Joshna Chinappa sits 10th in the rankings and will next be seen in the British Open in Hull, England from August 16.
File Photo: Joshna Chinappa has entered the top-10 for the first time since 2016. – THE HINDU
India’s squash star Joshna Chinappahas returned to the top-10 of PSA world rankings following a pre-quarterfinal finish at the World Championships in Chicago.
Joshna had entered the top-10 for the first time since 2016.
The current rankings are dominated by Egypt with five of its players in the top-10, including world number one Nour El Sherbini. Joshna is 10th in the standings.
In men’s rankings, India’s Saurav Ghosal has dropped to 15 following a pre-quarterfinal finish in Chicago last month.
Joshna will next be seen in the British Open in Hull, England from August 16.
source: http://www.sportstar.thehindu.com / Sportstar / Home> Squash / by PTI / August 02nd, 2021
Rose Thampy of Edom Architects talks about balancing the contemporary with the vernacular to create a rustic forest home on a stunning coffee estate in Coorg, Karnataka
Kutta Estate House is an homage to its environment
Kochi-based architecture firm Edom Architects had the rare privilege of designing a weekend home in one of the most stunning landscapes of the country: a 2,000-acre Coorg coffee estate. A rustic, two-storey, 1,750-square-foot structure, Kutta Estate House is an homage to its environment, and is carefully crafted not just to be a warm, comfortable home in its own right, but an immersion into the luscious greenery of its surroundings.
The plantation, which is rich with a variety of wildlife in addition to the coffee plants, is almost like a forest of its own right. Lead architects Rose Thampy and Joseph T. Kallivayalil wanted to preserve the sensory experience of the environment, and kept the design earthy and rustic, as opposed to contemporary or overly ornamented. “We also decided to build a viewing deck,” Thampy says, “since one side of the site offers a stunning view of the Western Ghats.”
Cement-textured finishing on the exterior walls allows the building to blend into its environment. Large windows allow the home to remain open to the surrounding greenery, and also promote cross-ventilation throughout the interiors, while wooden louvres and jalis allow for the control of the airflow. “It was a very minimalistic concept, but I didn’t want to create a contemporary minimalistic feel,” says Thampy, adding, “The screen and wood added a little bit of vernacular style to the design.”
The style is vernacular in its approachThe home is surrounded by greenery
The interiors see a flourish of natural stones—from sandstone to slate and natural granite. The use of lime-yellow sandstone for the flooring enhances the sense of space and interconnectivity throughout the house. “We thought of sticking to one or two colours for the interiors, since the space is very small,” says Thampy, “but I wanted each space to have a slightly different feeling.”
Lounge and Dining Area
The entrance foyer breaks off into a combined lounge and dining area, which also includes a kitchenette. “We needed to create a subtle segregation between the living space and the dining and kitchenette,” says Thampy, “so we created a small deviation in the flooring pattern.” The staircase that leads to the top floor was crafted in metal, so as to reduce its sense of bulk, with a matte-black finishing that allowed it to blend into the grey-toned palette of the structure. An outdoor seating area leads from the dining space into the garden, offering a seamless transition between the interior and the environment outside. The home also has an outdoor kitchen, which is accessible from the dining room but also allows for food to be easily served outdoors. Much of the furniture and ornamental lighting is sourced from Mysore, Kochi and Bengaluru, while two large ceramic pots from Chettinad bring in a touch of the old world. Finally, two pig statuettes from Coorg make for a playful homage to the wildlife on the estate.
Viewing Deck
A significant portion of the first floor is dedicated to the viewing deck, which is underlined with slate flooring, so as not to distract from the true hero of the space: the view. A unique piece of furniture is the centre table, crafted from the stem of a coffee plant sourced from the estate itself.
The home is kept raw and rustic in appeal
Bedrooms
Two bedrooms—one each on the ground and first floors—see a continuation of the sandstone flooring, but are also warmed by rich wood tones of the furniture and window frames. Subtle textural details, like a patterned rug or vibrantly upholstered sofa, infuse the rooms with colour, but allow the space to feel open, warm and welcoming. In the first-floor bedroom, an abstract painting in blue sets the theme for the property: it is a pop of colour that accentuates the rustic nature of the space, while also serving as a visual complement to the climate.
