CITIZEN JOURNALISM

In the sweltering Chennai summer heat, Amala endearingly helps her friend Pavithra who is fretting and nervous about riding a bicycle through the busiest roads of Arumbakkam. To add to her stress, the ordeal is unfolding at 9 pm, a time highly unusual for women to commute casually in Chennai. While Pavithra anxiously pedals, constantly shifting uncomfortably in her seat, with several eyes watching her every move, Amala and her friends join Pavithra in solidarity. They cheer her on, as she slowly and gradually adjusts her eyes to the dizzying traffic and steadies herself to a comfortable pace.  Cycling in…

The slow but certain deterioration of cognitive functions that comes with the onset of Alzheimer's Disease is unimaginable for most. We are rooted in a culture where it is simply assumed that a sick person can rely heavily on family or relatives and is entitled to a certain amount of help and benefits. While it might get uncomfortable getting into the details of a caregiving role, these are important aspects to consider and discuss from the very beginning. Setting up personal boundaries are extremely important in order to safeguard mental and physical health of patients and caregivers as well. It…

Mumbai city celebrated Ganesh Chaturthi with great splendour after almost two years of low-key celebrations. During COVID lockdowns, social distancing meant the absence of large gatherings, even on festival days. This year’s vigorous celebrations included banjos, metal cylinders beaten with metal hammers and loudspeakers during processions for Ganesh Visarjan in Sarvajanik pandals of the city. These instruments inevitably raised noise levels. It became a cause for concern for all Mumbai residents as they grappled with the health impacts of noise. In 2016, the Bombay High Court passed a comprehensive Judgement and Order to enforce the Noise Pollution Rules. The Court also monitored the implementation…

Life with animals offers a bit of peace in today’s fast-paced, individualised world, where we often feel there is no time for family, community and care. Pets often give us company in these increasingly isolating times. However, raising pets in a city like Chennai comes with its own difficulties, especially when you raise them in urban spaces, which can often be unkind and dangerous to animals.  Over time, Chennai has seen numerous initiatives that rescue, rehabilitate and take care of animals in the city. The most well-known initiative is Blue Cross, which mainly deals with abandoned, injured and sick animals.…

"The house feels like a furnace during summers. We live in a very congested space which makes it difficult to sit inside the house and even more difficult for me to cook due to the heat. I get headaches and my kids experience skin problems too," says Guna, a resident of Jyothipura, an urban poor settlement in Bengaluru. Heat stress is not a new concept given the realities of rising local temperatures in India. But Guna’s plight, faced by every family living in tin-roofed houses in informal settlements, reflects the inequitable realities of heat stress in urban India. Houses of…

As a first-time apartment buyer in Bengaluru, in 2016, I heard of many instances of builders/developers simply walking away without creating/forming an "Owners' Association" and handing over the apartment's assets in a systematic way for various reasons, including The lack of bandwidth with the builder to create/form an ad hoc-committee of the Owners' Association and take them through the association formation and registration The extent of deviation from "sanctioned plan" to "as constructed" exceeding 5% (allowed deviation)The builder's desire to retain control of the property and sometimes even plans to add additional built-up area. Improper calculation of undivided share (UDS)…

During monsoons, road infrastructure in Mumbai becomes a nightmare. Potholed roads are seasonal and don’t fail to appear after the first shower. Just before the monsoon set in this year, the Western Express Highway, SV Road and other major roads seemed to be in a better state, creating an illusion that they would survive the season. Within a few days of rains, craters and potholes appeared all over Mumbai. The Twitter timelines of MMRDA and BMC were filled with complaints. Updates by the Traffic Police on traffic snarls on roads across the city. Source: Mumbai Traffic Police, Twitter A distance…

The first thing people see after stepping out of the railway station after a long day at work is a row of street vendors. To quench your thirst with nimbu paani or buttermilk, with hot vada pavs for those who want to grab a quick bite, and vegetables neatly sorted into vaatas or portions for those who need enough for one family’s meal and cannot afford a whole kilo. We stand the whole day or roam around different localities to make a living. A regular day is not smooth sailing, it is fraught with several problems. Society sees our hard…

The recent Kannada blockbuster 777 Charlie attempts to tell a story that can change hearts and perceptions about dogs; Indie dogs in particular. The film, directed by Kiranraj K is the story of Dharma, a man who suffers from terrible trauma having lost his entire family in a road accident. Dharma, played by Rakshit Shetty, becomes a recluse and attaches no significance to his life till a rambunctious, pesky pup shows up at his doorstep his life upside down for good. Dharma takes in the abandoned pup Charlie. In turn, Charlie gives him a sense of purpose in life. Making…

The youth in Bengaluru’s many slums are caught in a vicious cycle. Of poverty, of lack of access to education and skill development resulting in their inability to get decent employment. These are key factors that lead to substance abuse issues among these youngsters as they grow up in one of the most unequal 'global' cities of India. The trajectory of young people in Bengaluru’s Rajendra Nagar slum, located in the vicinity of the high-income Koramangala neighbourhood, and the choices they make in the midst of the high-alcoholism issue in this informal settlement is not uncommon. The presence of a…