GENRE: Voices

As the weekend approached, the weather looked good on Friday evening as I left my office with the printout of a map of place called Hesarghatta. At 5 AM the next morning, we started on our journey to this famous lake. The idea was to have a enjoyable day out and capture some scenic photographs and lots of birds too, as promised by various websites on the place. The roads were empty and we hit the outer ring road by 5.30, but as we crossed the Hebbal flyover, we realised it was going to be almost a never ending journey.…

If you have driven at night in Bangalore, you know what a pain it is. Even if you don't drive in Bangalore, you will know how much night traffic hurts. Your eyes that is.In good old Bharat, we had half blackened headlights. Because a high-beam was painful and it was deemed best to cover the top half of the light in black paint so that everyone's eyes were spared.But for whatever reason (if any of you know, please write in!) the half covered lights have gone! And what we are left with is a city, full of people driving around…

Have you ever felt like bashing that driver who is incessantly honking behind you even though there is practically no space for your vehicle to move an inch? Have you ever wanted to have a remote that could mute the honkers of all the vehicles around you when stuck in traffic? Do you leave home during peak traffic hours and arrive at office irritated and mad because of all that infernal noise on the way? Do you feel like smashing those loudspeakers which have been blaring incessantly into the night? If yes, read on.Among pollution concerns of air, water, land,…

I live in one of the bylanes of Indiranagar. You know the one, the reality behind the facade of the pretty houses and trees. The place where most of the domestic help that works in the pretty houses lives. I quite enjoy it, everything is really 5 minutes away. Your local butcher, local greengrocer, local general store, local stationery walah, local phone recharge, local fishmonger. Also every political wannabe, political sycophant, political aspirant. These people who wouldn't dare to raise their little sheds with their blaring loudspeakers on the main road will do it in the bylanes. They have no…

There was a time, not so long ago, when I enjoyed driving in Bangalore (as it was then). The run from J.P. Nagar to Century Club in Cubbon Park was a breeze.No more. Things have changed – as they will. The human population has exploded; the vehicle population has increased even faster. Fuel prices have gone through the roof. Roads are proving inadequate and increasingly unusable. There is mounting recognition that the citizen should use public transport more and more. The Administration is undoubtedly doing its bit – except that it is falling woefully short of needs. The ancient ubiquitous…

We volunteers at the Association for India's Development (AID), Bangalore chapter, are collecting relief material and cheques, to be sent to our people/partner groups in Bihar. Full details, click here.Contact:pulkitparikh [at] yahoo [dot] com or 99161-73750This is a request for your support. You can also conduct a collection drive in your office, apartment and among your friends. We plan to dispatch all collected items on the 25th of this month. Here are the details on what to collect, where to send, what AID is doing in Bihar, etc. We encourage you to disseminate this appeal far and wide.Donating money: Online…

 For four days last week, Thursday to Sunday, BMTC dropped the bus fares for the city's Volvo buses to Rs.1. The Hindu reported on 16 September that several buses suffered damages to tyres, suspensions, blowers, window screens, seat fabrics, and more. ⊕

Arundhati Nag - someone whom I have associated with theatre in Bangalore, and theatre in Kannada, for a long time. And whom I have associated with other things worth emulating: grit, the never-say-die spirit, the persistence and the determination to achieve a stated goal, and more. So a meeting with her was something that I was looking forward to, even if I had to wait from 4 PM to 5.20 PM- I got my chance to talk to this icon of theatre. "Let's go from the basics," I tell her as I sit opposite her at the lovely cafe at…

"…24/7 water supply, generator back up, general physician round the clock, two-bed hospital. Book now to avail of early bird offer", my husband read off the newspaper."What is it about, a new apartment block?" I asked."No-it's an old age home", he said, "time we started investing in one, when we can still afford it".I looked at myself in the mirror, and plucked out a strand of grey hair which refused to be dyed. "Why, don't you think we'll be living with our son's family when the time comes?" I asked, unsure of it even as I did. For these were…