City: Chennai

Of Dog Owners, Dog Lovers and Dog Poop – an ANGRY citizen I like dogs. I like people. I am a really nice person. Sweet tempered and non confrontational – This is a fact even if it sounds like I am boasting. But I have been pushed to say this - I don’t like people who like dogs but don’t like people. I wish they would live on another planet. You can make these “types” out from their actions. When you visit them, they will say, ”Timmy won't do anything to you, he will just come and smell you, lick…

For over 10 weeks now, Friday after Friday, volunteers from CTC and other organisations, have been tirelessly cleaning up the Adyar river, inside the Theosophical Society grounds. While it is distressing to see the amount of garbage they have cleared from this verdant expanse, arguably Chennai's lungs, the commitment and enthusiasm of the volunteers is amazing! Here are some images from the clean up over the weeks.  

The Schizophrenia Research Foundation of India; the Southern Railway Ticket Reservation Centre at ICF South Colony, AnnaNagar; the Hitech Diagnostic Centre on Dr. Nair Road, T.Nagar, the Indian Bank ATM in Chetput opposite the KMC Hospital and Aavin Park, Adyar: this host of seemingly disparate landmarks in Chennai are unified by a single common attribute, which is the presence of a wheelchair ramp that makes these locations accessible even to the physically challenged. These and several other spots have been identified for compilation in a database on wheelchair accessible spots in the city, thanks to an innovative campaign launched by…

Blood donation is a simple, yet profound gesture - donate to an anonymous recipient, and who knows, someday an anonymous donor will save the life of someone close to you! Donate blood regularly, and be assured that there are no side effects as long as you follow the Do's and Dont's given below. Essential Information regarding Blood Donation Age and weight of eligible donors : 18-60 years, 45 kg or more Hemoglobin : will be checked on the spot, must be 12.5 or higher Quantity drawn : Donors upto 50kg - 350CC for single bag, will be used as whole…

Fake ration cards The issue of bogus ration cards is an important concern reported across India, and the central government has announced that ration cards may no longer be used as legitimate proof of identity and residence at the passport offices from April 2016. According to the Department of Food and Civil Supplies, a total of 11.14 lakh new family ration cards have been issued while 3.38 lakh fake cards were identified and cancelled across Tamil Nadu during the period from June 2011 to November 2014. According to a report published in 2012 by the Comptroller and Auditor General of…

Even as the Tamil Nadu government has introduced digitization of the Public Distribution System (PDS) and smart PDS cards, ration card holders from many parts of the district complain of lack of access to the monthly supply of commodities which points to the discrepancies in the functioning of ration shops.Tamil Nadu, which follows universal PDS system unlike other states, had asked for more time to implement the National Food Security Act (NFSA) 2013, which is based on targeted PDS. Under NFSA, 75 per cent of the rural population and 50 per cent of the urban population are entitled to five…

How a transgender from Sikkim is building her life in Chennai She calls herself Rudy, after she fell in love with Rihanna’s ‘Rude Boy ‘when she was 15. She is trans-sexual. And this is her story. Born as Vivek B.K. in a small township in Sikkim, she has come a long way in defining herself. Having identified herself as gay when she was 7 years old and still a boy, the decision to transition to the female gender was a natural progression, an essential step for being completely true to herself. She tells her story over a cup of coffee at…

A Memorable Morning at Neelankarai It was 5.25 a.m on June 19th. We were walking towards the Beach from East Coast Road. I'm part of Just Volunteer, an independent volunteering group and along with 30 volunteers from my team, I was on my way to the 7th Edition of the Chennai Coastal Cleanup organized by the Chennai Trekking Club. This was to be my 3rd Cleanup participation since 2014, when I had joined the 5th edition as an individual volunteer. The excitement was palpable the minute we reached there and we met the zonal leads. The briefing sessions were precise…

Chennai Coastal Cleanup booty: ­30 plastic spoons, nylon rope, 4 torn chappals and more! My daughter and I chose the Marina Light House location, along with a few children from her school. We are not newbies to clean­ups, having participated in various such activities in and around Kotturpuram, including the Chitranagar and Suryanagar slums. But the challenge of the beach is that things are buried deep in the sand and it's tougher to dig out the trash! In the middle of our activity we had these memorable moments... Mr Dhanraj who, as far as we could tell, lives on the…

When Civic Mindedness Triumphed Over Apathy For all those times we have walked past a mound of garbage on the street and turned our nose up to declare: "ugh! What filth! Why isn't anyone doing anything about it?", a whole bunch of us decided to stop passing the buck and get into the swing of things ourselves. It was time for Clean Up on an epic scale. It was pre-dawn, on a Sunday morning. Time usually spent in stockpiling on sleep and stubbornly resisting the family members' perky efforts to rise and shine. But this was not one of those…