the dichotomy of activists

i recently an invitation to a seminar/conference in my mail with this set of facts.

Do you know that,
• closing down of government schools, begun since mid 90s, is now being speeded up?
• government schools are being handed over to corporate houses/NGOs?
• government school system is being demolished, except for elite schools like Kendriya Vidyalayas?
• public finance is being shifted to private capital in the name of ‘promoting’ education?
• Public-Private Partnership is being pushed to set up expensive elite private schools?

Would you believe that the much-hyped Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA),
• promotes a multi-layered school system that exacerbates discrimination among children?
• fragments teacher cadre into parallel layers of varying quality?
• pushes excessive and unsound testing by NGOs at the cost of teaching and learning?
• receives diminishing allocations despite increased mobilization of education cess?
• violates the Constitutional vision of Fundamental Right to Education?

i did not know a few of them. i agree to all the listed items. it is true to the best of my knowledge.
the group was activisting towards a Common School System.
i fully support such a system and i think it is the ideal model for a just and humane society.

i could not attend this seminar, but i heard from a friend on the discussions and deliberations. i was told that rhetoric was the order of the day. that's not the point.

the point is..."How many of these activists send their own children to public schools?"
i would hazard an answer..."None."
For me, this dichotomy is sufficient reason to believe that such activism will fail or corrupt itself.

a story with beautiful irony is here...

Over a decade ago, in June 1997 to be precise, I had covered an agitation of farmers opposed to the acquisition of their lands by the state government to build this very same expressway that would reduce travel time between the cities of Mumbai and Pune. Now, here were the anti-SEZ activists insisting that I use the expressway!

if i had a child, i think i would send her to a government school.

retraction -> growth ?

till some time ago, i strongly believed that one needs to be a 'local' to work in community development.
this is as opposed to 'imported' workers. it was made in the context of americans doing development work in india.
the following passage was perhaps be my simplistic justification.

Quoted from Bapu Kuti by Rajni Bakshi

The following passage was written by Aruna Roy (IAS officer and then NGO founder at Tilonia and then moving to Devdoongri)

In case of both the government and Tilonia, I saw my role as that of the initiator. I was the ‘catalyst’, the ‘agent for change’, the one who ‘intervened for change’. In other words, the perception was that of myself as the leader,in so much as the action that followed was ultimately traced back to a set of actions for which I was responsible. It may have been an idea or a set of ideas. Gradually I began to understand that the perceptions and ideas exist in different forms in people minds already. What is really needed is the time and space and opportunity for putting them into action. My role was not severely limited in my mind.

If leadership was to be different, then the organisation would also have to be so defined so as to enable the people to manage things themselves. The leadership in people’s organisations has to come from the local areas. The issues, the direction, the priorities must be decided by them. So what in this scheme of things was Aruna’s role?

I was going to an area where I was an outside. I would never be able to understand the area quite as well as a local person. But I also had a special set of experiences and a critique of development processes born out of varied experiences. I was born in to a class which still remain powerful and dominated decision making. I provided links with an understanding of that class. So I was useful to the local people.

I had developed a personal preference for simple ascetic living. I felt that one could not work with the poor unless one lived with them as one of them. It was important for me to share the lifestyle physically too. It was important for me to lead a life in harmony with myself. So see the work and living as a continuum. This kind of lifestyle facilitates a different communication, where the people see you as more accessible. Finally when the people who you work with see the mutual dependencies for living and security there is a much greater sense of equality that permeates relationship.

i entirely agree with aruna roy. she simply states that the 'import' has to assimilate themselves into the locality to start being meaningful.
it is possible.
it has not happened very well in the past and even in the current contexts i used. but that cannot be any justification for the earlier stance.

so in a progression of sorts(!), i have retracted my earlier position and believe that anyone, irrespective of their race and religion and language, can be meaningful in any community, as long as they are able to follow aruna's example.

focus on the battles within

the media has been over the top with the shrill coverage of the indian students attacks in australia and the release of the hafiz sayyed of the JuD.

most of the same shrill seekers of justice and fairplay in the legal system mutely ignore the excesses happening in our own courtyard.
the crimes against our very own brothers and sisters by our very own elected governments.
since binyak sen was released on bail a few days ago, tehelka cover storied the rampant injustice meted out thus in dantewada.

THIS IS Dantewada, a remote district in the south Bastar region of Chhattisgarh. The man in white is Himanshu Kumar, a Gandhian human rights activist from Meerut who has been working in Dantewada for 17 years. And the war is an old triangular one: between the State, the Naxals, and the tribals — cleft violently from within by the infamous government-sponsored Salwa Judum.

himanshu is crushed mercilessly.

On 17 May, a day after the Lok Sabha election results, a police force of over 500 surrounded Himanshu’s Vanvasi Chetna Ashram, ten kilometers from Dantewada town. He was given half an hour to wrap up two decades of work. Then, the bulldozers moved in. They broke everything: home, dispensary, dormitories, training halls, kitchen, telephone towers (sanctioned by the government itself), swing, even a lone hand-pump that was the only source of clean water for the villages around.

Demolished is a poor word. Erased is more accurate: erased with an implacable anger: an obscene violence. There is nothing there but crushed cement and strewn papers. A tiny pink crocus that has escaped the bulldozers droops in the heat. For 17 years, Vanvasi Chetna Ashram had functioned as a kind of fine nerve connection between the tribals and a forgetful State. Come from distant Meerut and Delhi, painstakingly learning Gondi, Himanshu and Veena had focused on teaching tribals about their entitlements, traveling on foot into villages deep inside the forests, slowly tugging isolated communities into the democratic system. Building concepts of community monitoring: what government schemes had been announced in their name, how were they to access them, how were they to hold corrupt officials to account, how were they to file FIRs and applications, how were they to demand teachers in their schools. “Our work was to strengthen democracy at the roots,” says Himanshu,

and their strength is continue in the face of such odds is just staggeringly awesome.

