Category Archives: Arts, Culture & Entertainment

3,015 recite Bhagwad Gita slokas for world record

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Records, All, World Opinion
Representative Image

Meerut :

The campus of Meerut institute reverberated with Sanskrit slokas as thousands of students and faculty members recited slokas from Bhagwad Gita with an aim to beat a previous world record (for Golden Book of World Records) of ‘most people in a reading relay’. The previous record was made by a group in in Germany five years ago in which 2,012 people participated.

On Wednesday, 3,105 students, including a hundred Muslim students, participated in the relay recitation. After the recitation that went on for more than three hours, Meerut qualified for the entry in the Golden Book of World Records.

Interestingly, the Meerut record also stands to beat the Guinness world record of 3,071 people participating in a similar recitation on September 22, 2015 at Marwari Education Foundation in Rajkot, Rajasthan.

Ruhi Khan, a faculty and HoD, Maths division upto classVIII, told TOI, “It was a mega event and I also volunteered to be part of this international event. I have even learnt the verse by heart.”

Speaking to TOI, Manav Sharma, public relations officer of the institute, said, “The enthusiasm was indeed unprecedented. We did not force anyone to participate but yes to break the record, we needed more than 2,012 students so we had appealed to all our students and the response was overwhelming.”

Manish Vishnoei, National Head India, Golden Book of World Records, said, “The current record is held by Digital Library Skoobe in Leipzig, Germany, on March 16, 2012 when 2012 participants participated in a reading relay (single venue).”

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / News> City News> Meerut News / by Sandeep Rai / TNN / February 16, 2017

Lucknow boy wins Golden Beaver Award for documentary on psychopaths

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Education, Records, All
A 17-year-old boy from Lucknow has won the Golden Beaver Award for his documentary on psychopaths at the recently concluded 7th National Science Film Festival that was held in Kolkata.(Handout image)

A 17-year-old boy from Lucknow has won the Golden Beaver Award for his documentary on psychopaths at the recently concluded 7th National Science Film Festival that was held in Kolkata.

Last year, Aditya won the same award for his documentary ‘Ants: A Tiny Creature’.

“It is a thrilling experience to win an award for two years in a row,” Aditya, a class 12 student of Manipal Public School, said.

He received Rs 50,000 as prize money as part of the award in category D for films made by school students.

Brain’s Fault from Aditya Rahul on Vimeo.

“The documentary titled Brains Fault explains how the physical and biological condition of the brain makes a person criminal before his birth. These people are called psychopaths in medical science,” Aditya said.

“My documentary is an attempt to explain the reason behind psychopaths,” he said.

He added that the rising rate of crime in the country was a triggering point that motivated him to make this movie.

The 7 minutes 47 seconds documentary was produced, directed and shot by Aditya with an SLR camera. While Aditya also handled the cinematography and editing, he said his friends stepped in to lend their support in making this documentary.

“My friend Tanmeet Singh and Dhananjay Singh Chauhan helped me a lot. The narration was done by Tanmeet Singh. Actors in this movie were again my friends – Lokendra Tiwari, Pratimesh, Shubham Singh, Harshit Pandey, Prashant Srivastav, Abhishek Singh and other friends,” he said.

Organised by Vigyan Prasar, an autonomous institution under the department of science and technology, the film festival was held at Birla Industrial and Technological Museums between February 14 and 18.

The entries were selected by a jury of eminent filmmakers, professors, scientists, media professionals such as former chairman of Satyajit Ray Film and TV Institute, Kolkata (chairman national jury) Partha S Ghose, eminent filmmaker Reena Mohan, award-winning filmmaker Arun Chadha and others.

The award was presented by Bollywood film director Madhur Bhandarkar.

However, Aditya could not attend the prize ceremony event because his CBSE Class 12 examination is scheduled to begin next month. The young boy is looking up for more projects in future.

