Report About An Event

13th Kochi International Book festival

The Kochi International Book Festival (KIBF) is organized by the Antharashtra Pusthakotsava Samithy, Kochi, (APS) a registered charitable society, established to promote reading, encourage writing, and to heighten an awareness of literacy and literary arts in the State of Kerala. Established in the year, 1997, APS has so far organized 12 International Book Festivals.

While most book exhibitions around the world are trade fairs, giving prominence to publishers, book sellers, distributors and the like, APS decided to focus on the book lover and the reader. When APS entered the scene in 1997, books were sold in Kerala like any other commodity and book sellers used to organize book markets (Pusthaka chantha) to sell their wares. APS changed the nomenclature for ever. The market place was transformed to festival grounds. The ten day festival became the meeting ground for thousands of book lovers, writers, scholars, students, teachers, academicians etc. Thanks to APS no Book Seller in Kerala dare to name his exhibition as Pusthaka chantha (Book Fair) any more, even if they were actually fairs. The term ‘Book Festival’ has become a marketing tool for them.

APS is also involved in conducting various activities for encouraging young writers, such as literary workshops, literary and art competitions, etc. APS provides assistance to libraries in Kerala in various forms. During the last 3 years, APS donated books to 150 libraries and 50 school libraries in the State.

This event has conducted in Ernakulathappan Grounds,Durbar Hall Road,Ernakulam, Kochi, Kerala on 27^th Nov 2009. This event was for 6 days and closing ceremony was on 5:00 PM 6^th Dec, 2009. Lots of Malayalam and other Indian language books were available on this festival. A large collection of Foreign language books including English, French are the main attraction of this event.

Report About A Celebration

Id-Ul-Fitr

Id-Ul-Fitr festival or Eid-Ul-Fitr festival, commonly known as Eid is the most important Occasions of Islamic calendar. Id ul Fitr festival is celebrated by Muslim community all over the world with great devotion and joviality. Eid ul Fitr festival denotes the end of 'Ramadan', the month of fasting and beginning of the new month namely 'Shawwal'. On the festive Occasions of Eid Muslim devotees break their fast of Ramzan with special prayer and merriment. On this auspicious Occasions special foods & delicacies are prepared and are distributed to neighbours and friends. The festival of Eid is devoted to the spirit of love, sharing, peace and brotherhood.

Id-Ul-Fitr is a very important day for Muslims. Id Ul Fitr means 'festival of breaking the fast' and celebrated on the first day after sighting the moon of 'Shawaal' (tenth month of Islamic calendar) that marks the end of the month of Ramdan.During the auspicious month of Ramzan, Muslims observes day long fast and offer special prayers to almighty. Eid festival marks the end of Ramzan .

On the festive day of Id Ul Fitr Muslims dress-up in the new clothes, apply perfume and Muslim women decorate their hands with beautiful textures using heena and wears shimmering jewelry to celebrate the festive enthusiasm. Muslims gathers in the Mosque or a large open area to offer Special prayers of Eid. After that they wish greetings of Eid and embrace each other

Delicious dishes like vermicelli and kheer (sweetened milk) are prepared and distributed among friends and relatives in social get togethers. On this day Muslims distribute a kind of gifts in form of food, clothes or cash to the needy person.

Id Ul Fitr is celebrated at the end of the Ramzan which is the most pious month in Islami Calendar. According to the legend, one day Prophet Muhammad had a vision in which the angel Jibril told him how Allah wanted people to live. Then Allah's words were revealed to Muhammad through the angel during the month of Ramzan, and the words were written down to form the holy Qur'an. Prophet Muhammad declared the last day of Ramzan to celebrate Id Ul Fitr and strengthening the feeling of brotherhood.

Report On A Community

UNESCO

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations established on 16 November 1945. Its stated purpose is to contribute to peace and security by promoting international collaboration through education, science, and culture in order to further universal respect for justice, the rule of law, and the human rights and fundamental freedoms proclaimed in the UN Charter. It is the heir of the League of Nations' International Commission on Intellectual Cooperation.

