A personal narrative about the dangers of oversimplification or hasty resolution of other people’s problems.
Suresh Ji’s Juice Corner
Ever thought about your everyday people – the dhobi, delivery boy, sweeper or a juice corner vendor and paused to think about their lives?
How To Talk …?!?!
In the communication scenario, people tend to use hard words and profound vocabulary but is that really efffective? Let us find out.
Oh Shit …
An imaginary dialogue with a Dalit woman sanitation worker, triggered after watching the documentary ‘Shit’ by Amudhan R.P.
Reflections On Farmers In Udaipur
A collection of interactions with people in Udaipur city that got the author thinking about India – her hopes and fears for the country
Embracing The Simplicity And Serenity Of Badgaon
A day which was a blend of discovery and connection, offering a profound reminder of the richness found in everyday moments and the value of embracing new experiences with an open heart.
Women Safety And Identity
Even though people demand justice when women face violence, they can often be seen justifying the same violence. Read to understand why.
Sowing Hope
*Disclaimer: This is a work of fiction, written as part of a reflection...
A Day In My Life As An India Fellow – Part 2
Read part 1 here We took Riya’s father to a hospital in Udaipur and I tagged along to oversee the referral process. When we have patients in emergency situations or requiring treatments beyond our capabilities at AMRIT clinics of Basic Healthcare Services, we refer...
A Great Lesson In Quality Manufacturing
At my home sits a wet mixer grinder since 25 years, manufactured by Butterfly, made in India. It still works like how it worked on day one. The outer plastic is perfect, the colour hasn’t faded, the wire has never split, and the motor hasn’t failed yet. The grinding...
Kotra: An Introduction To Monsoons And Change
What's the first things that pops up in your mind when you think of Rajasthan? Camels? Deserts? Women carrying water from afar? Regional tunes and daal-baati-chuurma, perhaps? Until recently, I would have echoed something similar if you'd have asked me this question....
लखनऊ में वो सत्रह दिन
दिन-ब-दिन गुज़र रहे हैं, न पल ठहर रहे हैं, और न ही समयअंजान हैं इस अनजाने सफ़र में ,मंज़िल का पता नहीं, पर मुसाफिर होने में ही मजा आ रहा है! अब न जाने क्यों सब अच्छा लगने लगा है। अंजान लोग और जगह में भी अपनापन सा महसूस हो रहा है। जिंदगी में एक ठहराव आ चुका है और उस...
Kushinagar : A Mental Revisit
"... it is in the nature of all things to decay." Gautama Buddha As I stumbled upon this saying, it struck me as more real than ever before. Perhaps the mood of the day and my recent visit to Kushinagar had something to do with it. Some sort of comfort and normalcy...
Taboo And Anger : Where Is The Space For Empowerment?
The image of the prime minister posing with his scepter, juxtaposed with the sight of police lathi-charging women wrestlers outside the new parliament, baffled me - like many others. Every time the image popped up on my screen, it ignited a simmering rage that served...
The Indulging Self And The Raging Winds: Biparjoy
“Sinking in your bed, sinking in your couch and sinking onto your floor”
A Day In My Life As An India Fellow – Part 1
When the day begins, I don’t know how it’s going to end. India Fellow sometimes sounds taxing to people looking at it from the outside. The unpredictability, the lack of structure on some days, having to be ready on the go. But I think this is exactly what keeps me on...
Understanding and Power: Exploring Parallels with Sudhir Kakar
"In another, more dynamic formulation to which I would subscribe, the individual self is a system of reverberating representational worlds - representations of his culture, primary family relationships and bodily life each enriching, constraining and shaping the...
My First Rain In Kutch
First three days in Ahmedabad at the main office of my organisation, Samerth were a mix of fear of traffic, aversion from going out during the day due to urban heating phenomenon and the hot sun. Little did I imagine how hotter the next destination would be. I was on...
Cigarettes, Beedis And The In-Between
I grew up in Calcutta watching everyone from my father to the cobbler to the Chief Minister smoke, and how. The sight of greying old men, corporate white-collars and hair-gelled high-schoolers waiting for the bus, with cigarettes in hand (Silk Cut, Classic Milds and...
Walking In & Out Of My Omelas
'Omelas' is a fictional city described in the short story 'The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas' by Ursula K. Le Guin, a celebrated author, published in 1973. It presents a moral dilemma by exploring the idea of a society, where citizens are happy and prosperous....
Of Children And Childhood – What Are They Thinking?
Part of how Basic Healthcare Services takes care of the community’s health is through its Phulwaris, the day care centres. In areas that are off route (what is the route anyway? And what makes so many people build houses so far from each other and so far up the hill?)...
On Not Showing Up : Chronicling A Recruitment Experience
It takes effort to put together a resume but more so, to list down your life to achievements, interests and experiences. While listing these down, there’s also a lot of internal loss felt. An attempt to make white out of the rainbow colors (without a prism). And then...