Articles by Jatin Prabhu

Malatesh Garadimani stands over the desk in Gallery No. 1, at Bangalore's beacon of fine art - Chitrakala Parishath. His straight face doesn't melt to my greeting smile, but instead exudes an intense self-belief. I am not as yet aware that he is a polio-victim who is being bolstered up by prosthetic apparatus. But, the infirmity of his lower limbs hasn't stopped him from excelling with his upper ones. It is such self-empowerment that induced CKP alumni and art teacher at Bangalore's Association of People with Disability - Shivubodha - to invite Malatesh into this prestigious space. After our introductions,…

"I am amazed to see how this barren land has been transformed into an oasis! " exclaims Prashanth Bhat, a prolific landscaper. He pauses in his speech and gently leans over the podium, to reabsorb the expanse of manicured verdure lying before him. The evidently humbled man takes a breath to proceed, "Such initiatives like this Horticultural Training Centre (HTC) are threatening my own job as a inner-city landscaper," he comments. The gesture is obviously dispensed in tribute to the dazzling dozen-year-old venue.But the actual occasion Bhat is gracing is the 25-year anniversary celebrations of the HTC. The Centre, as…

"I want a Bangalore, where a child and an elderly person can both feel safe while crossing the road", proclaimed esteemed Kannada writer, Sri Ananthamurthy, at the recent Bangalore Literature Festival, 2012. Much more than a reputed author and social commentator, this distinguished gentleman has driven home the point about our city's warped road sensibility. However, these words of wisdom from a celebrated old guru, is something that Bangalore apparently is least inclined to heed.In this modern burgeoning city and India's fifth largest metropolis, the chances of a pedestrian crossing the street without being knocked down are looking progressively bleak.…

"I am so glad I share a blooming passion with Tipu Sultan!" exclaims one of Bangalore's top florists Dr Norma Prabhu, while browsing through the blossoms at the city's Republic Day Flower Show 2013 in Lalbagh. A homeopathic doctor, Norma also devotes a lot of time to her flower retail outlet Simply Elegant and is a well-known name when it comes to marriage hall decorations across Bangalore. Her beautiful arrangements are partly fed with flowers that she farms herself. And just as her regal idol over 200 years earlier, she harbours an overwhelming affinity for flowers and a widespread knowledge…

"If someone's looking for Salman Rushdie's Sea of Stories, sail to White Field," I heard a fellow bookworm tell me. So I wiggled out of a dying week and curiously headed out for a truly enlivening time. Over the past weekend, Bangalore was treated to a journey into the literary mind. Novelists, playwrights, short-story authors, poets, lyricists, journalists and droves of word-junkies converged at White Field's Jagriti theatre for the Lit-Fest Lekhana.  After readings of their Indian-language poetry, Indian Ensemble Theatre's Abhishek Majumdar and Sandeep Shikar, chat with their listeners. Pic: Jatin Prabhu From January 18th through 20th, this popular…