chale chalo

now that the community has earned a reprieve to stay on till mid april, there is a easing of the tension.

while the people are getting back to their regular lives, there are more battles to be fought.
1. earlier visits have shown that the other buildings where people have been resettled are already showing signs of decay.
2. lack of leadership in the community means that they could become ripe for exploitation by politicians and power brokers.
3. simple economics work against this community. the new location will involve each family to pay around rs 800 per month for utilities and common expenses (called maintenance).

having seen the worse end of resettlements, i was wondering how to go about the task of ensuring that the new place would not become a vertical slum.
and to put all other timings to shame, indiatogether carried this inspirational article.

i had already seeded a plan revolving around the youth. creating 'youth fauj' for the area as well as individual buildings. why?
1. the men are out most of the time and they are too mired in politics.
2. women will invariably tend to become prisoners, especially when they are middle aged and are in the higher floors of the building, due to their health and mobility.
3. we have a track record of working with these group of children.

so we started last evening with a 'testing the waters' meeting. went overall positively. that's a fair start, but it is just that. the boys will be boys and will prefer to hang out and boss around, while the girls have to overcome a lot of prejudice and family pressures.

the concept which the article nails is 'ownership'. this would be the critical challenge.

koi kithna bhi behakawe, chale chalo,
koi hum se jeet na paave, chale chalo.