community

Much like the nurturing of our Puttenahalli Lake, the PNLIT concert featuring Padma Bhushan Sudha Ragunathan on 25th Feb. at MLR Convention Hall was a community event with several volunteers from the locality chipping in. Our heartfelt thanks to them, our donors, Jenesys Technologies, concert sponsor, and to Brigade Hospitality for the venue and accommodation for the artists.     Here's how the day unfolded ...   The lake and its premises had never looked as clean as it was when Smt. Sudha Ragunathan paid a visit on the morning of 25th Feb. After the visit of renowned ornithologist Zafar…

Written by Sowbhagya and translated from Kannada to English by Devaki Samuel It’s been twenty years since I started working as community organizer. I started as a teacher for children of 3-6 years of age. I noticed most of the time older sisters came to drop their younger siblings. The sisters were beautiful, smart and intelligent but had taken the burden of single mothers, who were involved in incense stick making. Deprived of education, instead of holding books, their hands were blackened with the ingredients of incense sticks. Whenever I saw them, my heart ached.  I had an opportunity to…

Members of the Whitefield Rising group with the Namma Bengaluru award We gave no consent and we got awarded for that! You read that right. On March 14th, Whitefield Rising won the Namma Bengaluru Foundation award for disagreeing and sometimes being disagreeable! Strange, isn’t it? Read on to find out why. We all agree that the state of affairs around us is, putting it mildly, not good. Child rape, sewage in the lakes, garbage on the streets, inequality in our society and many more civic and humanitarian issues. As Ela Bhatt says, this is 'violence to our own with the consent of state and…

Some of the cards children have made for the carnival Sometime last year, five women were chatting over a cup of coffee. In the course of their conversation, the five (part of a moms' group because their children attend the same school), realised they shared similar beliefs--that they all believed passionately in making a difference to the lives of those less privileged. And that, to do this, they had to "become the change, they want to see". Now, this is a group of highly qualified and motivated professionals--there's a Chartered Accountant, an MBA, an interior designer, a corporate professional, and…

What would be possible if nothing came in our way of doing what we wanted? What if we dedicated our complete self, awake, asleep and in dreams, to work? What if we went all out and dived headlong into solving issues, with a bullheadedness and madness affordable only by those who are completely free? What then, would be possible? This is what got Bhaskar and I to start our initiative, Community Matters. Chunchaghatta neighbourhood. Pic: Sinu Joseph We started six weeks ago with little idea of what we should do, but being very clear of what we should NOT do.…

An insensitive and ignorant society labels them eunuchs, hermaphrodites, kojja, ali, ombathu, and so on. But they prefer theterms hijra, kothi, jogappa, panthi, mangalamukhi, gay, lesbian, intersex, bisexual, transgender, transsexual, etc. Often ostracized by their loved ones for daring to be open and different, they are among society's most marginalized and traditionally excluded. Further, the state and its representatives harass and discriminate against them denying them fundamental rights and benefits like housing, education, employment, healthcare, identity cards. However, for over a decade, the sexual minority community has been demanding humane and dignified treatment and basic entitlements. Additionally, alternate sexual persons…

Bhopal. Manipur. Karnataka. Chattisgarh. Orissa. Tamil Nadu. Ayodhya. West Bengal. Maharshtra... Gas leak victims, women, sex workers, adivasis, domestic workers, children, dalits, differently abled... Survivors. Marginalized. Minorities. Excluded. Students, social activists, writers, film makers, folk artists, volunteers and others from across India united with subjects of human rights violations nationwide. Through candlelight vigils, dialogues, films, street plays, photo exhibitions, rallies et al, Bengaluru's conscious citizens and inspired passersby showed that they stand with those whom many ignore! These pictures are from events organized between 28th November and 10th December, 2009 at various Bangalore venues. The latter date is the 61st…

In early 2006, many non-profit and community based organizations like SICHREM, ESG, Sangama, OpenSpace, Stree Jagruti Samiti et al and individuals (like yours truly) working with marginalized persons and social issues in and around Bangalore felt the need for an open, informal gathering and expression of life, our spirit and beliefs. The idea crystallized into Namma Jathre, Our Festival signifying that it is an event by and for everyone. When we first held the Jathre at Cubbon Park in November 2006, nearly 40 citizen's groups and 7000 people including the general public participated. This increased to over 40 organizations and…

For a long time, I had been wanting to participate in the campaign against street sexual harassment (aka eve teasing) by Blank Noise. Finally, last Sunday (Aug-5) afternoon I joined the fortnightly action - this time on Church Street and Brigade Road from 3 - 5 pm. 5 of us reached out to around 150 pedestrians from different age, occupational and socio-economic backgrounds while displaying wall and hand held posters in English and Kannada. Some roadside vendors helped us enthusiastically while 4-5 male/female police personnel, taxi drivers and building security guards agreed with the prevalence of the issue and the message…

…Hindus, Muslims, Christians, boys and girls", were the heart warming words of Afreen Sultana, a promising class IX student of a government aided English medium school in Matadahalli, R.T. Nagar. A fornight ago, it all began as a question on the difference between a nest and a cage with Firdaus (of class VII in the Urdu medium government school nearby). This led to the meaning and importance of freedom for all living beings, eliciting interesting responses from Alan, Chetan and Abhinaya (in classes VII, IX and VIII of various government aided English medium schools in North East Bengaluru) on accepted…