Category Archives: World Opinion

A R Rahman to introduce Punjabi beats for Olympics

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Leaders, Nri's / Pio's, Records, All, Sports, World Opinion

Mumbai, Jun 30 (PTI)

 Oscar-winning composer A R Rahman, who is reuniting with Danny Boyle for London Olympics, will celebrate Indian influence in UK by incluing Punjabi track in the opening ceremony.

The 46-year-old has teamed up with Boyle, the artistic director of the games, for the gala ceremony.

“Clarifying the report on the Olympics track I am composing… It’s a track in Punjabi celebrating the Indian influence in the UK.

source: http://www.ptinews.com / PTI / by Staff Writer / July 01st, 2012

Life through my lens: Kaieteur Falls, Guyana

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Green Initiatives/ Environment, Nature, World Opinion

Stuart Dunn’s work will be a major attraction at the Travel Photographer of the Year show this summer, says Michael Kerr.

A participant in a BBC expedition dangles in front of the Kaieteur Falls in Guyana Photo: Stuart Dunn

“There are times,” says Stuart Dunn, “when you just have to go for it.” He certainly did to secure the picture above, winner of the Wild Moments category in the 2011 Travel Photographer of the Year competition held in association with the Royal Geographical Society. Images from the competition – one of the world’s most respected showcases for travel work – went on display yesterday at the RGS in London.

Dunn’s picture shows a participant in a BBC expedition dangling in front of the Kaieteur Falls in Guyana, which drops 746ft to its first break and is one of the most powerful waterfalls in the world. The photographer himself was attached to a harness on the cliff face opposite. “I managed to squeeze off just a few frames,” he says, “some of them showing the edge of the cliff. But this one was the best: the perfectly straight rope, the power of the falls and the tiny figure.”

Travelling to extremes has been part of Dunn’s life since he gained a masters degree in cinematography from the Northern Media School in 2003. One of his friends on the course was from Sri Lanka, and deeply disturbed by the way civilians were suffering in the civil war. He was determined to head for the Tamil Tiger-controlled north of that country – where journalists had recently been killed – and to document the plight of the 500,000 refugees who had been displaced by the fighting. Dunn went with him. “I didn’t know huge amount about the politics or the country,” he says. “But I was young and foolish and I said, ‘Let’s do it’. Jobs like that got my career in travel documentary started.”

That career, in which he combines photography and cinematography, has embraced programmes as disparate as Country File and Panorama, and taken him everywhere from New Zealand to Brazil. More recently, he has been documenting the travels to inhospitable spots of the adventurers Ben Fogle and James Cracknell and working on the BBC series Coast.

Having won the Wild Moments category of the RGS competition, he was sent to Valparai, in southern India, one of several places where a British charity, Elephant Family, is working to save the Asian elephant from extinction. Elephants survive there in corridors of jungle between tea plantations (see image below), but loss of habitat is increasingly bringing them into conflict with local people. Elephant Family is attempting to make the area safer for both humans and elephants, with educational programmes and early warnings to villagers of the animals’ presence that include both red lights and text messages.

The human side of the story was easy enough to tell. Capturing the elephants in pictures proved trickier. “We had 10 days,” says Dunn, “and from four in the morning till eight at night, we were hunting them every day – following their tracks, watching out for dung, treading warily. It was all quite scary.

“It wasn’t until the last day that I got some decent images of them, and I was very grateful. Not getting elephants in the frame would have been pretty bad form.”

Travel Photographer of the Year exhibition

The Travel Photographer of the Year show is at the Royal Geographical Society (with IBG), 1 Kensington Gore, London SW7 2AR, until August 19; 9.30am-5pm Mon to Sat 10am-4pm Sun. Entrance is free. For details, see tpoty.com

On sale at the show will be a Travel Photographer of the Year portfolio book, Journey Four (£25), containing the winning images from both the 2011 and the 2010 competitions.

Click here to see more of the best images from the exhibition

For more of Stuart Dunn’s photography, see stuartdunnphotography.com

source: http://www.telegraph.co.uk / Home> Travel> Festivals and Events / by Michael Kerr / June 20th, 2012

Madonna likes to work with AR.Rahman

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, World Opinion

Madonna, the world’s one of the popular singers told recently in NY Daily news that she is desperate to work with Oscar Winner AR.Rahman. “I would like to work with him when the opportunity comes and things work out. Only then we will be able to decide on the music.”

She said that she want to perform in India, if she gets a chance.

