CITIZEN JOURNALISM

Thursday morning saw a subdued start to the wonderful & propitious day. The sun was tricky to sight through the thick drape of fog, and as the morning opened up, the visibility reduced further. As people decorated their Christmas trees with lights and snowflake decorations, to welcome Santa Claus with his goodies bag, nature had its own plan. It created its own Christmas trees for those who can not afford one. It decorated its trees across the periphery of the city, with frost.Frost over cobwebs and leaves (pic: Saurabh Mittal) The frost settled on all the roadside plants to create…

The December Music Season is considered to be a prestigious event much like its counterpart in the north, the "Saptak Music Festival'. A setting which boasts of the best of the performers to the best of the rasikas leaves no stone unturned to create the best of the ambience. The annual event held at the carnatic music capital of India, Chennai, draws huge crowds from the world over. Chennai, often considered as the elder cousin of Bangalore, brings in its elements to make a formidable pair with its younger tech city to entertain millions in a variety of spheres. The…

The Ambedkar Community Computer Centre is situated in a slum area in the New Guruppanapalya, off Bannerghatta road, Bengaluru. In this IT city of multinationals, it is only one of the many slums in the interiors of Bangalore that is not well known outside. On the 13th December, the slum had a unique visitor who is well known in every part of the world as the founder of the Free Software Foundation. Richard M Stallman's visit turned the attention of IT professionals and media persons to the otherwise not-so-well-known slum. The Ambedkar team with Stallman. Pic: Aravind.Ambedkar Community Computing Center…

"Bangalore's culture resides in the two great extensions of Malleshwaram and Basavanagudi" was the encomium heaped on Basavanagudi by no less a person than Dr. Vikram Sarabhai himself, the father of India's space programme, with whom I had the fortune of sharing a car ride in the mid 1960s, when I was a graduate student. Basavana-gudi means Bull Temple. Actually, the whole extension takes on the name of the temple which used to be very simple then. There was a water tank behind the temple where we used to go for immersion of Ganesha idol once a year. Today, the…

I had always wondered what life was like on the inside, at Karunashraya. If I had gone there as a copywriter on a project, I would go around with the team, look inside the wards, talk to some of the patients and ask for a 'brief' as we normally do, before we start a project.But then, all roads led to Karunashraya when my mother drifted into a terminal stage of cancer - far too gone even for a miracle cure. I would now get an insider's perspective on Karunashraya - as a caregiver to a patient.View from the walk-ways, around…

I've seen them at least in a couple of junctions. One at the Wind Tunnel road junction on Old Airport Road and, the other at the Intel junction on Outer Ring road. Small construction cones neatly lined up along one-car width from the meridian, indicating that if people should turn right, they ought to come in there. How do they enforce this? At Wind Tunnel road junction, they simply line the cones along the lane and then continue them all the way to the opposite side meridian. Something like this: Brilliant idea! Considering that just drawing the line and saying…

Ananya embarks upon a new series of dance programmes titled "Nritya Chilume" for talented budding artists , aged below 15 years. Kum.Kirti Ramgopal, a well known danseuse, will inaugurate the event on 13th December at Seva Sadana, Malleswaram. Nritya Chilume will be a regular feature in Ananya's calendar of events.Nritya Chilume aims to promote and motivate youngsters to further their learning, by providing them an opportunity to showcase their talents to a wider audience and interact with senior gurus and fellow performers.Nritya Chilume-1 features Bharatanatyam performances by Ananya M (Guru-Brunda), Sonali Belankar (Guru-Anuradha Vikranth), Gopalakrishna S V (Guru-Sanjay and Shama…

Is it difficult for citizens who are so articulate, so cultured and so well informed on conditions abroad to help evolve a traffic flow system and ensure the woes of commuters? The solution could be planned in several layers.Top on the list is synchoronised signal lights, adjusted to a moderate speed level. Moderate, because all kinds of vehicles ply on our roads and some of them may not touch the speed limit of 40 kilometers per hour.Heavy vehicles, cargo laden trucks and the like must be barred entry in arterial roads. If this is not possible, they must be allowed…

I was to board the KSRTC Meghadoota service to Chennai on 27th November 2008 at the Shanthinagar bus stand in Bangalore. The bus that was scheduled to start at 10.17 PM, did not arrive at the bus stop till 11 PM. The bus that managed to arrive so late from the depot had mechanical problems. The driver reported that the bus could not pick up speed and possibly not go beyond third gear. Apart from this, the bus also had very bad air conditioning, which added to the frustration and fury of the passengers. The angry passengers demanded that the…

This picture (below) is about one more traffic jam courtesy a rally organised at the peak hour of 9 AM on 21st Nov 08. This time the jam near High Grounds police station junction was due to the rally of school children who were participating in Chinnara Habba. A good-samaritan acts, in vain. Pic: author. This incident happened immediately a day after the political rally of JD(S) in which citizens were subjected to a horrendous time. I am not against children's rallies but it could have been held at non-peak hours. The school administrators, event organisers and the public adminstrators…