The old private bus stand of Madikeri being demolished.
The old private bus stand in Madikeri, which had been a landmark for several years, joined the pages of history as it was demolished on Thursday.
The building comprising the bus stand is being demolished using earth movers. During the massive floods and landslides in August, the hillock behind the bus stand had caved in. However, the bus stand building had stood intact. Mud from the hillock had been sliding quite often since then and therefore, the city municipal council decided to clear the building along with the hillock to prevent further mishap.
Shopkeepers and hoteliers at the bus stand complex, have shifted to safer places. Some of them have returned to their native place to start their business all over again.
Regular bus commuters who have been associated with the old bus stand recollected the days when they used to come to Madikeri private bus stand to catch buses which would ferry them to the nooks and corners of Kodagu.
During his visit to the district, Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy had directed the officials concerned to clear the old bus stand building. The CMC could not take up the clearing work owing to shortage of funds then.
The land which is situated in the heart of Madikeri is worth crores. The CMC has planned to construct a commercial complex, but the project could not be implemented as there is shortage of funds. The commercial complex to be built in Public Private Partnership is expected to fetch revenue to the CMC.
The private buses have been ferrying commuters from the new private bus stand near Race Course road since last two months. But, the response of people is dull as there is lack of basic amenities there.
source: http://www.deccanherald.com / Deccan Herald / Home> States> Mangaluru / by Adithya KA / DH News Service, Madkeri / October 26th, 2018
The quality of coffee that we consume daily could see a dip in purity because of the drop in production.
The Coffee Board has raised fears that the coffee supplied in the domestic market could see a rise in chicory content. Worried about this, the Board has urged the food safety department to look into the chicory content in the coffee supplied to domestic consumers.
M S Boje Gowda, chairman, Coffee Board, told DH that people should drink coffee wisely in the coming days. There has been a drop by 82,000 tonnes in coffee production this year, because of excess rains and landslides in Chikkamagaluru, Kodagu and Kerala.
Around 80% of the coffee grown is exported and there can be no compromise in the quality in the international market. So, there will be a drop in the exports.
The domestic market, on the contrary, will not see a lull because of addition of chicory. Chicory costs Rs 50 a kilo and according to Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI), adding chicory up to 49% is permitted. But there are chances that change in its percentage will go unnoticed in many local brands. Thus, it is important that the food safety department keeps a check, Gowda said.
“We are trying to limit the chicory addition to 10%. Now, it is for FSSAI to put a limit and test the quality in the local market. We have also made a proposal to the ministry in this regard,” he added.
The Board had estimated the production to be four lakh tonnes, but it has been only around three lakh tonnes. It is now keeping a close watch on the production cycle and quality.
Rajesh, a local coffee grower from Kodagu, said that it was not just the flowers, but even the stored dried beans have been lost. This will definitely impact the market in the long run as the standing crops have also been destroyed.
An official from the food safety department said the matter will be discussed with the ministry and a call will be taken.
source: http://www.deccanherald.com / Deccan Herald / Home> State / by Bosky Khanna / DH News Service / October 21st, 2018
A coffee shop in Midtown, Manhattan. Flickr CC/ Neo_II www.habenbacher.at
Perhaps because I’m writing this as I sit in a vibrant, quirky coffee shop in Washington Heights, its walls decorated with graffiti-inspired art and fake ivy, it strikes me that whenever I arrive in a new city, I make a beeline for the nearest independent coffee house. But it wasn’t until I read Shachar Pinsker’s new book, “A Rich Brew: How the Café Created Modern Jewish Culture” (NYU Press), that I learned that Jews and coffee shops have been connected for at least a century; Jews, especially Jewish writers, he argues, have made the café their primary gathering place and, in many cases, their collective muse. (Read The Jewish Week’s review on the book here.)
Pinsker, who teaches Hebrew literature at the University of Michigan, chronicles the history of cafés in six cities (Odessa, Warsaw, Vienna, Berlin, New York and Tel Aviv), showing that major Jewish journalists, novelists, poets and playwrights, from Sholem Aleichem to Isaac Bashevis Singer, were not just inspired by coffee shops but frequently used them as the settings for their work.
Jews have a long history with coffee. While coffee houses first sprang up in Constantinople, Cairo and other Middle Eastern cities during the mid-sixteenth century, it was a Jewish entrepreneur who brought the coffee house to Europe, opening one in Livorno in 1632. The first café in England was opened in 1651 in Oxford by one “Jacob the Jew,” who was an immigrant from Lebanon.
