Blogs

 We often go to the Arikere Reserve Forest on nature trails, sometimes our own group, sometimes taking children or adults.   But why do people have to dump trash and litter everywhere?   ⊕

Whether a human being or a tree, how little we value the aged never realizing the good in them. Just outside our Puttenahalli Lake is a tall tree which had leaves growing on branches too high up to identify what species it belonged to. The branch formation gave no clue either. Perhaps it was deciduous because sometimes only the twigs remained criss-crossing in interesting formations against the sky. Ever since PNLIT assumed charge of maintaining the lake, we noticed the fellow looming outside the lake because, come evening flocks of birds like Rosy Pastors would fly from the lake and sit on its branches.…

During the early days of PNLIT, an anonymous comment was left in our online Guestbook:  "unless until lake is filled with water 365 days, i do not think we are achieved everything. yes, i appreciate all effort. however need to plan for connective filtered rain water reaching from surrounding area."  Others would jokingly tell us that they'll help in arranging water tankers to fill the lake.  Yes, two water issues have always been bothering us at Puttenahalli Lake: - getting rain water into the lake, to raise the water level  - getting water outside the lake, for watering saplings, toilets, drinking.…

   Piping hot BFK...Baitu Filter Kaapi. Baitu is a Bangalore institution...it's actually, "divide the coffee by two". This gives a lovely thimble-shot of piping hot coffee where one doesn't have to worry about the calories or the caffeine...and yet have the lovely taste of filter coffee on one's palate for a long while!      The fractions can get even more complicated...it can be 2 by 3 or 5 by 7, and so on....in Mumbai, such division of chai is called "cutting chai". We also have the concept of "Half Tea" or "Half Coffee" or "Mini Tea/Coffee" here in Bangalore. Adigas,…

Restaurant at the end of the ORR was how Kanua was described to me. And unlike the Douglas Adams' restaurant, food is the protagonist here.Inspired by coastal and Konkani cuisine, the place serves some great food.The open architecture and use of wood in the interiors transport you to a coastal home. The menu tells you the story behind Kanua and their philosophy. Neer dosa. Pic courtesy: Wikimedia commons Kanua is the name of a rice variety that is now extinct. The menu says that this is their attempt at rediscovering, recreating and reviving, the lost cultural history.And this, they do.…

The High Court has ruled in favour of the citizens in the Agara-sirisi corridor project. The order essentially says ‘hear them out,' to the State and BDA. For the moment, the order comes as relief to thousands of Koramangala residents who have fought a prolonged battle for almost a year and a little too late for the numerous trees that were surreptitiously cut, even before the project formally took off.The Rs 119 crores project at four junctions - Jakkasandra (flyover), Koramangala 80 feet road (underpass), Krupanidhi College (underpass) and St John's hospital-Koramangala 100 feet road junction (flyover and underpass), kicked…

The Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corportation today launched BIAS- 5 A , the much awaited Vayu Vajra bus service to the Bangalore International Airport for the benefit of residents on Bannerghatta Main Road. Starting from Gottigere on Bannerghatta Main Road ,the BIAS- 5A service would cover the near 47 km journey in about two hours with the maximum fare at Rs 200. For now , six trips are scheduled for BIAL from Gottigere while the return service would number five. The first bus from Gottigere would leave for the airport at 5.40 am and the last one at 9.10 p.m. The…

If you are a customer of Indane gas cylinders, and you do not book the cylinder at least once in 90 days, your customer number gets blocked and you have to make the trip to the dealer, produce a proof of residence, and get the block released. People who live alone or travel a lot are particularly harassed by this senseless rule. If I have a history of low usage of the cooking gas, surely I can be registered as such, and I need not be troubled each time I want to book the cylinder? And in today's scenario of petroleum products,…

The wedding and festival season is about to kick off. Be it a wedding reception or Ganesh Chaturthi, people want to show off their personal styles. Uniqueness is the key here. Copycat designs aren’t popular. Enter, designer wear. Khwaish designer store. Pic courtesy: Khwaish The unique and innovative designs, not available in the regular shops, are becoming a trend. And this is not limited to young people alone. People are ready to pay huge sums for unique outfits. Debasmita Ghosh, Director of Morph Image Consulting and a resident of Koramangala believes that the designer clothes are custom made to fit.…

So this time, it’s Karnataka cuisine. While interviewing Sakuntala Narasimhan, a senior journalist, she said there is dearth of restaurants that serve authentic Karnataka food in the city. So Citizen Matters did some digging. Mavalli Tiffin Rooms, popularly known as MTR, is a vegetarian restaurant that came up in Bangalore in 1924. It also claims to have introduced the popular South-Indian breakfast item, Rava idli. The legend goes that during the world war II, there was a grave rice shortage in India, MTR experimented with Semolina (Rava) instead of rice to prepare the idli batter. And as you know, it…