india and the world cup

- a die-hard, overoptimistic cricket fan's predictions - http://kavs-kool.blogspot.com/2007/03/i-am-blue-billionsay-we-are-blue.html

gloomy clouds on the horizon & a ray of sunshine

It's amazing how we're fooled into believing that we're truly a developing nation. 1000 farmers have committed suicide but Reliance still gets permission to do Range Farming. We have staggering growth figures but are shockingly low in human development indices. From infant mortality rates to basic Health Care services being inaccesible and unaffordable to the poor, there isn't much to be satisfied about. While we're selling Brand India to the world, improverished Indians are literally dying to be heard, to be helped.

So, what's new? We've heard all this. We still go to work in our airconditioned cars in the middle of winter, because the price for each barrel of oil is now coming down, no? We ignore beggars when we stop at traffic lights. Most of them have probably cut off their own arms to make some money for their families. Didn't you read that article in the Times?
This year there will be more billionaires from India than from China, yet there is so much chaos, both rural and urban, and such utter apathy that it makes you wonder where these billionaires are investing their monies.
We have a Twenty Point Programme with a broad vision to "improve the quality of life of the poor and the under-privileged population of the country".
Isn't this the objective of all development, government intervention and planning?
From minimum wages to prices of essential commodities, there is a glaring inefficiency on the part of our leaders. The majority which needs to benefit the most, is more often than not, ignored.

I don't have immediate answers to many nagging questions. There is no correct alternative. All we can do is make sure that the choices we make do the most good for the most number of people.
If Reservations need to be implemented, we should go ahead with minimum bias, have a common measure, instead of Religion or Sex. Dr. Manmohan Singh has now proclaimed that they wish to implement Reservations for Muslims nationwide. The only way something this stupid on such a magnitude can be avoided is, if educated Muslims themselves take a stand against such a practice. Though we are a Hindu majority country, our pleas for equitable progress and distribution of resources are often unheard and purposely neglected.
I was truly happy that Mr. Javed Akhtar received the Indira Gandhi Award for National Integration. I love his lyrics in Lagaan("Radha kaise na jale") and Swades("Pal pal hain bhaari").
Ram hi to karuna mein hai, shaanti mein Ram hai
Ram hi hai ekta main, pragati mein Ram hai
Ram bas bhakton nahin, Shatru ke bhi chintan mein hai
dekh dhaj ke paap Ravan, Ram tere man mein hai
Ram to ghar ghar mein hai, Ram har aangan mein hai
Mann se Ravan jo nikale, Ram uske mann mein hai

A Muslim wrote these lyrics, a Muslim composed soulful tunes for these words and a Muslim sang these words in the movie. Though Akhtar, Rahman and Khan have identities beyond their religion, it is this that makes me respect them and believe in the power of democracy. It is they who have to take a stand, beyond veils, on other issues of national importance.

I know, I've come back to the same Religion issue but it matters to me beacuse most problems are related to this. We cannot consider problems in terms of numbers or in isolation. We need to take into view all these other factors that play a major role in deciding policies that affect the masses.

Our great country can and will be everything we want it to be.
All we need to do is take a stand on issues that matter to us and ensure that there is a transformation, however little, before we die.

You can start today. Make a difference in a child's life by signing up for the Dronacharya & Ekalavya Mentorship Programme.

It doesn't matter who celebrates our successes or mourns our failures when it's over. All that matters is that at the end of it, you're at peace with yourself and believe that you have done everything in your power, everything you possibly could.

BHUMI's latest!

an unequal world, different stories, one destiny

I was overwhelmed for the first time in my life. I pride myself in being able to hold myself together atleast in front of people 'cos the friends who know me have already seen the emotional outbursts at one time or the other.

When Jadav garu, the freedom fighter hoisted the flag at Rasoolpura, I was overcome by a sense of what the future holds for me. The tiranga and the National Anthem never fail to conjure up images of the struggle for Independence, malnourished children, a victorious Indian cricket team... but on the morning of 15th August, 2006, all I could think of was the massive responsibility we'd taken on. It is no small task to convince a community which was used to NGOs and NGO-like people coming there, sometimes with fair-skinned people, intruding on their space, taking pictures of their misery. We did the same. We obviously needed the before-after photographs. I thought their skepticism would turn into active hositility but when they saw that we were determined to change their deplorable living conditions for the better, despite the odds,it gave us a lot of credibility in their eyes.

