Media, Social Media and our living rooms

If you are someone who has followed Kannada movies and tele-serials, you may know an actor of repute by name Shobha Raghavendra.  In real life, she is a delightful, open minded person. She is related from my wife's side and I really admire her sense of humor in-spite of many personal challenges she and her family have faced.  Once, when we met, she narrated how her virtual characters on screen, which are mostly evil in nature, get reaction in real life.  When she is shopping in the streets or in a nearby mart, people have accosted her and abused her about the way she treated the 'innocent', 'good' characters in a given episode.  Some encounters included responding to physical threats.   Fortunately, Ms. Raghavendra is a good sport and sees the positives in terms of how convincing her negative roles were.  Although, she wishes people drew the distinction between virtual and real lives.

Let us look at our own lives and recent events.  Especially, those which are currently hot on social media.  The recent unnatural death of IAS officer D. K. Ravi, for example.  Almost everyone has an opinion.  Friends, families are split in their opinions on what really happened, who is wrong, what needs to be done.  Facebook, whatsapp is full with blogs, comments, photo links, opinions, and criticism.  TV news coverage is 'live' with interviews, expert opinion, debate, political commentary, blame, counter claim, conspiracy theories,  comments, coverage of affected families including the family dog.  There is no respite from the  drama, trauma of the whole situation.
I'm totally in support of freedom of expression.  Whether it is correct, incorrect, comic, tragic, satirical, one has the right to express.  However, my concern is freedom of thought, which is even subtle than expression and speech.  Without even realizing, this is getting hijacked.  Pre-biased, opinionated facts, figures are beamed right up in your living rooms.  Social media gives you a even better platform to add your comments, selfies, first person, third person accounts on every 'happening' event.   Very recently I saw a teen posting a selfie with his dead periyappa titled 'feeling very sad'.  Of course young man, you are sad.  Why make a public spectacle of yourself and your dead  periyappa?  When there is a gruesome accident or mob incident, the crowd instantaneously reaches for the 'smart' phone.  Not to call the ambulance or police for help. But videograph, photograph the event. Become instant celebrities, be part of events which may just be your lucky ticket to eternal celebrity-dom. When the mother was wailing for her dead son, did you notice the number of cameras, microphone recording her every action, cry of despair?  The same is edited and played in a loop - time and again amplifying this emotion thousand times.  The entire society is trapped in this virtual emotion. You have no choice and are forcefully made witness, judge and jury reliving the entire saga, again and again.  You need only wait until the next big thing happens.  The earlier event fades away from collective psyche.  The new event replaces it and cycle repeats again.

What happened to sense of privacy? What happened to basic human decency?  Reacting and commenting along with popular sentiment is the new norm.  Everyone wants full disclosure, full details, with everyone becoming the know it all.  A judgement is given instantly in favor of the victim - never mind we didn't know the victim 2 weeks back.  The social mob can now decide who the perpetrator is, even if faceless.  The social mob now wants justice to be delivered this very instant. Existing law, justice system be damned, 'cos existing systems are not working.  'The nation wants to know' - no matter no one is willing to listen, everyone wants an answer which they already know.

My basic point is this.  Please wake-up, you are being played.  Welcome to the new information age where every happening event is an opportunity for media TRP and political brownie points.  Your emotional intelligence is being unwittingly leveraged in this game.  The solutions to issues need to come from grass roots.  It is easy to blame the system and externalize the problem.  Part of the solution lies within yourself and hidden.  Connect with your real families, friends and community.  Sure, use social media as a tool for the same.  Do remember that the social media and the HDTV you have in your living room is truly 'virtual'.  Don't sacrifice your real life to a virtual world.

Just a Thought - What is in the name "Hindu" or "India"

These are some thoughts based on some recent readings ('Being Different' by Rajiv Malhotra) and some recent discussions over WhatsApp, verbal discussions with friends and relatives and some random observations and inferences (some could be correct, some could be wrong, some in between).

2014 has been a rather pivotal year in 'India' for its well known political events.  A few words which  have entered standard vocabulary and is subject of debates/discussion in present times include "Hindutva", "Jihad", "Secularism", "Communal", "Saffronization" etc. and its variants.

The word Hindu and its derivatives evokes a range of emotions among people from this country (India) and others having connections with the sub-continent.  Many believe that they are following an ancient religion called 'Hinduism'. Others  believe  'Hinduism is a way of life'.  Some others  believe in 'communal forces'  at play  using 'hindutva' card/identity for vote bank politics.

There is a nice speech by Union Minister Venkaiah Naidu in a parliament speech defending the term Hindu while responding to questions around the controversy of Religious Conversions in India.  What caught my attention was his treatment of  the word Hindu.