His father, 82, a dignified old man (Prakash Kumar had given up college in 1942 to join the Quit India movement; he met Gandhi in Sewagram in 1945. Later, he joined Vinobha Bhave’s Bhoomidan movement. “My father helped give away over 20 lakh acres of land in Uttar Pradesh,” says Himanshu, “but he and I do not possess one acre between us.”), has come to give him moral support. He sits calmly, uncomplaining, amidst the heat and mess. “I fought in the freedom movement. I know truth always prevails, but it takes time and much sacrifice. Himanshu is my only son. I don’t know what the solution is, but I know the road he is on is right. The more consciousness he generates among the tribals, the more they will be able to claim their right to life.”

such battles are perhaps best fought silently with a dignity that defines dignity and with a love that defines love.

bollywood expert on the expressway

a certain Mr. S Khan plies his taxi up and down the mumbai-pune route.
this is his drive for basic sustenance.

i had the good fortune of using his services on both legs of my pune trip yesterday.
we got warmed up on the way to pune when he played some very nice classic songs.

on the return, since he had run out of cassettes (yes there are people who still use them), i created a playlist of around 30 songs and played them from my laptop.

this got his juices flowing and for the next 2.5 hours, i was amazed by his bollywood bhakti:
1. for almost every song, he knew the movie, the producer, the director, the lyricist, the story writer and for some even the year of release!
2. i even tested him with a very old song from shehnai (aana meri jaan sunday ke sunday). he guessed from the tune and rhythm that it was by C Ramachandra. on which, i said, gotcha! the singer was a certain chitalkar as recorded in my playlist. turns out that they are the same :-)

some exciting tidbits from the exchange:
1. dil hai ki maanta nahin is a remake of chori chori. raja hindustani is a remake of jab jab phool khile. these 2 are well known facts. but he also insisted that lagaan is fully inspired by naya daur.
2. his four most respected bollywood people/families are: naushad, majrooh sultanpuri, rafi and pran. his criteria were simpicity, how they treated others (including rivals) and how they raised their kids. here is a great piece on naushad and rafi combo.
3. zeenat aman's father was a co-writer of mughal-e-azam.
4. kishore kumar and lata mangeshkar almost formed a coterie/monopoly in the late 70s and early 80s not allowing new singers to breakthrough.
5. hrishikesh mukherjee could not afford kishore kumar for rajesh khanna in anand and hence plumped for manna dey to come up with the classic - zindagi kaisi hai paheli.

2.5 hours which made my month.

who is smarter?

asks an aunt to her niece, "chintu or the bed?".
this is after an exuberant chintu miscalculates the distance between her head and the bed and bumps into the bed. she launches her vocal exercise regime at rarely used sound frequencies.
she continues, "the bed has no eyes and head, and chintu is such a clever girl. if chintu was careful, she could have avoided bumping the bed."

what an intelligent observation, i thought. the child will start to think about its action and be able to start judging distances better henceforth.

at a commencement speech i attended today, the speaker mentioned the adult habit of hitting the bed/floor when any kid bumps into them as a dangerous practice. this approach gives a completely wrong sense of right and wrong to the child, which has to be undone at a later stage in life.

common sense, the speaker said, is needed in large doses.

alas!
hope chintu's aunt is not in the minority.

links

some of the good stuff i read recently:

1. dilip's simple but pointed analysis of the election results.
2. what we need to know about sleep, but dont ask.
3. aseem shrivastava on 'development without corporate globalisation'.

the cleanest backsides in india

belong to sonia and rahul gandhi.

33.33% hit rate

that is my success on the mumbai LS results.
only priya dutt and eknath gaikwad hit my jackpot.
i had anticipated the low turnout and the "angry muslim voters" to hurt the congress - NCP.
but it turns out that the MNS has run riot through the saffron combine and split the 'marathi manoos'.
net net, it is a better result for the nation.

come summer, come neera

while travelling to pune by road (and in general travelling in maharashtra) during the summer, one will not fail to notice the thousands of नीरा केंद्र that magically appear on the roadsides.
नीरा is a wonderful summer thirst quencher on par with नारियल पानी and निम्बू पानी.
the palm tree, just like its coconut counterpart, is just awesome.

the corporate approach to education

treats children and education...

based on management, input, measurement, and manipulation.
courtesy - schoolsmatter

this is the core mindset with which corporate philanthropies approach education reform.
bill gates and the gates foundation are at the forefront of this approach.
considering the influence of the man and the sheer amount of money that is being pumped in, it is sad that there is a sore lack of thought and intellect.

in telling critiques of the plans of the gates foundation (as evidenced from a recent Washington Post enclave on education), deborah meier and jim horn bring out the obvious and misplaced thinking towards improving education.

What is intriguing is that neither Gates nor Hiatt stop to wonder if the absence of correlation might indict the tool for measuring the impact of teaching: standardized test scores.

while this is, of course, all happening in the US, india is not immune to such thinking.
already the dell foundation is an active player in the indian education space and clearly with the forecast that india will be the labour force of the world in the coming generation, we shall see more misplaced reform.
in this mess, i think azim premji is likely to be the saving grace.

the cost of private tuitions

i have written on the cost of education and the invasive and cancerous role of private tuitions.
rediff reports on an assocham survey - "Middle-class spends a third of income on kids' tuition".
as most of these students are inevitably in private schools, is it not a serious indictment of the private schooling system? i think it is.

maybe that is perhaps a bit narrow, the blame will have to be taken by all the concerned stakeholders, the apathetic schools, the harassed and anxious parents and the greedy shylockian coaching classes. and in this triple smorgasbord, the poor child gets whisked.

waiting for the captain

i first wrote an open letter to vijaykanth - almost exactly 3 years ago.

since then, i have grown to like and appreciate DMDK and his style of politics. he seems to be willing to guts it out.
i share the same hope for telugu superstar chiranjeevi and his praja rajyam.

one of corporate india's success stories, pandiarajan (who started Ma Foi - the HR consulting firm), has joined DMDK.
pandiarajan is an family friend.

people are waiting for the captain to upturn the mess of the DMK and AIADMK.
i am also one of them.

media hyperventilates over mumbai low voter turnout

as initiated here, the low urban voting percentages has most people (in the media space) flummoxed.
especially the media went ballistic with their campaigns.
here is an analysis of why mumbai caused much anxiety.

