Swa Jagriti Starts its operations

It was long since i blogged . But today i have a reason that i can't not stop myself. This Weekend ie on 24th and 25th October Swa jagriti started its operations. Now we can proudly say that Swa jagriti is not only in papers , but it is quite there in the working zone, Up and kicking.

We were ready to start work around 1 month back. I was in talks at few locations regarding our program ( for our work details have a look at Swa Jagriti ) . My first priority was an NGO khushii with which i had worked as a volunteer few months back. Though the Center Head was positive as i had worked with her in the past, The project head was a little doubtful. It took a little time to convince her and She told us to take a demo class first and decide the future plans later .

So on Saturday (24th Oct ) we went there to take our first class for Computer awareness. The students were a mixture of class 8th and 9th but they all were enthusiast. We started our first class around 10am and it kept on till 12:30 pm, as we ( I and My teammate Praveen) were exhausted by then. And as a pleasant surprise, the students were still ready to continue with the class . But unfortunately, I had no energy left to continue so we left it for the next day.

Meanwhile, Project head was there and after looking the response of the students, she too was all agog . Now she told us that they have around 1200 students enrolled in their different programs and she want us to execute classes for all of them. She told us that she could even help us executing our classes for the community .So i hope we have got enough work to do at least for next 5-6 months.

So finally Swa Jagriti has started to do for what it was born and probably in future it will be spreading its wing in many other directions and with more strength. Village schools and Government schools are also in our radar , and very soon we will start our programs for them in some nearby areas and for that I request for your support and blessings :) .

Driving Lessons to remember...

Accidents kill per year more than cancer kills . It was a headline in TOI yesterday. We ponder, we know it is wrong , do some blame game and continue... without paying attention to rules. Two things i have noticed while driving are very common. One is quite advertised but unheeded ..." Don't talk on mobile while driving" , second is simple and safe but ignored "Use indicator before taking turn".

You are going on road. the car in front of you is running very slow though road in front is clear. You frustrate and try to cross but can not as roads are not that wide. Finally you succeed and find that the person driving the car was actually talking on mobile . It feels like to kill him. Hundreds of warning that its not safe but of no use. we don't even care of our life, leave apart the life of others. But i hope it will be wise if we stop, park the car at some free space, talk and then continue with driving. It will be safe for everyone.

Second issue is related to very basics. What are indicators for in a vehicle ? if you want to turn, use them which 90% of time we don't. If we want to turn, we simply turn. But what about the vehicles following you. They need a indication . It will help them to get slow and take proper side if notified. But we don't use indicator which causes unnecessary traffic, honking and accidents.

Small precautions make big differences. So lets keep in mind these points and avoid accidents.

Entrance exam (CCS University) or mockery

I had this amazing experience when i tried to take admission in LLB course of CCS university. They advertised that for Self financed colleges there will be entrance exam . So i applied , even bought a book to prepare and finally appeared in the entrance exam. I got around 80th rank in my subject. By now everything was fine.

So i was happy with my score and went to many colleges to enquire about the admission. And surprisingly no private college asked for my score ( and they did not even bother that i appeared in entrance or not), they were ready to give me admission if i was ready to pay the fees. Simple mathematics ... :) and i was a fool. I told them that i appeared in CET and they told me that it will only save your 300 rs. i thought .... really because i applied with a draft of 500 rs . So even monetary wise i was in a loss of 200 rs . So i applied , bought a book , prepared, appeared in the exam , waited for the result and then went for admission. While i could directly go for admission as fees is the only consideration ... which i still have to submit.

One more point, the fees recommened by University for private colleges is approximately 13000 rs while most of the colleges are charging between 20000-27000 in the name of infrastructure. Let me complete my LLB and i will sue these colleges first :) .... tan tanaaaaaaaan .....

Should we compromise ?

