..and the show does go on
Away from the petty problems that we are facing with misguided staff and our plethora of 'well-wishers', little Deepak fights his valiant battle vindicating thereby the raison d'être of project why.His journey has not been easy. What should have been a simple heart...
the show must go on
many a times I have felt defeated in the work I do.. you think you have got somewhere and one ugly incident takes all sense of achievement away from you.. your first reaction is to say: were people better off without us..Then you stop and think and realise that...
chapeau bas
when utpal mondal was born on the ides of march in 2002, god had made a mistake.. somewhere down the line, just a year away he had to suffer the worst baptism of fire: he fell into a boiling pot!I guess even the most forbidding God realises his mistake and sets out to...
cellTrouble
Many moons ago, when we were in our early teens, one of our favourite pastime was to dial random numbers on the phone in the hope of catching some young man and enganging in silly conversations.. This was often done with your best friend in tow and one quickly slammed...
disquieting dilemma
this touching sepia picture of Utpal sleeping should be enough to vindicate any wrong that may have happened in the six years of pwhy's existence on the field..some of you may have seen the revolting sting operation of a TV channel that caught doctors mutilating...
plastic fantastic lover
we read about farmers committing suicide because of their inability to pay back their loans.. we read about children taking their tender lives because they cannot meet the required standards some insensitive system created..i have been watching in silent horror...
outraged
eight years ago i decided to call our field work project why.. the reason was the innumerable questions that needed answers.. and slowly and painstakingly we set out to answer them and we did.. children remained in school and passed their examinations, jobs were given...
taking off
keeping in view the enormous problems with blogspot, blockouts and maybe to for get new energies and light the projectwhy blog has now moved to a new address, our very own.. our address ishttps://projectwhy.org/blog/we wil publishing continue on both sites for a while
musings on moving on
For some time no I have been getting messages, some veiled, some quite direct, some even harsh about what would happen to pwhy where I to die.. let me set everyone ones mind at rest by saying that it is something i myself have been thinking of..It is true that I have...
the days after..
had little sandhya survived we would have been heroes. However with hindsight and even after mulling hours into the night death is the kindest gift my friend the God of lesser children could have done for this unloved child.I do not know if in this sometimes absurd...
mother courage and her children
I do not why I am reminded of Brecht's Mother Courage as I sit today my head filled with unanswered questions the day after the loss of a human life no one really mourned. Why does Brecht's play written in nazi germany and set in the seventeenth century, ring so true...
sandhya – an evening star gone by
sandhya2000 - 2006 She tiptoed on to our planet quietly almost as if she wanted no one to notice her lest we let her walk into our hearts. She would slink softly behind her loud mother hiding her face lest you lost yourself in her huge melting eyes.. She would sit in...
virtuals head butts for lady B
remember babli, the spirited yourg lady whose heart was fixed and who was to rejoin school this term well, we forgot that oh darling yeh hai India!I almost fell off my chair when i asked on July 10th was to me should have been a redundant question: is babli in...
powerless
in spite of all technological advances that enable us to obliterate the defines of space and time, connect to people across the globe with the click of a mouse, we in delhi have had to make rather pre-historic adjustements.. one that reminded me of the days when my...
a long night for deepak
If little deepak lives today it is because a bunch of doctors fought for him as if he was one of their own when his heart stopped beating, and brought him back to life. They did not have to do it: he was not their son, they were not going to earn a huge amount of...
68/86… and 103 the arithmetic of coping
For the past few days strange things have been happening in an otherwise orderly environement.. an intricate and baffling interplay of movements, numbers, words and occurences. At moments the entire scenario becomes extremely puzzling..What just moments ago was a...
after ‘why’, ‘what’ ?
After why, what - that is the question.. almost a Shakespearian one..Six years down the line we have successfully proved that with a little effort and local resources, drop out rates can be contained and children can pass their Boards. True that we have some students...
well done garima
I cannot but remember the days in May 2000, when I use to sit at a door step in Giri Nagar, and hordes of parents use do come with a single plea:"English bolana sikhado" - teach them to speak in English-How intuitive and right these poor illiterate parents were: last...
he looked at the sky…
When the aviator missed his Little Prince in St Exupery's beautiful fable, he looked at the sky searching for a star... when he missed his laugh he thought of bells ringing..Two weeks from now little mr p will walk out of my door to a new life in his new school.. and...