However, AR Rahman soon after Madonna’s statements tweeted, “Anytime… You are welcome, Madonna ji…”

source: http://www.24by7news.com / Home> Entertainment / May 22nd, 2012

Playing a star called krar

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, World Opinion
Michael Patrao

Instrumental

Music festivals throw up surprises to connoisseurs of music. It may be experimental music, blend of diverse forms of music, prodigies or ethnic music and musical instruments.

Jimi Hendrix, for instance, came into limelight at the Woodstock festival of music and arts in New York in 1969.

Music lovers who assembled at the Music Arts and Drama (MAD) Festival held at the Fernhill Palace in Ooty from April 5 to 7 were treated to some eclectic music. Among them was the Krar Collective, the London-based trio which performed traditional Ethiopian music. The Krar Collective comprises Temesegen Tareken (Krar player), Genet Asefa (singer) and Amare (drummer). The star of the show was krar, an ethnic musical instrument from Ethiopia. It was wired to an amplifier in its modern version.

“Krar is one of the oldest instruments in the world that is still played today like it was thousands of years ago. Some people say it comes from the harp of King David that is mentioned in the Bible,” Temesegen Tareken said in an interview.

Describing the instrument, he said, “Krar is a lyre and harp with five or six strings. The very traditional ones are made with a bowl covered with animal skin with two wooden arms to hold the strings, but the modern krar has a wooden body and an electric pick up. We can pluck the strings or strum them like a guitar. We don’t press our fingers on something like a guitar neck but just open or close the strings by touching them.”

The Krar Collective are musicians from Ethiopia, but met in London and played in many shows and festivals in the Ethiopian community and around UK. They focus on dynamic roots music from different parts of Ethiopia and different traditions, though also look to add a contemporary edge.

In 2011, they were selected from 750 bands to perform at the international world music showcase, Womex in Copenhagen. “That was really good for us. After that suddenly we have emails each week inviting us to play in different countries like Finland, Canada, Germany, Switzerland and so on,” recalls Tareken.

The MAD festival in Ooty was their first show this year on their first world tour. They have recorded an album on Riverboat Records and this will be released internationally in September. They are excited about sharing Ethiopian culture all over the world.

Says Tereken, “We mostly sing traditional songs from different places in Ethiopia and different tribes. Also, some of the songs are in different languages. We have 90 languages in our country.

The songs have different styles of dance and costume too. Because we use electric krar with traditional kebero drums, we are able to give them a modern way of playing and people can dance. We are just three people, but we think we make a big sound!”

“We never dreamt we would come to India, so this is a real adventure for us, and maybe it will open doors to many more of such visits,” says Tereken.

source: http://www.DeccanHerald.com / Home> Supplements> Sunday Herald arts & culture / Sunday, April 15th, 2012

Visions of India Dancing and Dancing and Dancing

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, World Opinion

Nrityagram Dance and Other Indian Troupes in New York

Briana Blasko for The New York Times / The Gotipua Dance Ensemble, a troupe of boy dancers, in the eastern state of Orissa, India

When an illustrious Indian dance company performs in New York, as the Nrityagram Dance Ensemble did at the Joyce Theater last week, we can take both pleasure and instruction from it. Music and dance operate in thrilling proximity; the visual sensuousness is in many ways exceptional; the levels of technical achievement and stylistic polish are high. Best of all we’re given a window into a culture far from our own.

  • The Kalamandalam Calcutta Dance Ensemble performing in a temple in Tamil Nadu in February. The great temples, still in daily use, are studded with imagery of bodies in motion.

New York hosts several first-rate Indian companies or dance soloists each year. From April 9 to 15, when the Indo-American Arts Council presents its annual Erasing Borders festival of Indian dance, the opening dancer will be Sujata Mohapatra. Like the Nrityagram dancers, she is a leading exemplar of the Odissi style of the eastern state of Orissa. In June Shantala Shivalingappa comes to the Joyce for a week; internationally celebrated for her work with Pina Bausch, she is an exponent of the Kuchipudi style from the southeastern state of Andhra Pradesh.

In  visiting India last month my main aim was not to see dance performances but the setting from which Indian dance derives. The great temples of the southern state of Tamil Nadu and in Orissa were all I had hoped: temples as singular but multifaceted worlds, most of them still in intense daily use and studded with imagery of bodies in motion. Dance forms all over Southeast Asia stem from the Natya Shastra, the treatise on the performing arts written between 200 B.C. and A.D. 200; more than 100 of its dance positions are illustrated in a centuries-old bas relief at the temple at Chidambaram, a number of which are precisely the same as those we see in some Indian classical forms today.

