An increasing number of couples in Bangalore are opting for divorce by mutual consent. In the last few months, over 60% of the city couples who were headed for Splitsville parted ways amicably.
Couples in the city no longer see divorce as a personal tragedy and act sensibly, leaving less room for hostility. They sort out parental responsibilities to ensure smooth management post divorce.

Divorce by mutual consent was on the rise, particularly among the IT and BPO professionals who accounted for 70% of such cases in the city, sources in the family court in Bangalore said.

“If you are planning to get a divorce, mutual consent should always be preferred,” said IT professional Pramila R, who recently got divorced by mutual consent. “Obtaining a divorce by mutual consent is quite advantageous as it saves both time and money,” she added.

Divya V, an ex-homemaker, opted for divorce by mutual consent after four years of marriage. “My partner’s attitude was disgusting. He would shout at me. We also had problem adjusting to each other. We decided to separate as there was no point sticking to a broken marriage. But I did not see any change in my husband’s attitude. So I wanted to divorce by mutual consent,” she explained.

Couples prefer mutual consent mode of divorce due to various reasons. According to high court advocate Arun KS, most couples preferred it as their case would get over soon. “Contesting divorce cases can take up to 10 years to get settled,” said Arun, who has already handled 10 mutual consent divorce cases this year.

“A couple can file divorce by mutual consent only after they have lived apart for at least a year. The husband and the wife should jointly state to the court that they are unable to live together as they are facing immense difficulties in adjusting with each other,” explained senior advocate Anjana Sundar.

Sociologist GK Karanth said, “Couples are very precise in their decision. Most of them, these days, are accepting the fact that an end to a marriage is not an end to life. The couples are steadier in their future goals and want to leave behind the past,” Karanth added.

As a marriage counsellor put it, “People are getting more open when it comes to ending marriages.”

A one-stop-shop for booklovers in Bangalore, an empty canvas for culture

While you need not despair of finding a copy of Breaking Dawn, the most recent instalment in the unsinkable Twilight saga, in any bookstore (truth be told, there’s no escaping it), if you’re looking for a copy of, say, Burmese Days by George Orwell, you may have to look a little harder.

Penguin Group India, which has access to the mammoth Penguin group’s impressive inventory of not just the best of new publishing across the world but also rare classics, has decided to rectify this by launching PageTurners, an exclusive Penguin bookstore.

Spread over four floors and close to 2,500 sq ft of prime location — MG Road’s newly refurbished Kannan Building — PageTurners is a collaboration between Penguin Books India and Surya Infotainment Products (SIP), the successor to the bookshop and magazine businesses of LB Publishers and Distributors, one of India’s oldest booksellers, which used to run a bookstore in the same location on MG Road.

“Penguin is currently celebrating 75 years of publishing, and PageTurners, its very first collaborative retail store in India, is part of its ongoing strategy to bring the best of Indian and international writing to readers in the country,” says Hemali Sodhi, VP, marketing and corporate communication, Penguin Books India.

“An exclusive space for our books was only possible, till now, at book fairs. If we put all our books under one roof, it becomes a destination. It’s a very exciting idea,” says Sodhi.

Being in the business of books, SIP and Penguin have had a long-standing association and when the Bangalore outfit approached Penguin with the idea of an exclusive store, a collaborative bookstore with a local partner seemed like a good idea, reveals Sodhi, who says the publishing house is looking at expanding this idea to other cities as well.

“For SIP, it’s the best way to access and exploit Penguin’s vast range of books, especially its many foreign imprints and the rarer books and classics. In fact, the store will have an entire floor dedicated to Penguin classics that are tough to find elsewhere,” says Abishek Laxminarayan, managing director, SIP.

He is, however, quick to add that the store will give equal importance to bestsellers — even providing a section for those brought out by other publishers.

“We also see this bookstore as a very active space,” says Sodhi. One floor of the 2500 sq ft store has been earmarked for cultural events of all kinds, from meetings of focus groups to the more conventional book launches and signings. There’s a vibrant children’s section as well — appropriately for a publishing house that is getting deeper into the children and young adult genre each year.

“We want to provide a space for cultural conversations, for people with similar ideas and interests to meet and exchange ideas. It is an empty canvas,” says Laxminarayan.