With the above background, here is the thought...  For a given culture, community, group of people, is the name so important?  After all 'What is in a name?'  is it not just another word which represents a collection of ideas, ethos, beliefs or value.  If there is another word which can substitute, replace it with a higher purpose, can it  replace earlier terms retaining the same ethos, beliefs and value. To be very specific, What is in the name "Hindu" or "India" - does it mean different things to different people ? Is this word causing divisiveness and much consternation in present times in India?

For those who believe, that "there is nothing in a name, it can be replaced with any other word which means the same thing, subject to acceptability and intuitiveness",   I think this question is answered and there is no need to further debate.

For those who believe that words "Hindu", "Hindustan", "Hindustani", "Hindutva", "India", "Indianness" is a matter of our core identity, I have a rather radical (I concede not an original) proposition.

If one believes in the concept of 'Hindu as a way of life', and do see that the word 'Hindutva' is rather polarizing why not replace it with a better word.   The word to replace 'Hindu' wherever you find it is 'Dharma'.  I understand there is the need to draw distinction between the nationality aspect (Being a citizen of India, or India origin) vs. being identified as follower of a certain faith or belief.  So, for the purposes of nationality, there is a better word rather than India.  The alternate word for India, Indian is "Bharata" or "Bharateeya".   Now these words are not totally alien.  The resistance to use these alternate words could come from both majority as well as minorities (including citizens who identify themselves as Christian, Muslim first, then India Citizens).  For Christian and Muslim friends from India, I'd have no issues in calling them  "Christian Bharateeya",  "Muslim Bharateeya" as sub-identities.  For the remaining majority, if at all there is an identity I'd call it "Sanatana Dharmi Bharateeya" or simply "Dharmi Bharateeya".  This significant majority if they want further sub-identity could further split Dharma tradition to Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Lingayath, Gowda, Yadav, Dalith - you name it..

If you ask me what do you do with the current words "Hindu" and "India" in this proposition;  my answer is let it be as is.  One doesn't have to hate, banish, discard or officially replace it.  Just let it be as is.  Just remove the emotional, physical attachment to these two words and replace that emotional, physical and spiritual trust in two words proposed above "Dharma" and "Bharata".  I think this will change our individual mindset and in due time, our collective mindsets as well.

If you further ask what is wrong in the name "Hindu" and "India"? Here is my response.  There is nothing wrong with those words.  However, there is nothing correct with those words either.   Especially, if you believe in the camp that there is 'something in a name', 'a name means something more deep', my belief is there is nothing in these words.  Almost all words used in this country, region has a certain meaning, certain context, certain philosophy about the same.  However, not the two words "Hindu" and "India" in which both country and culture has invested so much.   These words are not organic to the region called India and it is an identity given by people foreign to the region.  Puzzled ?  Read further...

If you check wikipedia or google the term 'Hindu etymology',   you will discover that the word has a Persian origin.  When first used, it essentially meant people on the other side of River 'Sindhu'.  This includes present Pakistan beyond the river Indus.  Sindhu --> Hindoo --> Hindu.  Even the name Indus and India are derivatives of the same name Sindhu.  I'm no anthropologist, however, as per documented literary works, no work worth its salt identified people of this place as "Hindu" until Circa 1450.  No ancient literature or scriptures of this region, be it Vedas, Upanishad, Ramayana, Mahabharatha has a word called Hindu.  So, if you are a traditionalist, why such a big attachment to a word which really doesn't mean much ?  On the contrary, you find ample references to both the words 'Dharma' as well as 'Bharata'.  By the way, have you listened to the national anthem of India ?  The word  India or Hindu is not in that song as well !

There are other questions that could come and I have thought about it.  However in the interest of  time one has reading this article, I'll defer further details (may be as comments based on interest and criticism).  So, I'll conclude with some Q and brief A considered before putting this blog together - Answers, deep dives, in a separate blog (perhaps).

Questions (and brief answers) considered in the above context:

