City: Bengaluru

ICSE, CBSE, IGCSE, IB, SSLC…If these seem like random combinations of letters to you, you probably do not have a child of school-going age. Most parents would instantly recognize these as abbreviations of the various school boards that exist in Bangalore today. In the quest of the perfect school for their child, parents of children as young as three begin to choose from among the plethora of not just schools but also school boards, each professing a different philosophy and vision. Science is all around us: A biology class at Prakriya. (Pic: Prakriya) With the majority of parents, the preferred…

Bangalore’s face is being reconstituted. Roads are being widened but elected representatives are not consulted on this process. The Oberois are given control of about 160 acres of land around Hebbal Tank and they go on to build a floating restaurant on the lake, denying free access to the lake for the publics. “So what is happening to the ‘commons’? What is this development that is done ostensibly in the name of ‘public good’ but the public is not being consulted?” These were the questions that Leo Saldanha of the Environment Support Group (ESG) raised to Michael Goldman, professor of…

The Udayabhanu Kala Sangha located in Kempegowda Nagar (Basavangudi) is a volunteer-based literary, cultural and social organisation. Founded in 1965 by L Venkatappa and M Narasimha (who also serves as secretary), the 43-year-old organisation had its beginnings in a small reading room. Says Founder-Secretary M Narasimha, “The Sangha started in a small 10X10 rented space, as a public reading room that stocked works of renowned Kannada litterateurs.” Some of these writers like Dr U R Ananthamurthy and Professor Vinayaka Krishna Gokak went on to become future Jnanapeeth awardees and regular contributors to the Sangha’s innumerable publications. Secretary M Narasimha. Pic:…

Colville's Glory is one of the many picture perfect trees in Lalbagh. The tree is named after Sir Charles Colville who was Army Commander-in-chief in Bombay from 1819 to 1825 and subsequently Governor of Mauritius from 1828 to 1834. Colville's Glory tree Pic: MS. Colville's Glory flowers. Pic: MS. Squirrel on flowers of Colville's Glory. Pic: MS. Bojer, an Austrian Botanist, first found a single cultivated tree in 1824 in Madagascar when he mounted a specimen collecting expedition from Mauritius. Further, he described, in 1829, the flamboyant (Delonix regia or Gulmohur) which also he found in Madagascar. Eight of the…

Dayalu Arasu is a very happy man, the president of FITES (Forum of Facilities Providers for IT/ITES Industries ), his cabs were being stopped and drivers harassed by members of a self styled cab drivers union. After he met the Police Commissioner on Monday a directive was issued to all police stations to check this intimidation. Arasu says "This is the quickest meeting I have had with the Police Commissioner. Our grievance was addressed on the same day and the harassment faced by our drivers has ended''.Kumara Park residents association president N S Ramakant, who presented a petition regarding the…

Business Multiplexes prop up film industry With a series of movies failing at the box office in recent times, experts opine that developing multiplexes may be help in salvaging the situation. Multiplexes are already doing good business in metros like Bangalore. Even as a number of movie theatres are facing closure due to low business, multiplexes seem to be surviving, as they attract a different audience. ( Vijaya Karnataka , Sunday, July 20 ) Bangalore gets its own Dabbawallahs Mumbai’s Dabbawalas got international fame when Prince Charles showed interest in their operations. Taking a cue from them, Bangalore’s Papastiffin has…

A series of bomb blasts ripped through Bangalore this afternoon. Scores of citizens and students alike, shocked and worried, pulled ahead their evening commute to get back home earlier. The blast scene at the back corner of the bus stand at Madiwala checkpost, on Hosur Road in south Bangalore, at 4.30 p.m. on 25 July. Pic: Subramaniam Vincent. The bus stand at Madiwala checkpost on Hosur Road in south Bangalore was the scene of one of the blasts, and this is also the location where one woman died, the city police have confirmed. Injured citizens from this blast scene were…

An unremarkable, crumbling old house in a calm corner of Basavangudi is the venue for unusual artistic performances. Every Sunday evening, the spooky house opens for an hour long performance of Rasaloka, a novel classical theatre in miniature art form. Ganga River descending from Sky (pic: Monideepa Sahu) Artist Deepika Dorai of Bimba the Art Hut has recreated with her own hands a miniature rendering of a cosmic moment frozen in time. Since the past three years, she has added the storytelling element in a formalized theatre like setting to bring the special moment to life. "I want to share…

When I went to college to study Computer Science at BITS, Pilani, located in a remote village of Rajasthan, I never expected the remoteness of the place to exceed the extent of not having a cinema hall. How could we sustain an existence of 4 years without the staple Indian diet of bollywood movies? Thankfully BITS fostered a strong sense of multi-cultural living, in addition to of-course studying computer science. So enough and more emphasis was laid on participating in variety of activities like college fests, theatre, photography, dance, music etc. through the form of various clubs. Inherit the Wind…

Rainbow Drive, an apartment complex of 200 houses seems to be all that the name suggests -- tree-lined pathways, moist breezes, and verdant gardens. But no one would believe that this is situated on Sarjapur Road, the ‘waterless colony' as this region of south-eastern Bangalore is being called in private circles. Rainbow Drive was beginning to go the way of all ‘dry' colonies just four months ago. It does not have a water supply connection from the Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB), and has been dependent on its rapidly depleting borewells. According to a resident, Jayawanth Bhardwaj, formerly…