Society

The whole of last month, this member of the cactus family (Hylocereus) has been delighting people across our city. I clicked the photos below in front of my bank at J P Nagar 5th Phase. This flower/cactus is not native to India; it comes from Central and South America. But we certainly seem to have adopted it; locally, it’s called “Brahmakamalam” (though the actual Brahmakamalam is another plant altogether!) and the edible fruit is called “Dragon fruit”, thanks to its shape and colour. You can see the fruit if you click on the link here. The flowers bloom at night,…

Fifteen trafficked bonded labourers including four child bonded labourers, aged between five and eight, were rescued on May 11th 2016 by the Bangalore Urban District Administration and local Police assisted by International Justice Mission (IJM) from a brick kiln in Anekal, Bangalore Urban District. The victims belonging to five families were held in bondage at the kiln for three to seven years. Three infants were also rescued taking the total number of victims to 18. The victims rescued from the brick kiln in Anekal. Pic: IJM The supervisor of the brick kiln was arrested from the kiln and he has…

Oorvani Foundation and Datameet are happy to announce the launch of OpenCity.in - an urban public data portal. In cities across India, there is a lack of accessible and robust public data. Citizens often do not have access to quantitative information that helps them understand the state of their neighborhood and their city, as well as support their demands of the local government. Data when available is often lost within the hard disks of government or non-governmental organisations, documents hard disks or in individual silos. OpenCity.in is a repository of city-related public data from government sources, via RTI or open…

Sometime in early 2010, I was invited to visit International Institute of Social Entrepreneurs (an offshoot of Braille Without Borders and now called Kanthari) in Trivandrum. That visit was an ‘eye opener’ for me. The co-founder, Sabriye Tenberken, became my first blind friend! She, and the rest of the people who worked at IISE, made me feel welcome and introduced me to a whole new world – a world where those with sight and without, co-existed and complemented each other's strengths and weaknesses. It was a dream factory where everyone had a dream, and they were encouraged to make their…

Recently, we visited Arthipura near Kokkare Bellur to visit the archeological excavation site of ancient Jaina vestiges. I read news reports about this site so thought of visiting. I was sure that my family would not get bored, because they had really enjoyed our last visit to Keeladi, another archaeological site near Madurai, Tamil Nadu, where ASI unearthed remains of 2,200 to 2,300 year old houses and artifacts. Arthipura is a small village near Maddur in Mandya district. It is located 5 km south of Kokkare Bellur. It has two small hillocks, Shravanabetta and Chikkabetta or Kanakagiri.  Last year, archaeologists from ASI Bangalore…

Trailblazer. Screen-scorcher. Essayer of powerful roles. Padma Shri and national award recipient who mesmerised the world in a short but brilliant career. Say 'Smita Patil' and there is that special glint in the eye of movie enthusiasts who had the privilege of watching this charismatic actor on screen. Whether it was Bhumika, Manthan, Gaman, Arth or Mirch Masala, movie after movie Smita breathed magic into every role, transforming effortlessly into the character she played on screen. Achiever and performer extraordinaire, Smita would have been 60 if she were alive today. Join us, a group of Bangaloreans, as we celebrate her…

Venkatappa Art Gallery off Kasturba Road, Bengaluru. Pic: Shree D N Some people are a little confused why Karnataka artists are against the adoption of the state Venkatappa Art Gallery (VAG) by Tasveer Foundation to build MAP - Museum of Art and Photography, to house Abhishek Poddar's art collection. Artists have formed Vagforum (Venkatappa Art Gallery Forum) to oppose this move. MAP in VAG is being projected as god's gift to the Bengaluru's public. Let me explain our stand: Artists are not against the Museum of Art and Photography or MAP coming up in the city. But it should be…

Growing up in Bengaluru for me has always revolved around the Cantonment - early morning walks under the tree-lined avenues towards Richards Park, eating Ritchies mutton biryani on MM road (back in the day when a plate was a meagre Rs 40), or buying weekly groceries from Thoms after Sunday mass. Historically, the Cantonment of Bengaluru dates back to the 18th century, specifically 1807, when the British defeated Tipu Sultan’s army and established themselves around the Ulsoor kere. The British established various typologies from large parks and shopping centres to parade grounds and schools, the most important being the colonial bungalow…

  Being a proponent for the Government of Karnataka’s (GoK) decision to ‘Adopt a Destination’ under CSR, one is saddened to see some artists put out misleading and wrong information to ensure that the Venkatappa Art Gallery (VAG) adoption MoU signed between the Government agencies and Tasveer Foundation is cancelled. Terms like ‘brutal, undemocratic takeover’, ‘surreptitious MoU’, ‘usurp public resources’, ‘prime real estate capture’ are being bandied about giving the impression that some of us (who believe that VAG adoption is good for Bengaluru citizens) are descendants of Darth Vader! Bengaluru citizens will gain with this adoption program. We might…

Repair Café is organising its 5th workshop on March 19th 2016. It is being hosted by The Green Path situated at Seshadripuram, from 11.30 am to 4 pm. Apart from repairing and upcycling, other highlights of the workshop include Talk show on Water Conservation by Aditi Hastak from Biome Workshop on basics of Kitchen Gardening Screening of a documentary film, Economics Of Happiness So what is Repair Café?  Repair Café is a community gathering where repairers, volunteers, visitors come together for the purpose of repairing household articles. A repair man busy at work. Pic: Purna Sarkar Since our first Repair…