On Sunday, 25 October 2009, join a bunch of enthusiastic, energetic girls for Bangalore’s first women’s only running event – brought to you by RunnerGirlsIndia (RGI)! Come and run or walk with us!

This Girls on the Run event is partnered with YLG Salon and Spa; each participant will receive a YLG MyWaxer Gift Voucher! Come to experience breakthrough services at conveniently located YLG salon and spa exclusively for women in Bangalore. And do join YLG on Facebook, just click here.

We would love to see women coming forward and joining us – and don’t worry if you’re not confident about running – the event is mainly to encourage all of you to get out your shoes and get walking, skipping and active and maybe rediscover your love for the outdoors! So drop your inhibitions – you have nothing to lose but some morning sleep!

The directions to the venue are on this page.

Don’t forget to send off a mail to girlsontherun at runnergirlsindia.com register for the run. And please spread the word around!

Men, do encourage the women in your lives to participate and don’t forget to forward this message to them!

First, I was wearing a winning smile and authoritative tone to respond to unwanted calls from insurance, credit card and even stock broking houses ringing in… since Sept 2008 I was informed my number is on a” National DO NOT call list” the much hyped process that delivered just a promise of respecting my privacy… it is been a while now and the I have matured! I came to know that there is nothing in India that is promised and delivered as a system when it comes to such arrangements. The very fact that each operator first took your complains and never let you know if they have informed the caller or even bother to keep track of the numbers that called me umpteen number of times that was directly proportional to the complaints I registered…

Soon came the prohibition of SMS, that were too drafted in that act to provide additional layer of the comfort to all user that the respect for privacy comes along in made shapes and shades…the shady work continues as operators now send me SMSs using a character name of sender so that your can not identify the number from where they were sent as well as you can never complain against them… the saga continues raising the tolerance levels as I continue to change and learn patience… the program which should have been called NATIONAL TELECOM USERS STRESS MANAGENT was yielding results in the context of useless words and never even successful marketing initiatives amidst the unsolicited calls… the years passed by!!

As a matter of fact I now have learned to accept that each of such calls make me speak to someone who also is under the same stress management program but gets paid to do so. The aggression has tamed down and given my way to politeness eventually…I learnt it hard way and thanks to “whom so ever” drafting the act and the process thereof” I continue to be polite, indifferent to the callers and the principle who continue to boost corporate social responsibilities by their honchos yet enable triggers that ring in me time and again…!!

Here’s an announcement from the Bangalore Bikers’ Club, a community I am proud to belong to!

Groundbreaking Children’s Ride.
When are we riding: Sunday, September 6th 2009
Starting point: Sarjapur Road.
http://quikmaps.com/show/113961 shows the directions from the junction of Outer Ring Road/Sarjapur ring road to the starting point. PLEASE NOTE THE GREEN ARROW IS THE STARTING POINT

Gathering time: 4:00PM
Departure time: 4:30PM
Expected finish time: 6:30PM
Ride type: All Road Child Friendly RIDE
Distance: two circles – one each 3KM and a 5KM circle. We will try to identify some place where we can stop for ice creams or kid-friendly snacks after the event.
Number of children: Unknown at this time. (Will circulate this when we are done)

NOTE: THIS IS OUR FIRST RIDE. SO PLEASE BEAR WITH US AND GIVE US YOUR FEEDBACK ON WHAT WE CAN DO TO IMPROVE YOUR CHILD’S EXPERIENCE. WE ORGANIZERS ARE PARENTS TOO, SO WE HAVE A VESTED INTEREST IN THIS EVENT :-)

Started in 2007, this is a series of quarterly lectures this year on science, technology and the internet in India. The lectures, under the banner of the Yahoo! Big Thinkers India series, bring together academia, scientists, the corporate world and the media.

The speakers are acclaimed experts from the Yahoo! International team. They bring with them the expertise and global perspective of the constantly changing world of technology, online products & communities and the internet space in general.

This time the topic is:
Sociotechnical Design and Engineering: Putting People First

The speaker is Elizabeth Churchill, a Principal Research Scientist at Yahoo! Research, where she manages the research area of Internet Experiences. A psychologist by training, for the past 15 years she has drawn on diverse areas to consider how to design effective communication situations both face to face and technologically mediated. Applications developed and/or evaluated include cell phone interfaces, textual and 3d graphical environments, interactive digital posterboards and animated interface personas.

Abstract: Sociotechnical design is concerned with understanding how users and technologies shape each other. When studying how people use systems and applications, it is often possible to see inconsistencies between anticipated use and actual use in everyday life. By taking a social and human activity-centered perspective, we can tease out where expectation and practice converge and diverge – allowing us to identify opportunities for innovation, and to design more useful applications and services. In this talk Churchill explores these topics through case studies of several internet applications.

More details are here…

If you find the topic of interest and relevance, you can register yourself for the event.