When I watched the Nrityagram performance last week, many of these positions fell into place in my mind in a way they had not early in my visit to India, when I saw the same choreography in rehearsal. Henceforth it will be interesting to recognize them with other Indian dancers.

In Orissa, while the devadasis (female temple artists, both musicians and dancers) used to perform within the temples, a version of their art was also practiced outside the precincts by the gotipuas, boys who were trained to dance female Odissi roles before puberty. Most of us would assume that theirs too has become a bygone art; but no. I saw two gotipua troupes rehearse on successive days.

They grow their hair long (pulled back in ponytails when I saw them); their training brings with it board, lodging and nondance education. (A number of them stay with the Odissi art in adult life, as musicians, dancers and teachers.) Their applause-winning specialty (not evidently feminine) consists of acrobatic feats and tableaus.

What impressed me more, however, was the boys’ youthful mastery of the basics of Odissi style. Hardly had they made their processional entrance, in single file, than in unison they demonstrated a tribhanga — a celebrated Odissi S-bend position in which dancers create a series of upward curves at knee, torso and shoulder — and contrasted it with the sculpturally square position called chowk, all amid a swaying dance of ritual invocation.

These and other features make it tempting to declare that the traditions of Indian dance are in good health. When I got off the plane in Bhubaneswar, Orissa’s capital city, I was gratified to see that the main poster image for the state featured Odissi dancing. Dance and religion are still vitally connected. While in Tamil Nadu I attended the celebration of Shivaratri, the night when Shiva, god and dancer, is honored with open-air dance festivals at the temples of both Chidambaram and Thanjavur, each running for five nights. Watching the marathon of dance I felt honored to attend and in awe of a culture where dance and worship fluently interlock.

But there are ways in which it seems obvious that the virtues of Indian classical dance are threatened. Though I saw much beautiful work in rehearsal, much of it is vitiated by the practices that surround live performance, especially at the festivals. I attended four programs at three different dance festivals: many of their features were too dismaying to pass without comment.

When Indian dancers use taped music in the West, I’ve always assumed it is only because the economics of global travel made live music prohibitive. But at Thanjavur and at Bhubaneswar taped music was the norm. Worse, at those and at Chidambaram the music was carelessly overamplified. You don’t need to know much about Indian dance to recognize that you should sometimes hear the slap of the soles of the dancers’ feet on the floor and the jingling of their ankle bells. And yet it was impossible to hear any such thing.

More frustratingly, you frequently couldn’t even see the feet. Why? Because it is the norm for a dozen or more photographers to be lined along the footlights, barring the general audience’s view. Meanwhile it’s standard for members of the audience to use cellphones during performances. Even members of the press took calls and sometimes texted while there was dancing onstage.

More problematic, there was a sense that classical dance is being adapted for tourism. Too many of the dances I saw in performances seemed to have been packaged like son-et-lumière entertainments. Some Indian dancers later told me that they now prefer to perform abroad because the local conditions are so irksome.

Within a culture changing as drastically as that of India today, how will the Indian classical dance forms adapt? I hope to return to find out. In Chennai I visited the celebrated dance school of  Kalakshetra, which specializes in Bharata Natyam, Tamil Nadu’s own classical dance idiom. Five minutes of watching a second-year group class practice pure dance demonstrated to me how taxing but exhilarating it can be; a fourth-year class showed how absorbing the more expressional form, Abhinaya, can be.

A young man in the first class and a young woman in the second struck me as outstanding. Their stylistic assurance gave me the impression that Bharata Natyam was their inheritance, but I was mistaken. The man was from a Tamil Nadu folk-dancing family of a completely different idiom; the woman was American, of a family of Sri Lankan extraction. Yet here they were, dancing the style they had recently acquired as if it were in their DNA. This new generation’s commitment to the classical genres of India gives hope that they are well set to endure.

The Erasing Borders festival of Indian dance runs from April 9 to 15 at locations in New York City; www.iaac.us.

source: http://www.nytimes.com / The New York Times> Dance / by Alastair MaCaulay / March 25th, 2012

SHOWBIZ: The best of Asean

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Nri's / Pio's, Uncategorized, World Opinion

A festival that celebrates the diversity of Southeast Asian music illuminated Istana Budaya for two days, writes Dennis Chua

 MK delivering a powerful Tamil number

The  last day of February 2012 will go down in Southeast Asian history as one where the region got together for reportedly its biggest celebration of music in Kuala Lumpur’s splendid Palace Of Culture, Istana Budaya.

