GENRE: In Focus

The smell of sulphur wafting through the air, the night-sky filled with beautiful firework displays, constant sounds of bombs being blown – crackers are an integral part of the hindu festival Diwali, or Deepavali as it is termed in  some parts of south India. The Late A Chelladurai, General Director of the Sivakasi-headquartered Standard Fireworks Ltd., once wrote, “At no time was there or is there a product that has contributed more to relaxation, merriment and enjoyment - both for young and old alike. Let us enjoy fireworks!”  But unlike a decade ago, when this was a sight only during…

Just around three months ago, the state government completed the wards delimitation process. From 100 wards, Bengaluru now has a total of 198. And if you want to know what the boundary of your new ward is, www.bbmpwards.org is a website you can go to.  The homepage of the site states that the site gives “comprehensive information about the composition of BBMP and the delimited wards along with details of localities forming a particular ward”.  The site has been set up by Zoomin Softech Pvt Ltd, an IT solutions company, for the Deputy Commissioner (DC) of Bangalore district, who is the…

Recently, an incident of pillar-bending at a Bengaluru Metro construction site and its consequential casualties shook everyone. The days following saw press conferences, public meetings, officials giving clarifications and a number of people looking at Metro construction with scepticism. In August 2009, an over-six-metres-tall pillar stooped and caused two causalities and four people were injured. It happened on CMH road, Indiranagar, where  ‘Reach 1’ of the Metro is being constructed by Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Ltd (BMRCL). There were immediate allegations of unsafe working conditions for the workers and faulty design being followed. But the question about who should be…

Karishma Jain, a law student at the Hosur Road-based Christ College travels by bus from her Sarjapur Road residence every day. Since Karishma does not know the local language, she says she initially found it very difficult to travel by bus as the destination boards were in Kannada. “I don't know Kannada. But now I know the numbers and the bus routes”, she says, even as she just gets off a wrong bus, thinking it was going towards Agara through Sarjapur Road.Karishma is among the 40 lakh passengers of Bengaluru who use the BMTC bus services every day. The BMTC…

The attempts to construct a link road through the University of Agricultural Sciences' Gandhi Krishi Vignana Kendra (GKVK) campus has stirred up a fierce battle, between BBMP and a motley group of locals, environmentalists and former Vice Chancellors of the University of Agricultural Sciences. In June 2007, BBMP proposed a 9 km long (100 feet in width) road, to connect the Yeshwantpur-Yelahanka expressway to Bellary Road (NH 7). The link road will begin at the main entrance to the University of Agricultural Sciences (UAS) at Bellary Road, cut through prime forestland and end at the Yeshwantpur-Yelahanka Expressway. In June 2007,…

Arjun Tallam, in his forties, managing partner at Rasilaas Fine Dine restaurant in JP Nagar VII phase, Kotnoor Dinne main road says that three years ago when he opened the restaurant there wasn’t a proper road. Residents and traders of the area approached MLA Vijaykumar (Jayanagar, JP Nagar constituency) and got a road laid in 2007. Excited, he describes how the footfalls and profits grew once the road was done. Arjun Tallam, of Rasilaas Fine Dine restaurant in JP Nagar VII phase. Pic: Supriya Khandekar But his excitement dies down soon when he talks about the underpass construction that started…

  A veteran journalist for nearly 40 years, having worked for Samyuktha Karnataka, a regional daily and covering political news for nearly two decades, Gunda Bhat is a well-known name in the field of journalism in Karnataka. Bhat received a BDA plot in 2002 from the state government, under G-category as a mark of respect for his contribution to journalism. He built a single-storey house on the allotted site at Dollar’s colony near JP Nagar. Under the G-category, the chief minister allots BDA sites to eminent personalities. People who are awarded the land are essentially moved up in line and…

It is more than a year but things don’t seem to improve for the residents of JP Nagar. Recently a number of houses on the 15th Cross (100 feet road) in JP Nagar got fresh red colour markings notifying a land acquisition by the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagar Palike. In July last year, houses in the 15th Cross/24th main intersection area got marked similarly and the BBMP engineers said 5-7 feet of their property would be taken to widen the road which necessary for the underpass. As many as 44 residents were worried about loosing space on their properties. Later, the…

A group of 12 people, in their mid-twenties to early-thirties cleared garbage in several localities in south Bengaluru as part of the citizen-launched “Clean Bengaluru campaign” on August 15th. Thousands of individuals from around the city had signed up in the preceding weeks on the website cleanbengaluru.com, and some NGOs joined the cause as well. Representing Youth for Seva (YFS), one such NGO, the cleaning drive for the south zone started at 7 am from Hoskerehalli, near PESIT College. They moved on through Banashankari, Basavanagudi, JP Nagar, Jayanagar, BTM Layout and concluded at HSR Layout. Coordinating the drive was Vikshut…

The Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Chest Diseases (RGICD) in Jayanagar is swarmed with people waiting in line outside the H1N1 flu ward. Wearing green masks, they wait for hours to get their nasal or throat swab sample collected. Most of them complain of a sore throat or a running nose or fever, afraid that they might have the H1N1 flu, more commonly known as swine flu. Dr Shashidhar of RGICD appeals to the public to go to a general physician first instead of getting a swab sample taken. Pic: Vaishnavi Vittal. Dr Shashidhar Buggi, Director of RGICD, urges and pleads…