Author: wellnmed@gmail.com

** Steam era Water Column comes to life in Mysuru Rail Museum

The MSR was owned by the erstwhile Princely State of Mysore, headed by the Wadiyar kings.

Rail Museum in the city has added another attraction to its fleet of exhibits with a 1964-built water column, that has come alive.

** From a cowherd to rural changemaker: Meet Ramesh Ballid from Karnataka’s Raichur

Little did residents of Kotigudda, a remote village in Devadurga taluk of Raichur district, know that a young boy with no prior formal school education would one day excel in English and soft skills to become a motivational speaker inspiring thousands to not drop out of school.

Meet 35-year-old Ramesh Ballid, a farmer and motivational speaker, who over the last several years is on a mission encouraging rural communities to not drop out of school, support their families and pursue the path of education to unleash their true potential.

** Ravi Datar Award for Laxmish Sonda

Historian and orator Laxmish Sonda of Mangaluru has been chosen for the annual ‘Ravi Datar Award’ instituted by Natyanjali Nritya Kendra

Historian and orator Laxmish Sonda of Mangaluru has been chosen for the annual Ravi Datar Award instituted by Natyanjali Nritya Kendra. The award will be presented on February 15.

President of Natyanjali Nritya Kendra Pradeep Bhat told presspersons in Hubballi on Saturday that Mr. Sonda had contributed a great deal to historical research and had been organising annual history conferences. He had also penned various historical plays, he said.

Mr. Bhat said the kendra would be honouring two young artists, Nirupama Kulkarni and Apurva Patil, with ‘Ravi Datar Puraskar’ on the same occasion. The award carries a purse of ₹3,000 and a citation. AIR announcer Shashidhar Narenra, director of Dharwad Rangayana Ramesh S. Paravinaikar and others would be guests.

** A golden future for turmeric

Soil-less agriculture could be the solution to increasing the yield and quality of turmeric cultivation in India, says this Bengaluru-based expert

For CV Prakash — a former naval officer who is also recognised as an expert in soil-less agriculture — making turmeric ( Curcuma longa ) more profitable for the ordinary farmer has become a passion during lockdown.

His ongoing Mission Turmeric 2021 aims to begin an “orange revolution”, he says, by teaching people to cultivate the spice in grow bags (large porous containers made of high density polyethelene) packed with coco-peat (made from the pith of the coconut husk) instead of soil, in shade houses.

Introduced to soil-less agriculture after he migrated to Australia in 2000, Prakash brought his interest back to his homeland in 2008. He has trained over 10,000 people in cultivating different crops using hydroponics and other soil-free alternatives at his CV Hydro training centre, which functions under the auspices of Aggragannya Skills, Bengaluru.

** Bengaluru creative Shubhashree will guide you on how to pause and reflect to prep for 2022

Illustrator Shubhashree Sangameswaran shows how visual journaling helps reflect on the year gone by and set a personal planner for this year

Intimidated by what 2022 may hold? Bengaluru-based illustrator and visual artist Shubhashree Sangameswaran is conducting a Visual Journaling workshop titled ‘Looking forward, Looking back.’ Also an author of books ( Everyday Eco-warrior and (Im)perfectly Zero Waste (co-authored with Srini Swaminathan) that teach us to manage our trash, Shubhashree says visual journaling is simply a form of reflection using words and images.

She adds that even someone who cannot draw or paint can get into visual journaling. She explains, “In fact, you need not know how to sketch or paint for visual journaling or not drawn anything since childhood. One can just draw, paint, simply cut and paste images from magazines, use hand-lettering, or even basic doodling. ”

The two-day virtual workshop (from January 7 to 9) that will be held over Google Meet will be on two themes: Looking forward and Looking back, as the workshop title suggests.

** How Bengaluru fell in love with the rose

When it comes to cut roses, Bengaluru is the biggest exporter in India. Pune is a close competitor. But Bengaluru roses are of better quality, says M Vishwanath, joint director, horticulture, Karnataka.

** Karnataka man gets new pair of hands after decade-long wait, thanks Kerala hospital

Basavanna Gowda, 34, a Karnataka resident, had lost both his hands in an accident a decade ago, while working in a rice mill in Bellary district. After years of despair, Gowda has received a new lease of life through a complex hand transplant at Amrita Hospital in Kochi.

The transplanted hands belonged to Kottayam resident Nevis Sajan Mathew, 25, who was declared brain dead on September 25 last year. His parents — Sajan Mathew and Sherin — readily agreed to donate their son’s organs, including hands. And that is when Basavanna’s long wait for a new pair of hands came to an end.

NRI teen girl invents problem-based learning to helps kids

“I saw my parents testing lead levels in water at home and the process was tedious, unreliable and expensive,” she said.

 Gitanjali Rao, a child prodigy and inventor, said the cause of her success was her community, a supportive environment as well as the focus on problem-based learning in schools.

Speaking at the Diaspora Diplomacy speaker series, organised by the US Mission in India, the 16-year-old talked about her experiences, her thought processes as well as her upcoming inventions. Gitanjali, an Indian-origin student from the US, is an accomplished inventor, having come to the forefront with Tethys, a device that detects lead levels in water and transmits the information over Bluetooth.

** Breaking the ice: Meet Jiah Aryan, teen skiing sensation from Bengaluru

B’luru teen who participated in the National Winter Games, in Uttarakhand recently, about her passion for skiing and her dream to represent India at the Olympics.

Aryan missed a gold by a whisker, but ended up with a silver during the alpine skiing at the Junior Nationals Skiing and Snowboard competition held at Gulmarg last year.