GENRE: Voices

The Tamil Nadu (is that correct) Government, late in the evening on June 10, released a gazette notification of a decision taken on April 1. It proposes a set of English spelling changes – for 1,018 places in the State no less – based on Tamil phonetics. For the sake of brevity, my commentary focuses on the 96 places within Chennai city, names of which are proposed to be changed. The Government’s release has two columns – one the list of new names as proposed by the District Collectors and the other as suggested by experts who have been consulted.…

It’s no misnomer that Bengaluru is the Silicon Valley of India. Our daily commute around Marathahalli junction can deposit small quantities of raw materials on our body that can build up to ingredients in the manufacturing process of a semiconductor. Maybe, because of this, people working in the IT corridor exhibit some semiconductor-like properties in their work communication - “Stuck in traffic”, “In late today”, “Leaving early”, “Work from home” etc. Does this sound familiar? Marathahalli junction is among the many knotted intersections that connect to the city’s IT hub along ORR (Outer Ring Road). The bridge here was built…

A recent photography project documented the lack of women loitering in Bengaluru. While men access public spaces freely, women venture out of their homes only for specific purposes, the project indicated. Why is women's access to public spaces so limited in Bengaluru, as in other Indian cities? To understand women’s participation in the city, it is necessary to focus on the structural factors that affect their ability to move and access opportunities. Data suggests that women often work out of their homes, tend to walk more and have shorter commutes, revealing a gender commuting gap in Indian cities. Bengaluru needs…

இனி, இந்த பரபரப்பான சென்னை வாழ்விலும் குடும்ப உறுப்பினர்களுடன் பரஸ்பரம் முகம் பார்த்து பேச நேரம் ஒதுக்கப் போகிறார்கள். இனி,  படோபட வெளியுணவை இயன்றவரைத் தவிர்த்து ஆரோக்கியமான உணவையே குடும்பங்களில் சமைத்து உண்ணப் போகிறார்கள்.  இனி, குடும்பம் மற்றும் சமூக விழாக்கள் அளவுக்கதிக ஆடம்பரமின்றி பொருள்வளம் வீணாக்கப்படாமல் நடைபெறப்போகிறது. இனி, தனிநபர் ஒவ்வொருவரும் ஓர் ஒழுங்கு மற்றும் புறசுத்தத்தை தன்னளவிலும் சமூகத்தொடர்பிலும் கடைபிடிப்பார். இனி, கூட்டம் கூடும் இடங்களில் மக்கள் முண்டியடிக்காமல் தன் முறைக்காக பொறுமையாக வரிசையில் காத்திருக்கப் போகிறார்கள். இனி, எல்லோரும் உள்ளுணர்வுடன் வாய் மூடி தான் இருமவோ தும்மவோ போகிறார்கள். இனி, சென்னை வீதிகளில், பேருந்து மற்றும் ரயில் நிலையங்களில் யாரும் எச்சில், சளி உமிழ மாட்டார்கள் இனி, ரூபாய் நோட்டுகளும் பேருந்து பயணச்சீட்டுகளும் எச்சில் தொட்டு தரப்படாது இனி, பொதுக்கழிவறைகளை அசூசையோ அச்சமோ இல்லாது நாம் பயன்படுத்தும் அளவிற்கு சுத்தமாக இருக்கப் போகிறது இனி, ஒவ்வொருவரும் தனது…

Bengaluru, predicted to be the fastest growing city in the world for the next 15 years, is already facing an acute water crisis. Its rapid infrastructural expansion has led to an ever-increasing demand for water, and local government bodies haven’t been able to keep up. The BWSSB (Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board), tasked with water supply, still doesn’t cover the 110 surrounding villages that had been merged into the city in 2007. Over the years, private water tanker operators have bridged this gap in water supply, playing a crucial role in the city’s daily life. However, they operate without…

Today, 7.8 billion people celebrate the World Environment Day amidst circumstances that are far rare and different from anything we’ve been through − we have been massively hit by a pandemic, the economy faces a sharp slowdown, swarms of locusts have destroyed food crops in the Middle East, the horn of Africa and many states in India, fires have burnt down million hectares of forests worldwide, ocean temperatures are rising and cyclones have become frequent and fierce destroying cities in a matter of hours and impacting urban services and infrastructure. Our rivers and oceans have become a plastic soup, many…

Why do Shramik trains arranged after a 60-day long wait by workers have to be so carefully mismanaged? How do they end up taking extra-long routes? And why are passengers given such meagre amounts of water and food? Is this what ‘shramiks’ should get after spending days trying to satisfy all procedures, whims and fancies of the concerned departments and officials?  Why does everything to do with workers have to be a planned nightmare?  Let me share snippets from the journey of a worker from Bengaluru to Jampani village in Jharkhand, which led me to ask these questions.  The journey…

“Hum Corona se nahi, bhook se marenge!”  (“I’ll not die of Corona, but will definitely die of hunger!”). This is the poignant cry of many migrant workers left without work, wages and food in labour camps across Bengaluru during the COVID-19 lockdown. After the endless wait for trains to their hometowns as well as the State’s failed promise to deliver them food/ration kits, migrant labourers preferred to walk more than 1000 km home, carrying their elderly, children and meagre belongings. It shows their desperation, as no one, if they had enough to eat, would have embarked on such journeys. One…

Lockdown has been tough for all, but more so for the hidden and forgotten communities around us. We wanted to create awareness about these communities who badly needed support - the people who have been constructing our apartments and houses, helping us with our domestic work and providing us with other essential services. Many of them have lost their jobs, some of them have not been paid salaries. Our journey began with a small group of migrant families in HSR layout, ward 174. We began by lending a helping hand to the efforts of BBMP and the Labour Department in…

The mobility sector will witness a dramatic change post-lockdown. With physical distancing and cleanliness being emphasised, the number of people opting for personal transport could well go up in Chennai as in other cities.  While we have to learn to live with the virus we also need to ensure safe social distancing; given the likely crowds and surge in use of private vehicles, I wonder if there will be enough space for practising social distancing. The biggest problem post-lockdown is going to be gridlock. Studies in the past have shown that that Indians, on average, spend 7% of their day…