Pointing Fingers:

Dear Mr. Karan Thapar,

I read your personal opinion in the Hindustan Times today regarding the need to take a deeper look at ourselves as a society and change our attitude towards women in order to stop their continuous humiliation. I must applaud you for having such an evolved mind. I also agree that in the longer run, changing mindset is what will work for us. But the question which the nation is asking about is Now, not the ‘longer run’.  

I want to ask you a question. Just how many times have you actually travelled in local buses of Delhi or walked the crowded streets of Lajpat Nagar or ever tried taking auto at night in places like Uttam Nagar or Rohini? My guess is that neither you nor anyone in your family would have done that. I have spent 16 repressed years in Delhi before choosing to live a more free life in Mumbai and in those 16 years, I lived the life of a common middle class girl doing all the above and more. So, can you even begin to imagine the humiliation I felt when as a 19 years old naive college student, I was masturbated against in a local bus in full view of everybody and I had no idea what to do? Or would you ever know how it feels when you walk down a street in broad daylight and guys on bike come from behind and grope you? Or the terror you feel when the auto driver suddenly takes you off the normal route and down a deserted, unlit road at 8 in the night? Or the feeling of frustration when you roam around your locality for an hour trying to shake off a stalker because you know nobody will help?

You talk of changing attitudes, especially the mothers. An NGO which works on the issue of violence against women once told me that it took her 10 years to make the women in villages of Sawantwadi to introspect and accept violence as unnatural. These women had accepted abuse as a way of life and had no idea that a better society existed (if at all) outside. And now you expect them to be the torch bearers of change? Tell me, how many of us who are educated have the ability to really introspect and change themselves? So, can you imagine these women who are not educated and have never seen a life without a form of abuse to first change their thoughts and then change their sons’?

You talk of changing attitudes, especially the mothers. Let me tell you three stories that I have come across in the so called educated metros.

A well educated Bengali guy (parents’ only child) worked as a manager in one of the top private banks. He was addicted to S&M porn and forced his newlywed bride to all that he saw on screen. When asked by the NGO, he said that he can do whatever he felt like because she is his wife. His parents were scared of his anger.   

A judge of a High Court often beat his daughter at the slightest pretext. Neither the girl’s brother nor her mother had the ability or strength to defend her.

A husband regularly beat his wife because she had a small room in her name which he wanted to possess. In order to punish her, he forcibly made their teenage son and daughter watch porn with him. He also passed lewd comments on his own daughter in front of everybody.

Dear Mr. Thapar, the current state of the Indian Society as I see it, cannot be simply explained as the result of it being a patriarchal society. The malaise is much much deeper. Why else would a society have gang rapes on children or sexually abuse both girls and boys? When I read this article, I was terrified because this does not have as simple a solution as changing attitudes.

You are perhaps right. We cannot ask our leaders to help because many of them are criminals themselves and won’t let the axe fall on them by changing laws. We also cannot ask the police force to help because as the Tehelka story suggests, they are worse than our tormentors. So with our leaders and protectors out, it leaves us with only you, Mr. Thapar and like minded people like you to help. You have two important media at your resource. Why not use it to influence people and work towards your solution your way?

If you can even change the mindset of any one of the three people I have mentioned above, I will forever look up to you as the evolved mind that you are.

But till that time, please stop playing the Devil’s Advocate to the better half of the country’s population.

Yours,

 A common woman on the street

For Mumbai women: Dial 103 for help, Railway Control Room (locals): 022-23004000

Women across the country, know your rights and insist on their implementation (most of these are really strong and in your favour): Protection of Women Against Domestic Violence Act, Sexual Harrassment of Women at Workplace Bill, Protection of Children from Sexual Offense Act

In Maharashtra, almost all districts’ SP’s offices have a special cell for women and children who are trained to handle cases of violence against women in any form. It is always advisable to go to them for help than go to a general police station as they are more sensitive and better equipped to handle cases of crime against women and children.

How important is your ‘ism’?

Can a country with so many religions be truly secular or for that matter can a religious person ever be secular?

Here my definition of religion as I have understood it over the years – faith (often blind) in one and only one particular way of reaching out to God or a supreme being. The ‘ism’ in that faith makes a person do a whole lot of rituals or ceremonies, sometimes without ever questioning them or even trying to understand the meaning behind them.  There are a lot of people who do understand and believe in the rituals etc, but then they end feeling that their chosen path is supreme and the rest are not really up there yet.

Secularism for me means keeping all those ‘ism’s aside and looking at a fellow human being as a human being first and not let his/her ‘ism’ get in the way.  

My father is an atheist and my mother religious. We recently went to Shirdi at my mother’s request. Being a pilgrimage town, there was a feeling of piety and a vague sense that all of us were there for the same reason. But what disturbed me was an underlying sense of madness, of religious fervour. Sai Baba disregarded religious orthodoxy and rituals putting more emphasis on self realisation, charity and being a good human being.  I am not too sure I saw any of this there. People did exactly what they were not supposed to do ... follow rituals. Offering garlands worth Rs.500 or 1000 is not really charity. Not maintaining roads within the city limits even when so much money is pouring in is not really being good.

For some reason which I can’t fathom (I do want to blame media to an extent), I feel that people across faiths are getting more and more ritualistic. The Diwali, Navratra, Id or Karwa Chauth celebrations, all are getting more elaborate and showy.

