Raja is an 8 year old boy from a village. His large eyes and broad smile are reflections of the innocence of his soul. A friendly child he is full of stories of his village the lush paddy fields, open skies, the ponds where he dived in for a bath, and most of all, with summer around the corner, he misses the fruit laden mango trees of his village.

Every morning he waits for his chacha (uncle) to come to take him back to the village and every sundown the hope gradually fades from his face as he goes to sleep and perhaps dream of his village.

His chacha had promised him that he would return soon to take him back to his village. But, promises are only words and words, very often, are lies .it was this very same chacha who had dropped him off at this abandoned children's home after his parents died.

His mother died when he was just over a year old due to jaundice. His father died, or rather   poisoned himself to death some time back. Reason? He was suffering from fever for a while and lost his appetite and as a result was losing weight and becoming weak as well when this on-and-off fever went on for almost 6 months, the "knowledgeable" villagers, high on the knowledge gained through T.V., came to the conclusion that he was suffering from AIDS and had become a risk to society.  

Scared and ashamed, (in spite of having done no wrong), he retreated into a shell. Even his family members began avoiding him. They kept a measured distance from him. Though T.V. had "taught" them to "identify" the symptoms of AIDS, they never learnt or maybe, chose to forget that the disease did not spread from breathing in the same air. Death was a foregone conclusion for him. His very own people had, unwittingly, on basis of their limited "knowledge" passed his death sentence. Unable to take in the humiliation any longer; he had consumed agricultural pesticide and ended his life.

A case of suicide was registered. The body was sent for post-mortem. What emerged was this .he was suffering from untreated malaria!(which of course was detected only after his death)

A colleague and her husband have put in a lot of their savings into buying a house for themselves. And, like many others their money is stuck…the construction work is not progressing as promised by the builder (in fact, had promises been kept, they should have been handed over the keys in mid-2008). They (her husband & she) had hoped to move into their new house & the money saved from the lease rentals would be used to pay the EMIs for the housing loans'now they are footing both the expenses while salary remains the same! She is running from pillar to post to find a way out from this problem.

Once, in a desperate bid, she went to a tarot card reader to seek an answer to her simple question…when will she be handed over the apartment that housed her dreams.'

She asked me if I could accompany her and I jumped to the offer (more because I have never ever been to a tarot card reading session and was dying to know what it was all about). So, one weekday, after office, we trotted along to the lady's address…my colleague full of hope, & I full of curiosity.

The super luxury apartment was very tastefully done'everything was color co-coordinated, right down to the exotic orchids that peeped out of the corners; soft music was playing throughout the apartment, a beautiful but mild scent of aroma burners  pervaded the waiting room.

Soon we were ushered into the main room. The room was dimly lit. In fact, except for the light directly above the table on which the cards were kept, rest of the sizeable room only had concealed lights.

The lady tarot card reader was sitting in the middle of the room. She was a statuesque lady, with lush long hair left open. She had large mystical eyes which were liberally laced with kohl. A huge red disc adorned her forehead. Diamonds glistened on her nose ears and fingers. Her face was perfectly made-up, not a shade out of place; her heavy silk sari was shimmering under the light.'

She smiled as we entered the room and waved her beautifully manicured hand towards the seats across the   table. We took our seats and the session began…the next hour was a rigmarole of  terms like 'major arcane' 'suit of coins' 'king of pentacles ','hanged man', so on and so forth…her voice was husky and was a very well modulated. All in all, her presence had a mesmerizing effect and we swallowed every word she said and believed them too like it was the gospel truth'When we left the place my colleague was almost floating on the clouds…the tarot lady had said all her problems are going to be solved very soon, within a month in fact .  With a smile, my colleague paid a fat amount as the consultancy fees for this session.

However now its more than 4 months since that tarot card reading session & nothing has changed, nothing has moved'the construction status of the building…continues to stagnate, my colleague continues to live in a leased house, the bank continues to collect the monthly installments, all calls to the property developer is met with the same answer, 'all   lines in this route are busy. Please dial after sometime' and as for meeting the developers…well they are too busy in 'meetings' to meet the people who have invested the savings of their lives to build a home!

Urged by some other colleagues yesterday she called up the tarot card lady to ask her why the predictions were not coming true. The lady heard her out patiently and said that her cards were fine…maybe the problem lay at her husband's end. And asked her to please book herself AND her husband for a joint reading. Of course she will be given a discount and not charged the full amount for 2 readings!!!!

