Articles by Deepa Mohan

Prem Sagar, a friend of mine,recently registered his photography equipment rental company with the MCA. It appears that MCA is leaking the addresses of such parties, because the postman called with a parcel, saying that Rs. 2,300 had to be paid. Prem immediately thought that it must be some legal documents that had been despatched, but luckily, he called up his advisor and checked. He found that there were no documents due. Many people are now reporting that this alleged firm, "Legal Book Supplies", is sending unsolicited books to such recently registered company addresses.  A site that lists complaints against "Legal Book…

It's interesting to observe... Our pavements and footpaths are full of people who are trying to eke a living in a city that they have moved into. Amongst these are the immigrants from Rajasthan, who make these ceramic artefacts:Several of these patterns seem to be the most popular, including square containers for Tulsi plants, vases, and Shirdi Sai Baba statuettes. They certainly add colour to our footpaths, even as they block them for pedestrians! ⊕

A fully-sponsored course: Christ University, aleading college in Bangalore, is launching a fully sponsored 3 Year B.Com program for persons with disabilities. The program will be supported by a leading financial institution, which will also provide the internship and mentorship throughout the program in partnership with NGOs,Enable India & APD.Eligibility Criteria: •Educational qualification: Persons with disabilities who are pursuing PUC/XII in the stream of Commerce and Accountancy•Percentage in SSLC/ X examination: 60% and above•Total Family income: Maximum of Rs. 3.6 lakhs per annum (Rs. 30,000 per month)The candidates who meet the basic criteria will undergo the next level of selection process,…

  Here's what I just wrote to the egroup (bngbirds) of the Bird Watchers' Field Club of Bangalore just now:  Hi everyone,I'll be writing about the very enjoyable 2nd Sunday birding outing, especially with the children and teachers of Sri Vani School of Magadi Road....but before that, I have to tell you about events that unfolded just after we dispersed.When going back, I realized that the "birding bag" I carry (binocs, bird book, water bottle, camera, sketch pad) had been mislaid, and we narrowed it down to the area where we had seen the Spotted Owlet (near the Bamboo thicket). When we…

 Some innovation.... "Jugaad" means, "innovation", often thinking out-of-the-box. A mode of public transportation, with the engine of a tractor, has already taken on this name in several states of India. On Sunday, as we were heading out for our nature trail on Bannerghatta Road, I spotted this tricycle-cart that had been fitted with a two-wheeler engine, and was puttering along happily! I don't think this gives very environment-friendly emissions, however creative and innovative it is!What a pity that pedal-power is seen by the working people as something too difficult to sustain. I was actually thinking of an initiative to re-introduce cycle-rickshaws....  ⊕

 An unusual play: "The Water Station" is a theatre production co-produced by The Japan Foundation, a Japanese government cultural agency, and Theatre Roots & Wings, Kerala. It is written by an award-winning Japanese playwright Shogo Ohta, and directed by Sankar Venkateswaran, with an all-India castselected by auditions across the country.The play will be premiered in Ranga Shankara, Bangalore on 29 & 30 November 2011, and is set to tour several cities in India and Southeast Asian countries including Colombo and Jaffna, Sri anka in 2012.Synopsis of the Play"The Water Station" is a two-hour, wordless performance. Walking through a barren andscape, eighteen…

Very urgent, just 20 hours to go.... Amit Gupta, an Indian entrepreneur in Newyork, a friend and a kind soul needs a bone marrow match for a Peripheral Blood Stem cells donation and you can help.If you live in Bangalore India, chances are you can help not only Amit, but the many, many other people around the world. South Asians have a dramatically lower chance of finding a match in the worldwide bone marrow registries than other populations. While this is a big and often tragic problem, it's one that can be fixed!So what can you do? Get to the nearest…

 A memorable meeting... On the 6th of November,2011, I was privileged to be at a gathering of some of eminent birdwatchers of Bangalore. The gracious host was none other than the doyen of birdwatching in Bangalore, Zafar Futehally who has been instrumental in popularizing birding as a hobby in our city; ironically, the hobbby seems to be catching on in ever-increasing numbers as the number of species of birds in the City's shrinking parks and vanishing lakes are steadily decreasing.Here's Zafar Sahib, whose long years of service to ornithology cannot be understated: Several other eminent ornithologists and scientists, all of whom share…

 A very nice walk.... I've been interested in, and involved with, Magic Puddles a daycare and children's activity centre, for a while now, since I did a project with the children about trees. And having done the Puttenahalli Lake Walk a little while ago, I wanted to take the children there, too; so this morning, Viji and I rounded up some children and off we went!We started at the Brigade Millenium arch entrance:And as we went, I pointed out various interesting things to them. Here they are, keenly observing a grasshopper! The children were full of curiosity...their sentences always seem to…

 When I heard about an audition for actors in the field of corporate training, I was intrigued, and decided to try my luck and see if I would be chosen for the audition, even though I lacked the theatre experience that was asked for in the email sent by Steps Drama Learning Development.I quickly got a response from Mohan Mudgalkar, the Senior Associate of Steps in India, asking me to choose whether I wanted the morning or the afternoon stint, on the 8th of October, 2011. I chose the afternoon, and went there to find several others also arriving. Charumathi…