Society

On this Saturday, February 13, if you happen to be travelling to Mysore don't be surprised to see more than 50-70 cyclists who will take to this route for the Bangalore Brevets 300 km ride. This is part of a series of ongoing brevet rides in the city, held as qualifiers to the prestigious Paris-Brest-Paris event, an approximately 1200 km ride that happens once in four years. This year, the Paris ride will take place in August and a few lucky riders will travel from India to participate in the event.   A brevet is a self supported ride where a cyclist…

Yeh Saali Zindagi (Hindi) Any film that gets director Sudhir Mishra to the lens again, with the immensely talented Irrfan Khan and Chitrangda Singh as part of the cast that brings the film to life, automatically finds its way on to your ‘must watch’ list. But Yeh Saali Zindagi fails to live up to our high expectations. Even when unpredictable, the film still leaves you dissatisfied. While it’s a departure from Mishra’s previous work like Hazaaron Khwaishein Aisi and Khoya Khoya Chand, there are commonalities with the treatment and thematic focus of his earlier films like Chameli and Iss Raat…

There is an urgent need to provide safe places for children to play and have fun. Children go to unexpected extents to fulfil their desire to have fun, unaware of the consequences it could lead to. Children playing on busy streets in front of their homes run the risk of being run over by rash drivers. I saw this kid fly his kite, standing on top of his building’s water tank. Young boy flies kite atop water tank, dangerously. Pic: author. Watching the children taking such risks led to me take up a community project that can make a difference…

In a recent interview with an English news channel in India, Anish Kapoor, famous worldwide for his massive installation art work opined, "Art must be inclusive and not confined to galleries". The Chitra Santhe, hosted by Bangalore's reputed art school, the Chitra Kala Parishath (CKP) has been bringing art, artists and art lovers to the streets around Kumarakrupa road, on the last Sunday every January. Here are some scenes from this year's edition which apparently attracted over a thousand participants from across the country and three lakh visitors. (This is according to Sandhya A, an art history faculty member and…

Bangalore kids were at their creative best at the First Lego League Tournament 2010, a robot designing competition held at tech-major SAP Labs on Saturday 29th January. Bangalore's ‘Robo Pundits' from National Public School (NPS), Koramangala, scored 265 points beating Mumbai's score of 225. The next regional will be held at New Delhi. The competition is now between Bangalore and Delhi for the coveted opportunity to represent India at the finals in Atlanta, USA. Robo Pundits with their trophy. Pic courtesy: Robo Pundits The competition open to anyone in the age group of 9-16 and teams can have a maximum of…

Suhas Gopinath who founded online portal designing company Globals Inc Private Limited at the age of 14,  Children's Movement for Civic Awareness (CMCA) an NGO which aims to bring about civic awareness through youth, Bangalore City Traffic Police for their continued efforts to regulate the traffic of abngalore and Srilakshmi Goru, a long distance swimmer are a few of the 21 finalists for the Namma Bengaluru Awards 2011. Gopinath started Globals Inc Private Limited, a company that develops portals at the age of 14 and started his foray by building Coolhindustan.com. A release from the Namma Bengaluru Foundation, organiser of…

Ramanagaram shot into fame with the film Sholay in the 70s. But this small town just outside Bangalore has been the hub of silk-industry, rock climbers' haven and home to several temples. Panaromic View from one of the hills. Pic: Usha Hariprasad A peep in to the history: Ramanagaram known as Closepet before independence has seen a great many rulers. It has been ruled by Gangas, Cholas, Hoysalas, Vijayanagara, Mysore kings, Hyder Ali and Tipu Sultan.  During Kempegowda rule the place was also referred to as Ramagiri and Ramagiridurga.  The district is surrounded by seven majestic hills Shivaramagiri, Yatirajagiri, Somagiri,…

It was in December 2003 that Bangaloreans first woke up to the idea of Airtel Bengaluru Habba (in those days - Bangalore Habba). As posters announcing the city's new cultural festival dotted the landscape and street art spilled over onto the MG Road Boulevard, the idea of the Habba captured the city's imagination. The vision behind the Habba says Padmini Ravi, Trustee of Artistes' Foundation for the Arts (AFFA) that spearheads the event, has been "to provide aesthetic entertainment to a wide cultural, social and demographic cross-section of people. We wish to ensure that various art forms continue to have…

It's been an interesting beginning to the New Year for cinema buffs in Bangalore. January began with the screening of the Travelling Film South Asia (TFSA) at the Bangalore International Centre. This mobile campaign is part of an initiative to promote and popularise the best of South Asian documentaries at more than 50 international venues between the regular Film South Asia Festivals that are held in Kathmandu once in two years. Outstanding festivals screened at this festival are then chosen to travel across the subcontinent.  In this spirit, the festival reflected the contradictions and the cinema of South Asia, with…

On Republic day, the bright skies of Bangalore were adorned with creative and colourful kites. The 2nd annual Bangalore kites festival was held at the palace grounds. Over ten thousand kite fliers and enthusiasts attended the festival organised by Junior Chamber International (JCI). Preparing the kite for a flight. Pic: Deepti Sarma Over 15 participants from places like Holland, France, Gujarat, Maharastra and Karnataka brought their favourite kites. The skies around palace grounds saw inflated teddy bear, alligator, giant frog, paul -the octopus, tigers and many such creations of these clubs. There were trains of simple symmetric kites too. For…