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The Hindu
a day ago
- Entertainment
- The Hindu
In Bengaluru, Cubbon Park's bandstand comes alive again
Priya Chetty-Rajagopal's earliest memory of Cubbon Park's iconic bandstand is hearing the Madras Sappers, one of the oldest of three Madras regiments of the Corps of Engineers that are headquartered in Bengaluru, play there, back in the 1970s. 'The bandstand has military band origins, so it has always been about the military for me,' says the founder of the citizen-led initiative, Heritage Beku, which has been instrumental in reviving cultural performances at the Cubbon Park bandstand. The initiative, she says, was catalysed by this dream of bringing the military band back to the park. 'That is where it started: saying that we need the bands to play again because it offers a sense of such majesty,' says Priya, whose father was a Sapper too. While the bandstand, first constructed by the British in the 1900s to showcase their military and police bands and renovated by the Horticultural Department a few years ago, was a point of beauty and aesthetics, Priya says, 'it was fallow, offering a visual perspective, but not enabling cultural interaction.' Performances used to occur here regularly, around two decades ago, but had become extremely sporadic. This was something Priya managed to change in December last year, kickstarting the initiative with a recital by the Saralaya Sisters. Since then, come Sunday morning, around 8 am, it transforms into a public performance space, open to anyone who wants to experience a slice of Bengaluru's cultural heritage, including the park's many canine residents. 'We love the parkies (the dogs who live in Cubbon Park) and they occasionally bless us with their presence,' says Priya, who believes that bringing art to a public space is democratising. 'People are really so happy to see the bandstand come alive again.' Triveni Saralaya, who performed on December 8 with her sister, Kavitha, says that the sound of classical music in the park takes her back decades. 'There used to be regular performances around 15-20 years ago,' says Triveni, who has herself been part of musical events in Cubbon Park, Lal Bagh and even Bugle Rock Park on many occasions. 'All these parks used to have concerts early in the morning, on Sundays, so walkers would be exposed to live music as they were walking.' And it isn't just about the music. Dance photographer Sumukhee Shankar, who attended a dance performance, believes that having it outdoors helps bring out 'the raw energy in the dance,' she says. In her opinion, dancers have a different energy when they perform outdoors. 'They are so fresh, and instead of being in an auditorium with all that (artificial) light, it is only pure sunlight and fresh air,' she says. 'As an audience, I felt it was definitely a welcome change.' Performance in the park When Priya and her team decided to have noted artists perform at the bandstand, they knew they did not have a budget to pay them. So, they were a little worried since 'we were very conscious that you cannot undermine performers by not rewarding them for their performance,' says Priya. But soon a realisation dawned. 'Much as we respected them, we realised that just like we work pro bono for the city, artists are also open to it,' she says, adding that many of these artists were just happy to perform at the bandstand. 'They felt the nostalgia of it, of being part of something bigger than themselves. This generosity allowed us the space we needed.' Over the last six months, Cubbon Park's bandstand has hosted numerous city artists, primarily those from the Indian classical tradition, including Vinita Radhakrishnan, Srijanee Chakraborty, Anirudha Bhat, Yamini Muthanna, and Anuradha Venkatraman. This movement has gained momentum, and Heritage Beku is currently being inundated with requests for bandstand performances, with many artists who have already performed here referring others to this venue, says Ruam Mukherjee, the curatorial director of Heritage Beku's Revival Series. She believes that the timing of the performances has contributed to their popularity. 'Artists perform in the morning at the bandstand and then head out for their paid engagements and gigs,' she says. Right now, the focus is on the classical arts, 'because spaces like this are more suited to them. Also, there are other platforms for popular and film music,' says Ruam, who is also attempting to get younger talent on the stage since, 'in the classical genre, it takes years for a performer to perform in a space like this,' she believes. 'So, if their body of work has merit, we definitely try to showcase them.' A special space Ruam explains why this particular space is so special, a sentiment with which many of the performers also concur. 'It is a 360 °stage and they can see the audience directly,' she says. The many flowers blooming in the park around them at different times of the year, like the pink tabebuias and yellow jacarandas, enhance the spectacle. Also, since the stage is open, 'the way they use the stage is interesting, especially in terms of dance.' For Derek Mathias, the band leader of Derek and the Cats, a Bengaluru-based instrumental dance jazz fusion band, one of the very few Western music performers who have been part of the initiative so far, playing here offered a surreal moment. 'Performing at 8 in the morning is so refreshing, since you feel the Sunday morning breeze, you hear the birds chirp all around you, and you are surrounded by greenery. It puts you in a very different headspace,' he says, a sentiment shared by Kavitha Saralaya. 'The fresh air and lighting are so perfect,' she says. 'And the way that bandstand is built, the acoustics sound so good.' She firmly believes that bringing art to public spaces enhances culture. 'It is a beautiful ambience and a good way to revive classical music for the general public,' she says, pointing out that, unlike in a traditional performance space filled with rasikas, it is not a niche audience who ends up attending these performances. 'Many people who come there won't know an iota of classical music. But when they listen to it in that beautiful setting, something could be triggered in them,' she feels. Ruam agrees that one of the nicest things about this initiative has been to see audiences of all ages, from all walks of life, in the city and outside it, coming in. Recalling how many people who were visiting Cubbon Park on Sundays, for a run or with their dogs, ended up staying for the performances, she further states, 'We have anywhere between 100-150 people in the audience in the bandstand on average, and, for the dance performances, it is always houseful.' While Heritage Beku has bigger plans for Cubbon Park, whether it be going beyond Indian classical performances or introducing busking in the park, Priya says the focus right now is on continuing the tradition that has been established and 'building up a good, solid reputation so people know that the Sunday bandstand is here to stay.'
