As an 18-year-old, Shaheen Mistri walked into a slum in Mumbai and began teaching. She then went on to set up Akanksha Foundation, an NGO that works primarily in the field of education. Today, she is the CEO of Teach For India, a nationwide movement that aims to end education inequity in India. In an interview to Spark, Shaheen Mistri talks about her personal journey with Akanksha and Teach For India, her views on the Indian education system and the relevance of social entrepreneurship in today’s world. Excerpts from her interview to Anupama Krishnakumar.
In an interview to Spark’s Vani Viswanathan, Mallika Dutt, CEO of Breakthrough, talks about her journey with Breakthrough and one of their most successful campaigns, the Bell Bajao campaign.
In 1984, Urvashi Butalia co-founded India’s first feminist publishing house, Kali for Women, and then went on to establish Zubaan Books in 2003. In an interview to Spark, she talks about her journey with Kali for Women, about Zubaan and about feminist literature and publishing in India. Anupama Krishnakumar listens in.
In her interview to Spark, popular blogger Indian Homemaker speaks on issues that she deals with on her blog, her views on feminism in India and the state of women in urban India today. Vani Viswanathan listens in.
The February 2011 issue is in a way a stories-special. Our writers have come up with a variety of stories that explore the many different relationships that exist in this world. We provide links to all these stories here.
Mridula Koshy, author, is our writer of the month. In an interesting interview to Spark, she gets talking about writing, her book, and exploring relationships in writing. Read on.
A little story of love that bloomed over coffee and books. Pictures by Maheswaran Sathiamoorthy.
When a relationship breaks and hope is born, it’s a sign of good times. Here is a poem by Bhargavi Balachandran. In the ending of a relationship, the protagonist discovers her personal rainbow – a new hope. Read on.
Are you a master of the English language but someone who struggles with the native tongue? Then here’s something you should read. Jeevanjyoti Chakraborty explores a relationship of a different order – his relationship with his mother tongue.