Monthly Archives: December 2014

Carved into Life

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Business & Economy

Hyderabad :

A few years ago, some schools offered this subject called woodcraft. What it involved was making beautiful carvings out of wood and wood shavings. However, they did tend towards the more mundane and look much like the unpainted carvings sold on the roadside in various shapes of jugs, birds, toys even.

City-based Apoorva Prasanna decided to take the ‘mundane’ out of the craft and turn it into something quirky and distinctive.

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Having left her corporate job, Apoorva Prasanna found her calling in woodcraft with a twist with her ‘The Artwala Project’ started in September this year. Bright, colourful and quirky products made from wood is what you will get in her project. With a keen eye for detailing and creating unique products as her motto, Apoorva has slowly been building a steady clientele ever since she started. “I had made a moustache key holder and painted it in a bright shade which was really liked by my friends. While I was initially hesitant to take up making products like this fulltime, I did so later on with my friends encouragement,” says Apoorva.

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Beginning with small things like keychain holders, trays in varied shapes like cassettes, mustaches, handbags painted in vivid hues of red, blue and yellows, she soon branched out into photo frames, jewellery holders, cupcake stands, vases, handmade wedding cards, Christmas banners and so on. “Mostly people like to add their inputs when they place the order but I do keep a few readymade products on hand which can be delivered immediately,” adds Apoorva, who works with different types of wood.

Displaying her merchandise at flea markets at cultural spaces in the city has also gotten her a lot of mileage with orders pouring in each week. “Flea markets and my work with an NGO, The Indian Impact, where the proceeds from the sale went to charity did a lot in terms of spreading the word,” opines Apoorva.

Orders are aplenty these days for the 24-year-old, who is kept busy throughout the week, for the wood-cutting she has a hired help who cuts the wood in the design she wants, with the painting being done by her. Depending on the order, it takes her two-three days to complete the product, more if customisation is required.

Price range is between `250 to `1000.

Details: www.facebook.com/theartwalaproject

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Cities> Hyderabad / by Express Features / December 04th, 2014

A bigger role for Captain Mohan

Records, All, Sports

The first-ever Hyderabadi to be elected the president of International Billiards and Snooker Federation

Captain P.V.K. Mohan became the first-ever Hyderabadi to head a world sports body when he was elected the president of the International Billiards and Snooker Federation for a period of two years. He beat Jim Leacy of Ireland by 28-21 votes.

For the 57-year-old Hyderabadi, it may be a added responsibility given the fact that he has been the vice-president of IBSF for quite some time and is also the president of BSFI since 2005. “It’s a huge honour and naturally means a bigger role to promote the sport worldwide. There is no doubt that cue sports are gaining popularity across the globe and millions watch it on TV,” says an elated Capt. Mohan, son of late Union Minister P. Upendra.

“Being familiar with what exactly the players need and look to the IBSF being myself the vice-president for long, I am confident of being equal to the task. Essentially, the players need more and more events with a well spaced out calendar to showcase their skills. India is a major host and Hyderabad has hosted two world championships already,” reminds the former national player.

“I will continue to be attached to cue sports here. The Cue Sports Academy being built on 1.2 lakh-square feet land near Nanakramguda in Hyderabad on the model of Crucible in UK should take the sport to a new level,” says Capt. Mohan. In fact, he saw to that Lucky Vatnani of Hyderabad I.V. Rajiv of Kakinada got wildcard entries in the ongoing World Snooker Championship in Bengaluru.

The Academy, being built at a cost of about Rs. 15 crore, will have 21 tables, including one centre table in a crucible-type structure with galleries, overhead fixed lighting and cameras too. “I can assure that the players will be looked after well. The BSFI has proved its credentials in conducting the world championships,” he signed off.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Hyderabad / by V.V. Subrahmanyam / Hyderabad – November 29th, 2014

The Fascinating World of Storytelling

Arts, Culture & Entertainment
Deepa enthralling a mixed group of people with her story telling
Deepa enthralling a mixed group of people with her story telling

Hyderabad :

It was a magical evening of storytelling at a cultural space in the city. The session conducted by Deepa Kiran transported everyone to many different worlds.

The community storytelling session was part of Hydourite, the performing arts festival. Deepa Kiran is founder of Story Arts India and is based in Hyderabad. She is a professional storyteller, education consultant, writer and voice-over artist.

The storytelling session saw Deepa sharing fun folktales and getting the audience to guess, sing along, and move along to the lilting rhythms and melodies woven into the stories. Engaging children with simple folk musical instruments like todi, shakes, tambourine, damru and wind flute, she had the audience’s attention hooked till the end. The storyteller used different languages like Hindi, English, Telugu and Tamil in the 90 minute journey as it unfolded three short stories and few songs. “Sun lo sun lo ek kahani, jisme raja tha na rani, ek mendhak duba pani mein,” sang children along with Deepa as she narrated the story through songs. With her own sound-effects and background music with folk instruments, she added life to the enchanting evening.

Among those present at the session were Nitin Sharma, a parent who said, “This is a wonderful event and should happen more frequently in the city. It helps children in enhancing their creative skills by triggering their imagination.”

Another was a student of class 2. “I like telling and listening to stories. I liked the way she was playing and adding tunes with musical instruments the most, ” said Siddharth. With storytelling fast becoming a lost art form, Gautam Deshpande said, “Somewhere we have forgotten this art of storytelling. Back in our times, our parents and grandparents always had time to entertain us with interesting stories. But it’s different today, I’ve no time to tell my child a story. It’s very good that someone like Deepa is taking time out of her life and engaging people this way. I too was taken back into the magical days of childhood.”

Explaining the importance of the art, Deepa said, “It triggers imagination. It is creative and relaxing. Children are overloaded with readymade techniques in digital space which makes them a passive recipient. But, unlike movies or games, in storytelling actions happen rather than just being delivered. It’s a call to everyone to get back to the era of gazette free story time”, she added. Recently, Deepa’ first book, ‘The Royal Mistake – Print cum Audio’ was released to a good response from the readers.

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Cities> Hyderabad / by Nidhi Gupta / December 01st, 2014