Bicycle Chief

CITY LIFE & LIVING

Bangalore, Wednesday, August 12, 2009

www.dnaindia.com epaper.dnaindia.com

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DASARATHI GV’S A COMPANY DIRECTOR, BUT HE CYCLES TO WORK AND USES THE BUS

All hail the bicycle chief HISTORY IN THE MAKING: Bangalore has a number of statues and busts dedicated to historically important personalities, but art is also about the future

It’s time to sculpt a space for our artists The bust of Thiruvallavar was unveiled in the city on Sunday, but it is also time that public spaces were made available for more modern works of art, say sculptors Sajini Sahadevan. BANGALORE GREEN WHEELS: Dasarathi cycles to work on most days, and when he doesn’t, he takes the bus to and from Camdem Technologies Elizabeth Soumya. BANGALORE How does a CEO get to work? In a swanky big car you'd say. Meet Dasarathi GV, director and one of the founders of Cadem Technologies, who defies stereotypes and chooses to live life the green way. He cycles to work.

A mode of transport he opted for nine years ago, when he was 40.

Mapping his daily route, the avid cyclist says, "I live in Sadashivanagar and cycle to work in Jayanagar, that's almost 30km up and down." He names the two bicycles in his possession that make his everyday commute to work possible: "One is a Trek 4300 with 24 gears, and the other is a Dahon Vitesse folding bike with seven gears. I can fold this and carry it in an auto or bus."

greenmentors The reason he switched to pedalling his way through the city's chaotic roads, he says, was to be responsible towards the environment apart from the fact that cycling for him was also a great way of adding exercise into his daily life, instead of slogging in the gym. "It is enjoyable; makes my commute fun instead of a chore," he adds.

It's not just the physical benefits that he receives from cycling, it also aids in keeping him mentally calm, says this cyclist: "In a car I'm irritated and tense in Bangalore's traffic. But cycling not only keeps me composed, but I also look forward to it each day. It is the perfect way to shake off those Monday

morning blues as well."

On days that he doesn't take his usual mode of transport, Dasarathi prefers hopping onto a bus. "On days that I don't cycle, I go by bus [the regular BMTC bus, not the AC one] to work. On my way back I take a bus till City Market and walk home the rest of the way for the exercise – that's 8 km," he says.

For family outings, he drives in his energy efficient Reva and restricts the usage of the car to three times a month.

According to this business leader, cycling can contribute towards reducing the city's swarming traffic. Pointing out a solution to the traffic menace, he says, "I believe that the bus, cycling and walking are the only solutions to Bangalore's traffic problems. We should stop thinking of these modes of transport as infra-dig. They are normal modes of transport in enlightened countries worldwide."

Giving an extract from his eco-responsible life, he explains: "I bathe in cold water so as to reduce the energy consumed to heat water. I use minimal water. We try to buy second products.

The mobile I am currently using is five years old. We use CFL bulbs for lighting; we carry our own bags for shopping. We don't use toilet paper or napkins. We minimise the use of detergents because these are harmful chemicals that pollute groundwater, rivers and lakes."

This is one leader who is setting an example not just at his workplace, but also on his way getting there.

GO GREEN TOO...HERE ARE SOME TIPS Avoid individually packaged items. We often have options at the supermarket to buy items that are “conveniently” packaged in individual units to make packing lunches and eating-onthe-go easier. Food such as yogurt, pudding, soft drinks, juice, cereal, and snack foods may come in packages of multiple single-serving sizes in addition to larger, “bulk” sizes.

Even though the individual sizes do seem more convenient, they also produce more waste with their packaging than the larger sizes. You can buy the larger sizes and then divide up the food at home in reusable containers to avoid the excess garbage.

Instead of allowing the bagger to bag your groceries in disposable plastic or paper bags, bring your own bags made of cloth, mesh, or other recycled material to reduce the garbage produced by grocery bags.

Some specialty grocery stores even offer incentives in the form of discounts to people who bring their own bags.

Avoid as much packaging as you can In the produce aisle. Do you really need to put your bananas, head of lettuce, or bunch of carrots in a plastic bag? You'll probably end up throwing the bag away anyway, so bypass the plastic in the produce aisle and wait until you get home where you can store the food in a reusable container.

Buy items in recycled packaging. Many items today are packaged in recycled paper or plastic, which is labelled on the bag or box. Look for items that are labelled as such, and that have a high percentage of recycled content in their packaging.

