National Award for Radel

Radhika-Rajnarayan · Post by **Radhika-Rajnarayan** » 28 Aug 2010, 12:20

I am very happy to inform rasikas that Radel has been awarded the National Award of Special Recognition for R&D, by the Govt of India. This award will be presented by the President of India on Aug 31st at Vigyan Bhavan, Delhi.
On behalf of the company, I wish to express my gratitude to all those who made this possible: our dedicated R&D team, the entire Radel family of employees, our esteemed customers and all our well-wishers.
Thank you!

Radhika Raj Narayan

kssr · Post by **kssr** » 28 Aug 2010, 12:26

Congratulations on this deserving honour.
Pls. tell us about your company. Beginning, development, today's status, number of people, turnover so that we can appreciate your business better.

mankuthimma · Post by **mankuthimma** » 28 Aug 2010, 13:06

Congrats.
R&D in such a field can only be a labour of love.

Hope some bright guy in your R& D department will think of adding an attachment that will squirt some jasmine water on the singers face , whenever the song goes out of Sruthi...

kssr · Post by **kssr** » 28 Aug 2010, 13:21

mankuthimma wrote:Congrats.
R&D in such a field can only be a labour of love.
It is also a lucrative business. Don't you know that the US customs are surprised if an Indian passenger declares that he comes in without Oorugaai, sambar podi and Radel!!

Hope some bright guy in your R& D department will think of adding an attachment that will squirt some jasmine water on the singers face , whenever the song goes out of Sruthi...

There will be a jasmine flood in most concerts:)

bilahari · Post by **bilahari** » 28 Aug 2010, 14:56

Congratulations to Radel on a richly deserved honour! I am the proud owner of a Radel talameter. And boy am I glad nothing squirts on my face whenever I go off beat!

thanjavooran · Post by **thanjavooran** » 28 Aug 2010, 16:22

Congrats R & D of Radel. Wishing many more honours to come.

Thanjavooran 28 08 2010

veenajj · Post by **veenajj** » 28 Aug 2010, 16:39

This is excellent news! Call it sheer coincidence, but just recently when we were interviewed by someone about the electronic veena, we mentioned to him that Radel deserves to be recognized nationally for their monumental efforts!! Truly phenomenal achievement. Congratulations, and wish you many more honours.

Jeyaraaj and Jaysri

vainika · Post by **vainika** » 28 Aug 2010, 16:59

Very happy to know about this. Hearty congratulations to the Radel team on this national recognition of their technological contributions to music learning and performance.

L Ramakrishnan

VK RAMAN · Post by **VK RAMAN** » 28 Aug 2010, 18:40

Congratutions. I am one of the ardent user's of Radel IV dhruva.

hariniraghavan · Post by **hariniraghavan** » 28 Aug 2010, 19:24

Hearty congratulations for an achievement of a very high order. R&D and the entire family of Radel deserves this homour.
Harini.

ragam-talam · Post by **ragam-talam** » 29 Aug 2010, 00:13

Best wishes for winning this award.
Radhika - could you please elaborate on a few R&D projects you embarked upon that may have led to this award.

Sreeni Rajarao · Post by **Sreeni Rajarao** » 29 Aug 2010, 18:37

Congratulations to the Radel team!
Two of my friends here in the US are happy with the electronic veena.

I would like to post this link to Radel website here:

http://www.radelindia.com/

vs_manjunath · Post by **vs_manjunath** » 29 Aug 2010, 18:58

Hearty Congratulations to RADEL!
The Electronic Tambura used by every student as well as Professional singers in concerts is such an innovative instrument. Has made life quite easy. It will be nice to know the other R&D Musical instruments produced by RADEL.

rajeshnat · Post by **rajeshnat** » 29 Aug 2010, 19:54

radhika and radel team,

Congrats I am assuming this is the first time a science R&D award is given to an establishment that helps carnatic music. Kudos CM is still as much an art as science.

cienu · Post by **cienu** » 29 Aug 2010, 20:16

Congratulations Radhika and team

suma · Post by **suma** » 30 Aug 2010, 06:14

congratulations! keep up the good work.

