The three magic word ‘I LOVE U’, means more for some

The most welcome day in the calendar for those dreamy eyed teen lovers who are not yet committed into a relationship is the Valentine’s Day. The day dawns a new ray of hope in the hearts of numerous lovers dying to express their love for their beloveds or just waiting to receive a message of love from them.

Love is often expressed by presenting flowers particularly red roses, gifts, greeting cards and jewellery, while wearing dresses of particular colours which conveys a special meaning to express their feelings is also in the vogue.

Warnings from puritans like Pramod Mutalik’s Ram Sena against celebrating the Valentine’s Day is completely ineffective against the power of the Cupid’s arrow that brings two souls together culminating in a happy married life. Not merely lovers, it is a moment of occasion for everyone to express their love for others too, be it mother, father, brother or sister, just to say those three magic words, “I Love You”.

Strangely, even after Cupid strikes, for most people it becomes difficult to express their love openly to their beloved. Struggling to find a way out, here comes the Valentine's Day to their rescue.

Express spoke to some section of people to know how they have poured out their heart’s feelings to their loved once either by sending a greeting card along with a red rose or a personal gift to express their love. Here are the excerpts:

“This is my first card; I am sending it through e-mail. I don’t have courage to go and tell directly in front of her so sent e-card and waiting for the reply. If she accepts my love, this will really be a special day for me,” says Nithin a college student.

“V-day means not only exchanging the gifts. It means more, mainly how much we value once feelings. To make this day memorable we are registering our eyes to donate and it will be in our remembrance for ever,” say Vinutha & Ramesh, who are working for an audit office.

“Love is divine for me because I am a disappointed lover. Due to some misunderstanding, my valentine left me. Even today I leave with the memories spent with her and on the eve of Valentine Day from past 19-years I am purchasing a gift for her and keep it for myself,” says a 43 year-old businessman expressing his feelings with tears in eye.

“To show my valentine how much I love her and to impress her more I have figured her face on my hands through tattoo,” expresses Mohan, II year BBM student.

“Though ours is a arrange marriage, from past 6 years on V-day we don’t miss to exchange the greetings and pleasantries,” says Shobha housewife.

“To mark this day specially we are spending the day together. Apart from long drive, gifts, chatting in ice-cream parlour this time we are planning to watch movie ‘Super’ and to visit temple,” say Divya and Venkat who are in love since 4 years.

The legacy of GTN continues to in his donated body

Such was the popularity of late Dr GT Narayan Rao, that a mere mention of his name would be immediately associated with science and scientific temper. Though he is not amidst us today alive, his body preserved at JSS Medical College on Mysore-Bangalore Road continues to draw a large number of visitors, as a reminder of the fact that here lies the mortal remains of a person who truly practiced in is death what he preached when he was alive. Even to this day not only people from other States but also from abroad come to see GTN’s body and pay their respects.

Guddehithlu Thimmappiah Narayana Rao, fondly called as GTN was a towering figure in the field of scientific community, a storehouse of knowledge, a strict disciplinarian and a prolific science writer. According to his wish his body was donated to JSS Medical College for research and educational purposes in June 27, 2008 and has been still preserved. Following his example several friends and students of GTN came forward and registered themselves to donate their bodies. Among GTN’s family his own brother also donated the body and another one has registered for donation.

Being an able organizer of cultural programmes, GTN left a lasting impression on his friends, students and followers alike. Prof. GTN has written several books and articles on science related subjects, especially articles against practice of pseudo sciences like astrology.

Some of the other noted personalities whose body have been preserved are: Dr. D.S. Shivappa & Smt. Laksmi Shivappa; Dr. Sathyanarayana Shastry; former MLA D.T. Jayakumar; noted writer Shikaripura K.Harihareshwara; Veerashetty, a teacher; Kum. Manasa, Kollegal and N.M. Sunandamma, mother of Dr. Shyam Sundar, JSS Medical College.

Valentine’s Day gala glitters around city

Strangely, even after Cupid strikes, for most people it becomes difficult to express their love openly to their beloved. Struggling to find a way out, here comes the Valentine's Day to their rescue. You can pour out your heart's feelings to your loved one either by sending a greeting card along with a red rose or a personal gift and express your love.

Though celebrating Valentine’s Day was considered as western style, as days passed slowly all of us have recognized the importance of this and started adopting this in our culture too. Being a traditional city, Mysore is also all set to celebrate V-day in a unique manner with their lovers, families, friends marking it as a festival.

Earlier the day was only meant for lovers. But now the things have changed. To know how city's spirit is set to soar, Express spoke to some section of people to find out how people are gearing up with brimming enthusiast to mark this special day on February 14. Here are the excerpts:

Which colour (flower) love

Valentine’s Day also means flowers day. The flower vendors are reporting more than 8-10 colours of flowers. “Every year we have good business on V-Day. Usually on normal days we sell around 80-100 flowers but on V-Day more than 1000 flowers will be sold. Most of them purchase 150-200 roses,” says Rangaswamy who purchases flower from Bangalore and Ooty.


Demands for beauty parlour

To make their skin look younger and firmer many girls are getting skin enhanced services like body polishing, bleaching, Pedicure, manicure and aqua radiance around Valentine’s Day which has made students, profession to wait for long time in the parlours.

“Body polishing helps in treating damage to the skin. Most of the boys specially students are gifting body cleansing for their girl friends. To cope-up with the rush we are giving an appointment one-day before,” said Asha a beautician.



“Usually we always celebrate with chocolates, roses, candlelight dinner or going for a long drive. But this year I am gifting her bridal set. I want to look her in a bridal dress. I am happy she understood my love and gesture,” says a student.

A splendid V-day with families

Now Valentine’s day is not just for lovers, as many families are planning to have a splendid valentine’s Day with their family members by purchasing cards, fresh flowers, chocolates and candies with decorating the ceiling by hanging hear shape ballons of colours red, pink, yellow, purple and white. Some of them also have planned to cook up yummy dishes and also for a picnic with their family.

Valentine Day cakes

Taking a coolest look at the Valentine cakes one can enjoy its delectable. Many bakeries have immersed themselves in preparing cakes of different sizes and hues generally in heart shapes with new flavors and different varieties.

Rush at Gift shops

Malls, stores and restaurants have dressed like bridal to attract more number of customers. It was a common sight in gift shops young and old people were seen thinking what gift would make their loved one feel more special. T-shirts, bumper stickers, posters, teddies, chocolates in heart shape, soft toys, watches and the hoardings with valentine’s message out are some of the common gifts seen in all the gift shops.

V-day eve party

Many hotels in the city have arranged V-day eve party in which couples can make V-day to late-night with retro music. Buy-one-get-one-free offer is also offered on clothes, gifts, eatables etc.
Exotic food and continental dishes will be served to make the occasion memorable and many hotels have arranged games, fun, dance to mark the spirit of V-Day.

ZP meeting held amidst pandemonium and chaos

Amidst uproarious scenes and allegations and counter allegations by
various members the Zilla Panchyat tri-monthly review meeting was
held on February 7 at The ZP Council Hall. The agenda of the meeting
was to review the progress of the work since the last meeting held on
04.11.2010 along with monitoring the financial position and physical
progress of the central government sponsored projects and other issues.

The meeting generated heated discussions between members over various
issues like incomplete works, providing wrong statistics, government’s
lackadaisical way of allotting funds and also misuse of funds.
Those officials who abstained from the meeting were warned not to
offer any excuses in future and must attend the future meetings without fail.

