GENRE: In Focus

Amy*, a 31-year-old Chennai local, who has received three abortions in her life, remembers using a condom as protection each time she found out she was pregnant.  Now, her gynaecologist, scared that her body can not handle another termination, is requiring her to come in for shots every few months as an added form of birth control.  Amy recalls that she really had no formal education on other forms of birth control, and while she knew they existed, she just really wasn’t considering it.  Talking about sex is still considered taboo and many Chennai schools currently have no formalized sex…

Aarti Krishnakumar, a Chennai local, entered the dating world after her mother’s efforts to arrange a marriage for her did not work out. Unsure of it all, Aarti went on a few dates and found herself in a panic after not getting her period.  When Aarti went looking for emergency contraceptive pills in Chennai, she took many avenues.  First, she visited three generic pharmacies, none of which carried the emergency contraceptive pill. At another pharmacy, Aarti recalls the pharmacist looking at her “as if I had just asked for an alien chip.” Feeling more desperate, Aarti then visited a reputed hospital…

When Sumana Narayanan, a Senior Researcher at Citizen Consumer and Civic Action Group (CAG), wanted to obtain a driving licence for a four-wheeler in Chennai in 2003, she had to drive at least 300 metres on the road to pass the driving test.  Sumana was asked to drive the car in a narrow street behind the Thiruvanmiyur Regional Transport Office (RTO), stop the car at a traffic signal, turn left and then drive for another 200 metres.  "In my parent's generation, they were even tested for parallel parking to get a driving licence in Chennai," she says. Two decades later,…

More than four days after his younger brother died in a flooded sewer in Govandi in suburban Mumbai, 27-year-old Rahul Kumar was still in a hearse, headed to Gogri in Bihar’s Khagaria district, nearly 2,000 km from the financial capital, where the brothers worked as daily wage labourers.  “He did not want to enter the manhole, usko jabardasti utaara gaya (he was forcibly lowered into the sewer),” Rahul said of his brother Ramkrishna, 25, who died along with their uncle Sudhir Das, 35, on June 24. Rahul said they were construction labourers, who had worked earlier on building underground drainage…

Sundaram* and his wife Latha*, senior citizens from Chennai's Ambattur, both over 80 years of age, fell victim to a burglary in broad daylight in November last year.  The couple had only just moved to Ambattur from Thiruvanmiyur a few months before the incident. Their son and daughter live abroad.  On the day of the crime, two women who posed as domestic breeding checkers employed with the Greater Chennai Corporation approached Sundaram's house asking to check their house for points of mosquito breeding if any. Since Sundaram was used to such visits by the Corporation staff in Thiruvanmiyur, he allowed…

The Karnataka state budget, with a total outlay of Rs 3.27 lakh crore, presented by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on July 7th, was expected to deliver on the five guarantees.  But Bengalureans were also looking forward to what the city's share would be in the budget and if it would be any different from allocations made by previous governments. The new government has often emphasised its commitment to improving the city’s infrastructure. The recent launch of ‘Brand Bengaluru’, a portal to seek suggestions from residents for the city’s development, can be considered a step in that direction. As was expected, the state…

On December 9, 2022, Maharashtra’s chief minister Eknath Shinde inaugurated a Rs 1729 crore beautification drive for Mumbai to spruce up the city to international standards.  With a sizeable amount of funds, people assumed that city infrastructure would be improved with repairs and renovations. However, six months into the process, to their dismay, citizens have witnessed wall paintings, animal installations below flyovers, well-maintained road medians being redone, garish, multi-coloured lights over street lights, paver blocks on footpaths being replaced with cement blocks apart from trees being decorated with electric lights and painted with oil paints.  Cosmetic changes as beautification project…

Ganganna (name changed) has been working as a manual scavenger, cleaning toilets and drains for the past 25 years in Tumkur. He says that most villagers have almost stopped hiring manual scavengers, but in urban areas like Bengaluru, there is demand for people like him. Cleaning of STPs cause of death Bengaluru has a large number of Sewage Treatment Plants (STPs), mostly in apartments, and many lack mechanised maintenance. When STPs require manual intervention in repairing blocks and cleaning, it is workers like Ganganna who are called to get into the sewage pits. This has led to the institutionalisation of…

Translated by Aruna Natarajan ராமலிங்கம்* என்ற முதியவர், ஒரு ஞாயிற்றுக்கிழமை காலை மதுரையிலிருந்து சென்னைக்கு தனியாகப் பயணம் செய்து எழும்பூர் ரயில் நிலையத்தை அடைந்தார். மெட்ரோ ரெயிலில் செல்வதற்காக ஃபுட் ஓவர் பிரிட்ஜில் நடந்து சென்ற அவருக்கு திடீரென மாரடைப்பு ஏற்பட்டது. பொதுமக்கள் அவருக்கு உதவ 108 ஆம்புலன்ஸ் சேவையை டயல் செய்ய முயன்றபோது, ​​சென்னை எழும்பூர் ரயில் நிலையத்திலேயே மருத்துவ அவசர சிகிச்சைக்காக பிரத்யேகமாக ஸ்டேஷன் வளாகத்தில் ஒரு அவசர மருத்துவ மையம் உள்ளதை குறித்து பலருக்குத் தெரியாது. கூட்டத்தை கவனித்த ரயில்வே ஊழியர்கள், மையத்தில் இருந்த மருத்துவ ஊழியர்களுக்கு தகவல் தெரிவித்தனர். ஒரு பெண் மற்றும் ஒரு ஆண் செவிலியர் உடனடியாக அவசர உபகரணங்கள் மற்றும் பிற முதலுதவி பொருட்களுடன் சம்பவ இடத்திற்கு விரைந்தனர். சில நிமிட கார்டியோபுல்மோனரி ரெசசிட்டேஷன் (CPR)க்குப் பிறகு, ராமலிங்கம் நிலைபெற்றார். பின்னர் அவர் அவசர சிகிச்சை மையத்திற்கு மாற்றப்பட்டு, மேல் சிகிச்சைக்காக அருகில் உள்ள அரசு மருத்துவமனைக்கு கொண்டு…

Shakari R had to take a private bus from Chennai to Bengaluru on a Saturday night. While she was on her way to the bus terminus along with her friend in a two-wheeler, they met with an accident on a road near Koyambedu market and bus stand. “There was a big pothole on the road and it was not visible in the dark,” she says. As soon as they fell from the bike, people gathered around them to help. But, no one was aware of where to go when such a medical emergency occurs at the Koyambedu bus stand. Shankari…