With over a three million titles on display, 340 stalls from leading publishers and distributors, this 10 day long Bangalore Book Festival (BBF) is open to public from 9th Nov till 15th Nov ( i.e. today) is claimed to be indias largest book festival….

Open to public from 11am till 8pm.
More photos here..

Soon came the prohibition of SMS, that were too drafted in that act to provide additional layer of the comfort to all user that the respect for privacy comes along in made shapes and shades…the shady work continues as operators now send me SMSs using a character name of sender so that your can not identify the number from where they were sent as well as you can never complain against them… the saga continues raising the tolerance levels as I continue to change and learn patience… the program which should have been called NATIONAL TELECOM USERS STRESS MANAGENT was yielding results in the context of useless words and never even successful marketing initiatives amidst the unsolicited calls… the years passed by!!

As a matter of fact I now have learned to accept that each of such calls make me speak to someone who also is under the same stress management program but gets paid to do so. The aggression has tamed down and given my way to politeness eventually…I learnt it hard way and thanks to “whom so ever” drafting the act and the process thereof” I continue to be polite, indifferent to the callers and the principle who continue to boost corporate social responsibilities by their honchos yet enable triggers that ring in me time and again…!!

Steps
Approach the contractor/workers cutting the tree. Ask them if they have the approval of tree officer, BBMP for cutting the tree.

If they dont have the order
Ask them to stop. Tell the that they are not authorised to cut trees and that they can be arrested for cutting trees without required permission. Please call the relevant tree officer.( Details in latter half of mail.)
Tell them the details – what’s happening and where. Ask her/him to come immediately and get the work stopped. If tree officer does not answer her/his phone, call their office number. If you dont get through to that, call the cops from the police station under whose jurisdiction the said road is located. Alert local residents and try and gather support (this could be counter-productive sometimes, they may want the tree to be cut) . And yes, pls take pics of the trees being cut.

If they have the order
Please have a look at the order and see what it says.
Does it have a BBMP seal? Does the order explicitly state that the full tree needs to be cut? Is it signed by the tree officer? Note – some times the tree officers permit the branches to be cut, but people use that to cut the whole tree. If permission is granted only for cutting branches, only branches can be cut, not the trunk. In case they have what appears to be a order, but the order looks fishy/incomplete, call the tree officer on cellphone/landline and inquire if permission has been granted.

In case they do have the order to cut trees and it looks like they have been granted permission, just double-check with the tree officer anyway. Call the tree officer on cell-phone/landline and speak to her/him confirming if an order has been passed to cut the trees in that location.

If they have the order and it looks like its genuine and the order allows felling of trees
If at the end you realise that the tree officer has granted permission to cut the trees, there is not much you can do at that moment to stop it. Ask the tree officer if trees are being replanted in the same area, to compensate for the trees being cut. If trees are not being replanted in the same area, thats a violation of the act.

Later, you can also file an appeal with the tree authority, BBMP against the
tree officer’s order.

Tree Officer Contact Details

Tree officer North (Zones – North, East, Mahadevpura, Bytarayanapura)
Suresh – 9845174447, 22485317

His office is in the BBMP main office, hudson circle.

Tree officer South (Zones – South, West, Bomannahalli, Raja Rajeshwari Nagar)
Venkateshappa – 94806 83842, 2657 8423

Office – in the BBMP southern zone office, Jayanagar 2nd block, close to Ashoka pillar.

Bangalore Photography Club’s annual photography exhibition will be held at Chitrakala Parishat, Kumar Krupa Road, Bangalore – on August 28, 29, 30 from 11 AM to 8 PM.

“The project, consisting of seven underground stations, will be commissioned by September 2012. On completion, train service will be provided at an interval of four minutes initially, and it will be reduced to three minutes in due course,” BMRCL has committed to get the entire network ready by that month in an affidavit filed in the Karnataka High Court. Hope this deadline does not remain on the affidavit alone…

But for how long? We’ve all seen how many trees are getting felled. How the Metro has destroyed some of our best roads. But we’ve got to make efforts, we have to do everything possible to retain our green cover, plant more trees, start thinking in a more eco-friendly manner.

