Rekindling the Dreams.. New Vistas

Seems like new vistas will open in our endeavor towards creation of self-reliant rural economy with rural energy access as entry point.


Last week was in Ranidhera, the village we have electrified using jatropha and village committee is managing it on their own since last 32 months. (Details: http://shardagautam.blogspot.com/2009/08/7th-experiment-rekindling-dreams.html )


Some experiments on field r in planning phase with respect to using byproducts of jatropha seed,  if successful will lead to increase in farm fertility of the village and would provide improved and cheaper cooking fuel. 


Mostly from Jan 2010 we will begin this experiment..Lets keep the fingers crossed !!!

Stockholm to Copenhegan: Where the "Common man" stands !

Much fuss has been created over these 37 years and more is yet to follow. Leaving all jargons aside, the game is all about meeting fundamental needs of 6+ billion current population and simultaneously  ensuring that future generation is also able to meet their basic needs.

Irrespective of the result of Copenhegan summit, it remains a responsibility of each of us to contribute our bit as cognizant and sincere universal citizen (assumption true as u hv still not left reading this post after first line)  . This "contribution of bit" doesn't call for attending 2009 COP or fund raising or taking a banner and making a rally for awareness (!!), but it simply calls for some simple questions

Do V avoid use of polythene when v go for buying fruits and vegetables? Do V avoid personal vehicle where public transport is available easily? Do V use carpool for going to office instead of individual cars (I know my colleagues in automotive sector would be angry as this will reduce hamper their car sale targets but still!!)? Do V attempt to purchase articles of daily use from non-plastic make? Do V make alternate use of household stuff before dumping them as trash? Do V avoid unnecessary lighting (remember grid power is from coal, so howsoever one rich is to pay the electricity bills, one is not rich enough to compensate Carbon emission)? R V willing to replace our our high power consuming equipments like geyser with say solar water heater?............................

As iterated earlier, for ensuring well being of everyone across the world, V can never be sure what governments and world leaders will do but V can always be sure what V "the common man" can always do and lets pledge to do it, after-all at the end its the common man who is going to face the wrath of nature!!!

Father to his son

Moments will come, moments will go 
With some sweet and some bitter songs at your bow

There will be time when it will be  heavy rain

Promise me you won’t let it wash your aim

There will be time when sun will be at  top

Promise me you won’t let it your fight stop

Moments will come, moments will go

With some sweet and some bitter songs at your bow

There will be people to say your chances of winning are remote

Promise me you will still keep up hope

There will be friends who will leave you in the battle

Promise me you will still prove your mettle

Moments will come, moments will go

With some sweet and some bitter songs at your bow

There will be time when I will also move away

Promise me you will still keep on with the way

In the end it will not matter even if I am not there

Because this promise will make me alive with every success you achieve as my successor


Moments will come, moments will go 

With some sweet and some bitter songs at your bow

(Poem based on  feelings which my father expressed, when I met him after demise of my beloved grandffather)

Happy Bday

Innumerable people come in our lives, stay for some period and then physically leave the place but some of them still continue to live in us because they belong to the esteemed class of teachers. Among those "Architects of my Life", there was one such person, whose Birthday is today but i can't wish him, because physically he left this world five months back. He has been a teacher, a friend, a moral builder, a spiritual awakener............ everything for me. If he would not have been in my life, specially in the early years of childhood, possibly I would also have been running in the rat-race of earning money ignoring the stark deprivation which people around us in different parts of the world are facing. Prof. Channiwala was not wrong when he asked my parents that he often wondered that there must be some other great teacher also behind this student of mine . Channiwala sir wanted to him, but then it couldn't happen....

My vocabulary doesn't have words for expressing my gratitude to the enlightened soul.
Down the years in my life, If I will be able to do something worthwhile for the suffering masses across the world, it would be my greatest guru-dakshina to  this "Architect of my Life" who has in one way or the other made me realize the essence of life.
Happy Bday Nanaji

