GENRE: Voices

It’s that time of the year, when crackers compete with lights. It is also the time when eye hospitals are on alert to attend to emergency cases. This is when Karnataka State Pollution Control Board (KSPCB) starts measuring air pollution in Bengaluru diligently and collects data to compile reports on air quality. This is also when activists, media and government agencies start coming up with fire safety guidelines. And this also is when activists who advocate eco-friendly celebrations are countered with whataboutery on crackers:“What about animal slaughter done by other religion?” “What about industrial pollution?” “Don’t you pollute air by…

The Diwali sugar overload and dark warnings have swung back again for your annual consumption. Various government, parastatal and private organisations have already created lists of what you can do, what you can’t, and what you shouldn't. And these are relevant to every reveller in every city and town, as the nation gets ready to celebrate the annual festival of lights. Let’s look at the yearly log book of safety rules, along with other tips that have been handed down over the years like grandma’s homilies. DO Keep a blanket and a bucket of water or sand nearby as a…

Over the past few days, we have been seeing some disturbing pictures of eviction of families from canal banks and sea side tenements. On September 9 and 15, 2015, hundreds of families were evicted from their homes in Maduravoyal and Aminjikarai respectively, with the promise of resettlement in Gudapakkam near Thirumazhisai and Perumbakkam. I know that this is not an issue that resonates similarly even with my peers, most of whom see this as encroachment that needs to be removed. For the moment, therefore, let us set aside the question of justification. The point that must nevertheless be considered is…

We the residents of Shamanna Gowda Layout, in Bengaluru, are living under constant fear of a health hazard and the concerned authorities are hardly doing anything despite constant follow ups from our end! Retaining wall built near a storm water drain was demolished by BBMP in March 2017 supposedly for renovation. It has been raining everyday from mid-August and residents of our layout are forced to bear the brunt, as the entire area is covered with silt and filth that comes gushing out of the storm water drain and the unbearable stench that comes with it. It has been several…

BMTC is the lifeline of Bengaluru. Its buses deliver 5 million (50 lakh) passenger trips everyday. This figure of passengers carried is close to half the population of the city. Without BMTC, we would all be dead, in a manner of speaking, as the city's already beyond-clogged roads would need to carry this huge number of people in vastly more motor vehicles. In comparison Namma Metro does not yet carry even one-tenth that number of people a day along its currently functional 2 lines. And reports are that their service is already 'at capacity' until much-needed coaches are added and…

The World Health Organisation (WHO) defines Health as "a state of complete physical, mental and emotional well being and not merely an absence of disease or infirmity." And yet we often find ourselves paying heed only to one of these domains in isolation. Oft-neglected are the domains of mental and emotional well being or rather, the lack of it. As someone who is a fledgling in the study of Mental Health, I'd like to share my two cents on  Mental Health. The mental health pandemic Mental illnesses have been known to humanity since time immemorial. Even the ancient Indian scholars…

It is not possible to make the city pothole-free in 10 days. So it is unclear what the government hopes for, by ordering BBMP to do this. It may as well order the rains to stop! Keeping a city pothole-free is not difficult. But that requires doing a few things right to BEGIN with. The responses after things go wrong won't help. The only thing we can hope for in 10 days is to see whether the government and the BBMP begin to do things differently in the way construction and maintenance contracts are set up for roads and footpaths.…

So what does it mean to open a superbike in a city where roads are a death trap even for the normal ones? I have been a biker from the time I was in college. The feeling of being free with the air in your face was an unparalleled experience and I was hooked after my ride. My first bike that was a Yamaha RX and there was no looking back from there on. I have owned a number of bikes—the Royal Enfield Thunderbird, Duke 390, Kawasaki Ninja 650, Yamaha R15 , Kawasaki Ninja 1000 and the Triumph Daytona 675r.…

On October 8, NGO Arappor Iyakkam spearheaded the launch of “Kollayane Veliyeru”, a large anti-corruption campaign movement aiming to bring together all those who are against corruption. I arrived at the event a bit late, at around 6:30 or 6:45 pm on that day. Ordinarily, North Mada Street is extremely chaotic and crowded, but surprisingly, it was relatively peaceful and calm that day. Arappor had one end of the street cordoned off and traffic was being actively diverted by their volunteers, clad in shirts and caps bearing anti-corruption slogans. I put my name down on the sign-up sheet and collected…

About a year ago, the government of Karnataka approved a steel flyover road that would run from Basaveshwara Circle till the Kempapura junction after the Hebbal interchange, to ease the traffic congestion leading to the Kempegowda International Airport (KIA) which was estimated to cost a whopping Rs 2,100 crore. Little did they know this project would become a lynchpin that would energise citizen activism like never before. Thousands of people came out on an early Sunday morning to form a human chain and tell their government that it was a terrible idea. The offset of a collective awareness that Bengalureans…