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Songs are but poetry set to music some would argue. In Kannada, such poetry set to music, is called Bhavageethe. From the vachanas to the dasarpadas to the poems of Kuvempu, composers have added to the allure of the poetry, by setting them to music. Vachanas are devotional octets composed by Veerashaiva saints from Karnataka such as Akka Mahadevi and Basavanna. They are characterized by simple lyrics that speak directly to the listener. By bringing poems to non-readers, Bhavageethe have enjoyed great popularity in Karnataka. As with many fields, specialists that focus singing Bhavageethe have emerged. One such popular singer…

Think of sugar and it brings sweet memories to everyone’s mind. Sweet memories of chocolates, payasams, laddus, cakes, milkshakes and all the lovely treats that are ‘oh so sweet’! Can you imagine a day without eating sugar? Not unless you are a diabetic. A day without sugar is something unimaginable for most of us. Imagine drinking that cherished cup of tea or coffee without sugar! Well, thankfully most of us don’t have to eliminate sugar all together, but what we need to do is keep a watch on the amount we consume every day. Back in 2009 the American Heart…

Recently, I had an occasion to travel on a couple of very long journeys (Bangalore to Guwahati and back, and Bangalore to Ahmedabad and back). The Indian Railways had just raised the price of all food and beverages sold on the trains. I'll take one example, where I found that vendors are resorting to unethical practices, and cheating passengers of their money. We were told that tea and coffee were now to cost Rs.10, and though we grumbled, there is really no alternative to the vendors on the train, and we paid up. We were surprised, the next day, to…

About six months ago, the Chief Minister announced, with the usual fanfare and ribbon cutting, that the city would be 'garbage-free in 6 months'. Since then, regularly on this wall, I have been counting down the clock to this deadline. Now he's about to give us the Christmas gift we've all been waiting for - one more promise to do something, probably in 6 more months. It was always clear that this would not happen on time. But rather than be a skeptic from the beginning, I decided to wait. I even offered to help some BBMP corporators in South…

Puttenahalli Lake played host to the first ever public science show, by children, on Sunday 15th Dec 2013. The event was conducted by Merry Go Learn (an IIT/IIM alumni initiative), in association with Puttenahalli Neighbourhood Lake Improvement Trust (PNLIT). Students from Standards 1 to 8 who are attending sessions at Merry Go Learn, applied concepts of science and maths to perform interesting experiments, that left many in the audience, parents included, absolutely amazed. The show included a quiz, a do it yourself stall with children making their own kaleidoscopes and an exciting treasure hunt. Apart from creating awareness through practical…

Last week, on a social networking site, I put up a post about my cook and her barely-18 year-old daughter. The girl had just completed a sponsored and very expensive beauticians' course at a top city beauty training institute. I had hoped she would start working and earn a steady income, thereby helping her hardworking mother who is a cook in two households. Instead, her mother got her married. It is not too difficult to predict that the girl will soon become a young mother herself. If she is not allowed to use her training, why she may even end…

I have been terribly busy this month. I have a wee pup at home who is taking over all my time. I have been visiting CUPA during weekdays to work with troubled dogs there. One of the days, just as I was finishing my work, the guys at the shelter were standing around a little black mound and discussing how to transport that mound. I had arrived in a car and offered to do the honours. The mound turned out to be a listless little pup – the smallest pup I have ever seen. I gingerly picked up the pup…

Photo by: Karthik Dwaraknath The mridangam is a barrel-shaped drum used as a percussion instrument in a classical concert. It is a double-headed drum, with multiple layers of stretched leather skin covering either end of the cylindrical body. The word “mridangam” comes from the union of two Sanskrit words mrida (clay) and angam (body) as the instrument is made from hardened clay. Mridangams are of two types – kutchi and kappi. In the former, thin wooden sticks or reed (from a plant) are inserted under the top layer of the skin, which gives the mridangam its distinctive sound.  In kappi…

Dear Reader, Entrepreneur’s Corner is pleased to feature this interview of Srikanth Muralidhara, Co-Founder of the Bangalore-based Decision Sciences Company, Flutura Solutions, that focuses on M2M (machine to machine) and Big Data analytics. The company, started by Krishnan Raman, Srikanth Muralidhara and Derick Jose has recently made news, by being the first company to be invested in by The Hive India. This is a Fund anchored by the siblings Amit and Arihant of the Patni family, set up to invest in the area of data analytics. Srikanth is the managing partner and the Head of Customer Success at Flutura. He…

This article begins with understanding the new mall culture in India. It then explores from the past the bazaar culture that has always been a part of life in India. Thereafter, it turns to the world of form and design, arguing that a clearer understanding of and deliberate choice of certain designs and patterns can more suitably engage the Indian consumer, offering both social anchor and a lively consumer experience. A Mall Culture In India, as elsewhere in the developing  world, malls are being constructed in small and big cities, and retail shopping is taking on a whole new direction.…