GENRE: Features

Public parks play a key role in recreation and health of citizens. For children growing up in fast developing, concretised urbanscapes, time spent in parks is their only respite from walls -- in their houses and schools and tuitions. It is a good thing for citizens, therefore, that renovation of parks gets a mention in almost all annual budgets of the Chennai Corporation. However, a visit to some of the public parks in the city will break your heart. On the ground, these parks are anything but child friendly, with most of the play equipment and accessories to engage children…

In a tragic incident, a Class 12 student riding a two-wheeler died in an accident at Thirumangalam in central Chennai in the first week of April. The case drew even more attention than usual, as Chennai Police, in a first, arrested the mother for letting the minor boy ride without a driving license. Chennai police seems to have followed suit of the Hyderabad police in this case, with reports of the latter having launched a massive crackdown against underage driving, are arresting the parents.  Business Standard recently reported that police in the Telangana capital catch more than 30 minors behind…

Where? As the sun  began to descend, the already buzzing Koyambedu market road came alive with more action as hundreds of people assembled at a local hotel for the Sakkadai Thiruvizha, organised by Arappor Iyakkam. The event on April 8th was envisioned as a citizen awareness program to highlight the problem of untreated sewage that is being continuously let out into the city’s water bodies, spelling doom for them as well as for the entire ecosystem. The highlight Officials from Chennai Corporation, PWD and CMWSSB  came together on a single platform to listen to the woes of the people. It…

Actor Revathi was the first speaker at the event. "It is the good deeds and good people around us who still keep our hopes intact for a better world," she began, drawing reference to all the negativity around us. "As a mother I feel there has been a drastic change, change for the good. It has given me the inquisitiveness to delve deep and question every happening. I feel the urge to leave behind the best for the young generation," added the actor. She insisted that the responsibility of transferring the knowledge that we gain in our lives and the goodness…

Wearing a plain school uniform, holding a banner in one hand and a lunch bag in the other, a young lad marched on the streets of Padur last year. Apart from the words on the banner -- ‘Kudiyai Vidu, Padikka Vidu’ (Give up liquor, let us study), it is the steely determination of the eight-year-old boy, A Aakaash, that caught everyone’s attention and spirited the anti-TASMAC agitation at Padur, a small hamlet on Old Mahabalipuram Road (OMR). Toys or clothes do not interest Aakaash. His worries belie his age. When a liquor shop in an inappropriate place needs removal or…

On March 18, 2017 I visited a water body in GKM Colony located right next to the K5 Police Station (Peravallur), Jawahar Nagar in response to a request from Arappor Iyakkam to conduct an audit on the city’s water bodies. There were some workers who were involved in spraying chemicals and were also at the same time removing the floating garbage from this particular pond, which is called the Vannankuttai. A storm water drain (SWD) was found to be discharging untreated sewage directly into the Vannankuttai through a circular pipe, as you will see in the following image: Summer was…

Over the past couple of months, there have been some bird counts, in a laudable attempt to document the species of birds found in the outskirts of Bangalore, and elsewhere in Karnataka, and their numbers as well. The first initiative, at Bannerghatta National Park, was started in February 2018, to take place on the second Saturday of each month, and will continue over the entire period of a year, through all the seasons. The data will be collated at the end and presented in a report to give a picture of the bird species and numbers throughout the year. The…

West Bengal’s tryst with dengue in 2017 could not have been more deadly. Around 13000 people were affected and nearly 100 people lost their lives to the disease. Among the worst hit was the South 24 Parganas district with every household having at least one person down with the mosquito-borne disease. So, the citizens cannot be blamed for going into a panic mode every time the possibility of another outbreak is suspected. This being the case, you would expect the state government to be on its toes, leaving no stones unturned to ensure another dengue outbreak is avoided. Unfortunately, that’s not the…

Once there was a river. Rather, there were many rivers. And then there were none. In the run up to Arappor Iyakkam's Sakkadai Thiruvizha, a citizen awareness program to highlight the problem of sewage being let into Chennai's water bodies, two young photographers -- Raghavan Lokesh and Mohan Kumar Karunakaran -- volunteered to travel along Chennai's rivers, and capture images for our readers. The pictures are heart breaking. Let us take a minute to view, and mull over, what we have done to the lifelines of this city. [Raghavan Lokesh is an entrepreneur and has been volunteering with Arappor Iyakkam…

Five hopeful Mysorians, had planned a four-day trip to Singapore with Go Holiday Makers in Mysore which arranges national and international trips for consumers. The five consumers, Pushpa Talawar, Radha, Govindaraju, Dasegowda B.S. and Vittal Talawar, had paid up hefty amounts to Sri Bhaskar, owner of the Go Enjoy Holidays, for a package trip. They were promised a wonderful holiday with airport drop and pick up, hotel transport, hotel rooms, breakfast, lunch, dinner etc and they paid up a total of Rs 330,000 to Sri Bhaskar. When they reached Singapore, they were dismayed to find that no one had come…