bangalore journal

South Bangalore happenings Metro work, road-widening, underpass construction and new Corporators were the most prominent happenings of Jayanagar, JP Nagar and BTM Layout this year. In June, the Karnataka High Court disposed a writ petition relating to the construction of the station at South End, Jayanagar, Bangalore, giving the project a shot in the arm. Residents of south Bangalore came together to form the Ring Road Property Owner’s Association (RRPOA) to fight against road-widening. They were protesting BBMP’s road-widening plans from Central Silk Board to Mysore Road (14.5 kms). This was one of the first instances of a citizen’s collective…

As we go into Citizen Matters’ special list of developments for the year that was for Bengaluru, how about the year that was not?But before that, some context: Bengaluru is touted as global powerhouse in the West for its IT-prowess! US President Obama often raises the spectre of Bangaloreans stealing American jobs. A top American columnist even warned US children to pay attention to their studies or else Bangalore’s students would take their jobs of the future. Such is the fear Bangalore evokes in the West.Still, look at the inside picture. Some important events never happened in 2010, that should…

Residents of the apartment complex L&T South City in Puttenahalli, south Bengaluru,  have got a stay on BDA auctioning the Civic Amenity (CA) site in their complex. The stay order came on November 11. The residents had filed a writ petition in the High Court after the BDA put up a notice on the 2-acre CA site on October 15 inviting tenders to build a shopping complex. There are already cases going on about ownership of the complex - residents had challenged the relinquishment of 12 acres of the land to BDA. BDA board in the CA site publicising the…

Anjali Sapra's "Timeless travel" exhibit done in Egg Tempera style is on display at Mahua Gallery, Sadashivanagar. Egg tempera paintings by Ajnali Sapra Anjali Sapra is an artist who is greatly influenced by Mughal architecture and the rich traditional heritage of India. She has been trained at Triveni Kala Sangam and has specialised in the art technique of vegetable dyes and other natural pigments .She has hosted a good number of shows from 2003 and some of her works are in private collections in London, Germany, USA etc. Most of her works in the "The Ephemeral Playground", "The Timeless travel"…

Primrose Marthoma church, Bengaluru has opted for eco-friendly coconut leaves, old newspapers, dry vegetables and grasses for the Christmas decorations at the church. When they first used recycled materials in 2008, church members were apprehensive since decorations were made out of plastic bottles and old tyres. Daniel Thomas who runs an ad agency and is a church member, says "the end product was so beautiful that everybody was delighted."  Daniel is one of the people behind the eco-friendly initiative. In 2009 they used videotapes and plastic bags. Daniel says people call to find out what is special on Christmas every…

End of the year, and all that, plus the festive season, and perhaps for a change we can look at something positive, instead of the quotidian litany of cribbing-complaining-and-reading-about-corruption - Which reminds me, there were rallies earlier this week, to mark an initiative to say "enough" to the growing menace  of corruption. Attendance and participation was modest, in a city of 60 lakhs, in a state that was described by the Congress chief  a few days ago, as one of the most corrupt. The Lokayukta has been addressing a series of public meetings on the subject, and at one that…

Kathakali is an art form from Kerala that tells a story with  two or more  performers. It is a form of sanskrit dance theatre that was traditionally practiced and professed by male actors.[1] Prabol Gupta in stree vesham. Pic: Prabol Gupta. For many centuries men have been responsible for upholding and passing on the classical art forms from one generation to another especially during times when women were forbidden from entering the world of performing arts. Hence it is not surprising that men have taken on women's toles in these traditional art forms. Guru Lalitha Ubhaykar, renowned Hindustani artiste and Guru Usha…

"First they said that our apartment was illegal. When we showed our property documents, BBMP engineers said that it wouldn't matter because we had to give up our land for road widening anyway," says a resident of Rashi Pride apartments on Nyanappanahalli main road, BTM 6th stage. This relatively quiet road located in BTM 6th stage has been in the news lately because the residents raised their voice against BBMP's coercive tactics for land acquisition. Apartment marked for road widening on Nyanappanahalli main road in BTM 6th stage. Pic: Sreenandan A V The resident, who does not wish to be…

A state government-appointed TDR panel headed by Dr A Ravindra released its recommendations last month asking the government to re-look at the Transfer of Developmental Rights (TDR) policy and proposed solutions. There is no formal response from the government yet.For the past few years, roadwidening of adhoc offerings of TDR has caused anguish to many a Bangalorean. It also resulted in the formation of Bengaluru's Ring Road Property Owners Association (RRPOA). The association has opposed roadwidening of the outer ring road in south Bangalore and BBMP subsequently put the project on hold. In the meantime, this and many other projects…

Citizen Matters and Just Femme organised a panel discussion on 'Making Bengaluru women-friendly' at the pEtE Maatu film festival last weekend. At the discussion, panelists engaged the audience with passion and assertion. Cutting across view points, almost all panelists laced their words with their own experiences and that made the entire interaction real and on the ground, as opposed an academic dialogue. However one issue that did emerge and did not get enough attention was the gap between the author panelist C K Meena and fellow panelists Deepika Nagabushan and Siri Srinivas. Deepika and Siri are youngsters in their twenties.…