Society

"How was the week-end?" I was faced with the routine start-of-the-week question. "Pretty good! My wife and I went to MG road on Sunday", I replied. "Cool, I hope you had fun shopping", the colleague responded. Surprisingly, it was true; but few would have guessed that we shopped at Namma Jathre - an exhibition cum fair organised by groups (mostly) working on community development, held in Cubbon Park's Bal Bhavan on 30 December. For those unfamiliar with the local language (like me), Namma Jathre translates to English as "Our Festival". Namma Jathre was started under the theme of 'Festival of…

At first glance, K Raja, 26, a resident of Bull Temple Road in Basavangudi and David Moszkowicz, 34, a native of Lyon, France would seem to have nothing in common. In fact, if one were to try and apply the six degrees of separation rule on these two individuals, it is quite a high possibility that, under normal circumstances, the number of links to connect them would be much greater than the standard six. Raja the Tavil player engaged in a jugalbandi with Pavan Kumar at the New Year eve celebration. Pic: Shreya Dasgupta. Mild mannered David looks every bit…

Civilisations have seen the rise and fall of great empires and cities. In the times of yore, areas of mass congregation were seen mainly in close proximity to water bodies - oceans and rivers, which made navigation and trade and communication possible, like the Harappan civilisation. In recent times though, with the advancement of technology and communication, a completely a different set of factors determine why people move from one city to another. Every large city has distinct characteristics that set it apart from any other concrete jungle no matter how uniform they may seem otherwise. On the face of…

Kadlekai Parishe (Groundnut festival), one of the city's oldest cultural events, takes place on the last Monday of the karthikaa month on the Bull Temple road in Basavangudi. This year it was held on the 3rd and 4th of December. From Top Left, clockwise: Woman removing the bad groundnuts from the good ones, Groundnuts sold in two measure of one litre and half litre, Piggybanks on sale, A family from Dharmapuri comes every year to practice the art of tattooing - a boy gets his mother’s name inscribed (pics: Rushalini Rajkumar) In the 16th century, it started off as a…

116 years old and Elgin Talkies still stands strong. It all started in 1896 when the Lumiere brothers introduced cinema to India. From there on, there was no looking back. Elgin Talkies (pic: Amoghavarsha) Elgin converted to a talkie in 1930 and was packed to the brim with movie buffs eager to watch Marilyn Monroe or Sophia Loren. Oblivious to the history around them, hundreds of people still throng Elgin, only to watch Hindi films from the nineties, at 20 rupees per ticket. Hidden behind the market chaos is what remains of a grand structure called the Himalaya talkies. One…

Shail Pandey (59), a resident of HSR Layout is a dedicated artist. She uses various mediums like charcoal, acrylic, water colour, beads, etc to create paintings, sketches, collages, and even cushion covers and throws. New to Bangalore (she moved here last year after having spent 35 years in Mumbai), she finds the city laid back, and the people friendly and easy going. The only thing that puts her off are the auto rickshaws , who she finds rude and uninterested in work. One of Shail Pandey's creations (pic: Meera) Diagnosed with Parkinson's disease a decade back, she finds a creative…

Preparations for the Dassera festival start at least 3 months in advance at ‘Mani’, Banashankari II Stage, Bangalore. It would perhaps be more appropriate to say that preparations for the next year’s Dassera festival start even as the current year’s concludes. As Usha Madhuranathan, now 71, the prime mover behind Dassera arrangements at ‘Mani’, says, “It is as if our lives follow a calendar that starts with Dassera each year, not Ugadi or New Year.”   Churning of the ocean: Tableau for Dussehra (pic: Meera) Passionate about arranging dolls, Usha has, in the past few years, taken on a personal…

With hardware prices falling, more and more people are buying computers. However proprietary software can be expensive, so many people opt to install pirated or illegal copies of such software. The Free Software movement addresses this issue. For example, GNU software is a complete set of free software packages to have your PC/Laptop fully operational. ‘Free’ here doesn't just refer to the cost, which is usually zero or negligible. It is free as in FREEDOM. That is, FSF talks about the freedom to use the software, to understand it, to distribute it and modify it. Some of the important free…

What can a sports club operating from a small room in a basement do? Produce champions. That exactly is what YUVA (Youth for Unity, Vitality and Awareness) is doing. Operating from the basement of the Kittur Rani Chennamma Stadium, Jayanagar 3rd Block, YUVA has been producing quality athletes who have routinely earned laurels and accolades at various athletic events, both at the University and the National level. It was founded in 1985 by C Maheshwaran, himself a former national athlete. Karate practice at Yuva (pic: Subbu Vincent) YUVA has been serving the sports training needs of Bangaloreans for more than…

Many Bangaloreans dismiss today’s Bangalore as a mutant form of the quaint city of yesteryears. But many old buildings and watering holes have survived as steadfast witnesses to the city’s changing identity and magically present a bioscope view in sepia tones of the glorious Bangalore of the past. Indian Institute of World Culture (pic: Yashwanth Madhusudhan) Established in 1945, the Indian Institute of World Culture (IIWC) in Basavanagudi located on the road named after B.P Wadia – its founder, is not only a window to the city’s rich cultural past but also to the first efforts to promote cross cultural…