Musicians from the Association Of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) member countries — Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam and this country — brought joy to and garnered applause from the national theatre’s 1,000-odd audience at the Asean Musical Extravaganza 2012 on Feb 29 and March 1.

The extravaganza, organised by the Information, Communication and Culture Ministry, was attended by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak and Information, Communication and Culture Minister Datuk Seri Dr Rais Yatim.

It was organised in conjunction with the 11th annual Asean Ministers Responsible For Information (AMRI) Conference 2012 in KL.

The member countries introduced their performers in alphabetical order, beginning with Brunei and ending with Vietnam.

As host, Malaysia showcased three popular singers representing the country’s three major communities.

They were One In A Million 1 champion Suki Low, popular Tamil singer MK and the country’s pop king Jamal Abdillah.

Dressed in elegant purple, Suki delivered an outstanding rendition of  the Chinese song Beauty Within.

Sporting a new, short hairdo reminiscent of Jaclyn Victor, the singer from Seremban showed fans across the region that she was “growing with her music”.

Not only did she shine in her Chinese number, Suki also delivered a perfect rendition of Joget 1Malaysia, a remake of the 1960s hit Joget Malaysia made popular by Tan Sri P. Ramlee and his wife Puan Sri Saloma.

And she had the perfect singing partner in Jamal, who with MK nicely complemented Suki as the male voices of the patriotic joget.

Jamal received a standing ovation for his spiritual song, Samrah Mentari, dressed in a golden baju Melayu and sporting a moustache.

His deep, caressing voice was as good as ever, and the 26 backup dancers from the theatre’s troupe were stunning in their whirly footwork and stylish in their green, gold and red Egyptian-style dresses.

MK did not disappoint either. He delivered a powerful Tamil number, Ravanah Veera, which was an ode to heroism and the victory of good over evil.

Brunei’s 11-man traditional music group Senandung Darussalam, with six kompang players, a guitarist and four dancers, performed some spiritual Hadrah songs. Their performance was a combination of modern popular music and traditional religious hymns.

The group was formed in 1985, a year after Brunei’s independence.

Cambodia’s King Music Band, with two vocalists, two guitarists, two xylophonists, a keyboardist and a drummer, delivered two melodious songs that are hugely popular back home.

They were Dancing At Angkor, which celebrated the country’s most iconic temple Angkor Wat, and Phnom Penh, an ode to the Cambodian capital city composed by the country’s former monarch King Norodom Sihanouk.

Indonesia thought out of the box by introducing a Minangkabau dance titled Sabalah. Performed by seven female dancers of 30-year-old cultural troupe Krida Budaya, it told the story of black mushrooms and their growing process in the tropical rainforest.

The ladies were elegant in green and gold blouses, colours that reflected the rainforest and sun. And they also wore large black skirts that reflected the mushrooms’ umbrella-like formations.

Laos chose a straightforward performance with the KL-12 Lao Pop Stars, a special musical project for the festival that combined the talents of the country’s best musicians and vocalists.

KL-12 had a sweet-sounding vocal quartet, backed by a guitarist and drummer with gusto. The group performed two Laotian songs about human values, Ban Mea Hao and Ban Kird Hao.

Myanmar proved the most entertaining guest that evening by presenting the traditional Myanmar opera U Shwe Yoe And Daw Moe.

Bearing an uncanny resemblance to our own dondang sayang, makyong and Chinese opera, this performance focused on a middle-aged man and his no-holds-barred wife.

The dancers’ acrobatic yet graceful movements delighted the audiences, as did the four musicians who complemented them with three traditional drums and a traditional flute.

Myanmar also presented the Kayin Doan Dance, a traditional dance by the country’s Kayin community from the east.

The Philippines gave audiences a performance out of the ordinary by the Diwa De Leon group, Hegalong Project.

De Leon, a gifted and popular folk musician, is the country’s master of the hegalong, a home-grown lute.

His group comprising percussionists Frances Escape and J P Hernandez and vocalists Abe Dalena and Zob Reyes delivered two haunting songs, Moon Rise and the instrumental Stormy Night.

