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The Hindu : Is Bangalore ready to host an international marathon? Well the question begs an answer as last Sunday’s event threw up quite a few glitches.When Mumbai and Delhi can conduct marathons with ease, Bangalore too can. That is however possible only with involvement from all quarters. And that was sorely missing in the recent Bangalore International Marathon here.Bangalore has been hosting marathons for the last three years. Event managers, Crossover, first conducted the Lipton Marathon, a second with a publishing house, and then there was the midnight marathon earlier this year.All these had their share of glitches. With the Athletics Federation of India (AFI) not “sanctioning” the Crossover events, the race did lose its steam, and with it, the glamour, as many Indian marathoners were under threat of being suspended or facing the ire of the parent body.But it needs to be mentioned here that on these occasions it was Indians — K. Ramu and K.M. Chinnappa — who claimed the top honours in the men’s full marathon.With the money that the organisers could pitch in, there was just a sprinkling of international flavour.The Karnataka Athletic Association (KAA), the organisers of the event this time around, made frantic efforts to rope in the best of the talent. KAA secretary Satyanarayana travelled to Pune, to sign up a few big names after the Pune International Marathon a fortnight ago.Kenyans and Ethiopians arrived here and expectedly stole the show.But the run was mired in controversies. The demarcation of the route was poor and at many important junctions, too narrow for the runners to traverse shoulder-to-shoulder. If that was not bad enough, the support staff was largely inadequate and the cops manning the junctions were at times over-enthusiastic. At Ulsoor Lake and Cubbon Park, the traffic caused anxiety to participants while near Kalyan Nagar, halfway through the event, a stray dog chased a Kenyan runner. There was also a…More

The Hindu : “Offshore”, is an effective little film that looks at the concept of outsourcing from multiple points of view. Producer T. S. Dayananda, who has produced silver jubilee hits in Kannada like “Nanna Preetiya Hudugi” and “Paris Pranaya” says: “I have been thinking of this since 2004 I thought it was a global idea and it made sense to make it in English.”Dayananda, who was research assistant on a project in aeronautical engineering in Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, before moving to Detroit, says: “The competition is fierce. Earlier American companies were competing with Europe. With globalisation, the competition is from Asia.”He elaborates: “CEOs are under tremendous pressure and it is the worker who suffers in the final count. In America, those in their 20s and 30s might find it tough if they lose their jobs, but they will just go and look for another job.”“Older people, say those in their 40s and 50s, live from pay check to pay check and they have mortgages to pay, children going to college, and have health care issues. The company pays the health insurance. If they lose their job, they lose health insurance as well. That is why in the movie, Carol, the elderly trainer, reacts so strongly at the thought of losing her job.” While Carol is the obvious villain in the film, Dayananda says: “The film is dedicated to the workers of the world. The shareholders are the villains. The money flows to the executives. There is nothing much for the salaried employees.”“Offshore” is written, directed and edited by Diane Cheklich and tells the story of a face off between the employees of an American call centre and the Indians who are hired in their stead. “Diane was production manager for the Telugu movie, ‘Premaya Namaha’ that I produced. She has a management background and has made many short films and documentaries. So she was the…More

The Hindu : Festive offerThis Christmas, the Taj West End goes green with its “eco friendly touches, doing its bit towards climate care”. The hotel has used dried decorative flowers like roses and chrysanthemums to brighten its surroundings. The flowers have beendried a month in advance and are being used for the handcrafted wreaths put up around the property. Adding to the festive mood, Christmas carols will also be played at the lobby from December 22 onwards. Even the hotel offers a special menu created by the Executive Chef Sandeep Kachroo and his team. There will be dishes like Bronson’s country captain (an Anglo Indian lamb specialty with malt vinegar), burnt feta, bacon and avocado salad, roast butterball turkey served with yam puree and polenta ring with mushroom ragout to name a few.The Christmas Eve speciality dinner will have poached lobster on caramelised orange with paprika buree blanc, sugar cider smoked ham, pistachio and raisins stuffed turkey with cranberry sauce and prawn balchao among others. For reservations call 66605660….More

The Hindu : Italian Fashion brand Police timepieces and jewellery is presenting an offer to bring in the holiday cheer at T.G.I. Friday’s. Visit T.G.I. Friday’s all month over the weekend between Happy Hours – from 4 to 8.30 p.m. – and get lucky with some exciting games and trivia on Police. Spot questions and games on the brand will be conducted between 6.30 and 7 p.m. and two lucky winners get vouchers worth Rs. 500 which are redeemable at the Police kiosk at Garuda mall.Carry on the Holiday spirit till the month end as Police watches, jewellery and leather accessories will be given away during the last weekend of the month long promotion at T.G.I.Friday’s, Airport Road….More

