Theobserverissue29

The Observer An IIJNM Publication

Vol 18, Issue 29

Thursday, April 12, 2018

The Observer

@theweeklyobserver On the web: issuu.com/ theweeklyobserver/docs/the observer

‘Model’ road Church Street still has problems that need attention | P 2

Bad roads in Babusabpalya become a cause of concern to commuters | P 2

Cong calls PM’s Blame our lifestyle too for fast a drama disappearance of the sparrow Plastic, paint smell, and photo-op lack of ventilation

‘BJP’s proxies, not us, wasted Parliament time’ Ayushi Singh

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idiculing the fast by PM Narendra Modi against the washout of the Budget session, the Congress on Thursday accused him and others of “having breakfast, then fasting for an hour, then eating again because they couldn’t stay hungry longer than that”.

Speaking at a press conference at the KPCC headquarters, AICC spokesman Randeep Surjewala said: “PM and Amit Shah are enacting an absurd drama of photos-ops and headline management.”

Asked why the Congress disrupted parliament and did not allow crucial Bills to be passed, he said: “BJP disrupted Parliament through proxy allies; it did not permit the no-confidence motions to be deliberated or voted”.

“It is a party which disrupted 66.88% of the total functioning time of the previous Lok Sabha and wasted 250 functioning hours of the Budget session.

The Modi government, instead

Why are Rahul, Sonia taking salary, asks BJP As PM Modi joined them in observing a day-long fast, BJP functionaries targeted the Congress for disrupting Parliament.

In Bengaluru, Union minister of chemicals, fertilizers and parliamentary affairs. Ananth Kumar said: “I want to ask Rahul Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi, why are you taking salary and perks from Parliament when you did not allow it to function?”

BJP president Amit Shah and the party’s chief ministerial candidate for Karnataka, B.S. Yeddyurappa, observed a fast in Dharwad. Shah tweeted: “Across the country, in every Lok Sabha constituency, BJP workers are fasting for a day to save our democracy.” of blaming the Congress, should tender an unconditional apology for dishonouring democracy,” Surjewala added.

Asked about farmers committing suicide in Karnataka, he blamed the Centre, saying it collects taxes from the states but does not help Karnataka. ayushi.s@iijnm.org

driving them away Pracheta Panja

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he house sparrow, the bird that was part of people’s lives, is disappearing. While environmental degradation, and electromagnetic radiation from industries and telecommunications networks, are widely blamed, another reason for the bird’s disappearance is people’s lifestyle.

Prof. Nagesh Hegde, an awardwinning journalist who writes extensively on environmental issues, informed The Observer: “Earlier, we used to collect grain waste from grocery shops. Now, the use of plastic packets leaves no grain waste for birds to consume; it is only plastic waste.

Did we ever think how plastic is related to the extinction of the small common bird?”

While human beings can smell house paint only for a while, he said, sparrows can smell it for as long as a year. The birds cannot tolerate the odour; they try to escape when they smell it.

Hegde also blamed mosquito-repellent coils, which are harmful to humans too,

The house sparrow, which was earlier a part of people’s life, is not seen in cities anymore New construction styles have put the birds in danger. Earlier, every house had proper ventilation that would allow sparrows to fly in and out. The culture of multi-storeyed buildings has neglected the concept of ventilation, leaving no shelter for sparrows, Prof. Hegde said.

Just as the decreasing number of frogs indicates that a water body is polluted, fewer sparrows around us point to the environment not being conducive to their existence. Though the number of house sparrows has gone down, Bengaluru has more of them compared to other big cities, another expert says.

Urban conservationist Vijay Nishanth said: “Earlier, people kept water in their balconies or threw grains which fed the little creatures. They used to think

Police rescue man kidnapped for Rs 1-crore ransom, arrest four Rayan Mitra

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PROTESTS AGAINST PM IN CHENNAI: Huge protests against PM Modi brought Chennai to a halt on Thursday. Workers of the DMK and other parties staged black-flag protests against Modi for not setting up a Cauvery Management Board. They floated a balloon with a slogan saying ‘Modi Go Back’. They accused the Centre of not setting up the board to appease the voters of election-bound Karnataka. Modi was in the city to attend Defence Expo 2018. | Courtesy: Puthiya Thalaimurai

them as a part of their life. Now nobody cares about these small things. Though we can see sparrows in the City market area or Cubbon Park, their number has gone down.”

