City: Bengaluru

Mixed use of our roads has long been both a plus and a minus in Bengaluru, especially in ‘shopping’ areas like Commercial Street and Brigade Road. Recently, some children from Poorna Learning Centre, a school in north Bengaluru decided to address the issue by conducting a survey and presenting a report.  Khyati Shah (right) talking to a shopper (pic: T Deepan) Anyone who has gone to Commercial Street, especially on weekends, cannot be oblivious to the difficulties that pedestrians face, due to the traffic on that narrow street. G V Dasarathi (aka Das) and his daughter Amala saw a woman…

It is always a challenge to reach out to people of our own community. I have been blogging for a couple of years now and I have learned that many of my articles can be much more tuned to reach an even larger audience. Discussion in progress at the Center for Internet and Society (pic courtesy: Omshivaprakash H L )I attended a discussion on 29th March at the Center for Internet and Society at Cunningam Road. The session organized by some of us from the Sampada Technical Group in association with the Center for Internet and Society to learn more…

Brinjal, badanekayi, the king of vegetables comes with its own crown! Let's revisit the world of Brinjal and explore it's amazing diversity! It is a celebration of the diversity of brinjals and to contemplate our role in protecting it. Good Food, healthy food, safe food... should be a primary concern for all of us. The Brinjal festival to be held at Lalbagh is an attempt to bring a better consciousness and respect for our rich diverse food. Genetically Modified (GM) food crops pose a grave threat to the diversity and to our health as consumers. Let us all make informed…

Business A 24/7 office sans doors in Namma Bengaluru! RMS (Railway Mail Service) works as a chain between people who use the postal service. Every office has a working schedule which entails shutting down for a certain period in 24 hours. But the RMS office at the central railway station in Majestic remains open 24/7. Interestingly this office does not have doors at all. Employees of RMS work round the clock. The lights of the office goes off only during power cuts. Mail distribution workers take care of the office in shifts. (Prajavani, Monday, Mar 30) Flower market fragrant with…

We all know Capt. Gopinath as the pioneer of low cost aviation in India. It's another matter that this whole business model is no longer viable, thanks to the vagaries of petrol price fluctuation and governmental rules and regulations. The fact remains that, in a time of monopolistic aviation practices, Capt. Gopinath undertook to start Deccan Aviation, which made traveling by air affordable to the common man for the first time. So, in our minds, this sense of ‘Capt. Gopinath empathizes with the common man’ was a kind of article of faith. And the news that he is standing for…

Bangalore South Parliamentary Constituency is one of the most prestigious constituencies in the country and comprises mostly of educated/elite voters. It is known as the educational and cultural capital of Karnataka.For the coming elections, all the major political parties have fielded their best and most educated candidates.BJP has fielded its National General Secretary Ananth Kumar, a post-graduate in Political Science with a law degree and expected to play a major role if the NDA gets a majority. The Congress has given a ticket to US educated, two-term MLA Krishna Byre Gowda, supposedly close to Rahul Gandhi. The JD-S has fielded…

As you take a walk around Madiwala Lake, you will see that this area needs some help. And that’s what Murali Ramnath, cyclist and resident of BTM Layout thought too. Ramnath is a member of RideACycle Foundation (RAC-F), a Bengaluru-based non-profit organisation that encourages and promotes sustainable transport through cycling. It was this passion for cycling that got Ramnath and the foundation to do a preliminary study and propose a plan to build a cycling track and a pedestrian path around Madiwala Lake. Murali Ramnath, member, RideACycle Foundation (Pic: Meera K) On 31st January, the Bangalore Metropolitan Land Transport Authority…

My grandparents first came to Bangalore sometime in the early nineteen hundreds from their home village in Tumkur district. Chamarajapete was among the earliest planned extensions of Bangalore city located close to the old inner city areas like Dodda Pete, Chikka Pete, Arale Pete (Cotton Pete) and Bale Pete. It was a popular residential area for many of the upwardly mobile new settlers of Bangalore city.Grandmother, a strong, intelligent, home educated woman, settled into one of the old houses there and began her new life in the city. Bangalore was still a small town and soon she had many friends…

Our Theatre presents its debut production, Beyond the Land of Hattamala, a play written by Badal Sircar. Founded by Sandeep Shikar, an actor, writer and director and Vivek Vijayakumaran, a theatre artist, Our Theatre was originally born out of a need to have a banner for Beyond the Land of Hattamala . However, the connection between Vivek and Sandeep and their belief about theatre ran deeper and so Our Theatre has become more a way of working, a way of doing theatre. "For me, Our Theatre is our thought, our belief, our language, our culture, our complexity, our simplicity, our…

Baijudev, Benny Paul, Bijoy Velekkatte, Devidas Varma, Dr Mohan K G, Gireesan V S, Gireesan Bhattathiripad, Gopi P S, Jayan Pudumana, Jose P O, Krishnana Mallissery, Manikandan Punnakkal, M A Venu, Mohan Alankode, Nandakumar, N B Lathadevi, Renjan P C, Revathi Venu, Roy Thomas, Satheesan, Sasidharan, Sasi Kandoth, Shadanan Anikkath, Sivadas, Venugopal and Viswanath P I displayed the paintings that they had created specially for this show called Pallette 2009. Painting by M.A.Venu (Pic: Lakshmi Menon) With such a huge number of participants, one can only imagine the variety and size of the show. Most of the work was abstract…