Mysore - News thread

[s.yogendra]

Devotees in thousands queued up braving the misty weather to get a darshan of Goddess Chamundeshwari on the ocassion of Ashaada Shukravara, in Mysore.

The first Ashada Shukravara puja began at Chamundeshwari temple atop the Chamundi Hills here on Friday. Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa offered prayers to the presiding deity of Mysore at the temple around 5.20 a.m.

People started arriving at the temple early in the morning.

©The Hindu

[s.yogendra]

[engineer.akash]

So what next? What will they do during dasara?Where will they park vehicles?

Pet theme park likely to open by year-end

A pet theme park which offers committed space for pets and pet owners is being constructed in a five-acre plot at Niveditanagar here and the unique park is likely to be operational by the end of this year. An initiative of the Mysore City Corporation (MCC), the park has been conceptualised on the lines of popular pet theme parks abroad and it is being designed to suit all kinds of pets, primarily canines. “The estimates of the project and the designs are being prepared by the experts. However, landscaping, tree planting and lawn development will begin soon at the plot. Work on establishing the proposed facilities will start once the designs are finalised. The park is being developed on public-private partnership (PPP) model and revenue will be generated through membership and services,” said MCC Commissioner K. S. Raykar.

In an informal chat withThe Hindu, the Commissioner said: “The park is the country's first full-scale theme park for pets.” MARS, an NGO with expertise in developing pet theme parks and responsible pet care, has been roped in by the MCC to establish the park.

More than 11 facilities such as a dedicated walking space, amusement, grooming, training, vet care etc had been proposed at the park. “Importantly, a sensory garden for checking the senses of the pets is also coming up and experts from abroad are helping us in setting up the sensory garden,” Mr. Raykar said. An exclusive swimming pool for dogs has also been proposed. A special purpose vehicle (SPV) consisting of him, the mayor, like-minded pet-owning people and others will manage the park, he explained. “Inputs on the research on pets will also be made available at the pet theme park as an NGO from the United Kingdom is likely to assist us in promoting research concepts on pets here,” the commissioner said. Mr. Raykar said Bermuda grass will be planted in the plot.

The planting will begin once the monsoon gains momentum. Tiled walkways, grooming salons for dogs and cats, pet food outlets, veterinary clinics and so on will be part of the park.

Investment in the facilities for pet care has to be done by the entrepreneurs while the corporation will act only as a facilitator.

The corporation proposed the idea of bringing pet needs like food, medicine, amusement, training and grooming saloon at one place in view of the spurt in canine population and other pet animals here.


Exclusive swimming pool for dogs has also been proposed

Park is the first full scale theme park for pets in the country

[engineer.akash]

Basveshwara Circle

[s.yogendra]

JAWA BIKE FANS TAKE OUT COLOURFUL RALLY IN CITY

Mysore, Marking the 9th annual Jawa CZ Day, a colourful bike rally was taken out today by 150 Jawa Yezdi enthusiasts in city.



DCP Basavaraj Malagathi, who flagged off the rally at Lalitha Mahal Helipad, also rode a Jawa bike for a short distance.

The rally passed through M.G. Road, Manasagangotri, Vontikoppal, Bannimantap to culminate at Srirangapatna. The rally was led by Gavin Wilson, Founder-Member of Yezdi Owners' Club, who incidentally owns 16 Jawa bikes. The interesting feature of the rally was Gavin's wife Mary and his 62-year-old mother Maria, rode the Jawa bikes independently and effortlessly. Speaking to SOM, Gavin said that the Club was founded five years ago by Jawa enthusiasts and the sheer love for the bike had bound them together. Glastone Wilson, father of Gavin, who rode pillion with his son, told SOM that he had served in Jawa factory for 30 years.

Somender Singh, the popular bike racer who has won several competitions, also took part.

Jawa Day was also celebrated at Bangalore today at Tasker Town Ground behind Shivajinagar bus stand.

