*** CAUTION: Disturbing post/ May Not be Suitable for Workplace ***
This post is a “mixed” post in Hindi and English..It was triggered by an incident that Indra Vikram Singh (an IAC activist/coordinator from Indore), mentioned on his facebook wall.  The incident was about the gang rape of a minor girl – whose parents refused to file a complaint with the police (presumably for fear of social ignominy and/or the hassles of a police report and the subsequent process). The post moved me to think hard about this issue..Three days back, another …

Long-time readers of my blog would remember a post I had carried on in 2009 – in response to a query from an eager student of Hinduism on why higher caste, saintly people and gods/goddesses were predominantly painted using bright colours in Indian art? The eager student was Owen Slavin. In my response to him I wrote that his queries may be more easily resolved if I post them on my blog – since there would be many readers far better-read and well-versed in Indian sacred literature and art history than …

…to read about the drop in sex-ratio in the latest census figures.
The girl-child is the most precious thing any family and society can have. She is “Shakti” incarnate, the bearer of life, the essence of a civilisation’s culture, values and morals…
If she is at risk, the civilisation and the culture will eventually perish…
No society or country can ever become great unless it treasures the girl-child, nurtures it and nourishes it…
Treasure the girl-child, make her feel safe, wanted and loved. She is the future of India and our …

As another young girl is gang-raped in Delhi, is it not time to drastically overhaul rape laws that currently provide for a maximum of 10 years of imprisonment in rape cases?
Should the maximum penalty for a rape not be increased to a death sentence? What is the most appropriate punishment for a person convicted of rape? Please share your thoughts and views below…

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My vote goes for capital punishment. …

Today is the birth anniversary of one of India’s bravest women, a heroine of our struggle for Independence, Rani Lakshmi Bai. The Rani’s story is a remarkable tale of courage, determination and leadership…Her name is found in all our school text books but her story – like other historical figures – usually gets a perfunctory treatment in the classroom.
सिंहासन हिल उठे राजवंशों ने भृकुटी तानी थी
…
बुंदेले हरबोलों के मुँह हमने सुनी कहानी थी
खूब लड़ी मर्दानी वह तो झांसी वाली रानी थी

One of the finest introductions to the story of Rani …

This post was prompted by an article I read yesterday. From Eye On: Conditional Cash Transfers by Adrienne Villani, this brief excerpt (emphasis added):
What do we really know about what works and what doesn’t when fighting debilitating global poverty?
What about aid? Does it “work”? …what paths to development truly maximize results? Where should we concentrate our energies? Should we concentrate on the role of institutions, macroeconomic policies, growth strategies, and other country-level factors? Or should we take a more grassroots approach—concentrating on microeconomic interventions such as …

Happy VijayaDashami, Durgotsab, Durga Pooja, Dasra and Dussehra to all…
On this auspicious day, let us pledge to do our best to get rid of the three major evils that plague India – poverty, illiteracy and an ineffective, incapable & thoroughly corrupt political leadership – and promise ourselves to work towards building a proud, strong and united Bharat….
And as you go about your day today, please spare a thought for the forgotten residents of Deganga – “Humiliated and simmering with rage, abandoned and forsaken by their own“ – who are …

A few weeks ago, my attention was drawn to a discussion on Guardian UK’s website regarding  the new British Govt’s policy towards aid. I was prompted to join the debate due to a particular reference to the “Universities” established by the British in India – ahead of any other Asian country (pl see comments at the bottom of the page). While this was true from a narrow perspective of contemporary history, India – as we know – has had an ancient tradition of institutes and “Gurukuls” of higher learning. Below …

I first became aware of Mata Gujri after reading a poem by my friend Gurmeet which she shared on Facebook. The poem was a tribute to Mata Gujri-ji on the occassion of Mothers’ Day. It was enough to spark my curiousity. I decided to find out more…and was not disappointed. Here – in excerpts – is the extraordinary story of Mata Gujri Ji, from the almost forgotten pages of Indian History.
In a talk Gurmeet delivered in 2004, she called Mata Gujri a  perfect woman,a “Puran Istree“.
The word “Stree” originates …

OR how the politics of subsidies kills the spirit of entrepreneurship…
From NextBillion, comes this story by Rishabh Kaul of an extra-ordinary innovation that is being threatened by the politics of subsidies.
…Last month, the Indian Newspapers were all ablaze with stories of Indian Government rolling out a massive national scheme under which they will provide the women in rural areas with sanitary napkins. While the exact details are unclear, women below the poverty line will be provided with the napkins free of charge where as the rest of the rural women …