The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : Reporter's Diary

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Mar 29, 2005

Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

Reporter's Diary

IT TOOK two days of the worst kind of littering around Chinnaswamy Stadium for the authorities to wake up to the need to do something about it. By then, the roads around the stadium were filled with discarded sun visors and plastic packets and cups. A virtual rag-picker's delight.

From the third day, desultory efforts to discourage litterbugs were apparently made: several waste bins were placed around the stadium. But there was hardly any effort to direct cricket fans to use them, roping in the help of the hundreds of police personnel stationed all around.

With a little more forethought and some firm, if polite, persuasion, the litterbugs could have been discouraged and the image of the city to thousands of cricket fans who had come from other places, many from as far away as Pakistan, enhanced to some extent. While we cannot always deal with ticket scalpers, we can do something about littering.

* * *

CRICKET CRAZE gripped the city for five days, and many citizens were in a holiday mood. But one of the irksome facts about the event was that there was a continuous flow of messages to cellphones. Everyday, cellphone users were flooded with SMS coaxing them to participate in contests on cricket to win "fabulous" prizes. Many preferred to ignore the messages. The enthusiastic ones soon realised that the value of cellphone currency they used in answering the slew of questions was higher than that of the prize itself.

* * *

SO WHAT if carpooling as a concept is yet to grow roots in Bangalore. As there are more people keen to flaunt their wealth than ever before and as cars are considered status symbols, carpooling could take many more years to strike a chord with the Bangalorean. But until that happens, denizens of Garden City do not mind some "autorickshaw-pooling."

Notorious for their overcharging habits, particularly after dark, autorickshaw drivers sometimes agree to accept this new concept. Here's how it works: commuters, after hours of waiting in vain for a bus going homeward, start talking to one another to find a way to reach their destinations. Well aware of the double-meter rates, they decide to share the fare. The more passengers, the less the fare per head.

But some find it a risky alternative to travelling alone. Who knows, the innocent-looking co-passenger might just be the one waiting to ruin your night.

By K. Satyamurty, Sahana Charan and Rasheed Kappan

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