Do you sell the electrical wire with US output? Right now, we have to use the converter as we cant plug it directly into US electrical output. It would be nice if u also sold with US plug point without having to attach here and there. If you do sell, please let me know when to buy.

Thanks

tkb · Post by **tkb** » 30 Aug 2010, 12:23

Congrats to Radel's R&D team.

yogambala · Post by **yogambala** » 30 Aug 2010, 14:13

Congrats to Radel R&D & full team. Keep up the Good work.

uday_shankar · Post by **uday_shankar** » 31 Aug 2010, 13:47

Congratulations to Radel for being pioneers in musical instrument innovation.

Thousands of musicians and amateurs can vouch for the immense utility of Radel products. I personally find it hard to imagine a time when I have been without a Radel Shruti box or Tambura.

rshankar · Post by **rshankar** » 31 Aug 2010, 17:29

Congratulations to Radel and Radhika's team.
I second Suma's request. It will make them even more popular (just like the electric 'kuttuviLakus' sold at Kaveri, the Karnataka Handicrafts store, I am sure there is enough of a market here to warrant making the 110 V stuff, or, like the Macs, make them work on 110-240 V).

VK RAMAN · Post by **VK RAMAN** » 31 Aug 2010, 19:41

Radel also should work on releasing Mridangam box similar to Electronic tabla.

Sreeni Rajarao · Post by **Sreeni Rajarao** » 31 Aug 2010, 21:57

rshankar wrote:Congratulations to Radel and Radhika's team.
I second Suma's request. It will make them even more popular (just like the electric 'kuttuviLakus' sold at Kaveri, the Karnataka Handicrafts store, I am sure there is enough of a market here to warrant making the 110 V stuff, or, like the Macs, make them work on 110-240 V).

Ravi,
please help out - what are kuttuviLakus?

Sreeni

rshankar · Post by **rshankar** » 31 Aug 2010, 22:36

Sreeni - this is a traditional kuttuviLakku, while the electric ones we have look like this

Sreeni Rajarao · Post by **Sreeni Rajarao** » 01 Sep 2010, 01:36

Ravi,
Thanks! Now, I understand!

Radhika-Rajnarayan · Post by **Radhika-Rajnarayan** » 01 Sep 2010, 14:43

Heartfelt thanks to every one of you for your good wishes. Indeed, as I mentioned earlier, this award could never have been possible without all our customers, since every improvement and every new product is the result of either a dire need felt by one of us for our music practice or a customer feedback!

Do you sell the electrical wire with US output? Right now, we have to use the converter as we cant plug it directly into US electrical output. It would be nice if u also sold with US plug point without having to attach here and there. If you do sell, please let me know when to buy.

Suma, every one of our product can seamlessly switch over from 110 to 220 / vice versa, in fact it can work on any voltage from 90 - 260V. So there is no need for a separate line of 'US-voltage-friendly' products. Also, if you let us know that you require the product for the US, we always supply the plug adaptor as a complimentary accessory.
The jasmine squirter is a fun idea!

Why not!
I will upload an article with interesting details of our company history very soon.
I am just back from Delhi from the award ceremony yesterday, which is the reason for my late reply. Apologies.

Thank you every one, again.
Regards
Radhika

gita · Post by **gita** » 01 Sep 2010, 19:14

Congratulations on a well deserving award! We just have to think , and Radel brings it to fruition. I still have the old model tambura purchased in early '90's.
Radhika, I own a' sunadavinodini'. We have wax in the traditional veena where as it is hollow in the electronic one. This makes it a little bit difficult when I switch over from the traditional one. Is it possible to reduce the gap, i.e make the frets flatter, instead of rounded?
Do you have magnetic strings that are thinner for a higher shruti?
Can you make a combination of magnetic and peso mics for the veena ?
Sunadavinodini is no doubt a wonderful invention !

