City: Bengaluru

Recently, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) launched a 1000 rupee silver commemorative coin which was released in July-August 2012 to commemorate of 1000 years of the Brihadeeswarar temple in Thanjavur, Tamil Nadu. Although, the Parliament of India approved a bill in 1975 to mint coins up to denominations of Rs 1000, the government never issued coins worth more than Rs. 150. The 1000 rupee coin was issued to mark a very significant aspect of Indian history. Incidentally, it is the first time that the Mumbai Mint issued the silver coin of Rs. 1000. The coin, weighing 35 gm, contains…

In 1802, Alexander von Humboldt climbed towards the crater of Mount Chimbarazo in Ecuador, 20,480 ft. above sea level. It was believed then that this was the highest point any man had climbed; Mt Chimbarazo was then considered the highest (volcanic) mountain in the world. It was many decades later that the height of the peaks of the Himalayas were established. Mt. Everest (in 1852) at 29,002 ft. was the highest mountain in the world - nearly two miles above the spot at Chimbarazo where Humboldt stopped his ascent at 19,286 ft. Humboldt, between 1799 and 1805, explored Central America…

"Immorality does not consist in being different. It consists in not allowing others to be so. It is not the individual whose sexual relations depart from the social custom who is immoral - but those are immoral who would penalize him for being different. A law-abiding citizen who respects the rights and dignities of others, if he is made to suffer merely for deviating from the conventional norm, is not the offender - he is the victim".This is a quote from the rare book 'The World of Homosexuals' written by Shakuntala Devi, the mathematical wizard of India who passed away…

This Sunday, ‘Jaaga', a social meet up space for tech groups, artists and social organisations, saw a unique event. The première of the documentary 'Good Girls Don't Dance' by Padmalatha Ravi was packed with audience, while a few had to stand in order to watch the show. The show began after a small introduction by Padmalatha Ravi, the director of the documentary. The documentary started with a flurry of clips where bemused people at different places in and around Bangalore, pondered on how to answer the question, ‘What do you mean by a good girl?' The terms traditional, docile, decent,…

The south Indian state of Karnataka has over 29,000 villages spread across a 190,000 square kilometres. Anyone who travels a little in the state quickly realises that there are common village names that keep recurring. In Bangalore in particular, lakhs of people from all over India have  settled down and many travel from Bommanahali to Kodihalli or Marathhalli everyday. There is a story here.  Here’s a comprehensive look at the most common village names in Karnataka, prepared using the Census 2011 village directory for the state. Click on image to enlarge It turns out that the most common village name…

Do you love salads but are bored with the regular slices of tomatoes or cucumber? Well, try something different for a change- a Salsa fresca! Watermelon salsa and Pineapple salsa Not to be confused with the Latin-American dance form, a salsa is a kind of spicy sauce popular in Mexican cuisine. The basic ingredients consist of chopped fresh tomatoes, green chilies, coriander, onions, lime juice and sometimes even capsicum. Mango Salsa Ideal for the Indian palate, salsas are now a popular dish at most parties and can be served as dips for chips or as a salad. The most popular…

Post-Delhi gang rape, there have been many attempts at various levels, to understand the phenomenon of sexual violence on women, and the norm the traditional Indian society has set on Indian women. Many outspoken traditionalists have openly declared that women need to cover themselves, should not go out after evening, should be a ‘good girl’ and obey other moral bindings. Padmalatha Ravi, a Bangalore-based journalist, formerly associated with Citizen Matters as Associate Editor, has made an attempt to explore the mindset of society. The result is the documentary - Good Girls Don't Dance. Stills from 'Good Girls Don't Dance' Stills…

As residents of Bangalore, many of us know that the transport situation in the city is far from ideal. And considering the status of progress of various transport initiatives, the road to an efficient urban transportation strategy is fraught with obstacles. The process is bound to be messy and appears to be expensive in terms of time, money and the effort it will demand. However, the cost of not doing the integration is far higher than that of avoidng it. Radha Chanchani, an urban planner working with the Indian Institute of Science, said, "Urban planners consider transportation as an important…

Plenty will be written, said, read, and heard over the next few days around the return of the Congress to Karnataka. Plenty will also be said about how the incoming chief minister plans to fix Bengaluru, the ailing capital city. As if this party did not have opportunities in the past. At the end of this article, I’m going to summarise what this verdict means to me. I will also add a few key areas where I would like to see real change. But before that, let’s take a deeper look at the context under which our elections are being…

When I dropped by the office to see if I could help Citizen Matters with election coverage, I had no idea what to expect. Half an hour into our conversation, I’m asked if I want to interview Uday Garudachar, standing for elections in Chickpet on a BJP ticket. "Does your phone record calls?" Here was a man whose company’s chequered history I'd been following for the last three months while volunteering at Ejipura. And here was the one chance I had to speak to him on record; but my phone had no internal memory for a voice recorder app. I…