I’ve been returning to India on a yearly or bi-annual basis my whole life. So I’ve had a great vantage point to see the changes over a 40 year span. it’s kind of like the time lapse photography you see in nature films - you know, watching roses bloom and eggs hatch in seconds. So not only have I got to see my friends’ kids whizzing through their childhoods into maturity, but I’ve also got to see Bombay, beloved city of my birth, boom into a bigger and bigger megapolis of slums and mansions.
Posts from ‘August, 2010’
Pakistani children on the motorway
On the central reservation of Peshawar’s biggest motorway is a row of tents, which goes on for kilometres. Children play so dangerously close to the traffic racing past, that you dread to think what might happen if one of them ventures too far. For many Pakistani flood victims, this is their new home.
Too Poor For Windows
It’s a little house in a little alley somewhere in the old city of Srinagar. The family who live here have done the best they can with the meager collective earnings of the household. The father is a day labourer, the daughters bring in some extra income with embroidery work.
I’m led through the single downstairs [...]
Shooting the messenger
The bearer of unwelcome tidings always runs the risk of being given the blame. And that’s exactly what has happened to Indian computer expert Hari Prasad. His research into the potential security risks of electronic voting machines resulted in his arrest last weekend and he’s currently still in police custody in Mumbai.
by Louise Dunne
Together with [...]
Is Pakistan’s tragedy less worthy than that of other countries?
According to some reports, the number of people directly affected by the massive floods in Pakistan is greater than those affected by the 2004 tsunami, the 2005 Kashmir earthquake and the 2010 Haiti earthquake combined. That’s somewhere between 14-20 million people, depending on the source.
