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TOI : PUNE: Stalwarts of English and Malyalam literature on Sunday said that Kamla Surayya’s (Kamla Das) contribution to literature was immense and duly recognised.

“Only a few writers of any genre get recognised as arguably the greatest ever’ as she did. Unlike many writers and artists whose genius got discovered after their death, Kamla Das received due recognition during her lifetime,” M T Vasudevan Nair, a famous writer in Malyalam and a Jnanapeeth awardee, told TOI on phone from Kerala.

Commenting on her contribution to literature, especially Malyalam literature, Nair said, “She was a great fiction writer. Some of her novels and short stories in Malyalam are on par with world literature. Her contribution to literature of the two languages is outstanding.”

“But more than the recognition, what is important is that she created a strong reader-base among fiction lovers. Even the present generation is well acquainted with her work in both the languages,” he said. Her last novel in Malyalam, Vandikkalakal’ (Bullock carts), was published two years ago and it was well-received, added Nair.

Author and professor of English at the University of Pune, R Raj Rao said, “More than a writer, I consider her a great poetess. She was definitely an influential woman writer. She forged a new idiom among Indo-Anglian women poets. She wrote very frankly about sex which is very unusual for a woman writer. Her work was duly recognised during her lifetime. Besides, several critical work in the form of doctoral thesis and dissertations have been done on her writings.” An Introduction’ is one of her best poems, so is her autobiography My Story’, added Rao.

Echoing the same view, renowned Malyalam poet Balchandran Chullikkad told TOI on phone: “Kamla Das proved her genius thoroughly. She enjoyed a vast reader-base and that was her true recognition. She fought against falsities and hypocrisy and dared to express what she felt strongly….More

TOI : PUNE: Stalwarts of English and Malyalam literature on Sunday said that Kamla Surayya’s (Kamla Das) contribution to literature was immense and duly recognised.

“Only a few writers of any genre get recognised as arguably the greatest ever’ as she did. Unlike many writers and artists whose genius got discovered after their death, Kamla Das received due recognition during her lifetime,” M T Vasudevan Nair, a famous writer in Malyalam and a Jnanapeeth awardee, told TOI on phone from Kerala.

Commenting on her contribution to literature, especially Malyalam literature, Nair said, “She was a great fiction writer. Some of her novels and short stories in Malyalam are on par with world literature. Her contribution to literature of the two languages is outstanding.”

“But more than the recognition, what is important is that she created a strong reader-base among fiction lovers. Even the present generation is well acquainted with her work in both the languages,” he said. Her last novel in Malyalam, Vandikkalakal’ (Bullock carts), was published two years ago and it was well-received, added Nair.

Author and professor of English at the University of Pune, R Raj Rao said, “More than a writer, I consider her a great poetess. She was definitely an influential woman writer. She forged a new idiom among Indo-Anglian women poets. She wrote very frankly about sex which is very unusual for a woman writer. Her work was duly recognised during her lifetime. Besides, several critical work in the form of doctoral thesis and dissertations have been done on her writings.” An Introduction’ is one of her best poems, so is her autobiography My Story’, added Rao.

Echoing the same view, renowned Malyalam poet Balchandran Chullikkad told TOI on phone: “Kamla Das proved her genius thoroughly. She enjoyed a vast reader-base and that was her true recognition. She fought against falsities and hypocrisy and dared to express what she felt strongly….More

TOI : PUNE: There was a buzz in the air. Thousands of Puneites were eagerly waiting for the Mozart of Madras’ and his magical melodies. And, he did not disappoint.

The Balewadi sports complex resounded with the Rahman magic leaving his fans spellbound and asking for more as The Times of India Jai Ho concert unfolded in the balmy Sunday evening.

The venue was crowded well before the show started. And then the wait began, that of the maestro and his posse of musicians.

