Articles by Savita Hiremath

At Sobha Althea & Azalea, we are a motley group of women coming from various backgrounds. We were thinking of putting a waste management system in place even before the BBMP legislation came into force. But for some reasons, it didn't take off.The legislation was just the kind of nudge we needed to get going and start thinking about the HOWs and WHYs. How to startNon-negotiablesNegotiablesTraining A string of meetings helped us frame certain guidelines for our own residential community while keeping in mind the larger picture: A waste-free zone. Housekeeping staff are key to the success of any waste…

Draped in a beautiful black-and-grey cotton saree, Vinatha Iyengar, 68, walks into Nightingales Elders’ Enrichment Centre (NEEC) at Malleswaram to attend a talk on ayurveda. Her grace is arresting and voice resonates with confidence as she reels off botanical names of medicinal plants. She has doubts, arguments, and also visible concern about the dwindling medicinal varieties. The NEEC members from all walks of life share a few laughs after the regular Friday talk. Pic: Savita Hiremath. But it was the same woman ravaged by depression following her husband’s death three years ago. A homeopath and acupuncturist, she used to be…

When Sajin walked into Redwood Apartments off Sarjapur Road on 6th December to attend a workshop on "Water Reality and Solutions" including groundwater recharge, rainwater harvesting (RWH) and grey water reuse, he was "pretty sure that the topic would be dull" and might even be boring. The workshop in progress. AppartmentAdda.com organised it in partnernship with Rainwater Club/Biome Environmental Solutions and Citizen Matters. ( Pic: Venkat Kandaswamy ) But his feedback on ‘Perpetual Moment' and many others' posted on ‘Praja' drive home an important message - we are living in a globalised city impounded by innumerable water woes and the…

When D T Thyagaraj (50) of Padmanabhanagar, suffered a heart attack 10 years ago, he was wheeled into one of the prestigious hospitals in Bengaluru. Once he survived the attack and was out of the ICU, Thyagaraj sensed that the world around him had changed so completely in so short a time. First he was isolated from the general ward and then supplied food in plastic plates. The doctors and nurses armed themselves with double gloves each time they came to check on him. Their hush-hush talk, suspicious glances, and curt answers left him and his family shocked. Launch of…

Dry waste, wet waste, metal waste, e-waste, bio-waste, plastic waste. How many dustbins should I keep at home to segregate these many waste matters? Read this article by Sandhya who was part of the team that set up the waste management system at Brigade Regency Apartments. This is what struck me when I read a circular from the Brigade Regency Owners’ Association, making waste segregation compulsory and for a moment I thought I would crumple it up and dump it in the dustbin. Brigade Regency Apartments is where I live. Being a resident here, I felt “these guys are stretching…

"There are two BBMP sheltered bus stops on 46th cross Jayanagar (one on each side of the road) between 9th and 11th main.  Both look new, but both are not in use. The buses stop away from them and people wait in the sun and rain. On the way back, my wife asked the 500C conductor why the bus does not stop at the proper bus stop and his reply was ‘nobody stands there!’." Something is clearly wrong. Commuters wait in the open at Sarjapur Road opposite the construction at Iblur junction, while students get into a bus standing several…