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13th edition of ‘Bengaluru INDIA NANO’ 2024 event: All you need to know

Theme: Nanotechnology for sustainability: Climate, energy, and healthcare.

The 13th edition of ‘Bengaluru INDIA NANO’, the country’s flagship event in the Nanotech sector, will have the theme Nanotechnology for Sustainability: Climate, Energy, and Healthcare.

The three-day event which will take place from August 1st – 3rd, 2024 in Bengaluru is expected to attract 25 sessions, more than 75 speakers, over 700 delegates and 3,500 attendees. The event is being organised by the Department of Science & Technology, Government of Karnataka, Karnataka Science and Technology Promotion Society (KSTePS) and Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research (JNCASR).

“Sustainability is now an impending necessity. The impacts of climate change are increasingly visible, manifesting in rising temperatures, natural calamities, and widespread displacement. Simultaneously, the world is grappling with severe economic and environmental consequences of energy crises. While industries are striving to develop green and clean energy solutions, these efforts alone may not be sufficient to achieve true sustainability. Health challenges, highlighted by the COVID-19 pandemic, have exposed critical vulnerabilities in healthcare systems globally. This pandemic was neither the first nor will it be the last; thus, our preparedness and resilience are of utmost importance,” observed N. S. Boseraju, Minister of Minor Irrigation and Science & Technology, Government of Karnataka.

Nanotechnology has the promise to deliver small-sized but high-impact solutions, which can potentially revolutionise our approach to these global issues, he added.

The event will have speeches and engaging panel discussions by eminent experts from around the globe and the conference will address cutting-edge developments in nanotechnology and its applications in climate, energy, healthcare, electronics and semiconductors.

Professor Pulickel Ajayan – Chair, Department of Materials Science and NanoEngineering, Rice University, Balajee Sowrirajan – Managing Director, SSIR; Professor Neetu Singh – Professor & Head, Center of Biomedical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi; Professor Dhirendra Katti – Director, Indian Institute of Technology Goa; Professor Nitash Balsara – The Charles W. Tobias professor in Electrochemistry, University of California, Berkeley besides others will be the main speakers at the conference.

Pre-conference Tutorials will offer in-depth knowledge and hands-on experience in various aspects of nanotechnology, catering to both beginners and seasoned professionals. The Pre-conference Tutorial will delve into topics such as Nano Fabrication and Nano Characterisation, The Poster Showcase at the event is expected to give an opportunity to more than 175 young researchers from academia and research institutions to display their research posters. The exhibition at the event will showcase the latest innovations, products, and technologies from leading companies, research institutions and startups in the field of nanotechnology. More than 50 organisations will also be showcasing their Nanotech products & services.

It was announced that the event will also witness the bestowing of the ‘Prof. C.N.R. Rao Bengaluru INDIA NANO Science Award’ for making meaningful contributions to Nanoscience.

Additionally the ‘Bengaluru INDIA NANO Innovation Award’ will be presented for Innovative and Disruptive Technology Development in Nanotech.

There will also be other awards such as the Nano Excellence Award- to the best researchers in the realm of Nanoscience; Best Poster- The Best Students for revolutionary research; and Exhibitor Awards- For the best showcase across various categories during the event.

There would also be the National Nanotech Quiz which will feature participation of students from across the country. The first 2 rounds of the Quiz will be held digitally while the final showdown will take place in person at the event for the first time. The event will also host an array of programmes such as NanoSparX- a startup pitching initiative, as well as B2B partnering meetings.

source/content: theweek.in (headline edited)

NATIONAL / KARNATAKA: BOEING’s LARGEST : PM Modi inaugurates Boeing’s largest campus outside US in Bengaluru

Boeing’s new campus will also serve as the hub for Indian startups and universities.

While inaugurating the Boeing India Engineering and Technology Centre (BIETC), Prime Minister Narendra Modi said Bengaluru is a city that connects aspirations with innovation and achievement.

“Bengaluru connects India’s technological capability with global demand,” said PM Modi in Bengaluru.

