Blogs

Indian personaliites like to become celebrities. One way of achieving this is to put up cutouts of their photographs in sizes large enough to stop passing clouds....Mr Kheny can be proud of the fact that he's now permanently overseeing the road that he built.....I'd like to know who the other two faces are....couldn't read the names as we went past. Are they the ones mentioned below Mr Kheny's name?If this had been Tamil Nadu, the name would have been followed by some laudatory phrase such as " our honoured builder of roads".....⊕

There is no "I" in team work. I love this quote and these two flowers growing in tandem and multiplying their beauty seemed to signify just that. This photograph was taken at Lalbagh Botanical Gardens. A guest post by LUBNA KABLY. 

Protest Against ID Card for Entry to Lalbagh and Cubbon Park Gains StrengthQueen's Statue, Cubbon park, Monday, 30th November, 2009Over 200 people rallied at Cubbon Park on Monday, 30th November 2009, to voice their outrage at the proposed plan by Karnataka Horticulture Minister Umesh Katti to restrict access to Cubbon Park and Lalbagh by imposing mandatory ID cards for anyone who wishes to enter in the mornings and evenings. This heinous violation of the Right of Access to Public Spaces transforms the two heritage sites into elite clubs which will require this new "membership card" for entry. It is an…

The logo of Karnataka that I had noticed, was very good indeed:There's a "abhinaya mudraa" at the beginning, followed by a waterfall, a musical wind instrument, pillars signifying architecture, a palm tree, a jungle creeper, a temple gopura, then an elephant, and last of all, what has put Karnataka on the world map...the computer mouse!Someone has done an excellent job of the logo design! A heart-warming sign to come across when away from home!Today, I clicked this logo on the BIG 10 bus:If you notice, you'll see that the "BIG" is also "big" written in Kannada script on the diagonal...very…

Finally, elections to the Bengaluru council are to be announced soon. Roughly half the city's 198 wards have been reserved (for BC, SC, ST and women). The state election commission is expected to announce the dates by next week.Soon, and with a 'municipal' intensity, the usual election campaigning will begin  -- party ticket quarrels, rebels turning independents, the race to nominations, disclosure affidavits and the blaring of loudspeakers in our streets as campaigning culminates.For local elections, turnout has historically been around 50 per cent, and it's usually the urban poor who have gone out to vote. The middle and upper…

I was on the 25th Chennai Photo Walk and we were walking past the Annamalai Mandram, in front of which is the statue of the famous banker/philanthropist, Rajah Sir Annamalai Chettiar photographed here with an alert citizen in front :)....  and when I looked at the plaque, I realized that the king of the erstwhile kingdom of Mysore,  Jayachamaraja Wodeyar had been the Governor of the erstwhile Madras Presidency, and had actually unveiled this statue in 1954!   It's only now that we have Andhra and Karnataka and Tamil Nadu...we were all brothers, not so long ago!   ⊕

   Watch the video  here </a> Write in your opinions and thoughts, please. ⊕

As soon as I read that Bangalore was hosting the International Wheelchair and Amputee Sports Federation's (IWAS) biennial event, I decided that I would definitely see these remarkable people whom I have viewed a bit on the telly. Although I attended only the colourful and slightly chaotic opening ceremony and also witnessed some of the confusion prevalent among the organizers, I felt enriched and elated! When I asked Mr. David Premnath, the event's Technical Director about the motivation behind bringing the games to India he promptly replied, "We wanted to create awareness about these games, here." However, despite the occasion's specialty,…

So many little pieces of action as one walks, cycles, drives past. A cow ruminatively eating a poster as the billposter moves on to sticking up the next one. A cart laden with carpets backing down the slope into the hapless front bumper of a Maruti 800 (one speeds past this before the action actually starts.) A little girl shushing your "hi" on the stairs of your apartment as she hides from her friends; the "tag" girl's mouth opening in surprise as she streaks "home" free. A lady looking on patiently as two men (one obviously the "owner" and the…

Driving from Bangalore to Chennai, or the other way, gives us the option of driving on roads of two different kinds....one is the old type of road. (Yes, it is now called the Old Madras Road...the "old" referring to the road, not to the city!)Perhaps not always in immaculate condition (though in Tamil Nadu, they mostly are, now...tremendous improvement.)Somewhat narrow. But so picturesque, with gnarled old tamarind and banyan trees lining the sides, with fields and villages all around...I am in my air-conditioned bubble no doubt, but I am in the heart of India....And the other kind, which is really…