©Star of Mysore


©DHNS

[s.yogendra]

Mysore Palace from Chamundi hills

image hosted on flickr

©bosebijit@Flickr

[s.yogendra]

Dasara preparations have started

The Dasara preparations have started three months in advance. On Monday, district minister S A Ramdas discussed the Dasara festivities with the officials and decided on a few things: The Dasara elephants will start their trek out of the woods on August 8 from Veeranahosahalli on the fringes of Nagarhole national park. The Dasara sub-committee will be restricted to 25 and the empowered committee headed by CM B S Yeddyurappa will hold its first meeting on July 18

©Times of India

[s.yogendra]

Mysore Infosys centre named after Narayana Murthy

MYSORE: Infosys renamed its Mysore Global Training Centre as Narayana Murthy Centre of Excellence here on Monday.

Speaking at the renaming ceremony, N R Narayana Murthy, chief mentor, Infosys Technologies Limited, said youngsters should be trained in such a way that they would be fit enough to replace the senior leaders in the organization.

He also called upon the management to not lessen the training period. "Youths are the future leaders. They need to get proper training and exposure before they get onto the job. If an individual undergoes proper training, then it will be an asset to the organization,'' he added.

To serve the customers better, he called upon the management and trainers to conduct a two-hours English class daily during the 29-week training period for the trainees. "I learnt that many are not well versed in English speaking or writing, so proper English training is essential for proper communication,'' said Murthy.

Gopala Krishna, CEO, Infosys, said the six-month training was good.

A stone plaque with the portrait of Narayana Murthy was unveiled by Murthy himself. Sudha Murty, Infosys Foundation chairperson, Rohan Murthy, his wife Lakshmi were present.

The Infosys campus is spread over 337 acres. The total capacity of the centre has been enhanced to educate 14,000 Infoscions. Infosys' total investment in the Mysore centre is Rs 2,055 crore.

©TOI

[s.yogendra]

DASARA FESTIVAL FROM SEPT. 28 TO OCT. 6

Gajapayana from Aug. 8: Palace reception on Aug. 11

Mysore, July 12 (AB&KMC)- The world famous Dasara festivities will commence from Sept. 28 and end on Oct. 6. This is the 401st edition of the royal festival, now celebrated as the Naada Habba.

The Gajapayana — travelling of elephants participating in Jumboo Savari from their respective elephant training camps of the Forest Department to Mysore city — an annual ritual which marks the commencement of Dasara festival preparations will be held on Aug. 8, in the auspicious time from 10.30 am to 11.30 am, affixed by astrologers.

The elephants will be accorded a grand traditional reception at the Palace gate on Aug. 11 at 10.40 am.

District In-Charge Minister S.A. Ramdas, who disclosed the above after chairing a meeting of the district administration held at the DC Office yesterday, said that several precautionary measures will be adopted to ensure that the tourists, especially those from abroad, are not put to inconveniences during the festivities.

As usual, the Deputy Commissioner will be the Special Officer, with other officials as the Deputy Special Officers.

"A sum of Rs. 10 crore has been earmarked in the budget for Dasara festival. We will urge the Chief Minister to release maximum funds at the earliest possible time. We will also request him to issue a Gazette notification to celebrate Dasara as a Naada Habba," he said.

The system of issuing Gold Cards will continue this year too, as it would avoid the hassle of issuing and checking the passes.

The Dasara website will be clubbed with the Mysore Palace website, through which all the information and programme details can be obtained. Since the Palace website is visited by tourists throughout the globe, they will also be interested to know about the Dasara festival, it was suggested.

More emphasis will be laid on cultural programmes this year. In addition to the four main venues, two more will be added — Town Hall and Jaganmohan Palace.

Grand Rural Dasara: For this, the Folk Dasara will be clubbed with Rural Dasara, thus making an attempt at attracting the rural populace.

The Wrestling Sub-Committee has been entrusted with the additional responsibility of conducting other sports events like cycling, skating, chess, badminton, tennis, body-building, etc.

