[ Sajith M ]

Great, so today was again a bandh. Life came to a standstill across Karnataka (including Bangalore)

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?

Posted under: City Life , Bangalore , Uncategorized
Tagged with: bandh, Bangalore, Cauvery, forced, Karnataka, Kaveri, shutdown

NDTV had a report showing around ten police personals beating a lonely guy on the streets. Now, I do understand that you need to be firm when dealing with rioters, but we are not talking about police trying to disperse a mob; rather what we see here is a bunch of policemen brutally attacking a single guy on the roads.

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.

Posted under: City Life , Bangalore , Uncategorized
Tagged with: Bangalore, brutality, excessiveness, police

Arghh!!! WTF. That summarizes my reaction.

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.

Posted under: City Life , Bangalore , Uncategorized
Tagged with: Bangalooru, Bangalore

To give you a quick summary, If you are driving a two wheeler (irrespective of engine size and bhp) in Bangalore City limits, you are supposed to wear a helmet. For now the pillion riders don’t need to wear a helmet.

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…

Posted under: City Life , Bangalore , Uncategorized
Tagged with: accidents, bad roads, Bangalore, deaths, head injuries, helmet, injuries, road conditions, two wheeler

Shopping at Big Bazaar, Hosur Road is a nightmare. Its perhaps the best example of what type of stores not to visit. Getting parking space is impossible, the billing queues never ending, and finally the difference between the listed price and MRP too miniscule to compensate for the effort and time you have to put in.

Sometime it makes me wonder how does Big Bazaar stay in business with the absolutely pathetic shopping experience that they provide, but guess I am missing something as others don’t quite see it that way and the place is always crowded with shoppers.

Link: bangalore- shoppers’ paradise or? by Usha Vaidyanathan on Bangalore MetroBlogging.

Posted under: City Life , Bangalore , Uncategorized
Tagged with: Big Bazaar, nightmare, pathetic, Shopping, shopping experience

What if the average Bangalorean is least bothered about which state Belgaum belongs to, that sure is no deterrent for Kannada Chaluvali Paksha and Karnataka Rakshna Vedike from calling for a 12 hour strike (6AM to 6PM) to protest against UPA government’s ‘step motherly’ treatment in border row with Maharashtra. Ah well…

So we have a daylong strike paralyzing normal life across Bangalore (and perhaps whole Karnataka), thanks to Kannada activists defending the status of Belgaum as an integral part of Karnataka. Btw, if you thought that the near complete shutdown was because people were passionate or seriously concerned about Belgaum issue, then you are mistaken. It was mostly due to the fear psychosis and forced shutdowns.

Thankfully, this time the police was actually present on the streets. This I believe was the reason the bandh went off peacefully, and we did not see a repeat of incidents that took place following Rajkumar’s death.

The traffic was pretty low, and I was able to cover the 22 Kilometers from HSR Layout to HRBR Layout (Kalyan Nagar, Banaswadi) in less than 20 minute while being able to take a few snaps on my way.. I would have loved to put up the photos that I managed to get showing cops doing the rounds (and thanks to them we did not have any untoward incidents today), but none of them came out well.. so here are the ones that I managed.

Posted under: City Life , Bangalore , Uncategorized
Tagged with: bandh, Bangalore, Belgaum, Karnataka, strike

On 09 August, 2006 (Wednesday), I went to Cafe Coffee Day (M. K. Ahmed Supermarket, HSR Layout, Bangalore) along with a friend of mine.

Now normally, I go to CCD on weekends but in this particular case I had a redemption coupon that entitled me to free Cappuccino and it was not valid on weekends.

Okay, so I have this coupon that says it is to be presented before billing. So both of us settle down and order two Cappuccino (two coupons) and a Chocolate Doughnut.

I present the coupons to the guy taking orders and he returns them to me after looking at them for sometime. So I am led to believe that he knows what he is doing and that I will not be billed for the same.

Anyway, he gives me the bill (Rs 81.00) and I again tell him about coupons, he asks me to give the coupons while I pay the bill. Well, sounds fine by me.

So we finish our coffee and I go ahead to pay the bill. I present the bill along with the coupons (remember, the guy earlier told me to do so) and the guy at the counter tell me “Sorry Sir, but this has already been billed. You should have presented the coupons before billing”.

Oh well, I tell him that the other guy had told me to do what I did. But he continues to stick to his “before billing” stand. Anyway, I just pay by cash and get out of the place.

Twice I told the guy taking the orders that I would be using the coupons and finally, I end up having to pay while having the coupons. Now, I just end up wondering if this was not an attempt to cheat me.

Summary: I would avoid CCD if I can. I have never had such a problem at Barista (have not tried others), and probably it’s best for me to avoid CCD where I can…

Posted under: City Life , Bangalore , Uncategorized
Tagged with: Cafe Coffee Day, CCD