papelback

The reallocation of chawls and its residents as municipality looks at it as a hazard and wants to  move towards a global city. Mumbai's old mill workers re settlements Among the heritages built by British and the sky-rise of the global city, lies the faded history of south Bombay’s chawls. Chawls are building with rooms not bigger than two hundred square feet connected with a hallway and share a common bathroom. In the nineteenth century when mills were establishing in south Bombay it created several opportunities for the workers who migrated to the city from different parts of the country. It was comfortable, the joint corridors never let a person feel alone and far from his family and being close to the factory was convenient and affordable. That was the beginning of city of Mumbai – the melting pot. But while we are stare at the skyline from the sea link today, these 100 year old establishment have been declared unfit to live due to their poor structures, sanitatio...

Sixth of April   Inspired by true events of US Veteran Scott Smiley No soldier ever learnt to fight the bullets flying by his head, No soldier was trained to see his wounded friend take his last breath, All you read of are those brave men on borders, Who you are proud of, As they serve the country when it orders. Sixth of April, Was one such day. Intelligence informed about Car bombs ready to slay. The platoon took the streets of Mosul and patrolled, Until they found what they were looking for. In a corner stood a man, who looked suspicious But I couldn’t shoot him until sure of his intentions. Because No soldier was ever taught to achieve mission with maximum force. Because warfare was about completing mission with minimum resource.  Next to him was a car with rear sagged towards the ground, It had to be the one which I was told about. I yelled ‘Get out’ To clear my wariness, But he agonized me with his calmness. At the shot o...

One day, there were two goats on either banks of river trying to cross the river with the bark laid above it. Both of them wanted to be the first one to cross the river. As no one was ready to compromise, they feel in the river and died. We come across similar situation when we read about the leopard attacks. The leopard is the bark laid before the readers of the accidents (river) to judge if the forest reserve officers are right (goat 1) trying to save leopards or the resident around reserve (goat 2) who fear for their life. Amidst this argument seen as a man to animal conflict is in fact a man to man conflict. The inability of the leopard to voice their issues and express themselves makes it easier for humans to blame them for encroaching the area. Human habitation and estates have been growing around the reserve causing inconvenience to animals. Residents have often complained about the attacks, but what they fail to understand is the easy access to food in form of garbage a...

Crime Patrol which runs on Sony Entertainment Television is the longest Indian crime reality show. It has been airing since twelve years. It is an anthology series created by Subramanian S. Iyer. Conceived as a reality series, it was the first show on Indian television, where cameras travelled with the law enforcement authorities to capture crimes live. It started as a half-hour broadcast which extended to an hour. The fact that the time slot was increased makes me anticipate whether it was the Television Rating Point (TRP) or the Crime rates in India that made Sony to take this decision. Crime in India Report by National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB)  Madhya Pradesh tops the crime chart or the report released last year, 2015. It has recorded a total of more than two and a half lakh crimes under the Indian Penal Code (IPC). Maharashtra was ranked second in the report with 8.8 percent of the total crime registered in the country accounted for by the ruling government. Th...

“ People either inspire you or they drain you, choose wisely”. -Hans F Hansen The concept of brain drain came to India with the arrival of the British. Though in the beginning it was the emigration of labourers  from India to other countries for better trade and production of raw material. Slowly as the influence of the British culture increased Indians understood it better and idealized the British life style. They migrated to United Kingdom and their colonies for better education, jobs and life. But people and government realized this in the 1960’s. The top Indian professionals and entrepreneurs whose practise and business flourishes in either United Kingdom or United States of America had left India during 1960’s. The reason was not just the desire for opportunities but lack of specialisation. There was no scope and today also is limited to get employed in a research institute. The businessmen left in spite of having 0.7 billion people in their state during that time w...

The great Indian Epics, the lifeline of your culture and religion. The drama that teaches us about life and death, happiness and sorrows, love and revenge and lastly perspective. Mahabharta is an ancient literature written in Sanskrit which tells us the story of the two branches of Indian dynasty, Pandavas and Kauravas which have been in a lifelong battle for the throne of Hastinapur. The Mahabharta is the story I have enjoyed reading the most. Written in an era when oral communication was more powerful and hence easy to manipulate stories, one would want to know more about the characters which seem life like. The story of Mahabharta never seem to end, maybe that’s why people refer to it as the story of everyone’s life. As one reads more and does deep researching about the characters and the story, it may surprise you how caste system which was rigid and practiced in that era didn’t stop a Shudra from being the prime minister of Hastinapur (Vidhur), didn’t question the integrity ...