GENRE: Voices

"Shop till you drop" is no more the smartest or even the kindest idea these days, with the Planet reeling under the mountainous weight of landfills and trash. But shopping is essential, at least for essentials like food and medicines! But when you shop, do you ever check the Maximum Retail Price (MRP) on the food, clothing, medicines or other things that you buy? There could be some real good consumer law violation out there, as a few consumers found out! Gerald Castelino of Mysore had gone to a liquor shop called True Spirits 2 in Kuvempunagar, Mysore where he…

A two-year-old boy, with a critical kidney problem, was battling for life. Surrounded by tearful parents and relatives, the boy was on ventilator support and the medical technician was injecting him with emergency medication. Time: 6.40pm. Date: May 15, 2018. Venue: Inside the 108 ambulance on Mount Road. When citizens don't care Neither the worried faces of the ambulance crew nor its piercing long sirens had moved motorists to make way for the emergency service vehicle on the busy Mount Road on 15 May. The pilot of the ambulance, Chandru J, switched to the short, pulse-like siren that is used…

Govindaa hari Govindaa.. Munirathna Naidu Govindaa! A video clip starts playing on the mobile. The middle-aged man watching it bursts into laughter. An imitation version of the popular chant that is chanted by people climbing up the Tirupati Hills in Andhra Pradesh has been used to project the misdeeds of Munirathna Naidu, a contestant from Rajarajeshwarinagar constituency in Bengaluru. The constituency had been perceived as sensitive by the Election Commission, and the voting was postponed to May 28, instead of May 15. The political material that lands up on WhatsApp like this is entertaining and opinionated, and makes people form…

World Environment Day is here, with the theme Beat Plastic Pollution for 2018. Why do we need to beat plastic pollution? What is plastic pollution? Why is it harmful? What do you know about plastic? Test your knowledge by answering this quiz! You have to say either Yes, or No. You'll score 1 mark for each right answer. 16-20 - Excellent 10-16 - Average 5-10 - Poor <5 - Fail Loading...

How many of us know that a Chennaiite won the National Championship title last month, by solving the 3×3 Rubik’s cube with his feet in 40.81 seconds?   The 20-year-old  student of Electronics and Instrumentation engineering from Madras Institute of Technology, Chrompet won the National Championship in the speed cubing competition conducted at IIT-Bombay between 25 and 27 May this year. Around 300 speedcubers from all over the country had taken part in the competition. Most of us are familiar with the Rubik’s cube. You will find one in most homes that have children but often we hesitate to try…

Come June 5 and all eyes across the world will be on India, the global host of World Environment Day, 2018. A country with a recycling economy predominantly driven by informal waste-pickers, India has imposed a complete ban on plastic in several states so far, setting the stage for this year’s theme, “Beat Plastic Pollution”. In March 2016, the erstwhile Plastic Waste (Management and Handling) Rules 2011 were replaced by the Plastic Waste Management Rules 2016, notified by the Ministry of Environment and Forest & Climate Change (MoEF&CC). This provides a regulatory framework for management of plastic waste by urban…

A mid-January dawn in Chennai of UNESCO ‘heritage fame’, as margazhi kolams inch boisterously onto the centre of roads, roadside temples belt out loud religious music to the neighbourhoods. It is the run up to auspicious Thai and the bounteous Pongal festival. Only, the air of peaceful holiness is marred by the overflowing garbage bins everywhere around. Stranger still is that morning walkers, senior citizens, fitness enthusiasts etc., move around effortlessly, unseeing of the muck in every periphery of their vision!Interviewing conservancy workers whose job profile is to keep the streets of Chennai clean and free of garbage and litter…

This article was originally published in the Jan 15-21, 1995 issue of The Sunday Observer. The Indian National Congress that ruled the state then had a tumultuous time with three chief ministers, Veerendra Patil, S.Bangarappa and M. Veerappa Moily ruling the state. In the elections held in 1994 December, Janata Dal won and H D Devegowda became the Chief Minister. The recent outcome of the Karnataka Assembly elections in which the ruling party Indian National Congress (INC) was thrown out and the Janata Dal (JD) was brought back to power has been interpreted (and hailed) as an indication of –…

Fed up of viral WhatsApp posts regarding an eerie, deadly viral fever that spreads through fruits? Maybe. But don’t stop reading about it. Knowing is the first step to manage the virus and the disease it brings. This virus has the strange name of ‘Nipah’, quite a nippy character that is getting into all the open fruits and vegetables you are supposed to consume to keep yourself healthy. Why is Nipah in news now? Nipah hit the headlines because of recent deaths in Kerala, due to brain fever caused by this virus. Also called Henipavirus in the medical world, NiV…

Human rights activists and eminent members of civil society have come together to raise deep concerns and unequivocally condemn the recent police action against protesters in Thoothukudi (Tuticorin), who had been demanding the closure of a plant owned by Sterlite Industries, a subsidiary of mining giant Vedanta Resources.  Police violence has left several people dead and many more injured. In a public statement, citizens point out that not only was this tragedy totally avoidable, it appears that the police have even given hot pursuit and shot at women and others in fishing hamlets like Theresepuram. The sheer brutality of the…