Articles by Deepa Mohan

Today's youngsters have many more job and career opportunities opening up, rather than the usual aspiration to be a doctor, lawyer or engineer. But as they dream about the ways they will make their living, I wonder how people get into far less noticed jobs. Here are two young men I noticed today The first one, along with another young man of about the same age, was suspended from the terrace of a building, painting the outside walls. It was quite hot in the open sun, and I am sure the entire day was spent this way, with perhaps breaks…

In many places in the city, I find signs like this, claiming public space for private, reserved parking. I had brought it to the notice of Corporation Bank on 1st Main, J P Nagar 3rd Phase, and they removed the signs. People who run establishments must be made aware that such reservation is illegal.    

At least this dug up part of Bannerghatta Road mentions that natural gas pipelines are being laid.   But in most places, roads are dug up without warning and with no information about why the surface is being broken up. Nor does the road get any re-surfacing once the digging has been covered up, resulting in bumpy, muddy paths rather than the roads that we are paying taxes for. When is the BBMP going to be accountable for the damage they cause, without reparation?

One of the inequalities of life is that children may not be allowed for many theatre productions...but adults can certainly go and enjoy children’s theatre. The enjoyment is all the more, when one goes with one’s own child...or grandchildren, because there are then multiple layers to the experience. There was a fairly large audience of children, accompanied by their parents or relatives,  to watch “How Cow Now Cow” by the Sandbox Collective a group that has just crossed its second birthday.   I have not watched the work of this young theatre group before, and I am always interested in…

I've been visiting a few schools lately, and I am rather disturbed by some of the things I see on the campuses. One school has no playground at all. Pointing to a tiny handkerchief of space, the  person talking to me says, "That is enough for our children." Another campus of the same school has a few small ornamental trees near the entrance gate. The entire campus is covered in concrete and the green of the trees are those which are in the neighbouring apartment buildiings. One school has very professional loops of  barbed wire on its compound wall.  …

Sights and sounds at Yediyur Lake I am not immune to FB posts, so when there was a sudden rush of bird sightings from Yediyur kere, I realized that I'd not visited for many years. When Padma and Ramaswamy suggested going there this morning, I was very happy to join them. So many trees have fresh leaves right now, like this Peepal tree: This lake is maintained well. However, the fact of its being completely fenced around, and having all growth stunted to bush size except for a few spots, made it feel more "manicured" than I am comfortable with...but…

There are two strong points of view about stray dogs in our city. One is that they are living beings, and deserve to live like many other creatures who share our living space. The other is that they are pests that must be removed. This view is especially held by those, and those whose children, have been bitten, sometimes fatally, by some of these animals. The method of removal most advocated is to sterlize the dogs, and BBMP, is not doing much about it. The numbers of the stray dogs on our roads is inversely proportional to the political will…

I got this photo of a stray dog, with a plastic juice or shake container in its mouth.     We have now conditioned even the animals around us to like processed food, lots of sugar. They have learnt to try and ingest plastic in a bid to get that food. I wonder where we are headed....

Intrigued by the subject title? I am writing about the fact that the new plastic number plates on cars are, very frequently broken off during even small impacts with obstacles, leading to number plates that are incomplete and cannot be used for identification of the vehicle in case of an accident or any other situation.  What was wrong with the old metal number plates, and why did we have to introduce more plastic, which, in this case, is less sturdy and has far less of a lifespan? One cannot blame the owners of the cars, as the number plates are…

We are, according to the traditional calendar,only in Vasant Ritu. But in Bangalore, this is the hot season. The temperature is rising steadily, and so, too, is the demand for water. Sitting on a plateau, having depleted our water-table alarmingly, we are facing tremendous difficulties for water, and the fact was brought home to me by the sight of these women (it's still a sad fact of life that you will hardly find men queueing up with pots) sharing a water source, on this occasion, for washing.   How are we going to fare during Grishma Ritu, I wonder?