In my experience, the moment you take the path of self-realisation, all the rituals and celebrations cease to matter. When I was a kid, my father had sat me down and told me that there is a rationale behind everything, that I should question things including God and never to follow anything blindly (exactly what Pi’s father told him in the book Life of Pi). My mother’s belief in her God helped me keep my faith in a powerful being. But it was my inherent Hindu-ness (not the ‘ism’ but the philosophy) which led me to experiment with almost all faiths and various other esoteric ways in order to find myself.  Finding myself did not mean that I became a good human being without faults but that it helped me see the goodness in others and try and accept them as they are.

So I question people or a nation (ours) who term themselves secular.  The notion on paper sounds good.  But if not implemented in practice makes you question as to why the word is there in the first place. The first step towards self realisation is to acknowledge and accept your current state of being. So it is time that we as a nation acknowledge the fact that we are not really secular, that we are more a nation of multiple ‘ism’s co-existing.

It took me more than three decades of search to get my answer. So for all of us as a society to collectively reach a state where we can truly call ourselves secular, will probably take an era. But starting now is imperative.

How to Travel Responsibly:

I sometimes go on weekend treks in the Sahyadris (the Western Ghats)....short breathers from the chaos of hectic city life. In one such trek, a young couple (in their 20s) while taking a short rest, opened an energy bar and threw the wrapper in the surrounding forest. When reprimanded by the trek guide, the young chap said apologetically, “what to do....it’s become such a habit.”

I will not get into a tirade as to how throwing wrappers around has become a ‘habit’ for educated youths but these very ‘small’ habits can make a huge impact on the places you travel to.    

Last year I went to Arunachal in Sept on a volunteering holiday and met some of the friendliest people in India including Tapi Mra  (an Everester). The teenage girl who took care of us in a lovely homestay in Tawang told me that it’s difficult to deal with tourists from the plains especially the Bengalis because of their constant cribbing and demands.  

In the first instance, you are adding to the pollution and environmental degradation while in the second, you are not only not understanding the local community or culture but also creating a bad impression of yourselves and others who come after you.   

The joy of travel is when you see a place or destination from the eyes of the people living there and from accepting what nature has to offer you.

                                                                (an old woman in a Monpa village in Tawang)

Here are a few things you can do or not do while travelling to make it meaningful for all.

1)      Reduce your carbon footprints – Yes, it’s difficult to do so now a days when  most of us do not know till the last minute whether we are going for that vacation or not. But guess what, no one is indispensible....hence with careful planning you can prepare for that trip well in advance. Take a train (I can already see the look of horror in the eyes of my well to do friends), a bus or a shared jeep.  Not only do you reduce your carbon footprints, but you get to experience so many interesting things. Walk! That’s the best way to see a place too.

2)      Try and stay in places which are environmentally aware – There are many places which have destroyed hillsides and forests and called themselves eco-friendly. Avoid such places, however beautiful they are. For example, do not stay in a resort which is in the core area of a National Park and throws parties at night for the guests.

3)      Give back to the community – There are many enterprises and organisations which offer homestays. They work with the local communities, give back to them and are environmentally friendly too. This way you can experience the local culture and food first hand. Oh yes, you get luxury homestays too (for those who think that homestays mean sleeping on cots). See links below.   

4)      Accept a place as it is – Stop demanding. (if you haven’t got something which you were promised, then of course you can). If you are used to certain luxuries of home, then I suggest you stay there. Understand the geography and culture of a particular place before you start yelling for more. Remote places like Arunachal or Ladakh might not be able to cater to your constant need for hot water. Accept it.

5)      Go for local cuisine and products – It will help boost the local economy and also help retain the local way of life. And anyway, what’s the fun of having aloo poshto or thepla in the mountains or a desert when you can experience a warm thukpa or a super hot laal maas!

                                                                        (a traditional Kumaoni hut)

6)      Be eco friendly yourself – If you are staying in a hotel for two or three days, then make sure that housekeeping do not change your towels and bed sheets every day. Yes, you like a spic and span place but do you change your towel and bed sheet everyday at home? Also I really do not understand the Bisleri fetish these days in most travellers. Most hotels and even homestays use filter (Aquaguard) which makes water safe for drinking. Yet people will buy bottled water and then throw them out. What I usually do is carry my own bottle and keep refilling them from the hotel filters. And guess what? I am alive and well without any major water related disasters during my travels. (* The water related advice is not for foreign travellers)

7)      Be responsible – of your surroundings and other travellers. I cringe when I hear of large groups going to a forest, drinking and creating a ruckus.  Stay quiet in places where silence is the best way to be. As a woman I feel uncomfortable when I am with people who drink themselves silly on a holiday. It’s difficult for boys to wean themselves away from the bottle....so if you really have to drink, then do so in private.

8)      Volunteer – why not combine giving with a holiday. Of course, you will have to work and stay in really basic places. But on the other hand, you get to see what real India is all about, contribute to the cause you like and travel to places where you will never go otherwise.

9)      Get adventurous only if you know what it entails – Trekking, rock climbing, biking etc are all becoming a fad. Many people attempt it without knowing what to except. I have heard of a story where a girl in the group didn’t realise the difficulty of the trek or the lack of amenities and after three to four days she got herself airlifted by spending around Rs. Five lakhs.  There are dos and don’ts while going trekking, cycling etc. Understand them well.

