Achyut started on a career in calligraphy from Shirodkar School, Parel, Mumbai where he was chosen to write on the board. He later joined J J School of Arts. He was mentored by R K Joshi. Ulka offered him a scholarship.He did research on the Modi script with the help of d g Godase and Ashok Kelkar. In one of the seminars at the IIT, the renowned calligrapher Snider spotted his talents and invited him to Germany. Achyut’s work was exhibited at Germany, London and Netherland. He started Achyut Palav School of Calligraphy. His works have been exhibited in London Between 28th May, 2011 and 5th June, 2011. He also held demonstrations and workshop in London.
Author: Shabbir Chunawalla
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Flexible Electronics
After tile-like thin TV sets, we can soon have stretchable TV sets which can be rolled and bent. Stretchable electronics could become a reality by the successful development of elastic conductors using carbon nanotubes by a group of Japanese scientists. Researchers have integrated the conductor with organic transistors to make rubber-like integrated circuits (ICs) stretchable by 70 per cent without any mechanical or electronic degradation. ICs can be built on curved surface by this step. The surface becomes smart or intelligent. The matrix is made of unique combination of elastic polymers and ionic liquids in which carbon nanotubes are uniformly dispersed. These steps generate stretchable electronics — stretching axially and bi-axially without diluting electronic properties. The research will lead to large-area devices to become bendable and rollable. Applications can include wearable and washable electronics.
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Late Mani Ayer
Mani Ayer, the ad legend, passed away on February 8, 2010 at the age 75.He is regarded as the man who laid the foundation of Ogilvy and Mather. Ayer joined D J Keymer’s in 1950. Its ownership changed and its name became BOMAS and then S H Benson. Later it became Ogilvy, Benson and Mather after David Ogilvy absorbed Benson’s. He spent 36 years in Ogilvy and Mather, India. He was 38 when he took on the role of MD at Ogilvy, India. The collapse of Kersy Katrak’s MCM took when Ayer took over.Ranjan Kapur took over from Ayer in 1994. Piyush Pandey is Kapur’s successor. Ayer put in place the four pillars of the agency — Ranjan, Roda Mehta (media), Suresh Mullick (creative) and Piyush Pandey. Suresh Mullick passed away in 2003. That set them going for a long time to come. In the 1990s, many senior ad people sold the stakes to International networks.Ayer was too principled to do it. He retired when he turned 60 in 1993 and stayed away at Chennai. Ayer brought a high level strategic thinking and business orientation to the advertising process.
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Ek Anek Animation Film by Bhimsain Khurana
Everyone remembers the animation film on national integration Ek Anek on DD in the 1970s and 1980s. It was made by Bhimsain Khurana. He studied fine arts in Lucknow and joined Films Division of India in Mumbai. He is the pioneer in animation in the country.
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Mile Sur
Mile Sur’s original version was conceived by Suresh Mullick of Ogilvy and Surendranath in 1988. Prior to Mile Sur, Mullick and Surendranath had worked on Freedom Torch film where athletes run with a flaming torch in their hand. Mullick and Bhaskar Ghose, the then Director DD were classmates at St Stephen’s. They exploited the common raga to both Hindustani and Carnatic classical music — Bhairavi using singers from different parts of the country. The lyrics were contributed by Piyush Pandey and Mile Sur version I was set to music by Louis Banks. Mile Sur’s version II has been launched in 2010. It isone milestone in India to have such an inspiring song for national integration.
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TV Viewership — TAM vs BARC
TAM ( Television Audience Measurement ) data has been in use for the last 15 years for assessing TV viewership. Towards the end of April , 2015 , TV and advertising industry have switched to a new system with Broadcasting Audience Research Council ( BARC ) releasing the first data. BARC data release is joint venture between the TV and advertising industry. The base for the data is the new consumer classification system ( NCCS ). It is the new SEC system ( socio-economic classification ).
The first data release by BARC includes 1 lac plus C & S markets, corresponding to a sample of 10,760 householders. They propose to sample 12000 householders using a stratified random sampling. The sample will go up to 20,000 reporting homes.
They are studying 300 channels, and the technology used is state -of-the-art.
When BARC was originally conceived on 2008, it was to be a joint venture with the Indian Broadcasting Foundation and the Indian Society for Advertisers (ISA) where both had stakes in 60:40 ratio, and an initial investment of Rs 30 crore.
TAM Media Research released its data just after the BARC data was released.Though the viewership estimates of both these outfits are more or less the same, the ranking of channels in some categories differ. However, a large number of users (broadcasters and advertising agencies) have unsubscribed from TAM’s report. It is felt that there is enough room for both to co-exist. Some clients do buy data from both. TAM claims that it provides individual-level data with demographic sets.BARC uses a new system — NCCS. TAM has a legacy of 17 years and that gives them a perspective.
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Screenwriting and Literature
Many literary figures fail to make an impact as screenwriters. There is a basic difference between cinema and literature. Cinema is an aggregate of several brilliant technologies, and personalities. Literature is an aggregate of several personal thoughts of a single individual. Cinema is a teamwork, whereas literature is an individual effort. Literature can afford long prose to build up a scene, whereas the same impact can be captured in cinema by camera movements. As cinema is a visual medium, a jerk of the head of a flutter of an eyelash can have the same impact as that of the several written pages. Writers sometime are so prolific with words that the scene becomes unfilmable. The cinematic techniques are used to translate a writer’s ardour. The greatest contribution is that of the director and the editor. Music and cinematography too are helpful. In cinema, space and time are to be handled deftly. Cinema requires a new breed of writers. Their fiction makes the imaginative spaces real. Cinema also uses silence very effectively. Silence speaks far more than the speech.
