Monthly Archives: January 2018

This dessert van in Hyderabad is simply W.O.W.

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Business & Economy, Inspiration / Positive News and Features, Travel

Sweet truck Aishwarya and Priyanka at their truck parked in Sainikpuri, some of their adorable looking desserts | Photo Credit: Nagara Gopal


W.O.W is the first food cart run and managed by two young girls

Aishwarya Balasubramanian and Priyanka Natesh are cousins in their early 20s. Yet it was not until boredom with their regular jobs and the wish to pursue their individual dreams brought them to a common discussion platform, that they realised they might have something common and concrete on their minds.

Aishwarya wanted to do something that allowed her some time to pursue higher studies and Priyanka wanted to try out her bakes and goodies outside the closed circle she was catering to. Also the fact that one loves to eat and the other loves to bake made the partnership a good one for a food business. Without spending much time on their idea they discussed their ‘business plan’ with their parents.

Food business was fine. But the girls wanted to run a food truck and name it ‘Women on wheels’ (W.O.W) “That was a concern for our parents; mostly about our safety. So when we started, one of our parents would be there with us for safety and to understand the crowd that came to buy our food stuff,” says Aishwarya.

W.O.W’s happy glowsign can be spotted from a distance among the line of food trucks which stand on the popular food spots of Secunderabad. W.O.W is also the first and the only food truck managed and owned by women in the twin cities.

“After we decided on the plan we approached experts who design food trucks in Hyderabad. We knew what we wanted for the exterior look but were unaware of the technicalities so we let the experts deal with that. We also gave him the happy bubble gum colour theme for the colour palette.
Our food truck is based on the Mom&Pop food truck culture in the West. We wanted to do something in the food truck business that would make us stand out from the rest. Since Priyanka bakes and is very popular for her eggless desserts, we were confident of our time-tested products,” says Aishwarya.

W.O.W can be spotted at different stops in Secunderabad on different days from 7.30 pm to 10 pm. They have a new menu everyday; apart from home-made desserts, cakes in a jar, they also sell gelatos and fruit flavoured sorbets. “I used to bake because it was something I enjoyed doing. I started experimenting with eggless bakes and they became popular. Then by word of mouth I started getting orders and within no time, my hobby baking turned me into a home baker,” says Priyanka.

While the girls haven’t faced any trouble from their clients, it was the other food cart businesses that showed them some resistance in the beginning. “We weren’t welcome for sure. They would try to make us lose our spot. We stayed put and without jostling for space, made our way into the business in Habsiguda,” says Aishwarya.

Since W.O.W sells only desserts and cakes, their food truck sometime turns into an impromptu place for birthday celebration for friends. “Sometimes some regular diners come and place orders with us for a surprise birthday treat. That’s an overwhelming feeling. It’s nice to make us feel a part of such a celebration,” adds Priyanka.

Aishwarya who is pursuing her PGDMA in Human resources says she is a people’s person and loves to talk to the crowd to understand their taste, likes and dislikes. “The food cart business has been a learning experience. It is doing good and we are still innovating but the fact that ‘there is a rule, yet there is no rule’ makes it uncertain.”

How would she explain ‘there is a rule, yet there is no rule’? “Sometimes we are asked to move our cart saying it’s against the law and when I seek written permission to park the food cart, I am told I can park it anywhere except in a ‘no parking’ zone and we shouldn’t obstruct traffic.”

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> Life & Style> Food / by Prabalika M.Borah / January 08th, 2018

First Adivasi SI in Adilabad district

Business & Economy, Leaders, Records, All

Adilabad SP Vishnu S. Warrier with SI Mesram Chandrabhan (left) in Adilabad on Saturday. | Photo Credit: ByArrangement

He is a survivor of Naxalite ambush

Mesram Chandrabhan, a 53-year-old assistant sub inspector of Police working in Adilabad district, became the first Adivasi Sub Inspector in this district when he was given posting as SI Special Branch. Superintendent of Police Vishnu S. Warrier pinned the stars on his shoulder signifying the elevation to the post.

