Autonomy in Colleges

The UGC (University Grants Commission) has decided to give autonomous status to seven aided colleges in the state which includes St. Thomas College, Thrissur, Fatima Mata College, Kollam, Mar Ivanios College, Trivandrum, Sacred Hearts College, Thevara, St. Berchman’s College, Changanassery, St. Teresa’s College, Ernakulam and Rajagiri College of Social Science, Klamassery. These colleges will have the right to implement their own courses and syllabus, appoint teachers and fix admission criteria. They can conduct examinations and declare the results but the degree certificate will be issued from the respective university. This decision of making these colleges autonomous would create many difficulties among the students. The equality of the students will be at stake.

Tastes of Trivandrum: 'Ajwa' With Thalassery Palate

The North Malabar town of Thalassery is famous, not only for its nice and friendly people, but also for its delectable food. Many of the leading bakeries all over Kerala are owned by people from Thalassery. It was in this town, where cakes were baked for the first time in Kerala, for the Europeans. Now, ‘Ajwa’ has brought the taste of real Thalassery Dum Biriyani to the Capital city of Kerala, at affordable prices.

‘Ajwa’ dates are high quality dates from Saudi Arabia. The signature dish of ‘Ajwa’ is Dum Biriyani served with ‘Ajwa’ dates pickle. The lingering taste of this combination is unique and superb. So when they started a new restaurant at Trivandrum, the owners decided to name it ‘Ajwa’. 

Tastes of Trivandrum: Kallaikada with Malabar Taste buds

The name ‘Kallai’ reminds us of Malabar and its old capital city Kozhikode that flourishes on both sides of this famous river. Kallai was once world famous for its timber industry, and even now, one can see timber mills on the banks of Kallai River. When they decided to open a new restaurant serving specialty Malabar food, the owners of ‘Kallaikada’ decided to give a suitable name, synonymous with erstwhile Malabar. The new restaurant was thus named ‘Kallaikada’.

Tastes of Trivandrum: Koonpura, The House Of Mushrooms

When we hear the name ‘Koonpura', we think it is a place where only mushrooms are grown. I was delighted to see the different varieties of snacks, pickles, and other items made here. The cutlets, samosas and bondas made with mushrooms are tastier than the cutlets made with other vegetables. The lists of food products made with mushrooms are much more than these snacks.

Functioning at Kuttikadu Lane, Kaimanom, Koonpura was started by Mushroom Farmers and Byproducts Producers Welfare Society headed by Jose Prakash. This society imparts training in mushroom farming to its members and also helps them find self employment. Snacks and other food items are made of mushrooms grown in Koonpura. 

SHASHI THAROOR- A CELEBRITY STUDY

This particular post is a thesis done by me during my college days which was part of my academic syllabus. It is a celebrity study of  Shashi Tharoor, the renowned writer, politician and peace maker. I hope this thesis would help many to have a good idea of Shashi Tharoor as a celebrity.

      Chapter One

      Introduction

 Author, peace-keeper, refugee worker, human rights activist and Minister of State for HRD – these epithets that describe the writer-cum-diplomat-turned-politician Shashi Tharoor on the homepage of his website  <http://tharoor.in> bear testimony to the fact that Tharoor straddles several worlds of experience. A spectacular career at the UNO, an array of eminent books of fiction and non-fiction, justly famous columns in newspapers and journals, and a nascent but tumultuous political career, have all catapulted him into a significant celebrity status in India. The present study entitled “Shashi Tharoor and India: A Global Profile” undertakes a study of celebrity culture vis-à-vis the celebrity-dom of Shashi Tharoor, tracing the course of a high-flying career that has traversed the domains of literature, diplomacy and, more recently, politics.

