GENRE: LN

The High Court of Karnataka on Tuesday, 4th November directed the Lake Development Authority (LDA) not to enter into fresh agreements enabling private parties to own lakes. A division of the HC bench, comprising Chief Justice PD Dinakaran and Justice VG Sabhapathi, took the State government to task, observing that the government was trying to commercialise lakes by handing them over to the private parties.The Court directed the government and the LDA to take a decision regarding steps to be taken to protect lakes and gardens, to preserve the beauty of cities and maintain ecological balance. It has given two…

Few know that the Bandstand in Cubbon park was the hub of cultural activities in Bangalore in the 60's. The likes of Ilaiyaraaja had performed there. After a long gap Prakruthi, a non-profit organisation run by the duo M S Prasad and Praveen D Rao, took it upon itself to bring Kannada and its musical legacy back into the limelight, and revive the magic of bandstand and Cubbon park. The revival started on 5th October this year and many musical recitals and shows have been held there every Sunday between 5 and 7 PM since then. Performances by popular Kannada…

It was late on November 3rd afternoon when five men worked by the side of a lonely stretch of road in the as yet un-named land between Anjanapura and Kanakapura Road. The barefooted men silently hoed and shovelled the last dregs of a waste heap, shoving the plastic and other indistinct matter into a truck parked nearby, where one of the men stood next to the waste. This is near Avalahalli, about 2.5 kms east of Kanakapura Road. Stray dogs feasted on the roadside dump which had untreated biomedical waste mixed with kitchen waste. Pic: Angela Jain. At first glance,…

Business Iron ore mining no longer lucrative Global recession has its cascading effect on iron ore mining in Karnataka. This business once changed the face of Karnataka and its politics. With the price of iron ore going down, the huge machines at the mining sites have now stopped working. A ton of iron ore from Bellary which cost Rs.3000 until recently, has now dropped to just Rs.350. The possible closure of mines may throw thousands of families to the streets. (Kannada Prabha, Saturday, Oct 25) Pay and Park rule to return The ‘Pay and Park’ rule by BBMP is all…

Considered a classic by most, yet not the best of Chaplin, The Great Dictator which released in 1949, is one of the most enduring satires of its time. The film takes place, as the title card clarifies, in a ‘period between two wars’. This film was screened as a part of Meta-Culture 2008 Film Festival on Conflict and Resolution last month at the Alliance Francaise. In the film, writer-director Chaplin plays opposed dual roles – that of a Jewish amnesiac barber and the Tomanian dictator Adenoid Hynkel. The plot The Great Dictator was Chaplin's first feature-length talkie. The movie, in…

SUNDAY JAM is a uniquely informal musician's meet that is part of an on-going endeavor by Guruskool (regd) to support musicians. Every first Sunday of the month, music bands meet at Guruskool's farm space in Nelamangala (about 33 kms away from Bangalore city) to share, perform and jam.Maraa, a media collective introduced theatre to the SUNDAY JAM in the month of October, and with this we hope to build a culture of theatre into this space. The idea was to create a space for short performances- self-written texts, stories, ideas, concepts and improvisations. Towards building an arts collective, we hope…

An interesting photographic exhibition is on from 3rd October to 15th November at Café Fresco’s on Cunningham Road. Titled ‘Stone Theater’, the exhibition displays photographs of a different kind by Magali Couffon de Trevros. These beautiful images not retouched or reframed, but just printed on aluminum sheets. It is hard to believe that these are photographs of stones, sand and water bodies around them and the aluminum sheets add to the earthy effect of the theme.Magali is French by origin, and has been in Bangalore for about 6 years and in India for 15 years. Trained as a graphic designer,…

Hongasandra area of the Bommanhalli constituency’s woes doesn’t seem to end. Year after year the rains wreak havoc in the lives of close to 2 lakh people. On 24th October rain has flooded the homes of the people living in around Hongasandra. The breach in the Begur lake was cited as the reason. The real reason is not just overflowing of the lake, but the encroachment of Rajakaluve, the main storm water drain. More than 2.5 km stretch of this drain has shrunk over the past years, say the locals. People walking through floods. Pic: Padmalatha Ravi.On 25th morning when…

In a boost to the Right To Information (RTI) movement in the country, the Punjab and Haryana High Court, in February this year, upheld the levy of penalty by the Haryana State Information Commission, on the State Public Information Officer (SPIO) for delay in furnishing information to an RTI applicant. The Commission had levied a fine of Rs.19250, at the rate of Rs.250 per day for a 77-day delay caused by the SPIO in servicing the RTI application. Cartoon: Narasimha VedalaIt is only recently that RTI users in Bangalore stumbled upon this case, and clearly, they are pleased. They pointed…

"There is no conflict in the city," was the opening statement by M Narasimha, one of the panelists in a discussion on ‘Conflict and the Future of Bangalore’ organised by Meta-Culture Dialogics (MCD is an organisation working on conflict resolution through dialogue) and hosted by Citizen Matters on 19th October, at Alliance Franchise de Bangalore, in Vasant Nagar. (16th October was World Conflict Resolution day and MCD has organised a week-long film festival on the topic during Oct 13-19. Preceding the discussion was the Anand Patwardhan film ‘Bombay, our city’ and following it was ‘Fishers of men’ by Ranjan Kamath.)Fortunately…