The Common Man

Was bit free today and was thinking about what next in Disha. While looking into some stuff on similar past experiments, opened up my hard drive and found a documentary movie on the common man's life and watched it 7th time.  Every time I watch this movie on his life or read an article on him, a shivering  appears from within. Don't know why is it but this 'common man' had always been an underlying inspiration for me in whatever I do or I plan to do.

Whenever the journey appears tiring,  I read about the relentless struggle of almost 3 decades for what he stood for. The struggle which many of us think we know, but its certainly much beyond that what we know. We possibly weave our thoughts on one dimension of what we see but he weaved all possible dimensions in what we fondly recall as struggle for freedom of the country. Without any 'adarsh' reverence or citing him as the reason for freedom of the country, I see him more as a human-being and fall in love with the amazing creation of Almighty.

Whenever thoughts appear to encroach my steps and question my ability to take up those steps or the selfish pursuits try to drag my steps back from the journey, his words time and again come for rescue. NCERT text books often quoted these wonderful words as his "talisman" which I have tried to use in judging all my steps whenever in dilemma.

Whenever I start feeling lonely and the path appears dingy, his writings and unending faith on not fearing anything except 'doing wrong to someone' give the courage from within. Other day after returning back from Siriapala village, one of the field staff person "Divakarji" was asking me how I got into this stuff of 'apparent' rural development. I couldn't reply ( or may be I am tired of replying same question), but perhaps he already knew from Bibek about my past in the automobile industry and was therefore keen to know why the change happened? Did parents not oppose, Did I not fear? I told him, I feel good in what I am doing and till the time I am not doing wrong I don't fear anything. And then I realized, what impact this common man actually casted on subconscious thinking 

This man of weak physique, without a charisma on his face, with no royal/political backdrop, a below average student and an unsuccessful lawyer possibly will continue to amaze me with an example what a 'common man' can do. No hats off, no wonderful remarks just amazed.


PS: For those who don;t know this common man, world calls him by the name of Mahatma Gandhi

Fear

When the journey towards one's dreams- one's aspiration begins, it doesn't begin with thunder. It's always a slow movement of air which keeps on accumulating in a small space called 'heart' keeps churning within thin long domains called 'veins' echoing the ear drums from within, putting the sight off and vision on. This journey is unique because it trespasses the fear of fear, there is nothing in the world which can penetrate into that small space of heart and break open the thin long veins where dream flows across. Joy and Struggle which accompany the traveler move him forward away from the past and move him backward away from the future. The traveler starts living in "now". Fear needs a time dimension to exist. It exists before a fighter begins his fight, it might exist after fighter stops his fight, but it can never exist while fighter is on the fight. Travelers who travel in the direction of their dreams are constant fighters, they don;t have a past where they didn't fight and they don't have a future where the fight will stop, they move in constant state of fight. Vanishing of this time dimension creates revolutionaries, freedom fighters, poets, writers, nation builders and every uncommon common being who is unique in his own field. Time keeps moving from past to future, but the traveler doesn't feel this passage. The dreamer lives only in one dimension and that is now, the dreamer sees only  one thing and that is his dream, every nerve,every neuron and every heartbeat just says one thing and that's the sound of dream. No matter what circumstances are, no matter how strong is the fear of failure, no matter how unrealistic and irrational each step appears, the traveler doesn't stop. External circumstances can push the physical person out but it cannot put off the spirit, the will to move on. Fear of failure, fear of criticism, fear of being left lonely vanishes when one starts this journey. If at all there is fear, the fear is of most of us not leaving the shore of fear and starting this journey.


Have we left the shore of fear?

Except me

We may blame, we may criticize and we may hate others for the situations we are now in, for the phase we are passing through and for the bad shape of the destiny of our dreams. As intellectual beings, we may furnish "thousand and one" excuses to show to the world that "except me" everyone else is responsible for our bad times, except "my sincerity of efforts", except "my earnest desire to fulfill dream" everyone else is responsible. And we may do that with utmost sophistication and tears in eyes that whole world feels that look here is a guy who wanted to do "xyz" but situations didn't let him complete.

But is that a reality?

Is it that those who could do, were granted special luck by Almighty? or Is it that world was more favorable to them and provided them red carpet welcome to accomplish their dream? or Is it that their dreams were very ordinary and that's why they apparently had no or "little" hurdle to cross? or Is that they didn't go through any pain or suffering?

