A series of articles examining the impact and lessons of 2020 and looking ahead to the journey in 2021
It's almost like a relief to be able to say goodbye to 2020, but how different will 2021 be?
We have come to the end of probably the most tumultuous year in the collective history of our cities, a year that has changed almost everything as we knew it once.
In healthcare, education and markets, in formal and informal spheres of work, in our festivities as well as the humdrum existence of regular life, COVID has left an impression that cannot be obliterated ever. Much as we want this pandemic to end, neither can we completely erase its impact, nor should we forget the lessons that this period holds for the future.
As we look forward to new beginnings, we look at how different domains have been transformed by the 2020 experience and the new realities we may expect in our cities and our lives.
As tree collapses claim lives across Mumbai, experts point to BMC’s unscientific pruning, concretisation and lack of accountability.
“Ae Dil hai mushkil jeena yahan, Jara hatke, jara bachke, ye hai Bombay meri jaan!” This song from the 1956 hit movie C.I.D has become most Mumbaikars’ anthem since the monsoon has started—replace the words “kahin building, kahin trame” with open manholes and falling trees. Residents have seen mayhem and mishaps due to lashing rains in the city. Within the first six days of July, the Colaba and Santacruz observatories have recorded 823.4 mm and 898.4 mm of rainfall, respectively. The Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) had initially issued an orange alert on July 3, which was changed to a red alert…
Increased traffic, parked cars, and bottlenecks demand stricter government intervention and enforcement to resolve gridlock on Harrington Road.
There was a time when Harrington Road was exactly what it was meant to be: a quiet, tree-lined residential avenue, one of Chennai’s older and more established neighbourhood corridors. Families chose to live here because it offered something increasingly rare — space, calm, and a sense of community. Today, that same road tells a very different story. Along an approximately 800-metre stretch now stand eight schools, where there used to be three — three hospitals, three auditoriums, eateries and commercial outlets. Individually, each serves an important purpose. Collectively, however, they have created a level of activity that the road and…