Blogs

There is a Tiger in our backyards, yes that's right, and not only in our backyards but chances are that you would have encountered one as you walked down the road preoccupied with the business at hand. But there is no need to panic as I am only referring to The Striped Tiger Butterfly, Danaus genutia. Adult Striped Tiger butterfly Pic: Vikram Nanjappa I have often come across them at the Indian Christian Cemetery on Hosur Road while waiting for my daughter to finish school and have even seen them from my balcony at home. I live on the ground…

  WRRC presents "Whispering Wilderness" - a unique education workshop to introduce the concept of bio-diversity and its conservation.The nine-weekend program starts on April 30th in Bangalore and features expert talks, team building activities, mind control, nature camps, photography and more!We request you to go through the attached poster and if it interests you, please hurry to register.About the Program (see attached image Whispering Wilderness 1280x800.jpg)The program will run for 9 weeks on the weekends. The schedule will be as follows:Weekend 1: Expert-Talks (2 hours each on Sat and Sun)Weekend 2: Nature-Camp (full 2 days on Sat and Sun)Weekend 3: Expert-Talks…

  One of the pleasures of the summer is certainly....mangoes! From the most unripe to the most ripe, we can enjoy mangoes in a variety of ways...and with unripe mangoes, we can make a variety of pickles.It suddenly occurred to me that right now, I've got three different mango pickles in my kitchen...all home-made!When the mangoes are tiny, they are called (in Tamizh)...mA vadu. This particular pickle is made by a process where the juices of the tiny mangoes flow out with the salt in which they are soaked. With proper preparation and storage (and frequent "shaking up"), this pickle can…

 புத்தாண்டு வாழ்த்துக்கள்! transliterates to "putthANdu vAztthukkaL" and it means, New Year Greetings!It's the many others celebrate it today too...So....Happy New Year to everyone!tiny_mce_marker ⊕

The idea of a day set aside to commemorate the world’s heritage – a day on which to highlight the efforts required to protect and conserve heritage and to underscore its vulnerability – was first mooted by the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS). It was adopted by UNESCO in 1983 and ever since, April 18th has been observed as World Heritage Day the world over.This year, the Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH) in Bangalore is celebrating the day with a couple of different events. In association with NGMA, we have a set of talks on…

...That subject title is literally true, since a Black Kite floated past on the thermals, at eye level, as I took these pics! Some of them are through very dirty glass, so I apologize for the marks across the sky.I went to conduct an interview yesterday, and from the 11th floor of the building (guess which one it is!) I took these shots of central Bangalore as it is today (or was, yesterday...maybe a couple more buildings have mushroomed!!)It's lovely to see the various landmarks...Chinnaswamy Stadium, Utility Building, the various convent schools, and so on.Prof Ramani of TTK says that…

The weather, friendly people and great coffee at any random darshini - these are the reasons I proffer to folks when they ask for the secret that Bangalore became, and continues to stay, home for us. To that list, add the fast spreading delights from the small little Nondescript "Hot-chips" Shop (the NHS) in practically every neighbourhood. It goes amazingly well with Bisibele bath, sandwiches, burgers, regular dal-rice or just a cricket match on the telly. Packets disappear in a jiffy, and you really cannot stop at one. Cholesterol, fat and other such demons are momentarily swept under handily available…

They ensure that we are well fed and clothed. But sometimes do not enjoy these privileges. Actually, some of them barely survive. Or do not all. I am referring to India's small farmers who commit suicide. So why do our agriculturists and sericulturists take their lives? As they are often deep in debt. Is that all? Insufficient availability or access to institutional credit, i.e., minimal bank loans is a major cause. Unfortunately, banks which were set up to support poor farmers, do not! So the agriculturists borrow from private moneylenders and microfinance institutions at high interest rates. Climatic changes result…

In Support of Chikka Bapu (Anna Hazare) for Jan Lokpal bill thousands turned up at Freedom Park, Bangalore on 8-Apr evening. All TV channels lined up to cover the hunger strike that is going on for past 4 days.People came up with different placards, banners, posters to show how much they hate corruption. All must have been the sufferers of corruption in their lives.I heard a story from the public at Freedom Park ... one of the members factory was gutted in a fire when he is taking part in hunger strike at Freedom Park. Fire officials asked 20k for…

   A man buys plantain leaves on the occasion of Ugadi - the Kannada New Year. I can only imagine the sumptuous meal he would have had on the plantain leaf.  Pic by Ravi Kaushik.