Subsequent to 26/11, an illusion was created by the media that people in general and Mumbaikars in particular were so angry with the political class that they may vote with a vengeance. Since it did not happen in the first two phases, Mumbai being crucial because of 26/11 coupled with the high stakes of the channel in showing a higher percentage of polling, there was a scramble to get hold of Bollywood stars as they were coming out of the booths for a "vote you must" message. Anyone with an identifiable face was asked to show his or her left middle finger so as to "inspire" others to come out and vote. If you were watching the channels on April 30, it would seem that the elections were for some Film Chamber of Commerce and not for the 15^th Lok Sabha. Despite such an exercise to shore up credibility, the result was shocking. There was a drop of 6% in polling in Mumbai.

these campaigns will have to last another 2 more election for it to start yielding results.
will our impatient media friends be ready to guts it out?

if pigs could fly

will it be called swine flu!!

mumbai LS elections

constituency - key candidates (my forecasted winner in bold).
note that the forecasted winner does not indicate my personal preferences in any way.

1. Mumbai South - milind deora (INC), mohan rawle (SS), bala nandgaonkar (MNS)
both deora and rawle are sitting MPs in this redrawn/delimited consituency. deora is charming and erudite and all that, but is likely to lose a close contest even though MNS will take away some of the marathi votes from SS.

2. Mumbai South Central - eknath gaikwad (INC), suresh gambhir (SS)
gaikwad was the giant killer from 2004. he beat, manohar joshi (ex- CM of maharashtra). gambhir is a newbie and may find it tough to wrest this from the incumbent.

3. Mumbai North Central - priya dutt (INC), mahesh jethmalani (BJP)
almost a no-contest.

4. Mumbai North East - kirit somaiyya (BJP), sanjay patil (NCP), shishir shinde (MNS)
somaiyya is a veteran social-political figure in this area and will run this through quite confortably.

5. Mumbai North West - gurudas kamat (INC), gajanan kirtikar (SS), abu asmi (SP)
close to call. i would think kirtikar will tubmle the might kamat as asmi is likely to be the spoiler with cutting heavily into the INC traditional north indian/muslim vote bank. my erstwhile acquaintance, rishi aggarwal is also contesting as an independant.

6. Mumbai North - ram naik (BJP), sanjay inrupam (INC)

others predicting.

since the last 2 months - internet and TV based campaigns are all over the place. we have been buffeted by the jaagore, one billion vote movements.
but check out the polling percentages in the silicon cities of india - pune and bangalore.
abysmal and atrocious. this is a lesson in understanding that "great campaigns do not translate to great results". it is like the model in the ad being more popular that the brand advertised for.
and large scale social changes take years to fruition.

other links:
1. election commission of india
2. indian election
3. websites of political parties

11th hour

saw the 11th hour (T1H) last evening.
in combination with the inconvenient truth (TIC), this movie raises much needed awareness on imminent and important issues around human existence.

while TIC was about one man's mission, T1H serenades a bunch of great experts to talk about their specific understanding of the issues facing the earth.

3 particulars notable and striking points were made by:

1. Oren Lyons - "And in time, it (the earth) will regenerate, and all the lakes will be pristine. The rivers, the waters, the mountains, everything will be green again. It will be peaceful. There may not be people, but the earth will regenerate. And you know why? Because the earth has all the time in the world. And we don’t. So I think that’s where we’re at right now."(emphasis mine)
2. David Suzuki - "I see a world in the future in which we understand that all life is related to us and we treat that life with great humility and respect. I see us as well as social creatures, and when I began to look back and say, 'what is the fundamental bottom line for us as social creatures?'...I couldn't believe it because it seemed so hippy dippy, but it was Love. Love is the force that makes us fully human."
3. Paul Hawken - " We need to be slower; we need to be smarter. Slow means disengaging from consumerism as the main avenue of experience. It doesn’t reject any consumption, but it says, “We’re not going to live our lives mediated by stuff sold out there in the market. We’re not going to base our identities and our meaning on what we buy. Instead of the long commute, the bigger car, the bigger house, let’s enjoy the local produce and have time to ourselves. Let’s understand that things are thieves of time because the more things you have, the more time you have to spend working to pay for them, the more your life is chained to a rhythm of perpetual purchase.
Being smart means reintroducing a term from before the Industrial Revolution—frugality. Frugality does not mean poverty or deprivation. It means the wise use of resources."

i liked T1H's approach to portray the immense potential and challenges that we face as a species and how solutions are well within our reach and the call for individual, collective and political action.
do watch.

the pressure of looking good

has forced harsha bhogle to look like this.







i think it looks atrocious.

grass roots person

in hindi is ज़मीन से रगडा हुआ खिलाडी
came out in a conversation last evening with a friend.
we were talking politics, when he popped this gem.

fundamental issues in the indian education system

this post is going to try to continue to add salt to the turmoil expressed earlier.
this is likely to be a mish-mash post with a variety of thoughts that i had articulated in mails to others over these very topics.
there is a good enough point to start from - what is education for? this i fully agree with.

Now, why is education such a mega issue/problem in India?

Historical Issues
1. The British created the currently prevalent education system with a clear objective to fill in their requirements for bureaucratic staff. That the same system continues till date indicates a lack of intellectual investment is crafting a system which reflects the changed situation in India at the time of independence.

