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The Hindu : The seventh edition of Spiritus, National Law School of India University’s (NLSIU) inter-law school sports fest, was held recently.

It was conducted at the NLSIU campus, SAI and Vijaynagar Club.

The event was dedicated to Alyosha Kumar, a student of NLSIU who tragically passed away recently.

The hosts were the overall champions. They won the football tournament beating M.S. Ramaiah College as well as the table tennis competition.

Bishop Cotton Girls won the throwball contest. M.S. Ramaiah won the tennis tourney while the hosts bagged the volleyball tournament. G.J. Advani College, Mumbai won the men’s basketball and the NLSIU team won the women’s badminton.

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The Hindu : Channel [V] in its programme “My India Report” is following six avid young reporters “truly representing rising India”. These youngsters have interacted with real people in the quest to understand India better, across eight key cities. From environment, marriage, love, politics, government to god, religion, careers and more, the team has explored every aspect to understand the dreams, ambitions, expectations and hopes of the young nation.

The opening episode of the reportintroduces its six young travellers and gives you a sneak preview of what is to come in the following weeks. Watch and get to know Team MIR (My India Report) comprising Ruhi, Ami, Pallavi, Kartik, Azhar and Prashant (all aged between 18 and 32 years), as they gear up for an adventure of a lifetime. Join them as they embark on this eight-city journey from Ahmedabad and dispel certain myths while reinforcing some preconceived notions about young India. Hear their voices as the team raises questions on sexuality, religion, government and politics in their quest to unravel the truth about the youth.

The show promises to be packed with excitement and energy peppered with a generous dose of opinions. To find out what the Indian youth is talking about tune in to the channel at 7.30 p.m. on November 1 to watch “My India Report – stories of a nation growing up”.

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The Hindu : Legendry thrash metal band Sepultura will be making a stop at Bangalore on November 3. They are headlining Kingfisher Metalfest ’07. The tour of India for the band has included shows at Delhi and Shillong. Indian band Brahma will open the concert.

Sepultura trace their origins to Brazil. Formed in 1984, their name means “tomb” in Portuguese, which they chose after Max Cavalera, one of the founding members, was translating the lyrics of the Motörhead song “Dancing on Your Grave”.

The band plays music which though heavy isn’t quite death metal. They draw a lot of inspiration from their roots and mix in a lot of samba into their numbers.

Their rise to fame began with critically acclaimed release Schizophrenia in the late ’80s.

They followed that with Beneath The Remains, Arise, Chaos A.D. and Roots.Some of their iconic numbers are “Territory”, “Refuse/Resist”, “Roots Bloody Roots”, “Ratamahatta”, “Arise” and “Kaiowas”. They have also performed covers of numbers by bands such as Black Sabbath. They were part of 1996 Ozzfest main stage alongside Ozzy Osbourne, Slayer, Danzig, Biohazard and Fear Factory. Their last release was Dante XXI in 2006based on Dante’s “The Divine Comedy”.

Today the band does not include the Cavalera brothers. It features Andreas Kisser (guitar), Derrick Green (vocals/guitar), Paulo Jr. (bass) and Jean Dolabella (drums).

They are famous for a tight stage act and the ability to get the audience to lose themselves in the music. It helps that their music is described as politically correct. They have dealt with issues such as the Israel-Palestine conflict and protests such as the Tiananmen Square massacre in their numbers.

The concert is at Palace Grounds. Tickets are priced at Rs. 800 and Rs. 500.

Visitwww.ticketpro.in for bookings.

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The Hindu : It’s sakkhat hot magaa. It’s delivering hit meley hit meley hit and all you need to do is keli kelisi life nimmadagisi so that you can mast majaa maadi, after you swalpa adjust maadi.

I know that doesn’t make too much sense. Isn’t grammatically right either. But you do get the point, don’t you? Welcome to the onslaught of new-age radio-driven Kannada that’s blaring out of the auto, the city taxi, the BMTC bus, and the college-goers cell phone.