10)   Leave the world as you saw it – don’t spit, don’t litter (no, not even a wrapper of a chewing gum), don’t fight, don’t shout, don’t crib, don’t cry. Simply travel with your heart.

If you are interested in genuine homestays, check out Rural Tourism Network Enterprise,  Culture Aangan, Uttrakhand Tourism, Grassroutes

For a list of places where you can volunteer while on a holiday check 40 places to volunteer.  For those interested in wildlife, you can volunteer with Satpuda Foundation

For an adventurous holiday, go with Odati Adventures who have a strict environmental code and a deep love for nature.

“Be the Change You Want to See”:

“We got our homes and this land, the forests and all natural resources from our ancestors. We have to respect that and pass it on as it is, as we got it, to our children.”

It was humbling to talk to Dhan Singh Rana, the 60 years plus Sarpanch of Lata village in Uttrakhand. Lata and Reni villages are the seat of the famous Chipko Movement of the 1970s, where Gauri Devi along with other women surrounded the trees to stop them from being felled.

                                                                          (Ranaji with wife and grandson)

Travelling in Uttrakhand this time was a painful experience for me. From Rishikesh all the way upto Joshimath, I could only see signs of destruction (of the eco-fragile Himalayas). All those sleepy little towns, the beautiful valleys, sparkling rivers, traditional huts and humble people are all gone. Roads now are filled with landslides, vehicles (oh my god, so many of them!), random construction of bridges, concrete, grotesque buildings and dust everywhere. Electricity pole and wires hung from one mountain top to another criss-crossing each other as if placed without a thought. In a 150kms stretch I saw four dams being built. People have become rude, money minded and look at women with strange eyes. And this in just six years!

By the time I reached Chamoli, I was so desperate that I almost cried. A passing sadhu was commenting to somebody “O, jannat ke farishte, kabhi jameen pe aake to dekho!” and I burst out laughing instead. Later I thought, yes, that’s what it has become. Once a ‘Devbhoomi’ because only Gods could create and live in such pristine beauty, it is now just simply earth.

Leaving the highway and going further up was a relief.  The stunning snow peaks , thick forests and beautiful meadows were still there. The cancerous spread of ‘development’ hasn’t reached there. Yet.

                                                          (High mountains in the Nanda Devi Biosphere Reserve) 

                                                              (Nanda Devi, the second highest peak in India)

After talking to Ranaji and few others, however, it seemed otherwise. For him and the people of the villages beyond Tapovan (the village), it’s been a continuous struggle since the Chipko days. In the 70s, they struggled to save their forests. In 1998, Ranaji led the Jhapto Cheeno movement to gain the right to access their forests and pasture lands after the region was declared a National Park and closed even to the local communities (to read more about this click here )

Now, he and his community is fighting what seems like a losing battle – the building of another dam on the pristine Dhauli (white) Ganga, a tributary of Alaknanda river right in front of their village. The community is now divided, Ranaji says. The younger generation is getting too influenced by easy money, so they want the dam to come as it will give them money and an opportunity to get work. “Our children who are getting greedy will someday sell off the land and their next generation will curse us, believing we let such a thing happen.”

                                                     (Dhauli Ganga, Lata Village and the winding road to Joshimath)

A friend asked me the other day; who takes the call and tells people in these remote villages that they shouldn’t get access to all the amenities that we have in the plains in the name of preserving environment. Isn’t it their basic human rights? Yes he is right, all people should. But with rights comes responsibilities especially in an eco-fragile region as the Himalayas, where you are not only responsible for your state but also the entire country. Blasting mountain sides indiscriminately to make roads that will join all villages is not development. Creating dams on all possible existing river systems for electricity is not development. Development is when you make the lives of your future generations better and environment liveable. (If Bhutan can do it, so can you)

                                                             (the beautiful village of Tolma at the fringe of NDBR)

“Everybody in this country wants the others to change. We all want to earn quick money, we all tell lies and yet we look at others and say they shouldn’t do it. If you want any kind of change, you have change yourself first”.

We need more people like Ranaji in our lives and more leaders to be like him.  

If you want to travel / trek in Uttranchal, do it with Mountain Shephards. They work directly with the local communities. They have a fantastic stay option in Auli (Devi Darshan) and can also arrange for lovely homestays in Lata and Tolma village in the fringes of NDBR.

If you want to give something back to the community, buy your next round of diwali/ Christmas gifts from Angwal and Kilmora

If you want to volunteer for an NGO who works on livelihood and natural resource management in Uttrakhand, you can join Chirag

If you love the Himalayas and environment, then you can support WWF-India by donating, buying their products, volunteering or joining any of their campaigns

And then God created Men.........in India:

It finally dawned on me why we are the way we are. Or rather why the Men of our country are so deeply rooted in the concept of patriarchy.

I have visited many villages in many states and have seen the same situation everywhere; however the penny had never dropped. Till the time I visited a few remote villages in Gadchiroli district of Maharashtra. These villages were located near beautiful and thickly forested areas, in close proximity to wildlife like tigers, leopards, bears and jackals. In certain parts, where the border with the Naxal area is a bit porous, the village people are extremely aware and curious of outsiders. Here they still use ‘laal salam’ to greet people associated with the movement. The roads that go through the forests are a rider’s delight – smooth, winding and empty - and in the evening one has to switch on the light inside the vehicle to indicate that you are from the region and not an outsider.

