ARTS and CULTURE

Arundhati Nag - someone whom I have associated with theatre in Bangalore, and theatre in Kannada, for a long time. And whom I have associated with other things worth emulating: grit, the never-say-die spirit, the persistence and the determination to achieve a stated goal, and more. So a meeting with her was something that I was looking forward to, even if I had to wait from 4 PM to 5.20 PM- I got my chance to talk to this icon of theatre. "Let's go from the basics," I tell her as I sit opposite her at the lovely cafe at…

Is there a tannery on Tannery Road? Or where’s the church on Church Street? There’s usually more to a name. And in Bangalore, it’s usually something that fails to meet the eye. Or has turned into a blind spot. The Big Bull at Basavangudi. The temple was Built to appease an angry bull that used to damage the groundnut crops grown in this region. A quiet corner in the temple on BULL TEMPLE ROAD, Basavanagudi. This is the starting point of The Bangalore Karaga procession - Entrance to the temple on DHARMARAJA TEMPLE STREET. Not far from the mad traffic.…

It's a challenge to "work on an adaptation of an English translation of a Russian play", as the brochure given by Centre for Film and Drama (CFD) said, and the Bangalore angle intrigued me sufficiently to walk down to Ranga Shankara to see the production at its first showing on the 4th of this month. I was not disappointed. City of Gardens - Play (Pic: Deepa Mohan)‘City of Gardens' is an adaptation of Anton Chekov's ‘The Cherry Orchard’, and has been converted into an allegory for Bangalore by Abhishek Majumdar and Jisha Menon, with inputs from Arshia Sattar, Gautam Raja,…

‘Ananya’ is familiar to most music lovers of Bangalore, especially North Bangalore. It is located in a very peaceful corner of the city, off 4th Main Road, Malleshwaram between 12th and 13th Cross. An inconspicuous small board that hangs right opposite the Malleshwaram Boys’ High School identifies Ananya. Dr Raghavendra is totally publicity shy. He says he formed the trust not for people who craved for publicity, but “… to tap, encourage and nurture young and upcoming music artists and create a small music community that can entertain the masses”. R V Raghavendra. Pic: Ananya Trust. Raghavendra’s interest in music…

Bangalore, a peaceful city that was once covered with a canopy of trees, and the IT capital of India, is no longer just that. Many say it is slowly turning into a hot bed of crime. The importance of self defence is gaining ground, and training centres in martial arts like jujutsu, taekwondo, kick boxing, etc., are in demand. Ashwin Mohan and Snehal(on the floor). Pic: Sindhu Kashyap.Martial arts is a serious business that works on all levels; on the physical level it helps the individual remain fit and healthy, on the mental and emotional level it infuses a great…

Ganesh Chaturthi falls on the fourth day of the waxing phase of the moon (shukla paksha) of the Bhadrapada month....’bhadrapada maasena chaturthyam/brahamanaadi poojitam’, as the great Carnatic music composer Muthuswami Dikshitar sings. In Bangalore, preparations for the puja start quite early.Here is the Lord in different shapes and sizes, all packaged and ready to be picked up by the devout and religious. (All pictures by the author.) Packed Ganeshas at RV Road.Posters in various localities announce the forthcoming puja and the puja karta (one who is conducting it) too. Ganesha pooja poster at Malleswaram.I met Shakuntala Jain, an artist who…

It was an initiative that was long overdue; Nandi Hills, a scenic spot, was slowly being overrun by plastic trash thrown carelessly by visitors. Several civic-minded citizens got together and decided that instead of just complaining about the plastic litter, they would take positive action to clean up the trash, and more importantly, try to raise the awareness among tourists about the importance of keeping this beautiful place clean. Clean and Green Nandi Hills Campaign sign (Pic: Deepa Mohan)Yahoo, the sponsor for the event, has an internal team called ‘Purple Green’ 6 7 mths... (‘purple’ being the Yahoo corporate colour,…

Tucked away in a narrow lane a little off the bustling MG Road, is the Indian Cartoon Gallery, the first of its kind in the country. An initiative of the Indian Institute of Cartoonists (IIC), the gallery was created as a space for both amateur and professional cartoonists to exhibit their work. Says V G Narendra, veteran cartoonist (with dailies like the Kannada Prabha), whose brainchild the IIC is, “we already had a Cartoonist’s Association for Karnataka, but through the IIC we wanted to promote interaction between cartoonists from across India.” He adds, “The gallery is a perfect space to…

“Magadi! Where is it?” remarked my friend when I told him of the plan to visit the town. Only when I mentioned Savandurga, one of the popular trekking spots in Magadi, did he show a flicker of recognition. Once a bastion of Kempegowda clan, Magadi town is now a sleepy hamlet, situated 49 kilometres from Bangalore. In the days of yore, it would have taken Kempegowda and his men a couple of days to reach the town from Bangalore on horseback. Today, one has to drive along the Magadi Road (starting at Vijayanagar Toll Gate junction) for an hour to…

The 10th of August saw a protest, amid much publicity, by the entire musical fraternity of Bangalore, accompanied by some of the most famous Bangaloreans and owners of commercial establishments hit hard by the recent ban on live music and dancing in places that serve alcohol. But there was another protest by the musicians of the city that took place on the 13th of August for a cause that wasn't publicised as much as the former was. Music Enthusiasts jam up to re claim the Music Strip at Cubbon Park 3rd August 2008 (Pic: Arvind Padmanabh , Sudhaker Shenoy)As a…