Blogs

My Senior Citizen card was stolen, along with other documents, on 23rd June 2016. on a bus (route no. 366) between Richmond Circle and MICO Checkpost bus stoSince I'd got my card from the office of the Jayanagar MLA, Mr Vijaya KumarAddress:35th Cross, 18th Main Road, 4th T BlockJayanagar - 5600419448075433vijayakuma.jnr@gmail.com(if you click on the link, here, you will get a video of how to get there, too) I went there again. I was told that there is no proper process in place for replacing lost cards, so I took a form and applied once again.    I did this…

1. Immediately block the cards.Every bank has a number that can be called 24/7 to report the loss of the cards. Please keep the credit/debit cards numbers handy. This is a very important step as it will prevent loss of money by fraudulent use of the cards.   2. Go to the bank concerned and apply for a new debit/credit card.   Each bank has a separate procedure for this. Some banks (eg, ICICI) give you an immediate replacement for a charge. Others do not. In any case, the new debit/credit card will either arrive at your home by post,…

On the 23rd of June, my purse, along with several documents, was stolen on Bus Route no. 366, between Richmond Circle and MICO Checkpost bus stops at about 1.30 pm. I decided to make a list of the processes by which I replaced my documents.I live in south Bangalore, so my list will pertain to that. But hopefully, in other areas, the process will be similar. For loss of debit cards, please click here. Rating: Transparent, fairly easy. Time taken, anywhere from instant to more than a month. Costs: Rs.250 for instant replacement, free for replacement in the course of…

I am here to apologize to all the Indians, the Kannadigas I’ve met in the last three weeks. Immediately upon meeting you, you either spoke to me in English, with the assumption that of course I wouldn’t be familiar with your language. Or, you asked if I spoke Hindi, and when you learned I didn’t, you jumped right into English with no apparent judgement. India, I am grateful for your linguistic abilities and I am sorry for my linguistic limitations.   I studied French for several years, but I am only fluent in English. Meanwhile, every single person I’ve met…

Once in a while, one is privileged to attend a concert that not many people seem to know about, Indian Institute of Managerment, Bangalore (IIMB) and The Society for the Promotion of Indian Classical Music And Culture Amongst Youth (SPIC MACAY)  together organized a violin concert by Lalgudi Shri Krishnan,  accompanied on the mridangam by Shri K U Jayachandra Rau , and on the ghatam by Shri H Sivaramakrishnan. Opening with a varnam in Nalinakanti, followed by Dhenuka (Theliye ledu Rama) he went on to play Sri Rangapura Vihara in Brindavana Saranga,  Marukela Ra in Jayanthashri (Thyagagaja) followed.   The main…

On Saturday, 16-July-2016, Horamavu Parisara Abhivruddhi Samiti (HPAS) organised an intensive day-long lake cleaning and beautification event at the Horamavu Agara Kere. More than 100 people participated in the event. In addition to local residents, students from Mount Carmel College’s Eco Club enthusiastically joined in picking up litter strewn around the lake, segregating waste, removing weeds from the lake’s fence, levelling the ground where needed, planting tree saplings, and making the place aesthetically pleasing enough to dissuade people from littering and dirtying the place in future. This 50-acre lake in north-east Bengaluru has been a prime location for local residents to toss their…

In November 2015, Indirangar residents had taken to streets against the plans to convert a playground into a cricket pitch. Now there's a plan for the same ground to be converted into an indoor stadium. Indiranagar residents have come together to oppose this move, citing lack of open spaces. An open letter from I Change Indiranagar team says: The decline of per capita availability of open space in Bengaluru has reduced from around 8 sq m in 1972 to 2.82 sq m in 2003. The latest data now shows that this has further declined to around 1.9 sqm in 2015.…

Pic: Shubha Ramachandran Often times we (BIOME) are asked to compare the prices of recharge wells quoted by various well diggers. After speaking with the clients, we realise that they maybe comparing apples to oranges. Apples to oranges – since the well is not a standardised product but requires and includes several components and activities. Each well digger has his own vision of the well and related costs. Hence this blog post will throw some light on the components and activites that go into the making of a recharge well. And here we are not speaking of quality of activities…

One usually associates art, and artistic aesthetics, only with people who have the money and the leisure to spare for it (I'm not talking about those who by art as an investment here). But if one looks carefully, one finds the artistic touch all around. Here's a peanut vendor whom I photographed. He's obviously got a lot of pamphlets from somewhere, and is usng them (we are so good at recycling and re-using!) as tiny cones to put the peanuts in, and give the customers.   How beautifully he's made the paper cones and stuck them into his wares! I…

The Samosa Mela at Shivajinagar is a study conducted as part of a CEPT-CPP Summer school on The Everyday City that was held in June 2016 at the IIM Bangalore campus. It was a collaborative effort between CEPT University, Ahmedabad and the Center for Public Policy, IIM Bangalore. As part of the two-week workshop, the participants worked in groups to identify & analyse the everyday activities on the streets in different locations in the city. The Samosa mela project was done by Drashti Amin, (Anant Institute of Architecture, Ahmedabad), Akshata Bhandiwad (CEPT University, Ahmedabad) & Suyash Bhardwaj (NIT, Surat). The…