From the Beat

Day 3: Mapping stereotypes of the rural and urban poor

Posted by Taru Bahl at 
They say over 500 people come in to Mumbai every day and don't go back. Not all find jobs. Given Mumbai's exorbitant rental structures, where do they end up? Obviously the pavements, streets and chawls. The city is magnanimous, in that it just swells and absorbs this human mass. It may creak and protest but it doesn't collapse. At least...

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Day 2: Transformative power of SHGs

Posted by Taru Bahl at 
When it comes to money and small savings, I have a distinct memory that goes back to childhood. A coarse terracotta piggy bank costing Rs5 would be bought every other month. Much thought would be given to assign it a safe place. Usually perched atop a pelmet, a spot perceived to be the safest by virtue of its relative inaccessibility, meant that the...

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Day 1: Community development courtesy NGOs and CBOs

Posted by Taru Bahl at 
Can you walk the streets of Kamathipura (India's best known red light area in Mumbai where over 40% commercial sex workers are HIV positive) and be gently led into the tiny cubicles that suffice as living quarters, cooking areas and 'business centres' without the NGO that works in that area? Can you walk on Marine Drive with MSMs (Men having...

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Day 1: Delhi to Mumbai, Air India style

Posted by Taru Bahl at 
If chronological listing of events is the format for 'From the Beat', my first post will have to be dedicated to Air India. Leaving home at 4.30am to board IC 657 to Mumbai, I thought there was enough time for the 6.00am flight. Seeing out-of-shape queues and hysterical crowds around all five AI counters didn't need too much piecing together...

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Walking a mile in every man's shoes: Part 4

Posted by Priyanka P Narain at 
There is only one way to understand someone's life: walk a mile in his shoes. Over the next few blogs, I will try to do just that and explore the world from the eyes of a Kandha, a Pano, a Hindu activist, a Christian missionary in an effort to show how every group has a different take on this conflict. Walking a mile in the shoes of a Hindu : Let...

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Walking a mile in every man's shoes: Part 3:

Posted by Priyanka P Narain at 
There is only one way to understand someone's life: walk a mile in his shoes. Over the next few blogs, I will try to do just that and explore the world from the eyes of a Kandha, a Pano, a Hindu activist, a Christian missionary, and various political parties in an effort to show how every group has a different take on this conflict. Walking a mile...

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Walking a mile in every man's shoes: Part 2:

Posted by Priyanka P Narain at 
The best way to understand a man is to walk a mile in his shoes. Over the next few blogs, I will try to do just that and explore the world from the eyes of a Kandha, a Pano, a Hindu activist, a Christian missionary, and various political parties in an effort to show how every group has a different take on this conflict. Walking a mile in Pano Shoes...

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Walking a mile in every man's shoes: Part 1.

Posted by Priyanka P Narain at 
There is only one way to understand someone's life: walk a mile in his shoes. Over the next few blogs, I will try to do just that and explore the world from the eyes of a Kandha, a Pano, a Hindu activist, a Christian missionary, and various political parties in an effort to show how every group has a different take on this conflict. Walking a mile...

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Of airport donations and a long drive

Posted by Tarun Shukla at 
Hyderabad city is still to get used to the idea of a swank new airport, perhaps the grandest India has as of now, located several kilometers outside the main town as my adventurous ride to the airport revealed. I used the word "adventurous" to cover up my own faults. On my way back to Delhi to catch a 7:15 pm IndiGo flight, which despite the...

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No aircraft orders as airshow comes to a close

Posted by Tarun Shukla at 
"Boeing ended the airshow with 200 aircraft orders from a dozen customers but Airbus won the largest ever order today beating its arch rival in total order book". Nobody expected to read headlines like these from the first ever civilian airshow in India. So it was at Hyderabad. Usually, the rivalry between two of the world's largest aircraft...

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Airbus A380 lands in Hyderabad amidst the gloom of employee layoffs

Posted by Tarun Shukla at 
Flying 10 hours non-stop from Toulouse, the world's largest passenger aircraft Airbus A380 landed at India's first civilian airshow in Hyderabad's Begumpet Airport just after the clock struck noon. Swarming crowds that had gathered to witness the giant double-decker aircraft, amidst an air show that was marked with growth projections of...

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Back in Mumbai: Kanpur wrap-up

Posted by Priyanka P Narain at 
When I got this assignment to go to Kanpur to cover Baba Ramdev's Ganga Raksha Andolan, I was excited. You see, I love the river: one of my most memorable vacations was a trek to Gaumukh, the glacier where the Ganga originates. Five years ago, I married my dearest friend at Anandkashi, on the banks of the Ganga. But the Ganga in Kanpur is a ravaged...

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Walking through Kanpur's tannery street

Posted by Priyanka P Narain at 
Walking through Kanpur’s tanneries: Fourteen-year-old Nadeem’s greatest ambition in life is to work on uppers , or separating the first layer of cow or buffalo hide from its other seven layers. That is why he goes to school, he says. Not to become a doctor, engineer or lawyer, but to become a daily wager at a tannery – carrying raw hide on his head...

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Back in Delhi: Nepal recap

Posted by Utpal Bhaskar at 
I had a very clear cut brief--exhaustively cover the changing dynamics in a country, that is the latest entrant to the democratic club. Well that covers a lot. As I am sitting at my work station in my office and trying to find some kind of structure in my notes, I remember, my five days in the Himalayan country.The country is light years behind us on...

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Long day: Nepal Day 5

Posted by Utpal Bhaskar at 
2.30 pm The Jetlite flight is delayed. Every time a flight takes off and lands at the airport, the cable for the waiting room television goes off. 3.10 pm I am on the way to board the flight. To my horror, I find another serpentine queue for yet another security check. Jet insists for another security check since is not impressed with the security apparatus...

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