This artist has 18 century books in his collections

You name any prominent book on music, art, dance and sharana literature published from any corner of the globe and he has it. For this 66-year-old artist L Shivalingappa, collecting literatures on different forms of art is more than a
passion. He has more than 6,500 rare books belonging to 18th and 19th century in English and Kannada languages.

What' amazing is that a majority of the rare books that adorn the shelves are imported from different. It even include ooks published more than a century ago. He quickly places orders for books penned by celebrated authors immediately
after he comes to know about its release.

Art Treasures of the world by Eleonor C Munro (1838, London); Practical Essay on Art by John Burnet (1888, New york); Modern German Art by Henry Ginsbury (1938), Contemporary British Art by Herber Read (1951); History of Fine Art in India and Ceylon by Vincent A Smith (1930) and Art of Century by Yannle Pichon (1989) are some of his prized possession. He has more than a hundred series of Walter T Foster's 'How to draw books'.

Shivalingappa has penned about 20 books related to Painting, Sculpture and Vachana Sahitya. He has also penned a book 'Art Developments in Karnataka' which includes the stages of development of art from the ancient period of rock work to modern painting.

Apart this, he has about 10,000 photography to his collections and has spent lakhs of rupees towards these collections. He has placed all his collection in a separate room called ?Mysore Art Gallery?.

The multifaceted Artist Shivalingappa is not only a writer and painter, but is equally good in sculpture, editing and writing features. He was the first from state to do sculpture works using sand castings, thermocole and PVC Pipes.

He has exhibited his paintings in State and National-level expos about 30 times from 1974 to 2008 and has dedicated his life in art and culture. He says, he needs the books for reference and also to gain inspiration. He has number of awards to his credit, to mention a few State Shilpa Kala Academy Award, State Lalithakala Academy, Karavali Samskruthika Suvarna Kannadiga Award, Basavasri, Kuvempusri, and much more.

This Australian names his daughter 'India'

The Patriotic fervour led by this Australian family is very high. They have named their 15-year-old daughter 'India'. Australian family led by Nick Petrucco and his wife Rebec are the spouse who have named their daughter 'India'. The couple have three children in which India is elder one and other two are Maggie and Gus.

Nick says, he see India alive by calling her daughter name and he feels he is in India.
The seven family member of Nick Petrucco have traveled from Kozhikode to Chennai and have organised Walkathon to create awareness among people about child abuse and to raise funds for education of the under privileged children in South India.

This is the first Walkathon conducted by Nick along with his other family members Jenny, Nick, Deibhlin and Nicola, under the banner of Child Fund's Unique Initiative 'Coast to Coast' Walkathon.

A total of 850 km walk has been organised in which they have walked 310 kilo meters and they walk another 450 kilo meters to reach Chennai.The walkathon was flagged of at west coast of Kozhikode, Kerala on December 9. They are leaving Mysore on December 16 and reach Bangalore on December 21 via Bannur, Malavalli and culminate the walkathon at Chennai on January 11 and return to their country by January 19.

Nick says, he love India very much and its a very special place for him. 'This is my 6th visit to India and the walkathon was planned 15 months ago and my children supported very much for this. I want to do something for the nation and hence choose collecting charity to help needy children. Every Child is special and should be provided with all facilities,' he said and thanked his family members and kids for their support and walking all the way long with him.

His family members said they are very proud of Nick and asked everyone to contribute to any one of the noble projects to get underprivileged children and to provide a better standard of living.

The family members took part in the event at Kiriya Pushpa Campus situated near Silk Factory on Thursday and distributed bicycles for girls, school kits for children, educational packs for orphaned children, medical kits for HIV affected children, drinking water facilities for 67 Anganwadi Centres and Balavadis.

A tale of two men: One is noble, one is kind

The general opinion of all is, 'life is unfair'. But, for 44-year-old R Somashekhar life became a relentless struggle when he was afflicted with Polio, gradually crippling all his four limbs leaving him with very little mobility. But the polio could not affect his 'inner will'.

Born into a poor family, where parents and sister too are blind, he has the responsibility of earning daily bread for the entire family. Unmarried Somashekar faced the life courageously and fought against all odds of life to survive
and to make a living on his own !

He is a resident of Ittegegud and completely dependant on others for each and every move he makes. Moved by his pitiable condition some philanthropists donated him with a mobile telephone booth along with a weighing machine. He visits the private Bus Stand near RMC providing the public with his telephone services. Some of the regular commuters and bus drivers at the bus-stand offer him some money. Apart this, Government is providing him Rs 1,000 per month.

