City: Bengaluru

Some weeks ago I was driving my red Omni car through the Richmond Town area, heading towards Domlur. I needed to turn right at Johnson Market-Hosur Road towards Austin Town. It was close to noon and traffic is often sparse at that time of day. The light was green and I followed the other moving vehicles. Suddenly, the traffic from the other side started moving. It was then apparent that the light had turned red for us and I had failed to stop. I managed to avoid the oncoming vehicles and complete the turn into the right lane, only to…

Glass House in the Rain. Pic: Srikanth A P.Ducks in the drizzle. Pic: Srikanth A P.Just drizzled. Pic: Srikanth A P.Something hot. Pic: Srikanth A P.Dining table of Lalbagh. Pic: Srikanth A P.State Central Library in Cubbon Park. Pic: Srikanth A P.‹ › $(document).ready(function(){ $('.carousel .carousel-inner .item').first().attr('class', 'active item');}); ⊕

It’s as if it was just last weekend I realised that the strange-shaped building coming up near my home was ready and would be a new hub for theatre in south Bangalore. The years that followed established this role firmly, and it was with pride that I took my place in the queue for the first of the plays that Ranga Shankara was staging to celebrate its fifth anniversary. It’s time to take stock, perhaps, of what Ranga Shankara has achieved and what it yet needs to do. Srinivasan and Jagadish of Ranga Shankara ensure that all aspects of plays…

The long-delayed bridge over the railway line at the Whitefield Railway Station in Kadugodi, northeastern Bengaluru, has received a ‘second-life’ of sorts, with the Hyderabad based-contractor Soham Engineering Constructions, restarting work last week. Soham had stopped work on the project for almost four  weeks, citing reasons of acute cash shortage. Steel girder sections lie covered in tarapaulin sheets, awaiting long overdue welding approval. Pic: Subramaniam Vincent. In a second and related development that could give a further fillip to the project, citizens living on the northern side of the tracks have offered to mobilise funds for Soham to help them…

The amiable and witty K K S Murthy, the face and voice of one of Bengaluru’s oldest and iconic landmarks took around 20 of us down an enchanting memory lane on October 10th, a pleasant Saturday evening.It was part of Jamming through October festival organised by Maraa , a community media collective based in Bangalore.Murthy's bibliophilic father K B K Rao practised as a lawyer in Kurnool (Andhra Pradesh). "Father would visit Bangalore on merely receiving a post card from auctioneers in Bangalore about families leaving the city selling used books. I have seen people from Kerala carrying and selling…

Hampi – this word alone is enough to bring to mind pictures of grandeur, vastness, architecture, history and  destruction. The magnificant scenes of Hampi were captured  in more than 30 paintings by artist Ganesh P Doddamani. The paintings were on display and sale at Chitrakala Parishat last week. Artist Doddamani with his paintings of Hampi. Pic: Deepa Vaishnavi. Ganesh Doddamani, a native of Ramdurg Village in Belgaum, hails from a family of artists. He first began painting when he was around 12 years of age and further honed his skill in Shantiniketan, West Bengal. The peace and  tranquility there led…

That Bangalore is fast gaining recognition (long overdue, some may argue) as a hub for art related activities was further reinforced when ‘Art Etc’, a magazine of contemporary art and culture, published by Emami Chisel Art, Kolkata, was released at Chitrakala Parishat on  November 4th 2009.Dr Annapurna Garimella, art historian specialising in India, released the magazine. While addressing the gathering, she spoke about the importance of art journalism. She also spoke about the history of art journalism in India and mentioned about the trends in it during the colonial period and post independence (which saw the rewriting of Indian history…

The Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) of the BBMP will soon begin to decide and approve all major road projects in Bengaluru’s limits. This is confirmed by the Technical Advisor to the BBMP Commissioner and Member of TAC, H Raja Simha. So far, the TAC was approving grade separator and road widening works for the BBMP along the 12-arterial corridors (major roads going out of the city) only. For grade separator projects outside the corridors, TAC was not involved. But now, Simha says a decision has been taken for all such projects to be sent to TAC for approval. Additional Commissioner…

Following a long wait, Bengaluru inaugurated its very own National Gallery of Modern Art earlier this year. Functioning under the Ministry of Culture, Government of India, National Gallery has its head quarters in New Delhi, and another centre in Mumbai. Originally established in 1954, NGMA developed as a premiere institute for the housing and display of modern and contemporary art objects, of which they currently have more than 17,000. Over 500 items from this collection – paintings, sculptures, prints - were selected to be part of the inaugural exhibition at the Bengaluru centre with the title of ‘Signposts of the…

The city of Bangalore is constantly changing. With the numerous flyovers, the metro which promises to be completed in a few years, the shopping malls coming up every day and the ever changing urban population of Bangalore, the city seems to be transforming every minute. However, nestled in between the green locales of the city, Bangalore’s foreign cultural centres seem to have endured the test of time. Call it a quiet escape to an art exhibition or a keen desire to learn new languages; Bangaloreans still take that trip to these centres; even if it means travelling from one part…