I caught up with Sangeeth Varghese, founder, Leadcap and asked him the rationale behind the marches, something that’s slowly but surely catching the attention of Bengalureans.

Here he is with his impassioned answer.

Setting up 20 BangaloreOne (B1) kiosks in the next 10 days. That’s the aim of the department of e-governance.

A lofty statement of intent made at the time of establishing the 19th Bangalore One center recently at the BDA complex in Indiranagar. An intent that called for strong result oriented action on the part of the concerned authorities in establishing the centers. As of now, one has no idea whether the target has been achieved. Further, the relevant page on their portal ( i.e list of bangalore centers ) has not been updated with their Indiranagar center details! The map feature on the Bangalore One portal to help locate their centers is as unhelpful as they come! I spoke to the Assistant Director, Bangalore One project on these two issues and have been assured that all these teething problems are known to them and will be set right soon. I also believe that February 25th is the date for all the other centers ( kiosks such as below, in the last pic) to be inaugurated.

Meanwhile, here are some pics of the Indiranagar centre that was opened recently at the BDA complex.

An annexe to the Indiranagar main center (within the same complex) is this proposed booth offering fewer services:

BangaloreOne centers are a welcome concept, both in idea and in implementation. They also firmly reinforce Bangalore’s usage of technology in facilitating citizen-govt. interaction. Its a singularly proud achievement and gives reason for every citizen to feel proud. I know I am!

Click here to visit the official Bangalore One portal.

Here’s the story covered by the TOI and Deccan Herald.

Here are some pics from the event. You can also click on this link to Rajesh’s post on the same and his Flickr site.

Can’t stop cribbing about ruthless traffic, mounting garbage or lack of infrastructure? Come Sunday, you can see for yourself how to make a difference. If you care the least for Bangalore, come out and join the historic Leadership March, says this bunch of IITians and IIMs, who have come under the banner of Leadcap.

One can talk and talk ( or write, for that matter ) but to effect changes requires action. For too long, citizens in India or Bengaluru have grown used to seeing our ‘elected’ leaders talk but baulk at action. Except, of course, when it was a matter of their own ‘self-preservation’, usually, lasting a couple of generations at the least. Its time now for citizens to say ‘enough is enough’ loudly to cause them acute discomfiture, raise doubts in them as to their ability and protest against apathy and insensitivity in solving day to day problems. Its time to wake up, folks; else the whiff you get will be uncollected garbage and not coffee.

The main theme of the proposed Leadership March on February 10 is ‘It’s time we stood up’. The subtheme is ‘Traffic discipline’.

In the near future, Leadcap hopes to reinforce the quality of leadership in individuals to fight complacency. “Together, we can change many things, but change should be inspired at an individual level. Our interventions will be at different levels, involving a crosssection of society. A series of 10 leadership marches around 10 zones will be held over 10 weeks,” says Sangeeth Varghese, founder of Leadcap.

As a forward thinking citizen of this wonderful city where we live, work and enjoy, join the march on February 10th, 9.30am. Assembly at the Gandhi statue near MG road Cricket stadium. Route: Kasturba road, Vittal Mallya Road, Residency Road and Richmond Road. Walk would culminate at the Richmond town ground, where experts will engage and inspire us on how we can build Bangalore as a city of our dreams.

Resist the urge to spend a ‘quiet’ Sunday relaxing in the comfort of your house. For once, walk out and march to a different beat.

The one inside urging you, yes YOU! to make a difference for Namma Bengaluru.

Obviously, it called for a repeat visit. And that opportunity came by during the previous Saturday when your’s truly made it a point to stop and visit this well known and highly recommended place.

Apparently, the store began, way back in 1977, selling ‘condiments’ – murukkus and the like. You can still buy them here. Along the way, they have transistioned into becoming the forerunner of today’s darshini’s. The storefront is no more than 8 feet ( my math is highly suspect!) with 2 feet reserved for the counter dispensing coupons. Once you buy them, you fight, almost tooth and claw, for space along the balance 6 feet to hand them over to 2 to 3 people inside dispensing the goodies. Evidently, they are specialists. How else do they ensure that the right items are given to the right people, from among a clamouring horde, is beyond me. Throw in the fact that all are hungry as hell!

With the store being on a one way street with ‘no-parking’ strictly enforced, traffic cops merrily cruise by and spirit two wheelers from right under the noses of blissfully engaged diners. Yours truly missed – by the proverbial whisker – his trusty two wheeler being snatched. God bless the kind soul who warned me about the arrival of the cops.

Many reasons apparently account for the popularity of the place. Price, of course, is the redeeming one. I had a plate of idli/vada, shavige baath, kesari baath ( yup, I was hungry, folks!) accompanied by piping hot coffee. All of it dented my purse by merely 30 odd bucks. Not bad all all, I would reckon. I recall, with justifiable rage, having a plate of vadas in a five star hotel that dared to charge 60 bucks each!

