ANOU’S BLOG
I know what it is…
Children never cease to amaze me as they always come up with the most unexpected statements.On the day of the opening of the women centre, the children perused the whole place and even the toilets. One of the toilet has a western toilet seat something they had never...
impromptu inauguration
Monday 15th October dawned as a crisp bright day. One that was to be very special. We were opening the Kamala Centre for women and children. It did not quite turn out the way we had planned as painters and plumbers had not finished their work and hence no guests were...
women centre – sneak preview
I do not know whether we will meet the October 15th deadline. Nevertheless there is a palpable sense of excitement in the air. Painters, plumbers, electricians and masons fight for space and are trying to finish their work.The ladies are running helter skelter...
when are you opening the school
When are you opening the school is the question I am asked by eager children every time I visit our about to open women centre.It is amazing and touching how children break all barriers and adopt you without any misgivings and with complete trust.In a week from now I...
Falling off the edge
Some of you may remember the story of a desperate mother of 8 children who lived on the edge. I guess everyone has her breaking point as last week she just took off abandoning her children. The humiliation and despair had reached the point of no return.Her children...
in the name of a mother
It is the time of the year when in India we are meant to remember the dears ones that have left us and gone to another world. Normally people feed the poor or give alms; some have elaborate pujas (religious ceremonies). For a few years after the death of my parents I...
women in charge
Amidst friendly quipping about choice of room and placement of things interspersed with exclamations of delight and horror so typical of women notwithstanding their age, the final shifting to our new premises was completed yesterday.Things settled and work began in...
a prayer for an princess
V is a beautiful autistic girl. I knew her when she was just a child some 8 years ago when her shrill voice used to echo in my home when she and her parents came visiting. Her repetitive blabber and her endearing ways touched many a heart and I use to call her...
social entreprise, sustainability and the funding saga
It has been 8 years since pwhy began and it has been 8 years since I have spent almost every waking moment worrying about funding and devising ways to meet the monthly requirement to keep project why alive.Right from day one I knew that we had to one day become self...
tender minds
The recent court decision to compress pre-primary classes - aka nursery and KG - into one year seems bewildering. True that they have raised the nursery age to 4 but knowing the pressure a child has to deal with once in class I, one year of preparation seems very...
a new journey begins
The recent demolition of the Lohar basti is a harbinger of days to come. We have, over the past five years, witnessed many a demolition drive of this very basti. Bulldozers came, tenements were brought down, but each time they were rebuilt as money changed hands and...
will it; won’t it
The will it; won't it game that has now been played for years at end came to a final closure for the Lohar camp next to the Kalkaji bus depot. Yesterday the small basti of thirty odd tenements was finally raised to the ground to make way for the much awaited...