FM Radio Channels in Mangalore

Currently operating private FM Radio channels in Mangalore are Radio Mirchi 98.3 FM and Radio Big 92.7 FM. Mirchi has stuck to its punch line ‘Sakhath Hot Maga’ as in Bangalore, which I feel does not reflect nativity. It could have been ‘Masth Hot Marre’ (definitely not Maraya, as people in other parts of Karnataka think that people living down the western ghats use Maraya in almost every line spoken). Anyway that’s just a brand building exercise. But with RJs too speaking ‘Bengaluru Kannada’, it is yet to catch up with the language here. Occasionally RJs do speak Tulu but it would have been better if it was exclusive in some of the programmes as it was the norm from Akashavani days here in Mangalore.

In that aspect Radio Big 92.7 FM scores with it already roping in Devdas Kapikad, the veteran of Tulu comedy dramas (popularly known as Telikeda Bolli) in an one hour programme ‘Big Gadbad’. Big FM has also taken initiative to play local songs. I heard one of those Konkani songs. More initiatives like this to support local language and culture would be well appreciated and received with open arms. It would be nice to see these channels play old Tulu, Konkani film songs on air occasionally to remind us of the golden era in Tulu, Konkani cinema. Just rememebering one song from Tulu film, Pagetha Puge – pakkilu mooji onje goodudu badukondunduge, aitt onji kinnig renke puttondunduge, singardaanthi bangar thenes thikkondunduge, goodudu iththina samsaarogu santhasa unduge.

With FM Radio channels coming to Mangalore, it is not just Mangaloreans who are tuning in. You will be hearing these channel being played in Udupi, Mulki, Bantwal, Puttur and Kasaragod as well, though with varying degrees of clarity. When I was returning from Mangalore to Bangalore few days back I could tune to Radio Mirchi 98.3 even at the Charmaadi Ghat!!

Updates, 29th March 2008 : Third Private FM Channel in the form of Superhits 93.5 FM has entered Mangalore radio space on Feb 21st 2008. I would like to see healthy competition between the three private channels now. 93.5 is airing both Hindi and Kannada songs on equal basis. Incidentally, this is the 24th FM station in India and 2nd in Karnataka, by Sun Network. It expects to start operations soon in Mysore and Gulbarga in the coming days.

Regards
Raveesh

Also Read,
Radio Mirchi 98.3 - Mangalore's Ist Private FM Channel

TSI Kannada on Net

The Sunday Indian (TSI) Kannada is now available online. Nice to see that the online version of the Kannada edition of The Sunday Indian is second of such kind in Indian languages after English. Note that the weekly is being published in 13 Indian languages (English included as Indian Prime Minister Mr.Manmohan Singh once said English too is an Indian language). Not often you will find such things happening for Kannada.

You can access the TSI Kannada edition online by clicking the link below.
The Sunday Indian Kannada
What’s more – you can even find the old issues online if you had missed some and you can download the pdf files of the archived issues for later reading. Earlier I had mentioned in one of my posts about how TSI Kannada is becoming the undisputed no.1 weekly in Kannada with its coverage of wide range of topics from politics, sports, cinema, art, literature, opinion polls, finance and what not, with only seven months of publication. But only if it could change its English name to a native Kannada one, it would appeal to more Kannadigas, reach the rural areas in Karnataka and make an impact. One more aspect of the weekly is its bold stand on many of the contemporary issues, often unbiased. In this age of yellow journalism one could hardly find an honest media house as this one.

Regards,
Raveesh

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ಕನ್ನಡಕ್ಕೊ೦ದು ನೈಜ್ಯ ವಾರ ಪತ್ರಿಕೆ

Infrastructure Projects in Mangalore

Was planning write a post on infrastructure projects in Mangalore from a long time. Finally writing one! Mangalore where the real estate market is booming, infrastructure projects are just the kind of boost which is required to sustain that boom.

Near National Institute of Technology Karnataka(NITK), Surathkal

In my recent visit to Mangalore I could see flyovers coming up in and around the city. Most precisely in Surathkal, Kottara Chowki flyovers are coming up to reduce the pressure on National Highway no.17. Though few months back this very highway stretch from Mangalore to Udupi was in pathetic condition, now some improvement can be seen. Keeping in mind of the arrival IT, retail, manufacturing biggies in this coastal city, these could well serve as the right indicators. Attached are some of the photos from Mangalore where flyovers are coming up.

