Get out or get lost!

---Bid adieu to the green-belt in north-east Bangalore and get set to welcome the concrete jungle that will arise as part of the development of Bangalore or just 'Get Out of theCity'.
According to the draft Comprehensive Development Plan (CDP) 2005 of the Bangalore DevelopmentAuthority (BDA), 200 sq-kms of green space in the north-east will be lost, especially betweenWhitefield and Devanahalli, as they will be converted into residential and commercial spaces.
BDA Commissioner M K Shankarlinge Gowda told this paper that according to the draft plan, thegreen-belt was opened in 2005 for development.
''If people cannot accept the city's growth, they should just get out. The area has monoculture vegetation with eucalyptus in large numbers,'' he said.---
- New Indian Express


Can a few short sighted people with vested interests determine the fate of a city? And how much do they know what constitutes monoculture vegetation?

I dont know how much more time will people need to revolt. If you would like to make a difference pls do anything you can, from preventing trees getting unnecessarily cut, to filing RTIs. Join those already working against such blatant threats. At the least try to realise the false propoganda spread in the name of 'development'.

There are several ways to develop a city keeping in mind that trees are integral part of it. Besides, just as one of the Karnataka ministers wants an SEZ close to his property there is a rush to flatten out trees and destroy lakes to cash in on realty mania.

All that s(h)cience is not gold

Science is still blind faith and excellent marketing. It just goes round and round in proving and disproving itself.

So while Newton may say one thing, a few centuries later Einstein may say something contradictory more convincingly and with more 'proofs' (which are again scientific). In between are people who keep swaying with blind faith that science is after all 'science' and cant be wrong. There are more defensive voices like science is evolutionary and that its core remains the same. That, refinement happens by ongoing evaluation and everything is out there for everyone to see.

But what can people with blind faith see? And what if the 'scientific means' itself is flawed? Yes, there are many facts claimed by science which cant be disproved. But just because they have been claimed by science, it is not its own contribution. Science or No-Science, there are somethings which always exist.

I have been told that I do not understand science. But when people claim that science is rational and tolerant why cant we see it from an 'outside-in' view? A fish in a pond can never understand what a pond is, it has to get out to see it. This might sound absurd, but science should be able to validate itself fully when seen from a non-scientific domain. I know its foolish to do so, but drawing parallels is not a crime and maybe this can be given another thought.

Okay, the gibber-talk is over.. breathe easy.

The Tail of Cities

"This is the worst of times, this IS the worst of times..."

Bangalore, is no longer in the best of times. Why just Bangalore? No city is vaccinated against vagaries of time and society.

From a sleepy city to a bustling one, from green to brown, from 'we' to 'me', from hospitality to brutality.. Just about everything shows a clear trend - > Disgruntled people and a weeping city.

From what I know about trends analysis, there is something called a 'breakout' accompanied with a few other characteristics which trigger a fresh trend in movement of a wave. If we compare the fate of the city to a wave, we have already seen the 'breakout' in the last 2-3 years.

Along with economic development and changes to society & our collective mindsets, we have now moved into a different orbit.

Look at the words below in the context of Bangalore-Before and Bangalore-Now. Notice what you feel as you run the words in your head.

Economic Activity
Rich-poor divide
Growth
Flora & Fauna
Traffic & Civic sense
Administration
Public perception & behaviour
City Climate
Empowerment

Development is an inclusive term, but we have made it lopsided.
The great Indian middle class is growing with more money and power, but is that a sign of a better society?
Are we more developed if we have more wealth than last year?
Cant we think of development in terms of number of trees in the city co-existing with better movement of people?

The 'development' we are talking and thinking of is going to bring us all down under its weight. Take the case of mindless felling of trees and the plundering of nature for flyovers/roads/parking area/commercial activity. Or even the mindless culling of hundreds of stray dogs to avenge the tragic death of a girl by few handful of insane dogs.
Barbarism is closing on us, as we single mindedly pursue 'financial and immediate profit'. Common sense is slowly getting buried and the bad news is that we do not even realise it.

The tail of the city has wagged and the signal is there for all of us to see.