I get to face one issue recently . As you know we were able to register Swa Jagriti and are now in preparatory mode for starting operations. Few friends told me that they have contacts and can get us funding. Now i was excited as funding is the critical part of any NGO and it will lessen one part of my burden. But there was a glitch. Almost all of them underlined one condition for this :- we will have to pay part of donation to the person in power... as bribe. Here comes the question mark.

There are two facets in my view... of this situation. One facet says that we boast of honesty in our operations. There are few baselines we never want to cross. We decided that we will work with honesty, transparency and certain ethics. If we pay bribe then probably we will be following the path of most NGOs and relevancy of our existence will cease. In this way(by not paying bribe and declining the amount) the progress might be slow but it will be solid.

The second facet says that what is important is best utilisation of money, not how it comes. Suppose 100 rs are at stake, we pay back 20 as bribe and get 80 in our hand. Now our concern should be to best utilise 80 rs because if we deny, someone else will grab opportunity and even these 80 rs might go waste. So while in first case out of 100 , at lease 80 rs were available for genuine expenditure ( as misuse at our end will strictly be ZERO) in second case even these 80 rs are doubtful. Though this view is not honest enough it supports that we must implement honesty at our end and ensure best utilisation of over all money.

Both logic are sound and i am at present not able to decide which way to go though i am little biased towards the first option. But it id difficult to ignore the practicality of second option. Lets see which way we will go as these things are currently not on in the way and will come face to face at least 5-6 months later. Probably we will decide on case to case basis...

Working for Profit vs Non Profit

It was the difference i experienced when i was trying to get the formalities done for Swa Jagriti. In this field never go with the verbal enthusiasm shown by anybody. It has happened with me again and again that i believed people for their words. I had reason too, to believe as i had seen them working professionally and they were exceptional. But i don't know what happens to their social commitment when it comes to do something tangible. Its frustrating but its true. They will take responsiblity but will excuse on the last moment.

Also at the same time i would like to say that sometimes you get help from people you never thought of. You never believed but they come forward and deliver but unfortunately it is very rare. So the point to learn is that expand the things only to the scale which you feel that you can do even if no one comes to support you. Keep doing and expand only when people prove their worthiness for social commitment .

Naxalite Problem

I have been tracking this issue from a long time and found that we take it very lightly. If terrorist comes and kills few people or a bomb blast takes place we make a huge cry. Why .... ? Because we can blame a foreign hand and feel happy. It gives us immense pleasure when other countries console us and praise our kindness .

But these days, frequently we get a news somewhere in a corner that 20 policemen killed in a naxal attack. We have a look and turn the page. Are these lives of no value ? What will happen to the life of dependants over them? In these cases usually the death of one person kills the entire family . Or we neglect because the root of this problem lies in the ineffectiveness of our administrators. Don't know the exact reason but it pains me to find these news very frequently and with noone paying much attention.

And more shameful is that even in the cases of much attention the results are zero. After 26/11 we made huge cry. The mumbains even came out to show their anger after that. But our memory is short lived and when it was actually the time to give way to anger (ie election day) more than half of Mumbai rested at home. Finally we have forgotten what happened and will not awake till another incidence happens . The life will continue ... but remember for some people it will never be same again ...

Fight Corruption... File RTI

This blog is about the latest tool provided by the government to fight against red-tapism. As i mentioned in one of my previous blogs that i was trying to get my NGO registered in Society Registration office Merrut. It has been around 7 months, 15 rounds to Merrut and 25-30 calls to the concerned person ( P. K. Pradhan or popularly known as Pradhan jee) with no effect. One easiest option was to pay bribe and get it done. Second option was to get a recommendation from upper level ( Sifarish) and make it fast. But we have decided that we will use none and will go only in a manner a common citizen, having no any other official powers should go.

And then we went for RTI way. Under RTI one can put his queries to any government office and the department has to reply in a month. So i prepared an RTI myself , with no help from any lawyer just with the help of a website http://www.parivartan.com/ . Then i went to merrut and asked the PIO to receive it. PIO in turn advised me to meet Pradhan jee first and then submit it . So i again told Pradhan jee that it has been 7 months and no work. Pradhan jee asked me to write the details on a paper when i submitted what document (with almost no interest). And then i simply gave him my RTI to Pradhan jee as all the dates were mentioned on it . Pradhan jee went through all the dates and all the queries i have asked.

