Yesterday we went birding to Manchinabele Reservoir and several of us planned to go to Kommaghatta Lake this morning.

One of us did visit…and found that the lake had…disappeared.

Here’s part of her message:

“sorry for sending bad news your way so early, ….i reached the *erstwhile* kommaghatta lake and found no sign of it… I could hardly believe my eyes… the entire lake is GONE, disappeared, lake bed dredged up and big mounds lying all over the place. walked across the lake bed… i meant to walk the entire stretch but after a point didn’t have the heart to do it…. still can’t get over the anger and the shock….
no cheers,
-g”

The anguish we all feel speaks through those strong words. How DARE BBMP dry up our water bodies like this? Have they no sense? I read last week that BBMP does not want to plant any more trees in Bangalore because “the roots are shallow”. This may be true of the Rain trees and the Spathodeas (which are from Africa) …but what about planting banyan trees, neem trees or mango trees instead? Our old roads and highways had shelter for wayfarers, and sheltered wildlife and birds, and gave welcome shade even to motorized vehiccles.

What on earth is wrong with our present government that they are so extremely shortsighted>

Is there some way we can get the BBMP to account for the disappearance of Kommaghatta Lake?

I am told that Jakku Lake has been similarly drained. I am…truly anguished. Should I stand by and see my city being murdered and literally dried to death in this fashion? NOTHING will bring back the trees and the lakes once they are going. We can just have “Sampangi Tank Road” and “Miller Road Tank Bed” as road signs, that’s all.

click here

to see where Kommaghatta Lake is….was…situated.

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…!!

The high intensity sound, hygienic atmosphere, made me feel truly high-class.
While I was all excited to watch the movie after a span of 5 yrs, there was pin drop silence all of a sudden.
No time to think what was going on, while I just realized that our national anthem was being played.
Everyone stood up and remained silent; from the old to the young as young as 4 yrs- giving due respect to our anthem.

How often does one feel patriotic?
Breaking all the barriers of religion, caste, creed, sect, it truly made me feel proud to be an Indian.

It was a similar event that occurred at Fame lido located at Lido mall.
Is our anthem being played in all the theaters before the movie is showcased? Or is it just a few of them?
Does everyone feel the same way? Or is it just another movie and another time the anthem is being played and I’m there to watch the movie?
Your thoughts please?

Abroad, especially in the US, there are fixed rules that all vehicles should move onto the slowest moving lanes and leave the fast moving lanes for the Ambulances or Police etc as soon as one hears the siren. So everyone knows which side to move and so does the Ambulance Driver.
Here everyone is clueless. Its only when one hears the siren next to your ear, you start panicking and start looking for place to move. Please post your opinions and views and any rules which already exist on this front.

Worse, people don’t even bother to give them the right of way. Guys, just think that someone from your family is in the vehicle and you can save a life.

I just hope and pray that first of all the RTO makes some fixed rules and secondly makes everyone aware that these rules exist. The sole link that I have found on the web makes no mention as to where should a vehicle move. Please post your views or ideas on this issue.

The main reason for these sudden changes in the choice of colors is because of ‘Vaastu’.
It is said that these bright colors bring prosperity and good luck to the home.

Like astrology and palmistry, Vaastu is supposed to be a complicated and a vast science.
Vaastu is a primitive Vedic science of designing plans of buildings that is said to clout peace and wealth of the populace.

Have these colors brought good luck? Have they really helped in achieving success? This still remains a question to me.

However, it is definitely the belief of the people. Any thoughts? Any experiences?

It is said that as a part of the benefits, the cab drivers are not eligible for accident benefits which they think is an important aspect considering the amount of accidents that transpires.
There ware some disturbance reported earlier in the morning though the situation seems to be under control.

Undoubtedly, this is the right time for the auto drivers to make some extra money. Isn’t it? However, car pooling should be a good thought.

Not sure if this strike is going to continue for some more days. Any idea?
Is there some other reason for the strike?

1. First, and foremost…..if I do what most of my fellow-Bangaloreans do and drive a car…..the traffic. No matter how many flyovers and underpasses and magic boxes have been built, the traffic volumes make sure that the roads are so choked in the evening that the vehicles just inch forward in clouds of smoke and roars of revving engines. I do hate sitting in a car which is at idling speed, guzzling petrol, and releasing fumes into the air, along with all the other vehicles doing the same thing.

Yesterday, we *had* to take the car; we left for Chowdiah at 5.45pm…and got back at 11.40 pm. Six hours for a play that ran an hour and a half…not viable, to my mind.