Tribals issues
Though an amount of Rs.4.17 crore was sanctioned in 2009 for the welfare
of tribal it has still not been utilized. While ZP CEO Sathyavathi asked the
concerned officials to return the money, R. Dhruvanaryan advised them to
take up responsibility and advised that if money is returned then it is the
poor people who will be victims to bear the hardship.

Non-distribution of uniform
The other issue that rocked the floor was the non distribution of school
uniforms even though the academic year was already coming to an end.
Around 1800 kids in the district are yet to receive uniforms.
The concerned officials were instructed to distribute uniforms by
the end of the March, especially for tribal kids.

About title deeds
3631 application have been received so far for the title deeds but only
655 has been considered and remaining have been rejected by the officials.
The reason given for rejecting the application was most of them were living
outside the forest areas.

Criminal case
MP Vishwanath questioned officials of the Horticulture department about
what measures have been taken so far in their department related to
horticulture, agriculture and health mission.
The tribal department officers were enquired if they have conducted any
meeting for the upliftment of tribal. When the answer was No,
he advised the officers to conduct meetings at least once in a month.

Earlier the tribal development project under the advice of Mannivanna had
decided to give title deeds for tribal groups within four days.
But so far it has not been implemented.
If the same thing continues he said the criminal cases will be lodged
against the erring officials.

Irrigation Department
60 per cent of the material cost should be borne by the farmers and the
remaining 40 per cent will be provided by the government.
For the development of panchayats, regular meetings should be
held from the respective departments head. Most of the school, hostels,
hospitals, anganwadi’s don’t have compound, every work should be finished
utlising the grants suggested H. Vishwanath.

When the works are incomplete public stage protest. Officials should not
give chance for all this instead provide them basic facilities and all
ZP, CEO, PD all should work hand in hand, suggested ZP members.

Other Highlights issues were about Sarva Shiksha Abhiyana,
Rashtirya Horticulture Mission, Akshara Dashoha, Irrigation department and
R. Dhruvanarayan gave the examples of other states to boost the members.

‘Don’t call me bugger’ : ZP Project Director tells DC

Upset over the wrong statistics provided by ZP Project Director MR Balakrishna, Deputy Commissioner Harsha Gupta suddenly lost his temper and shouted at the officer, “In spite of the meeting being held regularly every three months you are not able to perform well. Even the statistics provided by you is also not matching properly. I don’t have patience and can’t tolerate buggers like you”.

There was a pin drop silence the entire hall came to halt for a while as soon as the DC uttered these words at the meeting attended by MLAs, MPs and ZP officials at the Zilla Panchayat meeting conducted at ZP Council hall on February 7.

Upset over this, Balakrishna immediately retorted back and told the DC not to use the word ‘bugger’. But the DC who was unfazed by the protest, continued his tirade against the officer “Neither can I suspend nor can I transfer people like you. With the kind of people like you around we have to tolerate everything that you do. The public too feel the same hurt when you scold at them."

Glancing at the report he was holding in his hand he continued “You have not released any of the grants sanctioned for the development of ZP & TP. This shows you have completely failed to behave as a person holding responsible position. There is no progress of work of at least 5 per cent. If you can’t do your work properly better opt for some other job. Give me a genuine reason for not showing any progress in the work."

DC’s advice
Harsha Gupta offered a piece of advice saying, “Apply your heart while doing public work; we don't have to push during every step of your work. Find out what’s going on, what are innovative, try to apply your mind and introduce a new idea for the development. Don’t keep quiet. It’s the duty of all of us to improve the system. But you people have kept your hands and legs tied and we have to keep lifting you. Do the work assigned to you perfectly.


Balakrishna blames computers
“Due to frequent power cuts and computer problems, we are unable to manage the statistics properly,” balmed MR Balakrishna offering excuse for the delay in updating the day-to-day works.

Computer course for officers
Balakrishna said that most of the officers don’t know how to use the computer. They lack even basic knowledge. Though they keep working on it from 10 in the morning to 6 in the evening, at the end of the day they still complain about the computer problems. So training should be given to the officials to manage things effectively".

Maintain discipline: ZP CEO
“They keep all works pending till the last minute and they start feeding into the computer at once. As everything is computerized the system crashes when it is over loaded. So it is absolutely essential that all of them should have a basic discipline in implementing it systematically,” said ZP CEO Sathyavathi addressing the members present on the dais.

While reacting to the reason offered by Balakrishna that the delay in works was due to power failures, she advised him to get a UPS connection while deploying modern storage and back-up techniques.

No need of discussion
“Don’t you have any responsibility? There is no need of conducting a meeting with this type of wrong statistics. At least for the next meeting correct the statistics and provide the details properly,” warned H. Vishwanath.

Manasagangotri getting spruced up for golden jubilee celebration

The whole premises of Manasagangotri is now getting a bridal look to celebrate the occasion of the completion of 50 glorious years by the University of Mysore after it became autonomous and has imparted education to millions since its inception in 1956.

Both students and staff were seen enthusiastically preparing for the event. Students were seen keenly preparing models, chats, instruments, audio-visuals and other Cleaning work was also going on. Painting stones on the road side curbs was going on briskly.

On the occasion of the University of Mysore celebrating the Golden Jubilee of the setting up of the Manasagangotri Camps it has organized an academic exhibition called Suvarna Manasa 2011.

The main theme of Manasa 2011 is exhibiting and showcasing the academic achievements of every Department in the campus. In all 42 departments, right from Science and Technology to Humanities and Social Sciences, Arts & Culture to Commerce & Education, Technology & Law - each and every Department has involved itself to make it a grand celebration.

This is a unique opportunity to everyone to enrich their knowledge by visiting the exhibition being held from February 15 to February 22 which is open to all and the entrance is fee. The Chairpersons and faculty members of all Departments were seen guiding the students and the staffs too were eagerly helping them to make the event a grand success.

Major attractions at the exhibition:
Apart from getting a inside view of the Hi-tech laboratories where experiments on frontier science subjects are held, one can also take part in Psychological Tests, participate in Educational Games and Brain Teasers, understand the process of Human Evolution, the nuances of Organic farming and Bonsai, along with enjoying the floral beauties in philately. One can even get to understand desert ecosystems and how rain harvesting can be deployed in our homes. A display of more than 1000 species of rocks can be seen in museum of Earth Science Department.


Two-day Conference
Apart from holding the Golden Jubilee celebrations, the University has also arranged the third annual conference of the Karnataka State Science and Technology Academy (KSTA), on February 15 and 16, at the University Senate Bhavan. The highlight of this two-day conference is 14 national-level experts will speak on ‘Globalization: Challenges and Opportunities for Science and Technology Development’ in which various aspects of Globalization and its impact on the development of science and technology will be discussed. Around 900 participants are expected to attend the conference.

Some of the major organizations participating in the KSTA are: National Aerospace Laboratories(NAL), Bharat Heavy Electrical Ltd.(BHEL), ISRO, Hindustan Aeronautical Limited(HAL), CFTRI, DFRL, INCOIS, BEML Limited, Ministry of Tourism, Vishweshwaraiah Technical University (VTU), Central Power Research Institute(CPRI), Centre for Artificial Intelligence and Robotics (CAIR), etc.

What students say…
When Express met the students most of them shared their joy at organizing the event and said “The exhibition helps one to focus on various subjects while sharing the knowledge. We are happy that we too are a part of this project. We are preparing enthusiastically and eagerly waiting to see our projects being seen and appreciated by others, as well as to watch new inventions in other departments.

