a sound education
R came to the women centre two months ago. His parents wanted him to spend the summer holidays with us. He was in class IV in a government school. According to his parents he was not doing very well. We all know that there is scant teaching in government schools,...
Rebuilding her life… Radha’s mom
After many twists and turns, many false starts and many terrible moments, Radha's mom has finally accepted to come and work at the women centre. We had tried everything to help this little family in every which way possible, even if at moments we were close to giving...
Allow children to be happy
Allow children to be happy in their own way, for what better way will they find wrote Samuel Johnson. All gloomy thoughts and worries that had been plaguing me for quite some time lifted in an instant when I saw this picture. I had to stop, get off my dark clouds and...
Reforms not Reservations… the right R
Listening to our new HRD Minister outlining his proposed educational reforms was music to the ears and balm to the heart. He said his mantra was “expansion, inclusion and excellence” and this was not possible “if you deny access to education to every single child in...
no more Kodak moments – a trip down memory lane
It is the end of an era. Kodak is taking Kodachrome away. For those of us that belong to the Paul Simon generation we cannot but remember the words immortalised by him: They give us those nice bright colors. They give us the greens of summers. Makes you think all the...
reinvent the world for you
Children reinvent the world for you said Susan Sarandon. Today I wonder how 800 children are going to help me reinvent our world, the project why world.Much has happened in the last few months or should I say weeks. I guess we had again sunk into one of our comfort...
numbing numbers
It never rains, it pours goes the saying, and nothing could be truer for Radha's little family. The day after the TV crew came and went, the authorities came and took away the family's food cart and every single utensil they possessed. They did not even leave a plate,...
Jump…
“Jump, and you will find out how to unfold your wings as you fall” wrote Ray Bradbury. I was reminded of this quote when I saw this picture. It is our very own Popples aka Utpal bungee jumping during a recent outing. Amazingly, though he was the youngest in the queue,...
I wonder why
I wonder why there has not been much interest in little Radha's story aired on national TV. Last time we sought help for an open heart surgery, we were flooded with phone calls and offers of support. The child in question is now a strapping young boy in class...
the new celebrity
Radha is definitely the new celebrity in class. Yesterday a TV crew came to the special centre to film her and then today the whole class went up to the foster care to watch the programme. Radha sat very quietly not quite understanding what was happening. She had...
dancing with the heart
Dancing with the feet is one thing, but dancing with the heart is another and little Radha did just that. Yes Radha, the one who cannot walk, the one with brittle bones disease, the one who dreams of being a dancer danced with her heart, and I know that even the...
How long will a footpath be her home
She still sleeps on the footpath with her family, under a tree with no protection from the heat, dust or lashing rain. Her face is the kind Modigliani would have painted and she does look pretty as picture. But one look at her frail, distorted body is enough to tell...
Remembering mom
She left this planet nineteen years ago. Yet it feels like it was just yesterday as she lives in everything that surrounds me and above all in all the little faces of the children of project why and in the hope and dreams of all the women that come to change their...
a beautiful tale of love
It was a hot sultry summer morning but a long gone promise had to be redeemed. Meher and Utpal had behaved well for a whole week and wanted the promised ice cream. because of the heat we decided to go to a mall near the women centre as I knew that if nothing else, it...
The champagne bottle
It stands forlorn on a table. It had been bought with much hope and expectation to celebrate an event many of us had prayed for: the departure of a little boy to another land with brand new parents. But that was not to be as once again the life of a child got...
does recession makes us less compassionate
Does recession makes you less compassionate is an interesting article by Ed and Deb Shapiro. I urge you to read it. The authors make a brilliant analysis of the state of affluence versus the state of poverty. And they conclude by saying: if we relate to the recession...
going going gone!
Going going gone are the proverbial words that mark the end of any auction. The latest auction on the block is that of medical seats. It happens for the time being in Bangalore but God only knows how long it will take to start happening elsewhere. So it does not...
To Xiong with love
Got a mail from my dear friend Xiong. He was a volunteer with us two years back but then, slowly, became a dear friend, someone whose advise and ideas I respect and try to follow: a sounding board for a lot of what we do and often I find myself listening to him and...
a day in the life of the women centre
After a long time I decided to spend a day, or let us say most of a day at the women centre. I just could not imagine that barely two years ago this place did not exist. What strikes you as you walk into the big yellow gate after having knocked at it and have someone...
