Celebrating unsung genre of celluloid

Niranjan N Kaggere

Ever since Lumiere Brothers invented Cinema, it has mesmerised everybody with its magical spell. Hardly we see people who don't come under the ambit of cinema. Everybody, ranging from a kid to old age people, throng to cinema halls. But the medium that has recorded many milestones has also recorded set backs which are eclipsed by the sheer popularity of the silver screen.
If anybody thinks that these movies fetch us only some sort of recreation, then our thinking is wrong. Movies being entertainers, they are educative too at the same time; unfolding the different facets of technology, topography, lifestyle etc. Extending into many genres such as documentaries, tele films, melodramas, children movies etc. the celluloid seems to be failed when it comes to the issue of children. As a result, if one could rummage through the history of cinema, it is puzzling to know that very few movies have dealt with the issues concerning children.
Believing in the 18th century say that 'child is the father of a man', we all know the importance of children in society. Childhood memories, lessons have inspired the bards, artists and many others over the centuries in creating master pieces in their respective fields. Pedagogical skills stress on the fact that children learn more cognitively than by teaching. Even many behavioural psychological surveys justify these skills. Movies with lot of fun, moral, adventure, suspense can bring about a change in the development of a child or at least it would influence one particular stage of his personality evolution process.
Accepting this attitude of children, even our education system has brought in many pleasing changes. With incoming of communication gadgets such as television, radio and computers into the class room, audio-visual way of teaching has become an effective way to reach the minds of children. And children movies, taking up the fabric of audio-visual teaching can weave many issues in profound manner and thus providing 'edutainment' to children.
At the backdrop of these issues, how about witnessing a festival of children movies in different languages? The idea seems to be refreshing and that's what the garden city saw during the last week like the yester years. For the past few months Bangalore seems to be basked in the glory of hosting some commercial festivities facilitating entrepreneurs, corporate in their competitive fields. But the events like children festival, as called by the people still appears to be incredible for the fact that the entire festival is conducted by private bodies without any government funding. But this doesn't mean that it was dictated by one central organisation. The entire on screen saga of unsung genre of celluloid was democratic with lot of like minded people pooling in their ideas, resource and contacts to make the event a grand success. The festival achieved its goal with least advertisement at the time when the city's streets were swaggering with the hoardings and posters of other festivities.
This years children's film festival conceptualisd around the theme, 'a joyride through films' brought as many as 30 movies of different Indian languages. Bangalore's children India, a nascent forum for children's films, educational and other allied activities was the mind behind the festival. It's not a cake walk as we all know to organise such a grandeous festival simultaneously at two cities. But the Children's India's initiative to bring about an awareness about the children movies and laudable coordination with children film makers of the country gave us pleasing results. A week long festival, witnessed the screening of nation's best children movies that have won accolades and awards at the national and international arena.
With the raging debate about the funding and creative flaws, the kannada film Industry was quiet successful in terms of its contribution to children cinema. Out of eight cinemas made in the last year, four of them have won many awards and were screened at all major film festivals around the world. 'A, AA, I, II' a kannada movie directed by N R Nanjunde Gowda was a big hit among many kannada movies that were screened at the festival. The movie highlighting the dichotomy between traditional and technological life hints at the different alternatives for children's learning process. Another kannada movie 'Pravaha', which was selected for Indian Panorama in 2004-05 was centred around the concept of globalisation and its aftermaths on our culture and tradition. Depicting a potter as an exemplary victim, the movie flashes light on poverty of village craftsmen and their miserable social life. The movies looks at the myth of globalisation through the eyes of thirteen year old son of the potter and brings out horrifying shadows of the much venerated concept. Directed by veteran actress of the Kannada cinema, Arathi, 'Mithayi Mane' is about the 'sweet illusions' of life. The entire story is based upon German fairy tale Hansel and Gretel and blending Indian puppet play with it to showcase the symmetry between the powerful and powerless and exploitation of children. What seems to be more interesting about the movies was its reconciliation of old and new forms of story telling. The novel technique introduced by the director juxtaposes the fairy tale and screenplay against a rural and urban milieu. The movie takes up the issue of a young girl who's has given false promises by an urban family. When the family fails miserably to keep up the promise, the girl takes up the task of reviewing the intricacies of human relationships and thus portraying the children-elder subtle relationship. In fact the movie has won the best children movie awarded by the State Government.
Movies from other languages were also not far behind in the race in depicting the children issues. 'Malli', directed by renowned cinematographer Santosh shivan was the much discussed movie. Apart from the movies revealing the psychological and social side of children issues, there were also some movies with the use of graphics and imaginary characters to spur creative talent among children.
Looking at the contemporary situation when there is a void, kept open to fill, created by a lack of good children movies, efforts like these would bring more satisfaction. In many situations children's films do not have theatre screenings owing to different reasons. But film festivals are the great platforms in trying to open up the child's horizon. But many people say that it is not easy to find a formula for a better children film. It's true to a certain extent but a good film with all its accolades at many stages need not translate into commercial success. Many elements need to be woven into the storyline and at the final level it should touch the child's heart. That's what most of the movies did during the week long festival. As Ellen kelly, a Sweedish writer, puts up" at every step the child should be allowed to meet the real experiences of life; the thorns should never be plucked from his roses." Let us welcome this attitude in bringing about a change in our children's better performance.