Vidharbha Farmers Suicide

As they say, problems are often blessings in disguise, (might be an optimistic view of looking at things), loosing Jharkhand project and what all followed aftermath started a new chapter. Somnath Sir (VP of the organization i m working with & next one in the list of Architect's of my life) gave a free hand to evolve the development projects which i intend to do, and so the journey has begun again!!.
Most probably immediate step would be to devise some support program in Vidharbha. I was reading through the reports of farmers suicide and factors leading to it, got reminded of the "Narayanpur Express" simulation game during IRMA induction. That simulation game had  touched me from within, when as a farmer with 2 acres of land and one buffalo with 4 members to feed under the vagaries of pest attack, uncertain rain and variable subsidy  policy of the government, with my partner in the game Samantha we had to sell  more than half of the land at the end of imaginary 3 years of the game. I felt very miserable selling the land which was the only asset in the game for me as a farmer but then that's what farmers face in reality which was just a 4-5 hour game for us. While reading through the suicide cases of Vidharbha,  misery and vulnerability of their life appeared vividly, but as promised to Somnath sir, this time tears are withheld within the heart to ignite the cause v are striving for.

Future is yet to unfold

The thursday

This thursday(24th sept), I shouldn't say was a bad day but indeed I can't call it a good day too. Our Jharkhand rural electrification project was lost, due to some changes in bureaucratic circle in the ministry at the last stage of approval. Loosing or getting a project funded is part and parcel for all not-for-profit organizations, but then this project could have positively impacted lives of some 500 odd families in the two villages, children in these villages would have got light to study in the night (day time  they have to support their parents on field or in forest), some local enterprise (wheat four mill/ rice dehusking) would have come up with the electricity in place, rabi crops could have been possible with irrigation ................ but all this now got delayed with this....till we get some other donor to support the project.

I might sound pessimistic but at times I feel very suffocated, we are witnessing the problem, with some professional training (thanks to IRMA) and bit of experience evolved after discussing with the rural community we develop some solution but then we have to sit helpless till it fits in the policy agenda of donors. (now which has tilted to climate change issues).....

Was just thinking about alternatives to this... the buzzword these days are social enterprises..as a panacea to this dependence on donor.. but the way its being driven makes me feel ..it has got too much of enterprise and social is somewhere lost... young entrepreneurs r meddling into as it seems to be an easy option for establishing their ventures on the name of social...(i m sorry if i sound offensive but i think these social entrepreneurs should really ask their conscience how much is really social)
Got reminded of the e first page of our TAU in Managing Cooperatives course, where Dr. Kuriens (for those who are not familiar with this name- Amul and White revolution are credited to him/) statement which meant "Till date I have not found any better alternative form of organization than co-operatives to really involve people and uplift their socio-economic status..........."
But then setting up co-operatives in naxal affected areas (co-ops have to have democratically elected functionaries) of India or civil war affected areas of sub-saharan africa demands a lot..

Newer structures of producer company also have not shown much promise......
.....Quest is still on.........Some solution has to be found out......as we say at IRMA..
."If  we won't..... who will ?"

7th Experiment contd..

As discussed in last post, we (Winrock- the ngo with which i m working currently) have put of a decentralized power plant which provides electricity to the village and gets fuelled by seeds from Jatropha plant.

I will be sharing one of the most amazing experience which i got while discussing with the villagers here . In all the villages i have been, my focus has been to ascertain ownership feeling of the project by the village community. This project has been an altogether different experience.

While discussing with the villagers, i tried to elicit the sense of ownership and asked them "whose power plant is this" and to my surprise they said (in chattisgariya....one of our village representative helped me in understanding what he said) its ours-all villagers , i interrogated further and in order to confuse them i said how can it be yours..it should be of winrock or operators or government...one of them replied "साहब , इस प्लांट को लगवाने में हमने सहयोग दिया, जत्रोफा का पौधा हमारे श्रम दान से लगा, हम बीज इकठ्ठा करके देते हैं तब बिजली पैदा होती है और उस बिजली से हमारे घर में लाइट आती है, तब तोह ये हमारा ही हुआ न"
Needless say this is what is the ideal state any development intervention seeks to attain where the beneficiary's get the ownership sense of the project.

"Rekindling the dreams" continues.............................

7th Experiment -"Rekindling the dreams"

7th Experiment begins tomorrow.

