JP Nagar

They are everywhere...on the pavements, weaving in and out of the traffic at signals...people who sell a variety of known and unknown things...cotton buds, lights, windshield screens, remote control protectors, dusters.....The latest "item" to be sold is this "solar flower", which comes out with waving petals in sunlight: Most of these things are cheap, shoddy pieces, which, I feel, are made in China (ok, Taiwan, to be precise!)...and they are sold for a few dozen rupees...we seem not to mind the very poor quality of the stuff, and sometimes, it's our way of supporting the people who sell them.But I wonder…

As I was going to Mysore, I got this by-now-very-familiar scene of huge trees (oxygen-giving) being hacked down to make way for more cars (carbon dioxide-giving):The earthmovers have arrived in Cubbon Park, and I am organizing a photowalk on Ambedkar Veedhi (the stretch from GPO to the High Court) tomorrow at 4pm, to photodocument what we are about to lose. If you are interested, please come along (with or without camera!) to the GPO main gate at 4pm tomorrow, 9th October. ⊕

p>In a series on environment-friendly initiatives, Citizen Matters introduces you to individuals and communities who are working hard to encourage sensible disposal of garbage. The first of the series takes you through the gates of an apartment complex in the southern part of the city, in JP Nagar. One block, Mayflower, in Brigade Millenium, hit upon the idea way back in 2008, to do something about the waste that was being generated. The drive, however, didn't convince all the residents. Only 30 out of 220 households are currently segregating their waste, while remaining still depend entirely on the BBMP garbage…

It's now the time of the year, when the Mahogany trees in the city put out their lovely "chocolate ice-cream" fruit-pods.... here's what they look like:If you find these pods upon the ground, pick them up and see the beautiful red striations inside!I wish the BBMP would start planting the saplings of such life-sustaining, shade-giving, and long-lived trees once again in our city.... ⊕

I was glad to see a training bus, with many drivers sitting in it, going past with one learner driver at the wheel:However, I was not sure if this was a training vehicle, and having seen the words "Tharabethi Vahana" on the bus, tried to google for the meaning of the word "tharabethi"...but could not find any free Kannada-translation website. Google does not translate from Kannada to English or vice-versa...but I am still amazed that in the home of the software industry, no one has yet designed a good Kannada-to-English translation site. ⊕

According to BBMP's second quarter status report for JNNURM projects, 2009-10, the sanctioned cost was Rs 24.86 crores, with BBMP putting up 50% of the funds. The tender was awarded in March 2008, with the project scheduled to complete in January 2009 as per the Detailed Project Report. In the same report, BBMP gives reason for delay as:  "Sital conditions (faced hard rock which has to be blasted), traffic diversion are the reasons for delay. And another major problem is land acquisition." The Deccan Herald reported on September 13th about the Kadirenahalli underpass getting ready to be opened. It said…

Everywhere in J P Nagar, I am coming across trees carved with the symbol of a political party, and then coloured:Is there no better way for the political party to flaunt their symbol? Carving the symbol into the tree saves them printing and posting costs, I suppose. Who cares what happens to the living tree? After all, we nail umpteen posters on to their trunks anyway....These are the people who are wanting to govern us.... :( ⊕

Several people ease the difficulties of our daily lives, and provide fairly inexpensive services. Mr K Subramaniam is one such person, plying his trade of cobbler, at a stall on Bannerghatta Road, near the BTM Checkpost bus-stop, for nearly 15 years now."Both this stall, and another one I sometimes go to, in Koramangala, belong to Mr Madheswara," says he. "All the income from the bag and footwear repair comes to me, and from the sale of the footwear go to him," he explains, pointing to the footwear that he makes, behind him, at the "Samatha Sainik Dal" stall. "I belong to…

The J P Nagar branch of Corporation Bank recently shifted to the 3rd Phase, in the Mini-forest area, and I was happy to photograph their gesture in having a ramp for wheelchairs.However, yeaterday, I found that they had put up illegal notices on the public road in front of their branch, "reserving" parking for their customers.  How can a bank reserve parking on a public road? And not just one, but quite a lot of space, witness this photograph:I sincerely hope they take away their signs soon. If the Bank wanted reserved parking for its customers, it should have rented…

I was walking past the new Corporation Bank building in JP Nagar, and found that wheelchair access was provided:This got me thinking, and I started looking at other public buildings...and private ones too...and was saddened to find that in very, very few of them was wheelchair access provided. Why can't we, at the construction stage, take a little extra effort and provide wheelchair access? This would be so helpful to those whose mobility is restricted. One of the best examples I have seen, of a wheelchair ramp beautifully integrated into the steps, is at Alliance Francaise de Bangalore. One can…