** Honouring a hero: Martyred IFS officer’s jeep now a memorial

His jeep was lying abandoned at the Karnataka range forest office in Palar, bordering Tamil Nadu.

In a unique and rare tribute, Karnataka forest department officials have restored the jeep that was driven by martyred Indian Forest Service officer P Srinivas back into running condition and have turned it into a souvenir. 

This Srinivas’ official vehicle has been kept at the Kollegal forest department office, where a museum has also been created with photographs, letters, documents and write-ups of Srinivas.

“This is the first such tribute to a martyred forest officer anywhere in India. We thought this was the best way to honour Srinivas, who was a Keerthi Chakra recipient in 1992. His jeep was lying abandoned at the Karnataka range forest office in Palar, bordering Tamil Nadu. We spent Rs 1.1 lakh to repair it and to restore it into running condition. We then put it up as the souvenir,” said MM Hills Wildlife Sanctuary Director V Yedukondalu. 

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** Zero-waste hero  

Meet the only urban farmer from Bengaluru who made it to the list of environmental changemakers by National Geographic India.

 In 2007, Vani Murthy started composting at her Malleswaram home on a whim and posted details of her zero-waste lifestyle on Facebook. Today, the ‘worm rani’ as she is known, has a following of 23,80,000 on Instagram and has made it to the list of the ‘One for Change’ campaign by National Geographic India.

Bengaluru to make it to this list, Murthy says that there’s never been a day when she feels like she’s actually working. “I love all things trash — from composting to making things sustainable. That’s the only thing I never complain about, so I absolutely love what I do and I’m thrilled to be recognised for my passion.”

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** Just like old times

Musical duo Lucky Ali and Mikey McCleary, who first worked together on O Sanam, is collaborating again after almost 11 years for an album, Intezaar, the first song of which is out and trending.

Lucky Ali turns to music to express himself. He might never be in a hurry to create tunes, but Ali makes sure the wait is worth it. The singer is now out with his latest album Intezaar, which has touched over 2 million views.      

Ali’s loungey music has always been popular among music lovers and Intezaar has something to it that makes it a crowd-puller too. The music of the album is by composer and long-time associate Mikey McCleary. The first time McCleary and Ali worked together was for the singer’s first album Sunoh in 1996, which created magic with the song O Sanam. The duo subsequently went on to work on many projects but is back together after a long break.

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** Hilton-Embassy combine announces completion of two hotels, a convention centre in Bengaluru

Dual branded hotel complex ushers in a new era of post-pandemic travel: Hilton

Hilton, an international hospitality brand, in partnership with Embassy REIT, a real estate investment trust, has announced the opening of a new, 266-keys full-service hotel and Hilton Convention Centre, a Meetings, Incentives, Conference/Conventions and Exhibitions/Events (MICE) infrastructure at Embassy Manyata Business Park, here in the city on Monday.

The Hilton-Embassy combine had opened a 353-key Hilton Garden Inn at Embassy Manyata Business Park in March this year, making the dual-branded hotel complex with a total of 619 rooms. The hotels are directly linked to 60,000 square feet of convention space, to make it convenient for business events and large desi weddings. The convention centre is comprised of a 13,000 square feet pillar-less grand ballroom that can accommodate up to 1,500 people.

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** Shining ‘Sitara’ awarded for Kanglish content for students

‘Kanglish’ content on YouTube through Akkas and Annas, developed by a team of nine engineering students from PES University in Bengaluru has come as a blessing to children from 27 districts in Karnataka.

On Saturday, the team ‘Sitara’, which has developed content to teach Maths and Science to Class 10 students, has won the 6th Edition of Azim Premji University’s National Level Science Enterprise Idea Challenge in which 100 teams across the country participated.

The trio–Ananya V, Shriya Shankar and Srushti Jayaramu– who will be graduating in the next one and half months will quit their careers in engineering and continue full time with ‘Sitara’. Srushti tells TNIE, “The children’s hunger to learn motivated me, and pushed me to work harder.” The content has been appreciated and well received.”

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** Artificial intelligence meets human art 

After auctioning his unusual NFT for a whopping price of $94,500 at Sotheby’s in New York, B’luru artist Raghava KK is now launching this work in the country for the first time .

