New Delhi:After scaling the Mount Everest, Jogabyasa Bhoi, a primary teacher from Kalahandi in Orissa, has successfully conquered the highest mountain peak in Europe — Mount Elbruse –, spreading the message of women’s empowerment in the process.
The 32-year-old Bhoi completed the expedition in Russia on May 7 along with nine others after one member of the 11-strong contingent beat a retreat due to illness.
This was Bhoi’s third continental summit without oxygen support. While at the peak, Bhoi took the opportunity to spread the message of women’s empowerment by holding out a banner which read “Nourish, Protect and Respect all women for a glorious & proud Nation.”
Besides, he also wished a belated Happy Birthday to Indian cricketer Sachin Tendulkar, who tuned 40 on April 24.
Balangir, Aug. 21: For Roshanara Parveen, this Id has been special. When news of her selection for the Indian team for the forthcoming Twenty20 Women’s World Cup in Sri Lanka came in, the 20-year-old girl said she was “surprised but extremely happy”.
“It is every cricketer’s dream to play for the country some day. I have been working very hard to earn a place in the national side. I am grateful to the selectors for reposing faith in my abilities and I will do my best to live up to their expectations,” said Roshanara, visibly excited as she spoke about her feat.
A right arm off-spinner, Roshanara is the second woman cricketer from the state after Madhuri Mehta — also from Balangir — to represent India.
The local girl will be seen in action in the T-20 World Cup that starts from September 26.
Her proud parents, Kaifatullah Khan and Hosnara Begum, said their daughter had always taken great interest in sports, ever since she was an active little schoolgirl. She even wanted to enrol in a sports hostel, but her father did not agree.
Her chance came when an enthusiastic group of cricket lovers in the town formed a women’s cricket team in 2007.
“Roshanara jumped at the prospect of playing with them and we told her that we would support her in every possible manner. Her hard work and dedication has finally paid off. She has made us very proud and the fact that we got the news of her selection on Eid proves that Allah is looking out for her,” said Khan.
Roshanara credited her success to her coach Arun Nayak and the Odisha Cricket Association (OCA) authorities. Nayak said: “I have been observing her for the past five years, ever since the women’s cricket team was formed here. I have always been optimistic that she would play for the country one day. She deserves to be in the team.”
With just a month to go for the big-ticket tournament now, she has started preparations to prove her mettle. “I will work on bringing some variation into my bowling. I won’t stick to just orthodox spin. Sri Lankan grounds are known to be spinner-friendly and I will try to use this to my advantage,” said the vivacious girl, who idolises Kiwi spinner and cricket poster boy Daniel Vettori.
MUMBAI: Bijay Moharana was like any young man who came to Mumbai in the 90s hoping to get lucky. By the end of almost two decades, the city gave him more than what he asked for. On Saturday, Moharana (40) received a doctorate after spending a decade pursuing his PhD.
But just that is not his story. Moharana came to the city with a degree form the Utkal University. Enamored by the city and its huge urban sprawl, he would go around Mumbai all day for days on end, and slept on the CST station platform at night. A few months later, a slumdweller in Kalina offered him space in his house.
That’s when Moharana found the university campus. He ran out of money and started working as a dabbawalla. Meanwhile, he also enrolled for his masters in philosophy in 1996 at the University of Mumbai.
He also signed up as a courier boy and frequented The Times of India building as a delivery boy.
Signing up for a master’s course was just the route for a PhD. “My father wanted me to be a doctor. He told me that with confidence, passion and will power, I would achieve my goals,” he said.
Moharana who studied the relevance of yoga in modern times, now works for the Braj Gauri Trust and teaches yoga to cancer patients. “Yoga is all the more important in today’s stressful life,”
BALANGIR: Hers is a case of determination that can move mountains. Suryakanti Naik (21) of Gariamunda village under Birmaharajpur block in Sonepur district was born with deformed hands. As Sikshya Sahayak at her village primary school today she shoulders the responsibility of her entire
family. She always wanted to become a trained teacher and her willpower saw her through all obstacles of life.
“Since childhood I was agile. My mother always knew that I would rewrite my destiny,” said Suryakanti. Her mother used to guide her when she began writing with her right leg.She wrote all her board exams using her leg and came out with flying colours in CET examination. Joint Secretary of Research Academy for Rural Enrichment (RARE) Ambuja Bihari Satpathy said Suryakanti is an example for other disabled. “She is a real source of inspiration,” added Satpathy.
New Delhi, Nov 17 (IANS) Nila Madhab Panda’s debut Hindi project ‘I Am Kalam’ – whose first part is inspired by the life of the former president A.P.J.Abdul Kalam – is yet to be released in India, but the award winning director is already working on two more films to make a trilogy on the lives of helper boys, popularly called ‘chhotus’ .
