Deepa's Jottings

It's called "koley basava" in Karnataka, and in Tamil Nadu, it's called the "boom-boom mAdu"...boom-boom, probably because of the sound produced by the drum the man carries and rubs with a stick. He also usually plays a long wind instrument called the naagaswaram; you can see it covered, slung behind his left shoulder. This duo were "off duty" when I clicked them, so the drum and the nagaswaram were not in use. The man will bring it to the front gate and ask it leading questions like "Is this house resident going to be prosperous and happy?" and the animal…

Christmas is over...spare a thought for those who sell knick-knacks like these cheap Santa caps, have so many of them left over...unsold, not putting even the meagre money in their pockets that they were hoping for. Street vendors are not like beggars; they are trying to make money honestly, and it is extremely hard at the bottom of the selling pyramid.

I took this photo on the 23rd of December, 2014, at the Banashankari temple.   With no safety gear, with no precautions, these two men are putting up lights that will illuminate the temple of the "Goddess of the Forest". Why are we so slack about safety precautions? Why do we always assume thatp accidents will never happen to us? The mess of wires atop the roof of the structure is nothing short of an invitation to an accident. Can the temple not provide its workers with insulated gloves at the very least?

The practice of charging the members of the public for cameras (aftear 8 am or 9 am)at many public spaces is irritating a lot of people. Joiston Pereira writes:"The entry ticket and camera fee....is the Horticulture Department's new money making racket. At Madiwala lake, which is.under the Brihat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP)  and to an extent, the Horticulture Department, the tickets for cameras are a whopping 100 rupees and for video cameras it is  Rs.200, while entry is a modest  Rs, 10  Where all this money goes, God alone knows. The lake clearly isn't maintained very well. "As for the…

Litter along the railway tracks I travelled from Bangalore to Delhi and all along the tracks, I found vast quantities of plastic and other litter, thrrown not only by careless passengers, but, to my horror, dumped by Railway employees, especially catering contractors.  Does Indian Railways not believe that this is our country, and in cleanliness?  Shame, Indian Railways...you truly must "clean up your act"!  Disposal of waste must be (and is not) an essential part of travelling.

ook release of "The Song of the Magpie Robin. The autobiography of Zafar Futehally" by Dr K Ullas Karanth.    Wednesday 10, December 2014. 6.30    BIC Auditorium, TERI complex 4th Main, 2nd Cross Domlur II Stage, Bangalore 560071   RSVP 98865 99675

The cast and some of the crew taking a bow after the show. It's always a challenge to go to a play after it's done several shows. This happened to me on 28th November, 2014, when I attended the staging of "Our Iceberg Is Melting", by Bangalore Little Theatre (BLT), at MLM Convention Hall, J P Nagar. The play, the fourth of a series, was staged by BLR in partnership with the Association for the Mentally Challenged (AMC), is the dramatization-adaption of the book, "Our Iceberg Is Melting", by Professor John Kotter. The play came about after Priya Venkatesh, long…

Smog over the city: view from Nandi Hills, 271114   I took this picture from Nandi Hills, The grey band in the lower part of the photo shows the skies over Bangalore. It was appalling to realize just how bad our air actually is. I have, several years ago, seen this kind of smog over Los Angeles...well, we can be proud that we have caught up with US cities in this awful respect!    

In May 2014, the residents of Casa Ansal, disgusted with the garbage piling up on their side walls, had called on the help of the Ugly Indian, and had this clean-up drive that I had written about: Garbage cleaning at Casa Ansal. The ditch was covered with granite slabs and the wall completely painted. Six months later, the wall continues to be clean, and the footpath walkable (except for the place behind the transformer at the Bannerghatta Road end where the autorickshaw wallahs insist on continuting to relieve themselves.)  So...I am posting this photo of the place as it is…

Me to BESCOM (Bangalore Power) employee: Can I have an ECS Mandate form, please, to enable me to have the monthly power bill amount deducted from my bank account automatically? (The forms are free, and it took me 3 visits because this gentleman, who is the ONLY one who can disburse these forms, was never in his seat. Today, Hallelujah, he is.) BESCOM employee: You will need two forms, one to be submitted to us, and one for the bank. Me; Can I have another form, then, please? BESCOM employee: (firmly closing the desk in which hundreds of forms are…