Societal Issues
1. Growing economic gaps between the 'haves' and the 'have-nots' – leading to a disparate structure in the types of schools available for different sections. Mirroring the caste system in society, the schools also have been thus classified in their own casteist hierarchy (i.e., government schools are for the poor and so on).
2. It is widely believed that education is the solution for most social evils. And as an escape from poverty. In the current design and delivery of the system, I seriously doubt these theories.
3. Disparity between what is taught in school and what happens in life.

Structural Issues
1. Lack of adequate Govt investment as % of GDP.
2. The clarity issues over division of responsibilities between the Center and the States. Education is on the concurrent list.
3. The incoherence between the supply and demand of teachers – while the appointment of teachers is with the primary education departments, the creation of teachers (Colleges, etc) is with the College education dept.

...to be continued

patience and youth

i have been very taken in by this line from one of kabir's bhajans.
कहत कबीर सुनो भाई साधू, साहिब मिले सबूरी में
सबूरी (सबूरी) indicates a state of patience (सब्र) mixed with belief and alertness.
i found this really nice piece written by atanu (of deesha fame) in the days of usenet quoting this stanza in a random conversation.

i was trying to explain this concept to a couple of students who i was travelling with in a cab.
not sure if anything went past their defiant bombay-induced 'go-get-it' posturing.

but nevertheless, i returned home to see an ad which almost deifies 'impatience'.
what chance do i have?

out of school children, education...turmoil

getting kids into school.
i would think that this the biggest investment made by society, which includes:
1. parents getting admissions into nursery/kindergarten.
2. major projects like the SSA (Sarva Shiksha Ahiyan).
3. major NGO initiatives across the country.

the statistics show that the number of out of school children is dropping.
good news?
i think not.
partly due to shocking news like this.
partly due to my interest in home schooling.
partly due to the depressing culture of schooling.
partly due to the intense "business-ification" of education.

1. schools have a significant role in society and society has a significant role to play in schools. undoubtedly.
2. there are many great schools and admirable educators out there. but, most prefer to operate in heavily walled confines and hence are probably creating higher imbalances.
3. schools should shape society but is also a reflection of society. a circular reference problem.

this is just a reflection of the turmoil in my mind. solutions are still far away.
to be continued.

a brief insight into the state of education

can be got from this tragi-comic post on deesha - atanu in conversation with his nephew.

Me (Atanu): So which grade do you go to?

Sibling’s son: I will be going to class 12 after this summer vacation.

M: Which school?

SS: I go to college.

M: What’s it called?

SS: RYK.

M: What does that stand for?

SS: Don’t know.

and so on it goes to highlight the level of 'i dont care for school/college' bravado.

in his analysis...

I told the parental units that the problem is that they are basically making their son stupid by giving him the false impression that learning has something to do with paying a lot of money to “tuition.” What is being missed in the whole exercise is the main lesson: that you have to read stuff to understand stuff. No one else can read it on your behalf.

I told the parents, you have rewarded his unreasonable behavior with goodies and thus reinforced the behavior. The kid now knows that all he has to do is threaten to leave home and he will get his way.

and in conclusion...

It may appear as if the kids are screwing up. I don’t think the kids are the problem. It’s the adults who are primarily to blame. And the retarded system of “education.” It needs change. Too bad that the change will happen too late to help the present kids.

retarded system of education!
i agree.

the 2000 odd towns

in india (pop <100,000) are one neglected, in-a-big-mess situation.
kalpana sharma is doing a series on these towns and the issues they face, the local innovations and the governance factors.
here is part 1 - slumdogs and small towns.

earlier coverage on 'the mess that is our cities'.

bird watching = meditation

meditation usually has an image on someone in a 'legs-folded-pose' type, chanting silently and stuff like that.

that's only one form of meditation.

the true essence of meditation, is when one is able to disassociate one's mental presence and physical presence and able to be at peace.

this can be achieved through multifarious methods.
one of these, which i have been recently introduced into, is 'bird-watching'.

it is quite an extra-ordinary practice. like viewing birds through a prayer-lens. a lens which instills devotion and bhakti.
to be still, to be patient, to be slow, to observe the intricate details in the plumage, the beak, the song, the tree/plant on which they plant themselves, etc, etc., is like eating a mango, drinking coffee or watching a flower bloom:-) sublime experience.

it is definitively meditation.
and highly recommended.

whats your favourite game?

i ask this buoyant 8 something year old girl, who has gleefully ensconced herself on a swing, oscillating to much joy.
she named 2 games, which i had never heard of.
she went on to explain that she played them at the malls and both of them involved some violent 'stepping on something', 'firing at something'.
she also named the 2 malls where she played these games.
the swing, झुला, i remember, used to be the sole occupant in the top ten list of favourite games amongst girls। but that was over 10 years ago.
needless to say, i shuddered at how much out-of-sync i am with the latest generation. and this unsynchronised state is likely to stay.

morning at a zen garden - pune

the quick trip to pune.
catching up on the effervescent folks at the urban ashram.
who took me to taljai hills.
to the zen garden created by pandurang tambe.
a simple man who has spent over 7 years years regenerating a plot of 3 acres in the midst of a degraded forest area spread over 500 acres.
and just as a simple, ordinary citizen.
the Pune Municipal Corporation 'arden' report of 2006 says:

Making good use of his morning walk time for gardening, Mr Pandurang Tambe, a resident of Sahakar Nagar, single-handedly transformed a 3-acre wasteland into a green patch on the Taljai Hill. He used the process of Trap water, percolate water and changed the look of the land.

so a bunch of 7 of us landed up at this spot and joined tambe kaka in this work.
today was essentially de-rocking the slopy section of the hill.
uprooting rocks (all igneous) of all sizes was the plan.
the small ones get gathered in piles which he then uses to create bunds to prevent water/soil run off (erosion). the large ones become spots of assembly for people's backsides.
for over 2 hours, we had a blast - all this just by simple labour of shifting rocks and watching his dedication, simplicity and energy.
just rocking.

pesticide - free village

the overuse of pesticides and the deleterious effect it is having on rural communities (mainly) and urban consumers is well known.

