Monthly Archives: October 2014

Begum Akhtar’s legacy to be honoured by UP government

Arts, Culture & Entertainment

Lucknow :

To mark the birth centenary of ghazal queen Begum Akhtar, Uttar Pradesh government has directed its cultural department to take forward its four proposals that stand to bring back Begum to our times.

The government will rename two roads after her — one in Lucknow and the other in Faizabad, her birthplace. An award in her name is set to be christened, while the house in Faizabad, where she was born, would be restored.

While the directive had come in over a month now, the house in Faizabad is yet to be acquired and converted into a museum of her relics. With the present owners of the house unwilling to part with the property, the district administration is focussing on an alternative land or building in Faizabad to replenish the musical genius of Mallika-e-Ghazal, said a senior officer.

The draft for the award in Begum’s memory has been set, ready to be sent to the cabinet, after which it will be finalized and given the green signal.

The road around her residence after marriage with Barrister Ishtiaq Ahmed Abbasi, on Fawn Brake Avenue in Lucknow and the one around her maternal home ‘Mushtari ka Makaan’ in Faizabad are the two proposed to be renamed after Begum Akhtar. The municipal corporations of the respective cities have been directed in this regard, awaiting the final work to be taken up, said joint director, culture department, Anuradha Goel.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Lucknow / TNN / October 30th, 2014

Meet the master behind flutes, big and small

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Records, All, World Opinion

Agra :

Dinesh Shandilya, now 76, made it to the Guinness Book of World Records for designing and playing a five-feet long and 3.5 inch diameter width flute made of plastic pipe way back in 1996, but his passion for crafting the wind instrument in new shapes and sizes has not diminished even a bit over the years.

After a lot of experiments in the flute design, his latest creation is a 25-feet long flute with one inch diameter which he plays with ease. His name has also been recorded in Limca Book of Records for playing the smallest flute, just 4.5 inches long, in 2000.

For this engineer-turned-musician, the inspiration for playing flutes of various lengths came from his eagerness to play some difficult ‘ragas’. He says he could not find bamboo of desired quality and diameter even after extensive search, after which he used PVC pipes to make his longest flute to enter the Guinness Book of World Records.

What’s more, he used sorrow as a motivating force to come up with something unique and beautiful. “I suffered from nervous breakdown and depression after the death of my younger brother and later, my wife. No therapy could cure me. I, at last, got solace in Vrindavan, where I heard devotional music in temples and flute recitals of Hari Prasad Chaurasia which helped me recover from illness,” says Shandilya.

Grief-stricken, he found solace in soul-stirring flute recitals, which led him to create something which has likely lent new dimensions in the mellowness and depth of notes in the flute.

Over the years, he has made several flutes of bamboo and fibre in sizes ranging from 9 inches to 25 feet, enabling him to produce notes of around 6 to 6.5 octaves. He has specially made bass flutes of different diameters so as to unfold elaborate rendition of profound and classical melodies of ragas like darbari, marwa, pooriya etc.

In the process, he says he has devised a new technique of finger manipulation suitable for playing different sizes of flute.

“Playing a flute is not easy, one needs to have strong lungs to start with. This can be achieved with practice. I spend more than four-five hours daily practicing the instrument. While designing new types of flutes, one has to keep in mind the quality of bamboo. It has to be lightweight and not have knots. The best bamboo is found in Assam,” he says.

In September 2014, Shandilya was conferred doctorate in record breaking ‘honoris causa’ for largest and smallest flute by the World Records University. His feats have been recorded several times by India Book of Records and Limca Book of Records since 1996.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Agra / by Aditya Dev, TNN / October 31st, 2014

Art students’ brush with maestros from across border

Arts, Culture & Entertainment

Lucknow :

The year was 1957-58 when Dhiraj Choudhury was denied admission to the Lucknow College of Arts and Crafts by its Principal. In 2014 Choudhury, now an eminent painter, was invited to the same institution for an interaction with its current batch of students on Wednesday. As part of the ‘Art beyond Borders’ programme, 20 painters from India and Bangladesh have come together to initiate dialogue between people of the two countries through their art.

In 1957, Choudhury was in Nainital when he had opportunity to reach Lucknow in a vehicle deployed for former prime minister late Pt Jawaharlal Nehru’s public rally. He drew sketches at the rally and was profiled in media. His exhibition of portraits drawn on the streets of Nainital was inaugurated by V V Giri, then Governor of UP. Despite the fame, he was unable to study in Lucknow. The principal was not impressed by the feat before reaching Lucknow. Later, the first exhibition of State Museum in Lucknow in 1964 featured paintings from Chaudhury’s collection, he said, recalling his bitter-sweet connect with the city.