When we sit back after "trying to run away" from "self" we find that "except me" no one else is responsible. This is the moment when we start saying "Accept me" for the faults. None in the world was granted his/her dream accomplishment on the tick of the clock. Possibly no one in the world had silver feathering all the time in the journey. It's just that those who didn't wait for the the "semicolon" to become "full stop", who didn't wait for the "excuses" to make them "excused with their dreams", who didn't let the anguish over "situations" to get "settled with situations" could finally do it.

And its not that those who did that -realized it on the first day. Everyone goes through the "except me mode" with the only difference that those who realize this  before the "time" excuses them from their "dreams" are the one's who ensure that time keeps sharing about them candidly that they didn't say "Except me" but "Accept me" and therefore they achieved what they aspired.

Are we "realizing"?

The Image

Moments come in life when "life" puts us at a juncture where it tests the sincerity of our dreams, our conviction, our capacity to remain "tugged" with what we had believed-with what we had preached and for what we had begun our little steps.

The problems with which we get occupied, the unfathomable hindering elements in realization of our dream- start bringing in a feeling that possibly  almighty sitting somewhere on this earth or on heaven doesn't want this dream of ours to get converted into reality. Thoughts start creeping that possibly our capacity is limited, our resources are bound by someone else who has either provided us employment or has given  support  as a team mate, our authority to take decision for the dream lies with someone else, the circumstances in which we are in are possibly  not congenial to carry on with the dream. Intellect starts saying that we may take up this dream sometime later when "everything & everything" is perfectly all right. .

 And then we stand to decide, "the decision" which which will not just shape completion or non-completion of this dream but will create an "image", " an image of self" and "within self", the image which will always remind us being a "quitter". This image may perhaps will never be visible to other's but everytime when we take up a new dream- it will always float before our eyes.

This image will be so treacherous that even if one want's to run away, one wants to pass on the buck to someone else,  there will be none to blame, there will be no excuse to give, there will be none to listen except one and that will be "self". This moment says not get befuddled with "Apparent" limitations of resources,capabilities, team or circumstances, there was none and there will never be one situation when "everything and everything" will be perfect to begin the dream. There  is just one way, one moment and that one way and the one moment is to carry on because our heart says "Its My Dream" and therefore "My responsibility" to "Live it".

Are we seeing the "The Image"?

The Call !!

There comes a time in life, when you decide to remove all the chains which bind you from achieving your dreams. When the higher calling becomes more vibrant than refusal of permission from relatives/seniors/friends. When you see that for the larger goal, steps are to be taken now even if it means breaking some of the norms, some of the rules and some of the well established customs of the society where you live in, place where you work in, school where you study in. And possibly breaking of these rules is not just for breaking them but for establishing the newer ones which match with the direction of attainment of the dream. Then comes the moment when you actually break the bond of fear which has been inhibiting you from taking the step which your conscience says right. And this moment is very special for you, because once you put in your steps, there is no returning back, there is nothing to gain and nothing to loose beyond because there is just one thing and that's your dream. Once you put in your first step, you enter in a world where even if you are not a genius, you will still be the best because your brain, your heart and your every neuron works so efficiently that no one else in the world can ever do.

And the surprising part is this call  doesn't limit to you, it transcends across the humanity because such moments come in everyone's life, few think of taking the call and even a lesser number possibly are actually able to take the final call. But those who take it, those who persevere for it till the end are the one's whom humanity remains indebted. It doesn;t matter whether these beings are in academics or sports, media or movies, circus or solitutude, politics or bureaucracy...what matters is  that they leave the legacy which becomes the benchmark for someone who will again take the call in future, if at all.

Are we ready to take "The Call" !!!

11 Legged Understanding

Long vacation about to end, leaving in the afternoon for Delhi.

This time when I had started for my home from Gurgaon, I was highly apprehensive. Fear was obvious, I had to keep myself ready for numerous expected questions & explanations which earlier I had clarified to my parents were now supposed to be shot from my relatives  and sample of questions :) ranging  from "why u didn't rejoin corporate after masters when u had such deep interest in automobiles", "we thought after master's u would be earning more but why do u earn less when your peer group who did graduation along with u is earning more" "why r u wasting ur time on this work" .............. [at times i feel as i hv done a really bad deed that i need to explain myself everytim...may be even a murderer would not be questioned by so many people for his act :( ]

After passing out of IRMA, I had two visits back home but I didn't step out of my home, didn;t meet any of the  relatives, "intentionally". Possibly the fear of explanations stopped me!! . But we being social creatures cannot escape "eternally" from them, though "momentarily" its possible and Now this "momentarily" escaping was over.

