The Cosmic Conundrum

With a massive collection of his artwork displayed in the NGMA, the city reminiscences with the artist extraordinaire. Bangalore, February 27, 2018: Balan Nambiar, the renowned veteran painter and sculptor, celebrates his artistic journey spanning six decades at the National Gallery of Modern Art in Bengaluru. “I am going to come out with a book on enamel paintings. It’s too soon to give away all the details but this is something I have wanted to do since a long time,” says Balan Nambiar looking out to the serene setting for his sculptures in the National Gallery of Modern Art. The exhibition themed “Sculpting in Time, Balan Nambiar and his six decades of engagement with Materiality” was inaugurated on February 4, 2018. Curated by his long time friend Sadanand Menon, this retrospective exhibition encompasses the enormous repertoire of Nambiar. His mastery lies in the sheer variety of mediums in which he casts his creative ingenuity. “Starting out with clay and moving ...

  PC: Swarnali Chakraborty By growing an anti-malarial drug resistant parasite, Plasmodium Vivax, scientists feel new drugs can be created to counter malaria. Bangalore, March 6, 2018: In an advance that might lead to eradication of malaria, a team of scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have been able to grow and study a dormant form of  malaria causing parasite—Plasmodium Vivax. This form of parasite causes the maximum cases of malaria in Karnataka. “Plasmodium vivax causes more malaria outbreak than Plasmodium falciparum. As for eradication, we are aiming to bring down the number malaria cases in the state below 10 per cent of the population by 2025. If such a study has been conducted then it can prove useful,” says Dr. Shivaraj Sajjan Shetty, Joint Director, National Vector Borne Disease Control Programme. Plasmodium falciparum and Plasmodium vivax are the two parasites known to cause most human cases of malaria. While less deadly, Plasmo...

PC: Swarnali Chakraborty India State of forest Report 2017 (ISFR) showed an increase of 117 sq. km in the tree cover of Bengaluru urban area. Bangalore, March 20, 2018 : The ISFR 2017 may have given Karnataka a reason to cheer with the state recording the second highest growth in forest cover. However, urban Bangalore’s rising tree cover may not be as green as one might think. “The rise in the tree cover in Urban Bangalore could be a cumulative effect of more coconut plantation being done in some areas, or it could be any number of reasons. Sometimes trees are uprooted from somewhere and replanted somewhere else. Whether it’s because of a conscious conservation drive is hard to say,” says Sashwati Mishra, Chief Conservator of Forest, Bangalore circle. The 2017 ISFR shows the total tree cover of the urban Bangalore to be 234 sq km, which is a 50 per cent increase from two years ago. “The increase in tree cover is yet to be ascertained by a third party / independent a...

PC: Humane Society International The decision is a victory for the combined efforts of organizations like Humane Society International (HSI) and People for Animals (PFA). Bangalore, April 9, 2018: India became the latest county to put a ban on the import of seal skin and fur from Canada. This decision would help protect thousands of seals from being slaughtered by the commercial sealing industries. The notification issued by the Directorate General of Foreign Trade ( DGFT ), India has come as a triumph for the incessant and combined endeavors of organizations like HSI and PFA fighting for animal rights worldwide. “We are delighted that our appeal to the Government of India to take a stand against this cruelty has produced a result after four long years. With dwindling world markets for seal products, the Canadian sealing industry is counting on countries like India and China to import the seal fur, oil and meat that other nations refuse to buy and I am glad that India has ...

  PC: Swarnali Chakraborty A recent study shows that the environmental impact of firewood and dung as cooking fuel has been hitherto underestimated. Majority of people in the villages of Karnataka are still dependent on firewood as cooking fuel. This number is the largest of all  southern Indian states. The National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) data of 2011-12 shows that out of 1000 households in rural Karnataka, 805 use firewood for cooking. This number stands at 583 for Tamil Nadu and 675 for Andhra Pradesh. A recent study conducted by researchers at University of Washington, St Louis, USA, showed that the smoke emitted from cook stoves for both cooking and heating had a definite, detrimental environmental impact. “Our project findings quantitatively show that particulate emissions from cook-stoves in India have been underestimated,” said Rajan Chakrabarty, assistant professor of energy, environmental & chemical engineering, Washington Universit...

(Image Source-  Wikimedia Commons)  Today is the first Friday the 13 th of 2018 and the second one is lurking in July.   Bangalore, April 13, 2018: “ April is the cruellest month” went T. S. Eliot in his famous poem, "The Waste land." Add a Friday the 13 th to it and we have a story that would make Stephen King sit up and beg. The idea of Friday the 13 th strikes more fear in the hearts of people than the wrath of the good Lord himself. The spooky conjugation of a day of the week and a random date scares even the most die-hard Einsteinists and Newtonites. Behavourial scientist at the University of Chicago, Jane Risen believes that superstitions affect even the non-believers. She said that people who identify as superstitious and non-superstitious both believe a bad outcome is more likely when they’ve been jinxed, such as by stating they definitely won’t get into a car accident. “Even if I don’t actively believe, just that fact that Friday the 13th exis...

Subramania Bharati. Source: Wikipedia About the poet: A spiritual leader, freedom fighter and social reformer, Subramania Bharati (December 11, 1882-September 12, 1921) was born  to Brahmin parents  in Madras Presidency in British India. An Indian nationalist who let his words speak of his rage against the British rule in India, he  was also a social reformer who firmly believed in and campaigned for women’s rights and social equality for all. His form of writing brought a massive change in Tamil literary world. He is counted as one of the best modern Tamil poets. Wind                                          by Subramania Bharati Wind, come softly. Don’t break the shutters of the windows. Don’t scatter the papers. Don’t throw down the books on the shelf. There, look what you did — you threw them all down. You tore the pa...

Robert Frost (PC: Encyclopedia Britannica)  About the poet: One of the most loved of all American poets, Robert Frost was born on March 26, 1874 in San Francisco, California. He lived a life plagued with losses after losses that left a deep impact on him. Like his mother, Frost too suffered with bouts of depression and his sister and daughter had to be institutionalized due to mental problems. Frost's poetry, at first glance may seem simple and prose-like in nature, it gets more complex and layered as you dig deeper. His poems make you feel as if he is talking to you personally. There are no larger than life, grandiose declarations like in Wordsworth's or Shelley's poems, rather, he is calmer, more grounded and invites you to make your own opinion. Case in point, The Road not taken. He is as ambiguous as he can be. He keeps contradicting himself throughout the poem and we are left with mixed feelings about his choice. Was he happy? Was he sad? Did he regret taki...