Society

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…