Society

The starry showers that light up the night sky during Deepavali or other celebrations are a sight that has brought us joy since time immemorial. Whether in their use as firecrackers, or as missiles during wars, rockets have a history that dates back to the earliest days of human civilization. And even though we have references to similar missiles in India as far back as the age of the epics, scientists and historians trace the origin of rockets to another ancient civilisation, in China. Mysore Rockets used in a battle at Guntur in 1780. Pic: http://grin.hq.nasa.gov In a talk titled…

It all started with a few pair of shoes. Four retired men sitting together saw a group of schoolchildren pass by barefoot and decided to give shoes to them. One thing led to another and soon they were helping out local schools in looking after the health, nutritional and academic needs of children and had formed an NGO called Senior Citizens Bangalore. Launched in 2001 by the late Romesh Khanna, also the founder chairperson of Special Olympics India, the group has today grown from four to almost over 40 members and is located mainly around Indiranagar in Bangalore. Members of…

It's the most awaited year of the day for art enthusiasts in Bangalore, a day our friends and we look forward to every year and plan ahead for. And just as we have done for four of the last five years, this year, too, we were at the Chitra Santhe exhibition organized by and held at the Karnataka Chitrakala Parishath on Sunday, January 27th. Chitra Santhe 2013, Pic: Rudreshwar Sen Most of our friends go for this event with their spouses; art being something that's going to stare back at you every day of your life, it's important to have…

If kids could learn their ABCs from mummy's smartphone, communicate with Talking Tom and hone their drawing skills with innumerable doodling apps, could this be far behind? An American firm has unveiled a new gadget at a tech meet called iPotty. Yes, it is very imaginatively named that, lest parents miss the point. iPotty is basically a potty seat with an iPad holder and waterproof cover, which gives the whole game of toilet training a technical spin. Using books to divert your toddler's attention while you make him stay put long enough to do the job? Or are you still…

"If someone's looking for Salman Rushdie's Sea of Stories, sail to White Field," I heard a fellow bookworm tell me. So I wiggled out of a dying week and curiously headed out for a truly enlivening time. Over the past weekend, Bangalore was treated to a journey into the literary mind. Novelists, playwrights, short-story authors, poets, lyricists, journalists and droves of word-junkies converged at White Field's Jagriti theatre for the Lit-Fest Lekhana.  After readings of their Indian-language poetry, Indian Ensemble Theatre's Abhishek Majumdar and Sandeep Shikar, chat with their listeners. Pic: Jatin Prabhu From January 18th through 20th, this popular…

I am one of those innumerable people who have been driven to the end of their wits and made to split hairs attempting to book a ticket (under the Tatkal scheme) through the Indian Railways' website, popularly known as IRCTC. While making an unsuccessful attempt recently, waiting with nail biting anxiety, sitting at the edge of my seat, I was wondering why this website cannot be put to better use than for simply booking train tickets - which in any case has a success ratio of only one in a gazillion! I could think of only some of the uses…

After the disappointing 7 Khoon Maaf, Vishal Bharadwaj makes amends with Matru Ki Bijlee Ka Mandola. With this film, Vishal Bharadwaj lives up to his previous cinematic work that includes Ishqiya, Kaminey, Omkara, Blue Umbrella, Maqbool and Makdee. But the subtle humour that we saw in earlier work like Ishqiya and Kaminey now moves into a fullblown political sattire. It's a new genre for Bharadwaj, and he makes the transition gracefully. When Matru Ki Bijlee Ka Mandola works, it does so because it is a film that runs at many levels. At a most basic analysis, Matru Ki Bijlee Ka…

In one of the articles in his weekly column for the Times of India, brand consultant Santosh Desai examined the psychology behind the increase in rape cases. He attributed it to the increase in power of women leading to insecurity in males. Some women hold positions of extreme power. And a few large firms such as Facebook have women as their COO's, CEO's, CFO's, etc. The previous President of India was a woman. These are major factors contributing to the atrocities against women, according to Desai.The government usually passes the blame to women for their dressing and mannerisms as the…

She welcomes me into her home in Ulsoor wearing a beautiful hand woven Bailou saree. It is simple and elegant, much like Nagamani herself, exuding a quiet beauty and grace you hope to have when you reach her age. We get to know about ‘Mani aunty' from Mala and Sonia Dhawan, the enterprising sisters who run A Hundred Hands, a nonprofit trust that aims to introduce and promote handmade crafts, art and food. Located in Bangalore, they hold an exhibition of creative art, crafts and concoctions every year. The Dhawans tell me how Mani auntie's herbal oil is a product…

Mother and father are discussing family matters. They deplore the mischief of their two boys, and also express wry amusement at the younger one's original thinking, that lies behind the mischief. However, the father predicts that this boy will leave footprints on the sands of time, and go on to become famous. Almost a scene played out in every home, one may feel...but it was, actually, a scene from a play on Tipu Sultan, by the late Dina Mehta, who was an award-winning playwright and Fiction Editor at the Illustrated Weekly of India. The father in question in this play…