As present Master’s students observed techniques and mediums of various artists, Choudhury’s simple yet extravagant expression made an impact on them. Figurative painter Jatin Das explained to them the importance of sketching for enhancement of their painting skills.

“It’s the way you express your thoughts on canvas more than the technique you use, is the important lesson I am taking with me today,” shared Arun Kumar, a first-year MFA student. Chhitij Sahu, a 2nd year student said “it was a golden chance for us to meet the eminent artists right here on the campus. Their breezy brushwork and their brisk movements have inspired me.”

The art on glass and the colour flow technique of painting impressed the students with its close-to-life feel. “Their ideas have made an impression on not just the canvas but on our minds too and will stay with us for life,” said Aprajita Tripathi.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Lucknow / TNN / October 30th, 2014

Colours of devotion flow free at Gomti ghat on Chhath

Arts, Culture & Entertainment

Lucknow :

Festive colours suffused the ghats of Gomti as devotees poured in to pay their obeisance to Chhath Mata and to perform the first Arghya to the sun god on Wednesday. Puja ceremonies kicked off at sundown, but saw thousands of people gathering on the banks of Gomti well in advance.

As they began the second of their two-day fast, believed to be the toughest there is, the men and women observing the fast showed little sign of stress. As they arrived at the ghats in bright clothes and carefully decorated puja thalis, the banks reverberated with sounds of bhajans and chanting, even as bhog was dished out to devotees. Wearing a bright red and green sari, Geeta Devi, who performed the Chhath puja, said “even though puja can be performed at home, the sentiment at the ghat is completely different. This is a community festival and nothing can match the joy of celebrating it with the entire community. As a result, I have made it a point to come here for 15 years.”

Devotees, many of whom will remain at the ghat until the end of the two-day fast, said this was the toughest part of the six-day Chhath celebrations. A devotee Surabhi Tiwari said, “This is among the toughest fasts observed by the believers. There are very stringent rules people follow. What makes it special is that Chhath remains one of the few festivals where the entire community comes together to celebrate.”

Festivities were not limited to the puja the devotees performed. Bhojpuri artistes were especially commissioned to sing for the crowds and they added to the celebratory mood. The ghat of Lakshman Mela ground resounded with folk music and bhajans sung in Bhojpuri. General secretary of the Bhojpuri Samaj, Manoj Singh, said, “Nearly 1 lakh people performed the pehla arghya, while hundreds of families who came here from distant places are expected to stay at the ghat, overnight. These families will also remain here for the concluding ritual (dusra arghya) today.”

In a separate function organised by the All India Bhojpuri Samaj, Samajwadi Party bahu Aparna Yadav and UP chief secretary’s wife Surabhi Ranjan participated and sang festival songs to add to the celebratory fervour. The function was also attended by former Member of Parliament Rewati Raman Singh and SP minister Abhishek Mishra.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Lucknow / TNN / October 30th, 2014

Owl festival: A time to crack jokes

Arts, Culture & Entertainment

Varanasi :

Hundreds of thousands of people in this Hindu holy city — and now Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s parliamentary constituency — in Uttar Pradesh are eagerly looking forward to a time for cracking jokes on anything under the sun and merry making, when the annual “Uloo Mahotsava” (Owl Festival) takes place. The festival, which has become part of the city folklore, helps people find ways to be happy and laugh at themselves.

The Mahotsava — to be celebrated at the Town Hall — is one such moment when the happy-go-lucky Banarasis get together in the midst of Diwali celebrations to crack jokes on virtually almost everything.

A proper puja called “Kotar Pujan” was held on the eve of Diwali at the Town Hall grounds attended by a huge crowd. A large cutout of an owl was prepared and prayers were offered to the bird, generally linked to foolishness!

A ‘ullu aahvahan’ was held amid chanting of religious hymns. The owl cutout was then strung to a tree and was followed by an ‘aarti’.

This, old timers say, has been done for “quite some time now”. Radha Singh from Dahesar, said she thoroughly enjoys the Diwali festivities, which culminate with the ‘Ulook Mahotsava’.

Rajendra Dwivedi, an organiser, said a ‘Ullu Yatra’ (owl procession) will be held in the evening in which a 2.5-feet tall owl cutout will be placed on an ox cart and taken around the city.

The procession will be accompanied by music bands and shehnai players. People will raise slogans in honour of the owl before the event culminates at the Town Hall.

An evening of jokes will follow where jesters will regale the crowd with their puns on contemporary politics. A recital of the ‘ullu chalisa’ will sign off the day.

The Hindu pantheon is filled with interesting and entertaining stories about the various gods and goddesses and their vehicles.The owl is a prominent one, considered the vehicle of Goddess Lakshmi, the provider of wealth and prosperity.