When sun sets, the kingdom of darkness rises in close to one lakh villages of the country. Few years back, Ranidehra village in Kabirdham district of Chattisgarh used be one of the representatives of the unspoken and unlighted lives of people in such remote areas. Situation would have been the same today if people in the village and their Panchayat representatives had not shown willingness to join in one of the unique experiments in the field of rural electrification. With a firm faith on local villagers capability to initiate, organize and manage resources, Winrock the NGO I currently working with, envisioned a decentralized electrification power plant for the village to be fuelled using straight Jatropha oil which was never attempted before, either within, or outside the country . The objective of the pilot initiative was to demonstrate the technical and financial viability of running a small decentralized power plant using non-edible vegetable oil as fuel in place of conventional diesel to provide rural electricity.

This project within one year has to be transferred back to rural community for self management which is the ideal situation for any NGO before it removes itself from a project.

Addressing local issues in organizing people, raising capacity of the people to take ownership of the power plant, and most importantly, the linkage between access to energy and the improvement in the quality of life for the villagers have been attempted with utmost commitment . Ownership by local people is always easier said than done. This study which begins from tomorrow is to identify potential areas which can hinder the long term sustainability of the project and develop suitable mechanisms to tackle them. This becomes more important in the light of fact, that government has asked us to replicate this project in 5 villages in Jharkhand.

More-over focus will be on benefit mapping for the local populace thereby giving inputs for policy on rural electrification

Fully congnizant that we can't become sun to light lives but we can atleast become a small lamp.

Let's hope the lamp "Rekindles the dreams"

The telephone under the table

One telephonic conversation shaked my beliefs towards the cause of development. I had to put seriuous questions is it really possible the environment which is prevalent....well I won;t keep the suspense prolonged..........

We had sent a proposal for preparing master plan for solar city Moradabad. On the day of decision, I received a telephone call from Municipal Corporation of the city and person on the other side initially asked some technical questions related to the project and then indirectly asked for bribe for approving the proposal. For that moment I felt shocked, i thought may be i have heard it wrong ( in the last week's post, i had put high admiration for the municipal corporation officers of Dehradun) and asked him to repeat wat he said.....and just that;'s the end, he recieved nice scolding from me and the headset hanged and I knew our proposal was now rejected but I was very happy that atleast credibility of our NGO remained intact.

I don't know whatever best efforts one may put in for improving the lives of downtrodden, presence of such people in the systems will defeat all our endeavours. I am clueless. Someone will have to take a crusade against this "The telephone call under the table"............But Who .....The immediate saviour which our mind creates is we will need some authority to stop this, I hold a slightly different view.

I think answer lies within us. No Crusade (whether by PM or investigating agencies) will work unless it comes from common mass like us. We need to firmly resolve for day today small acts where if not all most of us fall prey to incognitively.

We need to commit to OURSELF that we won;t in anycase give bribe to

* TC in train for confirming the ticket, * Traffic personal for savings some 50-100 odd bugs *getting the LPG cylinder through black .........................I need not elaborate.

The Crusade must begin at the personal level............

Afterall its governor's oath ceremony.

Dehradun-Solar City Master Plan- This is the first full fledged assignment now about to complete in my first 4 month stint at Winrock.
Project as regards to its goals is very ambitious and aims at meeting 10% electricity demand through renewables and energy conservation measures. In almost all cities specially in northern India average power cut is around 2-3 hours which is bound to increase unless some measures are taken up and when this is the condition of cities, villages are even worse.

We were given a task to prepare a master plan which will incorporate energy planning and implementation mechanism. The whole process of preparing this plan revealed several dynamics which prevail across. Most important among these is the removal of bias against government servants. To my surprise i found few people in nagar nigam dehradun who are pushing things and intend to do a good job. Infact city engineer used to sit late till 7:30.
I was wondering if there are good change makers (even though few) why the process is slow. Possibly the last day of the visit, today, gave the answer. Municipal Commissioner and City Engineer had been trying for arranging a meeting with some other departments from where we can get more inputs for energy planning. Initially the date for the said meeting was 3rd, then got shifted to 4th and finally to 6th..thereby extending my stay here. About today they were pretty sure, but out of the blow came another hammer which struck everyone.
My Goodness "His Majesty, Governor had to take oath today", so all government officials had to make arrangements for the ceremony and therefore our meeting with those government officials never happened. I also couldn't;t afford to extend the trip beyond today due to my other assignments.
I dont intend to say that oath ceremony should not be there, infact Governor is the constitutional head of the state. My only contention is, in a country where have so many things in line to bring about improvement and where there are just few committed people to bring those changes, can we afford such pomp and show. Since I was privileged enough to have direct access to higher officials my problem was possibly minuscule, but i wonder there may be many people whose most urgent task's would have got stuck up and they cannot raise a voice also because "

Afterall its governor's oath ceremony.

