What does Home mean to you?

And yet, as his own death drew near, Sakyamuni turned again towards the north....“ Come Ananda, let us go to Kushinagar”. Like the rest of us, perhaps he longed for home  -  Matthiessen in The Snow Leopard.

Let’s go home! – Dr. Ryan in Gravity

What does home mean to people? 

Is it the house that one stays in or owns?

Is it the place where your family or parents are?

Is it the place where one grew up?

Or the place where your ancestors came from?   

Is it just being with the person you love?

Or is it just being yourself with your partner or your friends?

Is it a place where you feel you belong?

Or is it the feel of the air and the earth that is so familiar to you?

We humans are strange beings. At one hand we are forever trying to explore and reach the unknown and then again going further – from the continent of Africa and now to Mars and beyond. On the other hand, there is always an unrelenting need to find one’s roots, a place one can call home.

I have often wondered if the second generation of Tibetans in India feel the same sense of rootlessness that their parents must have felt in an alien land. What about the Bengali and other communities who were forced to leave Assam and Meghalaya even though they had lived there for generations....did they find their roots back in Bengal or do they still pine for the smell of the hills? Despite so many stories and movies, will we ever really understand what people must have felt when the two communities were suddenly uprooted during Partition? Does every Jew in the world feel the need to visit Israel, just so that they know it’s their home and a place which is supposed to be a safe haven for them always? If ever they find peace, will the people of Gaza strip and Palestine who have grown up in an era of strife feel that freedom and comfort to travel and venture out? How deep was the pain of Navratilova who had made America her home but could not stop her tears when the Czech national anthem was played?  

When people ask me where is home, I am often stumped. My connection with the state of my community or ancestors is very low because I have never lived there. Except for nostalgia and good memories of a carefree childhood, the place where I grew up has no charm left for me anymore. I do miss the autumn and winters of Delhi but it’s a city I will not like to go back to anytime soon. I have found my warm fuzzy corner in Mumbai but I still have to grow my roots here.

When I grow old and my parents are not there anymore, I do not know where home will be then. But like the Buddha, if there is any place that I would want to go back to at the end of my years, it will be to the high snow bound mountains up north.  It’s cold winds, the cerulean skies, warm afternoon sun and the towering snow peaks all around; that is what I want to feel and that is what I want to see when I finally close my eyes. At home, at peace.

Understanding the Other Side:

I recently met an academician and our conversation veered from Geology (her subject) to Climate Change.  She, like many geologists across the world vehemently disagrees about anthropogenic climate change or change in climate due to man-made reasons. This piqued my interest because for the first time I realised that in my eagerness to talk about environment, I had forgotten to look at the other side of the coin!

She insisted that the ‘issue’ of climate change as it stands in the global economic and political forums is a hoax / hogwash because all these so-called changes in climate discussed ad nauseam in media are just a part of Earth’s natural processes. She rattled off names of scientists, researchers, and agencies etc who have worked on this and though I had not heard of any of these names, I vigorously nodded my head just so that I didn't sound so ignorant.    

I asked her for some reading materials which she happily acquiesced to. What I read is just a tip of my ignorance iceberg but they are definitely very interesting; enough for me to want to know more and oh yes, debate!

In short, NIPCC (Nongovernmental International Panel on Climate Change) was formed to counter IPCC’s (International Panel on Climate Change) claims about Climate Change. According to HIPCC, IPCC is funded by governments through tax payers’ money and hence has vested interests. The scientists with IPCC usually move around in swanky hotels in exotic locations and use computer generated models to predict catastrophes which don’t have any scientific backing. HIPCC and other independent geologists have also alleged that IPCC has changed or ‘corrected’ data to prove future disaster scenarios and dramatic rise in sea levels. To every claim that IPCC has come out with, HIPCC has come out with a counter claim proving exactly the opposite. So as per HIPCC and many other geologists / scientists, there is no rise in sea levels or will be (infact it has dipped in some places), there are no glacial melts, no extreme weather patterns, no crop failures or ecosystem changes which cannot be explained as basic natural cause and effect.  This group believes that increase in CO2 in the atmosphere is infact good because it will help in regeneration of forests and produce better crop yields (to name a few). So, life is good as it is and we should continue in the same way.

Fair Enough!

Source: adaptationresourcekit.squarespace.com

Though I have hardly read or understood enough and I am Definitely not an expert on this subject, I am left wondering why so much of this debate is only centered around greenhouse gas emissions. Should it just be about CO2 emissions or about overall environmental degradation? Yes, Earth has a cyclic pattern of heating up and cooling down. When average temperature rose a 1000years back, it wouldn't have made much difference because they had more forest cover, lesser ‘emissions’ to counter the rise.  Now with most forest cover gone, polluted rivers, plastics galore, and dams blocking rivers etc, will not the natural change in Earth’s temperature affect many things?  And what vested interests would governments have in changing a perfectly established highly capital intensive economy to something which might not be so in future?