After that, Pradhan jee was not in a very good mood but the good thing was... he started working i.e. collected all my papers ( and i could see my papers were being opened first time) and started processing them and also helped me in completing the missing papers. Earlier he always talked polite but never worked, this time he was rude but working :) . And finally he told me that i could collect the certificate next Wednesday. So even i did not have to submit RTI and things worked. So it was a good lesson to learn and a way to fight corruption as a common man.

Few things learnt in this process are :-
1. Whatever you submit in any government office, always prepare 2 copies and don't forget to take the receiving on second copy . Also make sure date is mentioned clearly on the receiving so that u can show it later as a proof.

2. Keep your documents complete and fair.

3.The main query i asked was that - please tell me that in last 7 months with whom my application was lying and for what duration and what was the action taken by that person in that duration.

4. Rights are there to support us to fight against corruption, we just need to be aware and be patient .

Few things are still unanswered , in my case i had enough time , so i could bear the delay in process but if someone is in a hurry , probably he/she will submit to the pressure of time and will adopt the easier way of bribing . But things will change only when we will have a desire to do so.

I Don't want to be practical

If being practical means to bribe to get a govt job done.... then i don't want to be practical.

If being practical means to bow down in front of powerful and terrorize the weak.... then i don't want to be practical.

If being practical means to move on the wrong side of lane in traffic jams .... then i don't want to be practical.

If being practical means to take dowry to maintain status .... then i don't want to be practical.

If being practical means to be sad when a girl take birth in family.... then i don't want to be practical.

If being practical means to spend money for no cause .... then i don't want to be practical.

So Theoritically i am better and practically not...

Election 2009

Parliament Elections are over and Congress led UPA came to the power with almost free hand.. From my point of view, Its slightly perturbing that Congress won so easily as they had nothing special to show in their last term report card. Its surprising that  terror strikes, inflation and recession did not go against them. But it is better in a way because they are at least not dependant on small selfish regional parties  There are many facets of the outcome. Congress Says it supported youths and so youths supported it . But actually by youth do they simply mean Rahul Gandhi and i believe he is not being supported for being youth but for being "Gandhi". In their youth category Rahul Gandhi, Jiten Prasad, Schindhia, Sachin Pilot , Sandeep Dixit, Milind Deora,  most of them are there because of their legacy and not because the party policies. 

Personally i feelthat  Rahul Gandhi is better than other politicians because he does not seem to be shrewed and corrupt. But if we consider does he have any qualification for being prime minister, or we are simply promoting dynasty in the name of democracy. I was listening Vinod Dua and found his comment quite appropriate that Why Rahul in politics is directly for PM post , can anybody else get it so easily ?

Now it also remains to be seen that How long the Congress will keep the petrol prices at the same rate. Will Manmohan Singh be able to revive the economy in three months ?I believe still quite a lot is left undone. As no party still considers to make corruption its primary agenda and take steps against it. Still to get a job done from govt. office is painfully difficult. The basic three requirements from govt. :- Electricity , Water ,  Roads are still as poor as they were . Lets hope things will change ...

A Tribute

 This post is after a long time as last few months were not going on very good on personal front. First, the daugther of a relative expired. She was around 17 years old, quite intelligent and was studying in DPS R.K. Puram.  Second, the son of maternal uncle of my wife expired in road accident . He was around 25 years old and was working in merchamt navy in mumbai. 

And finally came the brutal news :- My Jijaji ( Mr R K Singh ) aged around 40  expired in a road accident.He was working as a Deputy cane manager in Loni Sugar Mill in Shahjahanpur. He was a lively person and very wise in Life's day to day affairs. In this sugar mill he was involved right from the purchsing of the land and so had a great reputation in the near by areas. As his job was mainly in field, the farmers were also familiar with him and most of them used to suppose him as the GM of the Mill.

