Socio-personal

This is a frequently updated page, comprising personal as well as community-related updates, not necessarily in a chronological order. Do keep visiting! You may also be interested in checking this out.

Slum tuition center on Bannergatta Road:

Thus far, we have been tutoring mainly 10th standard kids. But after the board exam, we intend to reach out to other age-groups too. That could also be the time when we bring the funding and mentoring aspects into play. [Details]

Eye Donation Camp in the company campus

While I had been chipping away on environment-related issues, this was HP’s first CSR activity I partook in. Since the first camp didn’t generate good turn outs, we organized a follow-up camp where some of us pro-actively distributed pamphlets to the passers-by.  This, along with changing the venue to the cafeteria and the time to lunch time, earned us more than double the headcount in the first camp. [Useful FAQs on eye donation]

‘Felicitated’ by the Prerna Foundation on the teachers’ day!

Although we prefer to call ourselves just volunteers, all of us involved in teaching at NGO Prerna were treated in a really ‘teacher-like’ manner. A flower and a small gift were given to each of us, along with some words of praise, by the zealous students. This NGO funds and mentors meritorious students (above standard 10) from poor backgrounds.

Pedal Power for AIDS Awareness

NGO Jagruthi had organized a bicycle rally for promoting awareness on AIDS, last Sunday. It wasn’t exactly a stroll in the park to get up early and cycle for about 15 kms (the promotional cycling was for hardly 2 kms, the rest was the travel to and from home). But, I would happily do it again if my presence at all helped the cause, and I am sure it did. Jagruthi seems to have adopted a nice strategy of designating young students from the community as peer educators who, in turn, transfer their learnings to the elders.

Turned a year wiser!

May 4th was my 26th birthday. As many of you know, I am not big on birthday bashes. But, that didn’t deter my spirits one bit. The best aspect of the day, perhaps, was the surprise edibles cooked by Seju. Speaking of her, the occasion provided a perfect excuse to reflect on the cheeriness and energy she has brought to my life over the last half year [I can't love you enough, baby]. The afternoon was spent delivering blankets to selected elderly in our maid’s slums. In the evening, we chose to hang by the Ulsoor lake, which turned out to be a place good for nothing, other than jogging.

Car Free Day (aka Go Cycle)

Cyclists of from all over Bangalore ganged up and rode around MG road to spread awareness about climate change: i) how we can live merrily without a car ii) how cycling is a workable mode of transport. There is no shame in cycling or taking buses/trains. Several CEOs bike to work daily. Many people, who can afford other means, commute by buses. Yes, there is some pain involved, but that’s well worth the environmental gain of the future generations. Besides, cycling’s health gains are well documented. Nonetheless, if you must burn fuel, prefer a two wheeler over a car. And if you must own a car, choose an electric or a higher-mileage one, and minimize its usage.

Community Computing Center (C Cube)

Since March, some of us, AIDers, have been involved in running a free computer center for some economically backward slum kids, near IBM, on the Bannerghatta road. For most of them, this was the first time they were exposed to a PC they can operate. So, we have just been doing basics thus far – identifying various computer components, getting familiar with the OS, using painting software and so on. [More] [Articles in The Hindu & Citizen Matters]

Ahmedabad ‘Chali’ Tution Center (ACTC)

This project took off sooner than envisaged. A free-of-cost tuition center for the not-so-privileged kids in Maninagar, Ahmedabad has now been operational since Jan end. Currently, we help kids from standard 5-7 with their difficulties in Maths, Science and English, 8 hours a week. We intend to commence exercises on “critical thinking” or “values inculcation” shortly, looking to help the young ones grow up into thinking and responsible citizens.

A festival of a different kind

Attended an NGO exhibition cum fair called Namma Jatre and wrote an article on it for a news portal called Citizen Matters. I ain’t proud to reveal that I bought some stuff from there on borrowed money :). Not that I am a compulsive shopper. Just wanted to assist the NGOs through my purchase.

A protest against human trafficking

I and Sejal were there at the Gandhi statue, MG road to show solidarity with those who suffer through the deplorable act of buying and selling human beings – mainly for sexual exploitation. In a stirring report, UNICEF claims that over a million children are forced into this sex trade every year! Anyways, the least we men can do is never to buy sex – break the demand.

Metric Mela!

Our AID team organized this event wherein kids ran the show for adults who were the target beneficiaries. The idea was to hold a fun-filled event, focused around estimating various measurements (weight, height, volume, time). Click here for a small report on the event, developed by Satish Sundaram. You could also check out the photos that appeared on the front page of newspaper Bangalore Mirror.