Dr Sumanta Bagchi, professor of the ecology department at the Indian Institute of Science, concurred with Prof. Hegde. According to him,“Sparrows do not need trees; they live in a treeless habitat which cannot be found now,” Domestic pollution not only destroys the ecosystem, but also harms human beings, he noted.

Jayachandra Rao, a medical adviser who has lived in the city for a long time, said: “Bengaluru has no sparrows left. I used to see them around my house.... For over 20 years, there are no sparrows in the city.”Vasundhara Devi, a hom maker who lives in an apartment at Uttarahalli, south Bengaluru, said: “It was long ago that it used to enter our homes for food. It’s sad sparrows don’t come anymore.”

The situation is no different in central Bengaluru. Suravi M, who lives on Rest House Road, near Brigade Road, said: “I have not seen sparrows for many years. People say they don’t come because of radiation from telephone wires.” pracheta.p@iijnm.org

engaluru police have rescued a man within 48 hours of him being kidnapped. A team of six officers arrested a group of kidnappers, additional commissioner, east zone, Seemanth Kumar Singh informed a press conference on Thursday.

Shivakumar, who works for Bosch, was rescued from Srinivaspura taluk, Kolar district.

The arrested men are Sathya, VInod, Jagannath and Sanjay.

Shivakumar informed police he was blindfolded and had no idea where he was taken.

A beaming Shivakumar (C) with his wife Sudha | Credit: Rayan Mitra Shivakumar went out for some work on the morning of April 9 and did not return even after dark. His wife Sudha, who went to enquire with her relatives and friends, received a call from her husband. He said he had been kidnapped.

The kidnappers had demanded Rs 1 crore for his release.

Sudha went to the Parap-

pana Agrahara police station and lodged a complaint.

Police said Shivakumar was kidnapped at the behest of business rival Sathya, who had come to know that Shivakumar had a lot of money.

When Shivakumar sold a property and deposited the money in his account, Sathya got wind of it, Singh said. Sathya asked Shivakumar for some money, but the latter refused. An upset Sathya then plotted the kidnapping.

Thanking the city police, Sudha said she was afraid that her husband would be harmed. She added that their steady operation saved him. rayan.m@iijnm.org

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Are you riding in Babusabpalya?

You must be doubly careful To avoid potholes, residents take alternative routes

Roads have been dug up and left untouched, but the BBMP claims that work on it is on, to lay pipes for Cauvery water | Udaya Kumar Rachel Dammala

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arred by potholes, roads in Babusabpalya, near Hennur, north Bengaluru, have become a cause of concern and trouble to residents and commuters.

The condition of these roads, especially those behind Bank Colony, has resulted in commuters wanting to take different routes.

“Riding along these roads has become a tedious task. I have to be doubly careful so I don’t hit any bumps. I lose my patience most of time. This, coupled with heavy traffic, makes my journey to office troublesome,” Arun Eliazer, a professional who tries to avoid these roads, informed The Observer. He takes the road only when he runs late.

While there have been no accidents on the road in the recent past, motorists and bikers have skidded and narrowly missed hitting other vehicles, according to residents.

“People skid when it rains.

These potholes increase the intensity of their fall. While no major accidents have taken place, these minor ones could prove to be dangerous,” a shopkeeper, Prajwal Jain, said.

With assembly elections a month away, the residents hope the roads will be repaired. “I am confident the roads will be repaired sooner this year. Politicians and bureaucrats will make sure this place is fine as elections approach. I hope at least this gets them to work,” Jain said.

A few residents, though, say that work is under progress and will be completed soon.

Chandranna S., owner of a photocopying shop, said they contacted the officers concerned.

“We spoke to Radhamma Venkatesh, the corporator. She said she would begin work; it is now under progress. There is just a slight delay. We don’t have other problems here; just the roads, which will be fixed soon,” he said assuringly.

When Corporator Radhamma Venkatesh was contacted, we were told that the roads were dug up to lay pipes for Cauvery water to pass. “The conditon has been such since the past 6 months and will take a little more time to finish,” she said.

The project costs a total of 173 crore rupees. dammala.r@iijnm.org

GST transactions made hassle-free Manikankana Sengupta

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number of companies are deploying systems to handle GST transactions. These reduce manual labour and promise safety of customers’ data.

