Tradition

It’s that time of the year, when crackers compete with lights. It is also the time when eye hospitals are on alert to attend to emergency cases. This is when Karnataka State Pollution Control Board (KSPCB) starts measuring air pollution in Bengaluru diligently and collects data to compile reports on air quality. This is also when activists, media and government agencies start coming up with fire safety guidelines. And this also is when activists who advocate eco-friendly celebrations are countered with whataboutery on crackers:“What about animal slaughter done by other religion?” “What about industrial pollution?” “Don’t you pollute air by…

RJ Beula and RJ Vijaya of Radio Active 90.4 MHz were at the fine hand block-printing workshop organised by Tharangini in Sadashivanagar on 13 May 2017. The event was held in celebration of 40 years of the organisation promoting the ideas of Indian artisanship, textiles, and eco-friendly production, one of the very few such initiatives remaining in our city today. All dyes are eco-friendly and made in-house. Many of the artisans have been with Tharangini for nearly 2 - 3 decades. Padmini Govind speaks about the history and various activities of Tharangini - a textile unit that was started by…

We often lament about our children using tablets and X-boxes all the time...but I find, often that even our urban children are quite in touch with the traditional games of childhood. Today, when I went to Kaikondrahalli lake for the kere habba, I found this pile of flat stones, with a young girl piling them up carefully.   I knew that a game of   Lagori was in progress, and waited a bit while the girls surrounded the pile of stones and began their game. The game involves a ball and a pile of flat stones, generally played between two…

Having heard about the   Dhaatu Puppet Festival   I went with my daughter and two grandchildren to watch the parade, which started from the Dhaatu Bus Stop in Banashankari,      and ended at the JSS Auditorium, where several shows are to be held over the weekend.   The parade was a riot of colour, as you can see from this video:   There were puppets and puppeteers from all over the world:   Here are two  home-made puppets...Vaishnavi, the young lady on the right, is looking as happy as her puppet !   The group all posed for…

There are some eateries in Bangalore which have become quite renowned. Veena Stores is one such eatery...and I'd never visited in all the years that I have lived in this city I call home. So today, after our birding outing in Institute of Wood Science and Technology and Sankey Tank, even though Mrs Maneesha Sharma, whose husband is a scientist and who lives on the campus, had given us a delicious breakfast, we decided to go to Veena Stores. I was very glad to find that the eatery has not fallen for its own hype as has happened to many…

Oorvani Foundation and Datameet are happy to announce the launch of OpenCity.in - an urban public data portal. In cities across India, there is a lack of accessible and robust public data. Citizens often do not have access to quantitative information that helps them understand the state of their neighborhood and their city, as well as support their demands of the local government. Data when available is often lost within the hard disks of government or non-governmental organisations, documents hard disks or in individual silos. OpenCity.in is a repository of city-related public data from government sources, via RTI or open…

 Women at the Dodda Maramma temple, waiting to see the other car processions. Pic: Perumal Venkatesan No celebration is complete without fireworks. Pic: Perumal VenkatesanA lady cooks sweet pongal (made using new rice and jaggery) inside the temple campus, to offer to the goddess. This is a common practise across amman (Mariamma) temples in Tamil Nadu too. Pic: Perumal Venkatesan The gully where processions carrying the four idols meet. From here they proceed to the Dodda Maramma temple for the Agni Kunda Puja. Pic: Perumal Venkatesan Young lads dance to the beat of the tamte vaathya. Pic: Perumal Venkatesan Karagattam…

Srinivasa Mahal, Winner - Private (Residential) category Commemorating World Heritage Day, INTACH Bengaluru announced the winners of the city’s first Heritage Awards. The winners were selected from amongst 50 nominations that were received from the public in two categories, government-owned and private buildings. The selection was made by an eminent jury comprising former UNESCO Ambassador Chiranjivi Singh, senior archaeologist Dr SVP Halakatti and the young and accomplished architect Anup Naik. Based on the diversity of entries, it was decided to give awards to buildings in three categories: Public, Residential (Private) and Institutional (Private). Some of the parameters the jury considered…

Bangalore will be witness to pomp and celebration in the next couple of days on account of Deepavali, the festival of lights. While it is certainly a time to come together with family and friends, it is also important that we give a thought to how we celebrate. If bursting crackers, lighting up your house and exchanging sweets is the norm, then consider making a few changes that could very well make the entire affair more eco-friendly. Here are a couple of tips to celebrate Deepavali in a safe and eco-friendly manner. Avoid bursting crackers Crackers are probably the first…

Playing with tops ia a boys' sport and pastime  in India. This is not a sexist statement, it quite simply is so; I have not seen girls playing with tops, from my childhood, till date. As I grew up, I found that there was a season for tops (referred to as "lattu" in Hindi and Bengali), much as there was a season for marbles, kite-flying, cricket, football, and gilli-danda. Tops came traditionally as wooden globes, with nails sticking out of them. Thin ropes were wound round and round the lower part of the top, which had grooves to accommodate the…