GENRE: Features

Triplicane, the oldest Islamic settlement in Chennai, bustles with activity now. The spirit of Ramzan is witnessed in every lane of the locality, as shops selling burkhas, Qurans and other necessities have mushroomed. The location of the Big Mosque, the oldest mosque tracing its origin to 1794, adds glory to Triplicane. Big Mosque is famous for its Mughal architecture and the less known, fascinating story of its chronogram. Chronograms are inscriptions where specific letters can be interpreted as numerals to signify a date or a period. “The numerical value assigned to each letter in the text will reflect the year…

One of the most prestigious constituencies of Kolkata, Jadavpur has always seen parties fielding popular leaders and party heavyweights for this Lok Sabha constituency. This was the very place from where the current West Bengal chief minister, Mamata Banerjee defeated Somnath Chatterjee,  stalwart of the CPI(M), in 1984. Indeed, the constituency has seen many high profile and celebrated MPs, the most recent being Harvard historian Sugato Bose, who won the seat in 2014. In the run up to the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, Mamata Banerjee surprised everyone by declaring that local Tollywood star, Mimi Chakraborty would get the much coveted…

Bimal Desai has been a one-man army protecting much of what we see of Cubbon Park. The 14 cases he filed over the last two decades ensured that night-time traffic was banned in the park and encroachments were kept at bay. But one of his learnings while he was fighting the system over the years, was that you can't always win. So while he continued his legal battles, Desai decided to parallelly start greening the city to compensate for its lost green cover. Using the Miyawaki method, he has created eight patches of forests in his house, which is set…

On a sweltering Saturday afternoon, a little more than a dozen men, armed with red flags in hand, towing a middle-aged lady with inconspicuous features quietly walk into a gated housing society in the heart of Kasba, a densely populated residential neighbourhood in East Kolkata. Minutes later, the residents hear a firm female voice that promises a better tomorrow devoid of anarchy and lumpen raj. A face here and a face there, slowly but gradually curious onlookers from windows and balconies start peeping down to catch the show. The lady, with a microphone in one hand (one of her party…

Kolkata-based cyber security expert and entrepreneur Niraj Agarwal is among the 13 candidates who are in the fray for the Kolkata South Lok Sabha constituency that goes to polls on May 19th. But there is one key difference between him and the 12 others. Far removed from the high decibel political campaign of his chief rivals, Niraj is quietly stirring a movement on one of the most important pressing issues of his constituency and of cities in general, but which hardly finds mention in political circles. In an exclusive tete-e-tete with Citizen Matters, this independent candidate says that the real…

1,697 citizens from Chennai took an oath to embrace source segregation yesterday (May 12th), during a door-to-door campaign conducted by Citizen Consumer and civic Action Group (CAG), in collaboration with Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC). The campaign was conducted in three locations in Chennai -- Anna Nagar, Adyar and Royapuram.   The day began with a gathering of people at three different venues. Besides the regular walking population, Anna Nagar Tower park bustled with residents, volunteers, conservancy workers and corporation officials for the event. The Kasturba Nagar Community hall in Adyar and Anna Park in Royapuram also saw good crowds, comprised…

“Ardambarda astrology kaltu, Aptamitra Avinash range-ige build up kodtarappa!” (“Barely knows any astrology, but portrays himself as Avinash from Aptamitra movie”) says Sudarshan in one of his gigs, warning the audience to stay away from the astrologer uncle at family events. Bengaluru has been a stand-up comedy hub for about a decade now, with artists from various backgrounds performing in English and Hindi. This is not surprising as the city is home to people from across India. But modern comedy in Kannada was not popular here till a few years back. Traditionally, in local art-forms like Yakshagana, 'Vidushakas' or comedians…

On May 7th, Aam Aadmi Party’s South Delhi Lok Sabha candidate Raghav Chadha unveiled the manifesto for his constituency in the presence of the party’s Delhi convener Gopal Rai. On the occasion, Chadha said, “Its not just promises but a resolution to resolve people’s grievances”. The 32-page manifesto mainly focuses on 12 primary issues like pollution, water, healthcare, women protection, sewage, child protection & education, public grievance redressal, empowerment of vulnerable sections of society, public toilets & sanitation, night shelters, transport and culture. Just a few days earlier, we had caught up with the candidate to know his plans and agenda…

Days after Cyclone Fani hit Odisha, ravaged its towns and cities and proceeded further towards the north-east, the capital city of Bhubaneswar remains in shambles. Water supply is still severely disrupted in parts of the city, and the service infrastructure is in total disarray, leaving citizens with no electricity, mobile or other forms of connectivity. While the state has been rightly praised in national and international media for its immense achievement in minimising casualties in the face of the severe storm, local patience is now running out and protests are being reported from various corners of the state, and in…

This article is supported by SVP Cities of India Fellowship “Madam, all I want now is a job that will help me meet my monthly expenses. That is all.” The worry in Sridhar’s voice and the desperation on his face as he says this, cannot be captured in words. Sridhar’s story is similar to that of many, who in their late teens or early twenties moved to Bengaluru in search of a job, often leaving behind ageing parents and small plots of farmland in their villages. Every year, thousands migrate to Bengaluru in search of a livelihood, to support themselves and…