kkaallaa nneewwss · 2016-02-06 · we will be discussing shri m t vasudevan nair's novels and...

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Dear KALA Friends,

Since we sent out the last newsletter it was not

“Pax Romana” or “all quiet on the western front”!

A few eventful months have flown by marking the

inexorable passage of time.

KALA AANNNNUUAALL DDAAYY 22001122

“Probably the best ever!” was one of the many rave

reviews that echoed over the days that followed this

year’s XVI KALA Annual Day which took place on

Sat 6th Oct at the Centenary Hall, Berkhampsted

School. That’s no surprise - months of planning,

hard work and practice by the wondrous and

innovative KALA talent combined with the

privileged presence of this year’s Chief Guest Sri

Sreekumaran Thampi gave the function the touch

of class and culture that KALA proves to showcase

every year.

The programme kickstarted with the beautiful

recitation of KALA’s own theme song composed

by Shri Chowalloor Krishnankutty, harmonised and

sung by Shri Kavalam Sreekumar and showcased

on stage in beautiful dance format. The customary

presentation of Palmleaf (16 years old and growing

stronger) was followed by an evening resplendent

with striking performances by KALA artistes. One

of the evening’s true highlights was the awe-

inspiring musical ‘Malayalathinte Thala’ which

celebrates the evolution of Malayalam poetry from

its roots in Tamil literature going back almost 2000

years. A long term dream of Dr Sukumaran Nair,

developed over the past year into a musical with

the poet Prof V Madhusoodhanan Nair.

November 2012

KKAALLAA NNEEWWSS

Please forward any news for KALA Newsletter to: [email protected] & [email protected]

FFoorrtthhccoommiinngg EEvveennttss

Meeting: Sat 24th Nov 2012 .

at Santhosh & Deepa’s residence, Alton near

Basingstoke We will be discussing Shri M T Vasudevan

Nair's novels and are hoping to have a telephone

interview/discussion with Shri M T Vasudevan

Nair.

LITERARY Evening: Sat 8th Dec 2012 .

at Oakmere Community Centre, Featherstone

Close, Potters Bar, Hertfodrshire EN6 5NS

The theme is "Friendship" ("Sowhardham").

The programme starts at 3.00pm with two

sesssions (1st in English & 2nd in Malayalam) of

2 hours long with a break in between. It

concludes at 7.45pm followed by dinner.

The presentation could be in the form of reading

a poem/book/your own composition based on the

above theme. The time slot for each participant is

approximately 10 min. A discussion will

follow after each presentation.

If you wish to participate, please contact Santha

Krishnamurthy by 25th Nov.

There will also be an exhibition of Arts & Crafts

by members. Please bring blue tac; we cannot

use nails on walls. We look forward to the active

participation from all members especially the

youngsters to make it a memorable and enjoyable

evening.

Literary evening queries: Santha Krishnamurthy

email: [email protected] tel: 01189426428

Arts & Crafts queries: Mini Unnikrishnan

tel: 07507897048

Registered Charity: 1144122

KKeerraallaa AArrttss aanndd LLiitteerraarryy AAssssoocciiaattiioonn

Nov 2012

mailto:[email protected]



Obituary: On 8th July, we lost Dr Pradeep Natarajan, son of our beloved KALA members Natarajan & Hema. Pradeep was a loving Son, a wonderful brother, an excited fiancé and a talented doctor. Our thoughts & prayers are with the family. This year’s Summer Walk was cancelled as a mark of respect to the family.

Dr C M Gopinath memorial KALA Cricket match was played on 25th Aug at Bishop Stortford College Cricket Ground. This year it was a double celebration – Cricket & Onam. The rain did not spoil the spirit & enthusiasm of the players and supporters. During lunch break, “Onasadya” was served on banana leaf with all the traditional Kerala dishes prepared by KALA members. It was a thrilling match which culminated in a historic win by the Senior Team who after many years came back with a vengeance and beat the juniors by 9 runs! The Man of the Match was Shiva Krishanan (Juniors) and the Champagne moment was won by Sujith for hitting a huge Six. Congratulations Captain Unni Chowalloor and his team!

Nadumuttam:

Many members of the Nadumuttam Group got together on 24th June 2012 at Ravi & Preethi's house in Shenfield. .