Fans loved the Hegalong Project, for it showed a whole new side of Philippine popular music, one that was rooted in the hills, mountains, countryside and tradition.

Singapore’s instrumental quintet Five Elements was a show-stealer too. Comprising conductor-cum-flutist Ghanavenothan Retnam, accordion player Ismahairie, pipa player Chin Yen Chien, erhu player Shunta Goh and percussionist Sai Akhilshwar, it performed the souful songs Ode To Joy, Fast Forward and Shanti, and the upbeat Joget.

Thailand paid homage to its King with the Royal Dance Troupe. Its nine members performed a traditional dance drama Lakhon and a traditional mask play Khon.

The troupe also performed the song  Falling Rain, a composition by King Bhumibol Adulyadej.

Vietnam’s National Academy, with 10 musicians on the traditional Trung, flute, zither and monochord, belted out traditional tunes that reflected the country’s beautiful landscapes.

The group’s vocalist also sang a moving Ode To The Missing Loves, which is a United Nations Educational, Scientific And Cultural Organisation (Unesco) heritage of the country.

Throughout the two-hour showcase which began at 8.30pm, the Malaysian Traditional Orchestra’s 86 members did a splendid job backing up every performance. Likewise the Istana Budaya dancers who opened the showcase with a traditional joget.

Last but not least, every performer got together at the grand finale to sing the Asean anthem Under The Asean Sky to roaring applause from the VIPs and fellow guests.

Showcase of diversity

THE Asean Musical Extravaganza 2012 is the first celebration of music from all 10 member countries of the Association Of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) in Malaysia.

It is the brainchild of Information, Communication and Culture Minister Datuk Seri Dr Rais Yatim and organised by the Ministry of Information, Communication and Culture in Istana Budaya, Jalan Tun Razak, Kuala Lumpur.

Held in conjunction with the annual Asean Ministers Responsible For Information (AMRI) Conference 2012, it is aimed at showcasing the diversity of musical traditions from Asean member countries Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

And for host country Malaysia, it introduces music lovers to the budding musical and dance talents from fellow Asean countrie

source: http://www.nst.com.my / New Straits Times / Sunday Life & Time / by Dennis Chua,   dchua@nst.com.my / March 04th, 2012

Nambikai! Come on Mr PM!

Nri's / Pio's, World Opinion

Malaysia:

It looks like the BN is learning from the opposition whose leaders have now become comfortable with the usage of Mandarin and Tamil in their speeches to the people in the quest for support.

The PM talks about ‘nambikai’ or trust in the Tamil language when he does his walkabouts to the Indian electorate a large majority of whom are of Tamil descent. The PM has got to first understand what he is talking about, he promises transformation in the policies of the country, if he is really a transformer, he should have initiated the transformation policies and made sure that the results reached the people.

But till today, we have a delivery system that does something else when the Chief Executive says another! It is as though the civil service has a mind of its own where old habits die hard and they just refuse to change eventhough the Chief Executive who is their ultimate boss says that he is the initiator of transformation.

Nambikai is a very serious word in Tamil, it entails trust from the people. One wonders for how long are we to give the nambikai to the BN led Federal government when all our request have been met with empty promises after promises. When money allocation is promised for Tamil schools, it doesn’t come or it comes in bits and pieces which will not be of any use to the receivers when they have infrastucture problems to address and land matters to overcome.

The PR government of Selangor had done what the Federal government and the previous BN led Selangor state governments have only been promising for all the years the Indian electorate had given them the nambikai and voted for them.

If the PM is really serious about his 1Malaysia propaganda, he should be the first to transform and start policies that advocate equality amongst the races that make up our population instead of pandering to the wants of the elite few who are afraid that their strangglehold of economy will come to naught if the transformation policies takes place.

The PM must be ready to face the people with the truth and the people will then see how best is it to assess what he has to say with the facts that they see in their daily lives. The basic problems facing the Indians in Malaysia is the lack of state attention shown on them despite the contribution that the Indians have put into the building of this nation.

The isolation policies of keeping the races apart by racial, religious, cultural and economies norms has created a vast space in between the state and the common man on the street as far as the Indians are concerned. The PM has to note that Indians had not only come to this country as indented labourers brought in by the British Raj  but had instead stamped their mark from time immemorial as the early conquerors and traders in this region.

