Monthly Archives: May 2014

Nawazuddin Siddiqui to endorse Spice Stellar 506 smartphone

May 12, 2014Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Business & Economympositiveone@gmail.com

Nwazuddin Siddiqui was initially hesitant and nervous about the brand engagement. ( Source: Varinder Chawla )

Bollywood actor Nawazuddin Siddiqui has signed up for an ad featuring the introduction of a new smartphone Spice Stellar 506 into the market.

Along with the ad, the cell phone company will also showcase a digital film showcasing how smartphone technology is changing lives of the youth of India today.

‘The Lunchbox’ actor was initially hesitant and nervous about the brand engagement. But apparently, after a sit-down with the team and understanding the campaign’s objective, Nawazuddin felt more at ease.

“The film resonates with my own life journey and my belief that the size of one’s dreams isn’t defined by the size of one’s town. Shooting the film was a nostalgic trip down memory lane. When I was growing up I’d trek miles, in the same manner as shown in the film, and finally reach the city exhausted. But as soon as I saw the cinema theatre all my exhaustion would just vanish and everything would be worth it,” said the actor.

The ad will feature Nawazuddin’s life of struggle, deprived of comfort and luxury and has been shot in the town where Nawazuddin spent most of his time growing up.

source: http://www.indianexpress.com / The Indian Express / Home> Entertainment> Bollywood / by Express News Service – Mumbai / May 12th, 2014

Salome Roy Kapoor visits Hyderabad to make it a fashion hub

May 12, 2014Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Business & EconomyAyesha Azara Mujahid, Deccan Institute of Design (DID), Lakhotia Institute of Fashion Design, Mohd. Azhar Mujahidmpositiveone@gmail.com

Miss India (1972) and mother-in-law of actress Vidya Balan, Salome Roy Kapoor. (Photo: PTI/File)

Hyderabad:

Thursday evening saw a gathering of people who one would assume were strangers; but in real life they have known each other for as long as they can remember.

Miss India (1972) and mother-in-law of actress Vidya Balan, Salome Roy Kapoor, designer James Ferreira, make-up artist Cory Walia, jewellery designer Suhani Pittie, fashion designer Shravan Naresh, Shilpa Reddy and others were present at the launch of the Deccan Institute of Design (DID), which they will be part of when it starts operations.

“I last came to Hyderabad many, many years back. I used to be a model and we had come to the city for a show,” says Salome, who dances, choreographs, directs plays, fashion shows and also conducts grooming classes. Her role as a visiting professor would be to conduct grooming sessions, which include deportment, etiquette, table manners, body language etc.

Salome’s sons — Siddharth, Kunaal and Aditya — are all connected with Bollywood and talking about the latest addition to her family from the industry, Vidya Balan, she says, “Vidya is down-to-earth and a lovely daughter-in-law. There have been times when people have tried to get in touch with Vidya through me regarding some event or something else, but I have never encouraged that. She has a busy schedule and I can’t interfere.”

Salome has known the “talented James” (Ferreira) for over 40 years, having also been the one to give him his first break. “It was right after college and I was very nervous, but she saw my work and pretty much gave me my first job,” says James, who is also the creative head of the institute.

DID is an institute by Mohd. Azhar Mujahid and Ayesha Azara Mujahid of the Lakhotia Institute of Fashion Design. Talking about the institute, James says, “Our (institute’s) aim is to make Hyderabad the fashion capital of South India. Not only is Hyderabad the most happening place down South, but it also has the most number of affluent people. We are going to take people back to the roots.

There are 108 ways of wearing a sari, 45 ways of wearing a turban and 60 styles for wearing a dhoti; but in this fast-food age, we have not given our Indian traditions much importance and we hope to change that.”

source: http://www.deccanchronicle.com / Deccan Chronicle / Home> Nation> Current Affairs / by ADC / May 03rd, 2014

Tindipotha gastronomic delight from a food truck

May 10, 2014Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Business & Economy, Community Involvement / Social Issues, NRI's / PIO's, Travel & Tourismmpositiveone@gmail.com

by Phalgunn Maharishi

The residents of Mysore, especially in the neighbourhoods of Bannimantap and Rajeev Nagar are now familiar with a big truck parked on the roadside near JSS Dental College with shining lights and people surrounding it eating costly food. But wait a minute! Costly food in a big truck? Well, it seems to be costly as the big truck sells fresh American-Mexican food but that’s not really costly. “A Mysorean can now fill his stomach with some classy food for just Rs. 80 on an average,” said Syed Manju while speaking about his big boy “Tindipotha.”