A celebrity is an individual whom the public watches, someone who is recognized by a large number of people. High positions, wealth, looks or power produce celebrities who are abundant and ubiquitous in today’s world, from movie stars to television personalities, from politicians and sportsmen to notorious scamsters. The celebrity status may be the consequence of the recognition of certain qualities possessed or deemed to be possessed by a person. An individual therefore becomes a celebrity only when he or she is acknowledged in the public realm as possessing something special. Celebrities become heroes or heroines, villains, youth icons, role models, and have a cultural function for society to look up to, emulate, be inspired by, despise or criticize. “Celebrities give the public pleasure, pain or suffering with their actions and win adulation or opprobrium accordingly” (Nayar 4). It is important to note that the circulation and consumption of celebrities occurs from below – at the level of real people who are well below the celebrities in terms of class, social and cultural power. There is no celebrity without an audience. The audience is an integral part of the spectacle of celebrity. Celebrity culture is a transaction between the mediated image and the audience.  Hence celebrity culture involves not only celebrities and media productions but also the public, the consumption audiences who feed on celebrity data.

Celebrities are created by a public awareness of the actions of certain individuals and, this public awareness is made possible by the mass media. One way of understanding the production of celebrity is to classify her or him as a spectacle that focuses on individual or collective abstract desire, a process that Chris Rojek terms ‘celebrification’ (cited in Nayar 68). Ours is an age that celebrates fame through media productions and circulation. Well-known is often a tag that is synonymous with fame. Increasingly, fame, renown and celebrity are used interchangeably, though there is a fine distinction between them. If fame is the consequence of deeds and achievements of a person worthy of emulation, “celebrity is the consequence of publicity and well- knownness” (Nayar 6).

FASHION FRENZY IN CAMPUS

When we hear the term fashion, stylish clothes, shoes, bags, and other accessories come to our mind. Fashion creates a great impact on one’s personality. One looks awkward if he/she wears an outdated dress. A couple of years back, bell bottoms were the most preferred. But now they have gone out of fashion. Now, if a student wears bell bottom trousers, he/she will be an ‘odd man out’.

Campuses are turning more fashionable now a days. There was a time    when schools and even colleges implemented strict dress code for students. Uniforms were compulsory. But now, only few colleges are insisting on students wearing uniform dresses. In those colleges where uniform is not a ‘must’, students come wearing trendy dresses. Here is a study on the changing scenario.

Photo Courtesy: Indian express

Casuals are the most preferred attire in the campus. The trend among the students is to go for simple and comfortable dresses. T-shirts with logos and phrases are a rage among boys. The Tees go very well with all kinds of jeans. Some wear hooded sweat shirts over Tees to give an added look without much bulk. Still, shirts are most commonly used by the boys. Casual shirts rule over formals. According to Mayuf of Orio Men’s Wear, “Most of them go for lesser priced and branded looking shirts within the range of 500-600.” Small checks and folded up sleeves are very common.

THE LITTLE READER'S CLUB

This article was also published in yentha.com. The Little Reader's Club is about a reading club exclusively for children in Trivandrum created by a writer mother, Lekshmy Rajeev. I went to this place to collect information to write a feature. But to my surprise, I played with the children over there. I have never seen kids enjoying classes. Slowly I got to know that it was not a class like those in schools or tuitions. I saw kids enjoying the session. They interacted with each other, read books, had fun and masti. After the two hour session, I had lots of information to write an article since I experienced the fun. I never got an opportunity in my childhood days to be a part of a reading club. We, in some way have missed this. I went back again and again and again. Now I am frequent visitor of this place and helps Lekshmy in running the club. Designed to be different, this reading club has a lot of takers since the kids have fun while learning new things and even while reading up classics.

Here is the article:

Today’s children are addicted to the latest gizmos (call them screen time – could be TV, Computer, Laptop, Notebooks, Phones, Gaming and so on) resulting in them spending more time with computers and televisions and less time reading. Even if they read, it could be on Kindle!

In order to inculcate reading habits in children, Lekshmy Rajeev who is a Consultant Editor at Niyogi books started a cute little ‘The Little Reader’s Club’. When we first hear ‘The Little Reader’s Club’, many of us may want to believe that this is just another library. But this is different from other libraries or clubs.

AN INTERVIEW WITH A BANGALORE BASED MUSIC BAND 'AGNEE'

I did this interview along with my best friend Maitreyi. 'Agnee' was in Trivandrum for their first performance in Kerala. It was very difficult to have an interview with them but we somehow managed to do it. Here is the interview which was published in yentha.

Let’s start from the beginning. What made you form the band?