Creating magic on the silver screen

Article and Interview by Niranjan N Kaggere

Perhaps you will be moved as you go on watching his documentaries and might feel displaced and start thinking about the probable remedies for the questions which were thrown up by the characters on the screen. Almost all of his films, while depicting diversified messages, tries to diagnose the rigid society which is filled with the perfidies. Every frame oozes with the logical thoughts, each shot unfolds the reality with candid ingenuity. They whisk over everything from the silly points of our daily life to the complex ideologies of left and right origin dealing with the very fabric of human life. As you finish watching them, you arrive at the usual conclusion that these documentaries must have been by a renowned film maker. If you think in that way then you are committing an error. The director of these documentaries is only 24 and still a nascent in the field, promising to deliver much in future. Abhaya Simha, a third year student of Film Direction at the Pune's prestigeous Film and Television Institute of India is the brain behind these moving melodramas. Abhay's tryst with the camera began not by choice but by a sheer chance. When he had the idea of film in his mind obviously he was not buoyed by the reputation and prize or money but he discovered a tool in it to chisel out the lopsided values of the society. During his graduation at St. Aloysius College, Mangalore he had an opportunity to make a documentary on multiple births and its psycological perspectives. That was the launch pad for this flambeaus creative springtide and gave a vesevious reply to the pompei of limited resources with a fine touch. Since then with the unfaltering determination he has been growing innovatively by juxtaposing all the experiences he incurred from each documentaries and films. Today, at 24 he owns his own nascent production house, The Roaring Lion Productions and has made more than 20 pictures in both documentary and fiction film field. At the national level film festival organised by Symbiosis his film "One Fine Day" has won the award. He has also screened his movie " Sea Side Story" in the International Film Festival of India at Goa in 2005. As we all know the film medium has virtually taken everybody with its magical spell. we find hardly anybody who is not stirred by films. The glitterring silver screen, the glory it brings, the reputation it brings in, all have attracted more and more people into it either as spectators or as workers. But many who have gone after this stardom have been presented with the bitter experiences as well as exuberant results. What really matters is the person's hard work and strong will determined to achieve success. In an exclusive Interview to Niranjan N Kaggere, Abhaya shares his filmdom experiences WHAT MADE YOU CHOOSE THIS CAREER? It all began accidentally when I was asked to make a documentary film during my graduation. Even before that the art of filmmaking fascinated me. Cinema is one art form where many other art forms such as painting, singing, dance, drama, story telling club in. Soon I realized that there is a great potential and satisfaction in filmmaking and since then I began my journey. HOW HARD WERE THE FORMATIVE DAYS OF YOUR CAREER? It was both difficult and confusing during the initial days as I couldn't find anyone who has an experience in film making who could really help me out to know more about films. Adding to it i hardly find any books on cinema in my place. These hurdles made me get into practical side of film making all by myself and learn through the experiences. But i must thank many people who trusted on me even when i was at the lowest interms of experience. Later through the efforts of my senior friends at college I heard about Film and Television Institute of India, Pune (FTII). Soon after my graduation in Journalism I got into this premier Film School as one among the topper at all India level entrance exam. The regular rapport with the film personalities and studying the trends in world cinema i started to crystalize my own personality. WHAT WOULD YOU PREFER TO WORK WITH; CINEMA OR DOCUMENTARY? WHY? Actually there is no such distinction in my mind. Filmmaking, in general, is an art either it is a cinema or a documentary. To speak interms of genres both are different disciplines and as a film maker I would like both . I feel some themes and topics demand fictional touch and some other suits best with the documentary frame. HOW DIFFERENT IS DOCUMENTARY FILM MAKING THAN CINEMA? For any film maker there is no difference. Both are audio-visual art forms and more importantly both are work of fiction. Sometimes even documentary is considered as non fiction. But for me when you are capturing an image and sound; it is reality and the interpretation of the world by an artist (director) is inevitably mixed in with the reality to make the piece fictious. But if we have to make distinction from what we see as documentary filmmaking and cinema, I would put it as, cinema is more a team work and documentary is mostly an individualistic work. WHAT ARE YOUR OPINIONS ON THE PRESENT DAY FILMS? (I will presume this question to be about main stream Indian films.) There is decent amount of experiment being tried in the industry on these days. People are trying their hands on various styles of narratives and presentations. Of course the process is slow but