Monthly Archives: May 2020

This Kuttappa was the Baahubali of Coorg hockey

Amazing Feats, Famous Personalities of Kodagu / Coorg, Inspiration / Positive News and Features, Leaders, Records, All, Sports, World Opinion

Pandanda Kuttappa, legendary co-founder of Kodava Hockey Festival, is mourned by hockey lovers everywhere.

Pandanda Kuttappa
Pandanda Kuttappa

Coorg:

The world of hockey on Friday mourned an amazing man who promoted the game in Coorg by tapping into ethnic pride and kept it alive in the face of inroads made by packaged cricket.

Pandanda Kuttappa, a legendary figure in Coorg and co-founder of the famous Kodava Hockey Festival, died of old age-related problems on Thursday. He is survived by his wife, two daughters and a son, and remembered by countless thousands who love hockey. He was 85.

Along with his brother Pandanda Kashi Ponnappa, Kuttappa designed the Kodava Hockey Festival as a family hockey tournament exclusively for Kodava families. When it started in 1997—with finances arranged by the brothers themselves–few thought it would be anything more than a vanity event for a few years before everybody packed up and went home. They were wrong. The tournament tapped into the Kodava identity and gave it an intensity money-funded tournaments cannot match – be it the derby frenzies of football in England or the Oxford v Cambridge boat race. The Kodava Hockey Festival not only struck a chord in the coffee plantations of Coorg, it made the region a nursery for the game, producing an entire sequence of star players who graced the Indian national team.

Paying rich tributes to Kuttappa, Hockey India on Friday recalled his contribution to the sport and his crucial role in popularising the game in the south and making Coorg the breeding ground for hockey in the country.

“We are truly saddened by the demise of Pandananda Kuttappa. We share his family’s grief and pray for his soul. Kuttappa’s contribution to hockey especially in the Kodava region will be remembered for generations,” HI president Mohd Mushtaque Ahmad said in a statement.

The Family Hockey Tournament not only sees intense competition but also draws thousands to the hockey pitch. Interestingly, it has no gender bar for the participating teams. Women could play in the same team as men.

On an average, 250 families send teams to the tournament which is usually played during April-May every year.

Despite there being no age or gender bar for participating in the matches, the tournament is highly competitive, involving high-caliber hockey. Some strict rules apply: such as that all members of a team must belong to the same clan and participate in full hockey attire. It is for a woman to decide whether she wants to represent her father’s family or husband’s.

source: http://www.deccanchronicle.com / Deccan Chronicle / Home> Sports, In Other News / by D C Web Desk / May 08th, 2020

Appointed As High Court Registrar

Famous Personalities of Kodagu / Coorg, Leaders, Records, All

Mysore/Mysuru:

Judge K.S. Bharath Kumar, who was serving as the Third Additional District Judge at Mysuru, has been appointed as the Statistical Registrar of Karnataka High Court in Bengaluru.

Bharath Kumar, who was selected as a District Judge in 2015, had been serving in Mysuru for the past one year.

A native of Virajpet in Kodagu district, he is the son of former Kodagu ZP member K.B. Shanthappa and Rathnamma couple. Shanthappa is also the Working President of Karnataka State Kurubara Sangha.

source: http://www.starofmysore.com / Star of Mysore / Home> News / May 06th, 2020

Catch Of The Day! 38-Kg Fish Caught From Harangi Backwaters

Agriculture, Amazing Feats, Business & Economy, Green Initiatives / Environment, Nature, Records, All

FishKF06may2020

Kushalnagar:

A group of youths who were fishing at Harangi backwaters in Kodagu District this morning were in for a pleasant surprise as they caught a giant fish that weighed 38 kgs. The fish was caught with the traditional method of fishing rod and angler.

The fish, Catla variety, was caught at Nakoor village along the Harangi backwaters by Preveesh, who then uploaded the same on his Facebook page. He said that though he was hoping for a good catch he did not expect this big a catch. Earlier too he had caught giant Catlas but this particular fish was his biggest catch. Today’s fish was sold at the local market.

Due to lockdown and lack of activities, there is a lot of fishing going on in the Harangi backwaters where youths come in many groups to fish. Typically, the fishing activity starts early in the morning and ends at around 11 pm. Local villagers from Nakoor, Shirangala, Suntikoppa, Hosathota, Kusboor and Madapura come to the backwaters to fish on the 5.6 km Harangi River stretch from the Harangi Dam to Koodige Bridge.

