[Automatic Dosa Making Machine. ]

https://youtu.be/czeWzpyetO8

Click on the link above to view Table top Machine rooling out Hot Dosa's at the rate of 1 DOSA per minute.

[The DENIMS of everyone globally. ]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Origins of “Jeans” & “Denim”

Jeans date back to 1567 with the introduction of the word “genoese” or “genes” to describe the tough twill trousers worn by merchant sailors from the Italian coastal city of Genoa.

Levi Strauss & Co.

Denim as we know it today originated in 1860, when Levi Strauss & Co., 
which was making work pants out of a stiff canvas fabric, added 
serge de Nîmes to its product line at the request of customers 
wanting a softer, less chafing fabric.

 

In 1873, Levi Strauss and Jacob Davis patented their riveted work 
pant that kept the pocket and seams from bursting when doing heavy 
work. Denim was the staple of farm and industrial wear throughout 
the late 1800s and mid-1900s. It still retains the title of America’s 
favorite work pant today.

History of Denim

Denim in Fashion

During the 1950s, young America discovered blue jeans and the 
industry exploded in the United States. Blue jeans went from 
being sold as solely a work and utility fabric to capturing the 
interests of the fashion-conscious public.

This fashion soon spread to other cultures and denim became more 
than just a piece of fabric, it grew into a social statement. 
Companies like Levi Strauss and H.D. Lee quickly responded when 
American and European teenagers embraced denim jeans as embodying 
the “Elvis” or “James Dean” look.

Elvis Presley wearing denim in the movie Jailhouse Rock

Elvis Presley, Jailhouse Rock

James Dean wearing blue jeans in the movie Rebel Without a Cause

James Dean, Rebel Without A Cause

Characteristics of Denim

The basic denim jean gets its unique character 
from its yarn, indigo dyestuff, weaving and 
design, and washes and technical finishes.

Like other fabrics, denim can be dyed, washed down, 
chemically finished, or mechanically finished.

Chemical finishes can include the application of such 
substances as DP or durable press, softeners, stain 
repellents, water repellents, and others.

Mechanical finishing can include brushing, sanding, 
laser etching, color discharge, and many other novel effects.

These effects are made possible by the special character 
of denim yarns, the special character of indigo dyed yarns, 
specialized garment processing machinery, denim garment 
washing and finishing processes, denim garment overdyeing, 
and denim garment functional finishing.

Denim Yarn

The final look and feel of a denim garment depend in 
large part on its yarn. Yarn can range from soft to firm, 
even to uneven, weak to strong. The yarn’s twist direction 
and level of twist also impact the final effect of garment 
finishing as does the choice of ring or open-end spun yarn. 

In recent years, advances in the production of effect yarns, 
such as slub, accent, and stretch yarns have also played a 
part in developing new looks. With denim, yarn evenness is 
important. Even yarns provide a smooth surface that washes 
down or abrades to a uniform shade. Uneven yarns that vary 
in thickness result in great variations in shade. In fact 
with some abrasion finishing processes, thick areas can be 
abraded down to the white yarn core of the indigo dyes while 
the thin areas might be hardly abraded at all.

Yarn twist has a similar impact on color and abrasion results. 
Low twist yarns are softer and tend to wash down or abrade more 
rapidly than higher twist yarns. Yarn twist also affects fabric 
hand, stiffness, strength, skew, cover, drape, appearance, and 
other characteristics. Another yarn characteristic that impacts 
finishing is size including the mixture of yarn sizes in a single 
fabric. Varying yarn sizes will affect finishing in a way similar 
to that of slub yarns. Slub yarns are yarns spun to have long and 
thick effects in them with subs in either the warp, filling, or both. 
Open-end and ring-spun yarns can both obtain slub effects.

Indigo Dye

Indigo dye is one of the most important factors affecting the 
look of denim. When indigo dyes are used, it gives the denim 
fabric a unique ability to fade in color after repeated laundering.

Indigo dye originated as a vegetable dye from the Indigofera 
tinctoria plant from India and Africa thousands of years ago. 
An indigo-dyed robe was found during an excavation in Egypt and 
is estimated to have been made around 2500 B.C.

In the Americas at the same time, a different type of indigo plant, 
Indigofera suffruticosa or Indigofera erecta, was used to make 
Natal indigo dyes. It was an important dye for the Mayan people 
who used it to paint their sacrifices prior to scarification as 
well as dyeing the royals clothing.

