City: Chennai

The four empty plots behind the Rathnagireeswarar Siva Temple near RBI Quarters in Besant Nagar had become an eyesore for residents of the locality. Owned by the Government Officials Cooperative Housing Society (GOCHS), these lay vacant for years and had been reduced to wasteland, prone to misuse by miscreants, creating a pain for those living in the area. In August 2015 a set of senior citizens, all members of the GOCHS, led by Colonel Krishnaswami, the President of the Society, decided to pool in funds from individuals and use those plots to create a citizens’ park. It was said that…

It was a Herculean task for John Jesudason, Chief Executive Officer of Creative Huddle, a startup digital advertising agency, to build his business while also taking care of the nitty gritty of office administration. He was left with no time for the real work, after supervising the housekeeping and management of office amenities in his own office space. But since the time that he switched to a co-working space called The Executive Zone on Anna Salai, with his four-member team, he has been able to focus singlemindedly on growing his business. Co-working spaces are slowly catching up in Chennai, providing…

Launched in 2009 by the Government of India (GoI), Aadhaar is increasingly becoming inevitable in every walk of life. While it has become mandatory to link your Aadhaar card with your PAN Card, PDS card, bank account, mobile connections etc., many city residents are finding it quite a task to get the Aadhaar card made, primarily due to ambiguities in information available online. Here is a quick FAQ that can help you get started without further delay. Q. Where can I get my Aadhaar card made in Chennai? First things first: it must be noted that application for Aadhaar Card…

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…

Come November, along with swollen waterways and flooded streets, another prominent image flashed repeatedly on television screens is that of mountains of mixed garbage. Chennai’s solid waste headache is by no means entirely monsoon-related. But the issue manages to capture the media’s attention around this time of the year mostly because unregulated dumping tends to disrupt waterways in many parts. Intensified waterlogging and heightened public health concerns closely follow. The city has two dumping grounds spread across 400 plus acres in Kodungaiyur and Perungudi, both of which have been in existence for over 25 years. These dump yards handle anywhere…

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’,…

The northeast monsoon is here and residents of southern Chitlapakkam have already become victims of yet another flood. Chitlapakkam has seen it all—drought and floods, but this time, the floods have hit residents earlier than they expected. The northeast monsoon has just set in, and residents are left in the lurch, amidst miserable memories of the 2015 floods. As I enquire about the route to Babu Street, a shopkeeper jokingly says, “Walk straight and take a left, you will see water all over the street. That’s the one!” Babu Street, Abraham Lincoln Street, Pamban Swamigal Street, Chokkanadhar Street, Maraimalai Adigal…

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…