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The Hindu : ZARA ABRAHAM

Giving to those less fortunate than yourself…

Photo : AFPbrand ambassador : Rahul Bose.

As part of Give India’s ‘Joy of Giving’ week’ — from September 27 to October 3 — the whole country will be encouraged to give to the less fortunate. Riverside School, Ahmedabad, has organised a contest that reaches out to over 32,000 schools nationwide regardless of their educational or socio-economic background. Students aged 10 – 13 years will represent their schools.Students will Feel out a problem that they find important, Imagine possible solutions , actually go out and Do what it takes to implement the chosen solution and Share their story by sending in their entries.Registration

Students should take on a manageable problem, find solutions that require minimum expenditure and implement these solutions in a week with a documented process and outcome. The last date for registration is September 15, 2009. For registration, or any information, visitwww.designforgivingcontest.com

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The Hindu : SUDHINDR. A.B.

Dance, music and art have not lost their appeal among children.

Finding expression: Through creative art.

Children between the ages of five and 12 displayed their interest in various art forms at Samskritika Vaibhava, an interschool cultural fair hosted by M. E. S. Kishora Kendra recently. Sri Vani Public School, Rajajinagar by emerged the winner in various events and bagged the rolling shield.

The competitions

The fair, open to children from Stds. I to VII started four years ago to revive their interest in art forms.The participants were divided into three categories. Children of Stds. I and II were in the sub-juniors group and they participated in Bhagwad Gita recitation and Origami paper folding competitions. The participants in the juniors group (for children of Stds. III and IV) showcased their talents in ear bud painting, pick and speak, and group dance competitions, while the senior group (for Stds.V, VI and VII) participated in devotional song, flower arrangement and craft from waste competitions. They presented compositions of Kanakadasa and Purandaradasa in the devotional song competition.

Musician T. S. Sathyavathi gave away the prizes. She told the parents to generate interest in art forms among their children. Principal R. K. Prahlada Rao said that the popularity of the event was growing each year and this year’s event attracted students from 18 schools. The Headmistress of the primary section Jayanthi Muthappa said children’s creativity finds expression through music, dance and painting.

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The Hindu : y>All animals featured in Pet Pals are available for adoption free of cost

Whoever said donkeys are dumb hadn’t met Nancy. She’s a feisty two-year-old donkey who was brought to the CUPA Shelter.She had lost a front leg hoof and was found hobbling precariously amidst the crazy Bangalore traffic. At first we thought Nancy wouldn’t be able to cope among the dogs at the shelter and believe me, they are one naughty pack of doggies. With trepidation, we released her among them and watched. Sonu, the naughtiest was the first to approach Nancy, yapping at her. To our delight, Nancy did a little salsa-twist with her body and hoisted both back legs off the ground to give Sonu a pert little kick.

All the other shelter doggies watched Sonu land unceremoniously on her back side with open jaws. The rules were made. No dog ever bothered Nancy again. Even when she corners the biscuits that they love so much, they just drool and watch.

“God loved the birds and invented trees. Man loved the birds and invented cages.” — Jacques Deval

Nancy’s very vocal. When Lingaraj, the shelter manager or I come into the shelter and call out her name, she promptly answers with a little bray. And when she wants to be scratched behind the ears, tickled under the chin or just pampered, she sidles up to us and starts chewing on our clothes. Her velvet nose and liquid eyes can melt even the hardest heart. Being three-legged hasn’t hampered her spirit in any way. Instead, it has made hermuch naughtier and livelier and of course, a lot more endearing.

” An animal’s eyes have the power to speak a great language.” — Martin Buber

You can visit Nancy at CUPA and she’d love it if you brought some bananas and papayas to feed her. To visit her or enquire about sponsoring Nancy’s…More

The Hindu : y>Dan Brown’s Lost Symbol, sequel to his controversial bestseller The Da Vinci Code is due for worldwide release today. Will it be a breathless page turner like its predecessor, wondersBINDU TOBBY

Photo: S. ThanthoniSweet spot Most fans are struck by the historical detailing

I remember re-reading some gripping pages of Dan Brown’s “Da Vinci Code”, just so I could arrange the scene vividly in my head before turning over. For a couple of days after, I also spent ample time staring amazed and amused, at the interesting picture of the Last Supper (that hung very mundanely till then) in our dining room.

The novel, with its mystifying world of symbols, cryptography, secret societies and priories, history, intrigue, interpretations, conspiracy theory, and plot pitted controversially against conventional religious beliefs (questioning the divinity of Jesus, his marriage to Mary Magdalene and that he had a bloodline that was fiercely guarded by some staunch secret societies) dexterously weaving fact and fiction definitely whetted the appetites of many a reader.

