddy was sworn-in as CM on September 27.
The city also observes the ‘Mysore Chalo’ anniversary every year at the Freedom Fighters Park. People who participated in the ‘Mysore Chalo’ movement assemble at the park and pay respects to those who lost their lives in the struggle. It is said that around 69 people died and about 229 were injured during the struggle. [Source: Karnataka State Gazetteer]
source: http://www.starofmysore.com / Star of Mysore / Home> Feature Articles / August 10th, 2013
Premji completed his schooling from St Mary’s School in Mumbai, and later to pursue his graduation he went to the world renounced Stanford University, USA. Unfortunately he had to drop his studies because of the untimely demise of his father, M.H.Premji, the then owner of Wipro and so, Premji had to take over of the chairmanship. # Tagged among the World’s Most Powerful CEOs
Premji is a person of clear vision with the ability to create a brand name through sheer integrity and innovation. Infact, he is the voted as the most powerful CEOs in 2013.
It wasn’t an easy task for Premji to guide his company for four decades which has now become one of the most successful companies in the world. In the year 2000, he was voted as 20 most powerful personalities in the world by “Asiaweek”.
Forbes recognized Premji as 100 most influential people in the world in 2000. For many years now, he was voted as one of the richest people in India and in the year 1995, he was honored with Padma Bhushan in 2009 and Padma Vibhushan in 2011.
source: http://www.siliconindia.com / Silicon India / Home> News> Business / Tuesday – July 23rd, 2013
Indu Nagaraj after receiving the Radio Mirchi Award.
by Shwetha Halambi
Music is in her veins. When she speaks, she speaks music…
Queen of a lilting voice which can sail smoothly over classical or fall-rise unexpectedly in western, young singer Indu Nagaraj has been adding colourful feathers to her vocal talent with many awards including the coveted Filmfare (Best Female Playback Singer-South) and more recently, the Radio Mirchi award (Best Upcoming Singer-South) for the path-breaking hit song ‘Pyaarge Aagbitthaite… from the film ‘Govindaya Namaha.’
Born in a musically-inclined family to Vidwan C.A. Nagaraj (English Lecturer, Maharani Govt. PU College, Mysore and renowned vocalist & flautist) and H.S. Radha, Indu began her musical journey at a tender age of two years. Her initial training began with her grandmother late Vidu. C.S. Satyalakshmi and later under her father. She gave her first performance at five and first recorded music programme in DD and AIR at the age of 7.
She has given hundreds of concerts with her sister and well-known singer Lakshmi Nataraj and bagged State Award as Chilkunda Sisters. The sisters came into limelight with the winning of popular TV shows like ETV’s ‘Ede Thumbi Haaduvenu,’ Zee TV’s ‘Sa Re Ga Ma Pa’ etc. Her talent has been suitable recognised with numerous awards including Aryabhata award, 92.7 Big FM Promising Singer State Award, Udaya Film Award (Best Female Playback Singer) etc.
Always busy hopping from recording studios to music concerts, Indu Nagaraj took out time to chat with ‘SOM’ on her tryst with microphone:
Star of Mysore: ‘Pyaarge Aagbitthaite…’ is a retro-rock and you come from a classical background.
Indu Nagaraj: All film songs have a classical base. Thus if you have a strong foundation in classical music, it will be easier to sing any type of song, whether it’s retro-rock or sugama sangeetha. Hence, I did not find it difficult to sing the song.
SOM: You recently received the prestigious Filmfare award and the Radio Mirchi award for the song. Did you expect the song to bring you so many laurels?
Indu: No. But I am very happy for receiving the awards and the recognition.
SOM: How did your journey in playback singing begin?
Indu: Since childhood, I have been singing classical and sugama sangeetha songs. I first got a chance to act in ‘Minchu’ serial of T.N. Seetharam. Music Director Hamsalekha gave me a chance to sing a song (Ninna nenape nanna haadu) for Seetharam’s film ‘Meera Madhava Raghava.’ From then on, I have sung for about 20 films in Kannada including ‘Olave Vismaya,’ ‘Paraari,’ ‘Yuva,’ ‘Nee Tata Naa Birla,’ ‘Bachchan’ etc., and the recent Telugu film ‘Potugadu.’
SOM: Your future plans?
Indu: There are lots of opportunities in the music field, especially in playback singing. Apart from that, I am also singing for albums, both folk and devotional songs.
SOM: What, according to you, is your voice best suited for?
Indu: I believe it’s classical. But I would love to sing in any style of music, be it retro, classical, rock or any other form.
SOM: What do you feel about borrowing playback singers from other languages to Kannada film industry?
Indu: I believe there are many local talents who, given the opportunity, have the ability to do justice to their singing. Kannada film industry should first give chance to the singers here; they too can sing well like those from other languages.