With nearly 11 FM radio stations in the city, Bangalore has really heard it all — the convent-educated RJ with the Anglicised Kannada, the torrent of Kannada that one can’t fathom as Kannada at all, the generous smatterings of Kanglish added to everyday parlance, a calculatedly ‘cool’ Kannada that wasn’t around till FM radio happened. Of course many critics have slammed it, protested it, asked it to be cleaned up and purified. Blogs are brimming over with how Kannadigas would like to hear their Kannada on radio. There are others who are loving it as it is. Whatever said and done, it’s dominating Bangalore’s airwaves and ear-waves.

Noted writer and film-maker, former chairman of the Kannada Development Authority Baraguru Ramachandrappa sees this transformation in language as a routine process. “It happens when a new technology or a new generation comes in. We can make corrections, but there is no need to look at it negatively and reject it, because this is a process of growth in any language. It represents what is happening in a city-centred culture…radio stations in Bangalore are only structuring and channelising it.” He admits that radio has made the language fashionable, but stresses that fashion is a double-edged thing — it’s attractive at first but in an attempt to be too stylised, becomes artificial.

Sarala Mahesh is an ardent FM radio fan and listens to…More

The Hindu : Advaita Kala’s “Almost Single” is about Aisha Bhatia, a 29-year-old ‘large-framed’ singleton, working in a posh hotel by day and hanging out with friends — equally single Misha and freshly divorced Anushka by night. Aisha lives in Delhi and has a wide network of relatives and a worrying mum who has no sense of timing. She has the regulation boss from hell, a hearty dislike for smug marrieds flaunting double barrel, hyphenated sir names, gay friends Nic and Ric and of course a dream boat in the form of Karan and rival in the shape of Tantalising Tanya.

And dear reader be warned any similarity to Helen Fielding’s paean to singletons, “Bridget Jones Diary”, is purely coincidental. “I get asked about Bridget Jones all the time,” Advaita exclaims. “I don’t think it is a bad thing you know as Bridget Jones is a great book. However, I would say the ‘Almost Single’ is closer to ‘Sex and the City’ as it is all about bonding between women. I would describe the book as a take on the urban single woman. It is a sliver of society.”

While “Almost Single” falls plumb into the chicklit category, Advaita, in town for a book promotion tour, says she did not write the novel keeping genres in mind. “When I first heard the term I did not much care for it as it sounded derogatory. But then I figured if giving a name helps sell the book, it is alright. And then there is lad lit also right?”

Advaita, who works with the Taj Group in Delhi, says she had “no clue about how competitive the world of publishing is. I sent my first draft to the Harper Collins and it was accepted. There wasn’t much editing either. Just the length was whittled down from 90,000 words to 70,000.”

Advaita wrote the book when she was between “jobs and places.…More

The Hindu : The city rocked last week at the Hayward’s Black India Men’s Fashion Fair with Prasad Bidapa playing host at the Bangalore Palace. The show opened with Asif Shah’s men dressed in tapered, slim suits that were dyed in deep and mysterious tones of a dark and smooth glass. The four-day fashion fair had international designers showcasing their creativity, like Bangladeshi designer Bibi Russell flaunted her collection “Sapne Bante Haat” that comprised hand-woven kurtas with abstract prints teamed with Patiala salwars, Jodhpuri pyjamas and harem pants, inspired by the craftsmanship of Rajastani weavers.

