from milk vans to call centre cars
I have always been a morning person and a light sleeper. Yet for years I never woke up before 4 or 4.30 am. If I let my memory travel back I realise that often it is was the cling clang of the Delhi Milk Scheme vans that used to wake me up. Sometimes a crow or a bird...
Sapna’s mom
To me she will always be Sapna's mom though her name is Bimla and she is also Monty's mom. She came to us almost 4 years ago carrying Sapna who was 5 but could not even hold her head, let alone stand. She used to drop by sometimes dragging her feet and looking far...
penhandling for a smile
I have been in the begging business for seven long years.If you look at the word 'beg' you find the following synonyms: panhandle, ask for money, seeking charity, seek alms.. not very gratifying and yet that is what I have been up to. I have used every trick in my...
little red bag revisited
I wrote about this little red bag many moons ago! After delivering its contents to Utpal's dorm in school, it returned empty and sat in the linen cupboard waiting for its next mission. A few days back I retrieved it from the top shelf . Om march 17th it will set off...
greenBlues
I have been harping about the importance of environment issues, the plastic menace, the lurking water wars. I am the first to try and point this out when I wear my project why boss hat! Imagine my surprise when this morning in in the privacy of my bathroom I found...
one of a kind
Yesterday my dear friend North sent a mail sharing her panic about her son Lee whose building was on fire. I cannot go to him, I cannot hold him, nor can I send him money to replace his loss's... we both need prayers of courage and strength..These were the words of a...
a bedtime affair..
Dropping by Pwhy blog has become a bedtime affair now wrote a friend all the way from China. and goes on to say: and while I know every day probably passes quite like the other, do hope to hear more abt the pwhy kids and their families on your blog.I stand corrected!I...
i’m an alien
I'm an alien I'm a legal alien sang Sting in his hit song of the eighties entitled an Englishman in New York. I had forgotten this song but it sprung from the recesses of my memory as I sat in front of my TV, remote in hand switching channels in the hope of finding...
mumbai footpaths
A mail dropped by recently in my mailbox. It opened with the words: I have been visiting Project Why for quite some time now and its quite interesting to know the way you take up issues. In fact I have been observing certain things out here in Mumbai but since I don't...
reality check
An anonymous comment on a previous post- reality notes 2 - with you, for you, always - came as a bit of a jolt. It said: here is a bit of advice. Instead of running around like a plucked chicken trying to prove your point (and who knows what that is!), why don't you...
reality notes 2 – with you for you always
As I had written in my previous post, I set out this morning with a well drafter complaint (courtesy my lawyer)to seek protection from those who are meant to give it to every citizen namely the Delhi Police whose motto we all know is with you, for you , always!As a...
reality notes
I have often written about the hungry wolves that lurk in every corner trying to destroy any attempt that dares disturb the social balance they have set in place, no matter how lopsided it may be.What is even more disturbing is that they succeed in a manner of...
Lost in translation…
remember these girls? Maybe not as our memories are short, and images get blurred or overtaken by others ones, particularly when the issue is not directly related to our lives.Let me refresh your memories. these little girls are some of the children that invaded the...
Give me another mandir!
Today was a special treat. A visit to Utpal's school. Rishi was kind enough to set aside the rules to allow Xavier, Utpal's cyberDad, a few stolen moments with the one he calls pepere in spite of the fact that school examinations were on.It was a warm afternoon just...
not to be deterred
Once again, on a fine morning the students and staff of pwhy were greeted by a gaping hole in the wall of our Okhla centre. This is not the first time and probably not the last. Wonder who did it, some drunken lads for a bit of fun or some mischief maker. Who knows,...
united in .. death
Two deaths were reported in the press yesterday: one on the front page and the other in an inside one. Both were heinous crimes. Both stemmed out of some unfathomable quirk of the mind.In one a 'servant' had simply killed a young boy and an old relative of the house...
holi hai!
In trying to explain the significance of holi to my foreign son-in-law I found myself searching the net as my knowlede did not go beyond the Prahlad-Hollika story. On this site, I read the follwoing: Originally the festival was primarily for the Shudras who were...
yet another tale of two indias
My meat seller and I go a long way, more than 30 years I guess! He is a gentle Muslim who runs a tiny shop in a close by market. Over the years much has changed and many shopkeepers have spruced up their shops bu not Salim whose establishment takes me back three...
a long ride to nowhere
On the day when millions of young Indians set out to write their class XII Board examinations, a TV channel aired the story of Samant Singh Rao, once a part time lecturer in Panna (Madhya Pradesh) and a proud recipient of two masters degree. A series of misfortunes...
which drop outs mr minister
The main objective project why set out to achieve 7 years ago was to contain the alarming dropout rates in India's capital city. Around 70 % of all school going children drop out and most dropout before class VI.We can say with a certain amount of justified pride that...
budget blues .. harping on
I have never understood the intricacies of economics and figures, inflation and GDP or all such terms. During college time budget day was one when one waited to find out whether cigarettes would cost more. Not that one gave up smoking, one just adjusted things and I...
