Articles by Deepa Mohan

In J P Nagar today, BSNL was conducting a Telephone Mela, with both new connections, mobile phones and internet connections being offered at a considerable discount.Here's the sign:Another view of the shamiana:The place was abuzz with people, and the staff were extremely courteous and helpful.Here are some of them, including Ms. Nagarathnamma (fittingly, speaking on the telephone), whom I have personally found very capable and helpful on several occasions:What a difference from the days when one had to make huge deposits, and wait several years for a telephone connection! It is good to see Government agencies being so proactive. I…

I had been to Barcamp7 at IIM-B, and participated in a freewheeling discussion on finding accomodation in Bangalore, along with Meera. On the way out, simultaneous sunshine and showers brought out this beautiful double rainbow against the African Tulips and the Sampige trees.I was moved to pen these lines:You're feeling down and out.You feel old.There's a storm about.You feel cold.The storm clouds mass;the showers come to pass.Suddenly, in the shrouds of grey rainclouds--A rainbow in the sky! No...there are two!Science can tell you why....but whoWants to know why? Do you?A rainbow is like life:Full of both happiness and strife.When there…

Arundhati Nag - someone whom I have associated with theatre in Bangalore, and theatre in Kannada, for a long time. And whom I have associated with other things worth emulating: grit, the never-say-die spirit, the persistence and the determination to achieve a stated goal, and more. So a meeting with her was something that I was looking forward to, even if I had to wait from 4 PM to 5.20 PM- I got my chance to talk to this icon of theatre. "Let's go from the basics," I tell her as I sit opposite her at the lovely cafe at…

When we start incorporating ancient concepts in a modern idiom, sometimes, not a new idiom, but a new idiocy, is born...A prime example is trying to incorporate the concepts of "Vastu" in modern buildings; this results in weird architecture like this: Instead of having that water tank set four-square on the building, it looks like some tacked-on piece of architecture...an architect told me that often, owners of buildings are very keen that however strange the building looks, it must conform to what their "vastu" experts say. The building just has to be built in such ways, then! But it does…

Piracy? Something to be ashamed of? Not at all! Everything is open and above board now... So...now you know where to get your official pirated stuff now!⊕

The Tata Crucible Corporate Quiz was conducted in its fifth edition on the 31st of August 2008, at the NIMHANS Convention Centre.The quiz has proved popular enough for the organisers to have moved the venue from the St John's auditorium to the larger NIMHANS Convention Centre on Hosur Road. The quizmaster, Giri ‘Pickbrain’ Balasubramaniam has been a popular quizmaster in several quizzing circles; and he says that the Crucible Quiz seeks to challenge young minds with ‘thetoughest business quiz in India’. The Tata group is ‘focusing its communication at youth as a key audience cluster', and as part of this…

It's a challenge to "work on an adaptation of an English translation of a Russian play", as the brochure given by Centre for Film and Drama (CFD) said, and the Bangalore angle intrigued me sufficiently to walk down to Ranga Shankara to see the production at its first showing on the 4th of this month. I was not disappointed. City of Gardens - Play (Pic: Deepa Mohan)‘City of Gardens' is an adaptation of Anton Chekov's ‘The Cherry Orchard’, and has been converted into an allegory for Bangalore by Abhishek Majumdar and Jisha Menon, with inputs from Arshia Sattar, Gautam Raja,…

I was walking down the Inner Ring Road, from Jayadeva Circle towards Silk Board, and was struck by the difference in the way roads are designed now. No trees, no shade, to make the pedestrians' lot a little easier....but that was less of a problem than the amount of space allocated to walk on. Here's the footpath just past the Jayadeva flyover....If you drive on the new roads of Bangalore, you are likely to be late, but if you try to walk on the new roads of Bangalore, you may be the late pedestrian!⊕

Here's the image of Ganesha which was installed and worshipped in our apartment building today:As I photographed the homa being conducted, I fancied that I could see the image of Ganesha in the flames:With a little imagination, one can see Ganesha, facing left, his fan-ear on the right-hand side, his head, single tusk and rounded belly on the left-hand side....!I hope Vinayaka Chaturthi brings peace and plenty to the land, and to the homes of the devotees!⊕

On 14th August 2008, the United States Consulate decided, as part of their fresh initiative to engage with the Indian public, to host a panel discussion on "Meeting the Challenges of Terrorism", at the Taj West End, Bangalore. This was done along with EVAA (Exchange Visitors Alumni Association), of which Janaki Murali, (Group Leader, Education and Research, Infosys Technologies) is the President for the southern region. The 'Challenges of Terrorism' discussion on 14 August, at Taj West End (Pic: Deepa Mohan)The US Consulate was represented by Ragini Gupta, Consul for Cultural Affairs. The panel discussion was led by Dr D…