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Arts College exhibition a treat to behold

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Education

Lucknow :

Peeping from behind the colourful kites a single leaf enclosed in a fish bowl put up amidst the dried burnt out soil subtly exhorts spectators to think hard over the rampant deforestation. Somewhere near the entrance of the Kala Mela, a poster read, ‘Say it loud even if your voice shakes’ referring to crimes against women. With all things artsy and introspective, the three-day Kala Mela at Arts College began, organised under the Lucknow University’s convocation week.

“We wanted the viewers to not just experience art but also think about issues that govern all our lives, which was the concept we followed in our installation too,” shared Ria Ghosh whose four-member team had set up one of the installation.

With the inauguration of the fair cum exhibit, as many as 2,000 art works of students from both bachelors and masters degree have been put up on display that can be procured too. “The exhibits are in a way to provide the young artists a platform and suitable exposure to find their creative heights,” informed Principal P Rajivnayan.

Kala Mela has an exhaustive amount of artwork and installation ranging from earth work to drawing, painting, sketching, textile design, sculpture, pottery, commercial art, photography, wash painting, ceramic, digital print, jewelry amongst others. The fair will be running till January 20 for all residents to have a piece of art in the city.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Lucknow / TNN / January 19th, 2015

UP’s woman IPS scales S American peak

Leaders, Records, All, Travel, World Opinion

Lucknow :

Aparna Kumar is the first woman IPS officer from Uttar Pradesh to scale Mount Aconcagua, the highest mountain peak of South American.

Aparna, who had earlier scaled Carstensz, the highest peak in Indonesia, achieved this feat on January 15, inspector general (law and order) A Satish Ganesh said on Tuesday.

At the height of 23,000 feet, Mount Aconcagua is considered the most difficult to scale, he said, adding that Kumar unfurled the Indian and UP Police flag on the peak. Kumar has also successfully scaled Mt Kilimanjaro, the highest peak in Africa, said the IG, adding that Aparna’s achievements will encourage more, especially girls, to take up adventure sports.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Lucknow / TNN / January 21st, 2015

IIT-K 1980 batch reunion begins

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Education, Leaders

Kanpur :

The three-day reunion will end on Sunday. The former students turned up to take part in the alumni meet.

Immediately after their arrival, these IITians shifted focus and moved on the campus which had undergone a major change. Later, they assembled for lunch where they recalled the good old days and shared the memories. They also narrated their experiences of life after IIT.

Ravindra Prakash Dubey, MD of private company, who passed out from mechanical engineering department, spoke about the future of solar energy for drawing power. His company deals in renewable energy. He said that by 2022, the country will be generating 20,000 megawatts of solar power. At present, Gujarat is the only state which is producing 1,000 megawatts of power, followed by Rajasthan. He said that Bundelkhand region of Uttar Pradesh has a capacity to generate solar power, keeping in view the maximum sunlight this area receives. He said that solar energy is the future of the country.

Pradeep D Praiskh, who also passed out from mechanical engineering department, said that he liked PM’s ‘Make In India’ slogan but this could succeed only when the government machinery is made to function properly. He mentioned that no major government project could be a hit unless the government machinery is on right track. He said that PM seems to have a vision for the country.

Another alumnus Pankaj Jalote and his friends had a good time together. Many ex-IITians giggled and had fun. They made the most of their time in enjoying the reunion.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Kanpur / TNN / January 10th, 2015

Mughal era museum near Taj soon

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

Agra:

A museum dedicated to the Mughal era will come up in the vicinity of the Taj Mahal at an estimated cost of Rs 10 crore, and the construction work is likely to begin next year.

The proposed museum will be built near Shilpagram parking on the East Gate side of the monument. The land currently belongs to the state electricity department.