Mohan: Oh My God! Koco and I met first at a friend’smarriage.  I was a banker back then and he was the head of an institute. We met a couple of times after that, got into jamming sessions and all. It was fun. Then one day he called and said “let’s form a band and actually do something”. Koco was always a musician. And in 2005 I quit banking and we formed the Band. So that’s how it began.

Your inspiration? Your favourites in the music industry?

Mohan: We’re big fans of Sting and classic rock. Hailing from a classical family I love Carnatic music and am a big time fan of Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan. I have this personal ambition that if I could compose at least one song like Nusrat saab, then I’ll retire.

You perform in genres from folk-rock to jazz to carnatic. Which is your favourite genre?

Mohan: Basically we end up performing songs that we compose. We play originals, we compose originals. At the end of the day, we don’t know which genre it would be which is why we end up performing different genres. It is not about playing a particular genre or performing a genre. It’s about doing something new. That is what is exciting. We got to meet this superb musician Etienne M’Bappe from Cameroon and we jammed with him. It was an honour. His flavour of music is very different from ours. It’s very very exciting trying something new like that. So, that’s it.

How has your music evolved since you first began playing music together?

Koco: Over a period of time music production has become more important to us. We’re giving a lot more importance to producing songs, now. We hear the songs back and forth, redo it and stuff like that. I think the main evolution is that we are pushing the next level. Initially we were band oriented but now with Aditya producing songs for us and all, we are really pushing the limits to make it big.

Mohan: In fact his name is Aditya ‘Pushkarna’! (laughs).

Splitsvilla and Roadies theme songs are the two songs that made you popular down here in the South. Our readers would definitely want to know your experience making those songs.

Mohan: The making of these two songs were extremely opposite in terms of experience. For Splitsvilla, we approached them. We made a song and we wanted a platform to present the song. So we approached them. In the case of Roadies, Raghu asked us whether we could make a song. In terms of experience it has beengreat fun. And it was very different working with the director of the show and all.

How does it feel selling music online?

Mohan: We don’t sell music online. It’s totally free and it has completely worked for us. We started this with Splitsvilla. Songs like Sadho re  and Shaam Tanha became popular after two years. And we never expected to be huge stars overnight. Even some of my friends haven’t heard our videos. Because of online music, people heard our songs. Online has helped us especially because we release singles more than albums. It’s better promoting one song than eight songs for an album. So we usually stick to singles.

Ujale Baaz. Fully animated video. Tell us how this idea shaped up and also about its making.

Koco: We really can’t take credit for the video. Manu, one of the crew members of Roadies heard the song and said he wanted to make a video. And it was done completely on gratis. He approached Eric Novak, the Cannes award winning Hungarian animator, formaking the video. He didn’t charge us any money. He even sent people to India to work for the video. It was completely their gift to us.

How did the Avengers theme song happen?

Mohan: Actually we got a call from UTV saying there’s this project coming up. We were kind of surprised. It just sort of happened. Abbas Darewale wrote the lyrics before composing. We got the briefing and had two months to make the song. We made the lyrics in two days and made thirteen different tunes for it. We narrowed the tunes to just three but still any tune we played, one of us wouldn’t like it. Finally Koco’s son Udayan who’s 10 years old selected the third one saying Koco is playing acoustic in the first two tunes and it wasn’t good. So it took a 10 year old to finally fix the song.

What was your most memorable moment?

Mohan:  Oh! It must be the first time we performed in Baroda in 2008. Back then, we weren’t used to people knowing our songs. There were like 6,000 people inside and another 4,000 outside. And they knew every one of the songs. That’s when it hit me that ‘Ok, we are successful as a band.’

Koco: For me, it is the performance at our home townPune. There was this Indo-German festival. It was Day 4 and the festival was picking up. We got to perform on a Monday and believe me, Monday is the worst day to perform. And the people also have seen us perform often. It’s not like they haven’t heard us. Because it was the worst day I was a bit skeptical. But when I saw 12000 people there, I was gratified. That kind of support from the home town… It was just awesome.

First performance in Kerala. What are your expectations?

Mohan: I love the venue. It’s really hot, but still it’s nice here. There are lots of students here at the venue. I’m hoping that we have a good time. Performing for colleges is always great. It’s so much fun and I love a very very rowdy audience.

How’s Kerala?