Traditional fishing is being held from many years in the backwaters of Harangi, which spreads over 1,886 hectares in area. Lakhs of fingerlings are released into the reservoir every year.

Some innovative villagers have even dug up irrigation ponds in the backwaters to supply water in summer to their fields. When the water storage is high at the Harangi Reservoir, these irrigation ponds get filled and submerge and when the water at the dam recedes, these ponds are full of water and fish.

Varieties of fish, including Mahseer, Catla and Rohu are released to Harangi every year and along with these, fingerlings procured from Kabini and Bhadra reservoirs are being provided to farmers at subsidised costs. Many families in this belt depend on fishing for their livelihood.

source: http://www.starofmysore.com / Star of Mysore / Home> News . April 29th, 2020

New Discovery By Kodagu-Born Dr. Jagadeesh Moodera And Team At MIT

Amazing Feats, Education, Famous Personalities of Kodagu / Coorg, Inspiration / Positive News and Features, Nri's / Pio's, Records, All, Science & Technology, World Opinion

DrJagadeeshKF05may2020

Quantum Physics deals with the behaviour of subatomic particles and is arguably the most complex branch of Theoretical Physics. I do not profess to understand this highly abstract subject but know that classical laws of Physics fail at quantum levels.

It boggles the mind when told that a subatomic particle exists simultaneously at two different spots. One location could be on your table and the other on the surface of Jupiter!

English Physicist Paul Dirac theoretically proved way back in 1930s that fundamental particles known as fermions should have a counterpart somewhere in the universe with an opposite charge – known as anti-particle.

Complicated. Difficult to fathom. I fail to comprehend. Based on this theory it is theoretically possible to have ‘teleportation’ that are portrayed in science fiction movies and books.

Coorg-born Physicist Dr. Jagadeesh S. Moodera has been a scientist at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) since 1981. He has several path-breaking research papers to his credit. My wife and I had the good fortune of a guided tour of his laboratory at MIT during our visit to Boston to attend the Kodava Convention-2019, in September last year.
DrJagadeesh02KF05may2020

Dr. Jagadeesh explained the intricacies of the experiments that he and his team were involved in. It was fascinating to see a huge setup with myriad tubes, probes, cables and instruments in order to create a 100% vacuum in a space of about 2 cubic centimetres.

Part of the experiment was conducted in this small space which was absolutely contamination free. There was another setup equally complicated where a space was created for the experiment which was free of any kind of vibration – not even that created by the traffic in the streets distance away, or footsteps of students in the nearby corridors. In addition, this space is cooled to -273 degree centigrade (that’s as close as one could get to -273.15 degree centigrade which is absolute zero). The experiments were conducted under these ideal conditions and usually between 10 pm and 6 am when chances of vibration were the least.

The experiment Dr. Jagadeesh and his colleagues have been working on since 2012 was to discover what Italian Theoretical Physicist Eltore Majorana, extending on Paul Dirac’s theory, had postulated in 1937 that there should be some subatomic particles that are indistinguishable from their anti-particle.

Scientists have been looking for these particles named Majorana fermions. Many theories have emerged over the years. Theoretical Physicists at MIT and elsewhere predicted that Majorana fermions may exist on solids such as gold under certain conditions. Dr. Jagadeesh and his team were on a mission to discover the existence of the elusive Majorana fermion.

The experiment, extremely complicated, needed many long hours in the laboratory. Dr. Jagadeesh explained how the delicate research was carried out at nano-particle level and observed through Scanning Tunneling Microscope (STM). STM is capable of ‘feeling’ the presence of atoms and molecules. 3mm x 3mm was the size of the surface on which the experiment was carried out, consisting of nano-wires of gold, grown on superconducting material: Vanadium.

MIT News dated 10th April 2020 has announced the successful sighting of the mysterious Majorana fermion by Dr. Jagadeesh Moodera and team. This is a major breakthrough. In Dr. Jagadeesh’s words ‘We have shown they are there, and stable, and easily scalable.’ Please visit webpage: http://news.mit.edu/2020/first-majorana-fermion-metal-quantum-computing-0410

The finding that Majorana fermions are scalable and could be made into qubits (individual computational units) is spectacular. These qubits could be used to build the most powerful and error free quantum computers. This will be a step closer to the phenomenon known as Singularity, which predicts that by the year 2042 AD there will be computers that will have computing power of all the human brains put together!

