yet again ... getting lost ... then enjoying self-discovery ...

Why India's children need safer roads to reach their classrooms Thanks to the team at Deccan Herald . The Supreme Court recently declared the right to walk on safe footpaths a fundamental right and urged the government to bring a law that declared this right and recognized the duty of municipal authorities and local bodies to build, demarcate, and maintain necessary pedestrian infrastructure. It passed this landmark judgment in a motor-accident claim case related to the death of a 5-year-old boy, who met with an accident while walking to school.  This was not an isolated incident.  Data shows that many children walk or cycle to school -  The NSO’s 2020 data showed that 60% of India’s children walk to school. ( 12 to 15 crore children walk to school each morning ) Delhi - A 2026 report by the Transportation Research and Injury Prevention Centre at IIT Delhi, highlighted that 51% of the children walk or cycle to school.   And, recent news-reports remind us that...

Footpaths have been in the news in recent times for more than one reason, primary being the safety of those walking on them. I am a big fan of walking, including in our towns and cities, and increasingly have encountered more and more impediments as I walk. Many a time I walk together with mumi, and I must add it is increasingly getting difficult to walk with her.   Let me share some of the innovative ways in which some of us obstruct others from walking on the footpaths - Please add other impediments and obstructions that you have come across in the comments or write to me and I will be happy to add in the text. Security Cabins and Generators - Few of us with large houses install these fixed structures on the footpaths rather than inside our compounds and ensure that not only do we encroach the footpaths but also that the fumes from the generator are meant more for eyes and throats of those on the roads than for ours. This I first encountered in Gurgaon and the blessed genera...

  Evening walks sometimes lead to surprises,  Surprises - around the corner - that do what no planning can,  Suddenly these flowers are there, and only there on the hill,  And, we dare not ask any questions, but do it all, Go close in awe, look with admiration, touch with trepidation,  just be there around them, We do not plan, but are back the next day,  To pay respects, to thank them for being there,  To the beauty that reminded us of Van Gogh, Beauty that, at times, in sheer human arrogance, is brushed aside as weeds,  Walks that gel with the silences around,  Walks that help set the pace of our lives, Walks where we are closer to ourselves,  Walks, one of the reasons we are here, 

These images, unlike the previous post on the topic , are from the lanes,  to be precise one lane  (with respects to Thomson and Thompson ) Aging with grace? Fading away? Or hanging by a thread?  Varying brick sizes and shapes? Or a tree taking over? Or dark lines on the horizon?  A balcony with waves?  Its neighbours are being repurposed as hotels.  Does it eagerly await its turn? Or does it dread the loss of peace?  How does HE see the changes?  Is the window partially open to allow only partial changes?  The lane's width ensures that one is either on two feet or on two wheels! Should we have trips for children to obverse where their elders lived? To see h omes that are disappearing from our midst!

Our large university campuses have a beauty, a feel of their own. Having savoured the environs of the Maharaja Sayajirao University, the Banaras Hindu University, the Allahabad University and the Forest Research Institute I was keen to put in time - doing nothing in particular - at the Aligarh Muslim University. Finally was able to visit Aligarh and walk the campus. The campus is open, treed and neat. The buildings it houses are inviting. Many of these buildings are old, some have the exposed brick exteriors and most seem to have windows which had us pause our walk and re-look. Jarokhas made for stories! Next to the very graceful jaali , the air-conditioner looks very much out of place! The art gallery is clean and spacious. Some of the paintings displayed were - to put simply - exceptional. Next to the art gallery sits a canteen - the late morning winter sun lent it a special feel. Just outside the art gallery sits an art installation made with used glass bottles. Inside a spiral sta...