It’s not the first time Bengaluru-based artist Raghava KK has created something beyond one’s imagination. On October 8, 2021, he auctioned the first-ever human orgasm in an art form at Sotheby’s in New York for $94,500. While that turned out to be a huge hit, he wanted to bring the project closer home. So he took his game a notch higher and is using the help of artificial intelligence (AI) to make it better.

With AI, he ‘created’ multiple orgasms (male, female and couples) and created Cyborg Desires, the world’s first AI orgasms. “The objective was to train and teach the machine to experience the most intimate of human experiences and then have the machine create — with the help of man — its own intimate moments,” he explains. Now, a community that funds a ‘regenerative future’ by leveraging artists and creators, ReGenDAO, and Raghava will drop an NFT at Techne Disrupters, an epistemological art and tech show, next week in New Delhi. 

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** By women, for women

A space for women to be themselves, this new shutter shop in Lingarajapuram is slowly building a community of its own.

A shutter shop with a swing which allows you to watch over the busy roads, Namma Katte, which translates into ‘my space’ in Kannada, provides a spot for women to simply be themselves, have meaningful conversations, do whatever they want and become a part of the community. Located in Lingarajapuram, the space has been opened by artist Indu Antony to help women feel a sense of freedom.

“Men can hang around just about anywhere without being questioned. But women often have to look out for many other factors. When I found that we don’t have a safe space, I realised that this is something that really needed to be looked into,” says Antony about Namma Katte which opened in January but had a formal launch in February after the third wave eased.

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** Exhibition of traditional games to mark Ramsons Kala Pratishtana’s 50th year

The Ramsons Kala Pratishtana, an organisation promoting handicrafts is conducting an exhibition of traditional games as part of its golden jubilee celebrations.

Though the pratishtana completed 50 years two years ago, the anniversary celebrations were postponed owing to COVID-19 pandemic. A release said there are two components to the exhibition – Kreedaa Kaushalya and Hasti Mangala – which were inaugurated on Sunday. The exhibition is open to public at Ramsons opposite the zoo till December 31, 2022.  

Kreedaa Kaushalya

The Kreeda Kaushalya is an exhibition of traditional boardgames which features about 30 varieties of  indoor board games that were once played across the length and breadth of the sub-continent. The games on display include Chauka Bara, Adu Huli, Pagaday, Chaduranga, Aligulimane, Navakankari, Paramapada, Sixteen Sepoys, Panchi, Vimana, Pancha Keliya, Nav Keti Keta, Pretwa, Dash Guti, Shara Vyuha, Ashtapada, Taabla, Anay Kattu, Hasu Chirate, Huli Kallu, Immadi Huli Kattu, Egara Guti, etc.

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** Special cover and Corporate My Stamp of Dr. Ramaiah released

India Post on Friday released a special cover and Corporate My Stamp of educationist, philanthropist and industrialist Dr. M.S. Ramaiah. The special cover will be available for sale at Philatelic Bureaus of Bengaluru GPO, Mangaluru HO, Mysuru HO and Belagavi HO, and also at e-Post Office, stated a press release. 

The late Dr. Ramaiah’s son M.R Seetharam, vice-chairman of Gokula Education Foundation, said “I thank the postal department for this special honour. He is always an inspiration to our family and many others.” Dr. M.R. Jayaram, Chairman of Gokula Education Foundation and Mr. L.K. Dash, Post Master General BG-HQ Region, were present on the occasion.

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** Dr. Vasundhara Honoured With ‘Kadali Shree’

Renowned Bharatanatyam exponent Dr. Vasundhara Doraswamy was conferred with ‘Kadali Shree’ award at a function organised by Akhila Bharata Sharana Sahitya Parishat and Kadali Mahila Vedike at Navajyoti Auditorium of JSS Women’s College in Saraswatipuram yesterday as part of Kadali Mahila Vedike’s anniversary celebrations.

Suttur Seer Sri Shivarathri Deshikendra Swamiji, retired Vice-Chancellor Dr. Chidananda Gowda, Akhila Bharata Sharana Sahitya Parishat President Prof. Maleyur Guruswamy, Parishat Mysuru City Unit President M.G. Sadanandaiah, District Unit President Helavarahundi Siddappam, Kadali Mahila Vedike President Sharada Shivalingaswamy and other office-bearers were present on the occasion.

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