GENRE: Voices

Came across an article about the worsening traffic situation in India. Badly planned roads, overstretched traffic police, violators get away easy, explosion in vehicle population, and a flood of untrained drivers all contribute to the problem. Wait! There is one more reason; there are a set of unwritten rules that are passed on from driver to driver in the great oral tradition of India! Since this tradition is oral, there is ample scope for misinterpretation and consequent goof-ups on the road. The other unique aspect about these rules is that they don't have to be consistently followed, just understood and…

It doesn't take a genius to figure out the reasons behind traffic congestion.  First, a sincere round of applause for all commuters who despite lack of traffic signals at most intersections manage to peacefully negotiate and reach their destinations. People do follow directions as is evident when there is a police officer on the road (trying to do his/her best). This shows that we are very accommodating by nature but we are also deeply frustrated from long delays and a system that does not reward good drivers. Here are some obvious problems seen on the road daily: Pedestrians strolling on…

Recently, a few of us from the ‘Save Our Lake' group of L & T South City and Brigade Millennium apartments formed the Puttenahalli Neighbourhood Lake Improvement Trust (PNLIT), and formally registered it under the Trust Act of the Government of Karnataka. We have been working for a while to restore Puttenahalli Lake, and turn it into a place of conservation and recreation amidst our homes. Citizen Matters too has helped in this cause. Thanks to the BBMP, allied agencies and individuals, this restoration is now showing visible signs of success. PNLIT will also be procuring saplings to help attract…

When we set about hunting for a house, our seven-year old declared very matter-of-factly that we should ensure at least one balcony that would offer a view of a forest with the sky above. He had been into Tarzan and Mowgli and had also gone for an overnight camp in the city outskirts near a small forest. For him it was ‘cool’ to dwell just next to a jungle. The denser it was, the more the thrill. I was of course not alarmed with this condition he laid down. As far as his imagination stretched, an orchard over half an…

I hate to wake up on winter and rainy mornings. Bangalore weather is so perfect that the comfort of the bed is impossible to leave; only the strong aroma of filter coffee can shake me awake.   Over the past two weeks, however, I have found newer reasons to spring out of bed - ever-surprising plants! With the monsoon rains, my 15 feet by 3 feet balcony has transformed into a live garden, blooming with flowers and tons of leafy vegetables (kadipata, kothmir, dhantu, chukaku, palak), chillies, beans, ridge gourds, bitter gourds and so on.   Plucking fresh vegetables and leaves right…

We take the BTM Layout-Silk Board route everyday. In the evenings at around 6.30 pm on BTM Layout, you can find huge private buses that ply between cities parked on to the left side of the road occupying one lane completely. This causes a traffic jam and slows the traffic considerably. BTM Layout already has its own traffic woes because it has Electronics City commuters as well Whitefield commuters taking the road.Similarly JP nagar as well as BTM Layout has quite a number of individual houses. These residents do not have parking speces in their own houses and simply park their…

From Jayanagar in south Bengaluru to Sanjaynagar in the north, workers are now busy removing footpath slabs and dredging up mud and muck from roadside drains – which is good, except that  the mounds of muck are then left  along the edges of the drains, only to be washed right back into the ditch as soon as it rains.Tens of thousands of citizens watch this tamasha, but feel helpless about pulling up those responsible for such mindless waste of tax payers’ money. The BBMP declares that it is the local subcontractor who has to be contacted, the local subcontractor is…

He has been in the hot seat of the Additional Commissioner of Police (Traffic and Security) for nearly two-and-half years. IPS officer Praveen Sood has much to say about the city's motorists. Focusing primarily on maintaining discipline on the road, the traffic police department under his leadership has gone all out on nabbing offenders. With the help of technology and a non-compromising stand in enforcing the law, the department attempts to compensate for its severe staff shortage. Praveen Sood in conversation with Citizen Matters about the technology used to monitor traffic, while demonstrating traffic flow in a major intersection in…

One day, during my morning walk, I came across a very cute little girl of about seven or eight standing in front of a half constructed building. She had another little boy with her, who was ‘perhaps her brother' I guessed. He was about five or six. My heart went out to them when I saw them picking up twigs from the footpaths nearby. I went close to the girl and asked her whether she was going to school. She said ‘No, I need to look after my younger siblings'' I asked her if she had ever attended school as…

“Where were you all, madam, at that time?” asked a BBMP official dealing with the city’s infrastructure development, last week. This was not  some rhetorical cross-examination of an accused during a crime investigation (though, as you will presently see, there is an element of crime involved) but something more basic that many of us can be asked or should ask ourselves more often.Residents of a Scientists’ Colony is south Bengaluru  suddenly woke up one recent morning to find that some of their houses, inside the colony had been marked for “road widening”. The road running through the colony was perfectly…