City: Bengaluru

The waiting was over! .. after three long years, I boarded the British Airways flight, back home to Namma Bengaluru.  My thoughts now raced to the urban transformation that would welcome me home. Three years is not a long time to expect sea-changes in one's neighbourhood.  But, from what I had heard, I expected to view a few more concrete, ornamental, apartment blocks amidst some marvellous temple towers in modern day Malleswaram.I began to visualise my home city as a ‘motor-driven', ‘rock-king' place, heralding the 21st century charm as well.On the very second day I landed, I couldn't wait, but…

Kannada Actor Darshan's act of domestic violence has been in the news for the past few days. Yes it has not been proven, yes his wife has taken back the case. But the fact is his wife is in a bad shape and is attending court cases with her hand in a cast. The case is pending before the Magistrate. Initial Police inquiry suggests that he attacked her in a moving car. The driver said he didn't see or hear anything because the partition is sound proof. What would you have done had you witnessed this happening while you drove…

In 1892, Whitefield was the only settlement in India that European and Eurasians could call their own. Old chronicles narrate that David Emmanuel Starkenburgh White decided to set up setttlement on a donation of land from the Maharajah of Mysore as a ‘self sufficient Anglo-Indian village’, where everyone worked for ‘the common good’. More than a century later, across a landscape where flashy malls and exclusive gated communities abound, Whitefield is home to the offices of multinational corporations like IBM, Hewlett Packard, SAP Labs, Dell, Cap Gemini, Oracle, GE Medical Systems, ABB and Unilever. Whitefield Diaries is screening again on September 24th at…

Stonehill International School in Jalahobli, Bangalore North, has been ranked the best international school in Bangalore with a score of 4.30 out of 5, in a survey conducted by ThinkVidya.com, an online community of parents, students and schools. The International School Bangalore (4.09), Sarjapur Road was ranked second, Trio World School (4.07), Sahakarnagar and Jain International Residential School, off Kanakapura Road, were jointly ranked third. Twenty-six International schools were shortlisted for ‘International Schools in Bangalore’, the first time such an independent survey was being conducted in the city. Nearly 200 individuals filed responses to the survey.  The report noted that…

Litter bins, which almost disappeared from Bangalore's landscape some time back, may make a comeback this year. BBMP's Solid Waste Management (SWM) department has plans to re-introduce litter bins as part of its new policy.Solid waste tenders, compost/dry waste centres, decentralised biogas centres are all part of the new policy. In draft stage now, the policy has to be approved first by the Standing Committee for Health and then by the BBMP Council. "The policy will probably go for Council's approval next month. Currently we have no integrated policy; the new policy will be a guideline for all officials," says…

The Joy of Giving Week is a national movement that hopes to engage every Indian in "acts of giving" - money, time, skills, resources or love. To be celebrated every year for a week including Oct 2, the week aspires to become a "festival" of giving that unifies India across its classes, castes, socio-economic strata and the urban/rural divide. This year the week is celebrated from Oct 2nd to Oct 8th, 2011. As part of one of the programmes conceived for this year, there will be fund raising dinner with a musical concert by singer M D Pallavi at the…

In an unprecedented decision on September 12th, the Principal Division Bench of the Hon'ble High Court of Karnataka constituted by Chief Justice J S Khehar and Justice H G Ramesh directed the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) to stop construction of the controversial link road (approximately 4 kms. long) through the biodiversity rich, ecologically sensitive and verdant forest campus of the Gandhi Krishi Vignana Kendra - University of Agricultural Sciences, in north Bangalore. Citizen resentment peaked in 2009 before the battle spilled over into the courts. Citizens protesting outside GKVK campus on Bellary Road in 2009. File pic: Save GKVK…

The Winds of Change Civic Club, VET school, J P Nagar, Bangalore, celebrated Pourakarmika day on September 5th, 2011. The children collected money by selling newspapers, and used that funds bought some snacks to distribute to the pourakarmikas. Students interacting with pourakarmikas. Pic Courtesy: CMCA Students took permission from the ward office, and gathered near the ward office at the time when the pourakarmikas gather after their morning shift. The children greeted them with a 'card' (poster made on chart paper), said thanks for their services, and distributed the snack-packets. The pourakarmikas thanked the children, and expressed their difficulties in…

In the midst of Anna Hazare anti-corruption movement, an event of significant importance went unnoticed by citizens of Bangalore. The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) presented the much delayed annual budget for the fiscal year 2011-12. A cursory look at the budget suggests that BBMP is in as much a mess as Satyam Computers was at the time of confession of fraud by its founder. Little wonder even after three weeks of release of the budget, it cannot be found on Palike website. Ramalinga Raju the founder CEO of Satyam Computers booked fictitious revenue to inflate profits of his company.…

The Bangalore University presented "World of Books 2011", an international book festival, which was held from the 2nd to 11th September, at Tripuravasini, Palace Grounds, Bangalore. The book festival played host to many leading bookstores including Oxford Bookstore, Hachette and others. The 10-day book festival saw thousands of people flocking in to take a look at the lakhs of books that were on display. For many of the booklovers, this festival has been a season of celebration. "I visit the book festival every year with my daughter," says Geeta, a bank employee, "my daughter is crazy about books and this festival is a…