Blogs

As my bus was passing through Jayanagar, in south Bangalore, this sign caught my eye and I clicked it out of the window. It says that the Jayadeva General Hospital was inspected by "Lanchamukta Karnataka Nirmana" and found to have many staff who were demanding bribes to do their work, and gives a number to call in case someone finds a bribe being asked for. It was a very heartening poster to see, with at least the ability to make a complaint and the possiblity of redressal. I wish the organization success in its efforts. I do hope prospective patients…

I went to visit Lalbagh on 3rd March, and was pleasantly surprised, at the area where the majestic Ficus benjamina trees are (leading from Kempe Gowda's tower to the Glass Hoouse) being used to set up some beautiful wood carvings, done on solid tree trunks. This seems to me to be a beautiful way of making a dead tree come alive again. Here are some of the carvings. The work is only one month old The installation is still under way. Less appealing was the fact that the title of at least one work and the name of the artist…

Even as the large water bodies in the city struggle to keep encroachments at bay, the smaller ponds and kalyanis that have been nameless but have been part of the city’s water systems historically are losing the battle. One such nameless pond that maybe lost to encroachment is situated near the Don Bosco College at Mysore Road.  While the encroachment (as we have seen it) measures about 40 X 20 meters, the kalyani is about 6 to 8 times bigger. It abets the rear compound wall of the educational institution and the water body has a cemetery near by which…

Today (Tuesday, 20th Feb '18), I took the children of Pramiti School, aged between 8 and 12 years, to the Government Museum on Kasturba Road. It took us nearly an hour in the traffic to get to the Museum from J P Nagar. So when we reached the Museum, we had to take the children to the toilets before the visit. I was told that the Museum building does not have toilets and was asked to go to the Venkatappa Art Gallery next door, so we took the children there. The staff kept on giving us instructions to "put a…

On February 18th 2018, Kaikondrahalli Lake hosted a bunch of events for the 4th time with more than 4000 people from neighborhood participating in Kere Habba 2018 aimed at raising awareness, increasing community participation and fostering an appreciation of lakes in Bengaluru. This year, the team pushed for a green way to come to the Habba. They encouraged visitors to ‘Cycle to Kere Habba’, avoid parking blues and cut the carbon footprint of the Habba further. The rental cycles were sponsored by Zoomcar’s Pedl initiative. While many residents cycled to the venue, many more chose to rent the bicycles at…

As I conducted the World Campus Bird Count (it happens throughout the world between Feb 16 and 19, 2018) the sighting of the day was seeing a line of young trees at the campus of the Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore (IIMB). The trees did not, to a casual obsever, look very pleasing. With their crowns and branches lopped off, and wrapped around in hay and chemicals, they were not the stuff of leafy, shade-giving, bird-nesting dreams. But since I had seen these trees, growing along Bannerghatta Road, being wrapped in preservative chemicals and wrapped to keep them alive, and…

I received the following email from Indane (the cooking gas supply company of Indianoil, a Government agency) Safety Instructions For LPG Customers: Here are a few tips to use your LPG in the right and safe way: 1.Take delivery of Refill only after checking weight of the cylinder. Also check the valve or O-ring for leakage. 2.Put the Safety cap on valve if the cylinder is not in use. 3.Use Suraksha LPG hose of ISI mark. 4.Light ignition source before opening the burner. 5.Turn off regulator when not in use. 6.Don't place the cylinder in water or in a horizantal…

An initiative where everyone who is a birdwatcher, can contribute to the database of a worldwide organization that logs the birds seen during this time. The annual Great Backyard Bird Count is back and birdwatchers and enthusiasts can help in the enumeration by uploading their sightings on the eBird India website between February 16 and 19. The largest citizen-science project to enumerate bird species, organised by Bird Count India and eBird India, uses the information on birds for a better understanding of seasonal patterns of movement of birds and for monitoring changes in distribution and abundance of birds over long…

In some neighburhoods, citizens are vexed by an increasing number of bars and pubs, and the dramatic change in the surroundings as a result. There have been various instances of conflict between residents and these establishments, and also a demand that BBMP should address this properly. This is doable, but only if we correctly identify the problems. (a) The first challenge is that people who want to set up the establishments are themselves property owners in the area, which causes discord between the neighbours in terms of what they themselves want. (b) The second is that often those letting their…

When one goes to see a play,one goes with certain constructs; one, that there will be a linear narrative, that one may be entertained while also made to think, and that one will connect to the action on the stage. But recent visits to experimental performances have made me realize that all of these may not happen at some performances, and it was in this frame of mind that I went to watch "RamaNaya", by Sandbox Collective, at Ranga Shankara, on Friday, 9 Feb '18. The play drew quite a good house for a Friday evening, especially when it had…