bangalore journal

It's called Saaku. It has picked up quickly this week and is a mini-rage on twitter as Bengaluru hit Friday weekend night on December 10th. Bangaloreans online are now chirping away to reach asking more and more people to join the Saaku rally against corruption on Saturday morning. Swarathma, one of the city's leading rock bands, has thrown its support for the rally. Pic: Saaku.in Walkers will start from Kanteerava Stadium at 930 and converge to Shantinagar Grounds at 1030 am, next to the Hockey Stadium, for meeting and a rally.Tweeted EndhirenV2dot0, at around 11pm, when this article was getting…

Following are the excerpts from a manual, which BBMP could be preparing for pedestrians: 1) For crossing streets, never assume that you can use the zebra crossings. The primary purpose of those crossings is for vehicles to come to a stop. The pedestrian is only an afterthought. Vehicles have full right to occupy the zebra crossings. Any pedestrian violating these rights of vehicles may be arrested. 2) BBMP has been magnanimous in providing separate signals   for pedestrians in some intersections. Again, please understand that the traffic signals are primarily meant for vehicles. Do not complain that these signals are on…

Indian cinema has often been categorised into either commercial or art cinema. Is a further bifurcation now emerging between low-budget and big-budget films? Courtesy: Taurian. These were some of the many interesting questions that surfaced at the screening of Kannada film Navilaadavaru at Surana College, and the subsequent seminar on the topic "Navilaadavaru in the context of Endhiran". Navilaadavaru, made by director B M Giriraj, is an interesting experiment in more ways than one. Prior to this film B M Giriraj has also worked as Associate Director on Kannada film Moggina Manassu. Giriraj's first full-length feature film, with its own…

We suffered for months with bad roads. And my recent article on Citizen Matters got some good comments. One especially good comment was the 'sit in bund' suggested  to galvanise a reaction from the powers that be.  Castle Street now free of potholes. Pic: MN. Then on Sunday morning we were so surprised to see road rollers move in and a group of labourers sweeping off the mud. By nightfall the entire stretch of Castle Street had been done and you can see from the picture which is taken at the same place, before and after, there is an amazing difference. …

When the tragic incident of a 13-year-old schoolboy falling from the terrace of an apartment block and losing his life made news a fortnight ago, there was one detail in the media reports that epitomises, in a single sentence, the criminal gap between proper city planning and the ground realities of  Bengaluru as it is developing today. It said, "As there was nowhere for him to play, Allan went up to the terrace to play" - and the rest is a tragedy that has already been reported in the press. High-rise apartment blocks have sprouted like rashes all over the…

At first glance the Lakshmipuram Hindu burial ground in Ulsoor, would look like just another place where cold souls rest. But on a weekend, the far end of the graveyard turns into cricket ground. A portion of the burial ground being used as cricket pitch Pic: Navya P K A clearing in one corner of the nearly 15-acre ground has two ‘cricket pitches' now - a unique solution to the shrinking playgrounds in the city. At the crack of dawn, teams of youngsters would rush to the ground to start playing in the better of the two pitches that lie…

BBMP gets tough on garbage collection contractors Noting the hazardous conditions under which pourakarmikas work, BBMP has decided to pull up the contractor. Manjunath Reddy, Chairman, BBMP standing committee on health, directed the contractor from Neelasandra to provide gloves and shoes. HC dismisses Nityananda challenging the charge sheet The Karnataka High court rejected godman Nityananda’s plea of providing him with a copy of charge sheet filed against him by the CID. The charge sheet is related to the rpe case he is facing. BBMP buys up TDRs to speed up road widening BBMP has assured residents on the Sumanahalli and…

Bangalore being a land locked city, many are not aware as to what the Indian Navy is all about. In fact the role and responsibility of the navy is not very clear to the majority of the nation. I still remember an incident, which happened way back in the early seventies when I was coming by train on annual leave to Bangalore. A fellow passenger asked me where I was working, I told him "I work in the Indian Navy". He gave my answer a very serious thought and after much reflection he said, "You people must be getting fish…

A notorious gang of criminals conning Bengaluru women into giving up their jewellery since 1991 were caught recently. Police (Bangalore South) are now preparing chargesheets against the gang members.  Gang members lined up outside the JP Nagar police station. Pic courtesy: JP Nagar Police. The gang used to steal jewellery from women, posing as policemen and promising to keep the jewellery safe. In Bangalore alone, there are 100 cases against the gang in 34 different police stations. Ten of the gang were nabbed on September 12 while six others were arrested on October 3 by the special squad. The squad…

Sanjay Mokla, 30, a native of Sangameshwar in Maharashtra joined Decathlon, a sports store in Bangalore as a cycle technician after quitting his job as a sales executive to be around what he loves most - cycles. His passion is evident when he introduces his work area as "dream place". Sanjay Mokla at home amidst cycles. Pic: Yogaraj S Mudalgi At college, Mokla has been a B.Sc topper and has cycled from Srinagar to Kanyakumari. More recently from his base in Bengaluru, he has taken on several long distance cycling trips. In conversation with Citizen Matters, he talks about his…