it is determined. . On the other hand, off beat films as I see are trying the same off beat things and becoming main stream 'Off Beat' films!. Hindi film industry has good openings for young filmmakers due to recent economical development. New technology in film making is slowly creeping on to Indian silver screen. WHAT DO YOU CHOSE MORE OFTEN AS SUBJECTS IN YOUR DOCUMENTARIES? As such there are no favourite topics for me for a documentary film. But basically every filmmaker is disposed with a certain world view around which he or she works through out their life. This decides what kind of topics I would opt to make films. I have tried my hands on various topics till now in the process of building my own world view. I have done documentaries on topics related to forest conservation, folk art forms and also some corporate films. Till now I have been making films about people, places, heritage and culture. I have not yet settled down on a particular topic and I would feel that there should be no limitation. WHOM DO YOU CONSIDER AS YOUR ROLE MODEL IN THE INDUSTRY? I began with one role model in the industry when I started watching cinema and as I grew, I had several and now I have none! But I do admire the works of Girish Kasaravalli from Karnataka and in the world cinema I admire films by Kieslowski, Ingmar Bergman, Tarkovsky, Bresson, Kursava, Ozu and many more. So it would be really difficult to particularise one as my role model. HOW FAR THE DOCUMENTARIES WE SHOOT BRING IN A CHANGE AS MOST OF THEM PASS OFF UNNOTICED? As a filmmaker my primary concern is not to repaire the society but to believe that I am an artist and would like to express myself in the medium I am familiar with. So going unnoticed doesn't really bother me. I believe that if your content is strong enough to touch the people, it will surely reach them one day. Initially I had this idea of changing the world but now I have stopped believing that films we make really changes the world. Cinema has its own artistic values which will appeal at different level than a public serving message. Filmmakers are here to raise questions and not to solve them. In a healthy society if questions are raised, it will be solved by intelligent people in it. So raising a question is the duty of an artist that is all. IS THERE ANY TOPIC WHICH YOU FIND AS CHALLENGING FOR ANY DOCUMENTARY MAKER? I don't really think that there is any topic which is difficult for a filmmaker. Every topic guides you to look upon it in a particular way. There are thousands of way to approach any topic and the filmmaker takes a particular approach which is again guided by his or her own personality.This process makes thousands of possibilities for any given topic. More over, there is no fixed format for a documentary film. Hence all topics or issues are within the ambit of filmmaking. WOULD YOU HAVE ANY PLANS TO MAKE DOCUMENTARIES MORE POPULAR AS OUR YOUNGSTERS ARE RUNNING AFTER THE BOLLYWOOD OR HOLLYWOOD NUMBERS? In India documentary filmmaking has acquired stereo typic notion. The visual piece becomes too boring if the person is not sympathetic towards the idea being dealt at. But unfortunately this kind of documentary filmmaking is highly regarded by the government bodies. There are so many other ways in which people have made documentaries even in India which don't get noticed by people and it needs a socio cultural background to have that kind of narratives to adopted in. Media education has to embark upon a long voyage to realize this dream. In this era where mass media is becoming such a huge influencing factor, it can play a major role by being a platform for documentary films. I am happy to say that these efforts have also begun in recent days. HAVE YOU EVER NOTICED THE COMPETITION IN YOUR FIELD? HOW DO YOU MANAGE TO COPE WITH IT? Competition! I haven't faced any competition in filmmaking till now because I am not competing with anyone. Every one will be doing on their own stuff and can't be like one another at any cost. So there is no question of uniformity in the work we do. So Competition never bothers us. WHICH IS THE FIRST FILM FESTIVAL YOU ATTENDED? The first film festival that I attended was International Film Festival of India (IFFI)-2003 at Delhi. Afterwards I attended the next year's IFFI at Goa too. In Goa festival one of my short films, 'Sea Side Story' was screened. That was an amazing experience. At the events like these one gets to see films from many countries and get to know about the current happenings in the world cinema. Apart from these major festivals I have also attended other small film festivals like Pune International Film Festival, Asian Film Festival and Symbiosis Film Festival etc. WHO WERE THE PERSONALITIES WITH WHOM YOU WORKED EARLIER? As I mentioned earlier I didn't work with any personalities before I began my own career. But I have great respect for Mr G.N Mohan from E-TV who helped me by introducing me to this medium, Mr Shekar Dattatri noted film maker of India who gave me some good tips and keeps guiding me even to this date. And there are people like Fr Richard Rego SJ, Mr. Anil Pinto, and Mr. Damodara Shetty who always back me in all my endevours. There are so many of them who trusted me and supported me to become what I am now. Many people believe that assisting someone is the beginning of your career. But it is not true. With the digital technology, every one can start making films at anytime.

