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The Hindu : DonaldDonald Xavier Sequeira, and Arathi, sixth and second standard students respectively of Madhavakripa English Nursery and Higher Primary School, Manipal have topped the state level Spelling Bee competition conducted by MarRs at Mysore. They will participate in the national level competition to be held at Chennai on June 4. Donald is the son of David Sequeira and Clara, and Arathi, the daughter of Kishore and Anuradha….More

The Hindu : Come vacation and summer camps spring up at every street corner. They teach just about everything, from ballet to boxing. But the summer camp conducted by Yakshadegula struck a different note. It introduced children from the city to the ancient art of Yakshagana. Yakshadegula, a cultural organisation committed to reviving and propagating the art of Yakshagana for over two decades in Bangalore, had organised a workshop called “Yaksha Prasadhana” earlier this month in Shantiniketan School in Girinagar. This camp gave children an opportunity to absorb not just the colourful art form, but through it, also aspects of Indian mythology.From the epicThe children at the camp were trained to perform the play “Abhimanyu Chakravyuha.” Some of the participants were as young as ten.The most attractive part of Yakshagana are the colourful and dazzling costumes and ornaments. Not many know how much skill and labour goes into the making of these tiny pieces of wood and clothes. The present generation of artistes lack the basic knowledge on why certain types of costumes and ornaments are used for certain characters. Special attention was paid on this aspect as well at the workshop, said Radhakrishna Urala, who trained the participants in Yakshagana dance. Based on their age, the children between 5 and 15 years were split into four groups and trained separately, he said.Children were also trained in Yoga, meditation, creative craft, singing and various styles of dancing, puppetry and mimicry.The older children were taught more practical skills such as aero-modelling and computer science.Shwetha Sumanth, a teacher at the summer camp said: “I teach Std. X students, but interacting with the smaller children is a totally different experience.Non formalSuch summer camps help them come out of their shell and communicate much better. It’s not a formal environment and hence they can be themselves.They not only enjoy themselves but also learn a lot at the same time.”Ganesha, a young boy…More

The Hindu : Three days after her wedding, Aruna Anand found herself in Dortmund, Germany, watching her husband compete in a major chess championship. She didn’t know anyone from the close-knit chess world, she didn’t understand the game and she couldn’t for the life of her make out if he was winning or losing.So she chose a less nerve-wracking alternative: “I started waiting in the toilet while he was playing,” she says laughing. “He would come and call me when he had finished, and I’d just keep looking at his face for a sign on how he’d done. He teases me saying that he’d never seen such a blank face in his life!”Not quite your typical honeymoon. But then her husband isn’t your typical guy. For Grandmaster and current undisputed World Chess Champion Viswanathan Anand, travelling six to seven months in a year to tournaments and spending several hours a day intensely focused on a 64-square board in training or in competition is perfectly normal.And after 12 years of marriage, it’s all part of the course for Aruna too. They sit down for the interview in their cheerful Chennai flat with just two hours to go for a flight to Delhi (for Anand to receive the Padma Vibhushan), but they’re both relaxed and there’s plenty of good-humoured laughter as they chat about what makes them work as a couple.“I think it’s her sense of humour that keeps us going,” says Anand candidly. “I’min another world during tournaments, and her ability to laugh off the things, it does make life a lot easier.”According to Aruna, he has a knack of simplifying the situation and putting things in perspective For example, when a flight gets cancelledshe’s all paranoid. But sometimes, all that calm logic can be maddening. “After a wedding one night, I was terrified I hadn’t put all my jewels back in the locker. Anand says: ‘Well, if you…More

The Hindu : Happiness ATMsSOUND OFF! Safeer says that happiness has to be found within oneselfWho uses the word happiness the most?A great many people thrive on this one word called “happiness”. You could here these statements in various advertisements, posters — “Bring happiness into your life”, “How to be happy in life “, “Say bye to a stressful life”, “How to lead a happy life” …phew! And the list is endless!Media also plays a significant role. The front page of any newspaper is a very good example of how they create the vision of an “unhappy” world around us. They make us believe that the world we live is full of miseries, unhappiness andmost important is, it is “stressful”. This is not a thing to be concerned about, at all. Rather, the concern you should be having right now is, how can you prevent the brain drain, money drain and sleep drain arising out of you being labelled as one of those desperate persons who then goes in search of that “happiness” by consulting the various so called “happiness ATMs”.Happiness is just a state of being (and is well within you) atparticular moment in your life. You can be worried and in deep sorrow at one moment, and in the next you could be rejoicing. It is not that this world or millennia is filled only with miserable people. People were joyous and worried in the past like we are in today’s world.Nothing has changed. I agree that the reasons for joy or concern vary from individual to individual, past to present, etc.So please have this realisation in mind, and don’t waste your time and energy investing in the search for happiness.Do you have anything to say? About the state of the world, the city, your angst? Pen it stylishly and you might get it published.And dash off your piece with your photograph in 300 DPI resolution….More