The Film Festival will be screening some rare theme-based films of Kannada and other languages on an experimental basis.

More emphasis will be laid on the tableaus. The Minister suggested that tableaus of the Diwan's of Mysore be made this time.

A meeting of prospective sponsors will be held in Bangalore to lure more sponsors for the Mysore Dasara.

The Minister directed the officials concerned to complete all the preparations by Aug. 15.

Deputy Commissioner P.S. Vastrad, Mysore University Registrar Ramu, In-Charge Additional DC Nasreen Baig, MUDA Commissioner Dr. C.G. Betsurmath, KSRTC DC M.N. Srinivas, City Police Commissioner Sunil Agarwal, DCP Basavaraj Malagatti, District SP Manish Karbikar, ZP CEO G. Sathyavathi and others were present.

©Star of Mysore

[s.yogendra]

Cabinet likely to clear merger of SBICI with SBI tomorrow

NEW DELHI: The government is likely to consider merger of State Bank of India Commercial and International Bank Ltd (SBICI) with the country's largest lender SBI at the meeting of Union Cabinet tomorrow.

SBICI is a wholly owned subsidiary of SBI and functions as a private sector bank offering the an array of financial products and services.

Cabinet is likely to take-up acquisition of SBICI by its parent SBI, sources said.

The board of SBI had cleared amalgamation of SBICI with itself in 2008.

As of March 2011, the paid-up capital of subsidiary of SBI stood at Rs 100 crore while it earned a net profit of Rs 4.21 crore.

SBICI's capital adequacy ratio (CAR) stood at 28.16 per cent at the end of March 2011.

SBI has already merged two of its associates namely State Bank of Saurashtra and State Bank of Indore since 2008.

SBI's first ever amalgamation with its associate State Bank of Saurashtra took place in 2008 followed by State Bank of Indore in August last year.

SBI plans the consolidation of remaining five associate banks. SBI has five associate banks -- State Bank of Bikaner and Jaipur, State Bank of Travancore, State Bank of Patiala, State Bank of Mysore and State Bank of Hyderabad.

Among these, the State Banks of Bikaner and Jaipur, State Bank of Mysore and State Bank of Travancore are listed companies.

© economictimes

[s.yogendra]

interesting article published in The Hindu on April 23, 2010

It's going to be a metropolis

With its population set to cross the one million mark, Mysore will soon qualify for the status of a metropolitan city

The image can only be as bright as the reality. And Mysore's images reinforced the notions of being a “pensioners' paradise”, a “garden city” or a city trapped in a time-warp reflecting the bygone era of the Maharajas with its palaces and heritage buildings. Indeed, that was the reality about Mysore and hence such images in popular perception.

But the winds of change are sweeping away the last vestiges of the Maharaja's era and with it many sobriquets. And also the notion that it is a city with an easy and a laid-back attitude where time stands still.

Thanks to unbridled urbanisation in the recent past accompanied by population growth and the city's emergence as a favorable destination for investment, the contours of Mysore is changing fast and the city is almost unrecognizable for the old-timers.

Census

But the pace with which Mysore is urbanising will be brought out by the ongoing decennial census and the authorities have projected the city's population to cross the one million mark. This, when officially announced around March 2011, will be a significant event in the annals of the once small-time village as Mysore will qualify for the “metropolitan city” status based on its population.

In fact, when the capital of the erstwhile Mysore kingdom was changed from Srirangapatna to the present city, a British officer lamented that the “new capital” has nothing to boast of, not even a single structure befitting its status to hold the coronation ceremony of the king. The region was known as ‘Mysooru' or ‘Mysuru' as may be ascertained from the ancient inscriptions, but the city as it exists is relatively new and its transformation is a modern phenomenon.

The Deputy Commissioner, P. Manivannan, pointed out that based on the growth trends, the city's population, which was pegged at 7.86 lakh in the 2001 census, will cross the one million mark and hence Mysore will qualify for the metropolitan city status. , The Constitution of India clearly states that a city with a population of one million or more should be bracketed as a metropolitan city.