According to information, the project’s funding will be partly taken from the corpus granted by the World Bank under the pro-poor tourism development program. The program is aimed at improving infrastructure for tourists in order to generate revenue and employment in the state. The World Bank (WB) has reportedly loaned out Rs 1,800 crore to the country for the development of the Agra-Braj corridor. Rs 10 crore, amount needed for the building of the museum, will be taken from that amount.

Director general (DG) tourism Amrit Abhijat said a memorandum of understanding (MoU) would most likely be signed by the WB, the Central government and the UP government by September 2015. Construction work will start within a year after that. The state cabinet has reportedly given its approval fro the project in principle.

“The museum will have Mughal-era artefacts, armours, textiles and arms on display. The WB wants it to be developed on the lines of international museums. A detail project report (DPR) is under process,” Abhijat said, adding that foreign expertise will be sought to develop the museum.

The DG informed that besides the museum, there is also a plan to create an art gallery to promote trademark products of the city. Stone works, carpets and sweets, especially petha, will be on display at the gallery. There will also be a section from where tourists can buy finished products.

The centre will be built on the lines of Swiss museums, wherein they showcase the intricacies of cheese manufacturing. Similarly, tourists visiting the centre can learn about how carpets have been woven since the time of the Mughals. Petha production will be explained too.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Agra / by Aditya Dev, TNN / January 13th, 2015

Now, get your photo on postal stamp

Arts, Culture & Entertainment

Allahabad :

The Department of Post is all set to allow people to have their photograph on postage stamp meant for official use. This facility will be available at the upcoming two-day Allahabad Philatelic Exhibition (Allaphilex-2015) starting this Friday.

People keen to use the ‘My Stamp’ will have to fill a form and submit it which his/her photograph along with Rs 300. The department will scan the photograph and prepare a postal stamp of Rs 5 denomination. The department will also offer ‘spot clicking’ facility. Later, the applicant would be provided with a sheet containing 12 photographed postal stamps

These stamps could be used to send mail anywhere in the country. However, the facility will be available for living persons only.

Allahabad region’s postal service director Krishna Kumar Yadav said, “Postal department will organize the exhibition at the Art Gallery of North Central Zone Cultural Centre where this facility will be made available.” He further said that this facility is already available in four cities of the state — Lucknow, Agra, Varanasi and Fatehpur Sikri.

He said a number of valuable stamps from around the world will also be displayed in the exhibition. City-based philatelists and those from across the country would showcase their collection of postage stamps and other philatelic materials.

Yadav said that people would also get acquainted with the story behind various stamps. Further youth would be encouraged to develop interest in philately.

During the exhibition philatelic workshops, letter writing, stamp design and quiz competitions would be organized to attract youth and schoolchildren.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Allahabad / TNN /January 08th, 2015

Surgery for epilepsy now available in city

Records, All, Science & Technology

Lucknow :

A team of doctors at Sanjay Gandhi Post Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences has undertaken surgery to help a patient get rid of epilepsy. So far, epileptic surgery has been limited to only a few centers in the country including Sri Chitra Tirunal Institute of Medical Sciences and Technology, Thiruvanthanapuram, and National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences (NIMHANS), Bengaluru.

Secretary of Indian Epilepsy Association’s UP chapter, Prof Atul Aggarwal said that surgical intervention for management of epilepsy in patients who have not responded to medication is an upcoming area of neurology in India. “Only a few centers in the country attempted this because it involves high-level of coordination between neurologist, neurosurgeon, radiologist, anesthetist and psychologist. A facility in Lucknow will surely help patients in the state,” he said.

Speaking on behalf of the team, neurosurgeon Dr Arun Srivastava said, “The surgery was undertaken on a 25-year-old girl who came to us with complaints of partial seizures that could not be controlled by four epilepsy-control drugs.”

He added that the head of neurology Dr UK Mishra and his team examined the patient and referred her for surgery to Dr Sanjay Behari and team. They in turn roped in neuro-radiologist Dr Shashi Srivstava to study the patient’s brain and identify the epilepsy trigger point.

