Blogs

On the one hand, we have organisations like the Department of Kannada and culture, promoting the use of Kannada, and trying to avoid its being interspersed with words from other languages. On the other, we have the everyday Kannada language, a vibrant and constantly evolving means of communication. However, one wonders if it is Kannada at all, sometimes... here's a message I saw in Adiga's on Kanakapura Road.  Only  two of the words in this message are Kannada? It made me laugh!

PNLIT is happy and thankful to be honoured with the "Prakrti Mitra Award", instituted jointly by BNM Institute of Technology, Bangalore and Heritage, a non-profit NGO. The award was received on behalf of PNLIT by trustee Nupur Jain, former trustee Prasanna Vynatheya and volunteer Divya Shetty, at a function held at the BNM Institute of Technology campus during the institute’s Srishti Sambhrama Festival on 23rd September 2015.   A beautiful citation was given to PNLIT: "In recognition of the exemplary service rendered to the community, and to the Nation, extending itself to protecting, preserving, and promoting the cause of the Environment…

The year 2015 will end on a momentous note for my family--my parents' 50th wedding anniversary. Not that the occasion matters to my father. Places, events, dates, anniversaries, birthdays, festivals, names, and sometimes, people too, have become forgotten memories for him. Because my father has dementia. And he is just one of the estimated 4.1 million people with the progressively degenerative condition in India (as per the World Alzheimer's Report 2015). September 21 was World Alzheimer's Day. What is dementia? According to the Alzheimer's Association of the US, “...dementia is not a specific disease. It's an overall term that describes…

Pic: Prashant Kamat. Keeping the roads free of potholes is quite simple. Everywhere in the world, cities do this all the time. How? By doing three or four key things. First, they build roads of high quality. We build roads of low quality thinking that they are cheaper. But that's actually not true. They keep crumbling in the rains, and we keep rebuilding them, and as a result the expenditure on the roads is actually higher in the long run. It is better to build roads once, at higher cost and quality. Look at Vittal Mallya Road - it has…

Yelahanka Puttenahalli Lake and Bird Conservation Trust (YPLBCT) is organising a birdwatching session on Sunday 20th September 2015, at Puttenahalli Lake, Yelahanka, India's newest Conservation Reserve. Dr Subramanya will be the guide. Read more about the Conservation Reserve status accorded to this lake here.   The programme is expected to be covered by Doordharshan and likely to be connected to Man Ke Baat by our PM Narendra Modi.   Venue: Puttenahalli Lake, Yelahanka - See here for location on Google Maps Date: Sunday, 20th September 2015 Time: 7 am to 10 am   For more details, please contact  NC Krishna Datta <nckrishna@yahoo.com>  KS Sangunni <sangunni@gmail.com>/ 9845063490…

After a long absence, it was refreshing to enter my favourite theatre space, Ranga Shankara, once again, this time to watch a Hindi play, "Rocky Ka Insaaf", staged by Mashaal.   The play has been expanded from a ten-minute vignette that was staged as part of the "Great Galata Festival" at Ranga Shankara in 2013.     The main protagonist, Rocky, takes a journey into the world of the common man today; a world where “development”, while raising the standard of living in material terms for some people, leaves others untouched in India. Rampant corruption, the me-vs.-you attitude of the…

It is now official. Puttenahalli Lake Birds Conservation Reserve is now a reality! Puttenahalli Lake in Yelahanka has been declared a "Conservation Reserve" by the Karnataka Government.  Bangalore Mirror's article dated 14th Sep 2015 says: The move makes Bengaluru arguably the only Tier-I urban area to have a bird sanctuary within the city limits.   For several years, efforts have been on to get this lake in north Bangalore onto India's Conservation Reserve list. A report in The New Indian Express of April 2007 said: According to biodiversity expert Dr Harish R Bhat, Bangalore is left with only 34 healthy tanks, 14 of which are in…

Surely by now the Horticulture Department at Lalbagh knows that there are a very large number of walkers early in the mornings, even more so on weekends. A very tiday and neat-looking toilet has been provided, close to the Siddapura Gate, by the authorities...but when my friend went to use the facility, it was tightly locked. What is the point of providing a facility if it cannot be used? Lalbagh, I find, has too many things wrong with the administration.

Thank god it didn't rain! We never thought we would say this but it was important that the early evening of Sat. 12th Sept remained nice and dry. "Keshavraju Thippaswamy" wanted a drum above everything else. Would he get it was the question in the minds of the 30 odd children who had gathered in the Gazebo at the Puttenahalli Lake in South Bengaluru. The occasion was a celebration, though a little delayed, of International Literacy Day with a story telling by Geetu and team from the Snehadhara Foundation in an event organized by PNLIT. As part of its One Day…

A house made of glass That belongs to times past. Dreaming in the sunshine In a world now paced rather fast. The sun, however, rises Just as it used to do When people from other shores Walked around and watched the view. Twice a year, it gets filled With an array of dazzling flowers. But it looks just as beautiful In its peaceful, empty hours. Oh, house of glass, lying beneath A bluu, cloud-mottled sky... You were a jewel before we were born; You'll be a gem after we die.