Z-Blogs

These tips are all super basic, and you are probably already doing them if you're at all environmentally-minded. But if you're not, then these are simple to practice but large in impact, so we encourage you to start them today. #1 BYOC/BYOB What's BYOC and BYOB? Bring Your Own Container or Bottle wherever you go. Recently, a Beautiful Bengaluru member calculated that his family of four saved forty plastic bottles by carrying their own steel/copper bottles on a five-day vacation. Think of how many you can save! Most people believe that using disposables is okay as long as they use…

After three months of freedom to grow, my hair needed to be contained. It now formed a curtain over my eyes and glasses. When the government allowed the opening of beauty parlours, I booked myself for a first day, first trim. This was a calculated move. I would be in a place cleaned thoroughly after months of lockdown.  The shop wasn’t quite ready, so I made it “second day, first cut.” The Aadhaar card was mandatory, I heard. Parlours had to check the ID of people they had “beautified” routinely for years? But it made sense. I did look unrecognisable. …

Being locked up at home during the long COVID-19 lockdown, I got to reminiscing about my childhood. For instance, as kids, we used to look forward to the monsoon rains. Splashing, making boats and wading through the water excited us and made us feel happy. We had to go to school in knee-deep water wearing raincoats. But this never interrupted our routine. Now, when a virus has engulfed the world, we are told to lock ourselves up in isolation. I pity the kids. They are the ones bouncing with energy. How this is going to impact them, I wonder. Today,…

Public transport systems are essential services to provide mobility in cities. However, in the current COVID-19 situation public transport will pose a certain risk due to a large number of people in a confined space with limited ventilation, no access control to identify potentially sick persons and many common surfaces to touched such as ticket machines, handrails, doorknobs to name a few. Life in times of COVID-19 has changed drastically. The pandemic has brought many changes in the way we live our lives and the habits we form, and soon it will also change the way we travel. Crowded buses,…

In an article in LiveMint, ‘Of plagues, people and the everlasting impact of short events’, Anurag Behar, the CEO of Azim Premji Foundation writes, “We have not dealt with anything like this before, individually or collectively as a modern global society.” The article begins with a reference to William McNeill’s book on epidemiological history, Plagues and People that discusses the influence of diseases on the course of humanity. Behar writes about his chance encounter with this book at a Washington DC book store just a month ago and the turn of events thereafter.  As I read this article, I think…

As most of us have been staying indoors and trying to adapt to the changes around us, the young ones across the country have found creative and innovative ways of utilising their time. From creating artwork to building models for school projects, there are plenty of examples out there. To take this creativity and talent of the young ones forward, Konrai Foundation, a public charitable trust based out of Bengaluru, has organised an online contest for those below 20 years of age. Guidelines for participating in the "Reflections 2020" contest Age Category Participants should be 20 years or below as…

The Bangalore International Centre is celebrating women, freedom and equality with day-long events that highlight the strengths and vulnerabilities of women and busts myths and stereotypes of gender. Art, music, photography, theatre, books, discussions, films, workshops and food, there is something for everyone. The events start in the morning at 10:30 and run through out the day. Here are some events: Self Reimagined- A photo exhibition by Clare Arni The photographs in the exhibition are from a workshop Clare Arni and Varuni Mohan conducted with the class 9 girls of RBANMS High School, Bengaluru. They discussed themes of women’s empowerment…

The annual Chitra Santhe was held on 6th January 2020 in Bengaluru this year. Since 2003, the festival has been celebrating traditional and contemporary art and making it accessible to the public. It has brought art out of galleries and museums to the streets thereby reaching out to broader audiences. The art fair featured over 1,300 artists this year and is estimated to have had around four lakh visitors. For more details, see Yourstory. Artists from outside Bangalore - North Karnataka, Goa, Odissa, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu and Kerala participate. The Kumara Krupa Road leading up to the Karnataka Chitrakala…

Bangalore’s World-Famous Semi-Deluxe Writing Program is an 8-weekend long creative writing course that features leading Bengaluru writers as faculty. Taught in the form of lectures, workshops, assignments, discussions and a whole lot of writing, the 2020 edition of the program will begin in June 2020, and has 30 seats. The program is brought to you by course directors and acclaimed writers Anjum Hasan, Eshwar Sundaresan and Zac O’ Yeah in association with Shoonya. When Anjum Hasan, Zac O’ Yeah and Eshwar Sundaresan got together in the last decade to plot a creative writing course, considering that aspiring writers would frequently…

Do we really know our city—beyond our favourite parks and gardens, theatres and cafes? Are we searching for ways to carve better spaces but unable to drive a concrete action plan? Do we act together or alone in trying to shape the space we all call home? ComplexCity is our celebration of urban diversity and plurality. It is a tribute to the city and its people. An invitation to every urban inhabitant to share their experiences of the city with one another. An acknowledgement and appreciation of and respect for every effort towards city building, and a commitment to continue…