SOM: Finally, who is the music director in Kannada you can comfortably work with?
Indu: I have worked with almost all music directors in Kannada filmdom and I have enjoyed it. Each have their own styles.
source: http://www.starofmysore.com / Star of Mysore / Home> General News / August 04th, 2013
Silicon Valley based mobile accelerator Tandem Capital has announced its latest fund named Tandem Habit fund III with its batch of startups including, AcceptPay, PacketZoom and Shoptimize. As per an SED filing – it’s a $100 million fund and headed by Rohit Bhagat.
This is the third round of fund launched by the accelerator which invests $200,000 in each startup with 6 months on-site collaboration. Earlier it had raised two rounds of funds including $32 million in its previous round.
Most of Tandem Capital’s investments are usually in the form of convertible notes for 10% equity. The accelerator is led by Sunil Bhargava, Rohit Bhagat and John R Ellis. Launched by Doug Renert and Sunil Bhargava in 2007, Tandem invests in six companies in one batch. Bhargava has over 20 years in technology and marketing in companies such as Xerox Parc, HP and Webvan. Doug Renert has worked with Oracle, DLA and Tello.
So far Tandem Capital has more than a dozen startups in its portfolio including Appthegame, Bash Gaming, SiftShopping and Pune based Shoptimize, a mobile commerce platform targeted for traditional merchants in US and emerging markets.
Former Infosys director T V Mohandas Pai and Ranjan Pai are investors in the fund through Aarin Capital, a PE fund set up by the duo. Earlier, the Pais invested $35mn in 4 startups from their $100 million fund launched in August 2011.
source: http://www.yourstory.in / Your Story / Home> Funding Launch News / Team YS / July 31st, 2013
A successful entrepreneur and mentor Claudius Pereira, founder and Managing Director of System Tech Pvt Ltd, provided valuable tips to the new post-graduate diploma holders in business management of the St Joseph’s College of Business Management to strive for success by starting from their strengths as that alone would pave the way for overcoming any weakness and realize their ultimate dreams.
He was delivering the 16th Convocation Address of SJCBA, after the Chairman of the Governing Council and Rector of St Joseph’s Institutions in Bangalore Rev Dr Stany D’Souza presented the post-graduate diploma certificates to 110 of the 120 students – the other 10 being conferred the diplomas in absentia at a solemn and glittering function.
Claudius Pereira, the author of the book on his family saga,”Echoes of Footprints,” that created history with book launches in the three countries of India at Bangalore, UK and USA, advised the students to dream big because all great careers generally start with big and great dreams, which need to be pursued with passion, determination, dedication, decisiveness and right aptitude.
”Success does not come to you by itself. You need to go and work for it,” Pereira said pointing out that he was speaking from experience as he himself had come up from utter poverty to achieve success and prosperity which also included failure.
Pereira, who claimed that he had started with a measly monthly salary of Rs 300 to establish three successful companies and tasted failure, said the Josephites should never be discouraged or disheartened by failures because failures provided valuable lessons to learn from the mistakes and strive for success.
”Don’t ever give up in the face of adversity or setbacks because failures are and should be the stepping stones for future successes,” he said asserting that, ”there is no gain without pain.”
In his presidential address, Rev Dr Stany D’Souza emphasized the importance of education in the transformation of self and the world by teaching new things and also in learning them so as to help in the formation of individuals and future citizens.
”Life is about growing and picking good habits as transformation cannot be achieved without changes in ideas, attitudes, beliefs and priorities,” Fr Stany D’Souza said stressing the need for not allowing negative attitudes to dominate the hearts and minds for the development of healthy society.
The overall gold medal for first rank was given to Amitha M R, silver medal to Sahana B S and bronze medal to Rahul Laxman. The gold and silver medal winners in management were Amitha M R and Anita K B, financial marketing Sharon Flavia Misquith and Deepak Hegde, human resource management Shana B S and Rahul Lakshman and operations management Amitha M R and Joselyn Pereira .
The 16th Convocation function got off with recitation of the readings from three Holy Scriptures – Bible, Quran and Bhagawad Gita – by students. Prof Edwin Castelino, Dean, presented the annual report for the year 2012-13. Prof Vandana Nair compered the entire programme. Prof Venkatesh Raj proposed a vote of thanks.
source: http://www.daijiworld.com / Home> Top Stories / by Daijiworld Special Correspondent / Daijiworld Media Network – Bangalore / July 21st, 2013
State government to bring out a coffee table book on the building that defines Bangalore.
Kengal Hanumanthaiya and Jayachamaraja Wodeyar inspecting Vidhana Soudha construction work.
