GENRE: Voices

Three months ago, 56 year-old, Dr Ravi Ralph was made the Chief Executive officer(CEO) of the Lake Development Authority. He is also the Additional Principal Chief Conservator of Forests. He completed his education in Varanasi and then was posted as Conservator of Forests in various parts of Karnataka. He is a resident of HSR Layout. Additional Principal Chief Conservator of Forests and Chief Executive Officer, Lake Development Authority - Dr Ravi Ralph. Pic: Anisha Nair What do you think is the key point in maintaining lakes? In every meeting we see active citizens partnership. Synergy is the word. The government…

Balasubramanyam S, 59, popularly known as Bali, a professional musician and singer has enriched the world of music and enthralled the audience with his artistry. He lives in Jayanagar 7th Block with his family.With passion and immeasurable love for music, he has touched the soul of music in every sense. In 2000-01, Karnataka State Sangeeta Nrutya Academy honoured him with ‘Karnataka Kalashree' (Sakala Vaadya Kalaanipuna) in recognition of his contribution to the music field. Balasubramaniam founded Ramya Cultural Academy in 1993. Pic: Sankar C G Balasubramanyam founded Ramya Cultural Academy, a charitable trust, in 1993, in his own house, aimed…

He had seen the paper and started reading the headline before I had a chance to hide it. "M-O-L-E-S-T" he read, pronouncing it as ‘molet' before inevitably asking me the meaning. My six and half year old has developed a new love for reading and I had forgotten how trauma and disaster laden our news was, when I encouraged his attempt to read the newspaper.What do you do when all the media that confronts your child, the TV, newspapers and magazine, not to mention the internet, has nothing but bad news. Do you tell her as it is or do…

For people like me who have made Bangalore their own ooru in the recent past, it is fascinating to discover that there were once more than 300 lakes that were engineered to connect with each other and serve as water sources for this beautiful city that stands at elevation of 2953 feet. Bangalore Lakes meeting: A glorious past and a promising future-Dr Ravi Ralph CEO, Lake Development Authority (LDA)-Mr Brijesh Kumar Chief Conservator of Forests, BBMP-Dr Ashwin Mahesh, One Bengaluru, Loksatta; Urban Expert-Shri N.S. Mukunda Citizen Action Forum; Abhyudaya-Success stories and lessons learned - group discussion-Sharing best practices10AM to 1PM,…

The High Court has ruled in favour of the citizens in the Agara-sirisi corridor project. The order essentially says ‘hear them out,' to the State and BDA. For the moment, the order comes as relief to thousands of Koramangala residents who have fought a prolonged battle for almost a year and a little too late for the numerous trees that were surreptitiously cut, even before the project formally took off.The Rs 119 crores project at four junctions - Jakkasandra (flyover), Koramangala 80 feet road (underpass), Krupanidhi College (underpass) and St John's hospital-Koramangala 100 feet road junction (flyover and underpass), kicked…

More often than not, talented children drop out of sports when they reach tenth standard; to perform well in board exams. But Ashritha Bharadwaj, is an exception. She continued to win medals even while studying for the all important, tenth standard exams. She also secured 90 percent. The medals she won, decorate a wall at her home. Ashritha Bharadwaj - Swimming athlete. Pic: Anisha Nair She has won 11 national level awards in swimming and aquatic championships so far. She lives with her parents Nagesh and Srividya Bharadwaj in JP Nagar. Her father is a businessman and mother a teacher…

Are you a sneaky mum? The type who cannot think of kneading atta without mashing dal or spinach into it? Or pasta sauce without pureeing carrots? If you do, chances are that like me you live with a fussy eater. Food in our house, at least for the brat, comes with hidden ingredients. Veggies and greens are boiled and mashed to get into the atta, parathas are stuffed with whatever can behave itself inside a paratha without peeking, pasta sauces (even store bought ones) are revved up with pureed veggies, the list goes on... Kids are fussy eaters. Pic courtesy:…

In 1967, Suresh Shah, a Gujarati by native, started Sapna Book house in Majestic, around 100 square feet. Today the same book store is set up in a multistoried building in Gandhinagar. It is claimed to be India’s largest book mall by Limca book of records as well as India book of records. Nitin Shah. Pic: Abhishek Angad And 45 years later, it opened its eighth book store in Karnataka and 6th in Bangalore. This is in the time when book stores like ‘crossword’ recently shut down one of the stores in Bangalore. This may be attributed to the age…

Ramakrishna B V, 75, is one of the 16 nominated councillors in BBMP now. In April, just before Mayor election, he was in news for alleging that the candidate (current Mayor) D Venkatesh Murthy had encroached Civic Amenity (CA) sites.Ramakrishna is Joint Secretary of Abhyudaya, a Federation of South Bangalore-based RWA. He had retired as Production Engineer in HAL, and is also President of Radha Krishna Layout RWA now. He, along with other nominated councillors - all BJP supporters - had taken oath on July 2nd and were part of the budget discussions. According to Karnataka Municipal Corporation Act, state…

Achala Paani has come to be known as the angel that comes to the rescue of street dogs. 27-year-old Achala, runs ‘Let’s Live Together’ - an organisation providing a platform for puppy adoption. She strongly believes in adopting a puppy from the street and saving a life than buying one. Achala Paani. Pic courtesy: letslivetogether.org How did you come up with the idea of Let’s live Together?I have volunteered for a lot of organisations all these years. And as a final year project for my advertising course, I took up adoption of Indian dogs. That’s how it actually started. I…