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The Hindu : In the not so distant past, the sight of grandparents, especially grandmothers regaling the tiny tots with stories from all over was a common sight in most households. Given the sway that this oral medium of information dissemination had on children, it was not surprising to see the eagerness with which they waited for their vacations to commence so that they could head to their grandparents house and listen to thestories over and over again.Cut this scene to Generation Next and one finds that they are more or less likely to head to their nearest music store to pick up the latest digital video or video compact discs featuring exploits of their favourite mythological or novel characters. With most having a basic home theatre system, the choice for students to learn their mythological stories has just gone from oral to visual.More moviesLending credence to this trend is the increasing sale of DVDs of leading children’s film titles such as Krishna, My Friend Ganesha, Bal Ganesh, Noddy, Barbie across music stores in the city. The store in-charge of a leading music store at Bejai says, “We have sold nearly 70 pieces of children’s favourite movie My Friend Ganesha and have ordered for more copies. The enquiries for children’s home videos are on the rise,” he adds. Sakshi, and Mithali, just can not do without their daily dose of favourite cartoons films. “They have graduated from Tom and Jerry to watching Asterix and Tintin.While Sakshi goes about her film watching quietly, Mithali is more animated and loves imitating the mannerisms of her favourite characters such as Mr. Bean and the Power Rangers,” notes Stanley Pinto, their father. “They know each scene in the films by-heart,” he adds.Same is the case with Mithun Shenoy, a cartoon buff. When he is not busy zapping the television remote to tune into his favourite cartoon show, he is invariably on to…More

The Hindu : Enough has been written about her career as an actress and the anomaly that her National Law School background presents to her image as a performer. But what has often escaped mention is Malavika Avinash’s intellect. For an industry which prides itself on its ability to deliver an unending list of “pretty young things”, bracketing the rebellious Malavika has always been a somewhat onerous task.She is back again in public life after an eight-month hiatus, with her 30-day-old baby boy in her arms. Malavika’s first statements are more a confession of a new-found sobriety: “Suddenly the ‘so what’ facet of my personality has receded. My indifference for future consequences of my actions has been replaced with a realisation of the fact that somebody really special is so helplessly dependent on me.”But as the conversation progresses it becomes apparent that the rebel in her has only made a transition from an unbridled, free-speaking radical to a focussed campaigner.“The feminist in me has had its rough edges shorn off. A few years, maybe even a few months ago, I would have pounced on someone if I saw the slightest hint of sexism, an insensitive joke or statement would have me going ballistic. I am perhaps a little more tolerant now.”Her political ambitions too are yet to be doused.“I am surely not a radical communist. However, as a youngster who grew up in post-Emergency India, I am a socialist by default. For someone like me politics is a natural progression.”Although a critic of the “world is getting smaller” theory, she confesses that she too has been subsumed by globalisation. She points to the mobile phone in her hands and the big car we are travelling in. “The smaller aspirations of life make way for the big dream. With globalisation of the American dream everything has to be big — big car, big house, big budget cinema…”Going by that,…More

The Hindu : If the sparrow is any indication of how the world is changing, soon crows and trees might also be found only in e-books, warns J. Vasanth AdithyaI still remember the days when I used to come home from school and spend the evening on my terrace watching the birds that flew in the sky. Since then I have always admired the sparrow, though it doesn’t possess the colourful feathers or attributes of other birds. I would call the sparrow a “smart bird”. The sparrow signifies a bond that exists between humans and nature and is an example to humans of kinship and good home building. Now, the sparrow is found merely in books or on television. You must be lucky if you happen to sight a sparrow in Bangalore. The sparrow suddenly disappeared and none seem to know how it happened.With global warming, rapid infrastructural growth, and pollution on the rise, the factors have conspired to sound the dirge for the sparrows in Bangalore. Traffic is synonymous with hell. It is time that we do something so that the future generations might not have to find crows and trees in e-books and web pages! Pollution must be curbed and using public transport must be encouraged. Trees can be planted and each one of us can take a small step to save the environment.Individual initiatives can truly bring about changes. Policies must be aimed at striking the balance between economic development and environmental protection through sustainable development. Moreover we need to cultivate the much-lacking civic sense and realise that the air, the land and the soil are not gifts from our forefathers, but a loan from our children.The “to-be extinct” list reads as follows: the tiger, the Liberian lynx, Sumatran orangutan, northern nosed-wombat, the wild Bactrian camel… The sparrow might not be far off in the list. The dodo and the dinosaur might soon have some…More

