All stories by Geetanjali Krishna
How 3 village children cracked the JEE
Rediff.com1 Aug 2018The biggest challenge all three faced was that they had had no prior experience in taking an online test, Roshni, Manish and Karan tell Geetanjali Krishna.
The RTI Act is under siege
Rediff.com19 Jul 2018Geetanjali Krishna explains why this may slow down India's fight against corruption.
In our toppers-obsessed world, who cares about failures?
Rediff.com6 Jul 2018The dead boy was a first generation learner in a government school, with all odds stacked against him. While everyone celebrates this year's toppers, Geetanjali Krishna wonders about the failures, and how our system has failed them.
'Doctor sahib knows more than real doctors'
Rediff.com18 Jun 2018'Some people are natural born healers.' Geetanjali Krishna discovers that degrees don't matter in two tiny UP villages, healing does.
Why we must salute HRLN
Rediff.com18 Jun 2018The Human Rights Law Network -- a group of committed lawyers, paralegals and social activists -- is making justice accessible to people who can't defend themselves.
For Babu Lal, the village is no longer home
Rediff.com27 May 2018'I had the strangest feeling that my childhood home had burnt and disappeared on my parents' funeral pyres,' he said. Hardly any of his family lived there now. Migration or death had claimed them all. It seemed to be full of strangers. 'Then I realised that from their perspective, perhaps there was only one stranger -- me..." Babu Lal tells Geetanjali Krishna.
Have you heard of 'Nam O' beach?
Rediff.com3 May 2018A journey that can teach us all a thing or two about resilience.
Look who's teaching young India to talk about sex!
Rediff.com2 May 2018Meet the inspiring youth-led YP Foundation.
Farewell, Babulal
Rediff.com21 Apr 2018'One of the most important lessons I learnt from Babulal was on stoicism.' 'As a young man, he had lost the fingers of his right hand in an accident.' 'Without missing a beat, he taught himself to use the spade and shovel with his left hand and carried on working,' says Geetanjali Krishna.
Babulal and the tragedy of India's elderly poor
Rediff.com8 Apr 2018'The social security system in India provides minimal support to the elderly poor,' says Geetanjali Krishna.
Children of another dangal
Rediff.com31 Mar 2018'Dangal gives people the impression that Geeta and Babita Phogat's rise to fame as wrestlers is a one-off phenomenon.' 'Many young wrestlers in Haryana are capable of reaching the same heights as the Phogat sisters, but there are few opportunities to train or make a living from wrestling in the village.'
'Judicial reform isn't a political issue yet'
Rediff.com29 Mar 2018'It is the common people, not lawyers and judges, who are the stakeholders of the judiciary.'
Pench National Park: A summer day in the home of Mowgli and his friends
Rediff.com29 Mar 2018Going beyond the tiger fixation at Pench National Park.
'There's no such thing as a poor student -- only poor teaching and curriculum'
Rediff.com29 Mar 2018'We often celebrate scholastic excellence while ignoring the majority of students who aren't there yet,' Pratham CEO Rukmini Banerji tells Geetanjali Krishna. 'It's time we celebrated the bottom.'
Where have the mochis and rafoogars disappeared?
Rediff.com25 Mar 2018'Our throwaway culture today has little room for mochis and rafoogars who concealed rips and tears with imperceptible stitches and great skill,' says Geetanjali Krishna.
Is it a crime to be widowed in India?
Rediff.com8 Mar 2018In rural Bengal, people still believed that widows were simply biding their time on earth after their lord and master had departed from it, says Geetanjali Krishna.
Goodbye to traditional weddings
Rediff.com24 Feb 2018'Around the dawn of the millennium, it seemed that the sun was finally setting on these elaborate home weddings.' 'As the clamour for 'live' counters of grilled fish, pasta and khao suey grew, without even realising it, Gopal Pandey slowly started going out of fashion,' says Geetanjali Krishna.
Nature's great spectacle: Watching Amur falcons roost in Nagaland
Rediff.com22 Feb 2018And it happens in Nagaland.
Aadhaar for every Indian? Or just a select few?
Rediff.com18 Feb 2018The stories of exclusions illustrate so tragically, the need of the hour is to bolster biometrics and 'smart' technologies with something more old-fashioned - the good old fashioned, compassionate human touch, says Geetanjali Krishna.
For the love of handloom saris
Rediff.com17 Feb 2018'The children of today see Bollywood heroines dancing to item numbers in clingy georgette saris with bright gold machine embroidery.' 'To them, the Sambalpuri saris look and feel like shapeless, dull sacks.' 'The tragedy of the weaver isn't that he doesn't get enough respect and understanding from people like us,' says Geetanjali Krishna.