Articles by Deepa Mohan

This Sunday, I went with my friends on a nature trail in the Bannerghatta Zoo area, and while there, we watched the camp elephants.... The females and their calves were going into the rear gate of the Zoo, but before that, the two calves had a great time, play-wrestling with each other...and we were delighted to watch!Earlier, we had seen the lone tusker, too...and kept the wall of the JLR Hill View Restaurant safely between us and the animal...tuskers are notoriously unpredictable animals!It was wonderful to watch the two baby elephants...and one of them came up to my friend, and when…

Origami.... Weekly Origami class at Jaaga on Wednesday 7:30pm (updated time)To: Krishna Panyam Hi,Krishna Panyam is changing the class time for the Origami classes at Jaaga, to 7:30pm, as it was a common request from all those who were interested. If necessary, he will postpone the start of the classes to April.The details about the classes:Date: Every Wednesday, starting on Feb 29thTime: 7:30 pm to 8:30pmLocation: Jaaga, on Double Road (www.jaaga.in)Fees: Rs 500 for 6 classes, payable on the first day.Age: At least 8-9 years.What you need to bring: Your hands! All the required materials will be provided.The purpose of the…

The SGBS Trust has put together a series of dance and music programes, to showcase theirflagship program, Unnati. Unnati is a free vocational training program for the underprivileged youth. The USP of this program is that till date the program has provided 100%campus placements to all its students. Over 31 batches comprising of 3000 students have been empowered till date.This series showcases some of the veterans as well as verypromising youngsters.All are Welcome. Entry is freeVenue: Unnati Center, #1, Ganesha Temple Road, SadanandaNagar, NGEF Layout, Bangalore - 560038. Phone: 080 25384443/4642Program Schedule:Dance4.3.12Sunday6 pmClassical Bharathanatyam duet byShivani Ramakrishnan &Shreya Ramakrishnan7.10 pmOnwards‘Nrithyakalamandiram'…

On Sivarathri evening, I photographed this serpentine queue waiting to get darshan at the Shiva temple facing Madivala Lake: Its seems one has to wait even to see God, if it is a special day! I do tend to avoid auspicious days and festtivals at temples and churches,  because of the crowds... Right next door was an Ayyappa temple, rather deserted. Why could not one go there and meditate upon Shiva? Because one needs, sometimes, an image to focus on, I suppose.  ⊕

A location quiz... Where is this? Clue: Travel!  ⊕

Perhaps not everyone is aware that less than 150 km from Bangalore is a beautiful place where the critically endangered animal, the Blackbuck (Antilope cervicapra) can be sighted.This is the Maidanahalli Blackbuck Reserve. "Maidana Halli" in Kannada, means, "Village of the open meadows". The open grassland of the Deccan Plateau have steadily shrunk due to human habitation, and it was the efforts of Wildlife Aware Nature Club (WANC) along with other NGOs and individuals from the 1990's. This resulted in the creation of the Jayamangali Blackbuck Reserve in 2007. Pics: Deepa MohanPics: Deepa MohanPics: Deepa MohanPics: Deepa MohanPics: Deepa MohanPics:…

This year's Bird Race, organised by the India Bird Races, was held on 15th January. Sunjoy Monga headed this year's race. Registrations were opened up in early January and 44 teams had registered in all. The race was sponsored, as always, by Hongkong and Shanghai Bank Corporation (HSBC).This was a good number of participants, considering the fact that it was Sankranti day.The rules, as always, were that people could form teams, and check off the various species of birds that they found in a 60 km radius around Bangalore. In this radius Nandi Hills is included, as it continues to…

 I do not often indulge in nostalgia, being a person who enjoys the vibrancy of the present as much as the glow of the past. But once in a while.... It was saddening to read of the closure of Hotel Brindavan, on M G Road.The value of everything seems to be reckoned only in money terms, in Bangalore, at least....there seems to be no value for heritage, history or culture...except if they can be marketed as "heritage", "history", and "culture". Otherwise, it is all "real estate". Sad at the inverted-commaization of our inheritance...we are now camera-toting tourists, treading over our own…

I agree that a certain latitude can be given in cars' number plates, but surely, like in the instance here: When the licence no. can be misinterpreted and misread, it must be illegal? I think we need guidelines clearly spelt out by the Bangalore Traffic Police, about what is permissible in number plates. ⊕

 I've always been interested in Origami.... so I attended the Origam workshop at Jaaga I found that the teacher, Krishna Panyam, was someone I had met earlier, on the bus tour of the lakes of BangaloreHere's one of the pieces that Krishna made:More photos can be seen on my FB album, if you click here (you need a Facebook account).Here is Krishna, starting the workshop:Here are some samples of his work: Here's a sample of (very difficult) curved origami:For more pictures, visit Krishna Panyam's Facebook album, click here  Wonderful....I enjoyed myself very much, as did all of us. ⊕