Wired World or Weird World ???

Today is Diwali.

Festival of Lights, Joys, Sweets, Crackers and a lot to follow...

I remember my childhood days...

Cleaning the house a few days before Diwali...

Buying new clothes...

Buying crackers...

That fragrance of different delicacies made as a part of the celebration of this festival lasting for more than a fortnight...

Going on terrace with family to fire crackers for five days...

Going to the temple on the next day of Diwali (Next day of Diwali is celebrated as new year in Gujarat)

And then begins the trip...

A trip to all the relatives' and friends' places...

You may not have seen someone's face during the whole year but if you don't visit that relative's place in the fortnight after Diwali, there should be something terribly wrong with your relationship preventing you from wishing that person...

Meeting more than a thousand people and wishing them...

And the scenario now...

Yesterday, I'd gone out to Domino's Pizza in Chennai with a friend to celebrate Diwali or rather to fool ourselves by trying to get the asleep hidden festivity out, which didn't come out.

Two movies followed our dinner.

A chat till late night encompassing philosophy, life @ IIT, life post IIT, life in Chennai etc etc...

Finally I am writing this blog on a Diwali afternoon ALONE...

I'll just go out to do a prepaid recharge of my phone, as tomorrow I'll be making hundreds of calls to wish people on the new year dawn...

After wishing the near(!!!!!!) and dear ones, and a Gujarati get together, I just organized, I'll get back to studies for the exam on Monday.

In short, the elaborate celebration, I mentioned above, will be shrunk to a few hours of hogging outside and a few phone calls.

It seems education sometimes steals the festivity from people. Increasing ambitions sway us away from the roots, from where we belong to, from what we are fond of.

But again NO PAIN NO GAIN...

This was just an example.

By no means, I'm saying, I should give up my studies, go back home and start celebrating Diwali, education in IIT, means much more than a Diwali or two for one and all.

But I've made an attempt to bring to the readers' notice the changing priorities in our lives. Sometimes running after money, we forget to use money.

It's good to have money and the things money can buy, but it's better to make sure, that while running behind money, you've not missed the things, that money can't buy...

I remember the dialogues by Vidya Balan from Lagey Raho Munnabhai.

शहर की इस दौडमें दौड के करना क्या है?

अगर यही जीना है दोस्तों, तो फ़िर मरना क्या है?

पहली बारिश में ट्रैन लेट होने की फ़िक्र है,

भूल गए,,, भीगते हुए टेहलना क्या है?

सीरियल के किरदारों का सारा हाल है मालूम,

पर मां का हाल पूछने की फ़ुरसत कहां है?

अब रेत पे नंगे पांव टेहलते क्युं नहीं,

१०८ है चैनल, पर दिल बहलते क्युं नही?

ईन्टर्नैट पे दुनिया से तो टच में है,

लेकिन पडोस में कौन रेहता है, जानते तक नहीं.

मोबाईल, लैन्डलाईन; सबकी भरमार है,

लेकिन जीगरी दोस्त तक पहुंचे, ऐसे तार कहां है?

कब डूबते हुए सुरज को देखा था, याद है?

कब जाना था, शाम का गुजरना क्या है?

तो दोस्तों, शहर की ईस दौडमें दौड के करना क्या है?

अगर यही जीना है दोस्तों, तो फ़िर मरना क्या है?

What can Education do???

This morning, I was writing a review for Bhumi (www.bhumichennai.org) for a national level competition of the non profit organizations. I wrote something about education, and something caught my attention.

India is suffering from Poverty, unemployment and a lot of other social problems. Let's have a series of Q&A. One guy is optimistic and visionary, whereas the other is pessimistic and stubborn. O for optimist and P for pessimist.

P: Poverty.

P: What's the solution?

O: Employment.

P: But we have unemployment.

P: Now what's the solution?

O: Create job opportunities.

P: How?

O: Be an entrepreneur.

P: Indian market has no space. Already thousands or even millions of degree holders are rendered jobless.

O: Even better. They all need employment, go and hire them in your organization.

P (taken aback, but maintains his stance): So many products are struggling to breathe in the market, there is no scope for further addition in market capital.

O (On a serious yet confident note): Indian market has the potential, it has yet not entered the consumerism phase, once that happens, brain drain will be towards India.

P (Confused): How is that possible?

O: Education.

P (Almost faints): What has education got to do with this?

O: Go back to the root of our discussion. India does not have the purchase power, otherwise it is one of the world's biggest markets.

India does not have the purchase power (money) because of poverty, and it is because of unemployment. This limits Indian market and prevents Indians from being wealthy.

P: What's the solution? Head to USA???

O: A vicious circle can be broken from inside only, not from outside.

P: Meaning?

O: Bring a cream of well educated, employable youth and a handful of experimentalist entrepreneurs, for this the government needs to educate the Indian population.

Educated population will get/create jobs, wealth and most importantly, purchase power. This will widen Indian market and lure investors from the west.

The bottomline remains EDUCATION has the power to do anything and everything.

P(Faints...): I am defeated.

Well, so all is well that ends well. Pessimism must faint.

