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...
the story of manoj’s mom
When manoj's mom came to us a year back carrying her tiny awkward child, we knew she was a woman in need of help so not only did we take her son in our creche, but gave her a part time job at home.Madhu is a tiny chit of a woman with a strong spirit and she quickly...
happy St V’s
Today being the much and over hyped St V's day, I decided to give my acerbic pen a rest and write about love, albeit a different kind from the one flaunted at every corner!This post is not about red roses and heart shaped cards, but about Amit Bhaiyya whose unwavering...
who will take up the cudgels on their behalf
I had recently written about the professor Sabharwal case and the hostile witnesses. Actually it was just yesterday. I somehow knew that it would not be long before a campaign of sorts would be launched and civil society would be shaken for its slumber. Hence i was...
another tale of two Indias
Two young ladies age 6 and 11 visited project why last week. Their mom a high executive in the hospitality industry had brought them along as she felt it would be a good experience for them.We went hopped from one part of pwhy to the other: from a building in a narrow...
not at any price
A journalist from a leading western newspaper dropped by last week. She was researching an article on the impact of globalisation on the other side of India. She had visited some of the slum resettlement sites and expressed her indignation at the state of these...
a fallen hero
One will spend life in jail, the other is waiting for the gallows. They both thought that their political connections could give them licence to kill and get away with murder. But they did not. Public opinion ensured that and Jessica Lal and Priyadarshini Matoo got...
bye bye hot samosas..
Many years back, when the first fast food outlet opened in Delhi - I think it was a pizza something - I told many friends that they would never be able to compete with our own desi brand of fast foods: the zingy chats, piping hot samosas, delectable and sinful poories...
muted musings..
I cannot remember when I last stepped off the whirling world to take a breath and muse over days gone by. Life went on at a frenzied pace and there never seemed to be time to take a pause and cast the much needed critical look.One may wonder what set off these...
a bed and a class
I have always hoped that some day we will have lots of little primary extensions so that more and more children remain in school. And it has been my dream to do this by drawing all resources from the community.Our little Nehru Nagar class is a step in that direction...
Where the mind is without fear
Yesterday I dropped by my Lohar (gypsy)friends. My conditioned being expected to be greeted by long and sad faces as their homes had been raised to the ground just a few hours before that.My heart did miss a beat as I alighted from my three wheeler and saw them all...
a samosa and a jig…
In today's world many of us have mastered the art of living according to rules and regulations, our lives carefully divided into little boxes and our reactions dictated by directives that are proved and tested by scientific means.So when in this world a doctor and a...
helter shelter
A class is in progress in the Lohar camp. The camp has over 40 shanties along a main road. It has been in existence for over 25 years and even has a name and postal address. Most of its 250 odd inhabitants, all gadiya lohars - iron smith gypsies - have voter ID cards....
morning after…
This is a picture of the morning after a wedding party in our street. Yesterday as is customary in our city, tents came up, the street was blocked and the paraphernalia needed, set in place.This morning we saw the aftermath: large quantities of wasted food, and mounds...
Looking ahead from ground zero..
One is often so engrossed in the now, that one forgets to delve into the realm of the after. Yet unless we take time to do that, we may remain frozen in time.Spiritual masters often ask us to visualise the future if we want to see it realised. I guess there is some...
one more tale of two Indias
A short news item aired yesterday showed relatives of children killed in Noida by serial killers blocking a road and protesting the slow pace of the probe.My mind travels back to the week where the whole nation watched the nightmare of NOIDA unfold. Rewind to a few...
The return of the buddy!
Nanhe is back. And the smile too!Everyone was stunned as he entered the class in Sitaram's arms. Moments later a palpable excitement prevailed in the classroom as his little buddies set about to greet their long lost pal.All else was forgotten: Anurag stopped jumping,...
What will you be tomorrow…
When Utpal walked into the gate of his brand new school he was making a tryst with destiny.He would one day walk out of that gate and take on the world. I have often let my imagination run wild and imagine what he would become: a conventional doctor or a hot shot...