CITIZEN JOURNALISM

It was August 2016. I chanced upon a Conservancy worker in Rail Nagar near Koyambedu segregating the 'waste' that was dumped into a plastic packet and suddenly found something like human excreta on her bare hands. I was shocked and asked how she got that. She said she had been asked by officers above her to separate the wet waste (mainly kitchen waste) and dry waste and put them into separate bins. I asked her whether the people who dump all their waste in one plastic bag would not segregate the different types of waste themselves if asked to, and…

Garbage it seems has become an unavoidable part of our lives. However, we can reduce the amount we generate. A few months ago, 11 of us, all part of the Grandma & Grandpa's International Early Learning Center's Leadership Development Series, were discussing cleanliness of cities and their waste problems, and decided to go on a walk around our neighbourhood to understand how clean it actually is. While walking we came across piles of garbage on the streets everywhere and overflowing from the bins! We were overwhelmed to see so much waste and this caused a switch to flick in all of us.…

I first met Faiza Aijaaz a month back. Her school in Hyderabad was one of the seven Minority Welfare Schools where our organisation was all set to start working. Faiza was one of the smallest girls in Grade 7, a class of girls aged between 11 and 13. Shy and reserved at first, Faiza turned out to be bright as a button. As a part of vetting the students and the school, our team was to have a short interaction with the girls. During this session – an activity that placed the spotlight on the various physical, emotional and societal…

Pic: Abhilash Matlapudi Pic: Abhilash Matlapudi A new school initiative is in the offing in Whitefield. Troubled by huge hikes in school fees, a few Whitefield parents under the name Citizens Gurukul have decided to setup a school. An account of their recent event by founder trustee Abhilash Matlapudi. When we have good intentions and stay committed, everything will fall in place. This was proven once again, during our 1st-ever Symposium event. We got speakers/panelists, venue, volunteers and required support to pull off a public event like this. It was a pleasant Saturday morning where about 50 parents predominantly from Whitefield and even from…

Rains in Bengaluru summer bring the greatest joy in us, they also create traffic woes, and have people stranded all over the place, often creating utter chaos. A recent spell of torrential rain reminded me of a day when I had gone to Ridhani's production unit and was going to be late from work. A perfect sunny summery morning had changed to a dark cloudy afternoon and within an hour or so, it started pouring - so much so that in about two hours there was waterlogging and severe traffic jams along the way. It was around 8.30 pm and…

Mysore Bank at the Mysore Bank Circle is a thing of past - it's going to be just State Bank henceforth! Pic: Malempati Ravi/ Google Local Guides After 104 years, the name State Bank of Mysore was relegated to history. “Mysore Bank” which held a place of pride among Bengalureans no longer exists. There won’t be any boards dotting the city with the blue symbol. And like with many establishments, the name will continue to live on in Bengaluru, hiding in plain sight among other spots of history – in the city’s bus stops and junctions. The latter cannot be…

Sights and sounds at Yediyur Lake I am not immune to FB posts, so when there was a sudden rush of bird sightings from Yediyur kere, I realized that I'd not visited for many years. When Padma and Ramaswamy suggested going there this morning, I was very happy to join them. So many trees have fresh leaves right now, like this Peepal tree: This lake is maintained well. However, the fact of its being completely fenced around, and having all growth stunted to bush size except for a few spots, made it feel more "manicured" than I am comfortable with...but…

Rotary Bangalore Palmville in association with Bangalore Political Action Committee (B.PAC) today organized an award ceremony to give away My Place of Pride Awards 2017. My Place of Pride is an initiative to recognize eco-friendly communities in Bengaluru city and encourage sharing of best practices and motivate people to adopt sustainable practices. The contest was for the following categories: The Contesting communities were evaluated on the following: Self declaration Polling Physical inspection 102 communities comprising over 200,000 citizens across the city registered for the contest. 57 communities made it to the second shortlist base on their Self – Declaration submissions detailing…

Our first reaction when we see litter on the streets, dump yards along our highway or near our home, street animals eating the bits of rubbish along with the plastic covers:  Uuhgghh….!! Can anything at all be done to end this? Can’t the government do something to clean up? Can we stop rampant garbage burning? Only about 25% of the waste generated in Chennai is treated, the rest is merrily added to the waste dumps, creating pollution and in-turn affecting our health. Can we do something about this? Exploring these questions, some of us at Bhumi NGO decided to start by…

It's not an uncommon fact anymore that Bengaluru suffers from one of the worst traffic conditions in the whole country, where it can surprisingly take an hour to travel a distance as short as a few kilometres. While the daily victims of this grim state of affairs unsparingly blame the administration for the poor metro coverage, insufficient flyovers, dilapidated roads, and unprepared public transportation; here we propagate a specific issue which has seldom been discussed. Bengaluru's red lights at the traffic signals usually last for exorbitantly long durations that can be up to 5 minutes. Go to Koramangala sony signal…