Society

In a first of its kind event, the running community held its own awards in Bengaluru on Sunday 1st April. Applause 2012 was held at Vivanta by Taj, MG road. Olympian Reeth Abraham and senior runner K C Kothandapani walked away with lifetime achievement awards. Organisers of Applause 2012. Pic: Anisha Nair The event was organised by individual runners like Ashok Nath, Saroja Dileepan and Dileepan with support of groups like Runners for Life and Runner Girls India. The profits were given to the ASHA foundation.The maiden award function is being positioned by organisers as a platform to recognise runners…

Feet up, eyes glued to television, magazine in hand, house in a mess and she is in her own world of relaxation. The "Right to leisure" poster was brought out by Asmita, an Andhra Pradesh based NGO. Those gathered for the launch of ‘Our pictures, Our Words' book published by Zubaan, could relate very well to the poster. From left - Subramanian Vincent, Padmalatha Ravi, Laxmi Murthy,Maithreyi Krishna Raj, Ammu Joseph. Pic: Anisha Nair The pink poster is one of the hundreds of other pictures in the book. Sucharita Ishwar, a feminist said, "even women have the right to leisure…

Bangaloreans gathered in thousands to witness the staging of an unique event "Sahasra Veena Jhenkara" at the Palace Grounds. Jointly organised by the Art of Living and Ranjini Kala Kendra. Event was held on March 28, Pic: Sridhar C R The audience witnessed 1110 Veena Artistes of Karnataka from age groups 7-70. Prominent among those who participated in the show were noted Artistes Suma Sudhindra, D Balakrishna, Anuradha Madhusudhan and Dr Hema Ranganathan, Vijayalakshmi from Shimoga.The programme was inaugurated by Sri Sri Sri Ravi Shankar Guruji of the Art of Living along with Chief Minister Sadananda Gowda and Suparna Ravi…

Megha R, 32, a resident of RMV 2nd stage was eager to learn how to make compost at her home for her garden. She came with her husband to buy different variety of saplings grown from organic seeds to plant in her garden. She wants to use organic, natural manure and compost for her plants and organic seeds to grow new ones. And she thinks "Oota from your Thota" held in Malleshwaram, on March 25 was the perfect place for her.This was the fourth edition of this event by Garden City Farmers Trust, Bangalore (GCFT) after BTM Layout, Electronic City,…

With the increasing water shortage problems in Bengaluru, Ayappa Masagi is today's "Water Gandhi" with solutions to almost every kind of water problem. He is on the mission to increase groundwater tables and construct lakes by collecting rainwater. His mission has got him a mention in the Limca book of records, 2012. Pic Courtesy: Ayyappa Masagi Ayappa Masagi, 55, heads the Rain Water Concepts Private Ltd and Water Literary Foundation. He specialises in coming up with solutions for the increasing need of water in rural, urban and industrial sectors.These foundations run by Ayappa Masagi are involved in charging around 1000…

EntertainKids is a group working to make entertainment reachable to underprivileged children. If your question is "Why entertainment?", my answer is that food, shelter and education were not my only necessities as a child; I loved watching movies too!EntertainKids tries to bring some fun in the lives of underprivileged children, and also motivate them towards education.We plan to achieve this by:• Getting access to children by connecting with government schools, NGOs, orphanages etc. We are in talks with many organisations including Friendship Foundation, Hope Foundation, Sparsh, Runner's High, Ananya Summer camp and UW Bengaluru.• Getting cinema halls, theatres, circuses etc…

Enjoy these visual glimpses of the programme held at United Theological College (UTC) on Millers Road, to mark International Women's Day (IWD) 2012. Shahina K K, a popular mediaperson, highlights caste, class, religious and gender discrimination that surfaces during natural disaster relief efforts Veteran journalist Ammu Joseph discusses skewed representation of women in Indian news media LesBiT, a support forum for gender minorities staged an aesthetic and meaningful multilingual performance on the different kinds of social exclusion prevalent in India, currently An image of one of the posters from Our Pictures, Our Words by Laxmi Murthy and Rajashri Dasgupta, (publisher:…

Are you at work place worrying about your pet alone at home? Or having nightmares of seeing your dog caged in with no proper food while you are out on a holiday? Open spaces keep them happy. Pic: Petspace Be it for office-goers or for people planning for a holiday, pet care is a big convern. Most pet owners are left with very few options for their pet safety.However, there are dog care centers in Bengaluru that promise to take good care of your pets while you are away. Some of these centers are started by people who faced similar…

Cricket is his first love. He learned English language listening to cricket commentaries. He loves Kannada movies, he always scored well in his history papers. He never let visual impairment come in the way of life. Today he has made computer education easily accessible for visually challenged students and encourages them to participate in sports. 41-year-old Mahantesh G Kivadasannavar won the NDTV Sports Award, against the odds (lifetime achievement) in February 2012. Kivadasannavar founded Samarthanam Trust for the Disabled in 1997, along with his two friends. This JP Nagar resident, is today the Managing Trustee and has great plans for…

Laxmi Murthy is the daughter of Vimala Murthy, the writer and great grand daughter of Amba Bai, former headmistress of Vani Vilas High school, Laxmi, has been associated with the women's movements for nearly three decades years now. This 49-year-old, resident of Jayanagar 1st block, has recently co-authored a book - "Our Pictures, Our Words." The book records the history of women's movement in India through posters. Pic: Anisha Nair Citizen Matters chatted with Laxmi Murthy on the women and writing. What inspired you into making the book "Our Pictures, Our Words"?I have been associated with the women's movement since…