Ok, I have digressed.

So, we got to spend entire days in some of these villages watching the activities of the village folks as they went about doing their daily chores. I watched the women sweeping their houses, fetching water from the hand-pump, getting the children ready, cooking breakfast and then lunch, going off to de-weed the paddy fields, tend to cattle and other animals, help in ploughing their fields, attend meetings and training by our partner NGOs, do most work under various government schemes like attend to nurseries, plant trees, manual labour under NREGA, cook dinner, clean kitchen and utensils, make bed, get the children and husband to sleep!

PHEW! I almost fainted due to exertion just watching them go about their ‘daily’ work! And now ask me what the men did?

They sat around in the village square in groups chatting throughout the day. Oh yes, they did do some work – mostly work that required least effort and get money quickly – like making gutkha, running tea stalls, drive autos etc. And drink mahua from morning till night. And beat up the women. And disrupt any meeting or efforts to better their situation.

If you ever talk to NGOs who work at the grassroot level, they will all tell you that the only way to bring change is through the women. Though shy at first, they are the ones who are open to new things and are interested in change. With men it’s difficult to get through because they are just not ready to listen to anybody.

Here are a few examples of the difference between how women function versus men....

In a village in Kumaon, I had once met a woman who was the president of the village’s forest committee.  She told me that the women of the village take up duty in rotation to protect the forest, plant saplings and gather firewood and leaves. Men are not allowed because given a chance they would fell the trees just to earn few quick bucks.

In the desert districts of Rajasthan, women especially those who are from the lower caste, sometimes have to walk more than 7kms one way to get water. The men as usual sit at home or take their sheep or camel grazing.

In a village in Gadchiroli block, the Up-Sarpanch is a woman, all of 32 years of age. Despite a group of men who keeps disrupting the Gram Sabha, she ensures that everything in the village happens as per the plan. Ask her anything including laws and she will rattle off everything including dates.

In another village in Korchi block, male doctors assigned to the PHC (Primary Health Centre) hardly ever came citing excuses like its naxal prone area, there are no quarters to stay, its far away etc. Then a woman doctor was assigned. Not only did she stay in the village, she ensured that all medicines are there, she had the annual health strategy in place for the village and also as per rule visited the surrounding villages regularly.        

The situation is same wherever you go – from up north to down south. Us ‘urban’ folks also have ancestors who came from such a rural background; so it’s not difficult to see why the attitude towards women haven’t changed much anywhere.

Actually truth be told, if I was born a man in this country where women did all the work and I only got to sit, talk, drink and make the women feel inferior, why would I ever want to let my position in society go? I will fight tooth and nail not to let go of such an easy life.

Patriarchy, my friends, is here to stay.

A Love Letter to My Country:

My Dear Country,

Lately I have been thinking a lot as to why I was born here. What is it that I am supposed to give to you or what is it that I am supposed to get from you? What kind of karma has bound me to you for all these years, not letting me escape?

Sorry, I didn’t want to say it like this but it’s true that I now want to escape. Escape to a land, a place where I can live my life with dignity, in peace (perhaps I am asking for too much). I want to live in a land which will let me be free.

Freedom you say is the birthright of everyone here, so how much more freedom do I need? Yes, what you have given to everyone is one of the most beautiful concepts, to cherish and nourish. I grew up in a small town enjoying every moment of it, not knowing or understanding the hidden layers of a dysfunctional and discriminating society. The books that my father gave me and the education that I got promised of an ever improving and an open world beyond that small town. I grew up with lots and lots of hope and optimism in my heart of an ever happy future. It’s been many more years than three decades and now I am beginning to feel hopeless and scared.

I grew up at a time when life was simple, full of laughter, contentment and no greed. I did not know what discrimination or intolerance was –gender or community or religion or caste or colour or money. Now despite such an upbringing, why am I forced to think of every event, every comment, every movie and every job in relation to a particular group? In a huge land like yours, there is only one city that I feel safe in and that too I can feel is slowly eroding. If Mumbai goes, where will I go? Why do I have to struggle everyday to take the train to office and struggle everyday to return home? Why do I have to sit by the sea and pretend that it’s not filthy? Why has it come to a stage in your land that virtually nothing works in the manner it was meant to be or that virtually everybody has become intolerant and belligerent?

I want to be free. I want to have the freedom to run on the roads at night if I want to. I want to have the freedom to camp alone by a river or cycle on my own all across your place. I want to have the freedom to give up my job whenever I want to knowing you are there to help me to get back. I want the freedom to smile at strangers and get a smile back in return. I want my life to be as simple, full of laughter and content as it was decades ago.

Sometimes I feel that I should have been born 15 years before or 15 years later than I did. I know what I have lost which I can never get back and I do not want what you have to offer me as a sad excuse for a future. I hope I have given to you what I was supposed to because I know you cannot give me more than what you already have. I hope my karma with you is over.  

For, My Dearest Country, I love you a lot but I am finally giving up on you.

Yours,
Unknown yet one in a billion admirer. 

Power Over Power:

I can SO see it happening.

The rabid and one sided views are starting to raise their voices and soon it will become another ‘good’ reason to cut down remaining forests.

