Society

The two Hindu epics are majestic pieces of literature, grand in their sweep of space and time; they stand as beacons of moral and ethical values, and we generally hold them in awe and reverence. We certainly do not associate them with humour, or light-heartedness. So, when I got an email from Ram Ganesh Kamatham about his award-winning play, "Ultimate Kurkshetra" which deals not with the forefront, and the heroes of the Mahabharata, but of the very ordinary people who populate the fringes of the army on the eve of the great war of Kurukshetra, I was intrigued and rushed…

It's not common to have plays about music, or musicians; so when Ranga Shankara announced that the Trialogue Company, a Delhi-based theatre group, would be staging "Tansen" on 1st June, '19, I was very keen on attending. The introduction on the Ranga Shankara website was also tantalising. Dhrupad, Khayal, and Kathak to be part of the production...that would be very unusual indeed! So off I went, with my friend Jayashree (who also learnt classical music from me...we did form a fairly critical duo in the audience.) Even before the play started formally, the strains of the tanpura and the semi-humming,…

In mid Feb 2019, we were shocked to observe a very old tree having been cut down on Whitefield Main Road. The construction behind seemed ominously like the reason for the felling. Having seen other beautiful old trees been felled as mercilessly, we decided to take action this time and filed a Case.  Turns out that the Forest Department had themselves felled it citing disease. We had the well known Vijay Nishanth come and inspect the tree stump and declare that clearly this was not a diseased tree that needed cutting. We also investigated by asking people living right next…

The Graphite India #AirPollution campaign - NGT upholds KSPCB CLOSURE order from 2012!  Following the Supreme Court order, where Graphite India was recognized as a polluter under the Polluter Pays Principal, the complainants continued their case in the National Green Tribunal (NGT). The hearing was on Monday, Jan 28th, 2019. The four judge bench listened to the complainants' side of the story, poured over the Appellate Authority ruling from 2013, and fully overturned it! The Principal Bench of NGT called the majority opinion of the appellate court ‘presumptuous’, and instead accepted the dissenting judgment, which pinned pollution on Graphite India. Dissenting Judge Lawrence…

Does your maid experience any violence at home? Maybe it is not violence but just abuse? Or alcoholism ? Is your co-worker struggling to make sense of her spiraling marriage? Is your neighbor feeling unwanted, disrespected or manipulated? We finally have an answer after years of not being able to effectively help women reaching out to us having experienced violence of some sort. The term violence seems to suggest physical harm - but emotional and mental harm are equally harmful and people need to be helped. It is to address this very issue that we have begun helping an increasing…

Community Awareness and Outreach March was the month of many firsts for Bembala. Bembala’s community outreach initiative “Bol Sakhi” organized its first event with nearly 30 Pournakarmikas (street sweepers) and an awareness talk with the parents at the Samriddhi Trust Bridge School. We also had our first pop up at Indus International School -Bangalore (IISB) Bol Sakhi was a heartwarming gathering where the volunteer survivors shared their own stories, which highlighted different forms of abuse creating awareness. This forged a connect that women’s experiences of violence cuts across all socio-economic barriers and encouraged the ladies to empathize and share their thoughts on abuse…

The Erin Brokovich like story of the common man taking on a Graphite Electrode producing factory that polluted. This is the incredible story of a 40 year old, Rs 9000 crore, private graphite polluting factory in Mahadevpura A 10 year legal battle for residents of Ferns Paradise 1 student project A large citizens campaign A Supreme Court judgement A win for citizens with the factory shut down! Read More here for the full story. There is a big learning from this journey. If you are keen to take on a challenge, read more to understand what worked. Media Mentions: 1. Times of India - Battle for Whitefield 2. The Hindu - NGT…

It is not a common occurrence for me to be able to watch a well-made promo video of a theatre school; I did that for the first time when I reached out to the Drama School Mumbai, and the programme coordinator, Neeraj Panchal, sent me the video, which you can see here I noticed the words "Annual Student Production 2018-19" on the excellent brochure that was given out before, and about, the play This intrigued me and I found out that the play was staged by the students of this school; some of them told me, after the play, that…

Since all of us are becoming so polarized by caste these days, I thought I would take a tongue-in-cheek look at the four varnas, or castes, into which I can categorize the living beings around us. No offence meant, this is a light-hearted classification, intended to drive home the point that dividing ourselves by "caste" is not a good thing to do! The Brahmins of the "upper caste" is easily represented as there are several creatures with the word in their name. Here is the Brahminy Kite: See the beauty of the Brahminy Skink: There is also the Brahminy Myna…