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The Hindu : SUDHINDR. A.B.

Kids say that nothing pays like careful preparation in order to succeed in examinations.

PHOTO: K.MURALIKUMARThe rewards of toil: Success is always welcome

The results of the Secondary School Leaving Certificate (SSLC) examination conducted by the Karnataka Secondary Education Examination Board (KSEEB) were announced recently.

And many schools that are part of The Hindu’s NIE programme have achieved a 100 per cent pass results. “Hard work is the key to success” seems to be the mantra of many toppers as they had put in hours of study during the entire academic year.

The change in the question paper pattern was also one of the reasons for the high percentage of success, they felt.Self study

“This probably is the result of consistent good teaching and individual attention. Right from the beginning, we had set up challenging papers higher conceptual questions for our achievers. This was supported equally by simplified, one-on-one teaching for average students.

“An analysis of the previous year’s results gave us a good basis for fixing short-term targets which were gradually stretched,” said Prathibha, the Principal of Prasiddhi School.

Sanjana. R., a student of Carmel School in Padmanabhanagar said that it was self-study that helped her score well in the examinations. “I had faith in my abilities ; that has reflected in the result,” she said. Sanjana’s aggregate is 98.72 per cent and she is this year’s topper.

Divya. R., a student of Holy Angel’s School in RPC Layout said, “My preparation for the Std.X board exams started in mid Std.IX. Having decided that I was going to excel, I charted a plan of work and began with a modest two hours of work every day. I increased this up gradually and by the time school reopened I was working close to four hours daily. I set a timetable and stuck to it”.

“When my teacher called me up and told me that I had…More

The Hindu :

Time Warp, on Discovery Channel, slows down events to reveal the motion of high-pace events

BREAKTHROUGH The show uses new technologies to bring never-before-seen wonders

Even as going faster seems to be the latest buzzword across the planet, have you thought that watching a high-speed event like a boxer’s upper cut or a dog drinking water in the slowest of speed would also be a thrilling and captivating experience? Discovery Channel’s new series “Time Warp” slows down events to reveal the motion of high-pace events with spectacular clarity.

The show is hosted by Jeff Lieberman, a scientist and teacher at the MIT and Matt Kearney, a digital photography expert. The show uses new technologies to bring never-before-seen wonders into a form that the body and brain can actually process and comprehend.Talking about the show, Jeff says: “It is designed to show how technologies can show people things that they cannot see normally. We tend to focus on high-speed video and these things go up to almost a million frames a second and can be 30,000 times slower than normal motion. We make an attempt to look at effects of the natural world and things that people do, and show what people are missing normally. As a scientist, I try to relate these things to other scientific phenomena and use it to teach people about science.”

Matt, a photography expert contends: “I have been looking at the world through this slow motion lens for more than 10 years. My job on the show is in addition to co-hosting, to run the high-speed cameras and provide the footage for Jeff to analyse.”

Jeff feels that one of the best reasons to use high-speed photography is when you actually do not understand what something in nature does. He says: “Often, times in normal research in the industry high-speed is actually used to do just that, to look…More

The Hindu :

The legendary Manna Dey’s live concert served as a reminder to the times that will never come back — great songs and passionate lyrics

Photo: Sampath Kumar g.p.ONE WITH MUSIC Nothing could shake Manna Dey’s singularity of purpose; the least of all the deafening applause

Is he really 90?

The sharp, coherent and articulate Manna Dey left this doubt in the mind of every listener, in an auditorium overflowing with connoisseurs gathered to hear this legend of Hindi film music. At a concert organised on Sunday to celebrate his 90th birthday by Maam Entertainment, Manna Dey was a dazzling picture of grace and deepest devotion to music.