--------------------------

* Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa will inaugurate the event on February 15 at 10.30 am at Senate Bhavan.
* Around 5 lakh visitors are expected to attend the week long event.
* University of Mysore is also planning to hold lectures throughout from eminent personalities apart from conducting symposiums throughout the year.

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About University of Mysore

The University of Mysore is one of the oldest institutions of higher education in the country. It was established by the then Maharaja of Mysore Nalvadi Krishnaraja Wodeyar on July 27, 1916.

The University became autonomous in 1956 and in 1960 the Postgraduate Centre at the picturesque environs of Manasagangotir facing the lake Kukkarahalli Lake was established. The name ‘Manasagangotri; was suggested by the National Poet Dr. K.V. Puttappa (Kuvempu). The motto of the university is ‘Nothing equals Knowledge’ followed by ‘I Always Uphold Truth’.

ORI exhibited 600-year old Manuscripts at museum

Manuscripts are treasure house of ancient knowledge. Written on palm leaves they are invaluable source of information for modern day scholars researching on ancient history that includes philosophy and religion.

Collecting and preserving these manuscripts from all over India has become a onerous task for these scholars, who travel all over India and request people to hand over old manuscripts lying in their homes unused, and even from mutts and temples.

Though majority of these manuscripts are found in the Sates of Karamtaka and Tamil Nadu, they are also often collected from other parts of the country. These manuscripts are being digitized for the benefit of posterity. They are first cleaned and deciphered, before digitizing them. The Oriental Research Institute famously known as ORI is not far behind in collecting, preserving and digitizing these manuscripts.

If one would have visited the museum of National Centre for History of Science on February 8 they have been remained stunned watching such handy, lengthy palm leafs exhibited by ORI. Express here brings some smallest and lengthiest manuscripts of the era.

Lengthiest Manuscript

Padyacudamani by Budhaghosa is considered as the Lengthiest manuscript in the world. This 3-feet manuscript which is written in palm leaf is 600-year-old and the work done is by Virasaiva. The speciality of this manuscript is the language used in this is both Kannada and English.

Kadata
Kadata is an ancient cloth in which merchants were used to maintain their day-to-day transaction. Adding tamarind to the cloth, making it harder later on the script has written through chalk. The ORI has collected this cloth from Sringeri. This cloth is more than 30 ft and its washable and can be folded also.

Smallest Manuscript

Devisaptasati or Mushti Pustake is the smallest manuscript (3x2 cm) which was displayed in the museum. Its 400-year-old and it can be read using magnifier glass.

Birch Tree

A unique tree grown in Himalayan region is Birch tree. Using cow urine and black powder this birch material will be painted and afterwards with the help of brush the script will be written. Its 200 year-old.

Apart from this the museum has smallest bhagavadgita, gold painted manuscripts, Kautilya Asthashastra and much more.

Road-side vendors plight

Mysore: Mysore city is growing with mushrooming of new layouts. In spite of city boasting of two big and bustling vegetables market - Devaraja market and Vani Vilas market, people continue to buy from street-side vendors who sometimes offer their wears at throw away prize compare to their counterparts inside the main markets.

In this growing congestion in city roads street vendors and hawkers around Maruti Circle, Ramakrishna Nagar, Kuvempunagar and Saraswathipuram are having a roaring business by providing a public service and making convenient for some of us.

The vendors from Nanjunalige, Kuvempunagar, Janatha Bazar, Karegalli and surrounding areas come and sell their fruits, vegetables and greens here every day. They come in the eve hours with stock and return home around 10 am and again by 3 pm they come and go back around 6 pm. Most of these vendors buy vegetables from MG Road and some off them from Srirangapatna, T. Narasipura, Nanjangud and some other surrounding villages.

But the plight of these road-side vendors selling vegetables, fruits and flowers, some times even clothes and other wears in the open without and sort of shelter or protection continue to be neglected with seemingly nobody to represent their cause in the corporation.

Most of them are hawkers were unwilling to shift their present business location as it was quite convenient form them without having to shell out for huge rent and licences fee.

“Though in morning time due to high traffic density the roads tend get clogged. It’s easy to purchase the vegetables and fruits here instead of going to market. If we enter the city market the huge rush along with the parking problem makes difficult for shopping,” says Shubha a housewife.

Sepaking to Express, Mayor Sandesh Swamy said that “The Mysore City Corporation is conducting a survey of roadside vendors in city and plans have made to construct stalls for all the roadside vendors in coming days.

Water crisis prowls city residents into hardship'

Newly repaired pipeline broke down for second time

It was common site witnessed in city on February 4 where
people were seen prowling for water here and there holding a
water pot and vessels scurrying everywhere in search of water.
It all happened due to a burst of Cast Iron pipe carrying near
Hongalli for second time.

The water pipeline which was under repair from February 1
was restored on February 2 around 3 pm. But it went burst
open within two hours of its installation in the same spot.
The authorities of Vani Vilas Water Works (VVWW) were seen
replacing the original Cast Iron pipe with the newly laid Mild
Steel (MS) pipe on Thursday.

The embarrassed officials were at a loss to explain this
sudden turn of events saying that as the pipeline was empty
the air got locked inside causing it to burst. But whatever
happened they are now again busy replacing the pipe with
another MS pipe having a lining wall.

Areas affected:
However more than 60% of residential areas in city were
find disrupted due to drinking water supply, especially in
parts of city lying to the West such as Kuvempunagar,
Brindavan Extension, Yadavagiri, Ramakrishnanagar, VV Mohalla,
Agrahara, Saraswathipuram and other surrounding areas.

Though officials of the Vani Vilas Water Works immediately
sprung into action replacing the leaking pipe, the two day
disruption in the water supply has already caused people to
stand in long queues in front of roadside borewells holding
vessels in hand to collect water. Some of them had even
applied a day's leave just to collect water.

Hotels in some localities had already downed their shutters
as water is most essential to clean utensils and used plates.
Such was the effect that even the roadside eateries did not
venture out on the roads.

Authorities promised: Speaking to Express, authorities of VVWW assured that the
situation would return to normalcy and the water supply will
be restored by February 5.

Round-the-clock service: Answering to the call of Express, Corporation Commissioner K.S. Raikar said that 'Due to major break-down in Hongalli pipiline service the city is facing severe water problem from four days. But arrangements have been made to supply water from 26 water tankers which are working round-the-clock from past 2 days. It takes time for ground-level water storage once the water is stored there will be regular supply of water.'

ashianaa: A ray of hope: An institute for special children

Here is a group of six committed altruists — Siraj Asgerali, Late M.S.A. Khuraishi, S. Loknath, C.M. Subramanian, Sridhar Kumar Bhagvat and D. Vishwanath — who joined hands together in June 2009 and started aashianaa, a charitable trust, registered under the Karnataka Trust Act, exclusively meant for the welfare of specially-abled children including autistic ones, by providing them with appropriate training and day- care facilities to help them lead a life of self reliance and respect.

Being unfortunate victims of circumstances these children are denied admissions in regular schools and if such births happen in poor families, attending to them daily becomes a daunting task for the parents.

After conducting a meticulous survey and research, the members identified areas within Mysore City where such reported cases of children born with disability were more in number. One main reason for this was their poor economic conditions because of which it was not possible to provide proper medical care during prenatal stages or avoid infections during pregnancy. Though in some cases hereditary too plays a major role in retarding a child’s mental development, other avoidable human errors like RH incompati-bility, consuming drugs during pregnancy too contributed towards birth of such children.

