Z-Blogs

Ameen Ahmed writes from his  home near Hebbal : I get a frantic call during a critically important meeting with a client in south Bengaluru, by my wife taking care of our child suffering from another bout of asthma for the past two days, alone at home about 2 hours away in North Bengaluru. Apparently a bunch of armed policemen, all but one in civilian clothing, behaving more like gangsters of a B-grade Bollywood flick were forcing their way into our home around 4:20PM today (Fri., 19 Feb. '15). Trying to piece the information collected from the building's security guards,…

Lalbagh has 240 acres of land, almost at the center of the city. This was started in the year 1760 by Hyder Ali as a private garden of 40 acres which eventually expanded to accommodate approximately 1,854 species of flora including various ornamental plants. Glass house, aquarium, sidewalks, nursery and many other attractions lure the visitors. The park requires approximately 2.1-2.2 million liters of water daily, hence when there is no rain, artificial watering is a must. This could be problematic too, as the water supply in the city is dwindling. A 20-acre tank, nine bore wells (sparing three non-functional old…

Bengaluru's Big Banyan Tree, or Dodda Alada Mara. Pic: Vivek M After the construction of the new airport, Bangalore is fiercely expanding towards the north consuming more and more rural areas like these. This big banyan, located in Avalahalli just off the Doddaballapur Road, is now in the company of many apartment complexes and even an international school. It remains to be seen what happens to it in the next couple of years. Related Articles During the festival... A bull that never stopped growing Old house and the bull at the Pete

In recent years there has been a lot of talk about how Bangalore will run out of water soon. I find that strange, in a city where we get as much rain as piped water supply, and in a region with an abundance of water bodies. We could easily create one more Cauvery - and that would be enough to sustain the next 10 million people added to the metropolitan area, not just in Bangalore, but in surrounding towns and cities too - if we simply did all the right things. 1. Watershed improvement and local supply from the region’s…

Recently, we went to see close assorted family living in the Nilgiris. We took the route that goes via Bandipur, Masinagudi, Kalhatty, Ooty, Wellington. The journey was a revelation, in many ways. At the entrance to Bandipur, there were groups of young people cautioning motorists against speeding, or honking and littering the National Park. "It's a Tiger Reserve", they reminded us, "so, please don't stop anywhere, drive with respect," they added, waving us on with a smile. My husband and I were surprised of course, but also gladdened, to see such committed conservationists giving up their holidays to do something…

Bellandur Buzz Issue # 29 Date: 12 February 2015. This fortnightly newsletter is published by the citizen group bellandur.forum@googlegroups.com  Neralu tree walk Several days back, a nature walk was organized in HSR layout as part of the Neralu – Bengaluru Tree festival. http://neralu.in/ The walk was led by Ajit Ampalakkad. The participants met in front of MK Retail, 17th Cross at 7.30 am. The walk was about learning to love the subtle way nature lives around us - silent but still buzzing with activity. As the walk progressed, the participants began to view the nuances of nature differently: they realized…

I feel rather insulted when people say Indira Nagar or Koramangala is ‘…such a happening place!!!’ or some such silly thing. I mean, Malleshwaram is as happening a place as either of them. What could possibly make news in Indira Nagar? Another P3 type PYT strutting about with a barely there LBD? Another Italian ‘ristorante’ making its debut on 100 feet road? Pshaw!! In Malleshwaram, what makes news is not the debut, but the death of a ‘ristorante’, especially if it had the effrontery to spell its name in that manner. When a naïve Johnny-come-lately troops in with a fancy…

  I am always wary of reading books on music as I find most of them pedantic. The breadth of classical music can be a daunting subject for any writer. However some books stand out for me for their accessibility. Here are four such books. Encyclopedic and written in plain English Ludwig Pesch in his book "The Oxford Illustrated Companion to South Indian Classical Music" has written a well-researched and engaging read for carnatic music lovers. Whether it is cultural contexts of the music, technicalities of tala, complexities of instrumental music to anecdotal references and opinions of musicians, the book…

Any form of theatre that has to do with puppets seems to exert a great fascination for children. More than adults, they seem to quickly suspend their disbelief, and join the puppets in the fantasy world that is created on stage. Sidhvi, 6 yrs, standing in front of me in the queue, was very excited; "I have seen many plays at Ranga Shankara, I'm looking forward to this one!" she said, with a big smile.  Since Ranga Shankara had advertised "Pacotille", by Cie Crea, as a play for "kids above 5 years", I went,too,  full of eagerness to experience the…

We will start this series by exploring the consent process in medical treatment processes—a process that is relatively new to the doctor-patient relationship in India. In the United States, the informed consent is nothing less than an extreme medico-legal document–not an ideal situation either. Well, what is the essence of an informed consent? Informed consent is a patient's acceptance of the procedure and/or the treatment to be performed by a given doctor or a team of healthcare professionals, after being fully informed about the pros and cons of the treatment by the doctors. There is no longer room for the…