JP Nagar

11th May 2008. Heaps of mud, broken dividers with mud all over, main road dug up, traffic badly hit and people anxiously waiting to see things change. This was the intersection of J P Nagar's 15th Cross Ring Road, a critical artery in south Bangalore, and the 24th Main Road, and the scene of a magic underpass construction. The notice board put up by Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagar Palike (BBMP) mentioned that the construction will finish by February 2009. Eight months later, the scene looks exactly the same. 15th cross-ring road intersection dug up (Pic: Supriya Khandekar) The magic seems to…

I have been posting about my less-than-ideal experience with getting my Voter ID (EPIC). When a friend posted a "how-to" process on the Hasiru Usiru egroup, I posted my responses on it, too.Kathyaynin Chamaraj posted it on the CIVIC group, too, and forwarded it to several people. This resulted in two positive things:Someone from Jaagore did email me and listened to what I had to say, and has promised to look into the Jaaagore form and make it work. Hopefully, this will make things easier for other people, even if the process didn't work for me.Mr Elisha Andrew from the…

Here's an email that came in with tips, on how to register for Voter ID, on the Hasiru Usiru egroup, and my responses, comments and suggestions are in blue:The 15th Lok Sabha election is round the corner and it is our duty to go out and vote. The polling will be held on 23rd April in Bangalore. If you have not registered to vote yet, please do so now. I totally agree with this. I had an Election Commissioner Voter ID card from 1992. I could not find the card number on the net or on physical lists anywhere. And…

I am not sure which BBMP office I should collect my form from, or which one I should submit it at. (Naturally, they are both not the same place...that would make it voter-friendly.)So I decided to register online at www.jaagore.comEverything went fine until I tried to fill in the form; I was unable to fill in the Assembly Constituency Number (the form would not take any entry.) So I was..and still am...unable to fill up the formAlso, the link given on the Jaagore form to find out the Assembly Constituency Number does not work; I had to go to the BBMP…

The garbage truck that visits the 5 blocks of JP Nagar’s Brigade Millennium community every morning usually leaves overflowing, and often with things that could be reused or recycled. Mayflower Block, 15 floors high, with about 220 families is a major contributor to this. Some of us were already aware of ITC's (paperboards) efforts at garbage segregation in Yelahanka, where their team goes door-to-door regularly to buy recyclable/reusable garbage. Taking a cue from that, and with the end objective of reducing the quantity of garbage that travels several kilometers to the landfill, the ‘Blue Drum Campaign’ was launched by the…

J P Nagar 3rd Phase is a residential locality where the roads have suffered really badly because of the construction of the Jayadeva Flyover. Last week, however, residents were happy to see the tar wagons and road rollers arriving. At last, we all felt, before the elections, we will get smooth roads for at least some time...Oh, no! Of all the main and cross roads of this community, only the second Main Road was tarred. And that, too, not for its full stretch. What could the logic of this action be? None or the residents have a clue.it is, of course,…

I went to pay my annual property tax...luckily for me, helpful neighbours informed me that the office where I would have to pay  had shifted from the Koramangala complex to a building on a road near Ranga Shankara...otherwise, like a friend of mine, I would have wasted some time on a visit to that office.When I went at 3.30pm to the J P Nagar office, I found a few people in the queue...I got the form and the booklet, but was NOT given,even though I repeatedly asked for it, the booklet that would let me know in which "zone" my…

I am very much against the vans that add to the traffic of the city, cruising past with various products being marketed. But once in a while, the product does intrigue me!I saw this van near my home recently: The idea seems to be an interesting one; it's claimed to be 'free' at one point, and it also says 'pay for what you consume' at another!Everything is "i" these days....iPod, iPhone...and now, iHot...!But the really ironic thing is that if this driver sleeps like this on duty, he is going to be in iHot water himself, soon!If I didn't already have…

As I walked down the Mini Forest, I came across these members of a musical band, taking a break:When they are performing, with their bright braided uniforms and their shiny instruments, they create magic at weddings and other celebrations....You can see the wind instruments in the picture above, and below, you can see the drummer carrying his drum and walking (is he walking to the beat of a different drummer? :D )Shorn of their finery, however, they are a collection of people who are eking out a precarious livelihood. Engagements are not easy to find, though north Indian weddings are…

One sees these cheap posters for "A" movies on so many walls around...Who does go to a 11.15 am show to watch what I think is soft porn? I am sure there is an audience, as these posters have been around for so long...what's the budget for such movies, how much do they make? Yaamini Sundari...."Beauty of the Night"...indeed...no, I would never go to a theatre to find out more! Do such films also pay entertainment tax? ⊕