Penta Srirampuram in Andhra Pradesh is showing the way forward.
the beauty of all this is in its simplicity.
de-complexing the human actions (aka - "do nothing") is the solution.

now the connections:
1. i worked for 1 year in 1995-96 in a chemical plant making Penta erythritol. (2 connections - chemicals and Penta)
2. the surname of the village bears close resemblance to my alter-ego.

the genius of the indian villager

is the title of a 50s article by TS Satyan - a renowned photo-journalist.

...is the life of the Indian villager, a life of pathos, hardship, and ignorance to the casual visitor from the West, but to those who know him and his heroic struggles against man and nature, he is a giant among men, beloved of himself and of God.
hat tip - indian writing

reading this conflated with this sad but brilliant story about bhushan just staggered me.

“I’ll prove my father wasn’t wrong when he took up farming, I’ll bring my family out of debt,” says Bhushan, who took over the family farm at barely 13 years of age when his father committed suicide in 2003.

the villager's genius stems from the spirit.

Living on love and fresh air

that's the dream, ain't it.
naysayers and their ilk are likely to gurgle and do allied guttural exercises, roll their eyes and do occular calisthenics when confronted with such titles.

but a wonderful couple are treating money like it should be...like air. free to come and go.
such brilliance is feet-putting level. read and smile and plan to do the same :-)

courage against all odds

the agro-crisis in the vidarbha region of maharastra has been well captured.

in the midst of this, there is a story of rare spunk and belief.
of bhushan 'baba'

In 2003, after his father’s suicide in Wardha’s Umri village, Bhushan was forced to quit school while in the sixth standard and take over the reins of the family. “I was the eldest; my two brothers were very small. I had to take up the responsibility,” he says simply.
“I’ll prove my father wasn’t wrong when he took up farming, I’ll bring my family out of debt,” says Bhushan, who took over the family farm at barely 13 years of age when his father committed suicide in 2003.

heroism or fool-hardiness?
whatever be the answer, bhushan is from the breed of heroes.

train mania

i love travelling by trains. the good man, ludwig, is another avid train traveller.
but i found a whole bunch of people who (love travelling by trains)^n.

sample this trivia from them:

Q. When did the first train run in India?

The customary answer to this question is 3:35pm on April 16th, 1853, when a train with 14 railway carriages and 400 guests left Bombay's Bori Bunder for Thane, with a 21-gun salute. It was hauled by three locomotives: Sindh, Sultan, and Sahib. The journey took an hour and fifteen minutes.

That, however, was just the first commercial passenger service in India. In fact, a steam loco, Thomason, had been used for hauling construction material in Roorkee for the Solani viaduct in 1851 (it began working there on 22nd December 1851, to be exact). The Solani viaduct construction was a part of the Ganges Canal project, started in 1845.

welcome to the site of the month. the indian railways fan club.
the trivia page is (fascinating)^n. sample this.

Currently, the trains with the most locomotive changes are the 6381/6382 Mumbai CST-Kanniyakumari Express (CST-Pune is hauled by an electric loco, Pune-Renigunta by a diesel, Renigunta-Ernakulam by an electric again and Ernakulam-Kanniyakumari by a diesel) ...

and so much more on the main navigation page.

am travelling on Indian Railways over this weekend and the over 3 hours on this site has left an indelible impact.

2 cities - 2 book meisters -same story

in what i consider a staggering connection, 2 iconic bookmen and keepers of the literary health of the the city move on.
Mr. TN Shanbhag of the Strand Book Stall in Mumbai passes away.
Mr. TS Shanbhag of the Premier Bookshop in Bengalooru closes down.

more kids in private schools

at least in TN and Mah, reports the TOI.
i think that the govt is tacitly allowing this to happen so that they have one less item to bother about.

Between 2002-03 and 2007-08, Maharashtra started 1,874 new public schools.
The Tamil Nadu government set up 3,139 schools between 2002-03 and 2007-08 under the SSA.
But simlutaneously, they have allowed the setting up of many private schools as well.

this shift is quite prevalent and strong in the cities, but now the trend has moved into the villages.
this is a trend which bothers me. there are several proponents for privatising education, but i don't buy that line.
the other bothersome trend is the shift in population from rural to urban.

dharavi slum?

no, say the residents and the airoots team over the slumdog/dharavi issue.

The Indian media widely reported popular outrage at the word ‘dog’. But what we heard from Manju Keny, a 19 year - old college student living in Dharavi - was something else. She was upset at the word ‘slum’.

We could not agree more.

it is a "user-generated" city

Dharavi is the ultimate user-generated city. Its urban and economic development relies on the intensive use of social networks and communities. Each of Dharavi’s 80 plus neighborhoods has been incrementally developed by generations of residents updating their shelters and businesses according to needs and means. This organizational logic is neither new nor unique to Dharavi, but we have never been in a better time to understand it. Just as the development of open source software requires guidelines and coordination; all Dharavi needs is some support from the government – mostly in the form of giving its functioning some legitimacy by providing the same services as in any other part of the city– and then trusting its inhabitants to continue from there.

the urban typhoon and dharavi.org are other fabulous places to be to learn more on dharavi.
the population density stats are just staggering

Dharavi is an extremely dense environment. A recent survey by the Kamla Raheja Vidyanidhi Institute of Architecture (KRVIA) established that a central area of Dharavi (Chamra Bazaar) contained densities of up to 336,643 people per square kilometer! Assuming a population of 700,000, the population density in Dharavi would be around 314,887/km². This is 11 times as dense as Mumbai as a whole (the most densely populated city in the world with 29,500 people/km²) and more than 6 times as dense as daytime Manhattan (about 50,000 people/km²).

kanji - soul food

Kanji in Tamil, Kaanji in Hindi (Porridge) is a healthy, nutritious breakfast.
there are millions of different ways of preparing it.
we have always had this mix prepared and sent by our parents. this time we decided to prepare them from first principles.

here is our recipe.

