Where in heaven is our lake?

The only things that remind JP Nagar residents of this water body are a run-down fence and some faded memories
VISHWADHA CHANDER

Bangalore is quite short of almost everything –short of roads, short of homes, short of water,short of drainage systems,short of buses.. And now short of even toilets!!

This is the story of a neglected lake in one of Bangalore’s upcoming areas, a cradle for big builders and their residential enclaves. The area in focus here is the Jaraganahalli Lake in JP Nagar 7th phase.The road adjoining the lake, a little more than a kilometre long, makes for a wonderful jogging track. Unfortunately,the jogger’s dream-path has remained a dream for over three years now.

Moving a little onto the ‘banks’ of the lake, one finds high heaps of garbage-plastic bottles, beer bottles, broken slippers, rags and pieces ofcloth; you may even stumble on the carcass of a dog.

And god help you, if you actually try looking for the lake.

You wouldn’t know where it is unless you were standing on it. Coming under the forest department and surrounded by the department’s blue green fence that is in a miserable condition, the lake is covered with water hyacinth, making it look more like a neglected field. Unable to stand the stench, when you finally decide to turn away,you encounter more filth –human excreta. The lake isused for public conveniences early in the morning!! And the stench is unbearable.

We are aware of what all this means – pollution, multiplying germs, loss of aquatic life.Ask residents what they thought of the situation and Bangalore’s famed complacency comes up shining. “We are used to this. Our area is like this only,” was the refrain.

However, we did chance upon a few different responses.Raju (name changed), a peon in a private firm said he had complained to the Bangalore Development Authority once,but his plea fell on deaf ears.

It is disappointing to know that these are the same residents who had once stopped the procession of former chief minister, H D Kumaraswamy,and demanded that the road be laid. Most residents are lying low, as they do not know whom to approach.

OFFICIAL SPEAK

Sources from Lake Development Authority (LDA) said,”The lake was cleaned up a few years back. We have not received any complaints from the residents.”

Shift of power

Students seem to be taking undue advantage of the fact that teachers can be pulled up for being harsh
NISHANTH S COONTOOR

Every Teachers’ Day,when students felicitate and thank their teachers,I think of how much the student-teacher equation has changed.

Gone are the days when students respected teachers out of fear.Gone are the days when students would be corrected by teachers without fear. Here are the days where students are taking teachers to task – for all the wrong reasons. Recently in Bangalore, when a student complained about being reprimanded,threatening to take the teacher to the police, the teacher, who claimed she was innocent, resigned.

Student indiscipline has been on the rise for a long time now.With hyped reports of teachers punishing students, the students seem to have found a new weapon against schools.

The whole teaching community gets the rap for the fault ofone teacher. “People must understand that even teachers have gone through student life.All that they want is the well beingof the student. No one ever bothers to see the teacher’s point of view. Students can be wrong too,” says Rekha Dinakar, a teacher at Carmel High School. Another teacher says the fault lies with parents too. With no time to spare,they feel guilty and hence support their child.

Thanks to this, teaching is no longer a noble profession, feels another teacher from a leading city school. “It is in fact a high risk job. There have been cases where teachers advice others not to take up this profession.With this kind of attitude amongst students, not all go out of the way to correct students. It seems to have become a ‘I pay, you teach’ business.This can only result in chaos and a spoilt future of a child which otherwise would have been great.”

“Parents should build a sense of loyalty with the school and help teachers correct their wards. Listen to what the teachers have to say before blaming them. They must understand that teachers must be assertive to an extent. And now they are beginning to do so too,” says Dorothy Menezes, principal,Carmel High School.

Schools need not give harsh punishments at all. Making students do small yoga exercises is enough to ward off their laziness.And you can barely call it a punishment, she adds.

The Mirror Squad spoke to some students who feel that the onus is on both sides to maintain the teacher-student equation. Says Ravi, a highschoolstudent, “In my father’s time, if a teacher beat a child because he did not do his homework, it was okay. But now, the law says corporal punishment is not allowed. If a teacher is blamed unfairly, even I would not like it, but I also feel teachers should not be too rigid and understand that times are changing. We respect them still, but would not like to be treated harshly by them.”

