More Airport

So your intrepid blogger brings you an update on the construction of the Bangalore International Airport, previously blogged about here and here.

It took me about 20 minutes to drive from the highway to the site offices and actually stopped to ask for directions three times. Interesting drive, mostly barren land where one gets excited to see the first signs of construction (which is a compound wall) in about half a kilometre from the highway.

The construction of the ATC Tower.

The sections of the roof at the pre-cast yard, which are this cool wave-shaped profile. Check out the construction and then the artist's impression of the roof, below.

And in case you were wondering, here's the compound wall.

How Do You Smile In Kannada?

Now that I've found the bluetooth dongle that was hiding behind the ATX cabinet, here are a few pictures from many moons ago. Many more to come in later posts.

All The Epithets

Yesterday, my peeps and I narrowly escaped the insanity that was the riot. After driving near Ulsoor Lake trying to avoid the traffic jams, we headed back on St. John's Church Road going the roundabout way to Old Madras Road. When we reached Coles Park, stopping because of a blockade at Haines Road, outside Siddique, a Matador Van filled with people doing rounds/going to the VHP-sponsored Virat Hindu Samajotsava.

Some dudes just pop out of the woodwork i.e., Siddique Chicken Centre, handkerchiefs covering their face and attack the van (and people inside, I guess) with metal pipes. We saw them break the windshield and climbing into it while we quickly drove away.
Now these dudes with the orange flags were not heading in the direction of the rally but driving into the "sensitive area", possibly with the same mentality that Ganapati-processions in Bombay are loudest near the mosques.

Blr Bytes was on Assaye Road (near the Bengalee Association) when he was stopped by more of the protestors and got roughed up, when he was in his car, through the window.

A few nothing-to-with-this Korean tourists were pulled out of their bus and watched it being torched. They were escorted (possibly by a quick-thinking policeman) to the State Fire HQ and stayed there. A lot of foreigners are in the city to attend IMTEX, so the statistical chances of a foreigner getting caught in this would be higher. It's extra trouble we don't need.

Apparently, this started a couple of days ago, when a Jaffer Sharief-organised procession to protest the hanging of Saddam Hussein (20 days after the hanging, albeit) went wrong with some RSS-types attacked that rally (possibly because they were good friends of the Kurds that got gassed). Yesterday's trouble, was therefore a retaliatory attack.

Never a good idea to have people like Praveen Togadia in your city. Someone should take Mr. Togadia, Mr. Sharief and while we're at it Mr. Modi and the Imam of Delhi's Juma Masjid, place them in a single cell in the already housefull Parappana Agrahara Jail. And place them under CCTV surveillance. Should make for interesting viewing.

Granted, we're no longer the Pensioner's Paradise or even Garden City or a "progressive, cosmopolitan city" that romantically reminds us of the quiet, worry-less days. Alongwith the success of a large number of people, it also brings a serious discontentment to a large number of no-so succesful people.

It doesn't help that politicans and "community leaders" foment fear and insecurity along religious lines for more power and more personal gain.

It's an indication of failure of our society and nationhood when politician is a four-letter word.

Parking

I'm not entirely sure how I came across this website but I hope everyone in Bangalore reads it. It's just what our city needs. Some good old fashioned vigilante justice.

And is appropriately warned. A sample notice is below. You can download 'em from their site. Print. Plaster. Repeat.

It's a pity that they do "not support making the notices provided into stickers in the intent to adhere said notices onto offending assholes."

Merry Christmas

The cops had closed Brigade Road to vehicular traffic on X'mas eve. I wish they'd do it more often...

Merry Christmas ya'll, have a good one and drive safe.

My Link List

Hey! You! Yes, you dear reader!

Now that I've got your attention can I ask you to direct it to our Link Blog? Go on, take a look at it and you'll find the most interesting reads such as:

Google road maps for Bangalore and other Indian cities.

A History Of Religion in 90 Seconds.

Ever Wonder what became of Winnie Copper from the Wonder Years? Wonder no more...

Know what Drinking a Coke does to you?

Banquet Menus from the Nobel Prize Ceremonies

Heck, and that's just for this week! Go on, read it, or better yet, subscribe to it.

You know you want to...

Autorickshaw

What a wonderful day to drive with nary an auto in sight!

The Habba...

...is back. And you can get your passes at these locations.

It's a pity we no longer associate the word habba with Vasantahabba, but Bengalooru Habba (Other than Dasara-habba, Gowri-Ganesha habba, Christmas-habba, etc., of course).

Anyway, it seems like there are no "mega-events" at Palace Grounds which, invariably, had one show choreographed by Prasad Bidappa, who, I guess is busy dropping names to get various family members away from the long arm of the law. But, the mega-events did have some pretty cool performers - everyone from Pt. Shivkmar Sharma and Ustad Amjad Ali Khan to Strings and Indian Ocean. Good stuff, that.

What we do have this year are, a lot of smaller events at Ravindra Kalakshetra and Chowdiah Memorial Hall, rather a lot more attention is being paid to these venues. The Food Festival should be investigated, though. Last year the food festival (which got it's footfalls from the mega-events) was jolada-roti types jostling with the Sagar-types.

No news of the Artistes' Walkway, which was amongst the coolest things about that week.

Will keep you posted on anything that might happen.

On Bangalore. Or Bengalooru. Or Bengaluru.

There has been quite the furore in the Desi blogging world with reference to the proposed name change for Bangalore. Or rather, the-name-change-that-has-been-announced-but-requires- legal-sanction-to-ratify-it. Assuming our moribund government lasts that long.

Sandeep calls this "...the first of many braindead schemes to ensure that it’s all downhill from here" and that "...decolonizing and all sound good only if it were not used as substitutes for policy."

Indian Inheritance asks "...what the fuck is wrong with the name Bangalore?"

Nitin Pai decries this as "...not an isolated act of etymological terrorism by the H D Kumaraswamy government in Karnataka."

And the venerable Economist pipes in and strikes an opposing note:

"...Following the examples of Bombay, Madras and Calcutta, Bangalore has rebranded itself, taking the local name for “city of cooked beans”... Will it catch on? Yes, in the end it probably will, just as Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata are slowly taking hold. Sign-writers and printers will be glad of the new business, politicians will claim a blow against British cultural enslavement and a victory for authenticity (though that story about the old woman and the king may be tosh), but many others will give a weary sigh. So many places change their names, and so often. They have every right to do so, of course, and it seems discourteous not to use their new names if they expressly ask you to."

And they sign off saying, "Dear Name-Changer, feel free to adopt any moniker you fancy, but do not hector others if they jib. A city of beans by any other name will smell as sweet, or beany."

Where do I stand? I can live with name change, even if I think that it is pretty stupid to murder a well known brand. What I detest is the fact that this linguistic chauvinism is being used to cover a litany of sins. Of the father and the son.

More Money Than Taste

Apparently Nikhil Gowda, son of our beloved Chief Minister, HD Kumaraswamy and grandson of our dear leader and son of the soil, HD Deve Gowda, ransacked Empire on Church Street yesterday.

His father's take? ""Bidri, makkal maadidhare... "(Just forget it, children have done.)

The ToI takes great pains to inform us that he "swerves around in the choicest of cars — Lancer, Nissan Sports, Lexus and a BMW 7-series" and a Hummer.

Money can't buy you taste. Else he'd have gone to Imperial to satisfy his munchies...