GENRE: Voices

Three years back, Chithra Rajan ordered a Dell laptop from a major Indian e-commerce company. There was an ‘offer’ on the laptop - while it usually cost over Rs 40,000, the offer was for Rs 27,000. “The laptop was delivered to my office, and I only opened it when I got home. I was shocked to find that the laptop was not manufactured by Dell at all, but by some unknown company. It also did not have Microsoft OS installed as mentioned in the product description,” Chithra says. When she called the customer care number of the e-commerce company, she…

Nearly a kilometre of a busy road blocked for transport an entire day in Bengaluru! And there are thousands of people if not lakhs, who do not mind that - they look forward to it, in fact. Barring the residents of the said road, of course :-). Sounds surprising? Not if you have been in Bengaluru during the first Sunday of January these past decade and half. This is the day reserved for the renowned Chitra Santhe organised by the Karnataka Chitrakala Parishath. The 15th edition of the Chitra Santhe (Painting Fair) was held on Kumara Krupa road whose both…

Last month, on Christmas morning, residents of Purva Sunshine apartment woke up to an absurd sight of a car tipped into the front storm water drain. Couple of years ago, children came out to board their school bus only to find a two-wheeler rider, a hit-and-run victim, breathing his last. Our security and maintenance staff have been mute witness to the accidents that happen on a weekly basis at least. Fast forward to the present, in less than a week, there have been three separate fatal/critical hit and run accidents in front of Purva Sunshine apartments on Sarjapura main road,…

“To safeguard democracy, the people must have a keen sense of independence, self-respect, and their oneness” - Mahatma Gandhi.How often do you complain about the state of affairs in urban governance? How many times have you thought that the people who are in charge of the governments could do a much better job? How many times have you thought we need to elect better representatives who understand the nuances of the policy frameworks? We as citizens often forget our power, provided through the Constitution, by the founders of our Republic, to be able to get good, efficient and learned people…

For months now, motorists have been having a roller coaster ride on Thiruvengadam Lane in Perambur. The road was resurfaced with concrete sometime in early 2016. Then, it was the turn of TANGEDCO to dig up the road in September 2017, to lay a new power cable to connect one transformer to another. Upon inquiring why the road was being dug up within a span of months, we were informed that a new electric cable needs to be laid and this work could be done only after the sanctions were in place. It’s been months and the dug up road…

Lane-wise composting pilot was flagged off in HSR Layout on December 12th by MLA M Sathish Reddy who donated 12 lane composters to mark his birthday. The elected representative has previously donated puja flower composting rinks to 12 temples and 100 home-composting kits. All wet waste of the houses in one lane will be composted in a composter installed in that lane near the house of the lane-volunteer. The composter will be locked, so that no passerby can drop any litter in it and the BBMP supervisor who holds the key will be held accountable for the quality of segregated…

It is said that circumstances define the course of one’s life. 15 years back Roja Sri, a young girl then, left Chidambaram for Chennai to get away from her father and step-mother who deprived her not only of her mother’s wealth, but also basic necessities such as food, shelter and clothing. But far from making her resentful and bitter, this made Roja Sri determined to dedicate her life to serving people, especially those who have no one to care for them. Today, the 34-year-old woman, popularly known as ‘Roja Amma’ is an example and inspiration as she has broken many…

It’s been a protracted battle that lasted for over 15 months, involving lakhs of apartment residents, thousands of apartment complexes, hundreds of representations to Government and Bengaluru Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB), tens of court cases and one protest rally. The Government of Karnataka has finally made BWSSB withdraw the retrospective Sewage Treatment Plant (STP) notification imposed on apartments, based on a presentation done by the Governing Council of Bangalore Apartments’ Federation (BAF). During this period, apartment residents have been unreasonably and unfairly accused of not doing their bit for the city, by “opposing STPs”. To clear up the…

The four-kilometre Bellandur-Marathalli stretch of the Outer Ring Road is home to over 50 large IT companies, and directly employs nearly five lakh people. Consequently, hundreds of homes, small businesses, paying guest accommodations have sprung up in Bellandur to cater to the needs of the surging mass of people who now live and work here, creating a nightmare for residents and travelers alike. While ill-planned flyovers and underpasses have done precious little to improve traffic flow on the ORR, it has successfully divided Bellandur into two halves, and made life hell to people of this community, especially to pedestrians who…