CITIZEN JOURNALISM

Even after constant monitoring from the High Court and many orders in place, managing waste the right way still continues to be a major issue in Bengaluru. Disposable diapers occupy a major share of the crisis. The solution doesn’t lie in leaving your kids run around naked, not for the busy and indulgent mom of today. This is where modern cloth diapers come into the picture. “What, cloth diapers? No...!” is what we hear, even from the environmentally conscious citizens of Bangalore, who otherwise try to do their bit. Many others who would want to minimise the expenses of diapers…

As a fervent traveller around the country, having visited most of the megalopolises, often I have been asked to elucidate on those places which I had visited. The queries time and again revolved around some of the aspects like beauty, development, fashion, modernity, people etc of those places. However during my recent visit to my ancestral home for a wedding, I have been asked by a fifteen-year-old girl, a question that left me in thoughts. Since the wedding was more like a platform for rebuilding the lost relations, I was keen in talking with the 10th standard girl, who was…

A screenshot of the Mandur countdown timer as on September 4th, 10:20 am. Less than 57 days for the Mandur landfill to shut down. The government seems to have no visible plan as to how to handle the piles of garbage that will still need to go somewhere. The people supposed to be on top of the situation are still waiting for the system to evolve, by when we will probably see the evolution of a new species from tons of rotting garbage! India does not have excess of space for landfills like the US or some other countries. Landfills…

In the first part of this series, I explained about the history of Whitefield area in Bengaluru that resulted in khata confusions. In the second part, I answered many questions related to khata, in addition to explaining why khata is not a proof of ownership. There are five categories of people based on the khata they have or don't have. Category A: Those who have been able to obtain a khata issued by the erstwhile Mahadevapura CMCCategory B: Those who have a Village panchayat khata issued by the erstwhile Whitefield Village panchayat, but for some reason, were unable to obtain…

Love them or hate them, apartment residents cannot survive without them. Pic: Sankar C G Most Management Committee members of apartment complexes in Bengaluru are familiar with water problems — many of them find themselves in an unenviable tight corner between water tanker vendors and demanding residents!. Who are these water vendors? For a scholarly understanding of 'water tanker mafia', see this article. It would seem that vendors are a privileged set of a few who have nearly unlimited access to the most exploited resource in the city - ground water, and have made a livelihood/business out of it. In…

A young mother was sitting on a bench, in a park at the heart of Bengaluru. Her two kids had some eatables on their hands in cardboard plates. In spite of them sitting very close to a ‘Use Me’ dust bin, the children scattered their plates and tissues all over the place. ‘The bin is just here child, why can’t you put them in there?’ – I said casually. She looked at me askance and looked at her mother. The mother looked at me as though I did something wrong and with an expression of annoyance said “ಯಾಕ್ ಮೇಡಮ್, ಈ…

  Mutilated Ganeshas at Sankey Tank. Pic: Vani Murthy  Lord Ganesha is my favourite childhood friend, my saviour at all times - when I met with a road accident on a highway, during my illness, when I am in despair.  He is the one who comes to my rescue. I do know many others too love him, respect him, look up at him as their friend in need, but for me he is something special. As I grew up I realised what makes him so special to all. Everything he did evoked fun in the mind of young ones. His…

In Part I, I explained the history of property-related confusion in Whitefield area in Bengaluru, and why Khata confusions arise. Here are some more questions answered on Khata: What is Khata? The term ‘Khata’ literally means an account. This term has a long history. Kingdoms levied land revenue on citizens to raise the bulk of their resources. For this purpose, they developed systems for measuring of land and appointed collectors to estimate and collect the taxes. Each land owner was assigned a ‘Khata’ in the records of the tax collectors, in which details of the estimated tax payable and the…

Pigeons feeding in the Ram-Anjenaya temple premises. Picture: Ashok Kumar S I saw a person on the premises of Ramanjaneya temple at Basavangudi, Bengaluru. He looked to me like a middle-aged person; he must have been in his 50s. He had come there to walk, like everybody else. He carried with him a bag of food. The bag contained wheat grains, bread, milk and water. I wondered why he had brought along all this food, and whom did he bring it for. I continued watching him, to know what he was up to, and find out what he was going to…

Graphite India, present in Whitefield, processes graphite daily in huge quantities which releases a large amount of fine graphite soot into the atmosphere. This is fine enough for it to not be very visible, yet is breathed by, not just the Graphite India employees, but, all the daily commuters, residents and businesses around the vicinity of Graphite India. And with ITPL and other business parks in the area, daily commuters are ever increasing (with the current numbers close to almost 1.2 Lakhs per day using the road in front of Graphite India). All these citizens are exposed to this soot.…