First mistake they made was starting late, from the scheduled 10:30, which resulted in a drastic change in the timings for each of the films. And much to the ire of many film-watchers who came in expecting a particular film only to know it was already screened or going to be screened later.

I had to endure the ordeal of sitting for a half an hour illogical and pseudo-intellectual discussion by some film-makers who found the editing of a film fascinating! From the discussion I could figure that the films I missed weren’t extraordinary either.

I think they need to grow out of this notion that films by any woman director/film-maker are good. That was precisely the problem with the first day of this festival. They had variety but of meagre quality.

All said, the films that they have lined up for tomorrow are pretty interesting; having already watched a few of them before. So I would suggest anyone interested, and anyone who has a free-Sunday to come for the screenings tomorrow.

Screening starts at 10 and goes on till 8:30 as per the “can change anytime” timetable.

Schedules’ available here: http://www.eventsbangalore.net/2006/09/15/asian-womens-film-festival/

Anyone with a right mind will agree the ban’s stupid; plainly because of some obvious and mandatory loopholes in the law. (Keeping the issue of pesticides, aside)

I pass by 5 famous schools and 3 colleges everyday. And I did a mini survey of sorts of all the “Soft Drinks” selling shops, within 100 feet of all these educational institutes. To my no-surprise,

not one shopkeeper knew about the so called law that’s been passed. And it’s not just the petty shops. Two supermarket-ish places also didn’t know about it. And continue to sell cola. I chose to do this survey after 2 weeks to give time for probably some awareness about the ban, spreading among shopkeepers. Some were restricted to just visits, to see if they’d stocked any Colas.

And when asked if they will not stock colas once they get an order from the government, some were apprehensive, some said, a definite no, and most wanted compensation. Some were practical enough to say “Yaar amma government rules-anu follow madthare?” Tr: “Who follows rules made by the government, lady”. They were sure enough to carry on selling them, despite the law.

Of course, the sample is terribly small. But just proves that the ban isn’t anyway making a difference.

Interestingly enough, most students that I spoke to at these places are all aware about the ban. And needless to say they find it ridiculous.

Reports say the police personnel, area corporation officials, will ensure the implementation of this law. Question is “how” and “why” would they even do that?

“As per the Government Order, those found selling or even consuming any of the banned soft drinks would be prosecuted.”

Indicative of a lack of proper sentence construction? Or plain idiocy?

They plan to now expand it to the railway stations and bus stands.

Finally,
I’m planning to set up a “Soft drinks” shop 105 feet away from Clarence High School. So I will not deprive souls other than students, too, of colas.

[Areas in which the shops covered in the mini-survey are located: Richards' Town, Fraser Town,Vasanthnagar Millers' Road, Kammanahalli.]

Location: am sure you’d find a way to the SPICE TELECOM office/ Prestige Towers on Infantry road. Now Nisarga is just next to that Prestige Towers building. A small driveway will lead you to the “garden” restaurant.
- Opp. Police Commissioner’s office – if that can help.

You enter the place and see that it’s divided into two sections, for no apparent reason, except one is raised. The raised one has a different feel to it though. And one may be pushed to think it’s the plants on the 20 meter driveway and the creepers under the only roof, no walls restaurant, is the garden.

Ambience: Noisy rather filled with working people during the lunch hour. Yet, the open atmosphere of the indoor garden [didn't understand? Visit the place, you'll know] compensates for the high decibel levels then. Evening is the perfect time to visit, it’s peaceful. Place is quite spacious, atleast the seating arraangement, considering the small area of the place. With the green colour dominating the grills. With an almost open, clean, kitchen.

What’s on the card? : It’s essentially a South Indian Vegetarian Restaurant. So all the normal south Indian fare, viz, Idlis, Dosas, the “baths”, with some surprising North Indian fare added. And the must, Chinese noodles, Manchurian, Fried rice. And some sweets to complete your meals. So nothing special about the menu. Yet, there’re some must tries: The Rava Idli, Gulab Jamun, Gobi Manchurian and the Bonda Soup.

Wallet take: a sumptuous meal with a drink [Coffee, Tea, Badam milk, juice, milkshakes etc] for a minimum of Rs.50.

Service: Depends on when you’ve chosen to eat there. ‘Noons can ensure you a late lunch if it’s NOT the “Thalis” that you’ve ordered, due to the rush.
The waitrons can get slack. Irritated perhaps. Not all that bad, though.