His friend Kavya adds, “Parentstoo must teach children how to respect all elders, then they will automatically respect teachers. Teachers are like our second parents, so we must respect them more.”

“The fault of improper judgement lies on both sides.Lack of discipline at home and over-pampering shall only lead to more indiscipline. It’s not about taking sides, it’s about the answer. While teachers can counsel the child and encourage positive behaviour,parents can trust in their wards being in safe hands and co-operate with school authorities,”says Dr Sulata Shenoy, a child psychologist.

Dispelling BBMP’s ‘ivory tower’ image

In a mock council meeting, city students tasted how it feels to be corporators and the challenges involved

NIHARIKA MANDHANA

Be the change you want to see. This is the war cry taken up by Janaagraha, a citizen-centric movement in Bangalore that believes in participative governance. This was the motivation behind Yuva Janaagraha, the youth wing’s initiative to organise an intercollege Mock City Council, a simulated BBMP meeting in session, at the Institute of Agricultural Technologists on February16 (Saturday).

The objective of the Mock City Council was three-fold, explained Shruti Veenam, the coordinator of the event: To encourage student participation in local governance, to help them understand the functioning of the BBMP and to spread awareness on civic issues. “Students know more about the American elections than the BBMP! We wanted to change that,” she added.

For a City Council, mock or otherwise, two categories of players are needed — corporators and the standing committee.The student corporators were selected through a preliminary round conducted on February 2, where 40 teams from 15 colleges were shortlisted to nine. For the finals, these students donned the roles of corporators representing specific wards like the Sanjaynagar-Chickpet ward or the Richmond Town-Shantinagar ward.The BBMP ambience was complete with a standing committee comprising Mumtaz Begum(a former mayor of Bangalore), H B S Aradhya (a retired deputy commissioner), B G Nagraj Rao(a retired health inspector) and two Janaagraha volunteers.

Kritika Vishwanath, an organiser,said, “The idea for the standing committee was to get people who have been a part of the BBMP, who know exactly how it works, so that the simulation could be authentic.”

After the questions segment,each team presented a resolution before the Mock Council on issues like climate change,connectivity, health, roads, illegal constructions, water supply, amenities in new BBMP zones etc. Presentations were made, complete with statistics,working models and recommendations.

The Mount Carmel College team proposed an integrated transport system (Metro to bus to autos) to reduce the commuting time, cost and stress of travel, mini buses for certain routes and auto-pooling to ease congestion. The University Law College team proposed to solve the water supply woes through an urban community rainwater harvesting system.

The standing committee tempered discussions and explained the BBMP’s rationale behind certain decisions in the past. One of the judges, Syed Sultan, an educationist, observed,”We have a derogatory opinion of mayors. To us, these are people sitting on their high chairs doing nothing, knowing nothing. That perception has definitely changed today.

“Vijita Verma from the UniversityLaw College team, said,”We visited the BBMP office and spoke to officials to gather information, statistics, status reports and plans of different projects. Many misconceptions were cleared. The authorities were very forthcoming.”

Shreya Sawant of Mount Carmel College averred. “This was a great exercise, a lot more relevant than model United Nations sessions that are regularly conducted. We didn’tknow what local governance really meant. We realised how much effort goes into keeping Bangalore the way it is.”

What’s encouraging is that the idea of a Mock City Council will not be reduced to a one off event. Shriram B, a Yuva Janaagraha volunteer, said,”This is the first of its kind in Bangalore. We intend to popularise it by handing down Mock City Council modules to schools and colleges.”

Law goes up in smoke

In spite of a law about proximity of cigarette shops to colleges, most people don’t care

Susheel W Karkada

While research may say that 24 per cent of all people who smoke will die of a smoking-related disease, Vinay K, a student of MSRIT says with youthful practicality that there is still a 70 per cent chance that you won’t. Having picked up the habit when he was in class 12, he says, “Smoking is more like a transition act when boys become men and it was a cool thing to do in school.”