“Aditya has made us proud by winning this coveted award. He does amazing work each time and is very talented, enthusiastic and dedicated about his work. We wish him all the best for his future endeavours,” his principal Anupama Shukla said.

source: http://www.hindustantimes.com / Hindustan Times / Home> Education / by Rajeev Mullick, Hindustant Times,Lucknow / February 28th, 2017

At flower show, Singh family springs 22-award surprise

Amazing Feats, Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Green Initiatives / Environment, Nature, Records, All, Travel

Lucknow:

Family of city based government employee Prashant Singh couldn’t have asked for more when they won 22 awards under various categories at the annual flower show organized at the Raj Bhavan.

The awardees included his two daughters, eight-year-old Prashasti and four-year-old Prashansa. Prashant, his wife Swati, mother Uma Singh and daughters bagged eight first prizes, three second and 11 third prizes. The daughters won eight awards for flowers decoration, dry flower decoration, petal rangoli, bouquet arrangement and plant photography.

Along with the award for best lawn, kitchen garden and window decoration, the family bagged first prize for flower rangoli, flower arrangement (imagination), bouquet decoration, dry flower arrangement and plant photography.

“We decorated the garden and developed four corners showcasing different seasons. For winters we used blue and white streamers, carved figures of children from potted plants and placed them on a swing made up of plants too. For window decoration, our theme was ‘Open window to nature’ and we used a variety of plants and flowers,” said Swati.

Talking about their love for gardening and nature, Swati said the hobby was passed on from her mother-in-law to her and now to the third generation. The family has been participating in the annual show for the past 12 years. Along with them, 902 others participated in total 45 categories and displayed their love for nature during the event.

Hundreds of citizens visited with family and friends, clicked selfies with beautiful flowers and also learned about plants that devour toxins and leave the environment cleaner to breathe.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / News> City News> Lucknow News / TNN / February 27th, 2017

This village may hold key to a bygone civilisation

About Uttar Pradesh, Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Historical Links / Pre-Independence, Records, All, Travel
Excavation work underway in Sakatpur village ofSaharanpur district .(HT Photo)

A chance discovery of six copper axes and some pieces of pottery has spurred the Archaeological Survey of India into excavating a site in Sakatpur village of Rampur Maniharan area in Saharanpur district, in the hope of recovering more remains of an old civilization that once flourished in the doab (plains) of Ganga and Yamuna rivers.

A team of archaeologists began the excavation on Friday under the supervision of Dr Bhuvan Vikram, supervising archaeologist, ASI Agra Circle. Vikram, who believes that the excavation may unearth many interesting facts, said, “Excavation is a very slow process and we hope to find pottery and habitat deposition in the depths of the soil.”

Dr Vikram said that a chance discovery of six copper axes attracted the attention of historians and archaeologists towards this tiny village. Some labourers of a nearby brick kiln were digging to collect soil to manufacture bricks and they found six copper axes. They reported the matter to their owner and it was eventually reported to the ASI while passing through different routes. “It sounded interesting and we decided to excavate the land to ascertain the historical and archaeological significance of the region’, said Dr Vikram, who has been camping here to supervise the excavation.

He said the use of copper axes and the type of pottery found here was quite prevalent in the Ganga valley civilisation. Locals very often came across remains of pottery and other things in their fields.

Earlier, the ASI had excavated a site at Sinauli village on Baraut-Chaprauli Road and discovered graveyards and other archaeological remains, including stone jewellery and axes. The site is still an attraction for students of history and archaeology. The then Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh’s daughter had also visited the site and collected inputs about it.

source: http://www.hindustantimes.com / Hindustan Times / Home> Cities> Lucknow / by S Raju, Meerut, Hindustan Times / February 26th, 2017

I’m prepared for no movie offers post ‘Saala Khadoos’: Ritika Singh

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Records, All, Sports
Ritika Singh said, “I am enjoying the attention right now. I want to act in future too but I am a realist. I am prepared to get no work after this.”

Ritika Singh is being praised for her performance in her debut film “Saala Khadoos” but the boxer-actress says she doesn’t expect to be flooded with movie offers.