Reached home on 19th and 22nd was my cousin's marriage and so meeting the relatives was imperative. For a moment I thought let me not share what I am doing and either remain silent or tell a lie which will avoid all that apparent embarrassment emanating from explaining everything, to some who will understand and to many who won't.

 On the way to Jabalpur where marriage of my cousin was scheduled I was accompanied by one of my distant cousin whom I met possibly first time. She is studying in kindergartern. To hide my anxiety, I started chatting with her and asked what all she  learnt in "nursery" and what's new in "KG-1" and like a parrot she narrated everything. And then among the numerous questions on alphabets and numbers which I bombarded on her, one was how many legs we have and came a stunning reply- "11". I was kind of shocked, I tried to explain her, its not 11 but 2. She replied see my miss told me when we put "1" on the side of "1" it becomes "11" and our legs are like that, in Nursery it was like 1 and 1 make 2 but now in KG-1 "1" and "1" make "11". My goodness, she was right in her own way, but our age-old mathematical and conventional mindset can never accept this fact that we have 11 legs instead of 2 and so I continued the argument. She like a valiant fighter stood firm on her view. Discussion which followed must have appeared very childish except for the fact when she said " See  my miss told that 11 is bigger than 2, if one leg has pain or is removed, we will have to walk on support of stick or someone's shoulder and if our legs were only 2, removing one should not make walking so tough but since we have 11 legs removing 1 makes us "budha" (old), ". 

I was speechless, who else other than me knows how i spent last two and half years with those recurrent acute leg cramps, when Suman, Shashank, Sajid, Rajat and many other friends used to shoulder me. I accepted her argument and so as reader u also better accept "we have 11 legs" :) or else she might complain to her miss!!!.

This "11 legs" saga gave a big lesson. She in her own logic knew she was right. She was convinced with her current understanding and there was nothing wrong in the way she viewed the numbers, she might later on contradict herself but that would be her own new "experiment" and a new joy of learning ( or Unlearn in word's of Prof. Raju). My lost faith on my convincing skills got resurrected and I decided to face the questions and answer everything to the best of my "11 legged" understanding and today when I am leaving home, I am happy, leaving few, most of the relatives are now convinced with the decision and some even intend to support the cause.

तेरे सपनों कि उडान अभी बाक़ी है
अभी तो केवल हार हुई है, जीत का असली मुकाम अभी बाकी है


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PS: For those awaiting news on personal front, Its "almost" final, in a few days from now when "almost" gets removed and only final remains will share the news with everyone!!.

Small Piece of Paper

Normally we never remember each day of the calender, but there are some dates, which never fade away from memory and even when year column changes in calender, the date "flashes back" in mind.

3 years back,31st May, I just signed a "small piece of paper", looked at my workstation and with a heavy heart proceeded towards HR section. HR Section was possibly not more than 50-60 steps from my seat, but with each step  that piece of paper was becoming heavier.

For a moment I stopped and questioned myself. Am I taking a right decision? This apparently "small piece of paper" was going to change the course of my life. Automotive sector, possibly the most glamorous field of mechanical engineering was about to get away from me. Submission of that paper would move me out of "corporate world" and very vividly reduce down the numbers which appear at the end of every month in my bank account. More than reducing the incoming numbers in the bank, there would be a strong debit in the form of education loan emi. Journey after this would be in a totally unknown territory and that added more to worries.
I stopped, was about to turn back. This was perhaps the first and last time when I questioned my own decision of moving to rural development field, decision which was not acceptable to my parents then, not acceptable to many of friends and well wishers. All the arguments which my parents gave for opposing this decision of leaving GM and moving to IRMA, came fore-front. My friends comments that you are not just leaving  GM but you are also losing something more than that. They added one is very lucky to get project of one's choice, department of one;s choice and over and above that Boss (Atri Sir) who is more than a friend and I had all three.

But it seems, there are moments when rationality looses all its importance and that was the same moment.