This is Boeing’s largest centre outside the US, built with an investment of Rs 1,600 crore which is also Boeing’s largest such investment. Modi also launched Boeing’s Sukanya Program that aims to support the entry of more girl children from across India into the country’s aviation sector. The program will provide opportunities for girls and women from across India to learn critical skills in the science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) fields and train for jobs in the aviation sector.

Boeing’s centre in Bengaluru will house engineering, test, research and technology teams, performing advanced high-quality aerospace engineering works. It includes support in structural and systems design, manufacturing, aircraft testing system development, and digital solutions that drive sustainability in aviation. The centre will also work in areas like Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Internet-of-Things, Cloud Solutions, Model-Based Engineering, and Additive Manufacturing to enhance quality, safety, and productivity.

Boeing’s new campus in Bengaluru will also serve as the hub for Boeing’s work with Indian startups and universities. Currently Boeing has collaborated with seven incubators, including Society for Innovation and Entrepreneurship – IIT Mumbai, Foundation for Innovation and Technology Transfer – IIT Delhi, Innovation and Entrepreneurship Center – IIT Gandhinagar, IIT Madras Incubation Cell, Society for Innovation and Development – IISC Bengaluru, T-Hub Hyderabad, and Technology Business Incubator – KIIT Bhubaneshwar. Together, they host the Boeing University Innovation Leadership and Development program (BUILD) annually in India.

The Boeing’s Sukanya Program was launched in the backdrop that India leads the world with women comprising 15 percent of all pilots, exceeding the global average of 5 percent. The Indian aviation sector is also witnessing a surging demand for pilots. More than a doubling of the current roster of 9,000 pilots will be required. Under this program Boeing is establishing Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) Labs in girls’ schools, especially in tier 2 and 3 towns, to expand awareness, knowledge, and exposure to careers in aviation.

With around 150 locations planned, local program managers will engage with as many as 75,000 students through these STEM labs, with the intent of reaching 60 percent of the young girl students. The initiative will support learning through various digital products, including Virtual Procedure Trainer, Virtual Airplane, and Private Pilot License ground school courses. Boeing will also provide scholarships for training, covering aspects such as foundation, jet bridge, type rating, and more.

Besides this Boeing will have full-flight simulator capacity to support the women’s pilot program and collaborate with customers to ensure candidates are airline-ready. These investments – both hard assets, and Competency-based Training and Assessment (CBTA) courseware aim to produce a large pipeline of female pilots entering the airlines annually.

During the inauguration PM Modi was joined by the Governor of Karnataka Thaawar Chand Gehlot, Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, Leader of the Opposition – Karnataka Legislative Assembly R. Ashoka and Stephanie Pope Boeing’s Chief Operating Officer, along with other senior Boeing executives.

source/content: theweek.in (headline edited)

NATIONAL / KARNATAKA: SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY: IISc designs device to make infrared light visible, with diverse applications in defence and optical communications

Researchers at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) have fabricated a device to increase or up-convert the frequency of short infrared light to the visible range. This up-conversion of light has diverse applications, especially in defence and optical communications, said IISc.

“The human eye can only see light at certain frequencies (called the visible spectrum), the lowest of which constitutes red light. Infrared light, which we can’t see, has an even lower frequency than red light. IISc researchers have now fabricated a device to increase or up-convert the frequency of short infrared light to the visible range,” IISc said.

2D material used

The institute added that in a first, the IISc team used a 2D material to design what they call a non-linear optical mirror stack to achieve this up-conversion, combined with widefield imaging capability. The stack consists of multilayered gallium selenide fixed to the top of a gold reflective surface, with a silicon dioxide layer sandwiched in between.

It said that traditional infrared imaging uses exotic low-energy bandgap semiconductors or micro-bolometer arrays, which usually pick up heat or absorption signatures from the object being studied.

However, existing infrared sensors are bulky and not very efficient. They are also export-restricted because of their utility in defence. There is, therefore, a critical need to develop indigenous and efficient devices.

The method used by the IISc team involves feeding an input infrared signal along with a pump beam onto the mirror stack. The nonlinear optical properties of the material constituting the stack result in a mixing of the frequencies, leading to an output beam of increased (up-converted) frequency, but with the rest of the properties intact. Using this method, they were able to up-convert infrared light of a wavelength of around 1,550 nm to 622 nm visible light. The output light wave can be detected using traditional silicon-based cameras.