Music launch of Madholal in Bangalore

The music launch of Madholal Keep Walking was an entertaining affair. Producer Apurva Tank, co-producer Ajay Gehi and director-cum-writer Jai Tank welcomed guests to this do which was presented by Provogue.

The venue Del Italia, Mumbai provided the perfect ambience (not to mention the wine and delicious bites) for the evening that also unveiled the AV of the film.

Gracing the occasion were Mamik Singh, Vaishali Desai, Adityaraj Kapoor, Craig Scott and the lead actor, Subrat Dutta. Raja and Nayab, who have given the music for the film along with Altaf Raja and Raja Hassan, were present as well.

Babita's rocking b'day do in Bangalore

Babita celebrated her birthday on Sunday at her lovely penthouse with friends and family.

There was Abbas keeping the crowd entertained, while Anoop worked his magic on the turntable. Babita, dressed in a shimmery silver outfit that she designed herself, was living it up with friends Nealesh, Rekha Hande, Pratima Mulani, Sabrina Dutta, Janak and Chinu.

There was Punjabi khana for the Punjabi kudi’s birthday, we heard. Guests partied till the wee hours and wished Bobby, as she is fondly called, a great year ahead.
BBMP babus set out on foot to mobilise property tax revenue

After politicians, it’s the turn of officials of the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) to hit the road. The BBMP officials on Monday set out on a padayatra.

However, they are not headed towards Bellary but will be crisscrossing the length and breadth of the city, spread over 800 sq km, to ensure that every piece of property is brought under the tax net.

The padayatra is part of the BBMP’s three-month long campaign for mopping up property tax revenue. As part of the campaign, ward-level teams comprising a revenue officer, tax inspector and an assessor hit the road. The teams will make door-to-door inspection and verify the tax status of each and every property.

Speaking to DNA, BBMP deputy commissioner (revenue) DL Chandrashekar said that property owners would be served a notice in case they had not paid the tax. The defaulters have to pay the tax within 15 days of receiving the notice. The BBMP would initiate the recovery process if any property owner failed to pay the tax within the stipulated time.

Defaulters are in for further embarrassment with the BBMP planning many other stringent measures including handing over the defaulter’s details to the local resident welfare association and publishing the property and owner’s photograph in newspapers.

“Our officers will go to every street in the ward. They will check the location of each property, the built up area, violations, if any, and of course whether they are under property tax net or not,” Chandrashekar explained.

The BBMP, through GIS mapping, has estimated that about 14 lakh properties exist in the Palike limits. “About six lakh properties are not assessed till date and around four lakh properties are out of the tax net,” he said.

Chandrashekar added that about three lakh properties in the city were under tax net.

Sources in the BBMP said that with the Palike budget set to be presented within a few days, there was an urgent need to bring unassesed properties under tax net and increase the revenue.

“The zonal joint commissioners have been instructed to ensure that the padayatra drive is a success. Once we get the data on the properties, it’s easy to net the defaulters,” said a senior BBMP official.

Fare for Bangalore: A tamper-proof meter for autos

Okay, the new fares are unfair and the digital auto meters will take time to get used to them, but what about tampered meters?
Bangalore Automobiles, a city-based firm, has a solution: A tamper-proof digital auto meter.

The meter has been approved by Delhi’s Legal Metrology Forum as well as the transport department. The digital meter, called Bright Fare Meter (BFM), shuts down completely if the auto driver tries to ‘fix’ it. It’s impossible to tamper with this meter.

What makes the BFM special is its integrated circuit (IC) and an erasable programmable read only memory (Eprom) – a memory chip that retains its data when the power supply is switched off.

Both are merged into a single unit and are coded. “The IC and the Eprom are synchronised. So firstly, the Eprom cannot be removed; even if it is, the new data or code will not synchronise with those of the IC, and the meter will automatically stop working,” said R Somashekhar, Bangalore Automobiles owner.

In regular digital meters, where both IC and Eprom are separate components, drivers replace the Eprom or the IC with another carrying altered data to fix the meter. The digital meters are tweaked for a mere Rs500 at garages in Kalasipalyam, Shivaji Nagar and Magadi Road.

Somashekhar said his BFM was released in January 2010 on a trial basis and was installed on 200 autorickshaws. They have been doing really good.