Also look for items that are packaged in recyclable containers — ones that you can use yourself at home to reduce your own garbage.

e_soumya@dnaindia.net

woodstock40yearson

Yasgur’s farm was a triumph for peace, love

Page 3 just got a whole lot more design style SELVAPRAKASH L. DNA

W

oodstock evokes various emotions across generations: My grandparents might envision a young crowd lost in a frenzy of drugs, sex and rock 'n' roll. Some of my more 'radical' aunts express their regrets over not having been there. As for me and my younger brother, we can only sigh in regret over not having been born in the 70s (in fact, it's the only time I wish I were older) to experience the madness and the musical extravaganza.

Woodstock drew in over half a million festival-goers from all over. More importantly, the festival was held during a time of military conflict abroad and racial prejudice at home, thereby becoming a site for a cross-cultural "minination" of sorts where thousands of people got together to celebrate life and music irrespective of colour and race.

In tune with the 60s idealistic view of the world, Woodstock brought about a sense of social harmony among an overwhelming mass of people, with some of the best music ever made.

The coming weekend celebrates the 40th anniversary of the festival. Of course, we will relive those moments by having our own 'local' Woodstock that will have bands come together and showcase their music. A platform will be provided for musicians to step up and play what they feel, or simply cover artists and bands that have made them into who they are today.

But nothing can compare to the days when music flowed through the medium without restrictions imposed by time curfews and so called keepers of culture, the same people who dictate that any form of ''un-indian-ness'' in music shouldn't be appreciated, let alone played. Not many people know that our own Pandit Ravi Shankar performed during the very first Woodstock, where he mesmerised thousands of people with his alaps and raagas through the pouring rain.

Woodstock is regarded as one of the greatest moments in music history, and a victory for peace and love. May the music and spirit of Woodstock live on.

Finally, to quote from Joni Mitchell's song Woodstock: “I’m going on down to Yargur’s farm, Gonna join in a rock n roll band I gotta get back to the land and set my soul free We are stardust, we are golden, we are billion year old carbon And we got to get ourselves back to the garden”

The Page 3 bookstore has carved out a niche in Bangalore, based on the tenets of innovation, imagination and intellect The name epitomises the brio and the verve of being exclusive and exemplary. Established nearly a year ago, the Page 3 bookshop is a bookstore on "designing". The one-of-a-kind store is an example of chic creativity and vogue.

Vinay Sachdeva, of Page 3, says, "It is a new concept altogether. Bangalore is the second venture after Delhi. The store concentrates on the design-oriented market and has customers from all over India" Social networking and connectivity were roots for Sachdeva, and led him to explore new avenues. "Annual gatherings helped us to build a network in the field of advertising and we became the dealers of the book One Show, which pins on every angle of advertising.

Since then there has been no looking back.

Now we are the legal importers of the book from Mumbai," says Sachdeva. There are a variety of books on visual art, graphic and publication design, brand management, advertising, architecture, interior design, fashion and photography.

He says, "We have books that not only help students explore new dimensions, but it also helps the industry with ideas and innovations."

They have a large roster of clients ranging from marketing agencies and builders to techies and designers.

"We have Ogilvy & Mather, Mindspace, Mudra and JWT as our clients. CLT are our oldest clients," says Sachdeva. The books vary in price, ranging from Rs2,000, to the advertising gospel D&AD that costs a whopping Rs18,000.

On the demand for such books in Bangalore, Sachdeva says, "Books are not seasonal, they are the greatest friends. The ocean of ideas and knowledge is always in demand."

Sujit Das, who is a regular customer at Page 3, says, "It provides a different genre of design art and artefacts. It inspires us and helps us keep ourselves updated, globally."

For more information contact page3books@airtelbroadband.in

Tony Sebastian

Arun Vijayan

For a person who doesn't read the newspaper or watch much TV, Twitter is a major source of information. It was a little weird being cut off from the links.”

I felt like I had nothing to do. I even got calls from some fellow Twitterers after a long time, when Twitter was down. So I assume everyone was desperate”

"I didn't actually think much about outage before this. Now that it has hit so badly, I am thinking about having a channel on friendfeed.com too. We are also looking at an IM through which we can ping people. But I need to spend some time on it and work on it.

Google's SMS channel is another alternative," says Thejesh.

For Filttr, however, it's not so easy to think of back-up plans. "We do have a system in place to detect when Twitter is down for maintenance and other issues. Since we are a Twitter-based service, we don't really have an option, but to wait for Twitter to restore full functionality," Hegde said.