Time of India
03-07-2025
- General
- Time of India
Indian Army mobilised 150-plus personnel within minutes of Air India plane crash
The Army responded swiftly to the Air India plane crash in Ahmedabad last month, mobilising more than 150 personnel within minutes for the rescue operation , a senior official said here on Thursday. Disaster relief is no longer an episodic task and has become an operational reality that must be "planned for, trained for, and seamlessly executed," said Southern Army Commander Lieutenant General Dhiraj Seth. He was speaking at a high-level symposium on 'Role of Corps of Engineers in National Disaster Management Framework: Risk, Resilience and Response' at the College of Military Engineering (CME) here. The event brought together senior leadership from the Army, National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), State Disaster Management Authorities (SDMAs) and key institutions involved in national disaster response framework. Given the vast footprint of the Indian Army across the length and breadth of the country, it is often best positioned to respond to natural or other disasters, even becoming the first responders when civilian capacity is overwhelmed, Lieutenant General Seth said. Live Events Within minutes of the crash of Air India AI-171 at Ahmedabad, in which more than 250 persons were killed, "we had over 150 personnel from the military station, comprising engineers, medical, firefighting and QRT General Officer Commanding of the division based at Ahmedabad himself was at the crash site within minutes," he said. The prompt decision to breach the wall between the military hospital and the B K Medical College which was struck by the crashed aircraft helped in saving precious lives of those trapped within the college complex, Seth said. Over the past decade, the scale and frequency of natural disasters have visibly increased, Seth said. "They are no longer sporadic events, but recurring disruptions with serious national consequences. The floods in Assam, the landslides in Himachal and Wayanad, the cloudbursts in Uttarakhand, and the cyclones along both the coasts are stark reminders of this growing challenge," he added. India suffered economic losses of over USD 12 billion in 2024, well above the previous 10-year average of USD 8 billion, due to natural disasters, Seth said. The Corps of Engineers has emerged as a "critical enabler" in relief work, he said, adding that from bridging broken links in Wayanad or enabling urban flood relief in Pune to supporting India's international humanitarian outreach during Operation Brahma in Myanmar, military engineers have consistently demonstrated exceptional versatility, technical proficiency and competence. In Wayanad, the engineer task force of 200 personnel worked incessantly to erect a 130-feet-long Bailey Bridge in less than 48 hours, which included airlifting the bridge from Delhi to connect the affected towns of Chudalwala and Bandokai village, Seth said. "This bridge remains even deployed today in the area as a lifeline for those villagers," he added. Disaster management is not just a humanitarian concern but is related to "core national security issues", Seth said. Economic Times WhatsApp channel )
Yahoo
12-06-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
The science behind the smell of rain
You know the smell. It's there every time the first fat raindrops hit the ground—a distinctive, earthy scent that suffuses the air, an aroma that speaks of the changing seasons and promises relief from stifling summer heat. There's a name for the smell of rain, too: 'petrichor,' a poetic portmanteau of the Greek words 'petros' (stone) and 'ichor' (the blood of the gods in Greek mythology). Petrichor: the smell of rain. But what causes it? The name 'petrichor' was coined by Australian scientists Isabel Bear and Dick Thomas in 1964, in a paper that constituted perhaps the first serious scientific attempt to explain the phenomenon. The duo used the word to refer to an oil that they distilled from samples of soil and vegetation that were left for up to a year exposed to air and daylight but shielded from rain. They found that the oil contained a complex mixture of volatile organic compounds. One question left unanswered by Bear and Thomas was the origin of these compounds, and subsequent research has focused on one particular compound, a volatile bicyclic alcohol called geosmin. The compound was isolated a year after Bear and Thomas's paper, and its name literally means 'earth smell.' Along with another volatile organic compound called 2-methylisoborneol or 2-MIB, geosmin is primarily responsible for the characteristic smell of earth—and both contribute greatly to the smell of rain. Ryan Busby, an ecologist at the US Army's Corps of Engineers, tells Popular Science that these compounds exist in soil the world over, and that they're spritzed into the air whenever soil is disturbed. '[The compounds] accumulate in the pore spaces in the soil,' Busby explains. 