The owl is called Ulooka in Sanskrit and its partial blindness is inferred by many as indicative of a seeker’s tendency of going toward the pursuit of the higher goals of spirituality instead of spiritual wealth.

The owl, in the Bhagavad Gita, is likened to an enlightened ‘sthita prajna’ (the one who remains unwavering in any situation, whether happy or sad).

Goddess Lakshmi is also said to be the mistress of spiritual wisdom. By keeping the owl as her vehicle, she teaches us to open our eyes to the light of the wisdom residing within us.

This ‘Karunamayi (compassionate one) Mother’, hence, symbolically keeps ignorance under her control, said pandit V.M. Shastri.Wildlife conservationists, however, feel such practices sound the death knell for this nocturnal creature which is hunted and sold during the festival season.

Ram Lakhan Singh, former chief wildlife conservator of Uttar Pradesh, said people blinded by outdated religious beliefs, black magic practices and fake advice by soothsayers, mistake the owl trade as part of religious rituals. But for the average Banarasis, this Sunday like in the past will be a time to let their hair down and have a blast.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Varanasi / IANS / October 27th, 2014

IIM-Lucknow & Kelly School of Business joint programme to run 2 batches in a year

Education, World Opinion

Lucknow :

The valedictory function marking the completion of second batch of one-year certificate programme in business analytics for executives (CPBAE) was recently organised, in which efforts of 26 participants were given due recognition. In 2013, Indian Institute of Management, Lucknow and Kelley School of Business, Indiana University, USA started the one year certificate programme.

Speaking on the occasion, IIM-L director Prof Rajiv K Srivastava, said, “We have received encouraging feedback for this programme. Given the demand for the programme both IIM Lucknow & Kelley School of Business, Indiana University have decided to run two batches of Certificate Programme in Business Analytics in a year. The next batch is scheduled to begin from March 2015.”

The programme combines business strategy, business analytical tools and applications of analytics in selected business areas, namely finance, marketing and operations. The purpose of this programme is to develop skills and a mindset for participants that will allow them to identify and seize business opportunities using business analytics tools. The programme has both in-residence and online learning channels.

The programme is jointly taught by faculty from IIM Lucknow and Kelley School of Business, USA and on-campus modules are conducted from IIM Lucknow campus. The ceremony was chaired by the IIM-L director Prof Rajiv K Srivastava, MA Venkataramanan vice-provost for strategic initiatives, Indiana University; chairperson MDP (IIM-L) Prof Jabir Ali along with programme directors Prof Amit Agrahari and Prof Gaurav Garg.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Lucknow / by Arunav Sinha, TNN / October 28th, 2014

Kalibari continues with ancient Trantrik Puja tradition; Replaces Mass Sacrifice Of Goats With Sugarcane

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Historical Links / Pre-Independence, Records, All

The 154-year-old Mutthiganj Kalibari is a living testimony to the religious influence of Bengali Community in the Sangam City. Till recently the temple was a centre of ancient ritual of ‘tantrik puja’ on no-moon Diwali night. Goats were offered as sacrifice to Goddess Mahamaya. Though sacrifice is still performed but with a minor change – goat has been replaced with leafy sugarcane with roots.

However, despite abandoning of sacrifice, the Kalibari continues to attract hundreds of devotees from across the Northern India on the intervening night of Diwali. In order to cater to its devotees across the globe, the Kalibari has this year decided to telecast the puja ceremonies live on official website.

Allahabad Kalibari Maintenance Society secretary Arun Kumar Bannerjee said, “A decade back, mass sacrifice of goats was an integral part of Kalibari ritual. Rituals cannot be changed overnight in any religion and the sacrifice tradition was no exception. It took a few years to stop mass sacrifice.”

“Following consultations with renowned and noted priests, the animal sacrifice was replaced with sugarcane as part of the tradition,” he said.

“The offering of sugarcanes with roots and leaves, pumpkin and coconuts are offered as sacrifice on the night,” added Bannerjee, which is regarded as ‘symbolic’ sacrifice.

This year, the special puja of Goddess Mahamaya would start in Kalibari after the onset of no-moon-night at 8 pm while Mahapuja would start at 12 am on October 23 and continue till the moon changes its course early next morning. Pushpanjali, Havan and lighting the temple with 108 earthern diyas are the essential rituals.

Kalibari – the most popular temple during Diwali – was established by seer Krishnanand Brahmachari from undivided Bengal in 1860 as a part of his initiative to set up temples of Goddess Kali in every part of the country.

