Monday Raga The whole Shravan season (or lunar month) is devoted to Lord Shiva, especially the four Mondays of the season. A good number of people come to the Panchmukhi temple in Boring Road for the ‘Somvari puja’. This ‘Somvari puja’ comes with good deal for the small vendors who sell flowers and other stuffs […]
Patna, (Feb 24): Rabri Devi has done it again! Her remark that her son should become Chief Minister has set tongues a-wagging in the political circles in the State. Her hubby, the inimitable Lalu Prasad, stepped in to stem wild speculations of a ‘split’. This ain’t the first time that Rabri has taken a swipe […]
The festive season is upon us with less of the festive ‘spirit’ in the Boondocks of Bihar. By now, every dhobi and his donkey knows that this blessed state is dry. The Chief Minister in his role as Master Nanny has shut down the elite watering holes and deprived the well heeled of their single […]
The political climate of India is fast becoming critically polarised. The nature of discourse is being vitiated by divisive, shallow diatribe. Parliament, supposedly the platform for enlightened, purposeful discussion and farsighted legislation has been all but reduced to a ridiculous circus of shallow, shouting, sloganeering, and slanderous attention seekers. Where the political leadership in the […]
Bihar ranks first among the states in terms of rural housing shortage (42.10 lakhs), says census data. Back in 1947, Bihar was probably the first state in the country to enact a separate law, namely the Bihar Privileged Persons Homestead Tenancy Act, for providing security of tenure to landless rural households. Since then the Bihar […]
PATNA, Bihar:People living in Patliputra Colony, did you know that the 2011 census has a section exclusively devoted to you? Since I live in the Patliputra area, it was really interesting to read what the census says about Patliputra colony! So here goes: Patliputra Colony belongs to ward no.1 , Patna rural subdivision in Patna […]
In a fast changing narrative, what was first a complaint of inappropriate classroom behaviour by a Patna Women’s College teacher, has now been changed to ‘sexual assault’. But why is it that political fish seem to be swimming around in troubled waters? On Friday, even after the accused resigned, and the police and college authorities promised action […]
Over the weekend one attended a ‘Hijra Habba’ at Patna, organized by an organization working on the HIV/AIDS platform providing technical assistance to for the MTH interventions of Bihar state AIDS Control Society. Commendable job, talking about mainstreaming, and getting a government minister to pitch in, bolstered by a reps from few government and non-government […]
Heroes are often found in the unlikeliest of places, and while doing a stint to encourage journalists to report more proactively on child issues, I literally stumbled across this guy at an emergency shelter run by People First, a Gaya based NGO. People First is the brainchild of Nick Hanson, a Brit who fell in […]
Bodh Gaya on a late July evening is balmy with the evening breeze, fresh washed with monsoon showers, but there’s more action here than what meets the off-season tourist’s eye. A new vegetarian restaurant called Magadh has sprung up opposite the Thai temple, and they serve surprisingly good vegetarian Chinese and south east Asian fare […]
Let’s get all gooey eyed over ‘the future of the nation’ once more. The buzz on some English language TV channels this weekend has been about the sudden realisation that India has forgotten about planning for children in the urban slums. Children living in city slums are far more vulnerable and at risk than kids […]
Wake up folks and smell the cocaine! Come sundown, at least 20 persons not yet 18 years old somewhere, someplace in Bihar have got their virgin ‘fix’ out of a hypodermic needle. That’s a ballpark figure thrown out by Jojo Bimal, a chap with an NGO working with IDUs or intravenous drug users in Bihar. […]
