SOCIETY

I am very tired and exhausted after 5 hours of running around, waiting in front of Seshadripuram Police Station and interacting with the police. I am writing this at midnight.The whole ordeal started on 24th October when Tejaswini, a volunteer handing the 24×7 NorthEast telephone helpline number 9482396178  on behalf of Peace and Solidarity Forum, received a phone call at around 9:30 PM from a person of Tripura origin living in Seshadripuram area. He said that Northeast Indians residing in his building were facing constant physical assaults, extortion and threats for the past two months. My fellow activists from Praja…

On October 13th, a National Law School of India University (NLSIU) student was gang raped in the adjoining Bangalore University campus near Nagarbhavi.By now we all know enough details about the student to construct an image of who she might be. Her age, her boyfriend's name, age, his job profile, that he owned a car, where they both are from, insinuations towards their intimacy levels, whether she got into trouble with hostel authorities earlier for ‘this' kind of behaviour. All this information was culled out in the name of journalism and served as news reports.By now it is almost rhetorical…

Confidence. It is the one thing we want our child to possess in bundles, even if we sorely lack it in many areas. Confident enough to come down the slide in the park; talk to people without hesitating, confident enough to appear on stage; confident enough in thier swimming class, fearless when they steps into the pool even though we may be hydrophobic ourselves. The list is a long one.We may not get all ‘Pushy Parent' about this, but the truth is that we admire a confident child when we see one and wish the same for our child. Well…

The fourth edition of the ‘festival of giving’ is back! Launched in 2009, the Joy of Giving Week is celebrated every October to celebrate ‘giving’. A giving event could be as simple as a family taking out the domestic help's children for an ice-cream party or as big as Goonj’s massive clothes collection drive. It is a festival where Indians from all walks of life give back to their society. “The goal is to engage citizens of the country and instil values of caring, civic and social responsibility. Bengaluru with its metropolitan culture has a responsibility to give back more…

Slayer - an American band, is one of the big heavy metal bands around the world. It will be holding its first ever concert in India on October 20, 2012. But there will be no Palace Grounds to welcome them. Government put a ban on the commercial activities at Palace Grounds in early August this year. Instead, the band is performing in Bharatiya city, a 125 acre township in Hebbal.Naina Roy, a Fashion Designer from HSR layout, says, "The big daddies of thrash metal - Slayer is playing on October 20 in Bangalore. I am a big fan, but I…

Meet H Veeranna (30), who has now been working at “Park View”, a Darshini at J P Nagar III Phase (Mini Forest) for eight years out of the thirteen that this eatery has been in existence. He is certainly one of the reasons why this bustling eatery is thriving; he, and his colleagues, always deliver service with a smile, no matter how rushed it is. H Veeranna, who works in Park View Darshini, J P Nagar III Phase. Pic: Deepa Mohan Veeranna belongs to Kundapur, and came to Bangalore to make a living. “I am lucky and happy to be…

Justice Santosh Hegde, former Lokayukta and retired Supreme Court Judge, talked about the book - ‘Living in Bengaluru’ at the book release function. He said that though he has never endorsed any product so far, he will go ahead and recommend this book to every Bangalorean as it is a holistic book and every Bangalorean must have it. He was at the book release at Whitefield Club on 12th September, 2012. Living in Bengaluru book launch from left - Justice Santosh Hegde, Subbu Vincent and Sanjay Vijayaraghavan. Pic: Anisha Nair Sanjay Vijayaraghavan, a resident of Doddenakundi, has also written a…

The recent exodus of northeast citizens from Bangalore still remains fresh in the minds of Bangaloreans even as scores of those who left have started coming back. Everyone acknowledges that SMS messages with murder threats triggered the panic. Going deeper, several analyses have appeared in the media about underlying reasons for a distinctive minority community such as the NE citizens to flee. From a media standpoint, the exodus has resulted in a closer look at the power of people-to-people communications technologies like SMS, as well as social media such as Facebook. The nature of people-people communication with SMS and social…

In 2008, New York based writer Lenore Skenazy let her 9-year-old son take the subway home. For weeks her son had been begging her to be allowed to travel alone and she finally relented by leaving him with a MetroCard, a subway map, some money and loose change in case he had to call her.When Skenazy wrote about the experience in her regular column, there was a flurry of reactions that ranged from calling her a child abuser to appreciating the way she allowed her son his first taste of independence. Overprotective mother. Pic: Wikimedia commons I remember reading Skenazy’s…

A friend recently posted pictures of her daughter at the dining table attempting to demolish a cake all by herself. To say that she was covered in chocolate would be an understatement.I was feeding the younger child when I spotted the picture and laughed out loud. In a minute the slightly harried atmosphere around me - baby refusing to eat, older child whining about what was on his plate, turned lighter. A kid eating all by itself. Pic: Reshmi Chakraborty Sometimes in Mommyland, it does you a whole lot of good to laugh. It eases the situation when it seems…