After establishing Kalibari in Peshawar and Lahore (now in Pakistan) along with 31 other places countrywide, the seer finally arrived in Allahabad which was a small town then. He established a small temple at Mutthiganj on a land donated by an employee in Collectorate Raas Bihari Ghosh and donated it to the Bengali Society of the city. Now Allahabad Kalibari Maintenance Society looks after the Kalibari.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Allahabad / by Vinod Khanal. TNN / October 22nd, 2014

Electronics manufacturers’ association chooses its new president

Business & Economy, Science & Technology

Lucknow :

Members of the Indian Electrical and Electronics Manufacturers’ Association (IEEMA) have recently chosen Vishnu Agarwal as the new president of the association. IEEMA is the first ISO certified industry association in India with 800 member organisations encompassing the complete value chain in power generation, transmission and distribution equipment.

IEEMA members have contributed to more than 90 percent of the power equipment installed in India. The Indian electrical equipment industry size in 2012-13 was in excess of USD 24 billion, with exports of USD 5 billion. Vishnu Agarwal, B. Tech, FIE, is the founder and CMD of Technical Associates Ltd. An electrical engineer by training, Agarwal graduated from IIT Kanpur’s second batch of B.Tech. Engineers in 1966 and started Technical Associates Ltd. in Lucknow in 1969.

Technical Associates, under the stewardship of Agarwal has grown over the years from relatively humble beginnings and today encompasses a product range starting from transformers for 11 kV/ LV applications to EHV transformers up to 400 kV class.

Agarwal will be assisted by Ajit Singh Chouhan as vice president, IEEMA who is also the managing director and CEO of Weir India. With an experience of nearly three decades in marketing and sales, he has also worked with RPG Enterprises as its president and CEO for the specialty sector and has been the management board member.

Further, the new president of IEEMA will have Babu Babel as vice president in his new team of IEEMA. Babel is the CEO of Energy SBU and Joint Managing Director for Secure Meters Ltd. Babu was part of the founding team which helped Secure Meters to pioneer electronic metering and improve Indian utility revenue completeness.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Lucknow / by Priyanka Singh, TNN / October 22nd, 2014

In a first, book fair at Lucknow Mahotsava

Uncategorized

Lucknow :

Denizens would see the confluence of Book Fair and Lucknow Mahotsava this year. The Book Fair titled ‘Gaagar mein Saagar’ will have books written by national and international authors and span across 3,000 square feet in the Mahotsava venue.

Lucknowites can expect to witness a blend of technology and culture at the Mahotsava which begins on October 25.

For the first time in the history of the festival, drones would maintain a close watch on the Mahotsava venue and its adjacent localities.

The 2014 edition of Lucknow Mahotsava is also likely to have online ticketing for the visitors, a facility, which would help citizens to book their tickets in advance from their homes or offices. District administration officials say that the online ticketing system may resemble the online ticket booking system of cinema halls, and is likely have different payment options.

The organisers this time are also planning to introduce a system of punching the passes that are issued for the entire duration of the Lucknow Mahotsava.

“In order to stop the blatant misuse of single pass by many persons, we are planning to put in place a mechanism by which the passes would be punched at the time of arrival at the entry points, so that the same pass cannot be used on the same day by different persons,” DM Rajshekhar said.

In the previous editions of the Lucknow Mahotsava, people who had managed to get a vehicle pass instead of pasting it on the vehicle used to flash it at the entry point to the cops to gain entry into the Mahotsava venue.

Arunav.Sinha@timesgroup.com
source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Lucknow / by Arunav Sinha, TNN / October 24th, 2014

Annu Rani returns with Javelin bronze to grand welcome

Records, All, Sports, World Opinion

Meerut :

Days after Meerut-based Annu Rani won a bronze medal in the women’s javelin throw event at the Asian Games in South Korea, she was given a grand welcome by people at Bahadurpur village on Monday afternoon. Villagers garlanded the 21-year-old several times over, and gifted her a shawl.

Amarpaal, Annu Rani’s father, who was at first not so enthusiastic about her interest in the javelin throw sport, said, “Villagers have given such a grand welcome to her that we are all feeling like celebrities.”

Annu Rani is the second contestant in these Asian games to have returned to Meerut with laurels. Seema Punia, who won the gold medal in the discus throw event, also belongs to Meerut. Uttar Pradesh chief minister Akhilesh Yadav announced a cash prize of Rs 50 lakh to Punia.

On Monday, as Annu Rani returned, few people even remembered that when she first took to javelin throwing, her father and neighbours had tried to dissuade her.

“I would never have imagined that among these are people who opposed my participation in the games,” Annu Rani said. District president Meenakshi Gaur visited the family on Monday.

Annu Rani’s throw of 59.53 metres was her personal best, but Chinese duo of Zhang Li and Li Lingwei grabbed the first two places at the Asian Games, outperforming her.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Meerut / by Ishita Bhatia, TNN / October 06th, 2014