‘It will be a trilogy. I am working on both the stories (part II and part III) and it will be like (Satyajit Ray’s) Apu trilogy on the growth of the main character and different facets of his life,’ Panda, 37, told IANS in an interview.
‘The sequels won’t be inspired by Kalam unlike the first part. The trilogy will actually concentrate on the story of chhotus and facets of their life in different parts of the country,’ said Panda.
‘I will start shooting the second part early next year,’ he said.
Panda, who hails from Orissa, has produced and directed over 60 documentaries, short films, television drama and films for national broadcasters in the last 12 years.
Produced by Smile Foundation, a national development organisation, ‘I Am Kalam’ is a movie on the plight of the underprivileged and highlights how the privileged can play a role to uplift the former.
‘The idea of the film is to give a message that every child should go to school which is relevant to the right to education and that effort is more powerful than fate. It also urges the privileged masses to join the effort to educate the children and help them to dream and turn their dreams into breathing reality,’ said Panda.
‘At the same time it celebrates the survival of the human spirit against overwhelming odds like poverty, child labour, illiteracy, class system, etc. It is like a fairytale about how a child reacts to things, with a positive tone despite the serious issues it touches.’
The movie marks the debut of Delhi-based 12-year-old underprivileged child Harsh Mayyar in the lead and French theatre actress Beatrice Ordeix. Gulshan Grover and child actor Hussan Saad play pivotal roles. It is tentatively slated for release early next year.
Told in the classic prince-and-the-pauper format, it is set in Bikaner, Rajasthan, and revolves around the trials and tribulations of the protagonist Chhotu’s struggle for education after he gets inspired by former president Kalam.
‘I was looking for an inspiring character who people really know and who can really inspire audiences. Even during the opening ceremony of the Commonwealth Games, everyone cheered and clapped when they saw Kalam. He is a living legend and the film is inspired by him,’ said Panda.
Having won three international awards, ‘I Am Kalam’ is winning kudos in the world film festival circuit. It was also screened in the Marche Du section at the 63rd Cannes International Film Festival this year.
‘The movie’s journey to different festivals has proved that children’s cinema is important, independent Indian cinema, cause-based cinema is important and that there is an audience for these kinds of movies,’ said Panda, who has already managed to sell the outing in countries like Taiwan, Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands.
Apart from the other two instalments in the ‘I Am Kalam’ trilogy, his future projects also include a movie on the urban loneliness post- Commonwealth Games in Delhi and an international co-production.
A UN audio-visual award winner (2002), he has to his credit awards like Heroism in Cinematography 2003 and the UK Environment Film Fellowship 2005. He has also made the independent Hollywood movie ‘The Woman from Georgia’, starring Philip Reevs. It is still awaiting release.
His works include documentaries and short films like ‘Climate’s First Orphans’, ‘Smile Again’, ‘New Horizon’, ’21st Century Folktale’ and TV shows like ‘Aatmaja’ on female foeticide.
(Robin Bansal can be contacted at robin.b@ians.in)
BALANGIR: With a pencil between two fingers of her right toe, she flawlessly drew on the theme of ‘sanitation and health education’ much to the surprise of people around her.
The 12-year-old Jayanti Mahanand was born with smaller arms. However, this did not quell her appetite for art. She says that she had always been spellbound by pictures. She has been drawing since the age of three. Her ability to draw with her legs was noticed at the Sishu Utsav, a Sarva Sikhsha Abhiyan (SSA)-sponsored programme, held here recently on the Town Girls High School premises. She was one of the participants in the painting contest in the junior category. She completed the painting in less than half-an-hour, well before other competitors.
Not just a good painter but Jayanti has also been a good student throughout. She writes her examinations with her right leg and even for drawing straight lines, Jayanti does not require a scale. “I can write and draw anything with my right foot,” she says. She aspires to be an artist in future.
District Project Coordinator of SSA Abhimanyu Behera said they were encouraging such talents and the SSA would provide all possible support to these children.
“Jayanti has a rare talent and we discovered her during the Sishu Utsav. We are planning to raise some funds for her so that she gets to hone her skills,” said Behera.
Following report is from the Samaja (Please note that there is a printing mistake (encircled in red) in the following report. While sending SMS please write Sniti). Thank to Mr. Bijaya Kumar Meher for pointing out the mistake.
After scaling the Mount Everest, Jogabyasa Bhoi, a primary teacher from Kalahandi in Orissa, has successfully conquered the highest mountain peak in Europe — Mount Elbruse –, spreading the message of women’s empowerment in the process.
Kosal Discussion and Development Forum 