“I am enjoying the attention right now. It feels nice that people want to know about your work, your first film. I want to act in future too but I am a realist. I am prepared to get no work after this,” Ritika told PTI.

Also starring R Madhavan in the lead role, the sports movie released this Friday.

A professional boxer, Ritika says acting was never on her mind but the opportunity of working with Madhavan and filmmaker Rajkumar Hirani, who has produced the film, was too big to let go.

“I never thought about acting. I felt I wouldn’t be able to do this. I don’t know how Maddy sir contacted me but when he narrated the story, I went into complete shock. My first reaction was ‘When are we starting it?’ A Rajkumar Hirani production and a co-star in Madhavan, you can’t let this go. Also it was giving me a chance to play a boxer on screen.”

Even though the film has hit screens, it still feels surreal to her that she has entered the industry and made friends with some influential people here.

Narrating one such incident, Ritika said, “One day I was at Raju sir’s home for a photoshoot. Maddy sir was also present. He, Raju sir, his wife all were sitting with me and talking their personal stuff..It didn’t feel real.”

Having finally been bitten by the acting bug, Ritika wants to do characters of substance and focus on strong scripts.

“I really want to act and act in great roles, which have scope of performance. I don’t want to do sing-and-dance routine. I believe script is the king so I would go for powerful stories,” she said.

The actress wants to juggle between her acting and boxing, and use her fame to help boxing gain more attention in the country.

“I have this ambition that when I become powerful and famous, I will host an event of boxing or kick-boxing which the entire nation watches. That way, this sport will gain attention. People will realise that there is a lot of talent in India.”

source:http://www.indianexpress.com / The Indian Express / Home> Entertainment> Bollywood / by PTI, New Delhi / January 30th, 2017

Workshop on elephant management held in Agra

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Education, Green Initiatives / Environment, Nature, Travel

Agra :

Over a hundred elephants march up and down the Amer fort in Jaipur every day carrying tourists. Many of these elephants have severe welfare issues and concerns stem mainly from lack of expert veterinary care and ignorance about elephant care and management by local elephant care takers in Jaipur. Wildlife SOS in collaboration with Rajasthan Forest Department has launched a series of training workshops for elephant owners and mahouts on elephant care and management. The training workshops have been a trumpeting success with over 75 participants attending the first workshop.

The training workshop had both theory and classroom sessions conducted by elephant veterinarians from the Wildlife SOS Elephant Conservation and Care Centre followed by practical sessions with elephants. To create further awareness and bring about compassion, Wildlife SOS hosted a field exposure visit for the elephant owners and mahouts at the Elephant Conservation and Care Centre in Mathura where the Wildlife SOS elephant care team showed practical humane and scientific elephant management techniques practised at the centre. This was followed by participative discussions and lunch.

Assistant conservator of forests Jagdish Chand Gupta, who accompanied elephant owners from Jaipur, said, “We want to adopt modern and positive elephant management and training techniques as a step to improve the condition for the elephants. This workshop proved to be a motivation for the elephant owners who are keen on adopting these methods.”

Kartick Satyanarayan, CEO and co-founder of Wildlife SOS, said “The Wildlife SOS Elephant Conservation and Care Centre has model standards for humane elephant management and functions as a training platform to create similar facilities across India. Chief Wildlife Warden of Rajasthan Dr G V Reddy has shown great foresight and vision in facilitating these workshops to train stakeholders involved in elephant care so we can work together to improve the living conditions of elephants in Jaipur.”

Geeta Seshamani, co-founder of Wildlife SOS, said, “I am very happy to see the elephant owners and mahouts see and learn new methods of managing elephants with compassion and without the need for intimidation. The visit hosted by Wildlife SOS will go a long way to helping these people change the way they are managing and caring for their elephants”

Dr. Yaduraj Khadpekar, senior veterinarian in charge of the Wildlife SOS Elephant Care Centre, said “The training workshop and subsequent exposure visit to the Elephant Conservation and Care Centre quenched the curiosity of the elephant owners about how Wildlife SOS manages the elephants in our care. It also provided insight into modern management techniques available for providing humane care to elephants.

