City: Bengaluru

The woman got on to the bus, gave the conductor a two rupee coin and prepared to get off two stops later. I caught her eye and said, sternly, "Pay proper charges and get a ticket, or you'll be fined Rs 150." "All right amma, sorry" she said, alighting at the new flyover, "I work here, sweeping the rubble, and earn Rs 2,000 a month, I have to live on that."The budget for the flyover is several crores. Workers like her who build it, earn for a whole month's work, what an entry level software employee in our IT city,…

Apartments are bulk generators; we won't collect garbage from them. No, apartments are not bulk generators; we will collect waste from them. BBMP has been going back and forth on this issue for over two months now. As the December 1st deadline, for waste segregation at source is here, there is still no clarity on where the waste from the apartment complexes is going to go. Media reports have quoted BBMP Commissioner Rajneesh Goel saying that apartments are now excluded from the bulk generators list. However BBMP's website has the notification dated October 1st, that has categorised apartments under bulk…

As the fear of bird flu looms over Bangalore, here are some facts that one ought to know: What is bird flu?Flu stands for influenza, a viral infection caused by the flu virus. And bird flu is ‘flu occurring in birds'. Depending on minor differences on the genetic make up of the virus, influenza virus is of type A, B and C. The current outbreak is caused by a subtype of influenza A, known as H5N1.If it is an infection of birds, why should humans be worried?Humans can catch bird flu directly through close contact with live infected birds. It…

This November, it's Hindi cinema's season of film launches. So first, there was an overdose of Shahrukh Khan and Katrina Kaif in promos for "Jab Tak Hai Jaan", and now Aamir Khan takes over with the release date for "Talaash" just around the corner. While it was Aamir who first set the trend of intelligently aggressive film promotion, other Indian filmmakers have been quick to join the bandwagon. "Jab Tak Hai Jaan" promos had Shahrukh on every English language television channel, and even holding forth in a keynote address at the Hindustan Times' "Leadership Summit". The questions he fielded here…

Project Cinema City, a multidisciplinary art exhibition recently concluded at the National Gallery of Modern Art, Bangalore (NGMA) on December 2nd 2012. This project began as an effort to chart the relationship between cinema and Bombay/Mumbai and chronicle the imaginary space where the two converge. It is also a chronicle of Bombay's metamorphosis into Mumbai.I was fortunate to be able to attend a walkthrough conducted by Madhushree Dutta on November 24th. Madhushree is the executive director of Majlis, a rights discourse and inter-disciplinary arts initiative based in Mumbai. As the curator and producer of this project, she has been working…

Ever since the state Election Commission opened up the voter registration for the summary revision earlier this month, the system has been besieged with problems.With the online registration system available this time too, many citizens opted to submit their applications online. As on November 29th, 2,10,020 citizens registered and 1,40,325 submitted their applications online. Many citizens who registered could not submit their forms successfully. Some of them had registered during the earlier window in June, and complain that their application status still says, "Under process". A bunch of assembly constituencies, part of Batch I and II was open for registration…

They began as wishful lamentations that soon turned into hushed whispers transforming eventually into convincing rumours. With all those regular claims about being home to culture, heritage and genteel intellectuals, how is it that Bangalore was missing a multiple day, A-Lister- filled literary fest?The optimists amongst us knew it was only a matter of time. When news of it finally came, Bangalore's very own literature festival, unlike those preceding it, emerged to find a ready audience. Where other literary events have had to slowly build audiences, BLF suffers a large crowd bouncing excitedly on its feet, waiting to be let…

Courage without compare. Bravery beyond belief. In 1962, a thin line of India's finest stood their ground in the face of aggression. A grateful nation can never forget their sacrifice or their fortitude. 50 years later, on 17th November, Indigo Live and Flags of Honour Foundation commemorated these martyrs of the Himalayan heights with the Cry Freedom concert at Counter Culture in Bengaluru's Whitefield. Featuring Chennai bands Scrat and Frank's Got the Funk, the concert which kicked off at 6:30 pm was organised by the Flags of Honour Foundation. A non-profit entity based in Bangalore, the Flags of Honour Foundation…

Sahaja Rao had shifted to her new apartment in Koramangala five months ago and wanted a new LPG connection for her house. After asking several neighbours for available options and doing several rounds of the distributor for the required documents, she finally managed to get a new LPG connection for her new house. But then, it took her almost two months of repeated visits to the distributors and following up on the status. This is the case with several people who are want a new LPG connections or want to transfer the connections from other cities to Bangalore. Here's is…

Nadasurabhi, a leading cultural organisation of Bangalore conducted its 19th Annual Carnatic Music Festival from the 20th to 25th November with seven programmes. The venue was the new auditorium attached to the St.John's College of Nursing in Koramangala.The opening day saw the famous Mysore brothers, Nagaraj and Manjunath demonstrate their proficiency in violin by a vibrant performance. Poorvikalyani and Varali were dealt with in detail, and a Ragam Tanam pallavi in Charukesi was presented with aplomb. The second day sobriety, serenity and excellence were on display in the vocal concert of Maharajapuram Ramachandran who comes in the illustrious lineage of…