Sita commented, “the participants had a very stimulating discussion about "Khasakinte Ithihasam" by O. V. Vijayan and "The Sense of an Ending" by Julian Barnes. We also discussed the acclaimed film "Kahani". I am pleased to say that Nadumuttam is flourishing and hope more members join us."

EEvveennttss ssoo ffaarr……

Farewell! We all dream of returning to our roots, our homeland. That is what Shankar, Lekshmi & Manasi decided to do – return to Kerala. As we know, Shankar & Lekshmi have been very active in KALA from the early years. Shankar served very efficiently as convenor of KALA and Lekshmi was equally efficient in organising food for KALA events, surprise birthday parties, ladies evenings, etc. Young Manasi was a very active and popular member of the KALA Youth team. A few local families organised a farewell party on the 21st July at Drs Sethu & Sukumaran Nair’s house. KALA will sorely miss them and wish the Shankar family all happiness & best wishes in their new life.

CHARITY Event: Santha & Krishnamurthy organised the “Indian Cultural Evening” on 4th Aug at Brughfield Community Sports Centre in Reading. The event was organised to raise funds for “Reading Crossroads Care” towards the purchase of an adapted mini bus which will enable volunteers to take wheelchair users and their families on days out. The entertainment was provided by KALA members with glittering performances – dances by Aparna Sekhar, Sonam Nair & Aishwarya, music by Sarayu Pillai & Dr Prasanth menon, Chenda by Dr Nanu, magic show by young Adarsh Das and a short play “The Monk and the Woman” written and directed by Dr Gopalakrishnan Netruveli & acted by Santha Krishnamurthy & Dr Arun Kishore. It was a successful event and raised £2500. See Photos in our Gallery below

(KALA) UK is a registered charity with the objective of promoting the culture of Kerala for public benefit and social cohesion

Nov 2012

OTHER NEWS

Congratulations to Dr Pavithra, daughter of

Hema & Natarajan and Mr McGrady Hickey who

got married this year.

Dr Sethu and Dr Sukumaran celebrated the arrival

of their second grandchild, Tulsi born to their son

Naveen and Saskia on 15th

September.

Congratulations to Dahlin Mony (son of Jansi &

Mony) who raised money from a charity match in

aid of the Samantha Dickson Brain Tumour Trust

on 19th

Aug at Fleet Cricket Club. The proud

fundraiser said “The match was held in memory of

two cricket lovers whom I knew, both of whom

passed away due to brain tumours. We had a guest

appearance from the former England cricketer

Darren Gough and I had the privilege to bowl at

him. So far I have raised £392”.

Well done, Dahlin!

The Das Family

Dr Krishna Bhadra Das, known among friends as Das.

Though my hometown is Mavelikara, I was born in

Jamshedpur, had my schooling mostly in Delhi. I studied

M.B.B.S at SCB Medical College, Cuttack. I completed my

MD in Paediatrics from Medical College,

Thiruvananthapuram and took DM in Neurology from

NIMHANS, Bangalore. I worked thereafter in Alappuzha

and Kottayam Medical Colleges and subsequently in Saudi

Arabia as a Consultant Paediatric Neurologist before

coming to the UK in 2001. Since 2003, I have been working

as a Consultant Paediatric Neurologist at Great Ormond

Street Hospital, London and at National Centre for Young

People with Epilepsy, Lingfield, Surrey. I am also an

Honorary Consultant at the Institute of Child Health,

UCL, London. My interests outside of Medicine are reading

and listening to old Hindi and Malayalam songs.

Dr. Manjusha Das Menon, known among friends as Manju:

Born and brought up in Thiruvananthapuram, I did M.B.B.S

at Thiruvanathapuram Medical College and took MD in

Dermatology from Kottayam Medical College. I worked as

a Dermatologist at private hospitals and at

Alappuzha and Thiruvanathapuram Medical Colleges prior

to moving abroad. Trained as a GP, I currently work wth

special interest in Dermatology in Surrey as well as

Sussex. I enjoy watching movies, listening to Malayalam

and Hindi film songs and socialising with friends. I have

learnt Mohiniyattom and folk dance and have taken part in

youth festivals at school, college and University levels.

Our elder son, Vivek is a sixth form student and his

hobbies include reading and cricket. He is an RAF cadet.

