Daily Archives: February 1, 2015

Birla Centre Library Open to Public on Membership Basis

Arts, Culture & Entertainment

Hyderabad :

BM Birla Science Centre throws open its library for the general public on Friday.

Built on the historic Naubat Pahad next to the BM Birla Science Centre, the library has books borrowed from the personal collection of Nirmala Birla, wife of GP Birla. The library, titled GP Birla Library, boasts of as many as 10,000 books ranging from art, archaeology, architecture to lesser known concepts such as iconography, numismatics, museology etc.

“The uniqueness of the library is that it caters to the interests of readers of all age groups from students to research scholars and retired scholars,’’ BG Sidharth, director, BM Birla Science Centre, Hyderabad, said. ‘’Some of the books present here are so rare that they will be beneficial to civil aspirants. These books are no longer available in the market,’’ Sidharth added.

Owing to the rarity of certain books, the management has decided to make it in an in house library, where the reading is restricted only on the premises of the library and the members are not allowed to borrow the books home.

‘’We cannot afford to lend the books to people because they are no longer available and once we lose them, they are gone forever,’’ he expressed.

The library is open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and is open six days a week. The membership is `500 on monthly basis, `2,000 on half- yearly basis and `3,000 on annual basis.

Physics and Astronomy Meet: A physics and astronomy Meet is being organised by BM Birla Science Centre on February 4. Papers on various topics such as astronomy, gravitation and cosmology, high energy physics etc will be presented at the symposium.

The keynote address will be delivered by Prof Larisa Laperashvili, leading researcher of theoretical department of the Institute of Theoretical and Experimental Physics and National Research Centre Kurchatov Institute, Moscow. For further details contact these numbers 23235081/ 9391516839 or write to birlasc@gmail.com

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Cities> Hyderabad / by Express News Service / January 31st, 2015

At 60, they ran 7 half-marathons, across 7 continents, in 7 days!

Amazing Feats, Records, All, Sports, World Opinion
Adventure enthusiasts Krishna Prasad Chigurupati and Uma Chigurupati ran 148 km and spent 59 hours flying 38,000 km for the competition.– Photo: Nagara Gopal
Adventure enthusiasts Krishna Prasad Chigurupati and Uma Chigurupati ran 148 km and spent 59 hours flying 38,000 km for the competition.– Photo: Nagara Gopal

Hyderabadi couple Chigurupati Krishna Prasad and Uma are the world’s first to have successfully completed the World Marathon Challenge 2015

At 60, an average Indian might fancy the idea of running after their grandchildren, not sprinting across Antarctica and Australia in a week! That is just what Hyderabadi Chigurupati Krishna Prasad, a successful entrepreneur, and his wife Uma did.

The couple are the world’s first to have successfully completed the World Marathon Challenge 2015, where participants have to cover seven half-marathons across seven continents in seven days. Uma is also the first female to have achieved the milestone.

The duo ran 148 km and spent 59 hours flying 38,000 km for the competition, which began on January 17 in Antarctica and covered Chile in South America, Miami in North America, Madrid in Europe, Morocco in Africa, Dubai in Asia and finally Sydney on January 24. More commendable is the fact that the average age of the participants in the competition was around 35.

From running faster in the glaciers of Antarctica, where temperatures recorded – 20°C, to escaping frost bites, to braving winds of 55 kmph the very next day in Chile, the couple have adventurous tales aplenty to share. “We had to run through tracks, woods and then a harbour in Australia. I lost my way in the woods and was clueless, but managed to complete the race,” said Uma at a felicitation programme organised for the couple on Saturday.

“It was a physically and mentally exhausting challen-ge, running from airports to run sites and back to airports. In all, we slept only two nigh-ts on proper beds,” she added.

While Uma wants to encourage running, Mr. Prasad’s has another aim. “I had signed up for Richard Branson’s space mission and hope to be on the spacecraft soon.”

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Hyderabad / by Rahul Devulapalli / Hyderabad – February 01st, 2015