Blogs

The word 'Rodent' usually makes the hair on the back of our necks stand up. We associate the word with rats and mice which we occasionally encounter near our homes and makes us reach out for our rat traps and rat poison. In our minds they are unwanted pests that need to be dealt with severely. The three-striped palm squirrel is a very adaptable species and have made their home in the urban environment. Pic: Vikram Nanjappa. However there is one rodent that we find extremely cute and which lives in our close proximity. I am referring to the common…

"Love is Slow Poison" said an auto that nearly killed me yesterday; I would have normally belted some un-pleasantries to nobody in particular and forgotten the close-shave. But how can one not stop and mull over a near-death-experience that comes with such succinct wisdom? I assure the auto-driver that no love is lost between him and I now. May all his passengers readily pay him 'double meter'. We must make haste in claiming credit for any pop-culture phenomena that may have emerged from the city and label it 'city-chic' or some such; you will agree that this sort of thing…

S Viswanath, from Outer Ring Roads Association shares the following information on the state of Ring Road at Bellandur junction. The U-turn at Intel junction after Bellandur is now completely blocked, so please drive carefully and move to the right lane after the Intel junction. The traffic police and ORRCA team is doing all possible to ensure smooth traffic. BDA work has created muddy messes at each junction. BDA has not cleared the sand/mud and this is blocking smooth flow of water at various spots. At the connections between service road/main road, the gutter is blocked and huge pile of…

Everywhere in J P Nagar, I am coming across trees carved with the symbol of a political party, and then coloured:Is there no better way for the political party to flaunt their symbol? Carving the symbol into the tree saves them printing and posting costs, I suppose. Who cares what happens to the living tree? After all, we nail umpteen posters on to their trunks anyway....These are the people who are wanting to govern us.... :( ⊕

Several people ease the difficulties of our daily lives, and provide fairly inexpensive services. Mr K Subramaniam is one such person, plying his trade of cobbler, at a stall on Bannerghatta Road, near the BTM Checkpost bus-stop, for nearly 15 years now."Both this stall, and another one I sometimes go to, in Koramangala, belong to Mr Madheswara," says he. "All the income from the bag and footwear repair comes to me, and from the sale of the footwear go to him," he explains, pointing to the footwear that he makes, behind him, at the "Samatha Sainik Dal" stall. "I belong to…

The J P Nagar branch of Corporation Bank recently shifted to the 3rd Phase, in the Mini-forest area, and I was happy to photograph their gesture in having a ramp for wheelchairs.However, yeaterday, I found that they had put up illegal notices on the public road in front of their branch, "reserving" parking for their customers.  How can a bank reserve parking on a public road? And not just one, but quite a lot of space, witness this photograph:I sincerely hope they take away their signs soon. If the Bank wanted reserved parking for its customers, it should have rented…

Having got the info from Amit Chaudhary about the affordable food at BIAL (Bangalore International Airport Ltd.), I decided to find it and check it out, too. Where is it?When you come out of the Arrivals area, you have a long corridor stretching perpendicularly in front of you. First cross the car lanes, and on the right, you will find the BMTC buses. Go further and on the right, you will find the Sulabh Pay and Use toilets. Go to the left of, and behind, this building, and behind the area where all the taxis are parked, is the Parking Cafe:…

Office workers head home late on a working day. Taken at the Sarjapur Flyover Junction. Pic by Ravi Kaushik.⊕

INTACH's Parichay at Kudlu earlier this week started off most unusually - with a sacrifice. As one group of people assembled near the Muneshwara temple in Kudlu, waiting for the Parichay (heritage walk) to begin, another set of people had gathered there for a sacrifice of two goats and two chickens. INTACH Parichay to Bangalore’s Tanks, led by Rohan D’Souza. Pic: Arul Jegadish. With that auspicious beginning, this Parichay's walk leader Rohan D;Souza, began talking to the group about Bangalore's lakes. Or tanks, to be more precise. As Rohan, a researcher at National Institute of Advanced Studies (NIAS), pointed out,…

Shramdan on Ambalipura (lower) lake bed started at around 9:45 am on Sunday, September 19th. Residents from our Bellandur ward started coming to the lake bund from 9 am. First to arrive at lake was special invitee Dr Ashwin Mahesh, Ramesh Sivaram from Rainbow Residency and Satheesh Amilineni from Green Glen Layout. The volunteers discussed for a while on how to tackle the weeds and which equipment to use. Ambalipura lakebed wedding in progress. Pic: Satheesh Amilineni. Soon, the volunteers got into lake bed at around 9:45am and started weeding. The plan was to start from one side and proceed…