One Year In Delhi & The Learnings Are...................

It has been a year today since I came to Delhi to become a resident/immigrant in this city. When I had left Delhi, I had left it forever, thinking that I would do something in my home state and would not come to Delhi to make a living. But didn’t some wise man say, “Man proposes and God disposes”? So, here I was, again, not being able to do much there in Bihar and returning to Delhi to find a living.

When I came back to Delhi, though I still wanted to work in the field of education at my heart, I just wanted a job and would have been very happy getting any, even if it was to wipe the nose of my boss every hour. The burden f unemployment had been too heavy for the last five months and I just wanted to ‘work’ now.

After coming to Delhi, I had my efforts in place to find a job, but as I was looking for one, opportunity came knocking in the form of Pratham-North India. So, I got an opportunity to do what I wanted to do in Bihar. Once again, the desire to work in the field of education became strong and left my aspirations for a job in IT/engineering. I joined Pratham and it was nice working there for almost one and a half months. Though I left Pratham to join PRS Legislative Research as a LAMP Fellow, I didn’t leave the field of education either through Pratham or Unlearn Formulae. And the time was fun, pure fun!!

Now if you have read this far, you must be wondering, “where is the learning in all this narrative?” so without wasting much of time and internet space, let’s talk about the learning:

·         At times, you might be very low in life and it would be difficult to hang on. You would be urged by the circumstances to choose the easier option and you might choose that. But if you hang on, you probably would come out of any situation.

·         You need to believe in your destiny or karma or whatever you call it. That is the only thing which is your pillar which will give you support at times. And to have faith in your destiny, the first requirement is to be a good human being.

·         You can’t always listen to your parents or the society. They might not let you do what you want to do and what you are meant for.

·         You should not worry about your market value. If you work in whatever field you want to for a considerable period of time, you will raise your market value to the level where you want it to be or where you would have been otherwise.

·         Your body and brain are something which will always remain with you whether you have a career or not, learn to have a connection with them and try to keep them charged and fit. You can’t be happy with a grand career if you are not fit physically and mentally.

·         Last but not the least, the universe always conspires to help you in what you want to do in life. At times, it might test you and the test might be a little harsh sometime, but if you stand by your conviction, you will come out with flying colours.

P.S. One thing which I learnt about this city is that this city is a little weird (may be all cities are with a certain pace to life) and, at times, I feel that I am in a different world when I compare it with my hometown. Sometimes I want to run away from this jungle but, at times, I just miss it!

We Have a Lot of Time! Don't We?

Last week, I went to my bank (no, I don’t own a bank, it actually refers to the bank where I have an account) to get my internet banking password. I was asked by one of the lady to go to assistant manager’s cabin and ask the person sitting there for the same. The moment I went there, he got on to a phone call which lasted for about ten minutes discussing business, haal chal and life. Patiently, I kept waiting for the call to finish and get my password. The moment this assistant manager put the phone back, a guy appeared from nowhere into the cabin, passed on greetings with the manager and they started off another discussion about some transaction which was to be done and the complications arising out of it. And all this while, I was learning banking lessons from these people and thinking “Didn’t I come before this guy?”

And then this bright moment came when my dear Assistant Manager bothered to raise his head and look at me. He asked my purpose of standing there and after knowing it, asked me to wait for two minutes. I sat at the sofa lying nearby and waited. After some 10 minutes, I was waiting and still I kept on waiting. When it went beyond my tolerance limit, I went back to the assistant manager and kept standing there. He again took some time to raise his head and tell me that he will get back to me soon. I was agitated as I had already waited for 25-30 minutes for a password. Finally, he called me and again asked my purpose of my visit. I explained him the purpose which forced him to search for my letter which contained the password. But before he could search he again made a few phone calls and did some data entry in his computer. During this time, he also asked me what I studied and where I was working and why I changed fields.

And after a lot of head hunting, he declared that my papers were not there and actually there is a ‘Madam’ who is the actual Assistant Manger and she will give me the password. He asked me to wait for ‘the’ Madam or come another day. This angered me, which I tried not to show. But when I told him that he kept me waiting for around 35-40 minutes for a single piece of paper and even after that, he was unable to give it to me, he replied by saying “hum to jo customer pehle aayega usi ko dekhenge.”

I decided not to talk to him anymore because that would mean an unnecessary exchange of unpleasant words with him at a time when I was already late for office. I just left the bank premises thinking I am never going to go back to take my password.

P.S. I know I am going back to get my password but this incidence stops me whenever I decide about going to the bank.

Who is a Patriot?

