City: Bengaluru

Here is a simple process to initiate waste management that results in maximum participation among residents and sustained evolution of the practice. Pic source: Green Commandos Preparation / Infrastructure The first phase of the entire drive is to set up the related infrastructure to support the waste segregation initiative at the office. The infrastructure involves the following steps: Determining the service provider who will collect the dry recyclables on a regular basis. This step also involves coming to a common understanding on the frequency of collection and financial obligations of the service providers. The number of segregations required at the…

Patience and persistence are the words that best describe Prabha Mallesh, who spent almost half of her life - painting. Prabha, 68, has achieved an expertise in ‘Mysore style' traditional painting and received many awards including the National Award in 1999. She lives in HSR Layout and has held exhibitions of her art around the world, and still continues her journey with traditional painting. Pic: Anisha Nair Excerpts from InterviewHow did you come across traditional mysore style painting and develop your interests in that?We do poojas, believe in God and that influenced me. Earlier I was into portrait and landscape…

We had met Somesh, BDA Engineer in charge of lakes in South Bangalore, requesting him to take action against construction debris being dumped in Haralukunte Kere. He promised action. But nothing has happened so far. Dumping continues unabated, more of the lake is missing now, than when we complained back in July. Pic: Balasubramaniam Thirunavakkarasu At the same meeting, we were promised that two security guards or Home Guards, will keep watch at the lake, none have arrived so far. BDA did however send a letter to the HSR Layout Police Inspector on 5th September, asking them to cease the…

BBMP's recent entry into Facebook may have impressed a few, what with the Bengaluru Traffic Police holding fort well on the social media. But not Justice Santosh Hegde. "BBMP is a den of corruption", he says, in the direct and unhesitating way he is known to speak.Justice Santosh Hegde, a man who needs no introduction to Bangaloreans, recently endorsed Citizen Matters' 'Living in Bengaluru' book at an event in Whitefield. Subramaniam Vincent, Editor, talked with him over a number of recent political and graft-related developments in the city, as they drove to the venue. This interview happened in mid-September when…

Slayer - an American band, is one of the big heavy metal bands around the world. It will be holding its first ever concert in India on October 20, 2012. But there will be no Palace Grounds to welcome them. Government put a ban on the commercial activities at Palace Grounds in early August this year. Instead, the band is performing in Bharatiya city, a 125 acre township in Hebbal.Naina Roy, a Fashion Designer from HSR layout, says, "The big daddies of thrash metal - Slayer is playing on October 20 in Bangalore. I am a big fan, but I…

On August 10th, 2012, an elderly couple’s decomposed bodies were found in JP Nagar 1st phase, they were murdered three days earlier. 60-year-old Lakshmidevamma was bludgeoned to death at her house on July 4th in Prakash Nagar. In both cases, they were alone, at the time of the crime. Elderly People need security. Pic: Abhishek Angad National Crime Records Bureau’s data or the local police, do not have any specific reports on crimes against elderly. Physical abuse, robbery, stealing, harassment and sometimes murder come under this category. However, according to a study conducted by NGO Helpage India, in the year…

The September edition of SportsMeet witnessed talks by Arjuna awardee Reeth Abraham,  entrepreneur Gautam Mukherjee and student and hockey fan Manoj Mahala.SportsMeet is an informal monthly meet up for the sports professionals and enthusiasts.Winner of several medals in both national and international level, athlete Reeth Abraham, talked about - Giving back to sports. She said sports persons or people with sports background should occupy important positions in sports organisations; however this doesn’t happen much in India; Many Indian sportsmen came from poor or rural backgrounds as they saw sports as an opportunity to get a government job. Now due to…

Last year, state government got flak for promoting the teaching of Bhagavat Gita in schools. Activists and educationists had branded this as ‘saffronisation' of education. But, for decades, Hindu organisations have been promoting Hinduism in schools throughout the state. Prominent of these is Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), an organisation that actively promotes Hindutva. VHP holds exams, competitions, sloka classes etc for schools in the city. Ramakrishna Mission in Ulsoor, and ISKCON (International Society for Krishna Consciousness), are other organisations that have similar programmes. However, such work has continued without getting the ‘saffronisation' tag. Culture comes from religion VHP has been…

The book "Selected Poems" - poems of Subramania Bharati translated from Tamil into English by Usha Rajagopalan was released in Bangalore on September 14th. Usha Rajagopalan and Geetha Srikrishnan. Pic: Arathi Manay Yajaman Usha's relationship with writing began in her childhood. "I was always into reading and writing, and assumed that it was a part of every child's life. My grandfather would insist I write a review on every book I read, and would later go through the reviews, marking out phrases or words that he thought were well used in the context, as well as those that could be…

September 29th is observed as world Heart day. Cardiovascular diseases causes at least 17 million people deaths annually.Heart attack typically occurs when blood supply to heart is blocked. If the blockage is temporary, it results in chest pain or ‘Angina.’ If it is prolonged and irreversible, it leads to death of heart muscles, and is called heart attack. It can and does lead to death in a significant number of cases, if immediate treatment is not provided. It is estimated that 50 percent of all deaths due to heart attack occurs in first hour. Pic courtesy: Wikimedia commons It is…