Hindi	Tamil	English	Marathi
रागी	ராகி	Finger Millet	Nachani
जव		Oats	Jau
दलिया	சம்பா கொதுமை	Broken Wheat	Lapsi
बाजरा	கம்பு	Pearl Millet	Bajri
सोया	சொய	Soya Beans	Soya
मूंग दल	பச்சை பயிர்	Green Lentil	Moong Dal
मक्की	மக்க சோழம்	Corn (Maize)	Makya
कुलथ	கொள்ளு	Horse Gram	Koolith
		Red Rice
चन्ना दल	போட்டு கடளை	Fried Gram Dal
साबुत दाना	ஜவ் அரிசி	Pearl Sago	Sabudana
एलैची	ஏலக்காய்	Cardamom	Elaichi
बादाम	பாதாம்	Almond	Badam

table is under construction and needs some more gap-filling and verifications.
take equal amounts of all the grains and pulses. we did 250 gms of each item (except elaichi and badam - these are for taste and flavour)
the ragi and moong dal needs to be soaked overnight to allow for sprouting.
dry these 2 in the sun. ragi is the most beautiful grain.

dry roast all the grains/pulses separately (over medium/slow flame) in a thick bottomed pan. roast them till they become कड़क (crisp). test by popping them into mouth.
while roasting, do check out the smells. divine.
i added 4-5 badams and elaichi pods with each roasting batch.
cool the grains. mix them together and then grind them into a coarse powder. we did the grinding at a nearby chakki mill for a princely sum of Rs.10.50 (for 3 kilos). these mills were a wonderful part of our childhood (when there were no ready made flours in fancy supermarkets).

storage is best in fridgid environments. else likely germ infestation possible.

for making the kanji, dissolve 2-3 tbsps of the powder in cold/luke warm water. stir vigourously to dissolve the lumps (technically it does not 'dissolve').
then keep on low flame till it boils. keep stirring occassionally to prevent coagulation/lumping.
at the end, add little milk and sugar/jaggery.

healthy, nutritious and yummy kanji ready.

WTF - salaried home-makers?!

in one of the most interesting absurdities to come into our space:
Kerala housewives demand pay from govt

simply staggeringly LOL funny.

volunteering at the local farm - 3 and 4

after day 2 and day 1 here at our service farm, i have some simple comments to share from our work from day 3 and 4 over this weekend.
1. eat a proper meal min of 4 hours before any serious manual work.
2. use both your sides equally to use/build muscles.
3. सफाई काम is a unmatched way to get kids energised.
4. cold water baths are better than hot water. especially after physical work. tough but it is good that summer is on us now :-)
5. practice does make perfect. my digging is now quite upto the mark.
6. allow kids to settle their disputes themselves. works very well indeed. do not interfere with your own value system. like tolstoy did as a headmaster. (superb book, please do read).

life expectancy calculator

i know.
how can we do something like that??

but here is a good place to check it out:
there is another concept called virtual age - which is a reflection of your health and vitality. The lower it is, the better shape you are in. It is used to calculate the Life Expectancy of someone of your physical age.

My scores:
Biological Age - 34
Virutal Age - 12.9
Life Expectancy - 95.1

i moved the scales up and down to follow the impact of factors and found that genetic components contribute the most.

once you are done with all this, read the articles on the very same site.
some are truly special like "letting go".

hat tip: daily good

Gem from 1908

from the archives, atanu at deesha has dug up a brilliant old article - The New Nationalist Movement in India.

written by an british-canadian (guessing) in 1908 and was published in an American journal. it is long, but is a fantastic read and offers many insights which are quite relevant even today.

i tried to display parts of it on this page, but could not pick any part over any other.
it is a must read for its spread, its prose and observations.

sarang alternative school

a beautiful concept - The Sarang School- is:

...the practice of life of a modern species that can live and let live. Education happens everywhere, 24 hours X 365 days. Anything that we hear, see, touch, taste or smell, making a change within us, is part of our education. Movies, ads, news, speeches, performances, people; all that interacts with us is part of our education. In today’s fast-changing world a static system is not the way to real education.

their brand ambassador

Gautham Sarang (28) is the only child who could go through Sarang’s curriculum continuously. He has traveled extensively as part of his studies and handles six languages with ease. He has worked as a contract labourer, photographer, milkman, taxi driver, blacksmith, percussionist, actor, skilled labourer, web designer, and project coordinator, as part of his education and to support the large Sarang family. Anuradha (Inset) completes him.

in a beautiful location which they have nourished.

dreaming a lovely dream

Sarang is a rural university in its early infancy which dreams of a society of self reliant individuals. Sarang’s goal is to prepare the next generation to live fulfilling lives using minimal resources. We dream of a rural university, proposing no degrees or certificates, but offering a space to learn to cope with life and all its myriad hues and tones.

would i love to teach at Sarang?

farmer to cricketer to cab driver

is the most fascinating life story of ewen chatfield - a former new zealand fast bowler.

most of my sporting heroes and memories are from the 80s and are vividly imprinted.
one image which is scorched and branded is the 'rarest of rare' sight of gavaskar heaving chatfield over midwicket for in the 1987 cricket world cup at nagpur.
it was highly uncharacteristic as gavaskar was THE defensive expert and chatfield was THE stingiest bowler.

coming back to chatfield, he is now a taxi driver, and loving it.
it speaks volumes of his character and attitude to life.

If you go by what you read of him, the personality might not be the same either. He was a man of economy - of run-up, of action, of words. He was the man who once got Viv Richards out caught down leg and told Ian Smith, the keeper, "That should have gone for four." That's what you read.