Our second son, Adarsh is in Year 9 and his

extracurricular activities include playing cricket, pool,

basketball and badminton. He enjoys performing magic

tricks and loves music.

Tell us what you think about the Newsletter: [email protected]& [email protected]

Nov 2012

MMeeeett tthhee FFaammiillyy


KKAALLAA PPhhoottoo GGaalllleerryy

Crossroads Charity Event

KALA Annual Day

To view KALA Annual Day photos, go to:

http://www.kala.org.uk/photogallery.html

http://www.kala.org.uk/photogallery.html

TThhee HHiissttoorriicc WWiinn!!

DDrr CC MM GGooppiinnaatthh MMeemmoorriiaall KKAALLAA CCrriicckkeett WWiinnnneerrss

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Have we missed out any news? If so, tell us: [email protected] & [email protected]

How much and what support did you get from your parents/school?

Gautam: Both were very supportive. My parents would go through revision notes with me and they'd always encourage me to keep on revising. Teachers at school were supportive in a similar way, they prepared me very well for the exams and stressed the importance of revising well whilst giving myself time to relax too. Therefore I'd say that a lot of the credit for my results obviously goes to my parents and my teachers. Namita: At home I was given all the time and space I needed to sort out my revision system, any help in explaining queries I might have had and the fact that my parents supported me throughout the two years whatever decision I decided to make. At school, all the teachers were always happy to help if I needed it. They were understanding of the stress we were in occassionally due to the numerous coursework deadlines at the same time and tried to make the two years seem as stress free as possible (succeeding in it most of the time). Dahlin: I had a lot of support from my parents during my exams. The most helpful in my opinion was the constant supply of food from my mother. My teachers were extremely helpful during exam preparation. they even took time out to provide extra lessons. my school was also very helpful in my application to medical school. Pallavi: My school supported us by providing resources like past papers which were very useful. My Amma and Achan kept saying that whatever the results it is not end of the world and in the long run all these don't matter ( not sure whether they meant it, however that took the pressure away). The presence of my Grandma during exam time was a positive influence on me, especially all the delicious food she cooked for me when I came back from school!

Nov 2012

KALA High Achievers

From this year onwards in KALA Newsletter, a segment called ‘High Achievers’ is being introduced to acknowledge & congratulate youngsters who have done well in their GCSE/ A-level exams. We asked 3 simple questions for the youngsters to answer.

What is the secret behind your success?

Gautam: Creating a revision timetable very early on meant that I was well prepared for my exams and didn't have an overload of work just before they started. Namita: Organising the subjects in terms of difficulty and priority and clearing out any problems as soon as possible instead of waiting till the end of the course. Dahlin: The secret is hard work and determination. Despite the cliché, I strongly believe that these are the two main factors of my achievement. I also found that it is important to take time out to relax. Pallavi: There is no secret as such. I had a good group of friends and we all helped each other during our revision time . I felt confident about some subjects, so I had allocated less revision time for them. I spent most of my revision time on the subjects I am not very strong at to secure an A star.

What are your ambitions/plans for your future?

Gautam: . I hope to pursue a career in Medicine. Namita: I am moving forward keeping reading medicine as my aim. Pallavi: I plan to try for Medicine. It is very competitive to get in. So it is going to be very hectic years ahead. Dahlin is currently studying Medicine at UCL, London.

Gautam is the son of Drs. Sudha Iyer and Jay Menon Namita is the daughter of Sujaya and Anand Sekhar Dahlin is the son of Jansi & Mony Kochhupillai Pallavi is the daughter of Manjula and Hrishi Marar



The Palm Leaf

The Palm Leaf editorial team thanks all those who contributed to the

October edition of the magazine.

The team has already started planning the next issue. Let your creativity flourish and

send in your contributions in the form of poems, stories

and articles to future issues of the magazine.

Please send your contributions to: [email protected]

For enquiries /feedback re: KALA Newsletter,

please contact KALA News Editors:

Santha Krishnamurthy: [email protected] &

Mini Mohan: [email protected]

www.kala.org.uk

(KALA) UK is a registered charity with the objective of promoting the culture of Kerala for public benefit and social cohesion

Nov 2012



kkaallaa nneewwss · 2016-02-06 · we will be discussing shri m t vasudevan nair's novels and...

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