Pandit Kishan Maharaj, one of India's best-known classical percussionists, passed away in this temple town after battling a brain stroke for five days. He was 85.
The leading tabla exponent was pulled off life support systems Sunday night. He had suffered a stroke Tuesday and efforts had been on to stave off brain death.
Kishan Maharaj is survived by a son and three daughters.
Sources here said the tabla legend suffered the stroke when sarod artist Pandit Amjad Ali Khan and his family, including sons Ayaan and Amaan, went to meet him a day after the Sankat Mochan Sangeet Samaroh, an important musical event in the town. Kishan Maharaj also attended it.
"He was sitting on a sofa and then he suddenly passed out. We took him to a hospital, where we tried to revive him for five days," Sandeep Das, one of Kishan Maharaj's most senior disciples and Grammy nominee, told IANS here.
Kishan Maharaj was born in 1923 in a family of professional musicians. He was trained in classical music by Pandit Hari Maharaj, his father. After his father's death, Pandit Kanthe Maharaj, his uncle, took him under his wings.
Kishan Maharaj was conferred the Padma Shri and the Padma Bhushan.
"After shahnai maestro Bismillah Khan's death, he was the lone surviving classical music legend in Varanasi," said Anshuman Pandey, a music aficionado associated with Kishan Maharaj for more than a decade.
Kishan Maharaj, who had a distinctive style of his own, was known for his ability to play cross-rhythms and produce complex calculations. He could accompany any instrument, be it sitar, sarod, dhrupad. He was equally at home accompanying a dancer.
The percussionist was considered in the same league as his contemporary Alla Rakha. He had played with almost all the leading classical musicians and performers in the Indian hall of fame.
"He played with Birju Maharaj, Sitara Devi, Pandit Ravi Shankar, Ali Akbar Khan, Bismillah Khan, Bhimsen Joshi, Ustad Faiyaz Khan, Bade Ghulam Ali Khan - almost everyone of his time," Das said.
Das, who had been Kishan Maharaj's disciple since the age of nine and lived with him for 11 years in Varanasi to learn the tabla, has fond recollections of his guru.
"I feel that more than teaching tabla, he taught a way of life. He trained me to become a complete human being," said Das, who has performed with the Silk Road Ensemble and the famous Chinese cellist Yo-Yo Ma.
Recounting his days as a 'shishya' (pupil) in Kishan Maharaj's 'gurukul' (school), Das said the tabla legend taught him to sweep the floor as part of his training.
"It didn't make sense to a nine-year-old at that time, but now I realise that it was not about sweeping the floor, but it was about focus and concentration - the ability to do small things correctly if you wanted to do big things correctly," Das said.
According to him, Kishan Maharaj was one of the strictest gurus, a stern disciplinarian, serious about punctuality and a perfectionist.
Apart from tabla, the master percussionist had several passions, including poetry and art (he was an accomplished painter), said renowned kathak dancer Pandit Birju Maharaj.
"Right from childhood, (since the age of 11), when I started dancing, Kishan Maharaj had been the percussionist of my choice. He followed the action and then decided on the rhythm (taal)," Birju Maharaj told IANS.
"He was also a distant uncle as all of us, the musicians of Kabir Chowk in Varanasi (home of Pandit Birju Maharaj's in-laws), are related. He took his 'talim' (training) from one of my great-uncles. Kishan Maharaj knew a lot about music. He had the history of Indian classical music on his fingertips," the kathak maestro said.
Indo-Asian News Service
Over 16,000 school and college students in India committed suicide in the last three years, says the health ministry, shedding light once again on the sorry state of mental healthcare in the country.
As per the ministry, 5,857 students committed suicide in 2006 and the figure for 2005 was 5,138. Similarly, in 2004, 5,610 students committed suicide.
"We know about the gravity of the situation and are going to re-strategise the national mental health programme," Anbumani Ramadoss told IANS.
Experts, doctors and even the World Health Organisation (WHO) believe that a multi-pronged strategy needs to be put in place to tackle problems ranging from anxiety, depression, stress and finally suicidal tendencies.
Cherian Verghese, a specialist with WHO India, said: "The mental health system needs an overhaul. Our schools might be giving good education but we need education in life skills. From counselling to increasing the number of mental health workers, the strategy should be holistic."
"Students are a vulnerable group. Age, competition and relations in the family are all contributing to the growing cases of suicide among schoolgoers," Verghese said.
He said some private schools in India had started appointing counsellors but "government schools across the country need to make a move now".
"There is a gamut of problems; India lacks the required number of psychiatrists as well. The social taboo around mental health also fuels the problem. A country which houses a huge number of youngsters must not take mental health lightly," Verghese added.
He said since India faces a lot of natural disasters and deaths thereof, the country needs a brigade of social counsellors. Their job is to counsel people during post-disaster trauma disorder.
Nimesh Desai, a leading psychiatrist in the national capital, said: "India needs a 10-fold increase in the number of psychiatrists. Across the country, there are not more than 3,500 such processionals."
"The doctor-patient ratio, social stigma, growing competition and the desire to succeed in every field are leading to a higher level of anxiety, stress and acute depression," Desai said.
