Blogs

How do you begin to like Bangalore when you have moved here from elsewhere? I remember when we first came here 8 years ago, I yearned for anything that would remind me of Bombay, where I grew up - or of Chennai which was where we had lived for the 3 years before. But, nothing about Bangalore seemed like either Bombay or Chennai. I shared my woes with other friends from Bombay who had also moved here around then. One friend was living in Fraser town and another friend had moved into a quiet neighbourhood in Domlur. They missed Bombay…

I think it started inb the year 2000, when autorickshaws of Bangalore, the drivers of which love to add little touches to their vehicles, started adding the number "2000" to the back of their autosM Many autos also like to call themselves "Volvo" or "Innova" to their vehicles, and they would add the engine capacity (1000 cc or something like that) to it.  The two practices got united, and messages such ast "2000 cc", "2001 cc" and so on, and I've seen this go up to "2012 cc", here. I'm looking out for later years!    

Pink advertisements are all over the media. It’s raining offers for women all over e-commerce websites. A newspaper carries the T-20 cricket schedule, where a pink section highlights the schedule for women’s T-20 cricket matches. It’s March 8th — International Women’s Day!  Happy Women's Day to all our readers! While saluting the women, it is also important to remember their contribution to society. The involvement of women in civic activism in the city of Bengaluru has made it all only better and better. Women are in all the fields that matter to Bengaluru—waste management, saving lakes, helping shape the public policy…

It's always nice to see the variety of vehicles in Bangalore, but surely this silve chariot, parked outside the gates of Gayatri Vihar (the new board says Sheesh Mahal...sheesh!) takes the traffic cake!   I suppose it's pulled by whiite horses...and pulls the bridegroom towards his matrimonial adventures....!

Here is a news story about how a visitor's car wheel was clamped and she was fined Rs 500.   It's all very well for the Residents' Association to say that the rules warn that the car wheels may be clamped, but is such clamping, and levying a fine of Rs 500, legal?  Surely residents' associations cannot take the law into their own hands in this way?  

Of late where there are parked cars (for example, in front of restaurants) I've been noticing a lot of young men with various implements, and I realised that they offer to carry out repairs/ rectify dents on cars for a fee. Today, I had gone to GKVK with a friend. As we were walking back to where the car was parked, a couple of young men who were passing on a scooter stopped in front of us, and approached my friend. "Your car has a dent at the back, sir!" said one. "We will repair it for you in just…

Sudarshan Nityananda gives the following contact numbers:   South  Bangalore comes under Mr Ranganathswamy,DCF-BBMP.His number is 9480683842.   His senior is Mr N D Sudarshan who sits in the BBMp premises.His number is 9480684566.   The third person is Sathyanarayana who sits in Utility Bldg,MG Road.His number is 9480683146.   Please contact any of these people if you find trees being cut down in Bangalore.

Ted K. Dass, Managing Trustee of Horamavu Parisara Abhivruddhi Samiti (HPAS) reports on the walkathon and the clean-up efforts at Horamavu Agara Kere. On Saturday, 27-Feb-2016, HPAS organised a Lake Awareness Walkathon at Horamavu Agara Kere, located in north-east Bangalore. More 200 people including school children from Maruti Vidyalaya (Babusapalya) and residents of Horamavu walked to raise awareness about the lake and the need to save it. In addition to the walkathon, people participated in a workshop on garbage segregation, watched and photographed birds of the lake, and had fun at a photo-booth set up with the lake as the backdrop. KR Puram MLA Mr.…

Most of us tend to think of nuclear power plants as extremely high-security areas where the general public is not allowed. But in a striking example of friendliness and transparency, the Nuclear Power Corporation of India  Limited (NPCIL) has made it possible for all Indian citizens to visit  the power plant at Kaiga, Karnataka. When my friends and I took permission and visited, we were already at Kaiga to participate in the annual Bird Marathon, an event held to document the avifauna in the area, and also assure the public that Kaiga is a safe place to both live in…

One of the results of building flyovers to ease traffic in our city is that the spaces underneath them are often a kind of wasteland. In an effort to address this, Jaaga DNA  the design arm of Jaaga, co-ordinated with Brihat Bengaluru Mahangara Palike (BBMP) to create art in the spaces under the Hebbal flyover, whereby the common citizen was both represented and asked to participate. BBMP funded the project as part of a drive to clean up the space before the Karnataka global investors meet. The art project with Jaaga(there was an earlier project at Richmond Circle) was initiated…