Articles by Deepa Vaishnavi V M

Nine people lost their lives and over 60 were injured in the fire that broke out in Carlton towers on 23rd February 2010. Four years later, how safe are our buildings, especially high-rises, from the perspective of fire hazards, is a question that needs to be urgently answered. The Beyond Carlton Memorial Lecture this year, saw Rajya Sabha MP and Chairman of Namma Bengaluru Foundation, Rajeev Chandrasekhar, speaking on 'Making City Government Agencies Accountable for Public Safety'. Rajeev started his talk by mentioning that the significance of an event such as the Carlton Tragedy, while painful to those affected, served…

Basavanagudi - the very word summons the image of the big bull’s statue from which its name has been derived. Famous Bull Temple and annual Kadle Kai Parishe make this oldest locality very special to every Bangalorean.However, this area has been witnessing rapid development over the years. The extent of greenery has proportionately reduced with trees being cut everywhere. Many sewerage and water lines are almost 50 years old and need replacement. Garbage disposal, erratic water and power supply and lack of parking facilities also plague this constituency. The Tagore Circle underpass is another issue that needs to be addressed.…

Chamarajpet constituency which is made up of Padarayanapura, Jagajivanaramnagar, Rayapuram, Chalavadipalya, K R Market, Chamrajapet and Azad Nagar wards falls under to General Category. According to a recent report, "Muslim voters who number nearly 65,000 of the total 1.74 lakh are the key. The next highest are the Tamils with about 25,000 votes. There are many other communities too that have between 6,000 and 15,000 votes." Chamarajpet Assembly Constituency has 4 Women corporators. The wards are evenly split between BJP, INC and JDS with 2 corporators each.It is interesting to note that while there were 214,874 registered voters during the…

More than 500 senior citizens (aged 60 and above) took part in a 'dignified and silent protest' at Cubbon Park on August 16th 2010. This was a part of a nationwide protest, organized by the Joint Action Committee of Senior Citizens, and held with the intention of communicating to all governing bodies (at local and national levels) that most rights of senior citizens as mentioned in the constitution were not being safeguarded. In Bangalore, under the aegis of Federation of Senior Citizen Forums of Karnataka, this silent protest at Cubbon Park's Band Stand, was held between 10:30 and 11:30 am,…

Monday, June 21st saw 16 students from eight different schools participating in the 4th Annual V V Madhuranathan Memorial Debate Competition organised by Jnanajyothi, the Senior Citizens Association of Banashankari II Stage. The topic of the debate was "Law can prevent the abuse of elders by family members". Participants in the debate competition, with the Jnanajothi team. Pic: Prasad Students from standard 8th to 10th participated in this debate (some spoke in English while others spoke in Kannada) which was judged by a panel comprising of V R Kulkarni (Secretary, Swasahaya NGO), N B Jayaprakash (Director, Dignity Foundation Bengalooru Chapter)…

Jnanajyothi, the Senior Citizens Forum of Banashankari II Stage celebrated Women’s Day on March 15th 2010. It did so (for the 5th year running) by felicitating three women who have been contributing to the locality and society. The function, held at Bhageerathi Auditorium, BNM College, was conducted by the male members of Jnanajyothi. Those felicitated were: • Dr Arundhati Murthy – a doctor for over 50 years with a Fellowship from WHO, she taught many students at KMC and is one of the Directors of Anugraha Vittala Hospital. • Rajyashree Satish – an artist in AIR, an announcer in Doordarshan,…

A bull. A ballerina. A Buddha. A baby T-Rex. And a big ant. All in one place. Frozen in steel - yet appearing to be in motion. These are but a few works of artist Kalyan S Rathore that are on display at ‘Active Canvas', Jayanagar I Block, till February 23rd, 2010 in an exhibition titled ‘Verbs in Steel'. Kalyan S Rathore with one of his steel sculptures. Pic: Deepa Vaishnavi.Industrial and Product Designing, Biology, Entrepreneurship, Ergonomics and biomechanical machines, Geometry, Contemporary Furniture are words that one would usually not associate with an artist, barring a few such as Kalyan…

“Allidde Namma Mane – Amerikeya Swamiobbara Atmakathe”, the Kannada translation of ‘The Journey Home – Autobiography of an American Swamy’ was released at Prism Book Shop, Jayanagar, on January 13th. While Shri Radhanath Swami is the author of the original work ‘The Journey Home’, Chaitanya Dasa (of ISKCON) has translated it into Kannada. (Left to right) Mattur Krishnamurthy, G Venkatasubbaiah and Radhanath Swami. Pic: Deepa Vaishnavi. The simple function had Kannada Writer, Shri S Diwakar, as Master of Ceremonies. Shri G Venkatasubbaiah, 96-year-old Kannada lexicographer and author, released the book in the presence of Padmashri Mattur Krishnamurthy, the well known…

One can get a peek into the Bharatratna and Oscar Award winner’s life at the National Gallery of Modern Art (NGMA) on Palace Road, where slew of photographs by Nemai Ghosh titled, “Satyajit Ray: From Script to Screen”, are on display. They are on display till November 27th of this month. One of Satyajit Ray's photographs displayed at the National Gallery of Modern Art. Pic: Deepa Vaishnavi It is said, ‘A picture is worth a thousand words.’ This is indeed the case with these photographs which have been selected from over tens of thousands of photographs taken over a period…

That Bangalore is fast gaining recognition (long overdue, some may argue) as a hub for art related activities was further reinforced when ‘Art Etc’, a magazine of contemporary art and culture, published by Emami Chisel Art, Kolkata, was released at Chitrakala Parishat on  November 4th 2009.Dr Annapurna Garimella, art historian specialising in India, released the magazine. While addressing the gathering, she spoke about the importance of art journalism. She also spoke about the history of art journalism in India and mentioned about the trends in it during the colonial period and post independence (which saw the rewriting of Indian history…