Author Archives: Usha Rajagopalan ("Lakeika")

Reflections on the Buddha Coconut

I hadn’t heard of a tree called Buddha Coconut till BBMP gave four saplings for our first tree plantation drive in July 2010. I didn’t know the names of some others too but we were getting them for free at a point when we, trustees, didn’t have the money to organize such an exercise. TheContinue reading “Reflections on the Buddha Coconut”

Wrapping Up The Year at Puttenahalli Lake

Yet again this year, Puttenahalli Puttakere taught us the importance of perseverance and the need to stay hopeful. When it seemed as if our ‘trial by sewage’ which had begun in 2017 would never end, BWSSB came through in April 2021 and plugged the leaks in the underground drain they had laid last year. TheContinue reading “Wrapping Up The Year at Puttenahalli Lake”

Dr. V. Kurien and I

Dr. V. Kurien 26 November 1921 – 9 September 2012 I was at crossroads that December of 1982. Newly married, I had taken a short break as Editorial Assistant at the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad to accompany my husband who had just joined the Institute of Rural Management at Anand. My dilemma was whetherContinue reading “Dr. V. Kurien and I”

A Pat On The Back

Sometime in August, we received an email from Earth Day Network India about a new award for municipal bodies whose ‘policies and actions make a significant positive impact on the environment.’ Having been associated with the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) from 2009, we promptly filled in the nomination form and sent it. In dueContinue reading “A Pat On The Back”

We had a Zoo in Our Backyard

I grew up in a joint family with my parents, grandparents, two sisters and two brothers, and my father’s two youngest siblings. They called him respectfully as Anna or elder brother and our mother, Manni and so did we. Anna was in the Indian Forest Service in his home state, Kerala. He used to travelContinue reading “We had a Zoo in Our Backyard”

Mahakavi Bharati and Me

September 11th 2021 was the death centenary of Tamil poet laureate, C. Subramania Bharati. His poems have been a part of my life for as long as I can remember though not as verse but as songs. I melted in the magic even when I was too young to understand the lyrics. Age was notContinue reading “Mahakavi Bharati and Me”