Pollution

It has been more than seven months now that everyone has been largely confined to their homes. Fall is nearing its end, but COVID is still prevalent. A few days back, the cold and calm breeze of autumn forced me to get out of my comforter and go for a morning walk.  Covering myself from top to bottom and with a mask on, I started walking. The winter sun was shining bright, like an orange and the hazy moon was saying goodbye from the other direction. Birds were chirping, cows were mooing, dogs were barking, people were coughing and monkeys…

The Graphite India #AirPollution campaign - NGT upholds KSPCB CLOSURE order from 2012!  Following the Supreme Court order, where Graphite India was recognized as a polluter under the Polluter Pays Principal, the complainants continued their case in the National Green Tribunal (NGT). The hearing was on Monday, Jan 28th, 2019. The four judge bench listened to the complainants' side of the story, poured over the Appellate Authority ruling from 2013, and fully overturned it! The Principal Bench of NGT called the majority opinion of the appellate court ‘presumptuous’, and instead accepted the dissenting judgment, which pinned pollution on Graphite India. Dissenting Judge Lawrence…

The Erin Brokovich like story of the common man taking on a Graphite Electrode producing factory that polluted. This is the incredible story of a 40 year old, Rs 9000 crore, private graphite polluting factory in Mahadevpura A 10 year legal battle for residents of Ferns Paradise 1 student project A large citizens campaign A Supreme Court judgement A win for citizens with the factory shut down! Read More here for the full story. There is a big learning from this journey. If you are keen to take on a challenge, read more to understand what worked. Media Mentions: 1. Times of India - Battle for Whitefield 2. The Hindu - NGT…

Bannerghatta Road is already a mess, as one-third of the road is blocked for the work on the Metro. There is no transparency on how long the work will take, and no timeline for completion, though a vague time of 2020 AD has been given. Meanwhile, residences and hospitals as well as malls and offices bear the brunt of the noise, often unbearable at night. Pedestrians, who were finding the road hard enough to cross after the grade separation, are now finding it impossible to do so. No thought has been given to the hapless people-who-walk; they fight for their…

While walking home from my daughter's, I caught the sunlight, slanting in beams in the dusty morning air: Ironic that it's the pollution in our air which shows up the shafts of sunlight! The scene also illustrates why traffic problems in our city, and country, are rather more complicated than elsewhere. There is such a variety of vehicles, motorized and non-motorized; two-, three- and four-wheelers jostling for the road, and amidst all the chaos, the hapless pedestrians, making their way too. I wish I'd been able to capture the bullock-cart that went past just before I clicked! For all the…

When the roads are choked with traffic, why cannot such senseless vehicles, with just one person driving them, blocking up the road space, be banned? Such ad vehicles get my goat on all fronts: pollution, traffic congestion, and commercialism at the cost of everything else.

I got this photo of a stray dog, with a plastic juice or shake container in its mouth.     We have now conditioned even the animals around us to like processed food, lots of sugar. They have learnt to try and ingest plastic in a bid to get that food. I wonder where we are headed....

I got this photo of a stray dog, with a plastic juice or shake container in its mouth.     We have now conditioned even the animals around us to like processed food, lots of sugar. They have learnt to try and ingest plastic in a bid to get that food. I wonder where we are headed....

Pic: Shree D N Diwali or Deepavali, literally a row of lamps, is just round the corner. Spread over five days, it is the biggest festival for our family and our community. The biggest festivities are reserved for amavasya or New Moon day. We look forward to the festival of lights year after year. During my childhood, I used to strongly associate crackers with the festival, but as years passed by, the focus shifted elsewhere. We stopped associating 'firecrackers' as core to Deepavali. Cleaning and white-washing the house, decorating with leaves and flowers, lighting dozens of earthen lamps, performing the puja, preparing traditional cuisines, greeting neighbours, friends and relatives - all of these took centre-stage. In years of reading our scriptures…

Pic: Shree D N Diwali or Deepavali, literally a row of lamps, is just round the corner. Spread over five days, it is the biggest festival for our family and our community. The biggest festivities are reserved for amavasya or New Moon day. We look forward to the festival of lights year after year. During my childhood, I used to strongly associate crackers with the festival, but as years passed by, the focus shifted elsewhere. We stopped associating 'firecrackers' as core to Deepavali. Cleaning and white-washing the house, decorating with leaves and flowers, lighting dozens of earthen lamps, performing the puja, preparing traditional cuisines, greeting neighbours, friends and relatives - all of these took centre-stage. In years of reading our scriptures…