smile hanuman
kids are quite amazing.. mr p wore his Hanuman mask and had us in peals of laughter as we kept telling him to smile and he kept obliging under his mask not realising that no one could see his face..we finally did tell him to remove it and the dazzling smile was...
in my Inbox
This morning as I entered my office the light on my cellphone was flashing indicating a message in my inbox. I rarely use this facility and normally what awaits me on the screen is some promo or the other. I opened the message - not a promo this time - and read the...
remembering kamala
Girl’s education is accepted as a fait accompli in our day and age. However this was not so when my mother was young. Today on her 16th death anniversary I remember with fondness the way she told me about her early school days in Meerut in the early 1920s.“When...
excuse me saying this….
Excuse me saying this, but why don't you sell this house.. imagine how many heart surgeries it would sponsor..This is what a project why supporter and now friend said when he dropped on a Sunday to finally put a face to something he had till date known through the...
my very special begging bowl
This morning I began the mail I sent to many friends and supporters with the words: here I am, begging bowl in hand.. and many answered with the words: please do not use phrases like begging bowl..Most of the mails I write when I seek help are instinctive.. true that...
which one did he hear..
Just when you sit back and think that you have done your bit, and maybe can take a break , someone decides otherwise and a tiny broken heart lands softly on your planet. One look at the trusting eyes and innocent face and your mind is already racing.Deepak is 7 months...
no bananas for my mommy…
I lived a rare moment today.. one that I cannot truly describe as it was a kaleidoscope of emotions and feelings..A late call yesterday night asked me to come and meet utpal's mom who was in hospital with multiple problems.. they also asked me to bring utpal along.....
they did it again
It has almost become a habit and we blase about it..The class X results were out and all the kids passed with a few compartments, mostly students who had joined us recently or were very weak when they came to us, some even failures..At a time where reservation is...
not to the manor born
In my quest for a future for Utpal there have been many lessons that have come my way. The overwhelming support for this child, the kind words of people from far away lands have crated a network of friends till date unknown.Many have also pledged their support to...
a potato chip and a prayer
Wonder what a mundane potato chip and a prayer to God have in common..Yesterday I had a fall as the old knee gave in resulting in a badly bruised ankle.. An ice pack and bandage later I hobbled to where Utpal was playing.. he stopped and looked at me with a quizzical...
pass fail ka khel
Once again the dreaded happened: two young children of india took their lives away in the land capital city because they failed their Boards examinations.This has been happening with obsessive regularity and yet no one had don anything to put an end to this..Wonder...
a mom of substance
Ram Pyari, Nanhe's mom had told us that she was off to the village for a few days with Nanhe. We thought nothing of it, though we wondered why she had chosen the hottest month to do so..Yesterday we were taken aback when she came back and told us that actually she had...
even if the road is a long one
The children in this picture belong to our okhla primary centre.. and if one were to believe all the pro quota politicos, they are the supposed beneficiaries of the reservation policy. Most of them are dalits and OBCs.. what is noteworthy is that all their pwhy...
summer of 06
The summer of 2006 will go down as one of disturbed and angry students, greedy politicians, brutal policemen and bewildered citizens..All is not well on planet India.. the hydra headed monster of reservation has resurrected for reasons that only God or a few...
celebrating mothers
It will be mother's day this month .. and everyone will celebrate it..To me mother's day has taken a new meaning this year, though I lost my mother almost 16 years ago.. Kamala was a beautiful woman and a woman of spirit.. she chose not to marry till India was...
they simply wait
What do ritika, soni, champa and umesh have in common. They are all students of our special section; they are all slow learners and live in a world of their own where things are not quite the same as in ours. They take the same auto every morning under the benevolent...
ours is not to wonder…
remember nandini, the spunky bright village girl.. the one whose heart could not be repaired and whose dreams are in our custody, the class V student who as an infectious smile and an admirable desire to learn.. well she amazed us once again..nandini wants to be a...
and the twain shall meet… of hidden agendas
One was born in a place that has acquired a generic name in north india - madrassi - and the others were born on a polluted road side waiting for unfulfilled promises of an uncaring administration.. one traces its ancestry to one of the 12 rishis, the others to the...
are you dreaming
A friend and supporter sent a mail with these words: "Are you dreaming to hopefully build a concrete school in the area for such kids one day..".This is a question that has come our way many a times... and that is why I thought that it needed to be adressed and...