City: Bengaluru

Many school bus drivers drive dangerously, disregarding rules and safety guidelines. It may not always be possible for  parents to accompany their child to school everyday - parents may have their own limitations. But I do not believe there is any valid reason for parents not putting their foot down against such risky transport options. Picture Courtesy – Posted in Bangalore Traffic Police Facebook Page by Sreenivas Machavaram Do these bus drivers even realise that they are putting the lives of these children in danger by jumping the median? Another big question is: Do the parents know this? The problem…

Food blogging is growing in India, and a lot of food enthusiasts are sharing their wonderful recipes online. Each of them have their unique stories, experiences, and of course, their food recipes. Here are three food bloggers who live in Bengaluru doing what they love doing, and a peek at their journeys.Blog beginningsArchana Doshi, on her food blog , calls herself a “chef, blogger, author, food writer” and more. She is a software engineer by profession but when she became a mother, she had to leave her career behind. At this time she decided to blog about parenting, and a…

Chikkanna, aged 40, a traditional handloom weaver from Chowdeshwari Nagar, Kanakapura road has decided to quit weaving after things turned worse due to debt and poverty. Three years ago when profits from his handloom died down, he took a loan to purchase a powerloom. The loan came at 12 percent interest. But he failed to repay the loan due to high interest, increasing power costs and day to day expenses. A Handloom weaver from Sarakki. Pic: Sankar C G Using a powerloom, one can make one or two saree per day. But the cost of one power loom is one…

Prof. Elinor Ostrom, recipient of the 2009 Nobel Prize for Economics, passed away in Indiana, United States, on 12th June, after a short and intense battle with pancreatic cancer. Her life and her ideas hold deep significance for us in Bangalore. Prof. Ostrom visiting Kaikondanahalli lake in February 2012. Pic: Harini Nagendra In February 2012, Prof. Ostrom visited Bangalore for a few days, giving the T N Khoshoo Memorial Lecture at the Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment (ATREE). In addition, she was very keen to visit one of the sites of a recent research program that…

On 8th May, BBMP issued a notice meant as a final warning to unlicensed health units to obtain trade licenses. But this was not the first time; BBMP had issued the notice thrice before - first on 5th December 2010, second in February 2011 and the third in June 2011.Despite these notices, 937 health units out of a 2648 hospitals surveyed by BBMP were unregistered as of March 2012. Early morning at 6, the bi-medical waste collectors-Maridi at work. Pic Abhishek Angad The notice makes it mandatory for health units to have an up-to-date receipt of tax payment, an authorisation…

On 3rd June, Sunday afternoon two people pretending to be BESCOM officials talked R Nagarajan and his wife Swarnalatha, residents of  BTM second stage, into buying fake CFL bulbs. R Nagarajan and his wife Swarnalatha. Pic: Abhishek Angad According to Nagarajan, one of the posers identified himself as a Junior Engineer, Srinivas. The poser then convinced Nagarajan that BESCOM was distributing CFL lamps to senior citizens to use in place of the regular incandescent bulbs. Fake CFL bulbs. Pic: Abhishek Angad Nagarajan says, “they gave us 12 lamps for free and another 12 for the cost of Rs 2400, which…

The initial endeavor of truly lived up to the expectations - the conference room in Christ University on June 16th, was thronged by the sports enthusiasts across the city. Right from management students, professors, entrepreneurs and sport entrepreneurs, employee/employer of sport institutes, athletic coaches, and several sports fanatics came to the venue to listen to the Olympic experience from hockey stalwarts Jude Felix and Arjun Halappa.  Arjun Halappa. Pic: Naveen Ningaiah The event started with a presentation from Switch Hit Sports, a sports management company that provides a professional platform for sports and sportspersons to flourish by encouraging grass-root level…

A new waste management centre ‘Kasa Rasa’ was inaugurated at Koramangala 5th block on 9th June 2012. This is located in the parking lot next to Hotel Empire, under the high tension lines. KSPCB chairman A S Sadashivaiah, civic activists like Meenakshi Bharath, Sandhya Narayan, N S Ramakanth and local corporator Kokila Radhakrishnan also participated. MLA Ramalinga Reddy inaugurating the newly built Kasa Rasa center at Koramangala. Pic: Sankar C G The centre is an initiative of Saahas, an NGO working for effective waste management, supported by BBMP and KSPCB. The Centre has an organic waste converter (OWC) for composting…

Everyday, commuters get stuck on either side of the railway gate on Sarjapur Road at Mullur, thanks to around 30 trains that pass through. Commuters taking this route curse their predicament as they have no other option. Vehicles caught in a traffic jam at Sarjapur road railway crossing. Pic: Sankar C G During peak hours, the vehicle pile up extends almost a kilometre on either side of the gate. Office commuters, school vans, BMTC buses - everyone has to queue up. Most often, it is the school buses that get stuck at peak hour. “Everyday, we get late by 30…

Have you ever told the driver using a hose to clean the neighbour’s car that he is wasting fresh water, and his response is “Borewell Madam!” with the emphasis on the word borewell? And in a tone suggesting you are so dumb it’s a free and plentiful supply?  That is the crux of the water problem being faced in Bangalore today. That is where education comes in. Where care should be taken by owners of borewells, to be judicious in their use of the water, just like they are with corporation water which they pay for. The Karnataka Ground Water…