First Glimpse of the Namma Metro

Namma Metro

Metro Carriage parked on the Ring road!! Lucky to spot it!!
here is few pics for all Bangaloreans

There is a rapid improvement and growth in the infrastructure of Bangalore. We must be happy to have been born in this generation to have witnessed both sides of Bangalore. What we have seen is a underdeveloped Bangalore and what we are seeing now is the developing Bangalore and all of now know that this city will soon be like the other great cities of the world.

Unbelievable!! Believe it

Who is Responsible?

Times of India: 29/04/2010

It is such a sad thing that the innocent are dying due to our doings. When will we wake up? or are we just going to not bother about it like usual. If the forest officials say 12 died then at least 25 of them would have died. I just can't imagine such a kind of death. Dying after suffering from failed organs and immovable muscles (Dehydration causes cramping of muscles). Being thirsty for days and weeks and slowly the body disobeys your intent and every step towards finding water is like walking a million kilometers, your eyes dim, you cant hear, you can barely lift yourself let alone walking.

Please lend your hands in making this planet greener. Lets stop the Global warming.

People who don't Vote.

Last Sunday, 28th march 2010, was the BBMP elections in Bangalore. Only 45% of the people turned out in spite of the election being held on a holiday. Nowadays there are so many polling centres and each centre has many electronic polling booths, so there is no question of waiting for long hours to vote. At the peak hour you might have to stand in the queue for about 15 min. Most of the educated people enjoyed their Sunday by spending their time in their couch talking politics and seeing the news for their election updates.

Should we Respect the people who don't vote?
I personally don't consider them as citizens at all.

Indians never do what they should, but what they do is crib, crib and crib about their plight. I simply don't understand why people don't take up their responsibility but feel they have every right to blame the Government for not being responsible. If the government is not responsible, its because we have not elected the right people. Its a sad thing that the hindrance to the ever developing India is, it's own citizens who don't vote.

Indians sit, talk and argue about politics for hours but on the day it matters, they prefer not to be a part of it. I hate politics but I disgust people who don't vote. I am living in a nation that is not developed, where the taxes are high, the infrastructure is not good, the cities are not clean, and I am being taxed for everything I do, etc. it is because of people who don't vote.

My solution to this:

If every Indian were given a unique Id, just like how it is in many other countries a lot of problems can be resolved including this one. This unique number or alphanumeric Id should be centralised and any activity that is related to the government should be done through this. The centralised database should hold all the details of the individual.

Now when a person applies for a passport, Driving license, Ration card, Government jobs, Bank loans in nationalised banks, pensions, bail, registering land, and wants to use other government facilities like free hospitals, free schooling, ESI, PF etc should be denied if they have not voted even once in the last 3 elections (could be local or central). All the forms should have a mandatory field for the national Id and before processing the forms, their vote status should be considered before sanctioning their request. This should not only imply for new passports, Licenses, Ration cards, etc. but for it's renewal too. This is similar to stripping the citizenship of a person until he/she votes.

Then everyone will vote at least to use the government facilities. Every labourer will vote otherwise his kids wont get free education, or they wont get a ration card, ESI etc. Every one in the middle class will vote too as they will not get a passport, Driving licence, government job, bank loans etc. Every rich person too will vote, as apart from being deprived from all the facilities they cannot register land, Buy or renew their business licenses, etc. Even a person, like a criminal who is not worried about the country will vote, as he will not be given a bail when required if he is not voted previously.

Some people would have been sick or out of town and couldn't have made it to their home town during elections and that is the reason a buffer should be given and should be checked for a minimal voting of once in 3 elections. Saying this, it does not mean that many of them will not vote if they have voted previously, as they might think what if am not able to vote the next time for some reason, then I would have not voted twice in a row and the next time I will be close to losing my citizenship. Nobody would want to take that risk, and vote whenever possible.

Strict rules should be imposed on the people who do not vote. I know a US citizen, who was in Bangalore when the President election was going on and she voted through post. Policies such as this has to be implemented in India too, but this is possible in US as every citizen has a Social Security Number. Without this the NRIs (Non Resident Indian) and the Indians who are out of India will find it difficult to come to India every time when there is an election and participate in it.

I am 25 and since I have been eligible to vote, there has been 4 elections, I was not able to vote the first time as I did not have a Voter's Id. I made sure I got mine and since then I have voted in 3 elections. Hope everyone votes even if strict rules have not been implemented.

Mercury Raising!!!

The sun is scorching, Cloudless days are sapping our energy, rays beating hard, heat is simply unbearable - The Summer is here, not just any, but the hottest since 1997. With most giant trees brought down in Bangalore, there is hardly any shade and a part of the surviving trees have shed their leaves. Most of the corporates and the so called wanna be environmentalists would not know this as they spend most of their time in closed space well ventilated by the heat generating Air Conditioners.

There are so many things that we do to protect ourselves from the harms of heat, we use all kinds of lotions, drink up liters of thirst quenchers, treat ourselves with a nice cold bath and a bottle of pure water is always nearby. Where do animals and birds get something to quench their thirst? Lets face the fact, we humans are the main reason for this climatic change. Most of us do nothing to reduce the global warming, let alone trying to prevent it from increasing further. Why should the other animals and birds suffer for our selfish doings. The least we can do is keep some water for them. You might have got many SMSes and E-mails regarding this. You might have either read them or forwarded it to others. Have you done your bit?

All you need to do is, keep a tray/bowl on top of your house and fill it with clean water every day. It hardly takes time. This must be a daily routine as Birds do not come close to new changes. They will monitor for few days and only after confirming its safe to them, they will come to your house. When few birds come, the others will follow. They cant get themselves a cool drink when they are thirsty.

Since my house has a basement, the terrace is 2 and 1/2 floors high. Squirrels still manage and come up here and drink the water that the pigeons spill. This is a great sight to me and makes me feel happy. It does not take time and after some days it becomes a habit and becomes a part of you.

Trivia:

Q: In Bangalore, Who cleans the dead rats on road and in garbage and save us from plague, one of the worst diseases that has brought down great dynasties in the past.?

A: If you say the corporation workers or the citizens, you are wrong. The answer is: Crow.

Q: Who plants the most trees and plants in Bangalore?

A: If your answer still is either the Government/NGOs or Citizens, you are wrong again. The answer is birds and tree animals like squirrels.

Q: Who keeps the pests under control in cities like Bangalore?

A: Animals and birds like frogs, toads, swallows, sparrows, etc.

Are you ready to clean the dead rats on the road, do you plant trees, or do you have any way to control pests? If the answer to all these is "NO", then you should reconsider your thinking about other animals and birds and save them. "DO YOUR BIT"

www.blackle.com

For all the people who want to save energy and save the planet, here is a energy saving search engine. http://www.blackle.com/

This is actually a Google custom search.

How does it save energy?

The background of the web page is Black as opposed to the regular white in Google and other search engines.

Why should we use it?

If you start using Blackle instead of Google, every time you open the search engine, you save some power, definitely not more to save some money. But, if more and more people use this every time, then the overall power saving is massive.

How much energy has it saved?

As of March 24th 2010 it has saved 1,768,939.045 Watt hours. This is enormous. Imagine the number if everyone uses Blackle every single time we search.