“The patient benefited significantly from the procedure called selective amygdalohippocampectomy which means removal of the problem-causing portions in areas of the inner brain. At the time of discharge, the number of epileptic episodes reduced to just one from 4-5 per day,” he said.

Doctors in SGPGI also believe that patients heading to their center will have to spend 25-30% less than what they would have to pay at the other centers. Head of neurosurgery department, King George’s Medical University, Prof BK Ojha said that their department too was in the process of developing surgical facilities for epilepsy at their center. “Our doctors are undergoing the required training for this,” he said.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Lucknow / by Shailvee Sharda, TNN / January 05th, 2015

Our name and recipe was patented in 1995

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Business & Economy, Records, All, Travel

Tunday kababi wins trademark infringement case

The most popular pit stop for all visitors to Lucknow, be it film stars, politicians or even tourists, is the Tunday Kabab shop. But not just for the outsiders, but for the city folk too, it had become increasingly difficult to differentiate the real from the copies, with kebab shops by the name of Tunday mushrooming all over the city in the last few years. But after Mohd Usman, grandson of the legendary Tunday or Haji Murad Ali won a case filed against him for infringement of trademark by his khala’s (paternal aunt) son, Mohd Muslim, who owns Lucknow Wale Tunday Kababi’s chain of restaurants, all shops bearing the name Tunday and not belonging to Usman had to take their signs down on Monday . They will now have to change the names of their outlets.

Muslim claimed that the name ‘Tunday’ belonged to him and his family and they were the rightful owners of it and anyone else using the name was doing so illegally . But in December 2014, the Delhi High Court declared Usman the rightful owner of the name ‘Tunday’.

The lineage

Haji Murad Ali, a one-handed royal khansama from Bhopal made the Galwati kababs and paranthas world famous and several shops in his name had sprung up in Lucknow and outside of it. Mohd Usman, who holds the patent of Tunday , is Murad’s brother’s son, as Ali himself had no children.

“It was our grandfather who started Tunday . Although I don’t remember much of him but my father tells us tales of how he used to work with one hand. The 109-year-old legacy of our grandfather was being misused and maligned. We had to put a stop to that. Allah has bestowed his blessings on us as we have won the case.It’s nothing else but the blessings of our dada jaan,” says Usman.

The patent and the problem

“We had got the name’Tunday’ patented in 1995, so no one could use the name without our permission or without our franchise. We had also got the secret recipe patented a decade back,” he says, adding, “Mere dada jaan ne, unke baad mere walid saab ne itni mehnat se yeh naam aur iski shaan banayi thi. Hamari origi nal dukaan Chowk mein Akbari Gate ke paas hai, aur 1996 main humne Aminabad wali dukaan shuru ki.”

Not happy with the circumstances that led to this lawsuit, Usman says, “It’s not nice when people within the family fight but I was forced to take this step as it was affecting the reputation of my forefathers. People would come up to me and complain about bad quality food being served at these outlets in our name. Ab main kitne logon ko batata ki yeh asli Tunday Kababi nahi hai?” says he. What also irked Usman was that tourists and celebrities were often taken for a ride, and led to the fake Tunday kabab outlets instead of the original ones.”Kitni baar hum akhbaar mein hi padhte thay ki falan-falan celebrity Faizabad Road ya Gomti Nagar gaya.Yeh log toh tourists ko bhi mislead kar rahe thay,” says Usman. He’s right on the mark. In November 2012, celebrity chef Vikas Khanna had promoted a TV show at the Faizabad Road outlet, which had to remove the Tunday signage on Monday .

Apart from Chowk and Aminabad, the other original Tunday outlets are at Kapoorthala, Alambagh, Kanpur Road, Telibagh, Rahim Nagar and Sahara Ganj.

