City: Bengaluru

The starry showers that light up the night sky during Deepavali or other celebrations are a sight that has brought us joy since time immemorial. Whether in their use as firecrackers, or as missiles during wars, rockets have a history that dates back to the earliest days of human civilization. And even though we have references to similar missiles in India as far back as the age of the epics, scientists and historians trace the origin of rockets to another ancient civilisation, in China. Mysore Rockets used in a battle at Guntur in 1780. Pic: http://grin.hq.nasa.gov In a talk titled…

It all started with a few pair of shoes. Four retired men sitting together saw a group of schoolchildren pass by barefoot and decided to give shoes to them. One thing led to another and soon they were helping out local schools in looking after the health, nutritional and academic needs of children and had formed an NGO called Senior Citizens Bangalore. Launched in 2001 by the late Romesh Khanna, also the founder chairperson of Special Olympics India, the group has today grown from four to almost over 40 members and is located mainly around Indiranagar in Bangalore. Members of…

For Vijay Bhaskar Reddy Dinnepu, the urge to give back to his roots was unrelenting. And that's what led to the founding of his initiative KisanRajaFRESH, that delivers fresh fruit, procured directly from farmers, to homes and offices. This, he feels, will help both the cultivator of the fruit and its end consumer - the consumer will pay less than he presently does and despite this, the farmer will earn more. Fresh fruit, straight from the farmer A chemical engineer with a post graduate degree in computer science from IIT Madras, Dinnepu embarked on this enterprise as a natural extension…

With a large number of international schools thriving on the fringes of the city, Bangalore could well emerge as the school destination not only for those who are looking for a global flavour in schooling but also for many across the globe aspiring for quality education. These schools not only take pride in their world class infrastructure, they actually give competition to legacy schools like Sophia, Baldwin, Bishop Cotton, and Cathedral. International Schools such as The International School Bangalore (TISB), Treamis World School, Ryan International School are usually spread over 2 to 7 acres of land. "Schools are coming up…

It's the most awaited year of the day for art enthusiasts in Bangalore, a day our friends and we look forward to every year and plan ahead for. And just as we have done for four of the last five years, this year, too, we were at the Chitra Santhe exhibition organized by and held at the Karnataka Chitrakala Parishath on Sunday, January 27th. Chitra Santhe 2013, Pic: Rudreshwar Sen Most of our friends go for this event with their spouses; art being something that's going to stare back at you every day of your life, it's important to have…

"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…

Traffic Warden talks about road safety at Sherwood High School (pic: CMCA)Nearly 130 students from classes 2 to 7 in the age group of 7 years to 12 years of Sherwood High School on Bannerghatta road along with members of the civic club of the Children's Movement for Civic Awareness (CMCA) celebrated the Safety Awareness Walk and Traffic Police Day on 7th January, 2013. Held between 9 and 11 am, the walk started with an inspiring and educative talk by P. R. Rao, Deputy Chief of the Traffic Warden organisation about the importance of road safety. Inspector Diwakar (Traffic) of…

Cartoon by Rohan Chakravarty. Bird Race time again! Or to be more precise,The HSBC Bangalore Bird Race is what it's known to the wise.As soon as the registration was declared open,Thirty-six teams registered, every person hopingThat he or she would be the one to sight so many birdsThat "You're the best!" would be the judges' appreciative words.The Bird Race team consisted of a lot of names with S's...Srihari, Subbu, Sunjoy, Swarna..to sort out all the messesAnd successfully stage the event.Thanks to their work, it all wentSmoothly, with sponsorship from HSBC...A day of being in the open air, sighting birds happily.One…

After days of demolition and threats by the police, some 150 residents still remain in the quarters. Even as the police and BBMP officials are forcing them to move out on Republic Day, Maverick’s bulldozers are busy flattening the space. Post the demolishing at Ejipura EWS quarters. Pic: Julie McGuire [www.juliemcguire.com] Maverick’s representatives are reportedly giving Rs 5000 to the residents to encourage them to move out without fuss. These are people who have not found a house at all, or have not been able to pay the full advance amount for their new houses.Elizabeth, over 60 years old, lives…

Aruna Chandrasekhar's phone hasn't stopped ringing since Tuesday evening. Her desperate call for relief for people at Ejipura had actually reached a significant number of people. This, thanks to involved citizens reaching out through their personal and social networks.Aruna, in her twenties, is a freelance photographer and writer has long been involved in social activism, particularly in environmental and mining-related issues. On the morning of January 18th, her friend and activist Kaveri Indira Rajaraman, a post-doctoral fellow at the Indian Institute of Science, called her. Kaveri has been fighting for the rights of those residing in Ejipura EWS (Economically Weaker…