Z-Blogs

Today, an urban citizen lives in a concrete jungle, with no connection to nature. No one knows where the food they eat comes from. More and more agriculture area is getting converted to residential and there is not enough land left for growing food. This has also led to a percentage of population trying to grow what they can in their surroundings, in the available space. Terrace gardens are such attempts, gaining popularity in cities.   An Organic Terrace Vegetable Garden at your home is easy to create. Fresh home-grown vegetables taste delicious, are good for health and safe from synthesized…

I was invited to inaugurate Pavitha Ashwin's solo show at Chitra Kala Parishath (CKP) on the 11th of October.     The artist was very welcoming, as was her friend Bharati Suraj, who curated her works, to come up with a stunning show that highlighted Pavitha's love for nature and birds in particular. Bharati also brought out the evolution of Pavitha's talent from 2006, when she started painting to her recent work. Pavitha with friends at her show I found that Pavitha's ouvre extended to more than just simple portraits; I was particularly struck by her "Eyes of the Owl" series, and…

We are looking for two Full-time interns for this research project in Bangalore on: Ashwath katte (tree worship) as a sustainable urban space The research will look at the practice of tree worship which continues to be a part of the everyday life of the people in the city. Specifically, it will look at how the Peepul tree shrine and the raised platform around it, locally called the ashwath katte has developed as a sustainable urban space. Using spatial ethnography and oral history methods, we will attempt to understand how the katte can help sustain not only environmental practices but…

Two years ago on this day 8000 Bengalureans formed a human chain saying #SteelFlyoverBeda. The unprecedented public opposition forced the government to scrap the controversial 6.7 km ₹2000 crore steel flyover. CfB was born out of this citizen movement. To mark the second anniversary of citizens coming together, today CfB met the Mayor of Bengaluru and urged her to institute monthly ward committee meetings starting Nov 1st. Attached the letter submitted to the Mayor. Srinivas Alavilli, one of the founders of CfB said “I always look at #SteelFlyoverBeda as a tipping point - that infused fresh energy into citizen activism…

When the roads are choked with traffic, why cannot such senseless vehicles, with just one person driving them, blocking up the road space, be banned? Such ad vehicles get my goat on all fronts: pollution, traffic congestion, and commercialism at the cost of everything else.

While there have been attempts to formally plan the growth of a city, this has not proved to be successful in many parts of the world. Informality does play a significant role in several cities, especially those that are in the emerging economies. For those working in the informal sector, access to capital is limited and resources are not plentiful. The informal worker or the street vendor therefore borrows from the public spaces of the city where no price or a small price can reduce or eliminate the overheads related to rent or ownership of a space. In a study…

All of us would agree there is a growing need for last mile connectivity in our public transport system. With the introduction of the Metro Rail and expansion of MRTS, the idea of a multi modal transport system is definitely a welcome move. Given the popularity and  large scale acceptance for shared public transport systems worldwide, is this not the right time for the administration to introduce clear guidelines and a set of rules for the privately operated share autos ? Over the last several weeks diesel share autos which ply between Retteri and Perambur have been taking a detour from…

Dear Deputy CM, DG Parameshwara Avare! You have said: "Zero traffic is my privilege. I won't give it up!" “I regret the inconvenience caused to common citizens due to zero traffic. However, managing time is crucial because of many government programmes and meetings." 1. Zero traffic is our privilege too. We elected you to do our work, to fix it for us. We pay you only so our lives in Bengaluru are better, for no other reason. 2. You don't need to give it up. You need to ensure we can all avail it. Invest in mass transit - train,…

Thanks to the Chief Minister, (the proposed 18%) bus fare hike has been put on hold, temporarily, we are told. This is good news but not good enough. Increasing bus fares is the absolutely last thing we need in our city. It is true that diesel prices have gone up and the transport company (BMTC) needs to deal with that, but I appeal to the CM to find the money to actually reduce the fares for the following reasons. BMTC is the lifeline of Bengaluru. We have 60 lakh two-wheelers, 15 lakh cars but just 6500 buses and they carry…

I was very happy to participate in the gathering to mark Citizen Matters' turning 10. Though on the fringe, I have followed "CitMat"'s (as I call it) fortunes, and it's not an easy "matter" to be uncompromising about one's principles while trying to survive as an e-magazine. We enjoyed the team talking about various incidents in the past, and what I liked was that the journey was depicted as it was...with the highs and the lows. The CitMat team celebrated in a heritage building, beautifully restored and maintained, and posed for a group photo. A radiant Meera with some of…