Earlier we were not very close but in last two years we became very close. We used to have a talk on phone almost weekly. Even the day before accident, he had a talk with my wife and sounded quite jovial. He was planning to visit us very soon , but these things are just talks now.   He is survived by his wife(my sister) and two sons aged 11 and 12. Still we are not very sure how the future of my sis and children will shape.  We are trying to find a job for her with the support of mill. 

I hope with time, the things will get better but in reality life will never be the same ... at least not for my sister and her kids.

My Anger

Yesterday we were having a discussions about being "Jats" very aggressive . Then one of my friends pointed out that i curb my basic nature and by nature i am very aggressive . I agreed to the fact and found this topic worth mentioning here as controlling my anger has been a conscious effort from my side.


I always had a belief that to achieve something in ur life one has to be aggressive and haughty. The quantum of these things depends on ur targets. But we have to give them a form which is more creative and amenable. We can take the example of "Gandhiji". One can not deny the fact that he was not haughty or adamant. He too had quite a lot anger towards the issues in the country prevalent at that time. But he had mastery in overcoming his anger and giving it a direction which tried to deal with the actual problem instead of symptoms. That was the reason he won so much respect from the masses and this is the point i want to raise.

Having anger is quite human,but instead of showing a reaction at that moment try to hold it. Think over it in ur leisure time , try to go into the roots of it instead of just looking at the upper visible part and then fight against that root cause. Try to express it in a more constructive and creative way instead of fighting or arguing. I know it is easier said than done but the base rule is "don't react " , hold it for some time and most likely when u will think over it with cool mind u wont feel so bad. It will take time but with conscious efforts, one can learn it and become more tolerant.

Urgent vs Important

This post is mainly inspired by a section of book "Seven habits of highly effective people". I found it very relevant for our daily life and felt it worth sharing.

What i mean to say here is that the task we choose to do in our daily routine should be important enough to do. Or in other words we should not miss the important tasks from our daily routine. Now the next question is what's important ? For the answer, ask urself the question, what u want from ur life ? Where u want to be in next 10 year or so ? How u want to be known when people think about you?

Once u get the answer, u should decide ur daily routine in a way that it helps in achieving the target. Also don't forget to filter out the tasks which are just time waste if you consider them in long run. A common example i would like to discuss here is about exercising, the task which is very important but usually we don't do it because there is no urgent requirement for this. If we want our body to stay healthy and tuned, in long run we cant ignore it ( and i hope no one would like to). But most of us ignore it as at present we are fine and no immediate effect can be seen .
So, this is the example given to help you in deciding what's important and to filter out the urgent but not so important things...

Mujhe Shikayat Hai...

When i was a child, I used to read a magazine "Sarita". In which there was a regular column called "Mujhe Shikayat Hai". In this various people used to send the problems they have with others. When i read my blogs i feel that my blog is only a lengthy version of the same :) . Just full of complaints in different form :) ... some social some personal. Isn't it ????

Our Doctor

My wife usually remains ill and so we have a regular doctor to whom we go. Till date she was very good for us, listening patiently and paying proper attention. But yesterday my wife had pain and so today we have to take her to the same doctor in Narendra mohan Hospital as the dr. does not sit today in her private place. I could not go with my wife because of office and the rest was a worth experience. 

The dr. here sees 3 patients at a time. She will not even listen you properly. She blamed everything on my wife and my wife had to return without any proper medical advice. Looks like she was not happy that we chosen Narindra Mohan Hospital instead of her private clinic and she made sure that we have to meet her again ( and possibly at her private ward as one always wants to get proper medical advice )

Here i also remember the occassion when my wife had to be submitted in Ambe Hospital. And When i remember the experience there, I lose the faith in saying that "Doctors are the form of GOD". First they sent me in the most costly ward without even asking me. Charges there were also quite interesting. For breakfast, which included two bananas and a little porridge, the charges were 100 rs. ( probably matching the charges of a five star) .The experiences of my relatives and friends are also more or less same with hospitals. I understand everone needs to earn money but i wonder where are we headed towards, with this kind of money making attitude...

