Articles by Manasi Paresh Kumar

His was the first play I performed in college when I foolishly forayed onto the stage. He was among the first writers I interviewed when I became a journalist. His was a regular face during theatre and cultural festivals, a tall dashing figure who walked the talk. I saw him many years later at the steel flyover satyagraha. His gait had slowed down a bit, but the nerve was as steely as as ever, even with that medical box strapped to him. And now he is gone. It is very ironic that in death, a wordsmith often leaves us speechless.…

A couple of weeks ago, Vandana Katoch’s post on social media went viral. This mother-of-two from Delhi was celebrating her son’s score of 60 percent in board exams. It made news because her son's score "wasn’t a 90%”. While we applauded and celebrated her sentiment, the question is how easy it is to be supportive of your child who has a normal score. I can tell you from personal experience that it is difficult to practise what you preach. My niece cleared her PUC exams this year as one of the top-scoring students from Mangaluru. But another niece has struggled…

Bimal Desai has been a one-man army protecting much of what we see of Cubbon Park. The 14 cases he filed over the last two decades ensured that night-time traffic was banned in the park and encroachments were kept at bay. But one of his learnings while he was fighting the system over the years, was that you can't always win. So while he continued his legal battles, Desai decided to parallelly start greening the city to compensate for its lost green cover. Using the Miyawaki method, he has created eight patches of forests in his house, which is set…

The Fort High School in Chamarajpet, built in 1907, has lain dilapidated for years. Its alumni include freedom fighter H S Doresamy, cricketer G R Vishwanath, and even the former King of Mysore Jayachamarajendra Wadiyar. Sometime back, authorities even "repaired" the school in places with vitrified tiles, completely ignoring its importance as a heritage structure. Last year, the non-profit INTACH (Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage) took up a project to restore the building to its original state. It took about eight years for INTACH to document the building, get permission from DPI (Department of Public Instruction) to…

Indian Mythology is peppered with great stories. And my favourite right now, with the elections around the corner, is the legend of Mohini - Bhasmasura. For those of you who aren’t familiar with the it, let me give you the abridged version - Lord Shiva who is pleased with the penance of Bhasmasura, the great demon, gives him a boon that he can burn anything and anybody by just placing his hand upon its head. Upon receiving the ‘gift’, Bhasmasura tries to place his hand on Lord Shiva’s head to burn him. To me, nothing else succinctly sums up my…

Congress candidate Rizwan Arshad is currently a Member of the Legislative Council (MLC). He had contested the Lok Sabha election from Bangalore Central in 2014, but had lost to P C Mohan of BJP. Arshad then got elected as MLC in 2016. He is currently the Chairman of the Communications Department of KPCC, and was formerly the President of the Karnataka Pradesh Youth Congress. Son of an advocate father and a literature teacher, Arshad is a commerce graduate who started his career through student politics in 1995-96. Age: 39 years Education: B Com Website: rizwanarshad.in Facebook: RizwanArshad Twitter: ArshadRizwan Pending…

Vatal Nagaraj, known for his hardline pro-Kannada stand, is contesting from Bangalore South constituency this election. Nagaraj is contesting in the ticket of his party, the Kannada Chalavali Vatal Paksha. Hailing from Vatala in Mysore district, Nagaraj had started his political career in Bengaluru as a corporator in 1964. He had been elected thrice as MLA from the Chamarajanagar assembly constituency, in 1989, 1994 and 2004. He had contested in the 2009 Lok Sabha election from Bangalore South constituency itself, but had lost to sitting MP Ananth Kumar. In the 2014 Lok Sabha election, Nagaraj had supported Congress candidates. Nagaraj…

Krishna Byre Gowda, Karnakata's Minister for Rural Development and Panchayat Raj (RDPR), is the Congress candidate from Bangalore North parliamentary constituency. Gowda, a second-generation politician, was first elected to the state Assembly in 2003, and was one of its youngest members at the age of 30. He was elected from Vemagal, which had fallen vacant after the death of his father Byre Gowda, a five-time MLA from the constituency. Gowda joined the Congress in 2004, and won the constituency again. In 2007, he was elected the President of the Karnataka Youth Congress Committee. In 2008, he contested and won from…

Actor and film personality Prakash Raj is contesting from Bangalore Central constituency as an independent candidate. He will be facing two-term BJP MP P C Mohan, Congress candidate and MLC Rizwan Arshad, and 19 other candidates. Prakash Raj grew up in Shanthi Nagar, near the centre of the city. Alongside a long career in theatre and films, he had also been involved in social service, having adopted villages and schools. Prakash says he now wants to be the “catalyst of change for a larger section of society than just the one-off village or school.” While he is no stranger to…

Senior politician and Rajya Sabha MP B K Hari Prasad is the Congress candidate for Bangalore South. He was considered a surprise candidate in the constituency where BJP was expected to field Tejaswini Ananth, wife of late MP Ananth Kumar. However, instead of Tejaswini, BJP has also fielded a surprise candidate, 28-year-old Tejasvi Surya, here. A resident of Malleshwaram, Hari Prasad has been a member of the Rajya Sabha four times - 1990-1996, 2004-2010, 2013-2014 (elected after Anil Lad of INC resigned, to take charge as Bellary MLA), and 2014-present. In 1999, Hari Prasad had contested from Bangalore South against…