The two days of power outage due to different grid failures created world headlines making it the biggest power outage ever (well, with a population like ours EveryThing will be pretty big numerically!...so why the hypocritical surprise and shame?). But in the national dailies, there was one small section which for me stood out with a 72 font size effect – the fact that there is a coal deficit in the power sector.  Coal India, Ministry of Power and other mining companies have been saying this for quite some time. But NOW these outages give them a valid reason to push their agenda through by hook or crook (read one such rabid opinion).  I won’t be surprised if it turns out that all this was all done deliberately to prove a point (well, this shows my level of trust with our leaders)

So now I am scared, very scared.

Because the life of my favourite forests of Central and East India is really at stake. These forests are the last of the ancient forests of India and one of the three main watersheds of the country (Satpuda range). The forests here speak to you if only you know how to listen. There is an energy in the land that is so primeval, so raw and so beautiful that it will leave you spellbound.  The tribals and animals who live here are so connected with Earth and nature that you will be envious. Perennial rivers, streams and lakes are so pristine that you will not feel like touching them.

And with coal mining, the forests, wildlife and a water system will all vanish, a seemingly small price to pay if politicians and companies are to be believed.  But it has never been such a simple give and take. We here in India will continue to be served a four times environment whammy due to this. First, increase in air pollution due to burning of coal which releases lots of CO2. Second, it will destroy swathes of virgin forests (prime coal belt) to mine constantly and feed in to the growing demand. Thirdly, the fly ash from burning of coal is toxic and no care is taken to dump them or use them properly leading to health hazards (Fly Ash in India). And fourthly, combustion of coal for power takes up huge amount of water, surface or underground, which ideally means lesser water for people to consume (Water usage).

So, if the forests go, the people will get the much required power but at what cost?

Since the 1972 UN Conference, India has been making policies and laws for sustainable development and all the subsequent Five Year Plans have always had a good environment focus. Yet somewhere down the line, things have taken a turn and now leaders are asking Development or Environment.

It’s time that India sits and thinks long term with middle path cleaner solutions (read solar and wind) rather than going for band-aid symptomatic solutions. We have a lot many children to answer to in future.

But you, my friends can Start Here with Junglistan.
 

No Country for Women:

Despite being born and raised in a small town, never did my parents, school, friends or family friends ever made me feel that I was a girl and hence not equal to a boy. We were all raised together simply as human beings. Its only when we shifted to Delhi that everything came crashing down on me and I realised that I was a woman first and hence I have to be extra careful of what I do, say and where I go. Life became restricted.

Over the years, I have travelled to almost all the states of India. Things have changed where connectivity and accessibility is concerned. What hasn’t changed however is each state’s attitude towards women. Here is my list of how safe each state is for women (in ascending order).  The list is based purely on my experiences and observations while travelling. 

Delhi & Haryana – Well, it’s better not to be born as girls here.  These two places are way below rock bottom when it comes to treatment of women. Here I had to be constantly on guard whether I was home or outside. Right from your landlord who comes to your house in your parent’s absence on the pretext of checking, to a cyclist coming from the opposite direction, to autowalas who wants to take the secluded route home, to random strangers on bikes who would follow you for 10kms, to the uncle living next door who looks you up and down, this place will make you feel like shrivelling up and die or hide behind layers and layers of cloth. Even guys who are your friends or colleagues will never offer to drop you home at night once they know that they don’t stand a chance with you (in you know what...). I firmly believe that here if you drape a pole with a sari, somebody will still try and molest the pole thinking it to be woman.     

Kerala – Men on the street will look you up and down, slowly and deliberately making you conscious of every part of your body especially if you dress up differently than the women there i.e. in sari, salwar kurta and oiled hair in plait. The women looked mostly cowed down and even the woman in a business suit reading news on a local channel sounded and looked apologetic.

UP & Bihar (and now Jharkhand also) – The story here is of power and ego rather than lust (unlike the above). The same power and ego which makes them feel that what they say and do is right and they are above law. Everybody else should know their importance including of course the women. An example – when I asked one driver not to honk so much, he said it’s his car and he will do what he feels like.    

Punjab – I have never stayed here but passed it on my way north. People here are nice, warm and helpful but somehow the loudness and aggression never made me feel comfortable.

West Bengal – Apart from North Bengal, I didn’t find the rest of Bengal particularly nice. Yes, the women here are more equal to men than most other states, but the men are opportunists (for the lack of a better word in English).

Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, AP (in that order) – I feel that here people are attitude wise more progressive and disciplined than the rest of India. But they live strictly by traditional and societal rules and perceptions. If you can stay within that, you will largely be okay. For example – there were women ticket collectors and conductors in buses and train way back in 2004, something which you can’t see anywhere else even now; but dressing up in tight tops then was not considered right. AP was a pleasant surprise for me and I felt at ease most of the time there.

MP & Chhattisgarh – Apart from the naxal belt and the gun totting people of Gwalior, its quiet comfortable being here. People are very simple hearted and helpful.     

Gujarat & Rajasthan – Being born in a family in Rajasthan is perhaps not good because it’s steeped with prejudices about women and their roles. But as an outsider, you will never be shunned or man handled. This was something I had perceived way back in 1989-90 (on a school trip) and continues to hold largely true even now.

Assam – Yes, it is safe despite that horrendous episode with the teenager. I am quiet suspicious that most men involved were unemployed or semi-literate with heavy influence from the neighbouring states.