The Hindu : He is warm, endearing and brimming with rustic charm. No, the story is not being written out of fear. Khali might be a monster in the ring, but out of it he is a gentle giant ready to shake hands as tenderly as possible. It’s another matter that one’s hand ends almost where his lifeline starts. Khali is Dalip Singh Rana from Himachal Pradesh.WWE might be selling him as a brute, who fought with tigers in the jungles of India, and a section of the Indian media has been feedingon it, but Dalip laughs when one talks about his wild image. “The Indian media has made me more tired than the fights in the ring.”Yes, he demolished the likes of Undertaker and went on to become the WWE champion. “The fight I cherish the most is the one where I knocked down 22 fighters to win the belt.”Was language an issue? “I learnt that as well… so well that now I only understand an American accent,” he quips.But losing one’s identity must be hard… from Dalip to Khali is said to be a religious story? “It’s being made out to be as if I worship only Kali, and Americans pronounce it as Khali. I worship all Gods. During my early days in the U.S., people taunted me. So I asked my guruji what to do. He suggested, just say Kali mata ki jai. ”ANUJ KUMAR…More

The Hindu : Video WatchThis fortnight at indiaplaza.inOriginal SinCast: Antonio Banderas, Angelina Jolie, Thomas Jane, Jack ThompsonDirector: Michael CristoferScreenplay: Michael CristoferBased on the novel Waltz Into Darkness by Cornell WoolrichCinematography: Rodrigo PrietoDVD: Rs. 499The movie opens with one of the most famous pouts in film history saying: “This is not a love story, but this is a story about love.” Watching this movie in the theatre, it was difficult not to be overwhelmed by Angelina Jolie’s bee-stung lips. We have all seen stunning opening shots that effectively tell you in the shortest possible time what to expect over the next two hours.And this shot of Ms Jolie’s wonderful mouth tells us to get ready for a hot-house thriller. Produced by Hyde Park entertainment, our very movie moghul, Ashok Amritraj’s company, “Original Sin” is based on Cornell Woolrich’s novel, “Waltz Into Darkness.”Set in Havana in 1880, the film tells the story of a rich coffee plantation owner Louis Durand, who decides it is time to get himself a wife, who is “loving and kind and young enough to bear children.” Louis gets himself a mail order bride from the States, Julia Russell.Louis sets out to the meet the boat Julia is coming on and gets his first surprise. Unlike the plain Jane in the photograph she sends Louis, Julia is a stunner. She explains that she did not want Louis to be taken in just by her good looks. It is confession time for Louis as well and he explains unlike what he said in the letters, he not the clerk in a coffee house, rather he owns the firm. Julia comments: “Well, then we have something in common. We are both not to be trusted.”And so begins a tale of love, lust, betrayal and deceit. Louis is totally enamoured by his new wife. The fairy-tale wedding comes to a shrieking halt when Julia vanishes with all Louis’s money….More

The Hindu : It’s in Dublin, Tokyo, Seoul, Mexico city, Mumbai, Italy, Jerusalem and in namma Bengalooru for almost two years now. In this city, it exists as a flash of pinkish-mauve on wheels tumbling down the road: the Women special bus. If you peer closely, younotice that sometimes, there are only a few women travelling, sometimes men, sometimes you never see it for days and sometimes it is empty. The eye-catching women special bus operates on 14 routes within city limits, from 7.30 a.m. to 8.30 p.m.At first, the pinkish-mauve colourpaints many a colourful picture including a happy and safe travel option, a space provided by BMTC for women to call their own to access public spaces without trouble.I board a near-empty 61A from the Majestic bus terminus to Chandra Layout. It picks up a few passengers en route. The driver, Ravi says: “The bus makes eight trips a dayand there is only one bus per route. It is good for the ladies, especially during rush hour”. Malini, my sole co-passenger feels like the other women I meet en route: “Though it is my first time on this bus, I will not be able to wait an hour for it.” Ravi does feel that it will be good for the bus to run every 10 to 15 minutes.Empty spacesLakshmi, another first-time commuter says: “Even at peak hour, I get a seat and we don’t have men harassing us, but I can’t wait for this bus.”The bus operates only till 8.30 p.m. and within city limits, cutting out a huge chunk of women travellers. BMTC’s Chief Traffic Manager (Operations) Dastagir Sharif feels the bus runs on all important routes and important times as well. He reveals the BMTC incurs a loss of Rs. 6 to Rs. 7 every km.Hence, increasing its frequency is out of the question.Traveller Sindhu Desai observes that while this might be one step to…More

