CITIZEN JOURNALISM

The markets of Madivala, Nelamangala, Banashankari and Naganathapura wear a new look these days. Buying vegetables, fruits and other home needs in the evenings has become easier now, thanks to the CFL bulbs that have replaced petromax lanterns in these places. They have illuminated smiles on the vendors’ faces too.Sarojamani, a small vendor for the last 17 years recalls that earlier the vendors had to either scramble for a place below the streetlight or spend on costly and low illuminating light sources or pack up their business by sunset. She used to spend more than Rs 900 per month for…

Citizen Matters, Bangalore's own interactive newsmagazine is happy to announce the first of a series of Citizen Journalism classes, on Saturday, 9th of May. Classes are open for all Bangaloreans. Please note the details in this post and confirm your attendance by Wednesday May 6th evening 4pm. SMS confirmations are welcome. Date: 9th May, 2009Location: Adarsh Business School, South End Road, Next to Police (Additional Commissioner's) Office, South End Circle, Jayanagar. (Map)Parking: In the basement Time: 2.30pm - 5.30pm.Contact for the class: Raghavendra, Citizen Matters, 9611106477.Seats will fill out quickly so please do not wait till the last minute and…

I wish to bring to your notice and hopefully the notice of all Bangaloreans the problems being faced by 10 families in Dodda Bommasandra, Vidyaranyapura Post that comes under Byatarayanapura CMC. About 50 days (9th March 2009) ago CMC workers came to lay concrete slabs on our drains and for that purpose they dug up our drains, removed the stone slabs that were covering them and filled the approach road to our houses with all the debris from this work.  Unusable Road in Dodda Bommasandra (pic: author) They promised that the work will be completed in two days. It has been…

Does one call it a lake or a pond? Perhaps it may be better to just refer to it as a “kere” or a water body, since it was clearly once a lake that, over time, became a pond and is now steadily shrinking in size. Some people call it “Arey kere”, others as “Puttanahalli puttkere” to differentiate it from the much bigger Puttanhalli Lake. Call it what you will, this kere is fighting a losing battle for survival - like other water bodies in Bengaluru, like the tall shady trees now being chopped down on one pretext or the…

If there is one striking feature to distinguish this election from previous ones, it's the focus on the young voter. From actor Imran Khan to Congress scion Rahul Gandhi, the messages relayed through media adverts and political speeches have all urged India's young voters to stop being apathetic and to come out and “make a difference”. Unfortunately, merely coming out and voting doesn't really indicate that candidates are reflecting your concerns or listening to you. R K Misra, Krishna Byregowda and Prof Rajeev Gowda during the presentation of the youth manifesto at IIMB last Saturday (Pic courtesy: Hemangini Gupta) In…

I am a native of Bangalore city, a Kannadiga from an orthodox family, yet I found myself asking my non-Bangalorean friends, "What is the Karaga festival?" One of those moments when I feel I should have paid more attention during social science class! One friend, who closely follows cultural happenings around the city, told me more. The 40 ft ratha carrying the idol of Lord Dharmarayaswamy in procession. Devotees gathered on the streets throw bananas and tulsi leaves on the ratha. (pic: Deepika Nagabushan) Karaga is celebrated on the full moon day during the Chaitra month of the Hindu calendar.…

Butter and Mashed Banana has completed 33 shows, both at theatre festivals as well as public shows. It is the only play from Bangalore in recent times that has been invited to the prestigous Prithvi Theatre Festival, the Kala Ghoda Festival and the Open Space Festival - Himmat. Butter and Mashed Banana has performed across the country. Butter and Mashed Banana  is presented by Harami Theatre. Written in 2005 and performed from the following year, Butter and Mashed Banana has won both critical and mass acclaim over the last five years.SynopsisButter and Mashed Banana is a hilariously funny take on…

Bangalore South Parliamentary Constituency is one of the most prestigious constituencies in the country and comprises mostly of educated/elite voters. It is known as the educational and cultural capital of Karnataka.For the coming elections, all the major political parties have fielded their best and most educated candidates.BJP has fielded its National General Secretary Ananth Kumar, a post-graduate in Political Science with a law degree and expected to play a major role if the NDA gets a majority. The Congress has given a ticket to US educated, two-term MLA Krishna Byre Gowda, supposedly close to Rahul Gandhi. The JD-S has fielded…

Our Theatre presents its debut production, Beyond the Land of Hattamala, a play written by Badal Sircar. Founded by Sandeep Shikar, an actor, writer and director and Vivek Vijayakumaran, a theatre artist, Our Theatre was originally born out of a need to have a banner for Beyond the Land of Hattamala . However, the connection between Vivek and Sandeep and their belief about theatre ran deeper and so Our Theatre has become more a way of working, a way of doing theatre. "For me, Our Theatre is our thought, our belief, our language, our culture, our complexity, our simplicity, our…

We recently  concluded a successful property tax drive at our apartment complex, Rohan Vasantha in Marathahalli. Initially, we had contacted the BBMP helpline and got guidance on how to fill the form. However, certain points like zone classifications were not clear. So we contacted the BBMP officials, Assistant Commissioner Vasanth Rao and Deputy Commisioner Heera Naik. My neighbours Avinash Kalmani, Vasanth Kelkar, Nitin Kabra & I (Keshav Prabhu) met them. They helped us fill one form. We sent the reference form to all residents in our community of 540 houses. We got 300 forms and kept it in the club house.…