Z-Blogs

Ramakrishna Murthy performing at Unnati Centre during the Gokulashtami music festival 2014 Whether the monsoons are on time or not, music festivals in Bangalore mark the time far more predictably. With the Rama Navami festival marking the onset of spring in April, the end of summer is marked by Janmashtami or Gokulashtami music festival.  Bangalore-based SGBS trust has been promoting the cause of classical music for several decades now. In additon to promoting classical music under their Utsav initiative, SGBS runs Shiksha which provides education to underpriviliged children and Unnati that provides vocational training to the unskilled. This week Unnati's…

Bellandur Buzz…August 14th, 2014, Issue #16 Shared fortnightly by the Citizen group bellandur-forum@googlegroups.com   Independence Day events: Green Glen Layout Independence day CelebrationsVenue: Football Ground near the Park.Time: 9 amChief guest: MLA Arvind Limbavalli Tree plantation at Saul KereVenue: Saul kereTime: 9amThis event at the lake is managed by MAPSAS and funded by Genpact. For details, please contact rajitha.myneni@genpact.com. Entry points to Saul Kere Participative Aquifer Mapping Program   BIOME , WIPRO, ACWADAM (from Pune) and MAPUNITY (from Bangalore) are jointly undertaking a study Participative Aquifer Mapping Program around the Sarjapura - Bellandur area. This study intends to be a participatory exercise involving…

Frog Identification Workshop hosted by Eco-Edu Date: August 9th and 10th  We will meet the participants at the turning towards the farm on Kanakapura Main Road at 5 PM on the 9th of August and proceed to the farm. The workshop will come to a close at 9 AM on the 10th of August 2014. Venue: Ravagodlu, on Kanakapura Road. The course will be held within the premises of a private farm and its surroundings. The Suvarnamukhi River, which takes birth in Bannerghatta National Park, flows close to the farm. It is also surrounded by agricultural fields and forms an…

Bellandur Buzz…July 31st 2014 Shared fortnightly by the Citizen group bellandur-forum@googlegroups.com Awareness Programs for Children's safety Teju Nageshwari of NSmiles has organised a’ Safety at Surroundings workshop’ for children aged 3-7 years and 8-12 years this sunday. To enroll your child, contact tejuvijay at gmail dot comTeju Nageshwari has a certificate on child psychology, life skills and relationships from Banjara Academy. nSmiles.in is a firm focusing on emotional health and wellbeing. ~~ ConfidentLiving Learning conducted more than 10 workshops for children on “Safe touch-Unsafe touch" from 25th July to 29th July in Green Glen Layout. The workshop was open for…

My memory of arriving in Bengaluru is as fresh in my mind as the sweat on my brow was as I exited my plane at the Bangalore Airport about 1 am on July 1st. The weather was warm and humid as I expected, but I was taken aback by its intensity; the atmosphere was oppressive. I’m used to the cooler climate of Seattle. In my hometown of Yakima, a medium-sized town in Eastern Washington, where I spend my summer vacations, the temperature could climb upwards of 100 degrees Fahrenheit, but it was dry instead of humid. As I know now,…

I grew up in a house by National Highway 17 in Kozhikode (Kerala) city. My days and nights were filled with sound--a maddening cacophony of cars, trucks, buses and auto rickshaws, people cursing, cussing, swerving. Noise, noise everywhere. Every day. Every hour. Except in our backyard, where there was (and still is) an old mango tree. This tree casts a benevolent shade over our red-tiled house. When I was a little girl, my father fixed a swing for me on one of its overhanging branches. The swing was just a little plank of wood with both ends strung up through…

  Bellandur Buzz… Issue #14July 17th 2014 Shared fortnightly by the citizen group bellandur-forum@googlegroups.com To get this newsletter directly in your inbox every fortnight, click here.    Ibblur Lake - Buffer zone violation Earlier in March this year, a demolition drive by the Tehsildaar cleared away encroachments around Ibblur lake. One of the encroachers was operating a commercial borewell which was stopped. But after a few days it resumed operations. Now it has run dry and in blatant and continuing violation of the buffer zone surrounding the lake, a new borewell is being dug at the same location. This is…

The second Sunday outing of the Bird Watchers' Field Club(BWFC) in Lalbagh had an unexpected event, with a happy ending. U Harish Kumar writes: On Sunday, the 13th July 2014, at our usual 2nd Sunday Birdwatching outing at Lalbagh, an incident happened. A Flying Fox got entangled to a strong thread (probably that of a kite) - and it was dangling down from a top branch of Bottle Brush Tree by a strong thread. It was struggling to get itself free. Just then, the birdwatchers group was passing by. They stopped, and for a change, they stopped looking at the…

There's a road very close to my home, which thousands of commuters use every day. As roads go by, it is nothing special--not extra wide or four-laned or nicely tarred, even. It's just a linking road, a few hundred metres in length. A redeveloped slum dominates one end of it; at the other are some indistinguishable homes, a few small businesses and the local Bescom office. Pedestrians invariably have a tough time navigating this road, especially the part that goes past the slum. For there is always traffic whizzing past, children playing about, running helter skelter unmindful of the vehicles…

Bellandur Buzz… Issue #13 July 2nd 2014  Shared fortnightly by the Citizen group bellandur-forum@googlegroups.com   SF Spotfix Residents of Springfields, working with the BBMP decided to take charge of the black spot outside their second exit gate which always gets dumped with garbage from across the street and used as a urinal too. This area is a no man's land as its is Springfields private land maintained by them till the road widening comes about. Finally the dumping got so bad that the citizens decided to take charge. About ten to fifteen residents, assisted by BBMP's workers and some of…