A Rich Brew” tells the story of how cafes “created modern Jewish culture.” Courtesy of NYU Press
As coffee drinking became popular throughout Europe, according to the late Robert Liberles in “Jews Welcome Coffee: Tradition and Innovation in Early Modern Germany,” engagements between Jewish couples were sealed by the parents over a cup of coffee rather than a drink at the local tavern. David Liss’ 2003 historical novel, “The Coffee Trader,” centers on a 17th-century Jewish refugee from the Portuguese Inquisition who tries to corner the market on coffee only to be caught up in all kinds of commercial and romantic entanglements.
The kinds of food served in cafés also often had a Jewish connection; think of the Viennese Jewish pastry maker Franz Sacher and his famous creation, Sacher Torte, or Stephen Klein, also from Vienna, a Jewish chocolatier who escaped to America in 1939 and started Barton’s Candy Corp.
Donald Schoenholt is the president of Gillies Coffee Company, the oldest coffee maker in the country. The business, which was started in 1840 by a Scottish family, was taken over by Donald’s uncle, Mac, in 1912. I first met Donald in the late 1980s, when I joined the Little Neck Jewish Center, which he served as president. It was the era of the yuppies; Starbucks (acquired in 1987 by Howard Schultz, a Jewish guy from Brooklyn) was just emerging on the scene and “specialty coffees” were all the rage. As Schoenholt put it, “People were starting to eat brie instead of Velveeta,” and they needed a more upscale coffee to go with their meals.
Schoenholt told me that Jewish merchants participated in the American coffee trade since the 18th century, and that, “with each wave of Jewish immigration, more Jews were drawn to it.” While New York was the center for manufacturing coffee, he said, the major port for the importation of coffee was New Orleans, where Jewish merchants like Jacob Aron traded in both coffee and gold. By the 1880s, Philip Wechsler, an immigrant from Austria who became a major donor to the United Jewish Appeal, had opened a coffee-roasting factory in New York. William Black (né Schwartz), who started by selling shelled nuts under a stairway in Times Square, founded the chain of luncheonettes known as Chock Full o’ Nuts. And Samuel Schonbrunn, a Jewish immigrant from Hungary, created the Savarin brand of coffee, which was served at the Waldorf Astoria.
In our time, coffee shops loom large in pop culture — think of Monk’s Café, where the characters on “Seinfeld” hang out in almost every episode, sitting in a booth near the front door. (The exterior shots were taken, of course, at Tom’s Restaurant, an actual diner at Broadway and 112th.) Ruth Cohen (that’s her real name), the cashier, appears in more episodes than any other character besides the stars. Jerry Seinfeld went on to create and host the web series “Comedians in Cars Having Coffee,” now in its 10th season; it has featured Mel Brooks, Bob Einstein and Sarah Silverman.
And who could forget “Diner,” Barry Levinson’s semi-autobiographical 1982 valentine to his hometown of Baltimore; the film is about a group of 20-something Jewish friends in the 1950s who made the local diner their gathering spot.
Even non-Jews associate coffee with the Chosen People. As a sign outside a church in Harveys Lake, Pa. (in the Poconos) asked last summer, “How does Moses make coffee? Hebrews it.”
Ted Merwin’s column appears the fourth week of the month
source: http://www.jewishweek.timesofisrael.com / Times of Israel / Home> The New York Jewish Week / by Ted Merwin / October 23rd, 2018
Silas Brasileiro, President of the Brazilian Coffee Growers’ Council, will open the Global Coffee Platform’s (GCP) Global Coffee Sustainability Conference 2018, to be held from 8 to 9 November in Belo Horizonte, Brazil.
The annual event brings together sustainability companies and representatives from nine GCP platforms around the world – Brazil, Vietnam, Indonesia, Uganda, Colombia, Kenya, Honduras, Tanzania and Peru – to discuss topics such as the future of sustainability, the role of producing and consuming countries, sustainable coffee regions, and impact investments to promote sustainability.
Other speakers include keynote speaker José Luiz Tejon, Director of Biomarketing Agência de Propaganda e Consultoria; José Sette, Executive Director of the International Coffee Organization; Marcelo Burity, Head of Green Coffee Development at Nestlé; Daniel Martz, Director of Corporate Affairs and Sustainability at Jacobs Douwe Egberts; Han de Groot, CEO of Rainforest Alliance; Steven Collet, Director of the Dutch Sustainable Trade Initiative; and Kim Elena Ionescu, Sustainability Director of the Specialty Coffee Association.
“The conference will be a unique opportunity to interact with prestigious names of the Brazilian and international coffee sectors, professionals of public and private sectors, associations, certifiers and verifiers, NGOs, people truly engaged and committed to coffee sustainability,” GCP Chairman Carlos Brando says in a release.
