starTrek with captain Pranjal
It was a very special afternoon on planet why..At 1 pm the children of the special section were ready to receive their guests. There was a sense of palpable excitement as their classroom got ready for the show: a big screen, a LCD projector, a young indian astronomer...
the spirit of mili
Mili died last night.. as quietly as she came in to our lives ...She found us when we were hurting, and adopted us. She put up with all our tantrums and ways whereby we humans decide the way our animal friends should live. She delighted us with innumerable antics and...
the art of dreaming..
When the kids of sudhar camp aka potty nagar were asked what they wanted to be when they grew up the answer was: teachers, doctors, firemen, policemen...Now the parents of these children left their homes to eek out a better living in the city and do menial jobs:...
a matter of time…
I dropped by the Lohar camp today and once again was taken in by the warmth and generosity of this proud people. Kamlesh was cooking makki rotis and I got treated to one, topped with sarson saag and oodles of white butter.From the corner of my eye, I saw that the...
boman.. beauman …superman…
religion was called the opium of the masses by marx..a panacea for all ills it has become an easy answer to what requires serious consideration, a way of explaining what defies logic..now have you ever wondered how children get drawn in the net..a few weeks back as we...
始めまして。 Hajimemashite – nice to meet you
project why has been a journey of discovery, not only of India, but of other lands.Japan had been till late an unknown land that one viewed with awe, admired its wizardry, and got acquainted with its cuisine.. but somehow it remained faraway and unatainable.. till...
and the wisdom to know the difference..
The serenity prayer has been used in many situations and today as I tried to explain the realities of India to some friends from other lands, it came back to my mind:Grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change; courage to change the things I can; and...
of hope and joy
project why may not have much in terms of what success is measured by in our day and age: buildings, fancy resources or comfortable bank accounts. but there is one thing it has had in abundance and that is the goodwill and love from every corner of our planet.we pride...
thirteen years after
My father left me 13 years ago, today...Pwhy would not have existed it it were not for him..Among the many things he taught me, was the meaning of unconditional love.. the one you give without any expectation...It took me a long time to understand that his legacy was...
every one was a star
sunday evening saw a star meet a young boy and a spirited woman..yes akshay kumar, the bollywood hero met Arun the young valmiki boy whose heart surgery was sponsored by him, and Bindiya a lovely lohar (gypsy) lady who won our raffle and hence a meeting with the...
there are no invitation cards…(cont)
It was late and the party was in full swing. Little Utpal had enjoyed himself, eaten to his heart's content and consumed large quantities of cold drinks, not because he was thirsty but because of the tall glass and the coloured straw..I held him on my lap and my hand...
why are there no invitation cards..
" because i am saving trees.."was my often exasperated answer.. but I manage to pull it off and stand by my convictions without succumbing to 'peer' pressure.My daughter's wedding was a vindication of all I stand for and I can say with some pride that I managed to...
Art of Living ..gNagar style
The Art of Living, is something terribly à la mode in present times and everyone is attending classes or discourses to master it..For the past five years I too have been attending such classes but in a different school altogether and with masters who are just two feet...
and the winners are…
The raffle draw was held yesterday at project why...The raffle had been thought of as one for upmarket people and hence the prizes were tailored to that taste - barring of course the dinner with a bollywood star -. But once we had printed the tickets and set out to...
100th blog
This is the 100th blog I write and publish..I started this blog a few months ago hoping that I could convey some of the heartwarming and heartbreaking moments one lives on planet why.I have been overwhelmed by the response to this blog.This was a special week as my...
celebrating… with a difference
It was a celebration... but one with a difference.. and one that celebrated 'difference'!p and j got married.. in a city where weddings have become barometers of one's success.. where people wreck their brains to find ways of outdoing others.. where flowers are flown...
DJ hona chahiye – there must be a D.J.
Two days from today my I marry my fist born...A simple marriage is anathema to this city we live on...As the marriage season dawns India's capital city is replete with weddings that would put Mira Nair's Monsson Wedding to shame.. it is almost as if Delhi's beautiful...