Whatever may be the cause, performing simple daily tasks like eating, brushing teeth, cleaning oneself after toilet, responding to basic needs or even learning to walk properly becomes extremely difficult for these children. But the important thing to be noted is that they can be trained to become self reliant, provided they are showered with love and constant care. Only an institution employing trained faculties and dedicated staff can provide the much needed tolerance, patience and empathy required to deal with such special children.

It was thus resolved that a comprehensive institute be started where such facilities can be offered to help the burdened parents cope with their disabled children. The result was the formation of the welfare trust aashianaa, to take care of children disabled by birth for various reasons and who under perform due to mental retardation

The institute imparts training to these children essential skills that are needed to grow and survive in the real world. Tasks are specially designed that provides stimulus for the mental growth of the child. Children will also be taught to become independent, creating a sense of accomplishment that will develop self-respect in them.

Simultaneously, the institute also offers counselling to the child's parents, their family members and friends offering them tips and advice as how to deal with these special children at home highlighting the importance of love, understanding and support, especially maintaining close family ties, which these children need most.

As there is no permanent cure, the only effective treatment is a structured training program. A combination of good schooling and parental training are the best known treatments where disabled children can make significant progress, provided the intervention is timely and consistent. Early intervention, before the child turns five, is very crucial to the child’s progress. Hence early and accurate diagnosis assumes importance.

The institute which started functioning a year ago had 9 inmates and has recently added three more bringing their total strength to 12. Even children suffering from autism are admitted here and 4 of them are autistic. Before the children are admitted they are sent to All India Institute of Speech and Hearing popularly known as AIISH for a through testing and evaluation to determine the nature and degree of disability the child is suffering from.

The opinion of the experts will help in identifying and designing the particular kind of treatment and care that should be provided to the child which can speed up his recovery. Another premium Institution of the City, JSS Institute of Speech & Hearing has joined hands along with AIISH in extending its services and guide the Institution. Based on the expert’s report received from these premier hospitals, a treatment plan for the child to be admitted is chalked out. This personalised attention is a unique aspect of aashianaa.

Another unique feature of aashianaa is involving the parents of the child in the training and rehabilitation programme it conducts. One of the parents should be compulsorily present with the child and attend the programme held daily between 9 am and 1pm. The purpose behind this is to make the parents aware of the kind of training their child is receiving so that they continue practicing it after they go back home. This sustained learning both at the Institute and back at home will quicken the learning abilities of the child than when the training is provided only at the Institute.

The purpose of the training is to make the child self reliant, capable of doing all the daily chores on his own. Apart from the special physical exercises, the child is also trained on how to eat food on his own, comb hair, attend toilet and perform other daily routines. There are even memory training exerci- ses. A half hour relaxation is provided between exercises.

The children are also taught with various skills like identification of colours, writing alphabets, group activities and games, simple yoga exercises among others. All services at the institute are provided free of cost.

As these children grow learning to cope with their disability, there is also a particular need to provide them opportunities for social interactions with the outside world.

They are taken out on excursions to places like zoo, parks and child festivals. They are encouraged to participate in the competitions where some of these children have even won prizes in fancy dress competitions, Sports meet and other competitions held by the Department of Women and Child welfare.

As the number of children are few all these training is presently provided by Fazilat taking the help of parents attending the children. Fazilat’s 12-year-old daughter is an unfortunate victim and is also an inmate here.

Presently the Institute is housed in a rented premises and in future plans to have its own premises to facilitate the children through provide the other infrastructure activities. In the long run the trust has plans to set up a permanent school for these children where all the necessary environment for these children to grow and learn are provided. This not only helps in educating the child but will also helps in developing social skills that will give them an opportunity to spend time and become friends with other challenged children. If parents shun these special learning facilities, studies have shown that this can lead to greater problems for the child to cope with life as it grows up, in addition to other social difficulties.

Call for Adoption

One can adopt a child by donating Rs.2000 per month to bear the costs of expenditure incurred for the child. The members of the trust hope that individuals, philanthropists and business houses take a step forward in this direction as part of their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and help them establish a state-of-art facility that can make many face smile. [All donations to the institution are exempted as per section 80g of the income tax.]

aashianaa can be contacted at its Office at No 459, 6th Main, 1st Stage, Vijayanagar Mysore -17 or aashianaa6@gmail.com or its institute at No. 22, KEB Co-lony, 5th Cross Mahadevapura Road Udayagiri, Mysore - 19.

[Ph : 2513888 or 94482-71109].

Impact of petrol hike on Aam Aadmi

What is the Aam Aadmi’s reaction to the recent hike in the petrol prices? Surpsingly not much. On the contrary while there were strong reactions everywhere for the recent hike in the price of onions due to shortage of supplies, the recent hike in the petrol fare seems to have made hardly any impact. The worst affected ones who depend heavily on their automobiles for their daily work or for commuting have already devised ingenious measures to cut down on the consumption of this ‘liquid gold’.


The common man, especially the daily commuter, who refills his petrol tank almost every other day has taken the recent hike in his stride of accepting the reality, as there is nothing much he can do. Though it burns the pocket a little deeper he has no other option but to continue to refill grudgingly.


The Center’s decision to de-regularize the prices of petrol and bring it on par with the international prices was a welcome relief to the State Oil Corporations to contain their mounting losses though its impact on the economy, especially keeping the inflation in check, is considered marginal. But any increase in the prices of diesel would have had a disastrous effect as it would have triggered increasing the costs of transportation of goods as well as public utility services in addition to irrigation pumpsets which depend on diesel.


Fortunately the common man can heave a sigh of relief for there has been no increase in the prices of the other three petroleum products namely diesel, kerosene and LPG. Sale of adulterated petrol in shady shops at street corners will pick up, which the authorities should take measures to curb. Instances of autowallas fleecing unsuspecting passengers demanding more than the regular fare citing reasons of petrol hike have been reported, though it is already made mandatory for them to run on LPG.

Indian Express spoke to a cross section of the public in the city eliciting their views on how they are coping with the recent hike in the prices of petrol. Here are the excerpts:

Increase in demand for home delivery
Demand for direct home delivery of groceries and other essential commodities from regular customers is on the rise, observed a couple of traders, who otherwise would have made frequent visits to these shops to purchase their monthly or weekly home needs, thereby saving fuel costs for the round trip. The traders too on their part are forthcoming by clubbing a couple of orders received from the same locality and delivering them on a specific date.


Sale of gas conversion kits is on rise
Owners of private vehicles and taxis are increasingly going in for conversion of their petrol driven vehicles to LPG using the commercially available gas conversion kits approved by the government. Despite commercial LPG cylinders also getting dearer, when it comes to kilometer-wise consumption, vis-à-vis mileage and pick-up between petrol and LPG tank fitted cars, conversion is still considered a viable option. Mechanics installing gas conversion kits say that after the petrol prices started shooting up their business has improved.


Enquiries for electric bikes goes up
Dealers of battery operated electric bikes are receiving more enquiries in recent times. In spite of these bikes never matching the conventional petrol driven ones in terms of speed and quick acceleration, sale of these vehicles is gradually picking up. Nowadays more number of parents are opting to buy these vehicles for their college going children whereever it has become essential, thus saving on payment of excess money every month for the fuel in addition to paying for their regular pocket money.


Adopting time management techniques
Though most parents insist their wards to walk to their schools or colleges when they are located nearby, parents who are still dropping them off in their four wheelers or bikes are resorting to time management techniques so that they can drop them on their way to work or office instead of making two separate trips. For those who already own a vehicle, their parents have begun restricting their kids to take them out only in case of emergencies or just once a week. For the rest, school busses and autos ferrying children remains the only economical option.

