The Silver filigree (known more as Tarakasi) from Cuttack, Orissa is the most equisite rendition of silver craft. Beaten silver is drawn into fine wires and foils which is then crafted into jewellery of great beauty. Cuttack is famous for the unique style of art and it has made a mark for itself in the arena of art and craftsmanship. The silver filigree work of Cuttack is very widely known and acclaimed for its superb finish, fine foils and snow glazed texture. It is a must for every visitor of Cuttack to feast his eyes with the sight of these works of art. The art of filigree has attained unconquerable heights of charm and beauty, demonstrating its capacity to remain unspoiled with the passage of time. For its intricate and magnificent style of art, Cuttack has brought this unique Orissan style of handicraft great fame and familiarity world over.The silver filigree artifacts of Cuttack vary from the images of Gods and Goddesses, the most appraised anklets and some fine hemraj filigree that are still being created by the artisans to keep the exclusive form of art alive.Karimnagar in Andhra Pradesh also has highly skilled artists practicing the delicate craftsmanship of filigree. Spoons, buttons cigarette cases, boxes, ashtrays, buttons pill boxes, jewelry, paandans and perfume containers are produced. Designs of Peacock, parrots and fish are depicted in the perfume containers.The silver filigree work in India has been practiced in some parts of India where the art is considered as the source of livelihood to the artisans.
Silver filigree work is a style unique in itself. This work involves pure silver which is put through a wire drawing machine.The artifacts are made of alloy which contains over 90% of silver and to compete with the changing times new methods are being used.The artists have maintained the craft by keeping themselves updated with the market requirement. Platinum polish is also used and it leaves glare on the item. In olden days, the silver was beaten on an anvil and elongated into long wire by passing it through a steel plate with apertures of 36 wire gauges. They used to make designs that came to their mind without following any particular pattern for the filigree work. They used some very finely created grains or beads and spines of gold that were as thick as hair to create the items.The art may be said to consist in curling, twisting and plaiting fine pliable threads of metal, and uniting them at their points of contact with each other, and with the ground, by means of gold or silver solder and borax, by the help of the blowpipe. Small grains or beads of the same metals are often set in the eyes of volutes, on the junctions, or at intervals at which they will set off the wire-work effectively. The more delicate work is generally protected by framework of stouter wire. Two of the thinnest wires are wound around the 'charkha' after heating. It is then flattened again to get it as thin as the single wire originally was. It is then bent to give it different shapes. The created articles have a trellis-like appearance which involves crimping thin strips of silver into zigzag patterns and loops and filling up the designs that are made by thicker silver strips. A filigree article is thus a combination of different parts pieced together. The space within the frame is filled with the main ribs of the design which are usually, stems, leaves, creepers etc. Articles in plain silver are also made in the shape of boxes, trays, bowls, spoons etc.
This art form precisely has three main types known as ‘fine’, ‘non-fine’ and ‘superb-fine’. They are they further divided into three main parts known as silka (frame), rua(small balls), gopal(rose).
The innumerable products have touched chords the world over and that has boosted the production too. The traditional products are basically hairpin, sinthis, rose pin, earrings, bangles, mangalsutras, toe-rings, finger-rings, payals, candlestands, mirror stands, chariot wheels etc.The ornamental trees, brooch, pendants and the highly proportionate peacock motifs are living examples of exquisite craftsmanship. But above all, the most beautiful, innovative creation of a skilled master craftsman is the silver filigree gate and decoration at the ‘Choudhury Bazar’, pooja mandaps in Cuttack that is displaye during Dusshera festival. It is the biggest and only one of its kind in the world.
Items manufactured cover a wide range though they can be broadly divided into a few categories. First, we have the ornaments for the ladies which include necklaces, brooches, ear pendants, anklets, hair pins, decorative key rings and bangles etc.
We also have a few ornamental items for men like tie pins and cufflinks. Next we have the decorative items like boats or boita, replicas of temples, horses, elephants and other animals and chariots besides a variety of other items. Lastly, we have utility items like plates, cups, bowls, glasses mascara containers, indigenous spoon called belas for feeding milk to young children, incense containers, vermilion containers and ladies handbags. Though the above lists are fairly comprehensive they do not indicate the myriad varieties one can find for each item.The silver filigree and other silver items have, like other handicrafts, a very important socio-cultural function.
The child's first solid food, usually a sweet dish of rice, kheer, is served in a silver bowl and the elder specially grand-parents take pride in presenting the silver bowl for this function known as anna prasana. Like brass and bell metal items the bride is also usually presented a set of silver dishes which is reserved for offering food to the deities during religious festivals. Many temples have a set of silver ornaments for the presiding deities including silver crowns which are used on ceremonial occasions.
Filigree work, a lineage inherited art genius of Oriyas, constitute a part of the work of the silversmiths. For their traditional and hereditary calling they are locally called ‘roopa banias’ or ‘roupyakars’. They have been trying hard to maintain the craft fidelity not withstanding the necessity drawing auxiliary work force from other sources by keeping trade secrets.
Silver filigree has been an important export item of Orissa from ancient times. This craft had sufficient encouragements during the Mughal period. Today export extends to various regions of the world such as Australia, US, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, UK etc. This art has undergone tremendous transformation and it would be a great moment to see this art form reaching out to the world on the new horizon. The artists with their vigour, versatility and creativity mingled with mechanisms had created a special place for themselves and this infinite beauty of filigree.
Technology has become an integral part of
life in today’s world. Organisations world over use technology to aid their
processes and hence become more effective and sustainable.