Being Rich doesn't mean Wealthy: Roger Hamilton

Roger Hamilton, Asia's leading Wealth Consultant in an interview with Niranjan N Kaggere shares his success story.

Roger Hamilton, creator and presenter of the wealth Dynamics Weekend, is Asia's leading wealth cnsultant, conducting private coaching sessions for succesful entrepreneurs across Asia. He was born in HongKong and educated at Trinity College , Cambridge University. He became entrepreneur soon after getting his degree. He is also the Chairman of XL Results Foundation, consitsting of the largest
entrrepreneur network in Asia Pacific and Publisher of XL magazine, the world's first magazine dedicated to social enterprise. Roger now owns and runs businesses in Publishing, property, event management, training and franchising.


1)Roger could you please tell us something about the formative days of your career?
It all began when i was 12years old. i use to visit my neighbourers garden to sketch and paint the scenes from their garden and earn money by selling those sketches. Later when i moved on to Cambridge there too i was on the street sketching the gothic
buildings and trees on the sides of the roads. You know different people create different things in different ways. In the same way i would like to create things. So by the age of 20 i was running three business such as cartography, internet business and Newspaper business. Unfortunately all of them ended up in failure.

2) When did you decide to work on your own instead of working for someone else?
I learn't lot of lessons out of my earlier three ventures. Adding to these chaos the bank manager who invested $12million in my newspaper business had turned down the further monitary assistance. Mean time i was very much inspired by the fact that we need to figure it out for ourselves. i was moved by the desire to get achieve success as early as i could. Hence i started with the publishing company.

