Category Archives: Amazing Feats

Book commemorating Hyderabad’s Kargil War hero released

Amazing Feats, Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Inspiration / Positive News and Features, Records, All

The book was released jointly by Major General N Srinivas Rao, General Officer Commanding, Telangana Sub Area and Major Acharya’s daughter, Aparajita, who was born three months after his martyrdom.

Hyderabad:

A coffee table book commemorating the martyrdom of Major Padmapani Acharya, Hyderabad’s own Kargil War hero, was released at an event organised by Synchrony here on Friday.

The book was released jointly by Major General N Srinivas Rao, General Officer Commanding, Telangana Sub Area and Major Acharya’s daughter, Aparajita, who was born three months after his martyrdom.

Hailing from Hyderabad, Major Acharya who was commissioned into 2 Rajputana Rifles made the supreme sacrifice on June 28, 1999 while leading a platoon to capture Tololing through raining artillery shells from the enemy during the Kargil War. He was awarded the second highest Indian military honour, Maha Vir Chakra posthumously for his actions during the Kargil War.

“The book documents the collection of his letters to home, some photographs and a brief writeup on his life,” said Aparajita.

Major General Srinivas Rao said Major Acharya led his men through enemy fire and artillery shelling and made the supreme sacrifice to accomplish the mission assigned to him. “Major Acharya is not only a role model for the soldiers but also a role model for the nation,” he said.

The General Officer also complimented the efforts of Synchrony to reach out to Army veterans and serving soldiers as part of their diversity and inclusion initiatives which includes the Veterans Network. Anuradha Rao, wife of Major General Srinivas Rao inaugurated a conference hall named after Major Padmapani Acharya, MVC at Synchrony.

source: http://www.telanganatoday.com / Telangana Today / Home / by Telangana Today / June 30th, 2018

Red Cross awards for promotion of blood donation

Amazing Feats, Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Inspiration / Positive News and Features, Records, All, Resources of Free Materials
Governor E.S.L Narasimhan giving away the best motivator award to TNGOs Association district president A. Kishan at a function at Raj Bhavan in Hyderabad on Thursday. | Photo Credit: Arrangement

Governor presents award to TNGOs dist. president A. Kishan

The erstwhile united district secured two awards each for promotion of blood donation and conduct of blood donation camps under the aegis of the Indian Red Cross Society (IRCS) for the year 2016-17.

Governor E.S.L. Narsimhan at a function held at Raj Bhavan on Thursday handed over the best motivator award to TNGOs’ Association district president Aluka Kishan and best blood donor award to Totla Rajeswar for Nizamabad district while to the Collector N. Satyanarayana and E.T. Rajashekar in Kamareddy district.

Mr. Kishan motivated the donors to contribute 1,000 units of blood to the IRCS blood bank while Mr. Rajeswar donated his rare group blood (AB negative) 50 times.

The Kamareddy Collector facilitated youth, NGOs and various volunteers for donating blood by conducting and addressing several meetings. Mr. Rajashekar donated blood for 91 times.

The Governor complimented and honoured them.

The Indian Red Cross Society district chairman N. Ramchander, secretary B. Anjaneyulu, treasurer K. Ravinder, State managing committee member T. Rajashekar were present on the occasion.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> States> Telangana / by Special Correspondent / Nizamabad – June 15th, 2018

Farmer awarded, gives Governor a gift that grows

Agriculture, Amazing Feats, Green Initiatives / Environment, Inspiration / Positive News and Features, Nature, Records, All, Science & Technology

Tuber Man’s ‘seed pen’ germinates into tree after pen is disposed of

Shaji N.M., a farmer who was conferred the Biodiversity Award under special mention category by the National Biodiversity Authority, attracted many eyeballs during the award ceremony on Tuesday.

After receiving the award, he presented seed pens as return gift to the dignitaries, including Governor E.S.L. Narasimhan from whom he received the prize. “It is made of paper. You can use it as a normal disposable pen, and when the ink is exhausted, you can just throw it away. It contains a seed, which will give birth to a tree in future,” he explained.

Making seed pens is more like a hobby for Mr. Shaji, whose major occupation is conserving tuber species.

