Booze facts

* Karnataka earns Rs. 7.33 crore from liquor sale in Kodagu district.

* 5,80,097 cartons of IML sold in the district as of January-end this fiscal.

* Sales target for IML for the current fiscal in Kodagu is 7,54,330 cartons.

* Beer sale, till January-end, dropped by 23,095 cartons from last fiscal.

* A total of 3,05,920 cartons were sold in Virajpet taluk in 2008-09, 2,26,792 in Somwarpet taluk and 1,73,707 cartons in Madikeri.

* Not much demand for liquor from the tourists coming into the district.

* Some plantation owners are forced to give liquor apart from the wages to the workers though it is of a cheaper brand.

* If an average liquor shop sold liquors to the tune of around Rs. 50,000 in the city, an outlet at the border area such as Karike would sell up to Rs. 90,000. Restrictions on sale in Kerala make consumers throng the bordering Karike.

* Liquor is part of the custom in Kodagu and marriages would invariably involve good amount of consumption. Climatic conditions in Kodagu also encouraged liquor consumption.

(Source: The Hindu)

Is Pavin Ponanna ready for 'Phoonk 2'?

NEW DELHI: A Bollywood filmmaker has issued a lucrative challenge to horror movie fans: a $10,000 reward for anyone who can watch his latest supernatural thriller, alone, in a cinema until the closing credits.

Ram Gopal Varma's "Phoonk 2," a sequel to his 2008 film of the same name, is about an evil spirit that traumatizes a family. "Anyone who says the movie cannot scare him is going to be put in a theater by himself," Varma told reporters in Mumbai at an event to promote the movie.

Varma said the film fan who steps up to the challenge will be wired up to a heart monitoring machine as well as a camera that ensures they keep their eyes open during the whole movie.

Readings from the machines will be shown live on a screen outside the cinema, Varma said, and if the contestant succeeds, they will win 500,000 rupees (approximately $10,850).

Varma issued a similar challenge ahead of the release of the original "Phoonk" but the promotional contest was withdrawn after allegations the selection process was rigged.

Varma said the contest winner ran out 30 minutes after the film started, but newspaper reports said a film fan in the southern Indian city of Bangalore booked an entire cinema to prove the director wrong and watched the film alone with a doctor on call and security personnel stationed outside.

Madikeri says no to plastic, yet again

MADIKERI: Members of the Madikeri City Municipal Council (CMC) and students from various institutions took out a jatha here on Monday urging citizens to refrain from using plastic.

“Use of plastic has been banned in Madikeri city,” CMC president P.D. Ponnappa declared at the start of the jatha. He appealed to shopkeepers and customers to shun plastic and, instead, use cloth bags to carry items. Madikeri Rotary Club office-bearers too joined the initiative, and students raised slogans and carried placards.

The CMC would initiate action against those found selling plastic material such as bags, plates or cups, Mr. Ponnappa warned. The environment should be preserved for posterity.

Plastic is a toxic, non-biodegradable material that damages soil fertility and prevents water ingression into the land. Burning of plastic affects the ozone layer. Plastic bags also kill cattle when they eat it,

Mr. Ponnappa said. He appealed to the citizens to collect plastic at home and send it over for recycling. Various organisations, particularly the trading community, should join hands with the CMC to stop the use of plastic, he said.

The jatha went around the city distributing handbills.

This bus driver knows that mud roads are a better option these days

(Photo: Shaloot)

Biddu makes a comeback

After a long sabbatical, legendary musician, song writer, and composer, Biddu Appaiah best known for smash hit chart busters of the 70’s, has come out with his autobiography ‘Made in India- Adventures of a Lifetime’ published by Harper Collins. Hits like Kung Fu Fighting sung by Carl Douglas, Disco Deewane, Boom Boom, and songs in Feroz Khan’s Qurbaani practically defined the music of the era. Biddu, born 1945 composed a number of hit records during the early part of the British Disco scene of the mid-1970s.

He lifted the careers of British Disco music stars Tina Charles, Carl Douglas, Jimmy James among others; and later found success producing several hits in India. He launched the career of Pakistani singer Nazia Hassan, and Zoheb Hassan and produced Indipop hits for a number of Indian acts, notably Alisha Chinai. From the mid-1970s, Biddu has also been producing his own pop instrumental albums as Biddu Orchestra. (more)

Now, a helipad at Talacauvery?

MADIKERI: The Kodagu district convenor of the Cauvery Sene Ravi Chengappa and other members of the sene took out a ‘padayatra’ from here to Talacauvery on Saturday. The padayatra began after a puja at the Sri Kote Maha Ganapathi temple at the Fort here.

The sene would oppose moves by the Department of Tourism to invite tenders to establish a helipad at Talacauvery, Mr. Chengappa said.

The sene had earlier prevented film shoot parties and stopped people from using the pilgrim centres as merry making spots to maintain the sanctity of Bhagamandala and Talacauvery.

An advertisement issued by the Department of Tourism recently had also called for tenders to set up helipad and related tourist facilities at the tourist spots such as Hampi, Talakadu and Jog falls. Talacauvery was a pilgrim centre and not a tourist spot, Mr. Chengappa said.

The sene members will launch a sanitation programme, cleaning up the entire Bhagamandala and Talacauvery pilgrim places on Sunday, January 31. It would send clear messages to the tourists and pilgrims to maintain cleanliness in the pilgrim centres, Mr. Chengappa said.

Madikeri CMC will soon go online

MADIKERI: The Madikeri City Municipal Council (CMC) is set to go online soon. All information relating to the CMC and its functioning will be available through the Internet, and this was an attempt to reach every citizen in a transparent manner, P.D. Ponnappa, president of the CMC, said at the general meeting of the CMC held here on Saturday.

CMC Commissioner Srikanth Rao said that information on water tax payment, house tax, birth and death certificates, progress of a particular work, name of the contractor and the sum involved, date of start and completion of the works, registering complaints, RTC, and Form III (containing details of households) could be downloaded from the website.

A decision was taken to levy commercial charges on water supplied by the CMC to home stay facilities, which use large quantities of water.

Mr. Ponnappa said water would have to be used judiciously during summer and because of heavy inflow of visitors to Madikeri, home stay facilities were likely to use up huge quantity of water. (more)

Jai ho, Kodagu roads rock!

This one is from Kanoor. (Photo source: Shakthi Daily)

Dear Codava National Council, communication is a two-way tool…

…you cut a sorry figure when you don’t respond to emails, but keep bombarding all those sundry press releases. (Photo source: Shakthi Daily)

Dal me kuch kala hai?

MADIKERI: Former national athlete Ashwini Nachappa denied having misused her name to fetch sanction of Rs two crore from the State Government for synthetic astro turf at KALS, a sports academy run by her at Gonicoppal.

Reacting to the protest against the government's decision to allot money to her academy yesterday by various organizations, Ashwini said in a press release the academy was launched way back in 2006 and did not take birth to seek the present benefit as alleged by the protestors.

She clarified the government had put the condition not to commercialize the Synthetic Turf Ground to which she had agreed. This would allow government tournaments and practices to go on in the ground. She said it was a project of Rs 5.6 crore and the government was releasing only Rs two crore in the first phase.

She opined if P T Usha could be given Rs one crore, why should people oppose the move by the government. Ashwini said it was she who had proposed Synthetic Turf Ground to South Kodagu and Speaker K G Bopaiah was aware of it. An action committee was formed here yesterday to oppose the move by the government and get the Synthetic Turf Ground to Ponnampet Junior College Grounds.

(Photo source: India Today)