GENRE: In Focus

The snow-capped Dauladhar mountains paint a picturesque backdrop to the town that today aspires to be a popular hub as a global tourist destination, as the business capital of Himachal Pradesh and as a centre for promoting sporting talent in the region. For decades, Dharamshala’s only claim to fame was as the home of Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama and the creation of McLeodganj as the headquarters of the Tibetan government in exile, now renamed the Central Tibetan Administration. “Today, Dharamshala can become one of India’s best towns,” said I. D Bhandari, retired IPS officer and former DGP who…

Kenatha Kanom! Kenatha Kanom! Who can forget actor Vadivel's comic sequence in the film Kannum Kannum, where he lodges a false complaint about the disappearance of his open well. The joke soon became a rage because, again, how can a waterbody go missing? Shockingly, it can. Just like the seven ponds that have disappeared on the Chennai Tiruvallur Highway (CTH) Road. Over the years, these ponds have been steadily encroached upon by citizens and various government departments, including the Greater Chennai Corporation and Tamil Nadu Slum Clearance Board (TNSCB). There was a time when children along with adults fished at…

Remember Arvind Desai ki Ajeeb Dastaan? In his very first film, eminent Bollywood film maker Saeed Mirza had showcased the view of the city from the upper deck of a double decker bus, wherein the characters stated that this was the best way to see the city of Mumbai. Many films like Shaan (an entire song was shot on a double decker bus) and even a much more recent hit, Ghajini (the Tamil version) had scenes in which these buses had provided the perfect backdrop. Unfortunately, very soon, scenes such as these will be the only place where you can…

Remember Arvind Desai ki Ajeeb Dastaan? In his very first film, eminent Bollywood film maker Saeed Mirza had showcased the view of the city from the upper deck of a double decker bus, wherein the characters stated that this was the best way to see the city of Mumbai. Many films like Shaan (an entire song was shot on a double decker bus) and even a much more recent hit, Ghajini (the Tamil version) had scenes in which these buses had provided the perfect backdrop. Unfortunately, very soon, scenes such as these will be the only place where you can…

Over the past week, the country has witnessed raging protests against the controversial Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), 2019 that was passed in Parliament in the recently concluded winter session. Chennai too saw its share of protests led by opposition parties, citizen groups and civil society organisations and even a pro-amendment rally led by the BJP. In the aftermath of the Jallikattu protests at Marina, the beach has virtually become a no-go zone for any kind of protest in Chennai. This, coupled with the stipulations of the Madras City Police Act, means that protests in the city require prior written permission…

At Versova jetty one morning some months ago, I asked Ramji bhai, who was sitting on a rock at the edge of the creek, what he was doing. “Timepass,” he replied. “I’ll take this home and eat it.” He pointed to a small tengda (a type of catfish) he’d just caught. I saw other fishermen cleaning nets they had floated in the creek the night before – they had caught loads of plastic but no fish. “Fishing in the khadi [creek] today is barely possible,” says Bhagwan Namdev Bhanji, who has lived all his 70-plus years in Versova Koliwada, a fishing village in north Mumbai’s…

At Versova jetty one morning some months ago, I asked Ramji bhai, who was sitting on a rock at the edge of the creek, what he was doing. “Timepass,” he replied. “I’ll take this home and eat it.” He pointed to a small tengda (a type of catfish) he’d just caught. I saw other fishermen cleaning nets they had floated in the creek the night before – they had caught loads of plastic but no fish. “Fishing in the khadi [creek] today is barely possible,” says Bhagwan Namdev Bhanji, who has lived all his 70-plus years in Versova Koliwada, a fishing village in north Mumbai’s…

Cycling was originally proposed as one of the preferred means of mass transport in Chandigarh city by its designer Le Corbusier himself. Corbusier envisaged laying out cycle tracks (classified as V7 and V8 roads) as part of the Master Plan for the city during its construction in the 1950s. As per the plan, every V3 road (fast vehicular roads dividing the sectors) across the city was to have a V7 road (cycle track), or a V8 road (cycle track plus footpath). “The Master Plan envisaged laying out cycle tracks of over 200 kms,” said Navdeep Asija, Traffic Advisor to the…

Near the city centre, the clock tower, is the gleaming ‘mobile lane’, home to around 40 shops selling all varieties of mobile phones and electronic accessories. This creates a new problem for the city’s waste management authorities -- managing the increasing amounts of e-waste being generated. Significantly, the state’s pollution control board does not have a dedicated database on e-waste as it does on solid waste or plastic waste (available on its website). The state with 13 districts has only seven registered e-waste dismantlers and recyclers. Authorisation for all these e-waste dismantlers and recyclers seems to have expired in 2018,…

Twenty-seven-year-old Chandra, a house help in Chennai, does not know much about deficient rainfall, rainwater harvesting or the city’s degraded water bodies. All she knows is that once in two days, a lorry supplies the 20 pots of water that her household requires, and that she has to carry those pots to the first floor of her small flat in Vardapuram, a locality in Kotturpuram, Chennai.  A vast majority of the people in the city are like Chandra, ignorant of the harsh reality of water supply and its management as a resource. Arun Krishnamurthy of the Environmentalist Foundation of India…