Lighting
All architectural lighting has been sourced from Kochi, and has been designed to create a warm ambience throughout the home. Track lighting in the TV lounge highlights the cement texture of the walls, while decorative pendant lights from Bengaluru double as pieces of art. Clay pendant lights over the staircase reflect the rustic tones of the jali, and also allow the staircase area to seemingly merge with the outdoors. On the first floor, matt-black ceiling-mounted lights blend into the palette and allow the eye to focus instead on the views of the estate, and the Western Ghats beyond.
source: http://www.architecturaldigest.in / Architectural Digest / Home> Architecture & Decor / by Avantika Shankar / Photography by Turtle Arts / July 31st, 2021
The first relief centre opened in Madikeri taluk at Koyanadu area in Sampaje limits on Friday.
Madikeri :
The first relief centre opened in Madikeri taluk at Koyanadu area in Sampaje limits on Friday. However, the villagers will stay at the centre only during the night and the centre will function fully only in case of heavy rainfall.
“There is a dam built by the minor irrigation department in the area. Following heavy rainfall, uprooted trees were blocking the flow in the river and this led to a flood threat in the area. Hence, villagers from six families reported to the relief centre,” confirmed Madikeri tahashildar Mahesh. However, the uprooted trees were cleared by the forest department.
source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> States> Karnataka / by Express News Service / July 17th, 2021
With the Harangi Dam in Kodagu district full to the brim, thanks to copious rainfall in the past few days, Kodagu District Minister V. Somanna yesterday offered bagina at the Dam, in keeping with the tradition.
During the offering of the Bagina, Somanna performed puja to four crest gates of the Dam and also pressed the crest gate button to release 8,000 cusecs of water from the Dam.
Later speaking to press persons, Somanna said that Harangi Dam was the first major Dam in the State to have filled up this monsoon. Noting that the Dam feeds water to 1.65 lakh hectares of Kodagu, K.R. Nagar taluk in Mysuru and five taluks of Hassan district, he said that water will be released for standing Kharif crops and through all canals of the Dam.
Maintaining that the B.S. Yediyurappa Government is doing what all it can for expanding the irrigation network in the State, Somanna contended that there was no drought in the State for two years. However, rain has played havoc in some parts of the State, he said and added that scattered rains across the State has helped farming.
Clarifying that the Government has released money for de-silting of Harangi Dam, he said that tenders have been invited for the purpose. Noting that there were no successful bidders two times, he said that the Government was ready to hand over the works if a competent contractor comes forward for the third time.
Asserting that Kodagu DC has informed him that the district has so far suffered an estimated loss of Rs. 95 lakh due to heavy rains, Somanna said that measures will be taken for providing relief to the family of a person who was recently washed away in floods.
Mysuru-Kodagu MP Pratap Simha, in his address, said that though he was an elected MP for seven years, he could not offer bagina to Harangi Dam for one reason or the other. But he was happy now that he got a chance. Arguing that the State has been receiving good rainfall after B.S. Yediyurappa came to power, he said that nature too seems to be impressed by the works of the Chief Minister.
Referring to the damages caused to Madikeri-Mangaluru National Highway, Simha said that it has come to his notice and he will do all he can to repair the damaged sections of the road. Also, it has been planned to construct earth retaining wall at landslides prone 22 points of the Highway, for which he would render all help, he added.
Harangi Dam officials said that the Dam has a water storage capacity of 8.5 TMC and the maximum water level of the dam is 2859 ft. At present, the water level is retained at 2858 ft. as a precautionary measure and whatever additional water that the Dam gets (inflow) will be discharged through canals.
Earlier, the Minister and a host of other dignitaries offered puja to the idol of Goddess Cauvery at the lower level of the Dam.
MLAs Appachu Ranjan, A.T. Ramasway and H.P. Manjunath, DC Charulatha Somal, MLC Sunil Subramani, BJP District President Robin Devaiah and a host of other officials and people representatives were present.
source: http://www.starofmysore.com / Star of Mysore /Home> News / July 17th, 2021
The Kodagu District Administration has shelved the ambitious project of constructing a hanging bridge at Dubare that was originally planned to be 110 metres in length and having a width of 1.8 metres. The funds that were sanctioned for the project have been withdrawn and it has been used for COVID relief.
The proposal of the hanging bridge was submitted by Kodagu Tourism Department to the Forest Department and the latter had opined that as thousands of tourists visit Dubare every year, a hanging bridge that connects one side of the river to the other would be an added attraction.
River Cauvery flows in full force here and the two sides can only be accessed by motorised boats at present. While one side of the river bank is controlled by the Tourism Department, the other by the Forest Department that runs the popular Dubare Elephant Camp.