Prof. Channiwala's (my mentor) words which he said while convincing my father on phone about 10 days back before I was supposed to submit my resignation that "I need 10 years of life of your son. Its May 2007, we will talk back in May, 2017 and I am sure that this decision  will make both of us feel proud".
I took a deep breath and decided to follow my heart.

3 years have passed by, 2 very worthy years at IRMA, which have literally transformed me and now with Disha Cooperative evolving in much better way than I dreamt, have a feel that something positive will start appearing soon in the lives of people of Mayurbhanj.
Seven years at hand when Prof. Channiwala will be back on phone, speaking to my father. Let time disclose what it has in its next chapters of my life

ना  हार  से  ना  जीत  से
बस  केवल  एक  उम्मीद  से
वक़्त के पन्नों पर कुछ लिखता मिटाता हूँ
गीत नया गाता हूँ 

And he Said

I was sitting idly, bit sad and as a natural humane reaction, started complaining to self about all problems which have engulfed my life. Someone stopped by to listen

"I have so many problems all around, I don't have big bungalow , I don't have a car................... and the list went on"

He listened to all my complaints very patiently

And He said "I fully agree with you, can I take 10 minutes from your busy life to tell you something"

I didn't want to talk to this stranger but somehow agreed

And he said "While we discuss this can u keep a pen, a notebook, a calculator and if possible a PC with internet"

Amused by the things he asked me to keep for conversation specially the last one, I said "ok done..all things ready"

And he said " U have so caring parents, so affectionate sisters, so supportive cousins and other relatives with you, who share all your pain and discomfort, more often even by sacrificing their own happiness because they want to see you happy"

I said "Yes, This is true, So what, everyone in the world has this"

And he said "Can you google it, how many children in the world are born who never see either their mother or father or both? I don;t need the statistics, you can write down the same in your notebook."

I quickly browsed through some pages on internet and the number's I must admit made me "shocked"

Looking at me he said "So what value u can assign to this wealth which you have"

I immediately asked "Which currency your want Rupee, Dollar, Euro, Pound, Yen...."

And he said "Hold on, If i tell you to choose one currency it will limit our discussion in the boundary of one or other man-made nationality. Let value be just value, just give some value which comes to your mind"

After thinking for a while I said ok let me put 10 million.

And he said "Ok then, we move ahead. You have got all body parts intact, you need not depend upon other's for performing your basic chores. You have an average brain to help you read, write and think. You went to school, did graduation from some good college at surat, did master's from another good institute in anand. So now you are a postgraduate"

I said "Yes, This is true, So what everyone in the world gets this"

And he said "Can you google it, how many children in the world are born able bodied. How many among them who are able bodies get even primary education leave graduation post graduation from some good college?  I don;t need the statistics, you can write down the same in your notebook."

I quickly browsed through some pages on internet and the number's which i saw I must admit again made me "shocked"

Looking at me he said "So what value u can assign to this wealth which you have"

I brainstormed did all cost-benefit analysis and said let me put 7 million

And he said "You have got a roof overhead, even if its a rented one room, you have got some money in your bank account which helps you meet all your basic needs and you are born in a free country with relatively responsible government which has arranged some form of  public transport which helps you move around"

I said "Yes, This is true, So what everyone in the world gets that"

And he said "Can you google it, how many people in the world have shelter in a minimal form which can save them from heat, cold and rain. How many of them have this "little money" in their bank account which helps them meet their basic needs? How many of them are born in the "civil or cross country war torn country" How many of them get this public transport to reach in time to a hospital in case of medical emergency.?  I don;t need the statistics, you can write down the same in your notebook."

I quickly browsed through some pages and the number's I must admit again  made me "shocked"

Looking at me he said "So what value u can assign to this wealth which you have"

I thought for a while and just wrote some random number 999
..
........
...................................

The discussion went on and by the time 10 minutes were about to end

He looked at his watchsaid " Ok,here we stop... this discussion can go on for many years to come, but since I took only 10 min permission from you, let me stop now. Can u just add upon the numbers which you have assigned"

I took out the calculator and quickly added up (as if I was sitting in my mathematics quiz)..

I said " This sums upto 99 million" and added "See I am not a billionare.."

He said "You know why you are left 1 million short of billion. Its just to ensure that your know that how every million counts in your life. Once you get this realization the remaining 1 million comes as "satisfaction" and that makes you billionaire. Ensure you value all this wealth you have, because everyone in the world is not blessed with such richness"

I had no words.

