Articles by Deepa Mohan

Several blooms to delight the senses! A walk in Lalbagh is always something that will bring a lot of joy. I decided to capture some of the blossoms that appealed to my eyes, my nose, my touch, and sometimes, as they rustled in the morning breeze, to my ears, too! Some of them are quite uncommon trees that I have not yet seen outside the park. The Purple Bauhinia (Bauhinia blakena) and the Cabbage Bark Tree (Andira inermis) can be seen in the garden. These are the flowers of the Cabbage Bark Tree (Andira inermis). Pic: Deepa Mohan The beauty…

On the NICE Road, I have been recently noticing people (apparently employed by those who collect the tolls) who approach cars stuck in the queue, asking if they want to pay the toll to them and not have to stop at the toll gate. The hidden agenda? They charge higher amoounts than the official toll. Eg, the toll that we were supposed to pay was Rs.52, but these people asked us to pay Rs.60. If they charge so much extra per car at times of heavy congestion,not only are they fleecing motorists, but they are also contravening the law. here…

Pic: Deepa Mohan I've always been drawn to owls. The Rock Eagle Owl, also called the Indian Eagle Owl, has been one of my favourites; I've sighted it at Bannerghatta, Turahalli, and at various other locations. For the past few years, we've been watching some of these majestic birds making their homes on the rocky outcrops of the highway built by Nandi Infrastructure Corridor Enterprises (NICE), around Bangalore. As we were returning from our trip to Sakleshpur, where we did a bird census for a coffee estate (a very satisfying assignment, more about it later!) we decided we would detour…

Sometimes, the departure of one of the circle of friends comes as a shock, and so it was when I got the news of the sudden passing of Ashok Hallur, just short of his fifty-first birthday. Ashok, in his short life, had already made a name for himself as an active wildlife film-maker and avid conservationist. He was born in Bagalkot, Karnataka, on 25 February 1966. He received early schooling at his village, Hanamapura, with a short stint at Kavalur, later moving to Bijapur. One of his teachers noted his artistic ability and advised him to go to art school,…

Having watched an excellent play staged by Tadpole Repertory earlier (you can see the review here if you wish to) I was eager to watch the production of  “This Will Only Take Several Minutes”, which this group was staging as a joint effort with Hanchu-Yuei, a Tokyo-based theatre collective. The introduction on the Ranga Shankara website was very intriguing. A play in Hindi, Japanese and English! Off I went, with three friends.  The play is the result of a joint effort between two playwrights, and deals with six characters, who interact with each other (not all at the same time),…

I was walking along in Jayanagar 4th T Block, when I noticed these young men selling "fresh honey from the hive, madam, do you want?" I looked down; the broken pieces of the honeycomb were there and pieces of it had been put into containers for the honey to drip down into them. This was, probably, the freshest honey one could get one's hands on. Alas for me, I still had a lot of walking to do. I noticed a few dead bees on the hive and this saddened me until I realized that this was, indeed, a humane way…

Dignity, and quality of life in one's old age is not something given to all of us; sometimes, for various reasons, people have to take up residence in an old-age home. I recently visited one such home, only for ladies, in J P Nagar.   I found that the number of ladies in residence had dwindled to only eight, but these ladies seemed quite peaceful and content with their lives. Indeed, one of them (name withheld on request) regularly makes rangolis in front of the gate each morning. However, life is not luxurious. There are, indeed, several "senior citizens" residential…

We often lament about our children using tablets and X-boxes all the time...but I find, often that even our urban children are quite in touch with the traditional games of childhood. Today, when I went to Kaikondrahalli lake for the kere habba, I found this pile of flat stones, with a young girl piling them up carefully.   I knew that a game of   Lagori was in progress, and waited a bit while the girls surrounded the pile of stones and began their game. The game involves a ball and a pile of flat stones, generally played between two…

Having heard about the   Dhaatu Puppet Festival   I went with my daughter and two grandchildren to watch the parade, which started from the Dhaatu Bus Stop in Banashankari,      and ended at the JSS Auditorium, where several shows are to be held over the weekend.   The parade was a riot of colour, as you can see from this video:   There were puppets and puppeteers from all over the world:   Here are two  home-made puppets...Vaishnavi, the young lady on the right, is looking as happy as her puppet !   The group all posed for…

On Dec. 23, 2016, I conducted a “Walk-n-Talk” for the residents of the campus at Indian Institute of Managament, Bangalore (IIMB). Pic: Deepa Mohan Prof Shainesh, who is the Dean of Administration, and a keen birder himself, opened up the campus for two bird census events in Feb and Nov 2016, and he wanted to ensure that the residents on the campus also got to know more about the flora and avifauna in the place where they live. Group before setting off for the walk. Pic: Deepa Mohan Dr. Selvarajan Rajeswaran, who is doing a doctoral program at IIMB, was…