The proposed hanging bridge was to have three columns — two at the sides and one in the middle — and 1.8 metres wide. The Tourism Department first sent a proposal in 2015-2016 and the estimated cost was Rs. 2.35 crore. The estimate was later revised in 2020 to Rs. 4 crore and Rs. 1.5 crore was reserved for the purpose.
District Administration sources told Star of Mysore that while the Forest Department wanted either Nirmithi Kendra or Tourism Department to construct the hanging bridge, the Tourism Department wanted both Forest Department and Nirmithi Kendra to work in tandem to make the bridge a reality. However, no consensus was reached and the project has been shelved now. The Rs. 1.5 crore reserve money has been utilised for COVID relief in Kodagu, sources added.
source: http://www.starofmysore.com / Star of Mysore / Home> News / July 30th, 2021
Venkatraman Srinivasan holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Commerce from the University of Bombay and is a Fellow Member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India since 1981.
Tata Coffee Ltd has informed that the Board of Directors has appointed Venkatraman Srinivasan as an Additional Director of the Company to hold office as Non-Executive Independent Director, with effect from July 28, 2021.
Venkatraman Srinivasan holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Commerce from the University of Bombay and is a Fellow Member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India since 1981.
He is a partner in V. Sankar Aiyar & Co., Chartered Accountants, since 1984. He is engaged in audit & assurance practice and direct tax & corporate advisory services since 1984, specializing in statutory audits of banks, mutual funds and financial companies, public sector companies, and advisory in the areas of direct tax, company law, competition law, the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) and Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) matters.
He has a work experience of over 35 years. He was a special invitee on the Accounting Standards Board of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India for the F. Y. 2020-21 and was a special invitee on the Ind AS Transition Facilitation Group Committee of the ICAI for the F.Y. 2019-20.
He has been Co-opted as a Member of the Expert Advisory Committee of the ICAI for the F. Y. 2021-22. He has also participated in the case study based governance program on “Audit Committees in this New Era of Governance” at the Harvard Business School.
At around 12:50 PM, Tata Coffee was trading at Rs212.35 apiece down by Rs2.4 or 1.12% on Sensex.
source: http://www.indiainfoline.com / IIFL Securities / Home> News> Top News / by India InfoLine News Service / July 29th, 2021
A Bengaluru based 14-year-old girl named Kaveri Poovanna, has raised funds to donate a laptop and a projector to a government school at her hometown in Kodagu. From saving Rs 5,000 from her very own birthday gift to raising funds up to Rs 2 lakhs, this young girl is inspiring many teenagers to make the world a better place.
Kodagu:
With the outbreak of COVID-19 across the world, everyday activities have been disturbed including education.
Most schools and colleges had turned to online classes over the last few months to maintain social distance and avoid the spread of COVID-19.
As schools and colleges started teaching online, not everyone had the access to online education due to lack of infrastructure such as laptops or desktops or internet facilities at home.
The same was the situation of many students at a government school in Ammathi, Kodagu. However, a 14-year-old girl from Bengaluru came to their rescue.
14-year-old Kaveri Poovanna who is studying in the 9th grade realised that not many children of her age had the privilege or access to laptops or mobile phones and this way they would lack education.
Kaveri came forward to raise funds to donate a laptop and a projector to the government school in Ammathi, which is also her mother’s hometown.
Speaking to Asianet Newsable the teenager said “I chose to do this after realising that children could not go to school at these times. Education is very important to me and we all need to realise that it is the only way to move forward. If there is anything you can do to help the society, you just need to do it. Even if it is hard, even if it will take up a lot of your time, at the end of the day it will make the world a better place”
Kaveri was the first donator in her own fundraiser. The 14-year-old had saved up to Rs 5,000, which she had received as a gift on her birthday from her family.
With just Rs 5,000 Kaveri’s fundraiser went up to Rs 1,90,000 after her friends, family and relatives pitched in more money.
Kaveri bought the laptop and projector for close to Rs 1,00,00, and donated the rest of the money in the form of a cheque to the government school.
From saving Rs 5,000 from her very own birthday gift to raising funds up to Rs 2 lakhs, this young girl is indeed inspiring many teenagers to make the world a better place.
source: http//www.newsable.asianetnews.com / AsiaNet Newsable / Home> English News> India News / by Yemen Syed / November 18th, 2020
Arathy Somaiah, Director of Swastha Center for Special Education and Rehabilitation speaks about their way of educating and training children with special needs in the rural areas of Coorg .