If history is correctly told which the Sejarah Melayu or the Malay annals will say, the sultanate of Kedah which is the oldest of the sultanates in the country has its humble beginnings from Hinduism until the chosen Maharaja had decided to embrace Islam. The same is the case for the Malacca Sultanate whose founding prince was a Hindu from the neighbouring Island of Sumatra whose origins can be traced from the Chola Empire of Tamil Nadu.

Therefore to see Indians in a very pathetic state today asking for only equal rights like what the majority enjoys should sadden any Malay leader who appreciates history and is worthy of the leadership that he professes to the people.

Allocation of land with title grants for places of worship, Tamil schools, crematoruims, and adequate places in all our public institutions of higher learning should be the transformation that the PM should show his leadership in instead of asking for nambikai to be placed in the BN government which has failed in its 55 years of administration.

A BN government which the Indians can have a nambikai on would not have allowed thousands of Indians from the lower strata of society to lived for generations without proper identification documents like a proper birth certificate and identification cards.

A BN government that the Indians can have a nambikai on would not have allowed, Indians to be converted to Islam unless they have understood what they are doing and have proven that they have embraced Islam on their own free will instead of being imposed on them by the State.
A BN government that the Indians can have a nambikai on would not allow the Indian dead to be a subject of a tussle between the Islamic religious authorities and their families because their faith cannot be proven. Therefore to simply tell the Indians to place their nambikai on the BN government is just not going to do the trick anymore.

The Indians have awoken and have formed the Hindraf to defend themselves from the years of nambikai that they have given to the BN government which has only been replied with empty promises.

The PM should not have backed out from the policy of teaching Maths and Science in English, which would have transformed Malaysian education in  a way that we can never imagine and would have been a catalyst for the Malays to embrace English and not fear the fact that by learning and mastering English they would loose their Malay identity by not knowing their mother tongue and National language.

This policy would have helped the Chinese and the Indians as well, as the command of the English language would have improved besides having a choice to study in their mother tongue. Therefore nambikai can only come when it is earned and for that nambikai to come now, the only way forward will be to have samma urumai (equal rights), is the BN led federal government prepared to transform and give all Malaysians equal rights?

The Opposition is not great but atleast they are making a start in the right direction which one day may see Indian and Chinese leaders leading political parties with majority Malay membership and support!

So Mr PM, you will never get the Nambikai that you want from the Indians unless and until you earn it from us by transforming the country with your policies. Please remember Mr PM that 1Malaysia means everyone is One and the same so it must be equal rights for everyone under the Malaysian sun.

Can we trust you?

source: http://www.FreeMalaysiaToday.com / FMT LETTER/ From P.Dev Anand Pillai / Wednesday, February 01st, 2012

 

Kamal and Dhanush to share the screen with Hollywood actor Jackie Chan

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, World Opinion

Kamal and Dhanush will be sharing the screen with Hollywood actor Jackie Chan in a film to be produced by Aascar Ravichandran. Aascar Ravichandran who is supposed to be a stalwart producer is a specialist in commercial films. All the films he has produced has never failed at the box office.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cinema News From Tamilmovie.com

Now Aascar Ravichandran is producing a film which will have world’s number one hero Jackie Chan in the lead role. This film is being produced at a cost of Rs 400 Crores. It is also understood that two actors from Tamil film industry will also be acting in this film. Apart from them one of the top most heroes of Bollywood will also be making a special appearance in this film. Aascar Ravichandran has approached Kamal Haasan and Dhanush for dates.

So sources in Kodambakkam confirm that Kamal and Dhanush are the two actors who will be acting in this high budgeted film.

source: http://www.tamilomovie.com / Actor News / Friday, January 13th, 2012

POSCO : Special `innovation` lecture held at Hindustan University

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Business & Economy, Uncategorized, World Opinion

– Lecture focuses on `Global Leadership, POSCO Innovation`

Song Byoung-kwan, Senior Manager of POSCO-ICPC, recently gave a lecture at Hindustan University. Titled “Global Leadership and POSCO Innovation,“ it was attended by the school`s MBA and EIBIS students.

Divided into two sessions, the lecture featured some interesting facts regarding the similarity of the Korean and Tamil languages, which was highlighted by creative and timely use of video clips. For example, both Inge vaa (Tamil) and Iriwa va (Korean) mean “come here.“

He also emphasized the importance of cultural understanding as the only way to understand a country and its people as a whole.

“Understanding differences is the first step for a global company to move forward to a more positive future, because we are part of a much bigger global society and we have a responsibility for a better world,“ he said.

