Moments so Far ...

Sujatha who is leading the volunteer for better india campaign at LnT South city called and asked DAY 0 - Sunday S- Have you distributed the voters id card? I- No S- They are available at BBMP office. I - When can I collect it and whom to contact? S - Fatima and Umesh ji and I will message the number. DAY 1 - Monday Next day reached BBMP. The place was a chaos with every corner people falling over each other trying to locate their voter id card. Managed to locate Mr Umesh. Mr. Umesh gave the typical government employee look. Here are the gardenia cards, check and go. I - Sir, I had organized the voters id registration drive on behalf of volunteers for better india and have come to collect the cards on behalf of residents. See how the master makes an entry. A lady was standing beside me. Later found her name was Radhika and she was also from gardenia. She started interpreting my English to Umesh's kannada responses and vice versa. Finally Mr. Umesh expressions change...

Happy Holi 2013 - to one and all The streets of Bangalore display the normal traffic. There are only few colored faces on motor bikes. Some colored faces stationed in some corner of street. The shops are open. The offices are open too. Even the school are open too. The schools even have exams. Can you beat that? One girl has gone to give exam in Brigade School and other man has gone to Aura Montessori. Yes, even the Montessories are open today. The Brigade gardenia owners apartment association sent an email restricting Holi होली festivities in the Brigade gardenia campus. I am sure other apartment/layout associations would have sent similar directive. Here's a sample for you to savor CELEBRATION OF  HOLI  INSIDE THE CAMPUS 1.         Holi Dahan on 26 th  March 2013. As there have been frequent fire mishaps the  Fire & Safety  authorities during their annual inspection and audit of...

We live in enclave. It is easy to create an isolated world. Become insensitive to issues that bother us and are created because of us. There are some Neighborhood concerns to share: Uneducated neighborhood Disconnected neighborhood Dying and dirty lakes The community around has created a lot of support in terms of housemaids, security staff, car cleaners/drivers and more. There are few local issues to the enclave Pigeon menace Dog menace Ogling eyes  Public smoking/spitting and release Flowers/Leaves plucking speed biking  foul language from early age What can we do so that life has an equal distribution? Here are few ideas  Educate neighborhood -  value of girl child, prevent kid and female abuse (wife beating) Reach out - create common cultural programs (your cultural event can be theirs too) Rejuvenate neighborhood lakes  (poor chunchunghatta lake is a dirty mess) Create awareness on de-addiction (alcohol/cigaret...

We are concluding another art of living part 1 course at RBI Layout, center. Thank you, one and all. I will be updating this blog with more updates, so keep coming back. Here are some videos. Here are some photos. Enjoy Sudarshan kriya. Have a fulfilling life. 

BESCOM (The electricity utility service provider for Bangalore) has recently changed policy to receive the bills. They have a full fledged office behind Brigade gardenia where they were receiving electricity bills till November 2012. I stood in queue to pay bill in December 2012 for more than an hour. The electricity was not there (Yes, in the electricity office ) and therefore the queue was not moving. They did not have backup power to run a simple computer to receive bill. Finally, when my turn the lady service agent, smiled and said, we don't receive bills anymore here, you have to go to their base sub-station provider namely division S6. So the 1000 plus households of Brigade Gardenia and many more in neighborhood now have to go to JP Nagar 1st phase office or seek alternatives. I went to their recently launched website which asked for account ID on BESCOM bill, I found none so could not register and pay online. So, my research i...

Where is all the water going? Today, saw tankers lining up in front of Brigade Gardenia, an apartment enclave in JP 3 waiting outside gardenia been there for a while another has been releasing water for a while now another comes in from nowhere What can you do to bring back water back into your life? How have you misused and wasted water today? How have you used the water today? Water for your children. Who cares?

Thank you Brigade gardenia apartments owners association and officials from BBMP for organizing the Aadhar Card Enrollment drive at brigade gardenia. I think you can also request them to do same at your apartment enclave or layout. Its free unlike the time when the drive to collect property tax is organized by some officials BBMP wherein they collect self-service fees. Day 1 I went there in the afternoon. There were few people in the queue so took the form, asked a few as is this the only requirement and they said yes. Then in the evening, armed with filled forms entered BMS hall (where the drive is currently stationed), the verification official said I needed a token. I stood in the queue from 4:45PM and this was told at 5:10PM. Went inside requesting for token. Another replied in Kannada, I said please explain in Hindi/English. He passed on the enquiry to another. In sincere, broken Hindi he said token cannot be given as it was already 5.  Then he said you ...

We will have candle lights all get their own They will arrange for music system green carpets chairs and in-house DJ We will have light snacks all come empty stomach They have cancelled carnival, yesterday to honor the brutal killing Post light dinner We can shake a leg twist and turn to latest Bollywood numbers and do little dance A nation soon forgetting in disguise of concern creating a mockery of celebration making the shame an act of past to welcome the new year we sit on a time bomb waiting it to implode in our neighborhood until then we ignore the sick body and mind are the common man part of your support system a driver, a guard, a gym instructor a relative, anybody but we continue to make believe the tragedy was theirs we are safe the needle did not prick us so we ignore waiting until the blood spills here and now only then we scream foul blame the society and system cry innocence we are victim we are victim...