In the cooler climates of the world, like Europe, indigo was also 
produced from the Isatis tinctoria, or woad plant, and Polygonum 
tinctorium, also known as dyer’s knotweed.

In 1878, German chemist Adolf von Baeyer invented the first 
synthetic indigo dye. In fact, indigo was the first synthetic 
indigo dyestuff. By 1914, almost 95% of the natural indigo 
trade had disappeared. Today, synthetic indigo dyestuff accounts 
for essentially 100% of all denim products.

Indigofera tinctoria plant, also known as true indigo

Indigofera tinctoria (true indigo)

During the 1980s, there was a designer jean craze with many 
styling variants. This phase ended in the 1990s when 
Levi Strauss & Company created the “Back to Basics” slogan. 
This began the revival of the ringspun denim but by the mid-90s, 
the designer jean craze had resurfaced with many companies 
producing their own brands. Now, advances in finishing techniques 
especially garment processes and fabric technology have created 
a high-tech denim jeans market.

Indigo dye yields a deep, bright shade of blue but with a low 
affinity for cotton, and as a result, it can be easily washed 
down in mill processing. Even the most state-of-the-art synthetic 
versions of indigo have an improved cotton affinity. Ring-dyed 
cotton is the key to many current denim garment finishes. 
Ring-dyed or white core cotton refers to yarn that is dyed 
with indigo in such a way as to keep the core of the yarn white. 
The white core is clearly visible. Without this ring-dyed effect, 
many of the most popular denim garment looks would not be possible 
but with proper cloth construction, dyeing, garment manufacturing, 
and finishing techniques, denim continues to take on fresh new looks.

Source:

https://www.cottonworks.com/en/topics/sourcing-manufacturing/denim/denim-history/

[ The Real Kerala Story ]

I stayed in Kerala for 5 years.

Kerala,a Jewel in India's crown,unfolds a remarkable 
tale of social harmony,equitable growth,and progressive 
values. With the unique model of inclusive development

Kerala has emerged as an exemplar of people-centrist 
progress.Here,compassion and social justice drive policies that 
empower marginalize communities and foster equal opportunities 
for all, Kerala shines as beacon of progressive ideals, where 
every voice matters and the spirit of unity paves the way for 
a brighter future.Discover the real story, where dreams thrive,
and humanity under flourishes under the 
Pinarayi Vijayan Government, which celebrates its 
second anniversary.

INNOVATIONS:

India's First Super FabLab.
India's First Digital University.
India's First Graphene Center
India's First Digital Science Park.
India's First Water Metro.
Digital India Platinum Icon award for
its Digital Workforce Management System.

INFRASTRUCTURE

The only Indian State that funded
land acquisition(Rs.550 Crore) for NH
development.
First and only state to provide to provide
electricity to every household.
A Rs,3,000 Crore investment was made for the
modernization of Govt schools.
The first state to declare internet access
as a people's right and initiated the K-Fon project
which broadband connections aManthan  in 1,050 infrastructure 
development projects.

HEALTHCARE.

Winners of India Today's Healthgiri
Award for the best Covid vaccination drive
in the country.
Winner of centre's Arogya Manthan Award for
providing the highest number of free treatments
in 2022.
State with the lows maternal and child mortality
rate.
Rs.55,330 Crore allocation for health sector
in the last five years.

TOURISM AND GLOBAL RECOGNITION

Selected as one of the 52 must visit places in 2023 bt the New York Times.

SOCIAL WELFARE

Vayoshreshtha Samman' for Best Elderly Care in 2021
Rs.11,600 per month as social welfare pension
to 62 lakh beneficiaries.
Distributed land titles to 2.99 lakh landless people.
3.39 lakh houses for homeless families under the
LIFE Mission Housing project.
Allocated healthcare aid from CMDRF to 6.8 lakh people.
Near Universal coverage of the Public Distribution
System that serves 95 lakh  ration card holders.
Distributed 3.5 lakh priority ration cards.

Source:

THE TIMES OF INDIA,Bengaluru SATURDAY,MAY 20, 2023,Page 5. 

Advertisement given by

 Information & Public Relations

 Depatment

 Government of Kerala

[ SRI LANKA’S EASTER BOMBINGS : LESSONS FOR Others.]

SRI LANKA’S EASTER BOMBINGS : LESSONS FOR Neighbourers?.

