City: Bengaluru

Freedom from garbage. The words have a nice ring to them, which is probably why the BBMP chose the name, KasaMuktha, for its new effort to manage waste in the city. Forced by the High Court to ensure that all solid waste is segregated at source in homes and offices, the municipality is struggling to come up with an alternative that is acceptable to citizens, and works well. Why? Simple. All our earlier efforts to 'manage' trash were built around landfills. Simply collect the trash from the citizens of Bangalore, and take it away to villages outside the city and…

You have endured the tension those nine months could cause, and experienced the joy that lies in the anticipation of becoming a new parent. However, have you chosen the right place to welcome the young one? Yes, it is important. Choosing a hospital where the would-be-mom is comfortable is of utmost importance and should be planned in advance. While some of the would-be-moms choose to be with one hospital right through their pregnancy, there are a few who end up delivering at a different hospital with a different obstetrician, as they change doctors or hospitals towards the end of the…

As the monsoons hit Bangalore quenching the thirst of a parched landscape, the heavenly waters also bring with it the burden of deadly diseases like dengue. As industrial revolution and rapid scientific advancement made life easy for human life on this planet, it also brought in unforeseen challenges with regard to health and hygiene. Dengue fever, from being present in small pockets around the tropical earth, has now become a pandemic putting almost one third of the world population at risk. It is a flu-like viral fever spread by mosquito bites. The severe form potentially kills 1 in 5 affected…

A friend forwarded me the link to a parenting blog recently. The blogger, mother of a seven-year-old, takes up the challenge of yelling less. She’s inspired by the blog famous among parenting blogs, Orange Rhino. For those who are not familiar, The Orange Rhino is the name of a challenge where the aforementioned blogger decided to go 365 days without yelling at her kids. All four of them. Yes. Four. And she succeeded. As for me, I prefer the Maun Vrat, the age-old spiritual practice of silence. Of course, I have my own version of it. Mine comes into application…

Bangalore houses roughly around one crore citizens. As the city grows, crime rate too goes up. To facilitate smooth flow of grievance redressal mechanism and complaint follow ups, Police Department has brought certain services under Sakala scheme, to aid the citizens in getting their work done in time. However, how many people are aware of this? The Police Computer Wing (PCW) of the Karnataka State Police had introduced 21 services under the Sakala scheme, in April 2012. Four months ago, the PCW also launched the mobile SMS Gateway service. But its reach has been limited. Speaking to Citizen Matters, ADGP,…

The realignment of Namma Metro is something that has remained a mystery - why the realignment? Why cannot a heart hospital have Metro near it? There seem to be no clear answers to this question, though the realignment of the route has already been decided. Jayadeva Institute of Cardiovascular Sciences and Research vehemently protested the plans for the Metro to pass through the hospital’s parking area. On the other hand, Narayana Hrudayalaya, another prestigious heart hospital in the city, has requested BMRCL to extend its line from Electronic City to Chandapura Post - a 5 km away from the last…

I was taking my cycle to the ‘Fitness Through Travel’ to get it lubed properly for the race on Sunday. As I passed the playground near 19th Main (BTM Layout), I noticed a young woman in filthy clothes lying unconscious near the grills of the ground. A lot of young men were playing in the ground, paying no attention to her. Everyone was just glancing at her and moving away with the assumption that she was drunk. I too started moving away, but then I noticed dried blood around her foot. I felt bad, went near her and woke her…

Lucia, Kannada's first-ever crowd-funded movie, directed and produced by 30-year-old debutant director Pawan Kumar, has won the Audience Award at the fourth London Indian Film Festival. Pawan Kumar was quoted by the London Indian Film Festival website: “To win this award in the face of such powerful competition is a dream come true for me. I thank the London Indian Film Festival for selecting the film for its world premiere and would also like to thank the London audience and the UK Kannada community for supporting the film.” Pawan Kumar, Diector of Lucia How pre-ordering works Lucia can be pre-ordered…

You can complain to Health Department if you find ambulances charging more than 10 rupee per km. Pic courtesy: Wikimedia Commons Lakshmamma, a domestic worker and a resident of Anjanagara, did not know where to take her sister Shanti, who suddenly complained of severe abdominal pain during late night hours. She did not know which ambulance service to call, as a private ambulance service she found refused to ply during late night hours. Charges for another service were over Rs 3,000 for just two kilometres, to a decent hospital on Magadi Road. Similar situation was also faced by another woman,…

When the alignment of around 50+ kms of the proposed road is more or less the same as NICE road, BDA has to construct only 60+ kms, not 110 kms as projected. Pic: wikimedia commons Why should the Peripheral Ring Road cost 4300 crores, and why should Japanese agency Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) be funding it? The toal length of the project is about 110 km, of which 50+ is unnecessary, because the western half of the road is more or less identical to the NICE Road which has already been built. So what we really need is road…