Monthly Archives: December 2012

The ‘sultan’ of kababs

Arts, Culture & Entertainment

The kababs have been given historic names to redefine the great hospitality of Hyderabad, says M.A. Basith

You have seen the historic Charminar. But have you ever relished the Kabab-e-Charminar? One sure has set eyes on the Golconda fort. But none ever sampled the Golconda Pahadi kabab. The same goes with Falaknuma and Chowmahalla too.

For the first time, one can sink teeth into succulent kababs named after the bewitching palaces and monuments of Hyderabad. And sure enough they live up to the mighty names they carry and taste as well.

One don’t have to go down to the old city to savour these mouth-watering delicacies. The shahi spread is available bang in the Eat Street on Necklace Road.

Sultans Biryani and Kababs, which opened here recently, has become the toast of the town. The Hyderabadi cuisine was something missing here and Sultans has filled this space.

A young techie, M.A. Basith, is behind this venture. Apparently, there is no connection between the world of software and haute cuisine.

But since the discovery of a new dish does more to human happiness than the discovery of a new star, Mr. Basith has chosen to put his software skills to tickle the taste buds.

Why the historic names? “I want to redefine the great hospitality of Hyderabad and what better way than to name the dishes after the erstwhile rulers,” he says.

So you have Asaf Jahi kababs, Qutb Shahi kababs, Falaknuma kababs to name a few. Other exotic names go like this: Murgh Shahana, Pathar Gosht, Tunday Galauti kabab.

Well, Hyderabad is known for its biryani. But Mr. Basith plans to promote the luscious kababs as a brand.

Of course he also serves the Sultan ki Biryani. Soon he proposes to come out with Handi-ki-Biryani, an authentic biryani which is cooked in the earthen ‘handi’ only.

Given its strategic location, Eat Street attracts not just the tourists, yuppies but also the commoners from both Hyderabad and Secunderabad.

“Delicious kababs are something one would like to enjoy while savouring the picturesque Husainsagar,” says Ramesh, a tourist.

Sultans has a live kitchen where one can see the dish of his choice being cooked. Kababs apart from the Sultani Sheermal, Ajwain Naan and Chironjee Naan are something to look forward to.

With a view to promote the rich culture and hospitality of Hyderabad, Sultans plans to hold a quiz competition on a regular basis. The winners will get free meals and free boat rides in the Hussainsagar. Howzatt!

source: http://www.TheHindu.com / Home> News> Cities> Hyderabad / by J. S. Ifthekhar / december 25th, 2012

Sahitya Akademi Award for writer Subbaramaiah

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Records, All

Peddibhotla Subbaramaiah

He has lived here for five and half decades. For four decades he taught Special Telugu in the Andhra Loyola College (ALC). The talent of Peddibhotla Subbaramaiah as short-story writer was recognised only recently. The Central Sahitya Akademi conferred on him its prestigious ‘puraskar’ (award).

A few days earlier he was selected for the prestigious Appajosyula Vishnubhotla Kandalam Foundation Award. A rack full of plaques of different materials and types welcomes visitors to the veranda of his house in Hanumanpet. There were many more, but he lost them during the several times he changed his house. Somebody was kind enough to give the rack to put the different plaques and mementoes given to him, he told The Hindu.

It is very evident that Mr. Subbaramaiah is the sensitive and shy types. When the Rotary Club wanted to felicitate him he declined. He asked the club to organise a meeting of writers instead. When they tried to felicitate him at the meeting he refused and narrated a bizarre story.

Mr. Subbaramaiah told the audience that he did not want to be felicitated because of the red chair (red throne like chairs were used at that time for felicitation) because he saw a group of people trying to photograph a dead body after decorating it on such a chair. It is such sensitivity that made him a short-story writer.

The death of a migrant (from Tamil Nadu) factory worker was the inspiration for a story. One day he saw a woman weeping by the body of a man. “People are so indifferent to such scenes, but I stopped and enquired about the couple. I was told that they are from Tamil Nadu. They fell in love and eloped when their families did not agree to their marriage. Their search for a livelihood brought them to Vijayawada. The man became sick here and died leaving the woman behind,” Mr. Subbaramaiah said.

The story he wrote is about a tea shop owner helping the woman, who lost her husband, has no friends and does not even know Telugu. Others attribute motives to this act of kindness and even ostracise the tea shop owner, but the man continues to take care of the woman until people come for her.

