GENRE: Features

A colourful exhibition showcasing dolls, took place from December 15th to 19th at 1 Shanthi Road. The main organiser of this exhibition was Vishakha from the Craft Studio, who has experience in the theatre and craft field. Other organisers were Nandini, Chandra, Sushila and Shashikala. Besides being just a showcase and sale of dolls, the exhibition served as a platform for discussion and creative interactions on topics related to craft, games, theatre and storytelling.The overall aim of the exhibition according to Vishakha was to support the craft, add an additional facet of identity to the dolls and lay emphasis on…

Towns and cities have always been points of attraction to people in rural areas.  There is a big difference between urban lifestyle and rural lifestyle even today, except for the villages very close to the cities.  Towns and cities are the last hopes of people from villages.  Thousands of people migrate from villages to bustling cities to earn their livelihoods, especially when nature disappoints them and their farms fail to meet their basic needs. I have been selling my old newspapers and other waste materials to Madayan, a 35-year-old soft spoken man for the last 15 years.  I have always…

The recently released Julie and Julia enthralled cinema lovers and foodies equally. The film, in part, shows the determination of an otherwise laidback Julia Child’s (played by Meryl Streep) endeavours to become a Cordon Bleu cook, her resolve to teach American women the art of French cuisine and the difficulties in getting her first recipe book published. Author of six cookbooks and a blog on Anglo Indian cuisine, Bridget White-Kumar is Karnataka’s very own food ambassador. Pic credit: Bridget White-Kumar. For Bridget White-Kumar this story could be termed familiar territory. Author of six cookbooks and a blog on Anglo Indian…

Colours swirl and mingle in echoes of the natural world – sky, ocean-beds, foliage and feathers – organic dreams trip lightly over real things, exchanging identities and producing new worlds. Anuradha Nalapat’s paintings are spaces inhabited by plurality – of thought, feeling and experience, of life itself.With a desire to place her art on common ground with the masses, she has made an attempt to open her exhibition to viewers. She wants viewers to share their thoughts, scribbles and writings and contribute to a session of shared discussion on Saturday December 19th between 5 PM and 6 30 PM at…

'There are melas and there are melas', says Ashok Vyas of the Grameen Art Blue Pottery Society, Rajasthan. Vyas is a blue pottery craftsperson who hails from Kotjewar, around 40 km from Jaipur and has been associated with the Kala Madhyam Mela since its inception in 2001.According to him, though cities like Bengaluru are today typically saturated with numerous crafts fairs right through the year, there are only a few that offer a truly meaningful platform to showcase the craft and the craftspersons. And he counts the Kala Madhyam Mela as one of these. Leather wall hangings - craft from…

This centuries-old, elegant but small, temple in Begur is a place where Lord Shiva is worshipped. Begur temple is about 3.6 kms down Begur Road from the Bommanahalli junction on Hosur Road. People visit the temple to perform pujas or just a weekly ritual. I visited the place as part of a heritage walk organised by INTACH, Bangalore and the Bangalore City Project, on a bright Sunday morning, last month. Begur Temple Begur Temple from the side. Pic: Meera K. The domes of the twin temple are built in typical Dravidian style. The floor is raised slightly higher than the…

For Shyam Kumar, a software engineer from Domlur, taking a tour of the Hoysala terrain, was the ideal way to spend the weekend. While most people would associate Belur and Halebeedu (near Hassan) with the Hoysala kingdom, Kumar also got to explore the ancient town of Dwarasamudra spread around Halebeedu, ancient tanks and the lesser explored Hoysala temple at Belavadi. Exploring a Hoysala tank. Pic courtesy: Arun Bhat, Travelwise. The deviation from the usual Hoysala tourist circuit was courtesy Travelwise, a concept travel firm run by media professional and travel enthusiasts Lakshmi Sharath and Arun Bhat, a former IT professional…

How often have we not heard non-vegetarians crib about the lack of variety in the vegetarian cuisine - constantly branding it as "Ghas-poos"? Well, after a meal at the South Indies, even the most intractable of "pure" non-vegetarians would be forced to lick their fingers and then, eat some humble pie.South Indies is a part of a very small club of genuinely authentic restaurants in Bangalore and this is largely due to the entrepreneurial excellence of Managing Director, Vijay Abhimanyu  and the culinary expertise of Master Chef and CEO, Venkatesh Bhat. In fact, barring the beverages and the usual spread…

A science exhibition on a 16 coach AC train! Yes, “The Science express”, a science exhibition on a train that is travelling all over the country is now in Bangalore. The exhibits have been developed by the Max Planck Society, Germany, in collaboration with the Department of Science and technology (DST), the Government of India and the Vikram A Sarabhai Community Science Centre (VASCSC).The train is in Bangalore, stationed at the Cantonment station, from the 10th to the 14th of this month. So far the train has visited over 100 cities covering a distance of 32000 kms. An exhibit at…

Past Saturday, December 5th saw a bunch of metal heads from the garden city of Bengaluru become a part of history by default. History because they witnessed India’s first ever international metal festival for climate change; default for the simple reason that there was absolutely no talk about climate change on stage. However, NGO heavyweights like Green Peace, Indian Youth Climate Network and Life did their bit by setting up stalls and signing petitions about climate change. These petitions will eventually be sent to a United Nations Climate Change Conference in 2010. At last count, a total of fifteen hundred…