Sixty-four years passed since we lost Bapu. The patron of non-violence was killed by a ghastly act of violence. But when I saw a few status messages today praising Nathuram and then did a little bit of research on net, I was taken aback. How can anyone call someone who killed the ‘Father of the Nation’ as patriot?! Now someone may argue that Bapu was not that great a person as big as he is projected and perceived. Ours is a democracy and we may think whatever we want to and probably say so as well. But the problem arises when we need to know the truth. Who should I believe the ‘Bapu’ supporters or the ‘patriot’ Nathuram supporters?

If I want to believe that it was Gandhiji who was majorly responsible for the division of the country, then it would mean that he was not a patriot and didn’t have any role to play in our independence. Isn’t it? Then who struggled for our independence? Some might put up Bhagat Singh’s and Netaji’s name as real freedom fighters. But they died (or went missing) long before we gained independence. So did freedom come on its own without anyone’s effort? If yes, then why even worship Bhagat Singh and Netaji? Why pay homage to any freedom fighter?

If I want to know the truth, where do I find it from? If I look at the history books, questions would be raised on the authenticity and integrity of those who wrote it. What is the guarantee that anyone who writes books about historical events and developments is not politically inclined? And anyway, history is written by victors, so it again would not be the complete picture. If I talk to someone to find the truth, what is the guarantee that what would be told to me would be pure and unadulterated truth?

The nature of my work says that I can’t trust unauthentic and non-credible sources and work according to them. But then the credible sources are written by someone whose credibility can also be questioned. All this leaves my mind quite perplexed.

I think that every human needs a role model to live and move ahead with life. For some, this role model is present there in the family, some find it in school and some find it outside in the real world. But when everyone around is in the quest of questioning the credibility of every second person for political or personal motifs, where do young people find a true role model? This is a very dangerous situation for us because the youth is going to go haywire in the absence of a role model. And this process of youth distraction has already begun. And we can see this in the increasing number of youth crimes, suicides and other complications.

And while my quest for ‘my’ truth goes on, let me remember Mahatma today for if nothing else, then these beautiful words which he believed in:

Vaishnav jan to tene kahiye je PeeD paraayi jaaNe re 
Par-dukhkhe upkaar kare toye Man abhimaan na aaNe re!

The Dog Stories

A funny thing happened when I was on my way to the office at quarter past eight today (Yes, I came to office before nine today and have successfully managed to publicize it ;-)). On my way to the metro station, I saw a man walking his dog. The dog was well clothed, I guess even more than the man. (Don’t worry that’s not the point of discussion here!). The dog was sniffing wherever it wanted to and this man was quite happy as if the dog were his master dragging him wherever the animal wanted to go (I know calling a dog by the name of an animal may hurt some people but alas, dogs are nothing else but animals). And after a while I saw the dog sniffing a man sleeping on the pavement along the road. I thought that this gentleman would pull the dog back but to my surprise, this man was not bothered about the comfort of the man sleeping. He was happy letting the dog sniff around the poor guy sleeping on the road. It looked as if the man sleeping was some bomb wrapped in garbage and the dog was with the police petrol squad trying to detect a bomb.

The result was as expected, the poor homeless guy work up with a startle. Who would not if being sniffed by a dog while having a nice sleep? And then this hypocrite gentleman, instead of being apologetic of letting to dog sniff anywhere, waved his hands to the poor guy as if saying, “It’s okay, nothing has happened. You can sleep well, it was just a dog.”  Why didn’t this sleeping guy get up and slapped the (so called) gentleman? That would have been a nice lesson.

Another dog incident occurred with me three weeks back when I was going from AIIMS metro station to S J Enclave. On the pavement along the road (Looks as if the dog story happens only on the pavement!), there was a dog resting in the shade of the tree. Since it was already dark and I moved from a brightly lit area into the shade of the tree, I couldn’t sense that there is a dog sitting there. And I stumbled onto the dog and fell down hurting my knees badly. And when I got up, I was blamed by this servant of the dog (or the dog’s owner) for not walking properly. As I could guess, he must have been asked by the dog’s owners to take their son-like dog for a walk and our dog’s servant (or the owners’ servant) let the dog have rest and was busy gossiping with a fruit vendor when all this happened.

What I can’t figure out is why people need to keep dogs! Do they have so much that they need the excess supply of everything to go to an animal? Or are they so bored of life that they need a living creature to entertain them? In any case, can’t they see that there are thousand s of people who remain hungry every day? And for those who say that dogs are there for security purposes, why don’t you hire a watchman and give employment to a person than wasting money on a kutta?

I wish people become more thoughtful so that they realize the difference between a dog and a man and get senses to understand who is more valuable between the two!