The Hindu : Expect trouble. So, you’re alert on dark streets and deserted subways? But what about cheerful shopping malls? Or friendly coffee shops? Or happening beach parties?Ashwin Mohan, dynamic instructor of the GITT (Give It To Them) movement, emphasises that you have to be alert, everywhere. All the time. A date rape drug doesn’t have to be slipped into your drink at a nightclub, he says, adding flatly that it can just as easily be dropped into your filter coffee at a local dosa joint.Under the women’s development forum, Asthtva, (A unit of Paradigm Shift, ph: 98848 19816, 98848 19818), Ashwin has held a series of workshops with GITT, teaching about 10,000 women around India self defence over the past five years. The programme is about common sense, self-awareness and staying alert: minor details that might just end up saving your life.Today, being fit, able to kick-box or neatly knee an over-enthusiastic Lothario has become an essential life-skill for every woman. Rapes, acid attacks, kidnapping, mugging and sexual harassment happen regularly. And in the big cities, people have even started carrying weapons, ranging from guns to knives, making your nervously brandished pepper spray as effective as threatening a burglar with a kitten.“Not all criminals look like criminals. Some look like Harry Potter,” says Ashwin, emphasising on how important it is to not be too trusting or naïve. “It’s a drawback in our educational system,” says Delhi-based Vicky Kapoor, Head of Krav Maga India (098104 12442), which teaches the aggressive martial art originally developed by the Israeli military. Discussing how girls are taught to behave like ladies, he says, “They are not allowed to play with boys and told they’re weak. We should teach school girls soccer to build the stamina and aggression they need in crowds, markets, buses…”Tabrez, who teaches Aikido at Fitness One feels women should learn how to manipulate their attacker’s force rather than try…More

The Hindu : All about money?Festivals come and go every year. And each year, the clothes get more expensive, sweets are bought in abundance, crackers seem louder. The streets are decorated in multi-coloured lights, streamers and decorations giving you every reason to celebrate.Hotels go all gung-ho about how you should celebrate Christmas and shops give ‘free gifts’.Children keep badgering you to go shopping and there is nothing wrong with that. New clothes, shoes, cars, toys, jewellery, gadgets — the list is endless. But no one seems to be really complaining as it looks like everyone’s pockets go pretty deep.But what happens to the vast majority of people who can’t celebrate festivals the way everyone does. They borrow loans and beg you to give away old clothes and toys. Why is that everyone has turned a blind eye to what festivals are really supposed to mean. That they are supposed to be all-inclusive and not just centred to small families and friends.That by buying more and more, we are ‘indulging’ in the festival that only comes ‘once a year’ – the memories still remain the same – there is really nothing special that remains in our hearts and minds – except how much one can accumulate and show off.Shopping and making merry is great fun. Festivals are celebrated nowadays with great attention and detail as there is more income in the family with the IT boom. I like it this way. There is nothing wrong in spending money.RamyaStudent and employeeYes, festivals have become more commercialised in this day and age of media and advertising boom. The way it is celebrated traditionally is forgotten and becomes more about what you buy and how much you spend. And people only look forward to do that.PreethiStudentI don’t think that the media hypes up festivals. It is alright to celebrate them with great fanfare. After all, these festivals come only once in a…More

The Hindu : Senegalese poet Amadou Lamine Sall knew that he was going to write poetry when he was in the womb of his poet-mother, Binga. “There was a poetic environment at home. I also had a school teacher who encouraged me to write poetry.” But theFrancophone poet states that there are no influences in his poetry. “If you are influenced by others, you can never become your own self.”As a contemporary post-colonial poet he says, “There is a strong oral tradition of poetry in most post-colonial nations, it is never in the written form.” He is also proud to say: “It was the poets who struggled and brought independence to Senegal, not the politicians.” Poet and intellectual Leopold Sedar Senghor who coined the term ‘negritude’ became the first President of Senegal from 1960 to 1980. Says Amadou: “He is my father, guardian and mentor. He has given me a great deal. When Senghor spent 10 years in prison, I had written a book about him.”Amadou Lamine Sall is in India for the first time and is on a poetry reading tour organised by Alliance Francaise, to bring together regional poets in joint poetry reading sessions. “The response of the audience so far has been good. The atmosphere in India is very conducive for poetry and I have found that they appreciate and love poetry.”“I write about life and women — as my mother had a great impact on my life. I denounce injustice and politicians when I write. I write about the man in love and also about the man in revolt.” He has not read the poems of fellow post-colonial and West-Indian poet Derek Walcott. Amadou asks, “Didn’t he win the Nobel Prize for Literature?” He continues matter-of-factly, “I have not read him as others have told me he was not good.” “Most Nobel laureates are not good,” he states with a grin. He adds, “But…More

