Your plans for this summer ?

Summer is a time when parents need to decide what to do with their children.Holidays in Sri Lanka. Or in Coonoor.Tuitions to prepare for the Board exams of 2008.Or sign them up for summer camps.Summer camps are big business these days.I see them as opportunities for creative people to share their talent. In their neighbourhoods.Srimathi and Binitha of K. K. Nagar are doing just that in K. K. Nagar. Teachers at a local school, they resigned their jobs but want to continue their association with children. . .More. . .

A 16-year-old on her teacher

He was not very significant to me, until I discovered this very teacher had taught my father maths, thirty years ago!. It felt strange to be in his presence, and there was a tingle which ran through my spine,. . . . Time has moved on, from the days when my father went to College, a popular and carefree little man, to the new age of his daughter, who fails to understand maths properly. . . More.. .

Team India: There's life after World Cup

Let's look at the positives. We won against Bermuda, didn't we? Why not build on this win. Let's try Outer Mongolia (trust they have a cricket team) next, and thus, strike a winning streak. . .More. . .

Hobson's Choice in Turkey

We ferried ourselves and our bags from town to town, selling a few Gillette blades I had to some curious youths for cash. I cannot recall how many days or how many hops it took for us to reach Ankara . . .We used the same routine of turning up at the local constabulary and showing our placard identifying ourselves as journalists representing India.... the local cop would take us to the bus station and put us on a bus bound for the next big town and we repeated the routine. . .More . . .

An oldie's take on 'Nishabd'

I wish the local film society holds special screening for oldies on the next 'Father's Day'. The movie has educative value insofar as it opens out possibilities for eligible oldies...For those unfamiliar with the theme, the film is about a sixty-year old falling for a teenage friend his daughter brought home for vacation...More...

The perils of communications

...last time when I went back from US to india I had nothing really new to talk with my friends about my US trip because they already knew how my experience was, as I had shared all the events on the phone. So in a way the advances in technologies are also spoiling the fun of listening to the stories of your "phoren-returned" dost..More. . .

Day off for myself & our friendship

.Shopping together after a long time with TT, ahhhhh feels real good.Got few dresses,accessories & went to Fabcity.Friends meet & no ice cream? Will that happen? Baskin robbins relished!! [sorry pan] The endless talks,the endless laughs,the endless arguments are so very special & today I had all of them back. . .More. . .

Of Mysore mallige and mooggina jade

Sure, I, in my younger days, have gone through this wonderful moment and still cherish the moment with a black and white photo. Remember the doll like looking girl is braided with this Jasmine plait, dressed with zari long skirt, with all jewellary on her!! Ah i forgot about the black spot on the cheek to drive the evil sight on her or the dristi bottu. . . More. . .

Catalyst on Water

Four years ago, some residents of Chennai were leaving town due to water shortage. The Hindu, in an article 4 months ago, said Chennai had too much water now. If you open the city corporation tap, water actually comes out, instead of plain hot air four years ago. . .More. . .

Rainwater harvest in Mysore

Does our civic body have the determination to secure compliance of municipal regulations? If builders and house-owners fail to comply within a specified period the municipal corporation should have the resources and be empowered to install appropriate rainwater system at the house-owners’ cost. . .More. . .

Suing a spammer, a Gordon path

Spamming wouldn’t go away, because far too many of us rely on ‘delete’ button to cope with spam. What, if they get rid of the d-tab from the keyboard? That is when we would all hit the Gordon path. . . More. . .

Making your blog work better

Some of the best advice I’ve ever heard regarding lateral thinking is to make jokes about your business, and then take the joke seriously. Humor contains truth, and truth, uncomfortable or not, is an excellent starting point for innovation. . .More. . .

Bhowal Sanyasi case

My journalist colleague Mr Tekur Krishna Murthy who was representing The Hindu from Bellary told me details of this case, related to an incident in the British Governed State of Calcutta, were being serialized in the Modern Review a weekly published from Calcutta. . .More . . .

Madhukar goes on air - as a guest

I remember Chak (VU2TTC), Suri (VU2NPS) and others addressing me and welcoming me to Ham Radio. Muthanna handed over the mike to me - I panicked.. . .More. . .

An MLC’s privilege

A privilege conscious MLC chose to make an issue of his failure to get official vehicle for private use. On his complaint the council chairman reportedly recommended suspension of two officials on the charge of dereliction of duty. . .More. . .

A grandpa's story

The erstwhile Ganesha theatre was just a tent in 1930’s. It cost two anas to sit on the floor (you had to carry a mat from your home) and four anas to sit on the chair. Only adults had the luxury of watching movies. Not that the children cared too much. . .More. . .

Why has storytelling dissapeared?

Today's kids are just not interested in the "old fairytales" and "Granny's tall tales". Even parents are too busy with their work, and nobody ever finds the time to read bedtime stories to their kids. I think, fairytales, fantasies, and other such stories are a vital part of a child's life. . .More. . .

