Namma Bengalooru and Life

Easter in Bangalore - 2011

2011-04-18T20:23:00.000+05:30

Bangalore has evolved over the last 10 years in leaps and bounds. We've had to deal with a huge influx of people from other parts of the country and the world, which, by the way, we love! Bangalore has clearly edged past Chennai and Kolkatta in terms of economic importance.

Original thoroughbred Bangaloreans like myself (hey I have papers!!) tend to reminisce about how some of our festival celebrations have changed over the years. Today, retail is such a big word in this city, it's not funny. There are malls EVERYWHERE!! Everyone's buying things all the time and if there's a festival around the bend, the frenzy is even more, to the delight of businesses.

While Easter is considered the MOST important festival for Christians, it is not that big on the ground as it is not commercially popular like Christmas is. Having said that, there is some shopping to be done in terms of new clothes for the kids, Easter eggs and other eats. Easter for me takes me back to the time when I was a kid. We'd go to church in the morning (Easter is always on a Sunday) and then promptly stop by at Thoms in Frazer town, buy Easter eggs and some hot mutton puffs and head to my Gran's place in Cox Town. She'd be eagerly waiting for us as her "kids" with their kids will all troop in one family behind the other until the happiness was as loud as the noise we kids would create around the house. Biryani was pretty much a staple for festivals in my family and this was no different. My gran and her kids would get busy in the kitchen and we'd go hunting for the Easter eggs. My favourite was the soft ones made of chocolate, but those were expensive, so they'd run out pretty fast. So most often, I had to settle for hard boiled fondant icing eggs that would have some surprise inside once it was broken! Lovely memories though..

Today there are so many options to pick from. I decided to do my part and make available yummy Easter hampers and the Lindt Bunny that is made completely of the finest and legendary Swiss Milk Chocolate and available easily at the Roesome website. Roesome is a creative gifting company that puts together some of the finest ingredients into tasteful cane baskets and other creative packaging. Roesome also puts together fantastic wine baskets that go great with chocolates and some yum Washington apples. They are reasonably priced for the quality that is offered and in most cases, free delivery is available. That is something that I would not even have imagined 10 years ago from sleepy old Cox Town.

This Easter, I'm going to try and follow the same ritual (though I'll probably just do a take out) and land up in my gran's house. She lives by herself in Cox Town now and I'm sure she'll be delighted to see us with our great creative gifts from Roesome. I'll still have to go to Thom's for the Mutton Puffs though :) Happy Easter everyone!

Kuwait is still home - by Kiran Elza Abraham

2011-01-05T17:59:00.003+05:30

Hi folks,

A friend of mine wrote this piece. She hails from Kerala and grew up in Kuwait. Her studies have brought her back to India and she reminisces as she spends time in Kuwait with her family over the holidays.. I found it very interesting and have her permission to publish it on my blog. So, read on...

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Most people come to Kuwait, the Promised Land of the Middle East claiming it is for a maximum of two years or "to make enough money'" and go back home. Countless Falafel and Shawarma sandwich years later, they are all still here. Grayed quite a bit, but very much here.

Kuwait is like that. One starts off earnestly in a job, shares an apartment with some kind folks. Soon you begin to get comfortable with the non-iron bed sheets and Jamaiyas laden with easy to serve yogurt and long-life milk. By then your status has risen back home because you work in this oil-rich, highest per capita income wonderland. Ma beckons from home that they have found a "nice, homely" girl for you. So you rent your own one bedroom apartment, put out few cheap "Banta" chairs, and blend in some Ikea "As Is" furniture just for it to not look so cheap. Few Friday market( second hand stuff) visits later, your house and heart are ready to receive the new bride.

If winter is here can spring be far behind? Stacks of Pampers appear in the by now crowded home. The patter of tiny feet, Cartoon Network, pushchairs(Prams) and colic occupy your waking and sleeping hours. The MBA you well intended is long forgotten with the stress of how to ask the boss for a raise, now that your child will start playschool, and you can't cope with the installments for your new place back home. The luckier ones find fresh opportunities and move up the economic ladder, but never out of Kuwait. You upgrade your car and home, and generally grow to be a part of Kuwait, or rather Kuwait like a sandy desert spirit becomes ingrained into you and fourth and fifth ring roads become your best weekend hangouts.

