Everyman's City

Over the last decade Bangalore -- the once laid-back, quiet, green city -- has been on the throes of change. The speed at which the capital of Karnataka has metamorphosed has stumped everyone; it has been like a teenager outgrowing her clothes.

Being in Bangalore is a mixture of emotions: for some it's the excitement of being transported from a small town to a glitzy fast-paced city; for others it's the pangs of insensitive affluence trampling over human sensibilities; the pleasure and pain a city's shift from anonymity to global stage. They are best captured in the accounts of those who experience them.

Dateline Bangalore hopes to be a collage of those accounts.

Join Indiblogger.in and join the party!!!

Cross posted on Anw.in.

[indiblogger]

Labels: bangalore, events, india blogger, indian blogger, indiblogger

I think it's been too long since we met. Anybody else think so?

Labels: blogger, blogger meet, indiblogger

Been a very long time since I posted something on this blog. Anyhow, I thought I will introduce to all the Indiblogger site. This site was setup with the same intentions as bloggers of Bangalore blog was setup for. To network and bring bloggers together. The difference is that the Indiblogger is for all bloggers from India and bloggers outside India of Indian Origin.

You can check out IndiBlogger.in, where you can add your blog to the directory and display cool IndiBlogger badges on your blog. Join the community!


http://www.indiblogger.in/


More features will be coming soon. I can't reveal them now. But you are sure in for a pleasant surprise :)

Labels: blogger, Indian blog, indiblogger

The three men walking by, much like the many vagabonds you find on the streets, would have easily missed my eyes had it not been for the strange clapping sound they were making with their hands. But ususally I associated such distinctive claps with people dressed as women. Yes, they could also be dressed as men, I soon realised.

They live on the fringes of an insensitive society that looks at them with disdain and derision. They are the transgender persons, the hijras as they are referred to in India. They are neither fully women or men. Or, are they both? Some say they bring in good luck. But why should people have such a dismissive attitude towards them?

These three men were dressed in a faded saffron lungi and shirt. Following them were two more, and one among them, moved towards a roadshide tea shop and extended his hand for alms. The teashop owner refused to give him any money saying those who went ahead had collected. That was a clear lie. The hijra got angry, opened a glass bottle that contained toffees, put his hand inside, took out a palm-full of them and walked away.

I then noticed two more of the group coming up; they were dressed as women. One of them saw the guy picking the toffees, and was clearly upset by that. She chided him loudly and asked him to return them to the shopkeeper. To be sure, she followed him and she apologised to the shopkeeper for the discretion committed by one in the group.

"Sorry, we don't take anything by force. Give only if you wish to give anything," she told the shopkeeper. Then the shopkeeper handed over a Re 1 coin. "If you give, give wholeheartedly," the woman continued.

This time the one who was embarrassed was the shopkeeper. To begin with he could have given them a rupee or two; even a five wouldn't have caused him a loss in business. On the part of the hijaras, it was so refreshing to see her apologise.

Cross-posted from my blog)

Now that I've got your attention!!!

Wabbster brought this "community" in Orkut that's labelled, yes you've guessed it, We Hate India to my knowledge when I was as usual wasting my time on the Internet. . All those on Orkut please go and take a look and all those who are not may consider joining for a peek. Contrary to popular opinions, I didn't get angry or upset. But it sure tickled me no end. I was literally on the floor, laughing and holding on to my stomach for dear life.

That was a very wierd reaction, I know.

But thinking about it, I thought, yeah, cool. I am right. Its a pathetic, even if its bold, attempt at spite. And what got me on the floor again, and more than a little concerned, I am afraid, was the scrap book of the "H/ZERO" who had created the post. It was full of expletives and such against this person.

Introspection brought me back to my feet (from the floor, I mean). Is it worth shouting at somebody in such language (although I do it most of the time, hypocrite)? I mean aren't we wasting our time and energy against something that doesn't matter in the long run? It's just somebody's misguided enthusiasm or spite that brought out this "community". Wouldn't we be fighting or protesting even better and maturedly if we ignore it completely?

I must say that I am almost completely in agreement with Wabbster's take on this commmunity and the mail he received from a "Dave".

Hmmm...interesting.

Crossposted on Me Myself and the World around me