Articles by Revathi Siva Kumar

Plastics are elastic tics. They last, even if they know they aren't wanted. They were banned, but never went away because they weren't told about the law and didn't care if they did. You might think that India makes a lot of plastic and you are wrong. It makes a lot More than you think or the states report. Much more plastics are made than said. According to a report by the Central Pollution Control Board, just 14 out of 35 regional pollution boards really came out with how much plastic they generated in 2017-18. That itself worked out to…

Last year was a lot about the rains, but this year they haven't come around too much - yet. Still, we did work very hard to argue about whether or not we had fixed broken drains and yawning potholes. So will the rains smash us again, just like on the 2017 Independence Day that brought the floods to break a 115-year record? Maybe not. Last year, the North-West monsoons outstayed their welcome till their South-East cousins hammered them. This time it isn’t a panic situation of fighting guests that we did not know about. We do now know we had…

Last year was a lot about the rains, but this year they haven't come around too much - yet. Still, we did work very hard to argue about whether or not we had fixed broken drains and yawning potholes. So will the rains smash us again, just like on the 2017 Independence Day that brought the floods to break a 115-year record? Maybe not. Last year, the North-West monsoons outstayed their welcome till their South-East cousins hammered them. This time it isn’t a panic situation of fighting guests that we did not know about. We do now know we had…

Even as the evening melted into the night of January 31, hundreds were standing torturously on tiptoe at the Lal Bagh hillside. Mobiles and cameras were flagged out like click-baits as everyone wanted to shoot a special moon that was going to strike the peaty sky after 150 years. In fact, it was going to be a Pink Moon due to the filtering of red light through the earth’s atmosphere, even as that body passed through the umbra of the earth to eclipse the sun. It was also going to be a Blue Moon that was not Blue, but was…

Even as the evening melted into the night of January 31, hundreds were standing torturously on tiptoe at the Lal Bagh hillside. Mobiles and cameras were flagged out like click-baits as everyone wanted to shoot a special moon that was going to strike the peaty sky after 150 years. In fact, it was going to be a Pink Moon due to the filtering of red light through the earth’s atmosphere, even as that body passed through the umbra of the earth to eclipse the sun. It was also going to be a Blue Moon that was not Blue, but was…

On a sunny-cool afternoon, joining more than a 100 “orange” rallyists to protest violence on women sounds a bit violent. However, it really can’t get more peaceful when you are standing in silence. At the Gandhi Square. With placards that shout out a word that may strike many men as some breaking news: NO! No to violence, No to tyranny and No to No. Does it spring a surprise to the guys who think it is witty and macho to attack women? Yes. Surprisingly. It does. Saying ‘No’ is a rule that men only recently discovered women can say. Even…

On a sunny-cool afternoon, joining more than a 100 “orange” rallyists to protest violence on women sounds a bit violent. However, it really can’t get more peaceful when you are standing in silence. At the Gandhi Square. With placards that shout out a word that may strike many men as some breaking news: NO! No to violence, No to tyranny and No to No. Does it spring a surprise to the guys who think it is witty and macho to attack women? Yes. Surprisingly. It does. Saying ‘No’ is a rule that men only recently discovered women can say. Even…

Once a year, Bengaluru becomes busy, being the poor cousin of Mysore, the grand-dasara city. The capital lives her dual life with Navrathris, the festive flashes of silk sarees and gold jewellery, surrounded by dry, autumn days of brown trees and dead leaves among trash piles. You do see women visiting each other hurriedly to exchange prasadams and if you peep into their houses, you can also catch glimpses of their droll doll sets, assorted gifts and the sound of bhajans. Still, the seasons run in parallel and it’s a bipolar city. The Durga, Laxmi and Saraswathi idols are prayed…

Once a year, Bengaluru becomes busy, being the poor cousin of Mysore, the grand-dasara city. The capital lives her dual life with Navrathris, the festive flashes of silk sarees and gold jewellery, surrounded by dry, autumn days of brown trees and dead leaves among trash piles. You do see women visiting each other hurriedly to exchange prasadams and if you peep into their houses, you can also catch glimpses of their droll doll sets, assorted gifts and the sound of bhajans. Still, the seasons run in parallel and it’s a bipolar city. The Durga, Laxmi and Saraswathi idols are prayed…

There is one thing to be said for the Bengaluru monsoons – it pulls down the curtains on the city and puts you back into the float of your memories. If you wade through the waterlogged streets during the rains, you at least need not see the crowds, smell the traffic or taste the garbage. You just have to squint through your half-shut eyes as you walk under a straggly umbrella in the pouring rains and understand that this year, the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagar Palike has not undertaken the recharge that you did not expect it to pursue, anyway. Not…