Rhea Lopez, Elephant campaign manager of Wildlife SOS, said “The workshop covered aspects of enclosure design, positive conditioning, veterinary care, elephant behaviour, enrichment, foot care and the elephant owners and mahouts were receptive & participated in all discussions.”

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / News> City News> Agra News / Aditya Devi / February 10th, 2017

Doon Valley School, Lucknow, wins national civic fest award

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Education, Records, All

Doon Valley School, Lucknow, has been declared the winner of the ‘Bala Janaagraha National Civic Fest’ held here today.

The annual National Civic Fest is a final event for the Civic Fests being held across the country in various cities.

Over the last six months, Civic Fests have been held in 25 cities, and 40,000 students have participated in them, according to the organisers.

Bala Janaagraha is a civic learning programme of the Janaagraha Centre for Citizenship and Democracy, a non-profit organisation based in Bengaluru.

The Doon Valley School project was to improve and develop a road in Mulayamnagar ward in Lucknow by approaching the local corporator and the Mayor, a Janaagraha release said.

They also raised concerns about safety, street lighting, paving and asphalting of roads in the area which led the local administration to take action resulting in a patrol guard by the city police, and the construction of a pavement and a motorable road in the ward.

The Doon Valley school students also conducted various awareness sessions on themes ranging from crime against women to drunken driving to eve teasing to garbage collection and water logging on streets, the release said.

Doon Valley High School, Lucknow; Oasis International School, Bengaluru; St Michael’s High School, Ranchi and St Kabir School, Ahmedabad were the finalists.

Bala Janaagraha, one of the flagship programmes of Janaagraha, is running a civic education programme for students of government, aided and private schools across 25 cities in the country.

(This article has not been edited by DNA’s editorial team and is auto-generated from an agency feed.)

source: http://www.dnaindia.com / DNA, Daily News & Analysis / Home> India / Saturday, February 11th, 2017

School kids aim to paint for 72 hours straight to break world record

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Education, Records, All, World Opinion

Meerut :

A group of seven school children have come together in the city to break the existing world record of the maximum number of hours spent painting. The record is currently held by France, where a group painted for 60 hours. The attempt comes close to the heels of the city holding the position of the longest painting by numbers.

Children from Class X and XI of Guru Tegh Bahadur Public School started started painting on Monday afternoon, and will be allowed a two-hour break per student, in a manner that five students are always painting for 72 hours.

Arrangement of proper food has been made on the school premises and authorities have also commissioned a team of doctors. The theme of the painting marathon is ‘Cleanathon’ and aims to showcase Swachch India. The school authorities have also put up the event on record by means of a video camera and it can be seen on a projector in the school hall, which will be open for school students and parents who wish to have a look at the record being made.

The students vying for the record include Bhanu Dev Sharma, Akhil Kumar, Jatin Kumar, Sawan Verma, Piyush Kumar, Lakshay Verma and Bhavya Grover.

“When Meerut got its name for the longest painting by numbers, all students interested in art started looking up for records that could be broken. We researched well, and discussed it with the school authorities, who readily agreed,” says an elated Bhanu.

Bhavya Grover, a Class X student, who is also suffering from Cerebral palsy, said, “I have a difficulty in walking but the doctor here ensures I don’t put a lot of pressure on my legs. The small breaks I get are also good enough. I want to give thi my best.”

Speaking to TOI, Kapil Sood, the school’s principal, said, “A dietician and a doctor will be attending to the students from time to time. Also, two teachers and two class four staff will have a duty every night to keep a check on anything that the students might need. We’re supporting the students in every way possible.” Authorities added that going directly to Guinness was an expensive affair, which is why they chose to go via India Book of Records, which can further refer it.

