CITIZEN JOURNALISM

A still from the play, Sakina Manzil On 14th April 1944, SS Fort Stikine, a cargo ship carrying explosives, torpedoes, mines and tonnes of cotton bales blew up into smithereens at Victoria dock, Bombay, owing to mismanagement. The play, 3. Sakina Manzil marks this less-reported incident of pre-independent Indian history in romantic sepia colour. Apart from tearing down the cargo ship and drilling a hole through Shashi’s house on #3 Sakina Manzil, the explosion rips apart her love life with her namesake. The two expectant lovers who are awaiting a birthday celebration with poha and shira are separated by the…

“Wish you a wonderful weekend”, screams the RJ through the radio as my car labours through the serpentine traffic. For the happy weekend to begin, I must get first home, and so must the lakhs of office-goers. Friday evenings in Bengaluru are not like any other day. I am now at the nerve centre of the city, Majestic, which seems to be bursting at its seams. Throngs of travellers scramble towards the KSRTC bus stand for their weekend trip to their ‘native’ or some holiday destination. Private buses are parked haphazardly along the roadside, and travellers have no other option…

Anything in plenty loses its value. Anything–even human life! That’s why when we read of treacherous genocide of thousands of innocent people somewhere away from our vicinity, the intensity of the sorrow that we feel is short-lived—we are able to carry on with our lives quite normally. We know, as individuals we can do jolly little to change anything on this planet.  Is that wholly true? I went to Calgary in Canada recently to spend time with my son and daughter-in-law. The wonderful roads, neat and even footpaths and walking trails and the marvelous traffic sense of the drivers of…

Pavements in Indira Nagar 2nd stage are no place for pedestrians, only for construction material. Pic: Praveen S The 10th main or Water Tank road (Ward 89) and the 10th A main (Ward 80) road in Indira Nagar 2nd Stage are two parallel roads connecting 100 feet road and Indiranagar Double road. Both these roads are have ten residential crosses to their left, and the 4th cross road cuts across them, leading to the Indiranagar metro station on CMH road. Off late, many people who want to skip the traffic at the CMH road-100 feet road signal near KFC, have…

This is Akshayanagar Layout, situated off Bannerghatta Road (Note: Akshayanagar is also the name of another layout situated in Ramamurthy Nagar, Bangalore). Sandwiched between Hulimavu Lake on one side and Begur Lake on the other, Akshayanagar is an upcoming locality with several residential projects under construction currently. Owing to its proximity to Bannerghatta Road, Electronic City and Jigani, it is a much sort after locality by Bangalore’s techie population. Akshayanagar Layout can be accessed from Bannerghatta Road via the BDA 80 feet road (one of the many access points), which joins the Hulimavu-Begur Road, and further connects to the Yelenahalli…

Buildings being razed down at the demolition drive at Sarakki Lake. Pic: Rahul Ravi It all started a couple of years back. Some NGOs like People's Campaign for Right to Water ( PCRW) and Sarakki Lake Area Improvement Trust (SLAIT) had begun to worry seriously about Sarakki lake. The severe pollution caused by ingress of sewage from nearby houses and apartment blocks, and the shrinking size of the once-pristine standalone lake because of the rampant encroachment by unscrupulous elements was the cause for concern. Construction debris and garbage dumped into the lake reduced the size of Sarakki lake, which covered…

Cubbon Park is one of the last lung spaces left in the city, where one can find fresh air and green area. Pic: Shree D N Disappearing lakes, chopped trees and encroachment of open spaces are the unfortunate reality of today’s Bengaluru. This means, in a few decades, Cubbon Park may well be among the last vestiges of greenery in the city. However, given the frenetic pace of ‘development’ and the varying combinations of unethical nexuses that thrive in Bengaluru, who knows, one day, as Bimal Desai, who waged a 20-year legal war against the authorities to protect the park,…

Bengaluru. Snarling morning office traffic. A population of 10 million jostling for space. Boring office, same old chores. Two million working executives struggling for breath. Snail-paced late evening traffic back home. No small wonder that three-fourths of the respondents in a recent survey commented that they are deeply demotivated; They are not stimulated enough, either in their personal or professional lives. We could relate to these boring data points without too much difficulty – because we are part of Bangalore too, and we are going through the same rigmarole. Based on the idea that was thrown up by Benedict Paramanand,…

Being a mommy blogger and more importantly a mother for sometime now, I have realised how many parents find it tougher to raise a child than ever before. On one hand, one is supposed to monitor the child's activities so that he or she is guided in the appropriate path in life. On the other, parents are supposed to allow the child to grow independently and let the growing one celebrate freedom. However, to prevent abuse and to ensure that the child is not misled by people, social media and various other distractions, a parent has to be constantly vigilant…

For years the large Civic Amenity (CA) site next to the HSR Layout BDA Complex in Sector 7 has perhaps been jockeyed for by politicians and other 'privileged' and 'connected' citizens of Bengaluru. Given the dizzying number of zeroes involved in a property so 'prime' and so large, the CA site although ideal for the construction of a large public transport terminus (BMTC and other) in the area, will see no such outcome. Information we have is that the prime property has been handed away in three parts. One is to a trust created by a powerful politician, ostensibly to…