Deepa's Jottings

When we start incorporating ancient concepts in a modern idiom, sometimes, not a new idiom, but a new idiocy, is born...A prime example is trying to incorporate the concepts of "Vastu" in modern buildings; this results in weird architecture like this: Instead of having that water tank set four-square on the building, it looks like some tacked-on piece of architecture...an architect told me that often, owners of buildings are very keen that however strange the building looks, it must conform to what their "vastu" experts say. The building just has to be built in such ways, then! But it does…

Piracy? Something to be ashamed of? Not at all! Everything is open and above board now... So...now you know where to get your official pirated stuff now!⊕

Here's the image of Ganesha which was installed and worshipped in our apartment building today:As I photographed the homa being conducted, I fancied that I could see the image of Ganesha in the flames:With a little imagination, one can see Ganesha, facing left, his fan-ear on the right-hand side, his head, single tusk and rounded belly on the left-hand side....!I hope Vinayaka Chaturthi brings peace and plenty to the land, and to the homes of the devotees!⊕

Surely BBMP, which seems, sometimes, to go out of its way to cut down full-grown trees, can take a leaf out of the book of these people, who own a shop in Vyalikaval. Messrs. P Mohanlal Bhanwarlal, who run a jewellery and pawnbroker's shop near Chowdiah Memorial Hall, decided that, as devout Jains, they could not offer "himsa" to the living tree; therefore, they actually built their shop around it.Doesn't the presence of the tree hinder the customers? "Actually," say the owners, "Our customers are happy to see this, and the way you saw it and came in, it is…

Ranga Shankara has a very laudable project called "Other Voices" where smaller, more intimate plays are sought to be staged to a much smaller audience. One example of this was "1, Madhav Baug", enacted by Revathi which was staged in a small upper room in Ranga Shankara to just 25 viewers at at time.Tickets for these 9.30pm shows go on sale, however, ONLY at 9pm at Ranga Shankara. And this is proving to be a problem. In fact, if you see this photograph of the announcement of the play, you can see that it says, "tickets will go on sale…

The BBMP is intent, it appears, on cutting down pavements wherever it can widen the roads for the ever-increasing motorized vehicle traffic of this city...but our pavements are areas where a lot of vibrant life exists. Instead of thinking of our footpath users (apart from pedestrians, who are, anyway, an endangered species), perhaps we should appreciate the way life is led along these urban spaces.Here are two young women that I photographed in Indira Nagar.The first is a bangle seller, vending the lac-and-mirror bangles that are so famous in Rajasthan.The second one is selling an assortment of bead necklaces:They both…

Using a car on Bangalore roads? Then,when you fill up petrol (at the petrol pumps in the city, you are generally given the "perk" of "Free Air"...that is, the car tyre pressure is checked and filled by an attendant, and it is supposed to be a service free of cost.However, over the years, the habit has been established, of tipping the attendant a couple of rupees. Quick to notice this, petrol pumps pay their attendants a little less, the rationale being that they will pick up the tips from motorists! So the attendants are keen that no one go away…

I spent a very pleasant morning at Lalbagh today....I started at the Glass House, where the floral exhibits for Independence Day are taking shape, and this Anthurium exhibit was stunning....As I walked around, both cultivated and "grow-on-the=tree" flowers caught my eye.Here's an insect pollinating one flower:The Seeta Ashoka tree still has some flowers, though it's strictly not the season:The water lilies on the lake are breathtakingly beautiful...The spider lilies, aptly named for their shape, bloom along the shores of the water bodies:But I couldn't identify this tree, which had such beautiful flowers:I walked past the old pavilion; what tales it…

At the outskirts of Bangalore, many small-scale vendors try to beat the middlemen by selling direct-to-consumer....First one sees one basket of custard apples...Then a few..Then a few more...And if one takes the larger view, one can see that it is definitely custard apple season now, all down the road!I wonder..when the baskets are arrayed in serried ranks like that...is there a cartel that dictates the minimum price? How can the sellers hope to get a reasonable margin on their fruit? And an interesting point about those baskets is, they seem to be made from lantana twigs...surely a good use of…

Though Independence Day is only on August 15th, the preparations for one of the two annual flower shows that this City has, has already begun.I went to Lalbagh early this morning, and the Glass House area was agog with activity. Several vans and lorries had been parked close by and flowering plants were being "downloaded"....Flowering Plants downloaded from Lorry (Pic: Deepa Mohan)Some of the tables required were also being brought in.Officials were busy discussing how to put up the displays:Officials discussing about the Displays (Pic: Deepa Mohan)The staff were busy with the work:Staff busy with Flower Show work arrangements (Pic:…