Articles by Deepa Mohan

On Id-ul-Adha, the Moon, too, seems to have sacrificed some of Herself:The festival is also called Bakrid, and this is not because the Bakri (Goat) is beingvenerated, it's because it is going to be sacrificed...I was musing on how the concept of sacrificing something to appease a Higher Power came about... this is what the Wiki had to say.I wonder if the gentle, repressed people of today's urban societies realize that the pumpkins that they smash into the roads after smearing them with vermilion....are a symbol of blood sacrifice? I listened to one elderly gentleman ("I am proud to be…

 Please click here    to get the details of the WWF India Wildlife quiz online, from Oct 1 to 7, for children of Class 6, 7 and 8. For the offline quiz, which will be held in Bangalore as well as other cities,  click here for details.  ⊕

 The Government has declared many cycling lanes and Jayanagar ought to be a pleaurable place for cyclists. But the reality? Ah, that's different. Lots of motorists happily use the space as "free parking", and even the police sometimes put their metal barricades here. People pile their trash in the lanes, or store construction material there.So...in actual practice...the cycling lanes are sometimes more dangerous than just keeping on the road...because one is suddenly forced into the traffic, and exposed to the hazards of the motorized traffic behind one. ⊕

Instead of talking about it, I'll let these two photographs that I took (these were not on any small roads, but the main highway to the airport) do the speaking: Imagine having a child, without a helmet, asleep on a two-wheeler, and calmly carrying on!And this one:Imagine the plight of the child for whom that perambulator is meant, if this is the attitude that is being shown towards safety...  I'm sure these are educated people. The motto seems to be, "That accident will not happen to US, we can do as we please."  I'm frankly amazed that there are not more…

 We often go to the Arikere Reserve Forest on nature trails, sometimes our own group, sometimes taking children or adults.   But why do people have to dump trash and litter everywhere?   ⊕

   Piping hot BFK...Baitu Filter Kaapi. Baitu is a Bangalore institution...it's actually, "divide the coffee by two". This gives a lovely thimble-shot of piping hot coffee where one doesn't have to worry about the calories or the caffeine...and yet have the lovely taste of filter coffee on one's palate for a long while!      The fractions can get even more complicated...it can be 2 by 3 or 5 by 7, and so on....in Mumbai, such division of chai is called "cutting chai". We also have the concept of "Half Tea" or "Half Coffee" or "Mini Tea/Coffee" here in Bangalore. Adigas,…

If you are a customer of Indane gas cylinders, and you do not book the cylinder at least once in 90 days, your customer number gets blocked and you have to make the trip to the dealer, produce a proof of residence, and get the block released. People who live alone or travel a lot are particularly harassed by this senseless rule. If I have a history of low usage of the cooking gas, surely I can be registered as such, and I need not be troubled each time I want to book the cylinder? And in today's scenario of petroleum products,…

Gender roles in our society is a much debated topic. How do other living beings handle this? Let’s take birds as an example.It seems to be the general rule (with a few exceptions, of course) that the female of the species is always duller, and less brightly coloured than the male. Here’s a beautiful bird that can often be seen in Lalbagh.... the male Asian Paradise Flycatcher. Male Asian Paradise Flycatcher. Pic: Deepa Mohan As you can see, this is a spectacular bird, and it definitely catches the attention of the observer as it flies around, flaunting that ribbon of…

It was great to see this image:  But we hope something like this will not happen:  Or something like this...!  Thanks to  Chidambaram Subrmanian for the photos and the link to the video.  ⊕

Sadly, it's only when some people leave the scene that one is moved to write about the immense worth of their lives and work. Though I had met Dr Joseph George (1st October 1921 - 9th July 2012), it was only when he passed away, that I realised that I could have documented this doyen of ornithology in Bangalore, much earlier.Dr Joseph George got the first rank in his bachelor's degree, studying at St Joseph's College, Trichy, and went on to continue his studies at Agra University, with a scholarship. He later completed his doctoral degree. Dr Joseph George. Pic:…