Date/Time:
Friday, Sep 11, 2009
Time: 3:00-5:00pm
Grand Ballroom, The Leela, Bangalore

The problem: Over the last 4 years, Janet and her volunteers at treesforfree have planted 12,896 trees across Bangalore City to restore the vanishing tree cover. All in an old Maruti car. Now the car has broken down. And the planting has stopped. But the tree felling continues… and with it, the global warming, failed monsoons, climate change… and a host of other problems that affect all of us.

The solution:
If we can raise enough donations to buy a new vehicle, we would be back on the road again, planting trees, cooling the globe and healing the earth. The vehicle ideally suited for our operations is a Mahindra pickup. It costs 4 lacs. If 4000 of us gave just 100 rupees each, then the planting can start again.

How you can help:
Donate as much as you can. All donations are tax exempt under 80 G and you will be given a receipt. After you send/transfer money, please send a mail to vinod.eshwer@gmail.com with the amount sent/transferred and the names of people who donated + address where you want the receipts to be delivered.

How you can help:
Donate as much as you can. All donations are tax exempt under 80 G and you will be given a receipt.

1. Bank Transfer
Contact vinod.eshwer@gmail.com for the bank details and then send the amount ransferred and the names of people who donated + address where you want the receipts to be delivered.

Or

2. A cheque in favour of ‘Rajanet Yegneswaran Charitable Trust’ and send it to
Rajanet Yegneswaran Charitable Trust
No 11, 20 L Cross, Sri Rama temple Road,
Ejipura, Viveknagar Post, Bangalore-560 047
Tel: +91 9845449703

Thank you in advance from all the babies, birds, bees and other beings to come :)

Treesforfree Blog
TreesforFree Website

Janet -rajanetyeg@gmail.com, 9845449703 (m)

I’ll let this picture speak for itself! Inviting all enthusiastic bikers to get out there to come out this Sunday and participate!

Play in the Mud

More details here:
Bangalore Bicycle Championships

Looking for a makeover for your balcony or terrace garden? A few adventurous and creative friends have gotten together to bring some sunshine into your otherwise ignored or empty spaces.

The folks at My Sunny Balcony (MSB) can suggest how to transform an empty forlorn space into a veritable green heaven…
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In the true spirit of creating the community of practitioners sharing their perspectives on the subject of Innovation and Creativity, every month Wipro hosts WiCamps at various cities in India. After very successfully hosting the Delhi edition of WiCamp at IIT Delhi, the camp now moves to Bangalore. These un-conference styled meeting grounds are essentially discussion forums where startups, researchers, professionals, freelancers, faculty members, students, and investors, among others, gather and further their understanding on a subject.

The current edition of WiCamp is hosted at the esteemed Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore.

The details of the event follow:

Theme: Green Innovations

Day and Date: Saturday, 9th May, 2009

Venue: Seminar Hall, Dept. of Management Studies, IISc Bangalore

Duration: 10:00 AM till 5:00 PM (Lunch and High Tea Included)

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BlogCamp Bengaluru. Here’s an invite from Ajay Jain to get together,
brainstorm and share opinions about blogging technologies, trends,
micro-blogging, photo-blogging, video blogging, social media …
everything about the world of blogs & new media that
interests us.

This is the first edition of BlogCamp in Bengaluru. Participants
are strongly encouraged to give a demo, handle a session, or help
with one. You can help by taking notes on the wiki, blogging the
event, helping promote the event, or helping with logistics.

When
Saturday March 14, 2009
(Might extend for a second day to March 15)

Where
St. Joseph’s Boys’ High School, Museum Road

SCHEDULE FOR THE DAY (subject to change)
Registration: 9:00 – 10:00 am
Log On – 10:00 am
Lunch Break – 1.30 pm (1 hour)
Log Off – 5:00 pm

For more info and to register, check out the Bangalore
Event Wiki: http://wiki.ibnms.com/BlogCampBengaluru.

Ajay Jain
President, IBNMS
Mobile: +91.99100 44476
Email: ajay@ajayjain.com

Seven attacks in ten days. In response to the recent attacks against women in the city of Bangalore, many individuals and organsiations have come together to form FEARLESS KARNATAKA or Nirbhaya Karnataka to reclaim public spaces and promote safety for all.

In the wake of a series of attacks in Mangalore (the latest one was reported on February 24, 2009), women have been targeted in the name of morality, culture and “public decency”. The attacks in Bangalore seem to be a continuation of those that took place in Mangalore and coastal Karnataka regions – even though the identity of the attackers (and the organizations they belong to) could have differed.

In an attempt to fight against the climate of fear, the Fearless Karnataka collective would like to announce the following activities:
1. A protest march to the office of Dr. Ajai Kumar Singh, DG & IGP, on March 7, 2009.
2. A ‘Take Back the Night’ campaign on March 8, 2009
3. A poster campaign asking bystanders who witness attacks on women to act

There are several other efforts, including signature campaigns, art exhibitions, etc which are happening simultaneously..
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