Justice for the survivors of the Bhopal Gas Tragedy

This, along with ensuring no more Bhopals, is the goal of Students for Bhopal (Sfb), a global group. I have been trying to form a Bangalore cell of Sfb, along with a bunch of young enthusiasts. The way ahead looks a bit grim unless we beef up the manpower. Having said that, it was pleasing to be part of the children’s day protest, organized by the college youth. [Details on the Bhopal campaign with links]

An ‘agricultural’ day out

Some of us, AIDers, went on a farming outing on a recent Sunday. We spent nearly the whole day on a couple of farms well alway from the city, learning and discussing about the role of sustainable organic agriculture [employing cost-effective techniques that make use of locally available substances like cow dung as opposed to chemical fertilizers] in alleviating the agrarian crisis in the country. Prasanna also briefed us about their proposed financial model in which they want the farmers to share a part of the profit with their agricultural laborers, with a view to putting in place some incentive for the laborers to do productive work.

A day on a ‘fast’ lane

Oct 2, 2007: It was my maiden fast (taking in just water in the 24 hours was my first time; I may have done ‘convenient’ fasts before :) ). No, it wasn’t intended at coaxing the gods to get me a good life partner (I have relived that burden of the Gods by making that choice myself). Thanks to AID, it was a fast for a cause – farmers’ suicides. It served its purpose of creating awareness in my vicinity to a reasonably satisfactory degree. The fact that it was on Gandhi jayanti made it all the more special for me as MKG has long been a source of inspiration to me. Ruchi (sister) and Sejal (GF) made the fast even more memorable by joining in themselves.

My first vehicle!

Inspired by a presentation on global warming (thanks to HP), I have been riding a pollution-free bicycle to my work place (and everywhere else I can) everyday, since 05-July-2007. [More with a picture]

Minimum wages for textile and garment workers

I hadn’t been on too many such protests before so it was good to be part of this although my contribution was close to zero. Given that a lot of the stuff they make is sold by MNCs in the west and the rest that stays in India too is prized quite high, their demand of 200 Rs. per day seems perfectly justified.It is also of serious concern that several workers have died because of over-time and poor working conditions (in one word, exploitation). Wishing them justice quick and smooth.

A rare physical combat I got into

My train journey was within its first hour when  a man, in his late 30s, sitting in the neighboring compartment (same coach), ordered soup from a vendor, an about 16 years old boy. The poor kid mistakenly spilled a couple of drops on the floor. The drops were lying on the corridor, adequately far from the man’s seat. But, the jerk fumed at the boy and forced him to find a paper napkin to clean up those drops of soup. The kid started shivering, struggling to cope up with the humiliation, as you would expect. That’s when I stepped in and asked  the man in a reasonably polite way why he was behaving in such an inhumane way to the boy. His fragile ego got out of hands and he started abusing me, verbally. I kept my cool for a bit, before hurling back some nasty stuff. Soon afterwards, he caught my collar and pushed me. That was enough for people to intervene  and seat us both in our respective places. I caught my breath back, told the vendor boy (who had gone entirely out of focus) to put this issue behind him, and soon got up in search of the TC. The first thing I said to him upon catching hold of him was: “I need help, I have been physically assaulted!”.  He and some others who heard me came rushing after me to my compartment. By then, I had gathered substantial support  from the fellow passengers and we really made the perpetrator feel the heat. We decided against involving the railway police, as the objective had been achieved. Prolonged humiliation in front of his family had taught him his lesson on how (not) to treat an innocent, helpless person.

Shanta amma’s missing daughter

Shanta amma lives in a hut near my previous rented house (Q: How do I know her? A: She was one of the people I had distributed blankets to, on my b’day). The owner of the land permits the hut being there, but in return, gets amma’s 13 year old daughter to work as a maid in his house. One evening, the owner folks sent the kid to buy something from a nearby shop, and she didn’t return. By the time I came to know about this, Amma had already lodged an FIR. We were preparing for newspaper and TV ads when the girl made an appearance herself, more than a week after going missing. She had been hijacked into an auto that evening, to a place where she was made to work as a maid in wretched conditions. She wasn’t the only child undergoing this misery, she revealed. Hope the police uncovers the whole racket with her help and the other kids get liberated soon. Sadly, on the very next day of the child’s momentous homecoming, she was back to work at the land owner’s. I didn’t even ask amma why she sent her girl again. With no husband to support and three other kids to raise, she can ill-afford to go land-less i.e. home-less [She fears she will be chucked out of the land the moment she objects to this arrangement. Post this incident, I curse my life a little less.

Quarter century of years!

4^th May, 2007 saw me scoring a quarter century in the game of life. Sometimes I agree with my sister that even at 25, I possess many childlike (she’d actually call it childish) ways. But then, as a friend right says, you should keep with child within you alive. So, I guess I am alright! About celebrations, I have always been rather low-key in terms of expenditure and this was no different (I did spend though, on blankets which I distributed to some nearby huts).