Category: Heritage

** BIC Hub’ba to celebrate city NGOs

It will be a two-day event to start from today in Domlur

Walk into Bangalore International Centre (BIC) over the weekend to familiarise yourself with a wide range of city-based Non Government Organisations (NGOs) working in sectors such as childcare, education, health, disability, climate change, waste, water, environment, and animal welfare. 

The annual BIC Hub’ba, which championed handicrafts in 2021, is back this time highlighting the work of city-based NGOs. The event, ‘B.Cause’, will see 72 NGOs put up their stalls. “We want people to appreciate the work of these NGOs. We want Bengalureans to get to know these organisations, engage with their work and explore how they can get involved through donating time, money and skills. Anyone wanting to contribute back to the city, will likely find a cause they are passionate about at the festival,” said V. Ravichandar of BIC.

There will also be workshops for both children and adults, a vegan market, Carnatic music and dance performances as well as the play, Desdemona Roopakam. 

* Hoysala temples are India’s nomination for World Heritage tag

The Sacred Ensembles of the Hoysala — the famed Hoysala temples of Belur, Halebid and Somananthpura in the State — has been finalised as India’s nomination for consideration as World Heritage for 2022-23. These protected monuments are on UNESCO’s tentative list since April 15, 2014, a PIB release on Monday said.

As part of the first step, the dossier to the World Heritage Centre, which will take up technical scrutiny, was submitted by Vishal V. Sharma, Permanent Representative of India to UNESCO, to UNESCO Director of World Heritage Lazare Eloundou on Monday.

“India is proud to nominate the Sacred Ensembles of the Hoysalas for UNESCO’s World Heritage List! Art Historians recognise the exceptional sculptural artistry of the ensembles to be among the masterpieces of Asian art,” Mr. Sharma tweeted.

* Karnataka’s Republic Day Tableau Steals The Show

From skilfully made pots, carefully sculpted sandalwood miniatures to hand-woven sarees, Karnataka’s rich tradition of handicraft were on grand display at the Republic Day parade in New Delhi’s Rajpath on Jan. 26.

In fact, the Karnataka tableau stole the show with an eye-catching depiction of the land’s cultural icons. A massive Asiatic elephant sculpted out of Mysuru rosewood with ivory inlay carvings, impressive Bidriware, bronze statues and lacquerware toys from Channapatna were the highlights of the tableau which was based on the theme — ‘Karnataka: The Cradle of Traditional Handicrafts’

* Folk artist Basavalingaiah Hiremath passes away

The Karnataka government had honoured him with a Karnataka Rajyotsava award for his life time achievement in the field of folk theatre

Basavalingaiah Hiremath, senior theatre personality, actor, singer, director and folklore expert, died in Bengaluru on January 9 morning.

The Karnataka Rajyotsava award winning folk artist was known across the country for his performance of `Sri Krishna Parijata’, the classic Kannada play. The three-hour-long drama about the life of Lord Krishna and his wives Rukmini and Satyabhama was peppered with song -dance and long dialogues. The performance was in Doddata folk theatre style.

The original play was 12 hours long and was written by Kulgod Tammanna, a folk artist who imagined it to be an overnight performance. Hiremath reshaped it to under three hours, to give the viewer the experience of watching a movie. His team presented over 1,000 performances of Sri Krishna Parijata, in India, U.A.E., Europe and U.S.A.

* Udupi: UAE businessman B M Zaffer Thonse gets Indian Achievers Award-2021

B M Zaffer Thonse Chairman Thonse Health Centre (Nature cure and Ayurveda hospital) has been selected for the prestigious Indian Achievers Award-2021 by the Indian Achievers’ Forum for his outstanding professional achievements and contributions in national building.

Zaffer is a known businessman from UAE and the award is given for recognizing his excellence in business, health sector and social activities

* Govt. to publish books on places of cultural, historical importance

The State Government plans to publish books on places of cultural and historical importance like Dharwad, Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai said in Dharwad on Sunday. Among other things, such books will help combat the tendency to twist historical facts, he said.

“Such books will be brought out on several towns and cities in the State. Funds will be allocated towards this project in the coming budget,” the Chief Minister said after inaugurating Channaveeragouda Anna Patil Memorial Trust at the Patil Puttappa Hall, Karnataka Vidyavardhak Sangha (KVS). He said that the work of documenting the cultural history of Dharwad will be given to KVS.

* Techie-turned-farmer teaches kids about forgotten flora

He is a storehouse of knowledge on Indian trees, plants and herbs, and in his farm, which is nothing like the traditional setup, the flora grows wildly and naturally.

The farm has over 300 species of plants and trees, all either edible or used for medicinal purposes. 

Srivathsa Govindaraju, a software engineer-turned-farmer, started his farm 13 years ago with the intent of “respecting nature as it is and to understand how it functions”.

* Historical informative documentary on St Francis Xavier’s death, its aftermath set to release soon

Tropical Creativity, a YouTube channel owned by Armando Roque Fernandes, created in Goa, basically to take interesting contents from local to global, has produced a historical informative documentary ‘O Padre Santo’ which is based on the central character St Francis Xavier who is one of the most famous saint in the world, whose sacred relics are existing in Goa since the last 468 years.

The powerful content in the documentary produced under ‘Noah Films’ by Tropical Creativity, is made at present in 13 languages mainly Konkani, English, Kannada, Malayalam, Spanish, French, Portuguese, Hindi, Bengali, Telugu, Tamil, Marathi, Gujarati. The idea is to take local content on a global stage in languages known across the world. With the success of this concept, ‘Noah Films’ will bring more powerful contents in the form of documentaries, entertainment & education in multiple languages. The teaser and the concept trailer has been released. 

* First-ever Konkani song made in Canada released

A golden chapter in the history of Konkani music has been unfolded and the much awaited first-ever Konkani Song ‘Novo-Bhorvoso’ made in Canada under the newly created banner ‘DoReMiFa Creations’ released on YouTube on December 19, 2021 at 8.00 pm Toronto time.

A couple of months ago, a brilliant thought came into the minds of two stalwarts and visionaries of the Konkani literature and music world in Canada, Gerry D Mello Bendur, and Ashith Glen Pinto. Both of them have always worked in the past to exhibit and transform revolutionary ideas into reality. This time too, they thought of the same process. First, they launched a banner DoReMiFa Creations with the utmost desire to work for the Konkani Music in Canada through uniting many talents based in Canada. The second thought was to formulate and create a song in Konkani to be presented by the renowned Konkani musicians and singers residing in Canada.

* A Useful Reference Work For Those Interested In Indian Culture & Its Aspects

Originally written in Kannada by renowned scholar and historian, Dr. S. Srikanta Sastri (1904-1974) under the title “Bharathiya Samskruthi” in 1954.

This compendium of Indian history, culture and heritage has seen six reprints since then and now it has been translated into English by his son, Prof. S. Naganath, retired Professor of English of the Bangalore University, to cater to a wider section of non-Kannada knowing readers.