Zoho, a business development company, has launched a GSTfriendly financial suite that will take care of filing GST returns.

The entire operation happens through a cloud system called Zoho Finance Plus. They reduce human effort and time, and bring in a system that keeps track of the overall financial dealings of the user company.

“We help companies stream-

line finances and take care of the money going in and out.

The aim is to provide complete management of both receivables and payables,” Sivaramakrishnan Iswaran, director of product management, told a press conference on Thursday.

Being a GST Suvidha Provider company, Zoho has made provisions for GST filings on their cloud systems. GST-compliant invoices get recorded with the click of a button.

In February, the company entered into a partnership with ICICI Bank to deliver digital banking services to the latter’s large customer base. manikankana.s@iijnm.org

CITY

The Observer Thursday, April 12, 2018

NOT ALL IS WELL ON CHURCH ST

Praised for its beauty and called a model road, the newly laid Church Street is not as flawless as it is made out to be. The stretch leading to St Mark’s Road near KC Das has been dug open, exposing underground cables. The BBMP has not cared to barricade the gaping holes. Citizens and traders have urged the government to make the 715-metre-long road a pedestrian-only zone. The road, with a cobble stone carriageway, was thrown open to the public on March 1. Work on re-laying the road, which cost Rs 9 crore, had missed several deadlines. Church Street is a major food and pub hub | Photo and text: Rachel Dammala

Don’t strain your ankle much

Retrocalcaneal Bursitis can hamper your walking Pracheta Panja

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etrocalcaneal Bursitis, a painful condition that affects the heel, is very common among people. The Observer spoke to Dr Kannan Karuppaiah Kumar, an orthopedician, to find out.

Excerpts from the interview: What is this disease?

There is a space between the tendon and the bone called bursa. Retrocalcaneal Bursitis is inflammation of the bursa. When the space between the tendon and the bone gets inflamed, one suffers from bursitis. It is common in the elbow, the knee joint, and around the heel. The retrocalcaneal bursa is located in the back of the ankle. The heel bone is known as calcaneal bone.

What are the common causes?

Though it is very difficult to understand the cause of Calcaneal Bursitis, it mostly happens due to a lot of stress on the ankle.

Repeated action, or too much strain on the ankle, could be a major factor. This is why ballet dancers are very prone to getting this problem. Walking or running continuously on an uneven surface can be a cause.

In addition, improper and uncomfortable footwear can harm you. Before exercise of legs and joints, stretching is essential. If

any person does not do so, he/ she might suffer from Calcaneal Bursitis.

What are the common symptoms of this disease?

A Retrocalcaneal Bursitis patient is not able to walk properly.

The disorder also induces pain in infected parts of the body. A patient may suffer from pain in the ankle. Sometimes people may find it difficult to wear shoes.

The symptoms include redness and swelling of the area around the bone. When it reaches the extreme level, it may cause fracture of the tendon. The patient may lack the ability to move his/ her leg as well. The patients of Retrocalcaneal Bursitis are very much prone to bone spur, a little outgrowth of the bone.

What are the remedies?

The patient should give rest to the heel. Cold fomentation, exercise and physiotherapy are some of the other solutions. We prescribe non-steroidal antiinflammatory drugs. To extreme cases, we also suggest ultrasound treatment.

What are the preventive measures?

Though it is difficult to prevent, we suggest wearing comfortable shoes, avoid walking on uneven surfaces, and doing proper stretching exercises. pracheta.p@iijnm.org

NEWS BRIEFS

National: PM Narendra Modi and other BJP leaders on Thursday observed a fast to protest against the washout of the budget session of Parliament. Modi accused the opposition of “trying to crush democracy”.

International: Pope Francis will meet victims he had once doubted in a sexual abuse case involving the church in Chile to seek their forgiveness. He has acknowledged his “grave mistakes” in judging the case.

Karnataka: Prajwal Revanna, son of former minister H.D. Revanna and grandson of exPM H.D. Deve Gowda, will not contest an assembly seat.

Bengaluru: An Uber driver has been arrested for causing the death of a young footballer. Tejaswini, a state-level player, on Sunday succumbed to the head injuries she suffered when she came under the wheels of the cab.

Business: Credit agency Standard and Poor’s has said Indian banks need to improve their practices of risk management and governance in the wake of the problems faced by ICICI Bank and Axis Bank.

