City: Bengaluru

Gollahalli lake in Electronic city has lost 2.11 acres to an illegally built road. Despite orders, the road still stands intact thanks to the timely call by the then Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa. Road that encroaches on the Gollahalli lake. Pic: Sankar C G The then Tehsildar Mallikarjuna ordered the road to be dismantled in 2010. The road, which covers about one-fourth of the 9.2-acre Golahalli Lake, is still in use today.  According to the records obtained through RTI, survey number 15 is a lakebed and it belongs to the government. However, a road was constructed in 2007. The…

For the past few years, development works executed by civic agencies including BWSSB, BDA, BBMP and KPTCL have been going on in HSR Layout. This has resulted in frequent traffic diversions into HSR Layout, from Ring Road - Sarjapur Road, that cause major inconvenience for us all. HSR RWA members called the officials for a public meeting. Pic: Meera K Residents and shopkeepers along 27th main road of HSR Layout continue to live with the pain caused by BWSSB water pipeline work. The peace of this layout has been disturbed with attendant noise and pollution over months. Will the authorities…

High Court issued a notice to Chief Minister D V Sadananda Gowda on a PIL about his plot in HSR Layout, on January 10th. The case filed by journalist and activist K G Nagalakshmi Bai last August had pointed out that Gowda's usage of the plot was illegal. The plot Sadananda Gowda owns in HSR Layout. Pic: Vijayalakshmi P Gowda was allotted site No. 2B, a 50x80 ft plot in Sector 3 of HSR layout, for residential use in 2006. Another 50x80 ft site adjacent at the back (site no. 13B) is owned by Sringeri MLA D N Jeevaraj. The…

"People connect to my paintings easily," says Sangeetha Kadur, wildlife artist. A graduate from Chitrakala Parishath, Sangeetha is a avid birdwatcher and a wildlife artist.'A Brush With Nature,' her first solo exhibition of wildlife art was organised at No. 1 Shanti Studio at Shantinagar. The exhibition was on from 27th January to 30th January. Sangeetha along with her collection at the exhibition. Pic: Deepthi M S The exhibition which ran for 3 days saw a lot of wild life enthusiasts attending the event. "The spirit in the Leopard's eyes are so real," says, Atrijit Dasgupta, 45, who claims to have…

As some of you may have seen the announcements, Citizen Matters' second print edition has launched in Koramangala-HSR layout from 14 January. This is a very exciting development for us and is inline with our plan to foster hyperlocal communities around Bengaluru through independent coverage of current affairs, communitiy and culture. Two fortnightly editions are currently going out of our office every alternate week, one for the JP Nagar-BTM-Jayanagar area and one for Koramangala-HSR. Like the active community in Jayanagar-JP Nagar area, Koramangala and HSR Layout's citizens too are at the forefront of several city reform initiatives. Many of them…

‘Varna Mythri - Centenary Retrospective 2011' was launched in December 2011 to commemorate the birth centennial of artist Rumale Chennabasaviah. The retrospective is being held by National Gallery of Modern Art NGMA, Benglauru. Play of light, High Court, c 1960 - oil on canvas. Pic courtesy: NGMA The programme was to end on 31 January but the date has been now extended. "By popular demand, the last date for viewing has been extended until 19 February 2012", shared Shoba Nambisan, the director of NGMA.The programme included insightful weekly discussions by artists and art historians on Rumale's paintings, landscape art and…

Every human being has the power to make a difference. 'Living Beyond Life' started with one such thought. It is a project to get the option of organ donation introduced on Driving License (DL) cards. When I first saw my brother’s US driving license, I found organ donation option mentioned in it. I too wanted to pledge my organs but did not know how. I took this up as a project, to get organ donation introduced as an option on DLs. There is huge demand for organs in India, for transplant. One of the best ways to reach out to…

The Bengaluru Habba featured the staging of Robert Bolt's A Man for all Seasons. For those of us not familiar with Bolt's name, he was an Oscar-winning screenplay writer and playwright, who wrote the screenplays for Dr Zhivago (one of his Oscar efforts) and the legendary Lawrence of Arabia.His other Oscar came from the screenplay adaptation of this play, A Man for all Seasons. The play for the Habba was stage directed by Arjun Sajnani, who is of course known for the high quality of his productions that include Fire and Rain and Tughlaq. This play was no different in…

This year's Bird Race, organised by the India Bird Races, was held on 15th January. Sunjoy Monga headed this year's race. Registrations were opened up in early January and 44 teams had registered in all. The race was sponsored, as always, by Hongkong and Shanghai Bank Corporation (HSBC).This was a good number of participants, considering the fact that it was Sankranti day.The rules, as always, were that people could form teams, and check off the various species of birds that they found in a 60 km radius around Bangalore. In this radius Nandi Hills is included, as it continues to…

Filmmaker Girish Kasaravalli has won hearts and stimulated minds for a few decades now. Ghatashraadhha to Gulabi Talkies, his films have won him great accolades. He offers interpretations of the stories he chooses, something not usually done by directors. Citizen Matters caught up with this resident of BTM Layout for an interview. I see a shift in your film-making. Recent films, especially those after Gulabi Talkies seem to be explicitly ideological in nature. They ‘tell’ more than ‘show’, I think. What do you mean when you say ‘ideological’? My films have always had a political-social message, if you like. It…