[itwasntme]

Torrential rain in North Bangalore in the Yelahanka, Devanahalli area. Expect a lot of misery for international travelers tonight to and fro KIAL.

[sammyboy]

Originally Posted by sdp1975

Was it the Karnataka CM in the convoy ? He has gone on record saying that "people will have to bear it" :

Yup that's the one bro. We surely have to bear it, we voted or abstained to let them come to power :(

[sachinpk]

Originally Posted by sammyboy

Yup that's the one bro. We surely have to bear it, we voted or abstained to let them come to power :(

Tomorrow is the BBMP elections. I hope the voters go and vote and choose a better candidate and party.

[hserus]

Originally Posted by sachinpk

Tomorrow is the BBMP elections. I hope the voters go and vote and choose a better candidate and party.

Do you seriously think a different candidate or political party is going to behave differently?

This is after being stuck at the E-city entrance to the (already narrow) Hosa road on Sunday evening behind a woman candidate from the other party and her supporters. The woman was in an open jeep crawling along at half clutch and her supporters were walking beside it and raising slogans - over 60% of the road was blocked, at peak evening hours (7 pm or so).

[sachinpk]

Originally Posted by hserus

Do you seriously think a different candidate or political party is going to behave differently?

Then we will have to grin and bear it . Or leave the country. No much choices here.

[hserus]

I personally being a "software industry" type - leaving the country and having to drive on US roads is an ever persistent risk. Risk because I eventually have to come back here and drive past political rallies on Hosa road after getting used to US driving conditions

[MavericK46]

Originally Posted by hserus

Do you seriously think a different candidate or political party is going to behave differently?
.....

But not voting isn't surely a solution?
Other than being keyboard warriors, we definitely need to do what is well within our power - political franchise.

Not showing up at the voting booth tomorrow and letting our vote be used by some goon would be a real shame. Period.

At the very least, a vote will earn us the right to crib the next time Mr Siddaramiah asks us to 'bear it. At least minimum.'

Cheers !

Sundar

[joslicx]

Another politico-harassment (from Facebook)

I am not even disgusted, I have just given up hope. The people who are running this country, and aspire to run this country are barbarians to say the least. On my way back from work around 6:00 P.M, there was a huge traffic build-up near Basavanagar bus stop. To give you an idea, what takes no more than 5 minutes to drive took over an hour. The reason as it turned out was the local BBMP candidate carrying out the election campaign. The entire bunch of party-members, with the BJP flag draped around their neck passed my car; I pulled the window down, and told one of them, softly, without raising my voice – aren’t you ashamed to create so much inconvenience for the citizens? You remember us only during elections and instead of solving any of our problems, you neatly add to it!
You would not believe how he and his cronies reacted to it. They tried to pull open the car door and yank me out of the car. They went ballistic, swearing at me, and they spit on my car. They threatened to beat me in broad daylight, in the middle of the road, with umpteen number of vehicles and people around. I was not even scared, just shell-shocked at the behavior. The Neta / some hot-shot was in the car, Toyota Innova KA-03-MC9779. And attached is the car’s recent traffic violation record, for which the fine has not been paid yet.

A couple of things that clearly come out of it:
1. These people would not even think twice about physically assaulting a citizen if they feel some one is speaking against them.
2. Their anger, arrogance, & the behaviour is vitriolic; and that is the kind of people who seek responsibilities in position of governance.
Now, I get threatened to be beaten up in the middle of the road because of this? Who should I go to? The system which is supposed to protect me is a threat to my existence & safety.

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?f...type=1&fref=nf

[naveenroy]

Originally Posted by joslicx

Another politico-harassment (from Facebook)

Sadly, just goes to show that it is not this party or that party - they are all the same. Utter copies of one another. I just cannot imagine how shocked the OP must have felt. Why do we even have to vote in this case? Does it make an iota of difference to us?

[Rajeevraj]

Originally Posted by hserus

Do you seriously think a different candidate or political party is going to behave differently?