Caste Reservation

Reservation has been quite a controversial issue in past few years specially after Mundal commision report during V.P. Singh regime.  

We cannot deny the fact that in India, Caste system played a role and lower casts got less opportunities for progress. It is a cycle which follows in a way :- If I am rich, My children will get proper schooling, I can also afford the donations of Technical and other professional degrees , so my children will get jobs and so on .... Now on the other hand If I am poor, my children will not get proper education as the condition in government schools is poor and i can't afford the sky touching fees of private institutes, for the same reason they will also not get any professional degree . It will also be better for me that instead of study they become an earning hand ( which is usually very low but helps a lot at that level). So this cycle continues and rich remain rich and poor remains poor.

Reservation was brought into the system to break this cycle, and give a thrust to the economically downtrodden people which usually belonged to specific class. It was with a noble intention and a must to bring the equality in the society. But somewhere down the line, The implementation took the political turn and things got messed. But here i would like to point out that we cannot neglect the requirement to support our economically week people.

The issues raised by the people who are against reservation, are also quite genuine. A person who has got a job because of reservation but is capability wise inferior to his teammates will cause problems and cannot perform as desired. And where the requirements are critical like IAS, IPS,Army,  doctors etc... it becomes a cause of concern. Even this will be an embarrassing situation to the person itself.

So what could be the solution ??? Probably instead of reservation in the jobs it should be at the primary level in studies or basically free education for them. It already exists but we need to implement it with honesty. We need to bring awareness at grass root level about these things so that people are aware about the policies and get benefited by them. We also need to bring the government education system at par with the private education so that students of these could compete with anywhere.

 Until we do this, Caste system will keep haunting the India in the form of caste politics, caste riots and RESERVATION.

Just thinking of joining Congress...

   From last many days i was thinking of joining congress (I even applied on their website but got no response) and yesterday i got the news that former Indian captain Moh. Azarrudeen will be a candidate in next poll on ticket of congress. The person who put the prestige of county at stake for monetary benifits and was banned for entire life from professional cricket. 2-3 days back, there was news of some history sheeters joining BSP. But basically each party has these elements just in differing ratio. When i see this scenario , it makes me feel sick that if i think of joining politics, i will have to work for/under/with these kind of people.

   But on the other hand, it is because of this scenario, that more of common people(like me ;) ) need to come forward and join politics. Only then the corrupt ones could be brought in minority. Also I m not  joining congress because of its performance or great policies or great leadership, it is just because of the glorous past it has,the leaders like Gandhi and Patel, the role it played in the freedom struggle and how it brought the political awakening in the mass. And these things still are there for me have enough reasons to join the congress. But i just wonder whether i will be able to continue with my old principles in this scenario or not. I will be able to answer it in next 5-6 years after spending some time in the field , so till then lets wait and watch...

If Politicians are bad...

When i was in JNU there was a saying written on the walls ," If you call the politicians donkeys, you will ultimately be governed by the donkeys". Politicians are the reflection of society and if they are a blot, actually society itself is not better. Lets consider the common people around us. A clerk wants bribe to take action on any file.A postman wants sweets to deliver the important mail. A policeman wants u to give 100 rs to him instead of paying 500 rs fine. A doctor will somehow make sure that you keep visiting him frequently. So basically everyone is making money or trying to make money.Than why we call shit only for our Netas. 

  The problem is just that we are jealous of them because they are making big bucks. But after all they come after spending huge money at put their life at risk in this process, so i feel they also deserve this .Because except the size, they are doing the same thing what rest of the society is doing .When anyone close to us gets elected we are happy that our tasks will be done easily, but when it is not the case and someelse is being benifitted we cry for corruption.