UNESCO has 193 Member States and seven Associate Members. The organization is based in Paris, with over 50 field offices and many specialized institutes and centres throughout the world. Most of the field offices are "cluster" offices covering three or more countries; there are also national and regional offices. UNESCO pursues its objectives through five major programs: education, natural sciences, social and human sciences, culture, and communication and information. Projects sponsored by UNESCO include literacy, technical, and teacher-training programmes; international science programmes; the promotion of independent media and freedom of the press; regional and cultural history projects; the promotion of cultural diversity; international cooperation agreements to secure the world cultural and natural heritage (World Heritage Sites) and to preserve human rights, and attempts to bridge the worldwide digital divide.

UNESCO implements its activities through the five programme areas of Education, Natural Sciences, Social and Human Sciences, Culture, and Communication and Information.

Feature About A Sports Event

Golf

Golf is a precision club-and-ball sport, in which competing players (golfers), using many types of clubs, attempt to hit balls into each hole on a golf course while employing the fewest number of strokes. Golf is one of the few ball games that does not require a standardized playing area. Instead, the game is played on golf "courses", each of which features a unique design, although courses typically consist of either nine or 18 holes. Golf is defined, in the rules of golf, as "playing a ball with a club from the teeing ground into the hole by a stroke or successive strokes in accordance with the Rules." Golf competition is generally played for the lowest number of strokes by an individual, known simply as stroke play, or the lowest score on the most individual holes during a complete round by an individual or team, known as match play.

The origin of golf is unclear and open to debate. Some historians trace the sport back to the Roman game of paganica, in which participants used a bent stick to hit a stuffed leather ball. One theory asserts that paganica spread throughout Europe as the Romans conquered most of the continent, during the first century B.C., and eventually evolved into the modern game. Others cite chuiwan ("chui" means striking and "wan" means small ball) as the progenitor, a Chinese game played between the eighth and 14^th centuries. The game is thought to have been introduced into Europe during the Middle Ages. Another early game that resembled modern golf was known as cambucain England and chambot in France. This game was, in turn, exported to the Low Countries, Germany, and England (where it was called pall-mall, pronounced “pell mell”). Some observers, however, believe that golf descended from the Persian game, chaugán. In addition, kolven (a game involving a ball and curved bats) was played annually in Loenen, Netherlands, beginning in 1297, to commemorate the capture of the assassin of Floris V, a year earlier.

Every round of golf is based on playing a number of holes in a given order. A round typically consists of 18 holes that are played in the order determined by the course layout. On a nine-hole course, a standard round consists of two consecutive nine-hole rounds. Playing a hole on a golf course is initiated by putting a ball into play by striking it with a club on the teeing area (also called the "tee box" or simply "the tee.") When this initial stroke (or "shot") is required to be a long one due to the length of the hole, it is usual (but not required) for a golfer to suspend (or "tee") the ball on a tee prior to striking it. A "tee" in this last sense is a small peg which can be used to elevate the ball slightly above the ground up to a few centimeters high. This elevation is at the discretion of the golfer. Tee pegs are commonly made of wood but may be constructed of any material; the ball may even be "tee'd" on a mound of grass or dirt (at one time a small pile of sand placed by the golfer was routinely used and sand was provided at teeing areas for golfers' use).

When the initial shot on a hole is a long-distance shot intended to move the ball a great distance down the fairway, this shot is commonly called a "drive." Shorter holes generally are initiated with "shorter" clubs. Once the ball comes to rest, the golfer strikes it again as many times as necessary using shots that are variously known as a lay-up, an approach, a "pitch", or a chip, until the ball reaches the green, where he or she then putts the ball into the hole (commonly called "sinking the putt"). The goal of getting the ball into the hole ("holing" the ball) in as few strokes as possible may be impeded by obstacles such as areas of long grass called rough (usually found alongside fairways) which both impedes advancement and makes it harder to advance the golf ball, bunkers ("sand traps"), and water hazards In most forms of gameplay, each player plays his or her ball until it is holed.

Players can walk or drive in motorized carts over the course. Play can be done either singly or in groups and sometimes accompanied bycaddies, who carry and manage the players' equipment and who are allowed by the rules to give advice on the play of the course. A caddies' advice can only be given to the player or players for whom the caddy is working, and not to competing players.

