Z-Blogs

The various communities in our ward celebrated Independence day with fervour and enthusiasm. Mantri Flora residents had a Saawan Mela after the Independence Day programme, where women participated in various events and put up stalls for food and games. Goonj, an NGO, had a stall where the residents contributed clothes for needy children. The function at Reliable Residency, Haralur started with flag hoisting by a resident and chief guest, Bhaskar Rao, followed by National Anthem. The chief guest spoke a few words about the celebration and words of advice to children to become responsible citizens of our nation,  followed by…

 Beautiful Graffiti adorns the walls of Max Muller Bhavan at Indiranagar. Pic by Ravi Kaushik ⊕

The past few months have given us several examples once again that Bangaloreans do not sit silent beyond a point. Yes, you can push citizens here for some time, but push hard enough and they are likely to hit back. The message from the backlash against auto rickshaw drivers tampering meters and refusing rides to passengers with runaway impunity is clear: 'We've had enough'. The mere fact that the unions have reportedly met and have started making pronouncements to address citizen fury is indicative that it took a united expression of anger to bring the auto rickshaw driver community to…

  I was lucky to catch this sparrow while it took a moment to rest. The once common sparrow seems to be disappearing from Bangalore replaced by the ugly crow.Pic By Ravi Kaushik ⊕

Dramanon is a young Bangalore-based theatre group whose fortunes I have been following for a fair length of time now, and I have been impressed with their commitment to English theatre, given the obstructions that an amateur group has always to face: affordability of theatre space, funding obstacles, and rehearsal difficulties with day jobs to take care of. They like to choose plays, that, in their own words, "have spunk", and this time, the play in question was Elling, Simon Bent's adaptation of a cult Norwegian film, which in turn was based on a novel by Ingvar Ambjørnsen. 'Elling' by…

 Seen at Sankey Tank, Malleswaram.  Hope the board works. :) Pic by Ravi Kaushik ⊕

I was going to photograph something else, when this generator housing caught my eye: The housing said, Caterpillar, which is a well-known brand..but what really caught my attention was this "Butterfly Enclosure"!I wonder what this particular "Butterfly Enclosure" actually is? There IS a picture of a butterfly on the generator housing...but I don't really think they capture butterflies....or if they do, someone must tell them that...butterflies are free! ⊕

Amoghavarsha, an experienced wildlife photographer, is conducting another monsoon wildlife/photography expedition.The next monsoon expedition to Agumbe is scheduled for 28th and 29th of August. This will be the last expedition in the peak monsoons, after this the monsoons will subside and so will photography opportunities.The last expedition was exciting and very fruitful with sightings of 2 wild King Cobras at close quarters and of course many more snakes, frogs and nocturnal animals.Do take a look athttp://amoghavarsha.com/workshops/agumbe/for more information, testimonials and photographs.If any of you are interested, contact Amogh at +91 99010 44344.

It is very easy to review a play which has had a house-full audience, which was cheered to the echo, and was obviously enjoyed to the hilt by every child in the audience!"Tale of Haruk", a Korean fairy tale, staged by TUIDA, a Korean performance group (that aims to be nature-friendly in play-making) was brought to the Bangalore children by way of Ranga Shankara's AHA! initiative to provide theatre for children, supported by Britannia. The production used puppetry, some amount of sleight of hand, a set of musical instruments that are recycled from items of ordinary use,and a talented cast…

For a long time, I've heard references by foodies to J P Nagar being  "Cheapie Nagar"  as there were only eateries, no "restaurants" in the area. Well, this seemed to suit most people fine, as they would drop in at a Darshini, or an IT-service eatery, to have a quick bite, and "dining out" meant dressing up and going to the centre of the town.As traffic increased, so did the reluctance of the people of south Bangalore to brave logjams to go out for dinner...and perhapss gap and decided to fill it. "Aroy" ("delicious" in Thai) opened a few months ago,…