Source:

June 11, 2019 By Col Anuraag Singh Rawat, SM

The scenic island country of Sri Lanka was thrown into turmoil on Easter Day (21 April 2019) last month when eight bomb blasts ripped through multiple cities and locations including three Churches and high end hotels. With a death toll of more than 255 and nearly 500 injured1 it is one of the bloodiest bombings witnessed by the region. The Islamic State has taken credit for the bombings and released a video and photographs claiming ownership of the bombers. While the investigations are in the preliminary stages and the hunt for additional bombers and their accomplices is still on, there are.

In the aftermath of the tragedy, emergency was declared while the Sri Lankan security forces swung into action and launched a nationwide hunt for the perpetrator’s accomplices, claiming that two previously little-known local Islamist groups - National Thowheed Jamath (NTJ) and Jamathei Millathu Ibraheem - whom they suspect had international links were responsible2, with cleric Zahran Hashim as the mastermind. Relatives of the Islamist preacher Zahran Hashim, were infact among the 15 people killed on 26 April when police raided a house in the eastern town of Sainthamaruthu.3 The Islamic State meanwhile released photographs of the alleged bombers with Zahran Hashim and claimed credit for the bombings.

Regional Impact

While news of ignored intelligence warnings with specific attack based information having been ignored surfaced and the political divisions between the Sri Lankan President and Prime Minister are being attributed for the lackadaisical response to the intelligence inputs given by India,there are certain other lessons that need to be studied and corrected, if required, in the countries of the region. The region is no stranger to terrorism, with Afghanistan – Pakistan being a hotbed for the same. The specter of terrorism has also raised its head in India, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Philippines, Malaysia and Maldives, to name a few. In addition most of the countries in the region have had people going out of the country to fight for the Islamic State and thus would have people who have returned or are trying to do so.

The countries in the region thus, in varying numbers, definitely have people who have been indoctrinated by the Islamic State’s Salafist ideology and these same people given the right conditions would certainly be looking at spreading the ideology. The response and reaction to dealing with this menace by the countries of the region has been diverse - from the incredulous / disbelieving and denying any presence of Islamic State in the country, like Sri Lanka’s reaction till the Easter bombings to the muscular approach adopted by the Philippines4.
While the Islamic State of Khorasan(ISK) in Afghanistan, is actually controlling territory, though heavily contested by both the security forces and Taliban, the more dangerous Islamic State affiliates are groups which are invisible and thus below the radar of the intelligence agencies due to their low profile and covert extremist activities. They assume prominence only after carrying out deadly terrorist attacks, like the NTJ in Sri Lanka or the Neo JMB or Jamaat-ul Mujahideen in Bangladesh. Overall it is expected that the threat posed by these groups would increase with return of youth who have fought in Syria and Iraq. Therefore a multipronged strategy is essential to target the Islamic State to avoid their spillover in other countries, including India. The countries of the region, including India, can thus learn some important lessons from the evolving situation in Sri Lanka.

Emerging Lessons. The Islamic State may no longer hold territory physically in Syria Iraq but its presence in cyberspace and its affiliates worldwide continue to proliferate and grow. The Islamic State has managed to position itself as an ideology rather than simply another terrorist group and its presence in the region seems to be growing. In some countries like Afghanistan and Philippines very openly and in others silently but surely, as is evident from the Easter bombings. It is quite clear that countries cannot adopt an ostrich like approach to the problem of the Islamic State and pretend that it doesn’t exist, because they don’t want it to exist. There is thus a need to address the problem of Islamic State/ religious indoctrination head on, holistically and jointly.The Islamic State and its affiliates is a transnational group and events are proving that cross border assistance by the groups in terms of training and resources were most likely provided. Indian intelligence agencies deserve kudos for having provided timely and specific intelligence.

Thus it is a fact that such intelligence was available in India and the ‘who’ and ‘why’ should be a point to be further investigated5. Similarly other nations in the region need to coordinate with the Lankan investigators to see if any tell tale evidence emerges pointing towards their countries. In fact Islamic State has claimed for the first time, that it has established a “province” in India, called “Wilayah of Hind”6,, though on ground this is likely to be just for propaganda value, but it may help them in attracting more followers. This proclamation is also likely to see from now on, the Islamic State trying to take credit and own the terrorists actions happening in the Valley /country.

