Every area in Bengaluru has two faces. Koramangala is known to be a posh locality. But turn into a side road off 80 feet road and you will hit Koramangala village, or what's left of it. Small plots built to the brim, assorted coloured blocks upon blocks. A rare old single storied house every once in a while.

Christina Daniels, a communications professional and our movie reviewer, talks about a part of Kammanahalli she hadn't seen in a while.

Yes, there was the Kammanhalli of bright shining lights, beautiful houses and nice things in abundance. But on the edge of this nouveau rich respectability, the old halli (village) still lived on. Only it was older and poorer.

My autorickshaw’s choice of path now took me to that Kammanhalli. Most of the single houses on its narrow lanes had been converted into three-storey structures that housed at least six families. Garbage was everywhere. Someone had shown…

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Every season when the avenue trees in Bangalore burst into bloom, I try to memorise how the flowers look. When I get home, I try to refer and identify them.

Some recommend Pradeep Kishen’s book on trees of Delhi. But I much prefer this blog post from S Karthikeyan. Read more about him here.

It lists the most common trees in Bangalore, has nice closeup pictures of the flowers and local names. It would have been useful to see a closeup picture of the leaves and an picture of the whole tree too.

Karthikeyan has even created a pdf version that you can download and print as a handy reference. Great work!

Bangalore’s charm as a Garden City may have diminished. However, some of the trees that perhaps earned its name are still to be seen and cherished. For those of us who would want to simply immerse…

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"Love is Slow Poison" said an auto that nearly killed me yesterday; I would have normally belted some un-pleasantries to nobody in particular and forgotten the close-shave. But how can one not stop and mull over a near-death-experience that comes with such succinct wisdom? I assure the auto-driver that no love is lost between him and I now. May all his passengers readily pay him 'double meter'.

We must make haste in claiming credit for any pop-culture phenomena that may have emerged from the city and label it 'city-chic' or some such; you will agree that this sort of thing is important these days. Let us then smile ( a tad difficult, what with the recent hike in fares) and pat the rickshaw driver community for establishing their own sub-culture.

Regardless of how much spite we reserve for drivers of auto-rickshaws/cabs in namma city, we…

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Captain MV Prabhakar Indian Navy (Retired), came across one of our earliest articles written by another old time Bangalore resident Usha Srinath, and wrote to us, sharing his blog post on his experiences in learning swimming in Kempambudhi Kere, in Gavipuram.

In Amidst Women Swimmers Then (and Now), Usha talks about how she and her sisters learnt swimming in an old well off Bannerghata Road, from Munivenkatappa, held to be the national swimming champion of the forties and was well known in the Basavanagudi area as ‘the' swimming teacher.

Capt. Prabhakar also seems to have learnt swimming from the same teacher, and here is his experience

Mr. M from Bangalore, not to be confused with the M from James Bond was a bachelor who lived near Gandhi Bazar circle. A man of gigantic proportions, he worked in HAL and represented the state in swimming. He taught swimming to two…

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Why is it that many of us lack manners and consideration. Is it the way we were brought up or we display our pushiness in minor things when most other things are beyond our control. Is the nature of Bangaloreans changing?
 
Usha Vaidyanathan writes about a fusion performance by Dr L Subramaniam, Ambi Subramaniam, Kavita Krishnamurthy, Ernie Watts and Corky Siegel at Chowdiah Memorial Hall, earlier this year, disturbed by some obnoxious members of the audience. Should not the organizers escort such people out? Who will bell the cat?

The doors were closed at 7:05 and the invocation began. Just as it was ending, there were loud knocks on the doors and we could hear people shouting to be let in. Apparently they had passes and so they demanded entry as a right. They barged in and decided to block all the walkways making it uncomfortable for…

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