GENRE: Features

RJ Beula and RJ Vijaya of Radio Active 90.4 MHz were at the fine hand block-printing workshop organised by Tharangini in Sadashivanagar on 13 May 2017. The event was held in celebration of 40 years of the organisation promoting the ideas of Indian artisanship, textiles, and eco-friendly production, one of the very few such initiatives remaining in our city today. All dyes are eco-friendly and made in-house. Many of the artisans have been with Tharangini for nearly 2 - 3 decades. Padmini Govind speaks about the history and various activities of Tharangini - a textile unit that was started by…

Every day we produce tonnes of organic waste – banana peels, potato skins, egg shells, and wasted food – that all get dumped into the dustbin. Most of us give no second thought to where this garbage is going, let alone the people who come to whisk it out of our lives. Pic: Sanaya Katrak A candid chat with the group of garbage collectors doing their rounds in Green Glen Layout, Bellandur every morning, offered a peek into their daily encounters. They were immensely grateful for even the chilled bottle of water given to them as they willingly talked of…

One of the wonderful things about Varsha Ritu and Grishma Ritu in our city is still the wonderful carpets of flowers that the trees lavish upon the ground beneath them. Here are just three flowering trees, the Copper Pod (Peltophorum pterocarpum), Jacaranda (Jacaranda mimosifolia) and Honge (Pongaemia pinnata). Here is how one of the small roads looks after the Copper Pod flowers have fallen: This is a closeup of the Copper Pod flower and the seed which gives the tree its name: Here is the carpet of Honge flowers: A closer look: Honge carpet: The purple of the Jacaranda is…

Rajan tried all manner of entrepreneurial enterprises. He sold scrap paper and cardboard to recyclers. He built a street corner chai and cigarette cart, and repaired truck and bus tires. He started an office cleaning service for high-tech companies in the growing IT sector south of the city center. None of these delivered the financial returns and workday flexibility of selling clear, sky blue, 20-litre water “cans” in Chennai’s immense bottled water industry. The 32-year-old business owner, stocky and muscled, fits the enterprise. Every day, Rajan explained through an interpreter, he and a partner purchase some 200, 20-litre water cans…

With an area of 272 acres, Madiwala lake is one of the three largest lakes in Bengaluru. Located in South Bengaluru, it comes under the administrative control of Karnataka Forest Dept (KFD) who is responsible for its upkeep and maintenance. Butterfly park with the scientist for design and planting butterfly attracting plants. The lake had a lot of hyacinth growth and sewage inflow, directly and indirectly from the open storm water drain (SWD) that runs inside the lake from South-west corner to North-east corner. Karnataka government decided in 2016 to develop it into a bio-diversity park, on the recommendation of…

An impromptu weekend plan landed me in Wonderla Amusement Park in Hyderabad. My fear of heights made me go only on those rides that seemed slower and lower. These happened to be the water rides, as they were my safest bet. Even if all the safety belts and harnesses of the ride failed, I would just end up falling in the water, with all my bones and skull intact. Nevertheless, I enjoyed myself. At that point, I never questioned how this park was procuring water for all its rides. Nor did I consider the possibility of water being extracted and…

Sobha Quartz in Bellandur, Bengaluru is a residential apartment complex with 146 families. Some families living here compost their kitchen waste in their own balcony-based mini composting plants. They also embrace zero-waste events, sustainable menstruation hygiene practices and other eco friendly practices. Here’s how a typical Sobha Quartz family, Naresh Sadasivan and his wife Shanthi Naresh, ensure their event was zero waste. Invitation cards, non-biodegradable decorations, plastic disposables, water bottles, leftover food, tissue paper and plastic bags create a mass of trash that go to a landfill, which is not only a waste of money, but a problem when the city…

Ajay Gopi greets you with a shy, heart-warming smile. As is usual, the now twenty-year-old is accompanied by his camera – photography is one of his greatest passions. As he happily chats away, one is hardly likely to suspect that he is quietly working to revolutionise Indian farming systems. In fact, Ajay is the founder of “Hands on Agriculture”, which aims to establish aquaponics as a less water-dependent alternative to conventional farming. His journey began with countering his parents’ explicit will. Ajay recounts that his father wanted to make him an electrician, but he had other ideas. “My wish was…

“The city is both natural and contrived, a transformation of "wild" nature to serve human needs, and an evolving entity shaped by both natural and cultural processes."  - Anne Whiston Spirn I’m standing in a vacant lot in the periphery of Bengaluru. It’s a slightly hazy spring morning and it’s already sweltering. The muted stillness of the neighbourhood is occasionally pierced by the clamour of nearby construction and the distant screeching of regional passenger trains. The heavily disturbed terracotta colored earth below radiates a slightly sour odor and is punctuated by a scrappy patchwork of discarded plastic debris and scrubby spontaneous…

As the last stretch of Bengaluru Metro’s Phase I nears completion, there are high hopes that the city’s commuting woes may finally be eased. With a Phase I network covering 42km and 40 stations, Namma Metro is the second longest operational metro system in the country, after Delhi’s. Work on the 72.1km Phase II has already begun. What now remains to be addressed is the mobility transition that needs to occur among urban commuters - away from a growing trend of private vehicle use towards modes of public and shared transport. Part of the solution lies in enabling end-to-end transportation…