Z-Blogs

Mornings in Lalbagh now...are not to be "mist"! 28 November, 2015.

In spite of my writing to BMTC several times on this topic, I have never received a response, nor has anything been done.  It was a rainy evening, I came out of Goethe Institut, Indira Nagar, wanting to take a bus home. I knew my route number - 201. But, where was the bus stop? In the rain and the dark, I could hardly see the route numbers on the buses that passed (it didn't help that the route numbers were not illuminated in most buses.) There were several stops, but not one had any bus routes on them. I…

It was by sheer chance that I happened upon the sight. I'd gone to see "Court" at Max Mueller Bhavan, and the house was not only full, there was no way to enter! So my friends and I went to "Murugan Idly Shop", and then walked back... and along a lane leading from the road on which we were walking, we saw a blaze of light. Though we were initially hesitant to walk in with our footwear, we found others doing so, and then went right up to the temple. We found the ground alight with lamps. Nearby was a…

It's unusual to have a festival only for instruments, and so it was interesting to attend the "Bangalore Harmonica and Reed Instruments Festival" at Ravindra Kalakshetra on the 22nd of November, 2015.   The predominant theme of the music seemed to be old Hindi movie songs, though a few Kannada movie songs were also played.     The festival went on from 10 am to 7pm and seemed to have a good attendance throughout the day.   Some of the children also enjoyed interacting with the audience to the beat of the music!   Here's one of the artistes, Ashok…

Environment Support Group (ESG) made this report about the meeting called by BBMP officials regarding tree-felling in Reach 2 of the Bangalore Metro Project. That link gives the entire details of what trasnpired in the meeting, and the background to it. The Public Meeting was called by the Tree Officer in compliance with the direction of the Hon'ble High Court of Karnataka in WP No. 7288/2011, wherein public involvement in such decisions has been made mandatory. Meeting in Malleswaram. Pic: Deepa Mohan Bangalore Metro could not demonstrate how it has complied with the directions in WP 7288/2011, wherein it is specifically required…

At the end of their tireless journey, one through light and dark, these deflated pieces of rubber lie awaiting another journey to serve mankind. At a tyre scrap yard near Kalasipalya market Recycling of used tyres has huge potential in India, considering the fact that India is the largest reclaimed rubber producer after China. The recycled products can be used as rubber crumbs, in automobiles, molded products, the cement industry, the footwear industry, to name a few. With a few good initiatives, the market has a huge potential for growth, including export options.

So, did you read about what happened in Mali; that, there were 27 dead bodies after Malian commandos stormed the besieged luxury hotel to free those trapped inside? Incidentally, there were 20 Indians among the roughly 170 people taken hostage by those terrorists. Did you read about it, exclaim over it, anguish over it? Neither did I. On the other hand, I found myself horror-struck by the Paris attacks, I even cried watching that video of a gunman mowing down innocent café-patrons; and I couldn't bear looking at photos of the pregnant woman who was hanging on for dear life…

When you saw a teenager glued to a video game, did you think, "That kid is going to make seven million bucks!" That's what people like Felix Kjellberg (PewDiePie) and Sean McLoughlin (Jacksepticeye) are making today. They play video games all day and then upload videos of themselves playing to the internet. And you thought playing video games was a waste of time, didn't you? What these guys do isn't easy, by the way - getting subscribers is probably the hardest thing on earth. Editing eight-minute-videos to make them fun to watch for us—the average attention span is probably about…

I didn't expect to hear Akka Mahadevi's poetry being recited on a stage in the US. Fire and Ash, a multimedia show about Lord Shiva is where I encountered the poetry of this Kannada saint. The theme of the show conceived by playwright Gouri Ramanarayan centered on the stories and attributes of Lord Shiva. How Lord Siva symbolizes both the positive and negative energy of the universe was effectively brought out by the narration ably supported by vocalist Savita Narasimhan and dancer Anjana Anand. Several compositions ranging from Muthuthandavar's Teruvil Varano to Tagore's Srijoner to Kalidasa's Kumarasambhavam and Akka Mahadevi's…

If you are willing to listen, people always have stories to tell. Especially in a city. And despite the best efforts of civic authorities to make us think otherwise, Bangalore is still a city. And people have stories to tell. People like Srinivas. He works as a floor captain at one of those fancy Church Street F&B joints. I found him to be a very familiar face. I was there nursing my cutlery, and tactless that I am I probably was also staring at him too hard, trying to figure out where I had seen him. Probably tired of my…