SOCIETY

An entire day dedicated to celebrating womanhood. She's egged on to claim her rights, her individuality, to embrace her womanhood, buy jewellery, go to spas and celebrate. What does the ‘other half' of the population think of this celebration? Do they embrace it or do they question it? Deepak R. Pic: Anisha Nair Deepak R, 24, consultant, Electronic City"In today's age men and women are considered equal. They both support each other in every spectrum of life. They walk shoulder to shoulder in every field and so this day is important to let them know that they are great achievers."Col.…

Her journey is one every aspiring technology manager will want in a city that virtually sees a startup a week. She is known in tech circles as co-founder of the start-up Aarohi Communications, which was acquired by Emulex Corporation, a California-based firm. In Bengaluru, a startup's successful acquisition usually means a lot, from a sense of enormous accomplishment at the end of a journey and the beginning of many things new, in addition to just plain becoming wealthier. Shanti Subbaraman did all this as a woman, and while working in urban India. Not easy, most will say. She started her…

Incense sticks, camphor, vermilion are the items that we normally associate with Grandhige Angadis. But these stores known for stocking up on all things related to pooja, are also the treasure trove of folk medicines. Pic: Vijayalakshmi P That brown bark to cure the acidity or that seed to fix the cough, these Grandhige Angadis are the place to find the ingredients for grandmother's sure shot home remedies.Some of these shops are decades old and the shopkeepers can practically prescribe these folk medicines. "I am here for the past 20 years, I have learned many things about the roots and…

It's very difficult being a non judgemental mom. Turns out, being judgemental comes wired into your system, the moment you become a mom. Not about yourself of course. We are judgemental about other mothers, the one who bottle-feeds her infant; the one who sends her kid to Karate ALL ALONE despite the fact that he has to cross a busy road; the one who thinks nothing of serving her kid Pepsi. In other words, the mother, who in our eyes is "wrong" while we ourselves are obviously doing it right or at least hoping that we are. Pic: Wikimedia commons…

Bengaluru will finally have its own literary weekend. Lekhana comes to the city between February 10-12. The event has been organized by Toto Funds the Arts (TFA), Sangam House (an international writers’ residency program), DeshaKaala (a journal for arts and letters in Kannada) and Reading Hour (a print magazine for Indian creative writing), in partnership with the National Gallery of Modern Art (NGMA). “The City" is the theme this year. With panel discussions, readings, performances and an event bookstore, it promises to be an intersection space for the city’s varied writers, literary cultures and languages. C K Meena, Chairperson, TFA says…

As some of you may have seen the announcements, Citizen Matters' second print edition has launched in Koramangala-HSR layout from 14 January. This is a very exciting development for us and is inline with our plan to foster hyperlocal communities around Bengaluru through independent coverage of current affairs, communitiy and culture. Two fortnightly editions are currently going out of our office every alternate week, one for the JP Nagar-BTM-Jayanagar area and one for Koramangala-HSR. Like the active community in Jayanagar-JP Nagar area, Koramangala and HSR Layout's citizens too are at the forefront of several city reform initiatives. Many of them…

It is curtains up for the 4th Bengaluru International Film Festival (Biffes) on December 15, 2011. About 175 feature films from around the world will visit the city over the eight-day event. They include 130 foreign films from 40 countries, 30 from Indian Cinema and 15 from Kannada Cinema. This year's country focus will be on Polish cinema, Egyptian cinema, Asian cinema, contemporary Indian cinema and contemporary Kannada Cinema.         Significantly, for the first time, Bengaluru's annual film event has finally received the attention it deserves, with the goal being to establish it amongst India's premier film festivals. This edition of…

Bengaluru was about to have its first Slut Walk - rechristened 'Gejje Hejje' - on Sunday, December 4. The walk was to protest against victim blaming in cases of sexual assault, wherein women are held responsible for inviting assault by "dressing provocatively", travelling at night etc.But not only were they not allowed to hold the walk, a few who had dared to assemble at the venue were arrested by the Bengaluru police. Police had given permission for the walk earlier, but cancelled it on short notice - on Saturday night, bowing to threats from right wing groups. Pic: Navya P…

As a visitor to Bangalore, I do not usually get hit by any disturbing event.  In fact, my past visits have been pleasant.  The purpose of my visits has been merely to visit family and friends. This time, however the black cloud (yeah, the one that randomly victimises you or someone you know) found me within minutes of ending a very comfortable train ride -- executive class on the Shatabdi from Chennai, November 23rd.  Illustration: Comaravalli Sridhar Radhakrishnan. On exiting the Cantonment station about 10:15p.m. I rang my cousin who was to pick me up, then my mobile went in…

If you know someone who has done exemplary work for Bangalore, now may be the time to give them credit. Namma Bengaluru Awards, intended to honour unsung heroes of the city, have opened its nominations for this year.Nominations were launched on October 31st and will close on November 30th.T he awards are instituted by Namma Bengaluru Foundation, founded by Rajya Sabha MP Rajeev Chandrashekhar. Started in 2009, this is the third edition of the awards. A person can nominate oneself or others here. Supporting documents on the nominee's work can be loaded online itself. This year the awards are for…