In India, Republic Day commemorates the date on which the Constitution of India came into force replacing the Government of India Act 1935 as the governing document of India on 26 January 1950. The 26th of January was chosen to honour the declaration of independence of 1930.
With 111 patients on roll as on 1st January 2012 the dreams that the inauguration of the Day Care Center at IGICH on 14th November 2011 took off have already stared finding the sweet taste of realization - never mind if the journey has just begun. Last 45 days have been extremely challenging and yet exciting at the Thal Day Care Centre. With the magnanimous support from the Director and staff at IGICH the facilities being offered to the patients are taking great shape:
Six blood donation drives were held in the month of November with 412 units of blood collected. We would like to thank and congratulate Airtel, Deutsche Bank, Hypercity, KPIT and AMD for their continued support to the cause of voluntary blood donation. The volunteer teams at KPIT and AMD did an amazing work with publicity leading to more than 25% of the associates coming forward to donate blood.
One daunting question for the Disha team has been - ”Where should one try to publicize the blood help line?” People generally are not sensitive to such information unless they themselves need blood. With limited means, we decided to put up the stickers where we felt patients will look for help the most - in the hospitals.
The Ancient Legend
In India there is an ancient legend about a girl, Amrita Devi, who died trying to protect the trees that surrounded her village. The story recounts a time when the local Maharajah's tree cutters arrived to cut the villager's trees for wood for his new fortress. Amrita, with others, jumped in front of the trees and hugged them. In some versions of the tale their dramatic efforts prevented the forest's destruction; in others Amrita dies in her valiant attempt.
The Emergency in India denotes the 21-month period between June 25, 1975 and March 21, 1977 when President Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed, upon advice by Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, declared a State of Emergency in India under Article 352 of the Constitution of India, effectively bestowing on her the power to rule by decree, suspending elections and civil liberties. It is one of the most controversial periods in the history of independent India. During the Emergency, many opposition leaders were jailed, freedom of press was suspended and powers of the judiciary were curtailed
It is hard to imagine today that there existed a time in independent India when the then Prime Minister of the country, Sw. Lal Bahadur Shastriji had to appeal to the nation to skip one meal a day. Our nation saw one of the darkest era when we faced acute shortage of food in the 60s. Ships from America brought in bad quality grain as charity to feel us and the Nation battled with the problems of rising prices and hunger.
3rd December 1984 Shortly after midnight poison gas leaked from a factory in Bhopal, India, owned by the Union Carbide Corporation. There was no warning, none of the plant's safety systems were working. In the city people were sleeping. They woke in darkness to the sound of screams with the gases burning their eyes, noses and mouths. They began retching and coughing up froth streaked with blood. Whole neighbourhoods fled in panic, some were trampled, others convulsed and fell dead. People lost control of their bowels and bladders as they ran. Within hours thousands of dead bodies lay in the streets.
Past two decades have seen an unprecedented rise in the number of farmer suicides in our country. Across the nation, lacks of farmers have taken their lives in these years. Though this process is on for almost 2 decades, but it is only now that the nation is getting to know the seriousness and the extent of it. We are going through the worst ever farm crisis in the history of our nation.
India is a country with a diversity of languages. Out of more than one thousand mother tongues, only eighteen languages are included in the eighth schedule of the Indian Constitution. Development of a particular state or region, to a very great extent, depends on the development of its regional language. This was an important reason given at the time of the formation of linguistic states, though many criticized such a linguistic “division” or “re-organization”.
India and space laws: A millennium perspective
THE LAUNCH of Sputnik 1 by the former Soviet Union in 1957, followed by a similar feat by the U. S., within a few months, heralded the birth of the space age. The development and application of space technology has since made a tremendous global impact in diversified fields including social, economic, cultural and scientific.
The positive role that dairying could play in providing income and employment opportunity was clear to policy-makers long time back and a set of measures were put in place to develop and protect the dairy industry. Immediately after India gained independence, the Milk Control Board was set up which controlled the supply and distribution chains.
India, a nation that has undergone complete transformation after it got independence from the British Rule. But somehow the influence from the West never ceased to affect our culture and the growth of the Nation. The three major transforms taken from the entire lot is the way Mobiles, Cars and Malls have brought to the India nationality.
The early history of British expansion in India was characterised by the co-existence of two approaches towards the existing princely states. The first was a policy of annexation, where the British sought to forcibly absorb the Indian princely states into the provinces which constituted their Empire in India. The second was a policy of indirect rule, where the British assumed suzerainty and paramountcy over princely states, but conceded some degree of sovereignty to them. .. 
The All India Muslim League (AIML) was formed in Dhaka in 1906 by Muslims who were suspicious of the Hindu-majority Indian National Congress. They complained that Muslim members did not have the same rights as Hindu members. A number of different scenarios were proposed at various times. Among the first to make the demand for a separate state was the writer/philosopher Allama Iqbal, who, in his presidential address to the 1930 convention of the Muslim League said that a separate nation for Muslims was essential in an otherwise Hindu-dominated subcontinent.
Nonalignment had its origins in India's colonial experience and the nonviolent Indian independence struggle led by the Congress, which left India determined to be the master of its fate in an international system dominated politically by Cold War alliances and economically by Western capitalism and Soviet communism. The principles of nonalignment, as articulated by Nehru and his successors, were preservation of India's freedom of action internationally through refusal to align India with any bloc or alliance, particularly those led by the United States or the Soviet Union; nonviolence and international cooperation as a means of settling international disputes. Nonalignment was a consistent feature of Indian foreign policy by the late 1940s and enjoyed strong, almost unquestioning support among the Indian elite.