Just because it seems the in thing to do, you apply for migration to a western country, knowing full well in your heart that you may never be able to start a new life in another strange land. The taxation everywhere else hurts. So do the residence fees here, but can you leave Kuwait? The general view was that once the health insurance was levied; there would be an influx of expats fleeing Kuwait. No one I know has left for those reasons. Leave Kuwait, and miss the Houmos and Mutabel and all the Vaasta you built up, are you kidding? Life goes on, with bodies and souls flirting in and out of The Sultan Center, Souk Sharq, Caesar's Restaurants, all the new malls(The Avenues, Sharq mall, Geant..etc) that have sprung up like mushrooms.

Soon one Friday blends into another and next thing you know you are boarding a flight to the U.S. to drop your son or daughter to University.

Time has flown, and you and your friends of yesteryears still meet occasionally, and discuss who has grayed more, and whose cholesterol is threatening. The whole point of who "made more money" but never returned home is never brought up. Endless weekend dinners, get togethers, beach picnics, potlucks and problems, growing-up pains, career ups and downs, friends who are like family, birthdays and anniversaries, visit visas and residences later...Kuwait is still HOME!

Kiran Elza Abraham
(writing from Kuwait)
Connect with her on Facebook

The Bengaluru Infinity Photography Contest #bi2010 - the Winner's pics

2010-05-03T23:29:00.002+05:30

Theme: It happens only in Bengalooru: water - wet roads, dry taps

Theme: Twilight: After work Traditional "Bajji" shops. Savoury eats best with tea or coffee, perfect after the rains

Theme: Twilight: Shopping at Night.. Simple joy, laughter and happiness at a street grocery in Bengalooru.

Theme: Urban Jungle: Massive wetlands landfill being eclipsed by the setting sun.

Theme: City Life: Fast paced - Hustle hustle, no time to stop, activity at a busy bus stand

Theme: Bengaluru Heritage: the Old and the New

Theme: Bengaluru Heritage: the Old and the New - The grand old lady getting edged out of existence.

Theme: It only happens in Bengaluru: The Metro, a hot shopping zone reduced to rubble.

Why try to fix something that is not broken?

2010-03-17T17:27:00.005+05:30

Every now and then, namma Bengalooru traffic cops make a splash. Occasionally they make a splash that's worth talking about, but may times they end up fixing something that was not broken. Take for example the new traffic routing that reverses the flow of traffic from St.John's rd beginning to Gangadharchetty road in Bengalooru. So many new intersections have been introduced that one wonders what was the rationale of doing it. Perhaps the partial closure of MG road because of namma metro? or, perhaps a senior's inputs that this is a good idea and should be tried.

Anyways, without passing judgment, let's see what the aam junta and regular users of this route think.. Please vote right here

Women's Day Tribute - A poem

2010-03-08T11:22:00.002+05:30

A Timeless Creation

From Adam’s time, came someone sublime
God’s perfect creation
A queen in Eden’s kingly nation.

And then she strayed
To eat the apple God forbade.
Bringing to mankind, hardship and labour
That today all of us savour.

Through the ages lived many a king
Who could not live without his queen
A most profound gesture
Stands the Taj in glorious splendor
A testimony of love, a statement so loud
That a woman is truly forever and ever and ever.

Mother, father, woman and man
The carer, the giver, the soul provider
The perfect balance, As God intended
Would life without her be intended?

Love her or hate her
She’s here to stay
Smart and witty, but not so expensive we pray
Can run as fast, can work as hard
Stares to kill, Smiles to thrill
Alas, Man’s time is ended, the woman, well, contended.

- Vijay Alphonse

Head on if possible

2009-06-23T15:54:00.004+05:30

This is coming after a long break.. But it was prompted by a new trend that I've seen in the busiest streets in Bangalore. Off late, if you are at a signal/stoplight and making a right turn, it apparently is ok to cut into the wrong side of the road (to move faster) and make the right turn!!! Case in point, Cubbon road - Kamaraj Road intersection. This happens every time with traffic going south from Commercial street.

