Life-en-treats

CARNATIC STATES (Right & facing page) The IFAASD festival has emerged as one of the biggest Carnatic events outside India Indians at home may take their culture for granted, but among those in the US, there’s a pervading cultural hunger. The week long festival at the Indian Fine Arts Academy of San Diego is just one of the many ways to satiate that hunger As India gets a tad more Westernised every day, curious stuff is happening in the US. Among the NRIs, Carnatic music is gaining popularity and flourishing. In the US city I moved to a few months ago, about 750 people pay 200-odd dollars for a year-long engagement with Carnatic music through the Indian Fine Arts Academy of San Diego (IFAASD). Numerous concerts are arranged through the IFAASD every year, and a majority are Carnatic music concerts. The week-long festival this year had so many more Carnatic treats that I felt I was given a crash course, and could suddenly i...

Energy Future   (   Technology  |  Magazines   )   Published On: 2013-01-01 India, Jan. 1 -- The "Supergrid" or the "mega-grid" are the new buzzwords on the future energy horizon. Sushumna Kannan reports on the European Supergrid and how it is all set to change the manner in which the world fathoms energy. A "Supergrid" is a wide area transmission network that allows the trade of energy across great distances, usually countries endowed with different natural resources. A supergrid may also be referred to as a "mega grid".... Link: http://htsyndication.com/htsportal/article?arid=%22909522%22&pub=%22Energy+Future%22   

About the artist:  (Text by  Sushumna Kannan ) Rathnakara Gudikar  has been sculpting bhuta murtis since age ten and is joined by his sons today. “Gudikar” in Kannada refers to “s/he who makes gudi or temple”. “ Ella daiva ne ” or “It is all divine” says  Gudikar , when he refers to the bhutas in relation to the more well known gods of Puranic Hindu culture. Bhutas in Dakshina Kannada are not seen as “devils”; they are worshipped as forms of helpful energies. In their temples, called daiyyada mane, they stand next to each other in rows and each has a specific location so that they have to be placed exactly in the same position after a refreshing coat of paint, when they are re-consecrated. Failure to do so will incur their wrath. Often, two different animal murtis that represent opposing or different principles are placed together. One dominates the other in terms of size and strength but the other is always present, like the small ram paired with the larger tiger. ...

Thermal and a quarter is a name to be reckoned with Bengaluru's rock scene for nearly two decades. Their new space for rock schooling, jam sessions and recording studio is a culmination of this long journey. By Sushumna Kannan 12 Mar 2012, Citizen Matters TAAQADEMY in Koramangala is the result of the band, Thermal and A Quarter's 16 year old tryst with music. This 3-month-old academy teaches music-making and song-writing as well as playing instruments and is also conceived as a space for musicians and bands to practice or hang out: ‘Make Space for Music' is TAAQADEMY's sweet demand of us. The story behind this academy started four years ago, on Queen's Road. It is intricately linked to the journey its members themselves made since starting as a band in Christ College in 1996. 23 thousand people ‘like' it on Facebook alone; the music has been played to audiences of over 50 thousand. TAAQ is known for its unique collaborations with musicians pursuing different for...

Kasaravalli on cities, and cities in his films.  My films have always had a political-social message. In 'Mane' I recorded the experiences and perceptions of those with an agrarian background who come to inhabit a city. By Sushumna Kannan 01 Feb 2012,  Citizen Matters Filmmaker Girish Kasaravalli has won hearts and stimulated minds for a few decades now.  Ghatashraadhha  to  Gulabi Talkies , his films have won him great accolades. He offers interpretations of the stories he chooses, something not usually done by directors.  Citizen Matters  caught up with this resident of BTM Layout for an interview. I see a shift in your film-making. Recent films, especially those after Gulabi Talkies  seem to be explicitly ideological in nature. They ‘tell’ more than ‘show’, I think. What do you mean when you say ‘ideological’? My films have always had a political-social message, if you like. It has been there from the very beginning. My early films ...

Citizens engage in a dialogue over issues confronting society and discover new avenues of understanding and bonding. By Sushumna Kannan 12 Mar 2009, Citizen Matters Meta-Culture, a Bangalore-based Relationship and Conflict Management consulting company, organised an event called  Bengaluru Speaks  on 21st February 2009 at the Ashirvad Community Centre on St. Mark’s Road. Bengaluru Speaks , a community conversation series is one of Meta-Culture’s community-focused initiatives, and had for its eighth theme: “Competing Cultures: Morals, Malls and Marriages”. The stated goal of the programme was to engage the people of Bengaluru in constructive conversation about critical issues so as to strengthen relationships across the city and create a more secure, cohesive and viable community. The event was organised to facilitate dialogue ‘in times of a rapid change, socially and culturally,’ said Gayatri of Meta-Culture, as she introduced the theme and event. “What do you think of when yo...

Prof S N Balagangadhara's book 'Smriti, Vismriti: Bhaarateeya Samskruti' looks at the trends in social sciences within India and elsewhere. The Kannada translation of the book was recently released.  By Sushumna Kannan  06 Sep 2010,  Citizen Matters  On Sunday August 29th , the Kannada translation of Prof. S N Balagangadhara's book, " The Heathen in his Blindness"...Asia, West and the Dynamic of Religion  (1994) was released at the Kannada Sahitya Parishat in Chamarajpet. The book titled 'Smriti, Vismriti: Bhaarateeya Samskruti', translated by scholar-historian Dr Rajaram Hegde, was released by writer-journalist Ravi Belegere.  Published by Akshara Prakashana, the book is priced at Rs 415. An introduction to the book was presented by Prof. Sivarama Krishnan, retired Sociology Professor, Bangalore University. Centre for the Study of Local Cultures (CSLC), Kuvempu University organised the event with support from Nagasri Book House, Jayanagar. The author,...

Both literature buffs and those curious about it had a great weekend with the city’s first big literary event. They are hoping it makes a come back.  Sushumna Kannan ,  20 Feb 2012  Citizen Matters Lekhana, a literary weekend organised by Sangam House, Desha Kala, Reading Hour, National Gallery of Modern Art and TOTO funds for the arts came to an end on Sunday, 12 February. The event included panel discussions, readings and performances. The uniqueness of the event lay in the fact that it was not only about Indian writing in English but brought together creative writers from regional languages as well-they were read directly and were translated in English as well. On day one, 10 February, the panel on ‘City in Literature' saw some free-spirited and open discussions amongst five eminent writers, Anjum Hassan, M K Raghavendra, Zac O'Yeah, K R Usha and Saniya. They each asked why the city is becomes important to writers and whether it necessarily needs capturing with writers...

One of Balagangadhara's most important works, “The Heathen in his Blindness…”, has been translated into Kannada  Smriti-Vismriti: Bharateeya Samskruti Translated by Dr. Rajaram Hegde Akshara Prakashana, Rs. 415. Balagangadhara's “The Heathen in his Blindness…Asia, West and the Dynamic of Religion” …has indeed prompted an intellectual revolution of sorts and those who have engaged with the questions he raises in the book cannot escape engaging with the answers he provides as well. To put it strongly — any scholar in the field of cultural studies and its related disciplines, will have to respond to his work. The answers in “The Heathen…” are methodically derived and lucidly explained. The book shows how, “in the name of science and ethnology, biblical themes become our regular stock-in-trade…” (226-7). It traces the history of the two encounters of European culture with other cultures and empirically shows that the existence of religion was assumed both these times. It argues tha...