GENRE: Voices

The circumstances leading to resignation of Justice Santosh Hegde clearly shows the Karnataka Government's apathy to the issue of rampant corruption in the state. Year after year successive governments have always made the customary, rhetoric noises of rooting out corruption from the state. But the will to do so has always been suspected.Admired by his peers and idolised by his subordinates, Justice Santosh Hegde has stood tall owing to his undisputed integrity and unstinted commitment in bringing to book the guilty, however high or mighty they be. Never the one to be cowed down by the powers that be, he…

It was a two-decade old case that finally came to a close, at least partially, in February this year. The 11-acre Meistripalya kere in the heart of Koramangala was at the centre of a legal battle, with residents of the locality fighting to protect this much-needed lung space. An individual with ancestral linkages to the land had claimed it. It all began with one woman. Laila Ollapally. A Koramangala resident and a practicing advocate. More than a decade ago, Laila chanced upon the Meistripalya tank. It was her determination to protect and preserve open spaces in Koramangala that saw her…

"Above all, do not lose your desire to walk. Every day I walk myself into a state of well-being and walk away from every illness. I have walked myself into my best thoughts, and I know of no thought so burdensome that one cannot walk away from it." - Soren Kierkegaard I frankly do not know who Soren Kierkegaard is, but I agree with him. Walking is probably the cheapest and yet an extremely efficient way to exercise.The colony where I stay - Jalvayu Vihar has a fair share of walkers. Some prefer the early morning and others the evening.…

One afternoon last week I met R Sunder Rajan, the founder of Just Books at N S Raghavan Centre for Entrepreneurial Learning (NSRCEL), IIM, Bangalore, where the two-year-old startup is incubated. Rajan belongs to a new generation of entrepreneurs, who has slipped into something totally different after years of working in IT firms.  Rajan spent 15 years at the IT firm IFlex, after joining them as a fresh graduate from Regional Engineering College, Trichy. The soft spoken and mild-mannered Madurai native in his late thirties says, “My father says I am the first in the family to ever handle a…

Dr Shyamala Mani, Associate Professor at the Centre for Neurosciences (CNS), Indian Institute of Science (IISc), was conferred the Chevalier de l'Ordre des Palmes Academiques (Knight of the Order of Academic Palms) by the French Government on June 14th, 2010. The award, given to individuals for their contribution to academia and education, was awarded to Dr Shyamala for her research on neonatal lesions and the effects of malnutrition on the fetal brain. Dr Shyamala Mani. Pic credit: cns.iisc.ernet.in. Originally hailing from Vellore, Dr Shyamala completed her graduation in Psychology from Delhi University and then went on to complete her Master…

Earlier this month (June 5th-7th), a group of NGOs and activists gathered at New York to add inputs on what citizens want, in terms of “progress” and “development”. These inputs will be fed into the UN summit to be held in September 2010 (normally, in such international summits, only VIP voices are heard, not those of  activists-on-the-ground).In fact, this global consultation was strictly for activists’ groups and whoever wanted to add inputs was welcome, there were no small or big voices. Those organisations that could not make it to New York could still send their inputs and suggestions, through a…

The first trains on the Metro are about to run in the next six to nine months, so this is a good time to ensure that a few other steps are taken to make the new infrastructure more effective. This is particularly because the world over, Metro systems are usually not financially viable, and this has to be overcome by some tie-in arrangement in the real estate market, through capital grants from government and through other control measures that benefit the transit system.Bangalore Metro is no different. Over the course of a decade and more, the state has been willing…

I have not written this article to defame BMTC but to bring out an issue which I come across every day on my commute to work. I stay in Madiwala and my office is in Indiranagar. I either catch bus route number 201 D or 201 M/A. I board these buses from Ayyappa Temple or Madiwala Masjid bus-stop.Underpass construction work on Ayyapa Temple road started at the end of last month. This has increased traffic in and around Koramangala Water Tank. I am not here to complain about traffic. Heavy traffic during peak hours is common in a city like…

The city administration maybe all set to widen roads, but citizens of south Bangalore are not all ready to give up their property. Residents along the 100 feet-wide Outer Ring Road (ORR), from Central Silk Board junction on Hosur Road to Nayandahalli junction on Mysore Road, have come together to form the Ring Road Property Owners' Association (RRPOA), to carry out their protest against the city corporation's plans to widen this 14.5 km stretch. The association recently conducted a public meeting, calling all residents of the city who have been served TDR (Transfer of Development Rights) notices and whose houses…

Just about 10 years ago “open kitchen” was a fad. My architect wanted to put atleast a “half wall” between the kitchen and the living room and I had to put my foot down to have my kitchen my way. Now that we have moved on and live in an independent house with quite a big open kitchen, it sees like this architecture has become more of a norm.At the time I had just returned from the US, I felt an open kitchen made a statement. An open kitchen meant that a lady of the house is not tucked away…