Deepa's Jottings

Earlier this year, in February, a group of friends and I had conducted a bird survey in the campus of IIM-Bangalore. At that time, the Dean of Administration, Prof. G Shainesh, and his famkily, keenly followed us througout the morning of birding and documentation. This morning, I received a message from him asking about a bird that had fallen from a tree in his garden. He asked whether it could be a kingfisher or a barbet, as the appearance seemed different to him. I viewed his excellent photo-documentation of the bird...here it is:   Indian Pitta,IIM-Bangalore campus, 15 Oct 2016.…

I am told that I can pay my BESCOM bill online, if I know my Customer ID or the Account ID, which, according to BESCOM, is printed on my bill.   <a href="http://bescom.org/en/know-your-customer-id-or-account-id/"> here </a>   is their snapshot of a sample bill, from which one can get the Account or Customer ID.   Alas...that sample is not close to reality.   Month after month, I get a bill where the figures are nowhere in alignment with the lines describing the various details. In fact, for the month of October, I have this bill which is actually half of two bills,…

On the 30th of September, 2016, a few friends and I visited Hennagara lake, and this was the condition of the water on the lake...it actually looked like an abstract painting, with light refracted from the pollutants floating on the water surface.   We were quite shocked, therefore, to see quite a few tankers filling water from this lake. Here's a photo of one of them:   When many of us get water from water tankers, are we aware from where the water is being sourced, and what the quality of the water is? Do Residents' Associations check on this…

Don't rush for credit, ask for cash too. Our birding group just got this pleading email: Hello,I am ___ , from ___ newspaper, I am looking for a photograph of Grey Hornbill, sighted in the City, supporting the news write up. If some one has one has one photograph, please do send with credentials. My deadline is 7pm. Please. My response to the egroup: This is going to be a very unpopular post in several circles, but I need to say it. Just a word to everyone that when I was getting articles published in your paper regularly, many years…

Just like Kunti who had Karna on one side and five sons on the other, Mother Kaveri, in the wildlife sanctuary that I visit, flows with Tamil Nadu on one bank, and Karnataka on the other. How does the mother feel, when she sees her children at war with each other? Is it water that flows, or a torrent of tears, for the inability of siblings to get along with each other?

As I walked to and from my daughter's home (J P Nagar 3rd Phase to and fromJayanagar 4th T Block) I noticed the following good citizens of the city and state: Several young men on two-wheelers with yellow-and-red Karnataka flags, yelling, "bEkE bEku! nyAyA bEku!" They stopped near me to re-group. I talked to one of them (indeed, a foolhardy thing to do)...and asked, "nyAyA (justice) for what?" The young man said, "We've been told to go around the area, saying this." Not even the pretence of understanding what the issue is. A group of men sitting under the Karnataka…

I was attending a book launch ("Junkland Journeys", by Ajith Pillai) and from where I sat (apparently it had been the bar of the Mallu restaurant which used to be there earlier!) I looked down and saw this scene below.   Having clicked it, I found that the gentleman and the two children came and joined the book launch event, so I took their permission to use this photogrph in my blog. Love of reading is a great gift given to us, and it's even more heartening when one finds an adult willing to take the time and effort to…

It's disgusting to see the many small ways (adding up to large totals) in which the catering contract staff on Southern Railways cheat the passengers. On the 26th of July, 2016, I travelled by the Bangalore-Chennai Exp (train no. 12609) to Chennai, and on the 27th, I travelled back by the same train.   An elderly gentleman asked the man selling bottles of mineral water, "How much is a bottle?" and the answer was, "Rs.30". Even before I could react, another alert passenger caught the man and said, "It's Rs.15 a bottle, why are you giving twice that price?" The…

Recently, at my monthly quiz meet, I was intrigued by this "green" container for chai, from Chai Point.  The container seemed made of cardboard, an ecologically friendly material. But when I visited the website of Chai Point You can visit it here. I found that it was made of "food grade PET" - PET is polyethylene terephthalate, which is, in their own words, "use and throw".  Only  the outside cover is cardboard! Surely, using thermos flasks that were properly cleaned would have been a better solution, especially when we now have metal flasks which retain heat for a long time and are…

My Senior Citizen card was stolen, along with other documents, on 23rd June 2016. on a bus (route no. 366) between Richmond Circle and MICO Checkpost bus stoSince I'd got my card from the office of the Jayanagar MLA, Mr Vijaya KumarAddress:35th Cross, 18th Main Road, 4th T BlockJayanagar - 5600419448075433vijayakuma.jnr@gmail.com(if you click on the link, here, you will get a video of how to get there, too) I went there again. I was told that there is no proper process in place for replacing lost cards, so I took a form and applied once again.    I did this…