A ban on the sale of the colas near educational institutions was brought about by the Karnataka government. It’s been 14 days since the ban’s been imposed.

Anyone with a right mind will agree the ban’s stupid; plainly because of some obvious and mandatory loopholes in the law. (Keeping the issue of pesticides, aside)

I pass by 5 famous schools and 3 colleges everyday. And I did a mini survey of sorts of all the “Soft Drinks” selling shops, within 100 feet of all these educational institutes. To my no-surprise,
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Not for nothing is Bangalore known as the Garden City! Many parts of Bangalore still retain the green cover. If you just care to stop and look, you will be overwhelmed by the beauty of the trees around you.

There were some beautiful trees that I remember from my childhood. In our school, there was a breadfruit tree under which classes were held sometimes. The other was a lovely Jacaranda tree just near the school gate. In season, it spread out its branches and showered us with lovely mauve flowers. Unfortunately, both these trees were cut down to make way for the expansion of the school, but both of them remain in my memory.
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Vikasa Soudha, Sister of Vidhana Soudha is one of the best buildings which Karnataka government has built. This building is situated just next to Vidhana Soudha.
This is a dream project of former Chief Minister S.M. Krishna, He brought up this in the March 2000 Budget of Karnataka & later technically approved in 2001, S.M.Krishna laid a foundation stone for this building on Aug 30, 2001.

Photo Source
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Cell-phone or mobile-phone stores are the most colorful and decorated places in Bangalore these days. Why not? Everybody seems to want one, and these shops have to make their presence felt.

Elsewhere in the world though, people seem to be throwing their phones around to win some pride :-) Wonder if anyone has thought of recycling old phones to produce some real affordable ones for the masses back here!

Bangalore is becoming home for many things, now it is for Pirated CD’s, this has been proved on Saturday.
DCP Ravikanthe Gowda & ACP B.K.Shiveram had raided 25 shops on SP Road and 2 houses at Chamarajpete on Saturday and seized the duplicate cd worth more than 30 lakh.
The CD’s ranging from latest movies of Kannada, Hindi, and Tamil & Telugu.
Police have arrested 15 persons till now & searching for a man behind this huge scam.
It was noticed many times that this kind of pirated CD were available in open market at Majestic & SP Road area.

At this moment I just appeal to everyone to avoid buying Pirated CD’s & promote to buy only original CD’s

How to learn Kannada - Part 2

KANNADA WORD *ENGLISH WORD *SIMPLE SENTENCE
Idu *This / It *Idu pustaka. (this is book/Idu nanna pennu. (it is my pen)
Adu *That *Adu nanna mane (that is my house)
Yaake *Why *Neenu yaake allige hode? (why did you go there?)
Yenu *What *Idu yenu? (What is this?)
Houdu *Yes *Houdu, adu nanage beku. (Yes, I need it)
Alla *Not *Nanna hesaru ABC alla. (My name is not ABC)
Beku *Want *Nanage pencil beku. (I want pencil)
Beda *Do not want *Nanage idli beda. (I do not want Idli)
Hogu / Hogi *Go / wrp *Neenu hogu / Neevu hogi. (You go)
Hoda / Hodaru *(he) Went / wrp *Avanu hoda / Avaru hodaru. (He went)
HodaLu / Hodaru *(she) Went / wrp *AvaLu hodaLu/ Avaru hodaru. (She went)
Banda / Bandaru *(he) Came / wrp *Avanu banda / Avaru bandaru. (He came)
BandaLu / Bandaru *(she) Came / wrp *Avalu bandalu / Avaru bandaru. (She came)
Alli *There *Alli pustaka ide. (Book is there)
Illi *Here *Illi nodu (See here)
Baa / Banni *Come / wrp* Bega baa. (Come fast)
Thago / Thagolli *Take / wrp* Pen thago (Take the pen)
KeLu / keLi *Listen / wrp* Nanna maathu kelu (Listen to me)
HeLu / HeLi *Tell / wrp* Nanage kathe helu (Tell me a story)
OLage *Inside *Olage yenu ide? (What is inside?)
Horage *Outside* Horage maLe ide. (It is raining outside)
Nilli *Stop *Alli nilli. (Stop there)
Eega *Now *Eega neenu baa. (Come now)
Aaga *Then *Aaga maLe banthu. (It rained then)

Note: With Respect or Plural (wrp)

Watch tower at Jodigere

The muted thunders beyond the silhouette of the mountains kept the dark grey skies in a ceaseless flicker. The rain was imminent, it was easy to say. The moon was a tiny blob high in the sky but radiant enough to light up the track that had just brought us here. It was the same blissful feeling of letting one’s thoughts wander aimlessly as we stretched our legs on the stairs of the watchtower. One of us was soon quizzing the rest about stellar science, another was reminiscing about the day’s adventure and I was hopelessly attempting to capture the lightning on a friend’s digital camera. Our conversation soon reduced to a trickle and we were all beginning to enjoy the silence that enveloped us. We were all simply in love with time.
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I was driving, and suddenly noticed this girl standing on a mound at a construction site. She stood at the top of her world, and looked all around authoritatively!

Ten years ago, when I used to visit Bangalore, it was known as a place for people to retire and settle down much like Ruskin Bond settling down in Mussoorie. The roads, though not wide, were big enough for the traffic; the people (local Kannadigas) kept their reputation intact as one of the nicest group of people in the country and the atmosphere in general felt relaxed and inviting to a nomad.

Fast forward ten years and things definitely seem to have changed a lot. In the last couple of months that I have been here, I don’t find either the roads being big enough for the traffic (not even close) or the people being as nice as they used to be. What changed? I guess all good things do come to an end.
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Ganesha habba is here. In case you happen to live around a lake, make yourself an honorory custodian of the lake and ensure that the immersion rituals do not end up polluting the lake.
Lake development authority, bangalore has an appeal in all the newspapers requesting people to celebrate the festival in a more responsible, environment- conscious way. The guidelines include:

Buying idols of clay which dissolve easily in water.

Not to use painted idols or immerse them in lakes as the toxic substances in the paint get deposited on the tank bed. They also have the potential to penetrate the soil and contaminate the ground water in the surrounding areas causing serious trouble to public health. It reduces the survival of Fish and other aquatic life.

People can actually dissolve the idol in a bucket of clay and then pour the water out in their gardens which is a favourable form of disposal than using the lakes.

Not to let flowers and nirmalyas wash into lakes as they will decay and pollute the water too.

Finally, it costs the state exchequer lakhs of rupees to restore the lakes after the festival which we can actually avoid by being more conscious.

Not too tough to follow if we care for our environment and realise the importance of ground water to our health. Please spread the message around.

Wishes for a very happy Ganesh Chaturti to all Bangaloreans!