Sensing my state of mind he said "You know all the while i was trying to listen to your complaint and let you understand your wealth, I missed to bless few people with this Million richness. One such kid is born in a "civil war torn country" in Sub-Saharan Africa, in a minority community , in a low caste family which lives what you people call as "below poverty line", kid is a girl child and unfortunately with limbs crippled from birth. Oh see another kid in naxal affected village of Jharkhand....another in"

Seeing the clearly evident worry which I had on my face about the future  life of the kids..

He said " Don't  worry. Your worrying will not help me. You know why I gave you so many millions of wealth. It's just to ensure that you will share some of this wealth through your care, concern and a genuine support to those whom inpiste of my best efforts I could not bless  with one or other form of this million wealth. Will you do me this favor? Can you atleast reach out that Kid in Sub-Saharan Africa or in the village of Jharkhand who  are left unblessed from this wealth, while I was busy listening you"

Though hesitant but still I said "Yes, I will try my best. But who are you, which place you belong............"

 He smiled and said "Let me not tell my name or else you people will again label me as Hindu, Muslim, Sikh, Jew, Christian etc.... or make me an Indian, Japanese, Izraeli, Iraqi etc,,or thinking that I gave you some enlightenment, some people might start a new religion on my name and again start fighting against each other."

Before I could thank him.

He left a note on my notebook which read "God Bless".and he left

Lost Relations !!

In the morning as a part of my daily habit, I open up my orkut account to convey best wishes to people who have their Birthday.

But today, while I was about to type down "Many happy returns of the day" as we do subconsciously, a shrill went within, my bad memory recalled back that this batch-mate of mine from Surat whom I was about to convey my wishes had passed away 5 months back.

I didn't know what to do, so left his scrapbook as such without writing anything.

We normally tend to take our close friends and relatives for-granted and miss them when they are not near to us or when Almighty takes them away from us.

Earlier people used to keep in touch through those Inland letters and postcards which used to take their own usual "Indian standard time". Don;t know but few known-one's from my grandfather's generation tell that they used to care more, kept in touch with everyone inspite of absence of these mobiles and internet. Now with advent in IT, we hv instant messengers, email and other social networking mediums- the chances of communication have improved- but somehow this "extra" busyness of "something" stops us? Is that true with u also ?

I didn't want this post to sound philosophical, but some questions definitely are worth giving a thought

* There must some 5-6 people in everyone;s life who would be very close to heart. Have we spoken to them in near past? If not, should v not have a word with them may be for a minute today?or R v under an impression that life will surely give another chance tomorrow?

*There might be some 2-3 people who would have inspired us in someway or the other. Did we express our gratitude to them or we r under the pretext that they will understand our unspoken words? May be they are waiting to hear !!!

*Inspite of claims of we being adult, all of us have a child hidden within us, which in moments of distress wants to cry by putting head on someone's shoulder. R v still in touch with those close buddies who shared our moments of sorrow? Over the period, hv our relations becomes formal with them also or do we still share same fondness and can buzz over them to cry out our emotions?

* Have we answered back to all unreplied mails, telephone calls or messages received over cellphone/instant messangers? Or r v presuming that the people who wanted to communicate us when we were busy will never mind our non-reply? Would be a dangerous assumption!!

Let's value them if not more than our work atleast equal to that or else very soon they will become our "Lost Relations"!!!

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 ?"

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

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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

 

Just Think !!!

Merry Christmas

When I hear one of the most fondly quoted statement "Hate sin, not the sinner", I feel  we do have hypocrcy when there comes a similar ground for "Love good acts, not only the good doer". We as a society across the world get swayed away by hero worshipping and most of the times it happens that while we worship the hero, we forget the ethics, the prophecies, the actions that hero spoke about.

Yes !!, This is more special on this Christmas morning. Lord sent his only son Jesus, to spread the message of peace and love for everyone and its just 2000 years back & If one considers sentiments of all communities across the world, this message in one way or other was propogated by Lord Rama, Holy Paigambar, Guru Nanak, Lord Buddha & Mahavira and many other's unnamed who spread the message of humanity.

But when we look around incidents around us it makes our heart sad, the violence, the hatred of one  community against another, fight among nations and within nation........... I feel like questionining "Do we as humanity are actually  worshipping & in a way practicing those noble ideas of love & peace or  are we simply satisfying the formality of worshipping the preachers of these noble ideas and  in real sense have forgotten the cause for which they were here on earth at different point of times and in differen parts of the world".

