deponti

http://bangalore.citizenmatters.in/articles/view/1543-bengaluru-photographers-to-shoot-leonid-showers

However, the title I had chosen was...Shooting Stars Shoot Shooting Stars".

http://bangalore.citizenmatters.in/articles/author/31-deepa-mohan

I find that Metblogs has been quietly deleting some of my earlier articles, that were written with a lot of effort. VERY unethical.

http://bangalore.citizenmatters.in/blogs/show_entry/989


For all other Lalbagh posts:

click here .

http://bangalore.citizenmatters.in/articles/view/981-bengaluru-heritage-walks

Some Heritage Walk guides are wise, some are otherwise.... :)

We went, after Karthik's alert, to see the glow-worms again this year:

http://bangalore.citizenmatters.in/blogs/show_entry/942-the-glow-worms


Here's my post about it last year ...



Where do they come from? Where do they go?
Why are they so tiny? Why do they glow?
Why do just some of them have wings?
What, exactly, is "bioluminicence"?
Is it a word that even makes sense?
Have you wondered about all these things?


If so..

click

here

Mr Thomas finally said he couldn't get spares for my wonderful MLC, the Canon S3 IS...so I am off to the Canon Service Centre on Brigade Road, to see if THEY can get whatever part it is that needs to be replaced....

Things have been VERY hectic lately....but we did find the time to go and see the annual visit of the glow-worms...


http://bangalore.citizenmatters.in/blogs/show_entry/942-the-glow-worms


There were just four of them that day...haven't been able to go again! :(

I have been, quite intensely, on the phone with someone whom I am interviewing...for the past 45 minutes.

An interview...can be several things...interesting, riveting sometimes..and sometimes, very draining....

There are times (thankfully, much more often) when I am in charge of the interview. I think of what information I want, and lead the conversation...I elicit the information needed for the interview, and quite often, a lot of other details that satisfy my own curiosity about a person's life, views, and work.

Indeed, most often, it is quite difficult to extract information that I want, and I have to work at it with a combination of talk, leading remarks, direct and indirect questions, sometimes flattery, sometimes a barb that will result in a reaction....

But sometimes, like now, I get drowned. Drowned in the flow of words from someone. The words have been flooding over me in a cataract of information and opinion. I keep asking the person to talk about one particular thing, and that person keeps talking about something else, in a wealth of detail that I can neither absorb nor use....It's like trying to keep a kayak afloat in rushing rapids...

Adding to the problem is that this person's English is, to put it mildly, very picturesque, and making sense of the words is sometimes a challenge on its own!


This person apparently does not, also, realize that I have to type out and keep track of all the stuff that is pouring out, and later separate the wheat from the chaff, so to speak.

I am amazed at the extremely high need some artistes have, to talk about themselves!

When this person stops talking (my left ear is warm-bordering-on-hot as I type this, and I am gettig a crick in my neck, typing as I just listen with a "hm" interjected), I am going to heave a sigh of relief and tiredness, and go off and take a ten-minute break!

My goodness, I didn't realize that there are people in the world who talk more than I do!!

It was a "heritage" experience....


http://bangalore.citizenmatters.in/blogs/show_entry/906


Actually, since my MLC is not yet repaired, this photo was taken by D C Manohar, and the image is a large one....only half of it fits here.

To see the entire photograph, click here

Another lovely morning at Ragihalli on Sunday followed this lovely Saturday....

I thought I was posting some information about one person to another, both of whom are undergoing a lot of difficulties... and posted it to a whole egroup....I am feeling utterly miserable. This is the kind of damage that I cannot undo; and to talk more about it would only make it worse.

The worst part is that the person concerned is extremely sweet-natured, and has quietly overlooked such a bad gaffe on my part....and will probably forgive me whole-heartedly, too..that makes me, actually, feel worse.

I wish I was more careful....but as a friend said, I cannot repine too much over it, but must be very, very careful in future..I *am* normally very careful whom I email about what..I cannot remember committing such a crime before...but that doesn't excuse what I have done.

The point is, how I am feeling pales in comparison with how the other person must be feeling...

Why am I such a KLUTZ! Yes, I realize that I am not alone, and that it was a slip...but that doesn't make things better at all.

I could easily walk under a cockroach, with room to spare.


***********

I just got an email from someone pointing out a factual error in a post that I had made on Citizen Matters. I sent an apology to the person...and it bounced. But I was able to rectify the error immediately online.

I *wish* the other mistake could be rectified like that,simply and easily!

:(((((

Max Mueller Bhavan, along with two heritage architects, Kripa and Pankaj, (who also conducted the Shivaji Nagar walk) organized a Heritage Walk in Malleswaram on Feb 28, 2009..

