Articles by Laasya Shekhar

The northeast monsoon in Chennai over the last few years has been erratic to say the least. From the torrential December 2015 downpour that submerged the city, to a sub-par monsoon in 2016 that led to a drought in the earlier part of 2017, and now the very heavy rains in the first week of the season, we have experienced the season in all its diversity. This year, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) announced the official commencement of the northeast monsoon on October 27. While this marked a slight delay in its arrival, Chennai had already received 648.4 mm of…

The water bodies in Chennai, which recently ran bone dry, are almost up to the brim today, thanks to an excellent start to the northeast monsoon. But has the city made optimal use of this opportunity, to ensure that it does not face the kind of water crisis that it saw earlier this year? Probably not. The state of our roads, which begin to resemble water bodies after even a brief spell of intense rain, is just one indicator of the poor state of water harvesting and storage in the city. Rainwater Harvesting (RWH) structures in Chennai date back to…

The 18-cm rainfall that lashed the metropolis (Nungambakkam station) on Thursday and Friday  has left many arterial roads in bad shape. Knee-deep water, loose electrical wires and potholes are a common sight in the city now. At a time when the city’s poor civic infrastructure and lack of planning is all too evident, it is a pleasant surprise to be on this one road in Thiruvanmiyur, which looks clean and almost dry, and that too within half an hour of  the downpour. Dr Radhakrishnan Nagar Main Road, connecting Kalakshetra Road and M G Road is not a ‘high profile road’,…

Are you looking forward to dining on the delicacies of rabbit or pigeon meat in your favourite restaurants in Chennai? A quick search on Zomato would lead you to several noted restaurants that serve rabbit meat in Barbeque or Biriyani preparations. The meat in your platter, served fancy with exotic masalas and giving out delicious aromas, would without a doubt whip up your appetite to a high, but pause a moment and ask: Is this meat healthy to consume? Chances are very high that the chief ingredient in that expensive, exotic dish -- the meat itself, was prepared in extremely…

Residents of Ennore along with environmentalists organized a human chain formation at Elliot’s beach on Saturday evening even as actor and probable new politician in the fray Kamal Haasan visited the Ennore creek, to know more about the ground reality of its ash pollution and encroachment. In contrast to the usual weekend scenes, Elliot’s beach at Besant Nagar was filled with more than 250 like-minded individuals – from kids to senior citizens – who were holding placards that explain the sorry state of Ennore Creek. Industrial effluents from the thermal power stations here and domestic sewage from North Chennai have…

It was a teary-eyed reunion for 50-year-old Mahfoosa Khatoon who had gone missing from her home in Jalpaiguri district of West Bengal a decade ago. The Tamil Nadu State Crime Records Bureau (SCRB)’s initiative reuniting missing people ensured that she would be going home with her husband and brother for the first time since 2007. Mahfoosa, who also showed signs of Psychosis, was rescued from Muthukadu in Chennai by The Banyan, a not-for-profit organization, about a year ago. Recollecting the episode, Ratheesh K.Ram, a social worker from The Banyan said that she had been found in a semi-nude state at…