Chandrabhan belongs to the 1985 batch of constables and is winner of the Mukhya Mantri Shourya pathakam in 1987 for escaping with his life in an ambush by naxalites in the forest of Allampalli in Kadem mandal., now in Nirmal district, in which 10 policemen had died including two SIs.

The Pardhan Adivasi constable, who was injured in the ambush of a 25 strong police combing party in Allampalli on August 18, 1987, had played dead when the extremists came to ascertain if all the injured were dead. The deadly attack on policemen had jolted even the conscience of the then Chief Minister N.T. Rama Rao who initiated certain measures for uplift of the Adivasis and also announced the gallantry award.

Chandrabhan was promoted as ASI in 2011 and had undergone training for SI post last year. The posting of the Adivasi officer gets significant in the face of the ongoing Adivasi-Lambada tiff.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> States> Telangana / by Special Correspondent / Adilabad – January 06th, 2018

IICT scientist receives NASI award

Records, All, Science & Technology

CSIR-IICT’s Debendra Kumar Mohapatra, Principal Scientist of Natural Products Chemistry Division, has been received the NASI-Reliance Industrial Platinum Jubilee Award 2017 for Application Oriented Innovations in the area of Physical Sciences from Maharashtra Governor C. Vidyasagar Rao at the 87th Annual Session of NASI held at Pune University, last month.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Hyderabad / by Special Correspondent Hyderabad / January 06th, 2018

Hyderabad gets its own ‘Art District’

Arts, Culture & Entertainment

Children playing in a street painted yellow under the Art District project of St+art India in MS Maqtha of Hyderabad. | Photo Credit: K.V.S. GIRI

MS Maqtha abutting Necklace Road station gets an aesthetic makeover

It is a colourful makeover for one of the most neglected parts of the city. It is Blue Chowk, Yellow Gully, Pink Gully at the MS Maqtha abutting Necklace Road station. While last year, artists from across the country and world painted the side facing Necklace Road, this year St+Art Foundation took the inner streets of Maqtha for a makeover.

At the entrance of MS Maqtha is the sign in black and white about the Art District. But it doesn’t prepare you for the riot of colour ahead.

A green wall that leads to a yellow lane or a different turn takes you to a blue square. All this in one of the must rundown areas of the city where sewage flows on the street, overhanging wires are the norm and where young boys zip around as if life is a motocross race.

But now, some of the streets have an identity and are easily navigable. It wasn’t all that easy.

One of the persons who initially opposed the project is Muhammad Sadiq Ali, who now proudly shows around the area to visitors. “Even foreigners are coming to see this. I opposed it worried about what they might draw and paint; after all this is my house,” he says pointing to his three-storeyed house. “I relented after speaking to the artists and their coordinator.

They showed me what will be drawn here and how the area will look like once it is finished. Now I am happy that I agreed to get this thing painted,” says Mr. Ali, who has a furniture workshop in the area.

“People of Maqtha, while being sceptical at the beginning, became extremely helpful and supportive. That’s also why we organised several workshops with them and in the public school of Maqtha.

They offered us food, chai and of course, their walls! And it has been a truly participative effort in which murals have been created by the artists thanks to their interaction with the inhabitants. Their stories, their desires came into many of the art pieces. Also, the kids of each gully we painted have been constantly with us. We discovered great young talents who painted with some of the artists,” says Giulia Ambrogi who has been the face of St+Art in Hyderabad.

“Maqtha Art District is the third art district in India after Lodhi Art District in Delhi and Mahim (E) Art District in Mumbai. The vision for the neighbourhood is to become a hub for contemporary art and a new area of interest of the city, while also being regenerated thanks to art interventions,” says the statement by St+Art India Foundation.

“We had a good time while working on the project. We did experimental morphing and it was better than last year’s experience,” says artist Kamesh Bhagatji.

Last year, Kamesh and Avinash had created a mural called reflection on the other side of the road.

“When people walk into the area and look around and click photographs, we feel proud. I want to keep the area clean like this. The place looks so much better,” says Muhammad Nawab, a resident.