Surathkal

To one of my friends’ question, who is in Bangalore, whether Mangalore really requires such big infrastructure projects my answer was a firm yes so as to control the heavy traffic plying in NH17 and especially between Mangalore and Udupi. Now even Mangalore experiences lighter traffic jams some times! In the city, tar roads are being replaced with concrete roads as the heavy rains here alter the health of the roads in a short span of time. First one to go for such transformation was M G Road in Mangalore, which is now a show piece in the city with malls, commercial complexes along its sides. Then Hampankatta road was laid in concrete. Presently work on Balmatta-Jyothi road is under progress.

NH 17

In suburban areas like Konaje (near Mangalore University) where Infosys Development Center is coming up, quality roads are being laid much in the same fashion as Electronic city in Bangalore. On the administration front, there is a plan to include suburban areas around Mangalore under Mangalore City Corporation in anticipation of the demand of the future.

Near Nanthoor

Incidentally, Times of India (Bangalore edition) dated today; 27th January 2008 carried one page report on the tier II cities in Karnataka – Mangalore, Mysore and Hubli coming up in a big way. To access the electronic edition of the newspaper click here.

All these promise of the better future for the Mangaloreans.

Update : 06th June 2010
Following are the snaps of Infosys Campus at Konaje, Mangalore.

At the entrance of Infosys, Konaje, Mangalore

Infosys Mangalore campus at Konaje

Regards,
Raveesh

Also Read
Small City to Mall City
Mangalore City Photos
Big Time in Small Towns

Azaadi Express Bangalore January 23 to 27 2008

Seeing the ads about Azaadi Express in Bangalore in leading news papers few days back, I had decided to go for the photo exhibition of the first war of independece in 1857 and freedom movement after that. This exhibition had been scheduled for 5 days, from January 23 to January 27, 2008 at cantonment railway station in Bangalore. I had missed the same train exhibition when I was in Mangalore few days back so did not want to miss this one in Bangalore. On Saturday, 26th January 2008, along with two of my cousins I headed for the cantonment railway station near Shivaji Nagar, being happy for the fact that I was there on Republic day for viewing our footsteps towards freedom. Sandeep joined us later at the venue. When we reached the railway station, it was 3 30 in the afternoon. Enthusiasm soon died when we saw the people standing in a very long queue to see the glimpse of the historic train. Public holiday on account of Republic day had a bigger role in drawing the crowds. Of course free entry for all too had its positive effect on that. To make things worse there was constant flow of people who would intrude into the long queue wherever possible, not even bothering about the people who had stood there for more than two hours. This is disgusting when the well educated intrude into the queue forgetting minimal ethics. With four of us standing in the queue time pass was never a problem or boring. We discussed a wide range of topics like physics, blogging, history and what not! The announcements came at regular intervals regarding the exhibition being open to general public only till 6 pm. It was already nearing 6 and we were not the ones who would give up and go back home after waiting for almost 2.5 hours. And when we finally got our chance and entered the train it was 6 in the evening. 12 coaches were filled with memories from the freedom struggle like quotes, photos, visual models, paper cuttings etc. With volunteers there asking everybody to move fast one could hardly grasp anything from our past. What is this; did we wait and waste our time just to walk fast in the train?? But we managed to take snaps of the material exhibited in some of the coaches. Frankly speaking it hardly mattered whether we entered all the coaches to have the glimpse since most of the coaches were decorated much in the same fashion as we used to do for school day celebrations for social science exhibitions!! Some of the coaches even had elementary models like irrigation pump and hydro electric power generations and in some other you would find Sania Mirza, MS Dhoni, Yuvaraj Singh and others trying to be the part of freedom struggle. For this Sandeep said it was because they had depicted nation building in the last 150 years. Then I thought more appropriate title should have been given to the photo exhibition. Some of the coaches had very good quotations, citations (like Macalay’s address to British Parliament on how to weaken India by disrupting the traditional education system here) and rare photographs(like handing over of power in 1947 and pictures from 1857) from history. Do spend your time in these. Photo highlights of the show were - pictures, maps from Ist war of Indian independence, Indian national flag over the years, Gandhian era, Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose's Azaad Hind Fauz or Indian National Army, The Hindustan Times reporting freedom in 1947, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru becoming the 1st prime minister, prominent scientists like CV Raman, way of progress in Agriculture, Green Revolution (by MS Swaminathan), White Revolution(by Verghese Kurien), Hydro electric projects, Non Alignment Movement, Missile technology, Space technology, Indian currency over the years, war pictures, different models of Electronic Voting machines, Music maestros, sports heros. Also there were some audio recordings like Pandit Nehru's address to the nation on August 15, 1947. In the final coach there were books for sale which were on 1857, freedom movement, gandhian etc and other topics. Sunday, 27 January 2008 is the last day in Bangalore for Azaadi Express. Sunday being a holiday will draw crowds to the venue. So plan well to reach the venue in the morning itself to have the glimpse of history. And if you are planning to stand in the queue for more than two hours in the evening then it is not worth it as if it is in the closing hours you will hardly able to glance over the pictures. In our case we stood for 2.5 hours in the queue and finished seeing the exhibition in just half an hour with closing time of the show being extended.

