[Jaguar]

Originally Posted by poloman

What have you done about it other than posting here?

Here is what I have done
1. Pay taxes properly
2. Vote diligently
3. Ensure my building is not violating any norms
4. Follow all the rules of the land
5. Help the needy in whatever way possible
6. Not produce kids and contribute to the country's population

Now you want me to go do BBMP's and the politician's job as well. Very good

[shankar.balan]

Originally Posted by poloman

What have you done about it other than posting here?

When I had the collective power of association, I could do many such things in the layout. But did not get any support from larger group of residents.

Reading your post is inspiring. I wish there were more like you and more of us get inspired to act rather than complain.

We need such people as your good self in every neighbourhood and community. And we can then see the power of collective action.

We are all so caught up in our own day to day microcosms that if a problem doesnt affect us directly, we simply ignore it as someone elses problem. This includes me too. Basically we are selfish - nirvana seekers for ourselves, to the exclusion of all else.

Im living hardly 4 kms from the highly affected area but havent really been too bothered because I personally am not affected. I also own an apartment in that flooded belt, (The small complex is which my apartment is, luckily hasn't been affected) though it is close to the eco space/ adarsh area and indeed some neighbouring complexes have been affected.

Bangalore needs a clean up. And this has to transcend petty politics, parochialism, community based voting and overall general collective work for the common good.

Let us make a beginning with the Corporation Elections and Ward Elections. There is a new Iblur ward coming up. Lets vote some decent chaps into power here at least as a start.

[am1m]

Originally Posted by poloman

No one is willing to lift a finger unless that affects him badly. But you make an effort, they really listen.

In this particular case, what would you suggest? Vote out the MP? Try and meet the MP? Complain to BBMP? Organize a protest?

Am asking to learn what can be done, not to just counterpoint. I commuted to one of those IT parks for more than 2 years. Even without this sort of flooding, it was a bad situation everyday. I tried taking public transport, I tried leaving early, leaving late. I remember several protests on the streets by the Bellandur residents over the years.

(My way out was to move jobs so I could get out of that area.)

What would you suggest the people can do? Because it seems to me, no matter which party is in power, the basic issues remain.

(Plus, the title of this thread is "Rants...", so I guess it's ok for people to come here to rant. And yes, ranting will not solve anything so it would be good to learn what will in this particular case. Or are we just generalizing and switching the blame to the public?)

[poloman]

Originally Posted by Jaguar

Here is what I have done
1. Pay taxes properly
2. Vote diligently
3. Ensure my building is not violating any norms
4. Follow all the rules of the land
5. Help the needy in whatever way possible
6. Not produce kids and contribute to the country's population

Now you want me to go do BBMP's and the politician's job as well. Very good

Did not mean to offend an honest tax payer. But in a corrupt society like ours, none of this guarantee any accountability. Crying baby only gets the milk.

I have seen stupid posts like Bangaloreans don't vote , so they need to tolerate all this, on online forums. Do you think that voting X or Y party matters? All have ruled and spoiled Bangalore.

But I do think individuals matters and initiatives like PPP model can help.
There was a CM from 1999-2004, SM Krishna who genuinely worked for the development of Bangalore. He had a vision for the city. Had started a task force BATF with IT honchos and eminent citizens as members. That was the golden time of Bangalore.

In this particular case, what would you suggest? Vote out the MP? Try and meet the MP? Complain to BBMP? Organize a protest?

None of this will work in India unfortunately. one MP or one MLA may be voted out and replaced by an equally corrupt one. Your focus should be your local corporator and local BBMP office and to some extent the MLA office. We have worked this way and found them surprisingly responsive if you put the right pressure. We had been inviting the local corporator to our apartment functions and had a cordial relation with her. So we got a lot of listening ears with out paying even 1 rupee as bribe. Vote matters to them the most.

[sunilch]

Originally Posted by poloman

Did not mean to offend an honest tax payer. But in a corrupt society like ours, none of this guarantee any accountability. Crying baby only gets the milk.

I have seen stupid posts like Bangaloreans don't vote , so they need to tolerate all this, on online forums. Do you think that voting X or Y party matters? All have ruled and spoiled Bangalore.

But I do think individuals matters and initiatives like PPP model can help.
There was a CM from 1999-2004, SM Krishna who genuinely worked for the development of Bangalore. He had a vision for the city. Had started a task force BATF with IT honchos and eminent citizens as members. That was the golden time of Bangalore.


None of this will work in India unfortunately. one MP or one MLA may be voted out and replaced by an equally corrupt one. Your focus should be your local corporator and local BBMP office and to some extent the MLA office. We have worked this way and found them surprisingly responsive if you put the right pressure. We had been inviting the local corporator to our apartment functions and had a cordial relation with her. So we got a lot of listening ears with out paying even 1 rupee as bribe. Vote matters to them the most.