• Are Religion and Dharma same thing?  (Ans:  No.  Dharma is a non-translatable word to English)
• Is Hindu a Religion or not? (Ans: For ones who want it to be religion, let it be.  However, in my opinion, it is not a religion.  Jainism, Buddhism, Sikhism, Vaishnavism, Shaivism are probably close to religions.  Hindu the word is very contextual and causes much divisiveness at times.  This proposal replaces it with a word that makes it context free).
• What about Christian Dharma, Islam Dharma (Ans: No. Christianity, Islam, Judaism are religions they cannot be called Dharma. Yes, there could be certain aspects in what these religions preach, which also has a Dharma feel.  However, in its entirety,  religions are different from each other.  The super-set of eternal and universal principles is what is called Dharma).
• Are there different interpretations within Dharma.  Is the topic 'What is Dharma, and Adharma' debatable?  (Ans: Absolutely.  There are many schools of thought within Dharma practitioners.   Sometimes  they even seem to be at contradiction with each other.  Debate, Questioning is certainly part of Dharma).
• Can a follower of a religion also be Dharmic in some sense (Ans: Yes.  There is no litmus test for a Dharmic person.  Some non-Bharateeya personalities I can associate with Dharma are Abraham Lincoln, Albert Einstein.  This is purely my personal opinion based on what I know of such personalities.  Majority of people I have come across in my personal life as colleagues and friends, with different religious practices, regions, countries are following dharma in some sense or other).
• Can a person follow Dharmic rituals and still be Adharmic in principle as an example (Ans: Yes, absolutely.  Ravana of Ramayana fame is supposed to have known Vedas, but he is still considered to be adharmic.  Many such personalities, past and present exist both among dharma practitioners as well as other religions).
• What are basic tenets of Dharma?  (Ans:  Definition of Dharma is wide, deep and is subjective at times.  However, from this article's context, Dharma in a theological, spiritual perspective includes concepts like Shraddha, Bhakti, Karma, Atma which are not really translatable to English and there are no equivalents in other religions).

Bottom line : Whenever you find in a spot defending the belief system of this country (called India), try replacing the word Hindu with Dharma (or Sanatana Dharma).  Instead of word India, try replacing it with the word Bharata and see if you get some closure.  You can use it for both  self (introspection) as well as while discussing with another person or group.

Now tell me if there is something in a Name or not as an identity.

In Which direction should Cauvery flow ?

ಇದೊ೦ದು ಪೂರ್ವಗ್ರಹ ಪೀಡಿತ ಪ್ರಬ೦ಧ/ಪ್ರಲಾಪ/ಬೊಗಳೆ(This is a biased personal perspective of an essay/rambling/blog). All persons named in this blog are real and there names have not been modifed.

This is not really a blog on river cauvery. River Cauvery is an euphemism for Kannada in this case. Recently a good old friend of mine blogged on Mr. Narayan Murthy's (of Infosys fame) take in the World Kannada conference. A link to his blog is below. For the benefit of people who cannot read Kannada, Ananda's point is "Mr. Narayan Murthy implies that Kannada is just an emotive language of his and not a practical language for professionals. By saying so, he is pre-empting and cutting away much needed Oxygen/encouragement for the development of Kannada as a language, medium of instruction for all kannadigas need to be in kannada, even professional training has to be in kannada". I'm just para-phrasing Ananda's essay. and from the "I like it" comments on FB and per my gut feel, many like minded "kannadigas" endorse Ananda's stand. Mr. Narayan Murthy it appears you have annoyed a lots of kannadigas. Also, some of the comments are centered around if Tamilians can (Tamil medium professional courses), why cannot kannadigas also do it.


I, am currently on a short US business trip, pretty much jobless during the evenings, I did stir up a hornet's nest by making some comments on Anand's post on Facebook - "Multi-linguism is good, good to mitigate dementia/Alzehimers, so why not teach our children Kannada + one more language to make them globally more marketable". I do concede that my remark was quite tangential - his post is about medium of instruction in kannada, my 'diversionary' comment is about making children multi-lingual.


Many a subtle points have been given and taken (including a few threats) on my provacative posturing. This blog is to provocate even a few more and pick up the cudgels....


I'd like to start with a few people I know about. Not your typical Ivy school types but more like

• Shanti's son Bhoopala. Shanti is the maid who works in my house. More than a maid, I should say she is our domestic home manager. She manages all vegetable purchases, maintenance, laundry, cooking the whole works. Bhoopala's mother tongue is Tamil/Telgu mix. He went to School in Kannada medium. Struggled to pass SSLC. He passed finally - after some petty jobs, he got hired by Domino's. He does Pizza deliveries and he can cook a great pizza and has accounting, customer interfacing skills in multiple languages including Kannada, Telgu, Tamil and English (Job acquired skills not schooled).



• Murali, a car driver, his children. Murali owns a car - he has rented it out in Hyderabad but stays in Bangalore and works as a driver. He is in Bangalore for only one reason, to get his children educated. They go to CBSE school. Guess the medium of instruction ..



• My Father-in-law has a good farmer friend by name Krishnappa in Chikka Tirupathi. He has a daughter who did Engineering. She is now hired in one of the prominent software firms as associate software engineer.

These are our typical grass root citizens of our country. Parents spend their hard earned money on their Children's education. The last one is a stunning success story. Guess what, she graduated from her Kannada medium village school - PUC and later, she went to an English medium Engg college. If a Kannada medium Engineering college existed, and she got admission to both Kannada/English colleges, where do you think would she have gone ? If she had gone to the imaginary Kannada engineering college, would IBM/Cognizant hire her? What were job/earning opportunities? Now she is a role model for the girls of her entire village and I'm quite sure she will inspire quite a few around her.