3) Why do you think Wealth Creation is so important?
Creation of Wealth is more important from the charity purpose. You can't help the poor being poor. So one must make money in order to give away.

4) What kind of personal philosophy are you advocating?
I would promote the use of word advice instead of philosophy to express my views. My views can be summed up in following four terms. Chose, Be Responsible, Be Hard Working and Be Duty Conscious and look for possible applications in your chosen
job.

5) How would you like to change the quality of living in which our people are living today?
There is no question of changing but instead we must provide them enough to buy the necessary things. People must have everything to live happily. Quality of life can't be generated automatically, it is around us and we must inculcate it. Entrepreneurs can change the Economy as it has happened in China.

6) Is it possible to have abundence/fulfillment in all different areas of life simultaneously?
I believe so. It all depends on how happy and content are our people. Abundence can be brought in by advocating potential hidden within everybody. People must understand that potential lies in everybody to crate and develop things in a better way and one must make use of this to attain fulfillment.

7) How do people become rich, through traditional idealogies or by market potentialities?
Rich and Being Wealthy are always 2 entities for me. They have lot of differences within themselves. It is quite simple to become both. Start doing something with values that attract people. If you chose the field in which you are capable then it's a non-stop journey towards sucess and you will fall on your flow and it is more easier to drift further. To achieve fame you dont't have to go to people, let people come to you and in making so you must have good resources. These resources are no consequences within themselves. Finally at the end what is more important is what you give to the people but not what you get from them.

8) Is it worth teaching values?
Some values does need teaching and some do not because these are within us. When one finds it difficult to identify these values then another's help is more affirmative in getting good results.

9) You have been regarded as the creator of the " Wealth Dynamics". Could you please elaborate on the term.
There is nothing much with the word. It is all about profiling system. Each one has their own path suppose to follow. I've identified such Eight different paths. Creator, Star, Supporter, Deal Maker, Trader, Accumulator, Lord (Real Esate), and Mechanic. The word Wealth Dynamics summarize all these.

10) What is the nature of XL Result Foundation? How does it function and what are its future plans?
XL foundation is a kind of Socio-Enterprise and World Wide Wealth: Making Money to contribute. As Winston Churchill said "We make a living by what we get. We make a life by what we give." We are striving hard to formulate a network of Entrepreneurs running business on any part of the world not to make profit or gain something but to offer that to the people. Through the foundation we are providing entrepreneur training programmes in many Asian Countries, Australia and in New Zealand.

11) Could you tell me some of your own values in doing business and what do you like to pass down to others?
Try getting a good and successful mentor- someone who has already done whatever it is you want to do and has done it successfully. Try asking them about their mistakes and how they resolved those. Learn from their experience. Not finding a mentor will be the greatest mistake you can make- as you will lose both time and money.

12) How does one's educational pursuit help or hinder Entrepreneurship?
In School we grow up intelectually and create rational thinking capablities. In Entrepreneurship the stress is on physical learning and emerging as strong as anybody. Here your instincts, passion and experience counts than your intellect. Hence if you understand the difference between them you will realise what it is exactly. In Enterprising world if you think you are special then you lose your assets. Here customers are more important than the investor.

13) What qualities do you consider as the secrets of running a successful business?
Measure what you can give to your society. Analyse yourself by the worth you offer to yourself. Control your finance. Make it a point to make mistake atleast every weak and learn from those mistakes. Don't ever do anything for money. Concentrate on your liabilites. Build good network and get right people. Always step out and find smarter men than you to do the business and monitor over them. Remember the more you sow the more you reap.

14) Could you mention the best day in your business/ your proudest achievement to this date.
My best day or the the proudest moment came in through my eight year old daughter Cathelene. She paints and sketches a lot. One day all of a sudden she asked me," Dad how can I make money?". I answered " You sell whatever you Create." From very
next day she started painting on the canvasses and wrote prices($10, $50, $100) on them. One fine day her grandpa, my father who had advised me once not make money, visited her and received one of her paintings priced $100 as gift. He was puzzlled and asked her," you said it is gift but why did you mention the price?". My daughter replied," Pa, if i have given this as gift to you it doesn't mean that it has no value. It has value and I have mentioned that on it".

