bangalore journal

Between 9th and 11th February 2009, the Karnataka High Court dismissed 11 cases against land acquisition, filed by individuals regarding their residential and commercial properties, on Chinmaya Mission Hospital (CMH) Road. The court’s position was the acquisition were made for “public position” and hence cannot be challenged. This means that some of the tenant traders on CMH Road, who were part of the CMH Road Traders Association and had filed a PIL challenging the validity of the project, have also been asked to surrender their tenancy claims. The traders have time until 31st March this year to vacate their premises.…

Our ring roads have been functioning for quite a while. Why can't the service roads be made motorable too. A few places where it can be used is in a bad shape. I think our city fathers and authorities should ride these roads and see the inconvenience it causes to the public. The city buses are the terrorists of our city - why do the police not check them and book them for the offences which happen right in front of them. Are they scared of the bus drivers? Unless these public bus drivers follow the traffic rules, the chaos…

The BBMP has recently decided and communicated its method and metrics for property tax collection from Bangaloreans. The reclassification of tax zones has led to an increase of at least 33 per cent for all properties whose zonal classification has changed. And the new tax policy keeps revising once every 3 years, with a mandatory 15 per cent increase. The Citizens Action Forum of Bangalore is taking objection to the new scheme.BackgroundProperty Tax has been bothering the citizens of Bengaluru for more than a year now. And even after a year the confusion has not lessened. Probably what has changed…

Education Namma Bengaluru mispresented in ICSC text book How is Bangalore- it is a city of traffic jams; how does Kannada sound- it sounds like mix of Tamil and Telugu… You will find such startling revealations about Namma Bengaluru in the 4th standard Geography ICSC text book. There are many such derogatory comments about Kannada, Bangalore and Karnataka in this text book called 'New starting Geography'. The book is published by Oxford Publications, New Delhi. (Vijaya Karnataka, Monday, Mar 9) 9 quota seats in MBBS go 'missing' Nine MBBS seats reserved for talented poor students are found unaccounted for in…

7th FebruaryOnly Venkatesh and Surya stayed behind to discuss the contents of 2 editions of Young World. We talked about eclipses and as expected Venkatesh asked about the common Indian myth that a snake or demon swallowed the sun or the moon. The previous day, their teachers had displayed many Kannada books for them to choose from. Venkatesh mentioned that Ramesh and Murthy had selected joke books and story books while he had taken one on the wonders of nature. Surya then suddenly remembered that he had a 'project' folder.14th FebruaryI went to the playground later than usual, confident that…

Just as I rued missing a January evening of South and West Asian folk music, thanks to my inertia, I was delighted to hear of the Kabir Festival, from 23rd February to 1st March, at various venues across Bengaluru. It promised to be a week of films, music and enjoyment. And so it was... A photo of Shabnam Virmani and her friends during a spontaneous singing session at the festival (Pic: T.B. Dinesh) An exciting and enchanting journey that began with the thought provoking and soulful 'Kabir ke dohe' (Kabir’s couplets), the festival offered an opportunity to interact with Shabnam…

On 8th March, the Fearless Karnataka group, in collaboration with the Blank Noise Project, responded to the attacks on women in Bengaluru between 6th and 28th February. They marked Women’s Day by conducting street plays and opinion polls, conversed with men and women on the streets, and distributed posters at Rest House Road, Vasanthnagar, CMH Road, Ulsoor and Cunningham Road. These were the very localities where attacks on the women were reported. The group wanted to spread awareness about the violence, and more importantly, to sensitise bystanders to respond proactively to such situations. Pranesh Prakash, a volunteer for the activities…

Sadrushya - the exhibition at Chitrakala Parishat, held from 28th February to 5th March, was an unusual one. It was a collection of paintings by Ashok V Bhandare, Ramesh Babu, Ramaiah, Raju D P and Venugopala A, all of whom once worked as artists for film banners. With the advent of digital printing and computer aided advertising having effectively wiped out the art of manual painting, these talented artists had to move onto other platforms to keep their art alive. Clockwise from top-left: Ganesha by Ashok V Bhandare, Shapes by Ramaiah, Mural by Ramesh Babu and Abstract by Raju D…

Moodbidri, Feb 19, 2009. Moral police attack a 15 year old girl, Ashwini Moole. Her crime: Talking to a Muslim male friend. The girl commits suicide.  Bangalore, Feb 24, 2009, time: 9.30pm, Lakshmi who was walking on the road is roughed up by four men who later try to pull her out of an auto as she attempts to escape.  Bangalore Feb 28, 3009. Journalist Sanjana, whose bike broke down, was hailing an auto at 10:30 p.m. when two men on a bike punch her. What does our Bangalore Police Commissioner have to say about these incidents? ‘Bangaloreans are cultured.…

A Carnatic music aficionado new to Bengaluru may wonder how to go about attending Carnatic music concerts. In this city, Carnatic music festivals are oriented towards some commonly celebrated Hindu festivals. The concept of a season-specific festival, such as the ‘Margazhi festival', in Chennai, which always happens from mid-December to January, is not there in Bangalore. Sri Rama Lalitha Kala MandiraDifferent organizations and groups across Bangalore have been organizing music concerts and festivals for a long time now. These past few years have witnessed the likes of well known artistes like Dr. Balamuralikrishna, Sudha Raghunathan, Sanjay Subramaniam, Vishaka Hari, Kadri…