Society

In this series, individuals, citizen groups and RWAs explain how they have dealt with the COVID-19 crisis in a constructive manner. In the sixth part of the series, a resident of Vasanth Nagar describes the measures his RWA took. It was two days into the nationwide lockdown when Muniratna, a milkman, mentioned to one of our core team members, “Sir, what about daily wagers in the area? They can’t go anywhere, how will they survive?” Muniratna’s question got this VRWA core team member thinking. He and his family decided to initiate their own small pilot effort to test the waters…

Read more

Translated by Sandhya Raju மிட்நைட் பிரியாணி என்ற தன் சிறிய உணவகத்தின் விரிவாக்கத்தால் மகிழ்ச்சியில் இருந்தார் எம் காதர் மொகிதீன். ஊரடங்கு உத்தரவுக்கு ஒரு வாரம் முன்பு தான் அரும்பாக்கத்தில் புதிய கிளையை திறந்திருந்தார். வியாபாரம் சூடு பிடிக்கும் என்ற நிலையில் ஊரடங்கு உத்தரவு அவரது அத்தனை கனவுகளையும் சிதைத்துள்ளது. சென்னையில் முதன் முறையாக தனது உணவு வர்த்தகத்தை தொடங்கிய அவர், நஷ்டத்தை எவ்வாறு சமாளிப்பது என கவலையில் உள்ளார். நிச்சயமற்ற தன்மை காரணமாக டெலிவரி முகவர்களுடன் கூட்டாளராக அவர் விரும்பவில்லை, ஆனாலும் தன்னிடம் வேலை பார்க்கும் எவரும் பசியால் வாடக்கூடாது என்பதால், காய் கனி வியாபாரத்தை தொடங்கியுள்ளார். சமைக்கவும், பறிமாறவும் காதரிடம் நான்கு பேர் வேலை பார்க்கிறார்கள். உணவகம் மூடப்பட்டுள்ளதால், இவர்கள் அனைவரும் கஷ்டத்தில் உள்ளனர். மாத சம்பளம் அளிக்க முடியாவிட்டாலும், அவர்களுக்கு உணவு வழங்க முடிவெடுத்துள்ளார். "என்னுடைய பகுதியில் தினமும் காய்கறிகள் விற்கிறேன்," எனக் கூறும் அவர்.…

Read more

“Why is there no vegetable, Amma?” asks the teenage daughter of K Senbagam. Searching in her mind for a plausible answer, Senbagam says that the grocery shops are closed and promises her children a good meal at the earliest. Senbagam is a 38-year-old junior artist in Chennai who has worked in Tamil soaps such as Maya and Nayaki.  Remember all those scenes on-screen which have crowds in the background or the incidental passer-by with a singular line of dialogue, perhaps?  Senbagam has acted in many such scenes of big-budget movies for a meagre Rs 300 a day.  But now, as…

Read more

RJ Asha from Radio Active 90.4 MHz talks to Jayalakshmi, a cab driver from Go Pink, Bengaluru’s women-only cab service, about the hardships drivers face during lockdown. Jayalakshmi ferries passengers to and from the Kempegowda International Airport through Go Pink, Bengaluru’s women-only cab service. The sudden implementation of the nationwide lockdown had taken her by surprise. Cab drivers across the city were unprepared for this and are now finding themselves in deep financial trouble, she says. Employees of the IT/BT sector have the privilege of working from home and getting paid, but workers like Jayalakshmi are left in the lurch.…

Read more

“I don’t see the pandemic but the hunger and starvation that comes with it as the reason for large scale unrest,” says Manaswini Bhalla, Associate Professor, Economics at IIM Bangalore. The context was the sorry plight of migrant and daily wage labourers stuck in the bigger cities due to the coronavirus lockdown. Now the migrants can go home, says the government With most migrant workers confined to shelters and dependent on charity for survival, the union government’s belated realisation that they should be allowed to get home is no doubt welcome. But there is much that is inexplicable about the…

Read more

People with disabilities face additional challenges during COVID-19 lockdown. RJ  Manjula from Radio Active 90.4MHz talks to Srinivas Murthy, a first division clerk in the Forest Department who has vision disability, to bring these issues to light. Srinivas Murthy says that the sense of touch plays an important role in the lives of people with vision disability - be it for moving around or doing daily chores. Now, due to the COVID-19 outbreak, they need to be extra wary of the people they approach for help since the latter might be carriers of the virus. While people with disability who…

Read more

Labour colonies are spread across the city in the most obscure places - often in dilapidated buildings and makeshift rooms hidden from public view. There are usually 12-20 workers in a 10x10 ft room, sometimes smaller. These rooms are poorly ventilated and have no storage facilities. Workers are also expected to cook in these rooms. They share common bathrooms and toilets.  Labour colonies are of three kinds:  Old multi-storey dilapidated buildings, separated by tin sheets which can house 250-300 workers, with separate toilets and bathrooms located usually on the terrace. Tin Sheet colonies, with open tanks in common bathing areas,…

Read more

While I have not witnessed anything like this in my lifetime, as a social scientist and as an entrepreneur I can see that the phobia has gone to another level. And I believe this is because we live in an 'Information Age' where every piece of information is a hyperbole, with global implications. We are overloaded with information, it's driving us insane. It's reducing our sense of wisdom, patience, kindness and empathy. It's making us all information addicts. But that said, the physical reality of it is far scarier. For instance, I stay in a huge, beautiful, green society in…

Read more

As we cover the COVID-19 outbreak in the city, we also asked various individuals, citizen groups and RWAs to explain how they have dealt with the COVID-19 crisis. In this piece, a senior citizen relates his experience during the lockdown. I'm not at all affected by the lockdown necessitated by the Covid-19 scare because, as a retired person, I am already under some sort of a lockdown. However, in the present situation, I am unable to perform some of my routine activities like going to the bank, park, temples and making occasional visits to other places.  So far, I have not…

Read more

Parents resorting to healthy parenting skills through Google. Youngsters who otherwise spend their time roaming the serene streets of Theni Corporation engaged in social service, visiting senior citizens in the locality and buying them essential commodities. Children aged three years teaching grandparents how to use mobile phones and citizens playing traditional games indoors. The lockdown imposed to arrest the spread of the deadly coronavirus outbreak has changed the entire lifestyle of residents in the Southern city of Tamil Nadu. This is the time when children usually take up intensive summer classes in subjects such as Computers, Spoken English and Abacus…

Read more