First of its kind theme park in the country

Aknisree Karthik

Bangalore: As the Bangalore Water Supply and Sewarage Board (BWSSB) has made it mandatory for all the existing buildings with an area of 40x60 along with a dimension of 2400 sq km to compulsorily implement the Rain Water Harvesting (RWH) within December 31, 2011, the people are left confused with what type of rain water harvesting to set up at their homes which suits best.

Don’t be confused. You have an answer and solution for all your queries at Sir M Visvweswaraya Rain Water Harvesting Theme Park here in the heart of the city at 40^th cross, 5^th block, Jayanagar. The theme is said to be first of its kind in the country which is built at a whooping cost of 3.5 crore.

All models of RWH are on display and there will be BWSSB junior engineers who will explain each model to you in a simpler way. The visitors will be showed a small documentary about the water essentials, uses of RWH, how do the people go ahead with installations and other things stretching up to half an hour creating awareness about saving water with heart touching audio visuals.

Once you are done with that, the junior engineers will be taking you around the theme park where 28 models of RWH are set up. The engineers will be explaining you the mechanisms by giving you a free book on RWH along with a leaflet and will be giving the approximate cost of each model and the technical details. One can select among those which he feels as it suits his home or apartment the best.

The theme park which was opened for the public on April 16, will be working from Monday to Saturday between 10 am- 5 pm. Entry is free for all only the schools must take prior appointments just to avoid overcrowding. Every visitor will be given a free book –Amruthavarshini, a guide of RWH written by A R SHivakumar, principal investigator at the Karnataka State Council for Science and Technology. 

The BWSSB has already invited all schools to bring their children to the theme park to derive the practical experiences regarding RWH. Already the BWSSB officials has got the list of schools from their officials who take the reading and has divided the schools according to their respective constituency and has already written letters inviting about 63 schools under Jayanagar constituency. All the schools need to do is to select the standards of children, take a prior appointment at the theme park by telling them the number of students whom they are about to take to the park and fix a schedule. The junior engineers will divide the number of students and take them in batches around the theme park.

 “The impact of this theme park is huge among the children especially the high school ones. Even many NGOs have visited the site. Some set of foreigners too had come here and opined that they had not seen such theme parks run by a water body like BWSSB in their countries. Once we play the video, the people get a general idea and as we take them along the park explaining the various models they get a clear picture and importance about the whole concept” said Rekha, junior engineer who took us through the theme park explaining things.

We were able to see the students keenly observing the audio-visual media at the mini theatre and cleared all their doubts by asking for clarification from the engineers.

What more the theme park is enough spacious and will surely relieve you from some routine stress. All the installation works are running at a rapid pace to set up the water themes which will be eye catchy.

The theme park has an open auditorium too where street plays, dramas and other useful activities can be done.

Also the theme park provides technical assistance on every Fridays between 11 am to 1 pm where experts will be attending to your queries and will be giving you possible solutions with their immense knowledge. IT giant like Wipro, Commando Hospital, apartment owners, NGOs, engineers and other builders have already taken the expert opinion.

Do you wish to increase your water table? Do you wish to rejuvenate the ground water levels? Do you wish to give life to your dead bore wells?, Then you can attend the Friday workshop and derive the maximum benefits out of it.

What after getting the expert opinion and how to go ahead with the RWH installations?

Simple. Just login to the BWSSB website. You will get the numbers of the plumbers in your area who are exclusively trained by the BWSSB to set up the RWH. Call them, fix an appointment and you are done.

Also people can contact the help desk at 080-26653666 to get their queries answered.

“Parents and teachers please watch out”

Aknisree Karthik

Bangalore: Children are those who are very busy and are constantly trying out different all types of indoor and outdoor games to keep them entertained. We checked out as which type of game the children of today’s generation like the most. It’s the cyber where the children hit at to play both online and offline games.

The shocking thing is that most of the games played by the children below teenage have only the destructive factor. The much more shocking thing is that these games are comprised of obscene scenes and other things which are not needed for the children at this age.

Such games have taken a toll in the molding of the attitude in among them. “I like to play a particular game because if I win in that game I will be kissed by a girl. Also if I get bored, I can press a button where a girl will come and sit next to me in my bike” said Suresh, a student of St Joseph’s Primary School.

