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The Hindu : Florence Public SchoolN. Harshini, a student of Florence Public School has won an award in recognition of her excellence in both academics as well as co-curricular activities instituted by the Karnataka Government. The award carries a cash prize of Rs. 10,000. A student of Std. VI, Harshini started learning dance at the age of six. She also is interested in doing craft work….More

The Hindu : Youngworld message…More

The Hindu : Children, aged between 3 and 14, had a good time at the Children’s Mela organised by the Hippocampus Learning Centre, recently. When Sheetal, a Std. III student of Sophia School, got her face painted, a group of curious children eagerly surrounded her. Three-year-old Mithya, a student of Jnanodaya School, was happy when her shoulder was painted with a dragon. While some engaged in paper craft work, others were busy reading their favourite books. Another group thronged at a place to listen to stories. The other activities where children were involved included clay modelling, drawing and mini science laboratory.Fix the tailThe children were asked to sketch a tail to a horse on the black board, blindfolded. There was laughter, when children sketched the tail to different parts of the horse. Shankara Rotary Hippocampus in Shankarapuram is an initiative by Sri Sringeri Shankar Math, Rotary Club and Hippocampus Children’s Company.The founder of Hippocampus Children’s Company, Umesh Malhotra, said “The objective of these activities is to expose the children to various arts like painting, clay modelling, craft, dance and music. With an investment of Rs. 7 lakh, we set up this learning centre and provide reading and computer facilities to children from lower income groups. We have a collection of 3,000, which includes fiction, science and language. Five computers and 200 Compact Discs have been provided for children’s use.”To grow“The “Grow by reading” programme identifies a child’s reading level and guides the child to books they can read. This will make children good readers.Every evening, our staff will help children in their home work. They will be guided to access encyclopaedias and the internet for home work and school projects. We will shortly start an English Club which would help children improve their spoken English skills,” he said. Along with other partners, we run libraries in 16 government schools in the city. The intention is that poor children…More

The Hindu : Oxford Senior Secondary School (CBSE), JP NagarThe outgoing students of Stds. X and XII of the Oxford Senior Secondary School (CBSE), JP Nagar, took a pledge to spread the flame of knowledge and wisdom at the Jyothi Daan ceremony organised here recently. S. Narasaraju, chairman of the institution lit the lamp. The class teachers of Stds. X and XII passed the flame of wisdom to the outgoing students. Mariamma. S. Mathew, Principal, A. Ramaswamy Iyengar, Director, Indological Library and Research Centre and S. Ramesh Raju, executive director of the institution, were present….More

The Hindu : Inside her cosy home with ethnic decor, Malavika is clad in red — skirt, top and stole. Her silver danglers glitter and sway as she instructs her secretary, takes calls, clears the table in the drawing room, straightens the scatter cushions…“It’s a typical Monday morning,” smiles the elegant Bharatanatya dancer.The outer world of Malavika Sarukkai is all about adulation and accomplishment. But what’s it like when the applause dies down, the make-up is removed and the costume is hung up in the closet? The dancer does not settle easily into a freewheeling chat on life beyond dance. After all, for more than 25 years it’s been just dance, and more dance for her.But a few minutes into the conversation, like her dance that appeals at various levels, the many layers of Malavika’s persona unfold. Selective on the professional front (“I can never sell out”); withdrawn (“I am not a party-talker and prefer to be in my intimate circle of friends”); a teacher who dreams for her students (“If they are serious, I am there to inspire”); cinema buff (“No masala movies, though I simply loved Hrithik in ‘Jodhaa Akbar’,”); honesty (“The money I get doesn’t compensate my hard work”); confession (“I have been so focussed on my art that I have missed out on many things”).“I may not be seen (off stage) or heard often. But to talk, to reach out, is important to me. Talking not just about dance, but about what we are missing in life,” says Malavika.“If you are an artiste you start thinking differently after a point. You empathise better. Unless you empathise, you cannot create. Artiste or engineer, without an aesthetic eye, life’s romance will be lost. You cannot talk constantly about managing time, finance and multiple goals. Stop sometimes to notice that flowering tree near your house.”Looking back on her early years, she says, “I had to leave many…More

