It's pure honey for money

The shop that sells pure honey in the city. By Faris Arakkal HEARING the word 'honey' is sweet and it is much sweeter to know that a small shop in the city has been selling pure honey for 70 years. The 'beehive' in a small corner of the city is the first outlet under Thrissur District Honey Bee Nurturing Society registered under the Khadi Gramodyog Bhavan. The society has now 513 members in the district assigned to collect honey for the shop. They collect fresh honey from different parts of the state for the shop. Collecting honey is not that easy and processing needs hard work. The temperature of heating up and separating pure honey is labour intensive. "The so-called 'pure honey' is not always pure with a mixture of jaggery in it. We sell bottles of honey after checking twice," says president of the society Rajagopalan. It's easy to check the purity of honey even at homes. Pure honey will settle as a drop when dropped into water. The society also sells artificial wooden honey hive. They will arrange a queen and a swarm of bees in it. Basic lessons for harvesting are also provided. When retail shops charge around Rs 250 for a kg of honey, the society charges Rs 220 a kg. "I have been buying honey from this shop for years and I have never found anything wrong in its content," said a customer at the shop. The shop is also exporting honey to other states. Dehradun is the major hub of apiculture in India and it's interesting to learn that some honey comes in different colours. 'Red honey' and 'white honey' are the names attributed according to its colour. It is a wonder that Kodagu in southern Karnataka has honey with a bitter taste and is highly effective for diabetes treatment. The shop with a smell and sight of an old storehouse still stands amidst the snarling traffic of the city attracting customers with pure honey.

Singing to fame

Sony Sai By Faris Arakkal Onaveyil olangalil... of Bombay March12 was not the debut film song of Sony Sai. The charismatic female voice attracted listeners in no time. Sony Sai, an upcoming singer who is now engaged in music composing, had lent her voice for numerous lyrics. The credit of many dubbed film songs that have been pleasing Malayalam music buffs goes to Sony Sai. She sang for the dubbed films like Khushi, Rhythm, Dheera and Kanal. Her debut as a singer was in the movie Sughavasam and the next song was with KJ Yesudas in Adheena directed by Krishnadas. A light music prize winner at the state youth festival for three consecutive years and a member of various choirs, she decided to become a full-time singer. Sony recalls her days of singing fast numbers at music concerts. She slowly moved to fast numbers, taking inspiration from Gazals and Hindustani music. Now she keeps a passion for Marathi classic songs too. A graduate in music from NSS College Karamana, Sony is a fan of music maestros like AR Rahman and Haris Jayaraj. She has won Kamukara Award 1998-99, SAARC Kala Mela Award for the best singer. She was born in a music family. Her mother too was a singer and has be

Limca records Sathar's tiny books

Sathar Adhoor By Faris Arakkal WITH three tiny books, a business man in Kunnamkulam has made his mark in the Limca Book of World Records. Sathar Adhoor from Kunnamkulam is the first proud writer whose name has been entered in the Limca Book of Records for the smallest collection of poems and fiction. Sathar has been working since 2008 in order to get into the Book. "The struggle to shape my thoughts into these tiny books is purely an act of determination to come up with a different way of writing," he says. He believes that writing is highly competitive these days. So, it requires hard work to get into a slot. The books are 101 SMS Stories (40mm x 25mm x 4mm), 101 SMS poems (30mmx25mmx4mm) and 50:50 (16mmx13mmx4mm). Each book has 100 pages in it. 50:50, made out of an A4 paper is a collection of poems and stories weighing two-and-half grams. He used to write poems and send them to publications for years, but they never saw the light. But he remembers that his name and work had been criticised in some publications by mainstream writers. A dedicated writer, he also runs a real estate business. But end of the day, he finds something to scribble on in his diary, which thoughts finally were transferred to the tiny books. "Media have helped me a lot in getting into the record book," says Sathar. He had to send all the newspaper cuttings of his news published, to the authority to certify his book's authentication. Sathar's friend Fahad Kottol offered free printing of the books. And he sells his books free of cost. Though he is not an established full time writer, he has won many awards for his writings. Akshara Kala Puraskaram, Deshiya Malayala Vedi Award, Anganam Katha Puraskaram and Herman Gundert Award 2009 are a few of them. Minaarangal is the only published novel in his account and he is on writing of another one. He had directed a 10-second long short film named The Man. Sathar Adhoor always keeps off from mainstream writers but make experiments in his writings and now he is in a new venture to bring another shock to his readers.

