GENRE: Voices

Another Railway Budget has come and gone from the “acche din” government. However, there has been no mention of Commuter Railway for Bengaluru. The biggest beneficiary of these services are people of the city. The blame for this, however,  is not with the center, but with the State government. there was much the State could have done to facilitate Commuter Railway, which was not done. Here is the list of such issues: Lack of political will: The government of the day has the wherewithal to announce multi-crore elevated highways and induce more motor vehicle demand in the name of congestion…

Ongoing construction of the Kittur Rani Chennamma flyover at what is popularly known as Devegowda Petrol Bunk junction in Bengaluru has turned the area into a war-zone. Many beautiful trees have been brought down, footpaths are broken, streetlights have been removed and the fence between the pavement and the massive Rajakaluve (now a drain really) has been opened up. Pedestrians have to endlessly battle bulldozers, open drains and ditches, cement blocks with metal rods jutting out, no street lights (thus absolute darkness in the night) and a never-ending stream of heavy vehicular traffic, day and night. Footpath has been dug…

 S'pot' the difference! Pic: Divya Sreedharan One of the boys in the photograph above, is a Transformers lover, he makes paper planes, he goes to school, he attends birthday parties and playdates. And he loves going to the park to play in the sand. That boy is my son. Let's call him MS (my son). The other boy is a little bit older, but not much bigger in build. He too goes to school. In fact, he is in class 5. But he is not a 'child' any more. He also works on the weekends, to help out his parents.…

Lalbagh has 240 acres of land, almost at the center of the city. This was started in the year 1760 by Hyder Ali as a private garden of 40 acres which eventually expanded to accommodate approximately 1,854 species of flora including various ornamental plants. Glass house, aquarium, sidewalks, nursery and many other attractions lure the visitors. The park requires approximately 2.1-2.2 million liters of water daily, hence when there is no rain, artificial watering is a must. This could be problematic too, as the water supply in the city is dwindling. A 20-acre tank, nine bore wells (sparing three non-functional old…

Bengaluru's Big Banyan Tree, or Dodda Alada Mara. Pic: Vivek M After the construction of the new airport, Bangalore is fiercely expanding towards the north consuming more and more rural areas like these. This big banyan, located in Avalahalli just off the Doddaballapur Road, is now in the company of many apartment complexes and even an international school. It remains to be seen what happens to it in the next couple of years. Related Articles During the festival... A bull that never stopped growing Old house and the bull at the Pete

In recent years there has been a lot of talk about how Bangalore will run out of water soon. I find that strange, in a city where we get as much rain as piped water supply, and in a region with an abundance of water bodies. We could easily create one more Cauvery - and that would be enough to sustain the next 10 million people added to the metropolitan area, not just in Bangalore, but in surrounding towns and cities too - if we simply did all the right things. 1. Watershed improvement and local supply from the region’s…

It is that time of the year when some fellow Bengalureans will together paint the town red. Or yellow, purple, orange, pink, violet; name it and you’ll see the colour. Those Bengalureans are our beloved trees, getting into bloom, making namma Bengaluru look vibrant and pretty. It was a nippy and chirpy Saturday morning, with the White-cheeked Barbets calling tirelessly. Being a ‘true South Indian’, I had to complete my ritual of one cup of strong filter coffee, even at the risk of getting late. I still managed to reach in time for Neralu’s opening activity, Katte Parichaya by Kiran Keswani and team…

This post is my vent on the rotten experience we LPG (Liquified Petroleum Gas) consumers, in Bangalore, had to face due to Center’s decision of deciding to transfer our LPG subsidy to our bank accounts directly. This meant that our Aadhar number had to be linked to the LPG account and to the bank. Here, I have to mention this to Mr Nilekani: whatever might have been the noble intentions behind the Aadhar card, it was not done properly. We spent a lot of our precious time to get the card done, when it was introduced. We had to make…

In my earlier article dated August 19th, I had advocated the creation of a halt station on existing railway tracks, i.e. optimal use of resources, in turn saving our tax money. I would like to applaud Whitefield Rising for taking up this initiative and raising funds for the halt station. I was earlier requested to do a preliminary analysis by visiting sites at these locations, analyse feasibility and share my insights.  We should certainly go ahead with setting up halt stations between the junctions from Byappanhalli to IOL, Soukhya Spa (i.e. KIADB Phase II where there are warehouses). Often we just…

A gentleman inside a ladies toilet! Pic: Anisha Nair When was the last time you thought you had died and then managed to resuscitate your being? I experienced this painful process very recently. Here we were going from one place to another, and typically, the way it normally happens—without warning—my bladder started to constrict. This meant that I had to go and I had to go now! This also meant that I couldn't go anywhere and everywhere I pleased, the reason being that I'm not an Indian dog, neither am I an Indian man. I can't simply pull over to…