The Hindu : A illustration: A man is sucked into the heart of the storm. Spun and shaken horrifically, his limp body drops out of the sky a quarter of a mile away. He hasn’t broken a single bone. How could that be?Scientists estimate that the man hit the ground at nearly 30 miles an hour.His bones protected his internal organs from being smashed. His bones don’t break, not just because they’re strong, but because they were flexible.His survival testifies to the human skeleton’s extraordinary resilience and power.Discover many more such stories as Discovery Channel airs a groundbreaking series portraying the human body as you’ve never seen it before in “Human Body: Pushing the Limits”. The show will be aired every Tuesday at 8 p.m. and Sunday at 2 p.m. The series, spread over four episodes - Sight, Strength, Sensation and Brain - takes us across continents, meeting those who have pushed their bodies to the maximum.The latest CGI and camerawork depicts their ordeals in vivid detail both externally and through the internal functions of their bodies….More

The Hindu : Discovery Channel explores different forms of martial arts as they are practised around the world as part of its “Fight Quest” show which premieres every Tuesday at 9 p.m.Viewers get to follow hosts, rookie Doug Anderson and seasoned mixed martial arts fighter Jimmy Smith as they travel the globe learning about various forms of hand-to-hand combat — sometimes an ancient art, other times brutal street fighting — and face-off against a local, in a no-holds-barred test of skill at the end of each episode.The martial arts that Doug and Jimmy explore include Asian fighting styles like Wushu from China and Kali from the Philippines, to Krav Maga from Israel, Brazillian Jiujitsu, and Mexican Boxing. Part of the series is set in Kerala where the exclusive martial arts legacy of Kalarippayat has been explored.In between training, hosts Doug Anderson and Jimmy Smith with their very different personalities also take to the streets and immerse themselves in the sights, foods and smells of the local scene and find out that sometimes they will need more courage taking in the local cuisine. Explore histories and cultures often unseen by the outside world with Doug and Jimmy as they smack, kick, and pummel their way across the globe….More

The Hindu : The crowd of boisterous children apart, the keyboard class at this summer camp has a unique student — retired engineer S. Raghavan — all of 58 years! “I’m enjoying it, though I am not as fast as the children here,” he says. He may not be keeping pace, but Raghavan’s brain and nerve cells are enjoying the new exercise they are getting. The fact is, our brains get recharged by learning new things.Take the case of Rajeshwari Soundarajan, who is taking Sanskrit lessons at age 60. “It keeps me busy and the added advantage is that I am now able to understand the shlokas I had been reciting by rote,” she says. The consequent social networking (with her fellow students) is also helping her brain cells keep fit.Learn all the timeYou can’t learn at 60 what you didn’t at six, isn’t it? Well, this popular adage does not hold true. Elders can learn new things. In fact, they need to. Neurologists insist that elderly people need to keep exercising their brains and learn new things to keep their brain circuits active and help ward off neurological disorders such as Alzheimer’s, vascular dementia, and the different kinds of mild cognitive impairments and memory loss which creep upon many of us with age.“Our brain has something called a cognitive reserve. If you maintain a high cognitive reserve by keeping your mind active and learning new things, you are less likely to develop dementia,” says Prof. E.S. Krishnamoorthy, Director, Institute of Neurological Sciences, VHS Hospital, Chennai.“Constant brain activity can certainly slow down the progress of these diseases,” says Lakshmi Vijaykumar, consultant psychiatrist and founder of SNEHA.Worldwide, many neurologists are studying the phenomenon and concur with this premise. Research at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, funded by The National Institute on Aging in the U.S., points out that training re-ignites key areas of the brain, offsets some age-related…More