SHELTERS, STARS, AND SECOND CHANCES

WE see them every day. At traffic signals, under flyovers, outside supermarkets sitting on footpaths with nothing but a thin sheet of plastic shielding them from the sun, as the city moves around them.

- AASHNA REDDY

Some of us pause to drop a few coins, others hand out food packets, and some others look away, not out of apathy, but because we don't know what else to do. Homelessness in Chennai has become part of the landscape so familiar that it's almost invisible.

It's easy to think of homelessness as a problem too big to solve, something for NGOs or the government to handle. But the truth is, solutions exist shelters exist, resources exist.

What's missing is awareness, connection, and the will to bridge that gap. And that's exactly what Under the Stars set out to change.

A stage by the sea

As the sun set on Saturday, Besant Nagar Beach was already alive with its usual weekend bustle vendors selling roasted corn, families perched on the sand, and a Ferris wheel spinning in the distance. But just beyond, near the skating ground, something different was taking place. White tents stood beside the amusement rides, and a small stage had been set up. Rows of blue chairs were slowly filling up as attendees arrived, some deliberately, others drawn in by curiosity.

Volunteers moved through the crowd in black T-shirts emblazoned with Under the Stars, ushering people to their seats.