Why the place? If you’re stuck somewhere near Infantry road, or office’s located there, you have a convenient, decent, reasonably priced restaurant to eat food that’s good and stuffing. And a comfortable atmosphere. Except lunch time, you can stay at the place for longer, even after filling the stomach. Ah! Carmelites and Students from other colleges nearby, have a great place that doesn’t drain their wallet, to eat and unwind at. Central location, and relatively unknown with people from other areas, who know no more than Chalukya here.

Watch out for: Unclean chairs, post-lunch especially. With people hogging as much as they can, they tend to spill stuff on the chairs, or the floor, so just watch out for that.
Parking for Two-wheelers is available but cars have to park inside the prestige towers building or find an alternative route. It can get a bit smok-filled, at lunch; especially at the section that faces the driveway, as most office-goers have that quick smoke before they’re back to work. Also, a confused blank stare and a subsequent polite “No, medam” from the waiter when you ask for “Idli Manchurian” that’s not there on the menu.

BJP leader Janardhana Reddy levels corruption against the Chief Minister, Kumaraswamy. The Assembly becomes unruly and is adjourned for two days.

The Congress jumps at the God given opportunity to strike at the CM, with a member of the govt’s coalition partner, BJP, itself going against him. BJP later realises its fault, and is heavily trying to control damage, that’s already done.

50 crores worth bribe charges resulting in pressures aplenty for the resignation of the CM.

CM plans an agitation against Reddy.

Unrest in city, confusion within the government, the Karnataka Government is hanging on the noose.

Kumaraswamy’s defensive and the congress’ determination to make resign are the key factors that’d decide if the present government will last. With just 6 months of his 20 month tenure over, Kumaraswamy has a tough task ahead to sustain it.

Well, as for the BJP, it’s going to work against it. If the CM resigns, it’d mean the congress can gain more momentum and the entire coalition can be brought down, and hence the BJP rule after 20 months will never see light.

Well wasn’t there a tiff between the CM and Reddy before as well?

With a new threat/alert on the city in lieu of the Mumbai Bomb blasts, and the confusion in the government, Bangaloreans can expect neat security and political dramas.

All we can ever do is sit back and watch.

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All those looking for info on the blasts, can visit this group blog, updated constantly by bloggers in mumbai.

And with these misleading “Security Beef-ups” that last for not more than two days, the increasing threat of a terrorist attack on Bangalore seems highly possible.

This luxury vehicle is equipped with the latest comfort and entertaining facilities. The new facilities include spacious, well-ventilated and fully air-conditioned interiors, well-cushioned seats with reclining facility and good leg room, each seat fitted with individual LCD monitors for more entertainment and information, seating capacity of 35 with 32 seats branded as silver class, well cushioned seats with reclaiming mechanism and fitted with a collapsible tray for use as a lunch pad and three seats branded as Gold class with Maharaja seats and with additional leg space at the rear end of the vehicle.

This should probably be an added perk for visitors to the city, travelling on a “decent” budget, and yet want to get the best and most safe possible means of transport to tour Bengaluru.

I just saw a few “Bangalore Sightseeing” buses operating, a few days back. And wasn’t too impressed with the size of the vehicles which was rather small, and accomodating people twice its capacity.

These new buses are sure to draw more people to Government run transport services, rather than rely on auto rickshaws, call taxis and hired vehicles.

Eight hours to tour the city, Rajkumar songs playing in the background, Vidhana soudha, temples of Bangalore, Basavanagudi, and a lot more, at Rs.250/person. What more do you want?

Well Bangaloreans themselves now have an alternate way to spend their weekend, albeit at a nominal [:P] price.

Oh, and online ticketing for the same is going to be made available soon. Shall keep this space updated then.

Now to answer the question of cleanliness, for those Indian phirangs, who insist on “wax coated tables, “cleaned 4 times” dishes, kitchen with multi exhaust systems and in accordance with the international standard of superior hygiene, well darshinis may not be the place for you. The place will resemble any middle class home [minus the grease at times and only at certain places.] and if you still are worried about hygiene, well the government has set some basic rules of hygiene to be maintained, and the darshini people are kind hearted enough to understand and follow them. Well you’re a sticky Bangalorean, or not one at all, if you’re fussy about eating here.