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Taylor’s 8 Weddings and Seven Husbands
In 1950, Taylor married Conrad Hilton Jr called Nicky who was a hotel magnate. She was 18 then when she wed first.It was six years after hitting the big screen at the age of 12.This marriage between May 6, 1950 and Jan 29, 1951 lasted nine months and then she was divorced.
In 1952, she married again to Michael Wilding who was a British actor. This marriage between Feb 21, 1952 and Jan 26, 1957 lasted 5 years. Then they were divorced.
In 1957, Taylor married third time. Her husband was Michael Todd, a film producer.They enjoyed the marital bliss from Feb 2, 1957 to March 22, 1958. Todd died in a plane crash in 1958.
In 1959, she wed to Eddie Fisher, actor and singer and her previous husband Todd’s best friend. Eddie had split from actress Debbie Reynolds.The marriage lasted from May 12, 1959 to March 6, 1964.
In 1964, she married Hollywood actor Richard Burton. She fell for her co-star on the sets of Cleopatra. This marriage lasted from March 15, 1964 to June 26, 1974.It was 10 year period.
In 1975, she remarries Richard Burton but divorced again in 1976.The marriage continued between Oct 10, 1975 and July 29, 1976.
In 1975-76, she chose Ardeshir Zaheri, Iranian ambassador to Washington, as her companion.
In 1976, she married John W Warner, US senator. It was a marriage between Dec 4, 1976 and Dec 7, 1982.
In 1991, she married Larry Fortensky, a construction worker. They married at Jackson’s Neverland Ranch.There was a divorce in 1996. The marriage lasted between Oct 6, 1991 and Oct 31, 1996.
Elizabeth Taylor expired on March 23, 2011.
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Sports Marketing — Cricket in India
DD used to televise cricket matches and did not pay anything to the Board for the transmission rights prior to 1993.The whole scenario changed when the Board sold the transmission rights of the Hero Cup in 1993 to a private channel.DD objected to this, and the issue went to the Court, which upheld the Board’s right to sell the transmission rights. This opened the floodgates of revenues for the Indian cricket. At this time, two private sports channels ESPN and Star Sports started bidding for cricket rights jointly.They entered into an agreement with the Board for 1995-1999 for a sum of 5 million dollars. The cricket Board’s administration during this period put Dalmia at the helm of affairs. The World Cup rights in 1996 were sold to Mascarenhas managed Worldtel. Dalmia got the opportunity to preside over the ICC and stated Champions Trophy; the rights of which were sold.In 1999, the transmission rights were negotiated again, and Prasar Bharati received them., after agreeing to pay the Board a sum of 5 crore 40 lac dollars (Rs 227 crore). The agreement had two components — overseas transmission rights and Indian airtime. Zee Telefilms got the domestic rights, and TWI-Stracon the overseas rights. Later, there was competition amonst channels for transmission rights, and the Board decided to test the bidders against the criterion of experience. Zee rights were denied on this ground, and they were awarded to EPPN. As the matter became sub-judice, in the interim Prasar Bharati was given the rights. Later, the Board elected Pawar as President and new bids were invited. Nimbus won the contract for 2006-2010 against 61 crores.Sony Max has now bade for IPL for 10 years against a sum of rs 4030 crore (1.06 billion dollars).
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Sunscreens
When skin is exposed to the harsh sun or a source of heat, it can cause burns, result in darkening and ageing. There is added risk of getting skin cancer. The UV or ultra-violet rays of the sun affect the skin. There are two categories of UV rays — UVA rays are more harmful as they cause long term damaging effects on the skin and UVB rays which are less harmful as they cause sun burns and photo ageing. Sun Protection Factor ( SPF ) is the criterion of the rating of sun protection offered by a product. These products are of two kinds — sunscreens which allow a little filtering of UVB rays in the skin,and sunblocks ( which contain zinc oxide ) that deflect UV rays from the skin altogether. SPF is calculated by the amount of time needed to cause a sunburn on protected skin to the amount of the needed to cause a sunburn on unprotected skin. Sun protection production have an SPF ranging from 2 to 90. Physical sunscreen have an SPF of 20 and very less chemicals. Sunscreen with chemical’s have SPF exceeding 20, and as the amount of chemical increases, the SPF increases. In indoor conditions, say in a kitchen, one can use a product with SPF exceeding 20, and as the amount of chemical increases, the SPF increases. In indoor conditions, say in a kitchen, one can use a product with SPF 15. As water washes away the product, one can used waterproof sunscreens while swimming. As chlorine in water makes the skin dry, one become susceptible to tanning. One has to use sunscreens with SPF more than 30 because lesser than 30 offer only partial protection. These preparations offer protection for 3-4 hours against UVB rays but not much against UVA rays. Therefore, one has to use these products every 2-3 hours, especially when outdoors. These products can be mixed with moisturizers. To avoid stickiness, calamine lotion can also be mixed.
Sunscreens do not affect the absorption of vitamin D from sunlight. Oily skin can cause and worsen existing acne. Oily sunscreens therefore are avoided. One should use gel or lotion-based sunscreen. Also sunscreen with matte effect should be used.