Sep 7, 2010

Ones: One God, but this is debatable, depending on the point of view and faith. One child, a kid that is only a cement bag with legs coming out at the bottom. He walks slowly up a hill. The wind pulls through the pastic and he sways, almost falls, too slight to fight. His fingers curl around the edge of the cement bag and he pulls it tighter around his body to

Sep 3, 2010

Even before it rains, water hangs in the air. The wind starts to blow, warm and persuasive. Palms are flattered: they dip and lower their heads. Long grass blushes and looks the other way. Women scramble to manage their fluttering dupattas. As the sky darkens and the air thickens, they tuck their mobiles into their purses and slip their purses into plastic bags.

Aug 21, 2010

In a hard-to-find school in the Dharavi slum, I never expect to find toddlers doing arts and crafts: but they are. I’m inside a warm room with a whirring fan, where children’s feet stand on coloured circles painted on the gray ground. Oiled hair on each head is neatly parted. The kids have just finished with greeting time, and have now moved on to

Which place has 15 schools and several hospitals, imports plastics from all over the world for recycling, and is home to more than a million people in just over one square kilometer? That place is called Dharavi: a well-know slum that is the largest in Asia. A visit to Dharavi, however, may challenge any understanding of a slum. Dharavi spreads over Mahim,

Jul 28, 2010

Visiting Mumbai’s Haji Ali Masjid and Darga during the rainy season is nearly magic. The mosque was built in 1431 in the memory of Islamic merchant Sayyed Peer Haji Ali Shah Bukhari (who is buried within the mosque) and has become a pilgrimage site for seekers from every faith. The beautiful structure sits on a tiny island almost a kilometre from South

Jul 12, 2010

Whenever I come home from spending time in India, someone inevitably says “It is so good of you to give your time and your energy to help those those poor little orphan kids.” The people who say this are those who have never worked with orphans. They don’t know that kids without parents are among the most generous-hearted people in the world and