For more information, visit www.gcsc.coffee.
source: http://www.gcrmag.com / Global Coffee Report / October 23rd, 2018
Hockey India on Wednesday congratulated Rohini Bopanna on being promoted as FIH International Technical Official by the FIH Officials Committee. The World Governing Body for Hockey announced its decision on Wednesday. Earlier this year, Bopanna was also appointed as a Technical Official for the 5th Women’s Asian Champions Trophy 2018 held in Donghae City, South Korea, after having officiated as a Technical Official at the 9th Women’s Asia Cup 2017 in Kakamigahara, Japan.
Rohini Bopanna started her career as a Technical Official when she first officiated during the 4th Hockey India National Championship (Women) in 2014 where she was involved with the Junior, Sub-Junior and Senior categories. Being a former hockey player herself, the 38-year-old has since then officiated in various domestic and international events.
Bopanna considers her first International assignment as a key milestone in her career as a Technical Official which came when she officiated at the 12th South Asian Games 2016 in Guwahati, India. She was also assigned to officiate the 4th Women’s Asian Champions Trophy which was held in Singapore later that year.
Hailing from a family that has hockey in its roots, Bopanna also played for the state of Karnataka in all age groups – Junior, Sub-Junior and Senior level. Her husband, P. Bopanna, also used to play hockey as a Goalkeeper, and has supported the 38-year-old in her endeavor as a Technical Official.
“It is a huge honour for me to have been promoted as FIH International Technical Official by the FIH Officials Committee. Exposure at the 4th Hockey India National Championship (Women) in 2014 helped me start my career as a Technical Official, and I have been fortunate to have officiated in various domestic and international tournaments. I would like to thank my family for always supporting me and helping me in continuing with my duties of being a Technical Official.
“I would also like to extend my gratitude to the Hockey India Umpiring, Technical and Competitions Committee for believing in my abilities and for giving me opportunities to progress and grow as a Technical Official. This would not have been possible without their training, guidance and support,” an ecstatic Bopanna said.
Congratulating Rohini Bopanna on her promotion accorded by the FIH, Hockey India’s Secretary General, Rajinder Singh said, “I would like to wish Rohini Bopanna the very best for her promotion as FIH International Technical Official by FIH Officials Committee. It has been Hockey India Umpiring, Technical and Competitions Committee’s aim to train, guide and support the upcoming officials to the International level by providing them with exposure in domestic and international competitions.
“I am delighted to see several technical officials and umpires making their name through hard-work and determination in the International stage, and would like to wish Mrs. Bopanna the very best for the future.”
source: http:/www.sportskeeda.com / SportsKeeda.com / Home> Field Hockey> News / Press Release / New Delhi, October 24th, 2018
Seoul Cafe Show has announced it will launch Cafe Show Mocha Port, a one-to-one business matching and networking service to connect buyers and exhibitors at the event, taking place from 8 to 11 November.
Seoul Cafe Show expects the online meeting service to provide productive customer relationship management and communications, resulting in more business and efficient time management.
More than 600 exhibitors have already registered their products in Mocha Port, from fields such as coffee, food and beverage, bakeries, interior, machine and equipment, and start-up companies.
Approximately 6000 coffee industry buyers from about 30 countries, including Japan, China, Taiwan, Vietnam, India, Malaysia, the Americans, and Europe, will go on the pre-matching system.
Exhibitors and buyers who want to match the companies participating in the Seoul Cafe Show can register until the end of October. The online pre-matching will be processed until the end of October.
The Seoul Cafe Show will be held at Samsung-dong in Seoul, Korea.
Cafe Show Seoul will host a range of events, competitions, and seminars such as the World Coffee Leaders Forum, Seoul Coffee Festival, and World Coffee Battle.
For more information, visit www.cafeshow.com/eng
source: http://www.gcrmag.com / Global Coffee Report / October 24th, 2018
Zilient / ARCHIVE PHOTO: A visitor checks coffee beans at the ‘International Coffee Festival 2007’
Indigenous people in southern India are combatting deforestation by planting millions of fruit trees to shade their coffee crops
By Rina Chandran
Bangkok (Thomson Reuters Foundation):
Once forbidden by colonialists from cultivating coffee, indigenous people in southern India have won a prestigious award for their bean, which they farm while fighting deforestation.
Araku Valley Coffee won gold in the Prix Epicures OR Award in Paris earlier this month. The beans are grown by Adivasis – or “original inhabitants” – of southern Andhra Pradesh state through a cooperative set up by the Naandi Foundation.
The organic farming model has benefited more than 45,000 Adivasi families, with profits from the high-grade coffee put into schools, healthcare and other needs of the remote community, according to Manoj Kumar, who founded Naandi.
The initiative has been a success because it built on the strong connection that Adivasis have to the forest, he said.