Manna From Heaven

If there was one thing that we learnt during our 40 days on the road to Paris, it was that total strangers could be unbelievably kind and hospitable. whereas people you considered to be your friends and well wishers could turn hard hearted, unkind and inhospitable. . .More. . .

Taking Schools on Heritage Walks

Today, we had to host yet another group of students of Abacus school in Perungudi ( on the Old Mahab Road - OMR fashionably!) on a heritage walk through Mylapore.This is the second time we are hosting Abacus.The 'we' refers to 'Namma Mylapore', a small NGO which works on civic and heritage issues in the Mylapore area. . .More. . .

Istri wallahs and rickshaw wallahs; be with us!

Have you discovered little joys locked in the pockets of your trousers after they have been pulled out of the washing machine?I have.Train tickets I should have carefully filed for my cautious auditor.Phone numbers of new contacts scribbled on bits of waste paper. . .More. . .

My Gifted Friend Cheryl Braganza

I have been blogging about mid 1960s when I arrived in England after an arduous sometimes frightening hitch-hiking journey by road from India. One of the friendships of that era I remember and cherish was with the gifted poet and painter Cheryl Braganza at Onslow Gardens in South Kensington. I remember her as a petite and beautiful young lady with an exotic background. . .More. . .

Media and Mr Ashwath’s illness

Readers would have been better served, I reckon, if The Hindu story had given a two-para background on its possible symptoms, and the required line of treatment. . .More. . .

5 days to go!!!

People used to ask me how come i studied in a college like St.Joseph's which is known for its rules, but one thing for sure you can enjoy like anything in those kind of colleges. Infact i realised this only after joining Infosys. . .More. . .

Of lavish weddings

Nowadays we southern Indians have great passion for pani puri, gobi manchuri and other north Indian dishes. But the fun about it is that the dustbins will be full rather than the plates/ I can't understand what the fun is in filling the plates with all the eatables whether you want it or not. . .More. . .

Mysore: A commuters' terminal for Bangalore

Uncritical acceptance of the drumbeat that Mysore is poised to becoming a hotspot for industrial investment could lead to some serious miscalculations. Mysore has witnessed sharp rise in land prices and hyper building activity in anticipation of a ‘feel-good’ growth projection. . .More. . .

Your kid's aren't Derby horses

“Shi! 90 percent, see Ravi, Chandru, they have scored 96 percent.You end up becoming a glorified clerk, if at all you are lucky to get a Government job.Our dreams of seeing you as a doctor or engineer are shattered”, so do parents scorn.This discouragement , which starts from the home is carried on to school/colleges and to campuses where interviews,are conducted . It is natural that some young students tend to be disoriented. . . More. . .

WRITERS WANTED

Little India encourages unsolicited contributions . . . Our columns, commentaries and essays are written from a distinctive point of view and we encourage hard analysis as well as strong, even controversial and provocative personal viewpoints in opinion writing. We value good writing, as we value controversial and provocative ideas, for their own sake. . .More. . .

AIRLINE MISHAPS - INDONESIA

The distressing thing is that the aircraft continued to burn for a long time after the crash and one could not see any real fire fighting activity to douse the aircraft. One wonders at the type and quantity of equipment they have (or do not have) to handle such situations. . . .More. . .

How Krishna Vattam took to blogging

But then Mr Vattam, till the time I talked to him, didn’t know what a blog was and how it worked; nor did he seem to care. Presumably, he shared the preconception of middle-aged Mysoreans, who thought of blogging as a teenage thing. . .More. . .

The Wrath of Mount Ararat

Perhaps, the Shah was after all a benevolent father like figure, a bit stern perhaps, maybe a slightly self deluded monarch who coveted the Peacock Throne. The markets were heaving with Persian treasures, a noisy Indiana Jones tableau, a bit I thought like Chandni Chowk in old Delhi, without the squalor. . .More. . .

The crazy book prices

He sounds a note of caution for those who may think of buying it. You look at the marked price, which makes you think again. So, what do you do? “Settle in more comfortably to browse through the book for another half hour before you put it down and leave the store”, . . .More. . .

Can India Clone Al-Jazeera?

A global media brand promoted by N Ram, Aroon Purie or Shobhana Bhartia is an interesting idea. . .More. . .

Peru, India and the punctuality drive

Peru and punctuality have been incompatible; and chronic lateness was often overlooked by Peruvians who considered it an endearing cultural trait. How Indian, I thought. It's in fact also a very Mysorean trait. . .More. . .

BUG - The Brotherhood of Unwelcome Guests

Athtiti Devo Bhava. . . The three-word sloka is so embedded in our belief system that few of us can bring ourselves to turn away an unwelcome guest who appears unannounced at our doorsteps. You wouldn't want to drive away the Lord, would you?. . .More. . .

B2B with K: Where we were the day Nehru died

Nehru was, in fact, a tourist attraction in New Delhi. He set aside some 15 minutes daily to meet and pose for photos with common people who came to his residence, Teen Murti House. An official photographer from the Press Information Bureau (PIB) was deputed to take pictures that were catalogued and kept for public browsing in the PIB photo library. . .More. . .