GENRE: Voices

Rajvir Pratap Sharma, head of BMTF (Bangalore Metropolitan Task Force), has been in the news recently for taking on the state government. While Sharma acted in accordance to BMTF's powers, against BBMP officers who permitted unauthorised constructions, the state government had tried to transfer him. Government first tried to bring BMTF under BBMP, then there were the BBMP officers who went on strike asking for Sharma's removal. Finally, Sharma was accused of constructing an illegal building, and government ordered his transfer based on this, in August. Sharma challenged the order in CAT (Central Administrative Tribunal), and won. CAT rapped the…

Assembly elections are going to be held in May 2013. Parties are beginning to announce their candidates for various constituencies. Each constituency’s report card will start showing up, with ‘progress’ of various kinds highlighted. Bangalore has 28 assembly constituencies, each MLA will flaunt his or her scorecard.But what is topmost on Bangalorean voters’ mind? Garbage is raising stink for last three months, Cauvery is the bone of contention again, even as phase II, stage IV, shows signs of  materialising and traffic woes still top all discussions about the city.  What are our ministers in-charge saying and doing about these issues?…

Filmmaking is a hard profession to break into. But after more than a decade of documentary filmmaking the transition is rather smooth, especially when the subject is as exciting as a little girl in ladakh and her efforts to go to school. Priya Ramasubban, who calls herself a storyteller has made films for National Geographic, Discovery, History Channel and other major international broadcasters. She is now raising funds to make her first ever feature film ‘Chuskit' based on the children's book ‘Chuskit goes to school,' published by Pratham Books. The book is authored by Sujatha Padmanabhan and is inspired on…

23-year-old Basketball player, Kruthika Lakshman, bagged the Eklavya Awards for the year 2011-12. She is originally from Mysore but has been in Bangalore for the last 10 years. She was admitted to Sports School, Vidya Nagar,Yelahanka in 2003 and that's where her career started. Interestingly, she chose volleyball game at the sports school, but was pulled into basketball team because of her height. Since then there has been no looking back. In the six months, after she joined the Sports school, she started playing at the state level and finally in December 2006 she represented India.She says it was her…

Jay Zende, a 41 year old Maharashtrian from Mumbai, made Bangalore his home, eight years ago and started a new venture ‘BooksTALK'. He along with the co-founder Jayashree Mantri Easwaran, both hailing from different backgrounds, came up with the concept of making books talk, early last year. These books are read by actors and sometimes even the authors, instead of voice-over artistes, to make the listening experience better.  Zende talks to Citizen Matters about his venture, city, and how he has been ‘Koramangala'ed since the time he settled here. Jay Zende - Co-founder of BooksTALK. Pic: Anisha Nair How did…

Some of us residents from Bellandur Ward, representing about 19 apartment complexes, in and around Sarjapur Road, Outer Ring Road and Haralur Road have decided to work together to find common solutions to the Solid Waste Management problem. We will also work together to identify vendors and if possible, standardize process. As I read what is written in newspapers and various discussion threads, I find a huge disconnect on one count. I believe people want to segregate provided we don’t make it sound like rocket science, which the newspapers do. Our apartment on Sarjapur Road had initiated segregation 18 months…

Confidence. It is the one thing we want our child to possess in bundles, even if we sorely lack it in many areas. Confident enough to come down the slide in the park; talk to people without hesitating, confident enough to appear on stage; confident enough in thier swimming class, fearless when they steps into the pool even though we may be hydrophobic ourselves. The list is a long one.We may not get all ‘Pushy Parent' about this, but the truth is that we admire a confident child when we see one and wish the same for our child. Well…

Bengaluru-based R R Cherla is latest corporate executive to debut as an author. His book is the fiction thriller, Devil's Ether. 53-year-old Cherla is heading a product development team at a leading telecom MNC. In his book, he talks about technologies such as Remote Neural Monitoring (RNM) that makes possible to track a human brain, without any contacts. Cherla has been a Bangalorean for around 20 years. R R Cherla leads a product development team at a telecom MNC in the city. Devil's Ether is his debut as author. Pic: Abhishek Angad He says that quest to write a story…

Patience and persistence are the words that best describe Prabha Mallesh, who spent almost half of her life - painting. Prabha, 68, has achieved an expertise in ‘Mysore style' traditional painting and received many awards including the National Award in 1999. She lives in HSR Layout and has held exhibitions of her art around the world, and still continues her journey with traditional painting. Pic: Anisha Nair Excerpts from InterviewHow did you come across traditional mysore style painting and develop your interests in that?We do poojas, believe in God and that influenced me. Earlier I was into portrait and landscape…

We had met Somesh, BDA Engineer in charge of lakes in South Bangalore, requesting him to take action against construction debris being dumped in Haralukunte Kere. He promised action. But nothing has happened so far. Dumping continues unabated, more of the lake is missing now, than when we complained back in July. Pic: Balasubramaniam Thirunavakkarasu At the same meeting, we were promised that two security guards or Home Guards, will keep watch at the lake, none have arrived so far. BDA did however send a letter to the HSR Layout Police Inspector on 5th September, asking them to cease the…