CITIZEN JOURNALISM

It’s easy to complain about our city’s bureaucracy, but we need to appreciate it when it works. When Chennai, like the rest of India and most of the world, went into lockdown in March, my husband and I weren’t too worried. We were confident that if we took adequate precautions, we’d escape the scourge. We thought that any problems we faced would be more because of social distancing requirements than anything else. We were wrong. Receiving the diagnosis One evening in October, I found that I had a stuffy nose. Out of an abundance of caution, I avoided people and…

Two stories--with different endings. The first, from November 11th, 2020.  Suma, a 38 year old Hakki Pikki tribal woman---the Hakki Pikkis are a nomadic community originally from Gujarat but now settled in Karnataka over the past several generations---was discovered in an almost comatose state by a young health volunteer while doing a COVID survey. Suma was critically ill with chronic anaemia.  She was immediately taken to the local government hospital from where they decided to shift her to a “big hospital” in the city since they were ill-equipped to deal with the case. Unfortunately, and not surprisingly, the “big hospital”…

Garbage generated in Bengaluru’s markets big and small can be a star, according to  VEDAN, an NGO working on creating awareness among people on waste management issues. Named G-Star, the suggested model, which came out of Vedan’s study of K R Puram market, brings together people who produce waste and those who can make productive use of it. The G-star model can reduce the mixed waste that goes to landfills. This waste can be distributed to all stakeholders in a desired form by collecting it directly from vendors at the market as and when it is produced. The K R…

Happy Deepavali! ‘Times have changed. Today's generation has changed a lot. Our times were so good. Values have eroded…’ Such complaints are made by every generation. Even Aristotle is said to have complained about the next generation! Our children are already complaining about how times have changed so much since they were children. Even those who struggled during their childhood have memories to cherish from their childhood.   ‘Why do you always talk of the past and become nostalgic about every aspect?’ ask my siblings and friends. Honestly, I am just enjoying the posts on Bangalore - Photos from a Bygone…

We are so lucky to be Indians and have so many festivals to celebrate and choose from. But there is also a need to draw some boundaries to ensure these festivals are equally joyful for all. The debate about firecrackers is often seen from a religious lens, and hence the arguments on it get drowned in ridiculous polarities, distracting us from the core problem.  The Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (PCA) Act covers animal slaughter during Muslim and Hindu festivals (by allowing slaughter only in registered licensed abattoirs). Extremely loud music or prayers from religious establishments are covered by pollution…

We are slaves of habit. We find comfort in predictability because that gives us a sense of assurance. A schedule that goes like clockwork is actually very comforting. That’s the beauty and the bane of it. Before mid-March 2020, my husband and I kept to a schedule that we'd been following for the last 18 years. And then, Covid arrived in all our lives! With lockdown and 100% work-from-home, the schedule was suddenly gone. Our lives got filled with a long unending list of chores, to be done along with our office work. Things that our maid and cook efficiently…

October saw heavy downpour in Bengaluru, causing flooding and traffic breakdowns in many parts of the city. The city usually gets much of its rainfall in the evenings and nights, which also makes it more vulnerable to flooding and traffic jams during peak traffic hours. Floodings have been one of the most common, inevitable outcomes of climate change. The constant feeding of emissions into the atmosphere leads to extreme precipitation, which then results in floodings. Urban flooding affects transport in different ways, such as increase in travel times, change in route, congestion due to low speeds, etc. There is an…

With the festival of Dasara (or Navratri) just over last week, households like ours have been carefully packing away our statues and dolls till next year. While the Bengalis in Mumbai are immersed in Durga Puja and the Gujaratis in Garba and Dandiya, the South Indians get busy with Bommai Kolu, a festive dolls display that is the focal point of the 10-day long festival. Kolu (or Golu) is a tradition that is passed on, from one generation to the next. No matter which city in the world they move to, the Kolu moves with them. Most of those who…

Bengaluru is a major IT hub and its public transport is key in facilitating the economic activities and providing means for the public to commute across the city. The Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation (BMRCL), which is in charge of the metro rail project of the city, is building lines across the city in phased manner. While some lines have made progress in time, others have been delayed as well.  Here’s what Bengaluru’s overall plan for Namma Metro looks like: Phase 1: Construction of Phase 1, with routes totaling 42.3 km, started in April 2007. Its first section, connecting Baiyyappanahalli to…

In considering sustainable urban mobility as a solution to urban transport, one parameter that is constant is the Volume to Capacity ratio or V/C ratio. Why is this? Traditionally,  transportation engineering in urban areas has taken a bottom-up approach. In other words, it follows an infrastructure supply-based approach, and critical to this is the V/C ratio. This ratio is calculated using Passenger Car Unit (PCU) for every road in the given urban area to identify hotspots of congestion, so as to figure out infrastructure-based interventions like road widening, flyovers/underpasses, elevated road corridors, etc.  But over time, such interventions have proven to…