GENRE: Explainers

Ninety-second showers, yellow water, no flushing, and ruckus caused by fights over water - does it ring a bell? It sure will, if you have read about the water crisis in Cape Town city in South Africa. For months now, the city has been grappling with severe water crisis caused by population growth and continuing drought conditions, leading to fears over 'Day Zero' when the city is projected to shut down water supply altogether. Such prospects have led the government to lay down strict usage and conservation rules, even for tourists. The everyday water usage for an individual is restricted…

As is with the case with any poll-bound state, political parties in Karnataka are ramping up their election propaganda. With the elections just a little more than a month away, the challenge for  candidates is to stand out from the crowd and be recognisable. It is of little surprise that buntings and hoardings have sprung up dime a dozen around the city with names and pictures of political leaders. However, most of these are illegal and are propped up on road dividers, footpaths and trees, which pose a problem for road users besides being eyesores. Since flex banners are also…

I am a mother, daughter, wife, sister, friend, animal-lover, community advocate, and victim of having a sweet tooth. I clearly do not mention these roles in any particular order of priority since “victim of a sweet tooth” is at the end. All my roles are incredibly important to me because each one feeds a part of my being. But, reflecting on it, I realized that seven of them can be described as being a part of the broadest one in there: community advocate. Being a mother, daughter, wife, sister, friend, dog-lover, and victim of having a sweet tooth all lead…

On Sunday, March 11th, a wave of 50,000 red-flag-waving farmers washed over Mumbai, the nation’s commercial hub. The 200-km march over six days not only highlighted the schizophrenic divide between urban India and rural Bharat, but also seemed to ring a wake-up call of sorts across the nation. Mumbai was tense as the scene was set for a communication flashpoint between both groups. The farmers under the All India Kisan Sangharsh Committee (AIKS), however, had already won the hearts of the ordinary Mumbaikar. They thoughtfully walked at night to spare exam-writing schoolchildren. Mumbai residents responded with flowers, food and footwear, as…

Piped Natural Gas is available as an alternative to Liquid Petroleum Gas in many cities across India. PNG is preferred by many as it is cost-effective when compared to LPG. Gas Authority of India Limited (GAIL) has started work in Bengaluru on supplying PNG to industrial and a few residential areas and people have been asked to apply for it if they want the connection. Piped natural gas, though not risky as compared to LPG, is also flammable. So, it becomes necessary for all of us in Bengaluru to be aware of the hazards that are related to PNG. What…

Even as the gentle city of soft, light breezes, namma Bengaluru, is getting gritty with particulate matter, there seems to be a disconnect between the citizen and the data. What exactly is blowing around? Is it possible to sense and detect the quality of air? How does Bangalore rate in the Air Quality Index (AQI)? Not too good. It has been found that the biggest air pollutant in the city is particulate matter (PM), specifically PM10 and PM2.5. These are tiny, irritant suspensions in the air that tend to enter and cause respiratory and even cardiovascular diseases. In 2015, Greenpeace…

A few months back, Baiju P V, who owns a Vodafone postpaid connection, noticed that his monthly phone bill included charges for Value Added Services (VAS). “The charge was Rs 250 plus GST. I had neither requested any VAS, nor got any message informing me that VAS had been activated,” Baiju says. As per regulations of TRAI (Telecom Regulatory Authority of India), VAS - which includes caller tunes, live streaming etc - can be activated only with the double consent (explained below) of the subscriber. Baiju called Vodafone customer care and got the bill revised. But he was charged for…

The death of a 26-year-old intellectual disabled man in the city, two weeks ago, came as a rude shock to Chennaites, as it underlines two factors: absence of civic responsibility and apathy from the police department. M Praveen Kumar, who was waiting with his mother at Adyar gate to board a bus to his work place in Savera hotel, went missing after he got into another bus. Praveen’s mother lodged a complaint at the Teynampet police station and informed his colleagues, family and the volunteers of Vidyasagar, an organisation that works with people with psycho-social disabilities in Kotturpuram, and also…

What started as a happy celebration ended in a terrible tragedy at ‘1 above’ restaurant located in the reputed Kamala Mills Complex, Mumbai on December 29, 2017. The fire that broke out at the resto-bar claimed the lives of 14 people and left several others injured. Since then, a spate of other fire accidents have been reported from Mumbai and cities across India, highlighting more often than not the alarming and abysmal state of fire safety preparedness in our cities. Fire accidents can happen anytime, anywhere. It was not too long ago that Chennaites witnessed the seven-storeyed building of The…

People in Jayanagar were panicked to see a three-storey building catching fire on Thursday, January 18th, 2018. Short circuit was said to be the reason, but there were no casualties. But a bar that caught fire in the first week of 2018 in the densely populated area of Kalasipalyam, Bengaluru, was not so lucky. Five people lost their lives in this case. Even as everybody with some authority in the city accused the other for being responsible for the tragedy, the issue of fire safety in the city is back in focus. So while the stakeholders of the city's administration…