Mentioning the importance of ceaseless challenges to become a global leader, Song pointed out that human beings must learn a lot from animals as well, about how to adapt to new environments and how to move on in life.

“We must learn from history, as well as from leading companies to excel. Don`t be afraid of facing new challenges and work as a team,“ Song said. “Success in life is about overcoming the previous failure and giving it another try.“

A part of the lecture was a video presentation highlighting the history of POSCO, one of the world`s largest steel companies. One of the world`s `Big Three` steel firms, POSCO is operating eight regional hubs, 80 subsidiaries and sales networks around the globe. In India, the company has offices in Delhi, Maharashtra, Orissa and Chennai.

“POSCO`s history is the history of creativity, which has been a major driving force behind its current and future success. Resources may be limited, but creativity is unlimited. POSCO will continue to explore the world and open up markets in an effort to remain as a reliable and trustful global enterprise.“

sails@posco.com

– Song Byoung-kwan, Senior Manager of POSCO-ICPC, gives a lecture at Hindustan University under the theme of “Global Leadership and POSCO Innovation.“

source: http://www.4-traders.com / Homepage> Shares> Korea Exchange> Posco / January 12th, 2012

Building Businesses

Business & Economy, Nri's / Pio's, Uncategorized, World Opinion

Two Singapore office buildings seem to be magnets for Indian-owned businesses

CECIL Street, nestled in the very heart of Singapore’s central business district, is a buzzing hive of activity. Where once it was lined by rickety, one-storey shophouses, today it has become part of the nation’s financial hub.

Beginning at Maxwell Road and running parallel to Robinson Road, this street is home to office buildings like Capital Tower, Aviva Building, Cecil House, Keck Seng Tower, The Octagon, GB Building and the 46-year old Tong Eng Building.

It is here, in Tong Eng Building, that several Indian-owned businesses thrive. Nearly 35 per cent of the roughly 190 offices in this building are occupied by them, many having settled in decades ago while others are more recent arrivals.

Not too far away, at 1 North Bridge Road, is a similar story: High Street Centre, a stone’s throw from the Clarke Quay MRT station, is also home to a multitude of Indian businesses. Nearly 60 per cent of the approximately 200 offices in this building are occupied by Indian businesses dealing with trades ranging from engineering consulting to electronics retail.

But why, despite growth, branching out and even moving offices, have these businesses continued to operate from these two locations? Tong Eng Building

For some, Tong Eng Building is filled with positive vibes which has been good for business. Says Batavia Eximp and Contracting’s managing director Atish Mody: “Tong Eng is definitely a popular building for Indian businesses. It is considered to have the best vaastu – along with the Afro-Asia Building – within the traditional CBD area. Of course, this does not mean other buildings have lesser vaastu (an ancient Vedic science of layout planning of buildings that is said to influence peace and prosperity of the inhabitants), but these two buildings have a well-known track record of housing Indian firms.”

Event management firm De Ideaz’s chief executive officer Purnima Kamath, who has been a tenant in the building for the past 11/2 years, agrees: “There is a certain good feng shui in this building; a lot of positive vibes… and a feel good factor.”

Vintel Exports’ managing director Puneet Jain claims his family-owned business dealing in agricultural commodities has been in Tong Eng Building for nine years. He has moved offices in that time, but remained within the building.

He tells tabla!: “This building seems to be lucky – touch wood – for Indian companies. And business has been good so far. When business is good in a place, we Indian businessmen don’t like to take unnecessary risks by moving.”

Not only does he have many friends in the building, some of his family members also have their offices there.

“My cousin, who moved to Singapore after me, was also drawn to this building. I also have many relatives in different parts of this building. My auditor is here too – so this building is a one-stop shop for me, whether it’s meeting people for coffee or work. Even if I were to shift to a bigger office, I would like to stay in this building. In fact, my unit number is 11, so I would look for the same unit number, even if it’s on a different floor,” he adds.

Singaporean businessman Balasupramaniam, who runs Net Access Singapore, has been a tenant since April this year and chose the building because of its location and rent. “Not only is it within the heart of the CBD,” he says, “but it has a carpark and the rent is reasonable, which is the main thing.”

He was already familiar with the building prior to setting up his office thanks to some of his friends already having their offices here. For MrBalasupramaniam’s IT business, having so many varied businesses under one roof is a huge bonus. “We do send out our brochures to other businesses in the building. We even have a few clients here,” he adds.

