City: Bengaluru

The Democratic Actor's Association of Misf!t Theater (Theatrix) in association with Cult Entertainment staged a play in Alliance Francaise called "Poison" on February 19.  The play was written and directed by a debutant young director, Chandrahasa Reddy. It was promoted as a laughter riot, which talks about people, their relationships and rumours. The play was based on the story of a married couple, Mr and Mrs Sharma and their shallow unsatisfying existence. Two other stories of a Police Inspector and an ambitious Social Worker, Smitha run in parallel to the main story. The play is about how these stories cross paths creating…

If you have been facing power cuts, blame it on the over-100-year-old power distribution system in Bengaluru, says P Manivannan, Managing Director at BESCOM. The issue is not power shortage, but poor infrastructure, he says. Manivannan, a 1998-batch IAS officer, took charge at BESCOM in October 2010. P Manivannan, MD, BESCOM Illustration: Sneha Prasad In the last few months, Manivannan has promised reforms such as sending SMS alerts on power cuts to consumers, publicizing power supply data etc. He is also the first BESCOM official to put up a camera in his chamber, which can be viewed live at the…

Over the past two weeks, Citizen Matters caught up with four of this year's Namma Bengaluru award winners for quick tete a tetes. The awards were given on February 3rd to ten deserving Bangaloreans at the Bangalore Palace.   Award winners and jury members at the Namma Bengaluru award ceremony. Pic: Yogaraj S Mudalgi VASUDEV ADIGA(Entrepreneur of the year) Entrepreneur of the year Vasudev Adiga, his award from Lokayukta Santhosh Hegde. Pic: Yogaraj S Mudalgi K N Vasudev Adiga, Managing Director of Adigas Fast Food Pvt Ltd started with a darshini in 1993 serving delicious food at affordable prices and…

It was a day to remember the nine lives lost and 70 others who were injured in the fire that broke out at Carlton Towers, Indiranagar on 23rd February 2010. A memorial service was organised exactly one year later at the Manipal Hospital auditorium by Beyond Carlton, a trust founded by Uday Vijayan. Vijayan is father of one of the victims, Akhil Uday. The trust carries on fire safety awareness initiatives at public places and educational institutions to prevent another fire like the one that broke out in Carlton Towers. Lighting the lamp, with a loss felt deeply. Pic: YM.…

Garbage, sewage and construction debris are eating up Bengaluru's Chunchaghatta lake situated in the Konankunte ward, adjacent to Eshwar Layout in southern JP Nagar.  A Citizen Matters inquiry has become a wake-up call to the authorities this month, but it remains to be seen what happens next. According to according to BBMP records, the lake is spread over 14 acres. Birds flocking the lake despite garbage and construction debris being dumped. Pic: Yogaraj S Mudalgi Sujatha, 39, a domestic worker, lives on the banks of the lake, says that she has tried telling her neighbours to not dump their garbage…

A working group constituted by chief minister B S Yeddyurappa's ABIDe task force submitted its recomendations on rules for implementing RTE (Right To Education) in Karnataka to the government on February 3. A major change that the group proposed to the government's own original draft was to make the selection of unaided schools for RTE based on unmet demand in local areas. ABIDe as recommended removing provisions that make RTE mandatory for all unaided schools. ABIDe has also recommended removing restrictions regarding fees, admission procedures etc., on unaided schools.  ABIDe Working Group presenting RTE draft to Primary and Secondary Education…

February 23rd , Wednesday, will mark one year since the Carlton Towers fire tragedy, a tragedy which changed the lives of 9 families forever and where over 60 were injured, some of whom are still recovering. It was soon after the tragedy that ‘Beyond Carlton', a people's initiative for fire safety was formed in Bangalore. The Group includes family members of those who passed away, survivors of the tragedy and concerned citizens of Bangalore, who have come together to honour the memory of the lives lost in this avoidable tragedy, to ensure that justice is served to the perpetrators of…

The work for tar road began, in December 2009. As part of that, the work for drains along the road, though started from scratch, has been going on in rounds, changing the course of the drain thrice. The work came to a halt with out proper cover for drains. Lack of proper planning before starting the work was quite apparent. A short drain running across of the road, opened for clearing the blockage because of debris and wasn't covered since then, has been big trouble for all the passing vehicles, especially four wheelers, and pedestrians when it rains, at nights,…

Citizens Action Forum (CAF), a federation of Residents Welfare Associations (RWA) in Bangalore, held a meeting on Saturday February 19, at the Central College Senate Hall at which three issues were tabled for discussion – the move  by BBMP to hike property tax by 15 per cent, water supply, and  the garbage problem. CAF meeting. From L: M S Mukunda, B N Vijaykumar, Manjunath, Lalithabai, Ashwathnarayana, Venkat Raju and Govindraju. Pic: Meera K. A full house saw representatives of RWA and concerned citizens voice their opinions on these issues to seek responses from ward representatives and MLAs. What remained at…

With 7 Khoon Maaf, director Vishal Bhardwaj returns for the second time to another Ruskin Bond short story Susanna's Seven Husbands. His first was Blue Umbrella. The film is at one level a woman's search for love. Bhardwaj makes this journey through the mind of Susanna Anna-Marie Johannes (Priyanka Chopra) - a woman who lives the world not in black and white, but in all its accompanying shades of grey. She veers at the precipice between sanity and insanity, almost willing herself back from the edge just as she threatens to veer over. This should have made for a promising…