Wednesday, May 30, 2007
Schools for autistic kids in Bangalore
So, when I got the request for special schools, I set out on this task of finding the most recommended school for special kids, here in Bangalore. I discovered that Academy for Severe Handicap and Autism or ASHA for short, comes with very good recommendation. One of the special education teachers that I know speaks very highly of this school and its founder, Ms. Jayashree Ramesh. And when I spoke with KPAMRC*, they too recommended ASHA highly.
1) Academy for Severe Handicap and Autism (ASHA)
L-76/A, (Opposite to L-50) Kirloskar colony,
HBCS 3rd Stage, 4th Block, Basaveswarnagar,
Bangalore - 560079
Phone: +91 80 23225279 / 23230357
Fax: +91 80 22258103
Email: info@ashaforautism.com
On talking to the nice people at ASHA, I have 2 more special schools for autistic kids, recommended by the people at ASHA.
2) Sunshine Autism Trust
280, 6th Cross, Domlur Layout,
Bangalore - 560071
Phone: +91 80 65360892
Email: rao_vanitha@yahoo.com, Sunshineautism@vsnl.net
3) Apoorva Centre for Autism
c/o Lions Club of Sarakki,
21st main, 1st cross, Marenahalli,
J P Nagar Phase-2,
Bangalore - 560078
Phone: +91 80 65710445 / 9243195154 / 9845076140
Email: apoorva@SAIautismcenter.org
If any of you know of other good special schools, please email me or leave info in the comments section and I will add it to this post. I do not want to add schools that I get off of the Internet to this list. If you have a personal recommendation, that will be wonderful. Thanks!
* KPAMRC (Karnataka Parents’ Association for Mentally Retarded Citizens)
Phone: + 91 80 26564608
Email: jpkpamrc@vsnl.net
Thursday, May 24, 2007
R2I - Together time
Yesterday, for instance, I decided to go, meet my husband at the end of his work day. His office is half way across town. Given that we have a driver now, (I had mentioned here about hiring one) I did not have to worry about getting to the place in peak traffic. Mid-way, it began to rain. And boy, what a downpour that was!? Nothing was even visible and the roads were almost flooded. See pic below to get an idea.
But, I had no worry in the world. The kids were home with my parents and the wheel was in the driver's hands. All I had to do was sit back and enjoy the rains! Such carefree joy! And then, when I met my hub, we went out to this nice Italian place that my husband has been insisting on taking me to. This restaurant, 'Little Italy', was really nice. And through the entire dinner, I was neither worried nor feeling obligated about the kids being with my parents! Here's a pic of the dessert, only because it was lovely!
PS: To my readers who are looking for core R2I info, those posts are coming as well! :)
Tuesday, May 22, 2007
Funny!
Now, here in Bangalore, he has this American colleague at work. And sometime last week when that colleague noticed this pair of shoes, with a smile, he asked my hub, "You expecting snow anytime soon?". And the outside temps were in the warm 90s (Fahrenheit) !
When he mentioned it to me, well, we had a hearty laugh ...
Thursday, May 17, 2007
The disappointment
Indian politics has been a source of distress for a very long time. We see a few moments of spark at times, and then these sparks die just like the fireflies. I am not thrilled blogging about this, because it is very disheartening.
From the late 1989 - mid 1991 and from mid 1996 - early 1998, when we had multiple Prime Ministers for short durations, I felt very unsettled and disappointed. I was just a teenager during the 89-91 phase, and kind of felt like nobody cared about the masses. It was clear that people came to power for their own selfish reasons. Anyway, then there was some "stability" from 1991 - 1996. And then again we went through a few Prime Ministers over a course of 2 years from 1996 -1998. There was wastage of national money and to think that the very people who were not responsible for their actions and were indulging in 'by-the-minute' coalitions also had the power in their hands was pretty scary! The lack of accountability and the nonchalance were glaring. Now, all of this instability happened right around the time of my cross-over from adolescence to adulthood, and looking back I can see how that phase has a big influence on our perspective of the world around us. The political instability brought about a basic distrust. I had become quite cynical and indifference seemed like the only way out. I was happy to get out of the country, happy to go away to far away
While in the
Since R2Iing, a lot of things have been going on here in Indian politics. And with the recent forced resignation of Dayanidhi Maran over a family feud, the Prime Minister having no say at all in the matter
Monday, May 07, 2007
Flying domestic in des
Now a days, there are many airlines competing to ferry the masses within India. There's Air Deccan, Kingfisher, GoAir, Jet Airways. Some of these operate very cheap, like the SouthWest airlines in the US. So, a lot of people are able to afford and travel by air. Not to forget, a lot of people make a decent dough to afford it too. All of this, a good thing. I got this pic on the right in a forwarded email from a friend and couldn't believe the billboard competition in the sky, literally. Just goes to show how much of a market there is for flying here.
After getting off of the taxi, this is the domestic terminal we came to.
The waiting lounges all along the gates. This was more than sufficient on a Wednesday afternoon, but I really wondered how it would be on a Fri evening or Sat morning, especially because of the comparison of the airport to a bus-stand.
The air conditioning worked moderately, so the temps were on the warmer side. I prefer it that way, than see tons of energy being spent to keep everybody cold when it is quite hot outside.
A small shop for snacks. It has definitely lost the look of the old government-type coffee shops.
Unfortunately, I didn't use the restrooms to see how they were. After all, in an Indian government setup, I think, the restrooms say it all. :)
The view from the waiting lounge.
The waiting 'Kingfishers'. Kingfisher is not a low-cost airline and chooses to keep it quite nice for its customers. We flew Kingfisher and were impressed with their timing, service, and their overall working ability. The insides of the Kingfishers are pretty good too and makes flying a pleasant experience.
As we took off, here's a shot of good ol' Bangalore.
There's of course the new Bangalore International Airport Limited (BIAL) coming up in Devanahalli. And when that becomes functional, the current HAL Bangalore International Airport is going to shut shop. I hope they put the existing airport space to good use then. Personally, I would love it if they continue to use the existing set-up for a domestic airport. However, that is not going to happen. Now, what remains to be seen is how we are all going to get to the airport that is all the way in Devanahalli, especially when some of us have to only take a 45 min flight to someplace. Yes, they are planning on an elevated exclusive expressway to the airport. We will see! We have to also account for the time lost in security checks, boarding, alighting, etc. It maybe wiser to just drive down to these towns and cities than fly! What with the freeways being quite good?!