GENRE: Features

Avinash, a resident of Perungalathur, is waiting eagerly to see a change in the local government. “The councillor is unresponsive whenever we try to raise our voices. Though we were not much affected by the floods last year, we ensured the safety of our residents without claiming any help from the civic body and gathered a few boats to rescue people from the neighbouring area, Mudichur. I welcome the change of council with the hope that it happens soon, before the onset of monsoon flooding,” he says. How soon that will happen, however, is anybody’s guess. Delay in municipal elections…

“And through this having and giving and sharing and receiving, we too can share and love and have... and receive.”– Joey Tribbiani, in “Friends”. Funny that this quote, part of Joey’s intended speech at the wedding of his friends Monica and Chandler, would be apt for a nationwide festival of giving! Daan Utsav is not just about the receiving, we know, it is about the giving. A festival that turns the lens on to itself, like a particularly gorgeous selfie. When I began volunteering for Daan Utsav, I had not seen it up close. I had read about it in…

I was requested by Irina Ghose and Gopal Swaminathan to conduct a nature/birding walk at Lalbagh for their daughter Divya, who was celebrating her birthday. We gathered most of the group together for a "landmark" shot: And off we went. We started with the commonest of birds, the Blue Rock Pigeon: And the Black Kite (here, a silhouette in the sky): At the lake, we saw a Little Egret and a Purple Heron: A Purple Swamphen: A Common Moorhen: A White-throated Kingfisher looked out over the rose garden. The Spotted Owlets didn't seem too enthused to see me back again…

Residents of six large apartment complexes on the shores of the Muttukadu backwaters on Old Mahabalipuram Road (OMR) have been helplessly watching the relentless damage to their environment for close to three years now. Constant dumping and burning of mixed waste goes on in these shores at Padur, just behind Hindustan University, within 300 metres of these apartments. Padur on the IT Corridor, 2 km from SIPCOT IT park, has seen rapid development concurrent with the construction of many high rise residential complexes comprised of more than 6000 apartments. Since the area under the Corporation of Chennai extends only up…

In the May 2016 elections, while Tamil Nadu recorded a polling percent of 73.85%, Chennai recorded only 60.5%. The pattern was similar in other metro cities. It was around 54% in Mumbai (2014) and Bangalore (2015), roughly 12-13% lower than the state average. The media, analyst and activists put the blame on urban citizens. But should we really judge by these figures? And even where turnout is in fact low, what are the real reasons behind the phenomenon? The problem of duplicate entries Vote Smart, a Bangalore based NGO run by PG Bhat, analyzed the electoral rolls using software. They…

As I was sitting in my drawing room, binge-watching a TV show, my mother sat right across the couch focused on her (almost full time) hobby – scrolling through Facebook. She announced, “Hey! there is a photo of you celebrating Diwali at Chitra aunty’s place. You are in that cute paavadai that you loathed back then, Look at your scorn”. I hate them, true! My mom had this stern belief that I would grow tall every single day and hence she would religiously buy dresses at least three sizes ahead of my actual one.  I ended up having frocks that…

On September 4th, when civil rights and advocacy group Arappor Iyakkam Secretary Chandra Mohan parked his car at Marina Beach, the parking attendant initially gave him a token for Rs 20, which is the rate that you pay for parking your car for more than 6 hours. It was only after a long argument that the attendant accepted and issued a receipt for the 5 rupee token. Infuriated by the experience, Chandra Mohan went on to file a complaint in the nearest police station and shared the entire experience in a Facebook post. His pledge now is to ensure that…

He has an air of spirituality and wisdom that is beyond his 29 years. As he sits in his office and tells me about the journey of Environment Foundation of India, I cannot but help wonder what I was doing with my life when I was his age. Nothing important comes to mind. And here I am, face to face with this young man, who has already helped save and restore over 39 lakes and 54 ponds in the country! Arun Krishnamurthy is one of the world’s youngest awardees of the Rolex Award for Enterprise. The award recognised his contribution…

When Bengaluru-based photographer Mahesh Shantaram started working on what became 'Racism in Africa:The African Portraits,' he was only trying to educate himself about the African migrant population living in his country. “I got into this project due to my own ignorance and curiosity,” Shantaram said. “This sort of curiosity and ignorance is a shared experience. This project is a way for me to bridge those gaps.” His portraits of African migrants living in India are on display at the Tasveer Gallery in Bengaluru until September 23rd. Tasveer Art Gallery is the first stop of the exhibition’s five city tour. Wandoh and his…

Nishanth Dugar in his factory. Pic: Kate Clark Piles of white cloth carry bags cover every inch of the floor in 23-year-old Nishant Dugar’s small Peenya factory. Six women are hard at work; a chorus of sewing machines pound, punch and hammer ceaselessly. Dugar has been making the trek from the Indiranagar office of his company, A S N Entreprises, to his two factories in Peenya since the total ban on plastic in Karnataka meant an end to his former business: manufacturing and selling plastic bags. The plastic ban was first announced in January 2015 and was made official in…