GENRE: Voices

"In the world of our greatest inventions, the solutions to our biggest problems may be hiding right below our feet.” When we look at urban spaces from a sustainability aspect/the angle of sustainability, it is easy to feel hopeless at times, especially looking at the rate at which the cities are growing, attracting more migration and reducing capacities to look after the needs of the people. An acute lack of space and time — a characteristic of a capitalist lifestyle — impacts all our actions. Challenges such as indiscriminate waste generation and lack of consciousness towards consumerism are difficult to…

Living in Delhi can be hazardous these days. If the ongoing cold wave does not get you, breathing in Delhi air will probably do so, though in a prolonged and painful way. For unfortunately, the public health effects of poor air quality, coupled with Delhi recording its lowest temperature in the last two years (for which poor air quality may well be a reason) is rarely referred to when discussing ways to combat air pollution. It would be difficult to recall when Delhi last had a clean air day, most probably for a few days during the COVID lockdown. The…

Around 10 lakh people use the Thane railway station, bringing massive footfall to the vicinity. However, reaching the station has become a headache for commuters, as all roads leading to the station have heavy traffic. The roads leading up to the station are part of a busy, bustling market with shops selling daily necessities and vegetable vendors selling their wares on the roadside. This 1.2-kilometre stretch is used by buses, autos and private vehicles to ply to and from the railway station. Travelling by this road takes around 20-30 minutes, thanks to the road being packed with vehicles and hawkers. People have to…

The Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority (CMDA) has begun the process of holding public consultations welcoming views from residents on the draft Third Master Plan for Chennai. The consultations are meant to be a participatory exercise which provides a platform for residents to offer suggestions and share grievances. However, my experience attending a recent consultation has revealed many gaps in the process that would prevent effective representation of the views of the residents.  Announcement by CMDA on public consultations across Chennai. Pic: CMDA/Twitter Issues with CMDA’s public consultation I attended the public consultation organised by the CMDA at Hotel Sri Valli…

One of the recurring themes in the life of a journalist is looking at a story done by another publication and kicking yourself for not having thought of the idea yourself. So, to sign off for the year, I’d like to highlight the stories that our reporters did on Chennai in 2022 that I hope made someone else think, “I wish I’d written that!” These stories also happen to be the ones that illustrate what we do best - platforming voices drowned out by the daily discourse, unpacking urban policy and highlighting actions that bring about collective change. Life in the…

Mumbai is the financial capital of India, a city of dreams with an underworld beneath its dark belly, and Bollywood that glitters over it. It’s a congested, over-crowded city that feeds everyone who comes with hope and hard work… so on and on… Mumbai and neighbouring Thane is all this and more. Beyond what is obvious, the city is also its millions of common people that work tirelessly to make a living and keep the city moving. Citizen Matters focuses on those people and issues that matter to them, to make every city a little bit better. For most of…

Towards the beginning of the year, I looked at the public bike-sharing systems in Mumbai through the electric Yulu bike. A cross between a scooter and a moped, it wasn't long since it had been introduced in Bandra West as a transport option for delivery workers of Swiggy, Zomato, Dunzo, etc.  Because I don’t live in Bandra, I was witnessing the development in flashes. On one visit to the area I caught the blue bike as a blur hurtling past Carter road, on the next, I saw multiple around Hill Road. The bikes had certainly caught on in the area. Thinking of…

Going over the stories I had worked on over the past year has been a bittersweet experience. While I was happy to be able to write on important issues, the pain of the people I encountered over the course of writing these stories is one I will carry with me for a long time to come. The thing about large cities like Chennai is how many people's struggles are invisibilised, and their lives relegated to the margins. Some of the stories that I penned endeavoured to spotlight the people who have fallen through the cracks in the system. Here is…

While covering stories, reporters come across situations that stay with them for a long time. Like, what did a place look like? How were the people in the story dressed that day? For anyone, these are inconsequential, mundane and everyday things. But these details can speak volumes about systems, governments, and people. Late August this year, I came across a man named Deepak Khilare who had come from Nanded to avail treatment at Mumbai's King Edward Memorial Hospital. A month earlier, he had suffered trauma to his spine, as a result of which has was in a wheelchair. Deepak was…

As of December 2022, I complete five months at Citizen Matters. During this time, I have written articles across the verticals of civic, society, infrastructure, environment, and economy. I have profiled how community-based learning can accelerate the education of children from lower rungs of the socio-economic strata, if recently established Namma Clinics can bridge the last-mile gap in healthcare, and elaborated on what the government does with traffic fines that are collected. There were three stories, however, which received overwhelming responses from readers. Brookefield settlement floods One of my most challenging stories was when in my first month, I came across…