Price, totally reasonable. 10 bucks for a filling meal? 14 bucks for a “smattered with ghee” masala dosai? Though there are places that serve north Indian stuff as well, darshinis are always best at serving authentic udipi fare. Though their sweet/jaggery sambhars and artificially fermented idli mix may get to you at times. Oh and their filter coffees are supposed to be of the best, my coffee drinking friends have sworn that they reach the taste of the kaapi-s made at home, diluted albeit. Well my pick at any darshini would be the varieties of “Dosais’ and “Curd Vadais’. Must try’s.

The crowd at a Darshini ranges from a six-year-old learning to eat by sitting on the table and pricking at idlys to two seventy five year olds discussing politics over coffee and an evening tiffin, to hurrying office-goers and students grabbing a quick meal. The “Parcel” system, which works like a takeaway, comes in handy for many housewives or “emergency” situations at home. You have everything neatly packed into plastic covers [eco friendly people can bring their own dabbas] and given to you.

Where do we find them? Splattered across the city darshinis can usually be found in areas that have a predominant middle class populace, or a crowd that’d appreciate such quick south Indian fare. Some of the my favo darshinis can be the “New Shanthi Sagar” in Fraser Town, MTR, near Lalbagh [Though I have my reservations about it being called a darshini], Dosa Camp on BVK Iyengar Road, and the like.

Good food, humble abodes, bustling atmosphere, conversations aplenty, busy kitchens that churn food from 7 in the morn till 11 at night, constantly, mark a typical darshini’s working style.

Review over, now over to the problems faced. Due to the mushrooming of those American fastfood joints, the elite crowd at darshinis have shifted loyalties, blatantly, to those phirangi things. It’s still few people like me, who visit these places for a wholesome meal. So, that’s made them suffer huge losses, and many darshinis, I would myself frequent, have had to shut shop because of stiff competition from other restaurants, and fast food joints. However, as with any popular culture, the Darshini one too will not die, and surely the true Bangaloren will never forget these, atleast not to a point where we will let them die.

Oh man! One of the best reports I’ve seen.

>

Well, objectively speaking, it paints out the situation, just as a report is suppposed to be. But undertones of criticism of the child-like war that’s on between Radio City [Star group's 6 year-old channel] and Radio Mirchi [The newly launched channel by the Times Group], a mockery or sarcastic piece of sorts, and sarcasm [maybe] are seen too?

Readings of the report indicate there’s some partiality towards the newly launched channel. Or am I reading too much?

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And no one can forget how Kannada activists took out on Mirchi recently, demonstrating outside their office in Indiranagar. Well, they aren’t to be blamed… Neither is the channel.

Now with this war of Language going on, it’s best to sit watch and see if the city scores over the spice.

Dive in..

An interesting idea. But am definitely skeptical about how successful the process of implementing it, will be.

Am not going to brag about how Bangalore is great for being home to one of the the country’s cities that have a Wi-Fi enabled station, until it begins, and functions ‘properly’ at that, with un-interrupted signals, and costs that are reasonable. But it’s quite a move, and a stand-out considering some other projects that have helped make Bangalore a wired city.

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Update: It’s not the first Indian city that is to have a Wi-Fi Enabled station. -> Prabhu tells us.

Other Cities such as Chennai and Madurai had this facility introduced in their railway stations long back.

An error of sorts in the report, must be regretted.
And I apologise for having continued on the report’s thread about Bangalore being the first, originally.

Yet, the fact that these shows, or interactive sessions with the common man, is something that brings that smile to a rather dull life for them. It jolts rationailty, and makes us think that any deed is better than nothing at all.

Whether these celebs are doing it for media mileage, or for personal satisfaction is a different story altogether.

And Sudeep is one person who isn’t really for media coverage i suppose, so that chapter stands closed.

~

Many of the participants had never been to a cinema before, neither could they afford it. “Even people with visual and physical disabilities need entertainment and fun. With these kinds of activities plus moral teaching, we can bring about change in society and integrate them to the mainstream,” said P.K. Paul, Executive Trustee, IDL Foundation.

~

This excerpt from the article sums it all up.

And do I see a trend in Bangalore? Where the Film Fraternity will come forward and provide a small ‘break away from the routine’ to those who need it more than people like us? It’s probably too early to see.

The idea of “special screening/activity/entertainment’ for the “special” isn’t bad afterall, minus, maybe, hidden motives.