The outstanding singer who made a mark in the competitive Hindi film industry with his remarkable classicism and a crystal-clear voice of rare timbre, left the audience awe struck with his astounding memory — he could remember even the background score of all the songs! “Change the theka!” he instructed the tabaliya, “Common play…,” he egged on the lead guitarist, even as he hummed the score for him, “No, no… hold the note right,” he demonstrated ‘sa’ with microtonal perfection for his keyboardist. Of course, with equal spontaneity he showered them with appreciation — “Wah, kya baat hai!”. He moved from one song to the other briskly, without wasting a minute — neither to rest his voice, nor to think of the next song. At 90, he willingly took audience requests, but was uncompromising on music. “Sing the alaap,” he directed his co-singer of the evening, Archana Udupa, for their scintillating duet “Tum Gagan ki Chandrama”. The grand-old Manna Dey’s involvement was at once staggering and moving.

“Survival of the fittest has always been the mantra of the Hindi film industry. I happened to land at a time when great singers like Mohammad Rafi, Mukesh dominated the industry. My friends Shankar-Jaikishan backed me and established me in the…More

The Hindu : y>

Offers galore Have extra fun at Disneyland

A visit to the Disneyland resort this summer will offer patrons free admission to a theme park on your birthday, new adventures and entertainment at both Disneyland and Disney’s California adventure parks, and a special travel offer that will add two free nights to a three-night stay. By purchasing a three-night Disneyland Resort vacation package this summer, guests can magically extend their visit and get two more nights free. This special Disneyland summer vacation offer provides an affordable way for families to enjoy their adventure trip.

With the new summer vacation packages, guests pay for three nights of hotel accommodations and three days of theme park admission, and receive two more nights at the hotel and two more days of theme park admission. Bookings for this offer are open till August 11, 2009. The summer vacation package is valid at all three Disneyland Resort Hotels – Disney’s Paradise Pier Hotel, the Disneyland Hotel and Disney’s Grand Californian Hotel and Spa for arrivals between April 1 and September 26, 2009.

The offer is also available at participating local Disneyland Resort Good Neighbour Hotels, providing guests with a wide range of hotel accommodations and prices to fit every budget. For more details, visitwww.disneyparks.com.

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The Hindu : y>SOUND OFF! Hariharan V. is irritated by people who give missed calls on your cell phone in an attempt to save their own money

I would like to comment on the strange attitude some mobile phone users seem to have. Other readers must have also experienced what I am talking about. You would have seen people who give a “missed call” to others on their cell phones. These people seem to think that they cannot afford the call charges, but the persons they want to contact can afford them!

They are very shrewd and cut the call just before the receiver picks it. What a ridiculous attitude this is. Is it fair on all for such people to communicate through their mobile phones?

If one cannot afford the cost of making a call, he or she should go for an alternative means of communication. Such people never even probably think that they are harassing the very people they are trying to reach. They will surely damage the relationship they share with them too.

These people are also cautious about curtailing the call duration when they are making calls (if they actually make them, rather than give missed calls). But on the other hand they do not seem to think the same rule should apply to calls they receive. While taking an incoming call (that too from a person to whom they have given a missed call!) they do not bother about the duration of calls, and often talk out of the context. Very rarely does the caller get anopportunity to express his view or keep the phone down.

Such mobile users should realise that every person values his own money. Everyone should realise that mobile phones, a wonderful invention, must be used judiciously for highly important communication and whatever the matter one wants to communicate should be finished off within three minutes, which, incidentally, is said…More

The Hindu :

A cooking demo that was actually fun

Photo: V. Sreenivasa murthyWINNING TOSS Chef Andrea Golino shows how

Demo cooking sessions usually involve sitting through long and convoluted discussions about the finer elements of a particular cuisine even as the chefs prepare the food, leaving one hungry and slightly bored. However, the European Art of Taste cooking demo with Andre Golino from Italy and Manu Chandra, executive chef at the Olive beach, was different.

Andréa Golino from Italy, who has dabbled in a range of roles — from actor in many Italian movies in villainous roles and a brief stint in theatre, to being an excellent chef.

He was hilarious from the start, teaming up with chef Manu Chandra, to dish out authentic, yet simple Italian preparations. He enumerated the differences in north and south Italian cuisine, cracked jokes on a range of issues, including the Indian fascination for spice in the food.