I still dont have a answer but Every celebration be it Diwali, Id, Christmas, Holi, Gurunanak Jayanti must be making Almighty sad, not becauseGod.Ishwar/Allah doesnt like celebration and worshipping but because the real essence of peace & leave supposed to be propogated by these celebrations is somewhere getting lost. Somewhere we the God's children are at one end respecting our creator but at other end are missing the respect for peace & love he stands for !!!!

Lets along with loving the good doer, love & practice their good acts 

The Journey till now- Life Ahead

Subconsciously, its all like dots of life are joining by themselves.

I had at some corner of my heart feeling to contribute my little efforts for the marginalized & as anyone slightly interested in this would do, I wanted to enter to the civil service.

But as they as "Man proposes God disposes". ALmighty possibly had somethign else in mind. I still remember Prof. (___) came to my hostel room early morning of 18th dec, 2005 and we had a good discussion for about 2 hours. At the end he told me to stop preparing for UPSC, i was bit stunned as i had invested 3 years to this and he was asking me to leave even without giving a single trial of exam. In any case he was among most revered Prof's I had at NIT-Surat. So i told him "Sir I am ready to follow your advice but still I am curious to know why you dont want me to give even a try." His reply was possibly true to a greater extent as he understood " Sharda, i dont doubt your efforts or capability of clearing or not clearing the exam, only issue is whatever you intend to do as civil servant u can do by voluntarily. You r softhearted and you wont be able to fight crime and corruption and I fear you might not do what all u dream now". Innocently i asked him do these Voluntary organizations come for placements. He said here they don't , u take placements in any organization from here and then shift to this field in a year or two.

With this, another dimension got added up. Since the feel was soemwhere true to heart, possibly that's why my steps couldn't restrain myself from teaching kids at the Orphanage in baroda on weekends while continuing my Job at GM. As the days passed i realized, i am possibly getting the inner satisfaction of doing something beyond self, but still i was unable to contibute significantly to life of tose kids. Possibly it needs a full time devotion rather than week-end  task.

 This led me to apply for different ngo's so that i can take social work as a profession, unfortunately none of them called me up even for interview, bit tensed with this i took courage and asked the HR person of one NGO "Why r u not giving a chance for interview-afterwards you can reject me". Their reply was that my socalled profile didnt match with their requirement and i need to change it by going for masters and suggsted IRMA/TISS. Tiss dates were already over by then, fortunately i could apply for IRMA and by God's grace i got admission at this wonderful place (http://shardagautam.blogspot.com/2008/12/why-do-i-love-irma.html)

IRMA had its own deep influence & parents on the other hand didn't want me to join the developemnt world at the cost of socalled career,. Moreso my health trouble also was bothering me at some corner whether i would be able physically able to put some contribution or not.

It seems, this was the first time i got broken down completely and was on the verge of leaving the development thoughts seeign parents firm opposition and my health, But Almighty as always had far better solution which human mind can think of.

The MTS organization, where i m doing MTS, they offered me to join on a project which was a mix of field work & policy development which will not cause much strain to health and on the other hand will enable me to remain in development world. To my utter surprise, parents also don't have any objection (possibly bocz the field rural electrification matches somewhat to my fathers' field of renewable energy :) & to them name winrock doesn't sound like that of NGO for which they don't have high regards :)]

Lets see what future has in store from here. But i am happy that by grace of god, i am still with my dreams of contributing my little efforts to the marginalized & weaker section of the society.

I get reminded of Letter to elder brother Sarat Chandra Bose on September 22, 1920 by Subash Chandra Bose

"You will readily understand my mental condition as I stand on the threshold of what the man-in-the-street would call a promising career.There is much to be said favour of such a service. It solves once for all what is paramount problem for each of us -- the problem of bread and butter.One has not to go face life with risk or uncertainty as to success or failure. But for a man of my temperament who has been feeding on ideas which might be called eccentric -- the line of least resistance is not the best to follow .Life loses half its interest if there is no struggle -- if there are no risks to be taken.The uncertainties of life are not appalling to one who has not , at heart , worldly ambitions. Moreover , it is not possible to serve one's country in the best and fullest manner if one is chained to the Civil Service . In short , national and spiritual aspirations are not compatible with obedience to Civil Service Examinations."