The observations made by another migrant worker, this time from the water-parched Rayalaseema became the inspiration for his short-story “Neellu”. “This man was amazed by the high level of water in the wells here. One day we went to see the Krishna river which was in spate. The man said that he never saw so much water in his life. This became the inspiration for a story,” Mr. Subbaramaiah said.

“The plight, anguish, frustrations and the jealousies of middle class people were the raw material of my stories,” he added. He thanks his teachers for his achievements and awards.

Son of a Railway Station Master, Mr. Subbaramaiah did his schooling in Ongole. But for his college he came to Vijayawada and became a student of none other than Viswanatha Satyanaryana, the author of “Veyyi padagalu”, and a lecturer of SRR and CVR College.

source: http://www.TheHindu.com / Home> News> Cities / by G. Venkataramana Rao / Vijayawada, December 25th, 2012

Hyderabad second in the race for IITs

Education

Hyderabad:

Hyderabad stood second in the country this year for sending the most number of students to the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs). The highest number of students who got into the prestigious institutions came from Jaipur.

This year as many as 2,135 students from the city got selected for IITs as against 2,680 students from Jaipur. Delhi stood third at 2,050 students while only 389 students from Chennai (14th place) made the cut.

Better training facilities offered by corporate colleges and coaching centres in the city that especially train applicants to crack national-level competitive exams is said to be the reason for this flood into the IITs.

Prominent coaching institute groups in AP such as Sri Chaitanya, Narayana, FIITJEE, Delta, Ramaiah etc. have been bagging hundreds of seats in IITs for the last four-five years.
While there are approximately, 9,500 seats in 15 IITs, about 2,375 seats, amounting to 25 per cent, were secured by students from the state alone this year.

Hyderabad also holds the distinction of securing All-India first ranks for two years in a row (the last two years) and of bagging maximum ranks in the top-10 for the past three years.

In the process, the city has overtaken Kota in Rajasthan, which was considered the national hub for  coaching for engineering and medical competitive exams.

“The success of our students in IITs is due to increased awareness among parents. They motivate their children to get seats in ins-titutions of national repute, be it engineering, medical or any other course, right from Class VIII. Five years ago, this was not the case.

source: http://www.DeccanChronicle.com / Home> News> Current Affairs / DC / by L. Venkat Ram Reddy / December 24th, 2012

Brave heart cops swim from Bheemli to Visakhapatnam

Sports

Visakhapatnam:

Braving powerful currents and painful jellyfish stings a team of nine swimmers  successfully completed their 25-kilometre swim from Bheemunipatnam to R K Beach in the city on Saturday as part of the trialthon event  organised to mark 150 years of service by the police.

The swim started off from Bheemunipatnam at 6.45 am and the swimmers reached Vizag’s shores over nine grueling hours later, to be greeted by a large number of people and personnel from the police  department.

Waving the Indian flag, additional DGP (sports) Rajiv Trivedi led his team members ashore, including Goa CISF deputy commandant S Jayakumar, Maharashtra police DSP Balasaheb Ramchandra Ghadge, BSF sub-inspector Mandar Anand Divase, Vizag city constable N Tulasi Chaitanya, Nizamabad constable N Srinivas, Vizag district constable Ch Srinivas, Odisha constable Rushab Suna and techie Sunil Menon of Microsoft.

Narrating the experience, Trivedi said, “I fell in love with the city when I visited it in 1995 and always wanted to swim from somewhere to Vizag. When I heard that Bheemli is celebrating its 150 years as a municipality, I wanted to take up the swim. I wanted to connect the historical town of Bheemli with the modern city of Vizag through my swim.” However, cautioning the youth against the dangers of swimming in the sea, he said, “The sea is lovely and attractive. But people can get trapped, so people should be well equipped. Without the knowledge of swimming, currents and depths, one must not enter the sea.” He thanked the efforts of support team of navigators Kiran Kumar and V Srinivas.

The team was accompanied by four kayaks with two rowers each, two fishing boats with navigation equipment, replenishments and a coastguard vessel. Travelling in the fishing boat alongside swimmers, Udaya Trivedi, wife of ADGP (Sports), said the first three to four hours were the hardest for the team of swimmers.

