GENRE: Voices

Even as the Karnataka State Election Commission has announced the BBMP council elections schedule, one court case on ward reservation is pending at the Supreme Court. Alongside, the Chief Minister’s ABIDe (Agenda for Bengaluru Infrastructure Development) task force’s draft law, the Bengaluru Governance Bill 2009, is still hanging fire. This Bill talks of directly electing a Mayor and electing members to ward committees. But confusion looms large over this as some city politicos are not keen on having elected members on the ward committee. Transport Minister R Ashoka. Pic: Vaishnavi Vittal. Amidst all the election-talk, Citizen Matters caught up with…

The first dayOn Saturday the 12th of December, I left my house ready to reconnect with my childhood, at the Children’s film festival, part of the Bangalore Habba 2009. As I went up the escalator towards the movie theatre, the numerous posters and signs, left me in no doubt that I was in the right place. It was 9.50 AM when I reached the ticket counter.I excitedly asked for passes which were supposed to be available at the venue. The man behind the counter looked at me, somewhat amused and told me he couldn’t issue me a pass because I…

Standing outside his house, one feels quite dwarfed*. And that’s purely because of the sheer size of the house. Massive would be an understatement. The name plate in Kannada, bold and big, reads Katta Subramanya Naidu. A policeman and a security guard greet me at the gate, expecting my arrival and lead me right in. As I wait in Naidu’s office, his staff and I exchange pleasantries, as they begin the day’s work. After a cup of coffee, a gentleman informs me that “sahibru” will be down in about 20 minutes. “He came late last night because of work, at…

A Pune school has said ‘no' to processed food at school and has involved parents in choices of food for the children. A number of other private schools, include many in Bengaluru are considering similar positions. The idea of schools intervening in what is traditionally the domain of parents was the topic of a panel discussion recently in Bengaluru. The conference was held to spread awareness about the dangers of processed foods, genetically modified foods, chemical agriculture, factory farming and how our food system impacts climate change. Pic credit: Basavaraj Biradar The discussion was held at a Conference on Food,…

This is my response to Citizen Matters' article on 'Junctions where grade separators are to come up'. The thought of having the prolonged construction of yet another set of grade separators foisted on us is really scary. As everyone knows, the underpass on 24th Main, 15th Cross, J P Nagar is way behind schedule as was the case with Jayadeva circle flyover. When the Jayadeva flyover construction was going on between the years 2003-06, traffic was diverted through Bilekahalli Dollar Layout adjacent to Bannerghatta Road, where I live, for years on end.The decision to divert traffic through our layout, was…

We all appreciate the planned approach and systematic execution of any project. Many companies do it and among government establishments, the railways, perhaps because it was a British company earlier. For example, if they have to bridge a river of 50 feet and lay the track, they just refer to ready made designs and drawings for bridge girders, fabricate them while the piers are being built, and finish the project in record time. Civic amenities site in Kalyan Nagar is lying vacant for over two decades and is in continuous danger of being encroached upon. Pic: Lina Vincent. We also…

The birth centenery of Prof.V T Srinivasan, who was one of the founders of Bangalore High School and Vijaya College falls in the year 2012. Prof. V T Srinivasan was born in the year 1912. His ancestors hailed from Vengalathur, North Arcot District and the place is located near Kanchipuram. His father was V T Ekambarem, who served as a Tahsildar in Cuddapah, Andhra Pradesh and his mother was Kamakshi. He studied in Madras Christian College and in Annamalai University.Along with K Srinivasa Rao and K Lakshminarayana Rao, Srinivasan started The Bangalore High School, which soon became well known for…

Dry waste, wet waste, metal waste, e-waste, bio-waste, plastic waste. How many dustbins should I keep at home to segregate these many waste matters? Read this article by Sandhya who was part of the team that set up the waste management system at Brigade Regency Apartments. This is what struck me when I read a circular from the Brigade Regency Owners’ Association, making waste segregation compulsory and for a moment I thought I would crumple it up and dump it in the dustbin. Brigade Regency Apartments is where I live. Being a resident here, I felt “these guys are stretching…

It is very easy to rant and rave about the problems we women face in the great city of Bangalore. Well it is not all problems, is it? Some things are possible precisely because we are in this city. IT and Biotech have opened up great avenues. But long before IT and BT, the city was known for the hub of scientific research, home for India’s premier research institute, IISc. The Indian Institute of Science was set up in 1909 and has remained the pride of the city since then. So it was only natural when the Indian Academy of…

What should be an ideal way to find a match? A man and a woman meet and then they decide to marry. Of course, this is the practice followed in many western countries but a rare practice in India. We claim we are a modern and civilized society but still keep a highly orthodox perception about marriage. There are two roadblocks to perfect marriage in Indian society. One is horoscope matching and the other is the practice of dowry, which is used to decide matches by most parents. The bride and groom rarely get the privilege of taking their own…