New Delhi: Lawyers appearing for fundamentalist faith-based organizations spared no effort to display the rampant homophobic fantasies of their clients as they argued against the repeal of Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code. In fact, their arguments seemed to indicate that almost every male in India is a repressed homosexual and that if the […]
Reshma Prasad, Bihar’s best known transgender activist, has mooted a proposal that TGs be deployed as security guards in Observation and Special homes run under the JJ Act. Chief Minister Nitish Kumar went on to ask officials to figure out if transgender persons (read transwomen) could serve as security guards at remand homes, short stay […]
Last night I got a call from a young brash reporter from a newspaper I was once associated with. Those who know me don’t have to ask which one, but let’s get on with what I have to say. This chap asks me ,’What do you have to say about the latest news about article […]
Yesterday evening, a long-lost friend called me up, out of the blue. The very first thing he asked me was, “How do you think the judgement in the 377 case will go?” I answered that I was trying not to think about it. I am yet to get over the brazen way in which a […]
Patna: Even as more evidence surfaces that in spite of draconian laws, Nitish Kumar’s much touted prohibition is neither popular nor effective, youngsters carrying backpacks are going to face random checks by policemen. So much for privacy and dignity of private citizens! On Sunday, cops nabbed an engineering graduate for bootlegging in the Patliputra Colony […]
People in Nabinagar cocked a snook at the State prohibition policy, when they grabbed and made off with pouches of ‘illicit’ country liquor from cartons that had fallen on the road. The helpless police arrived at the scene too late. Nabinagar , 169km southwest of Patna,is a town in Aurangabad district, and the incident happened […]
A ‘Save the Constitution, Save the Country’ rally was held on Sunday, attended by some 1500 people in the pouring rain. These folks came from several districts around Patna. They were ordinary folk: daily wage earners, teachers, students, a professor or two, a couple of government employees and so on and so forth. So, what […]
When this girl won a medal in a football game, she opened up a whole new field for her classmates. How? Read on! Fourteen year old Anshu Singh from Gaunpura viilage in Phulwarisarif , about 27 kilometres from Patna, is a ninth grader in Sada Public School, Phulwarisarif. Her father, Neeraj Kumar Singh, is better […]
In ‘Backward’ Bihar, where entire village communities frown on women playing sports, a labourer buys a plastic ball for his daughter to pursue her football dreams… “My father is my very first coach. When I was small, he bought a plastic ball, and he taught me to kick it around,” says Priti Kunari, a feisty […]
On Father’s Day, we bring you from a small village in the state of Bihar, an aspiring girl footballer’s story about her Dad the Superhero … her dad who may be a poor man, but with the heart to say, ‘my child, keep on dreaming’. Fourteen year old Moni Kumari is a girl who just […]
While Christano Ronaldo may be the flavour of the season as the Fifa World Cup unfolds, let me tell you about another sprightly little football player. No, she won’t make it to Russia this year, but that’s not gonna stop her from fighting her own battle to stay in the beautiful game in her small […]
When President Emeritus Pranab Mukherjee announced that he would, in fact, accept the invitation from the RSS and be the chief guest of a valedictory function, the Indian media went on over-drive. The political landscape was all-shaken up. The reactions in the mainstream media were amusing, annoying, distasteful, and shallow, all at the same time. […]
