Miracles happen everyday…
Last week nanhe was discharged from hospital. The discharge slip read: hemoglogin:3.2, BP not detecteable, chronic renal failure. A dismal prognostic to say the least.When consulted all medico friends confirmed our fears.Nanhe is special and his smile has made us...
a slap in lieu of a result
Final exams are just little over a month away and all pwhy kids are busy revising. Government schools held their usual end of term exams in December and we all waited for the results to help us structure our revision programme.When no result was forthcoming by mid...
happy republic day
All over India celebrations are on today. Flag hoisting and parades, people cheering and waving flags everything is on cue to mark the 57th anniversary of our Republic. How many of us are truly aware of the meaning of this day?Somehow the essence of the constitution...
where is the India of our dreams…
50 odd years ago a group of people huddled together to draft a constitution whereby every Indian that had been freed from its colonial master would be protected and given equal opportunities and access to resources. Its preamble resolved to secure for all its...
It is walking towards him…
"Since the day of my birth, my death began its walk.It is walking toward me, without hurrying."Jean CocteauNanhe lies on a hospital bed, his body wasted, his smile lost forever, his searing pain now borne with a silence more deafening than any cry. The men in white...
proverbial carper
I have been holding to my 'pen' for the last few days for fear of being branded the proverbial carper. But doing so longer would be going against my own grain.For the past few days or more we have been subjected to a string of national news headlines about celebrities...
renal malfunction in a venal world
It is amazing how the micro and the macro level of every occurrence appear almost simultaneously.In a recent blog, I had recounted the trials and tribulations of our very own Nanhe's mom who had been told by some hassled medico to go get a kidney if she wanted to save...
The writing on the wall
A candlelight vigil was held last night for the Nithari children.It was held at the same place where just a few months back the tout delhi was present in force, led by the urban middle class and the youth fuelled by images of Rang de Basanti, to fight for justice for...
corporator for a day
Bharti Dhondge is a name that rings no bells and yet she will go down in history as the woman who became corporator for a day in the Municipal Corporation of Bombay! It took this woman five years to fight and win a legal battle whereby she challenged the validity of...
missing children- just statistics
On April 13 the 2003, little Rohan and Puja never went back home. They had gone to the nearby temple as they did every evening. That day some predator was lurking with his diabolical agenda.Two days later their bodies were found in the sluice gate of the okhla...
golu and his sweaters- a mom’s recipe to beat the winter chill
The mercury has dipped to 2 degrees and delhi is freezing. But our kids turned up as usual in the morning chill.As they filed into the room, we were a little baffled to see little Golu who seemed to have difficulties walking and waddled through arms stretched at an...
where broken hearts get fixed
Little anisha will have her heart fixed. Hers is the 10th broken heart that has come our way for fixing! Each with its own story, each with the hopes and prayers of the ones that gave it life. Each came from across the invisible barriers that divide our society with...
whoops of pure joy
Who said that some things have to be learnt to be experienced? Who said you had to be born on the right side of the fence to experience certain moments? Who said you had to be normal to know the how and when of appropriate behaviour?Certain things just happen...
a one rupee fix
I have been worried about the proliferation of what I call the pouch invasion in urban slums. We decided to do a survey and maybe try and initiate a campaign to raise awreness on the matter.We been busy collecting pouches to and one of the stops was Nanhe's mom's cart...
amrika se ayega..
Our battle to make nanhe's mom see sense is taking on disturbing dimensions. In order to ensure that little nanhe is well taken care of and in the face of our total failure in making the desperate mom see sense we decided to play the game and follow her search for...
The times they are changing.
Two Dylan songs struck a chord in me when I was a young and someone remained with me all through they years well into my old age. That was way back in the early sixties.The Nithari tragedy brought them back as it seemed as if they had been written yesterday:How many...
soup spoons and fish knives
A recent news item about the introduction of savoir-faire classes caught my attention. Apparently B schools like IIMs now have classes to ensure that you don't attack the custard with a soup spoon!True that the world is shrinking with host of new opportunities for...
whose right is it anyway
Remember the ghaziabad girls? Some of us may have forgotten them as so many other horror stories have come our way and they have become yesterday's news.Yet somewhere in the dead of winter they await justice.Their case came for hearing at the Supreme Court yesterday....
a little bit of hope
The past week has been marked by the terrible plight of children in India, something we can in no way be proud of. The horror of the NOIDA missing kids seemed to be a catalyst of sorts.Yesterday a nine year old Nayan was found dead, his parents still busy trying to...
back with a bang
It is back with a bang. Nanhe's lost smile was there to greet us when we went visiting yesterday, reminding us that children have their own way of dealing with problems, ways that remain mysterious as Nanhe's battle is far from over.But the feeling was short lived....
not yet time
A friend dropped by this morning. We had not met for a long time, yet there was a time when we shared the same ideas and concern and were all set to rebuild the world over innumerable cups of coffee. At that time we both taught in universities. We liked the same...
