GENRE: Report

Long before television, it was the radio that caught your ear and put it to the ground of the world. Never mind if it was a word, a note or even just a sound byte that floated into your mind. It chimed around in your head and drove home special, or even just informal, messages.   The celebration of the legacy and experience of that special wonder gadget, then, resonated with the diverse audiences at The Radio Festival (TRF), hosted by the International Association of Women in Radio and Television, partnering with UNESCO on February 15th, 2018, at New Delhi.…

I first met  Prasad Natarajan in 2014, when we attended a wildlife volunteer training program together. Even then, in the beautiful environs of Kudremukh, Karnataka, I always found him with a sketchpad and a pencil in his hands. Since then, his artwork, especially on the theme of wildlife, has become quite well known. He is not afraid of using the most difficult and unforgiving of art media, such as Indian ink (lampblack collected in a container and mixed with grease, and applied carefully to paper.) He is now an artist whose work finds homes across the world. However, Prasad decided to…

In the second week of January, amidst heavy security provided by the local police and the Karnataka State Reserve Police (KSRP), Forest Department officials -- along with the Dakshina Kannada district authorities and personnel from Mangalore Electricity Supply Company Limited (MESCOM) -- began uprooting and chopped nearly 202 trees at Alake village in Padil in Mangalore city in Karnataka. The 10.09-acre area formerly under Karnataka State Forest Industries Corporation (KSFIC) at Padil - is located on National Highway 75. In 2014, the state government transferred 5.89 acres to the Revenue Department. The Alake area with survey No. 23/6A1B2, 23/4B, 23/12B,…

On December 22nd, a woman was forced to deliver her child at the Mangalore Railway Junction (MAJN), after an ambulance failed to reach the remote area due to the narrow roads leading up to it. The 26-year-old woman, identified as Lata, a migrant labourer from Madhya Pradesh, was waiting for the train at the station, when she started experiencing labour pain and repeatedly cried out for help. Abubakker, a local rickshaw driver, immediately called 108 emergency services and directed them to the location. However, though the nearest ambulance reached the spot, the vehicle could not drive up to the station…

On December 3rd 2017, Pimple Saudagar, an upmarket suburb under the Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (sister city of Pune) hosted a meeting of citizens, apartment associations, shop owners and not-for-profit organisations to commit themselves to a movement that could alter the ecological footprint of the entire area. Come January 1st and Pimple Saudagar has resolved to go plastic bag free, entirely! Today everyone is aware of the impact of plastic pollution; there have been enough campaigns, disincentives for usage (such as imposing additional charges for plastic carry bags), incentives for avoidance (such as distribution of free bags by NGOs ) and…

"So have you heard this one?" said my brother. "The Stephanians put a board outside the college, saying 'Dogs and Hinduites not allowed.'" "And you know how the Hinduites responded?" he asked with a mischievous smile. "Dogs are allowed, but not Stephenians!" Back when we were students, stories like these went far and wide, carried by nothing more than word of mouth—we didn't need Facebook or Google to know about the rather ridiculous rivalry between St. Stephen's College and Hindu College. For the uninitiated, Hindu College and St. Stephen's College are a part of Delhi University's North Campus, and stand…

At a four-road intersection near Besant Women's College in Mangalore, a 49-year-old man sporting an orange reflector jacket over a neatly pressed Khaki shirt, trouser and black shoes, flags down an errant SUV from Kalakunj road. This gives the on-duty traffic constable enough time for not only clearing the traffic from MG Road (PVS circle to Ladyhill circle), but also to allow some school children to cross the road to safety - another job well done. But the duo cannot yet heave a sigh of relief, for over the next three hours between 5 and 8 pm, Ramesh Gowda and…

Nirvana Country in Sector 50, Gurugram, Haryana. A sprawling 108-acre scenic and lush green community comprised of 1100 independent bungalows with independent gardens. When writer Chetan Mahajan and his wife Vanduta moved in here, they had perhaps never imagined that they would eventually be forced to move, and that too for environmental reasons. The vast acres flanking the community was dotted with strewn plastic bags and mounds of waste being burnt at odd times of the day. Pollution levels had risen to unbearable heights and families were moving out with their elderly and children. The Mahajans were among them, as…

Every time I visited the Wazirabad Bundh site to watch a lush linear forest taking shape in the middle of our city, the dirty storm water drain would bother me no end. iamgurgaon – a citizens’ movement focused on improving every aspect of life in the Millennium City – had been working on the bundh for a year and a half and it was clear that the work would remain incomplete if this drain full of debris and plastic was not cleared. The drain was such an eye sore that I decided to seek permission to clean the 200 metres…

As Indian cities expand at breakneck speed, they gobble up surrounding villages at a blistering pace. Mumbai is no different.  However, if you look for it, you will still find traces of several villages, older than the city itself, that have survived the onslaught of urbanisation. Some maintain their way of life, because they are fishing villages and depend on the sea for survival. Others are not so lucky and have become sites for low-income housing in a city where real estate is one of the most expensive in the country. These images bring us snatches of life from a…