Mohan: I’ve been here before on a road trip. We went to Trichur. There was a close friend of mine there. I love ‘rasam’ and ‘sambar’. We were on a pilgrimage kind of trip and this was 25 years ago. We visited at least 40 temples.

Koco:  It’s really green in here. We could see that even on a short drive from the airport to the hotel. It’s a million times greener. I’m also planning a road trip to Kerala.

Your upcoming projects?

We are planning on doing a Punjabi song with Daler Mehndi. It’s actually our sixth anniversary this year and we are trying to do something big. We have been wanting to release an album for quite some time now. So those are the two big things.

CELUKA AND WPC: THE LESSER KNOWN PLASTIC PRODUCTS

Celuka and WPC are two lesser known plastic products being widely used in our state. Celuka is Unplasticised Poly Vinyl Chloride otherwise known as UPVC. This is nothing, but hard PVC which finds multiple applications in construction and related activities, as a substitute for wood. Indian made and imported Celuka sheets are now available in sheets of various thicknesses similar to plywood and MDF (Medium Density Fiber) boards. The imports are mostly from China. 

The construction industry is facing a shortage of wood. Products like MDF and plywood were widely used as substitutes for many wood applications for some time.  But as both MDF and plywood are not waterproof, the industry finds a new substitute in Celuka. The waterproof nature of Celuka makes it a product of preference in wet area applications - for making kitchen cupboards, table tops, bathroom doors, and partitions. The light weight, damp proof, and termite resistant Celuka sheets are easy to work upon using conventional and modern tools. Low density Celuka sheets otherwise known as ‘foam boards’ are widely used in the signage industry also.

FLOODING OF FLEX BOARDS

George is an artist who used to make his living by painting hoardings, billboards, and name boards. With his artistic skills, he used to paint letters and images on boards very quickly and perfectly, and make a reasonable income. But now, he finds it difficult to make both ends meet. “Nobody wants an artist or a painter for the job. Advertisers and signage industries are using ‘flex boards’ for displays,” said George.

Flex is a synthetic material which looks like a canvas with plastic coating on one side. Using computerised machines, anything can be printed on it. This material is easily available and very widely used, nowadays. If it has affected the career of painters like George, it has also provided opportunities for many youth. Flex printing is an industry by itself. Many printing units have come up, where they employ qualified personnel with computer skills for operating the systems. An art work- a text or an image- stored on a CD can be printed on the flex exactly like the original art work in the same colour schemes by giving a ‘Print’ command. It takes only a few minutes to get a large size flex printed, whereas the painters need about two days and more to complete a hoarding. It costs less than Rs. 30 per square foot to make a printed display on flex, which is more economical compared to painting. Besides, a flex can be easily installed, removed, or replaced. The time and cost involved in the making and the easiness of installation makes flex the most preferred material in the industry.

Flex is not only used by the signage industry, but also by individuals, organizations, shops and establishments, political parties and contestants of elections. Due to its strength and waterproof nature, people have started using flex for covering roofs, making tents and shamianas.

AN ACCOUNT OF 18th IFFK

Films were always my weakness and 16^th International Film Festival of Kerala is the beginning of my story to IFFK. Since I was not 18 that time, and was not much aware about the film festival in Kerala, I couldn’t be the delegate. I was keenly interested in the happenings at 16^th IFFK and waited for one year. Then came the 17^th IFFK and I proudly registered and became the delegate. I was also the comperer that time. I happened to see great movies and IFFK was seven days of fun and frolic. It was a different experience… a whole new experience. 17^th IFFK definitely changed my views on films. For me, film was a medium for entertainment and IFFK helped me in understanding different culture, tradition, and the kind of meaning each movie tried to depict. Since I was new to these film festivals, criticisms about IFFK were totally neglected by me. And now, I was so happy to be again part of IFFK and 18^th IFFK was truly special for me. The time I got my register number- 4434, I was looking forward to it. I started thinking about the previous festival and wanted the same things to happen again.

THE MISSING PICTURE

Photo Courtesy: www.telegraph.co.uk

Missing Picture was truly different from other entries in 18^th IFFK. Rithy Panh’s documentary centers around Pol Pot’s regime in Cambodia. He used handmade clay figurines to visualise the story instead of humans.