What amazed me was that we fought as a unit. We fought our feelings of disappointment and didn't let that hamper our Spirirt of Independence. We fought against our immediate reaction of blaming the Government and politicians for the miscommunication that happened between the two agencies and instead, immediately thought of an alternative. We fought to ensure that our next step would be the right one. We contemplated hunger strikes and involving the children in our agitation but what finally won was our courage to move forward regardless of the roadblocks.

We made the right decisions, we resolved to make Freedom Under Construction a nation-wide movement. We built 3 classrooms. We painted the entire school which was covered in symbols of wheels and hands and photos of greedy men, promising the moon, thanks to the recently completed elections there. We cleaned out the rubble around the School and filled out the road in front of another Govt. Girls' High School which was always overflowing with water when it rained and did not allow passage of the students into the School. What used to be a dumping ground for garbage and an open toilet is now evened out and was used to hoist the National flag.
There were crackers and music. It was a celebration. We sang along to A.R. Rahman's Vande Mataram and worked all night. Volunteers made human chains and passed the bricks and cement. We climbed walls to paint the roofs. We literally lifted stones and moved them out. We helped in the demolition work. Members from the community, students who were alumni of the School and high School students all did their share of the work. We were no longer that group which "visits" Rasoolpura everyday, conducts Health Clinics every Sunday and a Blood Donation Camp once in a while. We were BHUMI, a team which would ensure that the people of Rasoolpura got what we consider as basic necessities - Education, Livelihood, Health Care.

People heard about the event on the radio and joined us at the spur of the moment and stayed on from 11:30 in the night till 10 in the morning. Some came all the way, just to see the work we're doing. It wasn't about making history anymore. It wasn't about showcasing our patriotism and undying love for our beloved country. It was about remembering that we live in an unequal world. It was about reinforcing our faith that transformation is indeed inevitable, as long as we remember that fact every single day and work towards it.

It is not about "helping" them, it is about being able to live with myself, knowing that our worlds are this different. However, that day at the stroke of midnight, these differences didn't matter. Our future is now entwined with theirs, tomorrow is promising and it is all just a matter of time.

Jai Hind!

FREEDOM Under Construction

"Freedom" under construction

August 15th, 2005:
I attended 4 Independence Day flag hoisting ceremonies.
At Whisper Valley, at College, at my grand parents' apartments and at our Mahita Center.
I distributed chocolates and ensured everyone had the tricolour firmly on their tshirts. I frowned at anyone who didn't know the National song. I distributed notebooks to the toppers of each class.
I listened to lectures about the heroes of our past. I tolerated a speech goading us to "change the world".
I clapped for a BJP man who needed the claps more than the flag hoisting responsibility.
I prayed to a photo of Gandhi and one of Mother India and I yelled Bharat Mata ki Jai at the end of it all.

Jai Hind indeed.

Nothing has changed at Mahita. The very well-known organization stopped funding it, even though there was a desperate need for funds.
My grandparents are ardent cricket fans and they cheer the loudest for Sachin Tendulkar. That's India for them.
BJP shows no signs of maturity or "desh prem".
Gandhi is dead(bless his soul) and Mother India has not heard my desperate pleas.

Atleast it wasn't just another holiday for me. Atleast I distributed notebooks to 50 children, who otherwise would've probably been so disillusioned that they would drop out of school the next day.

Who am I fooling?

Who was I fooling?

This year will be different.

There won't be speeches. There won't be kaju barfis.

"At the stroke of the midnight hour, while the world sleeps", there will be 300 young women and men making history at Rasoolpura.
We will build a Boundary Wall around the Zilla Parishad High School. This will showcase, beyond everything, that collective will truly can "change the world". Each brick laid will prove that we will justify the immense responsibility that we have as the "future of the nation". We will not allow these phrases to become pointless jargon.

If we work together, transformation is inevitable.

And now, Jai Hind has a whole new meaning.

Do you believe in miracles?

Doesn't everyone have events in their lives which they forget to remember, especially in their moments of utter dejection?

I had one such moment yesterday. And I don't want to forget.

