City: Bengaluru

As soon as you exit the MG Road metro station on Church Street side, the whole wall is filled with murals of children laughing and playing. The sight leaves a huge smile on one's face and is a testament to the astonishing artwork of Pune-based mural artist Harshvardhan Kadam and the students of Srishti School of Design. Walking down the steps of the Cubbon Park metro station is a sight that is the exact opposite of what most people expect to find. The usual drab and dull walls of the station are painted with plants and flowers of varying colours…

RJ Priyanka and Geetha Menon of Stree Jagriti Samiti interact with some women domestic workers to understand more about their demands for basic things like ID cards, monthly pensions and humane treatment. These women were protesting at Karmikara Bhavana recently. Geetha Menon spoke with representatives of Gruhakarmikara Hakkugala union which has been working with domestic helpers, both part-time or full time. Their demand is that domestic workers be treated in a humane manner and be considered as service providers not servants or slaves. They talk about harassments and disparities. The four major demands that the workers were protesting for were:…

A few years ago, it was the purview of the neighbourhood RWA member (usually a retired old man) to raise civic complaints, from water pipe leaking to potholes. He would trudge down to the nearest ward office, and talk to the engineer responsible. He’d follow up and write letters to the MLA to escalate. But now, average citizens are more conscious and quick to reach out to BBMP to raise issues. If you are stuck with a dead animal in front of your house, you’d call the helpline or use the BBMP Sahaaya app to get it removed. A citizen…

I saw this beautiful moth on the staircase of my apartment building,  day before yesterday.... I called it the military camouflage moth, but the correct name for this is the Oleander Hawk Moth, in the Sphinx moth family Sphingidae. The scientific name of the moth is Daphnus nerii. Military camouflage moth was simpler, perhaps? The caterpillar of this Moth, like that of many others, has several "instars" or forms. Here's one: The head of the caterpillar is actually towards the right...the "eyes" are probably to fool a possible predator with that appearance of fierceness. These caterpillars actually feed on the Oleander…

District Lions Service Foundation (DLSF-317 A) has built a 'Lions Centennial Clock Tower to commemorate successful completion of 100 years of service to mankind. The Lions Centennial Clock Tower is built at RBI Layout play ground, Phase 7, JP Nagar. The centennial clock tower comprises of a large clock with an hourly chime, bust of legendary Lions founder Lion Melvin Jones and large Lions logo which stood as a common identity for Lions over the last 100 years. It was inaugurated on 30th June 2017, by M Krishnappa, MLA , Bangalore South Constituency in the presence of Shashi Rekha Jayaram,…

In this episode of Colourful Kamanabillu, RJ Shilok speaks with Ananya Raju who shares a little about her life and about her thoughts, feelings and experiences of being bisexual.

We invite citizens to join us in protesting against destruction of the spirit of democracy and citizen participation as envisaged by the Nagarapalika Act  or 74th Constitutional Amendment (CA). BBMP was ordered by the Hon’ble High Court of Karnataka (HC) during a hearing of a PIL petition on 24th April 2017 to form Ward Committees (WC) in all 198 wards within one month.  When the practice of councillors nominating the ward committee members was challenged in the Court at a subsequent hearing, the HC gave oral orders to BBMP that out of the ten members to be nominated to the ward committee, “two…

Encouraging higher voter turnout, increasing civic engagement and fostering young leaders are challenges many democratic governments face around the world. These topics were discussed among a panel of Bangalore and Australian elected officials to compare and contrast the two decentralized governments and the problems each face. On Thursday June 29th Bangalore’s Political Action Committee (B.PAC) hosted ‘Roles, Responsibilities and Decision Making Processes in a Decentralized Set Up’ a panel that focused on citizen participation in the electoral process, developing young leaders, decentralization of power, local self-governance and the general election process in both India and Australia. The panel explored the…

Driving along Millers Road, you suddenly notice an undulating compound wall that appears to be made out of sheets with delicate wires strung across to create a sense of enclosure. You look up and notice a stone facade punctured by large windows, flat chajjas above, glass panels as balcony railings, metal verticals - as you absorb all these details in passing you realise that the house was probably designed by an architect, and you are also able to take in certain features that remind you of a particular architectural style… Years ago as a student of architecture, I remember plodding…

Active Bangalore is a programme that is broadcast every Thursday. In this episode, RJ Vijaya speaks with Yashaswini Sharma who shares some facts about the architecture of some of Bengaluru's old temples like Old temples - Halasuru Someshwara, Pete Ranganatha Swamy, Dharmaraya gudi, Annamma, Kote Anjaneya, Kote Venkataramana Swamy, Gavigangadhareshwara and Dodda Basava.