Jumbo Anil Kumble in Belgaum

10:51 AM Posted by ukmad

Former Indian skipper Anil Kumble will be in Belgaum on Saturday 13th December for the Annual convocation of the J N Medical College.

Belgaum Rotary’s Annotsav 2008 tickling taste buds

10:13 PM Posted by ukmad

The Rotary club of Belgaum organizes the Annual event Annotsav from the past many years. This time the fete is organized at Sardars High School Ground, opp Old REX College Road.
 
About 105 different stalls serving various delicacies are there to give those old taste buds some rejuvenating flavor.  Right from Pani puri, ice cream to Vada Kombda, Bhaji etc.
 
You have to be there and enjoy the lovely atmosphere while your nostrils fetch some nice aroma of a Tandoor or a Biryani. All the major hotels like Niyaz, Zaika have their stalls. In addition, some very good homemade food is available which is great.
Also see in the image VOTE FOR VAYAVYA LABS is the main banner behind the live show. So Belagum is now getting much more aware about getting Belgaum on the IT map.
 
In addition, there are the car stalls, solar water stalls etc etc etc.
Again, the live music shows and various competitions held during the fete are a topping on the cream.
Parking facility is good enough, but I point I noticed was lack of security. After the Mumbai terror attacks something must have been put in place, but I could hardly see two police officers that too on the main road entrance and no one else. May be some other security arrangements should have been done, I am not aware of it. But it feels secure enough to roam about with your family and kids seeing all those new food being made and enjoying the atmosphere. The entry fee is Rs.5.
 
The fete, which opened on 7 Dec, will be open until 14 December 2008. So, if you are in town in that period you know one dinner is fixed at some stall in there.

Chinese army men ready with Mohabbatein, Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna in Belgaum

3:41 PM Posted by ukmad

WHERE diplomacy fails, Bollywood usually takes over. There has been no exception even with the piquant Chinese.

Chinese soldiers who have come to Belgaum for a week's joint military exercise with the Indian army cannot stop humming songs from Shah Rukh Khan movies like Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna and Mohabbatein.

The 137 infantry toughies from China have in fact collectively memorised the entire Mohabbatein number 'Aankhein khuli ho ya ho bandh' along with the Indian national anthem, and have been regaling the Indian side with some memorable renditions over raucously cheerful and backslapping dinners.




Some Other Video Links:

http://videosfromindia.smashits.com/view/5289/indian-and-chinese-troops-display-their-strategic-skills


http://videosfromindia.smashits.com/view/5281/sino-indian-joint-military-exercise-begins


http://www.cctv.com/video/ChinaToday/2008/12/ChinaToday_300_20081205_4.shtml

Source: Mid-Day Main story

India China Military Excercise Photos

10:04 AM Posted by ukmad


This is a collection of images from various sources like Sina.com, mangalorean.com, abclive.com, cctv.com.



This will be automatically updtaed as and when I find the pics. So keep looking.

BelgaumBlog: 50000 hits: Thank you readers

10:41 PM Posted by ukmad


“It’s Not The Chances We Take; It’s The Choices We Make, That Determines Our Destiny.” 
Someone said it and I am following it. I merely started this blog as a hobby 490 days ago and today it has seen 50,000 hits. These don’t include the 149 people who receive it daily directly in their mail box.
620 posts in 490 days, an average of more than one post a day with regular news updates from various sources to special stories exclusively on this blog. From covering events just as they happened and got you pictures the fastest I could to showcasing those talents of Belgaum to the world. It has been a long journey for me.
I have made many new friends by this blog and I would cherish their friendship for life. I got designers to design for me, Thanks Leading minds; you made my job easier and more presentable & Hyperwebenable team for their support.
Lastly, THANKS to all those readers who throng my site, some before starting work some later, it has been your support which has brought me here and I won’t let you down.

At last Big Cinemas to open today

11:54 AM Posted by ukmad

The wait for so many years is over; the Big cinemas in Nucleus Mall will be opened by Mr.Prabhakar Kore MP today evening at 6.30pm. It will be open to public from this Friday with Rab ne bana de Jodi with an inaugural offer of Rs.60/ticket.

This is just a formal opening of the mall and Big Cinemas.
Big cinemas have two screens in here named KAPEEL -1 and KAPEEL -2, after the earlier Kapeel theatre on which this whole mall is built. There is space for about 55 cars and about 250 two wheelers for parking, which is obviously paid.

The interiors are very similar to all those others in metros with anti fire mats, 4 way surround sound etc.

The mall is still not working, only big Cinemas will commence all others have to take up their space yet and mostly the ground floor is being taken up by leading foreign footwear brands and watch brands.

This first weekend for Big cinemas is going to be a great treat for all, them and as well as Belgaumites. Now we don’t have to go to Mumbai or Bangalore, ‘Apne he shaer mein hain na’.