In August 2014, Usman filed a writ petition in the Delhi High Court to prevent anyone from using his grandfather’s name. “Those people – my khala’s family, went to court last year and filed a case against us for trademark infringement and demanded a compensation of 50 lakh from us, but now that they have lost the case, we are demanding a compensation of `20 lakh from them for misusing our grandfather’s name and bringing it ill repute,” says Usman, “Now it’s time for them to get worried,” says he with a smile.

Board of contention

The restaurants in Lucknow that had to take down their signboards displaying the name of Tunday are those in Vivek Khand, Gomti Nagar, Sapru Marg, Faizabad Road, Aashiana, apart from the one in Kanpur and in Raebareli.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Lucknow / by Itishree Misra, TNN / January 07th, 2015

Magh Mela begins today with Paush Purnima ‘snan’

Arts, Culture & Entertainment

The 44-day Magh Mela is set to begin today with approximately 25 lakh pilgrims, including scores of kalpwasis, expected to take a holy dip at Sangam, the confluence of Yamuna, Ganga and mythological Saraswati, on the occasion of Paush Purnima.

In wake of the expected high turn, the Magh Mela administration and police on Sunday claimed that elaborate arrangements have been put in place for the first holy bath.

Apart from holy dip, donations, charities etc would be the main features of the sacred day. Devotees not only from UP but neighbouring states like MP, Bihar and Jharkhand too have arrived in Sangam City braving the chilly weather conditions. It is believed that all wishes come true on this pious day.

Priests claim “Paush Purnima marks the beginning of a month-long austerity period which is observed during Magha month. Priests further maintained “Purnima thiti began on January 4 at 9:22 am and end on January 5 at 10:23.”

During the entire Magh month, kalpwasis stay on the bank and take early morning bath to earn ‘punya’. The daily bathing starts from Paush Purnima and ends on Magha Purnima. “It is believed that the holy dip on the auspicious day of Paush Purnima liberates the soul from the cycle of birth and death.”

The Mela police and administration have claimed to have put all arrangements in place to ensure basic facilities to pilgrims and devotees arriving for Paush Purnima Snan. Around 3,000 cops, including four companies of para military forces have been assigned the task.

Traffic police would impose restrictions as and when required based on the crowd on the first bathing day. Besides, vehicles’ entry on the mela campus too has been banned.

Meanwhile, officials maintained that over 50,000 kalpwasis would be the main attraction of the day. Separate arrangements have been made for vehicles and pedestrians to prevent chaotic situation on pontoon bridges. Pedestrians would have the first right to walk on pontoon bridges and Sangam area on the bathing day.

Mela authorities also claimed that other facilities in terms of medical & health, transportation, sanitation, bathing ghats, security, fire services, ration distribution, lost & found, potable water, pollution control, milk supply and other civic amenities have been upgraded.

Secondly, elaborate security arrangements have been put in place with adequate police forces, including STF, ATS, bomb defusal squad, anti-sabotage squad patrolling on ghats to ensure safety and security of mela visitors.

Bathing would take place on all 12 ghats with adequate strength of Jal police also being deployed to check cases of drowning. At each and every ghat, barricading has been done and warning boards installed.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Allahabad / by Kapil Dixit, TNN / January 04th, 2015

4,000-year-old house found at Baghpat village offers rare clue to Harappan habitation

About Uttar Pradesh, Amazing Feats, Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Historical Links / Pre-Independence, Nature, Travel, World Opinion

Meerut :

Here’s something for history buffs to get excited about. The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), in excavations carried out at Chandyan village in Baghpat, have found remnants of a house that corresponds to the late Harappan period. The discovery is important since, according to archaeologists, this is the first time evidence of habitation pertaining to that period has been found in the Upper Doab region between Ganga and Yamuna.

The late Harappan phase pertains to the period starting around 1900-1800 BC when the Indus Valley Civilization, popularly known as the Harappan Culture, began to decline. The civilization, which is known for its superior urban planning, is believed to have flourished in the period between 3300 BC to 1300 BC in what is today Pakistan, northwest India and parts of Afghanistan and Balochistan.

