bangalore news

Pic: Shree D N Diwali or Deepavali, literally a row of lamps, is just round the corner. Spread over five days, it is the biggest festival for our family and our community. The biggest festivities are reserved for amavasya or New Moon day. We look forward to the festival of lights year after year. During my childhood, I used to strongly associate crackers with the festival, but as years passed by, the focus shifted elsewhere. We stopped associating 'firecrackers' as core to Deepavali. Cleaning and white-washing the house, decorating with leaves and flowers, lighting dozens of earthen lamps, performing the puja, preparing traditional cuisines, greeting neighbours, friends and relatives - all of these took centre-stage. In years of reading our scriptures…

Metro has sought public input on which of the different lines - existing as well as proposed - should be extended to the airport. I'm sure many people will give their input, but there are two other aspects to look at. (1) We should conduct extensive surveys - ongoing - at the airport to always know where people are going to when they arrive, and where they are coming from to the airport. We don't need to collect anything other than the names of the neighbourhoods where trips originate and end. A map of this, updated every few months, will…

Every city, even giant metropolises like Bengaluru, still have a few patches of green, blue or brown that have managed to survive or at least allay the formidable onslaught of concrete and glass. Look carefully in these oases and you’ll be sure to find a sign of life (or five)! Snakes: Pic: Ashish Par Among the most revered and reviled animals in India, snakes are also very common in our cityscapes. Bengaluru has about 40 species of snakes of which six are venomous. Most snakes, even venomous ones, will flee upon detection. They only stand their ground when provoked or…

Cattles die from eating plastic. While plastic may seem almost indispensable in our daily lives, we tend to remain oblivious to the harm that we cause to animals and the environment by using this material in almost every aspect of our lives. Plastic is not bio-degradable in that it cannot be decomposed into simpler chemical constituents. It remains in the environment for thousands of years, endangering various life forms. Therefore, this year, the state government of Karnataka took the momentous decision to ban the use, sale and distribution of various items of plastic across the state. As per the notification,…

Whitefield Rising hosted an enlightening session on Sunday, September 26, with eminent environmentalist A.N. Yellappa Reddy, who connected the dots among environmental consciousness, waste management, sewage treatment, lake purification, biodiversity promotion, and reconnection with nature. Held at the serene campus of Ecumenical Christian Centre, the session titled ‘Increasing Urban Greenery to Promote Healthy Living’ was attended by more than 60 citizens of all ages from different parts of the city. Yellappa Reddy addressing the residents of Whitefield Mr Reddy explained the various ways in which citizens could make a difference—through the choices they made and by questioning the administration. He told…

Ten weeks have flown by and my internship with Citizen Matters has come to a quick end. Tomorrow, I will board a flight, but I will not be leaving India just yet. I am looking forward to three weeks of travel around the subcontinent to see what else this country has to offer. The author on the beach in Goa. Pic: Kate Clark But soon enough, I will be struggling to nap on 16-hour flight back to Dallas, Texas. When I picture exiting the Dallas Fort-Worth airport, driving a few miles toward my parent’s house in suburban Texas, I can…

The CBSE action against NPS schools is a classic study of everything that is wrong in the way we manage education. Without going into the specifics of NPS itself, we should be able to see the wrinkles in the canvas. a. First, the public school system is bad. To be precise, it is one of the WORST IN THE WORLD. It is so bad that even poor people are fleeing it, and putting children in private schools at their own cost. In Karnataka, only one out of three children who depend on the state pass high school, and even among…

Today marks my 12th day in Bengaluru and I am proud to say my desire to take pictures of every single passing cow has subsided. Since arriving the weekend before last, I filled my phone’s camera roll with photos of cattle, likely confusing many passersby who have shared the roads with these guys their whole lives. I laughed out loud on several occasions, like when a large group of them walked right past my gate one evening, or when I moved out of the way of one only to have it move the same way putting me right back in…

In any riparian dispute, the contending parties each try to 'win', through a decision that is favourable to them. This is understandable - we all want victory on our part of the river (upstream or downstream), and politicians want to show that their side is winning. In Maharashtra, we see this happening within the state itself. But this kind of stance distracts the attention of both sides from the real long-term solutions that they can pursue TOGETHER, in ways that BOTH WILL BENEFIT. That is the key to the solution. In my view there are four things that can be…

“Mahesh Sharma’s advisory for tourists: No short skirts, no travelling alone at night.” This headline has probably already made its way to your Facebook and Twitter feed and back again in the last 48 hours. It’s referring to comments made by Union Minister Mahesh Sharma during a press conference on Sunday at the popular tourist destination, Agra. Sharma warned female foreigners against wearing skirts or venturing “out alone at night in small cities” in India. His statement mimicked the existing sexist rhetoric rampant in international dialogues around crimes against women: It’s the woman’s fault. Her clothes were some sort of provocation. Why was…