Jawaharlal Nehru was born on 14th November. We celebrate children's day in his honor. The daily routine may force you to forget about him but for the sincere and dedicated mothers who like their kids to showcase their talents at stage. Not really, I really appreciate the hard work and effort put by the ladies in composing a event that is memorial for their kids as well as their parents. Their is dance,skit, keyboards,songs and fashion shows. Ah! I forgot another active class in enclaves who needs the events. The teachers of various arts and crafts like dance/song/keyboards who want to market their availability for your kids so that he can attend one more class. There are dance and more dance and too much dance. Indian bollywood music and its steps copied by students, cheered by parents. Where is talent? Traditional music being rendered by half screeching loud speakers. Will you close your eyes to get lost in music? Distribution of fast foods like chips packets means more ...

Once again the time comes to pay tax to government . I called Mr. Shivappa who offers his services after office hours to residents of Brigade Gardenia. He asked me to come to the newly constructed BBMP help center in RBI layout, behind Capital School on 2nd Main. I could not locate it the first time and the good old postman on the Luna asked me to sit behind him and turned back from his onward journey of dropping letters to show me the place. To our dismay the help center was right in front of us after 2 sec ride. Mr. Shivappa who had explained me the address of the place and also asked me to come there with previous two years receipt, khata and blank cheque . I requested him to disclose the amount so that I can pay it online. He did not. He asked my the flat area and then ignored my bodily existence. When I was in front of him requesting the same information he suddenly stopped understanding my Hindi and English . A good samaritan who was standing nearby explained to him that...

I was standing in front of Everfine when I saw a jeep playing something in kannada. I could make out that they were aspiring for greener and cleaner Bangalore and launching door to door garbage collection in separate bags after segregation. I went into RBI layout and the jeep was in front of me in middle of road. Some vigorous honking and it gave me some side. An initiative has been started by Divya in Brigade Gardenia Complex. She is supported by few others families till she is able to generate enough volumes to get association interested and make it mandatory for rest of association. The garbage is segragated into three separate recycles plastic bags   which she brought from Chickpet. She also gave us nice one page laminated sheet detailing what goes under metal/plastic and paper categories. The garbage is collected on Saturday 2PM by Samartham trust. Thank you Divya for making us part of noble initiative. I hope BBMP really takes it far and wide across bangalore and ...

It was 12:10 PM. It was a typical Sunday afternoon. Some habits die hard. Even though every day is Sunday, you still believe that Sunday is "good old times Sunday" which used to be a day on weekend. We have had a series of dal-chaval and roti sabzies for many days now. Dominoes sent SMS a few days back with a coupon code stating "Anniversary.Celebrate with us.Buy 1 get 1 free, Valid till 26th July". I generally don't deny participation in times of celebrations. The temptations ran high and for sometimes later went "dry". The urge to order a pizza sitting on a lazy bangalore afternoon on a "typical sunday" took over. I made the call to 08044448888. He thanked me calling and asked me the area of my residence. The call was redirected to another outlet in Bilekahalli. The lady could not hear my voice. Yes, my sweet humble sound of murmur. The first signs of frustration appeared and I thought of switching providers. Anyways, I called up again and ...

A neat way to pay property tax online if you have a property in bangalore. As launch offer BBMP is not charging extra on credit card payment. You can go to http://218.248.41.198/ and choose form IV or V depending on whether there has been any change in your property from last year. You will need Application number from assessment year 2008-09. The number on top right corner of pink form. If you are lucky to have saved it to your files. Not the white receipt. You will reach a pre-filled form which either you can print to pay in nearest BBMP center or if you have started to trust online gateways and carry a credit card then choose to pay online. Remember to note down the new application number NOW. You never know when you will need them. Online option will lead you to IDBI gateway and there you need to have your credit card handy, your tax details comes pre-filled. You are done with the payment in your cosy little bed. Time for the receipt. You have still not invested in printer. Okay,...

Its not the place where you could spend 4 hours of your life. You can see the world. The world can see you. You are touched by the cool winds as much as anybody else would out there in the open. You can shout "Security" and keep doing until the poor fella has to wake up. He looks around for source of sound and it does not not seem to be coming from regular places. Atleast where he expects humans to be. But she was no ordinary human. She was old and bold, probably in her sixties and she was looking down at the world. In those days, only the Queens would peep out of their palatial windows from behind the thin veils. She had no choice but to be behind the grill. It was transparent. It was open. My child rushed to me and told me. I rushed out and had a glimpse. She was majestic in her disposition. She was royal. She was stuck in utility balcony of her apartment in Golden Magic, Brigade Gardenia in JP Nagar Bangalore. Probably on sixth floor. There was not much to be undone as the...

It rained and my fingers have shrunk in. I simply stood in the balcony. The rain was as eager to embrace me as I was to her. She heard my prayers from all directions as it came hurtling down from left as well as from right. The mango trees were still but the water squeezed out between golden magic and jardine on one side and magnifica and carinata on other side. It seemed to be converging inside my balcony as this was the first time she entered through the winds. The touch is always special as is every drop. You also fear because you know there will be loss somewhere both of life and property with the way cities are constructing and growing these days. Water was floating above the concrete as it mixed with downpour from above. Never witnessed anything like this. A mother and child were walking with a weak umbrella getting drenched from all sides. The child was trying to hug close to mother. It was cold hail drops. It is still pouring now and I am cushioned in the sofa after a warm bat...

सरस्वती पूजा was celebrated in Brigade Gardenia in Jan 2009. It was conducted by Bengali residents of the community. The प्रसाद program was enjoyed by one and all.