As far as the food goes, the chef started with a pasta preparation, Orechietta with broccoli, olives and raisins with a smattering of roasted pine nuts. Andrea says: “Timing is very important when you are cooking pasta. Even a minor delay could mean the preparation would be damaged.” The mixture of broccoli, peanuts, olives and the other ingredients and pasta were served piping hot to the packed gathering.

Animated chefs

Both Andrea and Manu continue their animated conversation throughout the process, keeping the audience engrossed in the proceedings. Chef Andrea, in the meantime begins to work on newer preparations, chopping onions and a host of other veggies with clinical precession, armed with the oddly-shaped ‘onion goggles’, an innovation the chef states saves one from being reduced to tears in a simple onion cutting exercise. He also makes a funny attempt at marketing a small knife used for cutting cheese, which he claimed ensured that the cheese did not stick to the knife.

Manu soon took…More

The Hindu :

This fortnight at seventymm.com

Wait Until Dark (1967)

Cast: Audrey Hepburn, Alan Arkin, Richard Crenna, Efrem Zimbalist Jr, Jack Weston, Julie Herrod Director: Terence Young Screenwriter: Robert Carrington (from a play by Frederick Knott) <em style=”b

There is an agreeable minimalism about “Wait Until Dark” — from the set, (largely in an apartment) to the lead actor, Audrey Hepburn. Director Terence Young, credited with setting the phenomenally-successful template of guns, gadgets and girls for the James Bond movies must have found the reduction in scale decidedly pleasant.

Young, who directed “Dr. No”, “From Russia With Love” and “Thunderball” turns his urbane eye on this Frederick Knott play. The prelude features a curvaceous drug runner named Lisa telling Louis to hurry up with stitching packets of heroin into a doll. She flies with the doll from Montreal to New York. At the airport, she sees an enemy and hands over the doll to a co-passenger, a photographer, Sam Hendrix.

Lisa winds up very dead and there are some really mean people after the doll including the completely unhinged Roat and his henchmen Mike Talman and Carlino. The rest of the movie involves the three thugs terrorising Sam’s recently-blind wife, Susy and her desperate battle for survival.

While the movie belongs to Audrey Hepburn as Susy, (she won an Academy Award nomination for her bravura performance), Alan Arkin matches her performance shot for shot. In the “making of” feature, “A Look In the Dark”, Arkin talks about achieving a “negative neutrality” for his character. Roat is a drug-addled psychopath who Arkin says is “laidback like a snake would be laidback, waiting for an opportunity to strike.”

The years have been kind to this film as the thrills are still as spine-tingling and the last eight minutes when Hepburn and Arkin confront each other in total darkness still delivers edge-of-the-seat excitement. Apparently when the film was screened in theatres,…More

The Hindu : y>

NDTV Good Times has launched new wellness shows this summer in association with Apollo Hospitals.

The shows are grouped under three themes — “Man, Woman and Child”, “Celebrity Weekends”, and “Mind, Body and Soul”.

Man, Woman and Child: “Women on Top”, Mondays at 8.30 a.m. and 7 p.m., is about women who have shed their inhibitions and made confessions about real issues affecting their health or relationships. For kids, there is “No Kidding” on Tuesdays and Fridays, 8.30 a.m. and 7 p.m. “Men’s HQ”, Wednesdays, 8.30 a.m. and 7 p.m. takes you on a journey with ordinary men who have transformed their mundane, often unhealthy lifestyles into healthy ones.

Celebrity Weekends: In “The Fit and Famous”, Saturdays, 8.30 a.m. and 7 p.m., watch Bollywood celebrities share their fitness secrets.

“Breaking Bread”, Sundays, 8.30 a.m. and 7 p.m., is where you meet celebrities who have turned their passion for food into a thriving business.

