Putting fun in your blog

Browsing blogs of some of our youngsters I get a feeling I take life much too seriously. Which is, perhaps, why every post by these bloggers attracts double-digit comments while mine generally go widely unread, unless, of course I indulge, as I occasionally do, in step-on-Jones’-toe genre of blogging. So much for self-promotion.
Provocation for this [...]

The Emergency: Indian media’s shameful era

Nirmala Lakshman’s Anthology of Indian journalism describes the Emergency (1975-77) as the most shameful period in the history of our media. This was the period when our ‘print warriors’ caved in under the Indira Gandhi government pressure and meekly submitted to total media censorship. Ms Lakshman , in an introduction to the book, refers to [...]

Campaign style in Mysore and Kawasaki

My young friend C K Naveena wonders why candidates need to lavish so much resources on banners and hoardings at election time. “I am sure nobody votes for a person just because they see his cutout and banners in every street corner”, writes Mr Naveena, who edits Mysore Matters, adding, ”political  parties need to realize this [...]

Mysore Dasara:Thank God, it’s over.

Officials must have had a sigh of relief, rather than a sense of fulfilment, now that the Dasara events are over and done with. I don’t know if the deputy commissioner and  special dasara officer,  does de-briefing of concerned event organisers as a learning experience. After all,  Dasara would come again in 2008; and it wouldn’t be a good idea repeating the mistakes of 2007. Did I [...]

Where Brand Mysore takes a knock

Star of Mysore columnist Dr Javeed Nayeem says a promotional CD, billed The Mysore: pride of the nation , and flogged to unsuspecting Dasara tourists, promotes conmanship. Sale of such items, he writes, amounts to cheating and would only ‘tarnish our image’. The Rs.99 CD is a hash job of recopied illustrations from books and [...]

Karnataka MLA in a commoners’ queue

President’s rule in Karnataka appears to have proved a social leveller. An MLA from the party that helmed the state till the other day, chose to join the commoners’ queue at the governor’s janata darshan. No gimmick, this. Like hundereds of others who wait their turn for a hearing, with petitions in hand, JD(S) legislator Mr M P Kumaraswamy, from [...]

Of Dasara lightings and Chamalapura

I don’t know why Dasara lightings set me thinking of load-shedding, Chamalapura, global warming, and a cash-strapped city’s power bill. I know the festive lights have been a feature  for so long that anyone who now questions it as extravagance would be deemed  out of his mind. But then Chamalapura was not on our collective mind in previous years. Besides, [...]

Electioneering without posters and burst of crackers

For BBC viewers in Mysore, where we went through a city corporation election recently, the Japanese documentary –Campaign – came as a refreshing study in contrast. Poll time for us means noisy campaign, traffic-blocking morcha, clutter of wall posters, drum-beats and burst of crackers even at the time of filing one’s nomination papers.
The 30-minute BBC film, shown [...]

Waiting for VVIP to cut the tape

A public park, revamped at the cost of Rs.90 lakhs, has remained out of bounds for Mysore residents for the last three months. Why? The city corporation couldn’t find a VVIP to cut the tape. Now that Karnataka is under President’s Rule those the civic body had in mind to invite have suddenly become available. But [...]

Mysore Dasara goes mobile

Vivek, Bangalore-based visual communication designer, has come up with a quickie of a travel guide on Mysore dasara that can be accessed on mobile phone. Vivek calls it Emo.zine-Dasara, something you need to download. It shows up on your mobile window as a slideshow that informs you of the Mysore dasara highlights, the timings, ticketed [...]