Articles by Vaishnavi Vittal

Come February 16th and it will be a crucial day for the first Bus Rapid Transit System (BRTS) proposal for Bangalore. Karnataka's Directorate of Urban Land Transport (DULT) has called for a meeting of the BDA, BMTC, Rail India Technical and Economic Society (RITES) and Infrastructure Development Corporation ( Karnataka) Limited (iDECK) on that day to discuss the BRTS proposal. In BRTS, BMTC buses will run higher speeds than usual in part because of dedicates bus lanes, allowing commuters to reach destinations faster. If the BRTS gets the Cabinet nod, it will first be implemented along the Outer Ring Road,…

For someone who mooted the idea of Bus Day, 23-year-old Manjari Vishnoi could not venture out on February 4th 2009, thanks to a running temperature. Nevertheless, she's happy about the outcome of the initiative and says, "I think it went pretty well. I know a lot of people who took the bus." Manjari, a software engineer at Cisco Systems (the network equipment major with a large presence in Bengaluru), is also a member of the online citizen community Praja.in. Praja has been working closely with BMTC on Bus Day initiative. Bengaluru's Bus Day on February 4th was a modest success.…

Kempe Gowda ward. Chowdeshwari ward. Atturu. Yelahanka Satellite town. Jakkur. Thanisandra. Byatarayanapura. Kodigehalli. Vidyaranyapura. Dodda Bommasandra. Kuvempu Nagar.If you reside in any of these wards, it is likely that you have either been visited or will soon be, by officials seeking information about your property. These are officials of a not-for-profit organisation called My Bhumi, who are carrying out a 'property survey' on behalf of the BBMP, for Wards 1 to 11 in North Bangalore.“Many people are not paying tax, that's why we are doing this. We will feed this into the computer. We will get name of owner, type…

This signboard on Mahatma Gandhi Road, just before the Jewels de Paragon junction, shows Minsk square to be towards the left, whereas one actually needs to take a right turn!  ⊕

Sixty-nine year old A N Vittal, a resident of Kammanahalli in Bangalore East, has frequented the Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB) office several times in the past one year. Despite several phone calls, e-mails and hand-written letters to the concerned officials at the BWSSB including the Chairman and Public Relations Officer (PRO), the water problem in his area persists. “Cauvery water supply through the tap has completely stopped”, he says. But Assistant Executive Engineer N Malla Reddy has given Vittal and his neighbours a temporary solution to the problem. “He said, if water is not coming, you call…

Recently, Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa and his band of Ministers, R Ashoka, Katta Subramanya Naidu and S Suresh Kumar, laid the foundation stone for a housing complex in JP Nagar. The housing complex will come up where a low income neighbourhood (slum) now exists with over 1000 houses. For now, around 100 houses have been razed and the families shifted nearby, in tin sheds.Speaking to these residents, they complained about the water problem, lack of toilet facilities, families of five were living in a cramped space, the tin sheds scratched them, they were sleeping on mud floors. Many refused…

With BBMP elections slated to be held next month, there's still time for you to enrol yourself to vote, if you haven't done it yet. The last date for registering is January 29th 2010, ten days before the last date for filing nominations. Click here for more details. Also click here for a list of VFCs in Bangalore.You can also search for your name on the electoral list here.If you do not have an Electoral Photo Identity Card (EPIC), you can produce a ration card, driving license or passport at the time of voting. The State Election Commission website now…

“You always need an occasion. We need something to ignite”, says Major P Kapur, a resident of Bangalore South's Koramangala area. Major Kapur is referring to the coming together of citizens of Koramangala to form what is called the Koramangala United Citizens Council or the KUCC. This federation has been set up to take up common causes of all the eight Koramangala blocks, Jakkasandra extension, ST Bed layout and Nirgun Mandir area. “There are common areas of concern for the whole area like water, roads, drainage. We can tackle them together”, says Major Kapur, who is the convenor of KUCC.…

50-year-old Shalini is a software engineer, working at a Bangalore-based IT company. On January 18th, she took off from work to attend an event. A special event where she walked the ramp. Well, what was so special about the event? It was the auditions of the Bangalore leg of 'Indian Super Queen', claimed to be India’s first ever hunt for the most talented transgender. Yes, Shalini is a transgender. A cross-dresser, to be specific. “I’m participating just for fun”, she says, dressed in an elegant black saree, black halter and a clutch to match. “This is just one of my…

Recently staged at the JP Nagar-based Ranga Shankara, Naariyal Paani is a production of the group Our Theatre. Directed by Sandeep Shikhar, the play is basically like a monologue where the character narrates his love story to the audience. He is interrupted by two characters - a tabla player and a guitarist. The tabla player, enacted by Santosh Satavailli, represents the protagonist's physical presence. The guitarist, on the other hand, represents the rest of the universe. Vivek Vijayakumaran plays the protagonist. His constant rubbing-hand-against-thigh act was fun to watch. For me, however, it was guitarist Anupam Roy who stole the…