The God to whom little boys say their prayer…
There have been many rewarding moments at pwhy, but yesterday was a very special one.I looked for quotes to begin this post and found two by unknown writers:" God to whom little boys say their prayers has a face very like their mother's” "Yes, Mother. I can see you...
a beautiful tale of two Indias
There is a little girl named Yashaswini! you can spot her in the front of this picture. She belongs to the side of the fence where everything works in your favour. She has smart educated parents, a place in a good school and everything a child needs to grow.Saturday...
In the name of all the unborn girls
Yesterday a news item caught my attention in more ways than one. A Bombay couple had challenged the high court on the ban on gender choice. They wanted to chose the sex of their third child needless to see they wanted a boy.According to this educated couple: In their...
Its just another day in paradise..
The last few posts have been grim and even seething so it was time for a breath of fresh air. I found myself humming a song of yore years that sprung from the recesses of my mind. Its just another day in paradise, said the refrain. And if my memory does not fail me...
more on manoj’s mom
When you think you have seen it all, and feel smug in the false notion that you have created the required roadmaps, in a land where women are dispensable you are least prepared for Act II of what you believed was a one Act play with a doable denouement!Yesterday I...
Have your girl and leave her to us
My last post was a plea to ensure that existing social schemes function in this country. Imagine my utter dismay when a national daily carried an article spelling out a new initiative to fight foeticide and infanticide. This is of course after the little bones found...
cross your Ts and dot your Is mr government
In my quest to get pwhy kids and heir families the required caste and OBC certificates I set about finding out the procedure set out by our government. A quick perusal of the Delhi government website is sufficient to show that the modus operandi proposed is almost...
another tale of two Indias
I have often written about the ever widening gap between the two Indias and the almost apocalyptic aftermath it entails. One would be justified in asking whether ways exist to bridge this frightening chasm.When pwhy began and I set out crafting it I knew intuitively...
a cri de coeur
Today's TV news brought pictures of 390 little bones buried near a hospital in Ratlam. Experts say they are the remains of babies. Today's newspaper reported that there were thousands of missing children in our own Silicon valley a.k.a Bengaluru!Post Nithari, the NHRC...
Continuing little Anisha’s story
Anisha lies in a hospital bed. She dropped by pwhy yesterday morning and I was shocked to see her gasping breath. The forlorn parents told me that the hospital had refused to give a date as they had not deposited 4 units of blood and in spite of the fact that the 55...
and what will the feshment be tomorrow..
Tomorrow is Utpal's PTA and once again his motley family will set out early in the morning to spend the day with him. This time it is Amit, Chanda Didi, Kiran Didi, Radhey and maam'ji who will form the party.I am looking forward to the moment when his best pal Simran...
an ordinary day in ordinary India
A middle aged woman pushing her vegetable cart in the chilly evening rain set me thinking about the life of an ordinary citizen in India's capital city.The heap of vegetables still lying unsold on her cart was proof that it had not been a good day. I wondered why she...
a sponsored prayer
My daughter just called from Varanasi. She had gone there with some musician friends to spend Shivaratri. She is a person who spurns all rituals and is somewhat an agnostic. I had tried to share my experience of this holy city that I had visited many years back when I...
of identity and its loss
A recent post of mine which was a simple chapeau bas to true Indian led to a rabid diatribe on St V day and Indianess. The commentator says:.. this Indian identity includes, as an essential character, not celebrating a festival of the type that Valentines day really...
Creating roadmaps – manoj’s mom (2)
The editor of a famous women's magazine shared a touching experience where her attempts to rescue a street child had failed for want of a proper road map. Ms Fernandes concludes her piece by an appeal to set such road maps. A hurt street child is taken to the hospital...
Teach a child to dare ask his whys
Over the past seven years now one has been faced with innumerable questions that scream for answers. Questions about the abysmal state of environment awareness, about the total lack of information about policies and programmes, questions about how an ordinary ca...
Love is an endless mystery
Love is an endless mystery, for it has nothing else to explain it, says a quote. And yet everyone is talking about love today.Markets are replete with hearts and flowers. Mobile networks are jammed as SMS's are exchanged and love is in the air. The detractors are out...