My Uncle (Dad’s older brother) suffered a severe heart stroke, last October and since then has been bed ridden. What’s even more shocking is the fact that he had barely spent four days at home since being discharged from a reputed Mumbai hospital after undergoing a successful Bypass surgery.

I remember having Lunch with him on the very un-forgetful day. Since my family had left for Turkey the same morning, my Aunt had ordered me to have all my meals at their place. In spite of undergoing such traumatic procedure, my Uncle was as chirpy as ever; guess he was just happy to be home. But as they say, you never know what life has in store for you and just like that we were greeted with a shock that changed our lives in many ways, today.

My uncle had a stroke in his sleep, which resulted in a blockage in his brain thereby causing a brain hemorrhage. The heart attack also left him paralyzed from head to toe on the right side. For the next couple of days he was as good as dead to the world; eyes shut, number of pipes in-n-out of his body, blank expression on his face, a body in vegetative state. And then one fine night, we got a call from the hospital and thankfully they had some good news. He had opened his eyes and was calling out my Aunt’s name. He showed some positive signs in the initial days, though he was in no state to even blurt a sentence, eat on his own or recognize family faces but just the fact that he was still breathing was good enough for us – “Hope” is what we all live on, don’t we?

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Radhika suffers from Polydactyly

Radhika is a beautiful 5 years old child. It wouldn’t be wrong to say that she is a ‘miracle’ girl who stands apart from most of the children her age. Immensely loved by her mother and grand-father, this innocent child, sadly has no school to go to and no friends to play with.

Her uniqueness is what has left her rejected from experiencing happiness that most kids her age take for granted. Radhika suffers from a rare condition called Polydactyly and because of it she has a total of 32 fingers/toes on her hands/legs instead of 20. Plus underdevelopment of her cleft palate (upper portion inside the mouth), has impaired her speech.

However her deformity has not dampened her spirits in any sorts. She is apparently very talkative, helps her mother in house-hold chores and loves to eat fish. But proper education is what she requires the most at this young age. Radhika’s mother Anita Dhangar who works a maid barely earning Rs. 2000 a month, along with her father has taken care of Radhika since birth. Krishna, an auto rickshaw distanced himself from his daughter because of her physical defect.

Anita approached tons of schools in Mumbai city for her daughter’s admission but was turned down by all of them. Making life even more miserable for young Radhika is the fact that no child wants to play with her and therefore her mother takes her along with her to work, to avoid being teased by neighbors.

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It’s appalling to see the treatment bestowed upon employees of big establishments here in Mumbai. Imagine you are on your way to work one morning; just to find out that your sole means of ‘bread and butter’ is snatched away from you…forever…. Extinct overnight!!



No intimation given, no prior warning….NO JOB anymore…What a shock! This is the story that Akbarallys-Santacruz (Mumbai), has to tell. On Friday the 10th of February, the store all of a sudden decided to fasten its doors to the world. For over a month, 40-permanent workers have been squatting outside the estranged shop. Unable to get over the untimely death of their second home; where they have spent over 30 years of their lives. Struggling day in and day out, to obtain some kind of justice. A good friend of mine walks past Akbarallys, (a brand that was created 108 years ago) on a daily basis. For the past one month she has been narrating various incidents regarding its employee’s demands for justice. So today I decided to leave work a little early, and see it for myself. Driving over in my A/C car I casually thought over a few questions to ask, but at that point didn’t realize the gravity of the situation. I wasn’t even sure, if I wanted to write a post on this. As soon as I parked my car, workers assuming I have come to shop, yelled “dukhan bandh ho gaya hai, do mahena ho gaya.” I got down and into the premises, as usual had to explain my self and my purpose. To which, for obvious reasons I had umpteen volunteers, ready to open their hearts out….and so here it goes.

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