This is not just dangerous, but so nonsensical as the trend of cutting over to the wrong side of the road has become an acceptable thing right down to the next stoplight at Dispensary road. The biggest culprits - Buses and taxicabs!. Everyone else follows once one of these clever people jump over the fence. This arrangement at the stoplight gets really messy when the light turns red and the traffic from the opposite end is cut loose! These guys on the wrong side are still trying to get past the red light since they are stopped bang in front of oncoming traffic. Insane? Not yet.. The insane part is that there is a traffic cop right there who will completely look the other way. On the other side of the road, there are usually a couple of constables with an inspector or two flagging down red light jumpers and "ticketing" them. (yeah right!) These guys will completey not worry about this stupidity happening across the street.

While everyone in Bangalore complains and complains (like I am now), it's the same people who break the rules left, right and center making the traffic situation a 100 times more horrible than it needs to be. Why are we like this? I have no idea. It's the sickening chaltha hai attitude that we've developed. It's the lack of law enforcement, it's the corruption, it's the knowledge that you can get away with anything in this "free country".

If you are still reading this, perhaps you share my point of view in this matter. Please drive within the definition of common sense and follow the rules. I'm sure we are better than animals and can use our God given brains to realize what's good for us and what's not.

Christmas in Bangalore - year 2008

2008-12-01T09:31:00.004+05:30

It's Dec 1 and it's that time of the year. "The most wonderful time of the year", as we'd fondly like to say. We're leaving behind very harsh memories of 26/11 and although for me I'm afraid it may stick in my head & heart well beyond Christmas, I'm trying to get into the spirit of Christmas and move on.

This month is when the mercury really dips in this city and it's pretty common to see brisk business at the friendly chai stalls in the early mornings and the late nights. I live in North Bangalore where the air is still kind of cleaner compared to the downtown areas and I love the crisp air in the morning and the chirping of birds and sparrows where I live. (I've been told that seeing sparrows in your neighborhood is a good sign) :) In a few days, the skies will clear out ushering in a true blue sky which will also promise misty mornings and the beautiful sight of morning dew.

This is also a month when all the churches in Bangalore come alive and there is a flurry of activity in terms of carols, choirs and cake making! Euphonia just concluded at the Indiranagar Methodist church and 30/11 was when a local christian praise and worship group called "Firebrands" put up a concert at the Garden City Assembly of God church near Hennur Cross. In short, I had a fantastic weekend listening to fantastic music and almost doing biryani 2 times a day!! If you live in this city, you have just got to try the biryanis. (Biryani: a spice flavoured rice cooked in steam with some very yummy mutton or chicken, to be eaten with yoghurt. I recommed the mutton) The coming week has a series of concerts coming up and I'm trying to make it to every one of them. The weekend once again is the famous Symphonia and I already have my tickets.

Time for me to go shopping for fruits and nuts and rum! Need to soak em up for the Plum cake. Ciao, will write in next week. Happy Holidays!

Lane Discipline - 101

2008-11-03T09:29:00.000+05:30

Dear Bengaloorean (is that what you are called?),

This letteroo is addressed to all the people who live in, work in, drive in Bengalooru City or anywhere else for that matter. I'd like to call your attention to a bunch of monotonous white lines on the road that you drive on day in and day out. If you've noticed, they are (usually) evenly spaced and form apparent divisions or "lanes" on the road. How many lanes these helpful lines decide to split the road up into, depend on the width of the road.

Now that you know what I'm talking about, ever wondered why the authorities spend crores of Rupees every year putting them on our roads?

No, certainly not because it makes the road look good
No, certainly not because it give you a centering tool to stay right on it as you drive home after that wild night out.
No, certainly not for you to zig-zag through the gaps on your two wheeler.
No, certainly not for your dog to walk in a straight line on your morning walks.
No, certainly not for you to switch on your high beam and light up the reflectors.
And MOST IMPORTANTLY: NOT FOR YOU TO IGNORE!!

