Environment

A night view of M G Road. Pic: Shree D N After finding out I would be coming to Bengaluru, an Indian city I knew just as the "Silicon Valley of India," having grown up in Seattle, I became fascinated with the idea of comparing my hometown to B'luru. The differences between these two cities, 8,000 miles/13,000 kilometers apart, are stark (food, geography, language, ethnicity, weather, traditions, you name it). Finding the similarities, I thought, would be more of a challenge. The questions I had in mind: do Bengalureans romanticise their pre-tech past as much as Seattleites do? Do they…

It's always intriguing to watch poetry being dramatized, and I was keen on going to watch "Kitchen Poems" by Dhiruben Patel, a 90+ year-old Gujarati writer. Padmavathi Rao, who was the solo actor in this performance produced by Aantarya Film and Theatre House, is well-known to the theatregoers of Bangalore, and it was with pleasant anticipation that I went to the performance. I was not disappointed. Dhiruben's poems (written in English) were translated on to the stage seamlessly. Padmavathi's command over the words showed in the effortless way in which she seemed, not to be playing an archetypal woman and…

It's always intriguing to watch poetry being dramatized, and I was keen on going to watch "Kitchen Poems" by Dhiruben Patel, a 90+ year-old Gujarati writer. Padmavathi Rao, who was the solo actor in this performance produced by Aantarya Film and Theatre House, is well-known to the theatregoers of Bangalore, and it was with pleasant anticipation that I went to the performance. I was not disappointed. Dhiruben's poems (written in English) were translated on to the stage seamlessly. Padmavathi's command over the words showed in the effortless way in which she seemed, not to be playing an archetypal woman and…

"Did you see how she did that?" I was lucky enough to attend numerous concerts, most often at the Bangalore Gayana Samaja, with my late guru Seethalakshmi Venkatesan. In every concert, we had attended together, she unfailingly pointed out nuances brought out by the performer of the day.  i Recently when a friend shared a video of Carnatic vocalist Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer performing at a sabha in Chennai, I was reminded of this when I saw the audience at this concert. A virtual who's who of today's Carnatic music stars were seated in the audience listening to the stalwart sing.…

"Did you see how she did that?" I was lucky enough to attend numerous concerts, most often at the Bangalore Gayana Samaja, with my late guru Seethalakshmi Venkatesan. In every concert, we had attended together, she unfailingly pointed out nuances brought out by the performer of the day.  i Recently when a friend shared a video of Carnatic vocalist Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer performing at a sabha in Chennai, I was reminded of this when I saw the audience at this concert. A virtual who's who of today's Carnatic music stars were seated in the audience listening to the stalwart sing.…

Are you a young professional passionate about water security and poverty reduction? Would you like to be part of an ambitious programme to make five million poor people water secure by 2022? We are looking for 12 young professionals with no more than five years of professional experience to form a Junior Global Advisory Panel. Members can be from any region in the world and from varying professional backgrounds (academia, industry, government and practitioners). Suitable areas of expertise would be water resources, WASH, wastewater, health, agriculture, poverty, garment industries, refugees, or gender. The Junior Global Advisory Panel will complement the Global Advisory Panel which consists of globally-recognised…

Are you a young professional passionate about water security and poverty reduction? Would you like to be part of an ambitious programme to make five million poor people water secure by 2022? We are looking for 12 young professionals with no more than five years of professional experience to form a Junior Global Advisory Panel. Members can be from any region in the world and from varying professional backgrounds (academia, industry, government and practitioners). Suitable areas of expertise would be water resources, WASH, wastewater, health, agriculture, poverty, garment industries, refugees, or gender. The Junior Global Advisory Panel will complement the Global Advisory Panel which consists of globally-recognised…

Garbage isn't exactly Rocket Science but given the filth around us, one would think it is! Given that the Government struggles with Execution and Enforcement of its well thought out policies and programs, we looked to see how exactly we can get a handle on this and if it was even possible. Turns out, it is definitely possible and "We" can do a lot with what is in our control. To understand exactly what is going on, click here. Or cheat and just read the below. (And follow too!) You and your family 1. Compost! Start by taking the one…

Garbage isn't exactly Rocket Science but given the filth around us, one would think it is! Given that the Government struggles with Execution and Enforcement of its well thought out policies and programs, we looked to see how exactly we can get a handle on this and if it was even possible. Turns out, it is definitely possible and "We" can do a lot with what is in our control. To understand exactly what is going on, click here. Or cheat and just read the below. (And follow too!) You and your family 1. Compost! Start by taking the one…

"Garbage, sewage and construction debris are eating up Bengaluru's Chunchaghatta lake situated in the Konankunte ward, adjacent to Eshwar Layout in southern JP Nagar." This is what an article on Citizen Matters said, more than five years ago. The article can be read here. (Chunchaghatta = Chunchughatta)  Now residents from the area have taken it upon themselves to clean up the lake. Do join the Friends of Lake - Chunchughatta Kere on Sunday, 12th June 2016, 7 a.m. to help clean the lake. Assemble at the flagpost, Gaurav Nagar, behind Brigade Gardenia. More details are in the poster below.