 I m not trying to justify whats politicians are doing today. The point i want to make is that , the way we are, we do deserve this.  The simple solution to this problem is that more clean people join the politics. But it will be possible only when there are more clean people in the society. So ultimately what turns out is that we need to correct ourself and than expect anything from others or in this particular case from politicians.... 

Life is like a drive

Did u ever feel that life is like a drive. Most of the rules and experiences of life and drive are same. Like some times u have to follow a slow person because ur side lanes are not free(ur boss is less talented than u ;) ). U have to stop on traffic signals to follow the traffic rules( Social obligations huh... ) .U choose a lane that stop moving ( luck is not favouring u ) or the lane choosen by u cruises( luck is favouring u :) ). And finally both does not have any final destination ....u keep driving if u have vehicle and u keep living if u have a life

Punishment

I wonder why in India we don't hesitate while breaking rules and the reason which appears suddenly before me is that because we don't get punished when making a mistake. What I mean to say is that driving above 60km/hour is not permitted,.... but if i drive over 60km/hour then also nothing is going to happen. Either we should not make a rule or we should try that it is followed letter by letter.

Gandhi ji

Yesterday, It was 30th Jan, The day specially known for Gandhi ji, arguably India's most famous freedom fighter and the person historically i admire most.

My affection for Gandhi ji is not from childhood and like most other fellows i also used to hate him (Even many of my friends still hate him). We could never absorb the beating of numerous Indians by English and that too without any protest. We always thought him a moron teaching Indians his like habits. But there was one thing which always disturbed me and keep ticking in my mind. Why so many Indianans followed him like anything and were ready to go through hell on his command? There must be something divine about him ( though let me clarify i am an atheist).

But with time saneness matured. I also read a lot about him, other freedom fighters and the Indian struggle for freedom.The main reason for his popularity ( and why i admire him most) was that unlike other leaders he himself followed his preaches first. He always found the different and more satyagrhi approach to solve a problem.It was due to his simple mantra of "Ahimsa" that many of Indians could participate in the freedom struggle and could stand in front of the mighty British Govt without any fear. He should be given the credit of bringing the common man in political arena.At the same time he also fought against the long existing customs of India like castism, untouchability etc.. List of his doings could go on ...

I would also like to make it clear that though i admire him most and will surely like to adopt most of his methods, I don't follow him blindly. Like he was a theist and i am an atheist because i could never follow the concept of GOD.

After almost 50 years of independence, it is very easy to criticize his decisions and beliefs but we must consider that they were perfectly in sync with his principles at that time.So i would like to say that do protest against the injustice, protest with truth in your heart and it will really work...

Finally the day arrives...

It was my new year resolution to start blogging and give some formal shape to my random thoughts. But somehow it is starting today, but it cant be a better day then today as its our republic day today. So lets see whether i continue this or this resolution also takes the future of a bubble.

I still wonder about celebrating this day, while in our daily life we ( including me ) never leave any chance to kill the spirit behind this auspicious day. Whether it is about breaking the traffic rules, or it is about encroachment done by us outside our house, or it is about getting a simple job done in any government office . Let me share one experience here. I wanted to get an NGO registered and so i applied for the same in Merrut ( our commissionary) around Diwali. But i am still waiting for it to get done. The clerk there wants 5k as bribe and then probably it will be done within a week.

Till now i am adamant not to give this money and expecting i will get it done in a fair way. But lets see . May be after some time i will try to avoid to go Merrut again and again and to save my time i will surrender in front of him. But who is responsible for all this. The Clerk.. who is asking money for a job for which he is being paid by the government , or the people like me who simply surrender to these demand , never wants to take any pain and has lost the will to raise a voice against all this. I leave the answer to U.

I believe this is not something we can celebrate one day and get rid of it, we need to follow this spirit every day, every hour every second and only then we can succeed to some extent.

Oo..... I am sorry for this serious stuff right in the very beginning but thats what came to my mind and i blogged it . Will discuss some left points in detail in future posts , so for the time being good bye and take care ....