For most housewives who regularly purchase vegetables from the market or go shopping weekly once in their two wheelers, have now resorted to purchasing the same from the road side vendors selling vegetables on pushcart, inspite of it being a couple of rupees more expensive.

Hike in service charges
Some tourist and travel operators who are still running petrol driven vehicles have begun hiking their fares by one to two rupees per kilometer, charging anywhere from Rs.5 to Rs.6 per km. Private courier operators who have to depend on vehicles for their daily disbursement of mails and parcels are contemplating to hike the charges by a rupee or two in the near future.


Mobile phones come to the rescue
While cost of communication is becoming ridiculously cheaper with mobile companies dropping their call rates to paisa or sometimes even half-paisa a second, some specific businesses have found it more economical to conclude their businesses over phone rather than actually make a physical trip, unless called for. For example some real estate agents are asking their potential customers to visit the site for inspection on their own, providing all the details over phone and wait for the customer’s response instead of attending to every one of them personally thus saving time and money.


Options before the Government to tackle price hike
The price hike has heightened the need for better public utility services and also speeding up works on the much awaited Mysore Metro. Also, popularizing vehicles running on alternate fuel sources like solar power and battery, by providing more subsidies to the manufacturers, will bring them within the reach of common man. It is also time the Centre considered reducing the Customs Duty on crude oil, which Pranab Mukherjee had on Feb. 26, 2010 imposed a 5 per cent import duty on crude oil and hiked the same on petrol and diesel from 2.5 per cent to 7.5 per cent .

People’s reaction to the hike:
“If city roads are improved it can be a great advantage for all riders. Unnecessary fuel consumption is reduced. As I am in the marketing field there is no chance of using less petrol. The waiting time at traffic junctions for the green signal should be reduced.”
- Sunil Giriyan, Medical (Drug) Suppliers.

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“Petrol hike has forced us to borrow more pocket money from our dads. Our chat outs has been cut off. We have stopped going on trips and long drives. If it continues to increase like this, we may consider the option of going for a battery operated scooter.”
- Balraj, St. Philomena’s College, II PUC and Antony, 1st year B.Com, Banumaiah College.

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“They are hiking the prices so many times in a year, it has indeed become very difficult to manage. It is also causing more pollution as many of them are using adulterated petrol. The thick smoke emitted from such vehicles is also causing several health hazards.”

- Nagaraj, Head Constable, KR Traffic Police

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“Car pooling should be made more popular in Mysore as it is catching up in Bangalore . Also if the public transportation system is made more efficient, especially if adequate busses are provided on busy routes the dependence on using private vehicles comes down.”

- S.Sharath Chandra, Businessman

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“Like in China , in India too people should start using cycles at least once a week. Awareness on this should be created through media. It improves the economy and one can remain physically fit too.”

- Poonappa, Businessman.

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“Petrol has become one of the essential commodity and there is no other alternative for the people. Customer response will be the same regardless of however much it is increased.”

Prop. Ganesha Petrol Bunk.

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“My daily routine has become miserable. I am now using vehicle only for long distances. I heard that it is only in our state the price is so high. I am surprised why is it so?”

- Nalini VV Mohalla

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Details of the petrol price hike in recent times:
"The price of petrol was around Rs.50 in metro cities during the period June 2008 to November 2008.

In December 2008 and January 2009, twice the UPA government reduced the prices, though it was marginal. But since July 2009 prices began rising again.

In February 2010 the rates were increased by around Rs. 3.

The government decontrolled the petrol prices in June, allowing the State run oil companies to incease the fuel pirce based on the international crude oil.

On November 9 petrol prices were reaised by Rs 0.32 per litre to Rs 52.91 a litre in Delhi.

Again on 14 Dec.2010 petrol prices were hiked by about Rs 2.96 a litre.

In all IOC, BPCL and HPCL have revised rates four times since June 26 when petrol price was deregulated, while crude oil has jumped from USD 73-74 per barrel at that time to more than USD 100 a barrel now."

Videshi hands doing Swadeshi works

Here are two volunteers who have come all the way from Germany
with lots of enthusiasm for a noble cause, working for Makkala
Mane in Jayanagar under the ICDE-India project for a period of one year.

Philipp Thomsen and George Salamon are the two volunteers from Germany
who came to India in August 2010 and will return back to their home town
this year in the month of July. They can be seen either painting the walls
or cleaning the floors of the Makkala Mane and are staying as paid guests in a nearby area.

Express caught these volunteers and had a candid tete-a-tete. Here are the
excerpts:

What motivated you to come all the way here?
In Germany it’s compulsory for every student, be it boy / girl, to do
either military service or social service for 12 months after completing
school. Besides this, working abroad gives us a unique opportunity to
explore different cultures and acquire new experiences.

Is one year sufficient to learn?
Though one year is not enough to make a big difference, still it is enough
to bring about some minor changes. The cultural differences between Germany
and India are vast. But we feel happy as we are doing something for the society.

What have you learnt during your stay here?
After coming into India we realized there was a big difference. The living
conditions in India are entirely different from our home town. There are
quite lot of things here which we have not fully understood yet. It might
be the culture, language and other differences. But after coming here we
have come across many interesting issues, gaining insight to the Indian
way of life.

During our six month stay we have learned how to deal with the cunning
auto drivers, how to ignore persistent street vendors, several things
like that. Needless to say, not being able to converse in Kannada is a
big barrier to get ourselves fully involved in the Indian way of life.
That’s the reason we are daily attending Kannada language class to
acquire some basic conversation skills.

What made you to take up painting the walls?
The walls were dirty and with the paint peeling off at places it
looked ugly too. It had not been painted for a long time. We
collected money from our friends and relatives back home in Germany
and took up the painting work. It gives a great feeling that we
have done something worthwhile.

Any message to convey?
Interestingly some of the Indians we met remarked, ‘We don’t have
time to waste like you!’. But for us life is not merely about
career and earning lots of money. Life also means discovering something,
learning other cultures, helping each other - which develops one’s
personality and makes him a matured individual. Learning other cultures
promotes one’s understanding of life and to respect other people of the world.

Though we see several problems here like poverty and unemployment,
most of the people here are satisfied with their present income
and status. They don’t want change as they are quite happy with what they have.
Only a few people are eager to build the carrier of their choice and continue
to study even if placed in good jobs. But at the end of the day we should all
work collectively for the betterment of this world.

Begining day experience?
In the beginning our motivation and expectation levels were quite
high to work for the project as we prepared ourselves. But slowly
we realized the difficulties as we got involved in the project. Our
motivation level also started waning off after some time. But we
stood up, planned with determination and accordingly now we are
able to manage the things.

Your observations about India & Mysore in particular?
Mysore is a famous tourist spot as we see large number of foreigners
visiting the city. And for us, visiting India was rare opportunity
in our life – stepping out of our routine German life and exploring
this marvelous culture. We are slowly beginning to understand your
culture, but need some more time to know it better. Unfortunately
there is not much work for us do here as volunteers. Due to the
children’s long school hours, we only have about 3 hours time to
interact with them, during which we organize some teaching, simple
activities, games and so on. But we enjoy every day coming here to
the children’s home, spending some time with these children.

