City: Bengaluru

It was good to see flights take-off once again at the old HAL airport last Sunday. Only, the planes that had a smooth takeoff and landing were made of paper. And the pilots were college students dressed casually in jeans and T-shirts. Redbull Paperwings contest underway (pic:PD) Red Bull, the energy drink maker, had organized a paper plane flying contest for college students in India for the first time, as part of a worldwide contest, held first in 2006. The qualifying rounds that were conducted in five major cities - New Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Bengaluru and Chennai, over January-February, attracted…

As one of the most well planned residential areas of Bengaluru, Jayanagar has been touted as a haven for the business class and the retired crowd. Home to prominent names like Infosys co-founder, N R Narayana Murthy, actor Vishnuvardhan and writer Shashi Deshpande, this hub in the southern part of the city has wide roads, tree lined avenues and excellent public transport. But problems like garbage, parking and sewerage have not only got residents fighting for a better Jayanagar, it has also united the various residents' associations. Jayanagar 4th Block Complex Twelve Residents Welfare Associations (RWAs) came together in July…

Ulsoor, Indiranagar, Vasanthnagar and Rest House Road! Six incidents of attacks on women in Bengaluru reported in the media in the last 20 days. The attackers in all the cases were either a pair of men on bikes or in groups of four in cars. In most cases, the women were in jeans or western clothing but in one of the cases, a woman attired in Salwar Kameez was also subject to attack. In the cases where the women retaliated by slapping the attackers, the latter became further infuriated and became more violent. In fact, in the incident at Indiranagar,…

In Bangalore, Yours Truly Theatre (YTT) has been working on a form of theatre that has been tried in a few places around the globe; it's called Interactive Theatre, where the members of the audience are active participants in the production. In several plays, so far, Yours Truly Theatre has stopped the storyline at some point, asked the audience for inputs and the cast then act out the denouement of the play according to the directions that the audience members give. Scene of a play at YTT (pic: Deepa Mohan) Taking this initiative further, on 22nd February 2009, at the…

In 1996, noted writer and publisher, S V Sreenivasa Rao, was given the Aryabhatta award, in recognition of his contribution to Kannada literature. Thereafter he was awarded the ‘Kannada Sri' from the Kannada Sahitya Parishat (2000) and ‘Karnataka Sri' from Karnataka Rajya Prashasti (2005). Rao has also won Attimabbe and Ranne Sahitya Prashasti for Mahitikosha, his encyclopedia on Kannada writers. Sreenivasa and Anusuya Rao (pic: Sudha Narasimhachar) Winning awards is a habit for 76-year-old Rao. His drawing room has no more space, given the awards that he's won; starting from school days, through college life, until today. Strangely enough, this…

Arts and Culture 'Throw stones at bad Kannada films' says actor Rajesh Senior Kannada actor Rajesh expressed anger about distasteful Kannada films and said "People should discard and throw stones at the films that spoil our culture and taste". He was unhappy with the kind of films made today, and said, "what message do songs like 'hale patre, hale kabbina, hale paper thara hoyi...' give to the society? It is really shameful. it is very unfortunate that such films are coming out during the occasion of the platinum jubilee of the Kannada film industry. If Rajkumar and Kalyan Kumar were…

PaintingsA stunning new collection of paintings by artist Shan Re was unveiled at F&B Restaurant, Papanna Street, off St. Mark's Road , Bangalore. The exhibition was on between 30th January and 15th February . The collection comprised only of oil on canvas with interesting and brilliant use of colours. Just as one entered the cafe, the paintings on the ‘art wall' created an extremely inviting atmosphere, leaving a strange sense of happiness lingering among visitors. Although the general inspiration was nature and flowers, the pan flow and effect was extensively used, giving an impression of a view from a window…

Here below is the simple, safe and sure declaration of paying property tax.1. Purchase an application at the area Revenue office, priced at Rs.5/- one each for different properties (In case of more properties - one for each corporation number)2. Purchase one Hand Book priced at Rs.20/-3. Demand an Appendix to hand book (Zone Classifications) of your area.4. Go through the same calmly and understand the columns.5. Measure your property in British system (Feet / Inches) - Note down the dimensions.6. Differentiate the area as per year of construction, if constructed at different periods.7. Differentiate the area as per the…

All footpath slabs uprooted. Sewage water over flowing on the road. Dozens of school children and IT employees have to wait beside this health and acident trap every morning. This is NH209! There is a tussle between the BBMP and the Highways department ever since the Kanakapura road has scaled up as NH209.My photograph of the problematic area was published in the Times of India on 18th December, 2008, followed by a mail to the chief minister, the commissioner of BBMP and the Director of National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) in Delhi. If you would like to volunteer to…

Life on a road with all the hustle bustle goes on as usual. One fine day, residents and traders on that road wake up to the fact that there are strange markings on many of the properties which have appeared overnight. The President of the Traders Association gets a letter from the municipality that the road where they do business and reside is up for expansion. Reason: need for better connectivity from the city centre to the new international airport. A couple of days later, overcome with grief, the man suffers a heart-attack and passes away. Undeterred by the official…