HERITAGE

It's quite unusual to go to review a play that's been running for some time, but I did just that on the 23rd of January, as I went to watch "The Incredible Mullah Nasruddin" at Ranga Shankara. This was their 13th show. The play is a production by the "AHA!" children's theatre wing of Ranga Shankara. The main protaganist is Mullah Nasruddin, who, in this version, comes from Arabia to India to garner wisdom, and undergoes various experiences, depicted in 21 short vignettes. The play had several features unusual in children's theatre. For one, there was a blue turban that…

Former Olympian, Nisha Millet and Kannada actress, Anu Prabhakar are true blue Bangaloreans. They, like many other Bangaloreans, have been brought up around the numerous trees that adorned the city. With time and urbanisation, the cityscape has taken a turn for the worse. Urban forests have given way to apartment complexes and tree-lined promenades have been turned into roads. Does this spell the end of Garden City? Not by a long shot; especially considering that Neralu is around the corner.   On February 8 and 9, Bangalore will witness an event that is the first of its kind. Neralu, the Bangalore Tree Festival will be…

December 22 is National Mathematics Day in India, in honour of the great Mathematician Srinivasa Ramanujan who was born in Erode on 22 December 1887. In his short lifespan of 32 years, Ramanujan discovered and rediscovered (things unknown in India at that time, but known in other countries) about 3900 theorems and equations that have mostly been proven correct, and have been the basis for new research around the world. One of his more known magical revelations was that the number 1729 is the smallest number that can be expressed as the cube of two numbers in two different ways.…

What is it -A city, town or village?'Twas a pensioners' paradise it seemsHaving a colonial hangoverAmidst MEG, BEL, HMT, ITIUsurped by the silicon dumpWith its Nagars, Towns and hallis'Tis an escape no moreFrom the heat of HyderabadOr the sweat of MadrasOh, it's not the Bangalore of yore!

One of the amazing things about the city of Bangalore is that it sits on a natural wonder... the rock that the city sits on is one of the oldest exposed rocks in the world. Lalbagh rock. Pic: Deepa Mohan This wonder of Nature, called Peninsular Gneiss, is so easy to see. Here’s what the Wikipedia entry says: “The Geological Survey of India identified one of the best exposures of this rock mass, protruding high above the ground as a hillock (pictured), dated 2.5 to 3.4 billion years, in the Bangalore city in India at the famous Lalbagh gardens and…

She’s naked, covered with ashes, her hair matted with snakes in them, a garland of skulls and freshly cut heads around her neck. She laughs like madness herself, dancing to the chaotic rhythm of death, dragging a corpse behind her which she licks with her blood-red tongue from time to time. Now imagine meeting her in the middle of the night on a dark lonely path. Here’s an old description - a dhyana mantra of Guhya Kali, one of the forms of Kali. The tantric text is called Tantrasaara and is written by Krishnananda Aagamavgisa. “She is dark as a great cloud, clad in…

Goddess of the occasion - Durga - a synthetic marble dollDolls of Sharada, Durga and Lakshmi made of Clay and PoPThere are too many dolls to choose from , mostly all traditional.Park items - trees and shrubs - made up of clay and PoPHanumantha meeting Rama with a message from SitaA part of Ramayana setRavana's courtDolls of Thirupathi god and goddessKrishna stealing clothes of Gopikas - a scene from Bhaagawatha - clay and PoP dollsCute students studying ABCD in school - dolls are not meant to be only traditional.‹ › $(document).ready(function(){ $('.carousel .carousel-inner .item').first().attr('class', 'active item');}); Click to view the…

Last Sunday I took a friend and her nine-year-old daughter to Bull Temple in Bangalore. It’s the place with the country’s largest monolith bull - known to be Nandi, the servant bull of Shiva. The majestic Nandi far surpasses the tiny Shiva (who you almost miss in a small alcove behind the bull) in size, structure and sheer architecture. I promised this little nine-year-old lady who was too sleepy to be excited about a temple, with a true story after she had seen the Nandi in the temple. Once she was slightly woken up (and I was fast realising it was hard to…

Bhargavi Rao addresses the gathering on Puttenahalli lake premises. Pic: Nikita Malusare. Cracked footpaths; unattended garbage on the street; destruction of roads due to delayed Metro work; high water prices - all these have left Bangalore in chaos. With the sun peeking out from clouds every few seconds and cold wind sending shrivels in the body, many Bangaloreans joined the discussion on Puttenahalli Lake premises, on the issues that concern a Bangalorean, but are ignored as the city tries to catch up with development.   Born and brought up amid the greenery of Bangalore, Bhargavi S Rao, Trustee, Environment Support…

A few months ago, I was going through the ‘Bangalore District Gazetteer.’ The 'oldness' and the 'dustiness' of the Gazetteer just seemed to add to the authenticity of a ‘gazetteer.’ The stories were mostly likeable, bringing in a sense of wonder and revealing a past that I did not know. I looked for ‘markets’ and ‘bazaars’ on its index page. I’m sharing here some excerpts from it. The ones that I found most interesting were the ones with names of localities in the city that we know today but are so completely transformed from the old days. For instance, it…