The idli was hot, super soft and really melted in the mouth. I’d read somewhere that the dough is made the traditional way using stone rollers. Nothing much to recommend about the vadas though they were super hot and crispy. I’ve had better vadas in some darshinis. Strangely, at Veena Stores, they don’t dispense sambar here, only chutney. The latter is in a way, unlimited.. you ask for it as much as you want and I guess, as many times as you want! Also, I found the taste of pudina in the chutney very unique! The shavige baath too was absolutely divine with a touch of lime, some peanuts and plenty of seasoning. Unfortunately, chutney is dumped into it which, in my opinion, robs it of its taste. Now for the coupe de grace. It has to be the kesari baath. Neither too sweet nor overloaded with ghee and the rava being cooked just right, it was truly manna from heaven. The only disappointment was the coffee, I would say. Too strong for my taste and with sugar almost being rationed! Next time, I’m going to have myself the Vaangibaath and Chowchow baath, for sure.

All in all, if you are around 15th Cross, Malleshwaram, don’t even hesitate to stop at Veena Stores to savour the experience. Here are some pics from my visit.

The BBMP has pushed the deadline for completion of magic box underpass (pre-cast elements) near Cauvery theatre Junction for the third time. First it was January 19, then January 29 and now, it’s the first week of February.

One wonders why such infrastructural projects cannot be handed over to entities in the private sector better suited to the job specifyiing time bound actions and imposing penalties for delays.

I had an opportunity to pass by the site yesterday and all I can say is that the place gives the impression of being in a war zone. Chaos seems to rule at the place; order, if any, must exist only in the minds of the engineers supervising the work. Compounding the problem are the presence of sundry spectators ( like yours truly ) and gawkers, some even coming in the way of the toiling workers.

Here are a couple of pics which should give you a clue at the scene.

Commissioner Subramanya must be ruing the day when the ‘magic box’ concept was proposed!!!

Take a good look at them because shortly, they are scheduled to be demolished. Fortunately, being government owned quarters, its occupants have had no choice but to vacate. Here’s the news extract about the demolition from the Deccan Herald.

The Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation (BMRC) will begin demolishing the police quarters at Ulsoor later this week. This will be the first public property to be demolished for the Metro Rail project.

“About 46 families with the exception of two have already moved out. Two families had sought time until Sankranti. Talks with the Commissioner of Police will be held either on Monday or Tuesday on the issue,” sources told Deccan Herald.The demolition has been entrusted to an expert structural demolition firm, ‘Binyas Contech Private Limited’ according to BMRC sources.

The demolition will pave way for construction of the Ulsoor terminal of ‘Namma Metro’ spread across 1.5 acres, that presently houses the police quarters. Officials added that the Karnataka Police Housing Corporation Limited (KPHCL) has made temporary arrangements to rehabilitate the families of these police officers.
“The BMRC has given alternate land at Byappanahalli to construct quarters for the police officers by the KPHCL. The construction cost of these quarters will be borne by the BMRC ,” the sources informed.

While the building demolition will no doubt proceed as planned, hacking this old and ancient banyan tree next to the building, methinks, is going to cause a huge problem for the authorities. Remember, you saw & read it here first!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ;)

Cross posted at the Namma Metro Blog site…..do visit for daily updates. Well, more or less! :)

Picture of a ” Red Speed ” camera installed at the junction of Cubbon / Kamaraj Road. For the cynic in you ( & me, I must confess) wondering how effective are these cameras without a corresponding mechanism to catch offenders, here is an eye-opener.

The roving eye of a Red Speed camera will grab an image of the vehicle’s registration number, and the penalty challan will reach the offender’s home.

Apparently, ” ……during a pilot drive, the camera fixed on Cubbon Road recorded 8,000 violations in 15 days.” How many of those received challans is anybody’s guess. I, for one, didn’t receive any. But then, I use city autos to escape from having to drive!

Here’s the pic of the camera’s controller.

One of these days, I’m gonna jump the signal and overspeed. All around midnight. That’s about the only time I guess one will be able to indulge in both violations.

Then to see if someone sees red……

With a new year upon us, we can perhaps hope that a new beginning will help erase the painful memories of the preceding months when our beloved city, state & people were humiliated by power hungry politicians and their ilk. One shudders at recalling the state of affairs being compared with Bihar!

Or am I dreaming?

Will the bubble burst again when we go to the hustings where namma vox populi’s ‘short memory’ will bring back a ragtag bunch of incompetent nincompoops into the limelight hellbent on repeating their charade? Your guess is as good as mine.

Still, if it provides any succor, a very Happy New Year. Apologies for the wishes being trifle belated.

Thanks for taking time out to read our disparate but passionate posts. And, hey, we love your comments too!

Keep us positively bubbling.

Here are some pics from our culinary adventure.

We think it will be worth your while to check out this place for authentic Chettinadu food! Bill or no bill!