Syed Manju previously held the position of an Area Manager handling Public Relations and Marketing for 28 years in Costco, USA, the Number 3 retailer in the world which directly competes with Walmart, before heading towards Mysore to come up with his dream boy. “I had a passion towards cooking due to which I quit the job and came to Mysore with an interest in doing something unique, something which never existed here. That’s when Tindipotha was born,” commented Syed Manju while speaking about how it all started. The ecstatic and energetic Syed Manju keeps travelling back and forth between Mysore and Bellingham (90 miles north of Seattle in the United States) where his wife (Diane Houston), little girl Zara (16) and a little boy Iyan (14) lives.

Originally born in Channapatna and brought up in Mandya, Syed Manju is a self made man. He studied B.Sc and Diploma in Film Acting. He soon landed into Kannada Film Industry during his late 20s by directing films like Neenakkaga and Kanoonige Sawaal after which he travelled to USA for a trip to stay with his brothers and sisters for a while. Manju said, “Don’t ask me how, but I got my green card over there” with a wink and also added, “I never wanted to be there forever. Infact I had plans of directing more films in Kannada, but my fate made me stay there,” with a sweet smile. The last film produced by Manju was Appaji starring late Dr. Vishnuvardhan in the lead role released in 1996.

Coming back to Tindipotha, it all started roughly an year ago when Syed Manju and his brother Rafi Manju bought an old truck and got it rebuilt in Mandya to bring the new fancy boy to the streets of Mysore. “I was scared in the beginning. It was something new, something which the Mysoreans never experienced before. A new food to a new market. We had to prepare American-Mexican style foods with the ingredients available in Mysore and it didn’t seem easy for us in the beginning. But we did it and still doing it. It’s been an year and we are doing good,” said Syed Manju while speaking about Tindipotha.

Tindipotha has recently transformed itself from being just a food truck into a youth junction where we can find college going kids spending their cool evenings eating the sizzling new dishes like Nachos, Chicken Melt, Roti Lapat, Gilli Chicken, Turpi Chicken, Rollito, Apple Dream, Lava Pie, and many more summing up to over twenty different types of food.

“My brother Rafi Manju manages the front end and cash while my nephew Syed Umair Manju is our grill master. He even looks after the crew. Farhan, the cousin of Umair, assists the crew inside out and Tausif does all the deep fry and plating. Siddique and Atiq have been newly added to the crew and are learning ropes. Tausif, Siddique and Atiq are all family friends. We are all family and its a family business. The whole crew, except me and my brother, are college going kids,” said Syed Manju while introducing the team of Tindipotha.

People love the food. We had an interactive session with some regular customers of Tindipotha who expressed their hearts out. Bashar and Abdur Razzak, who stay in Bannimantap said, “This is really nice. It’s different than what we find elsewhere. We don’t find such tasty food at any other place, especially the Nachos! We come here for Nachos,” when asked to express how they feel about Tindipotha. Areb and his friends Mohammed Fahad and Rakshad, who come all the way from Bangalore just to eat at Tindipotha, said that they still haven’t yet got over the taste of Chicken Melt. The trio commented, “Its been a year and we still come here to eat the same thing,” with a laugh. Dental students Alley and Ahmad, who are from Iran visit Tindipotha atleast twice a week and mentioned that they love the tasty food and also the hospitality given to them by Syed Manju and his crew.

While speaking about the unpredictability of such food business in a city like Mysore, Syed Manju said, “Usually weekends are the busiest days for us, yet we can never predict. Sometimes customers ask me, which is the best dish prepared here! Well, I tell them to close their eyes and put their finger on the menu and we will serve it. If they don’t like the food, let them not pay us but if they like it, they need to pay us double.” He also added, “We are different from other eating places in the city saying that we smile at our customers which we can never find in any other hotels in Mysore. We also appreciate each and every customer, thank them and enquire in person whether they liked the dish. The food is also custom made for every single customer according to his likes and dislikes and we keep changing the taste one plate at a time.”

Tindipotha is for sure a place to be cherished and one of its kind in Mysore. It’s both vegetarian and non-vegetarian food truck with some tasty healthy and classy American-Mexican food at low prices. Do you want to try some different custom made food? Just head towards Tindipotha in Bannimantap near JSS Dental College between 7 pm and 11 pm any day! For more details, type in TINDIPOTHA in facebook and you will get the fan page.

source: http://www.starofmysore.com / Star of Mysore / Home> Feature Articles / May 04th, 2014

Bangalore boys come first in aero competition

May 7, 2014Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Community Involvement / Social Issues, Education, Science & Technologympositiveone@gmail.com

Bangalore :

Bangalore, the aviation capital of India, has often had its young opting for careers in aerospace, many displaying their skills at various forums. Two teams from Bangalore only reaffirmed this fact by bagging the first two places at the recently concluded (April 12) Boeing India-IIT national-level aeromodelling competition.

