City Pulse

Donna Biswas had to buy food items at a hypermarket. The very thought of it made her shudder, as she knew the five-minute walk from her office near IBC Knowledge Park on Bannerghatta Main Road to the store would not be easy.

With a groan, she set out. There was a footpath that led to the hypermarket but Donna could not use it, as the footpath was not leveled and had construction material dumped on it. Unwillingly, she stepped onto the main road, where the traffic was at its peak. She stuck to the extreme edge and dangerously missed being hit by vehicles speeding past her.

Donna reached the hypermarket and thanked her stars for reaching safe. She knew she had to repeat the same exercise the next day.

Amidst the chaos, her phone buzzed and she saw her friend on Facebook had commented on a post on ‘I Change My City’. “Do you love your city? Do you want to fix it?” read the post and Donna curiously clicked on it. Post a complaint to fix the city you love, a box popped in bright red.

Donna paused for a moment and without a second thought, wrote about the footpath issues near her office in Suddagunte Palya in B.T.M.

A few days later, Donna was surprised to see an email from I Change My City which said that her complaint has been assigned to a BBMP engineer and work would start soon. She was pleased, but, being apprehensive about the way government works, she thought it would take months to complete.

A week later, Donna, with her colleagues walked down to the hypermarket again. She was chatting with her friends and walking on the footpath. Suddenly, she stopped. “Wow, what happened here,” she said. The unlevelled footpath was now neatly laid. There was no construction material, and was perfect to walk on.

She beamed at her friends and showed them the complaint she posted on I Change My City. “I cannot believe that the road has been fixed because of me,” she said. She quickly clicked pictures of the footpath on her smartphone and posted them on ‘I Change My City,’ with a thank you note.

For Donna it is like a fairytale come true, as she can now walk happily ever after.