Wednesday, August 30, 2006

‘Bangalore should be more stranger-friendly’

‘Bangalore should be more stranger-friendly’
New Indian Express

BANGALORE: Students of the Indian Institute of Journalism and New Media (IIJNM) feel that the State Government should take steps to remove the ‘language barrier’ faced by people who are new to the city.

Broadcast journalism student Sudipa Chakraborty says, “Most of the buses have name boards in Kannada. Only a few have Kannada and English ones.”

Her classmate Priya Randhawa adds: “The city has people from various parts of the country and we cannot expect all of them to know Kannada. I feel some of the name boards should be in English.”

Both say that bus drivers and conductors should be given training in different languages including English and Hindi, as non-Kanndigas find it tough to communicate with them.

Another student, Rapti Bhaumick thinks that the city’s infrastructure requires a major overhaul.

“The corporation should erect street lights in ill-lit and desolate areas and not just on the major roads. Potholes should be removed,” she adds.

Shlesha Salvi is unhappy with the “unnecessary one-ways in the city,” and lack of dustbins in several areas.

Another suggestion by these youngsters was to increase the number of prepaid auto counters in various parts of the city.

“We see prepaid auto counters only near airport, bus-stands or railway stations,” said Akshata Rao, “There should be many more to prevent auto-drivers from over-charging us.”

Most felt that more police personnel should be deputed to patrol the city, especially in isolated areas on the outskirts of the city.

IIJNM students and a private television channel are gathering views from Bangalore’s citizens on how to improve the city’s sagging image.

2 Comments:

At Wednesday, August 30, 2006 at 10:26:00 PM GMT+5:30, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Both say that bus drivers and conductors should be given training in different languages including English and Hindi, as non-Kanndigas find it tough to communicate with them.

Ha ha... This is really crazy...
"I just came from Chennai... Let all the kannadigas learn Tamil and English".

next, "I Just came from Kerala... Let all Kannadigas learn Malayalam and English..."

Learn Kannada when you are in Karnataka.

I had to learn Tamil and talk in Tamil when I was in chennai. I would have done the same thing if I went to Kerala, Hyderabad, Mumbai or any other state in India. Learn the local language..

 
At Wednesday, February 14, 2007 at 11:50:00 AM GMT+5:30, Anonymous Anonymous said...

its very important that source & destination names in the bus shouldbe put in english also.

@ vijay : in tamilnadu & kerala english hasbeen used along with the local language,unlike bangalore,where only kannada boards are displayed.its high time for bangalore to wake up to the reality.

 

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