Articles by Deepa Mohan

I had been to visit Kalanjali, a music school in J P Nagar, to talk to people for an article I am writing; and while I was there, I was privileged to see two ladies who are coming there for music lesssons: The lady on the left is Malathi, who is 76 years old; she comes to learn Carnatic music. Her husband brings her over, holding her carefully by the hand, and comes back to pick her up when the hour's class is over.The lady on the right is Sudha; she holds a doctorate in Physics, was working at IISc…

 We had taken some schoolchildren to Shivansamudra Falls, (about 120 km from Bangalore)  and were in a hired bus. At both the entrance from the main road, and at the Shivansamudra Police Station, we were asked to pay up money. When we refused to pay money without a receipt being issued for the amount, and we said that we were a school group, we were allowed to go without being charged. What a greasy culture we have! Tourists are always people to be fleeced as much as possible. I wonder how many people give in to the pressure and pay?⊕

  All our IT companies spout about "corporate and social responsibiility" but don't seem to practice what they preach. Along 1st Main Road, J P Nagar 3rd Phase, all the IT companies have built offices that offer very little, or no parking. They all use the public road as a kind of free parking lot. At night, residents in this area are put to great disadvantage by all the call-centre vans and cabs parked along the road, with the drivers often ganging up to pass comments on passers-by.  Residents of the area have been complaining to the IT companies with no effect at…

  I answered the knock on my door and found two smiling ladies outside, who asked me if our names were already on the electoral rolls. "No," I said, explaining how we could not find our names either in our old locality or our present one. The ladies, Padma and Nagaratna, immediately gave me two forms to fill, and submit, along with passport photographs, for including our names in the electoral rolls.  It was good to see these ladies going to all the apartments and taking down details, meticulously. If only every government employee were as hard-working as this!  Three cheers for Padma and…

Having attended most of the performances of the Ranga Shankara Theatre Festival 2010, it's worth introspecting on the effort this festival has made to introduce different forms of folk theatre to the Bangalore audience. This year's theme was different from the normal staging of plays, and probably unique as a theatre festival presentation. The most impressive aspect of this was the huge effort that has been made to get folk theatre artists from not just our own State, but from as far afield as Assam and Manipur. Also, various forms...the singing or the "recital" forms such as the Pandavani from…

Yesterday, because of Smt. Saraswathi, who is a long-standing devotee and visitor of avery old temple in Vasanthapura...the Vasantha Vallabha Raaya Swami Devasthana, dedicated to Vishnu and Lakshmi, I happened to visit it, and I came away deeply impressed.Here's the temple....Another view:Here are the beautiful brass Dhwajasthambha (flagpole) and the pavilion behind it:Some more views of the decorations outside the top: As one enters, one sees haldi and kumkum bowls at the feet of the Dwara Palaka (Guardian of the entrance):Here's a view of one of the Dwara Palakas:  At the entrance is the Sannidhi of Garuda, Vishnu's vehicle:By sheer chance,…

Everywhere, now, roses are available at incredibly low rates....And...they seem to be roses of every hue too! Blue and green roses are made possible by tinting the water in which they are stored, or injecting dye into the stems, this vendor informed me.This was taken in BTM Layout.So...let's go and decorate our homes with roses! ⊕

In BTM Layout, I snapped this photograph late one afternoon:I was walking, thinking to myself that the BBMP had done a good job in renovating the children's playground and providing new equipment....But alas, it was sad to see that children seem so tired after school hours, that they'd rather sleep on the slide than play on it!Let's lessen the burden on our schoolchildren, and let them laugh and play like children should! ⊕

On 1st November 2010, treesforfree will be celebrating the 5th Anniversary by planting 1000 saplings in 4 different places around Bangalore. We request all of you to take time off , come with your family and plant saplings in places convenient to you.The places kept ready are:1. MLA Layout, Kalena Agrahara on Bannergatta Road. Take left turn before Gottigere. Contact person Vinod Krishna 9945396345 and treesforfree Volunteers David 9986452888 and Usha 0620226202. This is a residential layout and 140 saplings will be planted at 9.00 am with tree guards.2. Ben Enclave, on Hennur Bande Road. Ben Enclave board come to…

 She prays to Lord Krishna, who provides her with an unending stream of saris to protect her modesty. An exhausted Duhsasana falls to the ground, wondering at the mystery. The Pandavas and Draupadi curse the Kauravas, vowing to kill them in war. Dritharashtra, the father of the Kauravas, realizes the seriousness of the situation and tries, in vain, to beg forgiveness, saying he will return everything that the Pandavas lost, to them.A blind Dhritarashta stumbles into his own court.Bhishma the patriarch, and Vidura, both acknowledge her divine nature, and enraged at this, Duryodhana orders Duhsasana to place her on his…