bangalore journal

Gautam B Pandit and his family were very excited last Wednesday after the heavy downpour in the city. The rain filled up the 5000 litre barrel they have set up in their house for rainwater harvesting (RWH). “We could have filled another two barrels that night. The barrel just overflowed”, Gautam says. The Pandits have just installed RWH at their home on Hayes Road in Richmond Town. The 40 houses in Sherwood Apartments, located on Kaggadasapura Main Road in CV Raman Nagar, have not faced any water problem for the past four months. All thanks to RWH says the residents.…

Dinesh Gundu Rao (Congress) was first given an MLA ticket in 1999. He won from the Gandhinagar constituency and has won for three times now from the same constituency. Dinesh Gundu Rao Rao did his schooling from Bishop Cottons in Bangalore. He graduated in Electronics and Communication from BMS College of Engineering in 1992. He ran a computer training centre with a few others for some time after graduation while simultaneously participating in Congress party activities.  Click here for the complete profile. I called Rao on his mobile. He asked me to come to his office where I landed the…

The participants in their golden age put on their running shoes and impressed one and all, with their enthusiasm and stamina. It was an ordinary lazy Sunday morning but the bright spirit of the "silvers" added cheer to the Kanteerava Stadium on the morning of 31st May. Senior Citizens at the run (pic: Monika Monalisa) Harmony for Silvers Foundation, a Mumbai based non-governmental organisation conducted the run for senior citizens under the umbrella of the Sunfeast 10 K run. An initiative of the Dhirubhai Ambani Memorial Trust, it was founded in 2004 by Tina Anil Ambani, and working to enhance…

The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) has released a list of  property owners who have paid the property tax for their properties for the year 2008-09 on their website. I do appreciate the efforts they have put to collate the enormous amount of data, but the list is defective in several aspects.It is very difficult to locate one's name in the list due to the following reasons:Mismatch in addressesThe ARO office, the Ward Name and the Street given in the website do not match with what was given in the property tax application form. The result is that you may possibly…

Almost a year after Bengaluru got its first centrally controlled traffic management system the traffic police claims to have achieved smoother traffic and caught more violators. The traffic police have collected Rs 5.8 crores in fine amounts in 2008 after the new systems were put in place mid year, and Rs 3.14 crores in 2009 till date. "All these fines were possible because of (our) enforcement management system," claims Praveen Sood, Additional Commissioner of Police, Traffic and Security. Praveen Sood, Shankar Bidri, Ashwin Mahesh in the Traffic Management Centre (pic: Supriya Khandekar) At a recent press meet at the Traffic…

After battling a delay of almost two years, much to the chagrin of hassled commuters, work on the 42-metre-long railway over bridge (ROB) at the Kadugodi railway level crossing in Whitefield is nearing completion. The office of Commissioner of Railway safety in Bangalore, headed by K J S Naidu, says the (pending and necessary) approvals were accorded to the South Western Railways on June 8th. "The ball is now in the court of the railway authorities to oversee the timely execution and commissioning of the railway overbridge," said an official at the railway safety department, who did not want to…

On World Environment day on 5th of June, members of Kuvempunagar Permanent Resident’s Welfare Association and the students of Green Pastures School participated in planting saplings in BTM layout. Around 300 students and 10 teachers from the School participated in this event organised at the Indian Water Works Association(IWWA) Hall at BTM layout 7th main. The students rallied from NS Pallya to BTM holding posters and playing drums.We have planted 100 saplings of Neem, Ashok and Champa, all provided by the Forest Department and BBMP,” said A Vidyashankar, President of the Association. Green Pasture School students (pic: MM) They also…

Deepti G (who lives off Bannerghata Road), mother of a ten-year-old daughter with fixed opinions of her own, prefers not to go for shopping for school supplies with her child anymore. With the incredible amount of school products available, shopping can get out of hand. "Every year we end up with pencil boxes, tons of sketch pens and markers, calculators, pouches and snack boxes that we never end up using," she reasons. File pic: Meera KSo what is the best way to shop for school supplies? First, make a list. I asked some experienced parents and they said a very…

Bindu and Ajay Agarwal from Sarjapur Road have been on a shopping spree lately. Their only daughter Ritika, four is on her way to ‘Big School' and the proud parents have been pampering her with brand new school goodies. But behind all the excitement, Bindu has a constant worry: Will Ritika be as happy in the sprawling school as she has been in the tiny four room nursery next door to her home? Ready for big school (pic: Supriya Khandekar)Bindu's troubles aren't new. If the time has come to send the apple of your eye from the cosier, smaller environment…

Cycle tracks, parking space for bicycles, racks to lock your bike; all this may well become a reality soon in Bengaluru. Members of the cycling community are working towards developing this infrastructure in the city by working with the Bangalore Metropolitan Land Transport Authority (BMLTA) and other organisations. The BMLTA has been set up by the government of Karnataka under the Urban Development Department as an umbrella organisation to land transport matters in the Bangalore metropolitan area. Cycling route (Pic and graphic courtesy: Vijay Narnapatti) RideACycle Foundation (RAC-F), a Bengaluru-based non-profit organisation that encourages and promotes sustainable transport through cycling,…