Nick H · Post by **Nick H** » 01 Sep 2010, 20:05

Congratulations on your award, and please keep up your contributions to rasikas.net, which I always enjoy

Radhika-Rajnarayan · Post by **Radhika-Rajnarayan** » 02 Sep 2010, 10:07

Thank you,Nick. I enjoy this forum, and feel just a little jealous when the rasikas meet since I am mostly unable to make it to them (work and domestic commitments).

Gita, we are open to all suggestions. There are many people who alternate between the traditional and electronic veena comfortably. Maybe it is a matter of getting used to it.
For example, I can switch between all 3 varieties - acoustic, electronic and digital without problems. Again, a matter of practice. However, we will look into your suggestion and see what we can do.
Sure, thinner gauge strings are available with us. Please contact the Radel branch nearest you, (see the 'contact us' page on the radel website) or send your request to [email protected].
Piezo-electric pickups are usually used in acoustic instruments to pick up the sound from the sound box (kudam). Since the hollow kudam is not there in the Sunadavinodini, we do not use piezo pickups.

Nick H · Post by **Nick H** » 02 Sep 2010, 10:20

Please try to make it to our December Season meetup, where some of our memberf from around the world will be present.

gita · Post by **gita** » 02 Sep 2010, 19:06

Radhika, I am fine when I use the electronic veena, I notice the difference sharply when I switch over to the traditional one. 'Digital Veena' ? I just fancied it some time back,but thought it would be impossible to expect such a thing since strings are involved and changing shruti would mean tightening or loosening the strings. But you have made it possible. As I said in my earlier post, we just have to imagine and you make it come true. I'm excited about the digital veena. I watched your videos on youtube now. Bringing back the veena as a pakkavadyam as discussed in another topic is now possible.

suma · Post by **suma** » 02 Sep 2010, 20:15

Radhika-Rajnarayan wrote: every one of our product can seamlessly switch over from 110 to 220 / vice versa, in fact it can work on any voltage from 90 - 260V. So there is no need for a separate line of 'US-voltage-friendly' products. Also, if you let us know that you require the product for the US, we always supply the plug adaptor as a complimentary accessory.

Radhika

Hi Radhika
Thanks for looking into this. Actually when we buy Radel, it comes with a electrical outlet that fits into Indian electrical outlets. To use the same in USA, we place the wire in a indian to US electrical outlet and plug that US side of it in our walls. So, in the process, what happens is there is loose connection, as it cant be puggled into the US connecter completely. So, a lot of time go away trying to fit it into the connection. In Bangalore, there is a shop called Kaveri. If we go there and ask for electric deepams and say for US, they automatically give us the wire that you can plug into US outlet without having to attach any other output's. If radel can supply that wire, where one side would fit in Radel and the other side would directly fit in US electrical outlets, it would help us a lot.

Thanks in advance

arasi · Post by **arasi** » 02 Sep 2010, 22:26

R&R,
Congratulations on the award!
I'm a little late since I was away for a while.

Radhika-Rajnarayan · Post by **Radhika-Rajnarayan** » 03 Sep 2010, 09:46

So, in the process, what happens is there is loose connection, as it cant be puggled into the US connecter completely. So, a lot of time go away trying to fit it into the connection.

Suma, So far we haven't found that problem, and haven't received any such complaints. We have ourselves used these adaptors when we travelled to the US, with no problems at all. We can look into this, but we do face another issue. You see, people just buy our products from anywhere, without informing us / the dealer that it is required for the US, and THEN send it across with someone travelling to the US. So it becomes difficult for us to anticipate who requires it for the US.

Arasi, thank you very much. Every message of congratulations / appreciation is as valuable or more, than any award.

