CITIZEN JOURNALISM

When was the last time you saw at least 70 different characters (could be more if one actually counted!), not to mention other things like vehicles, tables, houses and more  on one sheet of paper, with each character minutely detailed with suitable clothes, accessories, postures & expressions?  Not to mention having you in splits at the same time! If you are a resident of Bangalore and your answer is ‘in the past couple of weeks’, I am sure that you are one of those lucky to have visited the exhibition of Mario de Miranda’s works that is currently on at…

The next time you're on the road at peak traffic time observe this. There'll be a wannabe Michael Schumacher who'll take off like a rocket at the signal, and you'll meet up with him at the next signal. You'll most likely meet up with him at every signal over the next 10 km. Why does this happen, even though he's driving faster than you? This is because of the 'Schumi-Bang effect', a scientific phenomenon caused by the interaction between Schumi's vehicle and Bangalore's roads. Here's the explanation. When traffic signals are close to each other, your average speed depends on…

Goonj, a voluntary organisation, is initiating Vastra Samman (dignifying clothing), a pan-India campaign, to collect about one crore units of material in the 'Joy of Giving Week' being celebrated across India from 27th September to 3rd October.Goonj will use the collected material as resource under 'Cloth for Work' for development activities in the villages, school material and toys to support rural or slum schools and anganwadis; and useless cloth to make mats, school bags and the entire cotton waste material to be converted into sanitary napkins. Collection CentresSmitha Anand, BTM 2nd Stage,  Ph: 9986213181, 9 AM to 10 PM Jennifer…

Centre for Social Markets (CSM), a non-profit organization dedicated to making markets work for the triple bottom line- people, planet and profit, is conducting a citizen consultation in Bangalore to voice opinions about the issue of climate change. This is part of a world-wide consultation on the topic to be held on Saturday, 26 September 2009.26 September is the World Wide Views day and will be the first ever and largest citizen consultation of its kind! Thousands of citizens all over the world will meet and vote about the same questions.This is to invite you to participate in this day…

The Bengaluru International Art Festival, a seven-day festival with art, music and cultural performances was held  between 7th and 19th September. Last Friday on 18th September,  Chowdiah Memorial Hall at Vylikaval was witness to dance and music performances.Mars, a performance choreographed by Sathya B G.Another scene from Mars.Intersections, a performance choreographed by Sathya B G.Chittara (patterns), a performance inspired by the morning 'Rangoli'. Choreographed by Mayuri Upadhyaya, the director of Nritarutya.A Sufi Music concert by Tochi Raina and group. ‹ › $(document).ready(function(){ $('.carousel .carousel-inner .item').first().attr('class', 'active item');}); ⊕

On 27th and 28th September 2009, Bangalore Cares, a non profit that acts as a bridge between the voluntary sector and the rest of society, is presenting "Sneha Sante" – an event that combines a charity bazaar and a programme of cultural events. With nearly 30 Bengaluru Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) participating, as well as local artistes lending their support, the first edition of Sneha Sante promises to be a colorful and fun event!The charity bazaar will have NGOs exhibiting a wide range of hand-crafted products: chocolates, cookies, toys, art works, embroidery, jewellery, apparel, books, diyas, cards, gift items and more.…

If there was one city in  the newly independent India that was a real moviegoer’s delight, it had to be Bangalore.  In the early ‘50s, cinema theatres in Bangalore used to  show films in many languages - Hindi, English, Tamil, Telugu and Kannada. Few years later, Malayalam and Bengali movies could also be seen in morning shows. In that sense Bangalore was probably the most cosmopolitan town in the country. Such a varied taste in films was a reflection of tolerant  and eclectic mindset  of the natives. May be this was also the way the foundation  for a pan-Indian city…

Five days of work, traffic, noise, short tempered bosses and shorter deadlines. And then the weekend comes, just in time. For some of us, Saturdays and Sundays call for calm afternoon naps.But the rest of us are happy to chill out with movies, malls, hikes, plays, exhibitions, shows and the odd candle making workshop. So how do you know when these events happen?  Many options exist both offline and online. I've attempted to compile a list of websites as well as city newspapers that lists events.The first one is AskLaila. It is a comprehensive site I came across for events.…

In 1978, as the city of Seoul in South Korea 'developed', a 6 km. long river called the Cheonggyecheon was covered up. An 8-lane street was built over it, and an elevated expressway built over the street. The road was called Cheonggye Road, in memory of the late river.In 2005 the elevated expressway and the road were broken up and the river restored. It took two  years and the equivalent of Rs. 4000 crore for the restoration. 2002 : Seoul's Cheonggyecheon river in its avatar as a road. Pic source: G V Dasarathi. 2005 : Seoul's Cheonggyecheon river after its…

During commute time in Bangalore when people are traveling to their offices, how many people do you see:1.    In a car?2.    On a motor bike?3.    In a bus?Answer : 1 in a car, 1 on a bike, 75 in a bus.Here’s a small transportation engineering exercise.If you count the number of vehicles on the flyover in the picture below, you’ll find that they add up to 150. Assuming the people in these vehicles are all going to or from work, each of the vehicles is carrying 1 person.That means there are 150 people between the two red lines. Pic source:…