Society

One of the things I feel very proud about as I travel by the buses of the BMTC (Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation) is the fact that many women conductors are now employed by the organization.I decided to watch, without any intervention, as one such young woman went about her job on the bus that I was travelling by.Here she is:She was quite diligent about asking passengers for their tickets or passes, and unlike some men conductors that I have (alas!) seen, she gave back the necessary change, too, all the time that I watched her.Apart from the regular duty, there…

It's been a month now and I still can't stop myself from rushing to the terrace in the morning, after a night of heavy rain. After several months of seeking ways (unsuccessfully!) to harvest rainwater for our apartment, we had arrived at an elementary solution. Most local experts whose advice and opinion we sought were unable to help. Even the internet tips were of little use since they dealt with individual houses and/or entire apartment buildings. Though our terrace is fairly large, we realised that the catchment area (the area which directly receives the rainfall and provides water to the…

I've been taking a closer look at "No Smoking" signs in town from a designer's perspective. Yes, there is a need to be loud and clear - at least till the message sinks in, and people don't look for an ashtray the moment they walk into a restaurant. Sign at Coffee Day near Lavelle Road And if they are going to be big and bold, can't they be a little more interesting? Some of the signs I've seen are so bold, that they come close to rapping you on the knuckles. So, if you run a business that requires you…

After a long time, I went to attend a concert in the centre of town. Shankar Mahadevan, Sivamani, Zakir Hussain and Selvaganesh were playing/singing, and it would be interesting, I thought. I did, also, get some nice images...But, I reckoned, without the truly terrible traffic jam, that held us up all the way from the Johnson Market signal to Richmond Road, at which point, we got off the auto and just started walking towards Museum Road, where the concert was being held at the St Joseph Boys' School grounds.The wisdom of holding such a popular event in the middle of…

After a long time, I went to attend a concert in the centre of town. Shankar Mahadevan, Sivamani, Zakir Hussain and Selvaganesh were playing/singing, and it would be interesting, I thought. I did, also, get some nice images...But, I reckoned, without the truly terrible traffic jam, that held us up all the way from the Johnson Market signal to Richmond Road, at which point, we got off the auto and just started walking towards Museum Road, where the concert was being held at the St Joseph Boys' School grounds.The wisdom of holding such a popular event in the middle of…

Those who looked up into the sky yesterday had a smile on their faces...because the night had a smile upon its face, too.  For those who want more details, click hereI was lucky to quickly get this image on my little Canon S3, but by the time we got our DSLR's and set up a tripod, the cloud cover ensured that there was no photograph possible! ⊕

Those who looked up into the sky yesterday had a smile on their faces...because the night had a smile upon its face, too.  For those who want more details, click hereI was lucky to quickly get this image on my little Canon S3, but by the time we got our DSLR's and set up a tripod, the cloud cover ensured that there was no photograph possible! ⊕

It was an unusual way to end a predominantly techie meet...the FOSS.in (Free and Open Source Software annual meet which happens at the J N Tata Auditorium) closed with a keynote address by Kalyan Varma, who is well-known in software,photography, and wildlife circles.The tagline for this year's meet was, "Talk is cheap. Show me the code"!After the "workouts" discussions and reports were over, the well-"connected" audience settled down for the keynote address:Kalyan, about whom I have written in Citizen Matters here and here , put the finishing touches to his presentation:He then talked about "Free World:Sharing and Caring".He started out…

It was an unusual way to end a predominantly techie meet...the FOSS.in (Free and Open Source Software annual meet which happens at the J N Tata Auditorium) closed with a keynote address by Kalyan Varma, who is well-known in software,photography, and wildlife circles.The tagline for this year's meet was, "Talk is cheap. Show me the code"!After the "workouts" discussions and reports were over, the well-"connected" audience settled down for the keynote address:Kalyan, about whom I have written in Citizen Matters here and here , put the finishing touches to his presentation:He then talked about "Free World:Sharing and Caring".He started out…

I belong to a volunteer group called Clean and Green, which has been going out on trips to the Cauvery Wildlife Sanctuary and cleaning up as much of the plastic trash as possible in the time available. On the last two occasions, Wipro has both sponsored the trip, as well as providing volunteers to help us with our task.I thought I would post about how a cleanup usually happens....this is probably the 16th or 17th such trip we are making. This time, the trash collected in two hours was 167 kg, and I am happy to say that the amount…