GENRE: Features

First  it was Madras Day, then Madras Week. And now some say it should be Madras Month. And if that were to be accepted, today would be the first day of Madras Month! Happy birthday month to namma Madras! It has been reasonably established that 22 August 1639 was the day Andrew Cogan and Francis Day of the East India Company, purchased the village of Madrasapattinam from Damarla Venkatapathy, Nayak of Vandavasi, owing allegiance to the Vijayanagara kings. First, a trading post was established at the site. In 1640 the foundations of Fort St George were laid, and the rest,…

Have you ever wondered, where does the food on your table come from? Ok, you bought it from a local grocery or a neighbourhood supermarket, but where was this produce actually grown? As India’s urban population spikes, so does its food requirement. India’s 377-million urban population is expected to grow by another 300 million by 2050 and yet, agricultural land is rapidly shrinking in urban areas, leaving city dwellers increasingly reliant on rural farmers for meeting their sustenance requirements. Transported across long distances and handled by several middlemen, the price of rural produce shoots up by the time it actually…

It is a site that has inspired poets like Kuvempu and scores of other artists, a beautiful green cover in the heart of Mysuru city that provides recreation and relaxation for the hundreds of city residents who come here every day for their daily walk, run or merely to enjoy the peace and beauty. Such is Kukkurahalli Lake, a calm, naturally scenic place rich in biodiversity, home to more than 150 species of birds, 85 species of butterflies, 20 species of reptiles, 14 species of mammals, 37 species of spiders and many more documented in the lake, leading it to…

At the age of 57, when a majority of them get ready to settle comfortably into retired lives, Chennai-based businessman VBR Menon graduated from a law school in Bengaluru. The seasoned businessman became a full time law practitioner in 2014, when he was 62. Over the last two years he has been filing only Public Interest Litigations (PILs) on several significant issues bothering Chennai, including land and water. His cases have been seriously pursued by the Madras High Court and have led to the judiciary issuing several directions to the authorities. In an interview with Citizen Matters, VBR Menon talks…

It’s July now and the temperature is slowly dipping in Delhi. Only a few migratory birds wintered at the Yamuna biodiversity park remain. Others have left for Central Asia and Siberia. Some species of summer terrestrial migrants are expected to arrive while some others can be seen enjoying the park’s wetlands. “Red-crested pochard, a magnificent bird with a red head and an orange beak, has left,” says Sameer Gautam, an education officer at the park and an avid ornithologist. “The arrival of this bird after a gap of over 15 years was a great feat and is indicative of how…

For long, Information Technology was the blue-eyed poster boy of Indian industry. It brought in foreign exchange, employed millions and made sure we were part of the new world. Manufacturing, which had kept Tamil Nadu going for decades, was suddenly passé and lost its sheen. Nobody wanted to work with machines, in factory spaces, filled with unionised labour. In contrast to that, the world of IT was hugely attractive. But that scenario may soon change, for the worse. The nature of the industry has suddenly undergone a change. Gone are the days when IT companies required millions of coders, 50…

I have lived nearly all my life in Bangalore and growing up, I remember mentioning at least once a day, that I was proudly Bangalorean. When I was little, my mother and grandmother would haul our cousin bunch into an auto every Sunday to get to Jayanagar 4th Block and back. Those auto-rides filled with remnants of fruit-salad ice cream from Cool-Joint, toothpicks stolen from ShivSagar post lunch and their shopping bags taught me two very interesting things. One, for every auto that says yes to you, there are usually seven that would have said no before. Two, every auto…

Imagine a beautiful lake in your neighbourhood that is not just a lifeline in terms of freshwater for the city, but could also be a seat of leisure for you and your kids at the end of a tiring day, and home to a thriving, aquatic ecosystem. Instead it becomes, over decades, a disposal site for untreated sewage, marred by excessive encroachment and irresponsible, damaging activities like washing of clothes, cars etc. It is rarely desilted, and there is no proper outlet for the excess water leading to flooding of roads around it every rainy season. That is a scenario…

On the morning of Sunday, July 16th, 10 of us, a group of teenagers, worked for almost four hours, scraping bills, removing garbage, and repainting electrical boxes near Marathahalli Bridge, Bengaluru. We started our work at 6.30 am. By the time we finished, the stretch of road was clean, colorful, and a pleasure to see! This is just one of many projects that we have taken up in the past year, working under the group name of Clean Up Bangalore, or CUB. CUB is an initiative that originated in August 2016 when three of us, Rithana, Achyutha, and Neha, found…

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been extremely keen to promote Indian culture as a virtuous lifestyle both within the country and abroad. Ancient Indian traditions of Yoga and Ayurveda are being pushed by the Government. Modi’s gifts to foreign dignitaries are often thoughtful symbols of historical events and the crafts of India. It therefore comes as a shock, that the same Government that deservedly places such a high value on our ancient and profound heritage, has proposed a dilution of the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Sites and Remains Act (AMASR Act)of 1958 to allow large-scale construction in the vicinity of…