Community Chronicles - Question of Cities

How festival celebrations define, and redefine, public spaces

Diwali celebrations are a public affair, so are celebrations of other festivals across communities. The festivalisation of public spaces -- streets, squares, markets, footpaths – is welcome and binds people in cities but it also lends these spaces political colours…

India darshan through festival foods and culinary traditions

People celebrate Diwali with a smorgasbord of foods unique to the traditions of a community or state, influenced by local climates and…

Festive memories rustle up flavours of the season

Festivals rekindle nostalgia about the good old days with family and friends – and food. Festivals across India uphold food traditions and…

Retelling and celebrating the legend of Madurai Veeran

Every year, towns in Tamil Nadu see a unique celebration from the Tamil month of Thai. The local deity, Madurai Veeran, the…

To record and remember changing cities is to resist their erasure

As cities transform with breath-taking speed and the shiny new replaces the fading old, resisting the physical change is impractical and untenable.…

Festivals in cities, beyond celebrations, shape public place and identity

Cities are theatres of celebration of different kinds of festivals, from the traditional and religious to the contemporary and cultural. People congregate…

Is there a robust festival economy? You bet, it’s roaring

Festivals spawn their economy as consumption and gifting peaks to coincide with the celebrations. Diwali, Eid, Christmas or any regional or community-specific…

How cities subtly changed the flavour of festivals

People in cities celebrate their traditional cultural festivals - with a difference. As city living becomes more demanding and public spaces shrink, festival rituals are adapted. Festival celebrations, altered to suit modern urban living but retaining some rituals that people…

For sustainable cities, begin by ‘seeing’ the unseen people in them

When people migrate to cities to make a living, they join the deprived urban classes in living a life of bare existence…

Adivasis in cities: From people to paupers

A complex set of factors from displacement by huge development projects to landlessness and inadequate employment opportunities has pushed adivasis from their…