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 One looks awkward if he/she wears an outdated dress.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.