By Saji Thomas Bhopal: Two Catholic nuns and two postulants were forced out of a train March 19 and paraded to a police station in Jhansi, a town in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. They were interrogated for five hours for allegedly violating a state law against forcibleContinue Reading
Guwahati: Some time in March, feminist-activist Kamla Bhasin posted a Facebook message saying she had bought a cycle in time for her 75th birthday. She was looking for women her age to bike, and the group would be called Cycling Feminist Aunties in their Seventies. She also asked Hero CyclesContinue Reading
Chennai: As a senior Rotarian strolls in Elliot’s Beach in Chennai with a bunch of yellow balloons in his hands, kids at the beach come sprinting to him on International Day of Happiness. Sesha Sai (in his fifties), is a Rotarian at the Rotary Club of Madras and an organicContinue Reading
By Matt Sedensky Greensburg, Pennsylvania: The nuns’ daily email update was overtaken by news of infections. Ambulances blared into the driveways of their convents. Prayers for the sick went unanswered, prayers for the dead grew monotonous and, their cloistered world suddenly caving in, some of the sisters’ thoughts were halting.Continue Reading
By Dipankar Ghose Kolkata: To the right of a large yellow iron gate that is shut, Vimal Thakur accidentally nicks his customer on the chin, drawing a little blood. As the customer protests, Thakur snaps: “You know you shouldn’t come after 1 pm. My shift starts at 2, and IContinue Reading
Guwahati : Sister Rose Paite stepped inside this sprawling city’s main train station and scanned the crowd. She often visits public gathering places like this as part of her life’s mission: to save children from being trafficked. In seconds, Paite was off. She had spotted a situation that alarmed herContinue Reading
By Kashif Kakvi Bhopal: Rajendra Kelwa stops whenever he spots a pothole or a pit in the road. The 42-year-resident of Ratlam town in the central India state of Madhya Pradesh either fixes it with his bare hands by using debris from construction sites or puts a warning sign onContinue Reading
By Deepa Alexander Chennai: Hero of the famed nursery rhyme, part of Passion week lore… In Chennai, the hot cross bun is flavored by Anglo-Indian, Vietnamese and English recipes. “The van used to draw up just around 11 in the morning, when the Stations of the Cross got over,” recallsContinue Reading
By Anuradha Sharma Siliguri: Finding evidence of systemic abuse, the Netherlands has announced a freeze on international adoptions. Two Indian origin women, Dutch adoptees, speak of searching for their roots, the shabby paperwork, their anger and despair. The news came as a surprise to Jyoti Weststrate even though she hadContinue Reading
By Anjuman Ara Begum Barpeta: Sixty-two-year-old Rejia Ahmed felt jittery as it was the first time that she had been to a public meeting. On March 8, Rejia was invited to preside over the daylong program to celebrate International Women’s Day in a remote Kandapara village in the Barpeta districtContinue Reading