GENRE: Voices

A little off the city, on Mysore Road after the Kengeri township, it is hard to miss the ultra-colourful stuffed toys being sold by the kerb. Makers of these toys are the members of more than 20 families migrated from Naklav village, Jharkhand, a decade ago. Their profession back home was making mortar and pestle and statues. They have made Bengaluru their home now, but sadly they do not even hold an address proof. Even after all these years, very few of their children get to attend schools. One among them is Pooja. Pooja is ony 18, cute and shy…

Sneha Jain writes:  My ideal India experience I lost my DL recently and had to go file an FIR to get a duplicate DL from the RTO. I was thinking of getting it done from the Koramangala police station. Given my past experience with the Police, I was not sure if I wanted to go through this on a Monday morning, and spoil my day and the rest of the week ahead. But I went ahead hoping things might have changed. It was my best experience with the Police so far and it has in fact made my day today.…

Sneha Jain writes:  My ideal India experience I lost my DL recently and had to go file an FIR to get a duplicate DL from the RTO. I was thinking of getting it done from the Koramangala police station. Given my past experience with the Police, I was not sure if I wanted to go through this on a Monday morning, and spoil my day and the rest of the week ahead. But I went ahead hoping things might have changed. It was my best experience with the Police so far and it has in fact made my day today.…

Jesus is supposed to have said that "Man does not live by bread alone". Whether I eat only bread or other things along with it, though, a lot of the stuff I'm currently learning will be of no help whatsoever in acquiring it. That's what I feel every time I sit down, or, as the case may be, try to keep my head off the desk, in class. My main issue is with the amount we're expected to write - by hand! I'm not expecting to spend much time writing going forward—after all, this is 2015, not 1215. And anyway,…

Jesus is supposed to have said that "Man does not live by bread alone". Whether I eat only bread or other things along with it, though, a lot of the stuff I'm currently learning will be of no help whatsoever in acquiring it. That's what I feel every time I sit down, or, as the case may be, try to keep my head off the desk, in class. My main issue is with the amount we're expected to write - by hand! I'm not expecting to spend much time writing going forward—after all, this is 2015, not 1215. And anyway,…

If an accident is caused by the poor condition of a road, should the BBMP be held responsible? And should the corporation be forced to pay compensation to such victims? There's been a lot of heated debate about this following the unfortunate recent incident, in which a woman fell off a scooter and died as her husband swerved to avoid a pothole on the street. With the cops booking the husband for negligent driving, and the BBMP pointing fingers at BDA, it seems that we were only too ready to add insult to the tragedy, whereas what is really needed…

If an accident is caused by the poor condition of a road, should the BBMP be held responsible? And should the corporation be forced to pay compensation to such victims? There's been a lot of heated debate about this following the unfortunate recent incident, in which a woman fell off a scooter and died as her husband swerved to avoid a pothole on the street. With the cops booking the husband for negligent driving, and the BBMP pointing fingers at BDA, it seems that we were only too ready to add insult to the tragedy, whereas what is really needed…

Pic: Prashant Kamat. Keeping the roads free of potholes is quite simple. Everywhere in the world, cities do this all the time. How? By doing three or four key things. First, they build roads of high quality. We build roads of low quality thinking that they are cheaper. But that's actually not true. They keep crumbling in the rains, and we keep rebuilding them, and as a result the expenditure on the roads is actually higher in the long run. It is better to build roads once, at higher cost and quality. Look at Vittal Mallya Road - it has…

Pic: Prashant Kamat. Keeping the roads free of potholes is quite simple. Everywhere in the world, cities do this all the time. How? By doing three or four key things. First, they build roads of high quality. We build roads of low quality thinking that they are cheaper. But that's actually not true. They keep crumbling in the rains, and we keep rebuilding them, and as a result the expenditure on the roads is actually higher in the long run. It is better to build roads once, at higher cost and quality. Look at Vittal Mallya Road - it has…

Hello, dear reader, with whom I’ve shared so much. If you’re reading this, it means the time has come for me to leave. Perhaps, as you’re rubbing your weary eyes and preparing for bed, I’m up in the air, waving goodbye to you from the polluted sky above Bengaluru. Yes, after 11 weeks in the Garden City, I’m going back home. Back to a place, where, like they say on Cheers, “Everyone knows my name.” Then again, did anyone even watch Cheers in India? Another question I’ll never know the answer to. Add it to a growing list of questions I…