Blogs

It was very pleasant to sit on the lawns of Bangalore's premier management institution. In the gathering dusk, people drifted in and took their seats. The stage was well-lit.  Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia started the evening off with sweet notes from his "bansuri", with the lilting evening raga, Madhuvanti. One can truly say that, with his flute, he literally breathes  his music! For the audience, also, the composition in raga Yaman that followed, and then a bhajan, breathed relaxation and serenity into them.   When one of the impresarios came up on stage, he wisecracked that when pretty girls appear, trouble…

Only one week after re-laying the road that leads to Ryan International School at Brookefields, the asphalt started pitting. Aggregate (jelly) started peeling, and undulations on road surface appeared. The road looked as though it tired of a couple of monsoons, although it was all of one week young. Demoralised but not defeated, Brookefields residents contacted Chief Engineer Parameshwariah, upon the advise of RK Mishra. In close tandem, Doddanekkundi's newly-elected Councillor, Vijaykumar, was watching. The new chief engineer is a dynamic man. He easily upsets when he sees shoddy quality in public works. He is widely recognised as the force…

Yelahanka United Environment Association (YUVA), along with BESCOM, is organising LED bulbs distribution at highly concessional rates at Allalasandra Lake in Yelahanka New Town, on Saturday 23rd Jan and Sunday 24th Jan 2016 from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. LED bulbs of 9 watts will be sold at Rs 100 per bulb. The number of bulbs per person will be restricted. Please carry address proof/ ID proof to avail the offer. Carry bags will not be given, so please cary your own. Free replacement warranty for 3 years on every bulb.  

At South End Circle, on Sunday, the 17th of January, 2016, it was heartening to see several volunteers holding placards asking road users not to use their mobiles while driving.  The trouble with our country seems to be that no one thinks an accident could happen to him or her...until it actually happens. And rules, we feel, are for others to follow and for us to flout. The volunteers looked tired, standing in the middle of the road junction in the polluted air. But if even one two-wheeler or four-wheeler driver put down the mobile phone and resolved not to…

Hello all! After a two-week hiatus, I'm finally back at the old stand and churning out blogs again. I've had my pre-board exams for the past two weeks, so between studying for them and wishing I didn't have to, I've not had time for much else. However, the exams are finally over, so I can get back to blogging at regular intervals.  I'm sure many of you have been wondering what happened to the Thousand Smiling Faces project which I wrote about two weeks ago. The happy children with their paper crowns. Pic: Ritvik Mandyam I'm happy to report that…

Madiwala Lake will host the second Kere Habba of 2016 on 23rd Jan. The first Kere Habba was held earlier in January at Kaikondrahalli Lake and can be read about here. The schedule for the habba, starting at 7:00 a.m.,is as follows: 07:00 - Bird Watching07:30 - Yoga by the Lake08:00 - Cycling08:30 - Clay Modeling09:00 - Drawing/Sketching (only drawing sheets will be provided; participant to carry their own art materials)09:30 - Tree naming/Treasure Hunt10:00 - Local Craft10:30 - Talk by the LDA11:00 - Street Play For more details about Madiwala Kere Habba 2016, please contact: call 9845193233 | 9845073071 | 8861768806  email: madformadiwala@googlegroups.com | nbf@namma-bengaluru.orgfacebook: BetterB76 | nammabengalurufoundation It may be noted that…

We regularly moan about the lost lakes of Bangalore and reminisce about how the city used to be, even as "official" agencies have been identified as major encroachers in the recently released Legislative Assembly Committee report (headed by Koliwadi). While many of the lakes that have been sacrificed to development cannot be got back, an all out effort should save the ones that remain. Like the effort at Munnekolala Lake.  One of the early posts on this blog in 2013 was about the restoration of Munnekolala Lake, that can be read here. More than two years on, it was a…

When three women - a flautist, a violinist and a vainika - got together to give a Carnatic concert a couple of years ago it was the beginning of a new journey. The venu-violin-veena concert team of Vani Manjunath, Prema Vivek and Shubha Santosh has been making waves in the Bangalore concert circuit. Here's what they shared about their team dynamics and musical journey. How was this idea of forming such a team conceived? How did it develop? The concept of forming an all-women concert team was the brain child of mridanga vidwan H.S.Sudhindra of Bengalooru. The motivation for this…

Over the past few years, we've done many things to raise funds for PNLIT, and we've realised that fund-raising is quite a challenge. To a social-cause fund-raiser who may knock on your door, the most disheartening experience is when you express regret and shut the door. Donations apart, we have often found it difficult to get people to part with Rs 220 for a PNLIT calendar, or even Rs 30, in exchange for a PNLIT wristband.     However, there are many generous souls out there, generous both in terms of time and monetary support, who share our dreams, who believe…

In the recent Marathi film Katyar Kaljat Ghusali the song "Ghei Chand Makarand" is sung by two singers in distinctive styles.The song which originally featured in a Marathi musical play or Natyageet was popularized by the late singer Vasantrao Deshpande. In the movie the song is first sung in a slow tempo by Shankar Mahadevan who also plays a lead character in the movie. Then the song is sung in a fast-paced manner by the character played by actor Sachin Pilgaonkar. The playback singer for Sachin is Rahul Deshpande who incidentally is the grandson of Vasantrao Deshpande. Both styles are…