DIARY

I am a native of Bangalore city, a Kannadiga from an orthodox family, yet I found myself asking my non-Bangalorean friends, "What is the Karaga festival?" One of those moments when I feel I should have paid more attention during social science class! One friend, who closely follows cultural happenings around the city, told me more. The 40 ft ratha carrying the idol of Lord Dharmarayaswamy in procession. Devotees gathered on the streets throw bananas and tulsi leaves on the ratha. (pic: Deepika Nagabushan) Karaga is celebrated on the full moon day during the Chaitra month of the Hindu calendar.…

My grandparents first came to Bangalore sometime in the early nineteen hundreds from their home village in Tumkur district. Chamarajapete was among the earliest planned extensions of Bangalore city located close to the old inner city areas like Dodda Pete, Chikka Pete, Arale Pete (Cotton Pete) and Bale Pete. It was a popular residential area for many of the upwardly mobile new settlers of Bangalore city.Grandmother, a strong, intelligent, home educated woman, settled into one of the old houses there and began her new life in the city. Bangalore was still a small town and soon she had many friends…

Just as I rued missing a January evening of South and West Asian folk music, thanks to my inertia, I was delighted to hear of the Kabir Festival, from 23rd February to 1st March, at various venues across Bengaluru. It promised to be a week of films, music and enjoyment. And so it was... A photo of Shabnam Virmani and her friends during a spontaneous singing session at the festival (Pic: T.B. Dinesh) An exciting and enchanting journey that began with the thought provoking and soulful 'Kabir ke dohe' (Kabir’s couplets), the festival offered an opportunity to interact with Shabnam…

This New Year began with reaffirming my resolution to regularly attend the Iyengar Yoga classes conducted at Nirguna Mandir located at 4th Block Koramangala, adjacent to ST Bed Layout. Apart from the significant improvement in strength, stamina and concentration that my weekly classes have provided, my primary motivation has been the steadfast guiding presence that my yoga teacher provides. K. Mahadevaiah (Courtesy: Ajay Bhaskar, student of Iyengar Yoga Classes) Simple, unassuming, modest; these are the words that come to most of our mind when we think of K Mahadevaiah, our yoga teacher. But to me he epitomises all that is…

It all started two weeks back, when I received an email from Lokesh about a proposed ride for Jawa / Yezdi bikers on 25th January 2009 to the "Big Banyan Tree". I spoke to my wife about this ride a week back and she agreed to postpone a few important tasks that she had planned for Sunday, letting me go and enjoy my day with buddies, wondering, what these crazy guys do with their bikes every now and then. Line up of beauties at the beauty err beast pageant After so many years of marriage, while continuing to own this…

I knew it - MNCs are no better, if not worse, than desi ones when it comes to after sales service. This painful truth was revealed to me when my Whirlpool Quick Chill became a hot case, so hot that even the company didn’t want to touch it with a barge pole. It happened last summer. I wanted to impress a client of my husband with a tall chilled glass of lime juice from my Whirlpool, just like the ads showed, and reached into the deep freeze for ice, and, what do you know, I felt water sloshing about in…

I had always wondered what life was like on the inside, at Karunashraya. If I had gone there as a copywriter on a project, I would go around with the team, look inside the wards, talk to some of the patients and ask for a 'brief' as we normally do, before we start a project.But then, all roads led to Karunashraya when my mother drifted into a terminal stage of cancer - far too gone even for a miracle cure. I would now get an insider's perspective on Karunashraya - as a caregiver to a patient.View from the walk-ways, around…

I was to board the KSRTC Meghadoota service to Chennai on 27th November 2008 at the Shanthinagar bus stand in Bangalore. The bus that was scheduled to start at 10.17 PM, did not arrive at the bus stop till 11 PM. The bus that managed to arrive so late from the depot had mechanical problems. The driver reported that the bus could not pick up speed and possibly not go beyond third gear. Apart from this, the bus also had very bad air conditioning, which added to the frustration and fury of the passengers. The angry passengers demanded that the…

As the weekend approached, the weather looked good on Friday evening as I left my office with the printout of a map of place called Hesarghatta. At 5 AM the next morning, we started on our journey to this famous lake. The idea was to have a enjoyable day out and capture some scenic photographs and lots of birds too, as promised by various websites on the place. The roads were empty and we hit the outer ring road by 5.30, but as we crossed the Hebbal flyover, we realised it was going to be almost a never ending journey.…

"…24/7 water supply, generator back up, general physician round the clock, two-bed hospital. Book now to avail of early bird offer", my husband read off the newspaper."What is it about, a new apartment block?" I asked."No-it's an old age home", he said, "time we started investing in one, when we can still afford it".I looked at myself in the mirror, and plucked out a strand of grey hair which refused to be dyed. "Why, don't you think we'll be living with our son's family when the time comes?" I asked, unsure of it even as I did. For these were…