GENRE: Voices

Today on 5th June, a team of around 20 youngsters will celebrate World Environment Day, at Narsipura lake, in Vidyaranyapura, Bangalore North. Children from local schools will join and sing Kannada songs on nature and biodiversity. They will also plant some saplings. Original five who grew into Pancharathna plus. Courtesy: Jayalakshmi Chatterjee The youngsters in the age group 7-17 yrs have been working since mid-April to preserve the biodiversity of Narsipura Kere.There were initially five children -  Viraja, Adityan, Anand, Akash and Boomika (thus Pancharatna or five gems in Sanskrit) who started to take an interest in the birds, this…

It takes you so long to write a 700 word story! Said the horrified editor friend of mine. I counted sheep in my head (helps me stay calm. Another good alternative is the in-your- head-grocery list) and waited for the one question that I hate hearing ever since I gave up working full time to be a stay at home mother: So what do you do all day? The days go by in a blur. Pic: Reshmi Chakraborthy Really, what was it that I did the entire day? And what was it that the other mothers did, staying in this…

Bal Krishna Birla, who hails from Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, came to Bangalore in 1995 after passing out from IIT- Kanpur. He worked in various joined Infosys as a software engineer and worked for around nine years. Later, after couple of other stints he started his first entrepreneurial venture and co-founded Potluck Restaurant in BTM in July 2006.  He was also the co-founder of famous ‘AskLaila’- a local information online service in October 2006. M K Birla. Pic: Abhishek Angad His interest in old hindi songs paved the way for another venture”Bhoole Bisre Geet” where interested community assembles and sings. Continuing…

For the past one month, former Lokayukta Justice Santosh Hegde has been campaigning for Ashwin Mahesh, Lok Satta party’s candidate for the graduate constituency MLC election. This is the first time Hegde is endorsing a candidate in any election. He also goes door-to-door appealing residents to vote for Mahesh. Justice Santhosh Hegde. File pic: Citizen Matters In this interview with Citizen Matters, Hegde talks about his decision to start engaging with elections.Why are you endorsing a candidate in this election?I was against anyone in Team Anna campaigning in elections, as it would almost be like taking sides. There are lot…

I feel that a large part of what children – especially teens – see on television governs their lives. I would know as I watch girls re-enact scenes from the movies 'Mean Girls' or 'Wild Child' over and over again in school. But for them it is not acting, it is part of living. Television shows to some are simply entertainment but some seem to take it way more seriously than what it is. I mean, they practically live off the TV. When I was just in second grade, I made the mistake of letting my mother join the parent-teacher…

“Kissing a lot of frogs before I meet my prince charming.” She laughs when asked about her collection of around 150 frog figurines of all shapes and sizes. Shobhana Narasimhan, 48, is a professor and chairman at Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research(JNCASR), Bangalore India. She has a PhD in Physics from Harvard University, Cambridge. Passionate for social work and development of women, in the field of physics. She travels the world for this. Shobhana Narasimhan – Physicist at JNC. Pic: Anisha Nair As a school student you had a phobia for Physics. How did you end up being…

With all the traffic around it is easy to miss Star Briyani near Silk Board junction. But once you step inside the food will definitely catch your attention. The menu seems too short. But the taste more than makes up for the length of the menu. They have only three types of briyani - chicken, mutton and egg. In fry or kebab we were left with limited chicken, mutton and fish items.Ambur Briyani has a royal legacy.  It is said to have evolved from Arcot briyani, from the kingdom of Nawab of Arcots.  Ambur is a small little town in…

Eczema in children, is a condition typically characterised by skin lesions associated with itching, sometimes watery discharges,  often complicated by infections, and noted for relapses. The condition has shown a spurt in number of cases recently. In 1972, a  Bihar study revealed prevalence of eczema to be 0.38% of all skin diseases.  38 % of them were reported to be Infantile AD (atopic Dermatitis), a medical term for eczema. Two decades later another study showed the incidence of AD to be 28.46% of total paediatric skin diseases. The reasons for this spurt are not very clear. Some of the causes…

Born in Kochi , Muralidhar Rao has been a Bangalorean since 1959 and a resident of Koramangala since 2005. He is a former industrialist himself. He married his passion for writing and civic mindedness and in 2006 co-founded praja.in. It is an online platform to engage in discussions on civic issues. He is also a member of the citizens group ‘Koramangala Initiative ' His wife, Priya Rao, works as a Associate Director-Technical for Indian Spastics Society in Karnataka region. He has a son and a daughter. Excerpts from his interview. You are a regular commentator on civic and commentator issues.…

The recent state budget has funding for projects including five signal-free corridors (Rs 426 crore), upgradation of 45 roads (Rs 200 crore) and Metro Corridor Reach-1 from Bypanahalli to Kumble Circle (Rs 65 crore). The first two are to be funded by the state government and the latter to be funded equally by BBMP & BMRCL. DPRs (Detailed Project Reports) are getting ready. I hope the tendering process gets underway in June/July. A BBMP underpass in JP Nagar. File pic: Yograj Mudalgi Pilots for each of these projects is to be ready soon for the public to suggest improvements -1.…