So then, why were these expensive dashes put on our roads in the first place? To create lanes.

Think of them as creating an exclusive space on the road for your car or vehicle. As long as you keep your car within those lines, you should be safe, you should be able to drive faster and you will not put anyone else in harm's way. So, if that sounds so good, you are wondering what the catch is? Well, the catch is that you need to go one behind the other in the "lane" and follow the vehicle in front of you at a safe distance. It's not that hard is it? Have you seen ants at work? They walk in one neat file one behind the other. That's exactly what you need to do.

What you don't do in the lanes is cut in and out in either direction as you please. To "Switch" lanes, you switch on your indicators (left for left, right for right), glance in the near view mirror, make sure you are not going to rub shoulders with another car and then smoothly switch lanes and then stay on the lane. Important: you switch only ONE lane at a time. What if you do see a car too close to you in your near view mirror? Let him pass and then follow his tail and enter the lane.

Really, it's pretty simple. But you are in a hurry right? SO IS EVERYONE ELSE!! But guess what? A little consideration, a little DISCIPLINE, (we're better than ants you know?) and calm driving will add more kilometers to your mileage, more money to your wallet, more peace in your mind and less stress on the road. You will also realize that if everyone starts doing this, traffic will flow much much faster and there will be far lesser accidents on our roads today. I urge you and implore you to please please try it out and make a difference.

If any of my other learned readers want to contribute to this article, please feel free to..

Happy Driving Bengalooru!

Bottleneck Infrastructure

2008-10-20T11:14:00.000+05:30

Our city planners and engineers do have a sense of humor in designing our roads. While road widening is a phenomenon that is so widespread in our city today, there seems to be little thought or advice taken from traffic experts on how these should be designed. What we end up with is BOTTLENECKS.

Here's the Wikipedia Definition for starters:
Metaphorically a bottleneck is a section of a route with a carrying capacity substantially below that characterising other sections of the same route. This is often a narrow part of a road, perhaps also with a smaller number of lanes, or a reduction of the number of tracks of a railway line. It may be due to a narrow bridge or tunnel, a deep cutting or narrow embankment, or work in progress on part of the road or railway

When bottlenecks exist due to construction activity or due to a temporary situation like an accident, I think that is perfectly normal and understandable. What I do not get is many of roads have bottlenecks built into the design. This is going to be the way it is, for a long time. Oh, my, god!!

To me it sounds like common sense that when a road has 4 lanes (in India, our good people upgrade these to anywhere from 6-8 lanes on the fly) and as you get near a junction or because there is a structure spilling over from the pavment, the road suddenly has only 2 lanes. So, you have a situation where 6 parallel vehicles are trying to squeeze (or race) into these 2 lanes. This leads to compression as more and more vehicles try to squeeze through the narrow outlet. A great example of this is where you go under the KR Puram flyover as you leave the city.

Another very usual reason for a bottleneck is unusable lanes. These are caused by bad roads, manholes sticking out into the road, rubble on the streets, dirt piling up in the corners (and we don't want to dirty our tyres, see?)or most usually "on the street parking". Fixing the roads alone and making available all the lanes a road is supposed to have will make a huge difference.

I wonder what our planners do when they go and visit the US to "study" traffic management. My take is that they do not even have to go there. Just sit on your PC and login to Google Earth and "visit" all these cities. The latest renditions are so good that you can even go down to the street levels in large cities and check out the place. Why can we just just simply copy the US??

I pray that God gives all of us the courage to endure the madness, I pray that God give our planners some common sense to create good infra, I pray that God gives all of us traffic sense and the ability to be considerate to our fellow drivers. I pray that God makes horns disappear. Amen.

Bangalore's dying nightlife

2008-08-11T09:14:00.000+05:30

Bangalore is a city that attracts many international visitors who come here for business, some for pleasure and some to check out it's entertainment. While these people are all happy as long as they are at work, the problem starts when they get off work and like is done in most other free nations of the world, go out with your friends and unwind.