Cultural Event

Thrissur Pooram

Pooram is one of the nakshatras or star in the Hindupanchangam. There are 27Nakshatras in the Hindu panchangam and a million or more temples in Kerala, and this combination create numerous possibilities for auspicious occasions, with each temple having varying importance for the different stars. However, over the years, the pooram nakshatram has gained special significance in its association with temple festivals, mainly because of its association withThrissur. It has now taken on a different meaning all together, because of the huge congregation of people during the pooram festival in Thrissur.

Thrissur Pooram is today, rightfully, called 'the pooram of all poorams' meaning the biggest or the best of all poorams. The Thrissur pooram is celebrated every year, on the pooram day, in the month of Medam (mid-april to mid-may) month as per the malayalam calendar. While all poorams have a huge influence on surrounding neighborhoods and towns, few other festivals require their active involvement. Thrissur town plays host, for 36 hours from the wee hours of the pooram day, to one of the largest collection of people and elephants. The richly decorated elephant, as seen during the Thrissur pooram, is now globally recognized, and its association with Kerala. On the pooram day, fifty (50) or more elephants will pass through the very center of Thrissur town, or the vadakkunnathantemple. The main features of the pooram festival are these decorated elephants with their nettippattam (decorative headdress), beautiful craftedthe kolam, decorative bells and ornaments etc. Add to this the panchavadyam, the rhythmic beating of the drum, and what would be a cacophony otherwise is turned into an organized but spontaneous symphony. The fireworks display in the early hours of the next day, will rival shows held anywhere in the world, without even using many of the modern and newer pyrotechnics.

While India is considered to be between 5000 to 10000 years old, and many rituals, hindu customs and festivals date back centuries, the Thrissur pooram is only about 200 or more years old. It was orchestrated by the then ruler of Cochin, Sakthan Thampuran or Raja Rama Varma, in 1798. Sakthan Thampuran, so known for his firm and decisive administration, decided to break tradition and create a venue for the temples belonging to his region to celebrate their pooram festival.

Before the advent of Thrissur Pooram, the largest temple festival during summer in Thrissurthaluk was the one-day festival held atArattupuzha, 12 km south of the city. Temples in and around Thrissur were regular participants of this religious exercise until they were denied entry by the chief of Peruvanam Gramam. The delay caused by the temples from Thrissur and Kuttanellur, was one of the reasons for denial. This caused the Thrissur Naduvazhi, the chief poojari of Vadakkunnathan, known as Yogadiripad and the Kuttanellur Naduvazhi started the pooram in Thrissur. This pooram started as an act of reprisal quickly lost its charm, after infighting between the two main Naduvazhis. It required the intervention of the ruler to get this right. Sakthan Thampuran unified the 10 temples situated around Vadakkunnathan temple and organized the celebration of Thrissur Pooram as a mass festival. Sakthan Thampuran ordained these temples into two groups, Western group and Eastern group. The Western group as Thiruvambady consisting of Kanimangalam, Laloor, Ayyanthole, Nethilakkavu and the Thiruvambady temple, as the main one. The Eastern group called as Paramekkavu, consisting in addition to Paramekkavu temple, Karamukku, Chembukavu, Choorakottukavu and Panamukkamppilly. The pooram was to be centered around the Vadakkunnathan temple, with all these temples sending their poorams (the whole procession), to pay obeisance to the Shiva, the presiding deity. The Thampuran is believed to have chalked out the program and the main events of the Thrissur pooram festival. It is this historical background that determines the course of the pooram program and it is specifically the ruler's antipathy to the Brahmin aristocracy to open Thrissur pooram for the common man.

Thrissur Pooram is celebrated at of theVadakkunnathan Temple, situated on a hillock (Thekkinkadu maidan) right in the centre of the city, on the Pooram day in the month of Medom(April-May). Processions of richly caparisonedelephants accompanied by percussion ensembles from various neighbouring temples culminate at the Vadakumnathan temple. The most impressive processions are those Thriuvambadi Bhagavathy from the Thiruvambadi SriKrishna Temple and the Paramekkavu Bhagavathi from Paramekkavu temple. The celebrations which last for over 36 hours includeparasol displays andfirework shows.

Perhaps, there is no other festival in Kerala that draws such an unbelievable number of people to a single event. However Vadakkunnathan is a mere spectator at this festival, lending its premises and grounds for the great event. The pooram festival is also well known for the magnificent display of fireworks. Fire works start in the early hours and the dazzling display last three to four hours.