It’s heart-warming to see people cycle to work nowadays – all geared up with their helmets and face masks – what a great step it is towards de-clogging our roads. It’s one less person in a car. Imagine, if even a few thousand of us got onto bikes and cycled to work, what a change this city can see! I tried cycling to office myself one day to see if I could manage the traffic. And yes – it was bad – but I made a start. Now, at least I know I can do it.

And I don’t think it’s that big a deal once you start. Yes, there’s traffic. But you’re being a part of the solution, not the problem when you start looking at eco-friendly ways of commuting instead of the fuel guzzling alternatives. Try it out sometime – maybe once or twice a week. It’s worth it. You’ll realise that a 10km distance on a cycle is actually not much at all.

And besides you’ll have the intense satisfaction that you’re doing your bit towards making Bangalore traffic more bearable. Many people say they “can’t” do it, that they can’t handle the traffic. But I don’t believe this is true – anything is possible – you just need to start. Even in our vehicles we have to battle traffic. It’s the same thing on a cycle, except that you’re on 2 wheels and it’s actually sometimes easier! I went from not knowing how to cycle (last year) to slowly making my way around on cycle in Bangalore and hopefully will be more confident in traffic in a couple of months. It’s an effort but it’s definitely worth taking!

Here’s an initiative that believes in “Doing good while doing well“. Net Impact is an international nonprofit organization whose mission is to inspire, educate, and equip individuals to use the power of business to create a more socially and environmentally sustainable world.

When : July 17, 2009
Where : Bangalore – From home to office/college and back home
Who : You, me and every Bengaluru resident.

And not just the 17th, let’s sustain this everyday!

More details here:
http://gogreen4netimpactbangalore.eventbrite.com/

Facts we should worry about:
1. Bengaluru’s population is about 8 million.
2. Bengaluru is considered to have the highest density of traffic in the world.
3. Traffic population is doubling every 5 years.4. Road space used by a person in a bus is 3% of a person in a car and 5% of a person in 2 wheeler.
5. Air Quality Index (AQI) is between 150-300 in different areas of Bengaluru. AQI>100 is severe air pollution.
6. Bengaluru has the highest number of 2-wheelers in the world.
7. About 40 lakh ltrs of petrol and 80 lakh ltrs of diesel is consumed each day in Karnataka alone

Karnataka Wine Board had a concerted effort to promote wine tourism, a very first a three day wine festival which was organized in Lalbagh this weekend, people took this opportunity to test and buy different types of wines from leading wine manufacturers like Grover, Kinvah and Naka…

The State wine policy allows individuals, groups, companies and to organize wine festivals. However, there’s a strict no-no to fortified wine (alcohol-added wine) during these festivals. Karnataka has 600 acres under grape cultivation, with Nandi Valley in Chikkaballapur and Krishna Valley in Bijapur with the highest cultivation.

Lalbagh is housing mango and jackfruit festival till 15th June 09, number of varieties of mangos and even jackfruits( I never knew there exist varieties in jackfruits until I visited) the famous glass house..

There are quite a few stalls sampling the mangos and selling them at an affordable price…I was glad to see ( and taste few of ) the varieties like Langra , Nekkare, Arka Puneeth, Arka Arun, Totapuri, Amrapali, Sendhuri, Dashehari , Kesar, Rasapuri to name the few along with popular Badami & Alphonso…

Served on a banana leaf the north kanara meals are a pleasure to enjoy. This meal is popular for soft and tasty Jowar (Sorghum) roti served with a brinjal curry, cucumber and onion raita (salad) in Curd, greens & lentils curry.

Once you enjoy the Roti’s, then it is time to enjoy steamed rice served with rasam or drum stick sambar a yummy affaire for sure. Not to miss the curd served in earthen pot, a masala buttermilk and various pickles and chutney powers kept on the table….satisfaction guaranteed!!

Place > Kamats Yatri Niwas @ Gandhi Nagar, Majestic area
Cost > Rs.100 + taxes for regular ( seen above) meals… (unlimited)