Society

The Dance at Dusk organized on 26th April by PNLIT together with the Snehadhara Foundation was truly an event with a difference. Attended by over 60 people, most of them adults, the Gazebo was cramped for space. Some mothers held back their children for safety but ironically, the evening began with a three year old running into the middle of the ring of dancers and twirling her yellow frilly frock. Geetu of Snehadhara persuaded the child to join the group and the music began to play.   After a warming up slow number, Lakshmi from Snehadhara engaged the participants in a brief…

The essential characteristic of the world of the Blind or visually impaired is darkness in varied degrees. How well do we, the sighted, comprehend this world? What is it like to dance, sing, laugh, eat and cry in the dark? Prevention of Blindness Week, observed during the first week of April, highlights the key needs and efforts to address the challenges confronting visual impairment in the country. Activities as part of Prevention of Blindness Week The Samarthanam Trust for the Disabled and The Eye Foundation’s planned activities during the forthcoming week, however, promise a lot more and are a cause…

Pic: Huda Jaffer Drum beats and illuminating LED bulbs powered by the sun... do they have anything in common? Naah, nothing! Ponder over it for a minute. How are drums made? The typical response would be that the workers gather raw materials, add their labour and voila, the drums are ready.  Here we have workers who actually make drums under light bulbs powered by solar panels. Isn’t that exciting? Eco-friendly drums! A 500 year old craft In Thannisandra, a locality of Bengaluru, there is a small community of Mirasis living under the roof of tarpaulin tents. The Mirasis are a…

Students of St Mark's Public School at the Road Safety Campaign. Pic: Ravikala Baliga Children crusade for road safety Children’s Movement for Civic Awareness (CMCA) children believe that ‘Change begins with each one of us’!  The Game Changers Civic Club of St. Marks Public School is one among the many member school clubs of the CMCA who stand by this belief.  Students of this club are a bunch of enthusiastic teenagers, who yearn to bring about a positive change in themselves, and inspire and transform citizens of their community and the city. Towards this endeavour to make a difference, the…

It's been a little over a year now that the nation rode the ‘Nirbhaya’ wave. However, this is not to say that there have been crimes any lesser before that or even after. Innocent women getting raped when they go about their ‘normal’ day is horrendous enough; but what would you make of something like this? In a city like Bangalore? Where population is exploding and there are no clear ‘peak’ times - which means Bangalore is almost always busy. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6… all the way up to 65+ are the ages of girls and women getting raped…

Something that happens once may be brushed aside as an aberration. What if it occurs twice? I am a regular commuter on the garden city Bengaluru's buses. Needless to say, I spend a substantial amount of time both at bus stops and on the bus. One resource that is aplenty on buses and at bus stops is people. Where there are people, there is scope for interaction. Interactions are not a norm at bus stops or buses. Each person prefers their own space in this situation. That is why even a rare exchange could prove interesting, unlike one may have…

Till last year, I didn’t know who Paul Fernandes was, though I had seen his artwork all over Bangalore, occasionally colourfully covering up a bland restaurant wall or even an old space. I loved his work, without realising it was his work. Then, on a day walking during lunchtime, I stepped into his shop at Richard’s Park and connected all the humourous comic chronicles of 70s Bangalore I had seen strewn around in Bangalore. (And fell in love with a bag, but that’s another story). I stayed, my eyes crinkling with laughter at each of the framed posters.  As I left, I…

It is a known fact that areas like Malleswaram and Basavanagudi play a significant role in shaping the city's love for classical music. Other than Indian Heritage Academy in Koramangala and BTM Cultural Academy, there are very few places easily accessible to classical music fans living in South-East Bangalore. Ranjani Fine Arts (RFA), a non-profit charitable trust, has stepped in to bridge this gap. ‘Enable, Educate, Access,' are quite possibly the words that define Ranjani Fine Arts’ raison d'etre. Ranjani Fine Arts (RFA) has for the past two years, been nurturing and developing the cultural landscape in the Sarjapur Road - Outer Ring…

Image Courtesy: https://www.facebook.com/TRRAIN The next time you walk into a cafeteria or a pizza store, watch out for something a little more noteworthy than your steaming pizza. A differently abled person could be working in the back area, and quite possibly with more élan than your usual order taker! Several food retail outlets in the city including Café Coffee Day, Dominos, Subway and McDonald’s, are increasingly hiring people with disability, particularly folks who are speech and hearing impaired, to build an inclusive environment at the workplace. Interestingly, fellow employees are more than welcoming to this trend. 'I don’t feel different…

The finals of the Bala Janaagraha civic festival is going to be conducted at Devraj Urs Auditorium, Millers Tank Bund Road, Vasanth Nagar, Bengaluru, on Saturday, January 18, 2014. A press note from Bala Janaagraha team gives more details: Bala Janaagraha is a uniquely designed, carefully thought out civic education program conducted for Grade VIII students of government, aided and private schools in Bangalore. Our vision is to transform today’s children into active citizens of tomorrow. The curriculum is different from the standard civic lessons taught in schools. In the curriculum designed by Bala Janaagraha the student becomes the primary…