LEISURE

There are cubes and cylinders here. But this is no maths class. There are bugs and a big scorpion too, yet this is no forest. Buddha and Christ almost facing each other, not in any place of worship though. This is Bengaluru’s most famous cake show, that happens at St Joseph’s Grounds every year, in this season. If you are a Bengalurean or have been here for a couple of Christmas seasons now, chances are that you would have visited this show. It was sheer chance that saw me near the gates of St. Joseph's School on a Thursday evening…

The Knights of Cubbon Bark, (Cubbon Park Canines Volunteers) have organised the second annual Santa BowWow FunTrain at 9 am-10.30 am on Sunday, December 23, 2018. After the excellent response last year, the festival is back with a bang. It is designed to help children get along with dogs in a safer and happier manner. The Knights of Cubbon Bark, (Cubbon Park Canines Volunteers) decided after an unfortunate child-dog interaction, where a frightened dog inadvertently injured a young boy, that it was important to create a safe and fun platform to help children and adults figure out ways to happily…

A park unlike any other! The city is revolutionising play time for children with the Infinity Park in Santhome, Chennai's first 'inclusive' park, which was opened to the public on December 17th. The unique sensory park is a haven for children with its design lending itself to playing by touch. The park has been created to provide a space of leisure for all children, with or without any disabilities. The various elements in the park have been crafted to make it disabled-friendly and welcoming for children of all ages. The project is a partnership between the Disability Rights Alliance and…

A fascinated child stands transfixed in the Zoology section of the Government museum in Egmore, her attention drawn by the giant skeleton of a whale on display, spanning the length of the room. This is is just one of many intriguing artefacts in India's second oldest museum. While the museum can boast of a steady stream of visitors, with enough in store for everyone who would like to spend an hour in learning, there are several aspects of the museum that leave plenty of room for improvement and are crying for attention from the state. The massive collections of the…

A Mushroom... (or toadstool) is the fleshy, spore-bearing fruiting body of a fungus, typically produced above ground on soil or on its food source. In this post, I'd like to share the variety of mushrooms I've been seeing in the monsoon season, in and around the city!   The terms "mushroom" and "toadstool" go back centuries and were never precisely defined, nor was there consensus on application. Between 1400 and 1600 AD, the terms mushrom, mushrum, muscheron, mousheroms, mussheron, or musserouns were used. Puffball Mushroom Black Puffball Many species of mushrooms seemingly appear overnight, growing or expanding rapidly. This phenomenon is the…

The Mumbai Marathon is a special race. Great weather, flat course, the sea breeze and  wonderful crowd support from the cheerful Mumbaikars during the race -- all this is rare to find in any other Indian city. The city which never stops, halts completely for a few hours so that runners can have the roads to themselves. I have run this race many times. Every time I come back with some great memories. Procam organises the race efficiently and participation is higher every every year. But if there is one thing that I have not seen any improvement in—and it…

Growing up in Delhi, I had fond memories of a summertime ritual.  It was called ‘tahalna’ or strolling, and basically, that’s all it was.  People would emerge from their homes for a leisurely walk after dinner and stay out till it was time to sleep.  There was always such an air of bonhomie in these nocturnal meetings.  Whole families would be outside on the roads, in the parks, or just sitting on the steps outside their homes. Most houses or apartments were planned either around or adjacent to a small neighbourhood park.  Kids would rush back to these parks to…

Youth Speak Summit 2018, a collaborative initiative of the U.S. Consulate General, Chennai and NalandaWay Foundation, is a two-day conference that will bring together young people from various spheres in one platform to learn, share, and inspire change. The summit will take place December 1-2, 2018 at the Madras Management Association Centre, Anna Salai, Chennai. The summit will comprise curated talks, panel discussions, workshops, contests, and art by some of the most inspiring minds in the country. The sessions will include talks by youth icons, discussions on issues, storytelling by young change-makers, clinics for counseling, panel discussions, human library, workshops, skill sharing sessions, and much…

Two years after the launch of the Accessible India campaign pressing for inclusion in public spaces by the Government of India, only  3% of the public spaces that were audited were found to be friendly for persons with disabilities (PwDs). Persons with disabilities face several difficulties with regard to lack of ramps, lack of restroom facilities, lack of signage and announcements to aid navigation and hostile design. Chennai was one of the 57 cities that participated in the audit, where facilities were found to be sorely lacking. While public buildings were the subject of the official audit, citizens have long…

“Anna, can you do a video on how to become a Swiggy delivery boy?” A popular query posed to those who do YouTube explainer videos. Many have taken to responding to these requests. The videos garner considerable views and the comments section is rife with questions from eager job seekers about the various aspects of the job ranging from salary to working hours and perks. The roads of Chennai are a sea of orange, black and red these days, as the food delivery services Swiggy, Zomato and UberEats grow in size. Swiggy, the leading food delivery service became a unicorn,…