With this meager earnings he manages his family of four members.

These are times when people are busy meeting their own ends and cant' spend time for helping others living their work. But its not same with the auto-driver R Ramesh. Noticing the sordid struggle for existence made by Somshekar, he has taken the responsibility of picking and dropping him, free of cost. He helps him to climb into the auto as well to come down with the help of another person.

A resident of Kesare, 41-year-old Ramesh accidentally met Somashekhar, while he was on his daily trip of dropping a passenger at the bus-stand. From Kesare to Ittegegud its about six km and he has been doing relentlessly for the past six months.

Without waiting whether he gets a passenger or not, he drives empty auto towards Somshekar's house every morning at 10.30 am and picks him up in the evening at 6.30 pm to bring him back to his house. Though he has driven an empty auto on several occasions in the past, he is unmindful of the losses. Somashekar lauded and thanked Ramesh for his gesture.

Technology comes to the aid of MCC

MCC saves 48 pc on fuel, operating costs after introducing GPS in its transport fleet

The Mysore City Corporation (MCC) which fitted Global Positioning System (GPS) devices to its garbage shifting vehicles about a year and half ago has started reaping good results.

The new system has not only helped to discipline its drivers who otherwise were dumping the waste at other than the designated places according to their convenience but has also helped in making the process cost effective. Since then, the expenditure on fuel and maintenance has come down by 48 percent while the overall efficiency has improved by 60 percent.

MCC went for the GPS in April 2010 to handle its fleet of 325 garbage shifting vehicles, in view of the increasing incidents of the waste shifting vehicles dumping the garbage at places of their convenience. Also the drivers were submitting inflated bills towards the fuel and maintenance cost claiming more trips and it was impossible to handle fleet of 325 vehicles without a suitable monitoring and control mechanism.

JnNURM Superintending Engineer Suresh Babu said that with the help of GPS it is now possible to monitor the location of any vehicle 24X7, sitting in the Control Room and has helped to prevent unauthorised dumping of garbage, increasing the efficiency garbage clearance.

Speaking to TNIE, MCC Commissioner KS Raikar said the new system has provision to send SMS alerts to officers monitoring the fleet about movement of each vehicle. Another interesting feature is that it gives accurate information of the weight of the garbage and from where it was lifted. The SOS facility in case of vehicle breakdown has helped pick-up efficiency.

Another benefit of GPS was the generation of automated Trip Sheet for the truck drivers. Due to complete automation, human intervention is eliminated, with the result calculation of the number of trips for each driver as well as the
route to be followed is given in the form of a print-out as soon as the driver reports for duty. Apart from this report of attendance of every driver and his daily working hours can be generated instantly.

CESC to go hi-tech:

City to get on-line electricity bill payment soon; Installation of Prepaid electricity meters at house and GIS to monitor transmission lines

If everything goes as planned, Mysoreans, can now make online payments of their electricity utility bills by sitting at home or office through e-billing facility stated to be introduced soon, in addition of providing ECS (Electronic Clearing System) for those opting for AutoPay instructions where payments are made through your bank account on a specified date.

With this, the city's Chamundeshwari Electricity Supply Corporation(CHESCOM) is going hi-tech chalking out various measures to provide consumers more convenience and ease of bill payments. The process of making e-bill payments online is going on at a brisk pace and talks are being held with banks to provide the necessary ECS authorization.

In Mandya on-line payment of bills has already been implemented in tie-up with Infosys, where consumers can view the bill online along with contacting a 24X7 customer care service center in case they come across any operational difficulties. In the first phase, Kuvempunagar area will go on-line in the first week of January and a survey of every house hold is going on collecting details of the names of the residents and their RR numbers.

Apart this the authorities are collecting details of the consumers for installation of pre-paid electricity meters at homes in city. This facility is similar to prepaid mobile card facilities, in which consumers can buy certain units of power by making advance payment.

GIS to monitor transmission lines

With the aim of providing reliable and uninterrupted power supply, Geographical Information Systems (GIS) will be installed on Distribution Transformers to monitor and improve all transmission lines coming under it, which helps to proper schedule maintenance in case of emergency breakdowns.
It also helps track pilferage and Transmission and Distribution Losses (T&D) and power stealing. It even helps to identify proper placement of electrical poles which are critical as the demand for power supply from new consumers keeps rising.