Radhika-Rajnarayan · Post by **Radhika-Rajnarayan** » 06 Sep 2010, 17:07

could you please elaborate on a few R&D projects you embarked upon that may have led to this award.

In response to this query from ragam-talam and another from kssr:

Pls. tell us about your company. Beginning, development, today's status, number of people, turnover so that we can appreciate your business better

Our latest newsletter has a very brief summary of our journey and the various inventions that led to this award. All our products are actually inventions. But only one has a patent. Sadly, the patent office was not so 'patentee-friendly' in the '80s. Our experience of applying for a patent for the Talometer then, was horrendous (the application would be repeatedly returned with the comment 'margins are half an inch too wide, please re-submit with correct margins' or 'drawings do not have the legends in the correct format'-- and in those days,we had to re-type and re-draw by hand the entire thing! So we gave up the entire exercise!). So we never applied for patents for any of our inventions. And the primary requirement for a patent application is that the patented technology / object should not be in use or be published anywhere. So we couldn't do it retrospectively.
Now, however, their entire outlook has changed, and they were much friendlier in guiding us through the process for the digital veena. Although it took several re-doings, it was not difficult as everything is on the computer now, drawings included.
There are many many interesting incidents and experiences along the Radel journey, but those are better related directly!
The newsletter also briefly outlines our turnover today as compared to the first few years.
Here is the link to our newsletter:
http://www.radelindia.com/NewsLetterDet ... ingId=Ng==

rshankar · Post by **rshankar** » 06 Sep 2010, 20:19

Radhika-Rajnarayan wrote: Our experience of applying for a patent for the Talometer then, was horrendous (the application would be repeatedly returned with the comment 'margins are half an inch too wide, please re-submit with correct margins' or 'drawings do not have the legends in the correct format'-- and in those days,we had to re-type and re-draw by hand the entire thing! So we gave up the entire exercise!).

Exemplifies the very essence of Indian bureaucracy at its small-minded best. I am hopeful from your post that it is not as bad these days!

sridharrajagopal · Post by **sridharrajagopal** » 13 Mar 2012, 01:48

Quite fascinating, Radhika!! And hearty congratulations on the award!!

Cheers,
Sridhar

VK RAMAN · Post by **VK RAMAN** » 13 Mar 2012, 02:51

Congrats Radhika! Indian bureaucracy and red-tape are intertwined together that it is as worse as bribe/corruption.

Lakshman · Post by **Lakshman** » 13 Mar 2012, 03:13

Congratulations to Radel and their R & D team for the great products that have helped the musicians immensely. Best wishes.

vasanthakokilam · Post by **vasanthakokilam** » 13 Mar 2012, 04:18

Just FYI. This award is from 2010, sridharrajagopal just happened to resurrect this thread today.

cmlover · Post by **cmlover** » 13 Mar 2012, 06:55

Is this April 1st!
I am confused

VK RAMAN · Post by **VK RAMAN** » 13 Mar 2012, 07:52

Why will a 2010 thread reopen as a new post? Probably 2010 post was not closed!

vasanthakokilam · Post by **vasanthakokilam** » 13 Mar 2012, 08:52

sridharrajagopal posted today in this thread which bumped it all the way to the top. ( threads typically do not get closed unless there was some controversy that caused it to spin out of control )

Radhika-Rajnarayan · Post by **Radhika-Rajnarayan** » 13 Mar 2012, 13:28

The sudden resurrection of the post, and comments are quite overwhelming! Thank you, everyone, for your kind words.

Exemplifies the very essence of Indian bureaucracy at its small-minded best. I am hopeful from your post that it is not as bad these days!

rshankar, indeed it is much better these days. We did have to re-do the application 7 or 8 times but the differences this time around were (a) the Patent office people were very helpful and supportive, guiding us through the sticky issues, and (b) it was easy to re-do the document because of the word processing facility and drawing packages we have these days!
kssr, I will be uploading a video on the Radel journey shortly. I'll let you all know when I do.
Regards
Radhika