Started 20 years ago as a response to the drought conditions in Wayanad district where he lives, his passion has taken him places across the country, in search of newer tuber species. “I have a collection of 200 edible tuber species, including the rarest ones, besides herbs and medicinal plants on my four-acre land,” he says proudly.

He has shared the germplasm of the tubers with institutions such as Central Tuber Crop Research Institute and Kerala University.

Recipient of many awards, including National Plant Genome Saviour Award, Mr. Shaji’s conservation efforts are not limited to tubers; they extend to rice. He grows 17 traditional varieties of rice on the meagre plot, besides dabbling in fish farming, bee keeping and horticulture.

There were nine winners and 13 special mentions in total at the biodiversity award ceremony, among whom two were from Telangana.

Sangham Women Farmers Group from Medak won the award for ‘Sustainable use of Biological Resources’ for its efforts in traditional and organic methods of seed processing.

The Biodiversity Management Committee of Modi (Jheri) village of Kerameri mandal in Asifabad district won under special mention category, for conserving 26 native varieties of pulses and cereals. Among them, two varieties ‘Erra Machala Kandulu’ (a variety of pigeon pea) and ‘Vayunowka Jonna’ (a variety of sorghum) have been registered with the Plant Varieties and Farmer’s Rights Authority of India, while the recognition of another variety, ‘Balintha Pesalu’, is under way.

Singchung Bugun Village Community Reserve Management Committee from West Kameng district of Arunachal Pradesh won the award for protecting the community reserve, while Lemsachenlok Organization ( Y.NukuluPhom), Longleng, Nagaland, received it in the Institutions category.

Awards were also given under Special Mention category to corporates such as Godrej & Boyce, Mumbai, and Coromandel International, Kakinada. Coringa BMC of East Godavari too won under this category.

There were five categories of awards — conservation of wild species, conservation of domesticated species, sustainable use of biological resources, replicable mechanisms for access and benefit sharing, and best biodiversity management committees.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Hyderabad / by Swathi Vadlamudi / Hyderabad – May 24th, 2018

Stoves that are not just poor-friendly, but fuel-efficient

Amazing Feats, Business & Economy, Green Initiatives / Environment, Inspiration / Positive News and Features, Records, All, Science & Technology
The stoves created by environmental chemist Sai Bhaskar N. Reddy.

Hyderabad-based chemist creates over 50 designs that help in reducing smoke

More than 50 designs, painted in hues of blue and red that adorn the walls of a one-room museum located amid wilderness in Jangaon, were created for a single purpose – to efficiently burn.

The stoves of Sai Bhaskar N. Reddy, a city-based environmental chemist, are a result of years of travel, discovery experimentation with biomass and material to produce designs that are replicable, cheap and can improve fuel efficiency by reducing smoke.

“In 2005 at a village in Mahabubnagar, I found people cooking on three-stone stoves, but could send their children to convent schools and had dish connectivity. The biogas stoves subsidised by the government were not functional. I sought the government’s assistance to intervene, but nothing happened,” he said explaining his resolve to make biomass stoves. Dr. Reddy’s designs have been uploaded on the Internet for free use. Every design, he says, is an improvement over the previous one, to achieve improved burning of multiple types of biomass fuels. Though a large number of rural households now use LPG, a stove that burns biomass, often wood, is also used in rural homes, mainly for heating water.

The WHO estimates that nearly four million people are killed worldwide annually due to indoor pollution caused by inefficient combustion. Stoves at Dr. Reddy’s museum at Peddamadduru in Jangaon are made from low-cost aluminium boxes in which cooking oil is conventionally sold or cast iron. The gasifier variety of stoves is fitted with small fans used as exhaust in computers.

“This, I would say, is the most iconic design,” he says pointing to a stove that looks more like a traditional grill. “The 3G stove allows inflow of air at various levels during combustion. It also helps easy loading of biomass and allows for production of biochar.” Biochar, a charcoal produced from plant material, has found in use many applications, including those of environmental decontamination to agriculture. Dr. Reddy’s stoves have been used by the homeless in Mumbai, in the villages of Mahabubnagar and even possibly by refugees in Europe. “After October 2015, traffic from European nations, including Germany, to my website where I have uploaded designs has surged,” Dr. Reddy says adding that cooking apart, his stoves could also be used for heating.