Health ministry officials said the mental health programme in India would be revamped. Under the new plan, regional mental health institutes would be established.
All mental health hospitals would be modernised and the district authorities would be asked to go for community mental health services, life skill education and counselling would be introduced in schools.
Indo-Asian News Service
India successfully tested the pilotless target aircraft Lakshya from a base in Orissa Wednesday, official sources said.
The indigenously developed aircraft had a successful test flight at about 12 p.m. from the Integrated Test Range (ITR) at Chandipur-on-Sea, in Balasore district some 230 km from the state capital Bhubaneswar.
Developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), Lakshya has been tested several times earlier.
Lakshya is a sub-sonic, reusable aerial target system, which is remote-controlled from the ground. It is designed to impart training to pilots in destroying incoming enemy targets.
Indo-Asian News Service
A six-year-old Dalit girl was in a serious condition in Uttar Pradesh after an eight-year-old boy pushed her into a burning heap of garbage in Mathura district.
With over 50 percent burn injuries, the girl, daughter of Saudan Jatav in Chhata village of the district, was battling for life in a hospital. The boy belongs to the high-caste Thakur community.
"It appears to be a case of a prank that may have turned serious," a police officer told IANS, adding it might be incidental that the girl belonged to a lower caste.
The incident occurred when Kamlesh was playing outside her house and ran towards Sunny Thakur. His father had set the garbage on fire.
With her mother chasing her, Sunny caught her and flung the girl into the fire, a police spokesperson told IANS Wednesday.
The father and son have been arrested and booked for attempt to murder under Section 307 of the Indian Penal Code.
Indo-Asian News Service
India is expected to retain its current position as the second largest producer, user and exporter of cotton in the new season beginning in August, says the Washington-based International Cotton Advisory Committee (ICAC).
India overtook the US to occupy the number two position after China during the 2006-07 cotton season, says the ICAC. According to ICAC's analysis of the current global cotton situation, India does not face any challenge to its position as American farmers are shifting to other crops like corn.
The ICAC, in which India is a founding member, is an international organisation dedicated to promoting cooperation in cotton trade.
Agreeing with the projection of the Cotlook Index, the ICAC said: "India is expected to continue in the same position in the next season as well, as in addition to US farmers, growers in other countries are also inclined to shift to the production of soybeans and wheat besides corn."
Cotlook is a Britain-based organisation that provides international cotton market information and analysis on natural fibre.
The ICAC noted that India has so far produced 4.74 million tonnes (MT) of cotton in the current season as compared to 4.7 MT of the US. This season, India's output has been pegged at 5.34 MT as against 4.14 MT of the US. According to Cotlook's estimates, India's production next season is likely to touch 5.61 MT while that of the US would decline further to 3.19 MT.
China continues to be the number one in production, consumption and imports. This despite a fall of over 100,000 tonnes in cotton production. Beijing is estimated to produce 7.62 MT cotton this season against last year's 7.72 MT.
The fall in Chinese cotton crop has led to increased exports by other countries. The world cotton exports are expected to rise by 10 percent to 9.1 MT from last season's 8.2 MT.
The ICAC has also forecast that the cotton prices will go up in the international market because of an expected decrease in the stocks-to-mill use ratio in the world.
Indo-Asian News Service
Bharti Retail Ltd Wednesday opened here its first retail store called Easy Day.
The store would sell products of daily usage, ranging from personal care products, stationery, household articles, hosiery items, daily-need groceries including staples, processed foods, bakery, dairy products, meat, poultry and fresh produce.
The company has plans to open three more such stores by the middle of the year and employ local manpower that would be trained by Bharti Academy of Retail.
Bharti Retail had also entered into a joint venture with US retailer Wal-Mart, for wholesale cash and carry operations, a segment where India allows 100 percent foreign direct investment.
The joint venture is expected to open 10 to 15 wholesale cash and carry facilities and employ approximately 5,000 people over the next seven years.
Indo-Asian News Service
The Harry Potter Lexicon is a fan-created online encyclopedia of the Harry Potter series.
The Harry Potter Lexicon, also known as HPL, was created by librarian Steve Vander Ark.
It contains detailed information for all seven published Harry Potter books. The Lexicon lists characters, places, creatures, spells, potions and magical devices, as well as analyzing magical theory and other details of the series.
The Lexicon is credited as creating one of the first timelines of all events occurring in the Harry Potter universe. A similar timeline of events was adopted by Warner Bros. for inclusion with their Harry Potter film DVDs, and was accepted by author J. K. Rowling as conforming to her works.
The Lexicon is a winner of J.K. Rowling's Fan Site Award. Rowling said:[1]
“ This is such a great site that I have been known to sneak into an internet café while out writing and check a fact rather than go into a bookshop and buy a copy of Harry Potter (which is embarrassing). A website for the dangerously obsessive; my natural home. ”
Recently, Rowling has filed a lawsuit against Vander Ark which was heard in a New York court on 14 April 2008.[2][3]
The Lexicon also has its Spanish (El Diccionario de los Magos) and French (L'Encyclopédie Harry Potter) versions, with other languages in preparation.