How many more..
How many more children will have to be abused, mutilated and killed, how many more mothers will have to live with questions than can never be answered before we become responsible as a civil society and say enough!We are supposed to have a law and order mechanism but...
a matter of the kidney..
"Go buy a kidney for your son, it costs one hundred thousand rupees" were the words said almost casually to a desperate mother by a doctor of a leading government hospital. The son is our own Nanhe battling renal failure.I guess for the doctor it was a quick an easy...
Invisible and impregnable barriers
Many newspapers and news channels chose to sum up 2006 in India as an year where people power finally emerged. True they have many reasons to do so: Jessica and Priyadarshini got justice, the Right to Information Act was salvaged from potential hijackers and the son...
an ordinary day
Come January 1st and we all set out making new resolutions for the new year. I use to do it too and then somehow these were forgotten as life took on its course. This year I just let January 1 be like just another day, the difference being that I watched it go by with...
the right to be a child
There are laws and declarations, organisations and institutions and more all seeking to protect children's rights to be children. Conferences are held and debates too..But if I were to tell you that the right to be a child lies hidden in every child rich or poor...
an unequal battle..
Nanhe's predicament haunts me ceaselessly. As someone wrote: this is the battle of the mind and the heart, and none of them are wrong.Nanhe is precious to many of as we are addicted to his smile. Somehow when Nanhe smiles than for that tiny moment everything seems so...
reconnecting – a story in six pictures
It was a very special day, Utpal was to visit his mom. He got up early. wore his new sweater and shoes, and was all set to go. He has asked his best friend Kiran to accompany him.His little head was filled with confused images. there was a time, only a few months ago...
in real danger
My mother died of cancer. Many do. The difference was that she stubbornly refused all form of treatment. She bore her excruciating pain with rare courage. Life had to be lived till the very last breath was her leitmotiv, and she did, remarkably alive as she quietly...
for a handful of spinach…
Have you ever wondered how much a handful of spinach costs? A few coins on a market place, a little more in a fancy store... and a few leaves picked up in a field would not be missed by its owner.Not quite. In a remote village in the state of Bihar a little 10 year...
a very special tree
oThe world celebrated Xmas. In a tiny lane of an urban slum in Delhi a bunch of very special kids did too. Just like children all over the world they wanted a Xmas tree and nothing could stop them.Nothing to write home about, some would say, but what if I told you...
a very special xmas gift
Xmas has always been a time of joy and giving, of cheer and even miracles. As you grow up you stop believing in Santa, but there is always the anticipation of finding out what the little packets around the tree contain.My xmas gift came a day earlier and in the most...
tale of two Indias..
As winter sets in in India's capital city, once again we get reminded of the existence of 2 Indias. While one is busy preparing for highly westernised festivities, the other is huddled around makeshift fires simply trying to survive.This is India a land where extreme...
the cotton carder
I happened to be standing at the gate when the cotton carder went by. Hearing the high pitched sound of his carding bow was a Proustian experience as it brought back a flood of long-forgotten memories.There was a time when you could plan your day with almost clockwork...
a verdict of hope
The Jessica Lal verdict is out. It took a long time coming. Wonder why as she was shot in a place filed with Delhi's own page 3.For seven years we were almost mute witnesses to a mockery of justice where the entire system connived to save the killer who was a is said...
what makes news…
What makes news in our land? I wonder. or let me rephrase the question: what makes lasting news.. The reason I ask this is because for the past week I have been trying in vain to get an update on the plight of the Ghaziabad girls and their abuser!Just two tiny weeks...
never say die
Imagine my surprise when a mail dropped by this morning from another land asking me whether I would give a motivational talk to the staff of a big organisation. The reason stated for choosing me was my can-do-never-say-die spirit.The idea was daunting, particularly...
of quotas, castes and reservations
We just have completed a socio-economic survey of all the pwhy children. Among the questions asked were the place of origin, education of parents and caste. We wanted to validate what we knew intuitively: more than 80% of our kids belonged to some reserved category or...