Blogs

Though sitting far away, I feel very involved in trying to work out solutions that will not further deplete our green cover, yet sort out our transportation woes. So here's a great opportunity that Hasiru Usiru is offering!In recent weeks Bangaloreans made their presence felt on the streets through well-publicized protests around the Metro alignment in South Bangalore. This is a good moment to pause and better understand the numerous issues that have been raised at these events, and collectively plan a future course of action.To this end, it's a pleasure to invite everyone on this list to a public…

Citizen Matters, Bangalore's own interactive newsmagazine is happy to announce the first of a series of Citizen Journalism classes, on Saturday, 9th of May. Classes are open for all Bangaloreans. Please note the details in this post and confirm your attendance by Wednesday May 6th evening 4pm. SMS confirmations are welcome. Date: 9th May, 2009Location: Adarsh Business School, South End Road, Next to Police (Additional Commissioner's) Office, South End Circle, Jayanagar. (Map)Parking: In the basement Time: 2.30pm - 5.30pm.Contact for the class: Raghavendra, Citizen Matters, 9611106477.Seats will fill out quickly so please do not wait till the last minute and…

This is one of the main entry points to where I live near Richards Town. It's a small residential layout, off Lazar Road. This view is nice and flattering - peaceful, green, orderly - to show what a nice looking community this could be.Here's a view from the other end of the road, where one vacant site has been used as a dumping ground for years. What typically happens to any site where the owner could be stationed elsewhere and doesn't really make an appearance.At this location, the build-up is close to nine feet from road level. A lot of…

Citizen Matters Magazine - Vol 1 Issue 7 Dear Readers, Covering the elections anywhere in the world gives journalists a good, close look at the candidates and their campaigns. Here are some slices of our analysis from the Bengaluru contests.First, the debates. Unfortunately, most candidates did not make use of the opportunity to respond as lawmakers, let alone lawmakers with vision. Many serious questions did not invite thoughtful, reasoned answers from the candidates of the major parties.For one question on communal violence, Krishna Byregowda, INC candidate for Bangalore South, mouthed away a textbook response: “Hatred is the source of all…

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 Pottery Town government school (on Pottery Road where I had volunteered for nearly four months) closed for summer holidays in end March but I often find some children  playing in the ground or loitering around in the neighbourhood. That's hardly surprising as many of their parents and sometimes the kids themselves work and live nearby. But I see only boys - Ramesh, his younger brother Praveen and Narasimha et al almost always! Some of the girls I know, like Pushpalata or Shashikala are definitely busy helping with or doing household chores. But what prevents even a few of the…

A photograph by Sriharsha Ganjam, a Bangalore-based photographer, got selected as the picture of the week in a very prestigious nature photography magazine. You can check it out on the link below, and hitting on the Picture of the week button on the right hand top. http://www.naturesbestmagazine.com/ or, to see the image directly, (it will be on only until Friday the 24th March)Click here:http://www.naturesbestmagazine.com/potw.php⊕

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…

My colleague and I were all pumped up when we thought of doing an 'election special' coverage. And yes interviewing/ grilling the politicians was amongst the most exciting part of it. We wrapped up most of our other stories and were all geared up to get interview appointments with our MP candidates. Soon we realised it was not as exciting and thrilling as we had imagined as it was hard to get any at the first place. To start with we somehow managed to get a phone number of a close aide of one of the candidates, and after a…

Yesterday, hundreds of concerned citizens turned up at the spot where BMRCL proposes to have a Metro station inside Lalbagh itself...and had broken down a part of the Lalbagh wall, and felled several eucalyptus trees. They have not yet received permission to do this, so it was illegal, and citizens also reacted emotionally to their greenery being despoiled in this way.Here's the portion of the wall that was broken down:Several police officers were on duty, and they had the unenviable task of keeping the peace while not antagonizing the citizens. Mr Dawood Khan kept a low profile throughout, though he…