Maharashtra & Goa – One of the best states for a girl to travel alone. Here people will just let you be and you can be yourself without any fear.

All the Himalayan States – From the conflict torn Kashmir to Sikkim (especially Sikkim), people are just awesome and wonderful. You can travel to remote corners without even looking once over your shoulder. I can trust them blindly. Safety however becomes an issue sometimes - not from its people but tourists from other states mainly Delhi.

Arunachal – For me this state has been the best experience so far. It’s here that I have felt like a human being rather than being genetically defined. I am as equal as anybody else. People (read tourists) who have been there say it’s not like India. I whole heartedly agree. As a tribal state, the attitude and thinking of the people are way ahead than the rest of India. I haven’t been to any other NE states but I have a sneaky feeling, all of them are just as good as Arunachal in that respect.

(*Orissa – People say lots of things have changed now, but all I can remember of this state was its extreme and heart wrenching poverty)

My father had told us long time ago that only those families and countries prosper which respects its women. Considering that most states are way behind in this aspect, we as a country have a really long way to go.

Why is Development always at the cost of Environment and People?

Well, can somebody please tell me how razing down an entire ecosystem (also called the Western Ghats) and building more than 400 industries, mines, SEZs, power plants etc in a narrow strip of land equal to ‘development’?  

Lots of money in a few pockets, yes. But development?  No way.

Why, u may ask. India needs more industries, more jobs, more markets, more money etc etc. Plus we do have to look after the ‘poor’ communities who live in the folds of these Ghats, don’t we?

Let me give you two examples and then I will let you decide.

In the Lote Industrial Area of Khed Block in Ratnagiri district of Maharashtra, over 377 industries have been set up. Out of these, 177 industries are fully functional and 53 of these are chemical plants which have been using the Dhabol creek to dump its chemical waste in. Till a few decades ago one could find more than 120 varieties of fish from the river systems here but now none exists. According to local fishermen who once used to live a comfortable life, the creek and river system is so polluted that they themselves don’t eat fish caught from anywhere in the region. The pollution has spread to the fields where even the growth of alphanso mangoes has decreased. And these fishermen are traditional fishermen who have no other skills, hence no jobs in these terrible plants as well for compensation. So from a life of abundance, they are now struggling to cope.

                                                          (fishermen at the konkan coast)

Sindhudurg is a tiny strip of land, all of 5207sqkms just before Goa. It’s one of the 18 bio-diversity hotspots of the world and is an elephants’ corridor as well. For me, this place represents a perfect piece of paradise, a unique example of how humans and nature can live harmoniously each benefitting from the other.

Most villages in the region are self sufficient as they get everything from the forest and land itself. Their main sources of livelihood are cashew nut plantation, areca nuts, pepper and coconut. Vegetables, rice, millet, chillies, jackfruits etc is grown here for their own usage. The villagers here joke that apart from tea and sugar, they do not need to buy anything. And no, they do not cut down trees to clear land for farming. Instead, they look for flat land near water bodies or natural streams where they can farm. Cutting down trees is not allowed and each village has a sacred grove or ‘devrai’ where not even a leaf is plucked. Each grove has its own animal god as its reigning deity.

                                                             (a Devrai in Sawantwadi)

                                                                (Areca nut plantation)

The people of the villages have even demarcated areas for grazing of cattle in different seasons, so that a particular area is not overgrazed and gets time to regenerate. Here the forest is not owned by the state government but by the village community themselves. On an average, a village of about 350 members often earn around Rs. 1.25 crores every year. People here are well off, women are educated and all children go to school. Well, can anyone ask for more?

It seems the state government does.

60% of this tiny strip of fertile land with happy people has been notified by the state government as mining zone. There are 49 mining and 19 power projects planned in the region. Around 17 mines are already operational dumping waste in people’s farms and polluting crystal clear rivers, the regions only water source. The funniest part is that these companies (all of which have violated their Environment Impact Assessments) have approached the communities with offers of jobs!!! Why would anyone need a job when you are getting aplenty at your doorstep through nature.  

India has three main watersheds which provide water to the whole of the country. The first of course is the Himalayas, the second is the Satpuda Range in Central India and the third is our very own Western Ghats which provide water throughout the year to states starting from Gujarat to Kerala. The region is thickly forested with so many varieties of unique plants, trees and animal life that it’s virtually mindboggling. Yes, there are way too many people who are not bothered with what happens to these plants and animals. But you destroy this eco-system and the main sufferers will ultimately be us; because you are destroying a whole watershed region of the country.

Yes, mining and other power projects are required for ‘development’. But we as a country do not have enough integrity to distinguish between working for real development or just for money.  Each state government needs to think strategically about the future - of how much to take and how much to preserve.

On second thoughts, that might just never happen.     

A Fool’s Paradise:

Demographic Dividend.

How I hate the term.

To the uninitiated, this term was lapped up by politicians, economists and probably all rights based NGOs when they realised long ago that India can never be able to control the country’s population from growing despite setting goals. Taking advantage of the media brouhaha about the shining status of our country, they happily threw sand into people’s eyes by explaining how we are a nation of ‘young workforce’ who will lead the country to be the next superpower.
And we as a nation of gullible or rather hopeful lot, believed every word of it and happily added numbers to that ‘young workforce’.