Arathy Somaiah, Director of the centre along with the students at Swastha Center for Special Education and Rehabilitation (Pictures: The Coorg Foundation)
A few years ago, when Rekha was diagnosed with cerebral palsy, her parents had no clue about how to deal with this condition or help their daughter. Living in rural Coorg, they were at a disadvantage as there were only a few organisations that could train children with special needs. But Swastha Center for Special Education and Rehabilitation came to Rekha’s rescue. They not only educated her but also trained her in soft skills and empowered her with a job at their own institution. Like Rekha, there are several other special needs children in Coorg who come to this centre for education and soft skills training.
Started in 2003, the Swastha Center for Special Education and Rehabilitation is a project by the Coorg Foundation. The Coorg Foundation is a non-profit organisation that works for the education, health and well-being of people living in Coorg. Arathy Somaiah, Director of the centre, says, “When a child with special needs is born in a rural area, the family doesn’t understand how to deal with these conditions or how to educate them. In such cases, our centre plays an important role. We take such children under our umbrella. Any child with special needs from the age group of 6 to 18 years stays with us, gets trained and is later placed in government offices, Panchayat development offices and even the hospitality sector.”
So, what exactly are these children trained in? Arathy explains, “At Swastha, we have an Individual Education Programme (IEP). This is a tailored programme for each individual because the disabilities or needs of children vary from each other. For instance, a child with locomotor disability has a good IQ level when compared to a child with mental disability. In such instances, we check if they are interested in regular academics and we have a special educator along with a teacher who can teach the regular syllabus. We also counsel their parents about the child’s interests, learning skills and showcase how well they can do. Currently, we have 115 children at our institution.”
Swastha also provides vocational training for these children, says Arathy, “Our vocational programmes include tailoring, art and craft, book binding, nursery development and so on. These programmes are designed keeping the present market needs of customers in mind. All the products made by our students at the centre go to the market for sale. Be it the art and craft product or a stitched uniform, every product will match the competition. We take orders from factories and industries who love to use the quality products made by our children with patience.” What makes Swastha more unique is the fact that they pay the students for their efforts. “We ensure to incentivise our students for the products they make and sell in the market. Every student has their own bank account and we ensure to pay them for the work they do even during the training process. Once the training is completed, these children are placed in different companies. In case they want to start their own business, then we support them by providing them with the orders received at our centre. While skills, training and incentives help these children, we instill confidence in them to lead their lives at their own capability, ” explains Arathy.
So far, around 450 children have been trained at this centre. Out of this, at least 14 children have attempted and passed the SSLC exams. Currently, two children are preparing for the upcoming SSLC exams. “We had to send all the children back to their homes in April 2020 due to the pandemic. Since then, we have been conducting online classes. The main challenges, of course, are that some of these children have low internet connectivity or they lack smartphones. In such cases, we take the help of their neighbours who provide them with a phone for an hour of online classes. Besides this, we send them worksheets on WhatsApp. Once these kids solve the worksheets and send photographs, we convert them into PDFs and document them. Last September, we evaluated these worksheets and called children and their parents to show them their performance. We wanted to show the parents the seriousness of education for their children,” explains Arathy.
During the pandemic, the centre and the children trained in stitching clothes have been making masks. These masks are being sold to people and various factories who in turn provide them to their workers. Even now, the children are being incentivised for the masks that have been sold.
source: http://www.edexlive.com / Edex Live, The New Indian Express / Home> Special Education / by Rashmi Patil, Edex Live / June 30th, 2021
On the occasion of World Head and Neck Cancer Day, Cancer Survivors Support Group meet has been organised at Cauvery Heart and Multi-Speciality Hospital in Siddarthanagar tomorrow (July 28) at 11 am.
Dr. Sunil Muddaiah, Dean, Coorg Institute of Dental Sciences, Virajpet, Kodagu, will be the chief guest.
Dr.Javeed Nayeem, President, MAHAN- Mysuru, will be the guest of honour.
Dr. G.R. Chandrashekar, Chairman, Cauvery Heart and Multi-Speciality Hospital and Dr. Sarala Chandrashekar, Managing Director, Cauvery Heart and Multi-Speciality Hospital, will be present.
For details, contact Mob: 96636-33322.
source: http://www.starofmysore.com / Star of Mysore / Home> In Briefs /July 27th, 2021
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