Sanitation

We have been living in Perambur, Chennai since 1975 and I recall having spent the early days of my life in a reasonably quiet and clean neighborhood. With economic development and urbanization the entire neighborhood has today transformed into a bustling area, with all sorts of problems. Individual houses have made way for new high rise apartments, gardens have been replaced with covered car parking, trees have been cut down to facilitate construction of roads, SWD’s and the foot paths are extensively encroached upon with transformers and power distribution pillars. Given the speed at which things are changing we neither…

We have been living in Perambur, Chennai since 1975 and I recall having spent the early days of my life in a reasonably quiet and clean neighborhood. With economic development and urbanization the entire neighborhood has today transformed into a bustling area, with all sorts of problems. Individual houses have made way for new high rise apartments, gardens have been replaced with covered car parking, trees have been cut down to facilitate construction of roads, SWD’s and the foot paths are extensively encroached upon with transformers and power distribution pillars. Given the speed at which things are changing we neither…

Public urination is common in Bengaluru. However, some people have no qualms about open defecation too. Pic: Ganga Madappa “What happens in the bathroom stays in the bathroom” was the general consensus at my childhood household. Unless there was a health concern, no one discussed their bowel movements. Ever! It wasn’t until I moved away to college, at 18-years-old, and had to share three bathroom stalls with 40 other girls on my dorm floor that bathroom habits became public knowledge. And then I arrived in Bengaluru. I cannot remember the first time I encountered public urination in India. Perhaps I…

Public urination is common in Bengaluru. However, some people have no qualms about open defecation too. Pic: Ganga Madappa “What happens in the bathroom stays in the bathroom” was the general consensus at my childhood household. Unless there was a health concern, no one discussed their bowel movements. Ever! It wasn’t until I moved away to college, at 18-years-old, and had to share three bathroom stalls with 40 other girls on my dorm floor that bathroom habits became public knowledge. And then I arrived in Bengaluru. I cannot remember the first time I encountered public urination in India. Perhaps I…

Press release on the "Namma Kere, Namma Bengaluru" Workshop (provided by Save Bangalore Lakes Trust) Bangalore today is sitting on a silent time bomb of depleting and degrading quality of sources of water. One of the solutions lies in restoration of lakes for recharging its ground water, meeting water needs of the city and also in keeping its climate cool. Save Bangalore Lake Trust (SBLT) is a group of concerned citizens working for restoration, protection and maintenance of lakes in Bangalore. It aims to bring different lake groups or trusts in Bangalore on a common platform for a joint initiative,…

Press release on the "Namma Kere, Namma Bengaluru" Workshop (provided by Save Bangalore Lakes Trust) Bangalore today is sitting on a silent time bomb of depleting and degrading quality of sources of water. One of the solutions lies in restoration of lakes for recharging its ground water, meeting water needs of the city and also in keeping its climate cool. Save Bangalore Lake Trust (SBLT) is a group of concerned citizens working for restoration, protection and maintenance of lakes in Bangalore. It aims to bring different lake groups or trusts in Bangalore on a common platform for a joint initiative,…

How can I ever talk about it? These are the opening lines that play on most women’s mind when it comes to even thinking about menstruation and all the embarrassing moments that surround it. All women, and I mean absolutely all women in India, have had one or the other moments during her period, especially as an adolescent, that she feels she can never talk about openly. And this is true for rural, tribal, urban, educated and uneducated women. Pretending it never happened During trainings for women leaders in IT companies or for ASHA workers in a village to undertake menstrual…

How can I ever talk about it? These are the opening lines that play on most women’s mind when it comes to even thinking about menstruation and all the embarrassing moments that surround it. All women, and I mean absolutely all women in India, have had one or the other moments during her period, especially as an adolescent, that she feels she can never talk about openly. And this is true for rural, tribal, urban, educated and uneducated women. Pretending it never happened During trainings for women leaders in IT companies or for ASHA workers in a village to undertake menstrual…

When I started the Menstrual Hygiene Awareness initiative three years ago, in government schools, I assumed the answer to menstrual hygiene was distributing sanitary napkins. So we got donors and napkins and gave them for free in rural government schools. And then, we ran out of donors. And then, a small voice in my head asked me why I never bothered to ask the girls if they did need sanitary napkins and what they would do if I (or others like me) stopped supplying these. And about the same time, a not-so-small voice asked me what about the environmental damage…

When I started the Menstrual Hygiene Awareness initiative three years ago, in government schools, I assumed the answer to menstrual hygiene was distributing sanitary napkins. So we got donors and napkins and gave them for free in rural government schools. And then, we ran out of donors. And then, a small voice in my head asked me why I never bothered to ask the girls if they did need sanitary napkins and what they would do if I (or others like me) stopped supplying these. And about the same time, a not-so-small voice asked me what about the environmental damage…