GENRE: Voices

Journey across Bengaluru city on a whim is a thing of the past. Jammed roads have necessitated planning. What used to take 15 minutes can stretch to an hour on a bad day. A fallout of crowded streets that’s seldom discussed is the issue of nature’s call while you are on road for long periods. This especially gets trickier if you are a woman.Loo-breaks too need to be planned. City’s walls and trees are of little use if you are a woman. Yes, there are a little over hundred Nirmala pay and use toilets across the city. But most are…

For over 10 days, the power tussle between the Reddy brothers faction and the Yeddyurappa camp has virtually held the work of government hostage. How has the internal turmoil in the BJP government impacted the prospects for “fixing” a whole host of Bengaluru problems? The Government of Karnataka, on November 13th 2009, put out a state-level Urban Development draft policy for public comment. Minister of Law and Urban development S Suresh Kumar released the draft, which has been prepared by A Ravindra, Advisor to the Chief Minister on urban affairs. It mentions the setting up of a Metropolitan Planning Committee…

This year's Bangalore Book Festival was neither better nor worse than usual, which is to say that it mainly offered the advantages of visiting a number of more or less ordinary bookstores in a single venue. I am always on the look-out for translations of literature from different countries and regions into English, but if this was a focus area at the Festival, it was not evident to me in the few hours I spent there. By and large, apart from the special focus sections on Kannada literature, the exhibitors had the usual run of the mill fare you find…

Some weeks ago I was driving my red Omni car through the Richmond Town area, heading towards Domlur. I needed to turn right at Johnson Market-Hosur Road towards Austin Town. It was close to noon and traffic is often sparse at that time of day. The light was green and I followed the other moving vehicles. Suddenly, the traffic from the other side started moving. It was then apparent that the light had turned red for us and I had failed to stop. I managed to avoid the oncoming vehicles and complete the turn into the right lane, only to…

"There are two BBMP sheltered bus stops on 46th cross Jayanagar (one on each side of the road) between 9th and 11th main.  Both look new, but both are not in use. The buses stop away from them and people wait in the sun and rain. On the way back, my wife asked the 500C conductor why the bus does not stop at the proper bus stop and his reply was ‘nobody stands there!’." Something is clearly wrong. Commuters wait in the open at Sarjapur Road opposite the construction at Iblur junction, while students get into a bus standing several…

The BBMP has, ever since its formation, received the citizens ire for its failure to deliver civic services effectively. When young children fall prey to the open drains in Bengaluru or when trees are callously cut for the metro or road widening purposes, Bangaloreans, feeling the heat, protest against the BBMP. But the citizens have not been able to find any answers, as currently there is no one that is politically accountable to the local problems in Bengaluru. So for almost three years, Bengaluru has been under the Bureaucrats Raj.Due to the absence of elected representatives in BBMP, there is…

A recent news report talked about troubles cyclists in Bangalore face on a daily basis. As a new mother I can relate to that. Yes, there is a connection. Have you tried pushing a pram around the city? Just around the block to a park? It is the scariest thing after having to cross road with an elderly at hand! It is no breaking news that the city’s infrastructure largely caters to able and citizens who own vehicles. Pedestrians and cyclists make up 8 and 2 per cent of the total road users in the city. But having an infant…

On October 15th evening, residents of HRBR Layout were shocked to see trees being cut by BBMP workers in yet another park developed by BBMP's Horticulture Department. These were fully grown trees and the park is located at 9th G Main Road, HRBR Layout, 1st block in Kalyannagar (Ward 88).On enquiry, we were told that the workers have the permission from Range Officer of BBMP. When we asked them to show the permission they did not show this, telling us that it is with one Purushotam, who was not there. The reason they gave for the cutting the trees was…

In my locality, Sadashivnagar, BBMP has suddenly started concreting of pavements. This would normally be a laudable activity, but  for these problems:1. The pavements are not used by pedestrians at all. The streets in the locality have sparse vehicular and pedestrian traffic. Pedestrians walk on the edge of the road comfortably. The picture below shows one such street at peak traffic time of 5:30 PM. So concreted pavements are unnecessary in this locality.2. Concrete pavements are not only unnecessary, they are actively harmful. Concrete and tar are the chief causes of a phenomenon called Urban Heat Island - the city…

I've been reading queries on various mailing lists I belong to, about joint expeditions to Hosur to buy fireworks for the approaching festival of Deepavali. Some of the members ask, since the tax differential is large enough to make a difference, why not share a car and go to buy fireworks?Indeed, there will be a price difference between Tamil Nadu and Karnataka (Hosur and Bangalore) for fireworks, as for many other things.However, I  remember that one year everyone was up in arms about  child labour being utilised in making fireworks and we all boycotted fireworks. Have things changed at all,…