The four Bangalore boys — three from ASC College of Engineering, and one from BMS — competed against 560 participants to clench the contest.

At one point, Tabrez Nadvi Anser, Pavan MJ, and Vignesh Arul of ASC College, who bagged the first place, stared at a missed opportunity. “Selection for the finals was to happen at four zones, IIT Madras (South), IIT Kharagpur (East), IIT Bombay (West), and IIT Kanpur (North). Unfortunately, we couldn’t enter the zonal-level competition at IIT Chennai, as it coincided with our semester exams. We finally got permission to participate from the East zone, and our college helped us with the funding,” Tabrez told TOI.

In the zonal round, Pavan said, the team focused on design and building of the remote control (RC) aircraft, keeping in mind the ability to glide. “We did not buy a ready-made aircraft,” Tabrez added.

Having qualified for the finals with 12 other teams from various zones, the four shifted their focus to flying and acrobatic flying, as per the problem statement given by the organizers. They built a depron-made 3D RC aircraft which performed all manoeuvres as planned. “Eventually, we won because of our strategy which was duly acknowledged by the jury,” Tabrez said.

While team ASC was busy clearing hurdles at the zonal levels, Mohammed Shadman Alam was steering a solo show. “While other teams had at least two participants, with the upper limit set at four per team, Alam did everything alone,” said one of the organizers.

At the end, the battle was between the two Bangalore teams, and Alam came second. “Going alone has its perks. I could conceive and design what I wanted, and also perform manoeuvres I liked. Also, if something were to go wrong, the blame would be all mine, and so was it with the credit,” he said.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Bangalore / by Chethan Kumar, TNN / April 30th, 2014

MELANGE : Royal treat for bibliophiles

May 5, 2014Amazing Feats, Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Community Involvement / Social Issues, Education, Travel & Tourism, World Opinionmpositiveone@gmail.com

Books restored from different Asaf Jahi dynasties are in the Chowmahallah Palace library./ Photos: Nagara Gopal / The Hindu

The Mehtab Mahal library at Chowmahalla Palace throws open a treasure trove from the Nizam’s era

The Nizams, it turns out, had an eye for everything exquisite. From the jewellery they wore to the silks that adorned their wardrobe, the cars they rode in, and the cuisine they partook, everything simply spelt royalty. While these indicate their lavish lifestyle, their interest in books and literature is less known.

Throwing light on their urge to discover and relate to the world around is the Royal Library in Chowmahalla Palace; its collection of books includes The Life of Samuel Johnson, History of Don Quixote, John F Kennedy – Portrait of a President, Glimpses of India,The Princes of India and an array of Encyclopaedias and much more .

Situated in the Mehtab Mahal of the Chowmahalla, the Royal Library houses more than 10,000 books and “is a haven for researchers and book lovers.”

The library that was thrown open to book lovers last year has been digitized recently, not only to help book lovers but also ensure safety of the royal treasure.

The idea of the library is to protect and preserve the valuable collection of the Asaf Jahi kings. The collection mostly belonged to the Mir Mahboob Ali Khan (VI Nizam), Mir Osman Ali Khan (VII Nizam) and Nizam Mukarram Jah. The books have been sourced from different Asaf Jahi palaces like the Nazri Bagh, Chiran Palace and Chowmahalla to be housed in the Royal Library here.

The books thus collected were sorted and segregated into various categories.

Books restored from different Asaf Jahi dynasties are in the Chowmahallah Palace library./ The Hindu

“A lot of work went into making them ready to be put in the cases for readers to read them in the library. Various professionals worked to clean, bind and make the books fit for reading. We have applied all preservation techniques, including fumigation, to protect the books,” informs G. Kishan Rao. He adds, “The collection of books range from history, literature, poetry, philosophy, geography, culture and religion. This library also houses the exclusive collection of Qurans by the Nizams which was inaugurated recently.” A few books also hint at the Nizam’s passion to learn languages. The number of English books is close to 3000, followed by Urdu, Persian and Arabic.

“There is also a good number of Persian manuscripts containing the firmans issued by the Asaf Jahis as well as several volumes of Mir Osman Ali Khan’s poetry,” informs the librarian. Qurans of different sizes are in the process of being restored and will find place in the library after that.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> Features> MetroPlus / by Prabalika M. Borah / Hyderabad – April 25th, 2014