GENRE: Features

Your father needs a set of diagnostic tests to be done. Your child is prone to allergic coughs. You need a second opinion before you go in for a treatment. You have a sore throat and you want to be sure it is not a serious virus attack. Who can you check with? Paramedicals explaining the Anyuta scheme. Pic courtesy: Anyuta Trust.What you need is a ‘Family Physician' or a ‘General Practitioner'. Someone who can provide primary and preventive healthcare, as well as advice and educate you to make an informed choice. Unfortunately, the concept of a family physician is…

There are 99 couples on the waiting list of Adoption Coordinating Agency (ACA), Karnataka, some of them patiently awaiting their turn since 2006. ACA is an NGO recognised by the Central Adoption Resource Agency (CARA) that facilitates adoptions across the country. The wait is due to a shortage of healthy babies below one year at these agencies, And most parents want to adopt babies very young. A happy 6 month old with her new mother. Pic Gokul Janga. Behind the Wait It's a common story across agencies in Bangalore. "There are not enough healthy infants and toddlers in adoption centres…

Apart from growing into a booming martial arts school in Bengaluru, Independent Shootfighters Inc. is also rapidly gaining ground in training women in self defense.Established in March 2007, the school has trained more than a lakh women in self defence through corporate workshops, schools, colleges and also as a social cause for Sri Lankan women refugees in Chennai. "Women’s self defence, has always been a topic close to my heart," says Ashwin Mohan. Pic credit: Ashwin Mohan. Independent Shootfighters was established with three students by Ashwin Mohan.  Today, it has eight coaches, seven centres and over 800 students across the…

“Parikrma does not have an ‘a’ before ‘m’ akka”, Phalitha corrected me. Sitting between seven school children who kept a watchful eye over my notes, I forgot that I was the one who should ask the questions. An eight-member-student team from Parikrma participated in the recent TEDIndia conference held at Infosys' Mysore Campus. Pic: Poornima Dasharathi. Phalitha G A, Soumya N, Vinod C, Vignesh S, Nikhil G, Manohar J Achar, Sreenivas and Nehminlen Haokip (“he’s from the north-east akka”) – all studying in 8th and 9th standards were a part of eight-member-student team that participated in the recent TEDIndia conference…

“Only five per cent of people follow their heart. The rest work to please others”, said the 45-year-old S V Ramachandran as he welcomed us into The Qurio City shop, the centre of his passion for antiques. It was around 7 PM on October 21st – and the second edition of the event, 'City Specks: Mapping Memories'. “Only five per cent of people follow their heart. The rest work to please others”, says S V Ramachandran. Pic: Pushpa Achanta. The event was  part of the theatre group Maraa’s recently concluded October Jam. For the next hour and a half, he…

The Namma Bengaluru Awards, set up by the Namma Bengaluru Foundation, has received a whopping 3902 nominations from across the city. The nominees include a banana leaf-seller R V Badraiah, Sr Adeke Korah who counsels prisoners, police sub inspectors and a BBMP official. There are two categories for the awards - the Public Officials and Agencies category and the Private Citizens and Institutions category. Among the nominees R V Badraiah: A banana leaf seller, however have arranged drinking water facilities in all the neighborhood bus stops.Sister Adele Korah: A former school principal. After retirement she devoted her time to counseling…

A wall is a wall, whether it is plain, peeling or broken. But it is much more when it is painted with flowers, animals and mystical beings. It is street art. On Rest House Road, off St Marks Roads, one can see flowers, clouds and a man reading under a tree.Shilo Shiv Suleman, Siddharth Chadha and Ridhi D Cruz are the three young people who painted this wall. Ridhi is a Bangalorean, trained as a journalist, who freelances with independent media projects. Chadha who is from Delhi and Ridhi’s J-school classmate, is a film maker and researcher. Shilo is a…

One can get a peek into the Bharatratna and Oscar Award winner’s life at the National Gallery of Modern Art (NGMA) on Palace Road, where slew of photographs by Nemai Ghosh titled, “Satyajit Ray: From Script to Screen”, are on display. They are on display till November 27th of this month. One of Satyajit Ray's photographs displayed at the National Gallery of Modern Art. Pic: Deepa Vaishnavi It is said, ‘A picture is worth a thousand words.’ This is indeed the case with these photographs which have been selected from over tens of thousands of photographs taken over a period…

Saturday, November 14th 2009 saw a different kind of Children's day event in Jayanagar. Kids were not dressed as Nehru or Indira Gandhi and were not singing or dancing. Instead, they all came out on their cycles and demanded safer roads for cycling to school.About 200 students from various schools in Jayanagar, including MES school, Good Shepherd school, JSS school, Vijaya school were joined by Transport Minister R Ashoka, Jayanagar, MLA B N Vijayakumar and film actor Pooja Gandhi in a cycle rally. Justice Saldanha also spoke on  rights of children in roads and urban spaces. On Children's day around…

Life throws pleasant surprises along the way when you least expect it. Until Friday afternoon I hadn’t really planned on attending the launch of Yt’angle (Yours Truly angle for children by the theatre group Yours Truly). But one thing led to another and me, a reluctant theatre enthusiast jumped at the chance of introducing my children to theatre. They were not entirely enthusiastic about this last minute Saturday program to go watch a play when they could be home with video games and television. The chock-a-bloc traffic and losing our way to JC Road didn’t help either. But we reached…