As for me, in the four decades of my nearly ignorant life, I have seen enough damage to nature to not get worried. It worries me that Mumbai’s balmy 30 degrees climate has changed to a hot and humid 36 degrees; that Delhi’s winter has shortened to a few weeks instead of months and that there are hardly any afternoon rainfall in Bangalore these days.

On that day however, despite being on either sides of the spectrum, we both agreed to one thing – that this (the debate on Climate Change) is just another Game!


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To read more on the other side of the debate check out http://www.climatechangedispatch.com/

Stinking Earth:

Sitting outside in the balcony of a guest house overlooking the valley and snow peaks which were then hidden by clouds, my friend pointed to a small mud house in the distance. It was the only remnant of a time when the valley was filled with farms and beautiful village huts.  The valley and all the area around it is now covered by concrete constructions and garbage.  When my friend had first queried with the owner of the guest house on where to throw the garbage, she had matter-of-factly told her to throw it outside her balcony.  In the next few days, I noticed most guests living in the neighbouring guest houses dumping garbage and plastic bags into the valley and stream below. My friend walks a few kilometers to throw her garbage into a designated garbage dumper every few days.

Mud house in between concrete

This is how the present day Mcleodganj, Dharamshala and Dharamkot region in Himachal now looks. The quaintness and the beauty that I had found on my first visit to the same region way back in 2005 are long gone.  As tourists pour in every weekend changing the social fabric of the place with their rough behaviour and ‘eve-teasing’, the travelers have started moving further out changing the quaint villages into mushrooming concrete jungles with trails of garbage all around. The locals who have never known large sums of money get swayed easily and sell off their land. The money vanishes within years and most of them then have to migrate out in search of jobs or hard labour plunging their families into difficulties they had never anticipated.

Scenes of garbage all along Dharamshala and Mcleodganj

The vicious cycle continues and it doesn't have any immediate solutions. In the meanwhile, the beautiful valleys and quaint villages keep getting covered with plastic and garbage which neither the municipalities nor the local communities or the tourists want to take responsibility for.

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Photo credit: Zalina Gamat

Abhijit Patil, a photographer, is using his art project Sadakchhap to create awareness about the menace of garbage in the mountains. Apart from showcasing the work of local budding photographers in the region, he will also create an installation made out of garbage. To know more about the project, get onto the Sadakchhap Facebook page.

Didi Contractor, a well known architect, uses local materials, knowledge and labour to make modern houses in the mountains. These houses are made of mud, costs much less than concrete houses, is eco-friendly and also do not require regular maintenance.

In an interview with HarmonyIndia, Didi said, “I am not against money but valuing things by money is a terrible mistake. The most valuable things are those we cannot buy, like love and sunsets. We have betrayed our relationship with nature. We should be ashamed that we are not leaving behind a better world.” (source: www.yourstory.in)

Why I will never work for Violence Against Women:

In early 2011, as part of my work, I went to Pune to document our partner’s work with survivors of violence primarily domestic. I spent the whole day with the lawyer activist discussing the topic and trying to understand its various aspects. I saw and heard the cases which had just come in while I sat there in the office. Then I went out to talk to a few survivors themselves and know of their stories.

At the end of the day, while waiting for a cool cab to take me back to Mumbai, I finally got some time to review what I had seen and heard throughout the day. And it was then that it hit me. I stood there clutching my stomach as wave after wave of nausea coursed through me.  I was suddenly desperate to come back to the warmth of my home. Next day I went to office and told my manager NEVER again to send me for work on this theme.

That one day in a tier one city made me realise a lot of things. That all this while I, like others, had happily chosen to ignore this issue as something which happened only in the lower income strata. That violence can take such ghastly forms and proportions that it becomes unbelievable. That we live in a society so SO sick, that it has begun to scare me.  That people, rather men, can go to any extent for greed and power....it doesn't matter if it’s your 70 years old mother, 12 years old daughter or a newly wedded wife.

Over the years I have come to question why we talk about violence as only a women’s issue. When the focus is just on the women as victims or survivors, the perpetrators or the men are relegated to the background and their behaviour accepted. It’s left to the women to survive and try and lead a next to normal life.

