Blogs

Some years ago, all of us had to bear with the roads, and sidewalks too, getting dug up for various reasons; one of them was OFC. "OFC"! said the little concrete signposts said, that came up later on the spot. OFC stood for Optic Fibre Cable; this was going to be the cable that would make Bangalore the city of the future, with internet connectivity everywhere.Then there were reports in the newspaper that there were only the pipes laid down; the actual optic fibre cable itself was missing. "Ah!" we breathed; it was nothing new to Bangalore to have something…

I must disclose, I am just beginning to blog at citizenmatters and this is my first post. I will be posting about various types of Bangalore based businesses, right from startups to local businesses to bottom-of-pyramid ventures to single person owned firms or trades. The idea is to highlight what is unique in them, however small or trivial the case maybe. With that said, the theme for this post is about social investment. I have been always intrigued with the new breed of social lending platforms, currently operating in and around Bangalore, the ones that most easily come to my…

Though Independence Day is only on August 15th, the preparations for one of the two annual flower shows that this City has, has already begun.I went to Lalbagh early this morning, and the Glass House area was agog with activity. Several vans and lorries had been parked close by and flowering plants were being "downloaded"....Flowering Plants downloaded from Lorry (Pic: Deepa Mohan)Some of the tables required were also being brought in.Officials were busy discussing how to put up the displays:Officials discussing about the Displays (Pic: Deepa Mohan)The staff were busy with the work:Staff busy with Flower Show work arrangements (Pic:…

I was walking along the "80 ft Ring Road" (I still don't know the name of this road, that goes from the Silk Board along Ragigudda up to Kanakapura Road!), when I saw how this tree had been revered, and a small shrine built to it: Trees (Pic: Deepa Mohan)It was good to see that some trees are still held in such reverence; but in these days of road-widening and tree-felling, I could not help wishing that the BBMP adopted the same attitude towards the beautiful living beings that give us shade, oxygen, shelter, beauty, and a home to several…

It is a pleasure to bring you another founder perspective, from an entrepreneur, who was one of the few handful of investors in India some years ago. He has shared some key some insights into running a business as an entrepreneur, as opposed to being an investor who is partnering in a venture. This is one that may interest investors as well as entrepreneurs. Who is this entrepreneur... he is K.Ganapathy Subramanian, the founder of MyDuniya Networks, a company that has a vision to facilitate "Beyond Voice" services for the mobile pervasive world. He has been part of the innovation…

If you have a little time to spare, do visit Bannerghatta National Park...and the Butterfly Park there. Admission is Rs.10, which is really worth it. Here's the Butterfly Park signboard:Bannerghatta National Park - Butterfly Park signboard (Pic: Deepa Mohan)The dome of the Park itself is a beautiful construction, with the lush greenery inside:Dome of the Butterfly Park (Pic: Deepa Mohan)And here are a few butterflies that I snapped inside:The COMMON MORMON MALE:Common Mormon Male Butterfly (Pic: Deepa Mohan)The PIERROT:Pierrot Butterfly (Pic: Deepa Mohan)The COMMON COASTER :Common Coaster Butterfly (Pic: Deepa Mohan)The BLUE MORMON:Blue Mormon Butterfly (Pic: Deepa Mohan)However, I feel…

Unashamedly copying the lines from a Bollywood movie, it's certainly how I felt when I saw the huge rocks of Ramanagara. Going for a drive with friends on the smooth Bangalore-Mysore Highway towards Kamat Yatri Nivas, we stopped a while near the giant boulders on the outskirts of Ramanagara - a town 50kms away from Bangalore. Here are some of the pictures. Known as Closepet during the British rule, it was renamed as Ramanagara after Independence (after the Rama temple at Ramadevara Betta). Though Ramanagara has been important town in history and also famous for its silk farms, it was the…

Every classical music artiste faces, I think, the same dilemma after having finished the "AlApanai" of the rAgam. Will the audience be in a mood to listen carefully to the structure and lyrics of a new keertanam? New kritis need to be introduced every now and then; the Trinity, though they are the pillars of Carnatic music, need to give way, occasionally, to the dozens of other talented composers who are creating beautiful songs of their own. But new songs have to be introduced to the listening public now and then; only then do the many talented composers who create…

Sorry for the late post. I have been doing a lot of dashing through the streets this week to fulfil pending social commitments rather than the kind of travel I'd prefer. Today is the first real day to put my feet up, relax and wander through the web world. For those who want to travel and cannot (inflation, blasts etc), here's an interesting link I found on one of the blogs I frequent. Photographer Tito Dupret undertook this epic journey across the world in 2001, when he read that Taliban were destroying Buddhist temples in Afghanistan. He started a monumental…

All autos in Bangalore have things written on them; names of family members, loved ones, cinema idols, or at least the names of various cars that the auto-drivers hope their vehicles are like!So I was rather surprised to see a national AND parochial message on this auto:Though it is in Kannada script, it says, phonetically, "I love India...I like Mandya"!Good to know that as well as being a patriotic Indian, he likes the sugar belt of Karnataka, too, and finds enough sweetness in the fact to have it painted on his auto....Though this particular auto whizzed past too fast for…