JP Nagar

A play that is an interpretation of another play faces several challenges. What if the audience is not familiar with the original play?  How can the production pick up on very contemporary issues from a play originally written in 1972...46 years ago? The Big Fat Company addressed these issues, and more, successfully, in their production, "Head 2 Head", where the cast and crew "play" with Hayavadana. A scene from the play, in a photo  displayed in the foyer: As I entered the theatre space, I found the first attempt in this direction by the Big Fat Company.  An excellent brochure, printed…

It was a hectic but delightful weekend at the Puttenahalli Lake in J.P. Nagar 7th Phase. On Saturday, 20th January,  S.K. Srinivas led a group of 12 participants through the intricacies of photography. It included a class in the Gazebo which we had darkened with curtains to facilitate better viewing of his presentation. Participants asked questions, cleared doubts, showed the pictures they had clicked, etc. Time flew and the scheduled two hours extended to three and more. Everyone welcomed his ideas of a day-long photo walk and forming a group so that their learning could continue. Meanwhile, we received email…

Today, the 2nd of Dec, 2017, saw the residents of several apartment buildings which are part of the Bangalore Apartment Federation (BAF) taking to a silent protest in the streets. The protest was against the continuous and endless barrage of harassment they are being subjected to by the government and civic agencies of Karnataka State Pollution Control Board (KSPCB) As R Balasubramanian, President of BAF, says, "Older apartments constructed in the '70s, '80s & '90s, which are not in any way polluting, have been mandated to install STPs retrospectively, which is impossible. And for apartments built since 2007 with properly…

Since I have enjoyed the work of Tahatto for many years now (you can read my review of another of their plays, here (written on a rainy evening exactly 5 years and 3 days ago!) I looked forward to watching "remember Remember" by this young and talented group, on another rainy evening, (12 Oct '17) and neither my friends nor I were disappointed. Pic: Thomas Kadavil Abraham The play had a good house, too considering that it was the middle of the week, and the audience had braved weekday traffic and heavy rain to get to Ranga Shankara. The assistant…

The third week of August ended with a wildlife event and a wildlife/conservation festival, both of which I thoroughly enjoyed. The first was the screening of "Cobra King", a documentary on the King Cobra made by Sandesh Kadur of Felis Creations It was Gowrishankar of Kalinga Centre for Rainforest Ecology narrating the life cycle of this iconic reptile of the Western Ghats. I cannot yet find the documentary on the net ( has it not yet been released to the wild, like rescued snakes are...?), but here is another video on the same snake from the same film maker: Here's…

As a theatregoer, one is used to several constructs as part of an evening of theatre. For example: Theatre is either fiction, or fictionalized fact (the very word 'dramatic" has come to mean, something that is emphasized more than is ordinary). The audience is a passive receptor for what happens on the stage. The audience and stage areas are mutually exclusive. All members of the audience get the same narrative. The narrative in a theatre experience has a buildup, a climax and a denouement. It's not usual to attend an evening of theatre where all these concepts are challenged and,…

A decade ago, sewage flowed where water once did, in the lakebed of Bengaluru’s Puttenahalli Lake. Today it is 13-acres of clean water, a diverse ecosystem and a peaceful area for community members. It is a shining example of a successful lake rejuvenation, a movement more complicated than it may seem. Apart from being public commons and beautiful displays of nature, lakes are essential for groundwater recharge and rainwater collection, important to Bengaluru especially in the days of water shortage. Rain water canals connect lakes to each other, thus lakes end up sinking a lot of groundwater, while excess of…

While paying for vegetables, I learnt something. Shop owner: What job do you do? Young man: I don't have a job. Whoever prospered by having a job? Shopowner: Speculative look. (He himself runs the vegetable shop, he doesn't have a "regular" job!) Young man: I breed dogs and sell them. All kinds of breeds. I get Rs.20K per dog sometimes. Me (unable to stop myself): Which breed? Young man: Rajapalayam hounds. Me: Oh! Young man: But that includes Rs.8K for the licence, and another few thousands for the microchip (inserted in the dog's collar). The economics of the pet trade…

On the 17th of August, 2017, I was walking along, musing on the fact that we are now in the eighth decade of our existence of an independent nation. Everywhere there had been an outburst of pride and patriotism. My thoughts broke off abruptly as I saw this: Are we really proud of our country? Do we really love her if, after our display of love, we are willing to make her ugly and dirty with our refuse and discards? Would it not be true patriotism to clean up the country, rather than add to the trash? Patriotism, surely, more…

Invariably these days visitors to our Puttenahalli Lake in J.P. Nagar 7th Phase ask one question - what are those floating platforms in the water? Those of you who follow our updates on the lake would know that these are the Artificial Floating Islands we had first introduced in June last year. That was also when we signed an MoU with the BMS College of Engineering to test the lake water every month. Three prototype islands were joined by more. The plant species in the platforms increased and the water sampling points went up from four to seven. The BMS reports…