Juthika Sinha. BANGALORE

Bassist Shalini Mohan may regret she wasn't at Woodstock 69, but its message of unity is palpable to her, 40 years on

The writer plays the bass guitar

Bangalore is abound with the busts and statues of personalities who have gone down in the pages of history. The latest entrant into the pantheon of the state's finest is the statue of saint-poet Thiruvallavar. While these would constitute monumental works, public installations, on the whole, are not a very common sight in the city.

For years the city's sculptors have stated, that while existing works need to be maintained, there should be an avenue for artists to showcase their works in the public domain, i.e. parks and roads.

Balan Nambiar, a prominent sculptor and artist whose works occupy pride of place in many parts of Bangalore, says that the bureaucracy is to blame. "I am still very hurt by the loss of my sculpture that was displayed on Lavelle Road in 2004. The police came to my house to apologise, but the damage has already been done."

As a member of the Central Advisory Board for Culture, Nambiar has proposed a law for the protection of works displayed in public. "If there was a law, it would not have been stolen. Almost every country has a law to ensure the protection of art, except here," he laments.

Sculptor Gyanesh Misra too is of the view that a work should be valued in a deserving manner: "Sculptures show the progress of a city. Of course we should have contemporary works, but it is of no relevance when nothing is done to retain the old sculptures. We need the old as well as the new."

"A city is built by its architecture and artists," says John Devaraj who has 17 sculptures displayed in the city. He opines that while the government is quick to commission monumental works, installations re-

flecting the modern times and its people are yet to make an appearance.

Devaraj dreams of the day when he will see his project The Child unveiled for the world to see: "It is a 555ft sculpture that I had proposed to the government as a tribute to the orphans of the world. It will be big enough to be seen from the moon."

He views the lack of encouragement as a need for receptivity to such ideas. "One needs to be mad enough to have big dreams. The city can be more open to such installations," he says. "Installations still remain a new concept. We are only mid-way. There is still a long way to go," points out Misra.

While caught between the neglect of works already displayed and working towards bringing new works in to see the light of day, sculptors say true talent remains ignored: "Again, the bureaucracy is to blame. The Gallery of Modern Art here does not display many works that are exceptional. The government avoids anything they feel will lead to a controversy," says Devaraj.

Young sculptors, according to Misra, have more opportunities and are well-equipped: "Even technical tools are easily available these days. But artists should not be discriminated as senior or junior, but appreciated for their works." Given a chance, he says he would create sculptures depicting the need to care for animals and nature.

As for Nambiar, he refuses to talk about projects for the future till a law protecting sculptures is passed: "I have used every opportunity in the many capacities I have held in various bodies to push for a law. People are willing to open up to new ideas. But once a monumental sculpture is made, it becomes public property. An artist puts in effort to create such works.” s_sajini@dnaindia.net

A HEAP OF DESIGN: The Page 3 bookstore specialises in books on design, ranging from interiors and architecture to photography and fashion

Where were you the day Twitter died?

Twitter was hit by a massive DDoS on Sunday, and Bangalore felt the shockwaves of the attack NT Balanarayan. BANGALORE

What happens when your telephone stops working? You can't call the police in case of an emergency, nor can you call up your friends living far away. That's exactly how users of popular micro-blogging site twitter.com felt when the service underwent an outage earlier this week due to a Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS).

The worst affected, however, were those whose sites were dependent on Twitter and its users.

Filttr.com, run by a Karnataka-based company, helps twitter users just show tweets related to their field of interest and it was among those worst affected. According to Swaroop Hegde, director, Software and Services, the site lost 90 per cent of traffic dur-

ing the days Twitter was attacked. "We have been losing 40 per cent due to inconsistent data from Twitter. Things seem to be back to normal since early Monday, however."

What landed the service in a soup was that to log in, users needed an approval; an authorisation from Twitter to use the data on another site. The approval is called OAuth.

"Thanks to our design, a user needs to authorise an application only once through twitter.com. This includes, but is not limited to, new signups. However, during the attack, access tokens were rejected by Twitter, which led to our system forcing existing users to re-authorise," Hegde says.

"I am pretty sure they have a cluster solution in place, but this was not a normal attack – quite frankly, for a small company like Twitter, it's hard to tackle such a massive DDoS attack," he says.

Tweet4blood a city based initiative by Thejesh GN was another service affected by the outage. The service lets people in need of blood post details at tweet4blood.com and then the info will be broadcast to Twitter from the @tweet4blood ID.

balanarayan@dnaindia.net