PEOPLE

There was a commotion at the front gate. A woman crying and speaking at the same time. I, then a 1970s high school student, rushed to the living room to look out to see who it was and what was going on.  Just at the same moment as amma rushed out of the kitchen. The woman at the gate was Kamala. Amma rushed to the front door to ask what had happened. In between sobs and convulsive crying, Kamala said, “My anna (older brother) has died and they have brought the body to the village. Is my mother here?” “The…

At my local park, I sometimes see two young women (sisters, I assume), taking their elderly grandfather for a walk. The gentleman is very unsteady on his feet so the two women have to grip his arms to support him. Also, he cannot walk fast, so this little group's progress is very slow. But I've never seen or heard the two young women complain. Instead, they go silently round and round the park, patiently leading their grandfather. And after about half an hour or so of this, the three of them head out of the park and make their way…

14-year-old Ruth goes to a school in DJ Halli, Bengaluru, every day—not to study—but to work, unlike most children. She has been doing so since January 2014. She leaves home at 7 am and walks for about half an hour to get to school. At school, she looks after children younger than herself—giving them food and water, taking them to the bathroom, washing their feet. Once Ruth finishes her work at school, she once again walks and reaches home by 6.30 pm. At home too, she has several household chores to attend to. In any other family, these chores would…

Pic courtesy: CME and The Bangalore Conservatory If music be the food of life, play on... So said the Bard. What if music is life to you? What if, only the glorious notes and the wondrous chords make sense, what if everything else to do with everyday living, means nothing? What if you are Samuel Marcus? Samuel, or Sammy, as he is called, is 27 years old. He has an older sibling and he has loving parents. And he has, in the words of people who have heard him, the 'voice of an angel'. Sammy, you see, is blessed with…

Missing: 95-year-old Shankar Prasad Mishra. My friend Preeti Mishra's 95-year-old grandfather,  whom she lovingly calls Nanu, is missing. He went missing from Babusapalya in Kalyanagar on August 25. Nanu or Shankar Prasad Mishra, is much more than a grandparent for Preeti. He is a fellow foodie, and her companion-in-fun. He is also her rock, her safe place. Preeti is an ardent Bangalorean, blogger and writer. I can only imagine what she and her family are going through right now. No, actually I can empathise, because it has happened to me too--when my father went missing three years ago. The worst…

Udupi Rajagopalacharya Ananthmurthy, one of the stalwarts in Kannada literature who got 6th Jnanpith award for Kannada, passed away on Friday, August 22, 2014. This leaves a deep void in Kannada literary world, leaving behind very few independent and fearless voices. He was suffering from diabetes, and his last days saw severe kidney failure which finally proved fatal for him. He was admitted to Manipal Hospital recently. On Friday, August 22nd, his blood pressure levels dropped and he had to be put on ventilator. He was declared dead by the doctors in the evening. Born in the pre-independence era, on…

Growing up in the lap of nature influences one’s life in a profound way. One learns to appreciate nature and all its wonders in a more special manner, than someone who has grown up in a town or city. It allows one discover and acknowledge the beauty in the little things that nature has to offer - in the pattern of a dragonfly's wing, in every tiny droplet of rain, in the various moods of the weather. Raviprakash S S is among the lucky ones. As a young boy, growing up in the Malenad region, he was exposed to nature…

Rajeev Gowda (second from left) submitting the Namma Railu petition to the ex-Railway Minister, Mallikarjun Kharge in February 2014. Pic: twitter.com/rajeevgowda Rajeev Gowda is a well-known face in Bangalore. He is the son of M V Venkatappa, who was a Legislative Assembly Speaker and Chairman of the Legislative Council in Karnataka. An academic, Gowda was a professor of Economic and Social Science at Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore until recently. He is currently a Rajya Sabha MP, elected from Congress party, representing Karnataka, at the upper house of the Parliament. Rajeev Gowda also started a citizen’s movement, Bengaluru Needs You,…

  On my way to office, which is located in Bagmane Tech Park, C.V. Raman Nagar, our office cab passed through the streets of Austin Town. On the pedestrian footpath, lay a helpless, old soul, wrapped in torn bits of clothes and plastic. On inquiry, her neighbors revealed that she has been lying in the same place for more than 10 years, all by herself. On December 19th 2012, after office hours, I decided to spend my evening with the elderly citizen. I held her tiny old hand to hear about her life and share her heart. She spoke to me…

  On April 25th 2014, BMTC announced a 15% hike in its bus fares. This announcement was the fifth of its kind in the past three years and for obvious reasons has generated public outrage. Several citizen groups across the city and commuters are up in arms, asking the BMTC to roll-back the fares, and in some cases, even asking the state government to step in. Some sections of society in Bengaluru would now have to spend around 15 to 20% of their incomes on commuting alone, implying that other necessary expenses such as health and education might have to…