bangalore journal

Last week I was working on a health-related story that required me to visit several hospitals in the city. They were, as expected, overflowing with sick patients, all thanks to the mosquito menace that Bangalore has been crying about.   I happened to visit both public and private hospitals. The rich-poor divide is so blatantly clear at these hospitals. At the private hospitals it wasn't so bad. Waiting rooms were packed, they were clean, and it all looked ok.  It's the government hospitals that are a sight. People lying on the floor, spitting in corners, broken chairs, wailing babies. It's…

Joint pain, body ache, fever. This monsoon season, Bangaloreans have been hit by the viral. City hospitals are packed as patients line up to get themselves checked for dengue fever and chikungunya. Symptoms of Dengue Cause: Aedes aegypti mosquito, a day-biter High fever Severe headache Pain in the back of the eyes Body aches & joint pains Nausea or vomiting Skin rash Symptoms of Chikungunya Cause: Aedes aegypti mosquito, a day-biter High fever Severe pain & swelling in joints Skin rash Dengue fever, also known as break bone fever or bonecrusher disease is characterised by severe headache, muscle and joint…

A detachable platform with giant wheels. A circular kiosk constructed with collapsible column. A school on wheels using recyclable materials. A mobile garden unit that also sells terrace garden plants, built using bill board structuresThese and some more are the result of a collaborative effort of architects from all over the globe who responded to an open invitation sent by Prayas Abhinav, a talented artist based in Bangalore.Abinav, 27, post graduate from CEMA (Center for Experimental Media Arts) and Srishti, lives and works in Bangalore. A man of many interests from writing to art and film making, he has won…

The Bangalore Science Forum (TBSF) needs no introduction. It has for the last 47 years relentlessly promoted Science in the city through lectures and discussion. A few hundred metres away from its cultural cousin, the Indian Institute of World Culture on B P Wadia road, TBSF's Wednesday evening Science lectures have been patronised  by thousands over three decades. Come July, weekly lectures give way to a month long festival of Science, with luminaries from various disciplines delivering lectures on a diverse range of topics at H N Hall at National College Basavangudi. While Professor Siraj Hasan, Director, Indian Institute of…

It is often said that if you find a job you love you’ll never work a day in your life. This is not an easy task at all. Most people seem to think that the course one takes up after pre-university or 12th standard, almost always determines one’s career. Deciding which course to join is a taxing exercise especially for youngsters who are confused about what they want. Illustration: Narasimha Vedala Youngsters need to balance their talents, interests, parents’ expectations, and market demands to determine their next steps.It is important for parents and children to sit down and come up…

Bangalore's administrators have been long-accused of letting down the public.  Cases abound from corruption in tendering to recklessness and negligence in execution of works. This month S Subramanya, BBMP Commissioner was transferred after a debacle over the washing away of a boy in a monsoon downpour. Just before that he was involved in a public spat with the head of the anti-corruption watchdog, Lokayukta Justice N Santosh Hegde. Despite its status of a toothless tiger, the Lokayukta has still been able to deliver justice for complainants from the humblest of backgrounds - poor citizens who have been victimised or deprived…

Indians are perhaps the most forgiving lot. They are also one of those who give up a fight too easily. How can anyone explain why a wife, whose husband was drowned to death in a storm water drain in Bangalore couple of few weeks ago, accept just Rs One lakh from the civic authorities and resigned to the fate saying – “Can any amount of money bring back my husband?” While no one can question this sentiment, it is this lax approach that is making the civic authorities take it easy, even if they endanger the lives of the citizens.…

Theatre has always been a media that awed me. The whole idea of performing live is fascinating and challenging. I have been attending plays for a long time, but being part of a theatre crew was a totally different experience. I got an opportunity to be a part of the production team for Evam’s “An Idiot for dinner” that was recently staged at Rangashankara on the 12th, 13th and the 14th of June. A stage adaptation of the Hindi movie, Bheja Fry, which is based on the French play Le dîner de cons. Sanjay and his friends have a tradition…

On 25 June 2007, the erstwhile Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy handpicked the new Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) Commissioner, S Subramanya. Circa 2009. Unable to trace the body of a 6-year-old who apparently fell into a storm water drain and a defamation case against Lok Ayukta Santhosh Hegde, Subramanya gets transferred, apparently after causing much embarrassment to the BJP government. Is it justified to hold Subramanya responsible for the death of Abhishek? Should he have done the work of a drain inspector? Was the transfer an answer to the problems of the public? Citizen Matters has also received claims…

How many of you did not get to vote in the Lok Sabha elections because you couldn’t find your name in the electoral list? While many people scrambled to register their names, a factory found itself in the list with its gender and father's name specified. Pramod Goni a social worker who lives near the factory, says Printflex factory was registered under the electoral list of Constituency No 151 and Polling Part No 239 in Nagappa Reddy and Kushal (NRK) Layout in Mahadevapura. The factory is located on Nagappa Reddy Layout Main Road. The electoral officer listed ‘Printflex’ as the…