How do we fight this ?

Read this link http://vishshanker.sulekha.com/blog/post/2009/02/this-happened-in-bangalore-bengaluru-shocking.htm for an example of how the tide is turning.  The silent sufferers, who are aware/afraid of  “taking the law into their hands” seem to be developing some bonemass, allowing them to stand up to the gooda elements.

Its amazing how we suffer them on a dialy basis. Its all the way from small barbs when we get fingered by rude traffic violators to incidents like the one above.  Little by little, they strip away our confidence and respect for fellow beings and reduce us to gutless wimps, or worse, one of them.

Yeah, Yeah, I know, we will have to pay a price for trying to stand up to these insults. Its easy for the goondas to do what they do, they dont care that they are breaking the law or threading on our freedoms.  We are saddled with all that weight and will have to pay for it in cash, kind, time and pain, if we want to fight it.

Mumbai terror attacks

I, like so many of us here in the Bangalore, watched in jaw dropping horror, as the events unfolded in Mumbai.  I was both proud of the soldiers and dismayed at the lack of direction and coherence in our response to the misdeeds. 

The Law enforcement was completely overwhelmed by the information overload coming at them. Even the elite NSG seemed stumped for a while. I am shocked that the powers that be are so stupid and have managed to push us to this dismal level of unpreparedness to handle crises. We have sacrificed many a life in the forces and among civilians while the politicians muddled from one blunder to another.

Even thought all blame cannot be heaped on the narrow minded politicians of today, they have been crass, stupid and self serving at all levels. Both in the government and outside.  The horror is compounded by our total lack of equipment, training and preparedness.  Just 10 odd fiends managed to bring the whole city and much of the nation to its knees.

How do we get ourselves in this spineless mess ?  We seem to get bogged down with petty issues and have no respect for the lives of our fellow citizens.  Our “chalta hai” (go along) attitude has been fatal to some of us and I don’t think we are owning up to the gross negligence we indulge in.

If Mumbai suffered the brunt of it in November,  Bangalore getting its head bashed in, is not a stretch.  It has gaping holes and way too soft targets on several fronts.  Heaven forbid if the NSG wants to snake its way into town from any of the airports in the traffic ! Or the medical response teams want to get people out. 

I hope the events get us thinking seriously about how we can come togehter as a nation to get this addressed. It has to be a ground up revamp.  I, like so many mumbaikars and Indians all over, seethe with frustration with the callousness of our system. 

Less said about the terrorists the better…..

Digging up some old history of Bangalore

While looking up stuff on banglore’s history, I bumped into a nice tidbit on Mr. Lavelle who got the rights to mine gold in Kolar. This link is a book written in 1898 by ROBERT H. ELLIOT. Makes for an amazing reading. This is a blog from the past !

Also, a nice post about the names of roads in Bangalore from By bglr_usha

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1. Lavelle Road was named after Michael Lavelle, an Irish soldier who made his money in the Kolar Gold Fields.

2. Langford Town/Road was named after Col.Pierce Leslie Langford whose residence was located on that road once.

3. Mayo Hall is supposed to remind you of Richard South Bourke, the then Viceroy, who was the Earl of Mayo.

4. Meanee avenue road gets its name after the battle of Meeanee (Miani) where Charles Napier defeated a Baluchi army (1843)

5. The house of the British resident of Mysore was located on Residency Road – it is currently the residence of the Chief General manager of The S.B.I.

6. The names given to the roads in the Cantonment were according to the military arrangement and campus. Thus, there was Artillery Rd., Brigade Rd., Infantry Rd., Cavalry Rd., etc. The South Parade (presently Mahatma Gandhi Road) was to the south of the Parade Ground. St.Mark’s Road gets its name from the St.Mark’s Cathedral.

7. Kumara Park takes its name after the residence of Dewan Seshadri Iyer which he called Kumara Krupa after his family deity.

8. Austin Town is now Kittel nagar after Ferdinand Kittel who compiled the first Kannada dictionary and Thomas Town is B.I.Rice nagar after the archaeologist.

9. Ali Asker was the grand father of Dewan Mirza Ismail who imported horses from iran – remember Ali Asker Road?

10.Jayanagar came into existence in 1948 and has been named after Maharajah Jayachamrajendra Wodeyar.

11.Tata Silk farm gets its name from the silk business that flourished in that area from 1896.

12.Did you know that the shopping area around South Parade ground (Now M.G.Road) was once called Blackpally? (after the Black death in 1898-99)

 

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Speedbreakers in Bangalore should be called Carbreakers/Limb-breakers

With ill-designed road humps on any Bangalore road every 100 meters, only an idiot can think that they prevent accidents. I would bet they actually cause more than they prevent. Add that to over genius road works guys way of putting up cement block road partitions, what we have is a  human killer trap for roads.

Toady, I actually counted the road humps I negotiate on my short 8KM trip to the office, they number 14, with one prize winning stretch with 3 in a span of about 200 meters! I bet every time there is a road accident on a stretch of road, instead of looking at providing a better access mechanism for the pedestrians, we myopically put in a “speed-breaker”.  I think we take the slogan “ribbed for extra pleasure” to a whole new meaning.

Why such lawlessness ?

The rioting and looting last week was a another black mark on the cosmopolitan face of the city. It is a sad and shameful display of lawlessness by elements who I knew existed, but didn’t expect to be so blatant.

This is the second time in a year or so that Bangalore has witnessed wanton harm to citizens. The destruction of public, private property will in all probability go unpunished. I am agonizing over how we the common people will secure ourselves from such mobs and hooligans. What fortifications can one put up to avoid injury or worse from such situations ? The law keepers and makers seem to be busy elsewhere and it is hopelessly outnumbered, demoralized and inept to handle such situations.

My frustration is too deep to go into how we could fend from, insure against or avoid such happenings. It seems a futile to ask that we stick together and make this city work. Bangalore has such tantalizing potential to be the city that India can be proud of , but alas, it is being dragged back every time a few steps to progress are made. Perhaps a few more days and the optimist in me will come back to think lofty thoughts.