'Mozart of Nature' scores a new music

KS Bishoy By Faris Arakkal "EVERY tree makes a silent music and every river chant tune when they flow," says KS Bishoy as he makes a different attempt to carve music out of nature. Bishoy, who makes music by using stone and wood, is a rare music composer. He was lured by the sounds of nature and thus started living with music. He was trained in mridhangam at Chembai Government Music College. Now, he is a music composer and has worked for many albums. "I love nature and I make efforts to preserve it," says Bishoy. He is a member of Rs Save Western Ghat' movement. He has joined various protests, including that of Athirapilly and Kathikudam. His ardent love for nature earned him a name 'Mozart of Nature'. He had also performed in the bamboo music fusion Mula paadum raathri, which got wide acceptance among music lovers. Now, he is running an ethnic music band, Manthalam, under the name of Rhythm of Soil. Instruments made of bamboo sticks, ghatam, flute and specially arranged stones are used to give a performance. "I will do whatever I can to protect the mother earth," says Bishoy. He dreams to build an eco-friendly home made of mud a

Devikrishna throws for a winner

CHAMPION'S SMILE: Devikrishna who won gold medal in the South Asian Cadet Judo Championship held in Nepal. By faris arakkal Devikrishna, a 10th standard student of Govt Higher Secondary School, Villadam, is now surrounded by well-wishers from everywhere. She has become an international figure as she brought the first international gold for the state in Judo to the city. July 29 was the luckiest day for her as she bagged gold medal in the South Asian Cadet Judo Championship held in Nepal. Now she bounces with happiness and pride for the country. Devikrishna who is being trained by the state sports council under the centralised sports hostel at Vimala College Thrissur is in the city for less than a year. She is new to the city but not new to the martial art. She started learning it from fifth standard. She had won two national medals earlier, at school level competitions and this year she was selected to the sports council. The team had 18 members to fight for the nation at Nepal and Devikrishna won it for the nation. Devikrishna thanked her coach Maria Lee for her disciplined coaching and advice. Maria Lee was thrilled about her cadet's triumph in the international championship. Devikrishna is basically from Thiruvananthapuram. Now, she is getting ready for upcoming state and national championships.

A hearty life for two kids

Ashlin Antony, Anna Maria By Faris Arakkal ANNA Maria and Ashlin Antony now carry a healthy heart. They can walk, dance and play like their friends without the fear of getting sick again. Maria and Ashlin recently underwent heart surgery arranged by Trichur Heart Foundation and their parents have no anxiety about their children now. Four-year-old Ashlin was born with a bent in his leg and the heart disease added gloom to his life. But Trichur Heart Foundation's initiative of free heart surgery brought colours to Ashlin's life. Doctor found Ashlin's heart with a defect and immediate intra-cardiac surgery was performed. Anna Maria, four years old, also was born with a heart defect. "A small hole in the heart of a baby would not be a sign of complex disease," said doctors who had examined Maria then. But subsequently, she got fever and cough frequently and she became thin and fragile. Later, it was found that Maria had a sick heart. Joby, Maria's father, went to Bangalore for her treatment, but she had been on the waiting list for five years for surgery. No sooner he heard of Trichur Heart Foundation than he registered her name at the foundation. Maria was operated upon in January and Ashlin in June. They were the first children to have the surgery under the 'Save a Child' scheme by Trichur Heart Foundation. The scheme offers free heart surgery to children below the age of 16. Dr Sudheer M Bhatt, who carried out the surgery, has assured hearty life for the children. Now, both the families are happy and thankful to the foundation. Recently, Ashlin and Maria planted saplings on the premises of the institution in honour of the foundation.