GENRE: Voices

Confidence. It is the one thing we want our child to possess in bundles, even if we sorely lack it in many areas. Confident enough to come down the slide in the park; talk to people without hesitating, confident enough to appear on stage; confident enough in thier swimming class, fearless when they steps into the pool even though we may be hydrophobic ourselves. The list is a long one.We may not get all ‘Pushy Parent' about this, but the truth is that we admire a confident child when we see one and wish the same for our child. Well…

Bengaluru-based R R Cherla is latest corporate executive to debut as an author. His book is the fiction thriller, Devil's Ether. 53-year-old Cherla is heading a product development team at a leading telecom MNC. In his book, he talks about technologies such as Remote Neural Monitoring (RNM) that makes possible to track a human brain, without any contacts. Cherla has been a Bangalorean for around 20 years. R R Cherla leads a product development team at a telecom MNC in the city. Devil's Ether is his debut as author. Pic: Abhishek Angad He says that quest to write a story…

Patience and persistence are the words that best describe Prabha Mallesh, who spent almost half of her life - painting. Prabha, 68, has achieved an expertise in ‘Mysore style' traditional painting and received many awards including the National Award in 1999. She lives in HSR Layout and has held exhibitions of her art around the world, and still continues her journey with traditional painting. Pic: Anisha Nair Excerpts from InterviewHow did you come across traditional mysore style painting and develop your interests in that?We do poojas, believe in God and that influenced me. Earlier I was into portrait and landscape…

We had met Somesh, BDA Engineer in charge of lakes in South Bangalore, requesting him to take action against construction debris being dumped in Haralukunte Kere. He promised action. But nothing has happened so far. Dumping continues unabated, more of the lake is missing now, than when we complained back in July. Pic: Balasubramaniam Thirunavakkarasu At the same meeting, we were promised that two security guards or Home Guards, will keep watch at the lake, none have arrived so far. BDA did however send a letter to the HSR Layout Police Inspector on 5th September, asking them to cease the…

BBMP's recent entry into Facebook may have impressed a few, what with the Bengaluru Traffic Police holding fort well on the social media. But not Justice Santosh Hegde. "BBMP is a den of corruption", he says, in the direct and unhesitating way he is known to speak.Justice Santosh Hegde, a man who needs no introduction to Bangaloreans, recently endorsed Citizen Matters' 'Living in Bengaluru' book at an event in Whitefield. Subramaniam Vincent, Editor, talked with him over a number of recent political and graft-related developments in the city, as they drove to the venue. This interview happened in mid-September when…

September 29th is observed as world Heart day. Cardiovascular diseases causes at least 17 million people deaths annually.Heart attack typically occurs when blood supply to heart is blocked. If the blockage is temporary, it results in chest pain or ‘Angina.’ If it is prolonged and irreversible, it leads to death of heart muscles, and is called heart attack. It can and does lead to death in a significant number of cases, if immediate treatment is not provided. It is estimated that 50 percent of all deaths due to heart attack occurs in first hour. Pic courtesy: Wikimedia commons It is…

Early in the morning one may notice people sweeping their front yard, and then accumulating the leaves and other waste on the pavement. Yes the houses are clean, but the roads are a mess because of us. In a society that has high regard for cleanliness, we have yet to understand that cleanliness is not just inside our homes, but on the road as well. Drive down any city road and every corner is littered with massive amounts of garbage. Unsegregated waste just put into plastic bags and chucked on the road. Garbage being piled up. Pic: Mark Rasquinha The…

In 2011, I moved back to Bangalore from Seattle. I was conscious that I was not moving back to the city that I knew.For starters, I was moving to a part of the city that I needed getting used to. I had spent all my earlier Bangalore life around Chamarajpet and Srinagar, bang in the middle of the city. But now I had to negotiate Mallathahalli (which gets increasingly confused with the more famous Marathahalli), near Nagarabhavi. And it lay on the wrong side of Mysore Road and far off from anything and everything that mattered.Around 2005-2007 there was a…

I am an illustrator and a comic book fiend and I am going to wax eloquent over Bangalore’s first ever Comic Con that happened on the 8th and 9th of September at the Koramangala indoor stadium. Why such excitement over an exhibition of books that are ‘meant for children’ you ask? Simple, it’s because people have realised its not only meant for children. Only here could u see the Tintin crew chillin with the Grim reaper and the dark knight! Pic courtesy: Varsha S Chakkera That’s the beauty of an event like the Comic Con, all misconceptions people have about…

BBMP spends hundreds of crores annually on projects like road widening and flyovers, while allocating very low amounts for education, health, welfare etc. Dalit Bahujan Movement (DBM), a city-based group for SC/ST welfare, has been demanding useful schemes and funds for the community. Venkatesh M, an activist formerly with  state-level Dalit organisations, formed DBM in 2007 with the specific aim of getting government funding and schemes for SC/STs. It was in late 1970s that the central government initiated separate funding for SC/STs. Government announced the Special Component Plan (SCP) for SCs and Tribal Sub Plan (TSP) for STs. Under SCP/TSP,…