The student further added that most of his batch mates play the same game for hours together. There are games which have no end; the game will never end at all. “I feel excited when I see my name in the top scorer list for the whole Bangalore city. I spent days together to achieve that by sacrificing my sleep and food” said a busy teenage boy who answered us while he was playing at a cyber café at Chamrajpet.

The games of today’s generation had no end. We even found students who said that they were playing the same game years together. “They play for at least 3-4 hours a day. There are games where one can play the same game along with his friends with different computers. Today’s games are filled with guns, blood, flesh and all anti-social things which has a great influence in molding the character of the children. They go out and implement the things which they saw in the games. They ride their cycles and bikes very rashly. Also they experiment the different stunts also” said a cyber café owner who didn’t wish to disclose is name.

“They don’t take any precautionary measure like wearing any spectacle to avoid the rays and glares emitted from the systems. They even do not care about their fingers which they use to play the games for hours” added the café owner.

The physical education is given least importance due to all above factors. They fail to concentrate in their academics too and the most discussed thing among the peer group in the class room is about that day’s top scorer among them. The top scorer is seen with respect and this in turn kindles the others to play the game whole night by skipping their daily school assignments sitting in front of computers for hours to break the record of their friends. The children even have to do lot of circus in arranging money to pay the fees at the cyber cafes as their pocket money will not enough to bare the game played by them for hours together.

 “In 2004, a survey was conducted for the top ten violent channels. Among the top ten three channels were exclusive children ones. If just TV channels have this much impact, we can just imagine about the impact of the games. The parents need to surely monitor their children. A child comes home after his school by 4 pm and sits in front of TV or computer till 8 pm. This time must be filled or replaced with some interesting things or games like puzzles etc which will occupy them and which will be useful also. These games are just like drug and alcohol addiction which needs to be removed with the help of parents and teachers by conducting regular discussions with psychologists” said Dr Akila Sadasivan, a child Neuro Expert.

We requests the parents and the faculty fraternity to create some awareness among the school children about the ill effects of violent games which over shadows their other potential hidden talents by organising regular discussions.

Bike lovers cheer up…. You reached your destiny….

Aknisree Karthik

Bangalore: All eyes on the stone building at No.15 Wheeler Road, Frazer Town. It is here a first of its kind museum for the ‘vintage bikes’ is opened under the banner Legends Motor Cycling Café and Museum.

A pony tailed hardcore bike lover S K Prabhu emerged from the museum and welcomed us. Prabhu who has traversed all the over the country with his bikes spoke to us as the last minute preparations like fixing a glass pane, arranging the furniture was going on at the museum.

“I always have a feeling that I was born to ride bikes. I always had passion for bikes. It was there in me right from my childhood. I had been to many countries across the globe and found that India was the place which did not have a museum for vintage bikes” said S K Prabhu in an exclusive chat.

Prabhu has about 25 rare vintage bikes. What is surprising is that most of the bikes are in their original colour. Hold on your breath, what is more surprising is that most of the bikes are in running condition.

“I have travelled the whole country with my bikes. I always have the habit of getting something memorable from places wherever in travel. I started collecting bikes as my passion kindled it and lined on by one at my home. Then I was struck with an idea to open a café along with a museum” added Prabhu.

The visitors can have a wide range of things offered here at my café mostly in the British style. As they sip their coffee they can have a look at the book collections and magazines which I will be placing here in one of the corners.

The vistors can have a look at the 1924 BSA 250cc, 1928 BSA 500cc, 1960 Innocenti, 1960 Fantabulous Scooter 125 cc, 1960 Florettee 60cc, Java Colt Racer, 1962 Czeta and Military bikes like 1942 BSA 500 cc, 1942 Norton 500cc, 1942 Matchless 350cc etc. Prabhu even said that he has plans to flood the museum with much more bikes in the future.

One will surely remember his childhood days once he steps in to the café at the ground floor and move on to the museum at the second floor by opening the doors of the museum which is fixed with a bike handle. What more? The café is too filled with all antique collections right from the fans with wooden blades to the wall clock, and even the toasting machine and refrigerator are antique ones.

Prabhu showed us the LP player and said that he will be playing jazz music for his visitors. The museum too has a huge collection of ash trays which was picked by Prabhu while his journey to various countries. The wall of the museum is filled with charcoal paint pictures. You can even see the oil tins which were used in olden days.

