Identifying Traditional and Responsible ways of Celebrating Ganesh Chaturthi

A One Day Workshop for Children (Ages 9-15)

Ganesh Chaturthi is the birthday of Lord Ganesha, the elephant-headed Hindu God. As we all know, He is a very popular god in India and has become a popular symbol around the world too. Ganesha in different art forms has broken many boundaries of caste, race, religion, and nation and has found a space in many living rooms around the world. He is a favorite among the children too. The story of his birth and the variety of delicacies made on this day are enjoyable for children. Over the last few decades, there has been a considerable shift in our societies across the country from celebrating the festival in a traditional way to a more ostentatious occasion, with little regard to the socio-economic, cultural and environmental impacts.

The workshop is aimed at helping children identify the traditional and historical significance, ways in which it was celebrated in the past, the importance of the traditional foods made on this day and ways in which the festival can be celebrated without causing harm to the environment around us.

The workshop will take children through interesting stories, videos, making clay idols, learning to make traditional decorations such as rangoli, stringing of flowers etc, learning to make traditional foods, learning through some games and more importantly learning to take responsibility towards mother earth in celebrations.

Workshop Date: Sunday, 5th September, 2010

Time: 9.30 am to 4.30 pm

Registration Fee: Rs. 200/-

Venue: ESG Office

Contact Details:

Environment Support Group, 1572, 100 feet Outer Ring Road, Banashankari 2nd Stage, Bangalore-70

Telephone: 91-80-26713559/60/61

Email: bhargavi@esgindia.org /sruthi@esgindia.org

Website: www.esgindia.org

he Malnad Mela is back in Bangalore for the third year running!

Come and join us in this celebration of produce and local art from the Western Ghats. Explore the importance of seed biodiversity and supporting conservation oriented livelihoods that seek to preserve and enhance age-old practices. Take home traditional seed varieties and enjoy fresh vegetables from your very own home garden.

Date: February 27-28, 2010 (Saturday & Sunday)
Time: 10 am to 6 pm
Venue: 4, Ashley Road, Off Brunton Rd (behind Hotel Ajantha on M.G. Rd),
Bangalore: 560025

Some of the produce and products from the forest home gardens this year include

* indigenous seeds
* wild forest foods
* traditional snacks and preserves
* spices
* honey
* dairy and poultry products
* kokam butter balm
* mud paintings
* vegetable hair dyes
* hand-sewn patchwork pieces
* yoga mats
* soap-nut scrub
* natural incense
* areca leaf plates
* seed jewellery
* herbal oils
* seed murals
* natural insect repellents ……and more.

We will also have products from the Concerned for Working Children (CWC), Kundapur and Himjoli, Himalayas.

Yours Truly Theatre invites you with your friends & colleagues
for weekend of Interactive Theatre Double Bill !
(Dec 12 and Dec 13). Showcasing two unique interactive Theatre formats.

Dont make me laugh is done in Playback Theatre Style where actors enacts reactions and stories of audiences on the spot.
Mushaira Theatre, where actors create shayari on the spot, even creating compositons based on reactions by audiences on the spot.

Show: Dont Make me Laugh
Date: Dec 12th, 2009
Time: 7:00 pm
Venue: Nayana Hall, Ravindra Kalakesthra, JC Road

Show: Mushaira Theatre
Date: Dec 13th, 2009
Venue:Nayana Hall, Ravindra Kalakesthra, JC Road

For tickets call 9845243051 /9845853093 Or mail us at yourstrulytheatre@gmail.com

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The students of St.Joseph’s have made a short video protesting against the Government’s move to issue passes at Rs.200 for entry to Cubbon Park and Lalbagh.

Watch the video

here

Opinions and comments welcome.

Eco-friendly, “green” Ganesha Idols for the Festival

Here’s an announcement I got via Hasiru Usiru:

Those who want unbaked, uncoloured Ganesha vigrahams of the size that can be dissolved at home in a bucket of water and poured back to join your garden soil, can contact

3419177 or 9342303247

or email Chandra Ravikumar at

chandraravikumar@hotmail.com

Here’s an announcement I got via Hasiru Usiru:

Those who want unbaked, uncoloured Ganesha vigrahams of the size that can be dissolved at home in a bucket of water and poured back to join your garden soil, can contact

3419177 or 9342303247

or email Chandra Ravikumar at

chandraravikumar@hotmail.com

Earlier this week(April 13 and 14), the Bangalore Metro Rail corporation (BMRCL) has demolished over 500 feet of Lalbagh’s wall and cut down 5 eucalyptus trees inside Lalbagh. BMRCL proposes to have a Metro station inside Lalbagh itself – Bangalore’s distinctive botanical garden!

Lalbagh is protected by a separate, stringent law. In a highly undemocratic move, the Karnataka Government changed the law by moving an ordinance to acquire Lalbagh land for the Metro, rather than prefer a debate over the changed law, in the Assembly. The opposition has also failed to protest this undemocratic move.

