Karnataka: 11 IPS transfers; Kamal Pant is new Intelligence chief

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.

Bengaluru, May 4: Booze lovers ushered in the resumption of liquor sales in a spirited fashion in Karnataka onMonday thronging stores hours before shutters went up at severalplaces and made no secret of their celebratory mood.

At some places, they flocked liquor shops even before day-break and performed "special prayers" with flowers, coconuts,incense sticks, camphor and crackers in front of the stores.

Liquor outlets had been shut in the State from March 25 following the lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Excise revenue loss during the period was about Rs 2,500 crore, according to government sources.

About 4,500 standalone liquor outlets (CL-2 and CL- 11licence holders), which comprise wine stores and those owned bystate-run Mysore Sales International Limited, outside containmentzones were allowed to be opened from Monday from 9 am to 7 pm withsome restrictions.

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These include customers compulsorily wearing of facemasks andmaintaining social distancing with not more than five people inside liquor shops.

Many customers were indeed well-prepared.

At many places, they came with umbrella, raincoat, newspapers and books and queued up as early as 3 am.

At a liquor shop in Salegame Road in Hassan, the tipplers lit the traditional lamp and incense sticks, performed 'aarati'with camphor and decorated the store with the garland of flowers.

With folded hands, they all performed 'special prayers'.

In Mandya, the tipplers queued up before Martaanda liquor shop before dawn.

An hour before the sales were to resume, a few people burst crackers in celebration.

Some tipplers in Belagavi were more "enterprising."

They wentto a liquor store on Sunday night itself, performed special prayersand placed their "representatives" in the form of slippers, bags and stones in the "social distancing boxes" they themselves had drawn sothat they don't have to stand in queue in the morning.

An elderly woman Dakamma was the centre of attraction in Shivamogga.

The bent body did not bend the determination of this spirited lady, claimed to be 96-year-old, who was heard saying "liquor is goodfor health."

At the taluk headquarters town of Brahmavara in the coastal Udupi district, the queue of the booze lovers was reported to be almost half-a-kilometre.

Long queues were seen at liquor stores at Mariyappana Palya and K R Puram, among others, in Bengaluru.

The store managers too were no less cautious while dealing with customers in the COVID era.

They let the customers enter after spraying sanitisers in their hands, and allowed only those who hadworn masks and maintained social distancing.

To maintain law and order, authorities had deployed policemen in good numbers at these stores and they were seen on duty ensuring  that customers maintained social distancing.

Udupi, May 30: Following the announcement of re-opening of places of worship from June 8, Ibrahim Musliyar Bekal, the Qadhi of Udupi has called upon the Centre and State governments to issue uniform guidelines for Muslims to be followed while going to mosques for congregational prayers.

In a media statement, he said that even though the government is relaxing the lockdown in a phased manner things will not be like before as people have to follow the precautionary measures to control the spread of the coronavirus. 

He said that the union and state governments after holding discussions with the authorities of Central Waqf Council and the State Waqf Boards and Islamic scholars, should form a uniform guidelines for all mosques.

He also suggested a few guidelines such as offering congregational prayers soon after adaan, closing the mosque soon after prayers, maintaining physical distance and avoiding the use of toilet in mosques. 

He also suggested the sick, elderly people and children to prefer to offer prayers in homes instead of mosques until situation becomes normal.