Economy

He's the monk who makes the cheese and sells it too! Father K L Michael. Administrator of Gualbert Bhavan, a monastery in KR Puram, is a priest with an alter ego as a cheese maker. A variety of Italian cheese. Pic: Theresa Varghese.How did a priest from Kerala end up supplying cheese from Bangalore to the best of Italian restaurants and star hotels in the country? As Father Michael himself puts it, with a characteristic little smile tugging at his mouth, "It was a long journey."A boy of 15, he was among 11 youngsters in the first batch to join…

Rural idyll is not too far from the city and sometimes almost inside. A relative of mine told me about Mallaiah and his scenic farm just on the periphery of the city and how the land was under threat as the city greedily expands. Mallaiah with family. Pic: Varsha N Achar. Mallaiah lives in a small village called Gongdipura which comes under Kodigehalli taluk, about 5 kms away from Magadi Road-NICE Road junction in Bangalore city. I drove on the narrow road leading to Kodigehalli from the Sunkadkatte main road. Small houses on revenue sites and petty shops dotted on…

An experience at Matteo, a new coffee house on Church Street will guarantee you much more than a hot beverage. Matteo is a modern coffee and tea joint started by the Sterling Mac group (Mac fast food) and is already attracting a sizable group of people. Their walls are plastered with boards explaining the coffee harvesting process and their pillars have facts about tea. Pic: Meghna Raghunathan.This coffe house opened on December 21st and it boasts of some of the best coffee in the country with imported varieties from all over the world and tea in silk sachets. According to…

With cameras we shot Things 'cool' and hot And stories we got Of what was but is not... Pasha's chai 'Lock'ed with paan Mosque view Ulsoor Market Timekeepers for generations Smile please... Pandian, Ijaz and friend Glow of steel! How's my future? Clothes ahoy! A centurion Bankers of yore Pure caffeine Welcome home:) Oct-3 to Oct-9: Bazaar Street, Halasuru Market Carts moving and stopping Cycles ringing and pedalling Stalls on wooden boxes Shops under metal roofs   Pasha the tea maker Mary the fruit vendor Pandian the sundal seller Abdul the fishmonger   Temples, churches, mosques Standing for centuries Hawkers…

While many social activists have been shouting hoarse on the evils of globalisation and onslaught of giant Multi National Company (MNCs) on small retailers, some businessmen and their families are silently preparing to face the competition. Change is inevitable and nobody can stop the currents which have started rushing.  Instead of banging their heads against the walls and trying to stop the boulders of Walmart, McDonalds, KFC and other giants entering the field, local businesses have positively transformed their looks to woo local customers, despite their entry!I am talking about the recent splurge of chain store concept in Bangalore.  Of…

Noticed a group of energetic, charming ladies with warm smiles and welcoming voices convening in East End Circle (Jayanagar, 9th block) on Saturday afternoons? If yes, they may be the empowered women from Stree Jagruti Samiti (SJS), a collective of domestic workers in Bengaluru. Around since the late 1980's due to the tireless efforts of Geeta Menon (one of its co-founders along with social worker Rita Roy) and various supporters/associates like APSA and SICHREM, SJS has campaigned for labour rights, dignified treatment, benefits, etc. With 1200 members and a part of the Domestic Workers' Rights Union (DWRU), it has spread…

 The University Women's Association Hostel site in New Thippasandra A colourful construction site. A few workers. Some children. A park with walkers inside and outside. Kids playing on the road and the school playground nearby. Fairly silent residents. Some cars and motorbikes moving or resting. It was a Sunday afternoon in New Thippasandra (ward no. 83) flanked by the busy and colourful market and the seemingly clean and green CV Raman Nagar Road dusty with vehicles. Aliya, little Mahruk, Prayas (the initiator of Spirited Caravans, a journey of mobile spaces offering glimpses of a friendlier city) and I walked around…

SIBM Bangalore organised ‘Colloquium-09’, a symposium on “The changed world and risk implications” for organisations on 10th September 2009. The event was saw speakers such as Dr. Jyoti Navare, Head of Department (Marketing and Enterprise), Middlesex University Business School, Sambasivan, COO, Deutsche Bank, Kalpana Balasubramanian, Director, KPMG and Dr. Harkant Mankad, Former Dean Emeritus, Russell Square International College, Mumbai. Prof. Pankaj Gupta, the Director of SIBM, welcomed the guests. Dignitaries at the Colloquium held at SIBM Bangalore. Prof. Gupta shared an anecdote about animals sensing tsunami earlier than their human counterparts by keeping their feet on the ground. The simple…

Packing lunchboxes, running the kitchen, checking homework, these are but a few tasks for a homemaker. But what if you add to all this, a thriving home business? For creative women like Debika Chowdhury and Meenal Jindal, whose earlier professional avatars were completely different from what they do now, running their businesses from home is also an outlet for their love for art and craft. It also ensures that they have enough time for the family on their hands and are able to give their best in terms of energy and time to both home and work.Meet the women L&T…

It is an often repeated story. You spot an exhibition of enticing cotton fabric and immediately start dream-designing the kurta that you can convert from desk to dinner wear. So you go ahead, buy the fabric, get it stitched as soon as you can say tailor, only to discover that it has shrunk and no longer fits you and has to be handed down to your slimmer younger sister. Then of course there is the somewhat inevitable pitfall of the colour running and turning your vibrant vermillion dupatta into a tame rust. Variety of cotton fabrics. Pic: Meera K. Despite…