In my second week at Swasthya Swaraj, I traveled with two of our team members...
Dream A Little Dream Of Me…
Trigger Warning: Mentions rape, suicide. 'Didi vo thodi pagal hai, usko...
‘Sweep’ Under The Rug Much? How We Ignore The Reality Of Who Cleans India
Rehabilitated manual scavenger, Maya Sangeliya, 45, looks on inside her house....
What A Kilometre Long Road In South Delhi Tells You About Social Structures
Recently, I relocated to Delhi. I was fortunate enough to have friends who...
The Fading Smiles of ODISHA : Laws and Ignorance
While walking through various routes in Odisha, whether it be rural or urban...
Failures : What You Learn When Things Don’t Go Your Way On Field
Third part of a 3-part series on learning from failures
Failures : Integrity vs Accommodation
First of the 3 part series by our alumni on failures.
Yeh Bahut Mehenga Hai
"Why should I pay THAT MUCH when I can buy something exactly like it at...
Financial Inclusion As A Human Right
“Every poor person must be allowed a fair chance to improve his/her economic condition. This can be easily done by ensuring his/her right to credit. If the existing financial institutions fail to ensure that right, it is the obligation of the state and the world...
The Story Of Informal Credit And Migrant Labor
Informal sector constitutes a major chunk in GDP of India. The sector is often associated with generating non taxable income and is seen as a hub of black money investment but has rarely been looked from the viewpoint of employers, employees and their struggles....
एक सन्देश मेरे विद्यालय के बच्चों के नाम
‘उम्मीद’ एक ऐसा शब्द है जो मुझे ले चलता है वर्ष 2009 की तरफ, जब मैं 12 वर्ष का था| उन दिनों में मेरी पढ़ाई गोरखपुर के एक सरकारी विद्यालय में हो रही थी| मेरा मन पढ़ाई से ऊब चुका था और ज़िन्दगी में आगे के लिए कोई लक्ष्य भी नहीं सोचा था| उसी समय मेरी माँ ने अपने एक छात्र...
The Polluted Notion of Purity
8/8/18: It was my second day in Mishirpur, a village in Sitapur district of Uttar Pradesh. I was casually interacting with a male and a female member of a household, unaware of their social status in the village. (The original conversation took place in a mix of Hindi...
सामुदायिक रेडियो सिर्फ रेडियो नहीं बल्कि लोगों की एकीकृत आवाज़ है
मैं पुरुलिआ, पश्चिम बंगाल के एक छोटे से गाँव में स्थित सामुदायिक रेडियो स्टेशन में काम करता हूँ | मुझसे बहुत सारे लोगों ने यह प्रश्न किया है कि सामुदायिक रेडियो स्टेशन क्या होता है | रेड एफ.एम, रेडियो मिर्ची और आकाशवाणी तो सुना है किन्तु यह सामुदायिक रेडियो स्टेशन...
Why The Poor Make Expensive Health Choices
Imagine you are a middle aged man living in rural India. For years now, you have seen the government health sub-center behind your home shut. When it occasionally opens, it is for a short time and seems like it is only for name sake. But when you or your...
Viewing Mental Health From A Care Giver’s Lens
The brain is a fascinating organ. While I’m writing this, I realize that the brain is narcissistic as well. If we believe that it controls all of our bodily functions, then right now, this organ is just singing its own praise. Let that sink in for a moment. Please...
About My First HIV Test
On most days, I avoid taking phone calls after 11 pm. No, it's not that I sleep by 11 but I try to embrace my me-time at the end of a day. The other night, I was interrupted by repeated calls of a friend. Let’s call him Kunal. I was so engrossed in an online thriller...
Why Hiring People With Disabilities Makes Business Sense
Hiring people with disabilities may seem like a social and/or moral responsibility, but it is much more than that. More and more research is revealing that it also makes good business sense to do so. Here are some ways in which it can be advantageous for your...
Radio Has a Special Place in the Heart of Rural India
“It has been 11 years but I still remember the day when my 12th grade results were to come. I was eagerly waiting since morning. Those days, we didn't have internet. Radio was the only medium. My father was a keen radio listener and I recall how he sat throughout the...
Why Doctors Don’t Want To Work In Rural Areas
When I was doing my medical house surgeon-ship in Mangalore a few years ago, Karnataka government was planning to implement compulsory rural service for house surgeons in the state. This news was not taken in a positive light by the doctors which eventually led to...
We Are In A Crisis We Don’t Acknowledge
I was sitting on an uber comfortable Barcalounger with gigantic headphone over my ears. An ethereal voice was asking me to close my eyes, relax, think of something that makes me happy and form a picture of said happiness in my mind. Next thing I knew, I was being...
My Learning From A Genius : Stephen Hawking
On 14th March 2018 when we woke up, the world collectively experienced a huge loss. We read about the death of Stephen Hawking, the globally renowned theoretical physicist and cosmologist known for his work on general relativity and quantum gravity, in the context of...
Underlying Causes Of The TB Epidemic In India
In the recent End TB Summit held in New Delhi, Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched a campaign to eradicate tuberculosis (TB) from India by 2025, five years ahead of its globally set-deadline. Now, one might think that given 7 years we have in hand and support from...