Human interest

COVID-19: House helps facing troubled times

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bangalore maids

By Ritika Srivatsan Everyone is affected by the coronavirus, but the most impacted are the underprivileged, such as house helps. They blame the government and the BBMP for the mess. Some are living hand-to-mouth, while others are thankful to their employers for paying them even when they are unemployable. The other house helps are unhappy … Read more

Parents of Bangalore’s first Bicycle Mayor injured in ‘city of cars, not people’

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sathya sankaran's father
Parents of Bangalore's first Bicycle Mayor injured in 'city of cars, not people' 1
Parents of Bangalore's first Bicycle Mayor injured in 'city of cars, not people' 2
Pictures courtesy: Sathya Sankaran

By Qamar ZJ

Despite cries for pedestrian-friendly roads and city infrastructure, Bengaluru continues to be mismanaged by an apathetic corporation and an even-more disoriented state government, irrespective of which party occupies the highest seat. The latest diatribe against such a bad road infrastructure came from the city’s first Bicycle Mayor Sathya Sankaran. Calling it the ‘city of cars, not people’, Sathya gave the examples of his parents who fell victims to Bengaluru’s appalling road infrastructure only recently. 

Tweeting to the city police and BBMP Commissioner, Sathya wrote: “After the bad fall my father had on Sanjaynagar Main Road, it was my mother’s turn near New BEL Road bus stand. (She) Tripped over construction material left all over the place. This is a city for cars not people.”

The twitterrati was quick to react to this latest development by wishing his parents speedy recovery. In addition, they shared their thoughts on the city’s civic woes.

Citizen activist Srinivas Alavilli, the co-founder of Citizens for Bangalore, said, “We have become a city of machines and people have no place left. We shall take it back.”

The proactive Whitefield Rising resident group agreed with Srinivas by stating, “Our streets are strewn with debris, garbage, potholes and missing slabs.”

Vinay Kamble wanted to know if the government can be sued for this terrible incident. If you have the same question, yes, you can, if the injury happened due to a pothole, an open manhole or drain. In a recent case, the Karnataka High Court ordered the BBMP to compensate one such victim.

Vinay Sreenivasa had a similar story to share. “My mum in law also hurt her knee on a badly-laid footpath on Malleswaram 15th Cross. Unless we fix our pavements, we fail all the elderly and differently-abled in our city, and all of ourselves.”

Rajkumar Dugar recommended one measure that could rectify this issue. “This problem will reduce the day we have names of BBMP engineers and contractors displayed at every road with penalty clause for any damage to road. Citizens are made to cough up for the slightest mistake. Why not these people too?

Reacting to the incident, a representative of Save Harlur campaign made a stark statement: “This city is not even made for cars”. Another resident asked chief minister YS Yeddiyurappa to “transfer all inefficient officers”.

Only Balaji had an ironic twist to the controversy by questioning Sathya’s mission of sustainable mobility by saying, “And you have been misleading gullible people to cycle on such dangerous roads.”

 

 

 

 

Youngster tweets, resolves a problem and makes Rs 500!

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Arun Bothra

Dipika Bajpai, the award-winning and dynamic former Deputy Conservator of Forests in Bangalore, praised a middleman the other day. Actually, it was a boy. She was reacting to an impressive story shared by Bhubaneshwar IPS officer Arun Bothra who summed up the tale by saying, “We are a nation of middlemen.” And Dipika responded with: “What a novel and nobel way of employment.”

Why are these civil servants so impressed with the boy, you ask? According to Bothra, this youngster apparently helped a senior citizen’s legal issue by tweeting about it to the cops. After looking at the grouse on Twitter, Bothra apparently invited the harassed citizen to his office, and resolved the issue. But what surprised him most was the passing remark by the elderly gentleman. “While leaving he told that a young boy in his area tweets for others. Charges Rs. 500/- for every resolved issue,” tweeted Bothra.

Clearly, where there is an opportunity, there is money to be made. The tweet received over 238 comments, was retweeted over 600 times and registered over 2500 likes.

However, Bothra did clarify that only 5-10% of complaints are resolved through Twitter. The rest is through the respective police stations.

Here are some of the best comments on Twitter about this boy’s side venture:

Aishwarya P: On a positive side, we can appreciate the boy for using his skill and time to earn money and also enabling others to solve their issues. After all, what he is rendering is also a service. I believe he is much better than those who depend on parents or govt for money.

Sitanshu Mahapatra: The Boy is the Entrepreneur of the Year👋🏾👋🏾👋🏾

Sandip: Is he mentioned anywhere that he is doing social service? If not, then he is doing nothing wrong. You must have heard the dialogue “if you are good at something never do it for free”.