Going forward, the researchers plan to extend their work to up-convert light of longer wavelengths. They are also trying to improve the efficiency of the device by exploring other stack geometries.

Worldwide interest

“There is a lot of interest worldwide in doing infrared imaging without using infrared sensors. Our work could be a game-changer for those applications,” said Varun Raghunathan, associate professor, Department of Electrical Communication Engineering.

source/content: thehindu.com (headline edited)

NATIONAL & KARNATAKA: SPACE: IN-SPACe launches Pre-Incubation Entrepreneurship for youngsters

Applicants should not have received any grants, funding, or monetary support from private or government schemes and all submissions must be original work to qualify.

The Indian National Space Promotion and Authorisation Centre (IN-SPACe) has launched the Pre-Incubation Entrepreneurship (PIE) Development Programme to support and nurture early-stage space startups. The programme aims to cultivate and empower the next generation of space tech innovators, providing them with the tools and guidance necessary to transform their space ambitions.

The 21-month programme will guide aspiring entrepreneurs through a comprehensive journey divided into different phases such as ideation, innovation, and prototype development. The programme will ensure that budding entrepreneurs receive structured support at each critical stage of development.

PIE aims to target students in technical courses or those with a strong interest in space technology, expected to graduate in 2024, or pursuing Master’s or Doctorate programmes and early-stage start-ups focusing on space technologies and aiming to develop entrepreneurial ventures.

Pawan Goenka, Chairman, IN-SPACe, said, “India’s space sector is poised for exponential growth, and young entrepreneurs are crucial to driving this expansion. PIE will provide them with a launch pad, equipping them not only with technical expertise but with the business acumen needed to navigate the complexities of space industry.”

Applicants should not have received any grants, funding, or monetary support from private or government schemes and all submissions must be original work to qualify.

Star-ups registered with the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade on or after July 1, 2022, are classified as early-stage start-ups.

For more details, visit www.inspace.gov.in

source/content: newindianexpress.com (headline edited)

KARNATAKA gets five Union ministers. Nirmala Sitharaman, HD Kumaraswamy, Pralhad Joshi, Shobha Karandlaje & V Somanna

Though the saffron party members won from the coastal region, they are all first-time MPs and have not been included in the ministry.

As Karnataka has elected 19 National Democratic Alliance MPs, the highest from South India, it was on Sunday rewarded with five ministerial posts in the Modi 3.0 cabinet. Of the five ministers, including Rajya Sabha member Nirmala Sitharaman, two are women.

Apart from Nirmala, the four other ministers are Pralhad Joshi, JDS state president HD Kumaraswamy, Shobha Karandlaje and V Somanna. While Nirmala, Joshi and Kumaraswamy have cabinet rank, the other two are ministers of state. Interestingly, Kumaraswamy was among the first few MPs to take oath in New Delhi on Sunday evening.

Of the 293 NDA MPs, the state’s contribution of 19 MPs constituted over 6 per cent and the number of ministries too is above that mark, considering that the Modi cabinet has 72 ministers.

Even among these five ministers, the representation to the Old Mysore region is more. Kumaraswamy represents Mandya, Shobha Bangalore North and Somanna Tumkur. Joshi, who has been reinducted, is the only MP from North Karnataka. This could be because of the lacklustre performance of BJP in these parts. Though the saffron party members won from the coastal region, they are all first-time MPs and have not been included in the ministry.

Joshi, who has the Sangh Parivar background and is the fifth time MP, had served as Law and Parliamentary minister in the previous government. Shobha, the first-ever woman MP from Bengaluru, had served as a minister of state.

Somanna, who was with Congress and JDS, joined BJP in 2009 and has stayed with the party since then. After suffering a defeat from two constituencies in the last Assembly polls, he won the parliamentary polls this time from Tumkur. His loyalty to the party has paid off with a ministerial berth.

