City: Bengaluru

50-year-old Shalini is a software engineer, working at a Bangalore-based IT company. On January 18th, she took off from work to attend an event. A special event where she walked the ramp. Well, what was so special about the event? It was the auditions of the Bangalore leg of 'Indian Super Queen', claimed to be India’s first ever hunt for the most talented transgender. Yes, Shalini is a transgender. A cross-dresser, to be specific. “I’m participating just for fun”, she says, dressed in an elegant black saree, black halter and a clutch to match. “This is just one of my…

Pride Apartments Owners Association situated at Bilekhalahalli, opposite to State Bank of Mysore, Bannerghatta road planted 59 saplings on the way to their apartment and within their compound on January 9th, in collaboration with Trees for free, a non-profit that takes up tree planting initiatives, and sponsored by Yahoo, the technology firm, and the Rotary club of Koramangala. 59 tree saplings planted in front of Pride apartments. Pic: Sangeetha Ramakrishnan. Each plant is adopted by a child of the apartment complex. This will make them “aware about the value of trees in our environment”, explains Minu Mehra, joint secretary of…

Aneesh Vidyashankar, 18, is a violin player and student of architecture based in JP Nagar VI phase. He gave his first violin solo concert (classical carnatic style), when he was just eight. Aneesh Vidyashankar. Pic: Ramesh. He has given solo violin concerts at ISKCON, Chowdiah Memorial Hall., The Bangalore Club., Bangalore Gayana Samaja., The Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, Indian Institute of World Culture, and many more concerts.Vidyashankar has won several prizes in competitions held by various sabhas like The Gayana Samaja and Academy of Music, and the first prize at Prestigious national level Classical Music Competition-Instrumental Violin 2009 held by Prasara…

I stepped into the famous ‘Food Street’ in VV Puram and I was at once flooded with smell of hot vadas, and roasted Averebele. “Food Street” as the local community calls it, had been transformed into a culinary Mela in honour of Averebele, or cow beans. Averebele is a staple in Kannadiga cuisine and is extremely popular in winter season. The Mela is on till January 17th. Pic: Meghna Raghunathan. This Mela is organised every year by Vasavi Condiments, a store selling sweets and savouries in VV Puram. They hire street vendors from the area to make food items centred…

For many of us cooped up in offices and working against punishing deadlines, the ultimate dream is of quitting the rat race to follow our passion and be one’s own boss. But, for most, it remains just that: a chimera that we hesitate to translate into action due to life’s practicalities. Fortunately, there are some – like Aniruddha Gharat, Vijay Kumar and Aparna Tomar – who left their comfort zones to plunge into the unknown. (Left to right) Aniruddha Gharat, Vijay Kumar and Aparna Tomar. Pic: Theresa Varghese. Franchisees of Little Italy (managed by Shubham Foods – the company they…

Being a career woman, means a juggling act between home and office. Though we do believe we have super powers to do it all, we need help all the same. Be it a young unmarried girl, newly married or mother of two; we all need help.  In a city like Bangalore where nuclear families are the norm, more often than not it is the domestic workers or maids that come to the rescue of us superwomen. We may not openly accept it or even acknowledge it but talk to a woman whose maid has taken an unannounced vacation and you…

A few weeks ago, we, the residents of Brigade Millennium apartments in JP Nagar were alarmed to notice red markings on the external walls of the Millennium Avenue. These were the indications of the now familiar road widening plans of BBMP. On further investigation, we uncovered a notification (Notification No EE/MR[SE]/PR/04/09-10 dated 3-8-09, Road widening Bommanahalli Zone) of which we were previously unaware. Marking like this are found all along Millennium Avenue Brigade Millennium is a unique campus, the first of its kind, which was formed by BDA. It was developed by Brigade Enterprises Ltd as a group housing scheme,…

The air was abuzz with excitement and anticipation at Jaaga Creative Common Ground on January 6th evening. The occasion was Lakeview Award for Everyday Achievement (LAEA) held for the first time to recognise the efforts of selfless citizens residing in Shanthinagar, Langford Road, and Richmond Town "for micro-level achievements in making individuals or community life better". German artist Mathias Einhoff. Pic: Venkatesh L. The event was a brainchild of German artist Mathias Einhoff, co-director of Skulpturenpark Berlin_Zentrum and former lecturer at the Universität der Künste in Berlin. He was in the city on a Goethe-sponsored six-week artist residency at Jaaga.…

Responses to the new tenders issued by the South Western Railways for completion of the Whitefield bridge project will be opened in the third week of this month, says a top official at the Railways.In yet another twist to the long saga, Railways had terminated its contract last month with Soham Engineering Constructions, the Hyderabad-based firm that had been struggling to complete the bridge. Soham had been citing a cash flow crunch, but technical issues had caused the delay as well. One of the two ramps biting thin air at the railway intersection. Pic: Subramaniam Vincent. The source at the…

For years, science and arts have been two completely different domains of study; there never being any kind of confluence between them. But what happens when the ‘intelligence’ of science and the ‘creativity’ of arts come together on stage? That is just what Bangalore city has been witnessing over the past few days.Professor Alan Brody of Massachusetts Institute of Technology, award winning playwright and Professor of Theatre and Arts has brought with him a completely novel concept of 'Science Theatre' to enthral and entice the curiosity of students and the general masses alike.  This is an interdisciplinary method of trying…