Moments before Rahman got onto the stage, radio jockeys of Radio Mirchi, RJ Shrikant and RJ Aditi played host and welcomed the crowd. The crowd complied when they were asked to scream Jai Ho’ at the top of their voices but their loudest cheer was reserved for Rahman as he came on to the stage in a lift that came up from the middle of the stage. Clad in a white sherwani, Rahman started off the show with a track from Slumdog Millionaire’ and followed it up with a Tamil track Machan Machan’.

But it was his talk before the track that left the audience charmed. “Namaskar, salaam and satsriakaal! A dream I had since a long time has finally come true today, and I’m here in Pune. We are going to have fun today with some good songs, some bad and some mistakes,” he said with a laugh.

The next track, one of his latest releases the title song of Delhi-6′ had the crowd up on their feet with all singing along with Rahman’s troupe of singers. “The concert began with a prayer for peace which was fitting since Rahman’s music symbolises light, beauty and peace for all those who hear it. His songs cut across languages and countries, only to bring everyone together,” said an excited Jill Sheldekar, a corporate trainer.

Popular singers Hariharan and Sadhana Sargam’s entry on…More

TOI : PUNE: There was a buzz in the air. Thousands of Puneites were eagerly waiting for the Mozart of Madras’ and his magical melodies. And, he did not disappoint.

The Balewadi sports complex resounded with the Rahman magic leaving his fans spellbound and asking for more as The Times of India Jai Ho concert unfolded in the balmy Sunday evening.

The venue was crowded well before the show started. And then the wait began, that of the maestro and his posse of musicians.

Moments before Rahman got onto the stage, radio jockeys of Radio Mirchi, RJ Shrikant and RJ Aditi played host and welcomed the crowd. The crowd complied when they were asked to scream Jai Ho’ at the top of their voices but their loudest cheer was reserved for Rahman as he came on to the stage in a lift that came up from the middle of the stage. Clad in a white sherwani, Rahman started off the show with a track from Slumdog Millionaire’ and followed it up with a Tamil track Machan Machan’.

But it was his talk before the track that left the audience charmed. “Namaskar, salaam and satsriakaal! A dream I had since a long time has finally come true today, and I’m here in Pune. We are going to have fun today with some good songs, some bad and some mistakes,” he said with a laugh.

The next track, one of his latest releases the title song of Delhi-6′ had the crowd up on their feet with all singing along with Rahman’s troupe of singers. “The concert began with a prayer for peace which was fitting since Rahman’s music symbolises light, beauty and peace for all those who hear it. His songs cut across languages and countries, only to bring everyone together,” said an excited Jill Sheldekar, a corporate trainer.

Popular singers Hariharan and Sadhana Sargam’s entry on…More

TOI : PUNE: Buoyed by his victory in the Lok Sabha elections, city MP from the Congress party Suresh Kalmadi on Sunday said the Congress would contest all the assembly seats in the Pune district irrespective of whether there is a pre-poll alliance with the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) at the state level.

Kalmadi continued his aggressive stance against district guardian minister and senior NCP leader Ajit Pawar, as he made a fresh demand for breaking the Pune Pattern’ in the Pune Municipal Corporation where the NCP has tied up with the Shiv Sena and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

Addressing party workers at the Congress Bhavan for the first time since his victory, Kalmadi said, “I won the elections, despite my detractors trying to ensure my defeat. It is time to give a fitting reply to these people. I do not know whether the Congress and the NCP will enter into a pre-poll alliance at the state level for the assembly elections or not. But, at least, in the Pune district Congress candidates will contest from all the seats. Also, we will need to break the Pune Pattern in the PMC.”

Hinting at Pawar, Kalmadi said that if a district guardian minister is from the same district (like in the case of Pawar, who is from Baramati) that he is responsible for, administrative problems are bound to crop up. “Such guardian ministers are more interested in playing politics than in developing the area. When Vijaysinh Mohite-Patil was the guardian minister of Pune, everything was going well. But the present guardian minister has created huge problems in the development of the district,” Kalmadi said.