Was That Really Bad?

Preface

What is a weed? Waldo said “It's the plant whose virtues are not been identified yet”. With a belief that same holds true for we, human beings we present this book. All of us are created unique and have some or other qualities often hidden and unknown to self. When we read through history books we find some individuals who have left an indelible mark on the pages of time. Were they different?, Yes they were, infact as all of us are, only thing they did was they identified this difference, this uniqueness and excelled in it. Most importantly they used their so-seeming failures as stepping stones for success. We analyzed lives of such people and found that most often than not they all hold some common life philosophies which strengthened them when they appeared in the midst of losing everything. Assuming ourselves like weeds whose qualities are yet to be deciphered, we thought of creating a “life-lesson book” which can serve as both as a fertilizer and pesticide for revealing the wonders this weed can do for the world. Someone said “The opposite of talking isn't listening; the opposite of talking is waiting”. Therefore we decided to create a script which interacts with you while you read, which gives you chance to analyze your own life incidents with the illustrative stories and keeps you as close to reality as possible. Hence we present before you not just a “Self-Help Book” but a “Self-Help Workbook”.

If you have seen the movie “Forest-Gump” you would easily recall “My Momma always said life was like a box of chocolates… you never know what you are gonna get.” We at times label certain events as “bad” as they didn't happen, the way we wanted them. We cry, shout back and mourn over such “bad” incidents. The failure in an exam, defeat in a game, losing an election, spoiling of business, death of a dear-one, missing of an important appointment or could be anything “bad” we can think of.

Life moves ahead and we find that so seeming bad incident shapes some important incident in later part of our life. The learning, the experience, the frustration of the “bad” moment somewhere down the line becomes a source of moving ahead. This book is all about connecting these so-seeming bad incidents and facilitating you understand that these all were actually blessing in disguise.

Before we begin our journey, let us set the platform for you. The two anchors “Chirag” & “Rachana” bring about life stories of six old friends who meet each other in an alumni reunion and share their life experiences. These friends in a subtle sense had been following what they call as “WHHR” “Whatever Happens, happens for reason”. The two anchors Chirag and Rachana will gradually compare, analyze and help you evolve the principles of life in the chapter-series called “Manthan” interwoven across the life stories of these friends. The flow of chapters is very scientifically designed. First two chapters share life stories where we will see how belief in WHHR led two of these friends come out of tragic situations and transform their lives. Third chapter analyzes life stories of these two friends from psychological point of view. It shows how our thought constructs restrict us from acting upto full potential and lead to frustration and despair. We will see how WHHR physiologically helps us recognize these hindering thought constructs and pushes us ahead with a rejuvenated energy. Fourth chapter shares life story of another key member of the group. The role of WHHR in his life is analyzed through basic concepts of life energy philosophy and this lets us understand how WHHR is scientifically true. Fifth & Sixth chapter present the life stories of the remaining two members and reflect how WHHR connects for progress of our lives in spiritual sense.

Just try to reflect some (so-seeming) bad incident in your life and for a moment assume it didn't happen, do you find some of your great achievement or happiness obtained at later phase of life being obliterated. Life and all incidents, people whom we meet, problems we face & opportunities we receive all have some forbearing on our future course of action. At times the forbearing turns the entire course of life. Let's jot down those incidents in this workbook and “Try to join dots of life working backwards”.

May be next time when you feel like mourning over some incident you may like to recall “Was that really bad?” and you will shout at Murphy who said “If everything seems to be going well, you have obviously overlooked something”.

Happy Reading Ahead !!!!

Arun Pandey & Sharda Gautam

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

We are looking publishers for this book whose preface u read just now, would be grateful if you can give co-ordinates of anyone whom you know or aware of

Dr. Kurien and Mr. Jyoti Basu

Mr. Jyoti Basu (Long term Chief Minister of West Bengal) and Dr. Kurien (Father of Indian White Revolution) both have been suffering from illness since long time. I was just swapping over the news channels. “When Mr. Jyoti Basu was taken to hospital, when he was sent back to home, which all doctors are taking care of him at home…….and what not was shown in detail. On the other hand Dr. Kurien (88) little younger than Mr. Basu (96) was admitted in critical condition in Bombay and now at his daughter’s home in Chennai didn’t find a few seconds spot on any of the news channels.

