Z-Blogs

Who hasn't heard of Arnold Schwarzenegger -Hollywood star - California Governor andbody builder - he had won the Mr. Universe  World Amateur Body Builders Championship (WABBA) (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c7Iaz_r2t-g).  And now the next Mr. Universe Body Builder champion is a young man from our very own Whitefield. G Balakrishna, a 22-year-old youth from Ramagondanhalli village has won the Junior Under 24 title of Mr. Universum in Germany on Nov 16th. As a 19 year old in 2010 he stood 6th in the WABBA Mr. Universe Competition. (http://wabbaworld.com/w-a-b-b-a/history.html) . Pls see this video  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i5CPAIVHH0Q. He is number 85 (third from the right). Whitefield is thrilled and extremely proud…

Join in for Cycling Day! Join in for Cycling Day!

A touch of imagination, to match the hat!   I saw this traffic police shelter at the island near Windsor Manor, and was tickled to find that the roof was a "folded hat" to match the hats that the traffic constables wear! Nice touch by whoever has designed the shelter!   Bangalore, 16 November 2013  

My post for this month is late. As expected, it was bound to happen sooner or later. I have been hit by writers block. But that’s not the only thing that was bound to happen sooner or later. I also got bit by a dog! A little introspection revealed to me that the bite was the reason for the block. I consider the season between Diwali and New Years to be one big party season. Time for merriment and in my mind, there is no merriment without food. So I wanted to write about food. But the dog bite did…

Duets – the very word evokes images of love ballads from Hindi movies. The successful pairing of Lata Mangeshkar with Mohammed Rafi or P. Susheela and T.M. Soundararajan left an indelible mark on Indian movie music. Here is a song by Lata Mangeshkar and Kishore Kumar from the classic Hindi movie Aandhi.  Duets are not uncommon in classical music. In Carnatic music, the last fifty years have seen numerous successful pairing of singers. Radha-Jayalakshmi were one of the pioneering duos from the 1950s. They were followed by others such as Soolamangalam Sisters and Bombay Sisters all the way to present-day…

Consider this scene: During the day, I had noticed a particular large leaved sprig on my curry leaves plant and when making dinner went up to my terrace in the dark to pluck it. Got to the plant, plucked the sprig and started walking away when I realized that (a) it smelt “funny” and not exactly like curry leaves and (b) it was HEAVY. Looked closely in the dark to find a LARGE caterpillar sitting on it. Think of the caterpillar from that children’s favourite book – “The Very Hungry Caterpillar”, the one that looked like it had definitely overeaten.…

Tucked away in the rushed, hurried environment of the City Railway Station is a most unexpected oasis...an art gallery. Indian Railways have, indeed, been promoting art of late. The underground passage that connects up the various platforms in the City Station have been embellished with photographs and art, themed on the railways, and travel. The art gallery is one more praiseworthy initiative in this connection. So folks, if you find yourself with time to spare, do visit the Rail Art Gallery ...it's between Platforms 5 and 6...and enjoy a little art while you travel! The art gallery at City Railway…

Bangalore Gayana Samaja is one of the oldest institutions, promoting classical arts, in the city. The 45th annual conference of the Samaja concluded in the last week of October. For Carnatic music buffs, this was a week-long feast of lecture-demonstrations (lec-dems as they're refered to) in the morning and concerts every evening.  Each year, the conference also bestows the prestigious 'Sangeetha Kalaratna' award on a musician. This year's recipient was the violinist Mysore Mahadevappa. The second concert of this year's conference was by T V Shankaranarayanan (TVS) on Monday, October 21. Sankarnarayan's vocal recital was marked with rich classicism and…

Every one of us who’s been to a Bharatanatyam dance recital would have heard a tillana. Tillanas are recognisable due to their use of rhythmic syllables such as ta ka dhimi, takita jham jham. In fact, the word tillana itself is onomatopoeic. Tillanas in addition to their rhythmic syllables or jathis also have a few lines of lyrics or sahitya. The sahitya appears in the charanam or the last part of the composition. A lecture demonstration (lec-dem) on the tillanas of Veena Seshanna was held on Wednesday, October 23, during the annual conference of the Bangalore Gayana Samaja. Mysore Subramanya,…

“Do you want to catch this 'Purusha Sukta' at Ranga Shankara? After a long hiatus, the spouse was finally trying to get our social life in gear. “What is it? A play? A concert?” While I always briefly scanned the daily listing of classical concerts in Bangalore, having two teens meant we had little time to catch the performing arts. Now with both the kids in college, we've finally re-awakened to the arts scene in Bangalore. Bangalore's messy and seemingly chaotic growth has seen it evolve a more cosmopolitan cultural milieu. Avante-garde theatre and art, Mediterranean food and music of…