Z-Blogs

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 But due to protests from consumers, the requirement was withdrawn.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…

On a highway leading to a cold, cold city, a two-wheeler rider was mowed down by a speeding lorry on a hot morning. He pleaded for help, without even realising that his body was torn into two pieces. That he donated his organs even in such a painful situation while he counted minutes for his own death, is history now. How do we know all these? Because we had most conclusive proof—a video, circulated over internet and on TV channels. The incident happened in Nelamangala highway. Reports say the ambulance reached him in eight minutes, and he was alive for…

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…

The story I’m about to tell here is about the discoveries at the Everyday City workshop at the School of Architecture & Planning, CEPT University. This workshop was held as part of CEPT’s Summer Winter School from 1st to 17th Dec 2015. The question we asked was: How can we bring about small changes in our perception and that of others through documenting how people negotiate streets on an everyday basis? The two key modes of inquiry were Photography and Map-making. The course participants worked in groups of three, approaching topics that they found riveting, ranging from cows in urban…

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…

It was very pleasant to sit on the lawns of Bangalore's premier management institution. In the gathering dusk, people drifted in and took their seats. The stage was well-lit.  Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia started the evening off with sweet notes from his "bansuri", with the lilting evening raga, Madhuvanti. One can truly say that, with his flute, he literally breathes  his music! For the audience, also, the composition in raga Yaman that followed, and then a bhajan, breathed relaxation and serenity into them.   When one of the impresarios came up on stage, he wisecracked that when pretty girls appear, trouble…

At South End Circle, on Sunday, the 17th of January, 2016, it was heartening to see several volunteers holding placards asking road users not to use their mobiles while driving.  The trouble with our country seems to be that no one thinks an accident could happen to him or her...until it actually happens. And rules, we feel, are for others to follow and for us to flout. The volunteers looked tired, standing in the middle of the road junction in the polluted air. But if even one two-wheeler or four-wheeler driver put down the mobile phone and resolved not to…

Given the premise of this series—stories of city people you run into, neither friends nor strangers—a tale garnered from an Uber ride (usually going back home for the night, for no normal person will be too conversant on a weekday morning) was going to turn up sooner or later. I live and work in (different) parts of old Bangalore, none of which are Uber hotspots. A good chunk of the drivers I get paired with point out how it is quite rare for someone in my part of town to use Uber. It usually is followed by "yaavoor saar nimmdu?"…

This week, I intend to have a stab at one of the most difficult tasks known to mankind: persuading an adult to part with a sum of money. Not a very large sum, but a sum nonetheless. This New Year's Day, I want to buy burgers, fries and a drink from McDonald's, for 1000 kids in orphanages around the city. And that, unfortunately, costs money. The first thing you'd wonder is probably, "Why McDonald's burgers?" Well, the thing is, I've worked at an orphanage before, and I remember that the kids at the orphanage really loved the burgers. I, like…