Deepa's Jottings

"Will you walk into my parlour?" Said the spider to the fly. "I've spread a carpet of silk and diamonds! Walk in, and don't be shy! Do come along, for I grow thinner... I've LOVE to have you, ahem, for dinner!" Jokes apart, Funnel Web Spiders also called Wolf Spiders, are named because of the funnel-like web they weave...and the second name is given because they are ferocious predators. They build a flat sheet of nonsticky web with a funnel-shaped retreat to one side or occasionally in the middle, depending on the situation and species. The typical hunting mode is…

It was like a rare alignment of the planets: several factors come together to pull me out of my usual Ranga Shankara ambit for watching a play. I had not been to visit Bangalore International Centre, which opened a while ago in Domlur; Bangalore Little Theatre, as part of their "VP 80" festival, was staging "Credit Titles"; the play, written by Vijay Padaki, whose 80th birthday the festival marks, was based on a story by Vinod Vyasulu, an eminent economist whom I've known for a long time, as our daughters share a cose friendship dating from 1988. And last but…

As of 15 July 2019, the demolition of the Jayadeva Flyover, 11 years after it was built, has started, with the upper part (leading from Bannerghatta Road to Outer Ring Road) being closed to traffic. I am marking the date to see how long this changeover from road to road/Metro will take.

I am often asked why I go to watch children's theatre shows. People usually associate children's theatre, or puppet theatre, with a "fit only for children" narrative, too simple to hold an adult's attention. But plays, or to be accurate, performances, like "Woogie Boogie", by Brush Theatre of South Korea, staged on 18th July 2019 at Ranga Shankara as part of the "AHA!" children's international puppet theatre festival, show how any adult can be as entranced as a child. On the child's level, the clowning and the brisk narrative are very entertaining; but on an adult level, one can see…

This is butterfly season; you must have noticed these beautiful creatures fluttering past you, in the gardens and even on the roads, everywhere in the city. If you observe them carefully, you will find many moments of drama and tension! One lesser-known fact about butterflies is that they hatch out of the pupa (it's called eclosing) as fully mature adults; something I had to think about and accept, being only used to a progression of living beings from infanthood onwards to adulthood. Because of this fact, sometimes, male butterflies try to mate with a female as soon as she's emerged…

Do adults go to watch children's plays? Or to be more precise, do adults go to watch children's puppet theatre...without children accompanying them? The answer, for me, was a resounding yes. I had been hoping to take my grandchildren to at least some of the puppet theatre festival be at Ranga Shankara, under the AHA! banner. The "Same-Same" theme of the festival. Pic: Deepa Mohan Language and music classes in the evenings prevented my grandchildren from coming along with me, but when a friend, Harini Srinivasa Rao, told me that she could not utilize her three tickets, I jumped at…

It is always interesting to revisit a play I have watched before, and see how the production has evolved. This was the spirit in which I went to watch "Robi's Garden" by Bangalore Little Theatre, which I had reviewed in 2011. (You can read the review here ) But I was in for a major surprise! The earlier play was definitely one for children, with many children and BLT volunteers participating, with both the cast and the audience having a merry time, rollicking through a selection of Rabindranath Tagore's short stories. It was an occasion to celebrate the Golden Jubilee…

On our way for a quick birding trip at Basapura Lake, we were crossing Bommanahalli when our attention was caught by a car-pillar. We quickly stopped to take a photo, and when I put it up on my FB page, I got several details....this is a park, with an RTO (Regional Traffic Office) nearby, where people come to take driving tests. It's just referred to as a "Car Park", which I thought a nice pun! My friend Vidhya Sundar says there are many creations here, made from waste. She sent me this photograph of the plaque which gives the names…

The two Hindu epics are majestic pieces of literature, grand in their sweep of space and time; they stand as beacons of moral and ethical values, and we generally hold them in awe and reverence. We certainly do not associate them with humour, or light-heartedness. So, when I got an email from Ram Ganesh Kamatham about his award-winning play, "Ultimate Kurkshetra" which deals not with the forefront, and the heroes of the Mahabharata, but of the very ordinary people who populate the fringes of the army on the eve of the great war of Kurukshetra, I was intrigued and rushed…

It's not common to have plays about music, or musicians; so when Ranga Shankara announced that the Trialogue Company, a Delhi-based theatre group, would be staging "Tansen" on 1st June, '19, I was very keen on attending. The introduction on the Ranga Shankara website was also tantalising. Dhrupad, Khayal, and Kathak to be part of the production...that would be very unusual indeed! So off I went, with my friend Jayashree (who also learnt classical music from me...we did form a fairly critical duo in the audience.) Even before the play started formally, the strains of the tanpura and the semi-humming,…