musings
The Delhi University cut off lists are out. A whole 1% higher than last year! You need 90% and more to secure a seat in a prestigious college, and at least 75% to find space in DU (Delhi University). Anything less than that leaves you with few choices: a...
a unique hour
How many of us do actually switch off lights when we leave a room, never leave our computers or TVs on stand by, segregate our house waste shut the tap off while we brush our teeth, carry a cloth bag during all our shopping sprees, or travel in a car pool. Not many I...
Why is God laughing…
Why is God laughing is the title of Deepak Chopra's latest book. I have not read it. Yet, just the title filled me with a deep sense of joy.A review of the book states: it shows us without a doubt that there is always a reason to be grateful, that every possibility...
farewell class of 2008
This is project why's class of 2008. They have all passed their Boards examinations and are ready to taken their first steps in the outside world with confidence and aplomb.But yesterday was party time and this picture was taken just a few minutes before they set out...
The world is full of wonders..
The world is full of wonders and miracles but man takes his little hand and covers his eyes and sees nothing. The words of Israel Baal Shem came to my mind when I saw this picture after a long time. Actually I was putting together a presentation for the launch of dear...
they wait for a miracle
In a tiny room where barely a bed and a small cupboard fit sit Basant and Rekha. They have been living in this 'free' dharamshala (hospice) for almost a month now, but this has not been their first stay here. They are now old hands at living in hospitals across the...
They can brighten up this world
When i first thought of planet why as a sustainability option for project why I had never heard of social enterprise and social business. It was simply a gut feeling that propelled me in this direction and with every step I walked, it just felt right.From day one, it...
they came calling
We had two special visitors last week. Little Deepak and Shubhum. For those who may not remember or know them they were both residents of our heartFix Hotel.Deepak is now a big boy, over two years old and a far cry from the cerulean baby we all feared for. Today he is...
just like the salt
To many pwhy is just an education support programme with some forays into community work, a clone of many such organisations that dot the land. I guess it is in some ways quite that, in spite of the many small and big moments we have lived in the past nine years. Yet...
Two worlds just across the street
When I read your blogs most often the word that used to strike me was "angry"; how angry you were about the system, situation and people. for the first time i think i experienced that were the words that dropped into my inbox yesterday. It was from M, a dear friend...
are times really changing
The spiralling and sky rocketing price of petrol in the past few weeks has finally, or so one hopes, brought to fore the need to pause and think about the necessity to change our ways. Till now the pleas of environmentalists fell on deaf years. At best we nodded...
the times they are changing
Once upon a time, not so long ago, an afternoon at the cinema was a treat almost anyone could afford. For less than a hundred rupees two persons could see an afternoon flick and even eat a greasy burger or share a fizzy drink. Cinema was for the masses. Halls were...
no big deal
The picture you see may, at first glance, seem innocuous and anodyne. A bunch of smiling young ones chaperoned by an also smiling older one. True that they seem to come from different lands but in today's shrinking world this is no big deal!This is what it looks like...
of pink elephants and green skies
There is little one can say in praise of the education imparted by the majority of state run schools. The least said the better. At best it amounts to getting a low pass percentage in your end exams. More often than not it leads to the child dropping out of school at...
He who was a why to live…
I have often wondered why pwhy came to be. A rather pointless question many may say as we are now in the 10th year of existence! And yet it is one that comes to my mind many times, always begging for an answer and never quite finding one.The most obvious answer would...
the trick is to finish with flourish
"A person taking stock in middle age is like an artist or composer looking at an unfinished work; but whereas the composer and the painter can erase some of their past efforts, we cannot. We are stuck with what we have lived through. The trick is to finish it with a...
A lot of water has flowed
This is a picture of Neha and Aditya taken almost three years back in happier times. Since a lot of water has flowed under the bridge. In those times questions were simple and solutions easy. Even mummy learnt to smile as she picked up the pieces of her broken life...
met mrOcean
One day Popples you will meet mrOcean. Many of your friends live close to it and many have promised that they will take you there one day...These words were written almost 2 years ago and are now there for all to read as in dear popples. I must confess a little...
never say never
I would have never believed that one day I would be seeking help to fund the surgery of a man! Most of the hearts we have fixed are those of children, barring Nutan who was a mom and her children's life depended of her survival. She was taken care of and is now back...
wondrous are his ways
The project why journey has been astounding in more ways than one. At every step, miracles big and small have dotted its path with regularity making one believe that the big picture theory really exists.When we began the foster care programme, there was a huge debate...