A proponent of open source knowledge, Dr. Reddy says he does not monetise his designs. He believes that low-cost solutions made available online free of cost for other purposes like treating water, sanitation and makeshift houses could greatly help the poor, refugees and the homeless and help achieve the goals of development that govt.s have been striving to achieve.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Hyderabad / by Rohit P.S. / Hyderabad – May 13th, 2018

7-year-old Hyderabad boy climbs Mt. Kilimanjaro

Amazing Feats, Education, Inspiration / Positive News and Features, Records, All, Sports, Travel, World Opinion

Hyderabad :

A 7-year-old boy from Hyderabad scaled the highest peak in Africa, Uhuru peak of Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania.

Samanyu Pothuraju, along with his coach, unfurled the Tricolor at a height of 5,895 meters above the sea level on April 2.

Speaking with ANI, the boy said, “The day was rainy and the road was full of stones. I got afraid, I had leg pains, but I took rest and completed it. I like snow a lot and that is the reason I went to Mt. Kilimanjaro. Pawan Kalyan is my favourite hero, my mom promised me that she will make me meet him if I try the world record, now am eagerly waiting to meet him. I will go to Australia peak in next month ending and want to make a record.”

Pothuraju was accompanied by his mother Lavanya, coach Thammineni Bharath, a fellow mountaineer Shangabandi Srujana, and another woman, all hailed from Hyderabad. A local doctor from Tanzania also accompanied them.

Pothuraju’s mother said “I am really very happy as my son tried to achieve a world record. After reaching there, I stopped in my halfway because of my health condition but my son didn’t quit unless until he reaches the destination. I was very much tensed and worried as there were different climate conditions. Our next target is Australia, 10 peaks in May ending and that will also be the record of my son.”

The trek began on March 29 when the team started from the base point. It took about five days for the team to reach the peak.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / News> City News> Hyderabad News / ANI / April 16th, 2018

Hyderabad puts the ambulance on faster wheels

Amazing Feats, Business & Economy, Inspiration / Positive News and Features, Science & Technology, Travel
Prabhdeep Singh, originally from Chandigarh, and with work experience in Hyderabad, Antoine Poirson of France, and Jose Leon, a Costa Rican – OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

A trio of MBAs launches a service that’s taking patients and their families across State borders.

They were from three continents and they met at a business school in France. Their idea: simplified medical transport as easy as ride-hailing for patients and caregivers. Prabhdeep Singh, originally from Chandigarh, and with work experience in Hyderabad, Antoine Poirson from France, and Jose Leon from Costa Rica, came up with StanPlus.

The year-old Hyderabad start-up opened with an offer to send an ambulance in under 15 minutes.

It got the most unusual requests. An ailing man was transported from Hyderabad to Guwahati – a 2,500 km drive –after his doctors informed his family that he was at the end of his life and suggested he be taken to his native place. The patient’s son turned to StanPlus and was even prepared to face a crisis en route. Mr. Singh, the CEO, says, “We arranged for an ambulance equipped with a body freezer and two drivers. Luckily, the person reached home alive.”

It recently ferried a four-hour-old baby from Hyderabad to Vizianagaram, a distance of 700 km. The vehicle had an incubator and a facility for light therapy. “A few days back, a lady gave birth to twins in an ambulance .”

The idea originated when Mr. Poirson, working with an energy major in Rajasthan, saw his colleague die in an accident because no ambulance was nearby. Mr. Singh, with his healthcare stint, saw the demand for a responsive ambulance service. The company is plugged into real-time live tracking, aided by a call centre. “We are not in the pay of hospitals, so the patient takes the call. The option is to go to the nearest hospital and charge per km,” he says. Hyderabad also has the emergency-only “108” ambulances. Only 20% of ambulance calls are emergencies, says Mr. Singh, who runs 300 vehicles.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Hyderabad / by Serish Nanisetti / Hyderabad – April 04th, 2018

National flag at 100-metre height hoisted at Siddipet

Amazing Feats, Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Records, All
Irrigation Minister T. Harish Rao (not seen in picture) hoists the national flag in Siddipet on Saturday. | Photo Credit: Mohd Arif

This development fills me with pride, says Harish Rao

Inspired by the national flag flying high at Neclace Road in Hyderabad, Irrigation Minister T. Harish Rao on Saturday unfurled the national flag at the district headquarters.