Seems like the city will have none of this nonsense. Going out in the evening after a marathon 14 hour day is not cool. You need to go back to your family, sip on some filter coffee, watch the news and go to bed. Or perhaps for the ones who like to drink and dance, let your hair down, laugh loudly, it's not ok to do any of these ghastly "western" acts in any public place. You can take your party to Magadi (and get busted) or take it home (and get screamed at by the neighbors).

Let's drill down on this a little bit more. What's the logic here? "Late partying (read, drinking, dancing, singing) creates more crime" Is this true? How many such crimes have taken place that we can talk about that are related to the people who sing and dance?

- Perhaps, the cops are worried about reckless drunk driving. I totally agree with that thought. Clamp down on drunk driving like they do in the rest of the world and come down hard on them. Throw them in jail for a week and take away their license immediately. People will wisely start using our friendly autorickshaws and cabbies to go home.

- Promote the concept of a "designated driver" in the pubs and educate barmen about the concept. It works in the rest of the world, it's worth a shot here.

- Come down hard on druggies, I'm all for a drug free world.

Let's think forward, let's think progressive, let's think global. That's what our city is, but it won't be for too long if we don't change.

Dear Cops, Dayavittu adjust madi. (please adjust - Bangalore slang)

Peripheral Ring Road - Bangalore. Ring a bell?

2008-08-08T10:36:00.000+05:30

Bangalore will soon have another "Ring Road" that will run concentric to the current Outer Ring Road(ORR). One just hopes that it is not designed like the ORR with a hundred traffic lights, speed-breakers, animal crossings, pedestrian crossings, businesses, bus stands and anything else you can think of that should not be allowed on a road that is meant to connect you to different parts of the city and be able to quickly get you around.

Sometimes, I wonder what our planners do when they "collaborate" with parties in "developed countries" like the USA.. Many of these people have visited countries like the US where it is not too hard to see common sense at it's best in terms of public infra design. These days, we do not even have to physically go to countries like the USA to see how roads are designed, you can just "fly-to" any place you want with Google Earth, "land" there and see what it looks like.

I'm praying that our city designers and planners simply copy what the US has been able to achieve and set as standards for highway/road design to facilitate high speed traffic that will connect large distances. I'd like to see a beautiful 8 lane highway with "on-ramps" and "off-ramps" that will allow you to merge in or fall out into towns and civilization around the road. I'm praying that there are no speed breakers, no pedestrian crossings, no signlas and the like on this road. Those of us who have been outside of India will know exactly what I'm talking about. It's not that difficult considering that public money is wasted all over the place and a big chunk of it is sitting as black money in the hands of our so called administrators.

Off course parallely, we need to educate drivers here what "lanes" are for and how they are used. I remember, I knew nothing about lanes until I went abroad the first time. As a matter of fact, I would drive my two wheeler on the "center line" (as I thought of it)when possible!! Reason?? No one ever taught me. No traffic school, no instructions. Just learnt on my own and guessed the rules. Dangerous? YES!!

Coming back to the PRR, why don't we just outsource these projects to infrastructure builders who will bring international best practices to the fore and give us a decent product that is truly ready for the next generation. China is a good example of transformation. "You have to see it to believe it", I've been told.

There are organizations like Janaagraha that are trying to get citizens involved in running the city as well as participate in the improvements instead of just cribbing about it (like I'm doing here). I'm game.

Not sure where to start though.. Guru, swalpa adjust madi, we are like this only.

Clean air just won't do! - Bangalore's Garbage bonfires

2008-08-08T10:35:00.000+05:30

I'd like to express myself here on the topic of burning garbage, dried leaves or anything else on the streets or in your backyard. As I drove to work this morning, I had my windows rolled down to enjoy the crisp morning air. In less than a minute, I had to scurry to roll up the windows or risk inhaling some toxic gases and hyper-ventilate. The culprit as you can imagine was a heap of burning garbage that was conveniently heaped on the pavement.

