CITIZEN JOURNALISM

You will not notice the Iblur Government Primary School unless you are looking for it. Located on the service road of the main Sarjapur Road just before Iblur junction, the school has classes from I to VII standard with 300 students. The students are mostly from Iblur village and are from the economically weaker section. Till very recently, the school had just three classrooms and the classes were conducted in batches to accommodate everyone. We, from Lions club, HSR layout, adopted the school in the year 2007. We started off by building one classroom, improved a few other necessary infrastructures…

Taking possession of an apartment is so often fraught with its own challenges (late handover, defects within the apartment) for the individual apartment owner, that more often than not building-level issues tend to be ignored.  Further, during the Builder-provided warranty period, occupancy normally tends to be very low, making very few people available for handling building-level issues.  Caveat Emptor: Latin for 'Let the Buyer Beware'. While first-time associations do cover obvious issues (like major defects / incompletion in building construction, basic documentation, handover of maintenance corpus), many other issues are ignored, either due to a lack of awareness or resources…

Record and file everything.  It is essential that the MC (Management committee) formally document and file everything pertaining to the handover.  Many problems, which have their roots in ineffective handovers, crop up only after several years.  During the intervening period, people change - both in the MC / Association as well as the Builder.  Further, vendors' memories are notoriously short when it comes to delivering on promises made.  All important documents should be copied and filed properly - in a logical manner, which allows easy retrieval at a subsequent date.  Originals and copies should be stored separately - e.g. the…

A crow, caught in the maanja. Pic: Saandip N G. I witnessed murder of my avian friends in Lalbagh, near the Glass House on Sunday morning. The culprit? A manja daara is a thread used for flying kites. This is very strong and is smeared with fine powered glass to increase its strength. Everyone present witnessed the birds being killed. Even the horticulture department workers inside Lalbagh ignored it and shook their heads as if it not of any concern to them. This is the second time I am noticing, unattended kite threads passing through many trees in Lalbagh. The…

Recently I took the Children's Movement for Civic Awareness (CMCA) civic club members of VET school, where I volunteer, to a plastic waste recycling factory, 'KK Plastic Waste Management' on Kanakapura Road.We are all aware that we should segregate garbage. Of course, we have all heard of separating kitchen waste, plastic, paper, metals etc. But when it has to be actually put into practice, people hesitate because (a) old lazy habits die hard, and (b) people are not sure how to dispose of each of these categories. However, there is a practical solution for each of these categories of waste.…

Much before the   much hyped BBMP elections early this year, regular write ups were penned down in the media by a number of residents of H S R Layout on "What are our expectations from the new Corporator?". This was followed up by discussing these very points during the campaigning. Later a copy of these were given to the Corporator when there was an interaction between prospective candidates and residents organised by the Federation at H S R club. Subsequently, after elections, a number of petitions have been given by Federation/ RWAs of HSR Layout. Also there have been discussions…

We all know that our Bangalore is growing fast and civic authorities are planning a massive road-widening project across the city. But footpaths are either full of parked four wheelers or debris leftover by BBMP construction works. The narrow footpaths we have are already blocked at points by transformers, trees, piles of garbage and vehicles. Roads are meant for vehicular movement and footpaths for pedestrian walk. But you can see this reversed near main roads or traffic signals. We cannot name a specific area because this scene is seen all over Bangalore. I personally experienced this near Madiwala, BTM and…

"The Brigade Millennium enclave brought an impressive range of facilities within one secure, green, well-planned environment. ... The end result is a quality of life that few urban dwellers in India normally have the privilege of enjoying", so says Brigade Enterprises' website on the Brigade Millennium enclave in JP Nagar 7th Phase. Reality, however, is quite different. The main road of this enclave - Millennium Avenue - is no different from a public road - worse, in fact, with both Brigade and BBMP washing their hands off it, this has become a classic 'dhobi ka kutta'. The result - as…

At last! The bed of the Puttenahalli Lake is barely visible. Thanks to the rains and one key inlet near the coconut grove getting fed, the water level in the lake has finally risen. A gardener and sweeper appointed by Puttenahalli Neighbourhood Lake Improvement Trust (PNLIT) help in ensuring that the plants are well tended and the walking track and lake surroundings are kept clean. In the early mornings and late evenings, walkers can be seen enjoying the various species of birds like moorhens, herons, egrets and others, waddling and flying around the place. Children and adolescents can also be…

Abhivyakti! (An expression!) - an exhibition of photographs taken by amateur photographer Ashwinikumar Maslekar, a resident of Brigade Millennium, was held on October 23rd, at Mayflower Block. Ashwinikumar with his pictures. Pic: Arathi Manay Yajaman. Maslekar, 40, is a self-taught photographer, whose travelling assignments with Wipro have given him the opportunity to pursue his passion. The exhibition was held by Ashwini family as a small effort to encourage his passion. It is said that a picture speaks a thousand words and it is probably the only way to capture and freeze a moment in time with just a click! Maslekar…