QUOTES:

1) Paradox are not an exclusive asset of Stage. They can even some time come in any field. Here is one such in the entrepreneurship world. The More money you have, the More opportunities you lose it.

2) Six Internal Values of a Good Entrepreneur:- Pasion/Balance, Knowledge, Network, Character,Conduct and Purpose.

Latin American authors opt for realism over magic

Colombian novelist Jorge Franco isn't a magical realist. He is just a realist. His novel ''Rosario Tijeras'' features a corpse that gets taken to a party and a criminal heroine who french-kisses her victims before blowing their
brains out.
You could argue that Colombian writers, who are abandoning the so-called magical realism style for which Latin American literature is best known, don't need it any more. After 41 years of guerrilla war and the wild excesses of the cocaine trade, plain reality is sufficiently unbelievable.
Most of their works have not been translated or published abroad, and a persistent desire among readers in Europe and the United States for Latin American novels about levitating priests and babies with tails rankles the region's new generation of urban novelists.
A case in point is Efraim Medina, another Colombian and author of the decidedly unmagical-realist novel ''Batman and Robin's Mutual Masturbation Techniques''. Medina suggested that his Nobel Prize-winning compatriot Gabriel
Garcia Marquez, whose ''One Hundred Years of Solitude'' brought magical realism to the attention of the English-speaking world when published in 1970, should ''do something for Colombia and donate himself to a museum''.
When asked about magical realism, Franco was calmer than Medina. ''Personally, I wasn't affected at all by the shadow of Garcia Marquez,'' the slightly built, soft-spoken author told Reuters in his mother's Bogota apartment. He added that the now 77-year-old writer had been very kind to him and that Medina was always looking for a fight.
But he had to concede one thing when talking about himself and other new generation Latin American novelists, such as Colombia's Santiago Gamboa and Peru's Jaime Bayly.
''It's true that, when we're looking for our work to be translated into other languages, especially in rich countries, you still feel that what they really want is magical realism. The flying grandmothers and other funny things, the yellow butterflies.''
Magical realism emerged at a time when Latin America was modernizing quickly. National self-confidence and left-wing thought assigned a new importance to rural folk traditions long marginalized by the European culture of the upper classes.

Encouraged by the example of surrealism and its pursuit of the irrational, writers like Garcia Marquez and Mexico's Juan Rulfo structured narratives around magical events presented in an uncritical way. So, in ''One Hundred Years of Solitude'', there is a plague of insomnia and it rains for four years after a massacre of banana workers. Reuters