ATP machines to be shifted

As presently both the ATP (Any Time Payment) machines and Cash Counters are located at the same place and man power is not being utilized fully at cash counters. Speaking to Express CHESCOM MD P Boregowda said that by this month ATP machines will be shifted to other locations frequented by the public within the same division, in order to utilize the facility better. It will be open from 8 am to 2 pm and 3 pm to 8 pm. There are 17 ATP machines already installed in CHES out of which eight machines have been installed in Mysore.

Mysore beetle leaves may soon become extinct

The famous 'Mysore Veelyadele' (Beetle leaf) having a history spanning several decades, might soon become extinct going by the way things are happening at the place where its grown in city.

A waste water drain which flows across the ?Yele Thota? and which is the only source of water for the beetle leaf growers is fast becoming polluted. Medical waste from a nearby private hospital has found its way into drain and as a result the creepers have started to wither. The farmers fear that if the authorities fail to stop the medical waste from entering the drain, then the creepers will die.



Sixty-seven year-old Channamayigayi of Nachanahalli said the medical waste generated by the hospital is getting mixed with the drainage which begins to flow from Agrahara and passes through Yelethota farms before reaching Dalvoy Lake. The drain carries with it several kinds of garbage including medical wastes like discarded bandages, cotton swabs. Its an eyesore to see these wastes floating, he said.

He said the pollution has largely affected in its yield and because of which most of the cultivators have stopped growing beetle leaves and have switched over to coconut and arecanut. Though the incident of the drain being polluted by the hospital was brought to the notice of the Corporation several times, no help has come our way, he rued.

Another cultivator Basavaraj said there were attempts to grab their lands by bringing pressure from politicians. He requested
the Horticulture Department to protect the farms.

However, District Health Officer Mallegowda said there is no threat to the beetle farms as the medical waste is let into the drain only after chlorination.

Speaking to Express, President of Nalwadi Krishnaraja Wadiyar Welfare Association C Chidambar said that 'Wayback in 1968 the beetle leaf crop was completely destroyed for which compensation was provided by the Governemnt after six long years in the year 1974.

While only a couple of cultivators received the compensation, most of the remaining completely gave up the cultivation seeking other jobs. Now, again the crop is under threat of being completely wiped out if no urgent measures are taken to to protect it,' he added.

About Yelethota
The legend has it that the Yelethota was gifted by the then rulers of the Mysore Royal family to a dozen families
exclusively to cultivate beetle leaves. In those days it was a tradition for the members of the royal family to offer
beetle leaves to all those who visited the Palace. It was also used symbolically to invite an enemy ruler for war as
was popularly called offering 'Rana Veelye'.

Corporation to distribute dustbins for 1,75,000 houses holds by February

With the city already ranked as the cleanest city in India, Mysore City Corporation (MCC) has plans to distribute two dustbins to about 1,75,000 houses in the city by February next year, to segregate wet and dry wastes from household level.

Officials have made arrangements to distribute red and green coloured dustbins of 10 liter capacity each, meant for collecting wet waste in the green dustbin and the dry waste in red dustbins. The wet waste thus collected will be send for composting while the dry waste for recycling. It will be made mandatory for every household to dispose off the garbage separately, which simplifies garbage collection and disposal.

To create awareness among people about the significance of segregation of wastes, Corporation officials are conducting awareness camps near Devaraja Market for Self Help Group's who in turn will visit houses in every locality and impart awareness by providing information and educating the people. Apart this the garbage collectors will also be educated to dump the wet and dry waste separately in specific containers provided to them.

The green dustbin is used to dump wet, biodegradable organic wastes like flowers, fruits, vegetables, garden leaves, left over food, wood or any other organic kitchen waste while the red dustbins are used to collect glass, plastic, metals, e-waste, paper, aluminium foils etc.

With Mysore city spanning an area of 128.75 sq km and inhabited by 9.18 lakh people, the heritage city on an average generates around 402 tonnes of waste every day and most of this waste can be recycled. As residents are mixing all kinds of waste, it is difficult to segregate the mixed waste for recycling.

JnNURM Superintending Engineer Suresh Babu said that the dustbins are meant exclusively for waste collection and should not be used for any other purpose. He said already tenders have been invited from five companies for procuring the dustbins and the MCC has already received the samples from these companies for testing and evaluation.

'Each dustbin costs approximtely Rs 80 – 100, and it will be provided by funds allotted under JnNURM. This new proposal if implemented will aid better handling of Solid Waste Management. At presents garbage is collected together which is of no use. The rule becomes mandatory from February,' he added. Corporation Commissioner KS Raikar said that the process will implemented shortly and people will be made aware to segregate the waste.