----

Learning Kannada
Language is a big barrier for foreigners. But what is interesting
is that most foreigners make an effort to communicate in the local
language by attending language classes and learn to speak in Kannada.
Besides gaining new skills of communication, practical knowledge
and work experience, these volunteers become aware of the importance
of being socially involved. When they begin to interact with the
locals in their native language they can bring about a change and
improve the awareness level of the society by exchanging their own
view of life and way of living back home.

------

About Makkala Mane

Makkale Mane, run by the Mysore Chapter of the Foundation for
Restoring Human Dignity (FORHD), is giving shelter and education
for the destitute children who have lost their parents, as well
to children whose parents are imprisoned and there is nobody to
look after them. It has dedicated itself for the service to humanity in general
and in particular to the cause of upholding human dignity wherever
there is violation or threat of violation of dignity of persons
as human beings. Children in distress, women subjected to
violence and persons held in custody etc., are the target
groups of this service organization. Under its auspices Makkale
Mane was started in September 2004 at # 1795, K Block, Udayaravi
Road, Kuvempunagar, Mysore. [Ph: 0821 – 2463000 or 97401-63329].

Former Police Chief L. Revannasiddaiah is currently the President
of FORHD. It is now being looked after by former Deputy
Commissioner of Police Rangappa, Chairman of FORHD, Mysore
Chapter, Warden Shambaiah and cook Mayamma.

About body donation

Though body donation had inspired more persons in the district to pledge their bodies the mindset of their thinking have been revolutionizing traditional perspectives on human body, mortality, and the relationship of medical science to society.

To know more about body donation process and its usefulness expressed spoke to Shyam Sundar Dr. Shyam Sundar Professor and Head Department of Anatomy, JSS Medical College, who holds awareness camps on body dontation through out the city. Here are the excerpts:

About body donation
“We are having more respect for dead bodies then living body. The dead body is first teacher for medical students. Donating bodies to medical and dental schools improves academic learning drastically. In our laboratory we also have ore-mature and aborted babies body also. However, bodies relating to unnatural deaths are not accepted.

Reaction from family members
If families agree to give body for study of anatomy than let it burn on a pyre it will be helpful. But many families don’t agree to donation due to religious sentiments. As many believed that the last rites should be performed as per Hindu tradition.

Awareness programmes
“Because of religious sentiments and Confucians believe most of them do not donate their bodies or organs. Colleges play a vital role in creating awareness programs amongst students, so that they can spread the message amongst their family members and society. The awareness programs will held aims to dispelling the myth about body donation.

Its Importance
Large extent of people don’t know the important of body donation and many dont agree to such donation. Most medical colleges are constantly in need of cadaver donation to train medical students for the advancement of medical education. If students of anatomy department get bodies, it will help them in become good surgeons, which will improve the medical education in our country and for upliftment of the society.

Who are the majority of donors
106 bodies have been kept in JSS Medical College Laboratory and so far around 1,040 have registered to donate their bodies. Most of the bodies have been collected from orphanages and some from Kodagu. Some donated thinking not to trouble any one.

How you preserve
Once we receive the body 8 litre of Formalin (preservative) will be injected and hence forth we preserve.

Process of body donation
A filled-in application should be submitted. Within 24 hours the family persons should inform about the decease. Transportation facility will be done through corporation in which college pays the money for Corporations.

No sentiments, No attachments….

Good news: The trend of body donation for education based has increased in city. Bad news: Some of the people intensions are very harsh.

This is how most of the families are living. There is no attachments, bondage in the relationships though it for dead persons no value at all. Many think donating body make us to take trouble compare to perform all those rituals. It does all depend on one’s mentality.

When contacted Dr. Shyam Sundar Professor and Head Department of Anatomy, JSS Medical College, to know more about body donors. It was very unkind to know how people are changing in their day to day life.

“The numbers of body donors are from city compare to rural people. Most of the bodies have been collected from orphanages, as children stay in foreign countries and they can’t come at the moment, they donate the body and when they find time they come for Laboratory to see their dear and near ones.

“Many of them call from their home towns and ask us to keep the body till they come India. Chances are there where kids have not yet come after 5-6 months also.

“Its sad to say many of them as soon as a person dies call us and ask to come fast and clear the formalities if we are ten minutes also late they call and shout over phone. “Interestingly, if one donates a body from the family the other also comes forward, hence we are receiving bodies from the entire family.

At present we have “106 bodies in our Laboratory and so far around 1,040 have registered to donate their bodies. Compare to Mysore Medical College, JSS College as sufficient bodies for the students.”

Between lines and shades of Black & White

There are some amongst us who cherish memories of how life was when photography, motion pictures and TV shows were completely in black & white. Devoid of all colour and glitter, the black & white movies of Madhu Bala and Clark Gable of those yesteryears, still retain their vivid charm which none of modern digitally edited technicolour movies can reproduce.

Here is an opportunity for Mysoreans to see Indian Ink sketches made by a team of six students of Sri Kalanikethana School of Arts, No. CA - 15, Vijayanagar 2nd Stage.

The artists who are pursuing their Bachelors degree in Visual Arts (BVA) — K.K. Somanna and Abhilash D. Dinkashettahalli (Final Year); V.E. Akshay Kumar (II Year); B.N. Rajendra, S. Manohar and G.S. Ravikumar (BVA Foundation) — are displaying their collective works of sketches at Kalanikethana Art Gallery.

Each of the 20 free hand drawings that are put on display is based on a theme, conveying a specific message to the viewer with the titles aptly describing the drawing. "We have sketched our drawings in black & white using only Indian ink. As these days we get to see mostly colour paintings, we decided that our line drawings should be without any colour," say the team members and add, "We have created these line drawings choosing topics from current issues like harassment meted out to farmers, waning popularity of folk arts, nature being destroyed by humans, kids learning unhealthy habits, delicate relationship between nature and humans etc."

Their goal is to continue drawing this way and create awareness in the society through their drawings.

The stall showcasing their collective paintings has bagged the Best Stall Award in Dasara Exhibition. They have also exhibited their drawings in Hubli, sponsored by the Lalithakala Academy, Bangalore. The exhibition is open from 10.30 am to 6 pm till Jan. 17.

...and she travels miles for a wrestling bout

This 18-year-old lass is very enthusiastic, committed and hard-working. M.R. Ramya, a promising wrestler, hailing from Melapura in Srirangapatna taluk, Mandya district, has already created history by winning the first ever bronze medal in the All India Inter-University Women's Wrestling Competition held at Jaipur recently, representing the Mysore University.

She has hogged the limelight by winning several events held both in the State and National-level Dasara Wrestling Competitions. She has won the first ever medal in the 63 kg category in the All India Inter-Varsity Wrestling Competition held at Jaipur in October 2010 organised by Rajasthan University. Mysore University had not won any medal in wrestling competitions, including men, since 1986.

Ramya, who started learning wrestling four years ago, is very dedicated to her passion. Earlier, while studying in PU, she had represented Karnataka and won a bronze medal. She has also been a part of the Junior Karnataka team (U-20), thanks to the unstinted support from her father M. Ravikumar and mother Kousalya. Star of Mysore spoke to this upcoming wrestler Ramya recently. Excerpts:

"Geetha Kumar who won the first gold medal for India in women's wrestling event in the Commonwealth Games-2010 is my role model. In the coming days, I want to represent my country in this sport and bring laurels. I have the support of my coach L. Manjappa," says Ramya.



Ramya practices for four hours daily — two hours in the morning for fitness and two in the evening — at the Lions Hall, adjacent to Oval Grounds.

"My dream is to win a gold medal in Olympics," says a confident Ramya, who aspires to study MBA and also desires of becoming a Police Inspector as well as a wrestling coach.

