Happiness

People with varied interests, background and different strata of society come to my newspaper office daily. Some of them walk into my room and if I am free engage myself in conversation with them for a few minutes. Recently, a person, known to me for a long time, well placed in society, who retired after serving as a senior officer in the Central Government ,had come to meet me. He is fond of cars and changes his automobile whenever a new brand comes into the market...More

P-panels: Hazzle ? Or a help ?

The concept was customized to great extent. We developed in-house software to select the members, with certain criteria like 1/3 to be educated with at least PUC qualification, 1/3 women etc.. . .More

Bangalore: The transformation from a sleepy town to booming metropolis

About Bangalore with love - a bit of history and geography, some nostalgia, many memories...

The Black and White King

What appalls me is the never ending tributes that one encounters over the Internet for this man. A man who was never comfortable in his own colored skin. A man who was never proud of his race or color. A man who was so ashamed of his African roots that he engineered ‘white children’ with white women so that the Jackson name would be carried on by white progenies from the next generation onwards...more.

Knitting with Ma

This is my mother, who has been knitting for more than 60 years now. She loves it, and not even the heat of summer can keep her from handling the wool. She only had to hear of another great-grandchild on the way, than she arranged for wool to be sent from Delhi by my sister, and she started on a layette . More. . .

First day, third show!

Is "first day, first show" really the very first show (i.e, the morning show) of the day when the movie is first released? Till today, I thought so. I'm sure that this is the popular belief too. Few say it isn't! Accordingly, first day, first show is actually the evening show of the first day! Confused? So was I! ..... More

Tree Policy of MGP

During the recent controversy about cutting trees on Lalit Mahal Road to widen it, allegations were made in the media that NGOs including Mysore Grahakara Parishat were blindly against all development. Claims were also made that MGP opposes tree cutting selectively, that it vehemently opposes tree cutting in some places and turns a blind eye to tree cuttings elsewhere. The current tree policy of MGP presented here clarifies the issue...... More

What we learn with pleasure we never forget.

What we learn with pleasure we never forget.
-Alfred Mercier

Scene 1

Friend 1: The syllabus here is so bad. My daughter is learning nothing in school

Me : Is it? She is in nursery, isn’t she?

Friend 1: Yes, and in India, she would be learning spelling and writing and everything.

Me: But, she is quite young isn’t she? She is not even 4.

Friend 1: All they do is sing and play.. Take them on farm visits – no proper studies! I have brought the syllabus books from India and I teach her in the evenings.

Read more

Sthala Purana : Does anyone care ?

Instead of giving that historical bit of news what do we give to quench the thirst of the inquiring tourist? In the picture the notice board next to famous Nandi sculpture in Chamundi Hills does not give any detail about the monument. . .More. . .

Jewellery? But naturally!

Who would've thought something like carambola would make such exquisite jewellery! It's a fruit for heaven's sake!
But then, this is the work of Nubia Goncalves from Rio de Janeiro. Nubia uses Brazilian natural products, including gemstones and nuts, to craft such beautiful jewellery

Once upon a bird-bath

At one corner of the grassy patch which I euphemistically call a lawn, is a rocky area.....
Some of the rock got exposed ages ago and the elements have carved out a small depression on one. I keep this filled with water and my 'bird-bath' seems to have become popular among the birds. Famous even, I would say, considering the number of migratory birds who stop by every year !

A rain tree of memories

Sometimes we used to climb the tree despite the warning that the branches were not very strong. To my knowledge however, no one has ever fallen off the tree. Anyway, for children scrambling up a low mango tree was definitely better than climbing the rain tree...

A wedding at a tree-loving family

At the wedding of his daughter in Mysore Mr K Pugglendi presented each of his guests with two fruit yielding tree saplings. Volunteers were seen asking the guests to plant them in their backyards. . .More. . .

Dr. Thomas Varghese Kalekattil – a man to ride the river with

One of the problems with old age is the trauma that comes with the passing away of friends. Reminiscences about the person who is no more – the good times together, shared moments of difficulties and happiness – cascade through the mind. These thoughts are mingled with the awareness that one’s time is coming too, may be soon, in any case not too far away...

Greening plan for D Urs Rd.

