Z-Blogs

Bangalore One Centres will soon be established at all outlets of the hypermarket chain Big Bazaar in the city. There will 18 such new centres, announced Dr D S Ravindran, Chief Executive Officer of the Centre for e-governance, at a workshop organised by state government's Department of e-governance on January 24th. Dr Ravindran said that, of the existing 76 Bangalore One centres in the city, 38 centres  work 24X7, and the rest work from 8 am to 8 pm. ⊕

Two small phrases....  Kannadigas, in common with most Indians, do not saying a brusque "No" to one's face. If invited  to a wedding or any other celebration, we do not feel it is polite to openly say no. "I'll see if I can make it" or "I'll try to come" is the most frequent response, and from this, I have, over the years, learnt to understand that the invitee will not be able to make it. The affection and the "wanting" to attend are there, and that is made clear by the statment  of intention, rather than the fact of inability. But…

Bellandur residents have got RTI responses from BDA on status of three projects - flyovers at Bellandur and Devarabeesanahalli junctions, and an underpass at Kadubeesanahalli junction. The two flyover projects, which took off in September 2009, were supposed to be complete by the end of 2010. BDA later extended the deadline by another year, to December 2011. Work on Kadubeesanahalli underpass was to be complete by June 2011. But all three projects are still going on. Here is an RTI response from the BDA in December 2011 on status of the project, penalty imposition, project monitoring etc. According to this,…

Manjari Ladies Association held its New Year Party, followed by a fashion show, on January 9th at Kalanjali Showroom, Jayanagar. The fashion show was organised by Garden City College. Mangalore Jewels, JP Nagar showcased its products at the event. Aim of the show was to bring fashion consiousness among ladies irrespective of their age, and to encourage students to model for designer saree shops. Members enjoyed the event. Membership to the association is open now. ⊕

Goa. The name evokes images of beaches, Konkani and Portugese heritage and the good life. And perhaps of drug peddling, sex trafficking and other vices. However, over the last few years, the state has been in the news for the rampant unlawful mining of low grade iron ore that is exported to China. (It is important to note that iron ore mining dates back to the period of Portugese rule in India). The consequent damage to the water bodies, indigenous communities and biodiversity in the state have been brought to the forefront thanks to the relentless efforts of people such…

Bangalore Traffic Police (BTP) won the ‘Golden Peacock Awards for Innovative Product/Service’ for its B-TRAC project, on January 21st. The award, instituted by Institute of Directors (IOD) and Golden Peacock Awards Secretariat, was conferred at the '22nd World Congress on Total Quality Summit' at Hotel Lalit Ashok. Police Commissioner B G Jyothiprakash Mirji and ACP (Traffic) M A Saleem accepting the Golden Peacock Award on January 21st. According to a press release by the police department, BTP got the award for these achievements: Installing 179 surveillance cameras to monitor traffic.Installing five enforcement cameras to check traffic violations.Installing 20 Variable Messaging…

 Here is a report from my friend, Uma K, who was participating in the Bangalore Bird Race, along with other members of her team: At around 11 a.m. on Bird Race Day, Team Rosefinch (Suma Rao, Gayathri Naik, Garima Bhatia, Jainy Maria and I) was birding at Karenahalli kere, one of the lakes off Kanakapura Road, just past Somanahalli. Our attention was focussed on a flock of about 30-35 lesser whistling teals, when we heard a gunshot, and the entire flock took to the air. Right across the lake from us, we could see a lone injured duck flapping desperately in…

Sandwichwallas, a fast food joint at JP Nagar offers toasted sandwiches prepared in a homemade style, breaking away from the usual grilled sandwiches. It also features on its menu tasty pizzas, extremely delicious garlic bread, chats and coolers. The price here is enormously reasonable and the food you get here is worth every single pie you pay. A vegetable sandwich is priced at just Rs 15. Not a single dish on the menu would exceed Rs 40. This is how a sandwich is prepared at Sandwichwallas. Pic: Shruti Mohan "We have about 37 different kinds of toasted sandwiches and everything…

Tomatina, is a newly opened multi cuisine vegetarian restaurant at HSR Layout. As the name suggests, red predominates the colour scheme of the interiors and ‘tomato' is used in almost every delicacy. The ambience has a touch of countryside charm and there is terrace seating too. Tomato dhaniya shorba, tomatina. Pic: Nagashree Gururaj "The restaurant specialises in Jain food, Tandoor and continental food", says Shivaram Nataraju, 31, Assistant manager. He also adds that the chefs are from the Maldives.The menu offers sizzlers (Rs 200-400), continental food, north Indian food and salads; it also has soups served chilled - like tomato…

BEML, Bangalore and HAL won in the D S Murthy and V Karunakaran Memoral Hockey Tournament matches held on January 17th.In the first match BEML, Bangalore beat RBI by 4-0. For BEML, Surendra scored two goals at the 29th and 39th minute. Ramesh scored a goal at the 49th minute and Subbaiah scored one at the 58th minute.In the second match, HAL beat ABHA by 8-1. For HAL, Mohammed Nayeemuddin scored four goals at the 21st, 27th, 45th and 56th minutes. Nagasreeni scored a goal at 31st minute, Teja Babu at 34th minute, Ponnanna at 39th minute and Sujith Kumar…