Deepa's Jottings

Of late where there are parked cars (for example, in front of restaurants) I've been noticing a lot of young men with various implements, and I realised that they offer to carry out repairs/ rectify dents on cars for a fee. Today, I had gone to GKVK with a friend. As we were walking back to where the car was parked, a couple of young men who were passing on a scooter stopped in front of us, and approached my friend. "Your car has a dent at the back, sir!" said one. "We will repair it for you in just…

Sudarshan Nityananda gives the following contact numbers:   South  Bangalore comes under Mr Ranganathswamy,DCF-BBMP.His number is 9480683842.   His senior is Mr N D Sudarshan who sits in the BBMp premises.His number is 9480684566.   The third person is Sathyanarayana who sits in Utility Bldg,MG Road.His number is 9480683146.   Please contact any of these people if you find trees being cut down in Bangalore.

Most of us tend to think of nuclear power plants as extremely high-security areas where the general public is not allowed. But in a striking example of friendliness and transparency, the Nuclear Power Corporation of India  Limited (NPCIL) has made it possible for all Indian citizens to visit  the power plant at Kaiga, Karnataka. When my friends and I took permission and visited, we were already at Kaiga to participate in the annual Bird Marathon, an event held to document the avifauna in the area, and also assure the public that Kaiga is a safe place to both live in…

One of the results of building flyovers to ease traffic in our city is that the spaces underneath them are often a kind of wasteland. In an effort to address this, Jaaga DNA  the design arm of Jaaga, co-ordinated with Brihat Bengaluru Mahangara Palike (BBMP) to create art in the spaces under the Hebbal flyover, whereby the common citizen was both represented and asked to participate. BBMP funded the project as part of a drive to clean up the space before the Karnataka global investors meet. The art project with Jaaga(there was an earlier project at Richmond Circle) was initiated…

I do not want to apply for an Aadhar card, and the website and the Supreme Court ruling clearly state that it is not mandatory. However, to claim my discount on cooking gas (I am eligible for it) the Government has made Aadhar card mandatory. I am not sure if this is legal or not. The last time, to register for the connection, the Government had made Aadhar mandatory,but had later backed down and repealed the requirement. However,I am not able to find any location in my area where I can even hand in the documents, all of which are…

Here's a message that I received at 8.45 pm on Feb 20th 2016. Public meeting has been organised on 21st Feb at BMRCL office Shanthinagarat 11 am in connection with Constructn of Metro station in LaxmanRao park area.Pl attend.Srinivas, Chief Engineer, BMRCL  If citizens are told at 8.45 pm (that, too, by email, which they may not see on a Saturday evening) that there is to be a public meeting the next morning (Sunday) at 11 am, how many of them can turn up? Sundays are planned with family or hobbies in mind, well in advance. Can BMRCL not give citizens a few days' notice when a…

Some time ago, the Government tried to make the Aadhar card mandatory to have a LPG connection. But due to protests from consumers, the requirement was withdrawn. Now, Indane (I do  not know about other LPG companies) is once again forcing some consumers to have an Aadhar card. Those consumers whose income falls below Rs.10 lakh per annum are eligible to get a discount on the price of a cooking gas cylinder. However, they are required to go to their agency and give a declaration to the effect.  The government has made it mandatory for such consumers to provide a…

I conducted the Campus Bird Count at the Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore, on two days, Saturday, 13th Feb, and Sunday, 14th Feb 2016. I had already mentioned that as birders and naturalists, our team would be carrying their own water bottles, and that IIMB should only provide for filling up the bottles and not set out PET bottles of mineral water. After the count on the morning of the 13th, IIM-B hosted our birding team for breakfast. I noted the small mineral water PET bottles at each place setting and requested the Dean of Administration, Dr G Shainesh, not…

All of us bemoan the fact that so many PET bottles get used and thrown into the landscape, where they will not bio-degrade. Well, I've been noticing that the Government (or, rather, the power companies) have come up with a great "jugaad" (creative solution) that uses these bottles. The ends of the transmission wires are fed into the bottle and sealed, thus ensuring that short circuits do not happen, the ends are protected from the elements, easily visible, and in a lightweight container. Congratulations to the very creative person who thought "out of the box" and "in the bottle" on…

Having read this article in the Hindu, dated September 28th 2008 and also enjoyed this article by my friend Adarsh Raju about the trees and the temple, written on July 15th 2015, I'd wanted to visit this heritage site for some time. On January 30th, when my friend Mallika Rajasekaran asked our mutual friend Arun Visweswaran about the location, I was very happy to finally be able to go Nallur, a village in Devanahalli taluk in Bangalore Rural district, which once hosted vast tamarind groves, now has a patriarch of a tree, estimated to be 900 years old, still bearing…