In the second case, Murali is making a big adjustment leaving his native of Andhra and coming to work in Bangalore for one reason only. Good education ! I hope his children succeed and become yet another set of role models and inspiration for the working class.

In the first case, I think Bhoopala had a tough time with Kannada medium. My wife tried to teach him a few things - but the poor chap had very strong comprehension issues. Trying to stuff kannada grammar, science and social studies was like ನೀರೇ ಇಳಿಯದ ಗ೦ಟಲೊಳ್....

One of the common problems we have in our education system is theoritical training by rote. Bhoopala is not a dumb guy. He is smart in his own way and ambitious as well. He is handy with tools, but the education system with a medium of instruction he had was really tough on him.

In Bhoopala's case, Kannada being a medium of instruction is not applicable (as it is not his mother tongue). In the later two cases, even though Kannada was their mother tongue, they did not want it. So, medium-of-instruction-kannada-only supporters, what is your take on indivdual/personal choices. Should we eliminate personal choice and force all people have to go back where there mother tongue schooling is available and make them stay there until education is complete?

My point is what Mr. Narayan Murthy meant - more bluntly though- there is diminished demand on Kannada medium education due to sheer economics in a global-flat world. The chances of a English medium educated child succeeding in life is much higher - because the zone of opportunity simply expands exponentially. In my earlier opinion, I was not suggesting learning different language as 2nd language, 3rd language or just another topic. I was suggesting learning English/Spanish/Chinese as the main operating language. I was suggesting learning German so that a person can go after the best Automobile engineering opportunity in Munich. I was suggesting learning Japanese (graduate/post-graduate/research), if the best innovation in electronics is happening in Japan and that is your thing.

Let us go back to our own past - my Marimallappa friends... Why did our own parents admit us to Section B of the school and not the Kannada medium A section? Because they wished well for their children (us). They had come up with so much hardship in the just "British Raj" liberated but "license Raj" dominated India. They saw IAS officers, doctors & Engineers succeeding and having a comfortable life. They aspired us to have a much better life than theirs and pulled influence, savings, sacrificing on their life styles to get us admitted in the No. 1 Ranking school in Mysore, English Medium !

In our batch, because of "Gokak varadi" implementation, we had no choice but go for 1st language kannada, 3rd language Sanskrit. Our previous batch, next batches all had Sanskrit as 1st language. Sanskrit was preferred and offered because it was a "scoring" language.

But the funny thing is, though I came from Avila Convent in my Primary school, all in English medium, my friends were always "kannada" guys.. The games I relished to play were lagori, goli, chinni dandu and Cricket. If I recall my Primary school, there were severe fines for talking in Kannada except in Kannada class. If I remember correctly, I used to think Kannada and talk English.. When I went to MMHS, it was really a big relief.. Some Marimallappans are going to get a big kick on the anecdotal quotes below:

"Geo means Earth-u. Graphy andare picture-u. Geography andare Earth picture-u"

"Amoeba yenu madutappa andare pseudo-podia antha dehada bagana hAge chaChuthe..."

"Nodri Atom is the smallest particle kanri. adu kange kanodilla ashtu sannadu kanri"



Well, I was in English medium, MMHS and I loved the medium of instruction. There were some excellent teachers. Some of them are retired now, some have passed away - bless their souls. I'm not being satirical here. This is how they had to teach us, for most of us to get the concepts !! Forget the Rotarians, forget the Avilans - there were other smart kids from Marimallappa Primary (Kannada medium) too. To make them understand, this is what they had to do. Victorian English wouldn't cut the cake. The English medium taught kids (yours truly) got it /understood it anyways.... This was again demand based market. In Mysore, if you wanted good education, you went to MMHS. My father put me in MMHS, despite he himself being a teacher in St. Philomena's. So, though on paper, we were all English medium, our medium of instruction was truly Kanglish.

So what has this got to do with the river ? There is a simple law of physics which determines the flow of a river. It always takes the least path of resistance, basic gravitational law determines that it flows from a high point to a low point eventually joining the sea - not necessarily a straight line. Same way, irrespective of which language you speak in your home, your parents did it, if you don't do, your wife will do it or your extended family will influence you - to get the best possible education possible for your children (best scoring, best professionally viable, currently proven success) -Irrespective of the instruction of medium.

So there, I do concede a point: It does not mean Kannada medium education is impossible professionally. Unless the goal is to become the best of the breed, a global-brand, for example, Tech Univ in Munich, Germany or Tokyo Institute of Technology, Japan; the intellectual ROI (return on Investment) is going to be less. If only we had a mechanism to start (with enough sustained public/private participation) a kannada based institute which eventually gets recognized as a institute of excellence - Mr. Narayan Murthy could have been proven wrong. Since one does not exist, and there have been no attempts by the "education lobby" to do so (honey, there is no money), Mr. Narayan Murthy's stand is vindicated. About Tamil medium engineering courses in TN, it is quite an interesting experiment (we can conduct the same experiment in Kannada as well if there is money to burn) - only time will tell if it is truly "Tamil medium", and if so, what degree of success.

