bangalore journal

Beads of sweat trickle down Rohit Upadhyay’s face as he raises the air pistol and aims for the target at the far end. Concentrating at the target, he steadies his breathing and squeezes the trigger. He hits the target two circles outside the bull’s eye. It is Upadhyay’s first tryst with shooting and he is visibly thrilled. After completing his session, he says, “My experience with shooting had been limited to video games and balloon shooting stalls at fairs. This is intense. I might take it up as a sport,” says Upadhyay, 27, a software engineer and a resident of…

A government First Grade College at Frazer town in Bangalore city operates in a Tamil primary school without having sufficient classrooms and infrastructure. Despite being allocated enough funds in 2010 for building construction, the college authorities have failed to get a land for the same. The college has achieved 80 percent result in the last year. Around 50 students have been placed in reputed companies, the teachers are excellent, says B V Krishnappa, Principal of the college. “But we don’t have resources to run the college in a proper way. We have funds, but we could not find a land…

Sometimes it is good to step back a few paces, to get a better view and perspective. So it was, that earlier this week I accessed the online editions of the city’s papers while travelling out of the country and got a stark perspective that hit harder than when I see the same cityscape in person. Under the lead items on June 20th, there was a video strip showing pictures taken around the city. One was of the homeless, huddled along a pavement, and another was of a swanky flyover with vehicles whooshing along a curve. The contrast between the…

Try this – Close your eyes and describe the image that comes to mind on hearing the word 'garden'. I tried this with my family while writing this piece and was surprised to hear the different responses that emerged. For my 6-year-old it was all about brightly coloured flowers and toys, her father spoke of cobbled pathways, birds chirping and greenery all around. For me, the word 'garden' always brings to mind an image of butterflies flitting around lots of plants in bright sunshine! Caterpillar basking in the sun. Pic: Vinita Squirrel scrambles up the nearest tree. Pic: Vinita ant…

At the busy Sarakki junction, early morning traffic jams come with an additional problem - garbage piled up by the informal market set up by vendors. The vehicles coming from JP Road, Kanakapura, Banashankari go through this junction.This informal market has been operational at this junction for thirty years now. It is set up every morning at around 6am and is shut down by around 9am. It has survived despite the fact that Sarakki has two other designated market areas. Garbage piled up in Sarakki junction. Pic: Sankar C G When the vendors wind up for the day, they leave…

Go on Google and parenting terms hit you faster than a screaming toddler launching himself at mom, in supersonic speed. But the one that always gets me worried that I belong to the Neanderthal era and cracks me up at the same time has to be the much used and abused term called ‘Attachment parenting.’ Coined by Dr William Sears who wrote a plethora of baby books, it’s one of those terms that certainly doesn’t apply to India. In fact the good American doctor was definitely not thinking of us when he coined it because in India we are always…

Residents Welfare Association of Padmanabha Nagar, under the aegis of Abhyudaya, arranged a platform for citizens to interact with Mayor  D Venkatesh Murthy and Deputy Mayor L Sreenivas at Carmel School, Banashankari, on June 2. Mayor D Venkatesh Murthy and Deputy mayor L Sreenivas, with residents of Padmanabha Nagar. Pic: Sankar C G BBMP corporators H Suresh (Kumaraswamy Layout), A H Basavaraju (Banashankari Temple ward), V R Sharma- President Abhyudaya, N S Mukunda- Secretary Abhyudaya, V V Ramakrishna-Joint Secretary Abhyudaya and activist N S Ramakantha were also present.Abhyudaya wanted to congratulate the Mayor and the Deputy Mayor on being elected…

A delicious aroma of the coffee cake in the kitchen fills the drawing room when I walk in. Ammu Joseph was in a relaxed mood at her home in Koramangala. She is absolutely fond of cooking and gardening.Ammu, a 58-year-old independent journalist, watches media closely and this has always been on top of her list. She has also authored many books on media and the gender issues in media. She moved out of the mainstream media in the late 80s, because she thought she could contribute to the field from outside. Ammu Joseph. Pic: Anisha Nair Excerpts from the interview.…

Food blogging is growing in India, and a lot of food enthusiasts are sharing their wonderful recipes online. Each of them have their unique stories, experiences, and of course, their food recipes. Here are three food bloggers who live in Bengaluru doing what they love doing, and a peek at their journeys.Blog beginningsArchana Doshi, on her food blog , calls herself a “chef, blogger, author, food writer” and more. She is a software engineer by profession but when she became a mother, she had to leave her career behind. At this time she decided to blog about parenting, and a…

On 3rd June, Sunday afternoon two people pretending to be BESCOM officials talked R Nagarajan and his wife Swarnalatha, residents of  BTM second stage, into buying fake CFL bulbs. R Nagarajan and his wife Swarnalatha. Pic: Abhishek Angad According to Nagarajan, one of the posers identified himself as a Junior Engineer, Srinivas. The poser then convinced Nagarajan that BESCOM was distributing CFL lamps to senior citizens to use in place of the regular incandescent bulbs. Fake CFL bulbs. Pic: Abhishek Angad Nagarajan says, “they gave us 12 lamps for free and another 12 for the cost of Rs 2400, which…