the rule of law…
that is the end of the rule of law and the breakdown of democracy were the harsh words the Chief Justice of India used yesterday while haring the pathetic excuses of a government caught red handed!Thanks heaven for the rule of law, no matter how tardy, it ultimately...
here we go again… to seal or not to seal
here we go again.. says the popular song.I have been watching the tos and fro's of the local authorities regarding the now existential question: to seal or not to seal!To take the Shakespeare reference further we could easily say; all is not well in the State of D.....
three step forward and two and half back
I am livid. Do you remember Babli? Here I was back in a comfort zone feeling smug like a proverbial Cheshire cat, thinking that with her brand new heart, Babli was sitting on a school bench making up for lost time when I was hit by another thunderbolt.R and S came...
the lure of comfort zones
I have always feared comfort zones. You fall prey to them unwittingly. When things look alright, when no untoward incident occurs, that is when comfort zones appear and you easily fall prey to their lure.This has happened time and again at pwhy though I have tried to...
chilling numbers
My limousine had not come so I decided to spend some time in the creche where the big section - all between 4 and 5 - sat in a circle for its daily activity. The past few weeks had been so hectic that I had barely found time to spend with the children as I was busy...
Come November…
Come November and it is time for me to get off the spinning earth and look at time gone by as a rank outsider...November never held much significance in the first for decades of my life. But the year 1992 changed it all. November took my father away and brought the...
hijacked by hubris
It was sad to watch Delhi come to a standstill. Whereas the big fish will remain unscathed, small shopkeepers will as usual suffer. I the days when gandhigiri is a la mode, one wonders whether bandhs are the right form of protest. Gone is the outsider, the foreign...
the three most beautiful words
I got a mail this morning from a friend of pwhy, who lives miles away, whom I have never met. I only know that he sees with his heart as he has always responded to my innumerable appeals with spontaneous generosity!This is what he writes in response to my wondering...
rite of passage
For most I should be elated and jumping with joy - age permitting - two monumental battles were actually won in the last few days. One with a huge bank vindicating the stand that no matter how big the adversary, if truth is on your side you ultimately come out on top,...
the toad in the well
Some of you may remember the little house of horrors.We have not forgotten the children and are in the process of trying to save them, but we need to tread carefully and ensure that all aspects are covered before the final kill. The adversary is formidable and has...
a tryst with hope
The past two months were the most difficult in my life as I almost saw pwhy slipping away for no fault of ours and though the battle was uneven, the adversary formidable, there was an imperceptible force that egged me not to give up as hope was waiting at the next...
a survivor par excellence
Utpal is back home for his diwali break. I went to fetch him ins school and was amazed by the survivor spirit this child has. As the road was being dug up we had a long walk before reaching the gates of the school. En route I was stopped by many big boys who asked him...
A tale of two diwalis
To the rich man's mall there is the poor man's weekly bazaar. A cornucopia of sight, sound and smells, an experience guaranteed to titillate all your senses.The dreary road comes alive one every week as people come from faraway places with their ware, tables are set,...
a banker who sees with his heart
The last few weeks have been harrowing as one found one's self in a soup for no fault of ours. A clerical error, a hurried decision and our bank closed our accounts. It was a David takes on goliath situation but I was I knew the god of lesser ones was on our side....
justice at last
The Priyadarshini Matoo case has come to an acceptable closure and maybe Priya's soul will finally be able to rest in peace.Eleven years or so to finally send the rapist and murderer behind bars. I cannot even being to fathom the agony of the last eleven minutes of...
david takes on goliath
Never explain - your friends do not need it and your enemies will not believe you anyway, said Elbert Hubbard. Maybe that is why a blog written a few days back has been lying unpublished. Each time, my finger wanders towards the publish button, something holds me...
nursery blues
If all goes well tiny tots in Delhi will not have to face the dreaded interview to get admission in a school. However the procedure suggested seems rather complex. Whereas the 20 points given to proximity is a great one as it maybe be the harbinger of the still...
the little house of horrors
I have been battling many demons and what now looks like trivial problems, when my good friend mr god decided to call me to order in his inimitable way.We had been invited to talk about pwhy at a expat gathering when another 'project' was also presented by some of the...
r.i.p jatinder
A young class IX student, just 14 years old killed himself... the reason being his public humiliation by the principal.. the reason for that being his delay in paying his fees. Jatinder was the son of a driver who had dared dream huge dreams for his son and enrolled...
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...