SO MUCH WATER

So Much Water tells the story of a father who tries to have some happy time with his two children. The sparks that occurred between the father and the daughter in the beginning of the movie slowly finds a change. The rebellious nature of the teenage girl is changed through the love and care of her father.

Throughout the movie, the presence of water is felt justifying the title in every way. The movie also shows the frustrations, infatuation, and the stress a teenage girl undergoes. It also focuses on how a divorced father deal with household chores and his struggle in understanding and befriending his children.

GERMAN DOCTOR

Lucia Puenzo’s German Doctor is a story of Nazi doctor and the trail of events that follows. Narrated in a thrilling style, the movie held the audience to their seats.

Set in 1960, this movie constitutes the real life incident of a Nazi war criminal. The protagonist Josef Mengele was notorious for his horrific medical experiments on humans. He first tries to win over the family and use this connection for his experiments.

ILO ILO

Ilo Ilo narrates the story of a problem child and his bond with his Filipino maid. Anthony Chen’s direction and screenplay gives a fresh touch to an outdated theme. The friendship with the maid revealed the good qualities that were hidden in the mischievous boy. The affection they shared made the mother jealous.

Photo Courtesy: www.imdb.com

CAPTURING DAD

A feel good movie with a strange theme, Capturing Dad captured the minds of the audience. Sawa, a divorced woman asks her daughters to take a photograph of their dying father. The journey of the sisters is a journey of self discovery. The serious theme of death is portrayed in a very unique manner.

The movie peeped into the ethnicity of Japan giving the audience a slice of Japanese life. It’s a compilation of humour, satire and a pinch of seriousness added to it. Even though the film dealt with a theme of death, the tone never went grave. A touch of humour and little surprises throughout the movie created an aura of charm that delighted the audience.

ROCKET

IFFK has always been a window to different cultures and traditions of the world. The Rocket, the Australian movie, directed by Kim Mordaunt tells the story of the determination of a ten year old boy. Unlike other movies in the 18^th IFFK, this movie has a commercial touch which aptly suited the taste of Indian audience.

Photo Courtesy: www.impawards.com

STORY TELLER

Batur Emin Akyel’s ‘Story Teller/ Meddah’ was one of those competition movies which was emotionally appealing to the audience. It tried to express various philosophies of life and death.

Photo Courtesy: www.reelax.in

THE WEIGHT OF ELEPHANTS

Photo Courtesy: www.scope.dk

The Weight of Elephants is a simple movie with a simple story. It’s a story of a child, his friendship and loneliness he feels since he was abandoned at an early age.

The story is about Adrian who lives with his grandmother and uncle who later befriends the three children in the next door. The elder girl in the house acts more matured even if she is small. She has to take up the responsibility of the house due to her ailing mother. Both of them spend some time together and decide to take an adventure to find the abducted children they keep talking about in the television. Nothing much happens in the movie and has a smooth pace till the end. No one comes and no one goes but creates an emotional touch on audience’s mind.

The movie portrays the mental growth of a small child and shows how a lonely life affects a child’s growth and behaviour. The unseen excellence of music that reached its zenith in the end made the climax really astounding. The apt selection of setting and background went along with the mood of the film.

The movie was worth a few hours of my time.

MEGHE DHAKA TARA

Meghe Dhaka Tara is a biopic based on the filmmaker and script writer, Ritwik Ghatak. The movie directed by Kamaleshwar Mukherjee is set in 1969 in a mental asylum where the main character, Nilakanta is admitted for alcohol detoxification. To Ghatak, film was not merely for entertainment, but a medium for common man.

Photo Courtesy: www.impawards.com

TELEVISION

‘Television’ was one of the best movies in the 18^th IFFK 2013 and the audience was able to relate it more easily mainly because of the culture prevailed in Bangladesh which was almost similar to that of India. This movie is a mixture of religion, technology, love, culture and belief.

Though the storyline is serious, Mostafa Sarwar Farooki, the director of the movie manages to sustain a laugh from us constantly. The lead character Amin, a conservative is against the technological advancement in his village and the whole movie takes up this issue. Kumar, a local teacher buys a television and this follows a series of melodrama since the society is against technology. Later, Amin has to admit the fact that people have to move on with the world and understands even the importance of television.