The flag, which is 30 feet wide and 20 feet long, would fly at a height of 100 metres.

It was hoisted at the auditorium located at Komaticheruvu. Mr. Harish Rao felt the flag would inspire the locals. “This development fills me up with pride.

The flag was prepared by a Hyderabad-based agency, which prepared a similar flag that is hoisted at Necklace Road,” Municipal Commissioner P. Srinivas Reddy said.

MP K. Prababhakar Reddy and others also participated in the programme.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> cities> Hyderabad / by Staff Reporter / Siddipet – April 01st, 2018

Boy uses feet to write test

Amazing Feats, Education, Inspiration / Positive News and Features

Hyderabad :

Elluri Shankar, a student of a government school in Mancherial district, wrote his Class 10 board exam using his feet.

He lost his hands in an accident when hewas in Class6 but that did not stop the 16-year-old to pursue his education and set an example for fellow students.

According to Gampa Srinivas, headmaster of Nennel High School, Shankar lost both his hands after sustaining an electric shock when he was playing with his friends at an under construction site.

“The accident did not prove to be a deterrent for him. He learnt to write with his feet soon after the accident and never opted for a writer,” said Srinivas.

The student, who hails from Nennel mandal in Adilabad, sat on the bench and wrote the first language paper. The headmaster said that Shankar lost his father at an early age and his mother was forcedtowork as a labourer. “There was a phase when the student wanted to quit his studies and support his family by doing domestic work. However, we encouraged him to pursue his studies to support his family in a better way,” he said.

Shankar is the only son of his mother and has two sisters, who are married.

Shankar wants to become independent in life and master some special skills after scoring goods marks in SSC exams. “He is brighter in academics than his classmates and has a resilience to learn. He doesn’t want to be dependent on anyone,” Srinivas added.

A photograph of Shankar writing with his feet went viral on social media with many people lauding his efforts. “Student of a 10 standard from a government school of Mancherial district Telangana, Shankar is giving exams in spite of all odds& has set an examplefor all students (sic),” tweeted Shaikh Zeeshan.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> News> City News> Hyderabad News / TNN / March 16th, 2018

His voice, a capsule of tribal histories

Amazing Feats, Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Historical Links / Pre-Independence, Inspiration / Positive News and Features, Records, All

Ramachandraiah is probably the last such singer left in A.P. and Telangana

Sakine Ramachandraiah could easily have been awarded honorary doctorate by any university. An unlettered man from Koonavaram village of Manuguru mandal of Bhadradri Kothagudem district, Ramachandraiah has oral histories of the Koya tribe on the tip of his tongue.

One only has to mention the story to have it cascade effortlessly from his vocal chambers, in Telugu as well as Koya language.

Belonging to the ‘Doli’ sub-division of the Koya tribe, which has been traditionally ordained with the duty of reciting the tribe’s clan histories, Ramachandraiah is probably the last such singer left in the two states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.

“Some times, I cross the State border to perform in Chhattisgarh, where people want the songs in Koya language,” Ramachandraiah says.

He sings at marriages, at funerals, and he always sings at the biennial Medaram Jathara also known as the ‘Sammakka Saralamma Jathara’, which is touted as the world’s largest repeat congregation of tribal communities. The Medaram Jathara is to be held from January 31 to February 3 this year, at Eturunagaram of Jayashankar Bhupalpally district.

Gazette

The Doli community is described as ‘professional beggars’ among Koyas by the Godavari District Gazette of 1896. Though their duties are priest-like and along with ‘Oddis’— the superior priest class — they can be classified as the ‘literate’ in the tribe, their status is still considered ‘inferior’.

Doli men sing oral histories based on the ‘Padige’s or pictorial scrolls inherited by various communities over centuries.

“Earlier, Doli families used to live in a hamlet called ‘Soppala’.

Now, nobody lives there. Few are left who can recite oral histories as accurately as Ramachandraiah,” says Jayadhir Tirumala Rao, academic and researcher of tribal communities.

