September 2012

It isn’t tough to instil civic sense. We just need political will and responsible people. Namita Bhandare writes. HT Image The regret sank in almost as soon as the Swarn Shatabdi Express began chugging out of New Delhi railway station. At six in the morning, the sights on the rail tracks of India are hardly […]

From smartphones to cars, GenX has everything but not a hero in sight. Namita Bhandare writes. HT Image Last week, my cousin, a college professor, lamented the fact that his students lacked the idealism of his generation. He had seen the fervour of the 60s and 70s and while the long hair and the beards

Despite our connectivity, we are isolated in our personal interactions. Namita Bhandare writes. In the tense waiting area outside the hospital’s intensive care unit, I have for 37 hours managed to avoid eye contact. It’s not an easy accomplishment, given that we are the same two dozen or so, given that we’re more or less

The attack on an African student underlines our prejudice against ‘outsiders’. Namita Bhandare writes. HT Image Dear Mr Nihangaza, I write to you as a mother and as a citizen of India, a country that has a proud tradition of tolerance; a country where guests are supposed to be treated as gods – atithi devo

Let the Guwahati molestation case be the tipping point for change. Namita Bhandare writes. Forget for a minute the visuals on television, the faces of those men, the girl in the middle, trying to escape, being grabbed by her hair and dragged back to be groped and slapped some more. Forget for a minute the

Hosanagara Nagaraje Gowda Girisha is praying for gold in 2016. If you’re asking, ‘Hosanagara who?’ then you’re probably not alone. Namita Bhandare writes. HT Image Hosanagara Nagaraje Gowda Girisha is praying for gold in 2016. If you’re asking, ‘Hosanagara who?’ then you’re probably not alone. India’s only silver medallist at the 2012 Paralympics is used

Women want rape to be treated as an awful crime, minus the added sting of honour. Namita Bhandare writes. HT Image This we know: On September 9, a 16-year-old Dalit schoolgirl in Dabra village, Hisar was kidnapped, raped and photographed allegedly by a group of upper caste Jat boys. This we know: The girl complains

For value education to succeed, the first lessons must begin at home. Namita Bhandare writes. HT Image It’s ok to be dishonest in order to succeed, believe an astounding 70% of kids aged 13-18. I don’t know what’s more shocking: The revelation that our future leaders, in business, in politics, in administration, as parents, are

Manu Ghosh has told her story many times and now she is exhausted. “You will write and go away, but for me, nothing changes,” she says, sitting on her hard wooden bed at the Meera Sahbhagini Mahila Ashray Sadan in Vrindavan. HT Image Manu Ghosh has told her story many times and now she is