City: Bengaluru

“Where were you all, madam, at that time?” asked a BBMP official dealing with the city’s infrastructure development, last week. This was not  some rhetorical cross-examination of an accused during a crime investigation (though, as you will presently see, there is an element of crime involved) but something more basic that many of us can be asked or should ask ourselves more often.Residents of a Scientists’ Colony is south Bengaluru  suddenly woke up one recent morning to find that some of their houses, inside the colony had been marked for “road widening”. The road running through the colony was perfectly…

As a response to water shortage, four bore wells were sanctioned under the councillors quota for every ward. Unfortunately in BTM layout, the program resulted in two tragic deaths, on 16th Main Road, in II Stage. On June 15th, one of the crew members of the borewell firm that got the contract, took the first step to raise the bore motor to start drilling. While raising it, the equipment touched the electricity line above. Power was not shut down in these lines leading to the operator’s death within a fraction of a second. One co-worker tried to save him but…

There are public spaces and there are public spaces. While city’s bus stops, railway stations, and the streets make up one side of public space; malls, movies and restaurants make up the other side. And the two sides have very different set of rules and these rules as usual affect women the most. Sartorial choice might seem to be a very trivial issue in larger scheme of things but the right to choose what one wants to wear rather than be told what to wear is hardly something to ignore. This in a city that boasts of being cosmopolitan.Offices have…

Like minded citizens of Shakambarinagar ward have come together to form a citizens’ forum to address the civic issues of the ward and closely work with the elected representatives as well as civic authorities. The organisation meets every fortnight (Monday) at their office in JP Nagar. Shakambari Nagar Citizen Forum members meeting MLA B N Vijayakumar and Corporator Somashekar at their office. Pic: Raghavendra. Below are some issues pertaining to Shakambari Nagar Ward:-    Installation of ward name boards at all the four boundaries of Shakambari Nagar.-    Installing of street/ Road boards which are broken or defaced.-    Identifying and desilting of…

Even as the state government and BBMP recently made yet another u-turn on road-widening plans in Bengaluru, uncertainty remains over what is to come for properties that have been marked for acquisition.The state government and BBMP have announced that marking of roads for widening will be suspended. File photo. The Ring Road Property Owners' Association (RRPOA) for one believes that this is just a “trick” as no orders have been given in writing. Core Committee Member of RRPOA, Venkatesh Murthy says, “They should withdraw this (road widening plans) in writing, then only it will be official, not orally.” However, BBMP…

A brief newspaper item carried last month talked about city schools enforcing the importance of eating healthy - that parents had been told to send nutritive packed lunches and educational authorities were giving the thumbs down to food high in sugar, salt and oil content.The report went on to say how parents are struggling to meet these expectations in the face of their young ones demanding novelty each day. As a mother lamented that her three year old did not like salads and she had no time to pack chapattis or dosas every day, the thought came up: what were…

With Bangalore’s landscape transforming so rapidly, the current scenes in the city are sure to vanish before one can observe the rate of this change. There is already a great sense of nostalgia that is prevalent among us as we move through the city even to get simple chores done. We suddenly realise that the little shop has disappeared, that muddy road has now become a commercial street. Srividya G S has captured scenes of the city in her photographic memory and reproduced them with the medium of charcoal, water color and paper. The show is being held in Gallery…

Assessing fire safety is crucial to any building - residential or commercial. What's important is to be prepared to tackle the fire. Here's a checklist of what you can do in case of a fire emergency and how you can be equipped to fight a fire in your building.What to do in a fire emergencyIn case of a fire, call 101 immediately. Never assume someone else has already done soIn a fire, activate the fire alarm in your building and shout FIRE at the top of your voice to alert others - yelling anything else can mean that others take…

Despite the downpour last Saturday night, you could see an eager and motley group waiting near/opposite Ulsoor Police station a little before 8 am last Sunday (July 11th) morning; for the Ulsoor Parichay (introduction). This was a part of the series of heritage walks organised by the Bangalore chapter of the Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH) as part of its Parichay programme, an initiative aimed at raising awareness of Bangalore's heritage among its citizens.The parichay was planned so as to walk through some parts of Ulsoor where we could witness and discuss processes of urban change.…

If you go with expectations to see a movie about Bengaluru, you are going to be thoroughly disappointed. Even as the feature film titled 'Bengaloored' may seem misleading to the regular movie-goer, director Swaroop Kanchi says the city is merely a backdrop in this story about a man and the changes in his life. (Read Citizen Matters' interview with Swaroop Kanchi here) 'Bengaloored' is about an author, Babruvahana or Babbu, who returns to the city from France after ten long years. With a lot of changes in his personal life, the film is about Babbu's struggles and his journey to…