City: Bengaluru

Bangalore in the fifties was a relaxed, laid back town with little aspiration to cosmopolitanism. There was a rarely articulated divide, between the westernized cantonment area and the city areas with their predominantly old Mysorean culture. Double road (K H Road) was the dividing line as is still suggested by the crematorium on its eastern side. The cultural divide was quite stark, Veena and Carnatic music, long skirts and long hair, kho kho and tenniquoit in the schools on the south side and piano and western classical music, basket ball and hockey, knee length skirts and god forbid, shorts! on…

"I buy rice at market prices. I cannot afford to pay so much for food grains. My family is always hungry and I still do not have a BPL Card," says Parvathi, a construction worker in her mid forties earning daily wages. She lives in Srinivas Nagar and is unable to get a BPL card though she claims to be eligible for one. Parvathi complains that her application was never processed properly and she was given an APL card.This is not just a case with a few construction workers in the city. It includes a lot of people we meet…

14 June is World Blood Donors' day. Many of us may have attended blood donation camps. But often, patients in need of blood are unable to get the service because their families cannot reach out to blood banks in time, or due to the unavailability of a particular blood group in the blood bank, and so on. How can we be sure that the donated blood reaches the person in need of it? A group of students from M S Ramaiah College have tried to do just that. To ensure that blood is made available - at the right time,…

Many people have dreams that they would like to convert into reality, but more often, as reality meets imagination, it's reality that triumphs. And when someone has gone to all the trouble to study Computer Science at a prestigious university in Boulder, Colorado, USA, and followed that up with a degree from IIM Ahmedabad, one may be forgiven for thinking that here's a young man who will follow the usual corporate path and make a big success out of it. But if Sreeram Vaidyanathan is the young man one is thinking of, one would be quite wrong. "I have always…

Bangalore's airport controversy continues to hover around the courts. Last-minute attempts being made by city organisations with the support of infotech firms to get a stay on HAL's closure. In the meantime, the central government postponed the opening of the airport by a day from 23 May, causing some confusion. 9 June: Access remains a worry Reports are coming in BMTC's shuttle services not running on time. On Saturday 7 June, at the airport, a 5.20 Volvo to Koramangala (route BIA 7) did not leave until one of the passengers went upto to driver and conductor and persuaded the duo…

ART AND CULTURE Youth classical music fest Ananya, a cultural association has organized Sangati Yuva Sangeetotsava from June 4- 8 in Sevasadan, Malleshwaram. This youth classical musical fest is likely to attract young talent from across the country. Several organizations like the BTM Cultural Academy and Rama Lalita Kala mandira have joined hands for this fest. Organizers are confident that the fest will quench the thirst of music lovers.[Tuesday, June 3 Udayavani] CIVIC Notice to building violators In the wake of incessant rain, the BBMP has issued notices to the residents of nine areas to vacate the place. Officials say…

When newspapers reported about a lower primary school being demolished for road widening in May 2007, it became one more in the list of offices that shift to sheds after demolition. The government lower primary school in Kasavanahalli near Kaikondarahalli on Sarjapur Road still operates out of a shed even after one whole year of relocation. The remnants of the demolished school building. "We were never ready for this demolition. But it happened very suddenly and we just helplessly saw the benches being removed and the building coming down. The education officers were there, we could not say anything" says…

This Monday, 2nd June, newly elected Jayanagar MLA, B N Vijaya Kumar interacted with residents in a meeting organised by the Jayanagar 5th Block Residents Welfare Association to felicitate him.In his first programme after the elections, he thanked voters for electing him with a large margin (his winning margin was 22594 votes, with a voter turnout of 48%) Vijaya Kumar told the residents that he will ensure all public department officials work towards solving citizens' issues. He also promised to arrange regular meetings where citizens can interact with officials to address the problems. He urged residents to be proactive and…

From its 18th century incarnation as a military town, Bangalore has morphed into a hotbed of the information technology revolution in the 21st first century. And the city has witnessed significant changes in its social and physical landscapes. Most contemporary reflections on the city are framed primarily through the lens of its collapsing infrastructure, and the paradoxical rise of glitzy commercial and residential spaces following the economic boom of the 1990s. The political, social and economic changes unleashed by this IT-led boom have been far reaching. New services, new social and occupational groups and a whole new philosophy of ‘living…

The media which prodded every Bangalorean to make a difference to the city’s future by simply voting in the just concluded assembly elections has done a great job. Sadly, the media does not know that it has done a great job. This is because, it has failed to read beyond the voting turnout number given by the Election Commission. Headlines like ‘middle class apathy’ to a meager turnout of 44 percent are plain wrong. In fact, the turnout may be as high as 80 percent. Ramesh Ramanathan, the urban affairs expert and founder of Janaagraha, notes in a column, that…