Belgaumites take War on Terror: Candle light rally

8:11 PM Posted by ukmad






































Today evening a huge crowd gathered at the Chennama Circle to rage a war against terror and pay homage to those who were killed in the recent 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks.
The young and the old both were there. Some exclusive pictures and videos only for Belgaumblog readers.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sOFjglTLL6o

Indo China Military exercise Photos held at Belgaum

6:35 PM Posted by ukmad

This is a collection of images from various sources like Sina.com, mangalorean.com, abclive.com, cctv.com.




http://english.sina.com/china/2008/1205/202998.html


http://mangalorean.com/news.php?newstype=broadcast&broadcastid=103955

Big cinemas Belgaum to open for public on Friday 12 December

10:33 AM Posted by ukmad

The much awaited opening of the Big Cinemas will be done tomorrow on Monday and will open to public from the Friday, 12 December with the film “Rab ne Bana di Jodi.
The mall still looks completely from the outside only the Big cinema floor is illuminated in the night. There is also a pay parking available, but how much space is there has to be seen.

Petrol to cost 51.57 in Belgaum

11:10 AM Posted by ukmad


After the price cut on fuel prices, the effective fuel prices in Belgaum are:
Petrol will cost Rs.51.57 (Unleaded) [old price Rs.57.03] and Diesel Rs.37.14 [old price Rs.39.33].
So effectively petrol is cheaper by Rs.5.46/liter.

HC order comes as a relief to farmers

10:11 AM Posted by ukmad

The Karnataka High Court’s interim order has come as a relief to small and marginal farmers who have been fighting to protect their fertile land on the either side of the Pune-Bangalore National Highway (Express Highway) 4.
About 20 families of farmers owning small and marginal land on survey Nos. 628, 629 and 630 on either side of the highway, just 2 km from the Central Bus Stand, have been fighting against the move by the Karnataka Industrial Area Development Board (KIADB) to allegedly hand it over to Parivartan Alpasankhyatara Krushi Sahakara Sangha (PAKSS), a private society controlled by Belgaum South MLA Abhay Kumar Patil of the BJP.
The KIADB had initiated steps to acquire the land against the will of the farmers who were depending on it for livelihood. The PAKSS wanted to set up a cold storage plant there. The National Highway Division, Belgaum, in its notification issued on March 27, 2000, determined the “building lines” and “control lines” and declared that 75 metres on either side of the existing highway as “Green Belt Zone” and banned construction activities and development work in this area.
When the farmers challenged the move to acquire their land in the High Court, the KIADB temporarily stalled the process only on the direction of Regional Commissioner Amita Prasad. But the police started harassing and threatening the farmers.
The High Court recently passed an interim order and asked the Government to respond “as to why the State should not take the responsibility of providing cold storage facilities to farmers as sought to be done by PAKSS for whose benefit the land is proposed to be acquired by the board.”

Source The Hindu

Candle light vigil and torch rally against central govt. on Sunday 7th dec 2008 @5:30 pm at Chennamma circle

10:01 AM Posted by ukmad

KRV Belgaum is organizing a candle light vigil for the martyrs who died in the Mumbai attacks and that will be followed by torch rally which will be like a warning to the central government which has been inefficient and incapable in handling terrorism on Sunday 7th December, 2008 at 5:30 pm at Chennamma circle. The central government is still in diplomatic dialogues with Pakistan; indirectly the central government is buying time and thinks Indians will forget this issue as always and thing will be the same again.
People are requested not to carry any other flags except for the national tricolor flags.
Please ask all your friends to participate in this; this is just another way to show our solidarity towards those who lost their lives. Many may say it happened there and why this show off here, to all of them, it was Mumbai then and it could be us anytime. At this time no caste, creed or language is a barrier we all need to come up and fight this terrorism.

Chinese army arrives in Belgaum for drill

10:12 AM Posted by ukmad

Indicative of the growing military-military cooperation between India and China, a 137-member team of the People's Liberation Army arrived at this cantonment town Thursday for the second joint anti-terror drill with the Indian Army beginning here Friday.
The drill, named Exercise Hand-in-Hand 2008, "is aimed at expanding and strengthening military-to-military ties between the two armed forces”.
During the course of joint training that will last till Dec 14, the Chinese troops from an infantry battalion of the Chengdu Military Area Command and Indian Army troops from for a Maratha Light Infantry battalion "will undergo joint tactical manoeuvres and drills, interoperability training, and joint command post procedures, culminating in a joint counter-terrorist operational exercise with a simulated enemy.The helicopter assets of the Indian Air Force will also be incorporated for conducting special heli-borne manoeuvres and assault operations.
The Chinese contingent had earlier arrived in a military aircraft at Pune. After a brief reception at the Pune airfield, six Indian Air Force (IAF) aircraft transported the Chinese army personnel and their stores were to Belgaum.
The joint exercise is the second in the series, the previous one having been conducted in Kunming, China late last year.
Source