If you see the number of students smoking, you just might think that cigarette companies make their biggest profit from this age group. The fact that you find the little paan-beedi shop so close to colleges (in some cases, even inside the compound) doesn’t help in reducing the addiction.

“It’s common for students to go out for a smoke during a short break,” says Ramkishen B, studying in MSRIT. When asked if there was enough time for the students to go and come back, he says, “Time is not the problem when the shop is right inside the college.”

According to the law, there should be no shops selling cigarettes within 100 metres of an educational institute. It seems that many don’t know about this law and those who do, don’t really care.

Nikhil V, studying in BITS, says, “Even though there is a cigarette shop right opposite my college, it hasn’t influenced me to take up smoking. The shops don’t force you to smoke, but can be a temptation for those who are already in the habit.”

It’s not just one or two colleges in Bangalore that have cigarette shops next to them. If you do a look-see, you’ll find all colleges, big or small, private or aided, have these shops close to them in open violation of the law.

Kishore R K, a student of HKBK, says, “I took up smoking during my second semester exams in a shop next to my college.” Quiz him on his reasons and he gives you an answer most kids can hide behind — exam tension.

It’s not just boys who are used to puffing away. A large number of girls too enjoy the dangerous pleasures of the cigarette. “A lot of girls smoke,” says Melanie D’Sa, a student of Mount Carmel College, adding that there are a large number in her college itself. “For me, smoking is usually associated with men and to do something like that gives me an empowered feeling,” she says. She also concedes that sometimes it can be peer pressure.

As far as shopkeepers are concerned, they are very clear that it’s just business as usual and they are not the students’ conscience keepers. We told a shopkeeper about the law, seeing that his shop was so close to a college. His reply was, “Students are my main customers and if I don’t sell what they want, they’ll find another shop to go to.”

Mummy speak

Parents, who set the biggest example for children, have far more important issues to think about than cigarette shops near colleges. For them, their child getting into a good college is of the greatest importance. A parent, Sundari E K says, “Getting a seat in a college itself is a tough job. We can’t be choosy over these issues,” referring to the closeness of these shops to colleges.

The principal of a college in the city says, “These students are young adults, they know how to say ‘no’. We can’t dictate terms outside our premises, but we can request the government to take strict action against such shops.”

(Some names have been changed to protect privacy).

Just a bit more power, please!

Fifty cc bikes? What’s that, say under-16 students, who are supposed to ride two-wheelers of that capacity in the city
SAGAR V

Gone are the days of simply walking to school, or having your parents drop you there, or even rushing out of your house, shoes in hand, your tie flying wildly behind you, as some form of arranged transport honks frantically.

School children these days have found a new means of getting to school conveniently, at leisure, and in style. Sixteen years of age is indeed sweet, for they can now apply for a Learner’s Licence — LL as it is more popularly known — and cruise to school on papa’s two wheeler,or even better, a brand new one of their own.

Of course, the fact that LL holders are not permitted by traffic rules and law to ride bikes that have an engine displacement of more than 50 cc,is ignored. And by a substitution(1994) in section 4 of the Motor Vehicles Act of 1988,this phenomenon is blatant stepping over the law.

Ajay has been riding a Honda Dio to school for the past few months. When queried about the legality of this, he’s puzzled. He says, “Wrong? No,not that I know of.”This is justified as it happens all around him. Strangely, not many are fined for riding something that is at least 100 percent more powerful than the lawful limit. Nitin and Vinay are two boys who almost died while riding a RX135 on the Outer Ring Road, where you have a seemingly never-ending stretch of asphalt in front of you. Only, you have to weave in between countless trucks,provided they haven’t run you over already.

Says Vinay, “Yes, I know we were not qualified to ride that bike. For my part, I’ve learnt my lesson, and won’t be doing anything of the sort again.

