Malleshwaram

Max Mueller Bhavan, along with two heritage architects, Kripa and Pankaj, had organized a heritage walk in Malleswaram this time, so off we went last Saturday.It was on the way there that my S3 fell-and-broke! Divya generously lent me her S5 and I used my SD card and took the photographs. Thank you, Divya!The buildings that were identified and shown as part of the walk were truly heritage landmarks....the only question being, how many of them will survive even the next ten years!One building, however, has been converted to a heritage hotel, and is in great shape. Here's the Malleswaram…

Ananya embarks upon a new series of dance programmes titled "Nritya Chilume" for talented budding artists , aged below 15 years. Kum.Kirti Ramgopal, a well known danseuse, will inaugurate the event on 13th December at Seva Sadana, Malleswaram. Nritya Chilume will be a regular feature in Ananya's calendar of events.Nritya Chilume aims to promote and motivate youngsters to further their learning, by providing them an opportunity to showcase their talents to a wider audience and interact with senior gurus and fellow performers.Nritya Chilume-1 features Bharatanatyam performances by Ananya M (Guru-Brunda), Sonali Belankar (Guru-Anuradha Vikranth), Gopalakrishna S V (Guru-Sanjay and Shama…

A key right-to-information question was resolved when the Karanataka High Court on 30 June 2008, declared that registered Co-operative Societies are not public authorities under the RTI Act, 2005. Citing the RTI Act, the High Court said that 'public authority' under this act is a body of self-government established by the appropriate (state legislature, central) government. A non-governmental organisation substantially financed, directly or indirectly by funds provided by the appropriate government is also a 'public authority'. Furthermore, the court noted that while the Co-operative Societies Act and the Karnataka LokAyuktha Act both defined office-bearers of co-operative societies to be 'public…

‘Voices from the waters’ is a film festival with water as the theme, currently in its third edition at Bangalore. The film festival, a confluence of cinema and water, boasts of the largest collection of films in the world on water. The six-day celebration is being held in the Jnana Jyothi Auditorium of Central College Bangalore, during 13-18th September 2008. Organisers aim to spread awareness of water issues among the participants, provides a platform for students, scholars, visionaries and all concerned to learn, interact and debate on the water in all its forms. Worth fishing for: an art piece highlighting…

‘Ananya’ is familiar to most music lovers of Bangalore, especially North Bangalore. It is located in a very peaceful corner of the city, off 4th Main Road, Malleshwaram between 12th and 13th Cross. An inconspicuous small board that hangs right opposite the Malleshwaram Boys’ High School identifies Ananya. Dr Raghavendra is totally publicity shy. He says he formed the trust not for people who craved for publicity, but “… to tap, encourage and nurture young and upcoming music artists and create a small music community that can entertain the masses”. R V Raghavendra. Pic: Ananya Trust. Raghavendra’s interest in music…

Surely BBMP, which seems, sometimes, to go out of its way to cut down full-grown trees, can take a leaf out of the book of these people, who own a shop in Vyalikaval. Messrs. P Mohanlal Bhanwarlal, who run a jewellery and pawnbroker's shop near Chowdiah Memorial Hall, decided that, as devout Jains, they could not offer "himsa" to the living tree; therefore, they actually built their shop around it.Doesn't the presence of the tree hinder the customers? "Actually," say the owners, "Our customers are happy to see this, and the way you saw it and came in, it is…

It was the year 1848. Krishnaraja Wodeyar IV was the Maharaja of Mysore. A plague epidemic had hit Bangalore. Perturbed by living conditions in the cramped city area (primarily in and around present day Majestic), the forward-looking Dewan of Mysore, Sheshadri Iyer, initiated the creation of Malleswaram and Basavanagudi. His vision was to create new and clean suburbs to accommodate the city’s burgeoning population. A view of Margosa Road. Pic: Author.I remember going to Malleswaram as a kid tagging along with my mother for shopping sprees. A lot of memories come flooding back - the Malleswaram Circle Jataka (Tonga/horse cart)…

On the morning of 25 June, residents of Malleswaram, accompanied by ACP Krishnappa, took a different kind of walk. About 30 of us joined Krishnappa and Inspector Aslam at 7.30 AM to walk around a few streets of the area, to highlight the problems of traffic created by garbage, debris, cement blocks and lack of street lights. The walk was a result of a citizens' meeting that took place on 23 June, again at the behest of ACP Krishnappa in his police station. During the meet, some of us met up with officials of BESCOM, the forest department and a…