Prof. Tirumala Rao is spearheading a project to document the oral history of ‘Sammakka-Saralamma’ as told by Ramachandraiah, and he vouches that the story, if fleshed out from the myth it is enmeshed in, could substantially aid historical research.

“Sammakka-Saralamma story is about the war waged against the Kakatiya dynasty by tribal women who challenged king Prataparudra when he had levied tax on them for the tanks he had got constructed in their forests. The Koya tribe had then lived on hunting-gathering, and never cultivated any land.

So, the king sought to send outsiders into the forest for cultivation, which was the last straw on the camel’s back. This story comes out very clearly from the song recited by Ramachandraiah,” Prof. Tirumala Rao says.

Apart from ‘Sammakka-Saralamma’, the balladeer sings the stories of tribal warriors such as Gari Kamaraju, Pagididda Raju, Irama Raju, Gaadi Raju, Bapanamma, Musalamma, Nagulamma, Sadalamma and others. He also knows and recites the stories behind the endogamous tribal sub-divisions and their surnames. “Now, nobody wants to sing the stories. Even my own son refuses to follow the tradition,” Ramachandraiah laments.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> States> Telangana / by Swathi Vadlamudi / January 10th, 2018

Around the world in 26 years

Amazing Feats, Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Records, All, Travel, World Opinion
Bitten by travel bug Indranil Chowdhuri

Hyderabad-based Indranil Chowdhuri combines his passion for travel and sports and has visited 107 countries so far
North Korea: Check

Greenland: Check

Cuba: Check

No, this isn’t a list of all countries difficult to get a visa but a few places among the 107 nations that Indranil Chowdhuri, 56, visited in the past 26 years. While travelling was integral to his job early on, later it became an all-consuming passion.

Sharing details about his journeys, Indranil says, “My first trip abroad was when I went to Myanmar in 1992 for work. Then I travelled a lot as I was into exports. When I casually counted one day, I realised that I went to 40 countries. That was when I wanted to reach the three figure mark and stepped up on visiting newer countries. The critical mass of my visits has been in the last 12 years, and though after I hit a century, I lost the urge for numbers, I still am passionate about exploring new places.”

As an avid sports fan, Indranil combines travel with sporting events, be it Olympics, football world cups or major tennis events so that he can merge both his great loves. What research is a part of a frequent traveller’s routine? Indranil explains, “I start with Lonely Planet guides. I have a lot of them with me and then I read up extensively about the place. I make notes and do my own ticketing and reservations. I don’t engage the services of an agent or a tour company unless there is no option, as they have a pre-planned programme and I don’t like that at all. Travel should include the freedom to do my own thing my way.”

Confessing that travelling excites him as it gives him a chance to explore different countries, cultures and cuisines, Indranil says the challenge is to converse with local people in their language. He explains, “I do basic research and try to speak their language. When they see me try, they always speak English which makes it easy to blend in.

The intrepid traveller also has a thing for souvenirs and points out to rooms filled with trinkets in his apartment. Shot glasses, magnets, swords and daggers (exquisitely carved), busts of famous personalities, tees and baseball caps — there is no shortage of reminders for trips he has undertaken. Indranil says, “I never wanted a big collection, but somehow when you travel you pick up things. I have 3000 plus shot glasses of cities, celebrity houses and football games I’ve been to.”

For someone who has been to Peru and stayed with an Inca family, spent time with a nomadic tribe in a desert in Mongolia and swam in the rivers of Amazon (where he narrowly escaped an alligator), Indranil recounts his most unforgettable experience which nearly got him killed, “I ran into former President of USSR, Mikhail Gorbachev, at a cemetery in Russia and raised my hand to greet him. He was surrounded with KGB agents who pounced on me as they thought I was about to shoot. Luckily they realised I was a tourist and since this was before the concept of selfie was introduced, I took a picture of myself with Gorbachev in the background surrounded by his guards.”

On his to-do list is Bahamas which he couldn’t visit so far due to visa issues and a trip to Russia next year during FIFA World cup.

Ask him about his plans for travel in India and he signs off saying that’s a post-retirement trip.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> Society / by Mallik Thattipalli / January 04th, 2018