Shanthala Ramesh I am a female in transition: from a rural adolescent to a young urban adult. As I am draped externally by boundaries and opacities, deciphering them and finding my way through them remain my prime concerns. Through these acts I engage myself with the power matrix around. Culturally given gender boundaries are burdening me. The urban landscape around is dark and opaque. Equipping me with the tools of analysis, now, I drape myself with rays of hope. Getting introduced to the Categories of Boundary, Opacity, Power and Serendipity I had grown up in a valley of the Western Ghats. As I was homeschooled till I was 13 years old, I was moving through the valley's lakes, rivulets, plants, insects and birds photographing them and getting immersed in their colours and forms. Joining a school for tribal children in the plateau beyond the valley at 14 years of age, made me cross the valley for four years every day. Inside the school, I realised the uniqueness of tri...
Shanthala Ramesh This Paper was submitted to the District Environmental Engineer at the Public Hearing conducted at Ernavur for the ETPS Expansion Project on 20 December 2024 Abstract: Ennore Thermal Power Station (ETPS) Expansion Project is haunting the Flood Challenged citizens of Chennai. It is being planned at a site that is low lying and flood prone. The site was repeatedly inundated in 2005 and 2023. It was one of the most affected by the 2023 December Oil Spill from CPCL. However, the EIA Report has not bothered to study and understand about the flood threats to the site. Instead it has doctored the data relating to site’s distance from the nearby Kosasthalaiyar River to get the mandatory Environmental Clearance. The CRZ Map for the Area shows the Project’s Ash Ponds located with in the Flood Hazard Line. Filling up the site to increase its altitude in order to become inundation free is put forward as the solution. However, if the site’s altitude is increased, ...