City: Bengaluru

By mid-April I was becoming allergic to the calendar. “Don’t look at the date”, I told myself. The April 30th deadline for paying property tax was approaching. "There are no forms available at the Sanjaynagar centre yet", said a friend.  "I downloaded the form but they refused to accept it because it doesn’t have the acknowledgement form," said another (Why doesn’t it have an acknowledgement form? Good question.)With just a week left, I decided to pay up, and “be done with it”. That morning’s newspapers said some Assistant Revenue Officers (ARO’s) were being authorised to collect property tax. So I…

If you live around a BBMP park in any part of Bangalore and are wondering whether the park's open space or stage can be used with loudspeakers for a community event, think again. For one, use of loudspeakers in BBMP parks was barred by the High Court over a year ago. But more importantly, each BBMP official you talk to today will you give a different impression about the exact ban - who and what are allowed or disallowed are still unclear. On May 9th 2010 a music programme, called Udaya Raaga, scheduled to be held at the JP Nagar…

We wish to introduce ourselves under the aegis of the "Save Sankey Road and Park Forum". We comprise of people from all walks of life - doctors, advocates, civil servants, software engineers, business persons, house wives and students and so on. Sankey Park Walkers Association, Sadashivanagar Residents Welfare Association, Lower Palace Orchards Residents Welfare Association, Malleshwaram Swabhimana Initiative, Hasiru Usiru, Sadashivnagar Working Professionals Group and Gayatridevi Park Residents Welfare Association came under one roof for the cause of preserving the existing green cover of Sankey Road. It is under threat from unscientifically planned road widening.Mission- To engage in a constructive…

During the past three to four years, the residents of HSR layout have been subjected to tremendous hardships and inconveniences due to BDA's flyover and bridge constructions.During 2007-08, a bridge construction work at the junction of 14th Main and Ring Road junction (HSR junction) went on for more than 15 months. During that time all entry points to HSR layout except for one or two were closed from Ring Road side. Residents had to take diversions from all sectors.Now, BDA’s yet another flyover construction work at the meeting point of 14th Main and Ring Road junction is causing severe traffic…

The May edition of Startup Saturday Bangalore saw a full house with around 130 people attending it. This is one of the highest number of turnouts in all Startup Saturdays ever. It is held on every second Saturdays of every month at the Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Bangalore since March 2008. Startup Saturday is a monthly networking hub for entrepreneurs. It provides a monthly platform where local entrepreneurs, professionals and students get together around engaging talks from veterans in the startup industry. The audience plays an active role in shaping the discussions and brain storming sessions are to be…

Brick in chilli powder, chicory in coffee, coal tar dye in tea leaves, soap in milk - the list of adulterated products in as endless as it is shocking. The latest adulterants to hit the market in Bangalore are artificially ripened mangoes.In Russell Market and other areas, mangoes like Malgova and Badami are treated with toxic calcium carbide powder to ripen them fast and supply to increasing market demands. This toxic powder, called ‘masala' in trader lingo is used to give the fruit a bright yellow colour much before time and could result in food poisoning, skin and stomach problems.…

In the times when there is general apathy amongst citizens towards issues like lack of civic amenities, environmental degeneration, etc, Bangalore has seen a rise in the number of active Residents' Welfare Associations (RWAs) in different parts of the town.One such RWA is Uthkarsh, in LB Shastri Nagar. Their vision is to make the residents of LB Shastri Nagar proud to live in the locality. With a vision like this, the association takes up work in various areas to - influence and improve the state of the civic amenities, increase the participation of the residents in the civic administration, promote…

If Corner House ice creams continue to be sought after despite the many competitors in the market, it is due to the characteristics of this brand. Quality, quantity, consistency, value for money and the importance of customer feedback. All maintained over the years by the values that A Narayan Rao, the founder of Corner House, lives by. Lack of greed and contentment in life is the way he puts it.Launched in 1982, as a bakery and fast food place, Corner House saw some rough times in the beginning. Though items like chicken rolls, burgers and pizzas did very well, the…

In May last year, TS Rajeevalochanam, 80 and his wife Susheela,70, who are residents of Jayanagar 8th block were returning home from their evening walk. They had gone to the HOPCOMS shop at Kanakapura road junction. Suddenly a speeding car, trying to catch the green signal, hit another vehicle and the old couple. Susheela lost consciousness and lay on the road profusely bleeding from her nose, head and mouth while Rajeevalochanam's ankle was hurt. The woman car driver whose car hit the couple accompanied them to the hospital. They were taken to the nearby JBS hospital by a few people…

The common adulterants in pulses, tea, soft drinks, sweets, oil, saffron, coffee and chilli powder and so on are as follows.Pulses: Stone is a common occurrence in rice and Tur Dal. Kesari dal is a banned product and is sometimes sold as Tur dal, especially at times when Tur dal prices are high. It contains toxins that can paralyse the individual if consumed for two or three months. "We discovered the dal (Kesari passed off as Tur dal) was being sold in Karnataka border for Rs 25 to Rs 30 per kg and was being passed off for Tur Dal.…