Arun Chopra: He’s making money out of his education while doing social service, better than selling pakoras.

C J Karira: He saw a business opportunity! Fifty years ago, letter writers sitting outside GPOs did a similar job… only difference is that paper sheet has become smartphone and pen the finger.

Syeda Sabaun Noor: Wow!!! This thing is making us less of a community… Everyone is doing a side business.. sad.

Jay Jagdev: These jobs carry more respectable names like Advisor, Consultants…

The heartwarming story of an HSR pet that was lost and found during Diwali!

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The heartwarming story of an HSR pet that was lost and found during Diwali! 3
On Wednesday, November 7, Dr Sumana Kaushik lost Angel, a female golden retriever due to a negligent caretaker in Mangammanapalya. On Saturday, November 10, she was reunited with her six-year-old pet, thanks to four dog lovers of HSR Layout.
 
 
The heartwarming story of an HSR pet that was lost and found during Diwali! 4
The message that did the rounds of social media
 
Dr Sumana had given her female dog to a pet trainer who had in turn given it to a woman in Mangammanapalya. During Diwali, with all the firecrachers going off simultaneously, the dog got scared and ran away. Thankfully for her, dog lovers Prashanth, Bindu and Sindhu Gowda, who had lost their dog a year ago, sheltered and fed this dog for three days when they found her strolling on Hosa Road. They also put up her photo on Facebook’s ‘HSR Canine Club’ group.
 
 
The heartwarming story of an HSR pet that was lost and found during Diwali! 5
The ‘Found dog’ message that went viral on social media
 
 
The heartwarming story of an HSR pet that was lost and found during Diwali! 6
Sumana after being reunited with her pet
 
 
The dog was reunited with Dr Sumana when Anshu Vyas, another HSR resident and a member of the pet club, saw a ‘lost dog’ message on Facebook by Dr Sumana’s sister in law. “After seeing both the ‘lost’ and ‘found’ posts, Anshu put the puzzle together and asked us to contact the Gowdas,” Dr Sumana told Residents Watch. “The rescuers have a nursery on Hosapalya where they took care of her for three days. Even now, my dog is scared after going through all the trauma. I thank Anshu, Prashant, Bindu and Sindhu who looked after our Angel. It showed us that God’s miracles are personified through such warm-hearted good souls.”

 

Resident harvests and places groceries in community fridge for the poor

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Resident harvests and places groceries in community fridge for the poor 7
On October 23, Residents Watch wrote about a community fridge placed by Saibaba temple on the 19th Main footpath, so the poor can make use of it. Today, Sector 7 resident Ratnakar BNS Ratnakar did his bit for the underprivileged.
 
 
Resident harvests and places groceries in community fridge for the poor 8
 
 
 
Resident harvests and places groceries in community fridge for the poor 9
 
 
 
He decided to donate the harvest from his terrace and community garden to the community fridge. “I placed cabbage, brinjal, and Amaranthus leaves harvested today,” he told Residents Watch. “Hope the same will be relished by the users. We should encourage more such community fridges across HSR. I feel elated.”
 
We are elated too. If more residents start caring about the underprivileged, the world will be such a better place.

 

It’s a mela like atmosphere at Agara Lake Park

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agara lake park
Cornwalas, coconut vendors, cycle rentals, bhelpuriwalas, panipuri stalls… The Agara Lake Park is recording a high turnout of residents on weekends, and today was no different. Estimates peg the number at 8000-9000 each on Saturdays and Sundays.
 
People squatting on grass to watch the sunset. Children and adults riding cycles. Play area packed with small kids and parents in tow… It was a mela alright. Importantly, ample parking space on the service road made it an enjoyable evening for kids, college goers and families alike.
 
There are several other stories related to Agara Lake park which we will discuss over the course of the next few days. Each deserve a separate story of their own. In the meanwhile, if you want to know the history of Agara Lake and how it came to be in such a fabulous state, perhaps you should read the detailed story by Residents Watch here.
 
 
It's a mela like atmosphere at Agara Lake Park 10
 
 
 
It's a mela like atmosphere at Agara Lake Park 11
Ample parking space on Service Road
 
 
It's a mela like atmosphere at Agara Lake Park 12
 
 
 
It's a mela like atmosphere at Agara Lake Park 13
 
 
 
It's a mela like atmosphere at Agara Lake Park 14
 
 
 
It's a mela like atmosphere at Agara Lake Park 15