The magnificent Vidhana Soudha may draw ‘oohs’ and ‘aahs’ from visitors to the city, but the man responsible for the constructing the imposing mansion that seats the legislature and the government in Karnataka, had to face the face the ignominy of an indictment from an inquiry committee that found him guilty of wasting tax-payers’ money on the building, during its construction.
Kengal Hanumanthaiya, then chief minister, who made it the mission of his life to build the structure which is considered among the grandest legislature buildings anywhere in the country, was indicted by a committee appointed by himself, and headed by the then leader of the Opposition, JM Imam, the then accountant general and the then general manager of the State Bank of Mysore, BV Narayana Reddy.
The committee finished its work in six months and came out with a 222-page report after questioning over 200 people. The anecdote and many other interesting ones are contained in a coffee table book that the state government is set to bring out. The 324-pager, commissioned by the state government and written by veteran journalist CM Ramachandra, was completed three years ago, but was not released for some reason or other.
The book explains how Kengal, as he was known, had to go face a litany of allegations during the construction of the Soudha, including criticism within the party of spending scarce public resources on a building rather than focus on social and economic development.
Once, Kengal had to defend himself against such a charge in the presence of then union minister for community projects SK De at a public meeting held at the Town Hall in the city. De, considered confidante of prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru, was reportedly unhappy with the state government’s failure in implementing community development projects, but Kengal defended himself vigorously, asserting that construction of Vidhana Soudha was his top priority.
Prisoners from the central jail in the city were used in the construction of the building, and as Kengal was making an inspection tour during the construction along with Kadidal Manjappa, the future CM, one of the prisoners attacked him with an iron rod, the book says, adding that a man called Puttaswamy from Chikkaballapur saved the chief minister from serious harm.
Before starting the construction, Kengal visited the House of Commons building in London and similar structures in Sweden and Norway, as well as buildings in Mumbai and Delhi. The book, which contains rare photographs, recalls that Prime Minister Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru laid the foundation stone on July 13, 1951, and it was inaugurated on October 14, 1956.
source: http://www.dnaindia.com / DNA / Home>Bangalore> Report / Place:Bangalore, Agency:DNA / by Y Maheswara Reddy / Sunday – July 14th, 2013
The rich Indian traditional Carnatic and Hindustani music in the form of vocal and instrumental found its way to reach the common man in the early 1900s through the Gramophone and LP records or Long Playing records. But with the advent of magnetic tapes, CDs, mobile phones, and other technological innovations, the Gramophone and LPs became more of a collector’s item.
Many treasures of great music by eminent musicians like Ustad Bade Ghulam Ali Khan, Ustad Salamat Ali Khan, Gangu Bai Hanagal, M.S.Subbulakshmi and a host of others recorded in the form of the LPs were lost and it called for some initiative by passionate people to preserve whatever could be.
That is when Vikram Sampath, a tech savvy young Bangalorean and a music aficionado took up up the mammoth task of archiving the music of yore. By digitising original recordings and making it available to music lovers at the click of a mouse on a digital platform, Vikram’s mission, Archive of Indian Music (AIM) is a comprehensive and honest approach to wards preservation of some of the gems of Indian music.
The challenges
“The first challenge of the project was the collection of LPs of different genres of music from different sources across India. Then we had to evaluate the quality of the records. The process of conversion to the digital format and finally uploading to the public domain through a website involved using top class technology,” says Vikram.
Collecting rare LPs from different parts of the country, spreading across genres, was indeed a tough task for Vikram and his team. He says, “The first ever Indian gramophone record was made in the year 1902 by Gauhar Jaan. I had a collection of a few hundreds of LPs to begin with. It was an absolute team effort to collect LPs from different parts of India, in different languages cutting across the genres of music.
Today, we are in possession of a huge inventory of LPs which include speeches of famous personalities.”
Bringing Gauhar back
Vikram, who is also a published author of three major books- ‘Splendours of Royal Mysore’, ‘My name is Gauhar Jaan! – the life and times of a musician’ and ‘Voice of the Veena: S Balachander, a biography’, stumbled upon an LP of Gauhar Jaan, when doing research on his book on the Mysore royals. “Gauhar was an extremely gifted Hindustani vocalist and it was her music that inspired me to initiate AIM,” says Vikram.
Giving shape
During his visits to Berlin, Vienna and other European countries, he was exposed to the technology of archiving of music content and that was the triggering point for him to give concrete shape to the project.
“Initially I proposed the concept to the Government of India, but the response was lukewarm but I was lucky to get help from Mohandas Pai of Manipal group. It has been a great journey in the world of music which has connected me to a team of dedicated music lovers,” he says. To listen to the preserved music, visit www.archiveofindianmusic.com.
source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Cities> Bangalore / by R. Manjunath Chavan rmchavan@newindianexpress.com / ENS – Bangalore / July 13th, 2013