2. The utter lack of public transport. Not wanting to take a car means that I must take a bus or an auto to Chowdiah. The first alternative means that a. I must change buses at Majestic, and even then, it is a fairish walk to the hall. On the way back, I must walk (late at night) at least to Shivananda Circle to try and get a bus to Majestic. All this means a two-hour journey each way, added to the time spent in watching the play.

2a. If, instead of taking a bus, I want to save time by taking an auto, I may get to Chowdiah in reasonable time…but what about when the play or concert finishes? No auto will be available at that time, and I will either have to cadge a lift from someone or do that long walk mentioned in (2) above.

Why can we not have feeder vans running from Chowdiah to major bus stations (or at least to Majestic)? Why is this utter disincentive for people to use public transport, leaving them the only alternative of bringing their cars (and causing massive traffic jams after the show)?

All of the above is not to do with the hall, specifically, but with its location. But at the hall, too, I have issues.

3. No play or concert ever starts on time at Chowdiah. If an event is billed for 7.30pm, it is a safe bet that it will not begin for at least 20 minutes thereafter. This, of course, pushes the ending time also into the area where finding transport to come back becomes a major logistics issue. Further speeches and thankings during the course of the show further delay its end.

4. There is no audience discipline at all. Yesterday’s performance was scheduled at 7.30pm; at 8.25 pm, people were still walking in…and were being allowed in by the organizers. In this regard, I have a very high opinion indeed for Ranga Shankara, which gives real respect to the performing artistes by not allowing anyone to walk in and disturb the proceedings after 7.30pm, when the show begins (punctually…in 4 years, I have seen only two occasions when the show started late.)

5. The canteen at Chowdiah is also pathetic. They have about 1000-strong seating, but they never seem to realize it, and all the snacks and tea run out within the first ten minutes of the intermission, and even if I want a bag of chips or those oily-fried samosas, I cannot. I might have come hungry to the venue, but must remain hungry until the end of the show. Once again, the temptation to compare this with Anju’s excellent cafe at Ranga Shankara is there….the cafe actually serves food according to the play that is running at the time, and instead of the inscrutable visages of the servers at the Chowdiah canteen, it’s a pleasure seeing the smiling faces of Anju and her helpers, who try not to run out of snacks. It’s a whole difference in attitude. The cafe at Alliance Francaise is pretty good in this respect, too.

6. The new arrangement of the toilets. For some reason, the gents’ and ladies’ toilets have been interchanged, but it is NOT nice to walk into the “ladies” toilet and be faced with a series of men’s urinals….why on earth have they been retained in the ladies’ toilet?

I repeat, this is a personal opinion, and I do not expect others to share it, or even agree with it…but nothing is going to get me to Chowdiah Memorial Hall on a weekday any more! :)

While some prefer to buy new books, there are still many who prefer visiting the book lane ( avenue road) to these merchants / book sellers who encourage people to re-use and re-cycle ( circulate) the ‘used’ books for the needy, on a longer term this provides a great value not only to the user but the others as the cost of the books keeps coming down, a single copy is used by many thus is a noble cause for environment support too…

Can you see even a blade of grass in the picture?

What has the effect of the tree-felling, road-widening, and flyover-building been on traffic?

The traffic is as choked as ever, and all that has happened is that we have lost a lot of greenery and tree cover; the area has become much more polluted and noisy.

Can we stop further unnecessary felling of trees and widening of roads, which result in the same traffic congestion + lack of trees, just a few years down the line, and think of more long-term and people-friendly solutions to our traffic problems?

Lok Ayukta sleuths swooped down on the Bangalore residence of Davangere assistant commissioner (commercial taxes) Amanulla Sharief on Friday morning, They unearthed documents for property worth Rs 1.35 crore and cash from his house, whereas his entire 30 years’ earnings would have come to just Rs 30 lakh.
The Lok Ayukta also raided residences of nine officials, including an IAS officer, a deputy superintendent of police, commercial tax department officers. The raid yielded properties worth Rs 20 crore, disproportionate to their known sources of income. Read more..

What’s happening is not something new; the corruption has deeper roots in almost everything in our country, the lac of drive from political and administrative fronts to uproot the same. The need of hour perhaps is to protect the public wealth and interest rather than compromising our democratic principles and maintain the ‘chalta hai attitude’. The legal framework though has noted this down the ‘suo motto’ actions from political arena must be deep asleep over these cases for sure…