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

IICT scientists come across antibiotic-producing bacteria

Records, All, World Opinion

Called RAB 12, it produces the chemical compounds RSP 01 and RSP 02

Scientists at the Indian Institute of Chemical Technology have discovered in their backyard, a novel strain of bacterium that produces compounds with antibiotic properties.

They have isolated a strain of Streptomyces species from the Institute’s soil that produces two anti-biotic compounds.Actinomycin D, a drug on the list of WHO’s ‘List of Essential Medicines’, exhibits both antibiotic and anti-tumour activity. It is among the oldest drugs used for treatment of many types of cancers.

The team of researchers, led by Prakasham Reddy Shetty, described their findings in the journal Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology. The novel strain, called RAB 12, produces the chemical compounds RSP 01 and RSP 02 that showed antimicrobial activity. Both these compounds have exhibited antibiotic activity ten times more potent than Actinomycin D.

“Antimicrobial activity profile revealed higher antimicrobial activity against bacterial strains Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Micrococcus luteus, Staphylococcus aureus, Salmonella typhi, and Bacillus subtilis and Candida albicans compared to standard Actinomycin D,” the researchers wrote in their research paper.

In their study, the researchers also described the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) and minimum bactericidal concentration (MBC) for one of the compounds to be ten times smaller than that of Actinomycin D. “MIC and MBC for RSP 01 were observed to be 0.0039 and 0.0078 (mug/ml) against C. albicans, while for actinomycin D, it was found to be 0.031 and 0.62 (mug/ml), respectively indicating a tenfold higher potency,” the researchers said.

The IICT has put together a large repository of bacterial isolates from soils collected from various parts of the country.

Scientists are yet to analyse the antibiotic potential of many of those isolates. In the case of RAB 12, the study authors say the two compounds, RSP 01 and 02, are promising candidates for industrial and clinical applications.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Hyderabad / by Rohti P.S. / Hyderabad – January 02nd, 2018

Doctor makes a mark in literary field

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Inspiration / Positive News and Features

Dr. Parcha Anjani Devi, who is enriching Telugu short story genre, during an interview with The Hindu in Warangal on Sunday.

Dr. Parcha Anjani Devi’s short stories are winning wide appreciation from readers

“When you read a short story, you come out a little more aware and a little more in love with the world around you” says American writer George Saunders.

Of all the genres, writing a short story is most difficult one, which many acclaimed writers say.

However, here is septuagenarian medical professional who won a ccolades from her readers by penning beautiful short pieces.

Meet Dr. Parcha Anjani Devi, a reputed doctor in Hanamkonda, who not only earned a name as doctor but also as a short story writer in Telugu literature. Her stories won wide appreciation from readers and were featured in literary magazines and in number of anthologies brought out by various literary organizations in the state.

Telugu magazines – Andhra Jyothi Sunday magazine, Rachana, Navya, Anveshana and others published Dr Anjani Devi’s stories while the All India Radio airs her stories every month.

Empathy, understanding, family, inter-personal relations and adjustments form themes of her writing. Much acclaimed story, Thanbhi, a Urdu word, meaning almirah, features how a Andhra girl married to a Telangana boy finds difficulty in adjusting. Finding from the diary of her mother-in-law how much she loved her daughter-in-law, the Andhra girl gives up her inhibitions and falls in total love with her new family.

Another story, Naku Nachina Gadhi, which means — the room which I love the most — features the memory that haunts her time and again.

When people share their joy of having a new home and room, they love much in it, she ponders over herself and realises that it is the labour room, which she frequented the most, is what she loves the most.

In the story, Antique Piece, Dr. Anjani Devi portrays how people attach more value to the items they collected, including the antique pieces, the value which they do not give to their aged parents. The parents continue to be neglected and are treated less worth.

“I write once in a while. Unless I am moved, and I have confidence that my story moves my reader, I do not take pen. I am happy that most of my stories are widely appreciated,” she says speaking to The Hindu.

Despite enriching the Telugu short story with her unique stories, this doctor remains unsung and unnoticed by literary organisations and yet she says that she is contented.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> States> Telangana / by Gollapudi Srinivasa Rao / Warangal Urban District – December 11th, 2017