The Other India, I: The Weavers of Varanasi

'In Nakhighat, as in other conservative areas in Varanasi, girls are married off as young as 15 and quickly become pregnant. When an undernourished girl gets pregnant, she may lose her child, or even die in childbirth. When she does give birth, it is to an undernourished, underweight child with a low level of immunity.'

My first piece for The Other India on The New York Times' India site, continues here. 

Photo: Ganta Devi, whose son Krishna died of Grade 4 malnutrition – the most severe classification. He was a year old.
Credit: Sonia Faleiro

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India Ink

I'm so pleased to be part of The New York Times' latest, exciting venture. 

India Ink: Notes from the World's Largest Democracy is its first country specific blog and is dedicated to understanding contemporary India's politics, economy, culture and everyday life.
The blog will feature reportage from the newspaper's incredibly talented staff, including NYT South Asia Bureau Chief Jim Yardley and correspondents Lydia Polgreen and Vikas Bajaj. And it will feature a handful of Indian writers including literary critic Nilanjana Roy, author of Following Fish Samanth Subramanian, and Time Out Consulting Editor and author of the forthcoming book, Taj Mahal Foxtrot Naresh Fernandes. 

As for me, I'll be writing 'The Other Half', which will concentrate on India's many fascinating sub cultures. I hope you enjoy the blog, and I look forward to your feedback.

'Children Who Sell Themselves'

'While investigating child labor in India last month for a book, I found myself in the northern state of Bihar, an established source of children for trafficking networks.

Here, alongside the expected stories of abduction, I heard of another unexpected and heartbreaking path to servitude. Children as young as 10 had begun to directly offer themselves to traffickers because they could no longer go hungry.'

Do read my new Op-Ed in The IHT, September 6, 2011

Photo: Arun Kumar, 14 (left) with a friend in Khagaria, Munger, Bihar. Names have been changed. Credit: Sonia Faleiro

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