The city MP also came down heavily on party workers who were working against the party during the election campaign. “Such workers will not get any party responsibility or even a ticket in the next PMC elections,” he said.

Speaking about Republican…More

TOI : PUNE: While concerted efforts are on to eliminate computer hardware waste in a manner which is least harmful to the environment, software companies are opting for green computing, helped by approaches such as virstualisation, cloud computing and dynamic infrastructure.

“Implementing virtualisiation enabled us to reduce the number of (server) racks required to host our datacenter hardware from four to one,” says Raghuvir Singh Sohal, manager, management information systems at Bajaj Auto Limited. Importantly, “we have reduced the server fleet power and cooling costs considerably,” Sohal adds.

Majority of companies globally have added (or are are planning to do so within the next 12 months) virtualisation technology to their servers, consolidated storage systems, or retrofited their server rooms. “Businesses around the world have discovered that going green isn’t just good for the planet; it’s good for their bottom line as well,” said Ramesh Narasimhan, director, general business, IBM India/South Asia. “Green IT strategies are leading to savings in operational expenditure; lower space and power and higher return on investment.”

A study by Springboard Research says virtualisation software and services market in Asia-Pacific will grow at an estimated 42 per cent to reach $1.35 billion by 2010 as interest in the technology has steadily increased. Virtualization services, estimated to grow to $1 billion by 2010, will form a major portion of this market as organisations will spend two-three times more on services than on software.

Of particular interest to start up businesses and mid-size firms would be cloud computing which envisages the use of a pool of highly scalable managed IT infrastructure that can be used by virtully any business, which can thereby concentrate fully on the core business and bring home huge savings in terms of cost of power in addition to saving the heavy up-front investment in IT setup. The savings in IT infrastructure and maintenance (including the energy bill) is estimated to be 25…More

TOI : PUNE: Four people, including a 10-year-boy, died on the spot and nine others sustained severe injuries after a speeding trailer carrying iron rods rammed vehicles and pedestrians at the Indira Gandhi chowk in Khopoli on Mumbai-Pune highway on Sunday morning.

An irate mob, who had gathered on the spot after the incident, pelted stones on the vehicles on the highway. As many as 25 vehicles on the highway faced the wrath. As a result, the traffic on the Pune-Mumbai highway was thrown out of gear for more than two hours after the mishap.

The Khopoli police have identified the deceased as Ashish Mohanti (10), Shankar Ganpat Nangre (68), Parvej Abdul (28) and Rajesh Sadashiv Pawar (35), all from Khopoli.

The police have arrested driver of the trailer Sachin Arjun Parse for negligent and rash driving.

Speaking to TOI, senior inspector Marutrao Daphale of the Khopoli police said the trailer was travelling from Pune to Mumbai. “Apparently, the vehicle was in full speed and lost control at the steep slope at the end of the Khandala ghat. “First, the truck rammed three autorickshaws which were parked at the chowk, and later, dashed a two-wheeler on which 10-year-old Ashish travelling with his mother,” Daphale said.

He added that Ashish and his mother were on their way to the market. “After hitting the duo, the trailer continued to run amok, killing and injuring pedestrians. Nangre, Pawar and Abdul died on the spot, and as many as nine others sustained severe injuries,” Daphale said.

Parse also sustained severe injuries and was admitted in the hospital, the police said.

According to the police, the deceased and the injured were all local residents. After the mob went berserk, the highway was closed for traffic for more than two hours. “The situation is now under control,” Daphale said. Print Emai…More

TOI : PUNE: In separate incidents, three people including two women allegedly committed suicide by hanging themselves in the Sahakarnagar area between Saturday and Sunday.

A 28-year-old woman allegedly committed suicide by hanging herself at her mother’s residence in Balajinagar on Saturday. The police have identified the deceased as Archna Ugale. Police sub-inspector R S Jagdale of the Sahakarnagar police station said no suicide note was found near Ugale’s body. There were the words I am committing suicide’ written on her hand, Jagdale said.