Once Singularity is achieved, humans need not invent anything further. Solutions to the most complex problems will be arrived at within seconds. If we had these computers today, a remedy for the current Covid-19 would have been found in a jiffy!

Dr. Jagadeesh’s wife Dr. Geetha Berera is a senior lecturer in MIT and we had an opportunity to visit her laboratory as well. The couple are totally dedicated to academics and research. Every year they visit Coorg and conduct a Quiz programme for school students. They are in the process of starting a school in Coorg under their organisation – CREATE Gurukula Trust – focusing on encouraging young minds in research activities. Meritorious students at Coorg Institute of Technology (CIT) are recipients of annual scholarships and awards instituted by Dr. Jagadeesh and Dr. Geetha. Dr. Jagadeesh and Dr. Geetha are eminent role models for young Kodavas to emulate.

source: http://www.starofmysore.com / Star of Mysore / Home> Feature Articles / by C.P. Belliappa / May 04th, 2020

Majaa Talkies Team Graces Shwetha Changappa’s Baby Shower! ‘These Pictures Say It All’

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Famous Personalities of Kodagu / Coorg

Majaa Talkies is Kannada television’s favorite comedy show. The actors and everybody else on the crew have become fans’ favorite over the years.

Shweta Changappa, who essays one of the famous roles, Rani, is pregnant and expecting her child. Recently, the actress shared the news with her fans through an Instagaram post. She also mentioned in the caption that she is due soon.

Yesterday, the Majaa Talkies members visited Shwetha Changappa at her residence for the baby shower ceremony.

She shared the pictures of the same on her social media handles.

ShwethaChengappaKF04may2020

Shwetha shared a series of pictures with Majaa Talkies family and wrote, “Just thinking 🤔 Does this POST require any QUOTES??????… Nahhhhhhhhh. U know what, These pictures says it allllllllll🤗 These are my FRIENDS who took,time off from Thier busy schedule and Came to our home☺️ All I can say is thank u guys😘 #motherhood #pregnancy #momtobe #Babybump #god’sgift #happysoul #lovemylife #loveuzindagi😍” – (sic)

Shwetha originally hails from Coorg, Karanataka. Unlike the other conventional baby showers, their tradition takes puts the mother-to-be on an eating spree.

Explaining this she said, There is a ritual that every coorgie family does to a kodavathi GIRL who is pregnant… that’s called “KOOPADI KOOLU”. Starts from her Mother and father. And continues with close family members…..Cooking special Dishes in odd numbers and serving the Mom to be🤗 we don’t Have a SEEMANTHA function..But our ritual
happens almost every weekend by our close family members.. ♥️”

“For me it stated almost 2months ago and it is still continuing … Have captured few pics and would like to share it with u alll♥️ these are the pics with our Family who made the rituals special for me by cooking variety of dishes made it for me and the little one in my tummy😍 with the special ingredient called LOVE.😘 can’t thank them enough. All I can say is I am truly blessed 🙏 LOVE YOU ALL 😍,” she added.

source: http://www.filmibeat.com / Filmi Beat / Home> Kannada> News / by Chaitra Krishnamurthy / August 03rd, 2019

Rudresh Mahanthappa releases ‘Ring of Fire’ with his Hero Trio – Single Premiere

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Famous Personalities of Kodagu / Coorg, Nri's / Pio's, World Opinion

Hugely acclaimed US saxophonist signs to Whirlwind Recordings for his new album, Hero Trio, released on 19 June.

RudreshKF03may2020

Across his 25-year career Rudresh Mahanthappa has become known for his garrulous mix of fiery post bop and complex Carnatic music, which has seen him explore everything from re-cast classic bop to post M-BASE fusion.

On Hero Trio, his 16th release as a leader/co-leader, he pays tribute to his greatest influences with an album of interpretations. All of the material is presented in Mahanthappa’s wry, spontaneous and imaginative way, alongside long-time heavyweight associates François Moutin on bass and Rudy Royston on drums.

The first single: June Carter Cash wrote ‘Ring of Fire’ for her husband Johnny, and the tune connects Mahanthappa with his Colorado childhood – which you can hear on the video below.

Commenting on the song, the saxophonist says; ‘Like Dolly Parton, when you take a closer look at what they did compositionally you realise that it has a conversational flow, with odd length phrases and extra bars here and there, and I wanted to capture that freedom.”