Chatfield is a funny man with faraway eyes. With long pauses when he speaks. Is idiosyncratic. Makes you laugh when he talks about his debut Test. Except that he almost died during it. Thirty-four years and two days ago; after a bouncer from Peter Lever struck him in the head.

Was it difficult mentally to come back? "No, it wasn't difficult. Just carried on as if nothing had happened… I got a helmet."

and certainly a lesson for me in attaining contentment and satisfaction with what we have.

IIMs placement crash

the slowdown effect has spread across to the most prized talent (not my definition) in the country.
reports in indicate that the placements have been hit badly this year:. many top recruiters do not even exist as companies any more.
business standard says (giving itself poor marks in maths and english):

This year, IIM Ahmedabad (IIM-A), the largest and most prestigious of the institutes, has seen a 50 per cent slowdown in placements on the coveted "day zero" (the first day), probably for the first time since the dotcom bust in 2000.

Sources said only 18 to 20 out of 250-odd students were placed on day one yesterday, compared to 40 to 50 in a good year. Last year, when the economy was booming, more than 65 per cent (161 students) were hired by 25 firms on slot zero.

while the times reports some high figures (to cover up the gloom?)

The Indian Institute of Management-Calcutta which wrapped up the first round of placements this week saw three students accept pre-placement offers (PPO) of over Rs 1 crore each from investment banks that were made when those institutions were still flush with funds. At the Hyderabad-based Indian School of Business too, some Rs 1-crore offers had flown in.

another simple indicator is the number of emails (4, at the last count) i have received in the last month from B-schools inviting my organisation for campus placements.
माम्ला गंभीर है.

my type of business leader...

...is Haruka Nishimatsu, the CEO of Japan Airlines.
here's why

...(He) who takes the bus to work.
...Nishimatsu knocked down his office walls so people can walk up and talk to him, and he works from a desk with an old-fashioned wooden in-and-out box.
Got an idea? Tell him at lunch in the company cafeteria because he wants people to share.
"I go there," Nishimatsu said, "to raise morale and motivation."
How does Nishimatsu treat himself? How about buying his suits at a discount store - wearing Armani, he says, puts his people at arms-length.

hierarchy, duh...

"There's no one person being on top," he told us, "and one person being on bottom, in an organization such as ours."
And he motivates one-on-one, regularly popping into planes, chatting with flight attendants, even helping sort the newspapers.
"I'd like to just find what is going on at the front line," he said.

buck stops at him

All CEOs say that service is important, but Nishimatsu goes a step beyond. He says that if you're having a bad experience, don't get angry with the people you're dealing with … blame the person in charge.

and salary,

For running the world's 10th largest airline Nishimatsu doesn't make millions. One year his pay was $90,000 because when he had to cut salaries, he also cut his own.
"My wife said, 'What?!" he laughed.
Does it work?
"Yes," he said. "The company is doing better, and so are its people."

hat tip: daily good

obligatory slumdog post

slumdog millionaire has given mumbai's tourism industry a shot in the arm.

15 years or so ago, the Indians became the focus of the beauty industry and promptly Sush and Ash walk away with the Universe and World titles.
i feel slumdog is a receipient of in a very similar lines - the entertainment industry.

for the record - i saw the movie and would have walked out in the middle if not for the fancy money i spent.
but, my liking it or not is not relevant.

i think ARRahman deserves all the accolades that come his way.
his talent coupled with his humility will be inspirations for me. he beautifully said in his acceptance speech - Ella pughazhum iraivanukke (எல்லா புகழும் இரைவனுக்கே) - God is the one who deserves all the fame.
lovely sentiment.

rest i dont want to waste any breath.

volunteering at the local farm - 2

Day 2 was even better। (day 1 here at our service farm)

We got some additional labour force (with all prior permissions), as they needed to get some serious ploughing done.

Around 10 or so plots needed to be ploughed for the next planting cycle. But only 2 plots were watered overnight and hence had softened up enough for ploughing.

A team of 6 people joined us and away we went wielding our pickaxes and कुलाड़.

The boys who joined were hyper enthu and joined up to plough 2 unwatered plots as well.

It is a tough job and requires the finesse of a weightlifter. Technique is so critical.

In the macho mode, within 10 strokes we were all left breathless. With the right technique, your output multiplies fourfold.

All the kids in the families also joined in and we had a blast.

The girls wanted to take home some palak/methi for their dinner. And there was the major 'reverse-negotiation' scene. The girls wanted to pay, the farmers said no.

The eldest brother talked about lots of ‘spiritual’ stuff – ‘ego, atma, karma’ and all. Very beautifully and from the heart and it fully resonated within me.

We watched the boys boisterously wind down the days exertions, diving and swimming in the massive well.

Truly an outstanding evening of work and joy.

volunteering at the local farm - 1

we did it. the discovery of the year was visited in rolled up sleeves and trousers.
very nice 2 hours we spent.
general मजदूरी happened. today was watering day and they let me handle the spade.
there is a foot wide water trough through the center along the length of the field and around five 5x5 sq ft squares on each side of the trough.
the trough is breached at each of the squares and dammed in such a way that the water flows into the square. it took me 3 attempts to crack the process. very simple and some nice innovations.
was introduced to the men folk this time and the kids too. got to tell our story and why we are interested in this work.
quite a joint family - around 40 strong. and most work in the filed along with doing whatever else they do - women managing the household, men doing side-business and kids in schools.
we also harvested some चौली (leafy vegetable) - 15 stacks (measured by the size of the harverster's hand) to be sold just in the veggie cart outside on the street.
and some really impoverished radish (मूली) (root vegetable), which would be bought for its leafy top instead at a huge discount.
good connections happened and more such posts are likely. keep watching.