Earlier in August, a human skull with a copper crown corresponding to the late Harappan period, was accidentally discovered at a brick kiln site in the village. The ASI started excavating the area on November 27 and found, to its delight, a number of items that pertained to the 4,000-yr-old era. “Till date, we have excavated around 20 burial pots, a pelvic bone of the same man whose skull we had found with a copper crown and a few beads like carnelian, faience and agate. However, the most interesting development, undoubtedly, is the evidence of habitation which was found for the first time. We excavated a mud wall with post holes where wooden pillars were probably fixed to support thatched roofs. We also found multi-level foundations that supported structures in different times,” said AK Pandey, superintending archaeologist, ASI.

4000yearhouseLUCKNOW30dec2014

Incidentally, the Harappan link to the area was established in 2005 when a farmer accidentally discovered a huge burial site at Sinauli village located just 40km from Chandayan. The Sinauli graves are also believed to correspond to the late Harappan period, strengthening archaeologists’ conviction about the latest find. What got them further excited was finding a clue to the period’s habitation, which they point out, happens very rarely. “During excavations, we found about 50 cm of habitational deposits. The chances of finding habitational structures here is quite uncommon because this is a fertile region and over a period of time, cultivators raze structures to the ground for agricultural purposes. But since we have burial sites here, logically, there should be habitational sites as well. If we extend the area of excavation, we might find something more substantial,” said DN Dimri, director of archaeology, ASI,

However, historians say there is a need to exercise caution. “This certainly looks like a habitational site but a lot more needs to be done to thoroughly establish the theories. In fact, instead of terming it a late Harappan site, I would rather call it a post-Harappan site when just a few remnants of the Harappan culture remained. Its antiquity could be anywhere between 1700 BC to 1500 BC”, said RS Bisht, former joint director general, ASI.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Meerut / by Sandeep Rai, TNN / December 28th, 2014

Alumni to teach success mantras to IIIT-A students/ to budding engineers of IIIT-A

Education, Leaders

An alumni of Indian Institute of Information Technology-Allahabad (IIIT-A) has decided to return to the campus and share secret ‘mantras’ of success with the current crop of budding engineers.

Pratyus Patnaik would train the students into ways of becoming an innovative engineer and a successful entrepreneur. A BTech (IT) of 2003-2007 batch, Patnaik, who is in early 30s, is now regarded as a science prodigy.

Along with his three Indian friends – Jay Srinivasan, Rahul ‘RJ’ Jain and Manish Lachwani – he launched an app-testing startup based out of San Francisco in US-Appurify in April 2012. The technology developed by these engineers caught the attention of US multinational giant Google and led to startup’s acquisition by it in June 2014.

“We have requested Patnaik to visit IIIT-A campus and address current batches of students and he has agreed. We will soon work out other details of the visit,” said dean (academics) Prof GC Nandi. Incidentally, Patnaik had honed his skills under Prof Nandi as a student. “He is a perfect individual to motivate our students to turn into innovators, inventors and entrepreneurs,” he added.

After completing BTech from IIIT-A, Patnaik did his MS from Stanford University, US and is the co-founder and vice-president (engineering) of Appurify Inc.

Appurify lets developers automate testing and optimisation of their mobile apps and websites. It permits wide-scale testing on a big range of gadgets so that developers may catch bugs and other performance issues on devices they can’t test by themselves. Appurify had raised $ 6.3 million from investors, including Google Ventures, thus turning it into an example of Google investing in a company before acquiring it. Data Collective, Radar Partners, Felicis Ventures, and Foundation Capital had also invested in both Appurify’s 2012 seed round and $ 4.5 million from March 2013.

Appurify’s service can simulate a specific mobile network and even simulate what happens if the connection is weak or drops out completely. This feature makes Appurify like an open, software version of Facebook, Ericsson, and Internet.org’s physical ‘innovation lab’ for testing across weak international networks.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Allahabad / TNN / December 27th, 2014