I don’t know what contribution Mr. Basu has made to the country or to West Bengal as the longest serving chief minister of West Bengal (people from this state might be able to tell) for making it developed (either in industrial or in social terms) that his illness deserved so much attention of media but I do know and I am sure people who have even a bit of awareness about “Bharat” (different from India) know that Dr, Kurien had been instrumental in making the country which earlier imported milk as self reliant and one of his dream organization Amul is rated among top 21 milk producer’s organization in the world. He has spent his whole life creating farmer’s organizations so that MNC’s are not able to rob rural populace of their due share.

I don’t intend to compare the two people (nor I deem myself capable of) nor I intend to criticize the media (afterall it’s a reflection of viewers choice !! ) but I do sincerely feel that if someone from media group (tv or newspaper) reads blog this do try to give a little space to the living Crusader of India’s post freedom development.

today

Yesterday I completed my first 3 months in the development sector and tomorrow will be completing the quarter century of life.

Was just looking back in an attempt to join the dots.

Life till now had been very comforting with if's and buts of health problems. With whatever dreams i took the voyage in the ocean of social work i feel if not good but atleast it has got a decent start. Recently had a talk with one of my colleague at NIT-Surat Subodh Tyagi, he remarked that -sharda i don;t know much about the things but atleast u have been able to pursue wat u dreamt while many had to leave on the way. I think Almighty has been gracious enough to support me with people whom i call as "Architects of my life" to enable me in this "experiment with reforms".

Future is uncertain- i still don;t know what good i will be rendering to the society at large and specially the sub-saharan africans, but as of now trying to evolve mechanisms for making rural community based organizations sustainable. Gradually more things will unfold specially with the rural electrification assignment in jharkhand and while doing socio-economic life cycle assesment of different alternate interventions across 6 states.

Lets keep the fingers crossed.......

Moving on with mission and as we say in IRMA.... if we won't ............. who will..

I hope, one day, I too have a chance

Suvendu Roy of Titan Industries shares his inspirational encounter with a rickshaw driver in Mumbai: ----------------------------------------------------------------- Last Sunday, my wife, kid, and I had to travel to Andheri from Bandra. When I waved at a passing auto rickshaw, little did I expect that this ride would be any different. As we set off, my eyes fell on a few magazines (kept in an aircraft style pouch) behind the driver's back rest. I looked in front and there was a small TV. The driver had put on the Doordarshan channel. My wife and I looked at each other with disbelief and amusement. In front of me was a small first-aid box with cotton, dettol and some medicines. This was enough for me to realise that I was in a special vehicle. Then I looked round again, and discovered more - there was a radio, fire extinguisher, wall clock, calendar, and pictures and symbols of all faiths - from Islam and C hr istianity to Buddhism, Hinduism and Sikhism. There were also pictures of the heroes of 26/11- Kamte, Salaskar, Karkare and Unnikrishnan. I realised that not only my vehicle, but also my driver was special. I started chatting with him and the initial sense of ridicule and disbelief gradually diminished. I gathered that he had been driving an auto rickshaw for the past 8-9 years; he had lost his job when his employer's plastic company was shut down. He had two school-going children, and he drove from 8 in the morning till 10 at night. No break unless he was unwell. "Sahab, ghar mein baith ke TV dekh kar kya faida? Do paisa income karega toh future mein kaam aayega." We realised that we had come across a man who represents Mumbai – the spirit of work, the spirit of travel and the spirit of excelling in life. I asked him whether he does anything else as I figured that he did not have too much spare time. He said that he goes to an old age home for women in Andheri once a week or whenever he has some extra income, where he donates tooth brushes, toothpastes, soap, hair oil, and other items of daily use. He pointed out to a painted message below the meter that read: "25 per cent discount on metered fare for the handicapped. Free rides for blind passengers up to Rs. 50.” My wife and I were struck with awe. The man was a HERO! A hero who deserves all our respect. Our journey came to an end; 45 minutes of a lesson in humility, selflessness, and of a hero-worshipping Mumbai, my temporary home. We disembarked, and all I could do was to pay him a tip that would hardly cover a free ride for a blind man. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- I hope, one day, I too have a chance to meet Mr Sandeep Bachhe in his auto rickshaw: MH-02-Z-8508.

