The Cosmic Conundrum

Can transforming metro stations into pop-up art galleries and performance spaces coax commuters to interact with each other? Cubbon Park Metro Station Over 3 lakh people pass through Bangalore metro stations every day, usually in a rush to get somewhere. But they often have reason to pause and take in the a rt installations, poetry and prose recitals, dance performances, videos, paintings and murals that now punctuate their journey. Metro stations have become the perfect canvas to take art to the urban commuter. Inspired by similar initiatives from across the world, from Toronto to Singapore, artists, poets and students at Shrishti Institute of Art, Design and Technology aim to bring this idea home and create a continuous communication with Bangalore via myriad artistic interventions in metro stations around Bangalore. The artists create motion-driven art work which they then display at Cubbon Park Metro Station and then record the reactions of the commuters that move...

The Goods and Services Tax revision has done little to ease the worries of the handlooms and handicrafts sellers. GST continues to cast a shadow over the sales of the handloom and handicraft sector despite the revisions made in the GST council meeting earlier this month. “Business has come down by 50 per cent since the implementation of GST and has not picked up. It is not every day that people may come out to buy handloom products but we have never seen such a lack of customers,” said Aslam Jhan of Kashmir Cottage Emporium. Retailers see almost 50 per cent fall in their sales. The GST on Handlooms is five per cent and on handicrafts,12 per cent. Before the 23rdGST council meet in Guwahati on November 10 this year, the handicrafts and handloom products were under the tax slab of 18 per cent to 28 per cent. Mir Gohar of Asian Store Cottage Industries Emporium said, “We have to pay taxes twice; once when we bring the merchandise from Kashmir and now here in Bangalore....

The incessant rains this year caused a slump in revenue and footfalls at the Bannerghatta National Park. The  Bannerghatta National Park  saw a 20 per cent drop in revenue compared to last year in the month of October. The heavy rains that lashed the city in the second half of October inundated the low lying areas of the zoo including the safari areas. However, no heavy damage was caused to the Park property. “The people of Bangalore themselves were living under stressful conditions. Their own houses were flooded, how can we then expect them to visit a park for an outing? But, yes, there has been a slow-down in the number of visitors,” said R Gokul (IFS) the newly-appointed Director of the park. Bannerghatta Biological Park The Park also saw a 16 per cent dip in visitor count for the month of October compared to last year. The Park usually sees a spike in visitor count during the October-November festive season, but the rains played spoilsport this time around...

The Karnataka State butterfly which was just a visitor can now be seen year long. Bannerghatta Butterfly Park(BBP) has a new occupant-the Southern Bird Wing-which was  declared the state butterfly in May this year due to its distinctive red and yellow stripes that matches the state flag. “We were looking forward to acquiring the butterfly. It is a visitor to the park but now we have got a larva. People can see the butterfly after 20 days when it hatches,” said senior entomologist Lokanath V. The Southern Bird Wing is endemic to peninsular India and is the largest butterfly in the country with a wing span of 140-190mm. Bannerghatta Butterfly Park has a new resident; the Southern Bird Wing Butterfly “We are always in contact with other national parks and wildlife sanctuaries—locally and internationally for acquisition talks. It is an exchange of animals and birds; if the male animal dies, then we ask for a female or send the female to the other park and request f...

The number of donations at the first skin bank at Victoria Hospital in Bangalore has seen a three-fold rise. Karnataka is soon to get its second skin bank at the Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College at Belagavi. The Rotary Bangalore Midtown Club that commissioned the first skin bank at Victoria Hospital is funding the second bank as well. “The skin bank will be up around January 2018. The work will be completed in two phases. The initial phase will take Rs. 30-40 lakhs and so will the second phase,” said Dr. Rajesh Shankar Powar, professor and head of the department of Surgery at JLN Medical College. The Skin Bank at Victoria Hospital The Rotary Ashirwad Skin Bank at Victoria Hospital  near KR Market is getting more skin donors compared to last year. The Bank has harvested 52 skins this year whereas last year it saw 18 skin donations. “We are seeing more people signing and pledging to donate skin. We got 34 more skin donations compared to last year,” said N...