Bangalore: It is the time to sing carols, eat a traditional Christmas spread, drink and make merry. It is celebration time for Bangalore as the city dives into the Christmas spirit.
Houses, churches and offices are fascinatingly embellished with colorful lights to mark the festival in a grand way. Bishops and pastors led services and delivered sermons in various churches of different Christian denominations in the city.
Churches all across the city are at the embellished best and so are the houses. It is not only celebration at a personal level for Bangalore, but also celebrating it with those who cannot celebrate it or cannot afford to celebrate. "Celebrate Christmas with those who cannot celebrate it, " says a happy Jean Magesh from CV Raman Nagar who has invited friends over on Christmas.
She further informs, "For four weeks we prepare ourselves for today. We keep the baby in the manjer following all the Catholic traditions." Her kids are Hannah(8) and Jessica(4) are indeed the lucky ones as secret Santa has gifted them gold earrings and an original guitar for Christmas. It is sweets at home and traditional Christmas spread after people go for the service.
The Catholic Club at Museum road in the city saw a huge number of Christians celebrating Christmas and dancing together with family and friends. "I went to the catholic club last night and stayed there till 4 am. We had a formal party with lots of dancing," says Sujith Sebastian. His family doesn't follow the traditional western spread but have gone a whole notch up with the menu laid out at the table.
"We had a really grand lunch which had all kinds of meat; turkey, chicken , beef, sea-food. Not the typical western spread happening. And for breakfast it was mutton stew with Uppam. I think, I should be living in the gym for 3 days," says Sujith. It is gift time for a happy Raymond Roy who is celebrating his Christmas with friends over Turkey and drinks.
"I am not sticking with wine. It is Jack Daniels for me. Both Catholics and Protestants celebrate Christmas with great deal of zeal and enthusiasm. Brian Amanna, who goes for candle-light service at Christa Krupalaya Church in JP Nagar, says," for Protestants it is candle light service and we sing some service over candle light and spend our evening with friends. And we exchange gifts."
It is special for Brian as the traditional cake which is prepared since his grandmother's time is prepared for the family.
Next: Netas deface city with hoardings
Netas deface city with hoardings
Bangalore: Huge, life-size posters of netas and their followers are dotted everywhere across the city defacing the beauty of the city and violating the Karnataka Open Place (Prevention of Disfigurement) Act 1981.
With the coming together of Christmas, New Year and Sankranti, the city has been defaced with ugly hoardings by the followers of politicians cutting across party lines. What is ironical is the fact the city fathers are flouting the ad-hoarding norms as all these hoardings are illegal and doesn’t have BBMP’s permission.
Apart from defacing the aesthetics of the city these hoardings and advertisement materials distract the attention of motorists, especially at busy junctions. The indiscriminate display hoardings, banners and bunting are not only becoming eyesore but also leading to accidents involving motorists and pedestrians, said Citizens’ Action Forum member and civic expert N. Mukund.
Not to mention that the BBMP is suffering huge losses as none of the politicians and their followers obtain permission from the BBMP before displaying the hoardings to greet the citizens for various occasions like festivities and birthday In some cases, the netas or political parties obtain permission from the BBMP to display advertisement materials for a period of one week and they would stay for months together. The High Court has come down heavily against the BBMP for poor enforcement of BBMP advertisement by-law.
“First of all, the BBMP has to strengthen its enforcement wing. And the BBMP must ensure that while issuing permission, displaying validity of the hoarding must be made mandatory,” he said.
The enforcement wing must be strong and it should work like the way it works during election time, said Mukund.
Mayor Katte Satyanarayan admitted that the advertisement materials have been indiscriminately displayed by politicians. None of the leaders take permission from the BBMP. All the corporators will be urged in the council to not to display unauthorized hoardings. The zonal joint commissioners will be directed to carryout intensive hoarding removal drive, he added.