Comparing the west and the east coast of the country, Goa CISF deputy commandant S Jayakumar said, “The east coast is far more challenging than the west. In Goa, we don’t have such rough waves. Here the currents are too strong. We had to put in a lot of effort.”

Vizag district police constable Ch Srinivas, who participated in national games three times, described it as a tough swim. Having already completed a swim from Rushikonda to Vizag, he said it was the longest time he had spent battling the sea.

With the swimming leg of the triathlon over, the team will now cycle 695 km from Vizag on Sunday and is expect to reach Hyderabad on December 31. On January 1, they will participate in a 42-km marathon in the state capital.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / Home> City> Visakhapatnam / TNN / December 23rd, 2012

Mini opens dealership in Hyderabad

Business & Economy

Mini, the iconic British small car brand, has opened its third Indian dealership in Hyderabad recently. It is Mini’s first showroom in South India and is likely to be followed by dealerships in Chennai and Bengaluru soon. The company hopes to have around eight dealerships across the country by the end of 2014.

The  Mini KUN dealership is located opposite R.T.A Khairtabad and will have on display all the models that BMW-owned marquee currently sells in the sub-continent. The showroom will also have the MINI Lounge, MINI Lifestyle Collection and MINI Accessories on display.

Commenting on the development, Philipp von Sahr, President, BMW Group India said, “There is no other more exciting car brand in the world as MINI. With the launch of KUN Exclusive in the historic city of Hyderabad, we are happy to accelerate MINI’s momentum in India. MINI has established itself as a unique brand, associated with tradition and irresistible charm. With MINI, it is possible to build upon its heritage while at the same time, the brand is so youthful and contemporary that customers soon become part of a vivacious, unique MINI community.”

Launched at the 2012 Auto Expo for the Indian market, Mini currently imports its cars in the CBU form and has said that it will not setup a local assembly plant as there is not enough sales to justify such a large investment.

source: http://www.carwale.com / Home> Car News / by Venkat Desirazu / December 21st, 2012

Bowling competition begins in Vijayawada

Sports

The city’s first-ever bowling competition began on Wednesday at the Planet Fun that incidentally boasts of the first bowling alley here.

One of the directors, Ravuru Srinivas, said the response to this competition was overwhelming and that over 50 participants had already registered.

The enrolment fee of Rs. 200 would0 give the participant an assured gift voucher of Rs. 100 valid at Essense food court and a certificate.

“It is great and feels good to see such improvements, especially in my hometown, Vijayawada, which was considered a small city till recently, said Aishwarya Tammareddy, on vacation here.

The competitions are in four stages with the preliminary round on Wednesday, quarter and semi-finals on Thursday and the finals on Friday, said another Director S. Srinivas.

Winners in the finals will be given a cash prize of Rs. 5,000 for the first place, Rs. 3000 for the second place and Rs. 1,000 for the third place, he said.

The fact that bowling was also one of the most stress-free and fun way to burn calories comes as an added bonus, he chuckled. For further details contact Phone-0866-2465457.

— Staff Reporter.

  • Quarter and semi-finals will be held on Thursday and the finals on Friday
  • First, second and third prize-winners will be given Rs. 5,000, Rs. 3,000 and Rs. 1,000 respectively
  • ———————————————————————————–Source: http://www.TheHindu.com / Home> News> In School / Vijyawada, December 20th, 2012

    • SilkAir to increase frequency of Hyderabad-Singapore flight

    Business & Economy

    Hyderabad, Dec 20 (IANS)

    SilkAir, the regional wing of Singapore Airlines, will increase the frequency of its Hyderabad-Singapore flight to 10 a week from the current seven times.

    Jagdish Ram Bhojwani, manager, SilkAir, Andhra Pradesh, told reporters here Thursday that the increase of services would come into effect from Jan 1, 2013.

    The airlines increased its frequency three times during last three months, which is an acknowledgment of the growing market on this route, he said.

    With this, the number of weekly flights to Singapore from 11 points in India will go up to 97. The passenger load factor on different routes is between 70 to 80 percent.

    SilkAir, which started three times a week flights from Visakhapatnam to Singapore in October, is also looking at more tier II and tier III cities in India. Jagdish said the airline was looking at cities like Pune, Jaipur and Lucknow though there no concrete plans as yet.

    He said the SilkAir’s flights to Singapore offer travelers from India connectivity to 96 cities around the world. The airline is also giving a $40 voucher to those travelling beyond Singapore for spending at the airport.

