City: Bengaluru

"People like you and I can walk into restaurant when we need to use a toilet but not everyone can confidently do that," said Aiden Grew, one of the participants in pEtE maatu festival last weekend at NGMA. Aiden is from Canada but has lived in Bangalore for nearly decade. His statement was in response to Just Femme's question "Where are the public toilets in Bangalore?" Participants at the pEtE maatu festival marking their favourite spot in Bangalore. Pic: Padmalatha Ravi. As part of the festival, Just Femme had put up a map of Bangalore city and asked people questions…

A panel discussion on "Making Bengaluru Women-friendly" was held on Saturday as part of ‘pEtE maatu', a three-day festival. The panel discussion was organised by Citizen Matters and Just Femme, an online women's magazine at the National Gallery of Modern Art (NGMA), Palace Road, Bengaluru.  From L: Prakash Belawadi, C K Meena, Mithila Jha, Deepika Nagabhushan, Vasanthi Hariprakash, Siri Srinivas, S T Ramesh and Honnamma. Pic: Meera K. It evoked mixed responses from the panelists as well as the audience. Opinions flew thick and fast. Conversation covered safety of public transport, sexual harassment, attitude of police and apathy of fellow…

Many years ago, I made my first Christmas pudding from a recipe in a foreign magazine. The result was everything the blurb promised – dark, moist, rich and very more-ish. I was delighted. Having grown up on Agatha Christie, I had finally made the steamed concoction that Christie occasionally referred to in her books. The pudding captivated me so much that the neuries, achappams and laddoos that I’d also grown up on, paled in comparison. Glace cherries, raisins, almonds and candied fruit being prepared for fruit cake. The rind and juice of orange and lime are also added. Pic: Theresa…

Twenty-eight-year-old Bangalorean Pawan Kumar's inspiring journey began, when he quit his engineering degree from PESIT college, around 2000 to follow his passion for theatre and cinema. By 2003, he had set up his own theatre company ACTor Productions. In 2009, director Yograj Bhat released Manasaare to commercial success and critical acclaim within the Kannada film fraternity. But even as the film-makers, including Yograj and screenplay writer Pawan Kumar, travelled through urban and rural Karnataka observing the response to their film, they noticed a curious dichotomy. This in fact formed the basis of their next film. Pawan's transformation from actor to…

Carmel Convent High School located on east end road in Bengaluru, celebrated its silver jubilee on the 10th and 11th of December by hosting an inter-school volleyball and basketball tournament. More than 20 schools from the city participated. The school also celebrated the bronze-medal that the girls' volleyball team, won at the national level, representing the Karnataka at the Panchayat Yuva Krida Aur Khel Abhiyan (PYKKA) volleyball tournament held in Bhopal on 3rd and 4th December.   Winners of the bronze medal at PYKKA tournament with their medals. Pic: Yograj S Mudalgi The school has over 800 students with an…

Most schools in Bengaluru have completed their admissions for the coming academic year. Despite that, the state government seems to be pushing to implement the RTE (Right to Education) Act for 2011-12. The SSA (Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan) will soon submit a revised draft of the Act to the government. "We have revised the draft after taking suggestions from the public. The new draft will be submitted by end of this month," says Sandhya Venugopal Sharma, State Project Director, SSA. Ramakrishna School - 80% of the children are from low income groups. Pic: Navya P K While many private schools are…

Almost 10 months ago, we had a mini-event.  Our car turned 3 years old!  Is that a good thing?  Well it is, considering that the loan was fully paid off.  A month or so down the line, I got a letter from the car loan guys - duly filled in Form 35, NOC and Covering Letter.  All that had to be done now was the removal of hypothecation from the RC book.  Called up the loan guys and, no surprise, they firmly and politely told me that I'd have to get this done by myself. Now, I don't know about…

For most of us, our domestic help are critical to managing our household work better and many of us recognise their importance. We also wish their wellbeing and often, we try to help them by contributing, over & above monthly wages, with tea, food, old clothes, festival gifts etc. Sushila Amma with her Insurance card (left) with Urjita Lolla. Pic courtesy: Urgita Lolla. However, not many of us are well aware of the major difficulty they face in managing their and their family’s health care. Since the conditions under which they live, make them easily susceptible to illness and they…

Vijay Diwas was observed on December 16th in Bangalore by placing wreaths and paying homage to the statue of Unknown Soldier at the National Military Memorial Park premises. The day marks Indian victory in the war over Pakistan in 1971 which resulted in the liberation of Bangladesh. 65-year-old Bakya Mary, widow of late Sapper Philomina Raj, being honoured by Lokayukta Justice Santosh Hegde. Pic: Flag of Honour foundation. The Flags of Honour Foundation honoured families of martyrs from Karnataka - Rifleman K.S. Ravindra who was killed fighting terrorist in Jammu & Kashmir and BSF Constable Bheema Shankar Hadapad, who lost…

The civic club members of Cambridge School, K R Puram, Children's Movement for Civic Awareness (CMCA) organised an awareness campaign on Active Citizenship, in a two-day campaign, last month. Children signing a pledge to be active citizens. CMCA campaign at Cambridge School. Pic courtesy: CMCA. The aim of this awareness camp was to spread the message that the time has come for us, the citizens of Bangalore to snap out of our apathy and engage in local governance An awareness stall was set up in the school on the concept that for our city to transition from a ‘bad' deteriorated city to ‘good'…