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Staying creative during lockdown 2020

By
Tania Saili
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0

Dateline Dehradun/Champawat: Lockdown 2020 has seen many a young mind from the entertainment business making their way home to Uttarakhand. Today we decided to check on a few artists, to see how they are braving it through this crisis. Young, artists Priyanka Karnwal and Raghav Juyal from Dehradun and Pawandeep Rajan from Champaat were kind enough to share their ‘Lockdown Mantra,’ and what has been keeping these busy bodies busy.

Priyanka Karnwal began her career with TV commercials such as Close Up, Himalaya, Malabar Gold and plenty more. She then moved onto television serials like Pavitra Rishta and Mariyamkhan Reporting Live amongst her latest. The talented youngster has also got a Kannad film,  ‘’NeenaDeena ‘’ under her belt.

Forthcoming and soft-spoken, Priyanka’s mantra has been spending quality time with her family and friends in her hometown of Dehradun. She has been busy doing yoga, trying her hand at culinary delights as well as exercising her green fingers. Free from household chores, she has found the time to make a musical-ode dedicated to Uttarakhand Police – at the forefront of fighting the present pandemic.

Raghav Juyal, who has come home after a long time, this young dancer-cum-actor’s mantra of dealing with the Covid-19 lockdown has been football, video games, bonding with family and plenty of ‘me’ time since March.

Raghav looks forward to a fruitful July with a lot of releases slated over the next few weeks. From his serial Abhay, Entertainer Number 1 also a movie in hand, Raghav basks in glory.

Pawandeep Rajan, the winner of Star Voice of India from Uttarakhand has been in Champawat since the 22nd of March. The lockdown has given him time to reinvent his digital presence on all social platforms. Setting up a state-of-the-art home-studio with proper sound equipment, keeps his creative juices flowing as well as gives an outlet to musical aspirants from his hometown.

Taking up freelancing projects like developing background scores for various web series platforms or e-concerts in Dubai, Hyderabad, all the while spending quality time with his family is a bonus for this youngster.

Lockdown 2020 may have pushed us into our cocoons. But from this darkness at noon, some emerge, rested and refreshed, to flutter like butterflies on to newer horizons.

Online Sanskrit Camp organized by IIT Roorkee

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Roorkee,  The Sanskrit Club of the Indian Institute of Technology(IIT) Roorkee, in association with Sanskrit Bharati (Website: samskritabharati.in), a non- profit organization, organized a worldwide program of online 15-day Spoken Sanskrit camp. This one-of-a-kind event titled ‘Subhashitam Sanskritam’ witnessed participation by over 4800 language enthusiasts from India and abroad.

The 15-day spoken Sanskrit classes will be followed by four advanced courses in Sanskrit. The objective of the event was to create awareness about the significance of Sanskrit among the young generation.

“Sanskrit is among the oldest languages in the world. There is a need to explore the pearls of wisdom hidden in Sanskrit literature in disciplines like science, astronomy, medicine and diplomacy,” said Prof. Ajit Chaturvedi, Director, IIT Roorkee

Dr. H.R.Vishwasa, Head, Teacher Training, Sanskrit Bharati, in his inaugural address said, “The uniqueness of Sanskrit lies in the derivation of words from root syllables and a highly inflected grammatical structure. Since antiquity, it has continued to exist in its pristine form without any alteration in pronunciation of its 36 consonants and 16 vowels. ‘Sambhashan’(conversation) is the first step towards reviving Sanskrit and making the young generation aware of its significance.”

The inaugural session was followed by an online session wherein Sanskrit experts taught the foundational aspects of the language in an amicable and engaging manner.

Unlock ‘2’ in Mussoorie

By
Tania Saili
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0

Dateline Mussoorie: Unlock two in the hill-station of Mussoorie has brought in hordes of tourists. Of course hoteliers and shopkeepers are not complaining as it means the cash registers are ringing. But it’s a Catch-22 of sorts: “There is 10% occupancy that might go up to 35% by the end of the month. Walk-in guests are a complete no-no. We allow only those who have proper papers to stay,” says Vineet Aggarwal, CEO, WelcomHotel The Savoy.

The local police are busy tackling day tourists from adjoining cities by enforcing rules and regulations in public places. Over one hundred and fifty chalaans have been issued in the past one-week. Speaking to Newspost, Devendra Aswal SHO Mussoorie says, “There are numerous entry points to Mussoorie. We are setting up check-posts at all entry points. We are issuing chalaans on the spot to violators as per the rules and regulations under the Epidemic Act.”

Life over livelihood seems to be leitmotif for many business establishments who have decided to remain shut, but for others it is a constant struggle between ‘do’ or ‘die’.