'There might be some binding to soil particles. [And] research has shown that that impact with the soil surface causes the volatiles to be released into the atmosphere.' So where do geosmin and 2-MIB come from? Busby says that while the source of both compounds remains the subject of plenty of active research, the current scientific consensus is that they are released by soil-dwelling bacteria. Differing ratios of the two compounds may explain why the smell differs subtly from place to place. 'Geosmin is pretty consistent across the environment, while 2-MIB is more variable. [Where 2-MIB is present], it is released in much higher concentrations, so you get areas where there's huge concentrations, and then areas where there's none,' Busby says. The other components that make up petrichor—a myriad less powerful plant-related volatiles, and also perhaps the distinctive acrid smell of ozone that accompanies lightning—vary from location to location. Humans are remarkably sensitive to the smell of geosmin, in particular. In water, it can be detected at concentrations as low as 4 ng/L, which equates to about one teaspoon in 200 Olympic swimming pools. Busby says there are several theories for why this might be. 'One [theory] is finding water sources,' he explains. 'Geosmin seems to be more prevalent in moist, fertile soils.' The presence of moist soil means the presence of water, and it's easy to see how being able to catch a whiff of geosmin on the wind and follow it to a source of water would provide a valuable evolutionary advantage. It's not just humans who appear to be able to rely on the scent of these volatile compounds to find water, Busby says. 'Camels can detect geosmin and find oases in the desert from 50 miles away. Mosquitoes use it to find stagnant ponds for laying eggs, and raccoons use it to find turtle nests and buried eggs.' But while the smell of geosmin and 2-MIB are appealing to us, their taste is the complete opposite. 'It's kind of funny,' muses Busby. 'We love the smell, but we hate the taste.' In water, these compounds are responsible for the musty, moldy taste that indicates that water isn't safe to drink. Busby says, 'Any time you drink water and you think, 'Oh, this, this tastes like lake water,' it's because those compounds are dissolved in what you're drinking.' Again, there's most likely an evolutionary reason for this: it's one thing for the soil around a water source to smell of bacteria, but if the water itself carries the distinctive musty odor of geosmin and 2-MIB, it also most likely carries the potential for gastrointestinal unpleasantness. Busby says that this explains why geosmin and 2-MIB are 'the primary odor contaminants of drinking water globally.' There's one unanswered question here, though: why are geosmin and 2-MIB there in the first place? As Busby points out, while it's clear that 'there are a number of uses for geosmin for us, we're not sure exactly why [bacteria] produce it in such quantities. It's a [large] energy cost to produce a chemical like that.' So why do soil-borne bacteria pump out geosmin and 2-MIB? What's in it for them? A paper published in Nature Microbiology in 2020 suggested a possible answer. The study examined interactions between Streptomyces—one variety of geosmin- and 2-MIB-producing bacteria—and small creatures called springtails. (Springtails are one of three varieties of six-legged arthropods that are not considered insects, and they have a taste for bacteria.) Crucially, the researchers found that in the bacteria studied, geosmin and 2-MIB were produced only by colonies that were also producing reproductive spores. In fact, they can only be produced by those specific colonies: 'The genes for geosmin and 2-MIB synthases are under the direct control of sporulation-specific transcription factors, constraining emission of the odorants to sporulating colonies,' the paper explains. Springtails are attracted by geosmin and 2-MIB, so unsurprisingly, upon arrival at the odor-emitting colonies, they helped themselves happily to a tasty microbial snack. In doing so, they also consumed the bacterial spores. The spores were then able to pass through the springtail's digestive tracts and emerge ready for action from the other end. Busby says this might also explain why the smell of rain is strongest when it comes from rain hitting dry soil. 'As soil dries out, the bacteria are going to go dormant, and there seems to be a flush of release [at that point]. So from that respect, [the compounds] are a way to attract something that maybe will carry [the bacteria] to a more conducive environment for growth.' It might feel like the poetic appeal of petrichor is diminished somewhat by discovering that the oh-so-evocative smell of rain most likely exists to encourage a bunch of tiny arthropods to poop out bacterial spores. But ultimately, it's another example of nature finding a way—a co-evolutionary relationship that recalls bees and pollen, and one that extends its benefits to the rest of us. So the next time the rain hits dry soil, think about the tiny bacteria that both lead us to water and stop us drinking from sources that might harm us. This story is part of Popular Science's Ask Us Anything series, where we answer your most outlandish, mind-burning questions, from the ordinary to the off-the-wall. Have something you've always wanted to know? Ask us.
