Toeing the right-wing group Sri Ram Sene Pramod Muthalik’s line, Karnataka chief minister B S Yeddyurappa has said that pub culture is wrong and should not be permitted. Yeddyurappa said that this (pub culture) was not a part of our culture and it led to unfortunate incidents like the one in Mangalore.

Makes one wonder which side of the divide is he really on…

On a lighter note, will we get to relive the glorious days of Khajuraho and Kamasutra? Well, they are also part of the culture, or aren’t they?

Sachin Uppal who was at the scene says:

The scene was busy with people getting anxious and asking what’s going on, however I have not see anything in particular. It was all filled with Police men trying to sort out the chaotic traffic and managing people.

The injured have been admitted to St John’s and Mallya hospitals. The helpline phone number is (+91) 80 4031 2706

Phone networks are jammed so please be patient when trying to reach your near and dear ones. As of now there are conflicting reports about the number of blasts and the death count. Police maintains that there were 6 blasts and one dead; but the home ministry talks of 8 blasts and two dead; and most of the media is reporting 7 blasts with one death.

Bangalore seems to extremely sensitive this this kind of incidents. I hope that the situation remains under control and does not flare up.

Link: http://news.in.msn.com/national/article.aspx?cp-documentid=1555590

Times of India reports:

Is the city heading towards a dry-out scenario? It is already facing a fuel shortage of 30%. Plus oil companies have “unofficially’’ asked bunk owners to go slow on “regular’’ petrol/diesel and focus on “premium’’ products. The rationing has started and regular petrol is out of stock, say many consumers.
Confirming the shortage, Bhushan Narang, president, Bangalore Petroleum Dealers’ Association and Akhila Karnataka Petroleum Dealers’ Association, said: “The reason is purely economical. Oil companies are unable to source sufficient quantity of oil. This has led to a 30% decline in supply, while the demand for fuel is growing day by day. It’s a matter of time before the shortage scenario turns worse in the city and across the country. This could be avoided if the gover nment revises prices.’’

Around 35 per cent of Bangalore’s corporate citizens fall in the medium health risk category and are likely to be affected by at least one among the ailments like hypertension, diabetes and cardiac disorders, a health study indicated.

Confirmation of what we already knew. Read the complete Rediff report.

For now it is All about the music, but I wonder how long will it last? Radio City used to be pretty cool a while back, till they decided that they need to be catering to the lowest common denominator and seems to have completely ruined itself. Mirchi was sad to start with (hell, I can’t make head or tail of Kannada and thats what they seem to like talking in). Never serioulsy checked Big FM, but guess that too is heavily kannada laden.

We have seen a boom in the number of FM channels that are on air, but the quality seems to have only gone down (IMO). If you exclude Indigo (91.9 MHz), there is no other channel that can even be considered worth listening to. Will Fever live upto the promise of being all about the music, or will it go the city way? Too early to say. Hope it does not get influenced by the dark side, may the force be with you, fever :-)

Thanks to this Bandh, we achieved the following:

1. Karunanidhi said that Tamil Nadu will be happy with just 215 TMC ft of Kaveri water, and Karnataka can have 465 TMC ft as it had desired.
2. Union Water Resources Minister Saifuddin Soz said that his earlier statment that Cauvery verdict will be implemented was taken out of context and clarified that this was never his stand.
3. Productivity of all the industries in Karnataka sky rocketed.
4. The average citizen (or clueless guys like me) became more sympathetic to the cause.

If we did not achieve any of the above by having yet another bandh, will someone enlighten me on what was the whole point of having this forced shutdown?

Btw, Is Bangalore City turning into a Bandh City?

Click here to see the footage. The complete NDTV report can be found here. Footage Courtesy: NDTV

While the report exposes the police excessiveness and brutality, Mr. N Achyut Rao (Police Commissioner, Bangalore) had this to say:

This could be either false or imaginary. There cannot be an atrocity on the (part of the) police….. This could only be to quell the rioting mobs (that) one has to be firm…

Well dear commissioner, are you saying that a lonely guy on the streets was “the rioting mobs”? Ah, now that’s a good joke.

Incidentally, the one person killed in police firing was a 12 year old boy – Fazil (May his soul rest in peace). While it’s not impossible, I don’t think it’s probable that a 12 year old was part of the rioting mobs. So essentially we have our police force brutally attacking and butchering innocent people in the name of maintaining law and order.

Okay, so assuming that you have just returned from Mars, here is a quick summary. Effective today (November 01, 2006), Bangalore will be known as Bangalooru. This is supposed to be the state government’s gift to the people on the 50th anniversary of Karnataka state.
Oh! thanks for the un-pronounceable gift. Can i return it Mr. Chief Minister?

For note, I think Bangalooru is utterly un-pronounceable and has (sort of) a rural sleepy village feel to it as compared to relatively well know, well pronounceable and cosmopolitan sounding Bangalore. Just my personal thoughts, I think at least some people would be able to pronounce it.

Btw, I am sure that the government did not have anything better to do when it thought of this wonderful plan. I mean, hey its just a matter of getting the name right. Once the name is right, the infrastructure will take care of itself. And of course, the same applies to other problems of Bangalore like the law and order situation, increasing regional chauvinism etc etc

So does this mean that Bangalore too disappears into history – just like Bombay and Madras? Or does it mean that people will continue to be Bangaloreans in Bangalore and Bangalooru will be restricted to the government world?

Link 01: Bangalore, names and Nehambal by Neha Viswanathan.
Link 02: Everything is in a name by Aviraj.

As a person who always wears a helmet while riding, you would expect me to perhaps welcome this move..
And why as a person who anyways wears a helmet, am I opposed to this new regulation you might ask?

The biggest argument given in favor of wearing helmets is that it will reduce serious head injuries. And I sort of agree with it. However,

1. Is there anything to prove that helmets do actually bring down the number of serious injuries?
2. Will someone take count of injuries after this rule comes into effect, and repeal the law if its not working?
3. Is it not also a proven fact that in most two wheeler accidents, it is the pillion rider who ends up being more seriously injured?
4. Won’t improving the road conditions (potholes, bad lights etc) help in reducing accidents and (subsequent) injuries more than imposing helmets?

And why do our governments (the ones we are supposed to elect as adults) treat us the same way as some kindergarten kids. Why do we need to be told what to wear and what not to wear? [rant]What to drink, what not to drink; when to drink, when not to drink; when to sleep, when not to sleep (sorry, looks like we don’t have a law about the last one yet)[/rant]

The beauty of this rule is that it ignores the causes for deaths and injuries (bad roads), and focuses on the remedies (helmets). And somehow it makes it look like our law makers don’t think that citizens can think for themselves. Ah, well…