Good morning, Bengaluru!
⛅ Today’s weather: Sunny with a few clouds in the sky.
🧐 Did you know? The first ever One Day International match played at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium was between India and Sri Lanka on 26th September 1982. India won the match by 6 wickets and 64 balls remaining.
👩🎨 Museum housing art by women to open soon
Representing Women in Art Through the MAP Collection, the inaugural show examines the contradiction of how women have been represented in Indian art throughout history while still appearing to be almost invisible to the general audience.
What’s it about? On Saturday, February 18, 2023, the Museum of Art and Photography (MAP) will welcome visitors to Bengaluru. More than 130 works in various mediums from MAP’s enormous permanent collection are featured, emphasising works from the 20th and 21st centuries.
- The collection is divided into four interrelated narratives: Goddess and Mortal, Sexuality and Desire, Power and Violence, and Struggle and Resistance.
From the Director: According to the exhibition’s curator and director of MAP, Kamini Sawhney, women have been a significant topic in artistic depiction for millennia, but males have historically dominated the image-making process, giving women relatively little control over how they are portrayed. India used the defining image of a woman as the mother to represent the nation in the nationalist battle against colonial control. The map of the country has often been connected with the female body.
- It is alarming to note that while visual culture has not raised the standard as much as it should have, when performing arts, literature, activism, and the feminist movement in India all indicate shifting attitudes and perspectives.
🌳 New projects for cleaner air
To enhance the air quality in Bengaluru, the Karnataka government has sanctioned 11 projects totalling ₹140 crore.
What’s it about? The initiatives received funding from the 15th Finance Commission and have already received state approval. The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP), the Bengaluru Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC), the Department of Horticulture, and the Directorate of Urban Land Transport each received one of the eleven works (DULT). The BBMP had received ₹279 crore for these projects earlier as well; however, the funds were not utilised completely.
- The BMTC has been given several tasks, such as electrifying bus depots (for 20 crore rupees), purchasing five double-decker buses (10 crore rupees), marketing public transportation (1 crore rupees), and delivering 100 electric feeder buses (Rs 13 crore).
- The Palike had suggested constructing TenderSURE roads, buying mechanical sweeper equipment, installing sensors to detect pollution, and installing drinking fountains at 42 traffic crossings. These ideas, however, have not yet been put into action.
🛣 Residents and experts oppose road projects
Residents from Bengaluru’s Vyalikaval, Malleswaram, and Sadashivnagar met with government representatives on Tuesday to talk about the BBMP’s plans to enlarge Sankey Tank Bund Road and construct a flyover from T Chowdaiah Road to 18th Cross.
What’s it about? Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) head engineer BS Prahlad presented the government’s proposals to the people. He explained the need to go forward with the road-widening and flyover construction projects. He pointed to the increasing congestion on the roads and said that the projects are necessary to solve the matter.
- Prof. Ashish Verma, convenor of the sustainable transportation lab at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bengaluru, countered the words of Prahlad.
- He said that flyovers do not alleviate traffic congestion; rather, they relocate the points of congestion.
Suggestions from the public: Shaheen Shasa, co-founder of Bengaluru Bus Prayanikara Vedike, suggested buses as an alternative to the existing transportation system, claiming that it is very difficult to convince the government to increase the buses even by a small number, while the government is spending crores of rupees on building metros, flyovers, and widened roads.
- The people also laid stress on the need to have an elected BBMP mayor so that the concerns of the public can be catered to.
🎭 Epic folk drama in Bengaluru
A team of ten artists performs in an incredible play written by writer and activist K B Siddaiah. The play is based on his epic poem called ‘Daklakatha Devikavya’.
What’s it about? The crew enacts the scenes on stage with extreme passion and vigour. The verses of the epic, when performed on stage, cause the audience to cry, think, and even laugh. The plot challenges conventional viewpoints, boundaries, and definitions of theatrical aesthetics with the sounds of the traditional Dalit folk instruments, the areye, and the tamte, and the reproduction of Dalit rites and experiences.
- It details the internal dynamics and interpersonal relationships of the Dalit community known as the Daklas. The poem examines what it means to be “human.”
Praise for the play: The theatrical presentation of Siddaiah’s poetry inspires spectators around the state to ponder, reassess, and adopt new viewpoints. Audiences from various ages and social backgrounds have enjoyed the play due to the intricacy of the language and the variety of insights it delivers.
✨ Things to do…
Here are some fun and interesting things to do in the city over the weekend!
- International singer and songwriter Ananya Birla is arriving in UB City this Friday. Catch her live!
- Laugh out loud with Devesh Dixit and his show, “Gem of a person”, at Old Airport Road, Kodihalli, this Saturday and Sunday.
- Transfer your creativity into clay at the Pottery Workshop at Lahe Lahe, 80 Feet Road, Kodihalli starting Friday.
- Enjoy amazing live music and get charged with Boombox this Saturday at 1st Sector, HSR Layout.
- Experience soul-soothing Sufi music and ascend to the melodies of the 13th century this Sunday at Ajanadri Layout, Konanakunte.
🛋️ Local Lounge
Yesterday’s Poll Results:
- Yes, I have visited a zoo: 94.1% 🏆
- No, I have not visited a zoo: 5.9%
That’s it for today. Have a great weekend!