We were sitting at our Adda, discussing our future projects and how we would go about what we've already taken on. We were wondering how we could fund our ambitious projects. We know we've bitten off more than we can chew. We know that the odds are against us. But we keep dreaming, with some incredible belief that we'll find a way. We will build the bridge when you need to cross the river. We will move mountains, if it comes to that.
That doesn't mean we don't have a contingency plan. When OGH happened, we were not sure how many people would turn up. At the last moment, there were more than 300 people, sweeping the OGH floors. Some of them were people who probably never really cleaned their own rooms. We didn't expect that. We were sure that we would work throughout the day and night, if required, and complete what we'd set out to do. But we got help from people we didn't even know would be around.

There will always be people who will criticize your dreams. There will always be people who laugh at you for "wasting time". Some will even ridicule you and even try to stop you from going into what they perceive is the self-destruct mode.
But in the midst of it all, you will find people who believe. In the power of dreams. In destiny.

6 months ago, we met each other.

Yesterday, we met Joseph Curiale.

When he spoke, we found that our souls danced to the same tunes. It might sound like poetic rubbish at first, but anyone who knows me will know that I do not resort to talking about philosophical jargon unless I mean it. He spoke our words. He was a godsend. He said he'd help us get in touch with an Art College in California, he saw our vision and believed that we would justify what we said with tangible actions.
There are no coincidences. It could be divine intervention. And I say that only because, in the last 6 months, we've passionately kept moving ahead, knowing fully well that all we had were determination and empty pockets.

I like 'The Alchemist'. Sure, it's overhyped. But I like it. Because he said something that makes sense to me.
"When you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it...It's called the principle of favorability, beginner's luck. Because life wants you to achieve your destiny."

Just reach out. That causes a ripple effect and you'll find people willing to sacrifice their lives, if required. All you need to do is ask.

Stuck in a moment

This song encapsulates what I feel right now. I have so many pent up negative feelings and a visit to the Osmania General Hospital just makes it worse.

There is a sense of absolute distress and the negative vibes are too much to handle. It's not just the sight of sickness that you have to endure but the sounds and smells as well. And that's what is traumatic. There are some images which I just can't seem to let go off.

~ an old man sleeping in his own excreta. They didn't have enough attenders to pick him up and take him into the Hospital. No responsible ones anyway.
~ a boy, hardly 9 years old, covered in blood and whose leg had been cut through, by an electric saw or something. They didn't have enough cotton in the emergency wards.
~ the burns ward, with 18-19 year old girls. All dowry cases, apparently.
~ the unending beds filled with people who had bandaged limbs
~ the undisposed syringes, the dried blood.. all in the passage way.

And this is just the tip of the iceberg. Read my friend's experience at OGH.

This is the hospital which holds the record for treating the most number of patients each day(8000-10,000). Inspite of the chaos, there is a system, some hidden method in the madness and people actually seem to be able to get out of there, cured and alive. There are doctors, nurses and attenders there who work overtime to help the patients everyday. I am astonished at their immense conviction.

There is a way to take responsibility for what's happening at OGH. It's a small start but the beginning of a larger transformation. Visit our OGH page and register for the Sanitation and Awareness Drive.

And beyond everything, keep the faith that change is possible. In our lifetime.

social awakening made easy

Over the last 4 months, Bharat Uday Mission(BM) Hyderabad has grown to be the biggest and most active chapter of BM. We started with 20 members out of whom exactly 5 turned up for the meeting. Before the next one, I called every single one of the rest and we had 16 members for our next one. 3 members whom I'd met at the first meeting and the 13 were people who were either friends from my previous social service initiatives or people who were curious to find out more about BM. Till date, I haven't met the missing 15 from the first meeting. We have many members who join us with that sudden "josh". "Oh.. Bhaaarat Udayy Mission.. That's a really great cause. We should be a part of it" and then they select the "No mail" option on our group! But then I met people who had so many wonderful insights and they're the ones who really made BM Hyderabad what it is.

We're planning to do a Village Development Project(VDP). We figured that our easiest entry point would obviously be primary education. We have the knowhow required to teach children. (It's not Artificial Neural Networks anyway!) All the other issues, women's empowerment(from literacy to menopause) or employment, are immensely important as well but need indepth knowledge which I fear we don't have. We didn't want to start from scratch. Ideally, all volunteers should participate in developmental projects. All members should be socially aware. But more often than not, in an organization such as ours, which is huge and has highly qualified members from diverging fields, there tend to be a lot of tangential ideas. One of the biggest obstacle is to sift through these suggestions that we get, use the best of them and form a strong foundation.

