GENRE: Features

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…

In the Whitefield campus of technology major iGate, a most unusual tournament was on last week. It appears to many a curious bystander that all these people - of various ages and nationalities-were spending Monday morning playing intense games of Scrabble. At a table in the first row sits a man in a New Zealand t-shirt having just finished a game that his opponent is intently analysing. Nigel Richards at the tournament. Pic: Siri Srinivas You and I will not recognise the name but 42-year-old, Nigel Richards is the current world champion of Scrabble and a veritable legend. He had…

When most citizens of Bangalore were wrapped up under blankets on a cold Saturday morning, 43 adventure lovers set out to cycle, kayak and go bouldering. Bangalore Adventure Race or BAR 101 kicked off from Turahalli, off Kanakapura Road, Southern Bangalore at 4.50 am. The participants cycled 50 kms to the Manchanbele reservoir to face more tasks to test their endurance. Cycling part of the race. Pic courtesy: Bangalore Adventure Race. The 15 teams made it to Manchanbele in about two hours. And plunged straight into trail biking, bouldering or Kayaking, depending on the tasks they felt most confident of.…