City: Bengaluru

The Boston Marathon qualifier from namma Bengaluru, who stays in Koramangala for over 21 years now, writes on running and fitness. He is now planning to set up a venture that will primarily focus on educating runners on proper running form. He talks about running, inspiration and what goes into it to be a good runner.   What inspired you to run?Like any other youngster, I was more into team games like football, cricket and so forth. But once I started working, I decided to switch from contact to non-contact sports to minimise injuries and yet get a workout. Running, swimming…

Consider the typical traffic scenario on a "normal" day: A swirl to the left and a turn towards right, cutting lanes at the wink of your eye with regular "predictable" screeching halts, the Indian motorists (number of wheels and size of the vehicles do not matter!) have perfected the art & science of driving and riding. They have the knack of crisscrossing the lanes and by-lanes, with occasional slip ups of course! It is easy to predict a politician's jump from one party to another, but it is well nigh impossible to predict the motorists' intended path! The two wheelers…

We, Malleswaram Swabhimana Initiative (MSI), a resident's welfare association, have been short listed for Green Star awards. Finally we are being recognized for the work that MSI has done in the field of waste management. The award is being given by TCS during their 10 k run.The award will be partially based on the number of votes that the association gets. Please click on this link for voting:  Green Star awards. The voting closes on May 27, Sunday.For more information on MSI, visit: We Care For Malleswaram .⊕

BBMP Contract Pourakarmika Workers Association staged a protest today at BBMP head office about the pending salaries for the past two months. Around 1,000 workers participated in the protest. They demanded that the system of paying salaries through contractors should be done away with and be paid directly by BBMP. The pourakarmikas say that the contractor usually pays only half the salary, that too as cash and not via cheques. They also demanded for minimum wage and proper identity cards. Pourakarmikas protesting at BBMP head office. Pic: Sankar C G “We are not getting minimum wage on time as mentioned…

Residents of Jayanagar and JP Nagar have a reason to smile. Karnataka’s Home and Transport minister R Ashoka inaugurated the renovated Chandragupta Maurya Playground on Saturday, May 19th, 2012. This playground is in Jayanagar 5th Block in 10th main. This playground, popular as Shalini ground after an old hotel which is demolished now, has a skating rink, net practice space, auditorium, and concrete gallery steps around the playground. This playground will be used for outdoor activities like cricket, football and volleyball among others. Children practicing cricket at newly inaugurated Chandragupta Maurya playground. Pic: Anisha Nair This 6.5 acre playground is…

BBMP has listed control room numbers for disaster management on its official website. Unfortunately these lines either do not work or there is no response. I had lodged a complaint (Complaint no: 197) with BBMP (South Office) on May 11 for clearing the branch of the tree that had fallen due to heavy rain, which was promptly cleared within couple of hours.It has been more than 10 days and the branches cut are thrown across my compound facilitating to make it a dump yard. Irony is that BBMP Porakarmikas who clean the road, dump all the debris in the same…

BBMP unlike BDA is not a development authority, it can be termed as a maintenance authority and provides services, hence it should focus on -Capacity building - Administrative restructuring of BBMP - Roles and responsibilities of departments/officers  to be defined.Computerisation of all BBMP offices, establishment of  citizen help centers in each ward.Adequate and skilled professionals should be hired as required in BBMP.Services of Private consultants/professionals /outsourcing can be utilised as required on a contract basis instead of utilizing engineers from the public works department.Involve registered Resident Welfare Associations (RWA) and civic organizations to monitor projects of the ward and conduct…

As I write this, I hear the noise of yet another borewell being dug on my street. This is the ninth one since December 2011; all within a radius of less than half kilometre, in Kalyan 1st block, HRBR Layout. This is happening at a time when the newly formed Karnataka Ground Water Authority is trying to gather force.45 houses in HRBR layout were surveyed informally for this piece. Ground water levels, availability of corporation water, implementation of rain water harvesting (RWH) are some of the things that were looked at. What I found out could be the reality across…

The 84th edition of the Gangamma Jathre (Fair) at Malleswaram drew Bangaloreans in large numbers. The origin of this Jathre can be traced to the rich tradition of worshipping Nada Devathe or local deities in our city. Gangamma is believed to be one of the seven deities of Bengaluru. Gangamma temple. Pic: Sridhar C R Jathre at Gangamma Temple near the famous Kadu Malleshwara Temple was a three day affair that began on 14th May and concluded on 16th May with a grand Karaga procession.During the period of festivity devotees flocked the Gangamma temples in large numbers and offered Ragi…

Vijayan Menon, member of Citizens’ Action Forum and a Koramangala resident, Brigadier R S Murthy of HSR RWA Federation, RTI activist Chandra Shekhar, Muralidhar Rao, member of  Koramangala Initiative, Ramesh Sivaram of Forward150 (Bellandur RWA), Ganesan M of Save Agara group, and Citizen Matters co-founder Meera K, gathered in the evening. With the High Court cancelling Agara lake’s PPP contract recently, the LDA is open to citizens involvement to save the lake. The residents agreed that the 42-acres lake would be a big challenge to revive. Menon pointed out that without healthy water bodies to revive the groundwater table, future…