August 2022 – Page 6 – Karnataka First

Gadag: Cow dung Okuli – A unique tradition the day after Nagara Panchami

A unique celebration of Okuli (spraying of colours) is followed in this city since long. In the Kumbara Oni of Gangapur Pete of the city people throw cow dung on one another and celebrate this festival.

Nagara Panchami is a festival of girls. They wear new dresses and go to Nagara Katte and offer milk and celebrate the festival. On the next day is Shashti, Karikattambali day. On this day the boys get together and throw cow dung on one another.

Preparations for this festival begin a month before. Cow dung collection begins a month before the festival. The youth of the Kumbara lane go in groups and ask for cow dung from families who have cows and calves.

The cow dung war that takes place between the boys looks exactly like Holi. However, instead of colours liquid cow dung is sprayed. First the cow dung is made into a big heap on the main road of the Kumbara lane. Various colours are sprayed on the heap. Later, the boys group themselves into two teams and go to nearby farmland and get ready to play the cow dung game.

The youths get ready for this unique Okuli in unique style. They wear garlands of various vegetables like aubergine, cucumber, onion, ridge gourd, tomato etc. In addition, they wear peculiar costumes for drawing attention. They also wear dresses of females. Once ready, they all go to Durgadevi temple in a procession and offer pooja. After the pooja, the cow dung play is flagged off.

The cow dung game goes on for about two hours. Cow dung has special mention in Ayurveda medicine. It is impossible to imagine the life of a farmer without cow dung. The farmer community has given cow dung the position of a deity. This cow dung Okuli that is celebrated from centuries is mainly done to proclaim the sanctity of cow dung. In addition, people of this locality believe that all kinds of skin diseases are cured if one pours cow dung liquid on the body.

Ranganathittu bird sanctuary is Karnataka’s first Ramsar site

Ranganathittu sanctuary also finds a place in the Important Bird Areas (IBA) list of 42 sites in Karnataka that are identified by the Bombay Natural History Society.

After a wait of over ten years, Karnataka got its first Ramsar site on Wednesday.

The ministry of environment, forests and climate change (MoEFCC) declared Ranganathittu Bird Sanctuary in Mandya as a Ramsar site. With this, the forest department, local administration and tourism department will not just be able to ensure better conservation but also scale up its eco-tourism potential to international standards. Located in the mid-stream of the Cauvery river, Ranganathittu is an integral part of the wetland system and spreads across 517.70 hectares.

It also finds a place in the Important Bird Areas (IBA) list of 42 sites in Karnataka that are identified by the Bombay Natural History Society. Ranganthittu houses 188 species of plants, 225 species of birds, 69 species of fish, 13 species of frogs, 98 species of medicinal plants and 30 species of butterflies.

It is an important breeding site for around 20 species of water birds, 17 of which breed on trees growing on islands on the spot. It houses healthy populations of mugger crocodiles (Crocodylus palustris), smooth-coated otter (Lutrogale perspicillata) and the endangered hump-backed mahseer fish (Tor remadevii).

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Dhinidhi Desinghu: Bengaluru’s little swimming champ

12-year-old Dhinidhi Desinghu breaks 13-year-old swimming record

Bengaluru’s Dhinidhi Desinghu has been making waves in the swimming circuit. The 12-year-old rose to prominence last year when she set national records in the 100m freestyle, 200m freestyle and 200m individual medley at the Junior and Sub-Junior National Aquatic Championship.

This year, she has kept up her gold-winning performances, bagging three gold medals in the Karnataka Mini Olympics in May and following it up with three more golds at the Karnataka Junior and Sub-Junior Aquatic Championship, including a recording-breaking effort in 100m freestyle (59.64 seconds) that rewrote a 13-year-old record.

The youngster has the tough task of balancing her academics and swimming commitments. “Since school timings have changed after the easing of the pandemic restrictions, it is a bit more stressful and my academic workload has increased since the previous year. But I am able to cope,” says Dhinidhi, a Grade 7 student at Kendriya Vidyalaya DRDO in CV Raman Nagar.

Catch them young: HCL’s TechBee career programme to hire 2,000 Class 12 students in Karnataka

HCL Technologies is currently conducting walk-in training interviews across four cities — Bengaluru, Shivamogga, Hubballi and Mysuru — to hire Class 12 students

HCL Technologies, an IT services and digital transformation solutions provider, is planning to hire over 2,000 fresh talent from Karnataka, under its ‘catch them young’ drive.

As part of its early career programme, TechBee, the firm is currently conducting walk-in training interviews across four cities — Bengaluru, Shivamogga, Hubballi and Mysuru — to hire Class 12 students. Students who have completed Class 12 in 2021 or 2022 with a minimum of 60% with Mathematics or Business Mathematics in their curriculum would be eligible to be part of this programme, the company said.

Bespoke training and mentoring

To offer bespoke training and mentoring initiatives, HCL has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Karnataka Skill Development Corporation (KSDC) to train tech-savvy, enthusiastic individuals seeking to accelerate their careers in IT.

Subbaraman B, Vice President, HCL Technologies, said, “Under TechBee, we aim to hire the best talent, train them and enable them to achieve financial independence at the start of their career. So far, over 8,000 students have been selected for the TechBee programme across the country and are in various stages of their career journey with HCL.’‘

“We, at HCL, observed a lot of interest and potential in students in Karnataka as well. That is why we chose to do these walk-in drives in the state,’‘ he told The Hindu.