GENRE: Voices

Some citizens seem obsessed with giving the city bus transport corporation a bad name, or so it would seem. It is utterly disgusting to see people take a deep breath, collect that gutkha concoction in the mouth and then aim it right onto the street, sometimes missing you by just an inch. Okay, it may have been funny to see Leonardo Dicaprio teach Kate Winslet in Titanic the technique to spit the farthest. But it is most definitely not funny to see orange stains on the road. If only Union Health Minister Anbumani Ramadoss could do something about spitting! It…

There could be any number of senior citizens aged eighty plus in our family and friends circle. But how many of us have met one with a totally positive outlook? Most of us feel that old age is a bane and dread getting older. But just meet B Kamala, the erstwhile General Manager of Canara Bank and you will change your view. She is an embodiment of positive energy.As I entered her house on a considerably quiet street in Koramangala, expecting to meet a frail old woman, I was stunned to see Kamala looking the same as she did 20…

Amidst all the chaos in last decade surrounding Bengaluru's infrastructural problems and political instability,certain aspects of the city widen their influence as always. One amongst these is the ever growing "art of carnatic music".Though Chennai with its innumerable sabhas and cultural heartlands is considered to be the melting pot of carnatic music, Bengaluru is slowly but surely made its presence felt this sphere as well. Music fever seems to be soaring in this burgeoning metropolis like never before. True to its sobriquet of cosmopolitan city which embraces anything that comes its way, carnatic music too has found its place in…

We have started a community participatory project aimed at reducing alarming noise pollution levels in Bangalore. We have arranged for an awareness campaign and press conference this Saturday and we would like to invite you for the same. Street demo/campaign on Saturday, 15th November 2008: 10 AM to 11 AM near Cubbon Park at the Kasturba Road Signal (Jewels de Paragon) Press conference from 12.30 PM to 1 PM at the Bangalore press club. To all those who are planning to join us in our demo, we request that you bring a poster carrying slogans (a crisp and effective message)…

The nicest thing about Bangalore's roads is that they are (were?) tree-lined. Every out-of-station visitor to our home has said this to us. My daughter’s seasonal observation when she was 3 years old (and when she could only see the treetops from our car window) was testimony to the fact. Come the violet flowers of the Jacaranda tree and she knew that we had reached the main road from our locality in ST Bed Layout, Koramangala; the Gulmohar tree with its beautiful red flowers signaled that we were right across the Barista on the 80 feet Road and the yellow…

About 30 years ago, one of my colleagues was transferred to Calcutta. A year later he came to his hometown on a holiday and it was shocking to hear his experience about the notorious traffic jams of Calcutta. Sitting in the peaceful and slow city of Bangalore we could not envisage those serious traffic jams. But then, we had no clue that we would be experiencing such jams right here very soon! Pictures of a beautiful bungalow from different angle Pic: Sudha Narasimhachar.When I used to go to work on MG Road then, I used to leave home (Yelahanka Satellite…

  Beautiful RoadsPathetic condition of BDA approved layout Upadhaya layout, Nagadevanahalli, Kengeri Hobli with 319 sites was approved by BDA five years back (vide Res No 145/2004 dt. 29-05-2004, Extent 28A-27G as per information available in BDA website). The roads have never been asphalted till date. Crimes have started during night in absence of street lights. How much time do the tax payers have to wait for basic amenities??? ⊕

If Rs.11.2 lakhs is the value of one tree, imagine how much the football-fields worth of trees that are razed to the ground everyday are worth - the mangroves, the forests, and all those that cannot be accounted for.... Oct 18th: A tree-lover seems impervious to the pain inflicted on this notice-bearing tree on Dickenson Road. Pic: Shivani Shah. "People keep talking about opening more wilderness for development. We seem to understand the value of oil, timber, minerals and housing, but not the value of unspoiled beauty, wildlife, solitude, and spiritual renewal. We need to start putting prices on the…

"If I were pregnant, I'd surely have a miscarriage", is the thought that I have everyday when I'm on my Kinetic Honda on Bangalore roads. The bumps and potholes on the road jiggle my fat enough that I never feel the need for a workout. Coming back to Bangalore after five years provided a shock to my entire system. The place had changed! No more was it a sleepy town and when someone told me that Jayanagar still reminded them of OLD Bangalore, I chuckled away to myself.I believe from the depths of my heart that you should not swear…

It was a hectic day, and walking out of Leela on old air-port road with my husband, discussing the interview I had just then finished for an upcoming BPO in Bangalore only made me feel exhausted and wanting to go home and hit the sack. The traffic at 7:30 PM and the blinding vehicle headlights made it difficult for us to walk, cross the road an wait for an auto. any people were already standing here and there, competing with each other to hail an auto. One empty auto came our way, making all of us rush towards him, only…