Rarely is love instant
"rarely is love intsant and those lovers are fortunate, in that doubt never enters their mind" writes timeri n murari in his heartwarming tale : my temporary son..I have rarely been moved by a book.. but as I read this one, all the little faces that have become part...
with malice to…
Last week, a prominent magazine published a supplement on our city. The issue was about some of the social causes spearheaded by some individuals: a plethora of causes ranging from children to women, from rag pickers to legal rights, from environment and to animal...
babli … a tiny woman of substance
"doctor bolta hai operation karna hai aur paisa ka intezam karlo.. " (the doctor says I have to be operated upon and that we should get the money organised) said little babli in her shrill and matter of fact voice as she clutched sister arzoo in a maternal hug..these...
festive overkill
Today is eid...In the past month we have had Navratas, Dusserah, Karvah Chauth, Diwali, Bhai Duj..Durga has been worshipped and sent off to her abode, Ram has slain Ravana, women have prayed for the longevity of their husbands, Ram has been welcomed back and Laskshmi...
the other kind of blast
"I go to my friends place where we play cards and have a blast" says a young citizen of delhi in today's morning paper." I have lost about 10 000 rupees in three days but will make it up" adds another.They are both between the age of 15 and 20.I sometimes tell...
all is well on planet Delhi
There is something about India...It all began as a grim day, fuelled by the ability we human have of conjuring the worst when the door bell rang and f a tiny voice said " maam kahan hai" - where is maam -. For an instant I wondered whetherI had lost it and was hearing...
morning has broken…
The morning after has broken, the sky is just lighting up and soon the sun will rise...Nature does not wait for anyone or change its course with the flavour or mood of events gone by.. does not get influenced by the gore of the media or the empty words of sympathy of...
blowin’ in the wind
Yes, 'n' how many deaths will it take till he knows That too many people have died?wrote Dylan in 1962..I guess he never could have imagined that more than four decades and innumerable deaths later we are still counting.. even the wind must have got tired of blowing...
apocalypse why….
Many a times I have wondered why funders are reluctant to fund running costs and staff honoraria.. I always felt it was because administation costs were heavy; to my mind project why did not fit the picture, as our salaries went to the slum people and above all we...
pandora’s box
with much fanfare we launched our 'project why star raffle': what better place than an upmarket girls college's diwali mela to do this!the prizes were well adapted to the page 3 crowd: a tete a tete meal with a famous bollywood star, a make over at a star beauty...
please keep planet why busy, but happy…
Got a lovely ecard from a dear friend of project why: NaukoI always get energy and rest at the same time when I visit your Planet Why.It's one of rare occations when I can feel happy in Delhi.Please keep the Planet busy, but happy.Nauko is from Japan and has been a...
apocalypse when….?
ominous title I agree but do we all not have to face a day of reckoning, a day when all questions will have to be answered with utmost and painful honetstyAs I browsed through the thousands of photographs of life on our planet looking for one that could 'illustrate'...
a war renewed each day…
"Life" says Oriana fallaci "is such an effort. It is a war renewed each day' and she goes on to say :"To fight is much better than to win, to travel much better than to arrive; once you have won or arrived you feel great emptiness... and have to set out again, create...
Life on a planet is born of woman
Santosha she was named.. after the goddess who grants wishesShe is babli 's mom..Somewhere the script went wrong as she lost both her parents and was left to to the mercy of (un)caring realtives for whom she was a burden..Later she was married off to a man 35 years...
the art of giving… revisited
Saturday 8th October, 2005, is another day which will be remembered as one when Nature decides to remind us of our station on planet Earth..The earth shook and thousands died.. scores of thousands lost everything they had taken a life time to build... and nature took...
what’s buzzing on planet why
Today was a great day on planet why...After much activity we finally got our first in house cloth bag ... yes truly in house.. stitched by our very special kids under the hawk eye of their stitching teacher and printed on in our own in house printing unit...Yes we...
why am i being worshiped today…
why am i being worshiped today?asks a bewildered little girl.. and she has good resaons to pose that question, as on all other 364 days she is never treated like this..today is ashtami the eight day of Durga Puja.. today the very people who wish for a boy, are willing...
left alone.. she may die
babli is 9.. she looks 5..a bright child, she loves studying and being with her class mates.. at first she looks normal till you realise that she is often stands aside while others play.. if you look closely you realise that she breathes with great difficulty..Babli...
one can bang the door.. but the other has to run away
When your teen age daughter or mine gets angry, or upset, or has a fight with the family.. she bangs the door of her room, pops up the volume and waits for one of us to come by.. and make things rightwhen Durga has a fight she leaves home, wanders dark unsafe streets...
First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win
"First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win " M.K Gandhi Today is Mahatma Gandhi's birthday... the father of our Nation and the nation will render hommage to him... articles will be published and read, some may go to his samadhi...
there is something about planet why
for many months I passed by potty nagar.. a name coined by shamikaa for a cluster of ramshackle jhuggis all five hundred of them, where almost 100 families live in rooms piled on each other with rickery ladders in lieu of staircases..I have already witten about potty...