Articles by Deepa Mohan

  I was pleasantly surprised, when I was walking back from Ranga Shankara, to see that a small park in J P Nagar 2nd phase has been designated a Senior Citizens' Park: In these days, when senior citizens have difficulty even walking on the roads and seem constantly under threat from all quarters...lack of servants, lack of family members sometimes, and lack of facilities...it was very heartening to see this! ⊕

  I've known Lokesh Mosale and Gowreesh Kapani for a while now, and have enjoyed and admired their work. Here's their invitation to see their work:  Banada Baduku Wildlife Photography Exhibition Date: December 9th - 15th, 2010 Place: Chitrakala Parishath, Bangalore Hope Springs Eternal... Welcome to Banada Baduku - an attempt to present the facts of wildlife through our photography. Your support in the previous exhibitions has doubled our enthusiasm, and has encouraged us to enhance our collection. Our inclination towards wildlife and the magnificience of nature has pushed us to explore its beauty. We have presented a unique, perhaps abstract view…

   Experience the Wilderness - A day long Nature Camp at Bannerghatta: ModuleObjectives : Sensitizing students on Nature, Ecosystem and WildlifeApproach : Demonstration of activities, Eco games, Trails and Jungle Treks, Sessions on birds and wildlife, Group work...Duration : 1 day (12 hours from 7 am to 7 pm)Venue : Camp site at Banneghatta (Jungle lodges & Resorts)Camp ScheduleMorning Session06:45 to 07:00 Assemble at Bangalore07:00 to 08:00 Arrival at Camp Site and breakfast08:00 to 09:00 Ice breaking and introduction to the nature camps09:00 to 10:00 Breakfast10:00 to 11:00 Session on forests and wildlife11:00 to 12:00 Hands on activities - Balancing the…

   Usha Madhuranathan and her daughter, Deepa Vaishnavi, have a "Kolu" display with a difference at their home in Banashankari. Long ago, Usha decided that she was less interested in having just a display of dolls. She would determine a theme each year, and arrange the kolu around that. Last year, the theme was Kannadiga literateurs; this year, it was "India's contributions to the world."Here's Usha, starting the guided tour of the display: At the front door, we were greeted by an ancient Indian Rishi, with his learned text in front of him:One tableau explained the concept of the way time is…

  "NAVILAADAVARU" A Kannada film realized by a small group of enthusiasts, produced with just Rs 35,000. After the screening there will be an interaction / discussion on the film.  www.samvaada.com hopes to develop meaningful discussion on this. Seminar Topic: "Navilaadavaru in the context of Endhiran" Date: Sunday 28th Nov 2010, 11am - 2pm @Surana College Auditorium, South End Main Road, Basavangudi, Bangalore. Speakers Include: U R AnanthaMurthy (Noted writer)G B Harish (Writer, Professor, Tumkur University)John Devaraj (Activist)Kesari Harvu (Film Maker, Bhumigita Fame, Theatre Person)David Bond (Film Enthusiast)Shekharpoorna (Film Critic, Editor, kannadasaahithya.com web journal) Special Guests: Lahari Velu (Proprietor, Lahari Audio)Narendra Babu (Film Maker, ‘kabbaddi' fame)  Media Partners TAURIANwww.kannadasaahitya.comLahari Music Contact…

   I got a reference to this on another mailing list, and have been singing this:http://ingeb.org/songs/daisydai.htmlThere was supposed to be a tandem initiative in Bangalore:http://www.bangaloremirror.com/index.aspx?page=article&sectid=10&contentid=20100909201009090155111273efd521dwhat happened to it? I didn't hear anything more about it.....who stocks tandems in Bangalore, and do they hire them out?How wonderful it would be if we could have someone like Chris Gerli whom I've met often in St.Louis:http://citycyclingtours.com/We could have specially painted cycles and tandems (to prevent theft, like they have in IISc...perhaps they could even have embedded chips for location?) for hire in Cubbon Park and Lalbagh; surely it would popularize cycling? ⊕

When we have a party at home, we take good care to clean up every trace of it afterwards, to return to a spic-and-span home...so why do we not take the same responsibility in our city?Here is a photo taken by Girish S V, in HSR Layout, of an open area, the day after Deepavali:We blithely assume that "someone" will come and clean up the mess that we've made, in the process of enjoying ourselves. All it would take is a little effort, to clean it up ourselves...but we seem to lack the civic sense, the sense of pride that…

  We got out of the train after a birdwatching trip to Dandeli, and as we were lugging our bags out, I looked up into the Eucalyptus tree in the City Station parking lot...and ....there were CHESTNUT-TAILED STARLINGS in the tree! (Click on the name for the Wiki entry.)Chestnut-tailed Starlings are local migrants and I usually enjoy seeing them feasting on the Silk-cotton flowers on that gigantic tree in Lalbagh.But who expected to see them at City Station? Not me!I promptly pulled out my MLC (Mary's Lamb Camera...my Canon SX10) and took two quick shots. Now that is a very satisfactory…

Hobitute Art Foundation is conducting a series of art workshops focusing ancient fine-art forms of India at its Center for Art Education, No. 109, 2nd Floor, ADA Rangamandira Building, JC Road, Opp. Ravindra Kalakshetra, Bangalore 560002.First in the workshop series is Madhubani Painting which is from 25th to 30th November 2010, excluding Sunday. This workshop should be attended by Interior designers, fine-art students, housewives with painting interests, and art lovers with some touch in painting or taken painting as hobby. For registration and details, pl call at 96631 03600 or 9611543543 or email at contactus@hobitute.comAlso, there will soon be weekend…

Sunrise at Bilekal Rangaswamy Betta. Pic: Deepa Mohan. When four friends from varying backgrounds share a love for the outdoors, and decide to do something about it, a good initiative is born. The four friends are Anand Sankar, Lionel Prem Lobo, Srinidhi Raghavendra and Sandeep Komarla, and together, they've created Basic Halli, a tented eco-resort a little beyond Kanakapura, about 70 km. from Bangalore. Anand had organized a bird survey in the area, so I had gone with a group of  fellow naturalists,  to  document the bird (and butterfly) species in the vicinity. "Our location is a great plus," smiles…