GENRE: Voices

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,…

The next time you're on the road at peak traffic time observe this. There'll be a wannabe Michael Schumacher who'll take off like a rocket at the signal, and you'll meet up with him at the next signal. You'll most likely meet up with him at every signal over the next 10 km. Why does this happen, even though he's driving faster than you? This is because of the 'Schumi-Bang effect', a scientific phenomenon caused by the interaction between Schumi's vehicle and Bangalore's roads. Here's the explanation. When traffic signals are close to each other, your average speed depends on…

Citizen Matters was present at the Sneha Sante event, with a spot drawing contest for children and also encouraged visitors of all ages to share their thoughts about the city. Sneha Sante was organised by Bangalore Cares, a non profit group, on 27th and 28th September 2009, at H N Kalakshetra, National College, Jayanagar. The event combined a charity bazaar and a programme of cultural events, Here are some thoughts people shared. A city full of people with good intentions! And it’s great that a lot of them actually carry out their intentions.Maha KumarBe kind to animals it is their…

Recently, I was surprised by the efforts that the government takes in checking TB cases by distributing free medicines through the nearest centres. The system is made so fool-proof that the medicines are taken by the patients regularly in the presence of a medical officer.  In fact a doctor or at least a nurse visits the house of the patient and guides the family members about the importance of taking the medicines regularly, the various precautions that the family should take and ensures that the medicines are distributed from the most convenient location.  The hospitals are monitored strictly.  The doctors…

If there was one city in  the newly independent India that was a real moviegoer’s delight, it had to be Bangalore.  In the early ‘50s, cinema theatres in Bangalore used to  show films in many languages - Hindi, English, Tamil, Telugu and Kannada. Few years later, Malayalam and Bengali movies could also be seen in morning shows. In that sense Bangalore was probably the most cosmopolitan town in the country. Such a varied taste in films was a reflection of tolerant  and eclectic mindset  of the natives. May be this was also the way the foundation  for a pan-Indian city…

Recently, on the  Hasiru Usiru e-group (a mailing list for people who want to engage with the government to see how best we can keep this city green while developing it) we have been having a debate about cyclists participating in the Cyclothon.Cyclothon is a cycling event on the Peripheral Ring Road, which is usually not open to cyclists, built by Nandi Infrastructure Corridor Enterprises (NICE), that is alleged to have exploited farmers. The debate has heated up. But that's not what I want to talk about.One person made this statement about the cyclists who want to participate in the…

It's one of those things that makes you cringe when you hear about it but eventually fades from your memory. But 18-month-old Vijay refreshed our memories of five-year-old Abhishek. As much as we express anger against the BBMP, nothing really can be done to bring back these two lives. When I saw a local news channel showing footage of firemen working their way through drains, searching for little Vijay's body, for me it brought back memories of Y S Rajashekhar Reddy, the late Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister. As soon as it was known that there was no contact with his…

Here’s a quiz : What does a lamppost remind you of ? Light ? Nah, try again.... Got it – a dog raising its leg against the base? Yup, that’s it. But what has Bengaluru to do with lampposts? Look for yourself – along many roads, at the base of each lamppost, lies a heap of rubble or trash, shored up in a cone shape. I counted seven along just one  stretch of some 200 metres (down 27th Cross, leading from the Jayanagar shopping complex towards Kanakapura Road). Bricks, chunks of concrete, mud scraped up from the roadside, assorted rubbish…

In 1978, as the city of Seoul in South Korea 'developed', a 6 km. long river called the Cheonggyecheon was covered up. An 8-lane street was built over it, and an elevated expressway built over the street. The road was called Cheonggye Road, in memory of the late river.In 2005 the elevated expressway and the road were broken up and the river restored. It took two  years and the equivalent of Rs. 4000 crore for the restoration. 2002 : Seoul's Cheonggyecheon river in its avatar as a road. Pic source: G V Dasarathi. 2005 : Seoul's Cheonggyecheon river after its…