Ashish Srivastav, District Magistrate Dehradun assures us: “Tourists coming to Mussoorie are following government protocol. A Corona negative report by any ICMR lab, 72 hours prior of coming to Mussoorie is mandatory. These papers are being checked at all three entry points to Dehradun District and then again at Kothal Gate for those going up the hill,” adding, “Hotels have been asked to recheck Corona report of customers online once they check-into their property, to further verify their claims.”

With the town inadequate medical facilities, residents have been on an edge with cars and two-wheelers heading to what has been a safe heaven for its residents. Since the past hundred days and counting of the lockdown, the town has so far seen half a dozen Covid positive patients. But to some ‘Unlock 2’ is nothing short of a nightmare.

His Holiness the Dalai Lama XIV 85th birthday

By
Tania Saili
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Dateline Mussoorie: As ‘His Holiness in Maroon‘ arrives to the 85th summer of his life tomorrow, his extended family in exile all over the world, including monks, nuns, students, young and old shall join together, only in spirit, to celebrate the life of spiritual leader His Holiness The Dalai Lama.

In a letter released from the office of His Holiness in Dharamshala, Himanchal Pradesh the Tibetan Guru requested his loved ones to keep the celebrations a low-key affair due to the worldwide Pandemic. He appealed to every household to chant the ‘Lotus Awakening Mantra,’ Om Mani Padme Hum, a mantra to spread humanity and compassion in the world during these testing times.

Revered all over the world, His Holiness The Dalai Lama has always had a close affinity to Mussoorie. It was here in Birla House, Happy Valley that he came to oversee the setting up of the first Tibetan settlement in 1959. Since that exodus, it has seen some eleven thousand Tibetan refugees who arrived to make the hill-station and Dehradun valley their home.

For over seven decades and counting, the hill-station and its Tibetan establishment have held a special place in the heart and mind of the XIV Dalai Lama, who often visits the region.

Talking to Newspost, Tsering Luding Vice President, Doon Buddhist Committee tells us, “Every year we celebrate His Holiness’s birthday in our homes, community and settlements. It is a very special day in our lives. This year due to Covid-19 the celebrations will be understated, we have been asked to keep the gathering below fifty people. We shall ring in His Holiness birthday in our homes with the chanting of mantras, praying for global peace.’

While the world prays for the long, healthy life of His Holiness in Maroon, he, in turn, asks for nothing more than the welfare of humanity and compassion for all beings. A prayer for peace is a befitting gift to him on his 85th birthday from all those who treasure him.

IIT Roorkee researchers develop hassle-free driving under fog

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Roorkee,  A team of researchers at IIT Roorkee has developed an efficient architecture and algorithm to enable better driving experience and lower the risks of accidents in low visibility scenario. This research has been published in the IEEE Transactions on Intelligent Transportation Systems.

The presence of fog decreases the visibility distance exponentially, thus making it one of the most dangerous weather conditions for driving. The drivers tend to overestimate the visibility distance while travelling in fog and tend to speed. Also, different components of an automatic driver assistance system (ADAS) such as blind-spot detection, lane departure warning, and collision warning require clear image data. Therefore, every year hundreds of vehicle accidents are reported that claim thousands of lives.

“The objective of this research was to design a system for real-time defogging that produces a clear image stream from the input foggy frames. In addition to that, a high frame rate is essential in transportation to avoid frame lag or drop,” said Prof. Brajesh Kumar Kaushik – Department of Electronics and Communication Engineering

“Operations such as exponential function, floating-point multiplication and division, full image buffer, data transactions between the processor and dynamic random access memory (DRAM), deteriorate the performance. To circumvent these challenges, they developed an efficient method and architecture for real-time video defogging that are co-designed to attain high performance and image restoration quality while reducing the power and memory requirements,” he added.

The team used several standard foggy datasets containing a variety of fogs from light to dense. They devised an approach for atmospheric light and transmission map estimation that is suitable for high-speed parallel hardware such as field-programmable gate array (FPGA). They also utilized a flicker reduction technique to ensure temporal consistency among the video frames. To validate the design, they have used the Xilinx FPGA development kit and FMC card.

“The collision of vehicles due to poor visibility caused by fog leads to numerous fatalities annually. This advanced defogging system will aid drivers by providing real-time information and minimize the risks of road and train mishaps due to fog,” said Prof. Ajit K Chaturvedi, Director, IIT Roorkee

The research team comprised three members namely Prof. Brajesh Kumar Kaushik, Department of Electronics and Communication, IIT Roorkee, Prof. Balasubramanian Raman, Department of Computer Science, IIT Roorkee, and Mr. Rahul Kumar, Department of Electronics and Communication, IIT Roorkee.

The team is also working on prototyping and commercializing this technology.

