Kuttanad

Kuttanadu is a region covering the Alappuzha, Pathanamthitta and Kottayam Districts, in the state of Kerala, India, well known for its vast paddy fields and geographical peculiarities. The region has the lowest altitude in India, and is one of the few places in the world where farming is carried around 4 to 10 feet (1.2 to 3.0 m) below sea level. Kuttanadu is historically important in the ancient history of South India and is the major rice producer in the state. Farmers of Kuttinad famous for Biosaline Farming. FAO has declared the Kuttanad Farming System as a Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems (GIAHS). Four of Kerala's major rivers, the Pamba, Meenachil, Achankovil and Manimala flow into the region

History

There is no recorded history on the origin of this land. But the oral history among local people, transferred from generation to generation is a blend of myths and legends. According to one legend, Kuttanad was believed to be forest with dense tree growth. This forest was destroyed subsequently by a wild fire. Chuttanad (place of the burnt forest), was eventually called Kuttanad. It is a well known fact that burned black wooden logs were mined from paddy fields called as ‘Karinilam’(Black paddy fields)until the recent past. This fact throws some light on this theory of Chuttanad evolving to Kuttanad. In Kuttanad most of the place names end in kari. Some familiar place names are Ramankary, Puthukkary, Amichakary, Oorukkary, Mithrakary, Mampuzhakary, Kainakary, Chathurthiakary and Chennamkary.

Manorama News

Manorama News (also known as MM TV) is a Malayalam language news channel owned and operated by Malayala Manorama. The channel, based at Aroor Alleppey, was launched on 17 August 2006, which coincided with the Malayalam New Year. The channel was launched with the assistance of media consulting company Mediaguru Consultants Pvt. Ltd.

The thirty-minute simultaneous newscast of regional news, Nattuvartha, from three regions of Kerala, viz. Malabar region, Kochi Region and Travancore region was done for the first time in the country.

Johny Lukose is the News Director and he also anchors a programme "Nere Chove". Romy Mathew and Pramod Raman are the Coordinating Editors of the channel and heads the input and output functions respectively.

Satellite Details

Shankar Tucker

Shankar Tucker is an American clarinetist and music composer. He rose to fame with the popularity of his online music series called "The ShrutiBox". The Shrutibox features his compositions and was released online on platforms like YouTube and Soundcloud. He is now debuting as the Music Composer for a Bilingual Indian feature film, 'Orey Nyabagam' (Tamil) / 'Nee Vaipe' (Telugu), written and directed by Vignarajan, an associate of renowned Tamil film director Radhamohan inspired by Kaushik Ramesh from DAV gopalapuram(friend of Vandana Srinivasan).

Early life and education

Shankar grew up in Massachusetts. He was christened Shankar as suggested by spiritual guru Mata Amritanandamayi whom his family follows. As a high school student, Shankar was drawn towards Indian classical music on listening to "Remember Shakti" by John McLaughlin and started playing on his own. Shankar graduated from New England Conservatory in Boston, where he studied orchestral clarinet performance. He started taking lessons in Indian classical music from Peter Row, a sitar player. Eventually he obtained The Frank Huntington Beebe Fund to study music under flute maestro Hariprasad Chaurasia in Mumbai in 2010. Besides clarinet, Shankar plays tabla, kanjira, piano, bass and guitar.