Society

She spotted a dying lake, took up the initiative and brought it back to life. Given the opportunity, she would escape to a far away place on a fellowship, to do something she has always loved, writing stories. She seems to have mastered the art of getting books published after she authored 'Get Published!.' From writing short stories, she moved to writing novels and has even translated some of Tamil poet Subramanya Bharathi's works. We are talking about Usha Rajagopalan, 55, Chairperson, Puttenahalli Neighbourhood Lake Improvement Trust (PNLIT.) Usha at the lake premises. Pic: Deepthi M S What made you…

"Yeaah!! St Louis, here we come," chorused the NXTremers - a team of 6th and 7th graders - thumping their fists, huge grins on their beaming faces, as they struggled to keep their feet on the ground. They had just been declared the national level champions in the First Lego League (FLL) 2011 competition. Their next step will be the FLL World Festival in St Louis, Missouri, USA on April 25-28, where they will represent India.The young champions are a group of six friends studying in National Public School, Indiranagar - Aditya S M, Anuj Tambwekar, Arnav Mhaske, Chaitanya Sindagi,…

Reeth Abraham is one of India's most well known athletes participating in the hurdles, long jump and heptathlon events, with a career that began in 1976. She has won various medals at several international competitions including at the Asian level. Her achievement stands out particularly since she won a medal at the Asian level less than a year after she became a mother. Reeth, at one of her practice sessions at Kanteerava Stadium. Pic: Deepthi M S Although she retired from competitive athletics in 1992, this 49-year-old has continued training over the years and is now active as a Masters…

Friday, 17 February, was witness to an eclectic blend of musicians, all converged on one stage to show their talents and win lots of hearts. Akashavani Habba, a week long festival by AIR was held to portray, showcase and promote talented musicians across all art forms and music streams. The AIR Rock Marathon was one such event that was held to bring out the talents in the city to perform in front of a 3-member judge panel. Pic: Satvik Kaushik 11 Bands registered for the event. Nine of them showed up and three won their respective prize money and a…

He is leading a retired life but spends most of his time and energy in bringing necessary improvement to the community. He is affable, determined, disgruntled with the official apathy yet hopeful. He is the 'military man' of HSR Layout, meet Brigadier R S Murthy, 68, Vice President, Federation of Residents Welfare Associations in HSR layout. Brig Murthy with his wife Lalitha. Pic: Deepthi M S He lives with his wife Lalitha Murthy, 61, who is a teacher. Learning to use the Internet seems to be their latest pursuit. With Brigadier's transfers to various parts of the country, Lalitha says…

"Uncle Sam, put on back your pants" a line from one of the compositions of Jamaican-Canadian-African dub poet D'bi Young Anitafrika is one that rings in my head on a regular basis. It works as an essential reminder of the number of soulless 'uncles' who abuse children sexually. But according to Young who performed at the Jaaga Creative Common Ground in Bengaluru on 28th January 2012, it is also a metaphor for how selfish capitalists continue to rape and ravage life on earth without sparing a thought about the adverse impact of their actions. Well, if they take the good…

Pawan Kumar the director of the successful film Lifeu Ishtene might just show ‘Gandhinagar' that pedigree and stars don't matter. He plans to produce his second film Lucia using crowd funding. He had earlier expressed his frustration about no takers for his second film. His fans and friends on Facebook and reacted to it and many suggestions started coming his way. In his own words "was bombarded with emails, smses, pings, chat posts etc etc. Everyone coming together to pour in ideas and solutions. Majority of them have suggested to open a public funding and produce the film with the…

For most of us, the first thoughts on Japan would be fast cars, sushi and karate. These facets are complemented by the elaborate culture of the country. The Japan Habba 2012 showcased many such cultural and popular features of Japan. Over one thousand visitors attended the Indo- Japan cultural exchange programme at the  Jnana Jyoti Auditorium, Central College. Aptly named "Kizuna" which means camaraderie, this festival aims for Japanese in Bangalore to learn about India and similarly for Bangaloreans to get a better glimpse of Japanese culture.Toward late afternoon, the auditorium reverberated with popular Indian songs, only difference was that…

Everybody has been talking about Ms. Meena. Every time the play comes to Bangalore, somebody is always telling someone else why they should not miss Ms. Meena (pun unintended). Why, even Citizen Matters has already reviewed the play! At long last, I stood in line, and a long line it was, to watch our darling Ms. Meena. A scene from the play. Pic courtesy: Perch CDs of the play were being sold, and anywhere you looked, all that you could see was a Tamil Maami straight out of a 70s edition of Ananda Vikatan (a magazine). The poster also said…

By writing this post, I am going to make loads of enemies! I did contemplate for a long time whether I should write this or not, and now I have made up my mind to say this publicly, so that I can move on and find a solution!At least five times a day, I have someone asking me - What happened to Lucia? When is it starting? Who is it starring? I feel like I am being stabbed whenever someone asks this question. The update is that Lucia is a completed script. It has come out beautifully and I don't…