And whatever be your reason – cynicism, intrigue or fascination for reading the “Da Vinci Code”, the same set of reasons will hold true for Brown’s upcoming sequel — “The Lost Symbol” (list price of Rs. 695, Bantam Press) which is releasing today, worldwide. Ravi Raman, who works with an MNC, calls Dan Brown’s genre of books “fiction in the garb of fact-based story. I suggest people read his book after taking a oath that they will not discuss the plus and minuses for 12 months. That will ensure a balanced judgement. What Dan Brown writes is purportedly about ‘facts’ as opposed to ‘faith’ and this puts people in positions that are taken well before starting to read the book.”

Swords would have been sharpened and reviews would have already been written on his forthcoming book. Sometimes, however, serious criticism only makes the author appear greater than he is!”

“Dan Brown’s…More

The Hindu :

Clean comedy is Dan Ninan’s trademark style

Photo: Murali Kumar. KWitty lines The comedian says it is very difficult to spontaneously make up gigs on stage

“My parents provide most of the material for my show, though they do not realise it,” quips comedian Dan Ninan, in the city for a show recently.

Unlike many other stand-up comedians, clean comedy is Dan’s trademark style. “I want my shows to be watched by audiences in all age groups, from children to the elderly. I try to keep my comedy clean to ensure that everyone can follow my jokes and gigs easily.”

At the Radio Indigo studios in the city, Dan, whose parents are from Japan and India, saidenjoyed the his visit to the country. “I last came to India, when I was six years old and do not remember much about that trip. I was also not involved in comedy then,” He says, with a wide grin plastered over his face.

Ninan says, “Most of my jokes are about expatriates, the Indian and the Japanese communities. They are extremely sporting and love most of the jokes. Though many comedians feel that Asians are rather serious and do not like too many jokes, I have encountered a completely different issue.”Hilarious situations

He adds, “Often I have people from the audience come up and narrate filthy jokes, hoping I would incorporate them in my gigs. It is very funny and leads to hilarious situations, whichI incorporate into my shows also.” He lets out a secret about the stand-up comedy acts.

“Though no one likes to admit it, the truth is that most shows work according to a script. It is very difficult to spontaneously keep on making up gags on stage. Some of the gagsare not manufactured, especially the ones that involve the audience members.”He adds, “There have been some moments, where you may tend to lose the…More

The Hindu : y>SOUND OFF! P.R Vasanta talks about the blind aping of western cultureby Indian youth

It is unfortunate that the youth in this age have lost their attachment for our traditional attire. One hardly notices any of the youngsters going to retail stores to pick up dhotis, pyjamas or kurtas.

They invariably wear jeansand the like even in their homes. Wearing traditional cotton saris have gone out of vogue and are no longer taken into consideration in the world of fashion.

The age is not long when we may find cotton saris only in temples and other religious gatherings .

As far as summer wear is concerned, nothing could be more comfortable than our traditional cotton dhotis and pyjamas.

In this connection, one could admire the late Y. S. Rajashekara Reddy, who mostly wore cotton shirts and dhotis which caught the imagination of the rural populace in a big way.

It would have evenplayed akey role in his massive election victories.

Jayalalitha in Tamil Nadu has praised Home Minister P. Chidambaram for sticking to the traditional attirein thefashion conscious New Delhi.

Our youth should not blindly ape the western mode of dressing and should instead opt to dress in traditional attire. Our traditional dressing isalso better suited for our climatic conditions.

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. Email it tobangmetro@gmail.com or post it to MetroPlus, The Hindu, 19 & 21, Bhagwan Mahaveer Road (Infantry Road), Bangalore 1.

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The Hindu :

Karthika Nair’s collection of poems, Bearings, encompasses her personal and work experiences in performing arts

Photo: S. MahinshaCore value Karthika Nair: ‘Poetry allows you to distil things to their essence’

“For four years while in France, I wasn’t doing any writing for myself,” says Karthika Nair. And, her only connection with English was through Internet. “I was doing odd bit of creative writing and life was very full,” she adds.

That was when she found herself shifting from prose to writing poetry. The author was at Reliance Time Out to launch her book “Bearings”, a collection of 60 poems published by Harper Collins (Rs. 350). She says, poetry allows one to look at life sideways. “It gives a quirky, tangential view of reality. Poetry allows you to distil things to their essence.”

The book is divided into three sections — “Damaged Goods” captures her personal experiences, a lot of it to do with hospital. “I was hospitalised several times because I have a congenital disorder of the skin.”

“Virga” is drawn from her work experiences, connected with performing arts from dance and theatre to visual arts. She with choreographer Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui’s are associated with Het Toneelhuis in France. The third section, “Terra Infirma”, she says, gives a sense of being in transit. “It’s not a mere landscape, more of a mindscape.”