Considering the intersecting roads, electric poles and a gap of at least 15 feet between adjacent saplings, 240 trees can be planted (both sides included)...To get a sense of his plan,and view the images Ashwin has in mind for Devaraja Urs Road, access Sapgreen. . . .More. . .

Chennapatna Toys

If given proper help and infrastructure they can come out with toy car models and scaled down models of buildings etc . Our officials travel far and wide, make junkets to China, but do not find time to promote safer local toys in International market!. . .More. . .

I find her everywhere

She yearned to meet him again. She knew, there was no hope left whatsoever of inspiring love for her in him. It was made obvious by his silence to her proposal. Her pride was badly bruised by his refusal. She loved him, no doubt, but she never realised that it was her pride which dominated her thoughts about him rather than her love towards him. She had unconsciously decided to seek validation for her existence through his acceptance.

JNNURM: High Cost of non-involvement of Mysoreans

Mysore is one of the lucky cities to be chosen to be included to receive grants under centrally promoted Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission. NURM commenced in 2005 and is expected to be completed in 2012. One of the main goals of NURM is to promote public participation through investment and also in advisory capacity. Unfortunately....... More

The Bridegroom Arrives....

From the temple the bridegroom and the entourage were taken to the wedding pandal in a slow procession with the accompaniment of nadaswaram and gaslights. In the early days it was a procession on foot, with the bridegroom garlanded. But even here changes came over gradually, and the bridegroom was seated in an open coach drawn by slow trotting horses. More.....

The Silk Cotton Tree

There was once a parrot which sat on a tree and watched its blossoms turn into shining green fruits. The parrot waited and waited for them to ripen to take its first bite from the fruits. More....

People Get the Governance They Deserve

What is common between Lalit Mahal Tree Felling protest, JUSCO contract to improve water supply, implementation of JNNURM, rampant violations of building code violations, disappearing footpaths, drowning in garbage, donation menace in educational institutions etc? It is the total indifference of professionals, and the literate class to take their civic responsibilities seriously..... More

Appellate Tribunal Orders Re-hearing of MGP Cases

Since the power demand in Karnataka is growing, more and more power generating stations are being built and the electricity distribution companies are entering into new power purchase agreements (PPAs) with the producers of power. In olden days, there was little regulation of this process and as a result..... More

The New Road Humps Are A Nuisance

Recently there was an item in the newspapers criticizing the new pedestrian crossing-cum-road humps which are being installed all over Mysore. One of the criticisms was that many of these crossings are not at all provided with drainage channels and the channels that are provided are inadequate. It was predicted..... More

MGP clarifies

Mysore Grahakara Prishat had recently issued a press statement in which it urged the Commissioner of MCC to pass orders on a complaint filed by Dr.S.R.Anil Kumar claiming that structures constructed by Sri Ganapathi Sachidananda Ashram on Survey No.106/2 and 106/3, Nanjangud Road in 1992-93 were illegal, and that MCC incorrectly accorded permission for the construction even though the application was not accompanied by the title deed for the land.... More

Photos: Temple scenes

Kerala, their Kerala

Wouldn’t rate this a ‘must-read’ for Malayalees, but I guess few Keralites who happen by a volume at a book store or on your shelf would fail to buy it or borrow. And then this volume mayleave you somewhat unsatified . . .More

Why Twitter ?

When you use it, you 'tweet' like a bird and make a short announcement to the world: examples, "Just found the best Dosa joint in all of East Delhi [ Images ] at..." or "sighted Priyanka Chopra [ Images ] at Bangalore airport" or if you are more serious, "Shashi Tharoor [ Images ] is with Fareed Zakaria [ Images ] on CNN right now.". . .More. . .

Curry bashing: A view from Down Under

I am reproducing below a comment on my post Australia: Curry bashing and ‘convict stains’ received from Mr. A. Antony, an Indian who has been living in Australia for 15 years. My response to what he has written is also given.

Photos: Birds in flight by KO Isaac

Is YouTube scared of China?

China banning Twitter and other social networking sites is not a big surprise, but YouTube putting restrictions on a video about China is definitely so!

Here is the link of the BBC video which I first saw on Churumuri.com. Later, when I went back to churumuri blog, the original video wasn't there. The reason- YouTube had disabled the embedding option "on request"!