GENRE: Voices

When I first heard about the magical properties of Aloe Vera, I was unprepared for the absolute bitter taste of the product which wouldn’t leave my mouth for at least 15 mins! I went ahead and swallowed it anyway, telling myself it is medicinal and good for so many of my medical problems. I am so glad I stuck with it. Today after one year of taking 50 ml of Aloe Vera on an empty stomach first thing in the morning, I can vouch for it. My aches and pains are reduced considerably, my skin is glowing and my hair…

Spirituality tells us of our life being a journey of soul through the sea of time, and our body being a mere vehicle which drives us through. In case of our worldly possession of a vehicle like a car, we ensure regular maintenance, regular servicing. Do we care similarly for our body? Diabetes is fast emerging as an epidemic. Bangalore incidentally, has second highest number of people afflicted with diabetes, according to a recent Indian studies. Hyderabad leads the list. Every 10 seconds, a person dies of diabetes related illness. Interestingly, 50% of diabetics are unaware of their condition. Also,…

While BMTC has started some good initiatives like introducing new routes and Bus Day, there was a huge blow to the corporation - rise in diesel rates by Rs 3 per litre. Immediately BMTC announced a bus fare increase - was this hike seriously necessary? Bus tickets. File pic. The diesel fares rose by Rs 3. An average BMTC bus gives about 4 km/litre and some new ones go up to  5 km/litre. That means an average increase of about 75 paise per kilometre. The number of passengers travelling in a bus averages 40-45, meaning there is absolutely just less…

You must be having a ‘special' tree in your life. Or at least a memory of - a mango tree you grew up climbing; the neighbour's Jamun tree that stained your compound wall purple; Ajji's house Jackfruit tree and its profuse yield; the Pipal tree by the river in your ‘native' village; the ‘haunted' Tamarind tree on the edge of the school compound... Tulika publishers' latest - ‘Let's plant trees' by Vinod Lal Heera Eshwer, is a book for parents as much as children. It gets directly to the point - action, not theoretical discussions. It comes with real Pongam…

The blame game is one of the easiest to play -- and Facebook turns out to be an unlikely source to drive home this point.  Take a look at the Bangalore Traffic Police's (BTP) Facebook page. The city's traffic is chaotic,  the number of rule breakers is horrendous, and the number of  offenders pulled up or punished is a small fraction of those who deserve to be penalised.True. But how many of us try to put ourselves in the shoes of the BTP, to  see  whether the blame is all  to be laid solely at their doors, for this state…

As I stood in a queue in the town centre in Swansea, Wales (UK) waiting for my bus to arrive, I over heard two women in front of me grumbling angrily about having to speak to some person in Bangalore who actually knew nothing about her TV  complaint and she was not sure if anything would finally get done over the weekend. Ooh, typical white metality I thought till I got slammed by the same problem by Airtel.Well I have been ‘Bangalored’ by the Airtel  Broadband service in the so called silicon valley of India. I suddenly woke up yesterday…

Two months after Bangalore Traffic Police (BTP) started its page in Facebook, it has about 3,800 'likes'. In this interview with Citizen Matters, Praveen Sood, ACP, Bangalore Traffic, talks about the idea behind the initiative, how it has turned out and further expectations.What was the original idea behind starting the BTP page?Our main intention is to educate and sensitise public about traffic rules and create a forum for discussion. We also get lot of feedback which we would not get otherwise - like, when a signal is not working. This forum is not just a shoulder to cry on or…

God's own country, from where I hail from had glorified the three wheeler and the men at its helm in a blockbuster movie by the title "Aye Auto". Not that the auto-wallahs out there went out of the way to hail the glorified status adorned to them. But they were far more endearing than the auto-drivers who rule the Bangalore roads.My angst against the steerers of the three wheel wonder was lying like a dormant volcano ready to errupt at the slightest disturbance. The volcano had a verbal breakout last weekend during my weekend trip to the Total Mall adjoining…

An exhibition of artist Dr M S Murthy's work was held at ISRO layout on 11th and 12th June. The venue interestingly was not a gallery but a home, belonging to Satya Prakash Varanashi , a very well known architect. The two-day exhibition was part of INTACH Art Reach, first hosted in 2005. Art Reach aims to take art to the people even if they don't go to galleries. The exhibition was inaugurated by art connoisseur D K Chowta, Dr C S Vishwanatha (Chairperson, Task Force for Quality Control, Govt of Karnataka) and the artist M S Murthy himself. The…

It was World Environment Day last week and India had the honour of hosting the International World Environment Day 2011 for the very first time. Jairam Ramesh, our erudite and enthusiastic environment minister called trees ‘water pumps’ and paradoxically the event was devoted to ‘Forests: Nature at your service’. As a media fellow of UNEP, I was proud to sit in the audience and listen to the minister tell the world that India was among the developing nations working towards addressing the pressures of ecological change. He told us about India’s Rural Employment Act and the country’s encouragement of renewable…