Articles by Laasya Shekhar

"Three decades ago, the lanes of Chennai were adorned with a thick canopy, the shadows of which protected us from heat," recalled V Latha, a retired BSNL employee. "Today, that green canopy is gone to make space for tall, concrete buildings, leaving us exposed to the harsh sun." Latha, who is associated with organisations like the Sabari Green Foundation and Senior Citizens Forum, was speaking at a webinar organised by Citizen Matters Chennai on April 30th, titled 'Why does Chennai feel hotter than ever before?' Travelling down memory lane, Latha reminisced about those bearable summer years during the 1980's when…

Well, that almost sounds like a page out of a fantasy novel, given the water scenario many of its localities have been facing in recent years. It's been barely two years that the city was making global headlines for having dried up completely in the wake of a monsoon failure and depleting groundwater reserves.  Was it this crisis that served as a wake up call for the Tamil Nadu government, pushing it to take steps to augment the city’s water supply and conserve water resources? How is summer 2021 going to be on the water front? What has changed in…

On a late Wednesday evening in mid-April, a queue of women forms in front of the water tap at Doraiswamy Reddy Street, Korattur. Leaving their domestic chores and cooking half done, these women have rushed with their pots and cans to source their bi-weekly water supply from the Chennai Metro Water Supply and Sewerage Board (CMWSSB). The anxiety on their faces is palpable. Not everyone will have filled pots to take back home at the end of the evening. A light brown coloured liquid with a rotten smell trickles down the road, as a woman opens the tap. She just lets…

Summers are getting hotter in Chennai. The mean average temperature in the city has increased 1.3°C in the time period between 1951 and 2010, according to a study conducted by Anna University in 2012. The number of hot days in a year have been spiking too, according to various reports from the Regional Meteorological Centre.  Studies apart, Chennaiites also feel the heat. Most admit to using long hours of air-conditioning to battle the scorching summer days. “At the risk of high electricity bills, I have installed an air conditioner in the living room this year. The heat is getting unbearable,”…

On April 6th, a humid day, Zaitoon Begum, a 87-year-old resident of Kottivakkam went to the nearby polling station to cast her vote. Presently a Sholinganallur constituent, Zaitoon Begum has been voting for more than six decades now — she voted first at the then Madras Presidency.  Zaitoon Begum's polling experience was smooth — social distancing was maintained at the booth, masks and gloves were mandated for all voters. But she is still a little disappointed, having had to visit the polling booth at a time when COVID infections are rising across Chennai. “Given the circumstances, the ballot box should…

It's one of the less discussed fall-outs of the pandemic. One year of COVID-19 has reversed all the small victories and legitimised the usage of plastic and single-use products in Chennai, dealing a huge blow to the efforts at fostering a more sustainable lifestyle among its citizens. Immediately after the state government announced the plastic ban in June 2018, the city had started taking sincere steps towards minimising the use of single use plastic (the ban was implemented from January 2019), and in the months that followed Chennaiites appeared to be adapting to a more sustainable, plastic-free lifestyle. Retail and…

Harbour constituency consists of localities such as Wall Tax road, Kondithope, Sowcarpet, Seven Wells Street, Broadway, Kachaleshwar Nagar, Muthialpet, Park Town and few wards in Anna Salai.  Broadway -- a central locality within Harbour constituency -- houses shops selling everything, from electrical appliances to handicrafts, plastic containers to thermocol items, hardware manufacturing items to software products. You are wrong if it gives an impression that the constituency is completely commercial. The footpaths of Wall Tax Road are home to many homeless, who work as daily labourers in these commercial complexes. Sowcarpet market which is known for gold plated jewelry has…

Naam Tamilar Katchi (NTK) stands out as the only party in the state to have offered a 50% quota for women in the upcoming state assembly elections. Contesting on a NTK ticket from the constituency of Egmore, P Geetha Lakshmi is campaigning vigorously in the constituency, to understand the predominant concerns of the electorate and their demands. A physiotherapist by profession and state-in-charge, medical wing of the party, P Geetha Lakshmi is contesting for the first time.  We caught up with her to learn more about her, the ideologies of Naam Tamilar Katchi and her plans for the constituency.  What…

R Murthy, popularly known as Idream R Murthy is contesting his first election from Royapuram constituency. The proprietor of Idream cinemas in Royapuram, Murthy has been associated with the DMK for many decades now.  Projecting himself as a change-maker, Murthy has charted plans for Royapuram, the constituency that has historically been an AIADMK stronghold, voting D Jayakumar to power five times. A successful businessman, Murthy is optimistic of winning the seat, as he says, “People in Royapuram deserve the best. They want to see the change.”  R Murthy has been campaigning for more than 10 hours a day, reaching out…

DMK's promise: A one-time financial assistance of Rs 4000 for all ration card holdersAIADMK's offer: Free washing machines to all citizens of Tamil Nadu.  This at a time when the state's debt is 4.85 lakh crore, according to deputy chief minister O Pannerselvam’s budget speech. No details are available on where the money for these giveaways will come from. Welfare measures or freebies? The debate over how to distinguish welfare policies from freebies is an old one. Especially in Tamil Nadu, where the Dravidian parties pioneered many popular schemes over the decades that they have been in power. Among the…