Poorti Garg, one of the two adjudicators from India Book of Records, said, “We will keep a close eye on the students and ensure that no rules are broken. If they succeed in their attempt, they will break the already existing world record of 60 hour non-stop painting marathon created by team Roland Paulmaters and group from France.”

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / News> City News> Meerut News / by Ishita Bhatia / TNN / February 14th, 2017

Devotees start arriving for Ravidas Jayanti

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Leaders, Records, All

Varanasi :

There are no bigwigs like Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal among the visitors to commemorate the 640th birth anniversary of Sant Ravidas falling on Friday.

Modi and Kejriwal arrived in the city in February last year to pay obeisance to preacher-philosopher Sant Ravidas at the temple in Seer Gowardhan area here. They also accepted the ‘prasad’ prepared at its community kitchen.

“This year, we are witnessing increased turnout of devotees from across the country as well as abroad. The devotees have been pouring in from different parts of states like Punjab, Haryana, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand while foreign devotees from UK, US, Canada, Germany, Italy, Spain, Austria, New Zealand, Greece have also been thronging the temple premises,” general secretary of Sri Guru Ravidas Janam Asthan Public Charitable (SGRJAPC) Trust Satpaul Virdi said.

Against the 50 tents installed last year, the count has been increased to 75 to cater to large number of devotees, Virdi said, adding that even the main pandal had to be shifted 2-3 kilometres ahead. The district administration had also tightened the security arrangements.

The entire Seer Gowardhan village was abuzz with festivity as people, including men and women, had started congregating at the temple on Thursday. Small makeshift stalls and shops selling variety of articles like toys, artificial ornaments, books, pictures and posters of Sant Ravidas attracted people as well as kids.

Trust chairman Sant Niranjan Dasji Maharaj, who along with other devotees and saints reach on Wednesday evening, inaugurated the fully automatic chapati making machine donated by Phagwara-based Sri Guru Ravidas Charitable Trust, in collaboration with a trust based in Vienna, Austria. According to a volunteer Gyani Meher Singh, the machine can produce over 2,000 chappatis per hour.

Later in the evening, the statue of Guru Ravidas was garlanded at Ravidas Park situated on the banks of Ganga. On Friday morning, the religious flag will be unfurled by Maharaj.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / News> City News> Varanasi News / TNN / February 10th, 2017

50 lakhs take holy dip on Maghi Purnima in Sangam

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Travel
With the Maghi Purnima snan, majority of kalpwasis started leaving the mela campus with unforgettable memories (TOI photo)

Sangam (Allahabad):

Amid tight security arrangements and pleasant weather conditions, around 50 lakh devotees, saints and Kalpwasi, on Friday, took a holy dip in the Sangam – the confluence of Ganga, Yamuna and mythical Saraswati – on the occasion of Maghi Purnima, virtually the last bathing day of the ongoing Magh Mela.

The Maghi Purnima snan also marked the culmination of Magh month as well as month-long kalpwas. Around 50,000 kalpwasis, performing the rituals and seeking salvation on the banks of Ganga for the past one month, started leaving on the banks of Ganga after completing all rituals.

SSP, Allahabad, Shalabh Mathur told TOI, ” No untoward incident was reported, and the snan passed off peacefully.

Meanwhile, Magh Mela officer, Ashish Mishra told TOI ” with devotees and pilgrims arrived from all directions, there was heavy rush of devotees at all 17 ghats since wee hours and majority of them started returning due to badhra period.

He, however, said a strict vigil was being maintained in and around mela campus with senior police officials regulating the crowd at both entry and exit points.

With the Maghi Purnima snan, majority of kalpwasis started leaving the mela campus with unforgettable memories. The kalpwasis had also completed all the rituals before leaving the ganga banks. The strength of devotees returning had swelled manifold on exit routes.

Mela police officials claimed “devotees hailing from rural backgrounds started to congregate on the banks since Thursday night. Devotees threw themselves into the waist-deep water, forcing the Jal police personnel to intervene and stop them from going into deep water.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / News> City News> Allahabad News / by Kapil Dixit, TNN / February 10th, 2017