Leader of the pack..
Some of you may remember the incident when cupid was responsible for the breaking of a wall at our Okhla centre. The wall was repaired by the very boys who broke it.But the matter did not rest there. The words of the fat man were still buzzing in my head. Today I...
feudal lord to babulord
Five years ago, when I first heard of the local money lender and his alarming interest rate of 120%, I could have never imagined that the day would dawn when I found him almost 'likeable'.I have often held that my years discovering the India of urban slums has been a...
making memories..
I have been busy making memories for Utpal. You may wonder why. When I look back at the past six years, the one success story that I would like remembered is that of this little braveheart.I sometimes wonder what could have happened if pwhy had not been around for...
where angels do not fear to tread
When I was a little girl and something I could not comprehend or did not like happened, my father would always talk of the larger picture, the one only God could see and tell me that we only saw a tiny part of it and therefore could not understand its relevance. I...
Do we need to change horses..
The Okhla saga ended well.. the young lads who had broken the wall repaired it after hearing our healing touch pitch.. In the ultimate analysis everyone can be saved, or at least one can try and plant a seed and hope that some day it will germinate..The two kids in...
all is fair in love….
On my mission to find out why the brand new wall of our school had been broken, I could not have imagined in my wildest dream that the main culprit was Cupid!Apparently one of the young gang leaders of the are - and there quite a few - was romantically inclined...
I wonder why…
Our refurbished school that sits on a garbage dump in Okhla is by no means a fancy one. Plastic sheets, a tarpaulin cover and a halfway brick wall is all it is. But to us it is a place where many children learn and are able stay in school, it is also an option for...
fun funding frolic
I have been thinking for the past few days of drafting my Dear A.. letter whereby I will seek help at 'this festival time' etc...Over the years my contacts list has been growing and what was an easily done task a few months back seems daunting when you see over 800...
strange encounters of a kind
Funny how things happen in life. I had two encounters today one with a European houseguest on a bharat darshan, and the other with a friend of a friend who dropped by.The reason for this blog was that they both had similar views about the reality we live in. My...
tiny people with huge hearts
At a time when much seemed dark, a ray of sunshine was brought by little children who decided that they would be better than big people and help their friends who are not so lucky.These kids belong to countries as far from each other as France and Singapore but be it...
all about symbols
We have just finished the shradhs or days that have been allotted to our departed souls. Every faith has such days, for some it is a single day for India it is two weeks.To me these days mean much more than the sated gesture of feeding the poor. It is a time for...
a burning issue
The airing of video images of AIIMS student's burning Dr Ambedkar's books sent a chill down my spine. Images of a doom-laden future flashed by my mind.The reservation issue is going out of hand and unless it is addressed by non-political citizens our land may become...
about children but not for children
The de-recognition and thereby shutting of over 1000 schools in karnataka as they did not comply to a law passed many years back brings to fore once again the reality that education and the welfare and rights of children ranks very low on the political agenda of our...
feeding off kids..
It is appalling how adults use kids. Before little Utpal went to school a posse of family and relatives took advantage of all the goodies provided.It is but obvious that one could not help him at home without including the others, directly or indirectly. A ceiling fan...
words ad nauseum
When I look at little Komal who can barely see or hear, I wonder how long it will take her to learn the value of words.I am sick and tired of words: words of praise, words of anger, words that hurt, words that hang without meaning, words that vanish into thin air as...
the price of democracy
yesterday two children died in the cross fire the police resorted to, to quell angry mobs. The mobs were exercising their democratic right to dissent against what has become a Kafkaesque cat and mouse game between the authorities, the courts and the people of...
finger prints of the dead
I could not resist writing about an experience I had today when I took myself off to the District Courts to register my will.After being mobbed by all the notary and lawyers who sit at little tables with antediluvian typewriters in a neat row, like a bunch of crows...
picche se… (from the back) an elusive answer to real questions
I have often wondered what is it that makes pwhy such a menace to local powers that be. Why is it that we get dragged to the labour court, accused of nefarious activities, ranging from pandering to stealing. Why is it that each time we solve a problem and start...
will this one be the good one!
deepak came visiting to show off his two brand new teeth! he even smiled and played with us. This brave little fellow has kept his side of the deal: he survived a code blue and even though his broken heart stopped beating, he willed to beat again; he patiently waited...
distance makes the heart grow fonder
Distance makes the heart grow fonder says the jaded quotation. Most of us have at one time or the other used it.Six long years trying to keep project why alive my way, has given a new connotation to these very words. We could also use Mark Twain's Familiarity breeds...
