JP Nagar

For a long time, I've heard references by foodies to J P Nagar being  "Cheapie Nagar"  as there were only eateries, no "restaurants" in the area. Well, this seemed to suit most people fine, as they would drop in at a Darshini, or an IT-service eatery, to have a quick bite, and "dining out" meant dressing up and going to the centre of the town.As traffic increased, so did the reluctance of the people of south Bangalore to brave logjams to go out for dinner...and perhapss gap and decided to fill it. "Aroy" ("delicious" in Thai) opened a few months ago,…

The law says that helmets are compulsory, and that one should not drive a two-wheeler without a helmet.These gentlemen are totally law-abiding...they have not one helmet, but two!I'm sure they feel that their heads (and the brains inside them) are totally protected in case of an accident. ⊕

I posted once about the Monkey Puzzle Tree with its beautiful leaves (go see the huge trees near the Glass House  in Lalbagh, if you can!)and later, I got theMonkey Puzzle Butterfly amongst other things, on a nature trail:A few days ago, it was very nice to see that someone still cares about our Bangalore heritage, and has re-created the Monkey Puzzle architectural detail for their home:Possibly this feature was so called because monkeys used to sit on it...it's also called "Monkey Top".

Like minded citizens of Shakambarinagar ward have come together to form a citizens’ forum to address the civic issues of the ward and closely work with the elected representatives as well as civic authorities. The organisation meets every fortnight (Monday) at their office in JP Nagar. Shakambari Nagar Citizen Forum members meeting MLA B N Vijayakumar and Corporator Somashekar at their office. Pic: Raghavendra. Below are some issues pertaining to Shakambari Nagar Ward:-    Installation of ward name boards at all the four boundaries of Shakambari Nagar.-    Installing of street/ Road boards which are broken or defaced.-    Identifying and desilting of…

5.04 am. Wake up full of energy. Go off for my morning walk. Resolve to get active again in  trying to solve my city's and my fellow-citizens' problems. 6. 04 am. I come back from my walk to find that the milk has not been delivered (or it's been taken away by monkeys, either of the simian or the human kind.) 6.06 am. I go off to get some milk sachets from the vendor at the corner. 6.18 am. I return with the milk to find that the newspaper guy has delivered the wrong papers to my doorstep.  6.19 am.…

When is a footpath not a footpath?When it's a death-trap....There is simply no reason why we should have such awful pavements; it's just sheer negligence and an attitude of "don't care".This was taken in J P Nagar 3rd Phase, close to the Ramana Maharishi Academy for the Blind. If we have such difficulty negotiating our roads and pavements....imagine what it must be like for those without vision.⊕

Perch, a Chennai-based theatre collective, in association with Rafiki of Bangalore, will be premiering their new play, Ms Meena, inspired by Durrenmatt's The Visit. The play will be staged at Rangashankara from July 28 - August 1.here is the wiki entry about the play.For bookings, contactRanga Shankara36/2, 8th CrossJ P Nagar, II PhaseBangalore - 560 078P: 080-26493982 / 26592777E: rstheatre@gmail.comW: www.rangashankara.org⊕

We seem to not bother too much when things don't work...or when people don't work! Here's a busy, busy autorickshaw driver...We also like to make things work in our own way, to suit ourselves....the regular fence and gate will not have enough space for the car to fit in, so we customize it.. an ingenious construction which does not violate the letter of the law, as this is the driveway, even though the fence goes outside the dimensions of the residential plot!

S K Nataraj is Mayor and corporator of Sarakki ward. Even as he plans to visit each and every ward in order to understand their problems, citizens are pointing to issues in his own ward that need attention. Pic: Chetan Boray. Sarakki ward includes 6th phase JP Nagar, a BDA-planned area, which is supposed to have basic facilities available to its residents when compared to revenue sites. But citizens here continue for suffer from inadequate piped water supply. Resident Anand Rao, in his late fifties, says that BWSSB officials point out that the line is at a higher point and…

When the khata issue was opened at Brigade Millennium in September 2009, some of us decided to take the quick and easy route. Some of us chose not to do anything at all. Some took the road less trodden.Those of us who took the hard way expected that it would mean innumerable trips to BBMP, difficult interaction with officials, lots of time on what was seen as needless trouble - when all one had to do was pay a service fee and have the khata delivered at your doorstep.I have lost track of the time some of us spent on…