GENRE: Voices

Dinesh Gundu Rao (Congress) was first given an MLA ticket in 1999. He won from the Gandhinagar constituency and has won for three times now from the same constituency. Dinesh Gundu Rao Rao did his schooling from Bishop Cottons in Bangalore. He graduated in Electronics and Communication from BMS College of Engineering in 1992. He ran a computer training centre with a few others for some time after graduation while simultaneously participating in Congress party activities.  Click here for the complete profile. I called Rao on his mobile. He asked me to come to his office where I landed the…

Agenda for Bengaluru Infrastructure and Development Task force (ABIDe) is a Karnataka Government initiative  to build a better Bengaluru. The agency’s main aim is to provide solutions to the challenges faced by the city. Given the number of agencies required to be involved in any issue of city level urban and social development, the initiative appears to be a step in the right direction. It makes sense to create a nodal agency to co-ordinate between the various principal stakeholders.Among other recommendations towards the betterment of the city the agency has just come up with a blue print for Bengaluru’s Heritage.…

A few weeks ago, on a Monday morning, while I was  trying to drive away the blues, I saw a few people standing and staring at the railway track near our house. Not another one, I hoped. But when I saw people in the crowd discussing something animatedly and calling up people  from their mobile phones, I could sense uneasiness. Someone who was crossing the railway track earlier that morning or the previous night was critically or fatally injured. I was pained to learn later that evening that the victim  succumbed to his injuries. He had been hit by a…

H-O-N-K...It's still ringing in my head, keeping me awake and goaded; it was all I could hear (especially today) while travelling to work in the evening...It was TRAFFIC and TRAFFIC all the way from home till Whitefield. Now when you are in a jam or in a signal and every "INCH" is covered with vehicles, why is it a few brainless uncivilised people HONK? Can't you see, the vehicle in front of you can't even move an inch?? Grrrr...More...There was a speed breaker in front of us, a two wheeler rider moved slowly, when my intolerant driver starts honking (not…

I thought it would be a very daunting task to seek an interview with Narendra Babu, three times MLA, Congress, from Rajajinagar, and currently the MLA from the newly carved constituency, Mahalakshmi Layout. So when I called on his mobile, his friendly response and immediate ‘yes' shattered the myth of hard-to-get politicians. Narendra Babu (left) speaking to citizens (Pic courtesy: Narendra Babu) His residence-cum-office turned out to be a laid back middle class home with his office on the first floor. A tulsi plant and a few other flowering shrubs completed the picture. The office itself was a simple hall…

"The world is a playground, and life is pushing my swing." - Natalie Kocsis The Revised Master Plan 2015 of the Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) designates playgrounds as, ‘premises used for outdoor games’. Bangalore has many such grounds which are managed by the city’s municipal corporation – Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP). These grounds have unrestricted access; open play areas with some play equipment and courts, where multiple groups of youngsters are involved in various sporting activities - cricket, football, basketball and some unique hybrid sports. The Akkithimmanahalli playground before the encroachments in June 2008 (pic Rohan D'Souza) These playgrounds…

New routes are regularly being introduced by the BMTC. This irritates me no end since, we, the citizens of JP Nagar V Phase are not at the receiving end of these new bus routes. Forget new ones, even the old routes seem to have disappeared overnight. BMTC seems to have wiped out JP Nagar V Phase from their route-maps. There are plenty of bus shelters, beautiful ones at that, but no single bus passes that way. A number of representations and meetings (with officials) have proved futile. Travelling out from JP Nagar, you have a few buses, but coming back…

‘An early morning run at Lalbagh. Yippee!' That was my spouse displaying objectionable amounts of enthusiasm at a time one should still be curled up in bed. Propping my bleary eyes open with my fingertips, I cautiously allowed the daylight in. Only to find there wasn't really much of it out there yet. Would have dropped off again, but could't go back to sleep. Reluctantly popping out of bed, I proceeded to soothe my jangled nerves with a refreshing cup of tea.The milk delivery was more than an hour away. No second cup of tea till then. The newspapers were…

My family and I always squabble when it comes to deciding where the weekend is to be spent. In a family of four, each person wants to go to four different places and no one ever agrees. That's why this weekend I have announced that only “My Will Be Done” -- it's Mother's Day after all, I deserve a break. In an attmept at keeping the family peace, however, I've decided to lunch at Kaati Zone this Sunday. I absolutely love their rolls -- they make for such a healthy meal and taste delicious! It's one place everyone agrees on.…

I voted because I had to vote, though much against my wishes. I live in J.P.Nagar V Phase and I am very sorry to say that there has been no developmental work taken up for this area. Though we do have celebrities living here, there has been no improvement whatsoever for the middle class people living here. Every time I vote because I consider this my fundamental right and would not want anyone to misuse my vote. Who wins is not the matter because we hardly see anyone come back again after the elections are over. I simply do not understand why…