GENRE: Features

The urge to meet people we admire does cross our minds occasionally. By a small probability and quirk of fate when such a meeting does happen then happiness knows no bounds. I finally got a chance to meet one of my favourite writers Amitav Ghosh. Coincidentally, I was in the midst of enjoying ‘The Hungry Tide', lost in the jungles of Sunderbans. Being a voracious reader, Ghosh's writings have satiated me with the fictional world that he spins out with such eloquence. On learning about the book launch of Ghosh's critically acclaimed ‘River of Smoke' from the Ibis Trilogy, I…

Four years into her career as a software developer, Rashmi M, 27, is doing a course in technical writing. Technical writing, for her, is a way to weave in her knowledge in technology and interest in writing. "Technical writing is more creative, also my knowledge in technology will be useful in this field," says Rashmi, a resident of Banshankari 1st stage.With increasing opportunities and demands in the market, youngsters in the city are constantly updating themselves with knowledge in new domains. While for some this is a way to move into a new field, for others it is to enhance…

The garden city now has the dubious distinction of being the worst when it comes to caring for the elderly. Helpage India conducted a survey in major cities and found that 44% of the senior citizens feel neglected or abused. They are also soft targets for crime in the city. Then there are places like the Aashraya Trust-run old age home. That good soul who takes care of these elderly women is K T Rani. She runs the home in a rented three storied building . Mrs. Rani who started the Aashraya Seva Trust makes sure the elderly lead a…

An urban space is like an immense melting pot into which something new is added and subtracted everyday, causing a perpetual sequence of reactions, and consequently changes. Five visual artists in Bengaluru express their encounters with the fluctuating urban, working in different mediums. Clockwise from top left: Krishnaraj Chonat, V.G. Venugopal, Murali Cheeroth and Clare Arni. Murali Cheeroth paints vividly coloured canvases that reflect the frenzied, throbbing sensations of urban living. “..my working process is a kind of extraction system, that draws on tiny concerns about uber (extreme) urbanisation” he says. He constructs his compositions in the manner of a…

Amidst the flurry of charitable trusts and non-governmental organizations - there is a rather strange breed of social initiatives thriving these days. These are not run by full time activists or social workers but by ordinary citizens like you and me- doing full time jobs and shouldering other family responsibilities. The couple behind the study centre: Jayaseelan and Lalitha. One such couple in Bangalore - Lalitha and Jayaseelan are running a students' study center in Cox Town in Bangalore for the wards of the slum dwellers nearby. They are normal people, with abnormal will. The journey began 25 years ago…

"Running is my passion!" says 29 year old Seema Kotian, a technical writer during the weekdays and a marathoner by the weekend. Look around and you'll see that she isn't the only one saying that. Running is the new way to be fit. Don't join a gym. Run instead. Seema Kotian at the Sunfeast 2008 run. Pic Courtesy: Seema Kotian This must have been the very thought behind the people who introduced the city of Bangalore to the World 10k in 2008. Today 3 marathons later, the Sunfeast World 10k has been rechristened into TCS World 10k Bangalore 2011. But…

The Pirates of the Caribbean are back, and Johnny Depp leads the way. Rob Marshall replaces Gore Verbinski in the director's chair, but the difference hardly shows. Source: Wikipedia As with the previous films, Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides is an entertainment laden ride, interspersed with magical mystery and many guffaws. The great pull to the film lies in the aura that surrounds its principal protagonists and not the meatiness of the plot. This time around, Captain Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp ) finds himself coerced into joining hands with the fearsome pirate Black Beard (Ian McShane) to track…

Directed by Rishikesh Nadkarni, California Suite was performed to an appreciative audience, on Saturday and Sunday, May 7th and 8th, 2011. This bittersweet comedy written by playwright Neil Simon was presented by Barking Dog Productions with an all-youngster-cast and crew. The audience peeked into the lives of five couples that stay in a suite in The Beverly Hills Hotel in California. Clever dialogues about a divorced couple fighting for the custody of their daughter, a man trying to hide an unconscious prostitute he had just found in his bed, from his wife, two couples who end up fighting on a…

American Economist, Bernard Baruch once said, "Age is only a number, a cipher for the records. A man can't retire his experience. He must use it. Experience achieves more with less energy and time." Well here is one person to prove just that. Risaldar Major Hariram lives, breathes and sleeps horses. With 65 gold medals and uncountable silver in show jumping, Hariram retired from the Indian army in 1980. News about him spread like wild fire and the then-Maharaja of Mysore got him to Bangalore to train people at the turf club. Risaldar Major Hariram teaches mostly at Bangalore's Turf…

Music is an integral part of everyone's lives. Is there a man or a woman, who does not, at the very least, hum the latest hit song as he or she goes about her daily work? But though it's all-pervasive, the learning and teaching of music in Bangalore presents a varied and interesting picture. How do people, especially children choose what kind of music to learn? What keeps them going to the music classes, what makes them stop, and what makes them take to it as a profession? I talked to a variety of people to find some answers. Guitar…