Frazer Town

This month, the Karnataka state women’s football team is in Arunachal Pradesh, in high hopes of winning the Women’s National Football Championship. As the national championship enters its 25th year, the women’s game in India and Karnataka is at a turning point too. More women than ever are playing the game, and the official machinery is keen to support them. Playing for Karnataka at the national championship is 15-year-old Tanya Gupta, who scored the winning goal in the Independence Day Cup in Bengaluru last month. That tournament was opened to women just this year, for the first time in its…

Sixteen years after the Karnataka High Court ordered the closure of all abattoirs within Bengaluru city limits and instructed the state government and the municipal authority to construct alternative facilities on the outskirts of the city, the first steps in that direction are visible. According to Dr K P Ramesh, official working at the Animal Husbandry Department in the Bangalore Bruhat Mahanagara Palike (BBMP), a new abattoir is being built on a 40-acre site within the KSIDC industrial estate at Harohalli, 34 km from the city and is expected to be commissioned by mid-2019. Not only this, concrete steps are…

Growing up in Bengaluru for me has always revolved around the Cantonment - early morning walks under the tree-lined avenues towards Richards Park, eating Ritchies mutton biryani on MM road (back in the day when a plate was a meagre Rs 40), or buying weekly groceries from Thoms after Sunday mass. Historically, the Cantonment of Bengaluru dates back to the 18th century, specifically 1807, when the British defeated Tipu Sultan’s army and established themselves around the Ulsoor kere. The British established various typologies from large parks and shopping centres to parade grounds and schools, the most important being the colonial bungalow…

Even as he holds a big fish in his left hand, a young boy tries to reel in another fish. Pic: Ganga Madappa Picture this. A young lad sits on the edge of Ulsoor lake, with a stick in hand. He immerses one end of the stick into the water and moves it through the water. In a matter of seconds, a large fish floats to the edge and the boy picks it up. As he picks up the fish, someone shouts from the crowd, “Ai Appu! What are you doing? Drop it… it’s poisonous! Go wash your hands!” The…

That afternoon, we had been looking for the Durga Book Store in Shivajinagar. I had been told that it might still be there, a bookstore where residents of Frazer town and Benson town had shopped in the 50s as had others from the city. There were many who had memories of going there during their school days. It had been the popular bookstore at that time. We found it. It was still there. Just across the road from Russell market. In a little lane off the Noronha road, right at the corner. When we went in there, it was in…

A government First Grade College at Frazer town in Bangalore city operates in a Tamil primary school without having sufficient classrooms and infrastructure. Despite being allocated enough funds in 2010 for building construction, the college authorities have failed to get a land for the same. The college has achieved 80 percent result in the last year. Around 50 students have been placed in reputed companies, the teachers are excellent, says B V Krishnappa, Principal of the college. “But we don’t have resources to run the college in a proper way. We have funds, but we could not find a land…

"I brought my younger daughter to the park as she has her summer holidays and was keen to find out what this event is all about. My older girl is in doing well in high school", beamed Rafiq Ahmed (name changed) who visits Bangalore regularly from Tumkur. He was one of the eager members of the audience that swelled after the annual Global Walk for India's Missing Girls that started outside the Haji Ismail Sait mosque in Frazer Town reached Coles Park around 4 pm on Saturday, May-5, 2012. The motivation behind the Global Walk (which has been conducted in over…

When we come across a unique not for profit organisation, social campaign or initiative, we may be interested in knowing more about its regular activities and achievements. But do we try to find out why and how it started? Irrespective of their size and successes, many civil society organisations (CSO's) or non-governmental organisations (NGO's) have a distinct personal story behind them. Some organisations like Sangama (helps sexual minorities) or the Association of People with Disabilities (APD - supports disabled persons) were started to highlight and counter the challenges or discrimination that an individual or a community experiences and assist them.…

   Around mid August this year, 21 volunteers from 14 countries arrived in southern India to work and learn from marginalized communities about their challenges pertinent to health and sanitation. They were part of "Health on Stage", a six week project where they learnt to use forum theatre to initiate simultaneous dialogues on public health in low income areas of Bangalore, Mysore and Chennai. And on 30th September, the 3 groups of participants, their trainers and faciliators gathered in Bangalore to share their experiences with healthcare professionals, media persons and theatre artists.It is well known that water related illnesses are…

  Diwali is coming and lamps are being churned out in large numbers and available on street   corners for sale.Pic by Ravi Kaushik.⊕