Lalbagh and Lakshman Rao Park on R.V.Road, (also called the AC Road, Nanda Road ), both major landmarks and heritage of Bangalore are being destroyed for the Metro. This when the High Court is hearing PIL over alternatives in Metro alignment.

What seems like a minor portion of Lalbagh gone today will surely lead to greater portion of the park being taken away to create parking zones and malls that the Metro plans at its stations.

When they sought clearance, Metro authorities claimed trees on Nanda Road will be pruned, and not felled. Now they want to cut 323 trees on Nanda Road(R.V.Road) alone.

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Ranga Ugadi ’09 at Ranga Shankara on Sunday, Mar 22

Highlights:

a. Two full-length plays from outside Bangalore will perform for the first time at Ranga Shankara
b. Rangayana will bring their well acclaimed production of Mahesh Elkunchwar’s “Chirabandi Wade”. T B Dam Kannada Sangha brings Jayant Kaikini’s “Jothegiruvanu Chandira”.
c. Yakshagana comes to the Ranga Shankara stage for the first time.
d. Vidwan R Paramashivan, who is among the oldest living exponents of Kannada Nataka Sangeetha leads the Theatre Songs category

Ranga Ugadi ’09 at Ranga Shankara on Sunday, Mar 22

Highlights:

a. Two full-length plays from outside Bangalore will perform for the first time at Ranga Shankara
b. Rangayana will bring their well acclaimed production of Mahesh Elkunchwar’s “Chirabandi Wade”. T B Dam Kannada Sangha brings Jayant Kaikini’s “Jothegiruvanu Chandira”.
c. Yakshagana comes to the Ranga Shankara stage for the first time.
d. Vidwan R Paramashivan, who is among the oldest living exponents of Kannada Nataka Sangeetha leads the Theatre Songs category
e. Two young prodigies present a flute recital
f. Manavi Kala Tanda, an all women team present the “Tamate Nruthya” — a unique group dance
g. The entire Kannada theatre fraternity will come together to sing theatre songs
h. Exquisite Kannadiga cuisine at the Ranga Shankara cafe
i. Day long programme — starts at 11:15 AM and goes up to 10 PM, on Sunday, March 22.

Ranga Shankara
36/2, 8th Cross
J P Nagar, II Phase
Bangalore – 560 078
P: 080-26493982 / 26592777
E: rstheatre@gmail.com
W: www.rangashankara.org

Ranga Chitra, a day of film screenings on travelling theatre, is scheduled to be held at Ranga Shankara on 4 November at 2.00 pm and 7.30 pm. The screenings are a part of the Ranga Shankara Theatre Festival ’08 which pays tribute to Company Theatre, which dominated the Indian stage in the early part of the 20th Century.

Six films will be screened as part of Ranga Chitra including Naveen Kishore’s Performing the Goddess: The Chapal Bhaduri Story; Ariane Mnouckine’s Molière; M S Sathyu’s Gubbi Company; K Madhusudhanan’s Maya Bazaar – The Survival of a 120-year-old Theatre Family and Anand Gupt’s The Role of Theatre Brochures. Envisaged as theatrical journeys with the repertory companies, five of the selected films examine the life and art of traveling actors in France and across India (in Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Karnataka and West Bengal). One film showcases one of the most durable artifacts of what is truly an ephemeral art: the theatre brochure.

Ranga Chitra will be screened in two sessions on 4 Nov (Session 1: 2:00 to 5:30 pm; Session 2: 7:30 pm to 10:30 pm). Admission to the film screenings is free. Entry passes are available at the Ranga Shankara ticket counter from 10 am – 12.30 pm and 5.00 – 7.30 pm (all days).

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Bangalore Gayana Samaja, K R Road, Basavanagudi, is holding the centenary celebrations of the great Carnatic musician, Semmangudi Dr R Srinivasa Iyer, with its 40th music conference being held from July 27 to August 3.

@65 6049 2120 8643, 2661 2244.

http://bcp.wikidot.com/city-walks:old-city-urban-space-event

BANGALORE CITY PROJECT PRESENTS
PAYTAY, KOTAY, KERAY, THOTA
AN OLD CITY URBAN SPACE EVENT
8.00–11:30 A.M. ON SUNDAY, 18 MAY 2008

Now that you have explored Gavipuram (the first BCP Urban Space Event, held on March 8, 2008) and the Whitefield heritage space (held on 26 April 2008), it’s time to delve deeper into the City’s history and culture – with the Old City Urban Space Event; a walk titled “Kotay, Paytay, Keray, Thota – Changing Geographies & Fragile Futures.”

The history of a place is writ large on its cultural landscape. Opportunities exploited, imaginations expressed/withheld, memories recollected and forgotten, injustice and inequality negotiated from different positions of power and powerlessness. The city is fraught with complex and not-always-pretty stories.

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