the extraordinary in the ordinary
Sometimes it is necessary to get off the spinning world, catch our breath and take a pause. Sadly this is something we rarely do as we are, or seem to be always on the run. Recently two mails dropped in my inbox and both had a similar message. They both highlighted...
requiem for two lost souls
Two lost souls left this world yesterday. They had nothing in common bar the fact that they were in some way linked to pwhy.Anil came to us almost exactly a year ago. He was 8 months old and suffered from a complex congenital heart problem. He needed multiple heart...
surrender – a response to a troubling thought
As I walked away from the hospital ward where Utpal's mom lay sleeping unaware of the terrible ordeal that brought her there, many whys crowded my mind. I guess we humans sometimes forget that we are mere humans as we get swayed by illusions of grandeur and hubristic...
supply and demand revisited
I have never been a businesswoman and have always found economic theories as puzzling as double dutch. The only concept I could somewhat fathom was probably the supply and demand theory.An old friend reconnected with us recently and asked whether we still needed help....
i want to be a pasha
Our one of a kind mr popples spent one night at home on his way back to school after Diwali holidays with his mom at our brand new women centre. As usual he was the proverbial ray of sunshine capable of lifting any sagging mood.As we sat in the evening watching a film...
disturbing musings
Delhi is slowly limping back to normal after a fortnight of festival and festivities. The air is gradually clearing up and the the crackers blasts are now sporadic though as ear shattering as ever. The roads on the morning after Diwali were a silent but shocking...
a day at the women centre
Our very own Mr P is spending his Diwali holidays at the women centre with his mom! What a long journey it has been for this little braveheart.It is now a happy place filled with colours and laughter. The creche has begun in earnest and is filled with children....
To or no to….
The recent debate of the right to privacy of a physically disabled child whose surgery was done under blinding media glare, raises a number of questions, the first one being the reason why the medical team who operated free of cost, decided to do so this way. The...
Candid revelations
I dropped by the women centre yesterday and decided to spend some time with a bunch of spirited boys who had joined the centre recently. There were about 6 or 7 of them and most of them were students of class VI of the sole government secondary school in the area.We...
A matter of survival
Our women centre is soon going to have solar energy to meet part of its requirements. Like everything else at pwhy is just happened. And again like everything else at pwhy it happened for a reason. Global warming is something we have been concerned about for a long...
twenty one – 21
Twenty one is an important number in a person's life as it is the age when one becomes an adult. Twenty one has another important signification that many may not know. It is the number - 21A - of a new article that was to be inserted in the constitution of India. it...
let the sun shine in
Some months back S walked into our office. S was someone I met on the net. After exchanging a few innocuous mails, S came visiting. Like is oft the case with virtual friends, one does quite know who to expect!S arrived by bus from one of India's satellite suburbs and...
yet another tale of two Indias…
Sunday October 28th 2007, saw the enfolding of a another tale of two Indias in the streets of its capital city: thousands of well shod and well clad beautiful people ran a well sponsored half marathon in one part of the city, while 25 000 landless and often barefoot...
in order to live
Read in order to live said Gustave Flaubert. That was almost two centuries ago and something almost ludicrous in our day and age.You may wonder why I chose to right a post about books.It all began when sometime back a dear friend and supporter sought our help and...
a happy place
A recent investigation aired on national TV brought to light the horrific reality that prevails in a government home for challenged children in India' capital city.One wonders why these children of a lesser God are often treated in such a way and makes us question the...
the art of giving
Xabi and Marie are two simple village folk from a small village of the Basque country in France. They are not young and have homes and families. Marie is a dancer and Xabi a farmer . Some time back I got a very touching email from them which is simply said they were...
I am in UKG
We have been busy getting admissions for the new centre and of course children are a plenty. After asking the names and age of each kid we ask whether they are in school, and the class they are in.We were astonished at the number of children who said: I am in UKG....
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...
more heart matters
In her bright school uniform and sporting a sparkling smile she looks just line another school girl. However if you look at her again you see her little chest rising at an unnatural pace and realise that she can barely breathe. She has a hole in her heart and was what...
a breath of fresh air
It was once again time to make the one hour car journey to Utpal's school for his PTM. And in spite of this being the nth time, the excitement was palpable.With little Kiran the true blue childhood pal, I had packed the proverbial bag of goodies that contained all...
when the heart takes over
S decided to sell his kidney because life had become unberable after his business failed. It must have been a pondered decision and one that must have taken a lot of grit and determination. What happened next is what heroic tales are made of. When S realised that the...
full circle
It was almost three years ago that two women of substance set up our Okhla school. The school was set up in a garbage dump for all the right reasons and much of what we set out to do was achieved and somehow we felt that nothing would or could disturb the pattern we...
a bonny bundle of joy
Prakash is a bonny four month old, a far cry from his elder brother Manoj who came to us almost two years back and reminded me of a garden gnome with his big head and emaciated body.When we came to know that Manoj's mom mas pregnant again, we set out to chart a road...
the sting that lost its bite
The latest sting school. operation turned out lost all its bite when the reporter in question was arrested. I am referring to the case of the school teacher accused of waylaying girls students in Delhi. Though the story had created furore and even rioting when aired,...
the baby factory
The baby factory that was exposed in another now famous sting operation looked like a horror movie. Young minor girls from poor states brought to Delhi and then made to produce babies that were then sold! The reason for this is two-fold: the abject poverty on one hand...
the boy in the red shirt
I would like to share two small almost negligible incidents that happened yesterday.While showing the project to a visitor we stopped by our tiny Govindpuri primary centre. The room was so tiny that some of us remained outside where a bunch of young lads sat...
only a matter a of degree
The recent imbroglio over the issuing of degrees to students of India's prime medical school is a tragic reminder of the prevailing state of affairs in this country. The drama recently enacted on the streets and in front of cameras had shades of both Kafka and Marx...