The Hindu : Suit yourselfSuits are the perfect short hand to show you mean business while looking cool, writes NEEETI SARKARDaniel Craig, (the bloke that plays the international man of mystery, James Bond) with his penchant for sharp suits by Tom Ford has again topped GQ’s Best Dressed Men list. While some have sniffily said it is easy to look snappy in a suit (sour grapes for sure), no one really grudges Craig the honour—we all know the man is hot in a tux, in scruffy jeans, in a little pair of swimming trunks or in nothing at all.“It’s just that even the most average looking man can look his best in a suit,” says Bangalore-based fashion designer Sneha Bedi. But in a tropical country like India, do men here think its worth sweating it out in a suit?Businessman Dhyanesh Somnath says: “Wearing a suit is not an everyday affair for most Indian men although the corporate sector in particular emphasizes on a formal dress code. Therefore, men don’t usually mind sweating it out once in a while.”“With air conditioned offices and cars, one doesn’t really have to think twice about wearing a suit even on a daily basis,” opines Kousthub Raj, an entrepreneur. He also believes that wearing a suit gives one a rather professional and classy look.Most men are not into suits as daily wear. According to Somnath, “Men opt for suits only for weddings and formal meetings. Apart from such occasions, personally, it is only my wife’s constant nagging that makes me wear a suit more often than I would like!”Depending upon how formal the gathering is, men decide whether it go the whole nine yards or if just a tie will do. “Usually, semi-formal office parties allow one to discard the blazer,” informs marketing executive Kamal Sundarajan.On the trend of jazzing up evening wear by throwing a blazer over a pair of jeans and…More

The Hindu : The Body Shop and MTV have launched the ‘Move Your Lips’ campaign with a new limited edition Guarana Lip Butter. All proceeds from every Guarana Lip Butter sold goes directly to the Staying Alive Foundation, funding HIV awareness and prevention for young people around the Commented Peter Saunders, Chief Executive Officer of The Body Shop International: “We want to build on this success, which is why we’re donating 100 per cent of the profits from sales of Guarana Lip Butter to the Staying Alive Foundation. This year we can be confident the HIV and AIDS prevention message will reach many more thousands of young people.”The new limited edition Guarana Lip Butter has a unique formula to restore moisture levels and protect delicate lips, plus it contains guarana berry from the Amazon Basin in Brazil. Guarana berry is renowned for its stimulating and energy-enhancing properties and natural antioxidant properties. For high moisture levels, they have also added two highly hydrating natural ingredients in the lip butter – community trade shea butter from Ghana and beeswax from Zambia, both of which are sourced through The Body Shop fair trade programme.Log ontowww.moveyourlips.com to find out more about the campaign, or step in store, and with your purchase you can make a real and positive impact on lives all over the world. Visitwww.staying-alive.org for more information….More

The Hindu : Print pickThis month at indiaplaza.inThe Japanese WifeKunal BasuHarpercollinsRs. 395Yes, it is this “The Japanese Wife” that the Aparna Sen film is based on. In Ms. Sen’s words “It’s an improbable and hauntingly beautiful love story, almost surreal in its innocence. And I immediately knew that this wasthe film I had to make”.I was disappointed with the collection of stories here, perhaps because “The Japanese Wife”, also the first story in the collection set the tone. It’s a story that’s strangely flat. A Bengali school teacher begins a pen friendship with a Japanese woman, which flows along without too many ripples, till his aunt suggests he marries a girl that she shows him. This, he reports it to his Japanese friend which makes her suggest that they marry instead. So there is a marriage through letters and the marriage goes on and on, with exchanges of gifts and both of them staying in their own homes. Finally, something happens and she comes to see him.I suppose if you are a Kunal Basu fan, this sort of story might appeal, I found myself increasingly impatient with the predictability of the story. And that stayed in the reading and I dropped the book after one or two more stories.The Dante ClubMatthew PearlBallantine Books$ 5.50Matthew Pearl’ debut novel is part real and part fiction. The Dante Club is a real club whose members at one or other time included Oliver Wendell Holmes and James Russell Lowell, as well as Longfellow. Set in the late 1800s, it begins with Longfellow, Lowell and Holmes working on a translation of Dante; soon murders being to happen in the manner of deaths in the Inferno and the members of the Dante Club are natural suspects. These men take on the business of solving the crimes themselves in order to establish their innocence, and soon we are off on an exciting journey where it’s…More

