Community Matters

All the chaos and disturbance of urban living quietly gets washed away when you stand in front of a lake and allow its spirit to engulf you. For some time now, Bhaskar and I have been feeling the call of lakes. It is a call which could not be ignored anymore. Introduced to lakes by Ramesh Sivaram (Visit to Kaikondanahalli lake), our journey began very recently, with baby steps taking us from one lake to another, trying to understand what ails our lakes and what can be done about it. This writeup is an attempt to document our learning and…

All the chaos and disturbance of urban living quietly gets washed away when you stand in front of a lake and allow its spirit to engulf you. For some time now, Bhaskar and I have been feeling the call of lakes. It is a call which could not be ignored anymore. Introduced to lakes by Ramesh Sivaram (Visit to Kaikondanahalli lake), our journey began very recently, with baby steps taking us from one lake to another, trying to understand what ails our lakes and what can be done about it. This writeup is an attempt to document our learning and…

One week. One well-planned week is all it will take to make an entire locality having around 1000 households to start segregation. So if we had just about 10 interested people in each ward, we could get the whole of Bangalore to segregate at source in just one week. I mean it. This begs the question – Why on earth is it not happening? It is after all not so difficult to get 10 people in each ward to get this going, right? Ah, that’s where we are completely missing the point; the garbage crisis here has nothing to do…

One week. One well-planned week is all it will take to make an entire locality having around 1000 households to start segregation. So if we had just about 10 interested people in each ward, we could get the whole of Bangalore to segregate at source in just one week. I mean it. This begs the question – Why on earth is it not happening? It is after all not so difficult to get 10 people in each ward to get this going, right? Ah, that’s where we are completely missing the point; the garbage crisis here has nothing to do…

How can I ever talk about it? These are the opening lines that play on most women’s mind when it comes to even thinking about menstruation and all the embarrassing moments that surround it. All women, and I mean absolutely all women in India, have had one or the other moments during her period, especially as an adolescent, that she feels she can never talk about openly. And this is true for rural, tribal, urban, educated and uneducated women. Pretending it never happened During trainings for women leaders in IT companies or for ASHA workers in a village to undertake menstrual…

How can I ever talk about it? These are the opening lines that play on most women’s mind when it comes to even thinking about menstruation and all the embarrassing moments that surround it. All women, and I mean absolutely all women in India, have had one or the other moments during her period, especially as an adolescent, that she feels she can never talk about openly. And this is true for rural, tribal, urban, educated and uneducated women. Pretending it never happened During trainings for women leaders in IT companies or for ASHA workers in a village to undertake menstrual…

We invite volunteers to join us in making 100% segregation happen at source by empowering the garbage collectors in Konanakunte, ward no. 195. What you have to do You will begin by shadowing an existing team who is making segregation happen. After that, we will connect you to a garbage collector with whom you will work closely on making segregation happen in the locality alloted to him. As the garbage collector goes from door to door, you will be accompanying him in informing residents on how to segregate and making sure that only segregated waste is collected. In general, wet…

We invite volunteers to join us in making 100% segregation happen at source by empowering the garbage collectors in Konanakunte, ward no. 195. What you have to do You will begin by shadowing an existing team who is making segregation happen. After that, we will connect you to a garbage collector with whom you will work closely on making segregation happen in the locality alloted to him. As the garbage collector goes from door to door, you will be accompanying him in informing residents on how to segregate and making sure that only segregated waste is collected. In general, wet…

Nearly 100% segregation and separate collection is now happening through the BBMP in the area covering 850 individual homes in Chunchaghatta. This transformation has been possible in just three weeks! This write up is intended to share the story of how this happened. When Bhaskar and I decided to initiate action towards getting residents to segregate waste in one part of Ward No. 195, we did not anticipate the amount of time it would take, the methods which would work best or the challenges that lay in store for us. We just got started with a madness to do whatever…

Nearly 100% segregation and separate collection is now happening through the BBMP in the area covering 850 individual homes in Chunchaghatta. This transformation has been possible in just three weeks! This write up is intended to share the story of how this happened. When Bhaskar and I decided to initiate action towards getting residents to segregate waste in one part of Ward No. 195, we did not anticipate the amount of time it would take, the methods which would work best or the challenges that lay in store for us. We just got started with a madness to do whatever…