Digression ! digression!! what is the definition of kannadiga ? I'll mention a few known/un-known personalities. Please evaluate if they are kannadigas or not. What is their mother tongue, your thought of medium of instruction for their children/wards.. (prospective progeny, if they do not have already), in primary, high school and degree. Just a mental exercise.

• Aishwarya Rai, Deepika Padukone, John Abraham types.


• Narayan Murthy, Nandan Nilekeni, Indra Nooyi, Azim Premji types.


• Yeddy, Reddy, Gowda types.


• Sardarji in Hanumanthnagar 50 ft road who sells fabric and can talk with you fluently in Kannada.


• Girish Karnad, U.R. Ananthmurthy and their progeny.


• Shanti the House Manager, Murali the Driver, Krishnappa the farmer from earlier and many such.


• Iyengar kannadiga, shetru, Sankethi-smartha.


• kannadigas settled in Tamilnadu, Andhra and all over India due to work, old roots.


• Pardesi guys who have come back to Bangalore and try to give you pseudo-intellectual gyan (guess who falls in this category).
  

I have a few more topics itching to talk about but this blog is getting a bit too long... Some undiscussed random topics for me to ponder (some serious, some silly):

• Are we getting more and more narcissistic by the day, declaring ಕರ್ನಾಟಕದಲ್ಲಿ ಕನ್ನಡಿಗನೇ ಸಾರ್ವಭೌಮ (Kannadiga is the king/emperor/superior in Karnataka). I had seen an even more disturbing plaque in Gandhi Bazar near Dr. Rajkumar statue, etched in stone. I'll confirm it when I'm in Bangalore before quoting it. I believe we should be humans first, Indians next, Kannadiga after that. Plaque suggests something else.




• When we say "Save Kannada", what are we talking about ? Is it Kannada art (music/movie/drama)? literature (language/script/books)? kannadiga culture? economic clout of kannadiga population ? Agreed - they are all related, guess they are different tributaries of the same river but running their own course, own speed.



• Should Sonu Nigam and Shreya Goshal sing kannada songs in movies at all? Mano-murthy and Sonu in Mungaru Male, man that is magic !



• Generally Tamil invokes a general negative response - There are some historical reasons. But shouldn't we move on?. Why especially compete with Tamilians?



• ನಮಸ್ಕಾರ ಸ್ವಾಮಿ. ಹೇಗಿದ್ದೀರ ?, ಏನಮ್ಮ ಹೇಗಿದ್ದೀಯ, ಏನ್ ಮಗ ಹೇಗಿದಿ ? Is that all kannada and we accept it with the flow as a natural progress/adaptation/colloquialism or should somebody control it?



• Am I a kannidiga, do I need certification from someone?
  
  


• In which direction should Cauvery flow and where should it stop ?

P.S: I tried typing in Kannada the whole article - it is too tough with so many accidental deletes/re-types. Anand - good job on your blog, don't know how you do it - but excellent literary library of kannada short works. Also, my grammar, punctuation in kannada has all gone for a toss - years of disuse of written skills. Please keep the posts coming and I enjoy reading them even if I do not necessarily agree with all. Rest of you friends - Debate - but Peace !!

Ananda's Kannada Blog

New beginnings - a few flickers of hope

On one hand, the headlines scream about one scam after the other be it 2G, CWG, or one everyday land scam at every possible scale, from village to big-city ones. There seems to be a mad rush amongst the powers to be, to make the most in the shortest possible time, starting from grass root levels to the high seats of democratic powers. Or should one say gross loot levels are at the all time high? With the rich getting richer, the powerful getting more power and poor getting poorer?

On the other hand, there are many citizens/netizens doing great things quietly. Putting their hard earned, post-tax paid money into myraid of small projects benefiting numerous nameless boys/girls/homes. These don't find much mention in any magazines/news papers. For one, the ones doing it aren't doing it for fame. Covering them in news/media isn't going to increase any TRP rating so it simply isn't news-worthy. Common man also doesn't care - well afterall, he has more to worry about rising onion/petrol prices rather than some altruism in some remote corner of the country.

Assuming you are like me, I normally give it a mouthful to the bureacracy, the politicracy. It is quite simple you see, I can find exactly what is wrong with the system and who is to be blamed. Did you say I could do something about it ? Come on! you are kidding me right ? How can I, one lone man do anything with the big bad system which we inherited from those Bloody Britishers. The whole system sucks - I can't do much. Even If I wanted do something, I'm quite buried through my ears paying my monthly EMIs, upgrading/investing for my 4 wheeler and just keeping up with inflation. I pay taxes and able to sustain my life with my family - that itself is a miracle.

