Blogs

Amoghavarsha, an experienced wildlife photographer, is conducting another monsoon wildlife/photography expedition.The next monsoon expedition to Agumbe is scheduled for 28th and 29th of August. This will be the last expedition in the peak monsoons, after this the monsoons will subside and so will photography opportunities.The last expedition was exciting and very fruitful with sightings of 2 wild King Cobras at close quarters and of course many more snakes, frogs and nocturnal animals.Do take a look athttp://amoghavarsha.com/workshops/agumbe/for more information, testimonials and photographs.If any of you are interested, contact Amogh at +91 99010 44344.

It is very easy to review a play which has had a house-full audience, which was cheered to the echo, and was obviously enjoyed to the hilt by every child in the audience!"Tale of Haruk", a Korean fairy tale, staged by TUIDA, a Korean performance group (that aims to be nature-friendly in play-making) was brought to the Bangalore children by way of Ranga Shankara's AHA! initiative to provide theatre for children, supported by Britannia. The production used puppetry, some amount of sleight of hand, a set of musical instruments that are recycled from items of ordinary use,and a talented cast…

For a long time, I've heard references by foodies to J P Nagar being  "Cheapie Nagar"  as there were only eateries, no "restaurants" in the area. Well, this seemed to suit most people fine, as they would drop in at a Darshini, or an IT-service eatery, to have a quick bite, and "dining out" meant dressing up and going to the centre of the town.As traffic increased, so did the reluctance of the people of south Bangalore to brave logjams to go out for dinner...and perhapss gap and decided to fill it. "Aroy" ("delicious" in Thai) opened a few months ago,…

The last week was a busy one for INTACHers, what with two heritage walks back-to-back, besides a lot of parleys and planning for a forthcoming event (you'll hear more about it soon). Intach members with children from SECA at Bangalore Fort. Pic courtesy: Meera Iyer. Saturday's Parichay (as our heritage walks are called) was led by Krupa Rajangam and was at Whitefield, where the altar of a historic church might be sacrificed at the altar of ‘development', if the BBMP has its way. Both residents of Whitefield and other Bangaloreans turned out in good numbers to learn more about this…

The Old letterbox once used to be found on most street corners and was cleared twice a day! Now its bright red colors are difficult to spot. Pic by Ravi Kaushik ⊕

The law says that helmets are compulsory, and that one should not drive a two-wheeler without a helmet.These gentlemen are totally law-abiding...they have not one helmet, but two!I'm sure they feel that their heads (and the brains inside them) are totally protected in case of an accident. ⊕

I posted once about the Monkey Puzzle Tree with its beautiful leaves (go see the huge trees near the Glass House  in Lalbagh, if you can!)and later, I got theMonkey Puzzle Butterfly amongst other things, on a nature trail:A few days ago, it was very nice to see that someone still cares about our Bangalore heritage, and has re-created the Monkey Puzzle architectural detail for their home:Possibly this feature was so called because monkeys used to sit on it...it's also called "Monkey Top".

Many of you would have noticed the Iblur flyover opened yesterday. The Forward150 federation, Outer Ring Road Companies Association (ORRCA) is working with the traffic police to improve the traffic at the junction.The road leading to Bellandur from Iblur is being cleared and the diversions removed in a weeks time. Vehicles plying from Bellandur towards Iblur need to go on top of the flyover and land at Iblur village cross, vehicles plying from Bellandur towards Sarjapur need to take the left lane/service road before the flyover and turn left.Haphazard parking is a big problem, especially on the roads near Bellandur…

I was walking along and spotted this...If I can achieve good management by rubber road humps, Bangalore must be the best managed city in the world. I also have all those dust bins to help me....not to mention the traffic cons!⊕

I spotted a guard taking this bull-dog for a walk. It was a very excited happy dog (doesn't look like that, I know!) Guess the smells after a night of light rain made his day.Pic by Ravi Kaushik ⊕