Blogs

“Do you want to catch this 'Purusha Sukta' at Ranga Shankara? After a long hiatus, the spouse was finally trying to get our social life in gear. “What is it? A play? A concert?” While I always briefly scanned the daily listing of classical concerts in Bangalore, having two teens meant we had little time to catch the performing arts. Now with both the kids in college, we've finally re-awakened to the arts scene in Bangalore. Bangalore's messy and seemingly chaotic growth has seen it evolve a more cosmopolitan cultural milieu. Avante-garde theatre and art, Mediterranean food and music of…

Read more

It’s been nearly 10 months that the Confident Group has stopped work on their incomplete project, Antlia 1, beside NH 207 that leads to Sarjapur, Bengaluru. This project was supposed to have been completed, including all the 60 amenities, by 2010. The builder wanted to withdraw from the maintenance of this complex in October last year and convinced some owners; representatives to take over in a 'financial handover'. Financial handover, according to them was, the owners manage the complex on their own and the builder would refer maintenance personnel on a need basis. These owners’ representatives then called for a…

Read more

  Drive it with flowers! Sometimes, the appearance seems to be more important than safety on our roads. I saw several autos, vans and cars bedecked with flowers in this way, on the eve of Bali Padyami. How the drivers of such vehicles can drive safely is beyond me. While such festive displays make for quaint, National-Geographic-type of photography, how is it that the traffic police look the other way when road safety is so blatantly compromised?    

Read more

Report by Prasanna Vynatheya of PNLIT The event 'Raise Your Voice Bengaluru', as I understood it, was to bring those concerned people who would like to participate in their own capacity to make our Karnataka a better place for us and our posterity. The venue was NMKRV College, Jayanagar 3rd Block on Sunday the 27th Oct 2013. The lead person of the organizing group Mr. Rajeev Gowda spoke eloquently and sincerely, so too each and every one of the other seven speakers. The message was loud and clear! People come out and participate as rightful citizens of this nation, demand quality in all…

Read more

Last Friday, on Rajyotsava, Karnataka High Court justices N Kumar and B V Nagarathna, visited Bellandur Ward apartments Divyashree Elan and Springfields. This was part of a tour of various Solid Waste Management facilities in the city, including Koramangala's Kasa Rasa, Dry Waste Segregation Centre, Karnataka State Composting Corporation (KCDC) etc. They were accompanied by BBMP Commissioner Lakshminarayana, former BBMP chief Siddhaiah and many other officials. Judges Kumar and Nagarathna inspecting a composting facility. Pic: Meera K This visit was related to the SWM PIL currently underway, so the learned judges could understand the situation on the ground and get…

Read more

My main long-term aim with growing vegetables, as with most other home gardeners, is to be self-sustainable and not need to buy anything much from the vegetable market. Though I have a way to go for achieving this, there are days when all the dishes on the tables have vegetables only from my terrace or my patch from Green Thumbs; and that is such a thrilling feeling for me J.   I spoke about sowing winged beans in an earlier post, so I thought I must share a pic of my harvest as well: Pic courtesy: Jyothi Vaidyanathan Last week…

Read more

It is really the small changes, the ones that you see everyday, but don’t quite remember seeing, that seem to change a Street. As one street changes from being a quiet street to being a busy street, somewhere else another street begins its transformation. Every changing street changes its neighbourhood, and every changing neighbourhood changes the city. The small changes are seen everywhere, in almost every city in India. In Bangalore, it’s the Adiga’s lane off Bannerghatta road, in Mumbai, it’s the Hill road in Bandra - streets that are “not the same anymore”. Here, in Bangalore, we have been…

Read more

What is it -A city, town or village?'Twas a pensioners' paradise it seemsHaving a colonial hangoverAmidst MEG, BEL, HMT, ITIUsurped by the silicon dumpWith its Nagars, Towns and hallis'Tis an escape no moreFrom the heat of HyderabadOr the sweat of MadrasOh, it's not the Bangalore of yore!

Read more

I am off for Diwali. Every year, we chose to spend Diwali in the lap of nature and pass up on the revelry in the city. This suits us and our dogs best. But for those of you who are going to be in the thick of all the celebrations, it is time to remember that Diwali is potentially a very stressful time for dogs. In my last two posts I wrote about the effects of stress on your dogs and how your dog may express it. Today, before I take off, I want to leave you with some tips…

Read more