A small insignificant start

After proposing the FMI idea (Fifty Meters Initiative), I nearly lost interest in blogging. It was as if everytime I came up with enough thoughts to write about something, my alter ego would come in front of me asking me to follow at least my own idea, if not somebody else's. Post the FMI blog, my only contribution to the blogging world has been to highlight an article on Macaulay which I chanced upon during my various reading excursions.

Well, as life would have it, I relocated back to India by the end of November 08 (the month I wrote on FMI). After getting the initial relocation hiccups out of the way, I finally settled in a Bangalore locality, not very far from my office (my number one criteria while looking for a house). Within a few weeks, I established good contact with the security guards of my apartment. Some verbal investigation gave me a fairly good picture of their background, their families and the nature of their jobs. 

Then I threw a bouncer at them - were they interested  in studying anything? Did they know anyone in their circle who were interested in studying anything? This was an unusual question for them. They are fairly used to questions about water, garbage disposal, power backup etc from the tenants but not on such lines. So, they (there are 2 of them) got a little confused, unsure of my motives they were shying away from any answer. After explaining that I could take weekend classes for anybody who may be interested pro bono, they promised to get back to me after checking with their friends/relatives.

Next week (or probably week after that), one of the guards rang our bell with three strangers. I tried to visually study them. 2 of them seemed quite shy and 1 fairly outspoken. I probed on their backgrounds and it turned out that 2 of them were security guards (for a different apartment) and 1 worked in a hotel. After some discussion, they all showed interest in learning English. I thought I could do it. So, we had a deal. We figured out a place in our apartment where we could sit together and start our journey.

Today, it has been around 10 weeks of our little experiment. We have classes every Saturday and Sunday in the forenoon. Initially, when we started, I had to talk most of the time in Hindi to explain the things. As Hindi is not their mother tongue (theirs is Oriyya), it used to get funny some times. But now, we have made enough progress to speak only English during our classes. I consider this as a good achievement for them. It has been very hard for my pupils - I have a short temper and am still trying improve my patience. But I am learning with them with every class. By the way, these days only 2 of them are coming. The third one realized that progress in our class was quite slow (he is a graduate) to suit his needs. He wants to prepare for some public sector exams and has asked for some help at the right time, to which I readily agreed. 

Attending the weekly classes regularly is a challenge for these guards as they continually have night shits and sometimes 24 hour shifts so that the other can get a day-off (talk to a security guard to understand what I mean). But still, these students have been remarkably consistent. I hope all this toil to learn English helps them in some way. We are still a far off from our goal of being able to read an English newspaper easily but we are making steady progress. Probably in a few more months, we should be in some shape.  I am eagerly looking forward to see how this journey unfolds.

Thanks but no thanks, Mr. Macaulay

Letter from Mr. Macaulay (person responsible for bringing English education to India) to his father (12 October 1836)

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My dear Father,

....In a few months, I hope indeed in a few weeks, we shall send up the penal code to government. We have got rid of the punishment of death except in cases of aggravated treason and wilful murder. We shall also get rid indirectly of everything that can properly be called slavery in India. There will remain civil claims on particular people for particular services, which claims may be enforced by civil action. But no person will be entitled, on the plea of being the master of another, to do anything to that other which it would be an offence to do to a freeman.

Our English schools are flourishing wonderfully. We find it difficult, indeed at some places impossible, to provide instruction for all who want it. At the single town of Hoogley fourteen hundred boys are learning English. The effect of this education on the Hindoos is prodigious. No Hindoo who has received an English education ever continues to be sincerely attached to his religion. Some continue to profess it as a matter of policy. But many profess themselves pure Deists, and some embrace Christianity. The case with Mahometans is very different. The best-educated Mahometan often continues to be a Mahometan still. The reason is plain. The Hindoo religion is so extravagantly absurd that it is impossible to teach a boy astronomy, geography, natural history, without completely destroying the hold which that religion has on his mind. But the Mahometan religion belongs to a better family. It has very much in common with Christianity; and even where it is most absurd, it is reasonable when compared with Hindooism. It is my firm belief that, if our plans of education are followed up, there will not be a single idolater among the respectable classes in Bengal thirty years hence. And this will be effected without any efforts to proselytise, without the smallest interference with religious liberty, merely by the natural operation of knowledge and reglection. I heartily rejoice in this prospect....

_______________________________________________________________________________

In retrospect, English education did serve its purpose of connecting Indian thoughts to the western world and vice versa. However, it seems it did not serve the stated ulterior purpose of Lord(?) Macaulay. I guess, somebody is still turning in his grave

Source - http://www.columbia.edu/itc/mealac/pritchett/00generallinks/macaulay/txt_letters_later.html

50 Meter Initiative

Every single day we get on with our lives making compromises and adjustments. We put up with unclean neighbourhoods, loitering poor children, corrupt public officials, rash drivers, nuisance beggars etc; trying hard to make our physical and moral senses immune to such picture-imperfect scenes. Over time, we develop a sense of detachment to these peripheral existentialities, focusing even harder on our professional & personal goals. For some, the liberation or 'moksha' comes either from 'moving abroad' or from moving to a well-kept 'gaited community' with minimal possibility of interaction with the system. Majority of us just learn to put up with the system, accepting it as it is. We damn the politicians for all the ills plaguing our society, engage in intellectual discussions (as I am doing now) and become arm-chair experts in how to solve the various problems facing our nation. The no-action-only-thinking paves the way for a nation sinking.