Kumaraswamy, who is JDS state president, became a chief minister for the first time in 2006, thanks to his party’s alliance with BJP. But as per the power-sharing agreement between the two parties then, he refused to transfer power to BJP’s BS Yediyurappa in 2007, ending the coalition. The fallout was ugly and the two parties had kept their distance since then. But the 2023 Assembly polls were a wake-up call to the regional party as it won mere 19 seats. Fearing a complete meltdown, the party tied up with BJP for the Lok Sabha polls and Kumaraswamy helped BJP get a good number of seats in the Old Mysuru region.

Breaking down the caste equation, two Brahmins (Joshi and Nirmala), two Vokkaligas (Kumaraswamy and Shobha) and one Lingayat (Somanna), have made it to the Modi ministry.

Sources from BJP said that though two Vokkaligas have been given the honour, only Shobha is originally from BJP. Asked why former chief ministers Basavaraj Bommai and Jagadish Shettar were not inducted, they said, “Since both are former CMs, they cannot be made ministers of state.”

source/content: newindianexpress.com (headline edited)

KARNATAKA: HEALTH CARE: Unsung Heroes: Mom-daughter duo Rani Desai & Priya Teams up to offer primary health care under Anahat Foundation for Bengaluru’s urban poor

Bengaluru-based Anahat Foundation deals with identifying, preventing and counselling the patients suffering from chronic diseases such as high blood pressure, diabetes, and hypertension. Rani Desai, 70, manages the operations and devises public health programmes, while daughter Priya handles communications and funding for the foundation.

‘Prevention is better than cure’ is as simple as that for Rani Desai, 70, and Priya, 40, the mother-daughter duo behind Anahat Foundation that is focused on improving access to primary and preventive healthcare for the urban poor.

The Bengaluru-based foundation that emerged as one of the winners at the recently concluded SVP (Social Ventures Partners) India Fast Pitch 2024, a virtual fundraiser event, is proving to be a major lifeline for the urban poor who lack access to basic healthcare. The foundation which was started seven years ago was offering preventive and primary healthcare to the rural population and later expanded to the urban region, given the growing demand for primary healthcare needs.

Rani and Priya come with a rich experience in public service as consultants and members of various humanitarian projects. Rani worked with Biocon Foundation for 12 years and has also served as an independent public health consultant for seven years before co-founding Anahat with her daughter in 2017.

Meanwhile, Priya, a journalism student who has worked as a copywriter in the advertising industry, worked as a consultant with India Water Portal that dealt with water issues in India and moved on to the role of a marketing and communication manager with Pratham Books, a non-profit children’s book publisher.

At Anahat the mother-daughter duo somewhat replicates similar roles wherein Rani manages the operations and devises public health programmes, and Priya handles communications and funding for the foundation.

“My mother and my family members have been actively involved in public service for a long time. My brother and I grew up doing philanthropic work. When I worked as a copywriter in the advertising industry, I realized it was not the right fit; which is when I shifted gears towards public service along with my mother,” said Priya.

Most of the work by the foundation deals with identifying, preventing and counselling the patients suffering from chronic diseases such as high blood pressure, diabetes, and hypertension, among others.

The services are targeted mainly towards economically disadvantaged families who lack access to public healthcare.

These services are accorded to patients through Anahat Clinic located in the heart of Bengaluru in Shantinagar.

“During our assessment we found out that 70 per cent of the poor people don’t avail themselves of the public health services despite knowing that it is cost-free. This is because of the trust deficit in the public healthcare system and the lack of resources in government hospitals,” said Priya, who also partners with various NGOs to conduct free community health camps in slum areas in Bengaluru.

The clinic that garners over 50-100 footfalls daily on an average, provides a wide of range of primary care services for free including free medical consultation with a full-time registered allopath, free medicines including 100 different medicines stocked based on the World Health Organisation (WHO) and Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) list of essential drugs for primary care, free diagnostic tests, including WHO recommended panel of 70 tests like blood and urine tests, X-rays, scans and MRIs.

The foundation also partnered with Medtronic Labs to introduce Prerna, a special programme for people living with diabetes, hypertension, and co-morbid diseases. With Prerna, the foundation integrates social and clinical interventions in a group setting with patients at the Anahat Clinic every week, focussing on the social and behavioural determinants of diabetes and hypertension. Patients also receive ongoing medication, lab testing, and doctor visits to address clinical needs.

