Articles by Meenakshi Ramesh

At the end of the Gandhi Mandapam road in Chennai, at the point where the road meets the Kotturpuram bridge over the Adyar river, is the Vinayaka temple. Locals say this was one of Amma’s favourites in the city. Her motorcade would often stop on its way back from Raj Bhavan or the airport towards Poes Garden at the exact point where Amma, seated in the passenger seat of her SUV, could get a glimpse of the deity. The temple was closed on Tuesday, and on the notice that talks of the closure, someone drew a pair of eyes with…

The Tree Lady, Nature Lover, Tree Evangelist... titles of eulogy sit lightly on Shobha Menon's shoulders. At first sight she gives away none of the tenacity and grit that has stood her in good stead in her determined fight to protect and increase the city's tree cover. The soft spoken Shobha chose to put the brakes on a long and successful stint in writing, to set up Nizhal (meaning shade in Tamil) in 2005. After a long (and often lonely) battle, she and her band of faithfuls can look back in happiness at the lovely Kotturpuram Tree Park, a 5-acre…

As a child growing up in the northern part of the country, Deepavali was a bit of a strange festival. We had to wake up at 4 am, have a bath (an oil bath!), wear our new clothes and burst crackers - at least one, said my grandmother - before the crack of dawn. And before we knew it, our Deepavali was over! And then the rest of the world started celebrating Diwali, and it went on and on and on. I clearly remember that our grandmother never let us go overboard with the crackers - she believed it was…

He has an air of spirituality and wisdom that is beyond his 29 years. As he sits in his office and tells me about the journey of Environment Foundation of India, I cannot but help wonder what I was doing with my life when I was his age. Nothing important comes to mind. And here I am, face to face with this young man, who has already helped save and restore over 39 lakes and 54 ponds in the country! Arun Krishnamurthy is one of the world’s youngest awardees of the Rolex Award for Enterprise. The award recognised his contribution…

Her enthusiasm for meeting people is equalled only by her indignation at the pathetic state of the infrastructure all over the city - the roads that get relaid without being milled, the storm water drains that are overflowing because someone let their sewage water into it, the bio-toilet that everyone pees around, but no one goes inside to their job, the lovely Besant nagar beach where everyone loves to stomp around but no one stops to give a thought to the teeming marine life in the sand... she can go on and on.. But no, she is not a pessimist,…

Does it not bother you that Chennai is the 'accident capital' of India? And according to some reports, we have the second highest number of road accidents in the WORLD, after the Brazilian city of Fortaleza! In the year 2015 alone, official records indicate that over 850 people died in traffic accidents. This is likely to be lower than the real figure, since several instances are not reported to the police, and also does not include instances where the person was injured and succumbed to it subsequently. The list of disturbing statistics is almost endless. Over 40% of the casualties are…

My Experience volunteering for Vegam 2016 It's been two weeks, but the excitement and the spirit of volunteering for Vegam hasn't faded. July 16th was a big day for all the 1180 differently abled students, who participated in a Sports Event or Athletic Meet held successfully at the grand Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium. "Vegam" is an annual athletic Meet for differently-abled children organised by Chennai Social Service (CSS), a volunteering organization working for the socially backward people over the last 10 years. Apart from this event, Red Drops, Nalanda, Environmental Care, Aravanaippu and V-Scribe are some of the initiatives from CSS.…

Of Dog Owners, Dog Lovers and Dog Poop – an ANGRY citizen I like dogs. I like people. I am a really nice person. Sweet tempered and non confrontational – This is a fact even if it sounds like I am boasting. But I have been pushed to say this - I don’t like people who like dogs but don’t like people. I wish they would live on another planet. You can make these “types” out from their actions. When you visit them, they will say, ”Timmy won't do anything to you, he will just come and smell you, lick…

Reclaim Chennai’s waterways, say ‘no’ to floods! There are close to 3600 water bodies in Chennai, Tiruvallur and Kanchipuram to store and recharge water and channelize excess water into the sea. However, the indiscriminate development of real estate on and along these water bodies and channels in the absence of any regulation has spelt disaster for the city. Rampant violations of building norms, maladministration in maintenance of our water bodies and the canals connecting them, improper planning and failure to construct new canals in the low lying areas, all contributed to the suffering of lakhs of people last December. But…

The real heroes of the 2015 Chennai floods: A volunteer reflects It’s been a little over six months since Chennai found itself in the grip of ravaging floods that wreaked havoc in the urban landscape and devastated its people. But it was again the people who helped the city get back on its feet and tales of heroic volunteerism during those days of crisis abound. Selva Ganapathy, one such volunteer from AID India, recently accepted the CNN-News 18 “Indian of the Year 2015” award on behalf of the ‘People of Chennai’ for their public service during the city floods. Here,…