A few curses were chanted in my head and I then let the feeling pass. A few kms down, another stream of thick white smoke coming from below a major city flyover near KR market in Bangalore. This fire had not only been polluting its immediate surrounding, but had rendered its ugly presence as far as I could see, creating a very unfriendly, chocking and disgusting smog in the morning air.

The sad part is that cops are all over the place, people are walking around the "bonfires" and life goes on as if nothing is wrong. Pedestrians and children on the streets have their noses covered with their sleeves, their pallus, handkerchieves and some even fanning the dirty air away from their noses as they walk. What a sad sight. What a risky situation.

I remember a few years ago, there was a law that was passed against burning dry leaves in the fall in Bangalore as we'd see our corporation housekeepers rake in the leaves and set them on fire. These fires would burn for hours and create such an unsavoury situation in the neighborhood that someone finally screamed hell. This feeling seems to have passed and now the many hundreds of local bonfires that burn daily, seem to have become acceptable to people in Bangalore.

We need to stop this. Again, my take is that we don't need parliament to discuss this and pass a bill to make this illegal. I think whether or not it is illegal, our common sense will dictate. Clearly, this is not done. Should we call the fire brigade everytime there is a fire burning that could pose a risk to the people in the area? Perhaps we should all start doing that and then somebody will start clamping down on these individuals who start these fires.

Do your part, I'm sure you love your city. Put out these fires. Talk to people. Make it happen. Every one of us can make a difference.

Stop Honking Bangalore

2008-08-08T10:22:00.000+05:30

Having lived in Bangalore for over 34 years, I strongly felt the need to get something rolling to improve the situation with people and their horns in this city. I'm sure all of you would agree that we have a problem in this area. I'm going to refer to our city as Bangalore and for those die hard "Bengaluru" advocates, please accept my apologies.

Bangalore was known as the "pensioners' paradise", "summer retreat", "garden city" and what not, but today, we are faced with a pleathora of problems that we urgently need to address. I'm not saying that I'm trying to get Bangalore back to the good old quiet days that would justify any of it's previously held titles, but merely picking one item that has a big impact and seeing if we can do something about it.

Other cities like Mumbai have tried "anti-honking" campaigns that failed miserably and today the "honkers" continue their mindless honking. Bangalore, like Mumbai has a population of very educated people and coupled with the tag of being the "IT capital" of India, is home to the best of companies who again employ thousands of people who I'm hoping this message will reach out to.

Without further ado, let's get into the problem:

Bangalore has tens of thousands of motor vehicles that are on the roads today. Each and every one of these vehicles are fitted with at least 1 horn. Over the years, we have all seen the traffic multiply on our roads that were build to accommodate nothing more than the Wodeyar family's cars and their support staff. The floating population is also ever growing with Bangalore being well connected and being an important commercial hub. Bottom line - We have a lot of vehicles and a lot of people that "stress" the city today.

I'm sure all of you who are reading this own a vehicle of some sort and have used your horns.

Do you really think that you needed to use your horn as many times as you did on your way to office today?
Do you really think you care a damn about some fellow behind you who is honking away like his wife's in labor and he needs to get to a hospital?
Do you really think you feel powerful because you have a louder horn than the "putt-putt" Bajaj auto next to you at a signal.
As you see the lights turn orange or in the last 10 seconds in the signal timer, do you start honking to "wake" everyone up so you can move along behind everyone else?

COME ON! Think about it, it's all ABSOLUTELY meaningless and useless and all that it does is just adds a ton of noise to our already crying and polluted city. Just realize that everyone is headed somewhere and no one is parking in the middle of MG road to have a picnic. Just be patient and the vehicle in front of you will move, I promise. Just don't use your horn, please.

We need to STOP this, NOW. Like they say, it needs to begin at home first.

Let's start with a small experiment, the next time you take your vehicle out, DO NOT USE YOUR HORN AT ALL and see if it makes any difference in terms of your journey time, your ego, your mood or anything else at all. Comeback here and let us know what you thought happened. Needless to say, spread the word and tell people to stop honking and drive with their head.

Let's take baby steps here and I'm sure this will grow into a sensible movement and bring back the peace to Bangalore.

Take it away Bangalore.