Regards,
Raveesh

Ee Prapancha on thatskannada.com

When Sandeep called me this Tuesday night I was in for a pleasant surprise. He was about to tell that my and his reviews of the film Gaalipata has been mentioned in thatskannada.com, one of the premier news websites in Kannada. Hurray! I was thrilled. Hurried to my laptop to check the article on the net. For those of you who are not familiar with thatskannada.com, it is one of the premier websites in Kannada featuring articles from top Kannada writers like Ravi Belagere, Pratap Simha, Vishweshwara Bhat and others and also covers a wide range of topics like news, cinema, literature, travel, cartoons, jokes etc.

My review on Gaalipata had found its place in an article posted by S K Shama Sundara in his regular column 'Kendasampige : From the Editor's Desk' under the title Blogmandaladalli Gaalipata Chitravimarshe (Gaalipata reviews on blog posts). In the article, author goes on explaining how Kannada film industry is changing for good with Kannadigas sharing a forum in the web, discussing the latest releases and stuff, saying Udaaseenakkintha teekegale melu(It is better to be criticized than to be ignored) and adds off late how Kannada film songs have become popular and how people have started discussing Kannada movies seriously. In the end, along with Ee Prapancha the author has listed down 8 blog reviews(with excerpts from the same) on the latest sensation in the town, Gaalipata. Here are the other 7 blog reviews which were listed on thatskannada.com

Karnana Maatu
Kendasampige
Naanu Shande.com
Abhishek
Iduve Jeevana
Chum-Banavaasi
Nooraaru Maatu

Regards
Raveesh

Australia c Kumble b India 16(5)

NO17 is LION if turned upside down. It seems Australia can not strike it and turn it upside down and be the King in the jungle of cricket. Invincible, as they were called twice in the last decade for their spectacular streak of 16 test wins has now become a thing of the past. It is the Indian cricket team again which halted the Aussie juggernaut yet again in 2008, first being in Kolkota, 2001.

India Wins [Picture Courtesy : http://www.cricinfo.com/]

The unsung hero of Indian cricket, Anil Kumble proved his mettle yet again now on a different pitch with his captaincy. Engineer from Bangalore deserves appreciation and applause for lifting up the team from Sydney turmoil a week ago and making the right moves by bringing in Sehwag and Pathan. This combination of a batsman who can bowl and bowler who can bat turned into a pair of all-rounders and swung the match in India’s favour.

Interesting Highlights of the 3rd test at Perth

• Batsmen dismissed by same bowler in both innings – Australian openers Rogers and Jaques by Irfan Pathan, Australian skipper(and Harbhajan’s bunny) Ricky Ponting by Ishanth Sharma, Andrew Symonds by Anil Kumble, Mike Hussey by RP Singh.
• Wickets to all from India - All bowlers from India in both innings got wickets – Irfan Pathan, RP Singh, Ishanth Sharma, Anil Kumble and Virender Sehwag(bowled only in the second innings)
• Test over in 4 days - A team beating Australia in a test within 4 days, which usually happens other way round.
• Indian Tail wagging 30% – both innings put together last 4 wickets producing 180 out of 624 total runs scored, making it close to 30%.
• Dhoni factor – Dhoni was involved 8 dismissals out of 20 to win the test (5 catches in Ist innings and 2 catches, 1 stumping in 2nd innings)
• Relatively Safe Hands – India held 14 catches in total to affect as many number of dismissals, with less dropped catches,one famous being off Symonds by Sachin.

Kumble on Top:
I have been a big fan of present Indian skipper, Anil Kumble, right from the days of Hero Cup in 1993 where he displayed magnificent spell of bowling on the final of Hero Cup on 27 November 1993 to record a famous win against the West Indies. Till this day, 6/12 remains Kumble’s best figure in ODIs. His figures on that day read : 6.1-2-12-6 with 5 victims getting bowled!!!

Kumble leading from the front[Picture Courtesy: http://www.cricinfo.com/]

In the dusk of his 17 year old cricketing career he has achieved another feat by becoming only the 3rd bowler in the history of cricket to take 600 wickets in tests. But he has been far away from controversies the other two had been involved with, whether on or off field. I always wondered why he was not given captaincy after Azharuddin left the spot. In fact he was the vice captain when Azhar was skipper. For the true ambassadors of the game like Kumble these issues really don’t matter. He was always a captain in the waiting. This has been proven yet again after this victory. His dedication, temparent, accuracy, team spirit should serve as good examples for many generations to come.