What you are saying is 100% true but only a few acknowledge and work towards it. Most actually take shelter under the broader term 'Corruption'. They blame the other party to be corrupt and hide their ignorance, lack of knowledge, lack of participation and lack of effort. See, 90% of the folks are lazy and believe the other party should do the work for them. What they forget is that same thought process appliers to those responsible for Civic work (or any government department). They too have same mindset as general populace and hence only when both parties meet, discuss and agree - work gets done.

[sachinpk]

Originally Posted by shankar.balan

We are all so caught up in our own day to day microcosms that if a problem doesnt affect us directly, we simply ignore it as someone elses problem.

This is from my observation (and willing to be corrected). In a society there has to be people who have the right attitude and also the bandwidth/free time to take up causes outside their immediate family. Such people do exist; but most of them are from the non-IT sector. And in places where the non-IT crowd is more things also get sorted out much quickly. Perhaps we should do some random sampling of residents in the layout/apartments which have got flooded. How many of the residents are from IT and not from IT. The IT employees also seem to have very less free time (even though they have money) to involve in any social problems.

Originally Posted by poloman

I have seen stupid posts like Bangaloreans don't vote , so they need to tolerate all this, on online forums. Do you think that voting X or Y party matters? All have ruled and spoiled Bangalore.

Voting does matter. Because politics in Karnataka is big business (crores get spent on even Municipal Council elections) and winnability is important. Every politician will know from where he gets votes and from where there is apathy. We may be surprised that often slums gets water supply, power connections easily when compared to the fancy layout. That is because the slum dwellers go and vote and make the right amount of pressure.

He had to oblige and we got barrage of calls from BESCOM guys to allow the work and they will ensure proper repair. They repaired the road to excellent state with in 2 weeks.

My experience with BESCOM has been very positive. Twice there were power outages and I had logged complaints at their call centre. Their staff came and fixed the problems. And the best part; I received multiple follow up calls asking if my issue was resolved. Able to speak in local language (at least 60-70% helped).

Had started a task force BATF with IT honchos and eminent citizens as members.

Not sure on the bolded group of people . What is required is real subject matter experts and political will power. From what I heard; Delhi Metro became a success because Sheila Dixit (politician) stood firm and provided all support to E. Sreedharan (the technocrat). Many of these so-called IT Honchos themselves are here to mint money, and not with much civic sense etc. Eminent citizens also are kind of self-certification schemes or "you scratch my back, I will scratch yours" kind of self-help schemes.

I do agree with you 100% when you said that citizen groups should work together with the local ward councillor, and then go up the ladder like MLA, MP etc. Where ever such connects are there, things do improve.

[airguitar]

Originally Posted by itwasntme

Another update on STRR. Looks like the Dabaspete to Doddaballapura to Devanahalli to Hoskote will be finished pretty soon

https://bangaloremirror.indiatimes.c...w/93646925.cms

Yes has progressed quite a bit. But it has meant that the old NH207 stretch between Sulibele and Hoskote has been neglected, they will perhaps do the stretch only with STRR

[thanixravindran]

Agree with you as I have seen it works mostly in our residence in Chennai. However in this situation most folks are impacted in their work area and it may not be their residence. I believe there are larger fish at play here with these huge tech parks - owners, operators etc. I believe the only option for employees is to get a collective formed and make their voice heard so that companies take up any resolution plans. After all, most are global MNCs and at least preach a safe work place.

[shankar.balan]

I know we are all angry at the apathy of our Bangalore authorities and civic administration and the overall corruption based troubles we all face.
So let’s just take a step back and laugh a little by looking at this picture, from my eternally treasured Tintin and Haddock Books.

[mayukh42]

Originally Posted by sunilch

those responsible for Civic work (or any government department) ... too have same mindset as general populace and hence only when both parties meet, discuss and agree - work gets done.

If we all do the work we are meant to efficiently, it is all that is required.

Most of us can confirm that we do our day job efficiently, prioritise it over other things. We should not have to get out of our way to get basic things done. The same applies to people having "civic body administration" as their job profiles.

• Not passing plans that would over-encumber an area
• Building elevated road sections (not a flyover, just "elevated" by say 2 feet) on low lying areas,
• Scientific drainage systems for underpasses
• Diligently punish (and destroy if required) buildings with additional floor(s) or even a room/ commercial space in residential plot
• Strictly punish those breaking the law on road, cancel driving license after few repeated faults/ tie with insurance premium
• Communicate between departments to dig the road at most once a year, then patch up asap.
• Lastly, put enough traffic police in affected areas to control, rather than leaving most of them to private security/ samaritans

These should all be either part of the job responsibility or not too difficult to implement. Citizens should not need to do anything extra to get them done.

When a ticket is raised for a feature I own, I work on it without an expectation that the filer will be cordial with me. Because it is my responsibility. As honest tax paying citizen, I expect the same from civic body.

Climate change or not, extreme weather is here to stay. Let the babus think beyond the pension-for-life mindset and be, you know, just like rest of us.