The Hindu : Warped viewThe Woman in Me didn’t really bring to the forefront the central issues of the playTwo identical toilet seats, buckets with water and fish swimming, dirty clothes baskets, sinks, half-empty liquor bottles, toilet paper, books scattered around and a see-through white backdrop.As two men, tall and short, enter the tiny stage of “The Woman in Me” by Actor Productions at Alliance Francaise, and start running their hands over the mirror, you realise that there are two toilets reflecting each other.Whether it were the typical husband-wife petty quarrels, or issues of who the breadwinner is – it really didn’t bring to the forefront the central issue of the play – if any. While Nina (writer/director Pawan Kumar) is the socialite and flight attendant, Rajeev (Abhijeet Saha) is the struggling, insecure writer. Pawan Kumar, dressed in a t-shirt and trousers, who earlier was the reflection of Rajeev, becomes Nina puts on a sari, blouse, wig, shoes, jewellery and is off to a party. As she walks on the lonely ring road, she is gang-raped and murdered.In the meanwhile, Nina expresses her anguish over ambulances stuck in traffic jams – another random thought that finds itself to the play and conversation, complete with an ambulance siren wailing.Pawan who earlier plays the ‘male’ Nina becomes the reflection of Rajeev again. Pawan becomes the other divided self of Rajeev who is determined to seek revenge for his wife’s death.So Rajeev No. 2 thinks that by dressing like Nina the way she did on the fateful night and roaming on the same road, he can identify and kill the culprits.He becomes a schizophrenic almost as the Rajeev who is determined to seek revenge ultimately brainwashes the ‘reasonable’ voice, the two divided selves merge into one.One wonders if the play was meant to delve into the minds of men and their sexual psychology. Rajeev No. 2 torments the other self about…More

The Hindu : Saris galoreN. Latha from Chennai is holding an exhibition-cum-sale of a designer collection of pure silk, and silk cotton saris at Vishal Bhavan, near Malleswaram Bridge, 17th Cross , Rajajinagar II Stage from December 20 to 22, 10 a.m. to 8.30 p.m. For more details contact 9980138952, 23571844.M. Vivekananda from Periyapalayam is exhibiting silk cotton, poly cotton saris at Badami Hall, No. 916, 9th Cross, 2nd Phase, J.P. Nagar from December 20 to 25.Usha Sridhar from Chennai is holding an exhibition cum sale of her latest collection of saris in silk and cotton at Badami Hall, No. 916, 9th Cross, 2nd Phase, J.P. Nagar from December 20 to 25. Call 26596076….More

The Hindu : “Good evening ka! Naan goodgirlka,” lisps Poorni, all of 21. And, her parents and brother and sister are thrilled at her progress. With a bank manager brother and an engineer twin sister, there were enough reasons for Poorni to feel left out. But, at home, her going to a special school was as important as the other children heading to college.The Ramanathans have two daughters. The older Ramalakshmi, is a special child. Her sister Rajyalakshmi, 7, is all there for her sister and has been trained to take over her care when their mom is out of town.Such harmonious co-existence did not happen easily. It took years of training. The relationship between siblings is often fragile and fraught with emotions. In homes where one of the children is special, parents have to work overtime. They have to first learn to deal with the child, and also help the sibling come to terms with it. It could mean sacrifices and tears, but, the end result is well worth all the effort.Poorni’s mom went through a lot to keep the children together. And, today, she says that Poorni’s siblings are her most vocal supporters. “Even if I scold her, they are quick to tell me to be patient.” Priya Ramanathan says the trick is to never differentiate. “We treated them alike and told the younger one that akka can do only this much, and that you have to adjust. She now knows that her sister goes to a special school, and can’t help her with her homework like other akkas. And, when they fight, we don’t interfere.”Is it easy to achieve that kind of normalcy? “No. It needs to be worked on. When the younger one wanted to go to a hostel like her friends, I asked her who would take care of akka. She should know what goes into her sister’s care,” says Priya, who runs…More