“They fully embraced the concept of biodynamic farming, because it is a holistic approach that benefits the eco-system, and is in tune with their traditional beliefs of caring for the community and the forest,” he said.
“This is not just about food security; it is also about pride in living without government handouts, and conserving the forest,” he told the Thomson Reuters Foundation over the phone.
The Adivasis are also countering deforestation by planting millions of mango, papaya and orange trees to provide shade for their coffee crops, as well as in other areas, with support from the Paris-based Global Livelihoods Funds.
While India has pledged to keep a third of its total land area under forest and tree cover, a growing population and increasing demand for land for mining and other industrial activities are placing greater stress on forests.
Activists say a new forest law favouring commercial plantations would undermine indigenous rights over forests and lead to more logging.
Coffee estates thrived in the Araku valley’s cool climate during the British colonial period, but Adivasis were prevented from growing it and did not take up the crop after independence, according to Kumar.
That changed after the Naandi Foundation began working in the region 18 years ago, first setting up schools and healthcare facilities, and then helping to organise a cooperative to farm and market coffee.
Araku Valley Coffee soon commanded high prices in global auctions, and opened its first cafe and shop last year in Paris.
But the real challenge for the Adivasis is not picking coffee beans the right shade of red or deciding on a marketing plan; they face a more existential threat as forests disappear, Kumar told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.
“The Adivasis have such a deep spiritual connection with the land and the forest,” he said.
“Taking that away from them is taking away their life.”
(Reporting by Rina Chandran @rinachandran. Editing by Jared Ferrie. Please credit the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, that covers humanitarian news, women’s rights, trafficking, property rights and climate change. Visit news.trust.org to see more stories.)
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
source: http://www.news.trust.org / Thomson Reuters Foundation News / by Home> Place / by Rina Chandran / October 15th, 2018
As many 25 poets read out their works in Kannada and five others read out theirs in Sanskrit, Hindi, Tulu, Kodava and Konkani. Main section of the three- day poets meet held at the Jaganmohan Palace on Monday
Mysuru:
The Kodagu disaster and the environment concerns that it has thrown up seemed to be on the minds of several poets at the “Dasara Pradhaana Kavighoshti,” the main section of the three- day poets meet held at the Jaganmohan Palace on Monday.
As many 25 poets read out their works in Kannada and five others read out theirs in Sanskrit, Hindi, Tulu, Kodava and Konkani.
Both 71- year- old, Dr T Govindaraju, who recited his poem in Kannada and Cauvery Udayam, a poet from Kodagu, who recited hers in Kodava , focused on the recent floods and landslides in Kodagu. Dr H S Rudresh, meanwhile, read out his poem on the late former Prime Minister, Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
Thirty two children recited their poems at the first day of the poets’ meet, “Chiguru Kavighoshti” which was held on October 12 and 31 more the next day.
source: http://www.deccanchronicle.com / Deccan Chronicle / Home> Nation> Current Affairs / by Shilpa P, Deccan Chronicle / October 16th, 2018
MLA K G Bopaiah, MLC Veena Acchaiah and others take part in the inaugural session of a skill development programme meant for flood-affected women from Kaluru village on Sunday.
MLA K G Bopaiah has called upon the flood victims not to lose hope but to rebuild their lives by boosting their confidence.
He was speaking after initiating a skill development and training session in sewing and food processing at the Government School at Kaluru.
The programme was organised by the Kodagu branch of the Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan and the Project Coorg as a part of the ‘Yashaswi’ project meant for the women of Kaluru, which was ravaged by natural calamity.
Bopaiah further said that assistance would be provided by the government for women from the village towards setting up a platform to market the processed food prepared by them. He also assured release of grants from the MLA fund towards construction of a community hall in Kaluru and Devasturu villages, along with providing a site, following the requests of the village residents.
MLC Veena Achaiah expressed hope that the project would help the trained women lead a self-sustainable life.
K S Devaiah, Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan Kodagu branch president, said that the food and dress items prepared by the women would be put up for sale at shops in the Kodava Samaja complex.
Project Coorg convener Balaji Kashyap said that the women from the flood-affected village would be provided training in sewing for three months, with 28 sewing machines. Also, 30 women would be provided training in food processing and the products would be released in the market with the brand name ‘Coorg Flavour’.
Kodava Samaja, Madikeri vice president M E Chinnappa and Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan member Kuppanda Premnath were present on the occasion.
Doubles star Ashwini Ponnappa, who moved from the Delhi Dashers to the Awadh Warriors for a whopping amount of Rs 32 Lakh, is happy with the importance and the pricing the doubles players have attracted during the recently concluded Premier Badminton League auctions.
Ponnappa believes doubles game is growing in India and there is awareness among the fans.
