Mother’s milk wins hands down

That babies have the world to gain from being breastfed for the first six months is well known. But there are health benefits for the mother too, which is why this bounty of Nature must not be frittered away During World Breastfeeding Week, it’s surprising to know that a cosmopolitan city like Delhi is among […]

UP cops’ moral policing

UP Police ‘illegally’ detained a 23-year-old Hindu boy for marrying a Muslim girl, also 23 years of age, for three days in Loni police station in Ghaziabad Moral policing as a phenomenon is not confined to smaller towns and cities of the country, nor is the handy works of some goons who see threat to […]

The Great NRC Mess

What happened in Assam is not ‘India for Indians’ Assamese BJP MLA, Ramakanta Deori, did not find his name in the National Register of Citizens (NRC) draft. Another BJP MLA, Dilip Paul, found his wife’s name missing. A retired soldier of the Indian Army, Azmal Hoque, is not in the list. This is to say […]

Why so much smoke?

The statutory warning on cigarette packs has not proved to be much of a deterrent to smokers, and addicts are now as young 10 years old They say history is the best teacher, but statutory warnings are only as good as the fear they can incite — and the big bold letters spelling imminent death […]

Inside four walls

A lot of crime in the capital takes place behind closed doors, as women are subjected to domestic violence, very often due to dowry demands. It’s when a wife loses her life that such atrocities come out in the open A high-profile case in July put the focus back on domestic abuse and dowry-related crime. […]

A living library

If a library lends you a person instead of a book, the experience is bound to be quite different from what you are used to As you walk up to the registration section of this library, a young girl at the desk greets you with a smile and asks, “Hi, which book would you want […]

Cheating the system

The road to a medical education is paved with coaching institutes and dummy schools, which enable a student to pass class 11 and 12 without compulsory attendance. This gives them an unfair advantage in NEET Every year, thousands of students across India appear for the NEET (National Eligibility cum Entrance Test) exams. Hundreds of hours […]

Where the magic is lost

Delhi’s Kalandar Colony bristles with traditional magicians who are hardly ever called to perform, and still keep monkeys as pets, though street shows are banned “Our ancestors have been doing magic and monkey shows since the 1800s,” says Nashir Khan, 61, part-time magician on the dying art of magic shows and street monkey shows of […]