If it were a country where all systems worked well, the rise in population could still work out to its advantage. However this is India, where most systems have failed, more than half its 1.2 billion population lives in rural areas and around 40% of its people are still poor, farmers who produce food for us are left with no food for themselves, children are still uneducated and grossly malnourished, youths have next to no option for any skill development or jobs, women are still not economically independent and old people have no safety net to live the rest of their lives with dignity. Now imagine adding more people to such a scenario.

Demographics in India is like walking on a knife’s edge...it’s just a matter of time when one slips and gets bloodied.  Anybody who doesn’t see it still, is living in a fool’s paradise. I do not understand the complexities of politics and economy, but as a worried citizen I feel that things will not improve unless we bring in drastic reduction in population growth, change in the way the country is governed and save whatever natural resources is left in this country. 

Our country’s wealth is limited and natural resources finite. The only person who seems to have understood this and its repercussions was Sanjay Gandhi. And perhaps we missed a great opportunity with him of setting things straight for this country.

There! Dear all (human) rights based NGOs, misguiding politicians and optimistic citizens, I have said it aloud and in the open.

Let the brickbats begin. 

A Rag picker’s Tale:

Five years ago, I had moved to Mumbai and was working in a media house. I used to stay in locality with lots of parks and greenery. The huge park right in front of our apartment was reason enough for me to go for morning jogs every day. After the first few days of setting my pace, I slowly started to notice the people around. But the only person who caught my attention was a rag picker.

He would wake up at the time I usually started my first lap. Every morning I would find him sitting on the same bench, after probably spending the whole night out in the open without even a cover. He could have been anywhere between 24 to 40 years of age, his unkempt look and dirty attire did not reveal anything. I would often wonder about his life. Where did he come from, how did he land up there every night? What exactly did he do after getting up? Did he go wash up and have chai or just go straight to work at the garbage dumps?

There was something about the way he sat after waking up, the way he would look thoughtfully yet distantly at the morning sky behind the tall buildings all around. In his eyes, I found so many questions from life and that restlessness which I knew so well. Sometimes I could sense a quiet acceptance. And every day before I could finish my third round, he would be gone. After a few weeks I noticed that he had stopped sleeping on that bench by the park and I could not find him anywhere. A few days after that even I stopped going for my morning jogs.

In those days, I had fixed views about rag pickers who went foraging in the dirtiest of the places, people I would be embarrassed of as a citizen of the country. Lowest and most unhygienic in the economic and social ladder, these waste pickers are actually doing us tremendous service – by not letting the cities get overtaken by plastics and other things we keep throwing everywhere without any care.

In India, almost 75% of the stuff that we use, from newspaper, bottles, cellphones, tv etc gets recycled…which is amongst the highest in the world. And this is mostly done by these waste pickers, which in fact is a big step in mitigating climate change. Apart from this, they save crores of Rupees of the city’s municipal corporations by collecting and segregating these recyclable wastes.  

My restlessness and questions about life eventually led me to my current work. For that rag picker, it probably will never go beyond the city’s garbage limits.   

The Chhattisgarh Dilemma:

The tagline of the small lodge like hotel that we stayed at in Kawardha said ‘Temple. Tribals. Trees. Tigers.’  Apart from the Bhoramdeo temple which is a smaller replica of Khajuraho but with tribal features, I’m not too aware of temples of Chhattisgarh. As for tigers, there are a few tiger reserves and wildlife sanctuaries on paper yet nobody knows anything about them. But what you can see everywhere in this state are tribals and trees. Lots and lots of them.

Carved out of Madhya Pradesh in 2000, Chhattisgarh now has 27 districts. Whether it’s for better administration or making politicians happy, is something which is debatable.  What can’t be debated however is the beauty of this state. Chhattisgarh is exquisitely rural and thick with trees. The forests and hills have largely evergreen Sal and Mahua; while the plains are filled with trees which are huge, full of character and gnarled with age and wisdom like Mahua, tamarind, peepal, mango, leechi, banyan and many more which I couldn’t recognise.

(a beautiful full grown mango tree)

Most of the tribals are abysmally poor with only a few options to eke out a living – like farming in land less than an acre, labour work and collection of tendu leaves, mahua flowers and sal seeds as per season. To give a perspective, the Forest Department (now regulated) pays Rs.100/- for 100 bundles consisting of 50 tendu leaves in each.

  (a tribal woman making tendu bundles)

Since our plan was to see the collection of tendu leaves (used for making beedis) which happen early in the morning (to avoid the heat) we decided to stay back at a village. After a refreshing bath in the open at night (as that’s the only time for women to feel comfortable) we had simple food cooked over a chulha and slept in the open. By morning the temperature had dropped drastically and I shivered under a cover wondering how much difference trees can make!

Early morning, we followed a few tribals into the nearby forest which was devoid of wildlife. What left me uneasy was the technique the tribals used to collect the leaves. They usually do not allow a tendu tree to grow and keep cutting it down...so that tender new leaves will grow. Often they put fire to the forest, so that from the ash new tendu plants will grow which will fetch them good leaves. Not surprisingly, one can hardly find any full grown tendu trees in the forests these days. The tendu fruit, a better tasting version of chiku is a rare find here. But if you stop the tribals from doing this, you take away their one source of livelihood; and if you don’t you let an existing forest get depleted.

