Articles by Deepa Mohan

Music is an integral part of everyone's lives. Is there a man or a woman, who does not, at the very least, hum the latest hit song as he or she goes about her daily work? But though it's all-pervasive, the learning and teaching of music in Bangalore presents a varied and interesting picture. How do people, especially children choose what kind of music to learn? What keeps them going to the music classes, what makes them stop, and what makes them take to it as a profession? I talked to a variety of people to find some answers. Guitar…

In connection with the 150th birth anniversary of India's first Nobel Laureate, Rabindranath Tagore (referred to as Robi Thakur by Bengalis), several cultural organisations in Bangalore held celebrations. One of these was Jagriti, the recently-opened theatre space in Whitefield. Jagriti's line up for the week-long celebrations were very impressive. It consisted of the screening of several classic movies based on  Tagore's stories, such as "Kabuliwallah", "Chokher Bali", "Charulata", and a documentary by Satyajit Ray.  Every evening, the play, "Crisis of Civilization: A Journey with Tagore" was staged. The play ran for 90 minutes, approximately. It would not be really accurate,…

  It's rare to find a book written for one city, that can be used as a ready reckoner for several others! But that's the case with "Just Look Up....to see the magic in the trees around you", a very handy booklet written by Sadhana Ramchander, and published by Blue Pencil Creative.The book may be aimed at children...but it is very useful for adults, too, who'd like to look around them at the common trees in the cities.Many "handbooks" or field guides are rather unwieldy to take along with one on one's outings; especially if they are hardbound. Sadhana's book is…

I find that BBMP/BMTC combination has been experimenting with various designs for bus stops...but still, a very vital piece is missing from almost every bus stop that I see. This...is a board that should, at the very least, announce what bus routes are going through the stop. Why is there no provision for this essential piece of information on any bus stop, when there seems to be so much space devoted to advertising?Another instance of the BMTC/BBMP being less user-friendly than they should be. All it takes is a little imagination..or observation, when our top officials go junketing to Singapore…

"Sumin", as my young daughter used to say, is what I do regularly in the summer. Sumin is such a great all-round exercise; and if there is a pool in your own apartment building, like I have, you don't have to brave the city traffic to get to the pool, either. A quick change of costume, and there I am, ready to slip into the pool (this is a nice way of ssying that I am still afraid to jump in!).I still do only the backstroke, as it gets far less water into my Ear-Nose-Throat system, and the other compelling…

  Our pavements (or footpaths or sidewalks) are very interesting places. No bland stretch of tiles or cement for us; we have a rich variety of life teeming on our footpaths (indeed, I often think they are called footpaths because the local Government makes them a foot higher than the road...so they are not meant for the easy use of pedestrians, but for people to earn their livelihoods on space-without-rent!)I walked to Jayangar 9th Block a few days ago, and got...The "alteration" tailors.They set up shop with their treadle (note, no electricity..very green!)machines, and for a pittance, will mend tears and…

Here's a nice image of the past and the present, juxtaposed...This was right next to Ranga Shankara, where I had gone to watch the end-of-workshop presentation that the children were doing for their parents and others. The mural is of a Yakshagana artiste, with his colourful headgear.... a popular art form in the past. The present is the increased pace of life, represented by the automobile. This car is the Maruti 800, which truly brought car ownership to the masses in India.And what happens when the past, and the present, inevitably, melt into the future? Here's what will take one…

 Here's the account of one young man, amongst the many students who take the various entrance examinations for professional colleges.N Arun Kumar took his Common Entrance Test (CET) on the 27th and 28th of March. The registration for this examination was done in a systematic way through his college (Christ Junior College). The application was done about a month prior to the exam, and the hall tickets were received a few days ahead of the exam. Arun's venue was the Oxford Pre university college in J P Nagar."Many of my college mates had to travel far to their venue," he…

  Though the bird count at the Bannerghatta Zoo area was on the low side today (this seemed to be more of an "audio" than a "visual" day, with many more birds being heard than seen!)...we did see a lot of interesting stuff as usual. Here's one: Isn't that really beautiful...and doesn't it look like the prismatic effect of an oil slick on the puddle? Well...it does, and though it IS an oil slick in a way, it's far more complex than that.Diatoms( here is the Wiki link about them)are a type of phytoplankton, which originated during the Jurassic period. Now, they…

  Having had to postpone our trip to Nandi Hills due to torrential rains on Saturday, we decided to make the trip on Sunday morning, and Anand, Kannan, Priyanka, Sushil, Vaibhav, and I left at 4.30am on Sunday morning.I rarely post black-and-white photos, but this view of the ramparts of the Nandi Hills wall, the trees and the clouds...and that monkey sitting there...needs bnw! Here's one of the things that's special about Nandi Hills: Here we are, having stopped on the road up, to see what we could sight:I used the little Fuji camera to capture the beautiful view of the hills…