City: Chennai

The "spring" of good times Of all the things that Besant Nagar beach is known for, Spring Potato (also known as Tornado Potato) seems to be the one that has witnessed the most phenomenal growth. A spring potato is a snack where  a single potato is sliced continuously into a spiral, fried and served with spices, on a sharp skewer. Over a 100 spring potato shops lined up next to each other, compete for 5000+ customers every month. "Business is dull these days due to the monsoon," says a stall owner. "We get 100+ customers in a single evening but…

Translated by Sandhya Raju தமிழகத்தில் தற்போது பெண்கள் மேம்பாட்டை குறிக்கும் நிறம் பிங்க் என்று தான் சொல்ல வேண்டும். சென்னையின் பல்வேறு பகுதியில் பிங்க் நிற காவல் ரோந்து வாகனங்களை பார்த்திருப்பீர்கள். கடந்த ஜூன் மாதம், பெண்கள் மற்றும் குழந்தைகளுக்கு எதிராக அரங்கேறும் குற்றங்களை தடுக்கும் முயற்சியாக தமிழக அரசால், அம்மா ரோந்து வாகனங்கள் அறிமுகப்படுத்தப்பட்டன.  பெண்கள் காவல் நிலையங்கள், குழந்தை கடத்தல் தடுப்பு பிரிவுகள், சிறார் போலீஸ் பிரிவுகள் போன்ற அனைத்து பிரிவுகளையும் இந்த CWC (Crime against Women and Children) ஒருங்கிணைக்கிறது. இந்த அம்மா ரோந்து வாகனங்களின் பணி என்ன? இந்த வாகனங்களில் அதி நவீன தொழில்நுட்பம் கொண்ட கேமரா மற்றும் ஜிபிஎஸ் வசதி பொருத்துப்பட்டுள்ளது. இக்கட்டான சூழலில் உள்ள பெண்கள் -1091 என்ற எண்ணையும், குழந்தைகள் 1098 என்ற எண்ணையும் அழைக்கலாம், இந்த தகவலை காவல் கட்டுப்பாட்டு மையம் அருகில் உள்ள அம்மா ரோந்து…

How many domestic workers know that they are entitled to a monthly pension of Rs 1000 a month once they turn 58? Or, that the state government’s schemes to financially support the marriage and education of their children could be a real life saver for them? Forget the workers, even many employers, are not informed about it. “Unfortunately, the state government does not promote these schemes enough and a lot of domestic workers are ignorant about them,” said S Palaniammal, Organising Secretary of Pen tholilalar Sangam (Women Workers Union). The union with 30,000 workers fights for the social and financial…

Pushing a rickety tricycle and making multiple stops to collect waste from households is a Herculean task for conservancy workers. As the day progresses, the vehicle gets progressively heavier with heaps of garbage but the worker still pushes it, going door to door to collect the waste.   "Every part of my body aches, literally," said a conservancy worker, who has been in the job for over 15 years. The long term health effects of their work on these blue-collared workers include persistent shoulder and back pain.  But there is some good news for them.  This troublesome situation could soon become…

Opening a hornet’s nest among the community, the city corporation has declared recent construction by fishermen around Thiruvanmiyur beach in Chennai as encroachments. Several additional structures have been constructed close to the beach, by the fishermen residing in the fisher-colony near Kuppam Beach Road, in the interest of better mobility and livelihood. “We received a lot of complaints from the residents of Thiruvanmiyur,” says K.B. Vijayakumar, Regional Deputy Commissioner at Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC), Adyar. “When we enquired, we found shanties with temporary roofs and a road built within 200 metres from the sea belt, which comes under Coastal Regulation…

Toll plazas on ECR and OMR to be FASTag-ged The state highways department is planning to introduce the NHAI's RFID-based FASTag in all the toll plazas, including OMR and ECR. With the rise in vehicle traffic along the IT corridor, authorities are planning to double the local tag lanes which can be later turned into FASTag lanes. The authorities are planning to issue RFID- based tags that can be fitted to the windshield of the vehicles, to ensure ease of traffic. Source: The Times of India 798 buildings along ECR unauthorized The posh Olive Beach bungalows along the Muttukadu coastline,…

As the city lights are dimmed and the world, as most of us know it, sleeps, Shilpa Kumari (name changed) went out for work. She stood at the corner of one of the sleepy lanes of Ashok Nagar, with layers of makeup, a cleavage-exposing blouse and a firm attitude and panache, that were clearly not affected by the remarks of passers-by. However, whenever the social workers from the Tamil Nadu State AIDS Project Cell (TANSAC) tried to talk to her, she would turn defensive, and chide them. “Who says I am a sex worker?” was the constant refrain. It took…

“Has your daily commute in Chennai changed in the last ten years?” Most people asked this question today would feel it has changed, but can we say it has changed for the better? Chennai spends more time now being stuck in traffic than a decade ago. Public transportation can be uncomfortable and irregular. Last-mile connectivity options are few, expensive, and often frustrating for most modes of public transportation in the city, including the metro. There is also the problem of the paucity of information. At a time when most of us have smartphones and data plans make it possible for…

Pink is the colour of women empowerment in Tamil Nadu these days. Most Chennaiites are, by now, familiar witnesses to the pink patrol vehicles of police in different parts of the city. The Amma Patrol is part of the Tamil Nadu government’s initiative that saw the formation of the Crime against Women and Children (CWC) wing in June 2019. The wing brings all departments dealing with incidents against women and children -- women police stations, anti-child trafficking units, juvenile police units — under a single platform. But what does the Amma Patrol do, exactly?  The patrol vehicles, the latest addition…

A sea of vehicles struggles to move forward from Pallavaram signal to the Airport flyover on a Friday morning. Vehicles move inch by inch, literally, taking more than twenty minutes to cover a kilometre. In a rush to reach their destinations on time, two-wheeler riders take the easy route -- they simply take over the pedestrian space, while four-wheelers often jump red signals. In all this chaos, there's little room for even ambulances to find a clear corridor. In short, Grand Southern Trunk (GST Road), the spacious two-lane highway that connects the suburbs such as Tambaram and Pallavaram to the…