P.S. I don’t care whether you have a dog or no! But if you have one, just take care that:

• You don’t send it for walk with your domestic helps. Because they never walk with you ‘son-like’ dog.
• You must take care what your dog is sniffing when you go out with it for a walk.

They Said it!

The following are three quotes picked up from the Times of India dated 25 November, 2011:

“Why should I pay the Rs 15000 crore? …They have given the loan to the earlier government.” – Mamta Banerjee, Chief Minister, West Bengal

“He was slapped? Was he slapped only once?” – Anna Hazare, social activist, initital reaction to attack on Indian Agriculture Minister.

“Anna is mad. I do not drink but that does not mean those who should be treated like this. It is Taliban mindset.” – Gurudas Dasgupta, Communist Party of India Leader reacting to Anna Hazare’s prescription of public flogging for those who drink.

Talking of the first statement, it’s true that the CM of West Bengal has nothing to do with the debt as a person but now as she is heading the government, is she not bound by the obligations of the previous government. Is this not the way the country runs?  Think of what will happen when the next BJP government says that it was Congress government in 1991 which went for liberalization, we don’t follow all this. Sounds like madness! Anyway, Mamta is in the habit of being ignorant about what her predecessors did. She did the very same thing when she became the railway minster in 2009 and the result was this.

Anna Hazareji is a very daring person, if not respectable. It is a very big thing in a country like ours to go against the government and bring it on its toes. But by appreciating the humiliation of a minister, what he is doing is a complete mockery of the democratic framework of the country. Why does he forget that this minister was chosen by the people of this country? When he is clapping on the disrespect of the minister by an ordinary citizen, is he not slapping the very integrity of the democracy of the country and its voters? I know that the honorable minister might be at fault for many things going wrong in the country but before people enjoy this ‘slap’ as killing of a demon, they should check in retrospect that they are the ones who gave the power to this person to be a minister.

The third statement is a reminder to Annaji and his followers that the pillar of democracy which he (Anna) is holding to disrupt the smooth functioning of the parliament and the government is being broken by his aforesaid treatment of drunkards. Not only this is against ahimsa (non-violence) but also it is shear dadagiri and gundagardi.

The moral of the story (and this post) is only that it is easy to blame others and government for all our problems, but if we look within, we can find solutions to most of the problems. The government can’t do everything for us unless we are willing to take some efforts on our own. And as far as honesty is concerned, it is we and people among us who form a part of the government. The bigger question then is whether we are honest or not. If we can’t be honest in our day to day dealings, how can we expect someone there making policies and decisions for us to be honest? As Kahlil Gibran says in ‘The Prophet’:

“And as a single leaf turns not yellow but with the silent knowledge of the whole tree,

 So the wrong-doer cannot  do wrong without the hidden will of you all.”

Hind Swaraj and My Views

A few days ago, hamare pyare Kush Bhai ne mujhse kaha, “Lagta hai aap Gandhian philosophy follow karte hain.” And I was dumb stuck because I had never thought upon what kind of philosophy I follow. I just followed whatever I liked, imbibed all the logically put views and was happy enough. So, there was no need to follow any particular view or philosophy. And hence all I could reply to Kush was, “umm…..hmmmm……..I dunno……………mmmmmmm…………..ya I think so, maybe I like the views of Gandhiji.” And then I said that I had read Hind Swaraj a few days back I agree with most of the things said by Baapu in that book.

I must agree that, as a child, I also was not a very big fan of Gandhiji (I don’t know even today whether I am his fan or not). But at time my views were a manifestation of what I heard from my friends and discussed with them. As there is the solution of all Indian problems in blaming our forefathers and ancestors, so was the attitude of most of the people around me. Most of the people around me thought it was Gandhiji who was responsible for division, for death of Bhagat Singh, for getting freedom in 1947 instead of 1942 and even the present situation of the country and many more things. Some of these allegations on Gandhiji are certainly not true, some might be, I don’t know. But I know one thing for sure that I loved reading hind Swaraj and agreed with most of the views of Baapu written there. And I believe that following the path of home rule as laid down in the book would lead us to better sufficiency as compared to that obtained from excessive consumerism and IT slavery and free market economy.

Anyway, here is my take on the views of Baapu on some of the issues taken up in the book:

Home Rule is Self Rule

Baapu said that it’s not enough if British leave India and we adopt the British-style governing model. As he said,“We want English rule without the Englishman……And when it becomes English, it will be called not Hindustan but Englishtan.” Baapu talked of self sustained village models for obtaining home rule. It sounds idealistic but it is possible and it is how we lived for ages. Probably our problems indeed can be solved that way. At least there would be more peace and less fight for power and hence less corruption. There would be more people around whom we would trust.