The Government anticipates the number of “metropolitan” cities to increase from 35 to 50 based on the projected population of the 2011 census which means renewed focus on urban infrastructure development. The number of “metropolitan” cities with a population of million plus after the 1991 census was 23. The list of metropolitan cities with a population of more than one million already includes Kanpur, Jaipur, Bhopal, Coimbatore, Madurai, Kochi, Nashik, Meerut, Indore and Agra among others while Kolkata, Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore and Chennai are among the mega cities.

Challenges

While Mysore city's population is expected to cross the million mark, the district population figures have been pegged at 30 lakh for the 2011 census while it was 26.4 lakh after the 2001 census. The ensuing exercise will bring to light the extent of urbanisation and the accompanying challenges in the district.

While Mysore's gradual transformation has been documented and monitored and there is growing awareness to stop its run-away and unregulated growth, the metropolitan city status will forever sweep away the images of a sleepy and a languid city but with it comes the negative images associated with a million-plus population cities – that of overcrowding, lack of green cover, shanty towns, poor infrastructure due to lack of planning, all of which can only lead to chaos.

But urbanisation of Mysore does not mean an increase in the population alone. It heralds with it changes in the socio-economic pattern and will have a bearing on the political equations.

Other issues associated with urbanisation include deteriorating environment, new challenges to the city authorities to provide the necessary civic amenities and services to the burgeoning population, effective transportation, drinking water facilities, education, sanitation, energy etc to keep the city on the track of steady growth, devoid of the accompanying chaos that characterises Indian cities.

The absence of these services and regulation of growth can only lead to proliferation of slums, increase in urban poverty, increase in crime rate etc., which goes against the avowed philosophy Mysore of making a slum-free city.

The City Development Plan submitted to the Government of India under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) hinted at the emerging scenario. One was the growth in the city area. An analysis of the land use pattern clearly depicted this as per the projections of the Mysore Urban Development Authority, and the total area of Mysore or the size of the city is set to double when compared to the 1990s.

Mysore's sprawl continues unabated and the city is likely to be spread around 15,600 hectares. It increased from 7,569 hectares in 1991 to 9,221 hectares in 1995. But since then, the horizontal sprawl of Mysore has been rapid.

The first casualty of this growing urbanisation is the shrinking of green cover and as per the CDP for JNNURM the total area demarcated for parks and open spaces or green spaces is expected to decrease in future.

This will reduce from 3,060 hectares to around 2,690 hectares by 2011 while the total area demarcated for residential purposes is expected to increase to 6,098 hectares, which is an increase of 114 per cent over the 2001 figure of 2,850 hectares.

Land use pattern

The CDP's projected land use pattern for 2011 indicates that the residential zones of Mysore will occupy 43.45 per cent of the total area while parks and open spaces will account for 7.52 per cent.

The available land for public utility will be a mere 0.31 per cent or 43.35 hectares while the space available for traffic and transportation will be around 2,308 hectares that will account for 16.96 per cent of the total area.

The demographic trend of Mysore was also foreseen in the CDP. The average decadal percentage growth rate of Mysore's population, starting with a low base rate of 4 per cent, increased from 68,000 to 71,000 between 1901 and 1911 and reached around 84,000 in 1921.

The city's population increased to 1.07 lakh by 1931 and was around 1.5 lakh by 1941 and crossed the 2.44 lakh mark by 1960 and has been steadily increasing.

Given the present growth rate, the city's population is expected to cross the 15.7 lakh mark by 2020 and 22 lakh by 2030.

© The Hindu

[engineer.akash]

Rained heavily in Mysore

[s.yogendra]

MCC trade license drive nets Rs 57,000

A team of officers belonging to Mysore City Corporation (MCC) on Thursday undertook trade licence drive on Dhanwantri Road in the city.

The drive led by in-charge health officer M V Sudha collected Rs 57,000 in the form of both fee and renewal fee on the spot,by inspecting nearly 100 shops.