MENSA: Congregation of the brainy people

Article by Niranjan N Kaggere

Everyday we get to hear about so many associations or unions. But have you ever heard about an association meant exclusively for the intelligent people irrespective of their nationality, race and culture. Here is one and it's been called MENSA.
You must have been wondering by this time thinking what is this Mensa?. It is a congregation/club of brainy or intelligent people across the globe. The bank balance you possess, the positio you hold on, the high influence from the corridors of power or even the pressure from the mighty babudom will fail to fetch you a seat but the intelligent level of your brain can take you inside the club. Mensa was founded at Oxford (England) in 1946 by Roland Berrill who was a barister by profession and Dr Lance Ware, a scientist and a lawyer by profession. But even much earlier to these persons, Mensa was the brain child of Prof Ciril Bert.
Etymologically, Mensa doesn't have much. It owes its origin to Latin. In Latin the word mean a table of people with same mentality and intelligence. While launching the club they had the idea of forming a society for brightk people. Then the only qualification which they put forward was of high IQ(Intelligence Quotient). The original aims were, as they are today, to create a society that is non-political and free from all racial or religious distinctions. The club or the society welcomes people from every walk of life whose IQ is in the top 2% of the population
Mensa has three stated purposes of identifying and fostering human intelligence for the benefit of humanity, to encourage research in the nature, characteristics and uses of intelligence and to promote stimulatiing intellectual and social opportunities for its members. But today the club has varied goals. They include identification of intelligents for the welfare of human society and to nurture those talents, Introducing different facets of intelligence and encourage the enthusiasts to take up research activities in the respective fields.
Members of the clubs are called as "Mensans". Mensa, has never compromised with the memberships allocation. It has always rigid on its admitting procedures. to get a membership you need to prove yourself in the intenationnal level IQ exams conducted by Mensa which is full of puzzles and problems posing chllenges for your mighty brain.Mensans range in age from 4 to 94, but most are between 20 and 60. In education they range from preschoolers to high school dropouts to people with multiple doctorates. As a result we see taxi drivers, small scholl teachers, small scale business persons, unemployed persons, along with many other doctors, egineeers, lecturers and scientists. This is the legaccy of the club.
Mensa members operate from their respective countries to propagate about their concepts and make the people aware of Mensa and its activities through workshops, seminars, discussions and many other creative activities. Unlike the rigid admission procedures, for these functions any body can take part. Despite their intelligent level all mensans live like common people without any difference. But many of them possess good sense of humour.
For the past 59 years, Mensa not only grown but even it has nurtured many talents and brought reputation to such people
Today there are some 100,000 Mensans in 100 countries throughout the world. There are active Mensa organizations in over 40 countries on every continent except Antarctica. Membership numbers are also available for specific National Groups.
Generally, there are two ways to prove that you qualify for Mensa: either take the Mensa test, or submit a qualifying test score from another test. There are a large number of intelligence tests that are "approved". More information on whether a test you have taken is approved, as well as information on the procedure for taking the Mensa test, can be obtained from the nearest Mensa office. There are no on-line tests that can be used for admission to Mensa. Feel free to contact Mensa for specific details about eligibility. Mensa has no other eligibility requirements other than IQ testing.
If you've never taken an IQ test, or don't want to bother with getting official copies of your test scores, then Mensa can test you. You will be put in contact with the local testing coordinator who will tell you about specific testing dates and places. In some countries, a pre-test is available which you can take in the privacy of your home. To find out whether such a test is available in your country, please see National Groups. When you"ve finished the pre-test, send it back to the address instructed. It will be scored, and you will be notified of the results. If your score is high enough, you'll be invited to take a qualifying supervised test. The pre-test is just for practice; you can't use it to qualify for Mensa even if you score at or above the 98th percentile. Taking a pre-test is not required for admission, however, many people take it simply for the challenge.

Grades of Intelligence:
00 to 24 Idiot

25 to 49 Imbecile

50 to 69 Moron

70 to 79 Border line

80 to 89 below normal line

90 to 109 Normal line

110 to 119 Superior

120 to 139 Very superior

140 and More Genius!!!

BU carves out niche for others in Rain water harvesting.