“Parents are, mostly, very much aware that their children are riding something they aren’t supposed to. Often, it is with the consent of whoever owns the bike that the under-18 person uses the vehicle. Parents cite many reasons for allowing this.

“When nobody has the time to drop my son to school, and he has no choice but to go by public transport, he’ll hardly be in time to school; he takes his father’s old bike, which no one uses,” says Susheela K whose son rides the 150 cc bike. “But,of course, I make sure he is very responsible about it.” It is a comfortable set-up, she says, especially as BMTC buses hardly arrive on time, and they are often choked, congested and bursting with people. And autos are expensive.

In India, the urban market for 50 cc mopeds and scooterettes is virtually non-existent,and there are few models and variants available. And,it seems, no teenager would be willing to be seen with something like a Kinetic V2 XL, or aLuna TFR. “It’s hardly cool to be driving those things. They just don’t move!” says Rajshekhar Bhandari, a class 12 student.

But if a traffic policeman signals you to stop for a routine check, then you’re done for.Well, mostly. Says Nitin, “The cops sometimes find it acceptable if you’re riding a Honda Dio, or a Honda Activa, both of which have an engine capacityof 102 cc. But if you’re a Learner,and you’re riding a motorbike that is more powerful,you’re definitely fined.” Defaulters are fined Rs 300 for not possessing a driver’s licence. The boys will have to keep in mind of what Uncle Ben once told Spiderman: With greater power comes greater responsibility.

(All names have been changed)

Behind lock and key

Colleges, in a throwback to school days, lock gates during working hours to prevent students from being.. well… students!

SRISHTI DAIV

Be it malls, cafes, fast foodjoints, or college canteens,flocks of college students having a goodtime at any point in the day is a rather common sight. Thankfully,the age-old tradition of bunking classes has not yet ended, no matter how hard the authorities try. And they do try hard!The transition from school to college means stepping into a little more freedom, exploring the world with all the zeal of youth. Well, putting a rude full stop to that zeal are certain colleges where it’s a throwback to school — locked gates and strict vigilance!

In Vision PU College, it’s possible to walk out of the gates only during lunch. According to Anita R, a lecturer in Christ Junior College, “Though the open gates provide students an opportunity to walk out of college whenever they desire, it is still essential to lock them as many other blocks of different streams are a part of the campus.”While Anita may understand the restlessness of a student who wants to pop out for a chaat or an icecream, SunitaD, mother of a collegian, is very supportive about her daughter’s college rules. “Gates must be closed during college hours.There are better ways than getting out of college to take a break and come back refreshed to studies,” she says, perhaps having forgotten what it was to be young and full of beans to explore the world.

If you thought it was the fear of missing out on the day’s classes that might stop students bunking, never fear. Students have the most ingenious ways to make for all that time — time that they spend not so studiously.”What’s photocopying for? We are their biggest clients,” says Sameera Kriplani of Mount Carmel College who manages to skip class everyonce in a while.

In a gesture that’s true to the collegian spirit, colleges such as Krupanidhi PU College, JyotiNivas College, and Mount Carmel College do not keep their gates closed during collegehours.

On the other hand, BishopCottons Girls’ High School’s gates stay securely locked during school hours. Even the StJoseph’s PU College gates are well guarded, not allowing the boys to escape. CMRIT students have to go through the heads of department by stating their reason to leave college premises.A letter then has to be produced at the gates to the guards.

Mahalakshmi, mother of CMRIT student N Pavani, says students doing their degree are mature enough to understand when they need the break and whether it is necessary or not.She doesn’t find the need to have gates closed during college hours. Cheers to mommies like that.

Every college has its own reasons for open and closed gates.As far as students are concerned,given their natural restlessness and the desire to use their newfound freedom that college affords,closed gates only means just another obstacle in the way of coming up with a unique way to get out!

RULES,OTHER SOLUTIONS

Problem 1: No sleeveless for girls. Known solution:Wear sleeveless kurtas and cover up with a dupatta.Or wear a shirt on top of the ganji you’re wearing.Take off when appropriate.