“Even I have plans of serving wine on the museum where all bike lovers can sit and have a chat sharing their experiences. There is no such bike clubs exclusively for the bike lovers in the city. The café will be open from 6 am to 11.30 pm serving scrambelled eggs, cheese omblet, Danish Open, Mutton Biriyani, Chicken Biriyani, Prawn Biriyani, Seer Fish, cakes, and ice creams” said Prabhu.

It’s all about Kannada….

Aknisree Karthik

Bangalore: When most of the software engineers elope to foreign countries forgetting their motherland just to multiply the money they earn, here is Lakshmikanth V who has taken a U turn by setting an example to all those who fail to contribute to their country and its language.

Are you a hardcore Kannadigas who has been searching for the right place where you can find all Kannada books, movies and CDs.  Here is ‘Total Kannada.com’ an answer to all your search related to Kannada.

Must be wondering how it started so here is the answer for you ?

Lakshmikanth V who happens to be a software engineer quit his well-paid job in the United States and came all the way back to ‘Namma  Bengaluru’ to contribute something  worthy for the is language he loved right from his childhood. Lakshmikanth, the founder of Total Kannada.com spoke to and said “I always had passion for the language but I could not do anything about it.  I could not see Kannada books being shelved under the regional category in leading book stores in the city which was very disappointing, there I decided to open an exclusive showroom for all the Kannada buffs”.

Total Kannada.com is sure to greet all its customers with a new pinch of experience which they would not have experienced anywhere else in the city.  The owner claims that he has a collection of 9000 books, 2500 movies, 500 audio CDs, CD roms, greetings, T shirts and wrist watches etc.

“Till now about 3000 movies are released in Kannada of which I have 2500 collections with me.  When I was in my pre university, I had written letters to the theater owners requesting them to run Kannada movies but I could not do anything more than writing letters. I had written articles to some of the leading Kannada papers too.  Even today, I am striving hard to get the copy rights of many Kannada movies to convert it into DVDs but I am not getting the proper response. When I was working in the US, I used to visit all the book show rooms over there and ended up seeing all other books on Indian languages but could not find any on my mother tongue, so I started a website –Total Kannada.com in 2001.

I posted articles on Kannada. I gradually started to import Kannada books to US and started to sell it.  As the days passed my collection of books rose and I had no place to store it then something stuck me and I thought that why should not I go back to my country and start my own book store exclusively for Kannada.  So here I am now” smiled Lakshmikanth V.

The T shirts which are sold here contains kannada quotes printed on it like “Mande Bisi”,  “Wonder Gunnu”, “Ella Okay Ellenedrelli Kasa Bisadodhu Yaake” and some other humourours and interesting civic sense quotes.

There is a piece of good news for the students because they can learn all their poems line by line with meanings and themes conveyed on the same of  through audio CDs and those who missed out their favorite teleserials can get in DVDs.

Ravikanth has plans of converting great novels into audio where one can listen to the audio and understand the story. He has plans to convert Masti Venkatesh Iyengar’s-Sanna Kathegalu, stories of Ganesh Ayya and Beechy etc.

What more could you expect?  Lakshmikanth his team has ensured that his books are available in mobile vans which will be going all around the city catering to the needs of Kannada buffs who have spread all over the city.  You can also place your orders online by logging into Total Kannada.com and the things what you have ordered will reach you crossing all the geographical boundaries by post or courier without any delay.

It is service and satisfaction which matters, not the money

Aknisree Karthik

Bangalore: Was it your dream or sole interest to serve the society and you couldn’t find any right platform serve the society? Here’s is one. You can become a traffic warden, and serve the society by controlling the traffic by wearing a uniform and it’s so simple.

“Behind every successful man there is a woman” goes a saying. Behind the smooth functioning of Bangalore City Traffic Police, there are the Traffic Wardens, whose services have remained unacknowledged.

What is this Bangalore City Traffic Warden Organisation? What do they do?

BCTWO is a volunteer organization with a motto of road safety. It was set up in1985 on a notification by the Government of Karnataka with the following motives.

-To make the road users aware of their responsibilities in respect of road rules

-To conduct road safety and traffic education campaigns in collaboration with traffic police for the benefit of motorists, pedestrians and school children

-To assist the traffic police in directing and regulating the vehicular and pedestrian traffic, whenever requested upon to do so

-To collect or formulate suggestions for improvement of traffic and forward the same to the higher authorities

 The Bangalore City Police Traffic Warden Organisation has been assisting the City Traffic Police effectively in all its activities right from its inception.

