bangalore

I cast my vote today, for the very first time. For nobody. I decided to use 49-O. If I thought getting an EPIC was an adventure of sorts, the actual voting turned out to be even better. About  two days ago I got to know details about 49-O wherein you can choose to actually cast your vote for noone. You can get some details at http://lawmin.nic.in/ld/subord/cer1.htm and http://www.jaagore.com/issue/readComment.php?id=1538 My polling both was Evershine School in Sarvagnanagar. This comes under the Bangalore Central constituency. I had made up my mind to not vote for anyone. When I told the officers there…

The Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH) had organised a cultural program in the beautiful lawns of the Bangalore Fort on April 18th, the World Heritage Day.   It was an evening affair. Though it was the usual busy traffic outside, the atmosphere inside the Fort was surreal. The invitees were soon absorbed in the colourful photo exhibition ‘Portraits of Bangalore', compiled by Bangalore Weekend Shoots (BWS), a group of photography enthusiasts. The collection was later released as postcards.   The function had many visitors - both young and old - spread out on the green lawns…

Sports entrepreneurship is the new mantra among management graduates in Bangalore.With large and small organisations alike looking for a respite from everyday routine, selling sports to them has grown into a promising idea and sports event management companies have started cropping up all over the city; not only as a means of business but also as a great way to spread a lot of awareness about the sport involved. "Sports management in Bangalore is fairly robust and has potential to grow. Lots of national sports management companies are based out of Bangalore and have grown well in the last few…

As I was returning home this evening, disappointed that an interview with a politician was cancelled in the last-minute, I was stopped by a traffic policeman on Nandidurga Road. I thanked my stars as I knew I had all my documents in place in my two-wheeler. He very politely asked me to show my insurance papers and emission test, which I did. He saw my insurance papers and said they were going to expire by the end of this month. "Get it done", he said like a reminder. I told him I had already renewed it and the papers were…

Citizen Matters Magazine - Vol 1 Issue 6Dear Readers, Let’s cut to the chase. Election campaigning has started in Bangalore. On April 23, voters from the city’s four parliamentary constituencies will elect their MPs. With the rising interest in voting amongst the educated classes, there will likely be many opportunities for you to directly engage the candidates when they come knocking. But what would you ask the candidates? Should we ask them to make our cities more liveable (which is largely a local government issue) or grill them on grave issues like economic slowdown, terror and communal violence? Or both?…

Citizen Matters Magazine - Vol 1 Issue 5Dear Readers, Happy Ugadi to you all! Elections are around. Well they’ve always been around you might say. After all our democracy is over 60-years-old now. What’s different this time? No, not really, it’s not the politics. It’s not the policy promises either. It’s the interest in voting amongst the middle and upper classes -- the groups who are usually scorned by politicians and NGOs as too aloof to dirty their hands with ‘running to file a form’ or ‘going to the booth to stand in line to vote’. Scores of hitherto non-voters…

Dear Readers, As the fourth issue goes to press, we’d like bring to your attention some good tidings and some worrisome ones.At Citizen Matters, we have always believed in the power of editorial work that combines professional journalism with citizen journalism. In Supriya Khandekar and Vaishnavi Vittal, we have two staff journalists who are both talented and committed to bringing you interesting and insightful stories from around our city. Do look out for their ‘In focus’ pieces, as well their community writing and guides and primers.And equally, we have been very fortunate to continue to run into a stream of…

7th FebruaryOnly Venkatesh and Surya stayed behind to discuss the contents of 2 editions of Young World. We talked about eclipses and as expected Venkatesh asked about the common Indian myth that a snake or demon swallowed the sun or the moon. The previous day, their teachers had displayed many Kannada books for them to choose from. Venkatesh mentioned that Ramesh and Murthy had selected joke books and story books while he had taken one on the wonders of nature. Surya then suddenly remembered that he had a 'project' folder.14th FebruaryI went to the playground later than usual, confident that…

Citizen Matters Magazine - Vol 1 Issue 3Dear Readers, As you know by now, the global downturn has impacted Bengaluru. In our conversations with citizens and businesses around the city, we noted some obvious and not-so-obvious markers to what’s going on.The earliest to face cutbacks were the city’s garment manufacturers, a major employer of workers. More recently, a round of layoffs has taken place atBengaluru’s major global firms, the bastion for white-collar jobs. The cuts are trickling down; anecdotally, shops and businesses in the city are confirming drops in sales over the past six months -- especially those that rely…

Dear Readers, This second issue of the Citizen Matters print fortnightly will hit your homes at a time of change, worry and resurgence in Bengaluru. First, intolerant sections of society are taking the law into their own hands to stifle their fellow citizens’ openness to diverse traditions. Many freedom-loving Bangaloreans are reacting, with protests, campaigns and peace marches, against the backdrop of the upcoming Valentine’s Day. Second, citizens and citizens groups are continuing to both engage and confront government in various platforms. Many young Bangaloreans are more involved now, and this is more visible than earlier. Bicyclists are working with…