Sports: Indian wrestlers Sushil Kumar and Rahul Aware have won gold medals at the 2018 Commonwealth Games, while Babita Phogat has won a silver. Tejaswni Sawant has bagged silver in 50m rifle prone.

Twitterati on Elections 2018 SanthoshChinnathambi @SaChinScribling #GoBackModi come only with Cauvery Management Board....

Stop Ignoring TN for other state election victory!!! Don’t do cheap politics. #Cauvery #Tamilnadu Rights.. #DefenceExpo #KarnatakaElection Office Of Modi @OfficeOfModi Before #KarnatakaElection, Result will be leaked.

Santhosh @tamizhpithanN Replying to @screamingfishie @News18TamilNadu There is no other side in this story!!! The only thing do exist is #karnatakaElection if both congress and BJP desperately want to win there, so they delay from their end!! V r not demanding for something new, v r demanding for what the court said!

Observer Team Editor: Pracheta Panja, Page Layout: Rachel, Athul M, G.Manashaa Reporters: Manikankana Rayan M., Ayushi Singh

Culture & Society

The Observer SUPPLEMENT

Wednesday, April 12, 2018

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The Poet in the Community

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ven as debate rages about the relevance of reading to Instagram generation, there is a growing army of library activists who promotingthe virtues of sitting together and reading across schools in India.

Michael Creighton, an American poet who has developed a strange fascination for Delhi, spends a lot of time reading to the children at Deepalaya Community Library in Delhi.

Just as individual expression forms an integral part of a city, a city can become an intrinsic part of the person’s consciousness. For Michael Creighton, Delhi has been a part of ‘your flesh, your seeds, your skin’, of ‘sweat and soil, mixed with clover, sun and wind.’ He arrived in Delhi in 2005 as a teacher at the American Embassy School in Delhi and has since stayed put. A poet, a teacher and a library-movement activist all rolled into one, Creighton sees the idea of ‘Delhi’ as the axis around which the imaginations,

the thoughts and the livelihoods of people in the city revolve. A graduate of Portland State University, he finds it interesting to live in a city so very submerged in its own existence. His poems are a direct reflection of his personal attachment to the city. In his collection of poems, published in 2017 under the Speaking Tree label, New Delhi Love Songs, he depicts a breathing city which shapes the mindscape of its citizens. His poems reflect the city’s social segregation despite its attempt to become an amalgam of ‘accommodated cultures’.

As a library activist, he has been a part of the Deepalaya Community Library which he started with the Delhi-based author Mridula Koshy, intending to help children read and become great thinkers.

Initially reluctant, Koshy accompanied Creighton to several readings while they volunteered at Ramditti J R Narang Deepalaya School in Sheikh Sarai. Within months, an after-school reading

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Reading aloud in a group is an entirely difference way to experience literature, says Barnana H Sarkar

Michael Creighton believes that children need more exposure

club was formed for children to analyse the stories that were being read out to them, whether about caste segregation, intolerance and other social issues. The idea was to make the children more acutely aware of their social surroundings.

“By reading to children, we reveal that books contain stories worth reading, and we model and encourage original, creative thinking. Importantly, read-alouds are a bridge between the wonderful oral traditions of storytelling

Agrasar. With almost 1,000 active members, the libraries issue around 500 books a week.

Creighton explains that the libraries are open to people from every strata of society as they seek to create community out of disparate lives. “We do what good libraries do everywhere; for example, we hold workshops on theatre, adolescence and sexuality, and various kinds of visual arts.

But our main engagement has always been the read-aloud,” he says. e says that when he reads out stories to the children, they are exposed to situations they could never have imagined and to ideas worth thinking about, which helps them to become more original and to think creatively. Creighton believes that art must reach a much larger audience. As a poet, he believes that it is only through the production of art that people will actually engage with it and learn from it.

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which are still alive in the communities we serve and the act of individual reading, which can seem lonely until you’ve done it for a while,” says Creighton.

Taking of the community-library project, Michael describes itas a citizen’s initiative to promote free and proper access to quality libraries in Delhi. They presently run two community libraries in the National Capital Region, one with Deepalaya and the other with an NGO named

The Stories People Tell Storytelling helps build communities of shared interest, says Shiny Kirupa

BSS

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torytelling enhances communicative and listening skills. Stories help us remember things easily and help connect them with our personal lives. Everyone has a story of their own to tell. But not all are said in public. Bangalore Storytelling Society (BSS) serves as a platform to share one’s wonderful, interesting and personal stories within a likeminded network of story tellers and listeners.

