Interesting to see election posters in Bangalore, with the face that moved America.
As far as my memory goes, I haven’t seen any political icon beyond our shores gracing
an election backdrop in terms of face value.

There’s more.

My investment broker was talking to me about property prices in Bangalore and how things
would steady, now that Obama had taken over as President. At a coffee shop, I eaves-
dropped to hear another amazing take on Obama’s capabilities; how he could single-handedly
take India out of recession. I have seen school children fighting bullies with the ultimate
threat : Obama will come and beat you guys up!

I wouldn’t be surprised to see a small Obama temple springing up somewhere in the city.
And people actually stopping by on the way to office – to say a small prayer …
make a small wish.

The magic of winter is fading, the summer spins have started showing up… The rain trees have lost their canopies to the winter fall and city gets deprived of their caring shadows for some time…

This young boy is cleaning sugarcanes for his family owned sugarcane juice stall nearby market. Many such individuals start learning tricks of the trade quite early in their lives ‘hands on’ as kids and evolve & engage themselves working independently running business of their own….

City has already succumbed to cold wave; many say that this winter is colder than the earlier few. Early morning at a signal nearby I spot few enjoying the fire warming up a bit….

Wondering if this is some dump yard in Kalasipalya? Well, hold back your thoughts. This is bang in the middle of the beautiful Hebbal lake. Take a walk along the boundary of the lake and this is what you will see after a short 100 metre walk. What you see here is hidden behind the vegetation on one of the man made islands on the lake.

The worst part is that this is where migratory birds and fauna around the lake ecosystem live and feed. And what do they get for food everyday? Plastic bags, water bottles, garbage, waste paper and lots of stinking, black, septic water.

City is busy celebrating Ganesha festival, even the busy streets like this SP road which is an electronics & engineering market does celebrate festivities by way of offering free lunches to the community.
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Was passing through Indiranagar the other day and found this immaculately maintained
Royal Enfield. The customizing done on the paint job and seating only add to its appeal.
Makes you want to just kick-start the bike and take it for a chakkar.

This is what I saw right behind my motorbike in the parking area at Palace grounds, soon after attending the Independence Rock Festival last Sunday. And needless to say, I stood there, partially frozen and wonder struck, pinching myself to see if I was hallucinating. The driver was kind enough to allow me to take a few pictures of this masterpiece.

Ladies and Gentlemen, The Rolls Royce Phantom ! Take a bow !

In 2007, Rolls Royce sold 11 Phantoms in India .The car is priced between Rs. 3.5 and 4 crore.

The family dropped by at Coffee Day the other day for a steaming night cap, after dinner. When the coffees came, my son pointed out to the smiley poster on the wall. The message there was interesting : If you don’t see a smiley in your cup, the coffee is on the house.

As you can see, my cup had something that looked like a coffee bean – not even remotely close to a smile. I alerted our friendly waiter about the smiley and sure enough, they didn’t charge me for my coffee.

Net takeaway : If there’s no smiley in your coffee cup, there’s bound to be one on your face … when you see the bill. Nice gesture.

(Not sure how long this offer is open, so do check this out the next time you’re at Coffee Day.)

There’s a link to “latte art” here, if you’re interested.

Today, Environment Support Group, which is working in many ways for the commons of Bangalore and Karnataka, organized a lecture on ‘Rethinking the Indian city, reclaiming its Commons” by Professor Michael Goldman.

Here’s the background about Prof. Goldman that ESG gave in their invitation mail:

“Prof. Michael Goldman is a McKnight Presidential Fellow and professor of Sociology and Global Studies at the University of Minnesota, in Minneapolis, USA. He is the editor of Privatizing Nature: Political Struggle for the Global Commons (Rutgers University Press and Pluto Press), and the author of Imperial Nature: The World Bank and Struggles for Social Justice in the Age of Globalization (Yale University Press 2005; Orient Longman India 2006; Kyoto University Press [in Japanese] 2008), based on a decade-long ethnography of the World Bank. He is currently conducting research in Bangalore on the project,“Bangalore: The Making of a World City,”focusing on the transformations of land, government,and citizenship taking place under liberalization.”

Here’s Leo Saldanha of ESG, introducing Professor Goldman:

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