Sri Lanka’s Darshini Keerthasena’s collection featured her trademark — batik prints on kurtas, loose shirts and saris in bright funky colours. Pakistan designer Deepak Perwani’s retro funk collection was for the metrosexual man. Geometric designs with featured embroidery that was a departure from the usual ethnic embellishments with crystallizations in gold, rust brown, petal green and black. Each day witnessed nine collections.Hemant Sagar and Didier Lecoanet dressed models in kitchen wear with their line “buri sight walley, your moo black”, while Ayaz Khan showcased his wedding collection for the groom. The line with its gold detailing created a royal effect. Bollywood designer Vijay Arora showcased some filmi designs while Sharbari Dutta, designed ethnic outfits with classical embellishment like kantha embroidery, which was quite the flavour of the event. For some added glitz, we had our very own Puneet Raj Kumar walking the ramp showcasing Lokesh Ahuja’s pared down silhouettes.Suman Ranganathan wore Dimple Verma’s collection, Turquoise and Gold, while Sanjana showcased Shantanu & Nikhil’s collection that spelt out the effervescence and celebrated youth.

Each day ended with a grand finale.The first day had Rohit Bal’s collection inspired by Istanbulwhere copper blue and gold on royal silk fabrics dominated. Krishna Mehta and Tarun Tahiliani’s men wore ethnic wear that comprised an amalgamation of rich texture, fabrics and royal colours with a glimpse of contemporary designs. Tahiliani’s…More

The Hindu : It is time for Deepavali again. It is probably the festival of the year as far as India is concerned and there is not a corner of the country where the festival of lights is not celebrated. The celebrations are not complete without the use of firecrackers and this has often been subject of heated debate.

Over the years every Deepavali has been preceded by campaigns to curb the use of firecrackers. And not without valid reason. First among the protests has been against the use of child labour in the manufacture of firecrackers. Next has been the health hazards involved in the manufacture and the use of crackers.

Cities especially are choked with the smoke on the day of the festival and the noise mostly is well above permissible limits.

Authorities have stepped in banning certain types of firecrackers and pollution standards might be enforced at the manufacturing stage itself. Also there is a ban on the use of firecrackers from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. every Deepavali .

But is enough being done?

I feel the use of firecrackers has reduced. I think the awareness among people has risen and they know the harmful effects of bursting crackers. Also people are moving to crackers with less noise.

ManasaFashion student

I don’t think there has been any significant effect on the amount of firecrackers used. Crackers are definitely annoying. People should become more sensitive to the sound pollution that they cause.

TerenceTeacher

No, the use of firecrackers to celebrate Deepavali has not reduced at all. Actually, I feel the use of crackers has increased. It is up to the educated class to realise the ills of bursting firecrackers and stop.

AshithaFashion student

The crackers that are the most annoying are the bombs that just produce noise and nothing else. People should use crackers that produce light. There should be awareness to clean up after Deepavali .

SabrenTeacher

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The Hindu : Vishwanathan Anand’s continued success at the World Championships has been an impetus for many parents in Bangalore. Youngsters in the city are being encouraged to take up chess seriously and the game has received tremendous boost over the lastfew years. A few youngsters from Bangalore have made an impact in the recent Under-nine National Championship and they could go on to become players of repute in the near future.

M. Satvik is the younger son of a doctor couple from the city. He started playing chess when he was four-and-a-half years old with his brother, M. Suraj who has played competition-level chess. Suraj taught Satvik the basics and Satvik made rapid progress. He is now being coached by former State Champion Aravind Shastry.

At the age of six, Satvik was ready to participate in tournaments and played his first championship in 2002 at Sirsi. This was a selection event for youngsters to participate in the nationals and he finished eighth.

The first two ranked in the tournament played for the State. In 2004 at Sangli, Satvik played in the under-eight category and won the tournament. After that, his trophy case kept filling with good performances. In 2005, he was placed third in the under-eight, won the under-ten (where he beat Girish Koushik to win the title) and finished fifth in the under-12.

In 2006, Satvik made his first trip abroad where he participated in the Asian Youth Championship at Teheran. He bagged the bronze medal and in that tournament had the measure of Ch Mohineesh and forced a draw with the ultimate champion, Prince Bajaj from Delhi.

Satvik takes the game very seriously with practice for two hours on weekdays and four on weekends. He has become used to travelling abroad having played in Greece at the World Schools’ Championship where he was placed fifth in the individual event and won a gold along with Ivana Furtado,…More