City: Bengaluru

In this edition of CTRL Z, listen to Peeyush Sekhsaria. The artist blends his interests and training in architecture, wildlife conservation, environment, photography and drawing into a beautiful body of work that he says has become a 'toolkit to live life more meaningfully'. He also talks about how his visits to Panna Tiger Reserve resulted in the children's book 'Our Tigers Return'. https://soundcloud.com/radioactivecr90-4mhz/ctrl-z-with-architect-environmentalist-and-multi-skilled-artist-peeyush-sekhsaria

In the previous story, Garuda Group Managing Director Uday B Garudachar shared his version of the story about Ejipura EWS quarters project. The second part of the series, brings out the chronology of events that happened in connection to the project and where it stands as on today. In January 2013, the world came crashing down for over 900 families that were living in the Ejipura EWS (Economically Weaker Section) quarters near Koramangala, when the BBMP along with the building giant Maverick Holdings began to evict the poor families, to make way for new EWS quarters. It has been over…

In January 2013, over 5,000- residents were evicted from the EWS quarters in Ejipura near Koramangala in South Bengaluru. The eviction was to facilitate BBMP’s new plan -- a developer, Maverick Holdings would construct new EWS quarters for the 1,512 families who were residing in the quarters. It has been five years since the eviction took place. In this series, Citizen Matters will bring to you a reality check on the developments in the project, what the evicted families are up to and what went wrong in implementation. In the first part, we hear from Uday B Garudachar, developer and Managing…

RJ Hanumanth interacts with them to understand what they think about people belonging to sexual minorities, especially those from the third sex and transgenders - people who beg for a living or are sex workers, or do other jobs too.  

Saranya is a 2nd year student of Electronics and Communication Engineering in a college in Hosur, who dreams of becoming an IAS officer. Originally from Tiruvanamallai, Tamil Nadu, Saranya's parents separated a few years ago. Saranya, her younger sister and her mother stay in her maternal grandparents home. Saranya's mother Santhi works as a housekeeper in Hasirudala Innovations earning Rs. 5000 per month. Saranya's education (including college and hostel fees) is currently being sponsored by well wishers including one of her school teachers. Her younger sister has just written her 10th standard exams. Saranya talks about her friends and her…

Vasanthi shares a little about her background - working in hospitals as a link worker, and in Mythrei, an NGO, prior to joining Hasirudala. She first started a Compost Santhe in Banashankari II Stage. She created awareness among those who came about how kitchen waste could be converted into compost using drums, coco pit, etc. Vasanthi talks about the challenges she faced with respect to trying to spread the message of waste segregation and composting. Listen in to know more.  

As soon as you exit the MG Road metro station on Church Street side, the whole wall is filled with murals of children laughing and playing. The sight leaves a huge smile on one's face and is a testament to the astonishing artwork of Pune-based mural artist Harshvardhan Kadam and the students of Srishti School of Design. Walking down the steps of the Cubbon Park metro station is a sight that is the exact opposite of what most people expect to find. The usual drab and dull walls of the station are painted with plants and flowers of varying colours…

RJ Priyanka and Geetha Menon of Stree Jagriti Samiti interact with some women domestic workers to understand more about their demands for basic things like ID cards, monthly pensions and humane treatment. These women were protesting at Karmikara Bhavana recently. Geetha Menon spoke with representatives of Gruhakarmikara Hakkugala union which has been working with domestic helpers, both part-time or full time. Their demand is that domestic workers be treated in a humane manner and be considered as service providers not servants or slaves. They talk about harassments and disparities. The four major demands that the workers were protesting for were:…

A few years ago, it was the purview of the neighbourhood RWA member (usually a retired old man) to raise civic complaints, from water pipe leaking to potholes. He would trudge down to the nearest ward office, and talk to the engineer responsible. He’d follow up and write letters to the MLA to escalate. But now, average citizens are more conscious and quick to reach out to BBMP to raise issues. If you are stuck with a dead animal in front of your house, you’d call the helpline or use the BBMP Sahaaya app to get it removed. A citizen…

I saw this beautiful moth on the staircase of my apartment building,  day before yesterday.... I called it the military camouflage moth, but the correct name for this is the Oleander Hawk Moth, in the Sphinx moth family Sphingidae. The scientific name of the moth is Daphnus nerii. Military camouflage moth was simpler, perhaps? The caterpillar of this Moth, like that of many others, has several "instars" or forms. Here's one: The head of the caterpillar is actually towards the right...the "eyes" are probably to fool a possible predator with that appearance of fierceness. These caterpillars actually feed on the Oleander…