IIT Roorkee collaborates with the University of Alberta for Joint Doctoral Degree Programs

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IIT Roorkee

Roorkee: Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Roorkee has signed an agreement with the University of Alberta, Canada, to provide Joint Doctoral Degree Programs (JDPs). Under this collaboration, the JDPs create a two-way flow for academic exchange, giving University of Alberta and IIT students the chance to undertake research at the partner institution for six months up to a year and providing them with international experience and special certification upon graduation.

IIT Roorkee is one of the three IITs partnering to provide Indian and Canadian students with JDPs others being IIT Bombay and IIT Kharagpur. Under the program, each collaborating institution will admit up to a maximum of two (2) Joint Degree students each academic year for the Joint Degree Program.

Elated with the alliance, Prof. Ajit Chaturvedi, Director, IIT Roorkee, said “This agreement will begin a new chapter in strengthening India-Canada ties in the education sector. IIT Roorkee looks forward to bolster and formalize our long-standing research collaboration with UAlberta since the 1980s. Apart from improving the quality of exposure of our students, the JDP agreement will hopefully catapult our research collaboration to greater heights”

During their JDPs, collaborating professors from the University and the IITs will serve as joint supervisors, identifying research projects for students to pursue during their doctoral studies. Both Alberta and participating IITs have agreed to create doctoral fellowships that will provide financial support in the form of a monthly stipend to cover the cost of accommodation and meals for JDP students during the duration of their visit.

Taking note of the benefits, Dr. David H. Turpin, President, UAlberta said “These programs create new opportunities to equip doctoral students with perspectives and skills that will benefit a global society. When we connect with leading international institutions such as the IITs, we’re fuelling new capacity for teaching, learning, and research.”

“The University of Alberta’s overall relationship with India is of key importance and a high priority in achieving innovative solutions to global issues,” said Dr. Cen Huang, Vice-Provost & Associate Vice-President (International) at UAlberta. “I am encouraged that the launch of the Joint Degree Programs with IITs Bombay, Kharagpur and Roorkee will help further establish academic relations with India in Canada and allow our students to enhance their global learning and perspectives.”

“In recent times, our academic collaboration with UAlberta, is witnessing a progressive exchange of students and faculty. This agreement will ensure a stable avenue for the aspiring scholars as well as for established researchers having an overlap with the research interests of UAlberta. The thrust will be given on providing adequate advice and support to the Joint Degree students for seamless study during the course” said Prof. P Arumugam, (Dean of International Relations), IIT Roorkee.

UAlberta has a rich history of academic collaboration with India, holding various partnership agreements to support academic mobility and joint research in place with IIT Roorkee since 2011, IIT Bombay since 2009, and IIT Kharagpur since 2013.

“Engage India was launched in April 2019 with the aim of promoting academic exchange and relations between U of A and India,” said Dr. Amit Kumar. “Our membership has expressed considerable interest in collaborating on joint research with Indian partners as well as recruiting high-quality graduate students from India. The Joint Doctoral Degree Programs with the IITs will help us accomplish both of these goals.”

Picketing Uttarkashi with Messages

By
Tania Saili
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0

Dateline Uttarkashi: No sooner do you enter the hill-district of Uttarkashi from Dharasu’s Nagur entry point, as you await your turn for the compulsory medical check-up and registration formalities, you will find it hard not to miss the colourful public awareness police pickets or barriers put up to welcome the visitor.

Over a dozen such barriers with Corona related slogans now dot all police stations across the district. An innovative SP Uttarkashi Pankaj Bhatt talks to us about the thought behind the initiative: “We realized that when people read awareness slogans in their regional language, it makes a better connect and has a deeper impact on them. It makes them feel motivated enough to follow do’s and don’t’s that need to be followed in these times. ”

Corona awareness slogans and their designs were shared with local talent in Uttarkashi by the police administration. These artists in turn let their imagination run free through the gamut of their creativity. The result of this novel are these on view: short, crisp slogans in Garhwali remind people to wear face-masks, use sanitizers, maintain social distancing, to take care of elderly and young children alike. You will find slogans splashed across police barriers, strategically placed at entry points. These pickets not only add more than just colour to the place but also help in motivating and spreading awareness amongst its citizenry entering the district.

Images of three police pickets at Dharasu have gone viral on the Internet. Citizens have applauded the efforts of this unique approach by a friendly police force in spreading public awareness in times of the present pandemic.

SP Pankaj Bhatt assures us: “Seventeen more such barriers are being readied by local artists out of which twelve are ready and waiting to be placed at various police stations in the district.”

No storm in this Teacup

By
Tania Saili
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0

Dateline Chamoli: Three kilometers beyond the Badrinath Temple, in Maana Village, stands ‘Bharat ki Antim Chai Ki Dukan,’ or India’s Last Tea Shop on the India-China border.

Started in 1992 as a rudimentary shack by a young entrepreneur Chandera Badwal, the tea stall serves hot tea, biscuits, hand-made savories and fritters to those who come visiting six months a year, from 5:00 a.m. to late at night.

