Hathitala, Barmer (Women's Feature Service) – Early mornings in Heena's home are usually busy. The eight-year-old is frantically finishing up her homework even as her more diligent elder sister, Seema, 14, eggs her on and guides her when she gets stuck with the tough questions. After this, the sisters get ready and head for their school close by.

Puri (Women’s Feature Service) – History lives in their eyes. “Married” to Lord Jagannath, these two old women are considered to be ‘akhand soubhagyabati’ (never-to-be-widowed) and part of a tradition that dates back a thousand years. Yet, today, they cannot manage two daily meals for themselves.

Ranchi (Women’s Feature Service) – Teenage tribal girls in Jharkhand are the new icons of community leadership and development. Despite their poor physical growth and the hardships they face, these youngsters have donned spikes and taken to the football field in the hope of earning a better living.

Jaipur (Women’s Feature Service) – A nondescript village in Jodhpur district of Rajasthan, a state known for its poor child sex ratio, had a celebration of a different kind on May 18.

Delhi (Women’s Feature Service) – Will the recent amendment to the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955, and the Special Marriage Act, 1954, protect women’s rights? Or will an easy divorce without adequate rights in matrimonial property and clear financial safeguards, leave an increasing number of women facing lengthy judicial processes for any tangible maintenance rights?

Delhi (Women’s Feature Service) – A newspaper catering to Delhi’s English-reading population carried an alarming headline the other day: ‘Watch out, there could be sewage in your tap water’. It went on to list the middle class localities that were facing the threat.

What is the first thing we, who can take our access to water and sanitation for granted, do every morning? Groggily stumble out of bed and head for the bathroom to freshen up. Only then are we ready to take on the world.

Yamuna Pushta is history now. If the average citizen of Delhi ever registered its existence, Pushta was just another eyesore that disappeared under the bulldozers in April 2004 - 27,000 homes demolished, 150,000 people rendered homeless, more than 100 acres of land "liberated" from occupation and freed up for "development" in just five day-long operations.

Bawana 2004: “It was only jungle. There were no lights. Fights would break out between the re-located communities and the local people because we had suddenly been forced to live together. The ration shops gave out some provisions once a week. Roads were non-existent. We got our water by trudging long distances and open defecation was common.”

Among the multiplying divides between people in a world full of disparities, is one that is hardly talked or written about. Urbanologist Mike Davis is a rare exception.