the non-violent taxi driver

the ahimsa-vaadi taxi driver is one who:
1. honks not
2. keeps within speed limits
3. gives way to others
4. does not indulge in brinkmanship
5. treats pedestrians as equal rights partners
6. keeps a respectful distance from the previous car.
7. respects the 3 lights thing usually found at intersections.

was in one such taxi yesterday. and i was one frustrated passenger!!
barked couple of times during the trip, and sometime towards the end of the journey, i recognised the true value of the taxi driver.

get up, stand up...stand up for your rights

in a story which starts with elements of disgust, disgrace and disbelief, saugata and his friends display amazing gusto, grace and belief to stand up for their individual rights against tough odds.
very inspiring.

hat tip: dcubed

superheros in our midst

malli mastan babu.
never heard about this guy till today. some random email which listed him as a super-achiever.
huh, super-achiever and me not knowing. what are the chances!!
but as i got to read about this dude, he just blew me away.
check this out:

World Record

• He has climbed the 7 highest peaks in each continent. That too in a span of 172 days.
  

Education

DEGREE	SCHOOL/INSTITUTE	DURATION
P.G.D.M.	I.I.M. Calcutta	2002 – 04
M.Tech (Electronics)	I.I.T. Kharagpur	1996 – 98
B.E.(Electrical Engg)	N.I.T. Jamshedpur	1992 – 96

truly a super hero.
time to sweep the shattered fragments of my jaw from the floor.

discovery of the year

an agricultural piece of farm land.
smack bang in the middle of mumbai's center.
right close to where we stay.
here are some wikimapia screenshots. the green spot in the center with the "bulls-eye" mark.











and a slightly zoomed version.












it does not look too much from the satellites, but it is approx a 250 sq mt plot (2500 sq ft) where 8 families operate. the whole area was split into multiple rectangular patches (approx 25 sq ft each) and general harvesting is done based on demand (they first thought, that we were there to buy).
they grow leafy vegetables (we saw 4 types) and bhindi. पलक takes around 1 month from seed to harvest and other leafy vegetables take a bit more.
we have offered our services as volunteers for picking, planting and general मजदूरी over the weekends.
will check it out next weekend.
quite staggering to retain such a place in one of the most expensive realty zones of the city. and the bloody luckbychance that we spotted it while on a jaunty walk.

आज की कंगाल मजाक

inspired by PJ du jour of ships, etc, here is my KM (kangal mazak) of the day.

Early warning - drew a poor response when tested with the public (1 person only).

Q: a desi-engineer starts a new technology company dealing in cutting edge innovation. what does he call it?

Ans: तलवार technologies.

urban pot farmer - part 2

in sept, i started my novice urban farming experiment.

in the 5 months since, i have limited to report.
1. i planted bhindi and beans. 3 times.
2. reasons attributable to pigeons, sunlight, pigeons, water, pigeons, soil caused series of failures. may be even pigeons could be reasons.
3. composting was the only success. but delayed by 3 sets of roosting pigeon making the compost bin their nest. only one chick made it to flight school graduation day.
4. for the record, the mother pigeon incubates the egg for 5 weeks and the chick takes another 3 weeks of parenting to reach flight capability. and fending off crows is a full time job. well done indeed.
5. unexpected net result of nesting, is the compost got massive doses of guano.
6. earthworms.

so in part 2, i got the compost (super fine dark rich colour with a tantalising fragrance) all mixed up with soil and planted a fresh batch of seeds.
this time from a different seed maker. and tomatoes, chilli and coriander.

waiting and watching.

mills to high street - phoenix from the ashes

high street phoenix (aka phoenix mills-PM) is now an iconic leisure/lifestyle destination in central mumbai.
the company website says (they still use 'mills' in their name - strange) :

Today High Street Phoenix boasts the reputation of being the flagship for fledgling shopping and entertainment hubs across the country.
The Phoenix Mills Limited successfully converted a defunct, disintegrating textile mill into the highly productive High Street Phoenix, now regarded as Mumbai's premier lifestyle destination. (emphasis mine)
High Street Phoenix has become a model for the rest of the country in terms of retail led development centers. From haute couture at Quorum to monthly household shopping at Big Bazaar, SF Jeans and Lifestyle, High Street Phoenix boasts of a completely congenial environment. There's something here for everyone.

just recently they opened the PVR Phoenix - a state of the art 7 screen multiplex.
i watched LuckByChance here this week.

while waiting, i gazed at the massive new building that was coming up in the same premises (in the years i have come to this place, construction has been the only constant). it was supposed to be a car park, but now looks like it will be another monster shopping area.
gazing on, i remembered reading a blog post on a research paper (author - Shekar Krishnan) on how PM was developed into this fancy destination on the ashes of the law, workers and other opponents whom they burnt down.

that was 2 years ago...
i shook with disgust on reading that.
never again will i set foot on this vile place, i thundered in my mind.

these 2 years...
i have been to PM a decent number of times. the thunder has been silenced.

not anymore. the disgust and thunder have returned back.
never again will i set foot on that vile place.

"what is the use/need?", one may ask.
this response on not based on use and need.
just disgust and thunder.

nagesh - a legend passes on

nagesh - the unquestioned king of comedy of south cinema in the 1960s/70s - passed away last week in chennai.
nagesh was universally loved. i cant think of other artist whose memory would only evoke admiring smiles.
kamal says beautifully "nagesh has done the work equivalent of 1000s of doctors".

to "create" laughter is a skill of a very high order.
and nagesh was a master creator.

people search anyone?

try Pipl.

very good.

mmrda shows some gonads

today's fresh headlines (aka ताज़ा ख़बर) screams - " hiranandani faces Rs 2000 crore fine"
i had earlier posted on the scam that is hiranandani gardens in powai.

looks like MMRDA has limited options to raise more money as bidders for their 'land auctions' are either extending or not showing up in the first place.

all good trends in my book.