Well, I do not think it’s an issue related to women at all. For me, it’s an issue related more to the society in general and men in particular. Isn't it strange that in most of the cases of violence (in any form), the perpetrators are men? It’s the men who are violent not only against women, but they are violent against children and other men too. So, shouldn't we as a society start to see and accept the problem in its right perspective? And more importantly, shouldn't men start to introspect as to why is it that only they tend to behave like that? Women, who are survivors of abuse and violence even as a kid, do not grow up to become perpetrators themselves. The same sadly can’t be said about men.

Over the years, I have gained tremendous respect for all the women and men working tirelessly on this issue under so much of negativity and surrounded by so much of despair.  

The lawyer activist had told me that one learns to build a defense mechanism else they could be easily pulled down.   

   

As for me, I am just not brave enough. And for the sake of my emotional sanity, I prefer to stay away.

  

Let My Himalayas Be:

I think I am a very bad person.

When the news of the Uttrakhand tragedy broke on Facebook, my instant comment on a friend’s post was “I am neither surprised nor sad". Over the days, with more stories surfacing on the massive scale of destruction and lives lost, not a single one could affect me greatly. Each time I read the news, a smug satisfaction filled me and I would silently say to myself; “Well done Nature, now they will understand why they shouldn’t mess up with you”.   

Last year in Oct, I had travelled through Rudraprayag and Chamoli to reach Lata village bordering the Nanda Devi Biosphere Reserve. The sheer mass of concrete all around, blasting of mountains for roads, hundreds of vehicles on roads, dust haze, plastic floating on the green rivers and construction of four dams in a 150km stretch had left me feeling devastated. (my earlier post on Uttrakhand)

I came back and spoke to a couple of NGOs, environmentalists and dug up stories in Down to Earth and what I found left me astounded, shattered and feeling utterly helpless.  Because it’s not just Uttrakhand which is leading the devastation, the entire Himalayan eco-system ranging from Himachal to Arunachal is at stake.

Information sourced from the citizens’ report - The Energy State and the Tragedy of its Rivers*

• 200 tunnel-based hydroelectric power projects have been announced to achieve the target of generating 24,876 MW of electricity. The majority of these are to be built in Zone IV & V of this earthquake prone state where landslides and floods are very common. The 200 power projects envisage a construction of 700 km of tunnels that will be built through the eco-fragile mountains.
•  Around 2 to 2.2 million people living in villages under which these tunnels pass are being affected. There was no Public Hearing before the construction of Singoli-Bhatwadi Hydroelectric Project (90 MW) started. The affected villages got to know only when they started cutting down their trees for the project. A 13 km long tunnel will be constructed for this project and it will run under 26 villages.
• The tunnel of the Vishnuprayag Hydroelectric Project (400 MW) is 16 km long and extends between Lambagad and Chaain villages. Four tunnels of this project go from under Chaain village to the power house. In September/October 2007, unexpectedly, land started collapsing and sinking in and around this village.
• During the construction of the tunnel for this project five natural water sources in the village of Chaain had dried up. A 1 km long irrigation channel that supplied water to the village has become redundant.

Information sourced from the report – Damming Northeast India **

•  In a study in 2001, 168 hydro power projects were identified in the Brahmaputra basin with a total installed capacity of 63,328 MW. Till October 2010, the government of Arunachal Pradesh had already allotted 132 projects to companies in private and public sector for a total installed capacity of 40,140.5 MW. Around 120 of these involve agreement with private players accompanied by huge monetary advances.
• Environmental Impact Assessment (EIAs) necessary to approve any power projects have been a farce in India and so it is in the case of NE.  For example - the EIA for the 1,000 MW Siyom project lists 5 bird species in an area which has over 300 species and even in this short list has one which is non-existent; the EIA for the 600 MW Kameng project reclassifies carnivores such as the red panda, pangolins and porcupines as herbivores; the EIA for the 2,000 MW Lower Subansiri lists 55 species of fish in a river which has at least 156 species and reports an area called the ‘Arctic’ in the Eastern Himalayas.
• Virtually all available arable land in the affected Siang valley will be submerged by the 2700MW Lower Siang project.
• States like Arunachal Pradesh and Sikkim are home to small populations of culturally sensitive indigenous communities. The entire population of Idu Mishmi tribe in Dibang valley is 9500 and their displacement by 17 projects has been termed as ‘small’. Moreover, the projects will bring in more than 150,000 labourers from outside for a long time which will completely change the demographic and socio-cultural identity of the region.

