BOOKS
Writers etch their mark
It was good year for Bangalore authors. Anjum Hasan's The Cosmopolitans follows 53-year-old Qayenaat in a changing world. The author says she didn't set out to write a novel about art, she set the novel in the art world because it is a world of imagination. She sees Qayenaat as a rasika, a lover of arts. The colourful Hari Majestic is back in Zac O Yeah's A Hero for Hire . The erstwhile Tout of Bengaluru returns as a detective and with his cronies including Doc, Triplex and AC Gaadi sets out to rid the world of evil doers including shady hospitals and manic goons.
The end of the year saw Anita Nair's Alphabet Soup for Lovers , telling the story of Lena Abraham and the movie star Shoola Pani partly through the eyes of the cook Komathi as she learns the English alphabet through ingredients from the kitchen. Preeti Shenoy’s Why We Love The Way We Do , a collection of essays that explore the various aspects of love and relationships was launched at The Park. Nandita Bose’s Shadow and Soul , revolving around the lives of Devika and her younger lover, an artiste, Shaurjyo, was launched at Atta Galatta.
PERFORMANCE
The city a stage
This year there was the usual run of theatre festivals. The sixth edition of The Hindu Theatre Fest saw the staging of three plays in Bengaluru. God of Carnage , written by Yasmina Reza, translated by Christopher Hampton and directed by Nadir Khan, about two sets of parents meeting to sort out an issue between their children, which eventually devolves into chaos. The Government Inspector , presented by Akvarious Productions, Mumbai, and directed by Akarsh Khurana, a satirical play on political corruption. Two to Tango, Three to Jive , about a middle-aged man going through mid-life crisis, who decides to spice up his love life, marked actor-director Saurabh Shukla’s return to theatre after 18 years. Bengaluru was also the only city where Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre performed Hamlet in October.
The Ranga Shankara Festival was another success with plays staged from all over the country. Among the plays staged were Main Huun Yusuf, Aur Yeh Hai Mera Bhai, directed by Mohit Takalkar, who won the Shankar Nag Theatre Award 2015. Still and Still Moving , a production by Delhi-based Tadpole Repertory, directed by Neel Chaudhuri, a love story between two men against the backdrop of the cities they inhabit, Delhi and Gurgaon. Sharanya Ramprakash’s Akshaya Ambara , presented by Dramanon, which explores gender in Yakshagana, a traditional Karnataka folk theatre form and Abhishek Majumdar’s Dweepa , written originally in Bengali, premiered in Kannada, at the festival. Gender Bender , presented by Goethe-Institut in association with Max Mueller Bhavan, was a series of performances, a video presentation and installations, which brought to the fore the undoing conventional notions of gender and sexuality.
The first ever Bengaluru Comedy Festival, presented by Comedy Wagon, brought together stand-up comics from different cities, including Bengaluru — Sundeep Rao, Praveen Kumar, Kenny Sebastian, Sanjay Mankatala, Saad Khan, Sumukhi Suresh and Richa Kapoor.
TECHNOLOGY
Pehle App!
For IT city, apps was the buzzword in 2015 as it changed the way we commuted to work, ordered in food and groceries, worked on our fitness regimes and much more. If you were fed up with overcharging auto drivers and irregular bus services and wary of taking the car out, apps such as Ola and Uber made commuting within the city a breeze at the swipe of a smartphone. Ola, Uber, Meru became one of the most convenient ways to travel back home after a late night party or head to work for a early morning assignment you could not afford to miss.
In the later part of the year, motorbike rentals and ridesharing apps such as Lyft and Ridingo made commute something you did not dread about much on a weekday. As more and more app based services offer ridesharing options, urban experts feel that it will lead to lesser traffic snarls and bring down pollution levels in the city. Self driven car rentals, lead by companies such as Zoomcar and Bla Bla car ensured that you do not need to own a car to drive in the city.
Ordering in food got a new dimension in Bengaluru in 2015, as a plethora of food apps, ranging from those that just deliver food such as Swiggy to apps that make and deliver food such as Freshmenu. You no longer needed to call a restaurant, pour through reams of paper menus. You could just download one of the apps and get food from your favourite restaurant or service provider in quick time Customers also had the option of getting hot breakfasts via apps such as Brekkie. Home cooked food also became very popular and saw home sick youngsters using apps and the internet to connect with homecooks across the city, for a taste of homemade dal and parathas and much more. Apps such as Easydiner were also launched, allowing customers to book tables at a restaurant by a swipe.
MUSIC
The city’s sonic trailblazers
While 2015 marked several significant changes in the city’s soundscape, it was also the year in which Bengaluru bands etched their mark on the international music circuit.
Here’s a look at some of the city’s sonic history makers.
Peepal Tree
Rooted from trailblazers like Bhoomi, Thermal and a Quarter and the Raghu Dixit Project, Peepal Tree emerged as a rapidly successful band with their infectious high energy and distinct sounds making them very popular. They went on to make their international debut at the Asia-Pacific Broadcast Union Radio Song Festival in Yangon, Myanmar. The band was selected by All India Radio to represent India at the festival, which featured artistes from countries ranging from Pakistan and South Korea to Australia.
Moonarra
The world music band is often attributed to be synonymous with the city’s vibrant potpourri of music. While they have been making inroads in the global music circuit for close to a decade now, their most recent venture took them to Morocco for the Tangier’s Jazz Festival featuring the jazz of five continents as the only Indian band from Asia. Moonarra performed not once but twice in front of international artistes with a unique collaboration with Moroccan ensemble Gnawa Express. The expert artistes also conducted a workshop at the fest where they shared about their world jazz Indian classical fusion backgrounds.
Thermal And A Quarter
Fresh off their sixth studio album The Scene, the Bangalore Rockers embarked on a new direction with an album that took them to Bonn, Germany. What started as a conversation with Dr. Mathew Kurian, a scholar at the United Nations University in Dresden, Germany, evolved into a full-fledged album titled No Wall Too High commemorating 25 years of the collapse of the Berlin Wall. The album, a work that dwelt on divisions, also saw a collaboration with a German choral singer and took the band to Bonn to launch the record and perform at the United Nations Day celebrations along with other European bands.
The Raghu Dixit Project
The city-based folk rock band, best known for their infectiously addictive songs and lungi statements, returned earlier this year from yet another international tour. From the Kala Utsava in Singapore and Bangkok’s Festival of India to showcasing for the Indian community by the Indian Consulate in Jakarta and performing at the Java Jazz Festival in Jakarta, the unofficial ambassadors of Bengaluru’s music culture left a lasting impression on the international circuit.
Inner Sanctum
Fresh after an eight-city tour of Europe and releasing their full-length album, the death metal giants headed to Oslo, Norway, to play at the Inferno Metal Festival on its 15th anniversary. Sharing stage with metal legends like Behemoth, Enslaved, Arcturus and Bloodbath, Inner Sanctum delivered a charismatic show with some tight metal work that went down well with the metalheads.
Sulk Station
The trip hop duo headed to the UK to perform at the Southbank Centre’s Alchemy Festival, with shows in London and Glasgow, along with sets at the Great Escape Festival in the beach town of Brighton, going along the coast to Bristol as well. Comprising vocalist-keyboardist Tanvi Rao and producer Rahul Giri, the band delivered their eclectic alternative electronic music to packed audiences in every show.
Space Behind The Yellow Room
The four member, post metal and rock band won the Pepsi Unbox hunt this year out of 450 bands and went on to perform in Singapore at Music Matters Live 2015, an independent music festival featuring over 70 bands. Apart from playing in front of an international audience, they also attended a conference at the Music Matters Academy.