The ‘you’ and ‘I’ keeps changing in her poems. For instance, in ‘Terra Incognita’, the first person is a country which no longer exists, an inspiration from one of her sessions at a poetry workshop.

“We were asked to write about ghosts. I related it to a land speaking to its former people,” she shares.

“What I see and read influences my writing. I am constantly seeing dance, music and theatre. I read translations of Iranian poetry listen to qawwali. I also get influenced by Malayalam poetry which my mother read to me when I…More

The Hindu :

Books This month at indiaplaza.in

The Wish Maker

Ali Sethi

Hamish Hamilton

Rs. 499

Ali Sethi’s “The Wish Maker” is the story of Zaki, just returned from the US to Pakistan for the wedding of his cousin Samar Api. As Zaki, who has been away for a while, makes attempts to comprehend the vast changes that have taken Lahore in its grip, he also travels back into his childhood, and the sagas of family and country blend into the moment.

This back-and- forth movement not only gives the story depth, but also creates occasions to go back into the prime of some of the book’s characters.

It’s difficult to believe that Sethi is only 25, not just because he writes well, 25-year olds can write as well as any others, but there is a certain quality of maturity to the things he chooses to pay attention to, and if you compare that with the sort of thing some 25- year olds, like the author of the infamous You Are Here, are concerned with, you’ll see what I mean. I would recommend this book as compulsory reading for potential writers, especially young ones, to show that the world we live and grow in is not free of the heavy underlining of history.

And also that a writer with talent and skill can write about this world, in all its heaviness, and be read and be popular and sell well.

The Idea of Justice

Amartya Sen

Penguin

£ 25.00

If you read the reviews for this book, you’ll see that just because it’s Amartya Sen, it doesn’t have to be a good read! One of the more interesting reviews of “The Idea of Justice” – in Times Online – begins by saying that Sen appears not to have been informed of the generally accepted truth that polymathic brilliance among scholars is a thing of the past, and goes on to point out…More

The Hindu : y>

Abracadabra! The series reveals the secrets behind magic’s biggest tricks

Levitating women? Walking through steel? Tune into AXN this September for an exclusive peek into the unveiling of the deep, dark secrets of the magic industry!

More than 10 years ago, the Masked Magician provided some guarded secrets behind some baffling illusions in the series, “Breaking the Magician’s Code”. Over a decade and countless new illusions later, a new Masked Magician has returned in an all-new series of “Breaking the Magician’s Code: magic’s biggest secrets finally revealed,” to dazzle audiences with the silken execution of marvellous magical feats, from simple card tricks and sleights of hand, to bewitching, bewildering illusions… before laying bare the secrets behind these tricks.

With the voice of Mitch Pileggi (“X Files”) detailing the intricacies of each stunt, viewers will not be disappointed with the fascinating plethora of magic tricks. From the classic act of restoring a cut rope to the mystifying acts of cutting one head’s off with a guillotine, levitating to different buildings and making a five-ton military vehicle magically appear in an empty parking lot, viewers will get to see beyond the magic and more.

The show premieres on Thursday at 10 p.m.

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The Hindu :

Season after season, Sabyasachi Mukherjee has wowed fashionistas. He talks about his Save the Sari campaign, globalised Indian-ness and his boy-next-door existence

NO DATED DESIGNS Sabyasachi believes in creating clothes that can survive fashion seasons.

Sabyasachi Mukherjee is fashion’s quintessential good boy. Despite a decade under the flashbulbs and superlative reviews, he’s untouched by fame. “I still go to dhabas where four people can have meals for Rs. 200,” he says.

Coming from someone who loves contrasts, this isn’t surprising. The only Indian designer with the rare honour of being invited to the New York Fashion Week for three consecutive years, Sabya believes in simple living and magnificent styling.

“There is no need for us to move away from our identity. There’s so much in our culture to draw inspiration from. The trick lies in creating cutting edge, yet classic designs that can survive fashion seasons,” says the Kolkata-born Sabya, who is famous for giving Indian-ness a global spin.

In Chennai recently, at Evoluzione, with an all-new affordable line, the designer says: “I’m following up on my ‘Save the Sari’ campaign more aggressively. It’s a meltdown version of my bridal line. We need to preserve our identity and textiles. And the only way to make youngsters choose saris for evenings is to make them stylish and affordable. That’s what I’ve done — experimented with weaves and textures and created a line that’s a refreshing contrast to the black-or-white-washed homogeneity of today’s cocktail circuit.”Strongly rooted

Sabya has just launched a new line of affordable saris.

Sabya the creator is as unflinchingly rooted as Sabya the man. His Patola line at Lakme Fashion Week early this year, recreated the magic of the centuries-old Patola saris that are famous for their complicated weaves.

His Kora line in 2003 pushed the boundaries of creativity in a challenging palette of white and cream. The unbleached fabrics even had traces of tea…More