Anagha Speaks

I recently read an interesting study article published by CNN sent to me by a Belgian friend, who, unfortunately, happened to meet me in Pune at my busiest time of the year! All through our lunch together, I was either receiving calls, responding to calls or furiously writing emails on my Blackberry. And when he found this article on Indian women, stress and their time commitments, he immediately forwarded it to me. Here is the article in a nutshell: " (CNN) - A recent study released by the Nielsen Company that examines the consumer and media habits of women in emerging and developed countries has found that women in India are the most stressed. The Women of Tomorrow Study, which examined 6,500 women across 21 different nations from February through April 2011, found that an overwhelming 87% of Indian women said they felt stressed most of the time, with 82% claiming they had no time to relax. Indian women are not alone. The vast majority of Mexican (74%) and Russian (69%) w...

Two days ago, I came across a very pertinent news article in Hindustan Times of May 16, 2011 titled as 'Our Forbidden Cities'. In my Environmental Planning class, for Masters students in Architecture, I make it a point to point out that Cities are Beautiful and Cities are the future! I often get glances from students suggesting why I should prefer rural over the urban, as most of 'us' fondly remember our sojourns to villages and yearn for the calm pace of life it offers. But it is necessary for India to accept the fact that cities are here to stay and sooner we accept this, better equipped we will be to tackle the so called monster of 'urbanization'. The author Francesco Giavazzi of 'Our Forbidden Cities' argues the case that today a youth in Mumbai gets a heavy pay packet to carry home, promising a comfortable lifestyle in India, yet the yearning to choose Singapore or Dubai or even London is because this representative Indian youth is looking for a c...