City: Bengaluru

Well, 'Bus day' was a day full of excitement, anxiety and fun. Thanks to BMTC and all those folks involved in the brilliant initiative of ‘Bus Day' in Bengaluru. Ever since I took the bus to my office in the morning, I had rented out my ears, eyes and mind to the happenings around me.Most of the social networking sites: Facebook, Twitter, Orkut carried a lot of updates on ‘Bus Day'. I could see many of my fellow buddies tweeting about them. They would read as "BMTC here I come... #busday" or "Took the bus to work today on #busday…

My daily journey from my home at Kaggadasapura, C V Raman Nagar to my office at Seshadripuram starts at 8.30 AM in the morning. The distance is about 15 kilometres. I generally take 40 minutes on my two wheeler to reach office. Traffic condition deters me to take out my four wheeler and I find my motorbike more convenient.I had never considered public transport as an alternative. The 'Bus Day' initiative intrigued me and I wanted to give it a try.My travel to office can be summed up as follows: I started off at around 8.20 AM. Fifteen minutes of…

For someone who mooted the idea of Bus Day, 23-year-old Manjari Vishnoi could not venture out on February 4th 2009, thanks to a running temperature. Nevertheless, she's happy about the outcome of the initiative and says, "I think it went pretty well. I know a lot of people who took the bus." Manjari, a software engineer at Cisco Systems (the network equipment major with a large presence in Bengaluru), is also a member of the online citizen community Praja.in. Praja has been working closely with BMTC on Bus Day initiative. Bengaluru's Bus Day on February 4th was a modest success.…

It was around 2.10 AM, wee hours of February 4th. Bus Day. I had spoken to my friends over the weekend about this and totally forgot about it. Around the same time I SMSed (Short Messaging Service) as many people as I could reminding them of the day. I got two responses and also saw two Facebook (an online social networking site) status messages posted about the day.I woke up early thinking that I might take longer to reach work by bus. However, I eventually ended up setting out for work around the same time that I generally do every…

The first year of BJP administration in the state has been marked by lack of democratic process and increased corruption and violence, according to a report by DAKSH, an independant civil society group. The report assesses the overall functioning of Karnataka state government from June 2008 to November 2009.  The detailed master report was released in January 2010 while the summary report was available a month earlier. The report was compiled from data obtained through RTI applications, annual reports of government departments, newspapers and reports by various national agencies and NGOs. Daksh 2009 Review of the Karnataka Govt. The Daksh…

Bangalore Bus day! For all those who are crying hoarse about Bangalore's transport system this must come as a shock. What is there to celebrate you say? Let me take you on a trip down memory lane and you tell me.My schooling started with bus commutes, morning and evening. That means 16 years of friendship with the six wheeled wonder. Back in the '80s there weren't so many buses. I used to take the route number 137 from Yeshwanthpur to Ulsoor which would be available only once in two hours. Almost always, the buses were jam packed and foot board…

Close to 500 employees from companies within the Salarpuria Softzone campus including National Instruments, Airvana Akamai, SonicWall and so on were treated to a collection of bikes from Track & Trail and SportsXS on January 22nd.It was the first of the cycling workshops conducted by Bangalore Bikers Club (BBC) in 2010. The workshop also provided a platform for existing bikers within the campus to know each other and may be start group commutes and ask for cyclist friendly facilities within the campus. Pic credit: Krish. Personal cycles from members of BBC were displayed for participants to check out. It was…

A public awareness meeting for Madiwala Lake development was held at Kuvempu Park, 15th Main, BTM Layout, 2nd stage on January 16 th that 6.30 PM. The discussion organised by Kuvempunagar Permanent Resident’s Welfare Association (KPRWA). Around 20 members of the association had participated in the discussion.  V Ganesh, Range Forest Officer of Karnataka Forest department was the chief guest.Ganesh requested the residents to join hands for the Madiwala lake development programme, saying “It is not possible for the authorities alone to save the environment without help from the public”.“South Bangalore doesn’t have a lake. So once the lake is…

Dhanvantari Park in JP Nagar II phase has been in the news recently. The move to install an idol of Dhanvantari, regarded as the god of Ayurveda and a shelter for the same, has become a controversy. Some residents including Kannada litterateur K Marulasiddappa were concerned that a shrine was getting built in a public space, in violation of rules, as per a report in The Hindu, dated December 5th. Work stalled at Dhanvantari park. Pic: Sangeetha Ramakrishnan. “Dhanwantari Park is not connected to any caste or religion. The idol of Dhanwanthari has been donated by the Bank of Baroda,…

Most connoisseurs of food opine that the true variety of a particular region's cuisine is best seen in the lunch menu offered at a wedding in that region. A meal at Maiya's is probably the closest one can get to an Udupi style Madhuve Oota (lunch at a wedding).At a time when Udupi style restaurants can be found in every nook and corner of Bangalore, what sets Maiya's apart from the rest of the pack is the fact that they offer something for everyone. The variety ranges from Idli-Vada-Dosa type breakfast to North Indian fine dining cuisine. The reason why…