GENRE: Features

Did you know that 50,000 people die of venomous snakebites in India every year? Deaths that could be averted if people had access to an effective anti-venom cure. This was one of many startling discoveries at the end of the screening of A Million Snakebites by the Gerry Martin project at the British Council. The Gerry Martin Project is an initiative for wildlife conservation and education, spearheaded by Bangalore based Gerry Martin. In this film made for the BBC, reptile conservationist Rom Whitaker travels across India, from Tamil Nadu to Rajasthan to Assam, collecting snake venom in an effort to…

The Bangalore East Railway Station is very close to my house and very often I find myself walking along the railway tracks looking for butterflies and other urban wildlife. The bushes and shrubs along the line are a haven for urban wildlife. One day among the bushes and shrubs, I happened to chance upon a familiar plant, almost like an old friend. It was the Milkweed. The Giant Milkweed. Pic: Vikram Nanjappa. Milkweed is also known as French cotton, crown flower or bonba in Spanish is a soft wooded, evergreen shrub. Its long limbs hold six to eight-inch opposite leaves…

The Democratic Actor's Association of Misf!t Theater (Theatrix) in association with Cult Entertainment staged a play in Alliance Francaise called "Poison" on February 19.  The play was written and directed by a debutant young director, Chandrahasa Reddy. It was promoted as a laughter riot, which talks about people, their relationships and rumours. The play was based on the story of a married couple, Mr and Mrs Sharma and their shallow unsatisfying existence. Two other stories of a Police Inspector and an ambitious Social Worker, Smitha run in parallel to the main story. The play is about how these stories cross paths creating…

Over the past two weeks, Citizen Matters caught up with four of this year's Namma Bengaluru award winners for quick tete a tetes. The awards were given on February 3rd to ten deserving Bangaloreans at the Bangalore Palace.   Award winners and jury members at the Namma Bengaluru award ceremony. Pic: Yogaraj S Mudalgi VASUDEV ADIGA(Entrepreneur of the year) Entrepreneur of the year Vasudev Adiga, his award from Lokayukta Santhosh Hegde. Pic: Yogaraj S Mudalgi K N Vasudev Adiga, Managing Director of Adigas Fast Food Pvt Ltd started with a darshini in 1993 serving delicious food at affordable prices and…

It was a day to remember the nine lives lost and 70 others who were injured in the fire that broke out at Carlton Towers, Indiranagar on 23rd February 2010. A memorial service was organised exactly one year later at the Manipal Hospital auditorium by Beyond Carlton, a trust founded by Uday Vijayan. Vijayan is father of one of the victims, Akhil Uday. The trust carries on fire safety awareness initiatives at public places and educational institutions to prevent another fire like the one that broke out in Carlton Towers. Lighting the lamp, with a loss felt deeply. Pic: YM.…

Walk into any locality in Bangalore, even some of the more densely packed areas, and take a moment to try and block out the urban noise. It is almost a given that you will hear a penetrating two toned whistle, you might think that it is some roadside Romeo making a nuisance of himself but in fact it is made by a resident whose presence in our city vastly outnumbers those of our roadside Romeos. They too frequent market places looking for easy pickings. He even shares a name with the roadside Romeo of the silver screen but unlike his…

Yeh Saali Zindagi (Hindi) Any film that gets director Sudhir Mishra to the lens again, with the immensely talented Irrfan Khan and Chitrangda Singh as part of the cast that brings the film to life, automatically finds its way on to your ‘must watch’ list. But Yeh Saali Zindagi fails to live up to our high expectations. Even when unpredictable, the film still leaves you dissatisfied. While it’s a departure from Mishra’s previous work like Hazaaron Khwaishein Aisi and Khoya Khoya Chand, there are commonalities with the treatment and thematic focus of his earlier films like Chameli and Iss Raat…

The ninth edition of 'Municipalika', a three-day conference and exhibition on urban governance took place from 27 to 29 January at Palace Grounds. This is the first time Municipalika was held in Bengaluru. It saw more than 1200 delegates, 120 speakers from across the nation converging to share best practices in urban governance. Mayors of different towns and cities and delegates at the Municipalika. Pic: Yograj S Mudalgi Municipal Commissioners, Mayors, urban planners, policy makers and members of Resident Welfare Associations (RWA) from different towns and cities participated in the conferences organised by the Good Governance India Foundation (GGIF). The…

It was in December 2003 that Bangaloreans first woke up to the idea of Airtel Bengaluru Habba (in those days - Bangalore Habba). As posters announcing the city's new cultural festival dotted the landscape and street art spilled over onto the MG Road Boulevard, the idea of the Habba captured the city's imagination. The vision behind the Habba says Padmini Ravi, Trustee of Artistes' Foundation for the Arts (AFFA) that spearheads the event, has been "to provide aesthetic entertainment to a wide cultural, social and demographic cross-section of people. We wish to ensure that various art forms continue to have…

Nishanth Repello, 15- years-old, idolises Nadal and pursues tennis full time at the Bangalore Tennis Academy (BTA) in JP Nagar. He is currently ranked 28 in the under-16 at the national level. Playing tennis since he was nine, Nishanth is being schooled through National Institute of Open Schooling. He says it gives him the flexibility to travel widely for tournaments and still not miss out on education. "I will be travelling to Mysore and Chandigarh to play in National Level tennis tournaments soon but my studies won't be affected", says Nishanth. Nishanth Repello, 15, aims to follow in the footsteps…