The Hindu : Srekala Bharath’s bond with Bharatanatya began almost 35 years ago and she still brims with energy and enthusiasm to broaden her artistic perspectives. ‘Ghatam’ S. Karthick has scaled musical heights with the humble pot. Trained bythe master-percussionist Vikku Vinayakram and T.H. Subash Chandran, Karthick has accompanied veterans as well as present-day musicians. There was never a dull moment when the duo, who had earlier worked together in a fusion recital, met for a Take Two.CHITRA SWANINATHAN listened in.Srekala: Dr. Karthick (he recently completed his doctorate in Sanskrit), nobody can doubt your passion for ghatam. With so much weight you now resemble it.Karthick: You become what you think 24×7. Also, I worship Ganesha. (Both don’t stop laughing) Sometimes, people ask me whether I am Vikku sir’s son. They see some similarity between the two of us (besides of course the ghatam), may be because he is always on my mind.Srekala: Don’t you think gurus are god-sent?If the training is thorough, the rest will fall in place.Karthick: It even gives you strength to challenge yourself and go ahead with what you think is right.I used to stay close to Vinayakram sir’s house and was desperate to learn to play the ghatam. One day at around 8.30 p.m., I walked into his house.He was tired after spending a long day at his percussion school, yet was gracious enough to meet me. To my delight, he looked at my palms and immediately said, ‘you can play the ghatam well’. I could not have asked for more as a seven-year-old.Srekala: I too was so eager to learn that I would sit watching the senior disciples perform and pick up the nuances. My guru would jokingly comment, ‘I don’t need to take a class for you.’ It was hard work but there was so much fun.Karthick: It should be that way. Rock, rap or raga, it should fill you with joy.Srekala:…More

The Hindu : Horn not ok pleaseC.K. Meena’s column “Just jammin’” (MetroPlus, November 14) was superb. One more instance of traffic jams is in quieter bylanes where the supposedly ubiquitous policeman goes missing at the circle and all the vehicles form another outer circle. Horns blare, people swear, but absolutely no one moves. This happens in the circle near my house every day and our peaceful evenings are shattered by the cacophony of horns. When will we ever learn?Veni Sukumar(by email)Lost childhoodThe article “Reality’s children” by Rakesh Mehar (MetroPlus, November 14) had some excellent points to make. Children already have too many stressors in life. We don’t need reality television to add more pressure to their already stressful lives. We as a society have to learn to let children be children for as long as they can.Sundari S.(by email)SMS escapeAyesha Matthan’s “Texting an escape route” (MetroPlus, November 24) was a nice way to begin the weekend. It made for some rather light and entertaining reading. But it also made me stop and think about the myriad ways in which technology has changed our lives. Each of these is just a small change, almost unnoticeable, but if you look at the larger picture, technology, especially the mobile phone, has just revolutionised our lives. And not all of the changes are for the better.Sumit P.(by email…More–>

The Hindu : “We have a great tradition of publishing in Kannada,” says Jnanapith award winning writer,U R Ananthamurthy. “Among others, Manohara Granthamaale (Dharwad) and Akshara Prakaashana (Heggodu) are renowned for their path-breaking publishing activities. I think Abhinava has tried and succeeded in continuing this tradition.”Behind Abhinava’s success is the sweat, toil and struggle of Ravikumar and his wife, Chandrika who started publishing in 1994.“The initial years were understandablydifficult, financially and otherwise. We were able to bring out only three to four books annually. Slowly, our efforts were recognised and a loyal readership was built. We published our 50thbook (Belegere Krishnashastri’s memoir, “Mareyalaadeete?”) in 2004. Things have become really fast-paced since then. In 2006, we brought out 22 titles. We are thrilled that Abhinava’s 100th book is ready for release.”All the projects of Abhinava are sustained by personal funding of Ravikumar who still works in a factory, and devotes the remaining hours to publishing activities. Chandrika, who has a Ph.D in Kannada literature, is also fully involved in Abhinava which has built an impressive list of publications including U R Ananthamurthy’s “Maatu Sota Bharatha” and “Valmikiya Nevadalli”, H.Y. Sharada Prasad’s anthology of selected writings, Sriranga’s critical volume on Kalidasa, Prabhushankara’s “Mandahasa Meemamse” , K.V. Subbanna’s “Namma Tavaka Tallanagalu”, C.R. Simha’s “Nimma-Simha”, and M.S.K. Prabhu’s “Virodha Vilasa”.Several collections of poems (including Ramachandra Sharma’s “Saptapadi”), fiction (like Abdul Rashid’s collected short stories), literary criticism (like H.S. Raghavendra Rao’s “Namaskara”), plays, children literature, and folk study have come out of its stable. Translation is another area to receive considerable attention: Rajni Bhakshi’s “Bapu Kuti”: Journeys in Rediscovery of Gandhi , Eduardo Galeano’s “Memory of Fire”, Eric Fromm’s “The Art of Loving”, and K.G. Subramanyan’s book on art appreciation have all been brought to Kannada. Interesting works collating the thoughts of the likes of Noam Chomsky and Antonio Gramsci have also been published.“Abhinava has not restricted itself to any particular genre of…More