The Anahat clinic also offers counselling and therapy sessions called ‘Ananda’ for individuals, couples and parents by engaging them in role-play therapy to strengthen social and interpersonal skills and help patients learn techniques to manage and deal with stress.

“The major challenge for us has been to make the patients understand that there is something more than medication. It is challenging to help them understand that diet, change in lifestyle, regular exercises among other changes are as integral as medications. For example, we can’t recommend a diabetic patient from an economically weaker background to have millets. It’s not part of their diet,” said Priya.

According to Priya, raising funds is a major hurdle because Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) funds are mostly project-based and not long term. “We are looking at long-term health programmes to prevent disorders at an early stage. It has been difficult for us to raise funds on these lines,” she mentioned.

With the recent grant of Rs 10 lakh which they won at the fundraiser event, the foundation will now spend the same in covering people costs, delivery of health care programmes, training for nurses and other medical professionals.

source/content: indianexpress.com (headline edited)

NATIONAL: India’s AI: Ola’s AI Platform Krutrim, to outdo global players in energy-efficient data centres: Founder Bhavish Aggarwal

He alleged that big technology companies like Amazon, Google and Apple are having closed ecosystems and locking developer’s work on their platform.

Ola’s AI platform Krutrim will compete with global technology majors in building energy-efficient data centres and offer cloud services at the lowest price for the development of artificial intelligence, its founder Bhvish Aggarwal said.

While speaking at an event, Aggarwal announced an AI cloud platform – Krutrim Cloud – to enterprises, researchers, and developers at low cost with a focus on addressing the needs of Indian developers.

“We are building our own technology to do energy management to make the most efficient data centres in the world. I am willing to compete with Microsoft, Google or whoever to say, we will do better than them. The cloud cost we pay is the same as the amount paid by American developers. How is it justified? We will resolve that,” Aggarwal said.

He alleged that big technology companies like Amazon, Google and Apple are having closed ecosystems and locking developer’s work on their platform.

“Krutrim’s overall ambition is to build a full stack AI platform, which allows developers to create applications easier, faster and cheaper,” Aggarwal said.

He also said that no startup makes a profit due to high cloud service costs.

Ola claims that the Krutrim assistant app has been built on its own large language model and trained on over 2 trillion tokens with the largest representation of Indic data.

The company claims that Krutrim currently understands and generates intelligent responses in over 10 Indian languages, which will be expanded to 22 official languages in the near future.

Aggarwal said Krutrim is an Indian platform for developing global applications.

“We are going to make many more models which are useful in the Indian context. We are working on voice models, vision-based models etc,” he added.

(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

source/content: business-standard.com (headline edited)

NATIONAL: SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY: DEFENCE / UAV : First indigenous bomber UAV unveiled in Bengaluru

The FWD-200B has a payload capacity of 100 kg and is classified as a MALE Unmanned Combat Aerial Vehicle.

India’s first indigenous bomber UAV aircraft- FWD-200B developed by Flying Wedge Defence, one of the pioneers in India’s defence and aerospace technology sector, was unveiled on Friday.

Driven by a commitment to reducing India’s reliance on costly bomber unmanned aircraft imports and boosting the Make in India initiative, the company aims to position India as a global drone manufacturing and technology hub while equipping the nation with the right air defence resources and enhancing national security, according to a press release issued from Flying Wedge.

“For over 15 years, India’s pursuit of combat unmanned aircraft remained a distant dream. With the launch of the FWD-200B, India not only fulfils this dream but also joins the league of nations with advanced combat aircraft capabilities,” said Suhas Tejaskanda, Founder of Flying Wedge Defence & Aerospace.

“While the US Predator costs a staggering Rs 250 crores, our indigenous FWD-200B, built with state-of-the-art technology and manufactured in India, slashes the cost to a mere Rs 25 crores. This not only demonstrates our commitment to self-reliance but also positions India as a leader in cost-effective defence solutions”, he added.

The Flying Wedge Defence’s state-of-the-art manufacturing unit where the FWD-200B was meticulously crafted, is over 12000 sq.ft built on 1.5 acre land and is located at Electronic City.

