July | 2017 | Citizen Matters, Blogs

The Pee Gee lifestyle….

July 31, 2017 Deepa Mohan

The sight of these posters, stuck all over one surface (and indeed, stuck all over all kinds of surfaces throughout our city) brought home to me that there are many people who live in circumstances

Getting lost in Auroville and a chance meeting with two incredible Aussie travelers

July 31, 2017 Akshatha M

The way life throws surprises at you! It was on July 29th evening I was standing all alone in some corner of Auroville, located at a distance of around 12 kilometres from the main town

Where are you from? Thank you for asking, Bengaluru!

July 28, 2017 Kennedy Wirth

A day doesn’t go by that I am not asked at least a few times which country I’m from, for obvious reasons of course. My unnaturally bright blonde hair, translucent skin tone, nasal accent and

Why do we need so much concrete?

July 26, 2017 Deepa Mohan

I do not know which agency thinks that adding concrete structures to every small patch of greenery we have, is “developing” the park. This is in the Mini Forest, in J P Nagar 3rd Phase.

Bellandur Kere: a lake in 1989, now a cesspool

July 25, 2017 Shilpi Sahu

The following post was shared by Praveen Singh, a runner. I decided on a whim one fine April morning in 1989 to visit Bellandur lake and I clicked a full Konica roll worth of pictures. I

Endangered species….

July 19, 2017 Deepa Mohan

A greatly endangered species: the urban pedestrian. I just crossed Bannerghatta Road at great peril to my life. I waited about 10 mins for the traffic to ease, and still had to weave through vehicles

How HSR Layout got 300 saplings planted

July 19, 2017 Sruthi Krishnan

Compared to Indiranagar and Koramangla, HSR Layout is a reasonably new layout and hence the tree cover is very sparse. With this in mind, the active citizens of the layout, the volunteers of HSR Citizen Forum

Cancel the ward committees, says citizen group

July 19, 2017 Srinivas Alavilli

Ward committees are not formed in a fair manner, which is why Citizens for Bengaluru group is opposing it.

The Nano Graveyard, Kalena Agrahara, 15 Jul 2017

July 18, 2017 Deepa Mohan

We went on a nature/birding walk to Kalena Agrahara on 15th July, 2017, and skirted the lake at IDBI Bank Layout. I was amazed to see several Nano cars parked, and rusting in the monsoon

Sarjapur Road school team win second place at First Lego League

July 13, 2017 Shilpi Sahu

A team of ninth and tenth grade students from Greenwood High called Flaming Phoenix, recently competed in First Lego League (FLL) International open championship in Bath, UK. We participated in the international round after advancing in

Why are roads being dug up everywhere?

July 7, 2017 Deepa Mohan

At certain places in the city, I’ve seen boards that say Gas Authority of India (GAIL) is providing piped cooking gas to residences, so digging is being done. But at many other places, wholesale digging

When governments don’t want strong local bodies or citizen participation

July 7, 2017 Ashwin Mahesh

Multiple groups are protesting the manner in which BBMP instituted ward committees in about 2/3rd of the wards – ignoring citizen volunteers and public interest groups, and taking only the input of the corporators. Such

How I am treated on BMTC buses as a woman senior citizen

July 5, 2017 Deepa Mohan

…Mostly, without any courtesy, is my sad answer. I do not own a car, and use public transportation (read buses…the Metro is yet to be within useful reach for me). I know that senior citizens

Appeal to citizen groups: Time to empower ward committees

July 5, 2017 Srinivas Alavilli

“The heaviest penalty for declining to rule is to be ruled by someone inferior to yourself.” – Plato Many of us believed in the court orders that asked BBMP Commissioner to form the ward committees

Hello Bengaluru, you’re everything I expected and nothing like it at all

July 4, 2017 Kennedy Wirth

Before boarding a plane in Seattle that would eventually bring me to Bengaluru I was told about everything I would see while here. I was told over and over how different India is from my