City: Bengaluru

Once upon a time there was a city called Bengaluru which was known as the Garden City with many magnificent trees dotting every road in the city. Then came along the ogre called Metro Rail (BMRCL) and took away all the splendour of the beautiful Garden City reducing it to a pathetic sight of dug roads, cranes that topple every other day and traffic jams. Namma Bengaluru, the city I remember as I moved in here 12 years ago, was a peaceful city with beautiful boulevards all around and huge raintrees spreading their canopies over the roads providing shade to…

Residents of Elita Promenade, an apartment complex in JP Nagar 7th phase, are a worried lot. Elita has a strange problem - a sewage pipeline runs within the apartment's compound, but it carries sewage not from the complex, but from other layouts. The raw sewage flows in to the pipeline located along the compound wall and finally joins Jaraganahalli (Sarakki) lake located behind the complex. The sewage is from Uma Sanjeevini apartment and Guru Raghavendra Layout located next to Elita complex, outside its compound wall. The apartment however has its own Sewage Treatment Plant (STP) to process its sewage. Sewage…

There are close to 841 BBMP parks in Bangalore (a 2009 statistic) but I had not been to one until last weekend. Although, I did not get to see much of the park I did see this board announcing that the park is shut between 10 am and 4 pm. Even if I used the park during open hours then I could not play, sit or walk on the lawn! This is the case with most public spaces; they are not open for the public! I spent a day laughing it off before I found out about an event being…

Andal Jagannathan couldn't sit back and watch the waste getting mixed up and ending up in the landfill. She took the initiative and along with fellow residents set up a successful Green Committee at the Godrej Woodsman Estate Apartments, Hebbal. "I had to do something about the issue at hand since I felt strongly about it," said Andal. Sorting waste for composting at Godrej Woodsman Apartments ‘Full Circle', a member of Solid Waste Management Round Table (SWMRT) and an organization which  is committed to implementing sustainable solutions in the field of solid waste management, ecological sanitation and water conservation is…

I don't know if it were the Gods of Serendipity who conspired to do this but one day, the 26th of April, 2009, my phone started ringing at 6 am in the morning. Now, wondering who would be calling at this ungodly hour, I got up from bed to answer the phone. It was my friend Vinny who was going out for his daily run around the Jayamahal park and wanted to know if I'd want to tag along. I don't know what had gotten into me or if I was just dreaming, half-asleep, but I said, Yes, got up…

Whitefield has no water.  Yet if all the hype surrounding it is to be believed, it is still considered one of the "best neighbourhoods" in which to live and work! The "original" Whitefield – Forum Value Mall to Hope Farm - has always depended on borewell water supply (hence, a Borewell Road.)  However, with most of the existing borewells drying up, the remaining few have to supply water to the entire population of Whitefield. The government has clearly stated that no new private borewells should be drilled.  But drilling continues clandestinely - and sometimes openly! Cauvery Water IV Stage seems…

Barely twelve hours after the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) Government's crackdown on Baba Ramdev's anti-corruption camp in Delhi, at 1 am on Sunday, 5th June, the ripples could be felt in Bangalore. Deepak Kumar, 40, software professional in an MNC is incensed over the shoddy way Ramdev was treated. A number of seers had gathered to talk to the assembly on Sunday, June 5th. Pic: Yogaraj S MudalgiA mother cajoles her young one while raising the Indian tricolour. Pic: Yogaraj S Mudalgi.A volunteer holding up a placard. Pic: Yogaraj S Mudalgi.Hundreds of people had gathered at Freedom Park. Pic Yogaraj…

Residents of Sachidananda Nagara layout in Rajarajeswari Nagar a far from a solution to their khata woes. After two Gandhigiri protests and several promises from the BBMP Commissioner H Siddaiah himself, the latest roadblock in their struggle is a letter sent by former Mayor S K Nataraj asking BBMP to not issue khatas to residents. The letter was sent by the former Mayor on April 26, two days before he quit office. The new Mayor was elected on April 29. File pic: Sachidanandanaga residents arguing with the police while waiting to get their khatas in November 2010. Pic: Navya P…

After Anna Hazare's Bengaluru event on Saturday, 28th May night, I was returning home from Art of Living with a friend. It was around 11pm. From Kanakapura Road we took left at Gubbalala cross (the road connects Kanakapura Road with Avalahalli in southwest Bengaluru) we encountered a damaged man hole and we both fell down from the scooter. The death spot on Gubbalala cross. Pic: Anand Yadawad. Luckily not much injury, but still it cost more over Rs.500 for hospital expenses, the scooter had scratches and our clothes were torn. My fingers were swollen and I couldn't work on computer…

“Rajarajeshwari Nagar.”“100 rupees, medam.”“Yaake? It’s hardly seven kilometres from here. I’m not paying so much. I’ll take another auto.”“Illa medam, give me twenty rupees more than the metre. Okay, only ten rupees more. (Customer shakes her head) Sari medam, come. We just don’t get any customers from there, so asked you for more, that’s all.”After 12 years as an autorikshaw driver, Mahadev quit. He rented out his auto to another  driver and took up a job as a car driver. He has also started a real estate business with a friend.  Originally from a village in Mandya district, G N…