City: Bengaluru

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…

Most of you are aware of the 11 pm curfew on Bangalore’s night-life that is in place today, but did you know that a couple of years ago there was a ban on western live music performances altogether?As unusual as it may seem now, western music performances were put in the same bracket as club or bar dancing. Karan Karthik, stifled by this lack of freedom of expression, wanted to bring about a change in people’s perception of live western music performances. To achieve this, he, along with a few friends, sought the help of the state horticulture department to…

There have been recent discussions related to Gandhi Bazaar on converting the Gandhi Bazaar Road to a pedestrian only zone. This note looks at what needs to be considered before making changes to a bazaar road. The first thing to look at is who uses the road. The user groups in a street bazaar may consist of the 'shoppers' who come for a specific purpose; the 'strollers' who come to be in the lively space; the 'shop-owners', who depend on the activity for their economic sustenance and the 'hawkers' who are the informal counterparts. When does the need arise to…

Vasu Dixit, Bangalore-based music composer-vocalist-guitar player for the folk-fusion band Swarathma, has recently turned music-director with his first movie Bengaloored. The 90-minute English movie directed by Swaroop Kanchi features Kannada actors and has received good reviews both for its music and performances. From humble beginnings in 2002, Swarathma has grown to be one of the major fusion bands in the city now. After regrouping in 2006, the six-member band’s first music album, also called Swarathma, was released in 2008. Their second album was Soundpad Sessions, a project by UK Producer John Leckie, in which they were featured as one of…