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Love is Everywhere
February has always been my favourite month of the year. It’s when the stardust from New Year celebrations and resolutions makes way for spring flowers. Birds speed date in Bengaluru parks and the bees are equally busy. Trees prepare to bloom, the weather is perfect.High above the city, the sky blushes coral pink at sunset. […]
Rukmini Hall-The call of the peacock
The first time I saw a hand woven, pure silk Molakalmuru sari, I could almost see the peacocks dance on the pallu and border. After obsessing over it for a few weeks, I decided to track it down in Bangalore’s busy silk market- Chickpet. Plan B was to hotfoot it to the weaving centres in Molakalmuru […]
Seethaphone Company- A long playing record
I travelled through time when Srinivasa Murthy cranked up his vintage HMV suitcase gramophone one balmy Friday afternoon. As P. Kalinga Rao (accompanied by Mohankumari) began to sing `Baraiyya Beledingale’, the dusty room spun at 78rpm and came to rest in another century. Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru began a fervent speech and I was in 1962. […]
Sri Bharathamatha Theatricals-the world is a stage
On any given afternoon, Nagarthpete is where the term`street theatre’ gets a new twist. School children rush offstage. Cows wander in from the right. Heroes in tight t-shirts lounge indolently while Marwari housewives argue on cue with vegetable vendors in fluent Tamil. Seated on a chair outside his shop, Sri Bharathamatha Theatricals, BJ Srinivas and a few […]
Made in Kanakapura
On a quiet lane in JP Nagar Phase I, a whirlwind is at work. Project Director at Belaku Trust, Dr. Saraswathy Ganapathy answers phone calls, scrutinises a stuffed cotton turtle toy, marks a memo, talks to a French volunteer and asks me if I have had lunch. All at the same time. Her energy is […]
Lost in Wonderland
I run a finger down the rusty iron blade to the heavy silver hilt with the fierce lion Yali and flex my wrist. Centuries ago, other hands would have held it too. Perhaps even run it through someone. As I get lost in fanciful imagination, Mr. D.G Balaji says casually “It is a 17th century Mysore […]
The Old Curiosity Shop on Berlie Street
” It was the beginning of a day in June; the deep blue sky unsullied by a cloud, and teeming with brilliant light. The streets were, as yet, nearly free from passengers, the houses and shops were closed, and the healthy air of morning fell like breath from angels, on the sleeping town. ” – […]
Basava Ambara – a Bangalore state of mind
My grandfather’s sisters used to live in Basavanagudi, known for the famous Bull ( Basava ) Temple ( Gudi ), the Ramakrishna Mutt, the hectic annual Kadlekai Parishe ( Groundnut Festival) , flower filled Gandhi Bazaar and many other important must- visits. Whenever we had to visit them, everyone would groan and say ” Oh..it’s so […]
Placing Bengaluru 