Why do we do so?

Scene:1

Mohan along with his colleague was returning back from office. Suddenly the cellphone of his colleague's rang and on the other side was his son who requested him to bring a set of color pencils. His colleague requested Mohan to get a set of color pencils from the nearby shop. Mohan bought the pencils and gave back to his colleague. His colleague took out wallet and was about to give him money to which Mohan politely refused saying its just 30 rupees, no issues.

Scene:2

Next day, Mohan had to go to a nearby water park for outing, since his bike had some trouble, so he thought to hire a rickshaw. One rickshaw fellow was going to the same side, Mohan stopped him and asked "Bhaiyya kitna paisa logo water park chalne ka". "40 rupayee de dena sahab" replied the rikshawala. "Aree 40 rupee bahut jyada bol rahe ho, wahan toh bas 20 rupaye me jaate hain" answered back Mohan. The conversation contiued for a while and finally they settled for a fare of 30 rupees.

Comment:

In the first scene Mohan let go Rs.30 very politely even when he knew that his colleague can afford to give the money but possibly because of etiquette he denied taking the money and in the scene 2 we find that. He argued with the rickshaw for a sum of Rs. 10, which possibly for richshaw fello would have been atleast 10% of the day's earning.

Whether we notice it or not we all replace Mohan in  the two scenes but never wonder why we do so when we take a richshaw we argue for 10-15 rupees, when we buy vegetables we try to get the price reduced by 4-5 rupees whereas with our colleagues and friends on the name of socialism we spend 500-1000 odd rupees without giving a second thought. 

WHY can't we be more generous with these people for whoom the small amount of money matters more ?

BAD News

In the morning, i switched on the TV for hearing  news, by chance my room partner here at gurgaon, woke up early morning and and while he was lying down on the bed heard the news for a while and then said "ye subah subah kya marne-maarne wali kahani laga rakhi, put some song channel", i was about to respond to him but then resisted from saying anything. I realized he was not wrong in his instantaneous remark. Everyday what NEWS everyone of us get whether we pick up a newspaper or listen to a news channel is full of all negative news.

I was just wondering if we can start publishing a  monthly newspaper or a newsletter atleast at the beginning and publish the good work which is being done across the country by individuals, organizations and government officials so that an option of "positive news only" can be created.

Those of you, who had been following this blog might recall an earlier attempt of e-newsletter "Samaaj" which was unfortunately discontinued due bit hectic schedule of studies at IRMA.

Now when we propose to restart ... I think this should  not only limited as e-newsletter but also as a monthly regular published newsletter. This obviously will have to be a "Not- for Profit" newsletter and would need dedicated volunteers

Team which at this moment which I can think of would be needed is

1) 4 Volunteers for news collection

2) 2 Volunteers for Editing

3) 2 Volunteers for spreading the E-newsletter across the avaialble blogs/ or other public discussion platforms

Later on when we are able to develop resources, we can begin up the monthly Published newsletter for which someone can volunteer to prepare a proposal "How we can go about it- legalities invloved in it, What kind of resources both financial and human we will need.. etc"

If u feel interested do drop in ur response

 

And I take reins from here

And I take reins from here

Before coming IRMA I was a real fighter

In quest of selfish pursuits a true warrior

But now the fighter, the warrior is lost somewhere

And I take reins from here

IRMA taught me its not necessary to fight

But its necessary to strive

Strive not for self only

Because Almighty didn’t me make me lonely

The question still fresh “Why we are here and why they are there”

And I take reins from here

IRMA sent me closer to the root to make me grounded

And the realities which I saw made me astounded

The quest still remains but not for money or fame

The quest still remains but not limited to selfish aim

The fighter has gone and the striver came

The striver has a rejuvenated soul and a new name

Let time take its own toll and unfold pages of future

And I take reins from here 

A feeble man like me has nothing more to offer

But the promise to strive for “cause” IRMA ingrained in me to work for

Everything else atleast at this moment remains dizzier

So accept Good-Bye from this “Barefoot Manger”

And I take reins from here.