Think Tank

A very interesting article from Darren, who spent some time with the NGO ‘Goonj’ while in India. It is a kind of review of Goonj, as well as a feedback for we Indians :)  
I am sure you will find it very interesting. 
Someway, Somehow: The valuable lesson I learned in India 
http://www.vanderbilt.edu/magazines/vanderbilt-business/2010/11/someway-somehow/ 
Darren Gest, who earned his MBA [...]

Donating old clothes and some usable items like toys and utensils is a very good idea. Often we have the will but don’t find the opportunity. There are many NGOs who specialize in facilitating in that. I knew of a very good NGO which ran a campaign to collect old clothes in cities and then [...]

Rukmini was a girl who grew up under fond encouragement of her parents. She grew up with a dream in her eyes – to be financially independent and to work and make use of her eduction. She saw her dream come true when she got a partner after marriage who allowed her to pursue her [...]

We were shopping in the Karol Baug market in Delhi, and stopped to have momos which are my wife’s favorite. Suddenly a boy came up to me and asked me to get my shoe polished. “Kara lo na saab”, (Please get it polished, Sir) he kept on insisting for a shoe-polish. “Only Rs 5”, he [...]

Donating old clothes to the ones who need it but can’t afford, is a noble idea. Many times we donate old clothes to the nearby maids / servants / security guards. But at times, they are not so poor to accept those. Hence, we wonder what to do with the old clothes which get discarded [...]

Someone asked if it is difficult to be good? Does it pay more to be dishonest?  
I think the answer is yes, though it is not so simple to say yes. If one is righteous and of a good character, life is difficult for one because life favors those who are ‘flexible’. Keep lots of rules [...]

I went to her to get my slippers mend. She was a cobbler sitting on the road side of a location on the outskirts of Hyderabad. I guessed the price for the job would be Rs 10, or maximum 15. I haven’t seen much variation in cobbler’s charges across India. It was Mumbai first where [...]

A conversation between a feminist (Q) and a reformed-feminist (Me): 
Q: You told me that yesterday was Karva Chauth and your wife kept a fast for you. Did you too keep a fast for her?  
Me: Yes, but for one hour. When I came to know that she had not been able to see the moon and [...]

Many people demonize dowry system and can’t say anything about it other than monotonous criticism. Here is my quick take on the system in which bride’s parents give a sum of money to the groom’s side at the time of their marriage. This often happens by demand – boy’s side fixing the amount and groom’s [...]

CNN has selected 10 individuals as Top 10 CNN Heroes out of which it would select one as the “2010 CNN Hero of the Year”. You can vote to select one.  
There is only one Indian who features on the list – Narayanan Krishnan who quit as a chef with a five star chain to feed [...]

I saw a scene from the recent edition of Big Boss. One participant was asked to describe his other inmates in a single word each. The words he chose were interesting. I noted that he used very flattering words to describe each lady inmate. He used words like “naughty”, “kind”, and even “angel” for them. [...]

This comes from a real life incident that happened recently.  
We visited their home after a long gap. The only kid in the family was naturally the centre of our attraction. After some initial period of pause, the boy opened up and started playing with the guests. He was chatting, showing off his toys and running [...]

I saw a friend using the term ‘apartheid’ to describe the prevailing caste-based reservation system in India. I wondered if this term is applicable in Indian case and tried to read more into the term.  
I found the word meaning of Apartheid: (Ref: http://www.thefreedictionary.com/apartheid)  
a·part·heid (-pärtht, -ht)
n. 
1. An official policy of racial segregation formerly practiced in the [...]

Two days back, Bombay High Court made a controversial ruling.  
Marriage doesn’t change a woman’s caste, rules HC 
Hetal Vyas / DNASaturday, January 23, 2010 0:14 IST 
A woman’s caste does not change after marriage, the Bombay high court has ruled.  
The order came on Friday on the hearing of an application by Mumbai resident Rajendra Shrivastava, who had [...]

Sometimes, reality is more interesting than fiction.  
We were to celebrate Traditional Day in office, the next day. We had received an email asking colleagues to come in the traditional attire. Last time we had celebrated it, it was a fun day which had ended with prizes being given to the best (traditionally) dressed males and [...]

(Society)�Serial Something �In the recently released Love Aaj Kal, Saif Ali Khan plays the role of a �serial lover� who changes his girlfriends as a rule. Before that, Ranvir Kapoor played a character in Bachna Ai Haseenon who chases and pursues girls as a challenge, then dumps them for fun. The emotional devastation that his [...]

This morning while going through some statistics, I fumbled upon something very interesting. Explaining the figures is fun. These statistics are taken from CIA fact book and are of 2008 estimate.  The absolute figures as such make it very evident that India, China and the US are in an ascending order of growth stage. Let [...]

Society Good guys do it like Sachin does I was not comfortable posting this picture here, since many a times, too much righteousness backfires and makes readers search for some contradictions in the author himself. But I am ready to take the risk :) Once, one of our professors asked the girl students to share if they had [...]

SocietyAnd now� Rahul on Feminism? �As there is a lifecycle of everything, there is also a lifecycle of a blogger. Hence most of us go through very parallel thoughts at times, and write on similar issues. I have never felt any dearth of issues to write on, as you would have guessed till now. But [...]

SocietyGovernment for molesters, by �, of �  Now I don�t get surprised at why some of you simply hate our politicians. I am beginning to see the rot. I had written bitterly about the Juhu molestation case in which around 80 men had molested two girls on the New Year�s night [Link]. While the two [...]