Z-Blogs

For children….   Once a year, Children’s Day (celebrated on Nov 14 in India) comes around, and we have many initiatives just for them. One of these was   “Maya Bazaar” a story of mythology and fantasy, which was made into an epic movie in both Tamil and Telugu.   Over the years, this story (loosely based on characters in the Mahabharata) has been treated as a subject on many stages...folk, street, and mainstream theatre.   So, when Bangalore Little Theatre sent an invitation to the staging of the original English language adapation  of this tale, on the 13th of…

A friend writes: No body questions the intent behind the recent move to demonetize Rs.500 and Rs.1000 notes.   It is the ham handed  implementation by the Babus, living in their 7th Pay commision cocooned largesse,  who did not consider the following points,  and who were blind to the intended consequences,because they have never lived lives of the common man.   1) Absence of card swiping machines in most villages.   2)The honesty of the vast majority, for whom the only avenue was exchange in banks,apart from topping up their vehicles with equivalent  value of demonetised notes,and foregoing the balance.The acceptance…

A question we often get asked as rainwater harvesters is, is there any point in building a recharge structure adjacent to a lake ? Does the lake not recharge ground water ? Will the recharge structure/well make any difference ? This is a very pertinent question and I can write on what we have seen from experience Very often you do see old open wells adjacent to lakes. The well used to be the place from where people drew the water for use. The water level in the lake and the water level in the well would more or less…

Having worked with, seen and spoken to numerous borewell owners, it is apparent that the borewells that yield well; say about more than 60,000 litres of water per day (that are used by layouts, tanker operators, industries etc) are those that are shallower than 800ft. Its not the 1000+ft borewells that yield copious amounts of water. Even if it is a 1000+ft borewell that is yielding a lot of water, a camera inspection will reveal that actually its the shallower cracks that yield more water. Take a look at the attached picture to somewhat make sense of Bangalore's geology and…

BDA, under the determined pressure of the citizens' movement against its steel flyover project, filed an affidavit before the Karnataka High Court on November 3, 2016, that it won't commence the project for the moment. This only proves Citizens for Bengaluru's (CfB) consistent argument that BDA had never observed due diligence or due process on the ill-conceived project but was hurrying through it even though it wasn't ready with design and feasibility studies. Even the Detailed Project Report for the project was made available only last month after the citizens' movement gathered momentum. Already set back by the National Green…

Recently, Bengaluru was in news for the wrong reasons. While a woman brutally flung eight puppies to death earlier this year, more recently a mass grave with over 30 street dogs was found in a dump yard with a single survivor. There have been repeated calls to control Bengaluru’s dog population by “culling”. These incidents are testimony to the contempt for street dogs in the minds of many citizens. Moreover, they threaten to destabilise the ancient fabric of friendship that unites people and their dogs. Credit: Alokparna Sengupta/HSI As in rest of India, free ranging dogs are a ubiquitous part…

It's yet another milestone in the journey of Oorvani Foundation. You may have read about our joint initiative with Radio Active Community Radio 90.8 MHz - Co Media Lab. The community media lab serves as a resource centre, newsroom and a space for dialogues and discussions for community collaborations. The past few months now, Co Media Lab has been organising workshops for public and for students. Co Media Lab is hosted at Jain University, and supported by the University. (More details here.) We are happy to share news of an exciting new project of the lab - a partnership with…

Two days after the launch of the Whitefield Rising Pool Circle Initiative, Ashish (the ride giver) and Pravir (the ride sharer) car-pooled from Whitefield to Domlur on the morning of 19th October. Although their residences, as well as their offices, are 3 km apart, PoolCircle app and SMS helped coordinate the 12 km overlap. The satisfied smiles of the ride giver and sharer! Pic: Pravir B. Pooling helped bring down one single occupant car from choked roads, brought down emission, saved precious fuel, and brought joy to both riders. No monetary transaction was involved. The riders discovered their common roots…

Every city, even giant metropolises like Bengaluru, still have a few patches of green, blue or brown that have managed to survive or at least allay the formidable onslaught of concrete and glass. Look carefully in these oases and you’ll be sure to find a sign of life (or five)! Snakes: Pic: Ashish Par Among the most revered and reviled animals in India, snakes are also very common in our cityscapes. Bengaluru has about 40 species of snakes of which six are venomous. Most snakes, even venomous ones, will flee upon detection. They only stand their ground when provoked or…

Day before yesterday (22nd June, 2016) my driving licence (along with many other cards and quite a lot of cash, but that's another story) was stolen. The website told me, I needed to get a notarised statement to the effect that I'd lost the licence, along with three photographs, and go to the Regional Transport Office (RTO) where it had been issued, and submit my application. Part 1.I started off with a visit to the photo shop (not Photoshop!) to get my passport photos. It took about half an hour and some extra charges, but I got 16 photos (Rs.120)…