Deepa's Jottings

  Where does "kolam" or "rangoli" fit in? Art? Tradition? Culture? Hospitality? ...All of the above it seems to me!  Here's a lovely rangoli in front of my friend Alamelu Ramaswamy's home: It's such lovely patterns that invited the passerby to enter, and feel at home...Rangoli is one of the traditions that I love. ⊕

Sep 30th to Oct 4th, at Lalbagh, every morning from 7.30 am to 10 am. Register before 25th September! A fun event that will teach participants to observe and record.⊕

  As you turn in at Anand Rao Circle, the name of a camera shop, that's frequented by most of the photography community in Bangalore, comes into view: Jayesh Patel, the proprietor, had a shop in Chickpet, and opened this new outlet in Anand Rao Circle a while ago. Here's the shop facade at Brigade Plaza:Inside, especially on Saturdays, it's a scene of hectic activity, as photographic equipment is bought, and sold, in large quantities.Jayesh is very knowledgeable about cameras, and I have found his word to be his bond. He has always offered cameras and associated equipment at very competitive prices.…

When the festival is over, Ganesha does not always merge with the elements and reach Kailasa as he is supposed to. He is often abandoned in public places:Similarly, when the patriotic frenzy of "Pandrah August" fades, our country's flag is cast aside with disrespect:Both these photos were taken in Lalbagh. Devotion of any kind...whether to God or to country...is something that should be practised and lived, daily, not indulged in for one day in a feel-good token display. ⊕

 We generally dress in our oldest, dull-coloured clothes to go on nature trails, because many creatures are sensitive to bright colours, and vanish as soon they see such colours moving around. In Nature, blending in with one's surroundings is often the key to survival...what stands out is often what's eaten, and also what could be dangerous.But there are creatures who manage to blend beautifully into their surroundings, and yet remain very colourful!The PRAYING MANTIS that we found on Saturday at the Valley School was a prime example:It was quite tough to see the Mantis at first, but we all soon…

  Anju Sudarshan, who runs the Ranga Shankara Cafe very successfully, is serving Onam Sadhya on Sunday, the 11th of September, 2011, at the Cafe.Anju is well-known for serving dishes that often resonate with the theme of the play being staged at Ranga Shankara. The lunch is priced at Rs. 185, and will be served from 11.30am onwards.Happy Onam to all of you! ⊕

 WHITEFIELD DIARIES:Saythu and Jaaga Media Center present their latest project - Whitefield Diaries. This is a series of six short films that are each about seven mins in duration.Part of a larger idea titled "Neighbourhood Diaries", these short films aim at documenting personal histories as well as the neighbourhood's tangible and intangible heritage and socio-cultural centres that make Whitefield special.The current films are an outcome of Krupa's project to document Whitefield's intangible heritage. In turn this was a continuation of an earlier project to establish the significance of the settlement and its built heritage. The oral history project followed on…

 We (Bhavita, Kannan and I...the smallest group I've gone on, in a long time!) were returning from Nandi Hills when the sight of this Chameleon brought us to a screeching halt.What a beauty! Luckily, it had not been flattened by traffic on the other side of the road, and was already on our side. It goose-stepped, or should I say, chameleon-stepped, into the grass verge. Watch this video, the progress of the reptile is funny, to say the least!  Here it is, closer to the grass verge:It then climbed on to a rock:And disappeared into the shelter of the leaves and…

When summer starts, Bangaloreans face the prospect of power cuts. BESCOM makes no bones about the fact that it cannot provide electricity to its paying consumers the way it is supposed to do. But even after the monsoons set in, when the load is definitely lower, why does BESCOM resort to unsscheduled and long power cuts, without a word of warning, or apology? Can every consumer afford expensive UPS (Uninterrupted Power Supply) inverters?I see nothing in the newspapers or media about the pathetic service provided by this utility. They seem to take the consumers for granted. They charge higher and higher…

One of the lizards that we often see around is the Peninsular Rock Agama...and around this time, as the male takes on its breeding colours, it can be a beautiful thing to see.Here's one specimen, which was perched, totally immobile, atop a cut-down tree-trunk on Bannerghatta Road:As it spotted some insect, the reptile was off in an incredible flash of speed, on to the ground below:The scientific name for this lizard is Psammophilus dorsalis. Tje female's camouflage is so good that she often cannot be spotted on the rocks! click here for the Wiki on this lovely creature, that eats…