Mind, Body and Soul: Catch Deepak Chopra on “Happiness”, Mondays and Saturdays, 8.30 a.m. and 7.00 p.m. will explore the question of happiness. “One Life to Love”, Tuesdays and Thursdays, 9 a.m. and 7.30 p.m., explores personal and professional issues. “Bodylicious Yoga”, Wednesdays and Fridays at 9 a.m. and 7.30 p.m., gives you an opportunity to learn various yoga forms .

“Apollo 11”, Sundays, 9 a.m. and 7.30 p.m., profiles state-of-the-art medical technologies at the Apollo Group of Hospitals. Get an insight into the workings of an institution and the lives of its professionals.

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The Hindu :

Author K.C. Yadav says Begum Hazrat Mahal didn’t get her due

Royal An artistic projection of Begum Hazrat Mahal reproduced from the book cover

History is often seen through the prism of the victor. For long Begum Hazrat Mahal of Oudh has been on the sidelines. Releasing a commemorative stamp or naming a park after her hasn’t helped her cause.

Not any more. As we celebrated 152nd anniversary of the First War of Independence on May 10, K.C. Yadav has dusted off the allegations against one of the heroines of the First War of Independence in a book, “Begum Hazrat Mahal”, published by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting.

He describes her as the last of the breed of able queens and generals. She came out of the zenana and led her army into battle during the Revolt of 1857. Even after she was defeated she defied Queen Victoria’s famous Proclamation and issued a counter Proclamation. She tried to wipe out the blot of cowardice from the face of the ruling family of Oudh, particularly her husband Wajid Ali Shah.Her story

“English Historians tried to defame our heroes and some of us have a propensity to ‘follow’ their version. Jhansi Ki Rani also didn’t find much space in history books. It was Subhadra Kumari Chauhan’s poem and Vrindavan Lal Verma’s fiction that kept her relevant. Whenever English historians had to run down a mutineer they would say he was intoxicated or was a person of loose character. Begum also suffered the same fate,” says Yadav, who has written the book in Hindi.

He prefers to go by Jadunath Sarkar’s version who has described her as the Judith of First War of Independence. “She is described as a courtesan because Wajid Ali Shah in one of his early couplets about her describes her as a khangi. Now khangi has multiple meanings including prostitute but it…More

The Hindu : y>Tabla maestro Anuradha Pal speaks to ANJANA RAJAN about breaking barriers and stereotypes

Photo: S. SubramaniumCharged Anuradha Pal always wanted to have an identity of her own

Ordinary folk may depend on their dose of caffeine to prise themselves out from the embrace of sleep every morning. For tabla maestro Anuradha Pal, though, it is a session with her instrument that gets her moving.“Riyaaz ke baad hi neend khulegi, bhook khulegi.” It only stands to reason. People who have a habit of breaking glass ceilings wouldn’t be expected to harbour your run-of-the-mill pick-me-up.Renewal

“I believe in telling and doing the new,” remarks Anuradha, who performed at London’s Darbar International South Asian Music Festival in April. “I have started a new thing: tabla jugalbandi, which is Anuradha Pal in jugalbandi with herself.”

The roots of this intriguing concept lie in her refusal to be straitjacketed. “We all learn in the guru-shishya tradition. But there is a part of me that wants to go beyond the done and explore new vistas.” She plays traditional compositions interspersed with her own new ones.

“I’m a very traditional person by nature, but I’m a very non-traditional person too,” she explains. “So the young and spunky Anuradha combines with the traditional Anuradha.” In these duets with herself, which she started last November, the audience is a party too, so it becomes a three-way conversation, a trigalbandi, she notes.

Anuradha says she wants the audience “to grow and understand the nuances of the instrument.”A prodigy

If she educates the non-musical audiences, she also educates those born to the art. When her talent for rhythm was discovered while learning vocal music as a seven-year-old, she had to prove herself to her brother’s tabla teacher who refused to teach her in the belief the tabla required “mardana zor (male power)”. He only began teaching her when he heard her reproduce lessons overheard from her…More