CITY JOURNAL JAN28

In love with Indian classical music

By Faris Majeed

"TABLA found me rather than me finding tabla", says Heike Dijker, a musician from Holland who has been travelling through the Indian music since years. He is creating magic with his fingers on his tabla for a new venture.

After his high school education, he was slowly attracted to music. He started loving and worshipping music more than anything. His quest for music brought him to India and made him a disciple of the renowned musician Fayaz Khan. There he met his disciple Ustad Philip V Francis.

When Fayaz Khan was his guru, Ustad Philip was his 'guru bhai', says Dijker. Guru bhai is the person with whom he shares and discusses everything about music. In India he was lured in to the rhythm and beauty of Hindustani and classical music. He found his soul in it and wanted to live in it. Thus he became part of Indian music now.

Being a fusion maestro he has performed at various stages and once rocked with the Bollywood composer Shankar Mahadevan and the renowned flutist Ravi Chandra Kulur. He has travelled around to find various musical genres of the world. In fact, it was his desire to "to bring cultures altogether on a deeper level' led to his musical journey.

He is currently in Thrissur with his unique blend of classical Indian violin and tabla with the Western Makalu string quartet. Lenneke Van Staalen, Carolien Hulshof, Annerieke Nentjes, Marieke Brokamp, Sanne Van der Horst will assist him in this pioneer venture.

His programme, East Meets West, will be staged today at 5.45pm at the Regional Theatre, as a tribute to Ustad Philip V Francis, a legendary composer and tabla player who died in 2008. The programme is organised by Piano.

CITY JOURNAL JAN25

Joggers' park More women take to walking \Staff Reporter


An increasing number of women are now joining the tribe of walkers, arguably the easiest and gentle exercise routine.

Walkers were once seen as stereotypes. But now, they come in all ages and shapes. They belong to all age groups, social levels and economic background. And you see them everywhere, at every nook and corner of the city. And the interesting change has been presence of women in all groups.

Visit, for instance, the park at Ayyanthole, near Collectorate in the evenings, say around 5pm. You can see plenty of them enjoying a walk. They take at least 10 rounds at a time. "We are still young and want to keep fit forever," says Meena, one of the strollers in a group.

According to then Institute of Health, an average adult needs at least 10,000 steps a day to maintain a healthy weight. "I have been walking for the last 15 years and has burnt almost 30kg of fat," says Khadheja, who will turn 60 sometime this year. She had been suffering from diabetics and the doctor's advice to go for a walk everyday made her a chronic walker.

Housewives choose evenings, as they are usually tied up with the household chores in the mornings.

A recent study has found that breast cancer can be cured by walking. It may be a bit

far-fetched and Chandini Raj feels that most women walk mainly to have a shapely body.

Thankamani, who joins her diabetic husband for the morning 'ritual', feels that "women are more prone to diseases and need more strength and mental stability. So, they come for a stroll."

"Walking, along with some light exercise, strengthens bones and muscles and helps us keep diseases like arthritis and osteoporosis at bay. In fact, 50% of all deaths occurring in United States are of heart diseases. Scientific evidence suggests that participation in regular physical activities reduces the risk", sources indicated.

The corporation stadium near Vadukkunathan Temple is also crowded with women walkers - most of them office-goers or those who have help at home.

There are groups of women who walk up to 3-4km to the city and back. Lathika, a house wife from Manakkody, walks 3km daily. She says it gives her good sleep and of course mental freshness.

When many exercises and curatives need a doctor's consultation, a regular stroll needs a strong determination to 'we can do it' attitude, some of the walkers feel.

CITY JOURNAL JAN25

'Dreams help us achieve our goals'





Staff Reporter

Faris Majeed

"KNOWLEDGE unites us and that oneness comes when we find ourselves. Through dreams we reach that goal", said Oscar award-winner Resool Pookutty.

The musician who brought fame to our homeland, Pookutty was interacting with

students of Sakthan Thampuran College of Mathematics and Arts, during the silver jubilee celebrations of the college.

A man who believes in tradition, Pookutty acknowledges the fact that words which have been handed over through the ages in the form of Vedas have transformed into sounds. When all are equipped with calibre, only some reach heights. He wanted to provide a platform to those who were talented to excel, he told

the students about his new venture.

He praised Bollywood for its success and popularity. But he rued the fact that though Bollywood was the biggest film industry in the world, it had not made any great contribution. No great camera or lenses were produced in India. We owed everything to others.

According to him, teachers had to be trained in such a way that students could be taught to find 'art in oneself'. This was his message to the students.

Prof Menon handed over a memento to Pookutty. Music composer Alphonse Joseph and singer Anoop Shankar, both alumni of the school, too were present.

