special bonding:Ch. Mukteswara Rao and his wife with grey langur temple at Saradaipeta village near Machilipatnam in Krishna district.— Photo: T. Appala Naidu
The love for all living creatures is the noblest attribute of man,” opined Charles Darwin.
Chennapurapu Muktheswara Rao, a farmer of Saradaipeta hamlet of Guduru mandal in Krishna, has proved this by building a temple at his house for a grey langur.
Mr. Muktheswara Rao built the temple after its death on November 6, 2015.
“I brought the grey langur from the Mylavaram forest area six years ago to keep the monkeys which were raiding my coconut plantations at bay. It became a member of my family over the years as we allowed it stay in our house,” said Mr. Muktheswara Rao.
In late 2015, the simian, which was christened as Raju, suffered an injury due to an iron chain that was tied to the neck, but it was noticed only after its condition deteriorated. The local veterinarian treated it for a few days but could not save it.
“The death of Raju came as a shock for me. We performed the last rites in accordance with our customs and buried it. As I could not bear Raju’s absence, I built a small temple for it,” said Mr. Muktheswara Rao.
Popular in village
“I am blessed with three children, including a girl. I treat the langur as one of my children. By faith I am a Christian, but I observe its death anniversary like any Hindu family does,” Mr. Muktheswara Rao said. The temple of the grey langur, the most widespread langurs of South Asia, is 10 km from Machilipatnam. The grey langur made a lasting impression on villagers with its playful antics.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> National> Andhra Pradesh / by Staff Reporter / Machilipatnam – May 31st, 2016
JNTUK Vice-Chancellor V.S.S. Kumar releasing a book titled ‘Metaheuristic Applications to Speech Enhancement’ in Kakinada on Wednesday. —Photo: Special Arrangement.
Vice-Chancellor of the Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University Kakinada (JNTUK) V.S.S. Kumar released a book titled Metaheuristic applications to speech enhancement penned by Prajna Kunche in association with Professor K.V.V.S. Reddy at a programme held here on Wednesday.
Ms. Prajna did her Ph.D. from Andhra University in metaheuristic applications and Springer, international publisher of science, technology and medicine, came forward to publish her thesis for worldwide release.
Speaking on the occasion, Prof. Kumar congratulated Ms. Prajna on the venture and called upon the research scholars to focus on getting their thesis papers published so that they could be useful to future generations. “We must feel proud of Ms. Prajna as the publisher of international repute came forward to publish her thesis. This makes the book get circulated to all the technological universities worldwide and come in handy for the students who are undertaking research in the subject,” he said.
Thanking her research guides Prof. K.V.V.S. Reddy and G. Samba Siva Rao for encouraging her to complete the project work in a short period, Ms. Prajna said that the Springer international journal first published her thesis in its website and going by the response the firm decided to bring out the printed version.
“Presently, I am the technical reviewer for Springer international journal of speech technology and Springer pattern analysis and applications. I am getting invites from universities of international repute to deliver talks on speech technology,” she said.
Rector of the JNTUK B. Prabhakara Rao, senior faculty members, Ms. Prajna’s parents K.S. Vara Prasad (Principal, Andhra Polytechnic) and Krishna Kumari (lecturer in Botany, ASD Government Degree College) were present.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> National> Andhra Pradesh / by Staff Reporter / Kakinada – June 02nd, 2016
Asha Gunapati, a woman entrepreneur, who makes handcrafted organic soaps under her enterprise ‘Sreshta Skin Essentials’ in Visakhapatnam.
Asha Gunapati’s products are based on her belief that “what goes into your mouth should go on your skin”.
Her range of soaps is natural and handcrafted with subtle fragrances. But they stand apart in their incredible designs making them look deliciously tempting. Cupcakes, jelly bars and whipped creams, so enticingly designed are the soaps that she literally had to keep a disclaimer — ‘Do not eat. It’s a soap’ — at her recently held exhibition at a mall in the city.
An HR professional, who quit her corporate job to be with family, Asha started making handcrafted organic soaps as a hobby in 2013, and it was only last year that she decided to dive into an entrepreneurship venture to start her own line of products called ‘Sreshta Skin Essentials’. Now, she also provides employment to a team of eight underprivileged women who help her in making the organic soaps.
Asha says her soaps are devoid of chemicals as she uses natural ingredients such as essential oils like lavender, tea tree, cedar wood and rose and carrier oils like olive oil, coconut oil and almond oil to make the soaps. Before starting her venture, she did a thorough market research on handmade soap brands in India and found that most of these soaps were very expensive.
“I felt there was a big untapped market for natural organic soaps in the affordable segment. But if I had to make my products stand out, I knew I had to give equal emphasis to quality and design,” says the creative entrepreneur. With an initial investment of Rs. 6 lakh, Asha set up her home-based enterprise and started reaching out to customers through the e-commerce route.
Her soaps come in a range of flavours like lavender mint cupcake, raspberry bar, rainbow soaps and chocolate cupcake and can be ordered from the websitewww.feminineindia.comor her Facebook page ‘Sreshta Skin Essentials’.
“Initially, we were in losses since the manufacturing cost was way too high. The raw material cost itself was over Rs. 2 lakh, most of which are procured from Noida and Bengaluru. We use imported almond oil from France and Kojic acid, a natural whitening agent, from Japan,” adds Asha. She uses two methods in making the soaps — the cold process which takes about 30 to 45 days to make a batch of soap and the glycerine soaps that can be used instantly.
Describing her entrepreneurial journey so far, Asha says: “It has been a roller coaster ride. I started the enterprise when my father passed away and I had to support my mother. It was the toughest phase of my life. But it was this business of making handcrafted soaps that helped me come over it. I put in all my creative energy into it. Sometimes it is great and sometimes it is tiring and backbreaking. My day starts off with me collecting online orders, processing them, checking the stock, packing and shipping them. If the item is out of stock, I make it. Amidst all this, I also like to experiment with new things and update my product list.” To reach out to more people, Asha showcases her work at various exhibitions. Her next exhibitions will be in Vijayawada and Bengaluru.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Visakhapatnam / Nivedita Ganguly / Visakhapatnam – June 01st, 2016