Under whose control are these BCTWO? How many members are there now?

The Commissioner of Police is the chief patron of the BCTWO. There are about 200-250 active people in the present scenario of which 10-15 are women, who are basically doctors, engineers, advocates, teachers, bank employees, business people, industrialists, IT & BT professionals. They have voluntarily joined this organisation with a sole interest to serve the organization and the public.

How they work? How many hours they work?

They compulsorily work for four hours per week. The traffic wardens perform duties in their area twice in a week and few of them throughout the week and assist the traffic police. They also take part during special duties like cricket match, air show, religious functions etc., and work day and night with traffic police. Their role is eminent during traffic chaos caused due to accidents.

Once you join you can select the traffic junction which is near to you, either near your office or home.

Our sources said that the recruitment is going to be held by the end of this year.  All you need to do is apply with all necessary documents. The minimum qualification which was a degree earlier has now been reduced now. Those who have passed PUC or equivalent exams can apply for this. One must be between 20-55 years of age and mainly should not have any criminal background and should not be convicted by the court of law. You must know one local language along with Hindi and English. Once you clear the interview, you will be trained accordingly at the Traffic Training Institute at M G Road for one and half days.

You will not be given any salary. But you can boast that at the end of the day that you have served the society. It is considered to be an honorary work. The respect you derive here is what it matters. You will be given a uniform and a badge.

Also other than controlling traffic, these traffic wardens educate the school children. They are doing education programs from past many years under the banner, “Catch Them Young”.

They visit schools across the Bangalore city. The schools will be divided into zones and a nodal officer will be appointed for it. A team of 2-3 traffic wardens will be visiting the schools in their zone. A one hour educative program will be held along with the distribution of free books which create awareness about traffic rules and regulations.

Traffic wardens will be conducting interactive sessions with the school children. They have also designed an audio-visual presentation for the school children depending upon their ages.

What more? The wardens in association with the Traffic Police will be educating the school children at ‘Traffic Park’ with all the practical set up. The children will have the practical experiences here. They will be educated in how to cross roads, lane discipline, how to get down from a bus, when and where to stop in traffic signals, cycling etc.

“This year we are expecting to teach about one lakh school children. They in turn will be educating and creating awareness about the things they learn here to their parents, friends, brothers and sisters. It is at this age the children will be tender and we can implement the rules at its best among them” said Prof Dr K Mohanan Nambiar, Chief Traffic Warden.

All about Bangalore ‘Karaga’

Aknisree Karthik

Bangalore: Caste- No bar, religion- No bar, language- No bar. This is how one of the oldest traditional festivals of Bangalore, ‘Karaga’ is celebrated. All eyes on Sri Dharmaraya Swamy Temple. It is this temple in S P Road, where the Karaga festival is celebrated from centuries together. This year the Karaga will be held on midnight of April 18. It is a well-known tradition of Tigala community in southern parts of the state.

How it all started?

We have all read in our epics like Mahabhartha and Ramayana that in order to relieve the people from the clutches of the evils, god used to take one or the other avatar. Likewise, Draupadi, wife of Pandavas took the avatar of Adishakthi and formed a team of soldiers called Veerakumaras and demolished the demon Asura.

Veerakumaras insisted Draupadi to stay back. But she managed to convince the Veerakumaras and said that she will come back every year during the first full moon day of the first month of the Hindu calendar. This group of Veerakumaras is believed to be the present Tigalas. Later year by year Karaga became a sense of celebration of India’s rich culture and tradition.

What does Karaga stand for?

‘Ka’ means without touching by hand. ‘Ra’ means carrying it on the head. ‘Ga’ means coming around carrying it.

What is in the Karaga? Who will carry it? How they decide that?

The Karaga is made of flowers in the shape of a pyramid. In the top of the pyramid, Vishnu resides followed by Brahma in the bottom. In the middle part, ‘Mathrugana’ and ‘Rudra’ (Shiva) this will be balanced on the head of the carrier who will be selected by the senior heads of the Tigala community. The physical and mental strength of will be given prominence during the selection. This year the Karaga will be carried by C M Lokesh. The people see the Karaga carrier, who will be dressed as female as Draupadi. The Karaga goes around the city covering all temples. One special thing is that the Karaga will also visit Tawakkal masjid at Cottonpet. The Karaga will even visit all the houses of all Veerakumaras, who believe that Adishakthi Draupadi has come to their homes truly in the guise of Karaga carrier.

