City: Bengaluru

A graphic representation of namma Metro Phase - I Creator: Naveen Prasanna. Originally posted on: Skyscrapercity.com High resolution version: click here. The million dollar question troubling thousands of commuters waiting for the completion of Metro lines: When will we be able to travel in Metro from one corner of Bengaluru to another? Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL) had earlier given the deadline of February for the inauguration. However, February came and went without seeing the real inauguration of the project, though the work has been happening slowly. Decoding the Metro test terms Once the tracks, stations, electrification and signalling…

Read more

  Bengaluru this week March 10th 2016     CITIZEN MATTERS Bangalore's own interactive newsmagazine Speak up, it's your city!     10 seconds of your time please, with a 5 question Reader Survey, and we promise to take your feedback seriously! Take the 10-second survey » Will you run for us? If you can run, we can do with your help! The TCS 10K is coming up in May 2016 and we’re hoping to raise the funds we require to keep our work going during the event. If you would like to sign up with us as a fundraiser, if…

Read more

Even as he holds a big fish in his left hand, a young boy tries to reel in another fish. Pic: Ganga Madappa Picture this. A young lad sits on the edge of Ulsoor lake, with a stick in hand. He immerses one end of the stick into the water and moves it through the water. In a matter of seconds, a large fish floats to the edge and the boy picks it up. As he picks up the fish, someone shouts from the crowd, “Ai Appu! What are you doing? Drop it… it’s poisonous! Go wash your hands!” The…

Read more

"I'm doing what I want. I feel like, after marriage, however my life will be, I will not have regrets for not having enjoyed life in my 20s. I will never have to think that 'my life was so dull and so boring'. I can be happy thinking I have (at least) enjoyed life when I was single." Meet Manwara, 26, an MBA graduate, working in a well-known IT firm in Bengaluru. Manwara and her friends Deepthi (25), Sandhya (30) and Ruchika (28) live in a paying guest accommodation in South Bengaluru. They come from different parts of India, and…

Read more

  Bengaluru this week March 4th 2016     CITIZEN MATTERS Bangalore's own interactive newsmagazine Speak up, it's your city!     As we launch our fundraiser next week, please share your feedback in this quick 5 second survey! We promise to take you seriously and improve Citizen Matters even more! Take the survey >> Run for money! 71 days to go - we have a friend of Citizen Matters who will be running the TCS World 10K, and raising funds for Oorvani Foundation. Are you participating too? Would you also help us in raising funds? Please mail us >> This week's highlight:…

Read more

An article on New York Times says 2015 was the hottest year on earth so far. Just as 2015 made way for 2016, we have another article from Washington Post that says February 2016 was the hottest month for entire Earth! What’s going on? Is global warming coming true? What was it like, in Bengaluru? This February had one of the warmest days in its history February 23rd, 2016, recorded a maximum temperature of 35.5 degree C, which is the highest temperature in Bengaluru for February since 2005. However, all-time record for February goes to a day in 2005. According…

Read more

My Dear Friends and Fellow Bengalureans, Warm (or perhaps ‘fiery’) greetings from me. Possibly, I do not need an introduction. Nevertheless, for those who still don’t know me: I’m the disrepute of Bengaluru - the frothy, foamy, toxic-filled, foul-smelling Bellandur Lake, which many claim has put Namma Bengaluru to shame on international landscapes. This would make for a pretty picture if we didn't know the reality. Pic: Sanchayan Nath Let me say, I owe this claim-to-fame to: The city’s mindless administrative machinery Unlawful encroachers All those who consider dumping waste (solid, liquid or industrial) in my waters their birth right!…

Read more

If you are a women, the chances are that you have been at the receiving end of sexual harassment in some form or the other; being groped on a moving bus or being catcalled at, or even being made to listen to sexist jokes. Unfortunately, what happens in most cases is that women accept it as a sad reality of living in India. And unless the assualt is severe, very few women actually come forward to report it to the police. According to Amnesty International, only 1 in every 100 women reports sexual violence. Pic: readytoreport.in/WhenIFileAnFIR To empower women to…

Read more

On the fourth of every month I need to commute from north to south Bengaluru, to unlock my gate for the BESCOM meter reader and collect my monthly bill. The fourth of each month also happens to be designated as bus day by BMTC to encourage citizens to take to public transport to ease traffic snarls on our jam-packed roads. Although I know the rationale underlying the bus day initiative, this is why we commuters abhor bus rides. 1) We waste time, lots of it, and today time is precious. Just covering 14 km, from Sanjaynagar in the north to…

Read more

It has been five and a half months since the third time corporator from Congress, B N Manjunath Reddy took charge as the Mayor of Bengaluru. With BBMP budget round the corner and news of property tax hike after seven years making the rounds, the Mayor speaks about some of the issues in BBMP and clears his stand on certain things, in an exclusive interview with Citizen Matters amid his busy schedule. Just six months are left for your term to end. So what is that one thing that you would like to be remembered for as a Mayor of…

Read more