City: Bengaluru

A food cart serving sundal at Halasuru Market. Pic: Pushpa Achanta One of my favourite times in school was when the last bell rang... That’s when he used to walk in, pushing his cycle and finally parking it under the shade of a tree. No, I’m not referring to some hot hunk of a senior. I’m talking about the dhoti-wale uncle with his faded grey tin can of treats for the taste buds, who sold the best kachoris. He would listen patiently to every child screaming out his preference and pull out a puri, fill it with onions, sweet, spicy…

A still from the play, Sakina Manzil On 14th April 1944, SS Fort Stikine, a cargo ship carrying explosives, torpedoes, mines and tonnes of cotton bales blew up into smithereens at Victoria dock, Bombay, owing to mismanagement. The play, 3. Sakina Manzil marks this less-reported incident of pre-independent Indian history in romantic sepia colour. Apart from tearing down the cargo ship and drilling a hole through Shashi’s house on #3 Sakina Manzil, the explosion rips apart her love life with her namesake. The two expectant lovers who are awaiting a birthday celebration with poha and shira are separated by the…

  Bengaluru this week October 21st 2015     CITIZEN MATTERS Bangalore's own interactive newsmagazine Speak up, it's your city!     Happy Dasara to all of you! Whether you are celebrating with your family and friends in Bengaluru, or heading out of town for the long break, here’s wishing each one of you a lovely weekend! In this edition, we have a wonderful community initiative that is feeding the hungry and homeless in Bengaluru. In only eight days, the Feed Your Neighbor campaign has distributed a whopping 84,646 packs of food. Do check out the transport arrangements that have been…

In late September, a young woman from Bengaluru woke up in the wee hours of the night with a rumbling stomach. As she munched away to fill her stomach, she thought of the many people in the city who probably went to sleep on an empty stomach. Thus began Feed Your Neighbour (FYN), a campaign started by Mahita Fernandez, a young entrepreneur, to eradicate Bengaluru’s hunger. For those who are still in the dark about the initiative, here’s a quick introduction. FYN calls for Bengalureans to cook five additional meals at their home between October 12th and 22nd, and drop…

In anticipation of the possible rush of traffic at the railway station and at bus stands, the Bengaluru Traffic Police has made special arrangements for traffic on October 21st . Impacted areas include City railway station, Kempegowda bus terminal, Shanthinagar bus terminal, Mysore road bus terminal, Yeswantpur bus terminal and Chikka Lalbagh bus terminal. In addition, private vehicles will not be allowed to use some roads, and parking has been banned on some others. Do remember that KSRTC has also planned for 1,500 additional buses for the Dasara weekend, so there is bound to be more vehicles on the city roads.  …

The illuminated Mysore Palace during Dasara. Pic: Muhammad Mahdi Karim, Wikimedia Commons A press note from KSRTC details the special arrangements that have been made by the transport corporation to deal with the additional demand for buses during Dasara. In addition to the existing services, an additional 1,500 buses are being deployed between October 21st and October 23rd. This is to ensure that those looking to attend the Mysuru Dasara, or make use of the long weekend, are catered to.  Additional buses 1500 extra buses will be exclusively operated from Kempegowda bus station, Mysuru Road bus station, Shanthi Nagar TTMC…

BESCOM has published the schedule of load shedding. This is available on www.bescom.org for the convenience of consumers. The schedule has been given sub-division wise. According to the schedule, some areas could see power cuts of four hours even. However, comments on social media point out that some areas withness some unscheduled power cuts as well. Also read: Why is Bengaluru facing power cuts? To know when there will be a power cut in your area, look for the sub-division number on your electricity bill, and follow the link for the same. The areas which are fed by BESCOM feeder…

Bengaluru Bus Prayanikara Vedike released a manifesto on Saturday, October 17th. Here goes the text of the manifesto: Next to their workplace and home, Benglureans spend most of their time on the road, travelling. Bangaloreans spend a lot of time and money in order to travel for education, work and leisure due to the lack of an effective transport system. Our transport system is so costly that some people cannot afford even the bus and choose to walk, even long distances. A reliable, affordable and comfortable bus system will ensure that the 58 lakh bus commuters in Bangalore will travel…

The Bengaluru Bus Prayanikara Vedike (BBPV) organised a conference to highlight the problems faced by commuters in Bengaluru, to work out suggestions for improvement of Bengaluru Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC). The problems related to public transport are always paired with other issues of building a sustainable transport and urban development, the BBPV decided to invite, besides BMTC, other agencies like Directorate of Urban Land Transport (DULT), Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP), Bangalore Traffic Police (BTP) and the State Government to respond to the concerns of bus commuters in the city. Unfortunately, the officials of BBMP, DULT, State Government and the…

“Wish you a wonderful weekend”, screams the RJ through the radio as my car labours through the serpentine traffic. For the happy weekend to begin, I must get first home, and so must the lakhs of office-goers. Friday evenings in Bengaluru are not like any other day. I am now at the nerve centre of the city, Majestic, which seems to be bursting at its seams. Throngs of travellers scramble towards the KSRTC bus stand for their weekend trip to their ‘native’ or some holiday destination. Private buses are parked haphazardly along the roadside, and travellers have no other option…