Rejection of Western Civilization

Well, I don’t agree much with this point of view. I believe that there are a lot of things which we can learn from Westerners. Hard work, honesty, and individual freedom are to name a few. But if one looks at it deeply, these were the things which were the crux of our own civilization in the past. We actually have forgotten these in the present times and there lies all the problems of the country. What we need is to learn these values and virtues back. And thus, this point of Baapu can actually be renamed as “Learning our own vales once again.”

Railways, Lawyers and Police are taking us away from Swaraj

Baapu argued that railways, lawyers and police are used by the English to rule us better. He argued that easier communication has lead to spread of problems more than it has eased the lives of people. He believed that a human being should only have his or her reach till the point he can do it using his muscle power. She/he should not try to overcome the natural limitation put on us by nature.

I agree to this point greatly. Faster communication has led to faster migration of people towards cities. And I can say with my personal experience that large cities are nothing but a big pain, both mental and physical. These might give a lot of money with greater opportunities but it denies us the real pleasures of life bestowed on us by Mother Earth. I know how I long for open grounds and clean and fresh surroundings living in the national capital.

Apart from that, it is faster and easier communication which has lead to heavy tourism in the hills of Uttarakhand. Result: Polluted hills and unhappy local inhabitants on the deteriorating condition of their heaven!

As far as police and laws are concerned, we all know that some of the laws are simply ridiculous and are made only for political reasons. And it very simple to find loop holes in any law. This is what many people have done in the past to have monetary and other gains and this is what they will do. And with police, if there are no laws then there is no need of police to keep a check on whether people are following the law.

There can be many situations when you need to break the law to save a life (like you driving a patient to hospital and getting stuck in traffic). So how is the law the ultimate governing authority then? Actually what we need is the law of conscience. What we think is correct and just should be followed. But again, that can’t be achieved until we moved towards “Home Rule”.

My Conclusion

 I know there are many arguments on the views expressed in the book. Many books have been written and many would be written in future. But I wrote what I thought is correct. Call me a Gandhian or anything, this is what I think. Aur waise bhi, we are a democracy; I can always have my point of view on anything! :-)

Chalte-Chalte: Chhath ki shubhkaamnayen! We are going to need more of Solar Energy in future. Hope the Sun God keeps blessing us with His presence!

Kal, Aaj aur Kal

Today is International Literacy Day! Since 1966, it is celebrated throughout the world to highlight the importance of literacy. No doubt, the world is getting more literate day by day due to continuous efforts of organisations like UNESCO, the governments of different countries and various other non government organisations. And this significant improvement in world literacy has impacted the literacy rate in our country also. As of today, almost three fourth of Indian population is literate, and thus is friendly with 'letters'.

But numbers is not what excite me as far as literacy and education is concerned. The knowledge of 'letters' and the ability to read and write should add some value to the people. Education should not merely reduce to the transfer of information in classrooms, rather it should serve its purpose of imparting knowledge to the people, making them understand the difference between good and bad and imparting them the wisdom to go for the 'right' way leaving behind the wrong one.

Having said that,  I feel writing about two conversations which happened during the last week. The first one was with my flat mate Manish who teaches Physics at Oasis Institute. He was talking about how these days students have stopped putting in efforts into studies. "Aaj kal k bachchhe fight hi nahi maarna chahte questions solve karne k liye. Nahi bana to bhi thik hai, chhod do." However, he attributed this attitude of students towards removal of examination system from the education system due to which students don't feel the need to perform. and hence, they become lazy towards studies.

When I took up this discussion with Khandu, he said that this train was clearly visible in his classes as well. But unlike Manish, he doesn't attribute it to removal of exams. Khandu, on the other hand, contributes this attitude of students towards studies to the ease with which they get everything they ask for from their parents. Because of this relatively easy life they live, as compared to the students fifteen or twenty years back, they don't feel the importance of giving in proper efforts to get things.

I still remember the speech, on the importance of education in shaping my life and providing me freedom to do whatever I want in life, given to me by my teachers, and sometimes parents, whenever I showed slackness in studies. And yes, I didn't get everything I wanted as a kid. And sometimes I had to wait for my demands being fulfilled by parents. It was not like instantaneous fulfillment of demands which parents do today. And probably because getting everything I wanted as a kid was not easy, I learnt to put up a good fight.

We need strong social engineering in this regard to make sure that today's kids, when they grow up tomorrow, are also fighters and are capable and confident enough of achieving everything they want from life.