    Singapore is a gateway to South East Asian  region and is within seven hour radius from many South East Asian cities.

    source: http://www.newstrackindia.com / Home> Others> Andhra Pradesh, Business/Economy / Thursday, December 20th, 2012

    Peddibhotla gets sahitya award for short story

    Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Records, All

    Peddibhotla Subbaramaiah.

    New Delhi/Vijayawada:

    Peddibhotla Subbaramaiah’s short story collection Peddibhotia Subbaramaiah Kathalu (Vol. 1) has been selected for a Sahitya Akademi Award.

    Expressing happiness about the award, the writer observed that the recognition would be good for other authors.

    A recipient of many awards including the Ravi Sastry Smaraka Sahitya Nidhi, Gopichand Memorial, Appajyosyula Puraskar etc., Subbaramaiah’s two volumes have 80 stories that reflect the common man’s lives.

    Subbaramaiah started writing in 1959

    Peddibhotla Subbaramaiah, who has been selected for a Sahitya Akademi Award, started writing in 1959.

    His first story Chakranemi was published in the weekly Andhra Patrika. He later wrote several stories and two novels for Bharati magazine.

    Subbaramaiah served as a lecturer in Andhra Loyola College for 40 years and retired in December 1996.

    The author, who has written more than 200 stories, believes that childhood education leaves an impact on the development of any person.

    Sitting in the veranda of his house on Thursday, the writer expressed concern over the sprouting of concrete jungles in cities and lamented that people were missing an opportunity to enjoy nature and think freely in their busy lives.

    Booker-nominated Jeet Thayil and Bengali novelist Subrata Mukhopadhyaya were among the 24 authors selected for this year’s Sahitya Akademi Awards, which was dominated by poets.
    Twelve of the 24 awards went to works of poets, which included K. Sachitandandan (Malayalam — Marannu Vacha Vazhikal), late Bal Krishna “Bhaura” (Dogri — Tim-Tim Karde Tare) and Makhan Lal Kanwal (Kashmiri — Yath Aangnaz Manz).

    Thayil, whose novel Narcopolis was shortlisted for a Booker, was selected for his poetry collection These Errors are Correct in the English category.

    Twelve books of poetry, six short story collections, four novels and one each of autobiography and criticism were selected for the awards this year, two of them posthumously.

    The awards were given to books first published between January 2008 and December 2010. It carries Rs 1 lakh cash, an engraved copper plaque and a shawl.

    Among the poets, other winners are Guneswar Musahary (Bodo — Boro Khonthai), Chandrakant Devtale (Hindi — Pathar Fenk Raha Hoon), H.S. Shivaprakash (Kannada — Mabbina Haage Kabniveyassi), Kashinath Shamba Lolienkar (Konkani — Kavyasutra) and Darsan Buttar (Punjabi — Maha Kambani).

    Aaidan Singh Bhatti (Rajasthani — Aankh Hinye Ra Hariyal Sapana), Ramji Thakkura (Sanskrit — Laghupadhyaprhbandhatrayi) and Krishna Kumar Toor (Urdu — Ghurfa-i-Ghalib) were the other poets who were selected for the award.

    Assamese writer Chandana Goswami was selected for her novel Patkair Loare More Desh while Mukhopadhyaya was selected for his fiction Birasan. Other novelists were Jodha C. Sanasam (Manipuri — Mathou Kanba DNA) and D. Selvaraj (Tamil — Thol).

    In Gujarati, Chandrakant Topiwala’s critical study, Gujarati Sakshibhasya, was selected for the award while in Maithili, Shefalika Verma’s autobiography Kist-Kist Jeewan won the award.

    Apart from Subbaramaiah, works of five others won for short story collections. They were Jayant Pawar’s Marathi collection Phoenixchya Rakhetun Uthala Mor, Uday Thulung’s Ekantvas (Nepali), Gourahari Das’s Kanta O’ Anyanya Galpa (Odia), Gangadhar Hansda’s Banchaw Akan Goj Hor (Santali) and Late Indra Vaswani’s Miteea Khaan Miteea Taaeen (Sindi).

    source: http://www.DeccanChronicle.com / Home> News> Current Affairs / DC,  December 21st, 2012

    APTDC’s ‘Hunar Se Rozgar Tak’ to benefit 1,500 unemployed youth

    Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Business & Economy

    It is aimed at increasing skilled manpower in hospitality sector

    Unemployed youth seeking a job in the hospitality sector can look forward to bright days ahead.