"Most parents hesitate to send their daughters for this sport as they think it's only for men. But my earnest request to them is to send their daughters for wrestling as it is just like any other sport," says Ramya.

"Wrestling builds one's confidence. The technique of interlocking the arms, using the torso and legs to twist and turn the opponent's body and make one fall is indeed difficult for a woman which requires stamina. It needs strength to hold an opponent as she is pinned to the ground. Ramya is a promising wrestler with a bright future," says her coach Manjappa, who also happens to be an SAI coach and a coach for Mysore University too.

Presently, Ramya is doing her II year B.Com in Banumaiah's College. She travels 22 kms (13.67 miles) from her house daily but never misses her practice. This shows her dedication towards the sport which is certain to take her to greater heights and win bouts in the ring.

COMMUNITY RADIO BROADCAST IN PUBLIC PARKS GAINS POPULARITY

Mysore is the first city to launch it

In spite of the recent technological advances like the mobile phones, personal computers and portable hand-held laptops have made communication simpler, faster and far-reaching with information on finger tips, Television and Radio still continue to play a major role in dispensing community education programmes to the masses in addition to performing their traditional roles of providing infotainment — information and entertainment. For the first time, a community radio service was started in Mysore on a pilot basis some time ago.

The service was started only at select public parks in the city, broadcasting programmes related to education and enter-tainment, which can be heard through speakers installed at certain vantage points in the park. People who regularly visit parks for a stroll to relax and get some fresh air invariably begin to brood over their worries after taking a few steps. If instead the air is filled with lilting music or a few words of encouragement it helps the walkers. This is exactly what the newly introduced community radio services are presently doing.

Community radio broadcasting was first introduced in the city’s public parks at Sanjeevini Park near Kamakshi Hospital a couple of years ago. The residents of the localities visiting these parks can now listen to informative programmes that are being broadcast and heard through speakers just as they stroll around or sit on the benches. In addition to this, awareness programmes on various subjects are also broadcast.

Introducing community radio services in the city was jointly conceived by AIR, famously known as Mysore Akashvani and the Mysore City Corporation nearly 15 years ago and was implemented at a couple of places. But the project failed to take off due to space constraints and lack of dedication in organising and maintaining the setup, resulting in a premature demise.

However, to revive this and give another lease of life for this people-friendly project, Corporators M.V. Prasad and Nandish Preetham are doing good jobs in their wards. One of the city’s oldest parks, Thagadur Rama-chandra Rao park near Chamu-ndipuram Circle, the Snake Park in Vidyaranyapuram and the Ramalingeshwara Park and Sanjeeveni Park, are the three parks that were radio-networked to simultaneously broadcast radio programmes.

As a first step, these parks were cleaned and pruned to enable people visiting these parks to walk around freely. Arrangements were then made to simultaneously broadcast the same radio programme in all the parks. As people walked around inhaling whiffs of fresh air, they listened to the melodious music soothing the strained nerves and making their early morning or late even-ing walks even more pleasurable.

Different programmes are planned keeping in mind the tastes of diverse age group people who visit these parks daily, broadly classified as youth, students, women, elderly and senior citizens. While issues related to health, like medicine and fitness are broadcast in the mornings, entertainment and dramas are aired in the evenings. Classical music, film songs and news are also aired frequently. Thus the programmes that are broadcast cover the entire spectrum of entertainment and information.

Arrangements are also being made to air programmes that sensitise people towards social issues and create awareness about the various welfare measures taken up by the government. Information on various projects implemented by the local bodies like the City Corporation and the Government, educative programmes like maintaining hygiene and cleanliness, timely payment of taxes, keeping the city roads clean, information on waste management and preserving public utility services are some of the programmes that are aired. This also helps in educating people who visit these parks for relaxation.

There are even plans of inviting residents of the locality who have achieved excellence in their professions to deliver talks on this community radio. Professionals from all walks of life including sports, science, politics, social service and others would be invited to give lectures and motivate people. These radio broadcasts not only help talen-ted people to get their due recognition but also help the community to grow with their knowledge and experience.

Due attention is also being given to promote home grown products using this wonderful opportunity. Experts will be invited to give talks related to manufacture of home made products and growing vegetab-les in their backyard alongside some herbal medicines.

Another interesting feature that is being added is the construction of small podiums for holding cultural programmes which are being rented out to local artistes at nominal prices to conduct programmes of their choice. This also helps to nourish and encourage local talents. Arrangements are being made to set up TV screens and beam educational programmes which too serves for the growth of the community.

Garden Speakers


When listening to broadcasts like music, radio talks, sports commentaries etc., outdoors on a regular basis, garden speakers are used. Garden speakers are designed to withstand the harsh elements of nature. They come in various shapes and sizes.

They can be placed quite visibly along the side-walks or cleverly concealed among the flowers and shrubs in the garden or disguised to look like a tree stump or a large rock. The normal practice is to connect several such speakers to a single amplifier with the connecting wires running underground. It was first installed in Brindavan Gardens at KRS.

About Community Radio

Community radio is a type of radio service that offers a third model of radio broadcasting beyond commercial and public service. Community stations can serve geographic communities and communities of interest. They broadcast content that is popular to a local/specific audience but which may often be overlooked by commercial or mass-media broadcasters. Community radio stations are operated, owned, and driven by the communities they serve. Community radio is not-for-profit and provides a mechanism for facilitating individuals, groups, and communities to tell their own diverse stories, to share experiences, and in a media rich world to become active creators and contributors of media.

A SYLVAN BEAUTY OF CHIKKAMAGALUR: MULLAYANAGIRI HILL

When my friends invited me to join them on a trip to a hill named Mullayanagiri, near Chikkamagalur, I immediately jumped at the opportunity, as watching nature has never failed to stop me on my track, making me forget all my worries and miseries for a moment and filling my heart with an indescribable delight. I got into the car anticipating the joy I would feel on reaching the peak. Without wasting time from Chikkamagalur, we directly headed towards Mullayanagiri, situated about 23 km from Chikkamagalur town.

Mullayanagiri Hill lies in the Bababudangiri mountain ranges. Standing at 1930 mt (6317ft above mean sea level), it is the tallest peak in Karnataka.

Having a salubrious climate round the year, it is also one of the most sought-after trekking routes in the State. Though the road to the top of the hill is quite narrow, it is worth taking the risk, simply for the thrilling experience it offers. Fortunately and quite surprisingly, the road from Chikkamagalur to Mullayanagiri is very good. But one has to be careful while driving as the narrow road to the temple makes two-way traffic dangerous.

The roadside route is lush with greenery as there are a number of coffee estates along the way. We traversed right in the middle of the lofty mountains, the aromatic eucalyptus forests, pine, cyprus and the tall silver oak trees clasping the earth preventing from erosion along the fragile slopes.

After driving another 10 km, we arrived at a crossroad diverging along two routes, one towards Mullayanagiri and other towards Bababudangiri where the famous Datta Peeta is located. We took the left taking us to the peak. After traversing a few kilometers, we stopped at a point to enjoy the breathtaking view of the mountainside. It was a double treat to the eyes and soul. The cloudy skies, damp surroundings and the smell of moist air due to the intermittent drizzle made the whole view even more enjoyable. I left that place quite reluctantly with a heavy heart and a feeling that this is where I truly belong.



As our car swerved around the last hair-pin bend, it was getting too difficult to climb the slope even in the first gear. With wide-open eyes I looked at the receding depths, as if enjoying a scene from a Hollywood movie because, while reaching top around two kilometers, there are no boundary walls at the fragile points which makes driving exciting.

