GENRE: Features

Murder mystery games have been a popular form of entertainment, where a group of people get together and play the roles of various people in a murder mystery, trying to solve the mystery. Once a parlour game, it has now become a popular exercise for corporate Human Resource initiatives, where people participating in the exercise are also involved in the development of the 'murder' situation. A scene from the interactive play. Pic: Deepa Mohan. M D Riti, who established Riti's Murder Games in 2004, has been staging  murder mysteries for corporate clients for six years now. She recently staged one…

Every evening when I walk my dog near Cookson Road (in north Bengaluru) where I live, I see at least four species of butterflies, hear/see five species of birds and of course spot the most commonly seen wild mammal - the squirrel or the three-striped palm squirrel. All this when I am not even looking for wildlife! The three-striped palm squirrel is one of the most commonly found 'wild' creatures in Bengaluru. Pic: Vikram Nanjappa Surprised? Yes, urban areas like Bangalore have a wealth of wildlife. Unfortunately, people living in cities are often unaware of their 'wild' co-habitants. One will…

More than 500 senior citizens (aged 60 and above) took part in a 'dignified and silent protest' at Cubbon Park on August 16th 2010. This was a part of a nationwide protest, organized by the Joint Action Committee of Senior Citizens, and held with the intention of communicating to all governing bodies (at local and national levels) that most rights of senior citizens as mentioned in the constitution were not being safeguarded. In Bangalore, under the aegis of Federation of Senior Citizen Forums of Karnataka, this silent protest at Cubbon Park's Band Stand, was held between 10:30 and 11:30 am,…

A destitute man was lying in front of my maid's house in a terrible condition.  He was really sick, stinking of urine and flies feasting on him.  He could not even open his eyes.  We wanted to help him, though we did not know how.  A single mother wanted to know if I knew of any free residential school where she could admit her ten-year-old son, because she had to work to earn her livelihood while there was no one to take care of her naughty son. One of my distant relatives was admitted to a hospital and the bills…

Step into Tuscany and you get a sense of space. Open and airy, this eatery on the periphery of Jayanagar's 9th Block welcomes you with its bright colours and sweeping flow. But more than the physical area, this is a space for the individual. You could just sit quietly by yourself and read a book, or have a leisurely chat with friends, or immerse yourself in the gentle house music, or pick up the microphone and test your singing ability at the karaoke space. If you are there at the right time, you could even participate in a workshop or…

It was an action-packed and noisy morning as the children were told it should be! Inspirations 2010 - a civic fest and exhibition marking the launch of the eleventh year of CMCA (Children's Movement for Civic Awareness) as well as the launch of the programme for the academic year 2010-11 was held at the St Joseph's Indian High School grounds on Vittal Mallya Road on Friday, August 6th. Cricketer Robin Uthappa, ambassador of CMCA, at Inspirations 2010. Pic courtesy: CMCA The CMCA was started in 2000 as a joint initiative of the Public Affairs Centre and Swabhimana (both Bangalore-based organisations)…

A common sight outside Bangalore homes and a fading folk art in some parts, rangoli creation is many times a tradition passed on from generations. Reviving this tradition was attempted by Shree Vidyraranya Yuvaka Sangha (SVYS) through a Rangoli competition on August 8th. The volunteers who organised the event at APS College grounds in Basavangudi put up an impressive show that saw over 600 participants from various parts of the state and city. The rangoli competition in full swing at the APS College grounds in Basavanagudi. Pic: Deepti Sarma "Reviving the dying tradition of rangoli was the main idea" opines…

When you live in an apartment block with over 1000 flats, managing maintenance costs, corresponding with neighbours and making decisions for the entire complex, may prove strenuous, especially if you are on the management committee (MC). This was what drove S Parthasarathy to start Onesolution, an apartment management software tool. Parthasarathy founded OneSolution to ease the process of managing apartment complexes. Pic courtesy: OneSolution. S Parthasarathy, a resident of Brigade Gardenia in JP Nagar 7th phase, discovered the difficulty first-hand in his voluntary stint as the founder-treasurer of his complex. "Six months down the line there were several issues. The…

On the 1st of August 2010, 12 of us participated in a photowalk to the Bangalore heritage temple sites, Kaadu Malleswara and Nandeeswara, in Malleswaram. I organized this photowalk to help a friend, Chandrachoodan Gopalakrishnan, who used to conduct photowalks in Chennai before he went to Bristol, UK to pursue higher studies. His course, Masters of Arts in Archaeology for Screen Media (MAASM), looks at archaeology/heritage and media practices and explores ways in which archaeology can be presented to an audience. He had requested some photowalks to be organised to help him with his thesis. This photowalk was called Ancient…

It was a lovely evening to walk down to Ranga Shankara to see my first ‘serious’ play since my return to the city after a long absence....and I was not disappointed. “Ms.Meena”, on at Ranga Shankara from July 28 to August 1, is a joint effort between the members of Perch, a Chennai-based theatre group, and rafiki, a Bangalore group. The creative use of props - two brooms have become the handrail of a bus and the winnowing frame the steering wheel. Pic: Deepa Mohan. Sachin Gurjale and Sunitha of rafiki had watched two productions of Perch - Sangathi Arinhya…