In another incident, 31-year-old Vandana Thorve of Sambhajinagar at Dhankawadi allegedly committed suicide by hanging herself at her residence on Saturday evening. The police found a suicide note near Thorve’s body, saying she was committing suicide because she had been unable to cope with her illness. Sub-inspector M S Kale of the Sahakarnagar police station is investigating the case.

Meanwhile, on Sunday morning, the Sahakarnagar police found the body of 56-year-old Prabhakar Pandurang Gavli hanging by a tree on Taljai hills. Gavli was a resident of Bibvewadi and his identity was ascertained by the police from a dairy in his pocket. Speaking to TOI, sub-inspector D K Pangare of the Sahakarnagar police station said, “We recovered a dairy from the deceased, where it is written that no one was responsible for his death.” Print Emai…More

TOI : PUNE: In a venture as novel as it is ambitious, city-based historian Ganesh Raut and librarian V N Honap have compiled an encyclopaedia enlisting Maharashtra’s daily history between 1650 and 2005.

Though the work took them over five years to complete, on the anvil are plans to come up with two more compilations, namely a daily history of India, and then the world. “But since Honap sir is not keeping good health, I’ll have to finish the other two myself,” says Raut.

Starting off with January 1 and continuing up to December 31, there is a detailed note of happenings of significant events which took place on that particular day through different years. For instance, the commencement of the Shaniwarwada’s construction on January 10 in 1730 coincides with the completion of the Churchgate railway station on the same day in 1870.

“The idea is not just to pinpoint history’s turning points, but also recover the nuggets of information lost in the mists of time, that can serve as valuable links in our understanding of the past,” says Honap.

“A daily diary of all the significant events in Maharashtra over the last 400 years is important not just for its own sake, but also as a vital comparative tool to place our achievements in perspective with those of the rest of the world,” explains Raut. “For instance, did you know that Shivaji was a contemporary of Louis XIV of France?”

Similarly, Akbar the Great was a contemporary of Queen Elizabeth I of England. “Both rulers would survive turbulent childhoods and tumultuous early days of their reign before establishing an unexpectedly firm sway over their subjects,” says Raut.

Some of the interesting dates in Maharashtra Dinvishesh’ include the first inter-religious marriage in Pune between the scholar R G Bhandarkar’s granddaughter Malini Panandikar and Gulabkhan Bashiruddin Khan; the commencement of the construction of the Shaniwarwada, Tilak’s…More

TOI : PUNE: Buoyed by his victory in the Lok Sabha elections, city MP from the Congress party Suresh Kalmadi on Sunday said the Congress would contest all the assembly seats in the Pune district irrespective of whether there is a pre-poll alliance with the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) at the state level.

Kalmadi continued his aggressive stance against district guardian minister and senior NCP leader Ajit Pawar, as he made a fresh demand for breaking the Pune Pattern’ in the Pune Municipal Corporation where the NCP has tied up with the Shiv Sena and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

Addressing party workers at the Congress Bhavan for the first time since his victory, Kalmadi said, “I won the elections, despite my detractors trying to ensure my defeat. It is time to give a fitting reply to these people. I do not know whether the Congress and the NCP will enter into a pre-poll alliance at the state level for the assembly elections or not. But, at least, in the Pune district Congress candidates will contest from all the seats. Also, we will need to break the Pune Pattern in the PMC.”

Hinting at Pawar, Kalmadi said that if a district guardian minister is from the same district (like in the case of Pawar, who is from Baramati) that he is responsible for, administrative problems are bound to crop up. “Such guardian ministers are more interested in playing politics than in developing the area. When Vijaysinh Mohite-Patil was the guardian minister of Pune, everything was going well. But the present guardian minister has created huge problems in the development of the district,” Kalmadi said.

The city MP also came down heavily on party workers who were working against the party during the election campaign. “Such workers will not get any party responsibility or even a ticket in the next PMC elections,” he said.

Speaking about Republican…More