The Hindu : PAVAN KUMAR H.They won the team championships at the National level CBSE chess tournament MANGALOREThe Rook, Bishop, Knight and Queen are the closest friends of this year’s under 14 national level CBSE chess team champions – Nihal Manjunath, Adith Jagadish, Yashas Salian, Rammohan Bhandari and Akash Harendranath. The ‘famous five’ are eighth standard students of Lourdes Central School and trained by Derik’s Chess School participated in the national chess competition held at Chennai last month. The team scored 19.5 points in the six rounds to win the title. “Every day I practise for three hours at the chess school and sit in front of laptop for two more hours in practising chess. I study previous games of great players on the Internet net and try to solve them online”, says Nihal, the team captain. He doesn’t believe in sparing himself and makes sure he works very hard to sharpen his skills. …More

The Hindu : In the not so distant past, the sight of grandparents, especially grandmothers regaling the tiny tots with stories from all over was a common sight in most households.

Given the sway that this oral medium of information dissemination had on children, it was not surprising to see the eagerness with which they waited for their vacations to commence so that they could head to their grandparents house and listen to thestories over and over again.

Cut this scene to Generation Next and one finds that they are more or less likely to head to their nearest music store to pick up the latest digital video or video compact discs featuring exploits of their favourite mythological or novel characters. With most having a basic home theatre system, the choice for students to learn their mythological stories has just gone from oral to visual.

…More

The Hindu : A trek in the woods can be an exhilarating experience. Thirteen young nature enthusiasts had three days of unique break during the Dasara vacations. To camp out in the rainforests of Agumbe near Shimoga was an occasion not only for a get together but also to experience the amazing world of nature and wildlife….More

The Hindu : If it is possible, at seven in the morning it is both rudely sunny and ruthlessly cold. We are driving to Thadagam Forest in the Coimbatore Range, all the while trying to bring back some action into our unfeeling fingers. Getting off at Sembukkarai check post, the walk into the forest begins: a watch tower and the Mangarai waterfall await us. We are accompanied by forester M. Senthil Kumar, guard Kumar and a few watchers.

As we get further into the forest, the path is only as wide as my sneakers. The way is dotted on either side with various wild shrubs all sopping in gleaming dew drops. The touch-me-nots look happy, fresh and poised, almost daring you to touch them.

The path gets narrower, sunshine becomes scarce, and you ache for sunbeams to dance all over you. The walk gets challenging as we take on dicey rocks to get to the watch tower. All along, we hear the rhythmic burble of a stream nearby. We take the stairs to the watchtower that is under construction, and ha! what a sight to behold.

It’s just blinding shades of green around, with plenty of rocks and a waterfall thrown in. The sheer joy of such a sight is quite marred only by a heap of dead bugs. Around 2,000 tiny wild bugs share an open grave, punished with smoke for interfering with the construction.

The mass grave is soon forgotten as we march carefully towards the waterfall. Though we cannot reach the slim waterfall, the clear water flowing down is irresistible. So, I do the foolish thing: dip my hand into biting cold water. A three-second dip and my hand takes a good five minutes to return to body temperature. A five-second dip is a sure way to dismember your digits.

As a solace to this misadventure, the forester says there are crabs around. Crabs!

To those…More