Aarti Kawlra

‘What ails the Adyar?’ was the title of the sociology project last year at The School, Chennai. The idea to use the river Adyar as an entry point for a group study on research methods came from environmental activist Nityanand Jayaraman, who has been collecting narratives of residents living along the banks of the river as part of the work of his collective called the Vettiver Koottamaippu or Vettiver Collective.

My son is fifteen years old. We have both quick and deep conversations as a way of sharing what is uppermost in our minds. In the past, our exchanges have generally orbited around the four h’s—health, hygiene, homework and happiness.