CBS News
03-06-2025
- Business
- CBS News
Federal funding continues for Midland County flood mitigation research
Fifth anniversary of historic flooding in Midland County, Michigan Fifth anniversary of historic flooding in Midland County, Michigan Fifth anniversary of historic flooding in Midland County, Michigan The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has received additional funding to continue its research on flooding mitigation for Midland County, Michigan. The $1.4 million for the Tittabawassee Watershed Flood Risk Management Study was approved under the Fiscal Year 2025 Work Plan, according to a press release issued Tuesday. The Corps of Engineers, Detroit District, is working with Midland County, the City of Midland and the Midland Business Alliance on the study. The Tittabawasee Watershed region includes the Chippewa, Pine, and Tittabawassee Rivers. The Midland area has seen significant flooding numerous times, including in 1986, 1996, 2013, 2017 and 2020. In response to the situation, community officials asked for federal help in identifying potential solutions. "Flood risk management is one of our most important missions in the Detroit District, because it presents an opportunity for us to use our technical expertise in a largescale way to help local communities," Lt. Col. Wallace Bandeff, Corps of Engineers Detroit District commander, said in the press release The study began under authorization of $3 million under the 2022 Water Resources Development Act. Once the study is completed, the Corps of Engineers will present its suggestions such as retention basins or levees. Any final recommendations would need to go to Congress for funding and implementation. The above video aired on May 19, 2025.
Yahoo
30-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Impact of coastal erosion through Isle de Jean Charles Resettlement Project
NEW ORLEANS (WGNO) — Historically, a group of Biloxi-Chitimacha-Choctaw people has lived on the Isle de Jean Charles. Since 1955, the community has shrunk by 98% because of coastal erosion in Louisiana. Coastal erosion is accelerated during eventful and high impact storm seasons. Louisiana has the barrier islands of it's gulf coast. They, along with natural wetlands play a crucial role in protecting coastal communities from storms and erosion. Jefferson Parish officials discuss 2025 hurricane preparations 'My dad told me whenever he was a child, he'd be able to walk to a lake that was a little bit west of the island. He told me as a young man, he'd walk there without getting his feet wet. When I came along, as a kid, we was going by boat over there,' said resident of Isle de Jean Charles, Chris Brunet. The Isle de Jean Charles Resettlement Project was one of the first of it's kind to move an entire community due to climate change. Louisiana received $48.3 million from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, to relocate the families on the island. A total of 37 families moved off the island in the Isle de Jean Charles Resettlement Project. In the past, 300 families called the island home. '20 years ago, the Corps of Engineers and the Terrebonne Levy District said, it was going to cost $190 million to include us in the Hurricane Protection System. They said, for that much money, the island wasn't worth it. Us as a community, had to make the decision to live somewhere else because we were impacted by the environment. I now live 40 miles inland from where I was originally raised. Water is and will always be part of our lives. Everything about me and how I think comes from Isle de Jean Charles. This new place is nice but it's just a place I was relocated to,' explained Brunet. The Natural Resources Defense Council Estimates that by 2067, 1.2 million people are at risk of coastal flooding in of coastal erosion through Isle de Jean Charles Resettlement Project Pelicans Zion Williamson sued on rape allegations, additional charges Stephen Miller on report of Musk drug use: We're worried about drugs crossing the border Raceland man accused of attempted murder of kids after setting 'intentional fire' Labor Department suspends Job Corps centers operations, drawing bipartisan pushback Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