The Hindu : Hitting backBharathi Prabhu’s brush with an insensitive soul who had parked wrong left her fumingShouting in public is something I’ve rarely done.After a recent shopping trip, we found our car’s exit blocked by another car. My husband decided to trace him, and returned finally saying: “I have told him that we can’t take our car out. He should be here soon.”After waiting for a while our patience began to wear thin. I fretted. My husband went back again and returned fuming: “He is uncouth, said he was coming when I explained, but showed no signs of moving.”After another 10 minutes he pointed out to a young fat man as the owner of the offending car. He was checking his bill and talking. No indication that he would hurry. I walked up to him and said: “Because you didn’t park your car properly we had to wait for 20 minutes”.Incredibly, the man looked me up and down and said “Wait na, I’m coming” with a look that said, “So what if you had to wait”.No apologies for parking wrongly, no apologies for taking his own time in coming out. I asked “How could you have parked like this?” and he answered, with a smirk: “Ask the security guard?” One look at the young security guard and we knew this car owner had overridden his protests.By my anger had increased so much I started yelling. I knew I was incoherent and loud and that my voice was cracking. His wife called me an illiterate woman and I called her husband uncouth.I yelled at their insensitivity and they yelled back at my yelling. Even after they drove away, I was shaking.Although still unable to believe that I yelled at strangers, I’m glad I did!Do you have anything to say? Dash off your piece with your photograph. Email it to bangaloremetro@ thehindu.co.in or post it to MetroPlus, The Hindu,…More

The Hindu : What happens when the alumni association of an elite boarding school and a theatre production house come together? The audience-members are from an expected circle, the laughter could not be more appropriately-timed, and everyone is simply delightedto be part of this well-connected evening.First City Theatre Foundation Production and the Mayo Alumni Association of Southern India presented ‘Two Plays’ – “Mouse” and “Positions # 2” at Ranga Shankara, sponsored by Kingfisher Airlines.Balls of paper strewn around, cane chairs placed along a doorway and bare cushions to resemble a backstage setting give way to the sound of a piano playing, which builds up to a pitch. The play is in still in the undeveloped stage of rehearsal. And then, in complete darkness, torchlight annoyingly pierces your eyes for the next five minutes. Director and playwright Neel Chaudhuri writes in the brochure, that, after five years of literary angst, he penned the two plays.So there is the mouse who dare not step out of character and, his hyperactive, control-freak of a director played by Kriti Pant, who has a piercing accentswitching between American and British in lightning speed. A hesitant voiceapologises for light failures and hence the delay in commencing “Mouse”. The poor mouse, stuffed in his costume, plays the director’s puppet – which is interesting – because it plays out the actor’s debate of loss of individuality and independence in role-playing.The mouse thus begins a frantic counter-reaction and rebels against his boss – jumping, thrashing around and rolling over on stage. There are points of comic release – with the absurd dancing of the mouse, which eases the high-pitched tension that has been mounting to a tizzy.“Positions # 2” assumes a completely different setting – all at different parts of the house. “A collection of six short stories”, the different short sketches all had a common, running thread. The positions that the characters take at the beginning…More