Rambling on... again..

I come from a typical middle class traditional and conservative family with roots based on ‘Family before anything else’. My father – absolutely the most driven and strong personality I know of till date – ran the house with his terror keeping the 3 kids in tow. Having financial constraints was a way of life and how to overcome it – the main driving force for all of us. Very early on Papa identified education as the huge enabler to get over these constraints. However it wasn’t his (or mom’s) job at all – it was upto us. He enabled us by giving us the opportunity to study in the best schools within his limited means. 3 of us were taught to eat with fork and knife - without ever having been to a five star hotel. We used to all read both classical and fiction novels – without ever buying any. At the same time – we were all taught each and every house chore, be it dusting, mopping or washing utensils. When I say ‘all’ I mean – my elder sister, elder brother and me. If the house h...

As a part of a wonderful volunteering program at our workplace, i had the opportunity to spend the day at a YAR (Young at Risk) project run by the Don Bosco Trust in South West Delhi. This is essentially a set of kids from homeless families who've been uprooted two years ago in a slum demolition exercise and have found shelter under an overbridge. Over 30 families with approximately 250 odd people live in the rat-infested, environmentally challenged open space. Around 10-15 kids managed to get admitted to government schools nearby - a task made difficult by the absence of birth documents which were destroyed during the demolition. All this is due to the efforts by the Don Bosco incharge for their project - a 25 year old girl Sonia. And this today - is her story. At the age of 6, Sonia witnessed her brother being killed in front of her and soon after ran away from her abusive family environment. She managed somehow to land with an orphanage and foster parenting program run by t...

As yet another Women’s Day rolls in soon, I am full of very conflicting emotions. However the biggest one of them is the growing frustration that the day has become synonymous with “Pink” L It seems like you cant turn a corner without running into a token ‘Pink’ heart or a note that says something to the tune of – Long Live Womanhood! In my experience, even the most well-meaning organisations end up making a mockery of the day with the Senior Leaders distributing roses or notes to all the women in office appreciating them and so on. I have lived through a special dress-code for women, special outings to a Gold jewelry unit and even a few times when parlors were brought to the conference rooms. Don’t get me wrong please – I am not blaming men for this. A lot of the times the organizing teams included prominently women. And its not their fault either I guess – we women ourselves are not clear about what we deserve and should demand. This year’s International Women’s Day theme is #e...