Why BMTC is wrong (again)

Sometimes, some pieces of news bewilder you to such levels that you feel utterly hopeless about life around you. It happened to me today, when I read:

BMTC seeks congestion tax on high-density corridors; bus lane trial run on ORR from Oct 20.

To anyone who lives in Bangalore and commutes every day (the commute involving using at least five kilometres of the pothole-ridden adventure tracks, commonly known as “roads” in Bangalore), this is no less than a crude joke. Show this to any Bangalorean, and the response would be, ‘This was the only tax remaining to be imposed. My life is complete.’

The economics of home ownership in Bangalore

When I was in college, my dream was to buy a house in the Kathipara area in Chennai. I was a simple, unthoughtful middle-class child back then. As an unthoughtful middle-class child, my nature was to roll with the mainstream, whether something mattered or not. And the mainstream, more often than not, works on sentiments. Buying a house and “settling down” is one such sentiment.