The location of the building was the draw for P.L. Global Impex’s managing director Naresh Dinodiya to move into Tong Eng in 1992. “It’s very convenient because several banks are located in the vicinity, a lot of people from the same trade are around the area (mainly in the building), transportation is easily available and there are enough food venues,” he tells tabla!.

Attributing convenience and comfort factor as the reasons several Indian businesses stay put in this building, he adds: “The building is very central, it’s easily accessible and it has a lot of people from the common trade which makes communicating much easier.”

While convenience is undoubtedly the key word, most of these businessmen agree that the atmosphere within the building is what they enjoy. Since almost 35 per cent of the building is occupied by Indian businesses, there is almost a community-like air in the building.

As Mr Mody puts it: “It is nice to see familiar faces – and many of them good friends too – in the lift. We have many common things to discuss and one just has to call and walk across to another office to get your work done. Even coffee and tea breaks are true stress-relievers when it’s shared with friends – we just go next door to Starbucks or to Mama Chai down the road.”

Mr Dinodiya seconds this opinion: “The atmosphere in the building is warm and welcoming, especially in the entrance lobby where people greet their fellow businessmen and have a little chat about the market or something. It’s quite often referred to as a ‘meeting point’.” High Street Centre

Located not too far away from Tong Eng Building in North Bridge Road is High Street Centre. Completed in 1969, it is home to several Indian businesses – almost 60 per cent of the offices are occupied by them. And like Tong Eng Building, most businesses have been there for many years.

Dynamix International’s director Vinod Dadlani has been a “High Street boy” for a long time and is well versed in the history of the building. Although his own business is just three years old, he has worked for other establishments in the same trade, within High Street Centre and High Street Plaza, since 1994.

He tells tabla! that High Street Centre has always been a trade hub: “It used to be popular with Russian traders who came here to buy electronics – similar to how Mustafa Centre is for many today. There were spice and textile merchants, electronics retailers and many others. Then the textile merchants moved out to Arab Street.”

Mr R. Narayanamohan, whose accounting firm Natarajan and Swaminathan has been operating from the building since 1977, says that he can remember some businesses that were very well known.

“The famous ones I can recall are Khimchand and Sons (textile business) and SA Majeed and Co (supplier of uniforms to most of the schools in Singapore). All these businesses were originally in shophouses and, when those were demolished to make way for High Street Centre, they moved into the new building as well as High Street Plaza. After we moved into this building in 1977, we mainly catered to the Indian business community in the building and started assisting the newly established Indian businesses there,” he says.

Today, the turnover of businesses moving out of the building is low and it continues to be a hub for traders.

Says Mr Dadlani: “Many individuals own blocks of offices – for example, 24 offices will be owned by a single individual, who will rent them out. It is hard to find a vacant office.”

According to MrNarayanamohan, most of the Indian businesses in the building have purchased their office space. “It is very convenient to have our offices here. The building has been totally renovated and the facade was changed to a glass-panelled frontage, making the building very modern,” he says.

Today, High Street Centre is well known for its electronics retail shops, owned mostly by Indians. Ganga Jamuna Electronics’ general manager

M. Sreenivasan, who has been a tenant here since 1992 when the firm relocated from Sembawang, says: “There are a lot of electronics shops based here, mostly Indian, although there are a few Chinese-owned electronics shops too. And although we have a branch in Serangoon as well, we haven’t moved out of this building because High Street Centre has a good name for electronics, so business is still good.”

Despite being in different geographical locations, both Tong Eng Building and High Street Centre have many things in common: Easy access, good business dealings and a friendly atmosphere. Even the electronics retailers at High Street Centre, despite being competitors, enjoy a good relationship.

“There are lots of electronics retailers here yet the atmosphere is friendly and people are co-operative,” says Mr Sreenivasan.

The influx of Indians into these buildings has even had its integration effect as Chinese neighbours happily co-exist with their Indian counterparts. In fact, over the years, they have become good friends. Mr Dinodiya, whose company is one of the few Indian businesses on his floor at Tong Eng Building, says: “We have wonderful Chinese neighbours and over time we have become really good friends. It’s a very homely atmosphere in the building here. Everyone knows everyone.”

This is all the more visible during festival time. The Indians celebrate pujas and the Chinese celebrate Chinese New Year, giving the buildings a community-like feel… and hopefully ushering in more business.

source: http://www.news.asiaone.com / Singapore Press Holdings / AsiaOne> News> Singapore / by Malavika Nataraj / table! / December 30th, 2011