City: Bengaluru

Wonder why the Mayor of San Francisco visited Namma Bengaluru recently? What is common factor between Bangalore and San Francisco? Both cities are IT hubs, have pleasant weather and good educational institutions. But the similarities don't end here - they are 'Sister Cities' too. The concept of sister cities came into being as a means of fostering cultural ties between two towns, cities, even countries from geographically different areas. Bangalore is twinned with four cities – San Francisco and Cleveland in North America, Minsk in Belarus (there is apparently a Bangalore Square in Minsk) and most recently, Chengdu in China.…

More than 2500 people across various categories participated in the hugely successful first Edition of the Ajmera Thump! Celebration Bangalore Half Marathon and 10K, which was flagged off during the early hours of Sunday, 8 December 2013. The Half Marathon, 10 km and 5km Celebration Runs organised by Life is Calling Sports under the auspices of the Karnataka Athletics Association in association with Ajmera Housing Corporation was flagged off amid high energy and entertainment at the NICE Toll Plaza, adjacent to PESIT College, Nayandahalli Junction, Ring Road, Mysore Road. The first race of the morning, the Ajmera Thump! Half Marathon…

I am staying in a complex called Purva Panorama on B G Road Bangalore where we have 650 apartments. The time when no one was bothered or thought of doing segregation, we, Purva Panoramites, were way ahead in the process of segregation. We took our first baby step of Solid Waste Management in June 2011, right after a beautiful presentation by N S Ramakanth in our complex. Although there were not too many people present in the meeting as usual, we didn't waste time. We started  the project with just a few people in our team. Me, S.Venkatesh Kini,  Alok…

  The death of a toddler, last week, due to the terrible condition of the roads in Rajpalya, Near Hoodi circle made the city and the residents of Whitefield sit up, take notice and subsequently, take appropriate action. Disturbed by the unfortunate accident, residents of various communities in the Whitefield area, came together on Saturday, December 7, 2013 to protest against the pathetic condition of roads as well as related infrastructure: lack of pavements, medians, street lights, haphazard parking of BMTC buses, container trucks, lorries and water tankers - all adding to the chaos every single day. More than 200…

DJ halli in Bangalore has been in the news for several reasons primarily for the deaths of children due to severe malnutrition and associated medical illnesses and complications including disabilities. The community has met several times over the last few months and identified many problems in DJ halli. These are: 1.   Anganwadis which are inadequate for the population of DJ halli  and ill equipped to meet the needs of the children. Many children are still not enrolled in anganwadis and do not have access to any of the benefits. Children with SAM and cerebral palsy have even more difficulties in…

My write up last week attempted to quell some of the qualms one might have had about cycling to work in Bengaluru. In this sequel, we discuss some of the practical aspects. Okay, I am convinced - what do I do next ? 1. Visit a bike shop. There are a number of bike shops in Bangalore where you can get good quality bikes. Among the shops are: Decathlon - www.decathlon.in - Sarjapur Road - White field - Mysore Road. Pro Cycle - www.procycle.in - Indiranagar Bums on the Saddle - www.bumsonthesaddle.com - Jaynagar. They have recently opened a branch…

Kiran Mazumdar Shaw, B S Satyanarayana, Raghavendra Auradkar and other launching the BCLIP. Pic courtesy: BPACEven as the wannabe corporators were waiting for their incubation programme to begin, the main function hall at Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan on Race Course Road, Bengaluru was filled with excitement. Bangalore Political Action Committee (BPAC, set up by like-minded people interested in better governance for Bengaluru, was all set to launch its ambitious programme Bangalore Civic Leadership Incubation Programme (BCLIP). The programme aims to train potential candidates for local government elections. Mayor B S Satyanarayana, Mayor, Deputy Mayor Indiramma and Raghavendra Auradkar, Police Commissioner, Bangalore…

Picture courtesy: John Crawford (Wikimedia Commons) A key anti-retroviral therapy (ART) drug for HIV-positive people is unavailable in government hospitals in Bangalore. The so-called third-line ART drug, which is used to treat patients after they have been administered the first and second lines to suppress the virus, is not supplied to the city’s government hospitals. Chandrika, 33, an HIV-positive woman working with a Bangalore-based NGO that helps HIV-positive people, whose 16-year-old son also has the disease, told The SoftCopy she cannot afford to buy the drug for him from private hospitals. “My son is in need of the third line…

Following the unfortunate death of a yet another person as a result of the potholes on the road, citizens expect that someone is held accountable. This time, the victim was a three-year-old child. She was on a bike with her uncle and mother, when her uncle lost control of the vehicle on hitting a pothole. The child fell off the bike and was hit by an oncoming lorry. According to eyewitnesses, the road was choc-a-bloc with traffic as usual. There was a family of three on a bike - a man, a pregnant woman and a three-year-old child. A lorry…

Will the experience of Campa Cola compound flat owners be a lesson to apartment owners in Bengaluru? The Akrama Sakrama scheme is creating havoc. Every builder flouts the sanctioned plan with impunity and there is no one to check. Eventually, the flat buyer suffers while the builder and corrupt officials profit from the illegality. The impression created by Akrama Sakrama is that illegality will be condoned later and therefore builders continue to build illegal structures and lure buyers. Most buyers trust the promises of builders and some, who know better, go ahead and buy believing that Akrama Sakrama will take…