GENRE: Voices

Martin Luther King once said: "Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter".  Yesterday, Whitefield residents decided to break the silence by protesting against bad roads and infrastructure. A regular mundane Monday morning turned into a historical protest day, when over 8,000 people, mostly fed-up residents of the area, gathered in large crowds. Protesters dressed in black, holding placards. Pic: Deepa Ravi People got up early to attend the protest, leaving their daily chores, all united for a cause, a cause called #SaveWhitefield. People from different walks of life, across age-groups came together, and Bengaluru…

A reader wrote to us: "This article clearly violates the principle of Oorvani foundation (of non-partisan reporting)... this article from Mount Carmel event is clearly to support Rahul Gandhi as a politician." No. First, the article was not a staff report. It was the 'voice' of a student who reacted to media reports, basing her judgement on what she observed. It's the voice of a Bengalurean, and we believe every one of us has a right to express that, as long as it is articulated and reasoned. Read: Did the Mount Carmel students really stump Rahul Gandhi? Citizen Matters does not…

Pic courtesy: Facebook page of Akkai Padmashali Akkai Padmashali is a male-to-female trans-woman and gender activist. Her journey is one of courage and determination. In November 2015, Akkai became the first transgender to be awarded the Rajyotsava Award, the second highest civilian honor presented by the Karnataka State government for her work. Here are the edited excerpts of her interview with Radio Active CR 90.4 MHz. So, Akkai, can you tell us something about yourself? Akkai is just a normal simple human being. I was born a boy, but at the age of seven or eight, I felt a transformation…

The Ramagondanahalli-Borewell Road in Whitefield stretches more than two kilometres connecting Varthur Road to Borewell Road. This area falls under Ward  84, Hagduru under Mahadevapura constituency. This has about a thousand residential dwellings mostly in the form of flats and villas. With quite a few of them being relatively new apartments, there are at least about 600 families who are staying here at present and this number is expected cross 1,000 in the next few months. This road also is home to a beautiful lake named Sheelavanthana kere. Giant potholes and non-functional street lights on the Ramagondanahalli-Borewell Road in Whitefield.…

Edited excerpts of a student in Mount Carmel, Elixir Nahar's open letter, republished here with permission: A screengrab from Rahul Gandhi's talk at Mount Carmel As we students made our way past the lurking media and into our college campus, the fact of the matter was - this is about us, not them. It was going to be a friendly interaction between him and us, discussing matters that concern the youth and the country. We were definitely eager to see how he had tailored his interactive speech to suit our audience of young women. He opened with why he chose…

Dear Industry Captains in Bengaluru, Greetings from a Whitefield citizen. Without beating around the bush, I’ll straight away get into the topic. I’m going down the memory lane. In May 2008, when the news of the new BIAL airport opening and shutting down of HAL had surfaced, there was a lot of noise from industries. The highlight was that all of you, the Bengaluru-based IT-BT industry captains, had come out in full force and protested the closure of HAL airport according to this report. The distance to the new airport and the time taken to commute to the airport was…

Legislators from the ruling Congress have submitted a petition in the Assembly to remove Upalokayukta Justice Adi, on charges of overstepping jurisdiction. Meanwhile a group of citizens have written to the Chief Minister opposing the move. The Assembly also admitted a motion to impeach Lokayukta Bhaskar Rao. Upalokayukta Justice Adi addressing the press at Kaikondrahalli lake that he visited in 2013. Respected Chief Minister Shri Siddharamaiah, We, the citizens of Bangalore request your kind attention and intervention in the case related to the motion initiated in the State Assembly to remove Upa Lokayukta Justice Subhash B Adi. The Lokayukta is…

Can't find a clean public toilet? Consider using a vacant plot. Civic sense? What on earth is that?  Vacant plots in our city are considered as nothing but garbage dump yards.  And if they are under litigation, they are ignored by the concerned parties for obvious reasons. The civic authorities don’t seem to care, and irresponsible citizens and commercial establishments like hotels and pubs begin disposing their waste in these sites in the wee hours of the night or early mornings; sometimes even in broad daylight. This empty plot has become a garbage dump over the years. Pic: Praveen S…

Bengaluru is reeling under the severe garbage crisis once again. BBMP and the relevant authorities have failed to address the garbage situation in the city; they have handed over the city and citizens’ health to the garbage mafia. Heaps of garbage are quickly turning into mountains, and an outbreak of an epidemic is inevitable if the apathy and mindlessness continues. Throwing money at every problem seems to be the only idea BBMP comes up with. Unfortunately, BBMP’s expenditure of over Rs 400-500 crores on Solid Waste Management (SWM) annually has not stopped the garbage crisis. Bengaluru is probably the only…

Whitefield. I know the very mention of that name is starting to remind people about all the things that are going wrong in that part of town. In my recent visits to that side too, I have been surprised by the degree to which the city has collapsed over there, and wondering what can be done to retrieve the situation. Rather than continue the litany of complaints, I thought I would put together the things that can be done to tackle the problem, initially focusing on roads and transport. A beeline of vehicles waiting on Varthur Main Road, near Kundalahalli…