    The Vijayawada division of Andhra Pradesh Tourism Development Corporation (APTDC) will soon induct 1500-odd unemployed youngsters in the 18-28 age group for training followed by their placement under the unique ‘Hunar Se Rozgar Tak’ (HSRT) (From Skill to Employment) scheme, a special initiative launched by the Ministry of Tourism.

    It’s a Central Government-funded training programme imparted to the beneficiaries for a short span of six to eight weeks and no fee is charged for it. The initiative is part of the

    Ministry of Tourism’s scheme namely Capacity Building for Service Providers (CBSP) and has been introduced mainly to increase skilled manpower in hospitality sector. A five-member team of the Tourism Corporation’s divisional managers from five southern states, including J. Raghupathi Rao, the Corporation’s Vijayawada Division Manager, is undergoing a three-day training sessions at the Bangalore Institute of Hotel Management’s Executive Development Centre.

    “We will seek local NGOs’ help to identify 1500-odd eligible youth for training programme which will commence in the next 20 days,” J. Raghupathi Rao, APTDC’s Vijayawada Divisional Manager, told The Hindu on Monday.

    The scheme, launched in 2009-10 in some of the northern States, is being implemented through expert institutions like the Indian Institute of Tourism and Travel Management, Institutes of Hotel Management, Food Craft Institutes and India Tourism Development Corporation.

    The State governments have been given the liberty to implement the programme through institutes selected by them.

    Success

    Considering its success and acceptability, it has been decided to expand it in terms of number of beneficiaries as well as the courses being offered. Earlier, the programme offered training courses only in food and beverage service and food production.

    Three more courses of housekeeping, bakery and a composite multi-skilled course in Food Production and F&B service were introduced at a later stage.

    “The programme will be implemented in all the tourism divisions of Andhra Pradesh from January,” said Mr. Raghupathi Rao.

    Referring to the developments of APTDC properties in and around Vijayawada city, Mr. Rao said plans are afoot to give the picturesque Bhavani Island a facelift.

    “More adventure sports, both water and ground sports, such as zorbing and electronic games, would soon be introduced to attract tourists,” said Mr. Rao.

    source: http://www.TheHindu.com / Home> News> Cities> Vijayawada / by P. Sujatha Varma / December 18th, 2012

    Dr Ghazal Srinivas’s ‘Telugu Ghazalu’ book launched

    Arts, Culture & Entertainment

    Hyderabad:

    “Dr Ghazal Srinivas is a Legendary singer. He made  his mark in the fied of  Ghazal Culture and  the Hisory of Telugu Iiterature.  Coming Generations wil remember his contribution for Telugu Ghazals and his hard work and commitment will be an inspiration for all budding Singers” said by Padmasree Dr Y Lakshmi Prasad during “Teugu Ghazal book  launching function held in Palakol.

    RenownedTelugu Ghazal singer   Dr Ghazal Srinivas written the Book “Telugu Ghazalu” which narrates the Journey of Ghazal from Persin language to Telugu  and also contribution of Dr Dasarathi and Dr Cinarey. The book talks about the role of the  singers ,poets and audince to make ghazal concerts successful.

    Dr Ghazal Srinivas dedicated his book to renowned Poet, Critic Late Dr Samala Sadasiva (Adilabad) who is expert in Persian, Arabic, Urdu,Marathi, Hindi and Telugu Languages.

    “Telugu Ghazal” book was launched by smt Ratnavali, Kesiraju Narasimha Rao, Parents of Dr Ghazal Srinvas and  first copy was presented to Dr Yarlagadda Lakshmi Prasad.  Ghazal poets  Dr Rentaa, Dr Tatavarthy  and Dr Rasaraju were also present.

    Audience paid tribute  to Late Samala Sadasiva and Vemparala Subrahmanyam (Ghazal  poet) those who passed away recently.

    Book was published by Ghazal Charitable Trust. Earlier Sri Rayaprolu Bhavan welcomed the gathering and Mr Addala Vasu proposed Vote of Thanks.

    source: http://www.greaterandhra.com / Home> Articles> Special Articles / December 16th, 2012