The FWD-200B has a payload capacity of 100 kgs and is classified as a MALE Unmanned Combat Aerial Vehicle (medium-altitude, long-endurance). The Unmanned Aerial System (UAS) consists of optical surveillance payloads and is integrated with missile-like weapons for precision air strikes.

While having a max speed of 200 kts/370 kmph, it has an endurance capacity of 12-20 hours.

source/content: newindianexpress.com (headline edited)

KARNATAKA : ARTS & CRAFTS: “TFA Award Winner for Creative Writing in Kannada”, Naveen Tejaswi: ‘Privilege has a lot to do with making art’

Winner of the TFA Award for Creative Writing in Kannada, Naveen Tejaswi, talks about his attempts to be heard in a language he understands.

“If someone asks me ‘Why do you make films?’ I tell them it’s because it has everything I like — music, photography and acting,” says Naveen Tejaswi. Naveen may have won an award for Creative Writing in Kannada from TOTO Funds the Arts, but behind that unassuming mien lies a creative soul who expresses himself through theatre, photography and films.

Hailing from Hosabale in Shivamogga, Naveen is a first generation student from his family and after completing his primary education from his village, came to Bengaluru to pursue a BSc degree from St Joseph’s College.

“I wanted to become a scientist, but after a while I realised that though I was good at it, I did not enjoy it.“

Launchpad

“I was doing theatre in college and had started watching films. I had come to Bangalore in 2014, and would watch English movies everyday with subtitles to learn the language. Soon, I fell in love with the media.”

His stay in the city brought him exposure to world cinema, literature and photography, which only fuelled his creativity as he used to write poems, essays and short stories in Kannada, even as a youngster.

Naveen used to work part-time jobs in college and when he earned enough, he gifted himself a second hand DSLR camera and began taking photographs, eventually gaining a proficiency in it.

Today, Naveen writes and directs films casting people from his village. So far, Naveen has directed four short films and all of them done the festival circuit. Bidugade (Redemption) was a finalist at KIKSFF at California in 2019 and The Sicklehook was the official selection for EFF, Khanty Mansi in Russia for 2018.

More recently, his short film Habba Haridina Suggi Shivaratri was released on YouTube after it was rejected for its politics by a few film festivals.

“Over a 100 people from my village have been part of my films shot with minimal or borrowed equipment. They say it takes a village to raise a child — the same holds true for homegrown cinema. I call these my sustainable films.”

Though his short stories and films are in Kannada, “Last year I started writing in English too,” says Naveen, adding, “Called Track One, it won the Barbra Naidu prize for personal essay writing.” It motivated him to keep writing despite initial setbacks. Today, that story is part of St. Joseph’s Communicative English syllabus.

“When I first started writing, I used the dialect of my village because that’s what I think in. But when it came to validation — from established writers or professors, they couldn’t connect to those language patterns and nuances.”

Naveen turned down an offer to publish his stories in 2018 because the editors wanted to bring in a lot of changes to the language and approach to make it more suitable. That put a spanner in his imaginative works for almost five years. “During that time I battled with confusion on confidence on what is accepted and what is not. There were no other examples or a reference to the context of social, economic or political background of my village in mainstream media, making it harder to be accepted.”

In 2023, I finally decided to couldn’t stifle it any longer, couldn’t wait for the world to say it was okay. So I started writing again. These stories are set in my village which has 300 houses. Of these, perhaps 10 belong to members of the Brahmin community who are the landowners, while the rest of us work for them. We are the first generation to go to school and my stories look at the lives of people in the village.

Writer’s clock

Naveen has been working on a collection of short stories set in his village. “I’m interested in contemporary films and literature. I want to know how different artistes are seeing the world we are living right now.”

His winning entry for the TOTO Award were two stories from that collection.

“I believe the stories we tell or create stem from the place we live our experiences. Though there are famous writers in Kannada, due to their socio-political backgrounds, I couldn’t relate to their work. As a first generation student from an oppressed caste, and even while growing up, I would wonder why the stories of those around me were rarely found in any media.”

He agrees that Art imitates Life, and that, “people in pop culture exist too, but their stories are not real for me. I cannot relate to the things they do. I have come to understand that privilege has a lot to do with making art.”