Landslides were quite common here, which became severe during rainy seasons, a fallout of massive tree-felling. Going around the hill, one could see heaps of piled up mud and dried waterfalls, all being the result of landslides. Usage of plastic is completely banned here. Warning boards and dustbins are kept side by side to encourage tourists to follow the norms.

Through the fog, I could see the hilltop with people climbing the narrow steps. Within a few minutes we reached the top to the base of the steps. It was a pleasant half-an-hour drive from Chikkamagalur to the Hill, with lush green mountains hearing the cascading sound of the falls from far beyond.

The panoramic view from the top literally made me breathless for a while. We felt like being on top of the world. Watching the beautiful green valleys down below with the cotton clouds playing hide and seek, I simply stood mesmerised forgetting everything. As the vehicles can reach only upto this point, we had to climb barely a few steps to reach the temple at the top. Climbing these steps was easy as the mind, after the drive through the lap of mother nature, had invigorated the body with a new energy. It took approximately 30 minutes to climb, enjoying the nature and its view at each and every step.

Upon reaching the top, I saw a small Shiva temple which gave the peak the name Mullayanagiri, "Mullayya" being another name of Shiva. Watching the small Nandi in front of the temple provided me some relief. I overheard someone saying that near the Nandi there are openings to tunnels leading to caves in the hills, though I didn't see any.

A small hillock in the temple compound is considered the highest point in Karnataka. It is an ideal place for watching sunset. It is said that on a clear day one can even get to see the Arabian Sea from the top of this hill. Though there are quite a few other hills nearby, there are no motorable roads and one has to climb to reach the top.


Taking a little detour on the way, one can visit Sitalayyanagiri, also a Shiva temple where there is a water spring with water flowing round the year. Also, we can visit Bababudangiri. All along this route there are no good restaurants, so it is better if one ate heartily at Chikkamagalur or pack some food items before heading for the hills.

One can thoroughly enjoy the experience of the caprices offered by the exotic flora and fauna by climbing this hill. Visiting Mullayanagiri will stay in my memory forever.


Routes to go to Karnataka's tallest peak:

From Bangalore: Bangalore - Tumkur - Arasikere - Kadur-Chikkamagalur (255 kms).

From Mysore: Mysore - Hassan - Belur - Chikkamagalur (180 kms).

Will the officials ever look into this?

Mysore, Nov. 30 (KR)- Four months ago, SOM had published an article titled Is it a school or a grazing ground? about the sad state of the Government Primary School in Jayanagar close to ISKCON tem-ple in city. However, the school continues to be in the same sorry state without any measures being taken to improve the conditions.

The authorities concerned have turned a blind eye to the sheep and cattle grazing on the school's grounds, which sometime wander into the classrooms. Intermittent rains have encouraged further growth of weeds and shrubs in the school grounds, providing fodder for cattle and sheep. The fact that the school does not have a compound wall further adds to the problem. In the morning, the ground is being used as an open toilet. In fact, as the school lacks toilet for the students, they too make use of the grounds.

With the mandate of providing quality education both under the Right to Education Act and the State Gover-nment's own primary education policy, the local autho-rities do not seem to be interested in encouraging educational activities in government schools.

According to the residents of the area, the MCC Zonal Assistant Commissioner and his staff have made no attempt to look into the matter. Sources in the DDPI say that the area officer should look into this. But this has not been done. The Area Corporator too seems to be oblivious of the school's mismanagement.

The school is primarily meant for underprivileged children. About two years ago, nearly 20 guntas of land was allotted for this school by the Government. But infrastructure work was not taken up. Though it is compulsory that every school must have a playground, the children are deprived of the opportunity. The Department has not even bothered to supply sports materials.

In spite of the school being located on the main road, there are neither traffic signboards nor zebra crossings. With heavy vehicles plying on the road, teachers help students to cross the road in the evenings. When this is the condition of the school, how can the student strength increase? Very soon this school too may be closed like the Lakshmipuram School. Presently, this school building has four blocks constructed in association with Mysore Round Table India-21. The DDPI's office told SOM that three months ago they had sent a letter to MCC requesting funds for construction of a compound wall and toilet, but till today they have not received any response.

TERRA COTTA POTTERY WITH A NATURAL LUSTRE

Pottery dates back to pre-historic period. The pots were then handmade, burnt in open fires and generally served the purpose of carrying grains, water as well as storing seeds. Shortly thereafter, these pots were used for cooking. In the modern times, pottery has acquired the status of an art. Pottery can be classified under three forms — earthenware, stoneware and porcelain. Together they are called ceramics, which explains why potters are often referred to as ceramic artistes. Requiring tactility and involvement, a good ceramic artiste understands the tricky relationship between humans and clay. Clay can be temperamental and the act of shaping, heating, hardening, cooling and glazing take a lot of practice and patience to get it just right.

Clay, which is naturally available, has an earthy colour that can be altered by experimenting with the kind of clay used, ingredients added and by varying the temperature at which the artifacts are fired in a kiln. There are several steps involved in creating a ceramic piece and entire volumes have been written about the intricacies of this most ancient craft.

Pottery has made a big comeback in recent years with both men and women discovering the fun activities their parents once enjoyed in the '60s and '70s that also included sewing, knitting and woodworking. It's become big business too.

Handmade pottery comes in various shapes and sizes. They may be functional or decorative items. Clay pottery is decorated in several ways and some of the popular methods employed for pottery design are glazing, painting, engraving, carving, metal plating, varnishing and using glittering and colorful threads, beads and shells.

Whether working with hand by moulding pieces or on a potter's wheel, creating a ceramic piece can be a lot of fun. Bhuvanesh Prasad, a potter from Rajasthan has displayed his pottery works at Gandhi Shilp Bazaar at Urban Haat in Hebbal which concludes on Dec. 5. The humble artiste has lost count of the number of awards he has received for his excellence in pottery. In fact, his entire family is into pottery and have received numerous awards. "Both my parents are national award winners for craftsmanship and pottery. My mother is the first woman in India to win a national award in this field," says Bhuvnesh proudly.

Girirajji, father of Bhuvanesh, has even bagged the Shilp Guru Award from President Pratibha Patil.

What makes Bhuvanesh's pottery unique is that he doesn't use any chemicals or oils while giving them the finishing touch.

"My pots are made from natural terra cotta. For additional strength, crushed stone powder is mixed with terra cotta which makes the pots more durable. The finishing and glazing are not made using oil or chemicals. Instead, the surface of the pots are scrubbed with small pieces of stone picked up from sea-shores which gives them a natural sheen."

"I have displayed my art works in Dubai, Australia, Germany, France and several other countries and I feel very happy to exhibit my talent in this cultural city," says Bhuvanesh has created a 10 ft. tall pot using only clay which received a national award from former President Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam.

"I received the award in 2002. In 2005, I also won the UNESCO South Asia 'A' Grade Certificate in pottery from the Textile Minister," says Bhuvanesh. Winning national awards has probably become a family tradition in Bhuvanesh's case.

Not all his works are mere art pieces to be kept on display in showcases but can be used daily life too. "I have even made clay chulas and handis for those who still cherish cooking in the traditional way. Food when cooked in clay pots requires less oil," informs Bhuvanesh keeping today's health conscious people in mind. Some of his other creations are birdbaths, birdhouses, plant pots and foot scrubbers all made of clay. The price tag ranges from Rs.20 to a whopping Rs.1,20,000.