Problem 2: No coloured hair. Known solution:Wear a bandana,hat, or a wide hairband to keep those pretty tints undercover. Whip off as you step outside the gates.

Problem 3: No short skirts Known solution: None. Unless you are THE fashion diva and can carry off a pair of tights under a skirt.

Problem 4: No frayed jeans and shorts Known solution: Pretend you don’t have the money to buy new ones.Ask for an ‘appropriate clothing’ grant.Works well for perennially broke hostelites.

Problem 5: No cell phones. Known solution: Find a roomybag that can hide it.Keep it on silent mode and say you have separation anxiety if you get caught out.

Eighteen’s no time for ‘knotti-ness’

NISHANTH S COONTOOR

Last week, the law commission came up with a proposition – a debatable one at that – to lower the minimum marriageable age for boys from the existing 21 to 18. Technically then, you can marry and start a family at 18 but you cannot enter a pub?

This is the question doing the rounds thanks to pubs in Bangalore, which display a sign prohibiting those younger than 21 years from entering their premises. The law commission’s idea is still only a proposal but here’s what youngsters in the city had to say about being husbands at 18, given a chance, that is!

No way, was their immediate reaction! Sharath B S, a student of BMS College said, “18 is an age when you have just finished class 12 and entered a professional college.It’s when you have begun your journey towards the career of your choice. How can you build your career with a marriage to handle?”

“We boys have no time for such commitments too,” said another student. While Sharath seemed worried about not having a stable career ahead, 18-year-old Nikhil Hulamani,also from BMS College,said, “Boys don’t become mature enough at 18. If they did, they wouldn’t be going around on their bikes at breakneck speed.” But then,18 is just a minimum age; it does not necessarily mean that they have to get married then. However, Ajith S, a PESIT student, has a valid counter-argument. “If reduction of marriageable age to 18 becomes reality, boys will face even greater pressure to get married sooner. It might not happen in urban India, but let’s not forget rural areas. And then, even the law wouldn’t be backing you,” he said. Madhushri Dhoot, another student from Mount Carmel, agrees. “In India, where girls are traditionally expected to be younger than boys in a partnership, reducing the minimum marriageable age of boys will force parents to get their daughters married even earlier. Should girls then get married at 16?” she asked.

Study at BU: What’s that?

College may be fun for the most bit. But many students say they often face issues that no one talks about much. The Mirror Squad looks at some gripes… all off the record, of course. That’s the only reason many college goers spoke out in the first place.

BANGALORE MIRROR SQUAD

Say Bangalore University and one thinks bureaucracy, disorganisation. This description might
well seem complimentary though. Sample this: “Semester exams at a BU college wrap-up in mid-December. There is no declaration of when college is to re-open; apparently BU administration does not believe in official communication between the college management and student body. Communication of information like re-opening dates, exam dates, timetables, college events, holidays, roll numbers etc. is left to the networking or string-pulling skills of the students,” says one angry engineering student.

Come second week of January, some students start making a few phone calls, figuring it might be time to get back to college. Prashanth Sai, a degree student says, “College phones are a waste of time – if they are not out of order, one might get the following responses: “Ask the principal, we are not informed/It will start soon, don’t worry/Call tomorrow, I’ll tell you.”
Students, though, know better than to take the official route; they call someone they know in the admin to get a vaguely accurate response, a response anyway – sometime around Jan 15, they are told. The date, as it turns out, is Sankranti, a holiday! Therefore, they and others who rely on their intelligence go to college on January 16 to find a turn-out of 20 students out of a class of 110.

The admin seems characteristically surprised, “College is re-opening today? Oh! Wait for an hour, the timetable will be ready. Then you can come from tomorrow.” For the next three days, there are 10 people in class, no lecturers, no timetable. On Monday, about 40 students and a professor finally turn up.
The quality of teaching too is going down, says another student Maina Pai. “The professor begins teaching, writes ‘Boots and Shoo Manufacturing Company’ on the blackboard. Then comes ‘debencher, seprate’… the spelling mistakes are endless. We students, who hope against hope every semester that the quality of teaching improves, get back to reading novels, playing hangman, messaging (not any more though) and gossiping during the hour-long lecture. In the next class, a professor enters and without introducing himself or the subject, opens a textbook and begins reading, faltering after every third word. When asked a question, he refuses to answer,” she adds.

