Rohit Sharma

Recalling the last week's visit to Rishikesh, and apart from the usually discussed natural beauty & the beautiful sight of the Ganga river what struck me hard is the people’s memory of the Uttarakhand floods in 2013. It had caused enormous loss of lives & properties. More than 6,000 people lost their lives and thousands of them lost their livelihood. October 2021 – my visit It has so happened that there were heavy rains in the upper parts of the Himalayas during my visit last week and in just three days of downpour, there was already a tumultuous flood in the Ganga. The crystal clear water of the silently flowing river marred with the fresh alluvial soil and it must be flowing by at least 2 meters above its usual October level. We could see many uprooted trees were flowing with the river. All the Ghats were flooded. There were reports of several landslides and this caused the Chardham yatra to be stopped. It was at this pretext that I have encountered several people bel...

You see, it's not a lot that is happening nowadays, and since the past that Radhe have known myself. It's pretty much a plain day. Most days he does not even reconcile when it started and when it came to an end. Yeah, some nights are hard to pass. But it's because of the hot weather, and may be because of the noise at times. He does wake up in the mid night recouping from the shock of a peculiar dream, or, the longing for an old song.  Today is different. Radhe has woken up early. He has had a good sleep. The weather is rainy. The clouds are heavy and dark. As he sits beside the window, he could see the play of the changing colors. The mild cold air along with the chirps of few birds here and there, is making him feel alive. He is alive, right? He is. He is feeling it today. As Radhe peeks more from the window, he expects more from this fast dissipating morning. It's not everyday that it is like that here. The weather is talking and he could hear its deep breath. But he...

Uma has put on a heavy makeup while she is standing in the mid of a busy street. She is wearing blue jeans and a tight pink T-shirt. She works in the famous red light area of the city. The city is Delhi, our capital city. A flood of men pass before her, some looks at her with a bodily thirst; while some unaware of the area, pass uninterested. What sort of livelihood is this? She caters to the bodily need of men. This means business. People involved in it tend to have no honor. They are the outcast of the so-called civilized and over-proud society. Due to the illegal trafficking of women, including children, there is no line between people who actually want to use sex to earn money and those who are forced into it by the pimps and the third men. It's cloudy today. It may rain. Police station is at a walking distance from where Uma stands. A man has looked at her with a lower gaze. He may be interested in her. He stopped with a shaking leg and asks for the price. "N...

Mansi is anxious. It's her birthday tomorrow. What should she expect off the day? She has been growing up in the age of mass media. All the drama of the unreal world is creating castles of dreams inside her mind. Having no avenues of opportunities as of yet, she has been increasingly believing in her fate and the God and that one day her life would be lifted from the pyres of pain to the kites of laughter. It's evening. She feels special. She is feeling hungry. Her mom has not returned from the work yet. She is eager to discuss her plans for tomorrow. Deep down she knows that it is simply unaffordable for her to think of the sparkles she has been decorating inside her mind, although her instinct is not yet ready to accept this. Sitting by the door, she is watching her younger sister. She is playing in her arms and it makes her happy. She giggles with her, "Is it didi's birthday? Is it! Ha!". By the night, as mother came tiringly, and father a bit later, half drunk...

Morning arrived and so did the Sun's orange rays. It perched on the side of my bedroom window. As usual, the air is smoggy and dispersing the yellow light. The morning is not the beautiful morning. It is impressing confusion. Sun remained silent and brightly hot. The wind is mildly cold. Indeed, these are early hours. The month of april is on its end. There is no smell in the air. The streets are empty. There are isolated voices of pigeons, koyal and eagle off the sky or from somewhere they are overlooking the city from the shade of any building standing around. The city will soon be awake. Soon, there will be vegetable vendors lurching around at the top of their voices. Garbage vehicle would wander around playing on the encouraging social message and campaigning for cleanliness.  Newspapers will keep on carrying the damning news of death and disarray from the deadly virus at the behest of the 'once in a century pandemic', as they call it. We are counting back our days and ...

Mansi has a one-year-old sister and an eight-year-old brother. She herself is only fourteen years old. One of her sisters died at a younger age. This makes a family of five. The Eldest three of them live to work and work to live. Every day's earning is a matter of life and more life. Every day counts as the wage amount of each one of them is the bare minimum. Yet, they ensure that Mansi and her brother are going to school. Mansi is not sure how long will she continue. She may drop out of school as the one-year-old child is to be taken care of. While everyone has to be away, someone has to be with him. At times, he is dropped in the neighborhood. At times, he is taken to work by her mother but it hampers her work and she is also scolded for it. Mansi's father is a rickshaw puller. He works in the city, often going in the morning as he has got the job of sending school children in his rickshaw. When he comes back, he would do his basic routine and prepares for the long toiling da...

It rained heavily for the last three days. June has come to bring with it dark roaring clouds. The pond is full to the brim. Now Mansi could not go closer to the edge. There is a danger of small and big insects that reside in the pond. Contaminants and impurities of the pond water are floating over the surface. The water of the pond is now rejuvenated. There will be more rain in the coming days. Soon the water would start flooding the edge and cross it to inundate the nearby slum. Mansi got drained in the rain the first two days. She did not go to work the third day as she was having a cold and a mild fever. She has not taken the medicine yet. The owner of the house where she works called and gave her a sarcastic scold. They may think that she is only fleeing from work. The owner would cut the day's salary. Mansi is compelled to come tomorrow as the owner could not manage the house and utensil cleaning. But the owner did tell her the name of the medicine to be taken based on their ...