How the Karaga festival commence?

It commences with a yellow colour flag-hoist inside the temple court yard, termed as ‘Dwajarohana’. This year the flag was hoisted on April 10. After the flag hoist, the Karaga along with the Veerakumars, ‘gante’, ‘kalasha’, ‘vadya’, ‘trishoola’, ‘panchavarna dwaja’-symbol of Pandavas will go around eight direction for eight days and the Karaga carrier will take bath each day in one water body in one direction. The Karaga is believed to have powers which will completely eliminate the evil forces in the route by which it goes.

Also the history says that the one who sees the Karaga will be blessed and relieved of the sins following him from past seven generations.

“People will pour in lakhs together on the day of Karaga. It is celebrated as a ‘Nada Habba’. There is an increase in population of people other than Hindu. This year we have made special arrangements. We have put up about 200 flex banners for enough publicity. This is celebrated as a grand festival. People get dressed in a new dress and participate in the celebration. All religions and castes come together. For example, the Balijigas look after the chariot pulling, the Kumbaras look after the ‘anna chatra’ and the Jains distribute prasada and water” said K Lakshmana, dharmadarshi, Sri Dharmaraya Swamy Temple.

What women cannot do?

They have changed the history in politics. They have revolted up the norms by which they were bound all these years says Aknisree Karthik

Bangalore: How many of you know about ‘Yakshagana’- one of the most popular folk dramas of Karnataka which was performed by the men only during the 11^th century. I guess most of you know about it. But how many of you know that even women can perform Yakshagana? Not many.

The traditional folk dance which was once dominated by the men lot has shifted its equilibrium and has reached the women. Yakshagana is a unique and rare blend of powerful music and vigorous dance, marked by vivacious foot work. Choreographic group movements coupled with colourful costumes and elaborate makeup creates an ethereal world on stage. Stylized extempore dialogues with folk and literary charm bring out the subtle nuances of the local language-Kannada.

Karnataka Mahila Yakshagana has taken the lead and has been conducting Yakshagana for females of all age groups from past 12 years.

“Initially women were not allowed to perform Yakshagana. We started about 12-15 years ago. Even when I was interested to learn this art there were no academies or institutions where women can learn Yakshagana. So we came up with this initiative of setting up an institute where women of all age groups can learn and perform Yakshagana” said Gauri K, secretary, Karnataka Mahila Yakshagana.

Gauri and her troupe are involved in the growth and development of Yakshagana. They have been staging performances in various parts of the state. A lot of women empowerment is happening.

“We always had that fear that whether we will be received well or not in our early days. We were discouraged too. Yakshagana was performed in a very orthodox way throughout the night by men in those days. We just thought why we women cannot enter this and make a mark. There are housewives, working women, college and school going girls, who are staging Yakshagana” added Gauri.

Here is Pavithra who is doing her 2^nd PUC in Mount Carmel College. When other girls of her age are attached toward the western culture, this girl has set an example by sticking to the traditional Indian culture. While her other members are hitting at the pop, jazz and salsa dances she has expertise the art of Yakshagana.

She drew all her inspirations from her mother V Latha who is an employee at Reserve Bank of India. “I am practicing Yakshagana for more than 12 years. I drew my inspirations when I was doing my schooling. My daughter used to accompany me whenever I go to perform or practice this traditional art and she gradually involved herself in Yaksahgana without hampering her curriculum” said Latha.

When we asked about the future of Yakshagana with Latha who always manages to find some time for Yakshagana in spite of her busy schedule she said “Time has changed now, people look out in curiosity for us when they hear that women perform Yakshagana. It is sure to go places and if this art is introduced as curriculum in some universities it will be good”.

Even Sanjana and Sharavani too had the same story to say. They said “It is a good experience. We have dared to be different. We love doing it. There are some misconceptions. Many fear to take up this as they feel that the costumes are heavy enough to carry on. But it is not the case and we totally deny that”.

The themes of Yakshagana are largely based on Hindu epics like 'Ramayana, Mahabharata and tales from the Puranas. The makeup of Yakshagana artists are rich and differ with the character. They are closely related to the ornamentation found in the scriptures.

 It is the era of women. They are no longer looked like a commodity. There are no less than any men. Now you need to tell me what women cannot do.