Stunning Statistics
The results of class XII and X are out. All the 36 project why children have passed with flying colours. Amit topped his school with 815 and Vivek got a whopping 97% in his class X. I am elated and terribly proud. Anyone would be I guess, but allow me to share where...
extraordinary visitors
On the way to the doctor's Utpal and Meher came visiting. They are both extraordinary kids with incredible spirits. Meher is undergoing plastic surgery and looks like an adorable ET and Utpal is as always a true hero.Looking at them my mind went back to the day Utpal...
mazza aa gaya – flore’s farewell
Maaza a gaya – What fun I am having - are the words that Manu pronounced in the middle of Flore’s farewell party. Flore has been a long term volunteer who spent nine months with the special section.On Saturday she threw a big farewell party for all her special kids....
and she slept on the footpath
Little Radha is quietly completing her work. Looking at her you would think that all is well in her little world, or at least as well as can be. Yet Radha spent the night on the footpath. The reason: her little home was raised to the ground by the local authorities....
A real miracle
Manu is back in class and he is back with his long lost smile. For all of us at pwhy it is a huge miracle. For many months we feared for his life though we kept a brave face. His body had almost given up as he suffered multi organ failure: his liver and kidneys had...
Your task is not to seek for love…
Your task is not to seek for love, but merely to seek and find all the barriers within yourself that you have built against it wrote the Sufi poet Rumi. These words were sent to me in answer of the sponsorship appeal I recently put out on the world wide web!I sat a...
an old post revisited
As I sat this morning wondering what today's post would be in the light of what one is going through, my mind wandered back to an old post I knew I had written some years back when I was desperately trying to pitch and defend my erstwhile and forgotten one-rupee-a-day...
a big blow
I should be jumping with joy. All our class XII students have passed their examinations and this for the 8th year running. But before I could get down and savour the good news a mail dropped in my inbox informing me that one of our main donors would not be able to...
the heat is on
As I climbed up the stairs to my office I peeped into the creche. I was taken aback at the number of kids present. It seemed far more crowded than usual. I waved everyone a cheery hello and moved on. I was a little angry as I had time and again told the staff not to...
the grand tour
Our little foster care kids are home for their summer break. I went to fetch them at the boarding school and before we could leave I was given the grand tour!This is my classroom said one, while the other tugged at my shirt with a come to my classroom. We went to each...
migrant woes
The three children in this picture are siblings. They have just joined our crèche. They all hail from Nepal and have recently come to Delhi. When I fist saw them I asked why the elder ones had been admitted to the early education programme. They seemed far too old for...
poll games
I have been watching with amused horror tinged with extreme sadness the poll games being played with alacrity over the past few days. These are being reported by all media channels for all to see. It is an almost foregone conclusion that no one party will emerge as a...
sponsor a child
Sponsoring a child is quite a favourite with NGOs the world over. Large ads in all shades of media soliciting you to become a sponsor are more than abundant. For a few pennies, you are told, you can change the life of a child. I do not know why but I never warmed up...
julie’s dad
Julie is the girl in the yellow dress that sits in the background of the picture. Ever since we have known her, Julie has always been in the background.We first met her some years back when she was around 4. The elder of three little girls, she was already a little...
for saheeda with love
The children of the special section spent a day remembering their dear friend Saheeda. They decided to make her a beautiful painting where each one of them tried in her of his own special way to express their pain and love. Huge whites sheets of paper were bought and...
mourning a friend
This morning Saheeda's classmates learnt about her death. It was not easy to make them understand what had happened but somehow they all knew it was something terrible. A stunned silence before the first wail: that of Rinky her best friend. Then as the news sunk in,...
to the way they were
There's no tragedy in life like the death of a child. Things never get back to the way they were wrote Dwight Eisenhower.How true he was.Things will never get back to the way they were at pwhy! I will never be greeted again by Saheeda's beaming smile as I alight from...
holiday hardship
Yesterday Kiran came to me with three pages of written text: it was her holiday home work. I was taken aback. The homework covered every subject and seemed humongous: read two books and find 3o new words, write five sentences about your daily activities and if you...
my life is just beginning…
I watched Radha solve her first puzzle and Conrad Veidt's quote came to mind: So now it is time to disassemble the parts of the jigsaw puzzle or to piece another one together, for I find that, having come to the end of my story, my life is just beginning. But there is...