I grew up in Calcutta watching everyone from my father to the cobbler to the...
बदलाव और सोनी बावरी
यह कहानी राजस्थान के सवाई माधोपुर जिले में स्थित एक गांव में बावरी बस्ती...
Allegory Of The Cave: In Social Work
Plato's (an ancient Greek philosopher) Allegory of the cave is a philosophical...
Kalamaitri – A Collective Run Enterprise
In an ideal world, collectives would be catalysts for societal progress,...
Design Thinking Is A Mindset, Not Just A Skill
Design thinking is often seen as a skill exclusive to professional designers....
Dying Children And Dead Living Rooms
Until a few months back, when I saw parents coming in with really sick...
Journey Of Gulab Buffalos’ Milk
Study of Van Gujjar settlements and their spatial utilization by understanding...
Ethical Conflicts Of A Non-Profit Working On Financial Inclusion
Imagine, you are standing next to train tracks and you see a train coming....
When I Finally Grew Comfortable Being Their Teacher
One of the farthest schools from Kandbari in Panchrukhi education block is Rajot. I recall saying a few months ago that I had to hold on tight to my excitement of conducting a class during the hour long ride it takes to reach the school along the narrow winding roads....
Guided Discovery – Visual Notes From A Leadership Training
Do you know that there are seven types of learners? I'm majorly Kinesthetic, Spatial and Logical. I wish my teachers realized this before they caught me sleeping and forced me to sit in front during their class. I make visual notes compulsorily. That's the only method...
An Atta-boy
They do not have advantage of a complicated system of metaphysics which could explain or rationalize events for them. Their gods and goodness are much too simple to be of much help. प्रिय मित्र याद है वो पुराना किस्सा? वो काशीपुर? खत के बदलो से सतह दर सतह उतरोगे तो...
Everyday Politics In My Field Area
From the first day of college, there is one thing that I clearly remember. Politics is everywhere. It is a process of making decisions. Apart from the government, there are several things that are political in nature including incidents in our daily lives. With this...
The Story Of Team Vision
The fellowship gave me multiple opportunities to travel and explore new places. I visited Kolkata thrice for attending the workshop on ‘Early Language Learning’ organized by Vikramshila. On my recent visit to Kolkata, I met a very talented young boy in the bus while I...
Real Chills Of This Winter In My School At Kotra
It is that time of the year when days are long and the nights are longer. When the hands have slipped under the warmth and weight of binded bundles and the atmosphere is quieter than usual. Seasons change, habits change but the children of my school in Mandwa, Kotda...
How I’m Falling In Love With Salchinthanpally
On a bright sunny morning after comfortably getting myself a twenty-minute-long shower, which easily included the usage of five to six products and then applying a couple of skin care products on, I started my walk towards Salchinthanpally (read as my village). I was...
Cup Se Cup Tak
Does this image bother you? Well, you’re not alone. Over 16 years and 200 frustrating menstrual cycles later, I am finally learning to embrace periods. Two years of dilemma of switching over to menstrual cups or biodegradable pads finally came to an end after I moved...
A Man Who Is Empowering Rural Youth In Uttarakhand
"I am only one, but still I am one, I cannot do everything, but still I can do something and because I cannot do everything, I will not refuse to do the something that I can do." - Edward Everett Hale I read it on the Whatsapp display of Dhiraj. Nine months ago, I had...
Financial Dignity: The Right Of Elite
The first time I heard about Financial Inclusion was in one of my banking classes but at that time, those were just two words barely related to the subject. In my earlier life, it had never occurred to me that opening a bank account, withdrawing money from ATM or...
Development At The Cost Of Environment
One Saturday, I was returning from school with Pratap, a colleague who was telling me about an interactive session on ‘Open Schooling’ which was going to happen in Dantewada the same evening. I was curious about it and excited to attended the session. Dantewada is...
A Hard-To-Forget Conversation With A Woman
Two years since, I still can't forget her face. She was wearing a plain Olive Green sari. We were sitting together in a dimly lit medium-sized room built of bricks, in a village near Sant Kabir Nagar (originally Khalilabad), Uttar Pradesh. It was late into the...
A Lesson I Learnt When Teaching My Students
Being part of an education innovation which aims at changing attitude through change in content delivery. At Aavishkaar I see the social sector expanding to introduce an intellectual attitude as one of the human rights to protest for. I go to classrooms every week to...
Two Women Who Broke The Glass Ceiling In Dalsighsarai, Bihar
My stint in Dalsinghsarai, Bihar has made me stumble upon numerous striking stories. Some were positive, some negative and others inspiring. Amongst them all, the stories of these two women - Kumkum Devi and Mona Kumari have been intriguing and have stayed with me....