.

Originally Posted by sachinpk

Then we will have to grin and bear it . Or leave the country. No much choices here.

Originally Posted by MavericK46

But not voting isn't surely a solution?
Other than being keyboard warriors, we definitely need to do what is well within our power - political franchise.

Not showing up at the voting booth tomorrow and letting our vote be used by some goon would be a real shame. Period.

At the very least, a vote will earn us the right to crib the next time Mr Siddaramiah asks us to 'bear it. At least minimum.'

May be a little OT here. But I also personally feel that not voting because we think all are equally bad is not a right approach. This is specially important in the case of a Corporation election (BBMP) where margins are generally small.

Unfortunately, the political system pretty much at all levels is about vote banks-'What should I do to get the vote of x chunk of people'. The parties have a clear picture at the ward/booth level on the percentage of voting, they can even drill down to an apartment block/society/street level. In the case of Bangalore and BBMP, our voting rates-especially in the IT Corridors is very poor. As one candidate told during the last BBMP election- 'You are apartment walas and will not bother to come and vote. I will not gain anything by doing anything for you'.

Things are slightly better this time around. Due to the efforts of local associations and volunteers, the number of registered voters have gone up significantly. At least in Belandur, the candidates are canvassing a lot in and around the big apartment blocks (Springfields, Adarsh etc..) because they know they can win/lose with the support from such blocks.

Which brings us to the question of whom to vote for? Again taking Belandur as an example, several impartial volunteers have been doing candidate profiling and sharing via the ward google groups and face book page. Below is one example of the info shared. I know this is being done in a lot of the wards in Bangalore.



So if you are a registered voter, try to get hold of the candidate profiles from your ward, see what each one is promising and cast your vote.
Most wards have independents who can actually win at ward level. So if you are not satisfied with the promises of the main candidates, you can vote an independent.

Of course, does not mean it will solve our problems. But it may stop them from taking us 'totally for granted'.

[Acharya]

Originally Posted by naveenroy

Why do we even have to vote in this case? Does it make an iota of difference to us?

In my opinion, this is exactly the reason for us to vote. Since educated people stopped voting, good candidates disappeared from the political scene. If all educated people start voting again, I am pretty sure we will get better candidates in future.
Apologies for

[mpksuhas]

Originally Posted by Rajeevraj

As one candidate told during the last BBMP election- 'You are apartment walas and will not bother to come and vote. I will not gain anything by doing anything for you'.

Exactly. A similar issue, during last election one of the candidate came for canvassing to my colleagues apartment in Begur road. There are around 300 apartment in that complex and about 500 votes as per the association.

So, this guy meets up the apartment dwellers in their multi utility room and everyone comes out with their usual list of vows - No roads, no streetlight etc.

This guy calls up someone and while the meeting is ongoing they arrive with streetlights which they keep in multi utility room and leave promising to fix it in couple of days, which later they do.

Similarly they surface the approach road to the apartment and neighboring houses from main road within a week.

This may be a one off case, however just goes on to show that they want to win more than we want good roads.


Now, the question of whom to select is bit tough. It is like selecting an NCAP 2 star vehicle over 1 star vehicle and expecting to be saved in case of a crash.

[sachinpk]

With rains lashing out in the evening, traffic jams at Naganathapura, Electroncis city area and at parts of Outer ring road. In Madiwala, I guess there was a bus break down too.

[sbala]

Stuck in Electronic city - silk board road for past one hour. Just crossed 300m in one hour. Very tiring :(

[paragsachania]

Originally Posted by sbala

Stuck in Electronic city - silk board road for past one hour. Just crossed 300m in one hour. Very tiring :(

So this will be the 3rd consecutive Friday that I will be taking NICE Road to reach my home in Vidyaranyapura from EC only due to this traffic mess that has been consistent mainly due to rains.

A friend called me few minutes before and informed that BETL is choked!!

No wonder the maps also depict this -