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Mangaluru, Feb 26: The 'Yakshagana' stage in Karnataka is witnessing a curious spectacle with a Muslim woman artiste creating waves with her performances.

Arshiya, the artiste from Vittal in Dakshina Kannada district, is the first woman from the Muslim community to venture into the popular traditional theatre art form.

At one time, women were barred from Yakshagana stages.

A Muslim woman exponent on stage has attracted the attention of 'Yakshagana' lovers in the state.

Arshiya is now getting advanced training in her skills at the Kadali Kala Kendra under Ramesh Bhat here.

Arshiya, who is fond of 'Bannada Vesha' (villain roles), is now known in her stage name 'Tanu Vitla.'

She has already performed various episodes on stage and gained popularity.

Arshiya, currently working in an automobile showroom at Padil, said she was attracted to the art form from a very young age.

The initial enchantment with the art form came as she saw the role of Mahishasura in 'Sri Devi Mahatme Yakshagana Prasanga' (episode) performed near her home town.

She was attracted to all the elements of the art form, which combines music, percussion, dance, dialogues, stage techniques, make-up and costume.

Arshiya said she was also inspired by a teacher in her school at Vittal who trained her for a performance on stage during the school's annual day celebration.

She started performing on local stages at Vittal at the very young age of 10.

Arshiya now performs prominent roles on stage including Mahishasura in Sri Devi Mahatme Prasanga, the role which enamoured her in her childhood.

She also has donned the roles of Nishambhasura, Rakthabeejasura, Srinivas Kalyana, Sudarshanopakyana, Kadamba Kaushike and Shambavi Vijaya.

Her performances at Udupi and Karwar besides Mangaluru have earned her a lot of admirers, who love her 'Asura' roles, thanks to her loud voice.

Arshiya now wants to learn the 'Chende' (percussion instrument), which is an important element in Yakshagana performances.

Arshiya revealed that there was a bit of resistance from her community about her passion for the art form, but she had staunch backing of her family.

Mangaluru, Jul 18: Days after Air India operated a flight from Qatar to Mangaluru,  the Karnataka Cultural Foundation (KCF) chartered a flight from Doha to this coastal city to repatriate the stranded NRIs. The flight landed at Mangaluru International Airport on July 16.

This KCF operated flight left the Hamad International Airport Doha at 9:35 am and reached Mangaluru international Airport at 16:10 pm on Thursday. 

The flight had over 174 NRIs, included pregnant women, patients in need of urgent medical treatment, senior citizens, and those who were stuck with expired visit visa and job loss. With the timely intervention Dr Arathi Krishna has helped a patient to make his approval from embassy, who had to leave for medical treatment on emergency basis.

Starting from the registration of travellers, KCF has provided all with the necessary documental, health-related information and each of them have been met by KCF representatives along with snacks and PPE kit to be worn during the journey as a precaution against the spread of the pandemic. 

Organization workers were constantly in touch with each of its passengers, supporting them for their safety and serve them during journey and stay at the hotels and this will continue until the quarantine is completed.

KCF, the proud organization of Kannadigas has been working in the public sphere, and this initiative of charter flight and their dedication on this have been praised by travellers.

On their successful charter, KCF thanks Dr Arathi Krishna, former vice-chairman of Karnataka State NRI Forum for her extensive support on acquiring relevant documental clearances. Sindhu B Rupesh, the deputy commissioner of Mangaluru, Dr Yathish Ullal, assistant commissioner of Mangaluru, Meena Nagaraj, the nodal officer, Bengaluru, are also praised for their timely approvals and permissions for this charter.

The untiring efforts, hard works by the workers and leaders of SSF, SYS and Karnataka Muslim Jama-ath have been appreciated and background supports by Moulana Shafi Sa-adi, the member of Karnataka state Waqf Board is also remembered by KCF Qatar.

The members of KCF Qatar have been tirelessly working behind this grand success, the chairman Abdul Raheem Saadi and general convener Muneer Magundi have thanked all its members, including Embassy officials and Indigo Airlines for all cooperation.

Bengaluru, Mar 31: Persons under home quarantine are directed to send their selfies to the Karnataka government in every one hour, failing which they will be shifted to the state quarantine centres, said Medical Education Minister Dr K Sudhakar on Monday.

"All persons under home quarantine shall send their selfies to the government on a mobile application in every one hour. Failing to do so, teams will reach such defaulters and they will be liable to be shifted to quarantine centres made by the government," he said.

The home quarantine persons will be given an exception for taking selfies during the sleeping time from 10 pm to 7 am.

"There will be an exception in this order for sleeping time, from 10 pm to 7 am," he said.
The total number of COVID-19 cases in Karnataka climbed to 88 on Monday after five more persons tested positive for coronavirus.

Of the five, one is a close contact of an earlier confirmed patient and the others are workers of a pharmaceutical company in Mysuru, from where a person had tested positive, the state health department said.

The country is under a 21-day lockdown to prevent the spread of coronavirus, which according to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, has infected 1,251 people so far.