Memo from the taught

• Make college fun, along with studies. More people will attend the class
• Remember, you were young once, so let the environment be enjoyable and motivating
  for us students
• It’s the age of the Internet, guys. Introduce swipe cards for attendance, video conferencing or e-learning would be cool
• Lugging around notes is passe, can we bring laptops and pen drives along?
• Have a reality TV show that portrays campus life.The ratings will be sky high
• Let go of rules like restrictions on dress codes, ban on mobiles, hair not being coloured, no freaky T-shirts. We will still study as hard, even if we look colourful

Even a week after re-opening, there is no sign of a timetable even though professors come and professors go. If you ask students why they don’t do anything about this dismal state of affairs, they say, “It’s Bangalore University, nothing’s going to change da.” Considering the number of BU colleges and therefore the number of students that are dependent on them for education, the symptoms look disastrous.
So, at the end of the day, understanding that we have to study and we have to attend college, we carry on. But will someone listen to us?

Wen dey put paid 2 free SMS

A few months ago, college-goers were caught on the wrong foot when telecom providers decided to charge SMSes. Today, memories of the black day linger on…

NAVEEN NAIR

The best things in life come free. Well, at least they did until a few months ago. We (read
students) were promised free SMS ( 200-300 per day) to our heart’s content. After indulging
in a lot of free gupshup, we woke up one fine day to bad news!
We sent one of those funny forwards to 10 of our friends and wham bam, a message flashed
on our phone screens: Your account balance is nil (while you grudgingly thought it would last for ten days more). Frantic calls were made, SOS scraps were sent and a lot of expletives,
unsuitable for print,were used against the service providers. Everyone wanted to have a go at the phone companies to vent their ire.

Text messages like ‘No class dude, let’s meet up in canteen,’ or ‘Mass bunk’ stopped doing
the rounds as we started feeling the pinch. For a privileged few, it only meant a few more bucks out of their fat paychecks or pocket money. For others (read kids of the aam junta), the SMS charges meant a huge hole in their already tattered pockets. Phew! One more time
we wished we were born to Bill Gates.

H e r e ’ s what a few disgruntled souls had to say. “Cellphones are banned in colleges, but so
are piracy and public smoking. SMS was our chief mode of communication and now that is being charged too. If all I peers, I would have gladly used my landline or the omnipresent one-rupee coin booth,” says Praveen Kumar, a college student. “SMS used to come in handy especially when you had to apologise to someone or flirt with a girl w i t h o u t  h a v i n g your face re-structured. I feel cheated,” says Supradeep, a II PU student. As of now, students
are completely annoyed with the service providers for luring them with gigantic hoardings that shouted “Free SMS” and, six months later, going back on their promise.
Well, if you thought SMScharges have resulted in a sharpfall in cellphone sales, think again. “A cellphone is a must for every college student,” says Amith R K, a cellphone dealer. “Free SMS was just an add-on. A cell has become more of a style statement. So, sales didn’t drop much, though many complained when the free SMS service was stopped.”
So, what did the telecom service providers have to say?

THE OTHER SIDE SAYS…
“Every new offer comes with certain features and free SMS for students was one of them. Though most of the telecom service providers had initially started this, free SMS had to be revoked following directions from TRAI,” said the spokesperson of a telecom service provider. However, the features that came with the offer were subject to change over a period of time, he added.

Many companies blamed the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), which had asked them to cut call charges. In turn, the providers started charging SMS to compensate their losses. So, would the free SMS scheme be re-introduced, ever? The answer was a defiant ‘No!’

But the next time you curse your service provider while sending an SMS, remember: the best days in life may be over, but be thankful that you were there when they were happening.