GENRE: Voices

One afternoon last week I met R Sunder Rajan, the founder of Just Books at N S Raghavan Centre for Entrepreneurial Learning (NSRCEL), IIM, Bangalore, where the two-year-old startup is incubated. Rajan belongs to a new generation of entrepreneurs, who has slipped into something totally different after years of working in IT firms.  Rajan spent 15 years at the IT firm IFlex, after joining them as a fresh graduate from Regional Engineering College, Trichy. The soft spoken and mild-mannered Madurai native in his late thirties says, “My father says I am the first in the family to ever handle a…

Dr Shyamala Mani, Associate Professor at the Centre for Neurosciences (CNS), Indian Institute of Science (IISc), was conferred the Chevalier de l'Ordre des Palmes Academiques (Knight of the Order of Academic Palms) by the French Government on June 14th, 2010. The award, given to individuals for their contribution to academia and education, was awarded to Dr Shyamala for her research on neonatal lesions and the effects of malnutrition on the fetal brain. Dr Shyamala Mani. Pic credit: cns.iisc.ernet.in. Originally hailing from Vellore, Dr Shyamala completed her graduation in Psychology from Delhi University and then went on to complete her Master…

Earlier this month (June 5th-7th), a group of NGOs and activists gathered at New York to add inputs on what citizens want, in terms of “progress” and “development”. These inputs will be fed into the UN summit to be held in September 2010 (normally, in such international summits, only VIP voices are heard, not those of  activists-on-the-ground).In fact, this global consultation was strictly for activists’ groups and whoever wanted to add inputs was welcome, there were no small or big voices. Those organisations that could not make it to New York could still send their inputs and suggestions, through a…

The first trains on the Metro are about to run in the next six to nine months, so this is a good time to ensure that a few other steps are taken to make the new infrastructure more effective. This is particularly because the world over, Metro systems are usually not financially viable, and this has to be overcome by some tie-in arrangement in the real estate market, through capital grants from government and through other control measures that benefit the transit system.Bangalore Metro is no different. Over the course of a decade and more, the state has been willing…

I have not written this article to defame BMTC but to bring out an issue which I come across every day on my commute to work. I stay in Madiwala and my office is in Indiranagar. I either catch bus route number 201 D or 201 M/A. I board these buses from Ayyappa Temple or Madiwala Masjid bus-stop.Underpass construction work on Ayyapa Temple road started at the end of last month. This has increased traffic in and around Koramangala Water Tank. I am not here to complain about traffic. Heavy traffic during peak hours is common in a city like…

The city administration maybe all set to widen roads, but citizens of south Bangalore are not all ready to give up their property. Residents along the 100 feet-wide Outer Ring Road (ORR), from Central Silk Board junction on Hosur Road to Nayandahalli junction on Mysore Road, have come together to form the Ring Road Property Owners' Association (RRPOA), to carry out their protest against the city corporation's plans to widen this 14.5 km stretch. The association recently conducted a public meeting, calling all residents of the city who have been served TDR (Transfer of Development Rights) notices and whose houses…

Just about 10 years ago “open kitchen” was a fad. My architect wanted to put atleast a “half wall” between the kitchen and the living room and I had to put my foot down to have my kitchen my way. Now that we have moved on and live in an independent house with quite a big open kitchen, it sees like this architecture has become more of a norm.At the time I had just returned from the US, I felt an open kitchen made a statement. An open kitchen meant that a lady of the house is not tucked away…

Today, we hear a lot of buzz words: environment, eco-friendly, go-green and so on. Eco-consciousness needs to be inculcated into our next generation and the best way to instill values into our children is through right schooling.Let me narrate the sterling example that my school set in the early 1960's. This was St Thomas School, at Mandir Marg, in Delhi. Our principal was an enlightened lady, who, through many practices followed by the school, inspired all of us to be aware of our environment, not be wasteful and to respect the dignity of labour. We all wore uniforms made of…

"In Mexico an air conditioner is called a politician because it makes a lot of noise but doesn't work very well." - Len Deighton (English writer, b. 1929) Lack of participation and involvement, personality clashes, petty politics taking precedence over real issues and an inability to come together to address pressing problems effectively. Sounds like the Indian Parliament or State Legislative Assembly? Guess again. This could be a lot closer to you than you think. Apartment Owners Associations are statutory bodies comprising all the owners of apartments in a particular building / complex, and tasked with running the day to…

During my summer holidays, I visited Mysore, a lovely place with exceptionally amazing monuments, enormous palaces.  Mysore is a major tourist attraction in Karnataka and when my cousin visited from Delhi, we decided to go see this historic city.  I love going on such trips; so with my heart pounding with great excitement and anticipation, we began our trip and it turned out to be one of the most glorious and action-packed ones that I have had so far.The first place we visited in Mysore was the beautiful Mysore Palace, belonging to the Wodeyar Dynasty. We were astounded by its…