Children.. a valuable resource
JFK said: "Children are the world's most valuable resource and its best hope for the future”. Wonder what he would have felt about their situation in India..last week three blasts rocked Malegaon, most of the victims were children, many beggars who had come on this...
Kim.. the ambassador of our dreams.
When Kim called a few week back to say he wanted to feature project why in his The Strait Times, I was surprised wondering what I had done to receive such an honour. I must confess that in the days preceding his arrival, I spent many hours wondering whether we would...
but also for what we do not do
Have not written about mr. p for a long time. well it is said that no news is good news. he is doing great in school and his mom is doing great at the rehab centre. His surrogate dad has been lurking around, trying to find the right excuse to scrounge a few pennies...
to fight is much better than to win…
One of my favourite authors has been oriana fallaci. In her often acerbic and cutting words I have many a times found inspiration.In her letter to a child never born, which is a commentary on life itself she says: " to fight is much better than to win, to travel much...
full circle
Kiran and Komal are sisters. One is 6 and the other 16 days! Kiran was born on the day pwhy took off on its maiden flight. It was a time of dreams and visions, of hope and determination. It was also a time when we believed that good will prevail, that people will...
micro reflection of a macro reality
Strange that something I have always held as true is validated time and again, even when you pray that this one time one should be proved wrong.When we set out to establish a model for education support in order to contain drop out rates, we wanted to evolve one that...
teacher’s day revisited
A nomadic childhood meant many a school, but when I look back on those years, each school no matter where it was located, always had a teacher one remembers with fondness, someone you wanted to emulate, someone you looked up to!Be it Melle Valent in France, Mr...
number game..
The results of a recent survey indicates that India is the sixth most dangerous country in the world. Afghanistan, Palestinian territories, Myanmar and Chechnya were placed better than India.Many will and even are contesting these results, and even if we do better,...
and the combat cannot cease..
And the combat ceased, for want of combatants. Le Cid (IV, 3).These words from a play long forgotten sprung to my mind this morning. Live every child put through the French system. Corneille is a must and often the play selected is Le Cid, where a tragic hero finds...
a hero to emulate
I often wonder who are the present heroes that the children of India can look up to and want to model one's self on. The ones that are often cited are jaded or otherworldly. We live in times when all we hear about is violence steeped in the widest variety of sauces....
intuition to validation
The bete noire of any not-for-profit organisation is undoubtedly its sustainability particularly if one views such work as having a duration in space and time. Education above all does not make any sense if its temporality is limited to the 'bon vouloir' of funding...
up, up and away…. another b & b
Wonder what mr p. is thinking as he climbs the steps to a temple he decided to visit on his monthly day out.This is the same kid who should not have been around had all things remained as they were in the life he was born to live. So what is it that altered his life?...
a moment in the India of my dreams..
Look at this picture, at first glance it may seem to be just two people and a child posing in front of the Birla temple in Delhi, India's capital city, nothing to write home about.Look again and let me tell you the incredible bonds that underlie this picture. In...
vex, lie and lose
In the land of the downtrodden and the illiterate, all is not as it should be. One would think that anyone who gives jobs to people considered unemployable, works towards containing drop out rates with success and cares for the differently abled should be welcomed...
an impossible dream or perhaps not….
In the wake of the reservation issue and keeping in mind the abysmal state in which education for the less privileged is, many questions come to mind. Today's paper published a report on India's capital city which states that over 100 000 children in the age group 6...
hijacked promises
The picture is a little hazy, just like the dreams these kids dare to dream...maybe it is better that way.These are children celebrating Independence day 2006. It was their decision, their planning and they even invited to local SHO, Mr Khan who always makes it a...
tread carefully mr government
A well rated TV channel has been airing dramatic pictures of instances of child labour, and we all agree that child labour should be banned as it goes against the essence of human dignity.Then why have I been so disturbed by some of the stories and in particular the...
a day in the life of India at 60
Three news item caught my attention today. Little Pakhi, age 6 is thrown out of her school bus as the driver brakes suddenly and dies on the spot, her school barely a 10 minute drive away from her home; 665 migrant labour come Delhi everyday and four years down the...