Initially, some among the traders protested the demand for on the spot renewal, only to budge later. Some amount of banned plastic (below 40 micron thickness) was also seized during the drive. The city corporation for the past one month has been holding the drive collecting huge penalty from the traders on D Devaraj Urs Road, Sayyaji Rao Road and the surroundings of Gandhi Square.

A few shops were also sealed as the owners refused to renew the licence citing some reasons. Strangely, one of the shopkeepers on D D Urs road preferred to close business over renewal of licence, pending since past five years.

© DHNS

[s.yogendra]

[s.yogendra]

CIIL completes fruitful 42 years in city

The Central Institute of Indian Languages, which was established on July 17, 1969, is all set to celebrate its 43rd Foundation Day.



To mark the event, the institute has organised a three-day national level meet (July 17 to19) on ‘Foundations of language studies in India’. Several government bodies and institutions dealing with Indian languages are expected to take part, besides departments of Linguistics from various universities across the country.

The objective of the institute is to assist in and coordinate the development of Indian languages, to bring about unity of languages through scientific study and inter-linguistic research and to promote mutual enrichment of languages and thus contribute towards emotional integration of the people.

It coordinates with state languages institutes; tribal research institutes and bureaus; university departments of languages and linguistics; Central Institute of English, Hyderabad; Kendriya Hindi Sansthan, Agra; Anthropological Survey of India; language division of the registrar-general’s office and other academic bodies or organisations.

The three-day meet would take stock of the work being done and to plan for emerging situations, through fresh initiatives in the 12th Plan.

The institute has different centres dealing with linguistic description, documentation, material production, language teaching and testing. In addition, it pursues interdisciplinary research in speech sciences, sociolinguistics and psycholinguistics.

In recent years language technology and translation have gained importance and the institute is the nodal agency for Linguistic Data Consortium for Indian Languages involving creation of annotated corpus which will assist technological growth. It also houses the National Translation Mission, which is a key scheme of the National Knowledge Commission that seeks to translate knowledge texts from English to other languages.

© DHNS

[engineer.akash]

cc j c prakash

[s.yogendra]

Cops ready with bullet proof jackets for Dasara

With just two monts left for 2011 edition of 'Nada Habba  Dasara to unfold, the city police have begun to chalk out plans to make it a smooth affair.

Coinciding with the biggest celebration of the year, the city police have received 50 bullet proof jackets. It’s for the first time the police have received the sophisticated armour, which will be used by the force depending on the situation henceforth. In the wake of Mumbai terror attack, a route march has been planned on July 20, to tell the people that police are ready to deal with any danger, commissioner said.

That apart, it has been decided to unplug many a holes before the d-day. Elaborating on the plans, the commissioner said notice will be served on those lodges having 10 and above rooms who haven’t equipped their lounges with close circuit TV cameras. The cameras should be installed within August.The violators will not be allowed to continue business after the deadline, he warned.

The commissioner said terrorists cannot act overnight as it requires a reece of the area, besides detailed planning. The need of the hour will be keeping an eye on those who have checked into the lodges a few months in advance, besides acting in a suspicious manner. To make it effective, surprise raids will also be conducted.

The hospitals including both government and private where in-patient facilities are available will also be asked to install CCTVs to keep track of every person.

It’s the public who have to remain pro-active always,’ as they are already asked to be abreast of every happenings in the area-good or bad and pass on the information to the police. ‘Namma Mane’ a recent programme involving police to bring back school dropouts will definitely come in handy during this situation, as every police is in-charge of 200 houses, the police commissioner said.

As a permanent measure, the office of police commissioner has sought additional 30 CCTV cameras to be installed at a few more junctions. In the present scenario, 42 cameras have been put up at select junctions.

© DHNS

[engineer.akash]

Mysore Golf course - JW Golf



CC Golf designers.com

[s.yogendra]

Dasara high-level committee constituted
Mysore, July 17, DHNS:

Dasara high-level committee has been constituted under the chairmanship of Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa.