He goes on to elaborate, “Art takes a lot of time and resources. For someone coming from a privileged background these things come easily.”

TFA wins

Talking about the stories which won the TFA Award, Naveen says, “One story is called ‘Suraghi’— it’s a flower whose fragrance lingers for days even after it dries, but it is not used as a temple offering. The story is about a father and his daughter. The father like his father before him have been workers in a Brahmin family for generations now. The story is from the daughter’s point of view — she wants to become a pilot when she grows up.”

“The other story is ‘Bangara,’ also the name of a flower called gold-petalled dahlia in English. This is a story about a mother and her daughter. The mother is a single parent and like most women in our village, after her day as a daily wage earner, she sits with them to dehusk areca from 9pm-11pm to supplement her income.”

“This lady is 60 years old now, and her daughter is married and living away. The mother wants to spend more time with her grandchild but not able to. The story explores the dynamics of their relationship, the gap caused by liking and disliking certain things about each other.”

Both ‘Suraghi’ and ‘Bangara’ won the TFA Award for Creative Writing in Kannada this year. At his acceptance speech, Naveen said he would be using the award money to start an art centre in his village. “It’s called Bheema Shale and on April 6, 2024, we will officially launch the centre where we will conducts a camp for spoken English and music.

“My friends from Adavi, a Bengaluru-based collective will teach us to play the tamate (a hand drum), while I will take the English class.”

The TOTO Awards were instituted 20 years ago by Toto Funds the Arts, a non-profit trust set up in 2004 in memory of Angirus ‘Toto’ Vellani. The annual Toto Awards are intended to encourage and recognise potential in artists under the age of 30.

source/content: thehindu.com (headline edited)

KARNATAKA: HISTORY: Know Your City: The Bengaluru ‘Jayamahal Palace Hotel’ connected to 03 Royal families and a musical mind of the Wodeyar family

A well-known admirer of music, Jayachamarajendra Wodeyar is said to have pursued his interests at what is now Bengaluru’s Jayamahal Palace hotel.

Connections to the bygone royals are everywhere in Bengaluru for those looking in the right place, from the Gangas to Kempe Gowda. But today, the most common reminders are those of the Wodeyar dynasty, most often seen in the marks of the twin-headed Gandaberunda sigil. But one heritage hotel can draw its lineage back to not one but three of India’s erstwhile royal families—Jayamahal Palace.

The earliest trace of the history of the building, blending colonial and Indian architecture of the time, is from around 1892, by which time it had already been built for the Jagirdar of Arni. This was a small state dating back to around the time of Shivaji, when the founder of the jagir had been granted the territory by Shivaji’s father Shahaji as a reward. By the early 20th century, however, the palace had passed into the hands of the Wodeyar family.

The hotel probably takes its current name from Nalwadi Krishnaraja Wodeyar’s successor. His nephew, Jayachamarajendra Wodeyar, was a well-known admirer of music and is said to have pursued his interests at Jayamahal. A composer in his own right, Jayachamarajendra Wodeyar was the president of the Philharmonia Concert Society in London and a patron to composers as far afield as Europe.

One of these musicians was Nikolai Medtner. This association happened towards the close of Medtner’s life, during a period of relative obscurity. The New York Times noted in October 1948, “In characteristic regal fashion, this Hindu ruler has expressed a desire, backed by a special endowment, that the entire stock of Medtner’s works—sixty works in all—be recorded on gramophone disks, so that posterity may avail itself of the composer’s neglected contribution to musical art. For the past twelve years Nicholas Medtner has been living quietly and modestly… One may well imagine the composer’s complete bewilderment when…he was informed of the Maharaja’s friendly wish.”

After a stint of about a half century with the Wodeyars, the building was by 1950 in the hands of the erstwhile royal family of Gondal, a princely state of Rajput origin located in Gujarat. According to Sanjay Sinhji, a member of the family, “The connection with the family is that Nalwadi Krishnaraja Wodeyar was married to my grandfather’s sister (Maharani Pratapa Kumari), who hailed from Vana in Gujarat. The hotel later was sold to Vikram Sinhji, the head of the family and erstwhile king of Gondal. Today, it is owned by his grandson.”

source/content: indianexpress.com (headline edited)