Daily Archives: June 9, 2014

Momentous event

A special cover on late Qadir Ali Baig and a brilliant monologue by Rashmi Seth marked the 10th anniversary of the Foundation

It was indeed an honour for theatre fraternity when a special postal cover was released on June 3, at Salarjung Museum, in memory of Qader Ali Baig on the occasion of his 30th death anniversary.

launch of postal cover
launch of postal cover

The occasion of the launch of the Special Cover was also to mark ten years of the Qadir Ali Baig Theatre Foundation.

Director of Postal Services, Radhika Chakravarthy said, “India Post honours famous personalities whose contribution is exemplary and it is a befitting tribute to late Mirza Qadir Ali Baig sahab.”

Acknowledging the unique honour, Mohammad Ali Baig said, “This tribute would provide further inspiration and motivation to us as well as rest of the country’s theatre fraternity.”

Special occasionA scene from the play 'Dhoop Ka Tukda'
Special occasionA scene from the play ‘Dhoop Ka Tukda’

Play by Rashmi Seth

The event was followed by a moving performance by veteran actress Rashmi Seth in the play Dhoop ka Tukda , which had the packed audience follow her in total silence. Seth acted in late Qadir Ali Baig’s several socially-meaningful plays in the 1970s and 80s like Aadhey Adhurey , Burf ki Minaar and has also featured in Mohammad Ali Baig’s epic spectacles Resham ki Dor , Taramati , Quli: Dilon ka Shahzaada and Savaan-e-Hayat . Her performance was an apt tribute to the doyen.

Dhoop ka Tukda , written by Nirmal Verma, is about a woman, separated from her husband, dwelling on her pathos, memories, the trials and tribulations in her life and her search for hope. Rashmi Seth excelled in the 40-minute monologue, maintaining the walk and body language of an aged, arthritis-afflicted woman who has gone through a lot in life, her tremulous voice modulation bringing out her misery evocatively. Subhash Gupta as the silent man in the park spoke with his expressions, though immersed all the time reading a newspaper. The play was produced by Qadir Ali Baig Theatre Foundation and directed by Rashmi Seth.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> Features> MetroPlus / June 06th, 2014

Mallapur sets an example with solar lighting

A tribal resident proudly displays her possession of the solar fan and battery at Mallapur village in Adilabad distirct.-/ PHOTO: S. Harpal Singh  / The Hindu
A tribal resident proudly displays her possession of the solar fan and battery at Mallapur village in Adilabad distirct.-/ PHOTO: S. Harpal Singh / The Hindu

Even the faces of the tribal people of Mallapur light up whenever they display their solar home lighting. The lights were acquired thanks to a novel initiative by the NGO, Dhan Foundation, the National Bank for Rural and Agriculture Development, the Indo-German watershed development project and the Deccan Grameen Bank.

Villagers are proud on their village having becoming the first in Telangana to have solar home lighting and revel in the fact that they did not have to pay any money to acquire the same.

This village in Indervelli mandal with 82 houses has already established itself as a model village by managing local watershed to maximum advantage, implementing prohibition and banning tobacco etc. It is the resolve of the tribal villagers, mostly Gonds, to bring in development that has apparently enthused funding agencies to ground the solar home lighting scheme here.

“We are running a fan for the first time,” declares a rather shy Durva Mahadubai pointing towards the table fan and the battery. “The lighting is also helpful especially when there is no power,” she adds.

The solar lighting is of special significance in tribal habitations in remote areas which experience a lot of power cuts more so during the summer months. The solar tube lights provided under the scheme shine bright in the nights negating the impact of power cuts in Mallapur now.

The unit cost of the home lighting, supplied by Sun Fusion Energy Systems, the authorised channel partner of Tata Power Solar Systems Ltd, is Rs. 16,750 which works out to nearly Rs. 14 lakh for solar home lighting for the entire village. Forty per cent of the cost is given as subsidy by NABARD while 30 per cent is given by the Indo-German watershed project and the remaining 30 per cent has been given as loan by the DGB, payable in 5 yearly instalments.

In an earlier initiative in Adilabad district, the Northern Power Distribution Company Limited electrified 20 households each in three tribal hamlets last year through centralised power generation units. The Chief General Manager, NABARD, Jiji Mammen, Chairman DGB, B.R.G. Upadhyaya and Deputy General Manager NABARD, Ranganatha Rao inaugurated the Mallapur project on Saturday.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> National> Telangana / by S. Harpal Singh / Mallapur ( Adilabad District) – June 09th, 2014