A release from deputy commissioner P S Vastrad said medical education and district in-charge minister S A Ramdas would be working president of the committee.

It comprises 54 members and prominent among them are forest minister C H Vijayashankar, Kannada and culture minister Govinda Karjola, opposition leader in the legislative Assembly Siddaramaiah, mayor Pushpalatha Chikkanna, ZP president Suneetha Veerappagowda, scion of the royal family Srikanta Datta Narasimharaja Wadiyar, MPs H Vishwanath, R Dhruvanarayan and N Cheluvarayaswamy, chairpersons of boards and corporations, legislators and others.

An executive committee has also been constituted under the chairmanship of minister  Ramdas. Kannada and culture department secretary will be vice-chairman, while deputy commissioner will be working president and special officer. Members are: C H Vijayashankar, directors of Kannada and culture and tourism departments, commissioner of youth services and sports, police commissioner, superintendent of police, superintending engineer of Cesc, conservator of forest, ZP CEO, commissioners of MCC and MUDA.

DHNS

[s.yogendra]

Where taste calls you
Manish DHNS

For those obsessed with chats, Sri Sukka Chats on KRS Road opposite PKTB Sanatorium offers a delightful menu of dishes associated with puris, writes Manish



Sri Sukka Chats opposite PKTB Sanatorium on KRS Road in Mysore. Dh photos by PRashanth H G‘Sri Sukka Chats... Where taste calls you’ gleams a signboard on a minivan converted into a pani puri stall opposite PKTB Sanatorium on KRS Road*. A row of stone slabs placed on either side of the minivan is the seat for customers.

Started by brothers Harish and Mahesh Kumar C in 1998 , the chat centre has become very popular in the surrounding areas for its high quality puris.

Whether it be masala puri or the pani puri, each plate dished out by the deft hands of the two brothers makes customers come back to the centre regularly. When Harish and Mahesh first started, they set-up the push cart pani puri centre on the KRS Road.

While the younger brother was pursuing his eighth standard, the elder was studying in I PUC.

After their school and college hours, they would head home and pick-up the puris prepared at home, load the green peas and masala on to their push-cart and trudge up the steep KRS Road from their home in Gokulam.

Customers would often wonder looking at the young lads at work, “Can these two boys really make good pani puris or masala puris?” Once customers had a mouthful, they found to their utter amazement that no other place could satiate their tastebuds.

Slowly, over the years, the duo have earned their stall a reputation as one of the best chat centres in the city — especially among the residents of Gokulum, Metagalli, B M Shri Nagar, Kumbarakoppal, Hebbal and Vijayanagar.

They offers pani puri, masala puri, sev puri, dahi puri, dahi smash, bhel puri, sev masala, aloo puri and aloo masala. However, their signature dish is the ‘Sukka puri’ that is termed as the best by regulars at the centre. Harish opines that ‘dahi smash’ is the favourite of techies, who come from software companies located nearby.

Speaking to City Herald, Harish recalls, “When we opened the chat centre in 1998, there was not even a single chat centre in the vicinity. We were the first to open it in this area.”

While necessity is often termed as the mother of inventions, Harish and Mahesh had to open the shop at a young age as the motorcycle company their father G Channaiah worked in had shut shop. With the responsibility of feeding the family, the youngsters set out working their magic on puris.

Elder brother Mahesh points out, “Our grandfather Gopalaiah was a sweetmaker and a majority of pani puri stalls in the city belong to our relatives.” With the art of making pani puris being passed on from generations, Mahesh recalls that when they started making puris, one plate of puri cost Rs 3.50.

The centre which was offering puris on a push cart until recently has now turned hi-tech with a minivan to cater to the demands of the customers. Looking at their minivan, Harish beams proudly and says,“We are the first in the city to invest a huge amount on a minivan exclusively for a pani puri centre.” Sri Sukka Chats is open between 4.10 pm and 10.40 pm all through the year except on Deepavali, says Harish.