[balenoed_]

Originally Posted by balenoed_

Traffic is stand still on kadubeesanahalli flyover and I am one among them. [/ATTACH]

Now that went on to become the most adventurous day of my life. Took the maximum brunt of today's flooding in front of eco space and that costed me 6 hours. Nevertheless, considering this as some good lessons.

I knew the situation is going to be bad in front of eco and started 30 mins earlier to handle that for a routine school drop. Little did I knew that the situation would turn so bad in the next few minutes and will be stuck badly.

Started at 07:45am and had to abort the school drop, crossed the Eco space river, Took Koramangala-Domlur route back to Marathahalli. A U-Turn after Eco would mean I have to cross the river again. Instead went all around Domlur and back to Marathahalli. A six hour ordeal, worth a travelogue in itself.

07:45 - Marathahalli
08:00 - Kadubeesanahalli flyover
(4hrs 30 mins on top of the flyover)
12:30: Approached Eco Space river and river crossing
02:00: Koramangala, Sony world, Domlur, HAL, Marathahalli

After starting from Marathahalli, it was stand still on the flyover for hours while the left most lane was moving slowly.



It was at around 12pm we all realized that the water levels are thigh high. And whoever ready to cross has to stick to left most lane. All those who are not crossing are sitting on the middle and right lane, and that is why we weren't moving. Several autos and smaller vehicles who did not want to cross were blocking these lanes at the front. This was known only once we reached closer.

Now it was a decision to be made, whether to cross or be here for whatever uncertain time. Decided to take the risk and jumped over the bollards to the left lane.

Now this started moving and reached the river crossing point. There are people organizing this river crossing event and will warn you and ask if I you really ready to cross it. Once you say yes, they will make you ready to start with some instructions on what to do and what not to do.



Ready to go! It was like sending those gladiators to the colosseum for a battle. They see you off there. I simply wanted to try this and see whether my Baleno gets through this. One by one people on the left lane are flagged off. Middle lane and right lane plus several people on the skywalk will curiously watch how you are going to make it.



With full throttle there I go, went on and on till middle, alas, it started stalling and stopped right in the middle. Water started guzzling into the car and myself and kid were literally sitting in water. Things kept on center console started floating inside. There passes a big bus beside us which sent large waves and that kept us floating for a second. The car started to float and was tending to change direction in that wave, but got back to ground once that wave settled.

Saviours came, two people who were helping out people there. They gave a helping hand, one of them did something on the exhaust, guess he blocked it to not let water go inside and asked me to crank. I did for sometime and the car started. With some pushing, the car started to move and then I went on again with full throttle and somehow pushed through it. The skywalk turned to be a gallery for people to watch all these shows and there were people waving and cheering up. It was one heck of a moment.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bSaeZNuXJC4

One out of 3 car was stuck. Saw a BMW too stuck and I am not sure what consequences he has to face now. Once crossed, there was pile up of vehicle which weren't starting. I have no clue when those people on the other side will ever make it. So sorry for all who are caught in this.





Luckily for me, the Baleno was still holding strong. Didn't want to take a U-turn because that means coming back through this same thing again. So went around Koramangala, Domlur and reached back Marathahalli. With a large puddle of water inside the car. Drained it up and kept for drying. All in all, just another reason that I love this car. With the car stepping into its 19th year, it never ceases to amaze me. Not sure if any clutch is left in it though!

What a day!

For a change, I am considering today's incidence as a fun, what otherwise would have been a mother of all rant.

[Turbohead]

Originally Posted by balenoed_

With a large puddle of water inside the car. Drained it up and kept for drying. All in all, just another reason that I love this car. With the car stepping into its 19th year, it never ceases to amaze me. Not sure if any clutch is left in it though!

What a day!

I am considering today's incidence as a fun, what otherwise would have been a mother of all rant.

Glad that you had a great picnic with off-roading and swimming too!

At this state, doesn't all this RTO nonsense be done away with? 6 hours is no small time to waste away on the road for people who can actually WFH.

[mayukh42]

Originally Posted by balenoed_

Now that went on to become the most adventurous day of my life .. With full throttle there I go, went on and on .. One out of 3 car was stuck

Last night had a similar adventure on inner ring road near Jeep showroom (shattered my assumption that new concretized roads won't suffer same fate as asphalt ones).

Thankfully the water level was not that bad as on ORR, but could have turned against me very easily. On top of that, another Alto (definitely was in worse shape because of low height) was contemplating the options of life even after deciding to cross the river, and slowing me down.

Once one decides to go, he should not stop.

Originally Posted by balenoed_

Not sure if any clutch is left in it though!

Is this because the clutch is old? Any specific damage water wading can cause to clutch?

[jkrishnakj]

What an adventure balenoed. You somehow have the art of taking away the stress into something else and therefore could still write the way you did.

This isn’t something anyone wants on the roads.

By the way, hats off to your car for today.

[itwasntme]

Hellish rain again in Yelahanka. Drive safe!