Z-Blogs

The Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corportation today launched BIAS- 5 A , the much awaited Vayu Vajra bus service to the Bangalore International Airport for the benefit of residents on Bannerghatta Main Road. Starting from Gottigere on Bannerghatta Main Road ,the BIAS- 5A service would cover the near 47 km journey in about two hours with the maximum fare at Rs 200. For now , six trips are scheduled for BIAL from Gottigere while the return service would number five. The first bus from Gottigere would leave for the airport at 5.40 am and the last one at 9.10 p.m. The…

If you are a customer of Indane gas cylinders, and you do not book the cylinder at least once in 90 days, your customer number gets blocked and you have to make the trip to the dealer, produce a proof of residence, and get the block released. People who live alone or travel a lot are particularly harassed by this senseless rule. If I have a history of low usage of the cooking gas, surely I can be registered as such, and I need not be troubled each time I want to book the cylinder? And in today's scenario of petroleum products,…

The wedding and festival season is about to kick off. Be it a wedding reception or Ganesh Chaturthi, people want to show off their personal styles. Uniqueness is the key here. Copycat designs aren’t popular. Enter, designer wear. Khwaish designer store. Pic courtesy: Khwaish The unique and innovative designs, not available in the regular shops, are becoming a trend. And this is not limited to young people alone. People are ready to pay huge sums for unique outfits. Debasmita Ghosh, Director of Morph Image Consulting and a resident of Koramangala believes that the designer clothes are custom made to fit.…

So this time, it’s Karnataka cuisine. While interviewing Sakuntala Narasimhan, a senior journalist, she said there is dearth of restaurants that serve authentic Karnataka food in the city. So Citizen Matters did some digging. Mavalli Tiffin Rooms, popularly known as MTR, is a vegetarian restaurant that came up in Bangalore in 1924. It also claims to have introduced the popular South-Indian breakfast item, Rava idli. The legend goes that during the world war II, there was a grave rice shortage in India, MTR experimented with Semolina (Rava) instead of rice to prepare the idli batter. And as you know, it…

Who doesn’t like being around a friend? Around someone with similar likes perhaps? Or in whose company we bloom to our fullest or even someone who offsets our own quirks? Well, as it turns out this may be a natural instinct for all living things, including plants. Maybe we've learnt this behaviour from plants? Watch them grow in the forest and you find they thrive in the company of some and are unable to in the presence of others. It is interesting to understand how this works and use it to the advantage of all plants in your organic garden.…

This time, we pick two restaurants, run by women, that don’t cost a bomb to eat in and serve some great food. Bored of going to cafes very often? How about trying a 'teafe’? Chaipatty Teafe in Koramangala will definitely not disappoint you. Aromas of hot pakodas and Maggi noodles welcome you. The place has floor level seating giving a homely comfortable feeling. Schezwan Frankie. Pic: Anisha Nair There is a mural of the ‘Last Supper’ on one wall, only everybody is drinking chai and not wine. The room also has a shelf neatly stacked with junk jewellery, cups and…

Fifty percent of us are women. And there is a Women's Day, yes. Yet, there are scores of stories about the struggles, achievements, journeys, and worries of women in our cities. We cannot cram all these into a paper just on Women's Day. So for our part at Citizen Matters, as the city's premier newsmagazine, we simply decided to dedicate this issue on the theme. And we found plenty to report to you.Many of us may not pay attention to women related topics, unless we spend a conscience-pricked hour in front of Satyameva Jayate. But much of society’s attitude is…

On June 28th, the city council met for its monthly session to approve the budget. Turns out the proceedings had nothing to show the city was getting financially healthy again. Read our detailed report here.Last year, BBMP had projected over Rs 9000 crores of expenditure largely predicated on state government grants, it never eventually received. It ended up collecting a mere Rs 3934 crores. This year again the council has projected nearly Rs 9500 crores with the same gaping hole in projecting receipts. It is pretty clear to anyone closely observing the local government process in Bangalore that both the…

 My friend Amitabha Saha Roy writes:We had a pleasant expereince at the sub-registrar office when we went to register a trust that we are forming for restoring Arekere lake. Spending a Saturday in the Govt sub-registrar office is not exactly how anyone would look forward to spending a weekend. When we think of a government office, the most common things that come to our mind are corruption, inefficiency and bureaucracy. But, our experience at the Begur Sub-registrar office proved to be exactly the opposite and made it a weekend to remember. We are a team of volunteers working on an…

With the delay in onset of Monsoon in the city, you have got more time to fill up your wardrobe with monsoon gear. So what’s on the list? Umbrellas, raincoats, jackets, caps and the list is on. So let’s begin. Fancy umbrella. Pic: Padmalatha Ravi Those plain, monotonous, black coloured umbrellas are a passe. The bright reds, purple, blue and pink umbrellas with prints are the in thing. A plethora of designs and colours are available in the market to choose from. Polka dotted umbrellas have become a huge hit after the movie ‘3 idiots’. Who says umbrellas are used…