Articles by Deepa Mohan

Our national anthem... it's been one hundred years since the Indian National Anthem was written. Here is the translation, in Rabindranath Tagore's own hand:  It is a beautiful anthem, and here are the complete lyrics with a translation.  Here's the Nobel Laureate, reciting it (rather tonelessly, I must add) Here's a version, sung in the "regulation" 52 seconds: Here is yet another version of the song: In spite of the controversy about the song (and its various versions!), it remains our national anthem, and much beloved of the Indian people!

 I was much struck by two scenes today. One was at Lalbagh, where I went to see the Republic Day Flower Show. Lalbagh has been, for quite some time now, a "plastic-free" zone. Alas, the plastic-free remains within inverted commas, as the very stalls and shops put up in Lalbagh, to celebrate flowers and greenery, generate an immense amount of trash, which visitors and stall-holders alike leave strewn on the ground, with no thought of how it is to be managed or removed. The amount of waste and plastic trash that I saw today was staggering.In J P Nagar 3rd Phase, I…

Two small phrases....  Kannadigas, in common with most Indians, do not saying a brusque "No" to one's face. If invited  to a wedding or any other celebration, we do not feel it is polite to openly say no. "I'll see if I can make it" or "I'll try to come" is the most frequent response, and from this, I have, over the years, learnt to understand that the invitee will not be able to make it. The affection and the "wanting" to attend are there, and that is made clear by the statment  of intention, rather than the fact of inability. But…

Is it OK to "decorate" one's car in this fashion?  It's all very well to decorate one's car with the symbols of one's faith: But this seems to leave, quite literally, a very small window of vision for the driver, and almost none at all for the passenger in front.Are such "windshield decorations" legal? More important, are they safe? ⊕

One of the events at Lalbagh that the citizens of Bangalore, always look forward to is the Republic Day Flower Show. The weather is always very pleasant, and the beautiful displays in the Glass House are a great attraction for the visitors to this lung-space of our city.Having seen the displays each year, I thought I will go and see how it's all put together. So, by 630am, I was in Lalbagh with some friends. When I told the guards that I was from Citizen Matters and wanted to cover the preparations, they allowed me into the Glass House. I…

 Here is a report from my friend, Uma K, who was participating in the Bangalore Bird Race, along with other members of her team: At around 11 a.m. on Bird Race Day, Team Rosefinch (Suma Rao, Gayathri Naik, Garima Bhatia, Jainy Maria and I) was birding at Karenahalli kere, one of the lakes off Kanakapura Road, just past Somanahalli. Our attention was focussed on a flock of about 30-35 lesser whistling teals, when we heard a gunshot, and the entire flock took to the air. Right across the lake from us, we could see a lone injured duck flapping desperately in…

Meet Rajeshwari aka Raji, age who has been selling vegetables for 30 years now. She has made a thriving family business out of it. Sometimes, one woman's enterprise brings the entire family to progress and some level of prosperity. pic caption pending pic: Deepa Mohan 43-year-old Raji hails from a village near Thiruvannamalai, Tamil Nadu. She moved to Bangalore at a young age, after her marriage. She and her husband got into the vegetable vending business. They used to push a wheeled cart of vegetables through the streets of the city.Around 1995, a new apartment building, called Casa Ansal, came…

I am circulating Johan Enqvist's clarification on the several errors in the article about his speech in Bangalore. It is a pity that the article was so inaccurate. Dear all,I have just read an article in The Hindu published yesterday, regarding a presentation I did on January 9th of a study I am conducting on Hasiru Usiru and other citizen's groups (the text is included further down).The article is not representing what I said correctly, there are a number of errors that I would like to clarify in this forum since the article concerns Hasiru Usiru. These are among the more…

 Intriguing claims... I got this leaflet with the newspaper a day or two ago (I think the reason why newspapers are delivered late is because the newsagents need time to insert all the various leaflets into each copy!)At the top, it talks about Dr Arun, B D S, who runs a dental clinic, but midway through, he mysteriously turns into Dr Prakash who can carry out "rejuvenation treatment of mind, body and soul through herbal medicine". The clincher, and the point that will drive us immediately to consult this person is, of course, that he was a Film Producer earlier! What…

Some conversation... Quite unusual for me to be off for several days, as I subject myself (and the rest of you!) to the discipline of frequent posts. But it was a full weekend...Saturday morning, to Hessarghatta, getting back only by 3pm and then having visitors...Sunday morning, to Valley School, back at 1pm, and then off to JLR Bannerghatta (where neither mobile phones nor 3G seems to work) to volunteer for a nature trail with 49 students of Vidya Niketan, on an overnight camp. Got back yesterday evening, and was rather tired...and today all the home chores demanded attention, so had to…