A lot of us want things to change around us, yet are unable to do anything about it. Deep inside us, we have developed a huge fear of the monstrous & gigantic system, ruling India at every level. All of us routinely agree that we would need active group participation to take on the system. A group participation requires leadership, which we have outsourced to the current politicians who are a part of the problems. Unable to break this vicious circle, we resign to our fate and close our doors (and minds).

No, this is not a rant against anyone. Leading a life with honest means in itself is a huge service to our corruption-ridden society. Yet, can you (or I) as an average person not do anything more for the society? Is it possible to do something absolutely alone, without the necessity of joining or forming a group? I believe so and that's what the 50-meter-initiative (FMI) is all about.

The idea is quite simple. Identify the area within a radius of 50 meters of your current place of residence. Take responsibility for at least one of the following issues listed below for that area -

1) Education - Weekend tuitions to poor children
2) Education - Ensuring that all children go to school by convincing them or their parents
3) Education - Weekend tuitions to the illiterate workers
4) Cleanliness - Interfacing with the local municipality office to ensure regular waste collection to keep your area clean.
5) Cleanliness - Talking to neighbours to ensure that they dispose their household waste at the proper place. Discouraging people to throw waste on roads
6) Healthcare - Ensuring access to the public health centers or the government hospitals to the needy
7) Healthcare - Educating the poor and illiterate people about family planning
8) Healthcare - Ensuring proper vaccinations for the new-born
9) RTI activism - Getting and spreading information about various developmental works done (or not done) by your local municipality
10) any more such little things that you can think of ...

Depending on time & energy, some of us may be able to take up more responsibilities, some of us may cover an area greater than 50 m (or less depending on the density). Covered area or number of responsibility does not form the heart of 50-m-initiative (FMI). The crucial thing is that an individual, all alone, must be able to take up a societal responsibility without waiting for a group to emerge. Additionally, if one is fortunate enough to live in a neighbourhood where there are absolutely no problems (an utopian world), one can always identify an appropriate area somewhere else.

To be clear, I am of course not against groups (or teams). Groups can achieve many things that may be difficult for an individual to achieve. But far too many of us just wait and have been waiting for a group to emerge before taking any action. With FMI, the intention is to do away with the waiting period, so that one can start from today (or this weekend).

Lastly, I may be accused of professing without practising currently. However, as mentioned before, FMI is an individual choice. Your choice to make a difference to your neighbourhood depends only on you, not on anybody else.

What do you think!

Don't think, just do!!

Being a Hindu

Being a Hindu means realizing that there is no one single path leading to God and thus accepting that each and every individual has a right to practice and propagate their beliefs in his/her own way. That there are 330 million Gods & Deities (and counting) just go to underline the unparalleled acceptance of diversity in the traditional Hindu culture. Arguably, in pre-independent India, the divine figures exceeded the number of Hindus!

Being a Hindu does not, in any way, restrict any one to fold one's hands and pray at Ajmer Shariff with the same reverence as one would pray at Vaishno Devi. Believing in Jesus, Mohammad, Buddha & Krishna at the same time is not a scandal in this religion but a sign of maturity.

Being a Hindu means understanding that Agnostics & Atheists form an integral part of mankind and benefiting from them by reflecting upon their views of the world and its mechanics.

Being a Hindu means having the freedom to reject all established rituals & customs, yet respect the people who follow the same. There is no such apparent advantage in Hindu religion for priests following all the rituals vis-a-vis the 'grihasthya' (family person) busy in his/her daily chores with no time for God. Unlike some school teachers who give more marks to students excelling in buttering (chaplusi, makhanbazi), God is supposed to see right through such tantrums.

Being a Hindu means believing in the primacy of 'Karma', taking control of your destiny by action. Hinduism does not promise salvation by just believing and practising the religion. Salvation comes only through your actions. Apparently, nobody, not even Brahma (the creator God) has the power to change & rewrite your destiny. Its only you.

Being a Hindu does not necessitate having any intermediary between yourself and your God. As you can have your own God and you can be the first person believing in that God, you have to create your own path. Yet at the same time, you cannot judge other intermediaries nor the people following them. Commanding respect for one's own opinion starts with giving respect to others'.

Being a Hindu means appreciating that 'God exists in each one of us' and none of us can be designated as higher or lower by virtue of our births. It is for this reason that the caste system in its present form is totally antithetical to this religion and must be uprooted by all force by all people Hindu. The so-called Hindu organizations and Hindu mouthpieces would do a huge service to the religion and its followers if they were to work towards the obliteration of caste system.

Being a Hindu means having the freedom to question everything, from a written book to a priest's dictate. But it also implies responsibility to follow one's 'Dharma' as deemed right by oneself.

Hinduism is excruciatingly federal. There is no central authority, no designated custodian. It lives among the individuals and the families. It is this inherent federalism that enabled this ancient religion to stand the test of time through the thick and thin.

This religion has been put to test today by its lunatic fringe. This fringe kills people and rapes women. It does all this in the name of Hindus. Would the Hindus let this group have its say and make a mockery of whatever they believe in? I sincerely hope not.

A number of enlightened Hindus project themselves as secularists. This usually means turning a blind eye to the grievances of Hindus. This provides a ready made playing ground for the lunatic fringe. It is time the enlightened Hindus took the centre stage and asserted their Hindu identity, if only to save their own religion from the clutches of the lunatic fringe. It is time for Hinduism to produce the next Vivekananda.

Have a great and prosperous Dipawali!