For more info visit rudreshmahanthappa1.bandcamp.com/album/hero-trio

source: http://www.jazzwise.com / Jazzwise / Home> News / May 01st, 2020

Zoom session and making butter, Rohan Bopanna story

Famous Personalities of Kodagu / Coorg, Sports

Apart from giving players a much-needed workout, the slot has given all of them something to look forward to on a daily basis.

Indian tennis star Rohan Bopanna (Photo | PTI)
Indian tennis star Rohan Bopanna (Photo | PTI)

Chennai :

Every day at around 4.55 pm, Rohan Bopanna goes inside his room and logs on to Zoom. For the next hour, he will lose himself in core training sessions along with 20-25 others, mostly Indian players, to ensure he remains fit during the lockdown.

It’s not even remotely close to the hours logged on the court, but elite athletes have had to find creative ways to ensure they keep doing the bear minimum, fitness-wise. “That kind of has been my routine now,” Bopanna says.

Apart from giving players a much-needed workout, the slot has given all of them something to look forward to on a daily basis. “At some level, it has given us a routine, something that we know we will be doing between 5-6 pm everyday, so this thing helps us.”

At 40, he is one of the elder statesmen of the fraternity in India but he is not leading the sessions. “Ramkumar (Ramanthan) was the one who drove all of us to start doing this. It was completely his initiative. Most of the session is focussed on the core because we are sitting at home (laughs) most of the time without doing anything.”

To inspire some of the lesser-known players on the call, Bopanna once invited his regular doubles partner (singles World No 16) Denis Shapavalov to the session.

“I invited him once so that he could inspire the group and talk to the group.” Apart from training this way, his only connect with tennis has been hitting a few balls against the wall. “I do have a hit against the wall in my house every day.”

Apart from that, the doubles exponent has tried his hands at making butter the traditional way. Firstly, though, he calls this ‘break’ from the game a blessing in disguise.

“This is the first time I have stayed at home in Coorg for such a long time since I started playing at the age of 15 or 16. So around 24-25 years. In that aspect, it is special. I don’t think I have ever stayed here for more than a week to 10 days. It’s been more than a month that I have stayed here. Spending time with my 11-month old daughter, my wife and parents… it’s been good.”

He has also tried his hands at churning butter using traditional equipment. “Our house has had these tools even before I was born. A few weeks ago, I suggested to my mother let’s make some butter in the traditional manner so that’s how that idea came about.”

As the topic shifts to one of te­nnis’ current debates — a possible merger between the WTA and the ATP — the World No 37 wants to see how the situation develops.

“It’s been an idea that has been in the works for a long time. It will be interesting to see how it develops considering the two tours don’t have many overlapping tournaments. It’s in the discussion stage I think. Let’s give it some more time.”

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Sport> Tennis / by Swaroop Swaminathan / Express News Service / April 30th, 2020

Lt Gen PC Thimayya proceeds on superannuation after serving Army for four decades

Famous Personalities of Kodagu / Coorg, Leaders, Records, All

Shimla, (PTI) :

Lieutenant General Pattacheruvanda Chengappa Thimayya proceeded on superannuation after serving the Indian Army for nearly four decades, a defence spokesperson said.

He retired as the 21st General Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Army Training Command here, a charge that he took from Lt Gen Manoj Mukund Naravane on November 1, 2018.

The General Officer”s illustrious career included numerous Command and Staff appointments both in India and abroad. “A true gentleman and an officer,” he always upheld the motto of “service before self” till his last day in the office. He refused to have any ceremonial farewell, customary to an officer of his rank and stature, while proceeding on retirement due to the nationwide lockdown, said the defence spokesperson.

He paid his farewell courtesy to Himachal Pradesh governor Bandaru Dattatraya and Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur over telephone and proceeded to his hometown to start his next innings.

Born on April 4, 1960 at Coorg in Karnataka, the General Officer is an alumni of Sainik School, Bhubaneswar and National Defence Academy.

He was awarded the Sword of Honour at Indian Military Academy and was Commissioned to 5th Bn, the Mechanised Infantry Regiment (14 KUMAON) on June 13, 1981.

PTI DJI RAX RAX
source: http://www.outlookindia.com / Outlook / Home> The News Scroll / by PTI / April 29th, 2020