The lack of a credible intelligence sharing mechanism between the countries of the region has clearly emerged as one of the strongest lessons of the present tragedy. As per reports despite Indian agencies giving specific inputs about the likely targets and perpetrators the intelligence was not given due importance and not disseminated at the right levels. This could be because it lacked credibility and ignoring it was possible. All this may have been avoided if there was an effective intelligence sharing mechanism in place necessitating it to be dealt in an appropriate manner and level. Is it time to have an organization in the region looking primarily at security issues something like the Shanghai Cooperation Organization? This is necessitated primarily due to the ineffectiveness of the present groupings owing to the Indo – Pak issues. Maybe a new securityinitiative can be structured by India either keeping Pakistan out or making sure that the rules ensure that the agenda cannot be hijacked by it.

An operation of the magnitude and precision as that of the Lanka bombings required careful planning, coordination, training and most importantly constant indoctrination. All this when translated into time meant that the preparation for an operation of this type would have been carrying on for months, if not over a year, and would definitely have thrown up some indicators. It is a matter of intelligence failure that the Sri Lankan agencies failed to home on to these indicators possibly due to, not taking the menace of indoctrinated zealots seriously and this is something which other countries of the region can ill afford. If Sri Lankan investigations further substantiate the Islamic State link to the National Thowheed Jamath and Jamathei Millathu Ibraheem, two relatively unknown local groups, then the Islamic State seems to be repeating a modus operandi it has used earlier in other countries (The Holey Artisan Bakery incident of 2016 in Bangladesh though the Bangladesh Government claims Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen had no links to the Islamic State.

The Sri Lankan Government’s handling of the situation post the bombings, has been decisive and proactive. While it was clear that dysfunctional political relationship between the President and PM had exacerbated the situation, declaration of emergency, banning of social media, employing the Armed Forces to supplement the police force, getting both the Christian and Muslim community leaders on the same page to deal with the aftermath were all praiseworthy steps which seem to have yielded results and stabilized the situation. In addition a new counter terrorism legislation is being prepared to deal with the facets of international terrorism. The Sri Lankan Prime Minister has gone on record saying that, even though Sri Lankan authorities were aware of Sri Lankan jihadists who had returned from Syria, the country’s laws prevented action being taken. Such loopholes, if existing in other nations, also need to be plugged.

Conclusion.

Terrorism comes in many forms and is constantly evolving. Terrorists misusing religion for indoctrination and achieving their goals has been prevalent for decades if not centuries. However with increase in connectivity due to Social Media and its silent overarching reach, it is becoming more and more difficult to detect the ongoing indoctrination and even more difficult to stop it. Nations thus have to empower their security agencies with laws, powers and more importantly political support. Today’s terrorists cannot be fought in isolation since the web/ social media knows no geographical boundaries. Thus it is very essential to have a synergized and collaborative effort with the other countries while dealing with the menace, especially in the region. Maybe it is high time that the region bonds together, atleast to fight the scourge of terrorism and establishes a vibrant and effective multinational grouping in the region specifically looking at security aspects.

References

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/south-asia/sri-lanka-attacks-death-toll-rises-to-257/articleshow/69141704.cms

The Times of India World dated 02 May 2019 acessed on 05 May 2019.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-48163237  Sri Lanka 
attacks: Public urged to surrender swords and knives BBC News. 4.
May19 acessed on 05 May 2019.3

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/apr/27/sri-lanka-20-killed-as-police-raid-suspected-bomber-hideout,  

Sri Lanka bombings: at least 15 killed as police raid suspected hideout,The Gaurdian 27 April 2019, accessed on 06 May 2019.4.

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/09/world/asia/isis-philippines-jolo.html  “How ISIS Is Rising in the Philippines as It Dwindles in the Middle East” The New York Times dt 09 March 201, accessed on 10 May 2019.

5. https://www.indiatoday.in/india/story/after-sri-lanka-blasts-nia-raids-3-places-in-kerala-in-connection-with-isis-module-case-1512181,  28 April 2019 accessed on 10 May 2019.6. https://www.thehindu.com/news/international/islamic-state-claims-province-in-india-for-first-time-after-clash-in-kashmir/article27102694.ece,

Reuters accessed on 12 May 2019.

7. https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2018/07/24/asia-pacific/crime-legal-asia-pacific/eight-extremists-charged-2016-islamic-state-claimed-bangladesh-cafe-attack-left-22-dead/,  accessed on 10 May 2019.