deviousways

Well, that was my original title for this piece that was published in The Hindu Sunday Magazine in December 2014 :) What does it take to embrace your grey hair in an age when selfies reign supreme, where brunch is often a botox break and dress size is as much a status symbol as an Hermès Birkin? A growing tribe of women--in their 30s, 40s and 50s, all confident and yes, succesful at what they do, show you can scoff at this collective obsession with superficiality. And make going grey, a matter of pride. Binaifer Bharucha (36) in fact, recently proved greys can be downright glamorous too. The freelance photographer from Mumbai is one of five women appearing in the April 2014 issue of Elle India fashion magazine in a photo feature celebrating grey hair. Bharucha started greying in school.  “Now it is a part of my personality. I have short hair, so it looks pretty funky and individualistic. Total strangers often ask why I look young and still have so much grey hair,” she laughed. R...

A lifestyle statement, or a lifetime commitment? L to R--Greg, Wendy Barreto and Rohit Sudharshan during their B'lore-Goa riding trip A rider doing the Tour of Nilgiris last year When Gregory Barreto (now 31) told his wife Wendy (now 29) that he wanted to cycle from Bengaluru to Goa, her first thought was: “Are you out of your mind!” Then she warmed to the idea and the incredible challenge it offered. The couple knew they must train to test their endurance for the 560 km distance they plannned to cover. “But we really didn't practice regularly. Once, we cycled to Nandi Hills (about 60 kms from Bengaluru city), came back home, and basically collapsed,” recalled Wendy Barreto. Did they really have it in them to do the Goa trip? In January last year, the couple, accompanied by close friend Rohit Sudharshan, achieved what they thought would be near-impossible--cycle from Bengaluru to Palolem in south Goa, with a stopover at Gokarna (Karnatak...

(A couple of days ago I read a story in the UK-based Daily Mail about a UK woman suffering from post-partum depression (PPD) who killed  her two young babies. She underwent treatment and is now back home with the husband who supported her through the tragedy. That got me thinking--how clued in are we about PPD? Do we even wonder why some new moms feel depressed or suicidal? Do we try to understand what makes a new mom harbour thoughts about harming herself or her baby? I think this is a subject all of us need to be aware about.) This is an article I wrote for The Hindu in 2013   M lives in Hyderabad. After her delivery, she underwent the traditional 40-day confinement. Being restricted to a room with just the baby affected her. She began to feel suicidal; thoughts of harming both her baby and herself filled her head.  S is from Delhi. After she had her baby, she experienced severe crying bouts. Doctors at a premier mental health institute diagnosed her as h...

'Share' sometimes, does mean we care In a world strewn with sites selling sensationalism, scandal and style, can three social experiments with substance make a difference? The good news is, yes they can. Anuradha Kedia-Parekh, Aarti Mohan and Megha Ghosh show us how. Parekh runs The Better India (www.thebetterindia.com) TBI, a positive news organisation; Mohan spearheads The Alternative (thealternative.in), a media platform for “sustainable living and social impact” and; Ghosh is the sole driving force behind I See India  (http://iseeindia.com/) which aims to become a one-stop space for good news about India. All three initiatives showcase people, projects, and places across India that find no mention in mainstream media. They work in a space where collective reaction leads to positive actions, where stories are linked through social media to on-the-ground-social impact. Trendsetting trio Parekh and Mohan are hands-on mothers in their early thirties who juggle homework and...