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Things are changing: Gender issues are now a part of the mainstream discourse, writes Namita Bhandare. Just over a month ago would you have imagined thousands, men as well as women, marching in protest against rape? Just over a month ago would you have imagined that an online petition could cancel a New Year concert […]

Never before has India’s lack of leadership been as depressingly obvious as it has been in the past few weeks. Never before has the moral vacuum that accompanies those in charge been so apparent. Namita Bhandare writes. HT Image Never before has India’s lack of leadership been as depressingly obvious as it has been in

A terrible thing happened to a girl who was trying to get back home after a movie. To not respond or speak or rage or demand change would make us less than human, writes Namita Bhandare. How many went to bed that night with the same questions? What kind of human does this to another?

A memorial is not just about building the tallest, biggest, grandest statue. Namita Bhandare writes. On the day before his death anniversary, BSP head Mayawati was disrupting Parliament to press for a memorial to Bhim Rao Ambedkar. The government was scheduled to make an announcement at noon. “Why not now?” she asked as members of

In death, people have ceased to be objective about late Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray. Namita Bhandare writes. The life-size effigies strung up on lamp-posts were terrifying – at least to a child. In the late sixties/early seventies, they symbolised the South Indians who the Shiv Sena was determined to drive out of Bombay, as

The sudden ban on the entry of women by the trustees at Haji Ali could set a very dangerous precedent. If women are excluded today, it could be non-Muslims tomorrow. Namita Bhandare writes. In all the years that I lived in Mumbai, I must have passed by the mosque on the sea over a hundred

The problem is not that women have views. The problem is they don’t find expression. Namita Bhandare writes. HT Image I spent much of my adolescence mortified by my mother. As a teenager, like most other teenagers, I wanted to fit in. My mother, unfortunately for me, was anything but a conformist. She was argumentative,

A spate of rapes is not the occasion to score political brownie points. Instead of blaming women for crimes against them, maybe it’s time to start putting blame where it belongs. Namita Bhandare writes. HT Image When headlines shout rape, our ‘leaders’ will find solutions. Om Prakash Chautala’s remedy to the rape cases in Haryana

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

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

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

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