It tolls for thee.
A few days back we got the visit of the representative of a very up market page 3 organisation. This organisation funds various NGOs by organising high profile fund raising events. As we sat chatting in our new foster care building, the lady told me about a new...
to sir with love
The class XII results are out and once again all the pwhy kids have cleared the dreaded Boards! This is now the nth time in a row! There was a time when I remember spending a sleepless night before result day and pacing up and down till I was given the news. In those...
remembering them
This blog is not meat to be a personal one, nor is it meant to be one for reminiscing the past or delving in nostalgia. Yet today I beg your indulgence as I take a brief pause to remember Ram and Kamala on this day that would have celebrated 59 years of their...
a losing battle?
We work hard to raise money so that we have the opportunity to help people but the more children we educate the more are being born that... so we are tempted to say that education will help our people to overcome poverty but if the resources remain the same and the...
education for all
Sarva Siksha Abhyan, Education for All, Right to Education Bill are all lofty projects. Sadly none of them have truly helped the children of India get what is rightfully theirs: a sound education that would help them become part of shining India! They all seem to be...
a deafening why
A mail about little Radha's plight dropped by this morning. It asked some stark questions:when you run in to such cases have you been able to get any insight in how the parents intended to support so many children? what were they thinking when they had 4 children in...
we just assume it is written for someone else
"Most of us can read the writing on the wall; we just assume it's addressed to someone else." wrote Ivern ball. The recent dastardly blasts in Jaipur sadly confirms this saying. While bodies still lay unclaimed, while families are yet to come to terms with the horror...
the new gym on the block
Roshni has been working at our women centre since its very inception. She began has a general helper and then slowly moved on to being a creche worker. Today she even attends adult education classes.Roshni has seven children. Hers is the story of many migrant families...
post partum blues
For the past few days I have been in a state of postpartum blues, the kind women suffer after the birth of a child. Doctors have their own complex clinical explanations but to me it is simply the feeling of overwhelming emptiness that comes after what you have waited...
we believe in miracles
Little Radha is 7. She suffers from ostoegenesis or brittle bone disease has terribly deformed legs and is unable to stand. The slightest fall or hit causes a fracture as her bones have become terribly porous. She has already had more than a dozen in her tiny life.She...
Finding its feet and its wings
The Kamala centre is now more than six months old and much has happened within its walls. It all began as everything does with lofty ideas, impossible dreams and ambitious plans though past experience had proved that these do not get fulfilled no matter how hard you...
But tomorrow, dawn will come the way I picture her
This is not a picture of a tsunami hit structure. It is simply our very won Okhla centre after the dust storm that blew over Delhi two mights ago. The figures you see eagerly repairing the tent are our very own students. And this is not the first time they have done...
making memories
''We want to preserve their childhood days so that tomorrow if they ever want to see how they were, where they were, they could easily get to see those precious moments. We gift a CD to the parents of the adopted child,'' says Madhuri Abhyankar, Director, Sofosh...
Invisible India…
The last few days have been terribly hot. The mercury has touched 43 degrees Celsius and is still rising.Most of us have retreated into the comfort of our homes or working places cooled with ACs and desert coolers and barely venture out. TV programmes urge us to take...
a frightening common denominator
The furore created of US President Bush's recent tirade on the growing appetite of middle class India as the cause of the global food crisis is understandable as it is a blow well below the belt. And many will take up the gauntlet and give befitting answers. This post...
where are you rakhee…
Rakhee was one of our brightest little sparks. She had first come to us almost 4 years back when she was about 2 year old. Her story is one of total hopelessness and despair. When you hear it you may feel that is a one in a kind but sadly it is the story of many...
Butter would not melt….
If you look at Vicky you would think of him as a very quiet and obedient kid. Butter would not melt in his mouth as the saying goes. The reality is quite different as the teachers at the foster care discovered.Vicky belongs to an extremely poor family and being the...
think twice before…
Next time you see a woman clutching a baby pounding at your car window, pleading for a few rupees to save or feed her child, think twice before you roll the window down and hand them to her. The child may have been sold to a begging gang.A baby sale racket was bust in...