CITIZEN JOURNALISM

It is inappropriate to talk about this till another innocent kid is needlessly mauled. Since BBMP is most adept at knee-jerk reactions, they need to be constantly prodded with these two faces and their untimely end caused by a pack of stray dogs, however harrowing it may seem. Sridevi, 8 yrs old, Chandra layout (R.I.P since Jan 6 2007)Manjunath, 4 yrs old, BEML (R.I.P since March 1 2007) These are not isolated cases - over 100 dog-bite victims per day are admitted in Victoria hospital alone. The official census of rabies cases is not even known as it is not…

Doddanagamangala, a village approximately two kms from Electronic City junction has been struggling against all odds. It has no roads, no water, no KEB connection and no sanitation. About 30 families live in single room sheds with asbestos sheet roof above their heads to protect them from sun and rain, with water supplied in tractors once a week.About 200 people, a majority of them from economically weaker sections of the society, had purchased land from local farmers when land was available at an affordable price since the area did not have any amenities. Settlements in the area took place between…

This is a son’s tribute to a great lady who would have been 100 years old this year- a well known social worker of Bangalore in the last century. Jayalakshamma was born in Hassan 100 years ago, the youngest in a family of four. She was pretty, dark and short. At the age of 12, she was married off to an idealistic youth, P R Ramiaya who had run away from Mysore to Benares when he was in school. He was about to complete his Master’s in Chemistry when the pied piper from Porbandar called upon the youth of the…

Being involved in a community project in colleges through which we try to empower students to make an informed decision of whether to start their own company after they pass out of college, a thought struck my mind a couple of months ago. Students can do this only if they know the ground realities of being an entrepreneur - which is best achieved by talking to one. Part 1 of "Startup Savvy" People say a picture is worth thousand words, I thought, so why not make a documentary film on the life of entrepreneurs? A movie that will not only…

Jayanagar 5th Block is one of the oldest and planned locality in Jayanagar. The birth place of Infosys was at 5th Block. Many eminent personalities who lived/living include- Sri Narayana Murthy, Sri Sri Ravishankarji, noted poets Pu thi Narasimachar, Gopalakrishna Adiga, Shashi Deshpande, noted film personality Vishnuvardhan and noted physicist Padmasri Dr Ramanath Cowsik.The Resident Welfare Association is a 27 year old registered association and has been carrying out many developmental activites.As a part of the citizen charter (see Candidates converse with voters, the association had organised an interaction meeting with Jayanagar MLA, B N Vijay Kumar and officials of…

The traffic situation at the KR Puram Flyover Bridge makes for a miserable and highly frustrating experience. Nowadays, most Bangaloreans have to travel miles to reach their office or work place. In the midst of the journey, ordinary traffic state or jams are bearable but the situation of waiting at the same point for close to an hour is frustrating. The different issues I have noticed and faced at this junction are: • Cross roads access to and from the junction.• Roads narrows down terribly at the Railway bridge junction ... leading to huge congestion. The roads' width is just…

There was a very disturbing news in the Times of India last week. It is about the cabinet decision to amend the Prevention of Corruption Act to give immunity to retired bureaucrats who are caught accepting bribe or have Disproportionate Assets just like serving bureaucrats. This immunity is about getting prior sanction from the government for prosecution even if the official has been caught red-handed. This is supposedly to prevent harassment to the officials from baseless charges. It is in fact a ploy to shield the corrupt who might have shared their ill gotten wealth with the mighty and powerful…

Colville's Glory is one of the many picture perfect trees in Lalbagh. The tree is named after Sir Charles Colville who was Army Commander-in-chief in Bombay from 1819 to 1825 and subsequently Governor of Mauritius from 1828 to 1834. Colville's Glory tree Pic: MS. Colville's Glory flowers. Pic: MS. Squirrel on flowers of Colville's Glory. Pic: MS. Bojer, an Austrian Botanist, first found a single cultivated tree in 1824 in Madagascar when he mounted a specimen collecting expedition from Mauritius. Further, he described, in 1829, the flamboyant (Delonix regia or Gulmohur) which also he found in Madagascar. Eight of the…

When I went to college to study Computer Science at BITS, Pilani, located in a remote village of Rajasthan, I never expected the remoteness of the place to exceed the extent of not having a cinema hall. How could we sustain an existence of 4 years without the staple Indian diet of bollywood movies? Thankfully BITS fostered a strong sense of multi-cultural living, in addition to of-course studying computer science. So enough and more emphasis was laid on participating in variety of activities like college fests, theatre, photography, dance, music etc. through the form of various clubs. Inherit the Wind…

I am a nature lover and it is killing me to see all the tree cover just vanish from Banglore. Have you seen CMH road recently? Why are the trees being chopped left, right and center? Are we even aware of the HUGE price we are paying and for what?I was delighted to read the article on the Committee to review road widening: High Court and I heaved a sigh of relief. But I guess relief on paper is not relief after all!On Sunday (20th July 2008) trees were chopped on Race Course Road. Why??? Is this in consonance with…