(a hacked tendu tree)

Our next stop was Sarguja district which is situated in the Sarguja highlands, an extension of the Chotanagpur Plateau.  Replete with mythology as the place where Sita was kidnapped from, Sarguja is thickly forested and more beautiful than Kawardha. Here in the midst of a thick healthy evergreen forest we saw signs of a strange campaign run by the state forest department called ‘Bigre Vano ka Sudhar’ or regeneration of degraded forests. The forest nowhere looked degraded but was infact an elephants’ corridor and full of wildlife including bears. Looking closer, we found that most trees had cuts around the bark, a method used by the tribals to kill off a tree slowly. Things suddenly fell into place when we were told that the area was being surveyed by infrastructure companies and power plants. What best way to give away prime forest land than by killing off trees and declaring it degraded.

Chhattisgarh has an abundance of natural wealth which even the tribals in an effort to live a decent life, are forgetting. Tribals like Pahari Korbas who till now only lived in deep forests are cutting down trees to make space for agriculture and roads. A pristine land devoid of urban waste like plastic is slowly and surely headed for a similar fate like that of rest of India.

(a village inside a forest - full of natural wealth)

Just where to stop so that the tribals can have a better life and the natural wealth can also be saved is a huge task for all concerned, be it the government, the ngos, environmentalists or even its people.

Time however is slowly running out.

The (un)ordinariness of Mumbai:

A girl in a very short skirt and high boots walked down the crowded streets of Dadar nonchalantly. None of the street vendors who were sitting on the road even looked up to see her pass.

This was a scene way back in 1992, which as an outsider visiting the city had fired my imagination. Freedom to live life the way I wanted it seemed to be here in Mumbai. It took me around 15 years since then to finally find my way into this city. But when I came here I saw a city which was fraying at the edges and its people edgy and guarded. The riots of 1992 and a series of disasters after that had completely changed the fabric of the city. And post the economic boom of the 90s, people started flooding in leading to overcrowding, traffic, too many buildings, chaos, cheating and callousness. Like Elizabeth Gilbert mentions in her book Eat Pray Love, the word that described Mumbai had shifted from ‘carefree’ to ‘struggle’ over these years.  That scene and that carefree world is nowhere to be found anymore.

But despite that, Mumbai continues to hold its lure on many people, a pull which only an outsider like me will ever understand. The city still has the innate ability to draw you in, make you dream and virtually spin you around till it decides that it’s okay with you. The moment the city accepts you, it lets you be and lets you find your own warm corner or space.

And in the daily chaos and humdrum of regular life, you can still find hidden the warmth and remnants of a carefree life. A taxi driver who at 2 am will take the straight route to your home and quietly wake you up on reaching the destination;  a guy who will continue to hold his girlfriend’s hand standing by the door till the train picks up speed;  an old man who will buy a packet of Parle G everyday and feed the society dogs; a commuter who hurrying to catch a train stops to make sure that the tiny kitten is out of harm’s way; five hands that reaches out to pull the person trying to board a running train; or an auto wala who will defy the strike and backlash to ferry somebody in dire need.

One evening, I was waiting for the three young girls dressed in salwar kurta to get down from the auto. It was apparent that they were excited about something. After I sat down, one of them shyly told the auto driver to give her a call. A quick exchange of phone numbers and names happened post which they went away giggling.

I smiled to myself thinking of a possible romance unfolding. In a seemingly unfeeling city, perhaps all is not really lost.   

Living ‘inside’ the Earth:

I am not too fond of children. I would rather they stay at other people’s homes. Yet even I agree that all children should be given education, which will give them an opportunity to explore possibilities in their lives in future.

For the government saddled with various issues, education is the softest one because there is no controversy or opposition attached to it. All CSOs, citizens, officials, media, world are on the same platform. Yet it took the government more than 60 years to get it right.

Well almost.

The SC’s upholding of 25% reservation of seats across all schools under RTE (Right to Education Act) is being touted as historic by many and is also being seen as ‘the great leveler’. I am going to take a lot of flak from many people for saying this – but forcing 25% reservation in all schools for economically and socially poor students will not lead to equality.  

Social and economic equality as far as I see, exists in a utopian world....in the world of Any Rand’s Atlas Shrugged and not in the current world as we know it. There will always be rich and poor, intelligent and dumb, smart and lazy, powerful and marginalised people. Forcing one on the other in order to gain equality on paper is so not equal or even fair. All idealistic Communist countries have also failed terribly in this aspect.

Like Gandhi calling untouchables Harijan, like reserving jobs for SCs and STs, even this might lead to more widening of the gap than before (apart from creating monetary and social peer pressures on both sides). And though this seems like a good excuse for the government to shrug off responsibility in the urban areas, what about creating opportunity of good education for children in rural India where most villages have access to only government schools? And what about the rest of the 75% in urban areas?

 I have been to government schools in Mumbai where Std 8 students have told me that all living beings live ‘inside’ the Earth. So when a rocket is set off, the Earth parts and it goes into the sky! I have heard teachers explain to the students that only one Emperor Penguin lays an egg and the rest huddles to give that egg warmth!

Like all great laws of India, the RTE (Right to Education) also seems excellent on paper and has the possibility of turning things around if implemented correctly. But with school teachers who cannot spell BLACK, the future of the children with or without RTE does not seem too bright and with that the future of the country too.  

Because half education I feel is far more dangerous than no education at all.