Article by Niranjan N Kaggere

Bangalore: What Samuel Taylor Coleridge wrote in his 'The Rime of the Ancient Mariner' Water, Water, everywhere, nor any drop to drink.... seems to be boomeranging in these days. With the increase in population over the years, demand for water has also increased. Only difference is that then Mariner was surrounded by plethora of water and today we are surrounded by abbreviating water bodies. And recharge ground water and harvest rain water seems to be the contemporary chant of social activists.
If we rummage through the history, rain water harvesting is not new to us and we have been in touch with the concept since ancient times. But it has only community applications and never catered to domestic requirements. But Bangalore University with an innovative measure to enrich its campus with enough water bodies to feed its habitants, has carved out a niche to others in the field of rain water harvest and management.
Under the scheme implemented by the Central Sector Scheme funded by Ministry of Water Resources, Government of India through Central Ground Water Board on Jnanabharathi campus at a cost of about 45 lakhs seems to have done miraculous work on its premises as the campus's groundwater table has gone up by 7 to 8 meters. explaining the results of the project former secretary, Department of Ecology and Environment, government of Karnataka Y N Yellappa Reddy, who was the adviser for the programme said that even the adjacent Vrishabhavathi river will no longer a threat to the existing bore wells on the campus since the natural surface run-off on the land has been harnessed
Jnanabharathi campus which has a population of about 5000 with the per capita consumption of 120 litres per day and an additional 20 percent for other purposes. Now with the successful implementation of the programme the water crisis on the campus has been averted. According to Prof M S Thimmppa, Vice Chancellor of BU, the project was taken up under two phases after a feasibility study by the central ground water board officials.
"Under phase 1, three check dams were built covering 1 sq km and in phase 2, two check dams were built with a catchment area of 0.6 sq km. In an another major initiative roof top rain water-harvesting has also been implemented to collect rain water and the cost of harvesting altogether cost approximately Rs 2 per cubic metre of water." said Prof Thimmappa.
Finding enough water resources for daily purposes, some measures have also been extended to neighbouring SAI campus. As a result the water level in the bore wells raised to 5 cu m per hour from 2 cu m per hour. Even the chemical quality analysis of the ground water samples collected in the area has revealed that no deterioration of water has taken place.
Bangalore University area with a rain fall of around 900 mm a year, a total of 6,480cu m of water can be harvested annually through the present system. When many organisations spearheading the event to popularise the method of rain water harvesting without adding much to it, Bu has taken a revolutionising step in its efforts to create awareness about the eco system among the people and students.

EDUCATION IN BANGALORE: DREAM DEFERRED

It is true and we all must accept the fact that our beloved Bangalore is growing and growing at a pace which was never known to us in the past. Industries, Business houses, Corporates and what not, everything has gone up on the growth graph irrespective of their contributions.
But our city colleges strike a different note at this juncture owing to stack of problems either piled up by themselves or by the goernment. Those were the days when there was flood of other state students thronging at different city colleges to get absorbed. But today perhaps because of the imbroglio between the state government and the managements, infrastructural problems and lot many other problems have made them to take a U-turn and here the system is left all alone at the crossroads. As a result we see every year many vocational courses seatrs at various colleges left untouched. What does this connote then? Here we go mum despite the answer being hidden deep inside within ourselves.
Try getting the picture of Bangalore during 1990's. What a prosperous ambience then to learn and work for. But the same seems to be missing now a days. We see students cutting across many barriers to find enough space to stay and if they find one, there is yet another one as a sequel i.e. of feeding their belly. The reason for this metamorphosis could be the sprouting of consumeristic idea among our people, in other words today everything is measured and dictated interms of money or in our campus lingua'vitamin M'.
On one hand, the fintroduction of many new courses and unaffordable fee structure has created deluge among students in choosing one. This has made the students to explore new alternatives. There has been a gradual reduction in Post Graduation students ratio at the universities, because of more job avenues paying handsome salaries.
on the other, opening of PG departments at some of the private institutions has decreased the charm of those courses. With the independent PG departments each college would strive to preserve its identity and integrity at any cost and this makes them unstopable in demanding more fees for various things. Every year we see some special programmes to take up newly introduced courses in state, it hasn't taken enough steps to curb the mushrooming of too many private colleges and to add to it some legal setbacks and other impediments have derailed the govt's efforts in doing so.
In between these kind of ups and downs, the real victims seems to be students who are left abruptly at the cross roads. with the incoming of IT and BT and its associate industries such as BPO, ITES(IT enabled services) there has been a tilt in the students attitude towards the (traditional courses) Humanities and its associates. But the rising fee structure, unsettled diputes between the government and private colleges, difficulty in getting accomodation at the affordable cost have left students of Bangalore in midwaters.
Even many of the academicians feel that in the next five or ten years it would be difficult to alot a specific space for Bangalore on the education map of the country. this could be an alarm for the private colleges and other such institutions to review their educational manifestations and fee structure uniformally and provide some relief to the students in getting good and quality education and help India gtrowing.