GENRE: Voices

The recently concluded National Masters Athletic Championships held at Kanteerava stadium , in the last week of Febraury, served to highlight several challenges stunting the growth of sports in India as well as avenues for improvement of the state of sports in India and not just for Masters athletes. Particpants at the NMAC. Pic: Anju K P For one, there were very few people who knew about the event in the country, let alon ein Bangalore. The fact that a copy of the event schedule was not available till the first day of the meet didn't aid matters. The Masters…

The word ‘antibiotic‘ means a process by which life could be used to destroy life. It comes from the word antibiosis, a term coined in 1889 by Louis Pasteur's pupil Paul Vuillemin. Antibiotics are essentially chemicals secreted by bacteria, fungus and other microorganisms to inhibit the growth of other organisms. Antibiotics are panacea for all diseases.They are effective only against certain infections. I can recover faster from cold and cough with antibiotics.Most cold and cough are viral and antibiotics do not kill viruses.Antibiotics are relatively safe.People have died due to wrongly administered antibiotics.Mild infection: I can buy any antibiotic over…

There's been plenty of loss felt at the cutback on trees due to Bengaluru's rapid expansion. Equally, there has also been anger felt at the enthusiasm of city authorities to build all over the city and uproot trees, virtually at will, on questionable projects. Bengaluru's ‘Garden city' tag has thus been under a cloud for a while now, especially for new comers who only find a city jammed with traffic and dust-laden air. Citizens have tried to hit back. While the most evident form has been increasing protests and action at the High Courts, another movement has been quietly mushrooming.…

Her journey is one every aspiring technology manager will want in a city that virtually sees a startup a week. She is known in tech circles as co-founder of the start-up Aarohi Communications, which was acquired by Emulex Corporation, a California-based firm. In Bengaluru, a startup's successful acquisition usually means a lot, from a sense of enormous accomplishment at the end of a journey and the beginning of many things new, in addition to just plain becoming wealthier. Shanti Subbaraman did all this as a woman, and while working in urban India. Not easy, most will say. She started her…

  A few days ago, I was having lunch at a restaurant in Jayanagar 4th Block which offered an excellent view of the Cool Joint junction. A surprise checkpost set up by three traffic policeman close to the junction was the highlight of my lunch. During the course of half-an-hour, the police stopped 16-17 vehicles with no apparent discrimination between autos, two wheelers, four wheelers and goods vehicles. The policeman would stand behind a tree and suddenly step in front of the vehicle of his choice to make sure that there was no escaping the long arm of the law.…

She spotted a dying lake, took up the initiative and brought it back to life. Given the opportunity, she would escape to a far away place on a fellowship, to do something she has always loved, writing stories. She seems to have mastered the art of getting books published after she authored 'Get Published!.' From writing short stories, she moved to writing novels and has even translated some of Tamil poet Subramanya Bharathi's works. We are talking about Usha Rajagopalan, 55, Chairperson, Puttenahalli Neighbourhood Lake Improvement Trust (PNLIT.) Usha at the lake premises. Pic: Deepthi M S What made you…

Reeth Abraham is one of India's most well known athletes participating in the hurdles, long jump and heptathlon events, with a career that began in 1976. She has won various medals at several international competitions including at the Asian level. Her achievement stands out particularly since she won a medal at the Asian level less than a year after she became a mother. Reeth, at one of her practice sessions at Kanteerava Stadium. Pic: Deepthi M S Although she retired from competitive athletics in 1992, this 49-year-old has continued training over the years and is now active as a Masters…

He is leading a retired life but spends most of his time and energy in bringing necessary improvement to the community. He is affable, determined, disgruntled with the official apathy yet hopeful. He is the 'military man' of HSR Layout, meet Brigadier R S Murthy, 68, Vice President, Federation of Residents Welfare Associations in HSR layout. Brig Murthy with his wife Lalitha. Pic: Deepthi M S He lives with his wife Lalitha Murthy, 61, who is a teacher. Learning to use the Internet seems to be their latest pursuit. With Brigadier's transfers to various parts of the country, Lalitha says…

By writing this post, I am going to make loads of enemies! I did contemplate for a long time whether I should write this or not, and now I have made up my mind to say this publicly, so that I can move on and find a solution!At least five times a day, I have someone asking me - What happened to Lucia? When is it starting? Who is it starring? I feel like I am being stabbed whenever someone asks this question. The update is that Lucia is a completed script. It has come out beautifully and I don't…

An individual who leaves his personal agenda aside can work very well with the Government bodies, feels Narahari Mukund, Jayanagar resident.This he says from experience as he has been working to resolve civic issues in Jayanagar 5th block. He has lived there for 45 years. passion towards the civic society helped me to write problems that public faced in the society” says Narahari Mukund. Pic: Vijayalakshmi P 48-year-old Mukund has been part of traffic committee for a over a year now. He regularly collected information public grievances on traffic situation and presented to the traffic department. He is also a…