GENRE: Voices

The year 2020 is certainly one that will not be forgotten soon for the changes it brought in our daily routines, work and relationships. The challenges faced by school going children and their parents have been particularly severe, given the nearly 18 month closure of schools. Now, as schools reopen gradually, the challenges faced by parents of a school-going child are even tougher. Parents remain divided over the decision to reopen schools. Medical experts are also divided on whether or not parents should send their children to school, to avoid any kind of mental stress that can occur due to…

Chennai's tree cover has taken a hit especially since cyclone Vardah hit the city. The trees that survived continue to face existential threats in the form of weather events, felling and  improper maintenance. Not only is this a cause for concern in terms of the environmental impact on the city but also a threat to the safety of citizens. While the planting of new trees is a welcome initiative, the existing mature trees across the city must also be cared for better.  Caring for Chennai's trees Pruning of low lying branches of Chennai's avenue trees in residential neighbourhoods has to…

Saili and Mayank [names changed] live in a Mumbai slum, with their parents in a meagre dwelling, hardly 10ft x 10ft, divided into a bedroom and kitchen. They study in class 3 and class 7 respectively, in nearby schools. Scratch that. They are enrolled in schools would be more accurate, as any meaningful study or education has come to a stand-still since the school closure which began in March 2020.  Their parents manage to earn about Rs 30,000 a month for the family, and luckily do not have the burden of school fee expenses, as they have been enrolled under…

There was this interesting little advertisement in the Times of India that offered training in the use of spreadsheets which caught my attention for several reasons. As a young product manager in a pharmaceutical company, I had access to a fair amount of data. But I had to do a lot of the data analysis using calculators and large sheets of paper with columns and rows, making my own version of spreadsheets. The year was 1983. IBM had launched their revolutionary new PC in August 1981 and a few had found their way to India. Remember, in the mid 80s…

Mallathahalli Lake has been in the news the past week, but for all the wrong reasons. There are plans set in motion to “develop” the lake, converting it into nothing short of an amusement park, with the main waterbody forming a sorry backdrop. Despite clear guidelines from the courts and the NGT on how to work around lakes, there are plans to build structures inside the lake. I live close to this lake and regularly go for walks by the lake. Life in and around the lake has always been in profusion, slowing me down on these walks. So it…

As compared to developed countries, school students in India were never well equipped for online classes via mobiles and computers. We are still in the process of training teachers and students to handle computers and smart phones and get familiar with the meaning and concept of virtual school and virtual learning. Yet, this seems likely to continue for more time to come, especially for primary and middle school grades. Under the circumstances, teacher training also needs careful deliberation. The pandemic forced ill-prepared students and teachers to lock themselves up in a room and start learning and teaching by gazing at…

What started as a casual attempt at cycling with my brother’s cycle that was lying idle at home has become one of the best decisions I’ve made in recent times. When I took up cycling in February of 2020, I did not anticipate how rewarding the experience would be. Since then, cycling has given me a way to channel my energy, boost my endorphins and helped me on my weight loss journey. Having experienced these benefits myself, I would like to look into what makes cycling a great initiative, while also addressing the challenges that stand in the way of…

Driving to my neighbourhood in the periphery of Bengaluru is like maneuvering a lunar module on the moonscape. Walking or biking is almost impossible. Every year, the gram panchayat ‘repairs’ the roads, thanks to years of advocacy from residents. And every monsoon, the road washes away. To my solution-oriented mind, the answer is really simple: study the problem - the history of the road and area; socio-cultural conditions of the neighbourhood, villages, and industries on the road; the number of cars/ buses/ people using the road; environment and climate-related aspects such as soil, drainage patterns, etc. Then, it is about…

Last October, around 700 houses in Bengaluru were damaged after heavy rains and flooding. The saga continues this year - 70 houses were flooded on June 4, and more on July 5. For hundreds of low-income families in Bengaluru, heavy rainfall in the last few years have meant intense damage or even losing their home. Flooding can also lead to the inflow of sewage into slums, which further increases the risk of water-borne and vector-borne diseases. Flooded roads and underpasses don't just choke traffic for hours, but they also increase the likelihood of accidents. Flooding has also been leading to…

COVID infections are on the upswing, with the World Health Organization announcing an 80 percent average increase in infections over the past four weeks in five of the health agency’s six regions, a jump largely fuelled by the Delta variant. “Delta is a warning that the virus is evolving but it is also a call to action that we need to move now before more dangerous variants emerge,” said Michael Ryan, Executive Director, WHO Health Emergencies Programme, in a briefing. Statistical models seem to suggest that the third wave in India could be three to four times more severe than…