Madurai

Stepwells were once the heart of India’s water management — cooling cities, storing rain, and building community. Long before climate change became a crisis, ancient engineers found smart, sustainable solutions. Could these forgotten structures inspire how we tackle water shortages today?

Madurai-based Dr Swaminathan C runs a Doctors on Wheel programme to take affordable and accessible healthcare to thousands of senior citizens in the city. He shares why he left his life in Canada to start this.

Krishnan Subramanian and Gowri Gopinath quit their jobs to return to Madurai and start YellowBag, an eco-friendly venture that sells the traditional Manjapai, or yellow bags, to encourage people to switch to cloth bags.

Reeling under the climate crisis and urban infrastructure issues, five Madurai farmers dealt with tremendous crop loss and water woes by taking matters into their own hands with the help of DHAN Foundation.

Sheik Meeran founded the iconic 'Famous Jigarthanda' in Madurai. His sons provide a sneak peek into the preparation process, and reveal why their drink remains a favourite despite stiff competition.

Aruna Visesvar and her husband Visesh Aiyer have painted 55 kolams and rangolis on their compound wall in Madurai to provide a livelihood to a struggling artist.

S Vijay Kumar, the journalist who unearthed the Gutkha Scam in Tamil Nadu was also the recipient of the Ramnath Goenka award for investigative reporting in the print category in 2017.

Need a biscuit with your chai? At this tea shop, you can just take a bite of the edible, chocolate-flavoured biscuit cups!

“Once you’ve got the hang of it, you can grow anything. So we started with leafy vegetables, herbs and tomatoes,” says Rajeshvaran, a self-taught hydroponics urban farmer. #UrbanGarden

"Each raw material that goes into the making of these clothes is sourced naturally. The fabric used is pure cotton and the dyes used are extracted from vegetables and leaves."