Swarupa Dutt writes on politics, current affairs, women's issues, travel and food history. You can e-mail the author at swarupad@rediff-inc.com
'To be good at the heptathlon takes at least seven years; to compete internationally and win medals takes 10 years.' 'Swapna became Asia's best heptathlete in just five years!' 'Nobody would have believed it. but she did it.'
'I'm a rascal, I'm going to play a paramahansa?!'
'She was just a little girl. She didn't understand religion. Who is Hindu, who is Muslim.' 'She was just 8! Why punish her?' The family of the eight-year-old girl who was gang-raped and murdered in Jammu's Kathua district say everything has changed since that horrific crime.
"Everyone knows me because of that terrible tragedy. My memories of Mosul only bring me sadness. How can I be proud about my fame? I lost everything there," Harjit Masih told Rediff.com's Swarupa Dutt over the phone.
'Passive euthanasia is actually more important in the sense that the need to administer it arises every day in some hospital or the other. And it can be administered without a living will,' Vipul Mudgal, director of the NGO Common Cause -- which had filed a plea to declare 'right to die with dignity' as a Fundamental Right flowing from Article 21 or the Right to Life, -- tells Rediff.com's Swarupa Dutt.
'He has terror charges against him. And for an army officer, it's just terrible.'
'My husband will never forget the torture nor forgive those responsible for it.'
Ten days after it came to light that a four-and-a-half-year-old boy inserted his finger and a sharpened pencil in the private parts of his classmate in a Delhi school, the girl's mother says the biggest hurdle in getting justice for her daughter is to battle the disbelief that she faces since the accused is so young.
'The school's criminality needs to established. The school should be booked for scarring my innocent child for no fault of hers and letting something like this happen in the classroom,' the girl's mother tells Rediff.com in an email.
With the CBI ruling out bus conductor Ashok Kumar's involvement in Ryan International School student Pradhyumn Thakur's murder, his wife Mamata is hopeful of him getting bail on November 16. 'I just want my man to come home, I don't want anything else,' she tells Rediff.com's Swarupa Dutt.
A young IT grad jailed for visa fraud committed by his agent, gives an insider's view of life in jail.
'I have to fight to ensure something like this doesn't happen to any other child, that no other parent faces what we are going through.' 'That is how I will find strength.'
'Why doesn't the prime minister wake up to these social issues?' 'This government is basically saying rape is all right.'
'I live in a privileged city, I have a privileged life, I was in a car.' 'If it can happen here, then there is literally no hope for women in rural India or smaller cities.' 'If more women think we can help ourselves, we can survive, and men would be a lot more hesitant to try something like this.'
Dr Kalam, The Dalai Lama, M F Husain. Mrinalini Sarabhai. Dancer Astad Deboo lists his favourite Indian treasures.
36-year-old Sunil Yadav, who works as a garbage collector for the civic body in Mumbai is an inspiration. He chronicles the arduous journey he took to secure his MPhil degree and why he refuses to give up his job despite his education.
Dhruv Shirpurkar's parents never let go of their faith in God while standing with him in his battle against a rare disorder that left him 85 per cent disabled and bound to a wheelchair.
As the NDA government completes two years in office, there are more questions on Swarupa Dutt's mind than answers.
That it's the day his daughter was brutalised, raped and died as a result of her horrific injuries does not weigh heavily on Badrinath Singh. 'We remember her every single day. In fact, we try not to think of her today, of what happened to her today,' he says.
Brijesh Kumar Saroj, the son of a poor weaver, overcame every hardship, to make it to IIT-Bombay. When he cleared the IIT entrance exam, villagers threw stones at his home because he is Dalit. This has only hardened his resolve to 'make it in life'.
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