For children: Anil must speak up against the solar panel factory threatening the mangrove forests

“Very quiet this evening, Anil,” says Appa as he drops me off, on the dot, five minutes to six, in front of the karate studio.

“Is it?” I look out at the road, which is crowded and chaotic as usual.

He clucks at me. “Not MG Road. You. Is something bothering you, Anil?”

Traffic is already swerving around us. Drivers are honking their horns to let us know that we are in their way. One of them shouts at us, “Hurry up, hurry up, you think your mother-in-law owns the road?”

I could say that somebody is bothering me, not something. Luckily, there is no time for me to say anything at all.

I open the door and jump out. “Bye, Appa!” I yell in my best cheery voice.

Appa says every Indian city has a road called MG Road. All of them are named for Mahatma Gandhi, Father of the Nation. He was a peaceful person, right? So why is his road filled with so many angry drivers?

A motorbike whizzes at me, trying to overtake all the cars from the wrong side. Just in time, I leap out of the way.

It’s a relief to enter the dojo. Its calm settles on me like water sprinkling from a...

Read more

News