City: Bengaluru

Carry a charged cell phone always, as a dead mobile is of no use. File pic. Our country is witnessing the worst times for women. That is how we are feeling now. But the truth is women have been continually harassed, teased, attacked, ill-treated for centuries. We are coming to know of all the atrocities as women victims come forward and report the incidents to the law. As a result people have started talking about safety of women, laws protecting women and educating women to protect themselves against the evils prevailing around them. This is a definitely good progress. People…

Last May, the common Bangalorean voted for a change in the hope that this would be a change for the better. Basic needs such as commutable roads and better civic amenities are turning into luxuries for people living in Bangalore. Even after four months, the new administration is unable to make any real progress. Nothing has changed. While we painfully negotiate and move from gutter to gutter, all the while suffering bumpy rides, life-size posters of political leaders smile at us, ridiculing our plight. Previously, the poster boys were all from the rank and file of the BJP. Now it’s…

Are women really safe in the world today? Are there enough women officers who are sympathetic to the problems of women? Is there sufficient staff who is empathetic the problems of other women, even if the problem is not voiced out aloud? Is the future generation of women safe, in the wake of the rising crimes against them? I think not. Or rather I would diplomatically say I do not know. Balancing career and personal life is a real tightrope walk for women on top. File pic. This thought really scares me. More than that it shocks me. In a…

It was August 25th, 2013. The last council meeting under the mayorship of Venkateshmurthy was underway. The media representatives coming out from the council meeting were distributed a press kit. The press release with no sign of any authorities highlighted the continued payment by BBMP to works tendered by its Forest Cell, which can never be scrutinised and ascertained if they were really done in the way they should be. The documents indicated that BBMP Forest Cell continues to make payments against 2923 job codes assigned four years ago. In addition to this, Forest Cell Chief Conservator Brijesh Kumar is…

Many incidents in the city in the past have proven that the fire emergencies in Bangalore do not get timely help. As the city saturates, the worry of fire and emergencies also mounts, because of the increasing skyscrapers and congested areas. The lacunae in the fire services are usually attributed to shortage of stations. And why is the shortage? Because, the Fire Department doesn’t have enough land inside the city. Explaining the shortfall, Om Prakash, Director General of Karnataka Fire and Emergency Services Department, says that finding land to build a fire station is the biggest challenge. Funds and government…

This is an attempt to share information about roads. Lot of information is also available in the internet, so I have taken care not to repeat the same. So, how is a road different from regular soil surface, and why so? Let’s take regular surface; the playground. It is fine to play when there is no rain. We can even go cycling or ride a motorbike. However, when it rains, it becomes soft and slushy. Cycle wheel or feet go deeper into the soil. In such cases, what do we do? We place a big stone and step over it.…

Dhiraj Gaurh was astounded by a very large creature, which, he felt, might be a Hummingbird. Here are the excellent shots he got, of the creature drinking nectar from Aster flowers: He posted the link to the photos in the egroup of the Bird Watchers’ Field Club (contrary to its name, this is a group of enthusiasts of all forms of wildlife and nature.) Several people (Rachna Shetty, Gautam Krishnan, Vijay Krishna, Ravi Vaidyanathan, Anubhav Vanamamalai, Nandhu Sridhar)  promptly responded to him,  identifying this, not as a Hummingbird (we do not have them in India), but as the Hummingbird Hawk…

Water inside Sai Gardens premises, in Kadugodi near Whitefield. The above picture isn't a scene from any flooded village, it's a scene straight from Kadugodi - Whitefield, Bangalore. Residents of Sai Garden apartments, in Kadugodi near Whitefield, were in for a shocking scene on Friday. Continuous rains had filled the nearby canal, and the water level around the apartment complex started rising slowly. Water flooded into the apartment's premises and entered the ground floor of the flats, thereby forcing residents to vacate. The water level outside the compound walls of the residential complex rose to a height of 10 feet.…

The Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) commissioner seems to have sprung into action, especially after Chief minister Siddaramaiah’s  'surprise' city tour on September 7, 2013. Taking the directions of Siddharamaiah forward, BBMP Commissioner Lakshmi Narayana, told Citizen Matters that all arterial and sub-arterial roads in Bangalore will be pothole-free by end of February, 2014. However, citizens have heard such claims and promises many a time in the past.  High quality concrete roadsA pilot project worth 25 lakhs to develop Park House Road in front of Karnataka Public Services Commission office, behind Vidhana Soudha, into a high-quality concrete road, was underway. The…

When segregating the wet waste from the dry becomes a habit (to the extent that soiled boxes, plastic packets and tetra packs also are cleaned/ rinsed and dried before going into the dry bin), it becomes difficult to put all the waste into one dustbin, while visiting hotels and other homes. Often I’m tempted to carry my trash back to ensure it is handled appropriately. During a recent visit to Pune though, there was no such temptation. The friends we visited live in a large apartment complex called Camellia on the Baner-Pashan Link Road (about 300 apartments), and here segregation…