“Getting together and sharing ones’ experience is what builds community,” says Aparna Athreya, a passionate advocate of story-telling in education and a co-founder of BSS. She believes that it is through telling stories that people get to know each other. “It helps define one’s personal identity and reveal themselves,” she adds.

Many inspirational stories are narrated by professional storytellers using art and craft to an audience that consists of young and old. Through workshops, events, performances they revive and popularize various traditional and

The BSS provides a platform for the particpants to talk about themselves through stories

contemporary styles of storytelling.The BSS encourages the audience to actively express their life’s experiences and memories through narrating stories.

Inspired by “The Moth”, an American organization that hosts personal story-telling events across US, ‘Personally SpeakingCirle’ was started in mid- 2016. It is a story circle organized by BSS for people to share their personal stories. For a short while it was called Sankofa Circle and was conducted in Koramangala. In 2018, it was shifted to LaheLahe,

a community platform for individuals to express their creative art, in Indiranagar and was renamed the Personally Speaking Circle.

Though Personally Speaking initially was an open-mike session where people could share any story close to their heart, it adopted a much more approachable and innovative method this year. A bunch of story-tellers decided to have a common theme for the participants to speak on.

Themes like food, strangers etc is announced and participants prepare to talk about it.

“What a person can best talk about is – themselves. It gives great confidence to talk of oneself rather than any scientific stuff,” says Athreya. The event is conducted on the second Saturday of each month at LaheLahe in Jeevan Bhima Nagar. Other events are also listed in the BSS’s storytelling meetups –Atta Galata for sharing traditional tales, Head &Tales for children and family story time.

Personal stories that are shared have a deep impact on the listeners. Sowmya Srinivasan, a cre-

ative story-teller, recalls sharing her personal story about the struggle and helplessness she faced while taking care of her terminally-ill mother. The audience was so moved, a member later came up and hugged her with tearful eyes.

“There is a whole lot of wonderful bonding that happens as people become visible to each other,” says Srinivasan. “We understand how similar we are to each other and how different too. These circles create a sense of community and are much needed in our modern-day technology driven dystopian world.” avanya Prasad, cofounding member of BSS also believes that story-telling can be a strong pedagogical tool. She has passion for teaching and that led her to develop ways to use stories for teaching effectively. She has worked with teachers, children, senior citizens and NGOs and affirms that sharing personal life memories and stories help connect with people.

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Culture & Society

The Observer SUPPLEMENT

Wednesday, April 12, 2018

4

Devil in the Detail Cosplay’s charm lies not just in dressing up as a fictitious character but becoming her, says Barnana H Sarkar

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ters themselves. The artist has to bring out the character, just as an actor does. “You can call it a miniature version of a movie. But the difference is you have to do it yourself, from creating the costume to actually being that particular character. Fans notice every single detail, you cannot miss out anything because you are the living version of that character.”

Romi mimics Nier, an all purpose battle android

tume. When cosplay took its actual form in the 1970's Japan, the manga series UruseiYatsura and the television series Mobile Suit Gundam acted as a great inspiration for cosplay artists. Japanese college students, following a theme similar to masquerade, dressed up as their favourite characters from these series, and would enact their favourite scenes. Says Romi Mondal, a doc-

Romi

ubcultures often emerge from the tendency to add something new to an existing culture. As a subculture, over the last few decades, cosplay has become a regular hobby (and profession) for the fans of graphic novels, manga, anime and other animated characters. Self-identifed nerds and geeks form a big portion of the cosplay subculture.

Cosplay, or dressing up as a character from a work of fictionsuch as a comic book, video game or television show, began in 1930s America.Initially seen as nothing more than 'costuming', it wasn't necessary for a person to mimic any particular character in their attire.

It was more about the genre than the character, back then, something that Forrest J. Ackerman did as one of the first attendees to a sci-fi convention in 1931. For the next few years these conventions became masquerade balls where rewards would be given to people with the best cos-

tor by profession and cosplay artist, “You really have to be in character. It isn’t like Halloween, where you can go the way you like. You need to improvise the costume just as much as you improvise yourself.”

