GENRE: Voices

The concept of a ‘gap year’ is unheard of in India. I remember a friend who had joined IIT Madras with me, taking a gap year when we hit the last semester. He took six years to graduate but unlike many of us, he stayed true to his chosen discipline of Mechanical Engineering. That was in college. What about a ‘gap year’ at work, in your career? Most HR executives while interviewing candidates do not look kindly on a gap in the resume. This is generally viewed as being unemployed after being sacked from the previous job. But COVID-19 has,…

In Part 1 and Part 2 of our present focus on Municipal Finance, we learnt about the sources of funds for the Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC) and the strategies adopted by the civic body recently to increase the collection of property tax in the city.  Property tax is a complex subject. In 2018, citizens strongly opposed the property tax revision that was done after two decades. Why was this revision important? How is GCC meeting the increased expenditure needs (due to COVID-19 and Cyclone Nivar)?  We spoke to Deputy Commissioner (Revenue & Finance), Meghanath Reddy to understand more on the…

The Covid-19 pandemic and various levels of lockdown has affected us in many different ways; from livelihoods, education and mobility, to mental health. Confined physically and mentally for months, there is one common thing that everyone longs for – open spaces that can be freely accessed. On that claustrophobic backdrop, any decision that makes this a reality, was going to be welcome.  So, making Church Street a vehicle-free zone for a certain number of days in a month was a happy development for Bengaluru. The hope is that this weekend experiment will reduce pollution, encourage walking and use electric vehicles. …

வெள்ளிக்கிழமை என்றவுடன் கோயில், பூஜை என உங்கள் மனதிற்குத் தோன்றினால் நீங்கள் ஒரு பக்தர், வாரத்தின் இறுதி வேலை நாள் என்று தோன்றினால் நீங்கள் ஒரு வேளை ஒரு ஐ.டி. நிறுவன ஊழியராக இருக்கலாம். ஆனால், புதுப்பட ரிலீஸ் பற்றிய சிந்தனையில் இருந்தால் கண்டிப்பாக நீங்கள் ஒரு சினிமா ரசிகர்தான். ஒரு தீவிர சினிமா ரசிகனுக்கு வெள்ளிக்கிழமை என்பது புதுப்படங்கள் ரிலீசாகும் நாள் என்றுதான் தெரியும், அவ்வாறு வெளியாகும் புதுப்படங்களைத் தன் நண்பர்களுடன் தியேட்டருக்குச் சென்று ஆரவாரத்துடன் கண்டுகளிப்பதில் அலாதி இன்பம். அதுவும் தன்னுடைய ஆதர்ச நாயகன் நடித்த படமென்றால், கேட்கவே வேண்டாம். தோரணம், பட்டாசு, கட்அவுட்டுகள் பாலாபிஷேகம் என களைகட்டும். பெரிய கதாநாயகர்களின் படங்கள் பெரும்பாலும் முக்கியமான பண்டிகைகளையொட்டியே வெளியிடப்படும் என்பதும் அது பண்டிகைக்கால உற்சாகத்தை மேலும் அதிகரிக்கச் செய்யும் அம்சமாகவும் இருந்து வருகிறது. இத்தகைய பண்டிகை நாள்களில், குடும்பங்களாகவும், நண்பர்கள் கூட்டமாகவும் தியேட்டர்களை நோக்கி படையெடுப்பதும், அந்நிகழ்வு பண்டிகைக்…

It's been a week of promising news on the various COVID-19vaccines under development. Moderna announced that it's vaccine has been found to be 94.5% effective based on its trials. Pfizer followed with the news that it's vaccine was found to be 95% effective. Closer to home, the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine being manufactured at the Serum Institute of India declared that its vaccine has 90% efficacy. Subject to regulatory approvals, the first doses of these could be available to the public at different parts of the world as early as December.  The collaborative effort to find a vaccine to halt COVID-19 has…

It’s easy to complain about our city’s bureaucracy, but we need to appreciate it when it works. When Chennai, like the rest of India and most of the world, went into lockdown in March, my husband and I weren’t too worried. We were confident that if we took adequate precautions, we’d escape the scourge. We thought that any problems we faced would be more because of social distancing requirements than anything else. We were wrong. Receiving the diagnosis One evening in October, I found that I had a stuffy nose. Out of an abundance of caution, I avoided people and…

Two stories--with different endings. The first, from November 11th, 2020.  Suma, a 38 year old Hakki Pikki tribal woman---the Hakki Pikkis are a nomadic community originally from Gujarat but now settled in Karnataka over the past several generations---was discovered in an almost comatose state by a young health volunteer while doing a COVID survey. Suma was critically ill with chronic anaemia.  She was immediately taken to the local government hospital from where they decided to shift her to a “big hospital” in the city since they were ill-equipped to deal with the case. Unfortunately, and not surprisingly, the “big hospital”…

A distraught resident from a neighbourhood in Chennai called Nizhal recently to help resolve an issue. Her 40 year-old naval/jamun tree had over the years grown to reach out toward their neighbours’ home. Now the neighbours were insistent that the entire branch be chopped off or the entire tree felled!  She had several questions she wanted  answers for: Could the chopping cause an imbalance or fungal infection to the trees? Would the tree be easier to kill when the branch is chopped? How could Nizhal support in protecting the tree? She also wanted to know if there was a government…

Happy Deepavali! ‘Times have changed. Today's generation has changed a lot. Our times were so good. Values have eroded…’ Such complaints are made by every generation. Even Aristotle is said to have complained about the next generation! Our children are already complaining about how times have changed so much since they were children. Even those who struggled during their childhood have memories to cherish from their childhood.   ‘Why do you always talk of the past and become nostalgic about every aspect?’ ask my siblings and friends. Honestly, I am just enjoying the posts on Bangalore - Photos from a Bygone…

We are nearing the end of a year that none of us ever imagined we’d have to live through. So much of what we practiced, what we believed to be ‘normal’, has proved to be as vulnerable as a reed in a storm. Our lives have changed radically and so have our festivals, with restrictions galore on traditional customs, rituals and celebrations. But surely, we do not need COVID to tell us that we ought to move away from celebrations with firecrackers?  Yes, the coronavirus has indeed made that move much more pressing, creating as it does a lethal mix…