City: Bengaluru

Most kids I know in the age group of 6 year onwards attend at least two after-school activities in a week, be it sports, music, dance or drawing. Some attend four. Many activity classes are held twice a week, which leaves kids with precious little time for free, unstructured play.Are we over-scheduling our children's lives? Leaving them with little time for unstructured free play? File Pic It's a dilemma faced by many moms, including me. Our generation didn't exactly spend most evenings in tennis, ballet or basketball classes or our summers in swimming or science camps. Extracurricular activities have always…

Students of Indian Institute of Journalism & New Media are conducting an anonymous survey to analyse the income disparities among various groups across the country. In most countries around the world, women and men are paid differently for the same amount of work. Unfortunately India is a country that ranks really low when it comes to gender parity. Based on the Gender Gap Index 2011, India was ranked at 113 out of 135 countries. These figures tell a sad tale.Article 39(d) and 41 of the Indian Constitution state the principle for “equal pay for equal work” yet the gender pay…

The Delhi gangrape and many more rapes that were never reported hitherto but are at least getting some attention now have been able to evoke noticeable public response regarding violence against women. Finally, more and more people have started understanding that millions of women all over the globe who hide their tears silently have the right to be treated equally, gently and with respect. The Women's Day celebrated at this point carries more meaning than ever before.'Promise is a promise: Time for action to end violence against women,' the theme given by the United Nations Organisation for the Women's Day…

I know how March 8 is going to be for me.I will be wished, my praises sung, my existence celebrated and my attention vied for. I will be wooed big-time by advertisers, offered discounts on jewellery, clothes. Why, someone will creatively offer 8% off on beer and champagne... There is no escaping March 8th these days if you are a woman. But there is more to International Women's Day than discount offers and "pampering the woman in you". The real reason why this day is historic, I will leave it to your online searching skills to discover - but the…

It has happened to every woman. You are filling a form for a bank account or a driver's license or an internet connection. And the tip of your pen momentarily hovers over the section that stubbornly demands a ‘Father/Husband's Name'. In nearly every form we fill, however irrelevant to the nature of application you are filling, this information is vital. You ignore the thought as if the field were a leering lout serenading you on the street with a song and comply to the necessary evils of paperwork. A pre-paid SIM card application form picked up in Bangalore. Pic: Siri…

Residents of Sobha Daffodil apartment in HSR Layout Extension have been waiting for water for the last 4-5 months. They had paid around Rs 10 lakh to the BWSSB for water from Cauvery Stage IV Phase II project; they got pipelines laid and meters fixed. But no water comes here yet. Pic courtesy: BWSSB.org "We paid a few crores some 3-4 years back too, for water. In the last few months, we went to the local BWSSB office some 10 times. Every time, we were told that water will come the next day or next week, but there has been…

The weather in Bengaluru has become rather unusual these past few days - with dark clouds smothering the sky, accompanied by short spells of rainfall across the city. And this after a streak of particularly hot days - which went as high as a daytime maximum of 33.2°C on March 3rd, coming back down to a daytime high of 27.1°C yesterday (6th) under the influence of clouds and spells of rain.With all apparently unusual weather in the city comes the talk of climate change and how the climate of the city is becoming worse every year. While the city's climate…

A very eminent minister to the Maharaja of Mysore, M A Srinivasan, had once compared the philosophy of Golf with the essence of Bhagavad Gita - "Address yourself to your duty, O Arjuna, choose your weapon, act, and do not look up to see the fruit of your action". Golf. Growing up in a non-Army middle class background in Bangalore, my introduction to the sport was through the world of P G Wodehouse. Relationships were made or broken based on the characters' ‘handicap'.A sport that originated in pristine greens of Scotland - St Andrews being the Mecca of Golf -…

What would it be, to stand atop a gold mill tailing dump and be a sole witness to century old gold fields, sophisticated mining machinery and the deserted British colonial township of yesteryears? Or how would it be to stand amidst a shakthi and tantric temple which dates back to Ganga period and hear stories of sacrifices and wishes fulfilled from the bygone era? If this is the kind of experience you are seeking then head out to Kolar, one of the prosperous towns of Karnataka during the British era. KGF. Pic: Usha Hariprasad History of Kolar Abandoned forts, temples,…

40% of all the Cauvery water that gets pumped into the city - from a distance of about 140 km and to a height of 500m, at a cost of Rs 300 crores a year is said to be unaccounted for. This is either wasted as a result of leaks or is stolen or not recorded because of faulty meters, thus making it ‘Non-Revenue Water (NRW)' or ‘Unaccounted For Water (UFW)'. BWSSB has woken up to this alarming reality and is trying to address a part of the problem through a project funded by the Japan Bank of International Co-operation…