Biographical Sketch of Jean-Paul Sartre

Jean-Paul Sartre was a great intellectual who gave this world a new and volatile philosophy. Sartre rejected all the established norms and was a rebel in thoughts and actions. As time passed, his thoughts became all the more revolutionary. He opposed wearing a tie and the system of marriage. During the Second World War, he worked as a soldier for peace. Sartre had the courage of his conventions and severely criticized the US and USSR’s aggression in Vietnam, Hungary and Czechoslovakia, respectively.

This great thinker and writer was born in France in the year 1905.

From his childhood, he showed ample signs of being an intellectual. The colossal destruction during the Second World War greatly affected him. In 1904-41, he was imprisoned in a Nazi camp. Later, Sartre joined a resistance group called Socialism et Liberte and also edited a magazine. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1964, which he labeled as a ‘sack of potatoes’ and rejected it.

Sartre lived in with his writer friend Simone de Beauvoire and remained unmarried. Simone wrote a lot of excellent books like the Second Sex, Lace Mandarins, The Women Destroyed, She Came to Stay, La Belle Images, Memories of a Beautiful Daughter, The Forces of Circumstances and Prime and Life.

Amongst Sartre’s immortal books, the following may be mentioned, Words(autobiography), Being and Nothingness, Nausea, The Age of Reason, Iron in the Soul, The flies, The devil and the Good Lord, Reprieve, No Exit, The respectable Prostitute, Critique, Situations, Saint Janet, Comedian et Martyr, Keen, Roads to Freedom and Between Existentialism and Materialism. Kremlin and Vatican authorities banned many of his books.

Landscape Writing

VAGAMON

Vagamon is the place located among the lofty mountains of the Western Ghats in the border of Kottayam and Idukki districts of Kerala at an altitude of 1100 metres above sea level., Vagamon is a lovely hill station in South India.
Also known as the Scotland of Asia, Vagamon remained hidden till the British discovered it nearly a century ago, and they used the place for tea plantations, followed by Christian missionaries who built here their abode of service. Vagamon remains cool during most part of the year. Major tourist centers like Thekkady, Peerumedu, Kulamavu etc are easily accessible from Vagamon.

Still untouched by commercialisation, the sleepy town with it's scenic valleys, beautiful green meadows, enchanting pine forests, mists, fogs, tea estates, waterfalls with the overall greenery is really striking. The landscape is mostly hilly bald with green meadows. Vagamon is also home to a large variety of flowers and orchids ( belonging to one of the largest family, the Orchidaceae) and the forests around the hills abound with wild animals like elephant, buffalos etc. In March, there is an abundance of large and beautiful butterflies.

Nestled within three beautiful hills Thangal Hill, Murugan Hill and Kurisumala (represents the major religions in Kerala - Hindu, Muslim, and Christian depicting the cultural harmony) Vagamon is an ideal place for both peace and adventure lovers. The places offers trekking trails carved through hills, valleys, streams and brooks. Apart from trekking, Vagamon has facilities for paragliding, mountaineering and rock climbing.

Vagamon is considered as one of the best paragliding sites in Asia, and for three consecutive years beginning in 2006, International Paragliding Festivals are being held held at Vagamon. Kolahalamedu hill located 4 Kms (2.5 Miles) from Vagamon provides the perfect platform for paragliding. The hill is a part of South India's second highest peak namely the Amruthamedu. Perfect for paragliding, it has 10 km long ridge, over 3,000 feet high. The site has steady winds in the South West Direction through out the season and offers great opportunities for XC, cross country as well as ridge soaring. The site is easily accessible, with grassy launch pads. The season starts from September and offers great flying conditions until January and again, from March to May. The International Paragliding Festival is jointly organised by Adventure Sports and Sustainable Tourism Academy (ASSTA), based in Kochi and the Kerala Tourism Department.

Vagamon has been identified as the best eco-tourist destination in India by the Tourism Department of Kerala and the tourism department's support has added a momentum in Vagamon. National Geographic Traveler has also listed Vagamon on their list of the '50 most beautiful places to visit in India’.

Vagamon, like Munnar, is a hill station with a serene and pristine environment through out the year which makes it a place to visit at your choice of time. Though the monsoon season has its own charm, it is considered as an off season due to the torrential rains which makes site seeing difficult.