I firmly believe, education has the power to transform the whole society. Along with creating job opportunities, it creates wealth and purchase power and widens the market, rather opens it to the class of people who have recently tested the fruits of success and are thriving to spend.

As said by many economists, spendthrifts are always a boon to the economy. This will be possible only by bringing all the Indians on the same platform, i.e. by educating them. Government may not be able to do it so effectively because of many valid and invalid reasons, but let us not hesitate.

Yes, once again I am coming back to the same old story that I have been scripting and wrapping differently everytime, EDUCATE THE CHILDREN. THEY ARE THE FUTURE. DO WHATEVER IT TAKES.

Child Labour

I would try to write this blog as a case study rather than piling up heavy statements.

I found a study carried out by Sabah Saeed in 2002. I've pasted the text below from the webpage http://www.boloji.com/society/0035.htm. You may like to go through.

According to a 1996 report (quoting UNICEF and ILO as sources), the number of child laborers in India can be anywhere between 14 to 100 million children! Most of these children work in homes as domestic help. The rest in industries such as bidi making, carpet weaving, football sewing, cracker making to name a few.

• For the year 2000 the ILO projected the number of economically active children in India to be 13,157,000 out of which 5,992,000 were girls between the ages of ten to fourteen.
  (ILO, International Labor Office - Bureau of Statistics, Economically Active Population 1950-2010, STAT Working Paper, ILO 1997)
• Based on the number of non-school going children and families living in destitution CACL estimated that there are between 70 and 80 million child laborers in India. (CACL, "An Alternative Report on the Status of Child Labor in India", submission to the UN CRC, September-October 1999)
• In 1998 South Asian Coalition on Child Servitude (SACCS) estimated the number of child laborers in India to be 60 million while the ILO estimated it to be 44 million.
  (SACCS, Kailash Satyarthi, personal communication, 1998)
  (US Dept of State, Human Rights Report, 1998)
• As many as 100 million boys and girls are believed to be working in homes and factories across India, many in conditions akin to slavery.
  (ECPAT, "Child Labor Ruling Provokes Scorn", Bulletin, Vol. 4/1, 1996-97)
• Most of the 87 million children, not in school, do housework, work on family farms, work along side their parents as paid agricultural labor, work as domestic servants, or are employed in industries which utilize child labor such as hand-knotted carpets, gemstone polishing, brass and brass metal articles, glass and glassware, footwear, textiles, silk and fireworks.
  (EI, EI Barometer on Human and Trade Union Rights in the Education Sector, 1998)

After these hard facts, a little of introspection.

Imagine a nice Sunday evening.

The kid has just finished the exhaustive homework.

Ideal scene for a nice family dinner in a lavish restaurant followed by a McSwirl in McDonalds.

Dinner and ice cream are over.

The family comes out and opens the doors of the car.

At the same time the kid asks the parents to buy him a balloon.

There is a balloon vendor on the road, almost of the same age as the kid in our story.

What happens next, depends on us. Put yourself in the condition of the kid's father/mother, what will you do?

The obvious answer will be buy a balloon.

Friends, spend a moment of silence, a moment of purity with you alone. What will you lose if you talk a few words of wisdom with the poor kid, if you motivate him/her to study, and finally, help him/her to study?

Kids are the future of the society, as funnily said in a proverb, they are the banks, where we can deposit our goodwill, and get it back with interest when we need.

I would request everyone to go through my post on Distribute Luck. http://ashutoshjani.blogspot.com/2009/08/distribute-luck-rather-share-luck.html

What is the fault on the kid's part to have been born in a poor family?

No fault.

Then why should he/she suffer?

By taking the responsibility of educational expenses of a child, you will merely lose 1% of your monthly salary or even less, but that will boost up someone's whole life.

Poor and illiterate parents will never send their kids to schools, because they do not understand the importance of education. It is we people who should take it up, because if we don't, these kids will grow up and will not let their kids go to the school.

Misfortune, illiteracy or poverty should not be hereditary. The vicious cycle can be broken by us only, by the very few privileged people in the country who have access to various resources, and that too, in excess.

You may not have an inclination towards philanthropy, but you can at least refrain yourself from encouraging child labour.

Please do not employ young boys or girls as domestic servants, explain the importance of education to their parents, and if possible help them out.

Poor parents will never be ready to spend something for education along with bearing a loss in income by the kids not working. All preachings and suggestions will go in vain. Someone needs to help the family financially and help the kids morally.

P.S. I doubt, there are a few kids working in the mess, canteen and various cafeterias in IIT Madras. I've written to the dean, and intend to ensure proper quality school education for these kids. Will keep you updated.

Dedicated to dear BAPU

Finally the wait is over.

Yes; for the last few days I was wondering as to what topic I should write on. Finally I've found a socially relevant topic. What better topic than Mahatma Gandhi can be on 2nd Oct?

To begin with, I would say that right from childhood, I've always found Bapu as an inspiring character and a role model. In other words, I would say, he meant God to me. My opinions may be a little prejudiced, but I'll try my best to put some logical work here. This post will be very long. Read only if you dare, and if you do, please read the whole post.

