Mercury rising, no joke
Mercury rising, no joke
CHENNAI: Environmental activists Nityanand Jayaraman and Shwetha Narayan led an evening of an unconventional choice of issues comi..

CHENNAI: Environmental activists Nityanand Jayaraman and Shwetha Narayan led an evening of an unconventional choice of issues coming together on Sunday at Spaces, Elliots Beach Road. This time their customary rock show was replaced with a fundraiser in support of struggles by pollution-impacted communities at Cuddalore, Mettur and Kodaikanal. To start things off, there was a solo bharatnatyam performance by Aniruddhan Vasudevan.Based on the story of Brihannala, in which Arjuna time spent cursed with the role of a eunuch, the dancer played the role with consummate ease.Narrating his way through the tale of how this came about, Aniruddhan had the audience rather hooked as he made a joke or two, twirling around in his skirt daintily. With thoughtful pauses to the rhythm of live music and vocals, he described his fancy for Arjuna, and his ability to show versatility at being both the valiant warrior and the gentle-footed eunuch.Rather surprisingly, after the show, the dancer explained, “Well it had nothing to do with pollution.This was a personal piece and it’s more along the lines of gender fluidity and how there is no security in gender really.” The highlight of the evening was a 16-minute documentary by R Amuthan titled ‘Mercury in the Mist’. The film showed footage of former plant workers at Unilever in Kodaikanal, affected years later by exposure to mercury. Some had children with deformities, others with affected hearing and vision or heart problems. According to the film, 30 ex-workers have died since the company shut down in 2001, all in the 20-30 age bracket.Despite the growing number of mosquitoes at the open air venue as the documentary played, it was clearly an eye opener for many. And hopefully, with more events targetted at awareness such as this one, justice might just be served.

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