Over the years, ‘Bharat ki Antim Chai Ki Dukan has become an iconic landmark which attracts tourists including cricketers, actors, artists, politicians and many others who have made their way here.

Chandera Badwal remembers: “I was all of fifteen when I started selling tea for just one rupee. Sometimes I used to make fifteen-twenty rupees in a day, all of which I used in making the shop more comfortable.”

The opening and closing of the shop is synced with the opening and closing of the portals of the holy shrine of Badrinath. Chandera served his last tea at the shop on the 16th of November 2019. It had been a good season for Chandera and his family of eight who solely depend on the earnings from his shop.

Amid many a disruptions on the phone line, Chandera tells me how the 2020 pandemic has hit ‘Bharat ki Antim Chai Ki Dukan’ too. “Post 2013 Kedarnath deluge, business took a battering but we still had a few stranded tourists and also those who came here after the disaster. But the present pandemic has been worse, hitting business hard: “We haven’t opened the shop since November 2019. There are no tourists or locals venturing out. We are surviving on our savings which are slowly beginning to dry up.”

How does he see the future? I ask. “Each night, before we sleep, the family prays that our country soon overcomes this epidemic soon. As for us, it’s all in the hands of the Gods!’ he says before disconnecting the faltering phone line.

A Trunk Full of Fun

By
Tania Saili
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Having fun

Dateline Haridwar: Elephants are modest. They always bathe with their trunks! At least Johnny, Sultan and Rani do and who could possibly ask for a healthier start to an otherwise mundane day when they have a rigorous fitness regime at their personal open-air gymnasium, shared with three other adults. This ensures they remain fit and fine.

These gentle giants are no ordinary five to six year olds, but simply adorable safari elephants living at the Chila Range of the Rajaji National Park.

Talking to Newspost, Anil Painuly, Range Officer, Chila Range, adds: “Our six elephants go from a six-year-old to thirty and all of them are like our own children. They depend solely upon us for everything and we too try to make sure that we pamper them in every which way.”

Fit and Fab

While in the wild, elephants walk close to eighteen hours a day foraging for fodder and water. Here, in the range these six elephants are used for patrolling, carrying fodder back to their enclosure when they are not taking tourists out on a jungle safari. The last task, sadly, has come to a grinding halt due to the present contagion.

To ensure that these elephants do not face boredom, and remain healthy and happy, the Forest Department of the Rajaji National Park took fitness tracking to a whole other mammoth level: “we came up with a unique open-air gymnasium consisting of a mud bath, dangling objects like footballs or discarded tyres; tangled nets with holes or empty barrels. The incentives – fruits and hay – are tucked away, hidden from the view inside these props. They are exercised and entertained.’ explains Anil Painuly.

Less than a month old, the gym has become a favourite haunt of these mammoth mammals. The young ones mimic the elderly captive elephants but always under the watchful eye of their mahawats or minders as the pachyderms sweat it out every day. Believe you me! It keeps them physically fit, mentally agile as they strive to stay ahead of never forgetting anything.

The Many Melodies of Uttarakhand

By
Tania Saili
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0

Dateline Dehradun: Where would one begin to search about the upcoming music scene in Uttarakhand? Rappers to Hip-Hop artists are now just a click away. A ninety minute conversation with over thirty musical talents, which took over four hundred days of research, travel and work, is now available on YouTube.

Famous YouTuber, Hip Hop Journalist & Former Radio Jockey, Raaj Jones put his talent to look for scattered artists across the State in order to record their musical journey for posterity.

The first episode of the documentary features thirty-seven rappers, and has been appreciated by the likes of Raftaar, Raghav Juyal, Ikka, Ishq Bector, Haji Springer, Phenom who have shared it on their Instagram account.

An Uttarakhandi by birth, Raaj was born and brought up in Bhowali, Nainital. For eight years he worked in the Radio Industry but kept an eye out for budding talent in various fields. Raaj explains: “There are generally five elements i.e. Dancing, Rapping, Graffiti, Djying, Beat Boxing but in my home-state of Uttarakhand there is a sixth element which is Extreme Sports. We have covered all these interesting fields. The first episode is dedicated to home-grown, talented thirty-seven Rappers including two female artists.”

About the Rap  scene in Uttarakhand, he confesses: “There is a lot of talent here. The lyrics, music, video production, flow and rhythm are at par with anyone else in those fields, but unfortunately their talent goes unsung. He adds: “But what moves me the most, is the unity amongst the artists, who encourage and motivate each other all the time.”

Raaj Jones feels his documentation would have been incomplete without the help of Team Evolution, Nashua Films Studio and Khanna Saab Productions. They helped him in this search for talent that cut across all genres and has brought their inspirational stories on to a common platform for all to see.

Watch the episode here:

https://youtu.be/jK6tMjX1DdE

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