Z-Blogs

The idea of the 'Everyday city' is based on the concept of Everyday Urbanism that was proposed in 1999 by Margaret Crawford & others, wherein the city is seen above all as a social product and which focuses on informal urban spaces. They point out that it is not what the planning initiates for the city but what the people seem to generate as an outcome of their everyday needs. How relevant is this in the context of the Indian city? And, how does it work for Bangalore & other cities? What is the Everyday city here? Is it ...…

When we talk of conservation, we often think of trees, water, mammals and birds. However, Rohit Girotra, who, in the past few years, has popularized  butterfly walks, and indeed, has discovered several species of butterflies in and around Bangalore, writes: Bangalore is surrounded by beautiful spots for watching butterflies. Camp Gee Dee in Shivanahalli, is one of these havens. Camp Gee Dee is home to a host of birds, reptiles, mammals and butterflies. At last count we had recorded around 100 butterfly species in the Camp Gee Dee grounds. What makes Camp Gee Dee special is its proximity to Bannerghatta…

Oorvani Foundation and Datameet are happy to announce the launch of OpenCity.in - an urban public data portal. In cities across India, there is a lack of accessible and robust public data. Citizens often do not have access to quantitative information that helps them understand the state of their neighborhood and their city, as well as support their demands of the local government. Data when available is often lost within the hard disks of government or non-governmental organisations, documents hard disks or in individual silos. OpenCity.in is a repository of city-related public data from government sources, via RTI or open…

Hello, all. I apologize for my long absence (I vanish way too regularly, don't I?). I've been a bit busy with things like my board exams. However, I am now back, although my skills (as they are) are a little rusty, and I may have a little trouble stringing together grammatically accurate sentences ("I type new blog" is a grammatically sound sentence, is it not?). Anyway, to the blog. A week or two ago, I got an internship with a startup called cookifi (http:///cookifi.com if you want to check them out). Which is great and all, but it comes with…

In government, there has been a historical fear that private contractors will take public funds for a ride. And among the public, there is a historical fear that governments will award contracts to their preferred bidders, and make money through kickbacks. Both of these fears are quite genuine. To address this, many governments have passed laws on how public procurement should be carried out. Karnataka also has passed such a law, the Karnataka Transparency in Public Procurements Act, (KTPP). There are three broad rules under this act, which should provide the basis for better procurement, but as we will see…

One evening, my son and I were at our local library. The place has one of those stubbornly heavy glass doors that basically require you to pull (or push, or vice versa, and yes, I always get mixed up!) and shove, till it slowly deigns to sulkily open. Basically, it is a door you tussle with, but hey, it's good for toning biceps.  Anyway, so there we were, browsing through the Crime section (me), the kids titles (my son), with me shushing him frequently when I heard a noise outside the glass door. A little girl was trying with all…

This is a story of hope. Of reclaiming a glorious city that had lost its beauty to the plastic curse. Of standing your ground and sticking your neck out for what you believe. Of collective, affirmative action. Of the power of the people that start from you and me. This story begins with the horrendous image of a beautiful city choking on its own garbage and ends with the reclamation of that same city by its loving citizens and thought leaders, who take on the plastic monster by its horns. A couple of months ago, it seemed like Bangalore city…

Water Metering is an often discussed topic, and apartment metering, even more so, due to the complications rising out of multiple inlets. There have been a few and often spoken about apartments that have implemented metering at a household level - namely Nestor Raga, Ashoka Windows, Samhita Square etc. We came across this plumber—Krishnamoorthy—who in the meanwhile has implemented metering in multiple apartments. Here is the complete list. The largest is an apartment in Hyderabad - 800+ homes!!! We are also impressed with the fact that he has diligently maintained a list of all apartments where he has worked. A…

I saw this notice in the Arekere Reserve Forest today. What is "illegal dumping"? Is there any "legal dumping"?  And the amount of trash that lies behind the notice gives the lie to the message anyway. What the photograph shows is the apathy we have towards our surroundings... sad to see.

Bengaluru has a lot of flights landing and taking off in the early hours of the morning.  But if passengers are looking for Vayu Vajra buses, they will find that at precisely the hours when many international flights land or take off (and in order to get to and from the airport at the right time), there will be no Volvo buses plying. Let me take one example. British Airways out of Bengalurue departs at 7 am. This means that passengers must be at the airport by 5 am at the latest, preferably half-an-hour earlier. Let's say the passenger lives…