This blog is not much about what I or you are doing. It is about some of those not-so-known ones, who are already doing good things. These are faint flickers of light visible in the dark gloom of rampant corruption, greed for power, bureaucratic quagmires - if you are looking.

Sahasra deepika is an organization in the outskirts of Bangalore on Bannerghatta road. Dr. T. V. Ramakrishna and his wife Vijaya started this initiative about 12 years back. This is no orphanage. Sahasra deepika has an ambitious goal of adopting abandoned/helpless toddlers and give same level of primary education as your children and mine can get. The organization is privately funded (no Govt. largesses). Read about Sahasra deepika on the link provided.

There are several other such initiatives like Parikrama
and SOS children village at local to global levels which are striving to provide level playing ground for the under-privileged children. Most of these programs are holistic in the sense, they take into account limitations with parents of such children. These are not mere start-ups but have a built-in sustenance/scalability strategy.

Now a days, Almost everyone has the awareness that education is important. Even house maids and masons try to get their children into schools and try get the best possible, budget permitting education for their wards. But after primary education, then what ?

We have numerous educational institutes for graduation. However, are they producing an output which is really employable, entrepreneurial? Do we still have antiquated systems of training (be it professional/academic) or do we have systems in place to train and develop the next generation of professionals?

I Recently visited an old friend of mine, R. Harinath who after years of corporate life is now part of Karmic and Pranjal along with Dr. S. S. Mahant Shetti. Both institutes are running in a village called Nesargi, 35 Km from Belgaum. The approach taken at these institutes is radically different from what we know as professional training. Almost all students are from rural background within 200 km radius (as far as Bagalkot). Parents of these students are typically farmers (not the rich Sugar cane cultivating types). These SSLC pass students are being trained with topics like analog electronics, VLSI design, rural engineering(power, tools, techniques), mechanics in addition to science, mathematics, philosophy. Of course, general life skills with communication, professional English is part of the curriculum. There are no exams, certification, grading or ranking. The 3 year program will be producing its first batch of graduates in the next year (2011). All the students (around 60 of them in three batches), with around 60%-40% breakup (boys and girls) are resident students. In addition to education, lodging and food costs, each student gets a stipend of 500 Rupees per month to take care of other logistics (medicine for parents, travel cost etc.). I definitely hope Mahant Shetti and Harinath's model serves as a fantastic template to empower the under-privileged, especially in the rural setup.

	See more about Karmic/Pranjal in the accompanying photo blog
Nesargi - Karmic - Pranjal

Also heartning is the approach taken by MNC eateries like Domino Pizza, McDonald, Pizza Hut in urban centers. My house-maid's son is barely SSLC pass. Being the son of parents who migrated from TN - AP border, he had major challenges clearing the 10th grade due to medium of instruction (Kannada) and general comprehension issues. He was working in a TV repair shop for 1500 rupees per month. He was interviewed/trained and hired by Domino's a few months back. In his early twenties, he now earns good enough money (around 6 K) per month, he can now do simple accounting, have good communication skills to converse with customers in multiple languages and can cook delicious pizzas !!

Another friend of mine Kiran H R, took the initiative to start a local 'giving circle' as part of GiveIndia. A few acquaintences of Kiran took part in listening to presentations from NGOs who were in need of funding. The group (of sponsors) rated the NGOs in terms of their needs, the best ROI (in term of vision, goals, practicality), the funds the group can produce and picked an NGO's initiative to fund for the next year or so. If you are the type of professional who is not just interested in donation but need accountability, metrics, progress/status reports in terms of how your 'investment' is doing, GiveIndia should provide you a way.


All in all, these days, there are quite a few flickers of hope. Rather sit on the sidelines and grumble about the game there is a chance for you and me to be a player. You and me being products of Socialism (subsidized learning, sometime in your education ) and beneficiaries of capitalism (reasonably well paying corporate jobs) now have a chance to play benefactors rather than victims of the system.

Padmanabhanagar Prathinidhi Prashnothara

The event is over ! Wasn't very sure even if 50 people would turn up. Turns out there were close to 300. Many of them were probably supportes of their political wards. Still, I'd assume there were 250 genuine citizens with concerns.

Background : Padmanabhanagar senior citizen forum and Deccan International School Parents' association (DIPA) jointly hosted a Q & A session with all candidates contesting the 2010 BBMP corporation elections. This event was meant to bring like minded residents of Padmanabhanagar together for a constructive dialog before the elections.

