GENRE: Features

Martha Graham once said, “Theatre is a verb before it is a noun, an act before it is a place.” Bengaluru has always been a boiling pot of the performance arts with big theatres that have gained national and international prominence that have been showcasing plays and performances for over a decade. As the appreciation for theatre increased, Whitefield found its own cultural space that would go on to showcase some incredible performances. Since its inception in 2011, the Jagriti theatre has played host to many renowned plays and performances, gaining appreciation for its unique take on theatre. Making a…

Tiruvottiyur and Padur, two localities in north and south Chennai respectively, with very different socio-cultural identities, are bound by one thing in common today, something they can truly take pride in.  Both these localities have been able to adhere to and implement the Solid Waste Management Rules, 2016  to a large extent.  Private kitchens with neatly displayed posters guiding residents on how to segregate waste into biodegradable, recyclable and reject waste; like-minded enthusiasts campaigning on segregation, and conservancy workers meticulously insisting on segregated waste -- such sights and action are common in Tiruvottiyur and Padur, thanks to the willingness of the people…

The week-long celebration commemorating Madras Day, which falls on August 22, is a fun way to learn about the rich history of the city. A plethora of activities are held over the course of a week (indeed, these days, it is almost a month) that are informative and engaging. The most popular among them are the heritage walks that trace the historical roots of Chennai, formerly Madras. The Dravidian Historical Research Centre organised a Social Justice Heritage Tour led by the editor of Nakheeran Magazine, Govi Lenin. The tour traced the origins of the Dravidian social justice movement in the…

Clued in Indian travelers have often swooned over the variety of street food available in Kolkata. Even celebrity chefs, such as Gordon Ramsay, have talked and savoured street food in the City of Joy and it is not uncommon to find teams from international channels like BBC and CNN filming the food in the city. But a recent Taste of Travel survey conducted by Booking.com ** has brought Kolkata up in the ranks on India’s food map all over again. Kolkata was named the best city to explore mouth-watering street food followed by Amritsar, Ahmedabad, Mumbai and New Delhi. The research was…

As the city gears up for celebrations of Madras Day (or Week), like every year I go back in my own time machine to reminisce about the city and in particular my locality. Fortunately, I have been living in the same locality - intersection of Anna Nagar West and Villivakkam - since my school days and have seen the rapid development and transformation of both areas. Long before 100 Feet Road became the link to all parts of the city, I remember casually hopping across this road to reach my school. The other prominent road was the New Avadi Road,…

The devastating floods in Kerala have ravaged life in the state, with 223 officially reported deaths and 10.28 lakh people stationed across 3274 relief camps, as shared by the state’s Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan. The central government has described such unprecedented nature’s fury in the southern state as a ‘calamity of severe nature’. In what reaffirms faith in humanity, help has been pouring in from all quarters to god’s own country, and people have been pitching in to help the flood-stricken reconstruct their lives. Tamil Nadu shares the Mullaperiyar river with Kerala and has been a party to the century-long rivalry…

Many of us city folks are growing veggies on our terraces and balconies, greening our patch of concrete, staying as eco-positive as we can, but wait a moment… Are we really being gentle on the earth, all the way? Where did it come from – the red soil and the river sand that we use to grow our potted plants? The fact is, the soil and sand would have been mined or smuggled out from a rice field, river bed, forest or countryside, leaving them that much depleted. We do know that sand mining from river beds devastates not just…

B'luru ranked in 58th position on livability index Union minister Hardeep Singh Puri released the 'Ease of Living Index–2018’ on August 13th. Bengaluru was ranked in 58th place in the overall list, among 111 Indian cities surveyed, based on aggregated scores in four categories: institutional governance, social, economic and physical infrastructure. To ensure accurate reflection of the ease of living in Indian cities through this ranking, marks were awarded against 78 indicators in 15 sub-categories. Barring the category of open spaces, in which the former garden city fared reasonably well in 16th place, Bengaluru was at the bottom of the list…

Built in the 13th century, Delhi’s Qutb Minar, a UNESCO world heritage site and one of the tallest minarets in the country, is facing stiff competition − from the height of a garbage dump in the national capital. In a recent report, a panel of India’s Parliament noted their observations on landfill sites in Delhi, writing that the “laissez-faire of the civic bodies of Delhi also gets reflected in the fact that the height of Ghazipur landfill site has reached as high as 65 metres which is just eight metres less than the height of the national monument Qutub Minar”. Ghazipur is…

Tamil Nadu has been a frontrunner in organ donation. Call it the collective effort between hospitals and not-for-profit organisations or the willingness of people, the state has the highest number of organ donors in India. The fact remains though that a majority of citizens are still ignorant about many aspects of donation, leaving a wide gap between organ availability and patients waiting for transplants. The NDTV-Fortis More To Give campaign indicated that an approximate 5 lakh people across the nation die each year, due to non availability of organs. The number reiterates the need to acknowledge citizens who are hesitant…