GENRE: In Focus

Every morning, Mahadev rises and soars with the soggy monsoon sun as orders surge. It’s boom time in IT city, after all. “I haven’t seen such a busy season for three years,” he smiles, as he wends his way over the half-manicured streets of HSR Layout. Mahadev is 12. He doesn’t know, therefore, that his princely wages of Rs.70 per day earned for moulding iron gates and grids is a shameful secret. That his earnings are a breaking story of sorts, though not for the same reason as those of IIM-B graduates. His salary is invisible as his employment violates…

Lying between bustling Koramangala and H.S.R. Layout in South Bangalore, Agara lake is a picture of tranquility. Its 39.58 hectares of greenery and water, which attract a variety of birds, make it valuable lung space that many area residents cherish. But, if recent developments are anything to go by, it could be under threat. Vigilant residents are aghast that this green oasis could soon be turned into an amusement park. The last thing they want is for Agara lake to be lost to big money and pollution. They are determined that they will do all they can to preserve the…