After the customory invocation, welcome speech, lighting of the lamp, the citizen manifesto was presented to all candidates :

A Manifesto for Padmanabhanagar, Bangalore
2010 BBMP Elections

Parks and recreation spaces for children and Elders.
Footpaths and Traffic signals to help pedestrians as well as Vehicle riders.
Big infrastructure projects in consultation with local professionals and local consensus.
Make Padmanabhanagar Clean and Green.
Public and Private programs for Rain Water Harvesting and Ground water re-charge.
Infrastructure projects – First Consult, then Plan, and execute – ON TIME.
Periodic City Town Hall Meetings. With Citizen & Official participation. First hear and then solve grieviences.
Enforce BBMP City codes/rules – Banners, cut-outs, Advertisements, Public functions. One rule for all – Citizens, ruling/opposing politicial parties, religious outfits.

Date: March 21, 2010

Overall, I think it was quite a decent coversation with quite a few spirited 'oldies' and few green 'newbies'.

For me I discovered who the candidate I would have voted. Unfortunately, I'll not be able to vote since I'll be somewhere over the Atlantic ocean in mid-flight on election day.

Unintended consequences of the good kind

A week back or so, me and family took a short vacation, a short idyllic trip, south of Mysore. My youngest daughter fell sick with some temperature, but my wife was prepared with paracetemol syrup for the trip. We were not planning too many activities. The wild life safari we wanted to go to, got cancelled - that was probably the only loss. Since the Kabini reservoir area, where we went is quite remote from suburbia, and a sister of my close friend was a practicing doctor nearby, I took it as an opportunity to visit her and take my little one to get a medical-professional-opinion, just in case. It was nice to see her after many-many years. Last time I saw Padmaja (my friend's sister), I think she was getting married - 15 years back or so. She prescribed some anti-biotics, my daughter got some rest sleeping in her house for a few hours. Though it was an unplanned stop, I wanted to see for myself the good work Padmaja, her husband Balu, and her colleagues were part of - the SVYM (Sri Vivekananda Youth Movement). My elder daughter was a bit grumpy about the detour - precious family vacation time was getting wasted because of this detour and stop. She was not getting to do much, sitting and listening to adult conversation, which from her context didn't make any sense, and was least entertaining.
After a week, I have been thinking - did I get the full ROI on my trip - the rates of resort stay, hotel stay in Mysore, was quite expensive. We drove all the way close to 250 kms one way and back. When I came back to Bangalore, the car wouldn't start (battery problems), another impending expense - added to it, my daughter fell sick ! So was the trip really worth it ?
You and I both know that a trip/journey's merit cannot be measured by the things you did, the total 'pleasure' factor you derived, the number of photos you clicked. I think it is mostly the after effects of the journey/trip - that warm/fuzzy intangible after-journey-thing is the objective rather than the destination itself.
In this trip itself, I discovered two more such warm/fuzzy stories - unintended consequences of the good kind.
The SVYM (http://www.svym.net/) was started by a bunch of medical professionals, who wanted to make a difference in rural India, many a years back. Their collective work, sacrifices is quite commendable. However, in the process of enhancing rural medical health, the setup has branched out into many unintended spheres of rural life - education, social engineering, rural economy etc. Apart from Primary Health Care centers, SVYM also runs schools, funds road building projects, brings accountability to rural governance using RTI etc. All-in-all, I feel it is a great story when a few good people with honorable intentions commit their education, energies, life to a specific noble cause (rural health in this case), resulting in many other good things.
The other story is that of Kabini reservoir itself. I remember when I was a kid and my father had an acquaintance who owned a Coorg Coffee plantation. My father being a high school teacher had taken the task of giving extra coaching to his son - Bopanna, who was academically challenged. My dad, had his own principles in his life and wasn't too keen on minting money out of education as a profession. Though the trend of education-as-business with tuition centers, coaching outside school had already started three decades back, it was not as ugly as these days. My dad wasn't able to make our family financially stronger because of his principles perhaps. Side story apart, Bopanna's father offered our family a trip to his coffee plantation near Nagarahole forest reserve as a thanks giving gesture to my dad's efforts with his son. I recall seeing hoards of elephants, bisons in that trip. Also, I remember being told that forest was getting reduced with rapid agriculture, many people getting displaced due to irrigation projects, animals invading his coffee plantation because of lack of water, human activities etc... I was too young to comprehend and understand all that - then.

But looking back, I think life has come a full cycle - the very irrigation project Bopanna's father probably referred to - Kabini which was commissioned in 1974, has become a life sustaining force for both Bandipur and Nagarhole wild life reserves. Because of the Kabini dam, there is huge artificial lake created which provides water to both the forests and the wild life in it. I don't think when Kabini dam was envisaged, the wild life angle was thought about. A highly disruptive, eco-disturbing activity of 1970's with the good intention of irrigation is paying dividends in the past few years in being able to sustain wild life.
The above is not to justify all engineering, mega-earth-moving projects which are ecologically disruptive. However, there is a silver lining to every well intentioned task, be it small, medium or big, when people start it with good intentions.
Of course, the road was not smooth - in the literal sense the ones I drove on as well as the one the SVYM folks have trudged for many years. But in the end, I think it is worth the trip.
As Deepak Chopra, the eternal optimist says, "When you live your life with an appreciation of coincidences and their meanings, you connect with the underlying field of infinite possibilities."

