One of the first few things that I noticed in and around Bangalore was availability and use of stones in construction, like compounds, walls, ceiling’s and even road pavements. The availability of good quality stone has nurtured special communities which work around all the aspects of stone quarrying, cutting and carving…

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I was at Nandi Hills last morning to enjoy the pleasantly cold winter weather up there. I was there early in the morning – a time I would still be in bed if it was a week day. It was windy and foggy on the top, and the hill was covered by clouds all around it. When the sun was high and the clouds started dissolving, birds came out for their daily grind in search for food. I was lucky to spot a few pretty birds, and among them were a Paradise Flycatcher, Blue capped Rock Thrush and a Tickell’s Blue Flycatcher. I spent nearly an hour photographing them. Here are the pictures.

Tickell’s Blue Flycatcher
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Scenic drives through lush green estates,

Bathing elephants,

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Moonoverstillwater productions, Chennai, will be staging the English Play …and sunshine follows the rain’, at Rangashankara, J.P. Nagar, Bangalore, from the 30th of January to the 4th of February, 2007.
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The announcement of the Inner Core Ring Road (ICRR) may have excited the bangaloreans with a hope that they could register for a Guinness world record for crossing the city end to end in minutes and not in hours or days as currently!!

Now the BDA and BBMP (remember we are now Brihat!!) after drilling down details for the ICRR which was designed in 2005 as a solution to clear traffic bottlenecks, estimates that it could cost anywhere about 60 crores per km to make the entire stretch Elevated!!

The reasoning being 51 junctions underneath this road would force it to be elevated as widening the existing stretches to six lanes is impossible!! With only 13 underpasses rather than 50 of them….ICRR, envisaged as access-controlled toll road, will now need an overall investment of Rs 1,800 crores and may claim several hundred trees coming its way….The entire stretch is now slated to be a six lane signal-free elevated carriageway.

The new mantra for Bangalore will be …‘Don’t worry just elevate them!!’

“For Santosh, a tour guide in Bangalore, life is good. As a result of the IT boom, he has launched his own web-based travel firm, getoffurass.com, and is doing a booming business selling weekend getaway holidays to stressed-out IT workers.”

Bangalore based Santosh was featured in this BBC article and you can read the whole article here.

I’ve been a regular visitor to the website that Santosh runs – Get Off Ur Ass – and he often sends emails about the different travel programs he’s running.

If you’re interested in travel and adventure, it’s a good idea to get added to his mailing list. I also asked him to share with me how he got started off.
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If you happen to be in Whitefield and are hungry, the great luncheon is awaiting you in Flavour @ Radha Hometel, a Sarovar group hotel that combines the best in terms of pleasure and leisure, providing to its patrons that special Indian Hospitality. The hotel intends to provide finest hospitality service to the IT hub in Bangalore….

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I was at the flower show at Lalbag yesterday that is held for a week every year during republic day and independence day. Some images here. See more images from Shadow here.

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In blogosphere, many writers vent their fury on the TOI and its brand of commercial, trashy journalism for various reasons. Further, its Page 3 articles, writeups and lascivious pictures have earned it the title “The Slimes of India” Personally speaking, my children – my 6 year old son, in particular – go ‘chee, chee’ often while perusing the supplements. Being embarassed daily is an understatement.

Its appears that The TOI’s decision to translate its english edition into a Kannada version is raising a lot of hackles in the offline world too.

Can English words be translated into Kannada thought? A very disturbed M.V Kamath under the heading ” An insult to Kannada Journalism” writes:

The new ‘spit out’ of the English version is being brought out, after stopping the publications of another Kannada daily and by pushing smaller Kannada papers out of the market. Many journalists have been rendered jobless due to this move

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In his 24-page address after unfurling the tricolor at the Field Marshal Manekshaw Parade Ground here on the occasion of the 58th Republic Day celebrations on Friday, Mr. Chaturvedi said…

“Corruption is not merely a dirty word but also a dirty act.The people should assert that there was no difference between a small act of corruption and major instances of malfeasance. There is no such thing as petty corruption; there is corruption per se…Karnataka was one of the first States to have a Lokayukta, and it was doing great service. “

His speech triggered some frustration within me… So, What went wrong?
What is the progress in the cases filed by the Lokayukta? Has anyone been punished?
Is there any mechanism to track and review the amassed ‘mass’ which already have gathered the momentum!! i.e. The properties made by these corrupt officials are leveraging them beyond the legal catch and has already ‘liberalized’ them economically. How can they be brought to justice? What is the plan? Any thoughts? anyone….