GENRE: Voices

Scared, witless by dire warnings from medical friends about the horrifying ailments that await those who turn fifty, one decides to embark on a fitness drive. Thus, clad with one ‘Reeback' tracksuit from a roadside boutique (Made as USA - assures the label), one pair of cloned Nikes, one Chinese iPod and walking tips from the internet, one sets off on a morning walk.  In Puttenahalli. The walker's website advises ‘Start with a deep breath'. So, one goes ‘Aaaahh, Inhaaaale!' Bad mistake. There's an overflowing garbage bin at the corner. Gasp, choke, gag.   ‘Avoid main roads', the website further…

This is the letter sent to the BBMP Commissioner on March 14th 2010. Dear Sir, It is observed in our area and confirmed by residents that while digging roads for the purpose of asphalting, workers using JCBs (earth movers) are showing exorbitant arrogance towards woes of residents.   Telephone cables and slabs placed by residents in front of their houses are unnecessarily removed even when the same is not coming inside the portion for asphalting and not replaced after the work. This puts lot of inconvenience and expenditure to hapless residents. No responsible official are available at the time of…

A pilot project of Zero Waste Management (ZWM) was introduced in Dollars Colony, RMV 2nd stage on March 1st 2009. However, just after a few days after its inception the residents' association of the area called for the project to shut down.Dr Meenakshi Bharath, gynecologist by profession and a social activist had taken the initiative to bring in this ZWM project in Dollars Colony. A go-ahead was given by the Dollars Colony residents asociation, SHOW. ZWM, synonymously called "Vellore Model", an initiative from C Srinivasan from Vellore, has been in the action for years now in Vellore district in Tamil Nadu.…

Yet again, on the day after the city polls of March 28th, both State Election Commission (SEC) officials and the city’s dailies are crying hoarse about low turnout in Bengaluru. Official estimates are reportedly putting the number at around 45 percent and several dailies today have sermonised in their editorials that Bangaloreans did not take this election seriously enough.Really? Let’s look at the numbers again. According to the SEC, the total number of voters for all 198 wards of Bengaluru is 69.7 lakhs. Let’s stop right there. Is this number even possible? Graphic: Meera K. Even after amalgamation of towns…

It is not uncommon that money is doled out in thousands or even lakhs during an election. The BBMP council elections are no different. Just as voters are wooed by candidates, the media aren't spared either. Citizen Matters experienced this first-hand during the last few days with candidates from three mainstream political parties offering money to be written about.At the time of interviewing a candidate, one of the first questions you are asked as a reporter is, "How much do you charge?" or "Do we have to pay for this interview?" When one replies in the negative, it would be…

In the mid-eighties when I used to travel on Bellary Road from Bangalore to Vijayapura, a small town about 50 kms away from Bangalore, many things were different. There used to be a huge Circle called Mekhri Circle and the metro almost ended there. There were a few residential localities like Sultanpalya, Gangenahalli and Dollars Colony along the Bellary Road but these were not congested like today and the highway to Bellary/Hyderabad began at Mekhri Circle. There were very few concrete buildings along the highway like the Kirloskar Factory, AMCO Batteries, Larsen & Turbo and a few petrol pumps. Dinshaw…

After the Carlton towers fire incident in Bangalore, Commissioner of Police Shankar M Bidari issued a notification to all high-rise building owners and occupants to comply with approved plan sanctions and fire safety norms.In this exclusive interview with Citizen Matters, Bidari spoke in detail about the order he has given. Bidari has been the Commissioner of Police since 2008. He has previously served as the Deputy Commissioner of Police (Intelligence) and Additional Director General of Police (Law and Order). With this recent order, Bidari appeals to the citizens of Bangalore to follow fire safety regulations and report any violations. Even…

Crime news is hardly a thing one likes to read in the morning. But the suicide of two young girls isn't something you can miss. The two girls aged 17 and 19 killed themselves some weeks back due to exam fears. Though the two deaths are unrelated, the cause is scarily common; especially at this time of the year.Over the last few years Bangalore has gained a dubious reputation of being the suicide capital of the country! One of the media reports quoting statistics available with the city's crime bureau says that over 7840 cases of suicides were recorded in…

Recently, Smart Vote, a Bangalore-based citizens' group, discovered a number of errors in the electoral lists of several polling booths. While some were complete replicas of a neighbouring polling booth, others showed some names repeated several times in the same list. The issue was brought to the notice of the State Election Commission (SEC) which is overseeing the BBMP council elections. Even as these errors were being rectified, there seemed to be many more such anomalies going unreported. Chief Electoral Officer Dr C S Suranjana, at his office near Cubbon Park. Pic: Vaishnavi VittalIt's against this backdrop that Citizen Matters…

It was a much awaited event for all the climbers in and around Bengaluru. Some participants even travelled from other cities to attend the Rock Climbing fest organised at Turahalli on February 21st, 2010.Turahalli hillock is a place with lot of boulders and wildlife just off Kanakapura road and around 8 kilo-meters from Banashankari Temple in Bangalore South. I had visited Turahalli couple of times before along with my climber friends, but I had not tried much of the climbing at Turahalli. The whole effort was to promote the sport and make more number of people joining the climbing community.…