bangalore journal

Soon, Avenue Road won’t be the favourite destination for books and jewelry. Amidst protests, it’s all set to be widened into a main road that connects KR Market and Gandhinagar. Citizen Matters takes a look at what happens to an old Bangalore street when it confronts a rapidly growing city. For generations, students from LKG to PG have thronged Avenue Road for cheap books. Here, books have been elevated to a religion. But this religion isn’t for all. This child bookseller will only learn to read book titles. Avenue Road is an old locality, and home to thousands of small…

Many of us often fight with the road-side shops for charging an extra Rs.2 for cold drinks or water. Some of us succumb to the demand after a futile argument. Still others pay without any question. But have you paid almost double for buying the same brand of bottled water from the same shop at the same time? S N Subramanya (79) was asked to pay. He happens to be an RTI and consumer activist and so pursued the matter further.On 8th January 2008, S N Subramanya went to Commercial Street to shop. There, he purchased two bottles of Kinley…

Bangalore has seen the success stories of hundreds of young men and women who have, apparently, taken to information technology like a duck to water. So it is interesting to talk to people who are the ‘other side of the coin', so to speak....who have turned their back on careers in this lucrative field, and are branching out in directions dictated by their hearts, rather than by economic necessity. Amoghavarsha: Wildlife photographer Meet Amoghavarsha JS, a young man who has done just this. "When I finished my Pre-University," he says, "I knew I loved technology, and, so I decided to…

I had always wondered what life was like on the inside, at Karunashraya. If I had gone there as a copywriter on a project, I would go around with the team, look inside the wards, talk to some of the patients and ask for a 'brief' as we normally do, before we start a project.But then, all roads led to Karunashraya when my mother drifted into a terminal stage of cancer - far too gone even for a miracle cure. I would now get an insider's perspective on Karunashraya - as a caregiver to a patient.View from the walk-ways, around…

Continuing to enhance the airport's infrastructure, Bengaluru International Airport inaugurated the country's first of its kind Cargo Village. Spread over 11 acres of land area with adequate provision for future expansion, the facility, located near the cargo terminals is expected to strengthen Bangalore's position as a trade and commercial hub while ensuring faster clearances of import and export consignments from the cargo terminals at the airport. The facility, completed over a period of 10 months, has been built with an investment of Rs. 12 crore.From left to right: Marcel Hungerbüehler - COO, BIAL, Mr. Prabhu- President BCHAAI and Albert Brunner…

Ananya embarks upon a new series of dance programmes titled "Nritya Chilume" for talented budding artists , aged below 15 years. Kum.Kirti Ramgopal, a well known danseuse, will inaugurate the event on 13th December at Seva Sadana, Malleswaram. Nritya Chilume will be a regular feature in Ananya's calendar of events.Nritya Chilume aims to promote and motivate youngsters to further their learning, by providing them an opportunity to showcase their talents to a wider audience and interact with senior gurus and fellow performers.Nritya Chilume-1 features Bharatanatyam performances by Ananya M (Guru-Brunda), Sonali Belankar (Guru-Anuradha Vikranth), Gopalakrishna S V (Guru-Sanjay and Shama…

It's been a month now and I still can't stop myself from rushing to the terrace in the morning, after a night of heavy rain. After several months of seeking ways (unsuccessfully!) to harvest rainwater for our apartment, we had arrived at an elementary solution. Most local experts whose advice and opinion we sought were unable to help. Even the internet tips were of little use since they dealt with individual houses and/or entire apartment buildings. Though our terrace is fairly large, we realised that the catchment area (the area which directly receives the rainfall and provides water to the…

Arts and CultureOnly three witness Kannada programmeKannada Bhavana,adjoining the Ravindra Kalakshetra is the venue for numerous programmes pertaining to Kannada and Karnataka. To commomorate ten years of the building, a seminar on liberalisation, economic scenario and its effects on culture was organised last week. However there were just three people in audience. Organisers were taken aback with this poor response.(Prajavani,Sunday, Nov 30) Business Rice levy: burden on traders or common man?The price of rice has increased by Rs 4- 5 per kg as a repurcussion of the government's decision to levy rice traders. Traders have passed their burden on to…

Property taxes are due city-wide, but clear information about how the tax is to be calculated has still not reached citizens, and this has created much disturbance and worry.To address the confusion, the Citizens' Action Forum (CAF) on 29th November passed a resolution demanding that the state government should bring back the Annual Rateable Value (ARV) based property tax system. CAF claims that the revised system which the BBMP has introduced recently was a violation of all the promises politicians had made before the elections.The meeting saw a participation of around hundered people from various residents associations who voiced their…

When we talk of garbage not being disposed off well, we do not think about garbage other than the regular kitchen waste and plastic. One major type of waste that we hardly talk about is radioactive waste, produced at cancer hospitals. While our kitchen waste may not be so harmful, radioactive waste can be hazardous. On a casual inquiry, I found out that the cancer hospitals in Bengaluru were apparently disposing residual radioactive waste into the public sewerage and garbage. This sounds alarming, but this is what they are supposed when the radioactive material (used for treatment) is 'fully used'.…