In Hyderabad, my vision is to ensure that BM works on 2 complementary paths.
One is obviously politically motivated. Even though that sounded like I am condoning the bad word that is "politics", I mean it in a very non-controversial sense. By the time we stand for elections we should have done enough ground work at the grassroot level. I want people to be empowered enough to refuse a Rs. 100 payoff from an MLA of an opposing party and choose to vote for us, simply becase they know that we will ensure a more positive future.
Another is the social work that is essential for an organization like ours to flourish. We have two options. Either we can start making parallel systems to bypass the current one or we can improve existing ones. For example, we can start new philanthropic educational institutions, put in personal capital and motivate children to join or we can use the existing Government schools, the infrastructure already available and make the Govt. accountable. But the problem with taking the 2nd option is that while we're fighting to secure Government funds and tring to eke out the corruption that exists at every level, many children will lose out on an opportunity at education. So, what we need to do instead of starting new schools is to adopt exisiting schools established by NGOs and other like-minded organizations and at the same time have members working on making the system and the people involved more responsible. This is just one of the paradox that I found. I'm sure that there are many more. We have a very complex Governmental mechanism. I tried to find out about the different initiviatives taken up for Women and Child Healthcare that the Govt. of India has. It took me no less than 7 and a half hours(obviously not at a stretch) to first find the exact department where I had to look for the information and then to find the exact information that I was looking for. And this was all online. Imagine, if I tried doing this on the field!
Politicians and bureaucrats have to deal with many more paradoxes such as the one I've mentioned. I don't want to give them too much credit because just the other day, they tried showcasing India's freedom by giving a very fine example. They televised a speech given by a fat MP(who looked like a goonda straight out of a Bollywood masala movie and who, I'm sure, got a lot of unaccounted money). He said, very proudly, that the country he lives in today is truly free for the simple reason that he, a class 5 drop out, could rise to the level of a Member of Parliament! He then enlisted every single plan he had for the upliftment of the minorities and got a standing ovation from the commissioned audiences.

Anyway, I'm sure we have a lot to learn. We will be governing a vibrant country and not just managing a company. I also find that I have to learn a lot about the issues faced by the people we intend to work for. So, I'm planning to take a course at CSIM http://www.csim.org/csimhyderabad.html I went there yesterday to find out the details. What amazes me about institutes like this is the fact that they've built very good models for NGOs and social change activists to work with. So, we won't have to start from scratch and ofcourse the networking opportunity will also be fantastic. I spoke with a couple of people about the VDP. Through our discussions, I found that the best way to make a project work, atleast at the initial stages, is to ensure that it's feasible. To make a VDP feasible, we need to identify a village that is accessible and by that, I mean, one which is less than 75 kms away. Since Hyderabad is growing at such a rapid rate, all we will find at the outskirts are the semi-urban localities, which have issues that are quite different than the urban or rural ones that are well-documented. And BM can work on these specific problems. In my experience, they will range from migration to the cities to havign specialized self-help groups in those areas. We can also introduce microfinance structures that will help solve a lot of socio-economic problems that I assume they face. We can make the Engineering and other institutions that are usually located in those areas resposible for the upliftment as part of their SUPW.

Another choice we have is to work as a support group. There are so many NGOs, NPOs, pressure groups etc. which need human resources. We can provide them with the volunteer services. We can also give them financial support, if required. We have doctors, teachers and many other members who can provide services for these organizations free of cost. We can also make NGO-specific software etc. There are a million ways to do it. All we need is the inclination, motivation and a little bit of determination to move that lazy ass.

Enough food for thought!

Hope you had a safe, colourful and happy....

Life and smiles

Empowerment through technology

my beautiful country

From anguish to optimism

न हि प्रपश्यामि ममापनुद्याद्
यच्छोकमुच्छोषणमिन्द्रियाणाम् ।
अवाप्य भूमाव्सपत्नम्रद्धं
राज्यं सुराणमपि चाधिपत्यम् ॥

Translation:
I can find no means to drive away this grief which is drying up my senses. I will not be able to dispel it even if I win a prosperous, unrivalled kingdom on earth with sovereignty like the demigods in heaven.

~~**~~**~~**~~
If Arjuna could learn to overcome his distress and go on to fight the war, what I'm going through is nothing.

God does find ways to give us strength. We can hope for a better tomorrow, even if all our dreams have been shattered today.