Romi has been a cosplay artist for almost two years, now. As she would say, probably one of the reasons why people participate in a cosplay is to become the charac-

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ne common trait about the people within the cosplay community is that they all do it because it is fun. While most of them treat it as a hobby, several cosplay artists earn a living from it. Jessica Nigri, an American cosplay celebrity, attracted a million followers when she enacted Pikachu from Pokemon. She has appeared in several conventions, mimicking several characters from Assassin's Creed and Killer is Dead.

However, cosplay comes with its attendant risks. Some cosplay

artists have fallen victim to sexual abuse. “I was once at a convention in Mumbai,” recollects Romi, “and I still remember, one of the fans tried groping me. I had to use my friend as a shield.”Fans often forget that the artist dressed up as their favourite characters is actually a living person. Both men and women have been harassed at such conventions, due to which organizers are now taking precautions to prevent such incidents.

New York's Comic Con, puts up a huge sign which reads: 'Cosplay is not Consent'.

Cosplay is sometimes considered to be little more thanmimicry.

But, it’s a distinct subculture which has little to do with just dressing up or play acting or just a ‘go as you like show’ for adults.

It is anart form because cosplay is where people use all their creativity to change their appearance and become someone else and be, even for just a little while, something a little more intriguing than themselves.

If Stones Could Talk Kannada inscriptions dating to 370 CE open up new perspectives on the language, says Saket Tiwari

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adds Kumar.

Now ASI is planning to restart excavation of the site in“The site selected is of great archeological importance. We are doing scientific clearance for trail exaction in the area adjacent to the previous excavation site to find out whether there are structures related to it,” an ASI official told PTI last month.

Saket Tiwari

n 2011, a group of amateur historians from Kannada SamshodhaneAbhivrudhiPratishthana (KSAP), a Kannada-research centre, found stones bearing inscriptions in Talagunda village near Shiralakoppa in Karnataka’s Shimoga district. They asked the Archeological Survey of India (ASI) to do a detailed analysis of the site and to examine the inscriptions.

In 2012-13, the ASI published a paper saying the inscriptionswere Inscription found in Talagunda village of Shimoga district (Left) Pranaveshwara temple, considered as the center written left to right in two lan- of learning during Kadamba dynasty guages, in Kannada and Sanskrit, tions in Talagunda and the work mains of a city built by the Satava- be the first indigenous dynasty and determined that they dated to by ASI has made us rethink our hana kings, (first century BCE to which used Kannada for adminis370 CE. That made it one of the history,” says Naveen Kumar second century CE), which had trative purpose. This period is one oldest inscriptions ever found in president, KSAP. “Nobody knows been taken care of and expanded of the most important periods in the state. much about how Kannada and during theKadamba dynasty.

Karnataka’s history as this period “Until then we believed that the Sanskrit evolved together.”

Talagunda village, which is be- served as a turning point in the inscription from Halmidi(in The inscriptions apparently de- lieved to lie where the capital of economic development of the reHasan district) was the oldest scribe the tale of Veeramasti and Kadamba dynasty once stood, has gion when Kannada developed as Kannada inscription. But, the cop- her warrior consort BommaSidda- a very important place in history an important regional language per plate and stone inscriptions iah and how Veeramasti commits of south India. The Kadamba Dy“The place has a lot to tell us. found in Talagunda are 80 years “Sati” when Siddaiah is killed in nasty which existed between 345 People consider Sanskrit as the older than Halmidi and are dated battle. When ASI excavated the - 525 CE is considered Kar- mother of all languages. This dis370 CE,” ASI superintending ar- site, they found more inscriptions nataka’s original royalty. The dy- covery can explain to those people chaeologist TM Keshava told on copper plate as well as gold nasty ruled from Banavasi in that Kannada has also been deeply rooted in time. We have to do a India Today magazine. coins and inscriptions on stones. today's Uttara Kannada.

“The discovery of these inscrip- These are believed to be the reThe Kadambasare considered to detailed analysis of this place,”

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his ancient site, archeologists say, was once a place of great learning.

Kumar evenclaims that it was the site on an ancient university that could compare with the likes of Nalanda and Taxila but ASI officials say that is unproven. The PranaveshwaraTemple at the centre of Talagunda village is the main excavation site in and from it a number of points up to a 7.5 km radius are to be excavated.

“After the ASI found these stone inscriptions in Kannada, we are hopeful that soon this place will be a tourist centreand provide us the new ways of employment and earning,” says Kumar.