Damming all the rivers in the bio-diversity hotspot of Arunachal

Soon Teesta and Rangeet will stop being free-flowing rivers

Information sourced from Down to Earth ***

• A study of 132 dams out of 292 that were proposed or were under construction in 2005, showed that there would be one reservoir every 3000 sqkm which is 62 times the global dam density.
• 90% of the river valleys and 25% of dense forests in the Indian Himalayas would be affected. Over 54,117 hectares of forests would get submerged while 114,361 hectares would be damaged by dam related activities.
• 88% of the projects fall in zones rich in plant, bird, fish and butterfly species.

It surprises me immensely that nobody has found it imperative to do a cumulative impact study of more than 600 dams and other projects on the Himalayan eco-system. I am even more surprised that by virtue of being in the Himalayas, these States which should be much more responsible to its people, the rest of the country and the world are hell bent on destroying the future. When will somebody, anybody wake up from slumber and realize that the Himalayas are special, an absolute necessity for our survival and that we need to treat them, its lovely communities and its eco-system differently?

Just when will they let my beloved mountains be before it’s all too late?

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Sources:

The Energy State and the Tragedy of its Rivers - Suresh Bhai; Raksha Sutra Andolan, Jal Sanskriti Manch, Nadi Bachao Andolan Uttarkashi, Himalaya Seva Sangh; Uttarkashi, 2009.

 Damming Northeast India – Joint report by Neeraj Vagholikar (Kalpavriksh), Partha J. Das (Aaryanak) and Action Aid India, 2010.

Himalayan Destruction – Down to Earth, January 2013

Maps – Sanctuary Asia, maps adapted from the Department of Hydropower Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh

A letter to my Earth:

My beloved Earth,

If you ask me when was it that I fell in love with you, I will not be able to pinpoint a time. If you ask me when was it that I became aware of you, I will not be able to pinpoint that time either. Because if I look back at my life and at my earliest memories, I can tell you that I was born loving you and that I was aware of you always.

My first memories of myself are that of a two year old tottering around the orchard surrounding the house. I remember being fascinated by the huge mango and custard apples trees laden with fruits ready to be plucked. I grew up on stories my father used to tell my sister and me while I sat on his lap - of Phantom and Tarzan. I used to listen to the stories captivated not because of the strength and valour of the super heroes but because they lived in the jungles with animals as friends. I grew up wishing for a life just like that....deep in the jungles with trees and animals as friends.

Some of the happiest moments in my childhood were the times I spent with you.....shaking off the dew collected at the base of the yellow and orange cannas, searching for spiders under the flowers, climbing trees, collecting beautiful coloured stones and pebbles from the sand mounds, observing the caterpillar weaving a cocoon, running out to feel the strength of the wind during storms, sitting at the window and getting drenched by the rain.

Oh, how I still wish for that life closer to you....of walking through a field of swaying golden grass, feeling the mellow sun on my skin and the breeze in my hair, of the blue mountains in the distance and the blue sky above....feeling free.

But all I can see now is the spread of concrete and commodities with no regards to your very existence. I can see your beautiful mountains, rivers, forests shrinking, drying up....like a poisonous scab slowly seeping the life blood out of you. How did it ever come to this in so short a time span? I am scared to look into the future, I am scared for you. And every time I think of the future, a strange claustrophobia grips me. Because I know that soon enough, there will be no real escape left.

How I wish I could apologise to you on behalf of my fellow humans and make it all go away. How I wish I could shake each one of them and tell them to stop before it’s too late. I don’t know what the future holds but all I know is that I just can’t let go of you.

And I only hope that, despite whatever happens to you, you will not give up and let go of me.

Yours ever,

A weary wayfarer seeking sanctuary

Imprints of a Journey:

I travel for the journey, the never ending road that becomes your home, the beauty of experiencing the ever changing scenery, culture and people, the ecstasy of freedom...of leaving everything behind and the longing to keep journeying further and never return. Almost all the places I have travelled to have left some imprints with me like Corbett NP where I realised for the first time that all I wanted to do in life was to keep travelling, the mysterious pull of the ruins at Nalanda, the quaint tiny station of Rameshwaram which sprang to life as the only train of the day pulled in ever so slowly, an evening at the beautiful Brihadeshwara temple of Tanjore where life didn’t seem to have changed much for centuries, the strong energy that one could still feel amongst the ruins of Hampi, the torrential rain and the deep dark forest of Binsar, the walk on the empty road to Borra Caves where the echo of a train whistle filled up the entire valley.

But then, there are also places which have left a deep impact on me and these are the places where I would want to go back again and again irrespective of the pleasures of a journey. 