A mascot of truth and nonviolence, preacher and follower of the same, gifted us two biggest weapons ever. Truth in a broader sense comes from honesty, and nonviolence comes from compassion. Both clubbed together, they refer to the respect towards the existence of various forms of life. Apart from his role in Indian independence movement, I would like to pay him the tribute by remembering the scavenging of mediocre, superstitious Indian society then (now also, as the vices like untouchability and religious narrowminded still prevail in rural India, and partly in urban India too).

This ambassador of human rights not only tossed the term harijan, but also toiled to bring all the Indians on the same platform, irrespective of the cast, colour, religion, region or gender. As a kid, I always had faith in truth, but I could never understand nonviolence. If someone slaps me on right side of the face, instead of giving it back to him (with interest), why should I turn the left side of the face towards him? Am I coward? Am I weak? No, turning the left side makes me brave and strong. (Implement this once, it does ask for courage) By doing so, you're belittling the confidence of the other person, you are probably opening the window for the person to give a second thought to his deeds, or giving him an extra opportunity to regret over his unjustifiable actions. Everyone has a sensitive human being inside. For some, he is wide awake, for some, he is deep asleep. By turning left side of your face, you are trying to ring an alarm, which may awake the asleep sensitivity in the violent's heart, and set higher standards of nonviolence, self respect and satisfaction for you.

We all are impatient to some extent, and when we don't get the desired reaction of our violent action, we tend to repeat it once or twice, to boost the evil ego in ourselves, but when we see our actions too tiny to provoke any reactions, it hampers our confidence and superficial belief in violence. It makes us rethink; and those of us, who really rethink, get to know the power of nonviolence. This attainuation of self education is called enlightenment by the likes of Buddha, Mahavir and Osho. (The controversies about Osho are beyond the scope of this blog, it may come in another separtate blog.)

So this was all about truth and nonviolence. Now let us look into Mahatma Gandhi's personal and political life.

Hats off. That's all that comes to my mind.

Someone coming from a comparatively rich family of those times, accepted the minimal of dressing, the minimal of food and sacrificed personal life completely for the sake of national independence and harmony. Harilal Gandhi (Bapu's eldest son) felt that his father shirked from his duties. The poor chap could not understand the concept of वसुधैव कुटुंबकम (वसुधा एव कुटुंबकम meaning the world itself is a family). To some extent he could be right, as a busy national activist may not have been able to spend enough time for the family, and the children could have suffered from frequent ups and downs in the parents' lives; but you cannot have both hands full. One has to choose between a good personal life for the farewell of one's family or a public life for the farewell of the whole human race including one's family without any special preferences. Once again the latter may not be accepted by one's family, as happened in case of Harilal Gandhi. So, one may end up in having a conflict with a family member. The reason could be, improper or insufficient intellectual or philosophical interaction between a father and a son. Accusation lies on both, majorly on father for failing to imbibe necessary qualities in the son, but when the whole country calls him Bapu (father), the son could have had his mind prejudiced and adament.

As a child Mohandas was an average boy, in terms of studies as well as morals. He was afraid of darkness, a little believer in superstitions, and to prove the proverb A MAN IS KNOWN BY THE COMPANY HE KEEPS, he did something that was not acceptable in the conservative, god fearing society of Porbandar. He tasted alcohol, meat and stole a golden ornament from his own house.

I am not trying to criticize the father of the nation. Above, I have made an attempt to show that the qualities which are epitomized by Mahatma Gandhi were not dominant in his childhood nature, they were somewhere deep down in his mind, and probably god fear borne and lacking the basis of philosophy and logic. A bit off the topic, but I would ask, if being an average child he can achieve such heights, why can't we? Ponder over this. Probably we never stole anything from home, never consumed alcohol or meat, or never even thought of doing so; then what distinguishes thousands of Indians from Mahatma Gandhi???

It is the courage.

The courage to practise what you believe in. The courage to abstain from temporary temptations refraining one from conquering the ultimate aim. He was a firm believer of truth and non violence, and he never refrained from practising them anywhere. We all have different different priorities in life, his priority was his principles, with which no compromise was allowed to be made, he compromised with many aspects of one's social life, but never compromised with the ethics. A dedication towards something comes only when you are fully convinced of it. Doublemindedness about prioritization never pays. So, in order to make a mark in something, in order to make your own identity, you need to be convinced and aware of your activities.

There's one more issue, I want to address. I am seeing so many people cursing Bapu these days. I have nothing to say but a polite request. Clean up your mind completely, make it a blank book and go through My experiments with truth. If even after reading this book with a mind without any complexes, if you feel your opinions unchanged, I would love to have a discussion here, but if you can't clean up your prejudices, and keep on currsing the father of the nation, it would be like throwing sand towards the sun. Understand friends, sand is not going to cover up the sun, it will just stop the sunlight from reaching to you only. The benefits will go to one and all, provided you are ready for reception. One more suggestion to anti Gandhi people, if you feel like abusing him, why don't you let your actions speak instead of your words? Why don't you do something commendable and put your opinion forward then? It will contain more mass.