CITIZEN JOURNALISM

Playing games in playstations or computers or watching television is the common pass-time activity amongst most children of today’s generation. I wonder if they even know about many other interesting games that one can play in the absence of any equipment or electricity.I chanced upon the website of Kavade - a toy hive, a store in Bangalore which is promoting Indian games such as kavade (cowrie shells), good old tic-tac-toe board game, marble mazes, and puzzles and so on.Glancing at their product list transported my thoughts to the days of my childhood. Back then, fancy toys, action figures, expensive dolls,…

The Bangalore Assistant Police Commissioner's office in Infantry Road, which earlier used to house the Foreigner's Registration Office (FRO) has now become the Foreigners Regional Registration Office (FRRO). This now means that the office is empowered to provide a number of additional services for foreigners and expatriates living in Bangalore, including registration services, visa extensions and granting exit permits to foreigners leaving India. The central government's Bureau of Immigration has taken over the administration of the processes from the Bangalore Assistant Police Commissioner's office personnel and this has resulted in a number of changes. The procedure and the relevant forms…

I have not written this article to defame BMTC but to bring out an issue which I come across every day on my commute to work. I stay in Madiwala and my office is in Indiranagar. I either catch bus route number 201 D or 201 M/A. I board these buses from Ayyappa Temple or Madiwala Masjid bus-stop.Underpass construction work on Ayyapa Temple road started at the end of last month. This has increased traffic in and around Koramangala Water Tank. I am not here to complain about traffic. Heavy traffic during peak hours is common in a city like…

"In Mexico an air conditioner is called a politician because it makes a lot of noise but doesn't work very well." - Len Deighton (English writer, b. 1929) Lack of participation and involvement, personality clashes, petty politics taking precedence over real issues and an inability to come together to address pressing problems effectively. Sounds like the Indian Parliament or State Legislative Assembly? Guess again. This could be a lot closer to you than you think. Apartment Owners Associations are statutory bodies comprising all the owners of apartments in a particular building / complex, and tasked with running the day to…

Pic: Satbir Singh. Some months ago, the road from Varthur Road (near Shell Petrol Pump in front of Siddapura Bus Stand) to Nellurhalli was repaired, much to my delight. It was otherwise marred by potholes which made my commute to work a tedious one. However some week ago, I saw few people digging the roadside to lay cables. The workers dug the stretch of the repaired road and never repaired it. Now the road is left with potholes again. I request the concerend authority to please look into this issue. ⊕

Rainbow Drive Layout, Bhoomi Network for Sustainable Living and Biome Environmental Solutions had together organised a talk by Dr Chandrashekar from Vision Earthcare on May 30th 2010 at the Rainbow Drive Club House on Sarjapur Road. Dr Chandrashekar articulated the limitations of existing STPs and how an ecological method which is Soil Biotechnology (SBT) based STPs, researched for over two decades at IIT-Bombay, provides clean river quality water at a lower cost. Vision Earthcare, incubated in IIT Bombay, has licensed this method for deployment globally. Attendees of the talk included ex-panchayat leaders, active citizens from several layouts, chemical and environment…

We residents of JP Nagar have seen articles pertaining to requests for BMTC services in the newspapers. During the "Know your Candidates" BBMP election debate organised by Citizen Matters, some participants also raised the same concern.I invite all like-minded residents of JP Nagar to come together and form a forum to jointly voice our concerns to BMTC. A large group will have strength and voice. Contact me at 9916781877.   ⊕

Bangalore Environment Trust has come out with a position paper on the widening of 91 roads in general and six core inner city roads in particular. Bangalore Environment Trust (BET), founded in 1987, works on environment issues concerning the city. Our point is that there is a case for a relook at this 91 roads programme based on various traffic measures being taken by the government like Metro, Monorail, underpasses etc. In any case, we feel that six heritage roads with a large number of old trees must not be widened, but instead various other measures to expedite traffic must…

There has been a sudden interest in this whole idea - before I got to wonder why - I read somewhere that BBMP has made rain water harvesting compulsory. I am glad I was able to attend this session on Rain Water Harvesting (RWH) by A R Shivakumar, Executive Secretary and Principal Investigator – RWH, Karnataka State Council for Science and Technology (KSCST). This was held at Mantri Classic Hall, ST Bed on May 15th.  Around 30 people attended the session.It was a very good session and BWSSB is willing to conduct such sessions on request. All you need to…

Apart from the traffic snarls in Chikkallasandra, the residents of this area are exposed to another hazard. Garbage collected from nearby localities are sorted out daily on a bridge built over an open drain right on the 18th Main Road, about 100 yards from the Chikkallasandra junction. This route is extremely busy as it is the shortest way from junction to Devegowda petrol bunk junction.Pic: S Srinivasan After collecting garbage from the nearby localities using hand carts and three-wheeler vehicles, the paurakarmikas dump it on the side of the bridge. They sort out the garbage before loading it into the…