In the midst of it all, my hopeful colleague continues to wait for the house of her dreams…

The day had begun as just any other normal day. The same paces, the same routine, when the telephone rang at around 4 p.m., it was the same innocuous ring. Seeing a familiar number flash, I had answered very casually  .It was my cousin, on the other end of the line saying that her daughter Soni had met with an accident.

Soni is a chirpy and cheerful 6 years old child, very curious about what is happening around her and often asks questions which have adults squirming in their seats. Once, at a restaurant, I had very casually referred to the steaming hot tea as "the coolest cuppa ever made" and faced a barrage of questions ranging from how hot can be cool to whether I studied English in school and what kind of teacher did I have who didn't teach me the difference between hot and cold (I honestly pray that she doesn't grow up to become a teacher!)

Going back to the accident on her way back from school, as Soni was walking home (just a few meters away from the drop-off point of the school bus)she was knocked down by a speeding bike, which sped away without stopping to find out what happened or how badly the child was injured! The maid, who takes care of her during the time her parents are at office, was with her. She said that three bikes were racing with each other and one hit the child by God's Grace Soni hadn't been seriously injured but has sustained a slight head injury and nasal bleeding because of which she has been put under observation for 72 hrs

It really makes me wonder about the sense of responsibility of the citizens of our country. We are quick to blame others, especially the authorities for any failings that we notice on their part. However, isn't it a mark of civic duty to stop by and help if someone is in physical distress? Especially if one causes that accident? In European countries it is a criminal offence not to help accident victims….

Accidents are not intentional and often people inadvertently lose control over their vehicles. But, is there any need to practice bike racing in the middle of a busy road at 3.30 in the afternoon? Almost everyone had the same thing to say "The police should take action against these speed racers and law breakers" .but, why can the people not behave like responsible citizens and abide by the law of the land? Do we need the police to oversee that people follow the basic fundamental duties of the citizens of our country

Rajjo is a hardworking woman in her forties. She works as a part-time domestic help in a few houses in the locality. Her husband works as a security guard somewhere. Together they just about manage to support their family of 6 members

About a couple of years back, a highly excited Rajjo announced that her elder daughter's wedding had been fixed. They had found a very "good boy" for their eldest daughter. "padha likha ladka hai, duswi paas hai" (an educated boy, he has cleared 10^th std board exams) she declared proudly. Of course, this boy came with a price tag attached—- 5 tolas of gold and Rs.25000 in cash.

The parents, duty-bound to ensure the happiness of their children, were not daunted by the task. They took loans on their salaries and with tears of happiness and heart full of blessings, saw their daughter off to her new life.

Within a couple of months Rajjo was back to taking loans on her salary and also taking up more work. The reason was that her "padha likha" son-in-law was planning to start a business (a shop) and needed money and  his uneducated parents-in-law were entrusted with the responsibility to arrange for it after all he was doing it for their daughter's happiness. And, as long as the girl's parents kept paying, she would be treated well by her husband's family.

So, the parents continued to pay the EMIs to buy their daughter installments of "happiness". Heady with the thought of having netted the "most educated" son-in-law within her circle, Rajjo was blind to the fact that the path she was treading was headed for disaster.  All efforts to make her see sense and bring her daughter back fell on deaf ears. After all, for her, marriage is "saat janmon ka bandhan" how could it be broken? How can destiny be changed?

Soon, the parents ran out of funds and were unable to arrange for the money demanded by the "padha likha ladka". This resulted in the "padha likha ladka"and his family turning hostile towards  Rajjo's daughter. Matters reached a flash point when a daughter was born to the couple. Ironic, but the "Devi Lakshmi ke pujaris" refused to take their "ghar ki lakshmi" home.

Today the daughter is back at her parents place (with her baby, of course) and working in nearby houses as a part-time domestic help. The "padha likha ladka" has broken the "saat janmon ka bandhan" and has tied another bandhan (remarried) in this janam itself!

 Strange is the way of life people spend extravagantly to worship Goddesses (perhaps in the hope that her blessings will help them gain something in material terms), yet are completely unmoved by the plight of flesh and blood females, whether a newborn girl-child or an adult woman.

Thankfully, Rajjo's daughter has learnt  her lesson in life and plans to send her daughter to school. She is willing work extra hard to pay for her daughter's education, not dowry!