GENRE: In Focus

Every afternoon, Nanda Kumar makes a difficult choice. He parks his bike outside his home in Chennai and suspends work, losing up to ₹800 a day. The 27-year-old Ola and Uber rider isn’t on a break for leisure, though. A brutal heatwave and a recent heat stroke that landed him in the hospital for two days cost him over ₹10,000 in medical bills and lost wages. Since then, he has been forced to stay off the roads during the afternoon hours. “I can’t ride between 12 and 4 pm in the summer months. The heat is just unbearable,” he says. …

Nine-year-old Priti Borde, is struggling to stay indoors. The air inside her home is hot and stuffy, offering little relief compared to the lane outside. With her school closed for the summer holidays, she finds herself confined to a narrow alley barely three feet wide, idly passing time with her neighbourhood friends. Her mother has set firm boundaries—no straying into the adjacent lane and no trips to Pushpa Park, the only playground nearby. Although just half a kilometre away, the park lies beyond a busy road, making it difficult to reach. Juhu Beach, nearly a kilometre away, remains inaccessible, leaving…

“You will see how the river changes once we go outside the national park,” says Mahesh Thawani of Mumbai March, a voluntary organisation working on issues in the Sanjay Gandhi National Park (SNGP). I am meeting Mahesh, a long-time resident of the area, to walk along the Dahisar River, which originates in the park at Tulsi Lake. As we make our way through enthusiastic throngs of morning walkers, the river is omnipresent—providing a serene setting to a group of senior citizens singing, a refuge for birds, holding a mirror to the green of the trees along its banks and the…

“I’ve seen tiny black worms in this water whenever we store it. But since we don’t have any other source, I strain and boil the water before use,” said Tulasi, mother of two, tediously filling her buckets with Cauvery water from the common tap in Vinayakanagara slum, TC Palya. She stores a drum of water for a week despite her doctor warning her not to store water for more than four days. “What option do I have? We get Cauvery water only once a week for three hours. We get muddy borewell water twice weekly, which we use for non-drinking…

“We had to take Cauvery connections as the common borewell tap went completely dry last summer. Even then, we cannot get a bucket of water without using motors,” said Hajira Bhanu, resident of Triveninagara slum in KR Pura. This slum — 'declared' or officially recognised by the Karnataka Slum Development Board (KSDB) — is comparatively developed. Yet the only water source for nearly 60 houses here is the Cauvery, which comes very faintly for less than three hours, twice a week. The residents have installed motors in their homes to draw water, which is considered illegal by the Bangalore Water…

Ambedkar Nagar, located in Kodathi panchayat, is a rapidly expanding neighbourhood in Bengaluru's outskirts. Young professionals socialising, walking to their workplace, waiting for their cabs—this area reflects Bengaluru's bustling IT ecosystem. Water tankers are a common sight, supplying water to local buildings. From small eateries to salons, the area has all the essential facilities for everyday life. The Wipro office premises are located on one side of Ambalipura-Sarjapura Road, while opposite its Kodathi gate, NPS School Road is lined with brightly painted, four-storey Paying Guest (PG) accommodations. But this growth has come at a steep cost, especially for the environment.…

வண்ணாரப்பேட்டையைச் சேர்ந்த 24 வயதான தரிஷினி, தான் தினமும் குடிக்கும் தண்ணீர் தனது உடல்நலத்தை இவ்வளவு மோசமாக பாதிக்கும் என்று ஒருபோதும் எதிர்பார்க்கவில்லை. திருநெல்வேலியைச் சேர்ந்த தரிஷினி கடந்த இரண்டு வருடங்களாக சென்னையில் தனியாக வசித்து வருகிறார். ஒரு நாள் மாலை, வேலையிலிருந்து வீடு திரும்பிய பிறகு, அவருக்கு கடுமையான வயிற்று வலி ஏற்பட்டது. மதிய உணவாக சாப்பிட்ட காரமான உணவு காரணமாக இருக்கலாம் என்று கருதி, அவர் மருந்தகங்களில் கிடைக்கும் சில மருந்துகளை எடுத்துக்கொண்டு படுக்கைக்குச் சென்றார். இருப்பினும், மறுநாள் அவரது அறிகுறிகள் மோசமடைந்தன. மேலும் அவருக்கு அதிக காய்ச்சல் ஏற்பட்டது. அவர் மருத்துவரின் அறிவுரைகளின்றி தானாக மருந்து எடுத்துக்கொண்டு இருந்தார், ஆனால் நிலைமை மோசமாகிவிட்டது. "அதிர்ஷ்டவசமாக, என்னைப் பார்க்க வந்த என் தோழி, நான் உடல்நிலை சரியில்லாமல் இருப்பதைக் கவனித்து அருகிலுள்ள மருத்துவமனைக்கு அழைத்துச் சென்றார். அங்குள்ள மருத்துவர்கள் நான் கடுமையாக நீரிழப்புடன் (severe dehydration) இருப்பதாகவும், என்…

Dharishini, a 24-year-old resident of Washermenpet, never anticipated that the water she consumed daily would take such a severe toll on her health. Originally from Tirunelveli, Dharishini has been living and working alone in Chennai for the past two years. One evening, after returning home from work, she developed intense stomach pain. Assuming it was due to the spicy food she had for lunch, she took some over-the-counter medicine and went to bed. However, her symptoms worsened the next day, and she developed a high fever. She continued self-medicating, but things took a turn for the worse. “Fortunately, my friend,…

In mid-February, the Chennai Metro Rail Limited (CMRL) submitted the revised Detailed Project Report (DPR) for the Airport-Kilambakkam metro project to the Tamil Nadu government. “The DPR proposes the construction of the elevated corridor in the first level and the metro corridor in the next level. It was prepared as per the suggestions of the State’s Highways Department,” M A Siddique, Managing Director, CMRL, told Citizen Matters Chennai.  Finance Minister Thangam Thennarasu, while presenting the state budget on March 14th, said the DPR would be forwarded to the union government. Estimated to cost Rs 9,335 crore, the metro line is among…

Catching a glimpse of the Indian Eagle Owl is not a rarity for birders and nature enthusiasts who frequent the Nanmangalam Lake and the surrounding forests. Yet, this privilege is under threat as the lake's once-thriving ecosystem faces severe environmental degradation. Fed by rainwater from the hillocks of the Nanmangalam Reserve Forest, the lake — spread over 200 acres — is now ravaged by encroachments, illegal water extraction, sewage and garbage disposal. Chennai has two significant reserve forests: the Pallikaranai Wetland and the Nanmangalam Scrub Forest. Located along the Tambaram-Velachery Main Road, Nanmangalam Forest is one of the last remaining…