CITY JOURNAL JAN22

PREPAIRE FOR LIFE, NOT JOB- DAWN DEKLE



Dawn Dekle interacting with students at the Hari Sree Vidhya Nidhi school yesterday.
By Faris Majeed
SP Jain Centre of Management's global BBA programme dean Dr Dawn Dekle yesterday said that goal of each student was to be prepared for life, not just for their first job." She was interacting with students from different schools at Hari Sree Vidhya Nidhi School auditorium Poonkunnam.
Dekle explained that SP's was the only global BBA undergraduate programme in the world to have a dual- campus, dual-country model.
A PhD holder from the Dartmouth College USA, Deckle is the winner of the most inspirational teacher award in 2005. She is in India now introducing the programme at different schools.
At the programme, students spend their first two years in Singapore learning about business in Asia followed by another two years in Sydney experiencing the financial hub of Australia. Students from various customs and cultures of six continents are converging at the centre.
Around 84% of the students from the institution, with over 20 years of experience, got their selection on the campus itself, said Dekle. There was no fee charged to apply for the programme through online. Half of the students get scholarship, but there were only 32 Indian students who pursue the course now. Apart from the BBA graduation, the SP's offers MBA, but only for those with a compulsory three year experience.
Dekle's lecture, accompanied by a power-point presentation, was met with numerous queries from the audience. When a student raised her doubt "why dual model", she explained that the dual model created a better understanding among its participants of multinational business settings.
Students from Kailasa Vidhya Nikethan Mullakkara, Hari Sree Vidhya Nidhi school Poonkunnam, Devamnatha Public School Patturaikkal, Chinmaya Vidyalaya Kolazhy, Gurukulam Public School Venginissery were also present.

CITY JOURNAL JAN20

After onions, flower prices skyrocket


Staff Reporter

IT'S THE season of celebrations and flowers are an inevitable item. Jasmine, with its sweet fragrance, is among the bestl.

However, its sky-rocketing price has made it unaffordable to most people and dampened the spirit of celebrations not only within the city but elsewhere too. In fact, Thrissur, and the temple town of Guruvayoor, being the topmost importers of jasmine flowers, are witnessing an acute shortage of the flowers.

Jasmine which comes to Kerala is commercially grown in Coimbatore, Madurai, Dindikkal and Sathyamangalam in Tamil Nadu. But unseasonal heavy rains destroyed not only the crop bu the dreams of jasmine farmers. For the customer, it was a double whammy: non-availability of the blooms and high price.

The city saw a kg of jasmine being sold for Rs.2500 last week. Flower merchants are expecting it go up further.

Other flowers too have become dearer. "One single lotus now costs Rs.5. It was Rs.20 in Coimbatore not so long ago," said Sreejith, who sells flowers at Swaraj Round.

Flowers are always in demand. Other than personal needs, temple ceremonies also require large quantities of fresh blooms. When it's the season of marriages, the demand sky-rockets, putting further pressure on the price.

Faisal, who got married last Saturday, will remember the day more for a wrong reason. On the day of the niqah, he was anxiously waiting at the rail station for the Tea Garden Express to bring the all-important flowers. He dreaded the thought of the consignment not arriving, as it often happened lately.

Increased demand for flowers because of Pongal and the emerging demand for jasmine flowers abroad are said to be the the other reasons for the ever-increasing price. According to traders, a snowfall in the season could further worsen the situation.

In the absence of the traditional jasmine, pretenders have arrived in the market. But the fragrant Bangalore jasmine does not match up and the demand is low. If the price of the flower increases further, they could possibly become a new yardstick for measuring the affluence of people at weddings - a la gold.

CITY JOURNAL JAN21

Illegal posters plague collectorate wall




By Faris Majeed
After the district administrative headquarters at Ayyanthole became ground for protesters, the wall that surrounds the collectorate is now filled with posters and banners. And in an ironic twist, the posters are pasted below an order of the collector prohibiting the same.
Almost all parties and unions make use of the wall. Waste bags can be seen lying in front of the entrance. When approached regarding the posters, a student wing leader said: "If others can do it why can't we." The collector's order has been pasted at seven places around the fence, but to no avail. During the last local body elections, several campaign fluxes were also seen on the walls.
The West police station adjacent to the collectorate seems to be blind to this public violation of the law. A nearby tea shop owner says that posters are pasted at around midnight. Renjith, a student remembers a flux on the same fence two years back certifying that it's not a new phenomenon.
The ceaseless rallies and protest marches also result in traffic jams in the area, complains an auto driver.

A poster pasted below the order prohibiting the pasting of posters on the collectorate wall