Quite sure you are having your own wonderful/adventurous journey of life as you read this blog. Never mind the bumps and grinds, take a few moments to enjoy the panorama. Cheers !

P.S: Link to the family photo album which chronicles the trip is below.

Mysore and Kabini Trip

We are a bunch of talk-a-lots

These days my thoughts and blogs are invariably about Bangalore traffic, road conditions. Guess one more blog on this subject doesn't matter.
Since the past few years, I have been driving my car all around South Bangalore. Many including Ani(my wife) and my in-laws have complained/complimented that I have been totally Bangalored in terms of my driving skills. I do take some pride in being able to manouver my Tata Indigo Marina in the narrow confines of Tyagarajanagar, N. R. Colony, Hanumanthnagar - come sun, rain, cow, the odd water tank from opposite side, auto, car or even dug up drains under repair, in my way. I thought I had reached total driving proficiency and, myself as a pretty cool driver until I lost it yesterday.
There are umpteen storm water drains being repaired (in preparation of the coming Corporation elections I presume). I knew the bylanes I was using yesterday quite well. Also, on that road all the repair work was complete, so I confidently made a turn in one of the lanes(less than 5 kms per hour). There was a big jarring sound - immediately I knew my car had brushed against a rock. Stopped my car and found that my car was stuck between a rock and a hard place ! A big rock slab had been left in the edge of the road and it was wedged right underneath my car - tyre to tyre. There was a leak from the front wheel section and though the engine was still running, there was no doubt that a major damage was impending my wallet.
Soon good samaritans from Tyagarajanagar gathered around. Samaritan #1 said, "Sir, diesel is leaking, your car will not even start". I didn't reply to this self proclaimed Auto expert, since I knew my car would start and engine was OK. Samaritan #2 said, "Saar, your car is the fourth car suffering this fate in the past two days". I silently thought - "so kind of letting me know, by the by, what are you doing after so many accidents dummy!" Samaritan #3 coming from the other side on a bike stopped and enquired "Is this car yours? Why didn't you see the rock?". Again I remained silent as I thought "Yes sir, I'll immediately buy the latest gadgets to install floor level cameras and articificial intelligence upgrades to my Tata Car". Samaritan #4 was much better, he happened to be a neighbor of my father in law. He asked me if I needed any help - much better. Samaritan #5 guided me to a neighboring road where drain work was still in progress to go and complain. I knew nothing much was going to happen by complaining, but that was a good suggestion to get some help to get my car unstuck.

With my father-in-law by the side (who had joined after a desperate call to him), we went in search of the BBMP appointed, contractor hired workers who or whose brethern had done this piece of art work. Luckily, they were just a few roads down. When asked to come and help - again various reasons - "Saar, navalla madiddu (we didn't do that road work)", "Writer barabeku (Contractor appointed gang lead has to come)", "Corporation officenalli complain maadi". That is when I completely lost it... To my father-in-law's horror, I started a immediate dharana making them stop work completely and not allowing them to do any more work. What infuriated was the fact that none of them even tried to come take a look and try resolve the situation.
Actually, many of them were quite relieved and stopped work and welcomed their break by unravelling beedies from their pockets.
After 15-30 minutes of my dharana, one of the old guys in the gang relented and agreed to accompany me to where the car had got stuck.
We came to the spot, the old man used his crowbar to nudge the rock to the pavement (which could have been done much before the four cars prior to me were damaged) and my car was free !! The leak was with the power steering fluid. My car did indeed start, steering was not a comfortable thing - but was able to drive it to my trusted Tata mechanic who incidentally is in Tyagarajanagar. Total damage - 4,500 Rupees.
I'm still thinking, we are all a bunch of talk-a-lots. Whenever there is a road accident, we (a generalization of Indian males) derive vicarious pleasure by analysing things, give unsolicited expert advice, blame the Govt. and sundry, blame karma, express lip sympathy but do very little actionable. In this experience, only the old man from the worker gang of 20 was the exception. He had the good sense of not just being sympathetic, but also had the maturity to come take a look and help - instead of just being defensive and be a talk-a-lot.
Ironically, I'm planning to become a "Technical Analyst" starting Monday at Thomson Reuters - guess I could do my job by doing just what most did - talk-a-lot without personally doing nothing about problems, issues and not really resolving anything.
Also, you can call me blog-a-lot !
cheers,
Dheera.