Here are some photographs and my account,

here

I am writing a critiques of how I feel such walks should be conducted, for maximum benefit....watch out for it on Citizen Matters!

http://bangalore.citizenmatters.in/articles/view/838-intach-heritage-walk-avenue-road

For more pics, look at




http://s297.photobucket.com/albums/mm205/depontis/?start=120



http://s297.photobucket.com/albums/mm205/depontis/?start=100




and


http://s297.photobucket.com/albums/mm205/depontis/?start=80

One sample:

http://bangalore.citizenmatters.in/blogs/show_entry/839



http://bangalore.citizenmatters.in/blogs/show_entry/844-who-watches



http://bangalore.citizenmatters.in/blogs/show_entry/829-some-beauties


http://bangalore.citizenmatters.in/blogs/show_entry/808-mobile-coffee


I do love going about my city, seeing what I can see....

I wrote several articles and "middles" regularly for the Deccan Herald before I started writing for Citizen Matters, and after having met Sangeetha Kadur and hijacked her and Madhukar (another expert birder whose work with the digiscope can be found here ) home,I
went and googled for the article about the artists who painted the beautiful murals at Bandipur...it's at


http://www.deccanherald.com/archives/nov192006/finearts1942320061118.asp


Oh, I have referred to it in

this post

Alas, that last mural remains unfinished, and JLR never continued with this great initiative....but Sangeetha continues with her wildlife painting, and is at present working on a book on humming birds! More power to her brush...


Hmm...I thought I had lost all the articles that I wrote, I realize I can hunt for them...these simple things take the Concrete Cauliflower a while to understand!

The Wildscreen Festival proved far more interesting than I budgeted for; the masterclass by Jeremy Bristow was riveting, and the one by Laura Marshall on managing productions, applies to so many situations that demand good scheduling to ensure a successful outcome. More in my writeup for Citizen Matters! :)

http://bangalore.citizenmatters.in/blogs/show_entry/796-a-big


Instead of spouting rhetoric at their students, this school has taught by example!


And an interesting thing that happened to us today...


http://bangalore.citizenmatters.in/blogs/show_entry/795-spreading-the

Please read my writeup about the Heritage Walk today when it appears on Citizen Matters in a day or two..then I will put up added photographs here, too. The walk was organized by INTACH in the Avenue Road area, and for the first time, the shopkeepers and residents of the area engaged actively with the walkers!


Here are some "Oriental lilies" I got for KM....there's a new young Bengali florist close to my home, and the heady scent of the lovely lilies is wonderful...and the lilies smile across the room at the little Gerbera shining suns that are very dear to me....




Went for our monthly quiz, had a gala time in the evening, too.

Life..is full, and good....long may it last! Hope all of you had weekends as enjoyable.

http://bangalore.citizenmatters.in/blogs/show_entry/766



Here are some Nature paintings by Ms. Kalavathi of Mysore whose nephew said the paintings were not for sale, but were just being shown:




It was a very enjoyable afternoon....

Here's an image I liked a lot...


http://bangalore.citizenmatters.in/blogs/show_entry/751


Today, I met someone who was my neighbour many years ago; he remarried after the death of his wife. My friend remarked, "Why does he want to marry at that age?" And I took exception, because I cannot believe that any age is the wrong age to marry. If one needs someone by one's side, for whatever reason, and is willing to make the commitment for it, and feels happy in the relationship, should age be a bar to that?

I just cannot agree with those who feel that marriage is only for a particular age group. And I object to the age-ism that unthinkingly makes such pronouncements.

What do you all feel? Must all adults turn more and more spiritual as they age (well, that's what Hinduism says...after grihastaashrama, comes vAnaprasthAshramA, heading towards sannyAsam or total renunciation) , or should it (as I believe) be a choice that they can, and should, make themselves?

I went along to Lalbagh this morning, and looked for the flowering Philippine Jade Vine....here's my blog post about it (along with the Asian Paradise Flycatcher, which is another spectacular sight you can see at Lalbagh if you are lucky)....


http://bangalore.citizenmatters.in/blogs/show_entry/731


That is the original colour of the flower...isn't it exquisite!

Went off to the flag off of the TFN cyclng event , and then to Lalbagh...




The light was just magical, and the sun through the foliage reminded me that today there was also a Son born into the world! The light also reminded me of the Star of Bethelehem....


The rest of the post is

here


We saw a Kestrel, a Spotted Owlet, and here's another view of the spectacular Asian Paradise Flycatcher....





I did regret not having the 20D, but made do with the MLC, the S3. and indeed, it was better, because I took a video of the bird whisking itself about in the tree:







Merry Christmas, every one! I may not be, strictly, a "Christian", but I love to think of a divine Child being born, who will save mankind...surely, our children are our immortality and our hope. With a granddaughter on her way into our lives, I feel more intensely the joy that a new birth brings....




*

I *love* walking through the road when it is festival time; here are a few photos that I put up on the Citizen Matters blog...



check it out


Our footpaths, shaded by trees, are FULL of life and commerce and Bangalore politicians want to eliminate them...