10:40 AM Posted by ukmad

Who will hear the farmers? Police accused of harassment

The Belgaum Shahar Shetkari Sanghatana, which has taken up the cause of farmers struggling to save their lands from being acquired by Karnataka Industrial Area Development Board, has alleged that police officials and their staff attached to the Malmaruti Police Station are harassing farmers.
A procession was taken to the DC’s office, against the KIADB had proposal to acquire fertile and irrigated agriculture land off Pune-Bangalore National Highway 4 (Express Highway) falling under Survey Nos 628, 629 and 630 only to allot to a private society controlled by BJP MLA (from Belgaum South) Abhay Kumar Patil. This was being done though the land had been earmarked as Green Belt area.
The farmers are small and marginal landholders. They are raising crops such as paddy, wheat and jowar for their living. However, the KIADB had proposed to acquire their land in an illegal manner and without observing procedural norms only to hand it over to Alpasankyatar Krushi Sahakar Sangh controlled by Mr. Patil.
A complaint was also made to the Governor and the High Court following which the Regional Commissioner of Belgaum Revenue division directed the KIADB against pursuing with the acquisition. Yet, the police were harassing and even arresting innocent farmers and creating panic among their families, it claimed.
The police were behaving in a threatening manner instead of providing protection to these poor families, it alleged. Though the matter was brought to the notice of the Superintendent of Police Sonia Narang, there was no let-up in the harassment by police. It was not clear whether the police stood for the politically influential and the rich or the poor and the weak.

This blog has has been following up this story, see earlier stories
http://belgaumblog.com/2008/09/farmers-concerned-over-kiadb/
http://belgaumblog.com/2008/07/farmers-accuse-mla-of-trying-to-grab-land/
http://belgaumblog.com/2007/10/farmers-say-don%e2%80%99t-take-our-land/
Source:The Hindu

St Paul’s 1993 Batch plan a REUNION — they have set an amazing example of using the internet to maintain school bonds

10:10 AM Posted by ukmad


St Paul’s 1993 Batch plan a REUNION — they have set an amazing example of using the internet to maintain school bonds — theirs truly is friendship of the 21st century!


Carefree & joy–filled days of school can never be forgotten. In so many ways they continue to influence every stage of our life’s journey. This is especially the case with about 160 students who finished their schooling from St Paul’s, Belgaum in 1993. Each batch-mate walked a path on his own terms, many scaling new heights in India and beyond her shores. Now after 15 years, they will come together to share their rich experiences.
The ‘Paulites of 93’ are indeed a very unique batch. They have stayed in touch via a yahoo-egroup since the past 7 years. But, what makes their story really fascinating is that even after so many years their intensity of communicating has not waned. In fact, the year 2008 saw an average of greater than 250 emails clocked each month; one month reaching an astounding 600 emails!
In 2003, precisely 10 years after completing school, they met to relive school days, with about 110 batchmates attending the reunion. Now after another 5 years, they plan to meet again. The planning of the second reunion began about 6 months ago via the egroup. Mr. Rahul Chingale (founder of the Paulites egroup) told this blog, “It is thanks to the egroup we know who is married or getting married — who has kids and how many — and who works where and lives in which city or country”. He and several others in the batch are ardent promoters of uniting the batch through the egroup. Mr Kiran Nippanikar, another enthusiastic Paulite said, “During the 2003 Reunion, donating part of the funds to an Old Age Home set a very solid example of how we should conduct ourselves to help society. This Reunion we intend to use a similar approach by diverting part of the reunion funds to assist the school in whatever ways possible”.
Many batchmates abroad are super-duper excited about the prospects of meeting school friends. They have booked tickets almost 4 to 5 months in advance. Like them, batchmates scattered all across India have been deeply involved in the planning process. The massive flurry of activity on the egroup is a testimony of the level of excitement within the batch of coming together. It is not just the Reunion that is the primary topic of discussion on the egroup — recommendation for jobs and exchange of professional information also takes a lion’s share. During these hard times of global recession, Mr Kiran Patil has stepped up to create a professional database of the batch which could be used in the years to come as a career boosting tool.
The 2008 reunion will be held on the 27th December in Camp, Belgaum at the school campus. There will be several unique sessions held; one of which is called the “Chronicles of 1993”. Mr. Devikant Birje who is making this happen said that the “Chronicles of 1993” would be a collection of events and pranks played in school, for example — it could be incidents involving stealing the teachers’ cake, wild fights, copying during exams, and even extreme confessions of final-exam paper leaks. Already, many batchmates have contributed to these chronicles via the egroup. The goal of this session will be to recreate these memories and turn them into a book accompanied with a short film.
The Paulites of 1993 sure know how to throw party and yet make it meaningful. This blog will report their story as it unfolds. Best wishes to them for decades to come!
Edited by PDK