Ladakh:

A gruelling trek from dry Kibber across an 18500ft pass to Rupshu Valley in Ladakh threw us right into the heart of raw nature. All around us were the stark mountains, harsh weather and numerous ‘mis’ adventures. On nights when I wouldn’t be dead tired from the day’s walk, I would remain outside after everybody had slept off. On those nights, despite bone numbing cold wind, I would sit mesmerised by the trillions of stars in the sky feeling utterly tiny in the vastness of universe. For me that defined real life, right there in the middle of those mountains and not what we lead in the cities. On the penultimate day, when we were sitting atop the Leh Palace gazing across the mountains, a sublime Buddhist chant floated up from the town below. Coming back to Delhi and resuming daily life was traumatic that year for me.        

Arunachal:

A description for this place eludes me. It’s complex in its natural beauty and simplicity. The same can be said for its people. This is the only place in my travels across the country where I, as a woman, felt totally free and safe. This is the place where I could run (or walk) around in wild abandon (mentally) whopping with joy.  In Itanagar, you could sense the frustration amongst the youth for not being treated as Indians by others; in Tawang, people were scared and preparing for a time when it might be taken over by China. Though tribal identities are very strong, people here are one of the friendliest if you win their trust. My friend and I had a chance meeting with Tapi Mra (an Everester) who went out of his way to ensure we got the right seats in the right vehicle to our next destination.  

Chhattisgarh:

Rewind to a time, to a rural India of five or six decades back. That is the innocence one finds in Chhattisgarh along with high levels of poverty. But what struck me about the place was the presence of a primeval energy. It felt as if nature thrived for centuries undisturbed by humans – until now. Trees are massive here growing and spreading out as far as possible with each and every tree having a distinct character. And deep inside the forests, if you whisper to the trees....they whisper back to you. All you have to do is listen.    

Monsoon in the Konkan and Sahyadri:

Every year, the transformation with the onset of rains leaves me astounded. I love the rains anywhere but in the Western Ghats, it turns magical. The dark grey clouds rolling in from the tumultuous grey sea turns everything into a carpet of green. The consistent drizzle that characterised monsoon in the east during my childhood is nowhere close to the heavy downpours of the west. Like the village communities who go about their daily lives with a conical bamboo and plastic cover on their heads, we also have learnt to negotiate the rains here. However what becomes difficult to negotiate during these days is the call of far-away lands and the pull of the churning dark clouds.         

Enter at Your Own Risk:

I worked for more than a decade in advertising and media where the general attitude to life is largely ‘sab kuch chalta hain’.  Then I shifted to a rights based organisation where the general feeling towards life is ‘kuch bhi sahi nahin chalta hain’. If you are weak hearted, this kind of tectonic shift can be traumatic. So if you are thinking of working for a rights based NGO, I would advice - 

                                                          (source: www.http://maa01.soup.io/)

Life is an Issue. Seriously!

Q: What books do you read?

A: Manto, P. Sainath, Ramchandra Guha, Noam Chomsky or any book which talks on or is based on an issue.

Q: Have you read Sophie Kinsella or Georgette Heyer?

A: What ARE they?

Q: What do you think of Sholay?

A: It just shows the ‘majority’ mentality by naming a village RAMgarh. Media is so insensitive to minority issues.

Q: How about Bend it like Beckham?

A: Oh, they have highlighted women’s issue so well.

You crack Joke 1: It’s so sexist and anti women!

You crack Joke 2: It puts so and so community down!

You crack Joke 3:  Its child abuse!

You crack Joke 4: By now you learn not to crack jokes at all or crack only politically right jokes.

Corporate = Capitalist = All things Terrible:

Oh, we sometimes DO look at corporates benevolently.  At times we feel that it’s our duty to teach them about humanity and rights. Can we learn anything from the corporates? Well, you must be out of your mind.

In a scenario where we are looking more and more into getting funds from within the country (read corporates and individual donors also from corporates!), I wonder whether being so ideological is such a good idea. 

Ideological Stereotyping:

‘Poor’ = always the sufferer = Good people

‘Rich’ = ‘what the hell do they understand about grassroot issues anyway?’= Elitist

I want to know just how many of us (from an NGO) would forgo a job which pays us double the current salary or forgo an increment because it will make us richer and hence more ‘elite’. Well, I left a well paying sector on my own volition, but that hasn't stopped me from waiting greedily for the year end increment.  

  

Corporate Life is the root of all Evil (not so overtly though):

A typical day in a media house and how men and women behave: Regular bonhomie, shouting during stressful situations, abuse one another openly, back slapping while chatting, party hard after work, drink, smoke, joke, pull each others’ legs, wear any type of cloth (read funky) and nobody will bat an eyelid. 

A typical day in a rights based organisation and how men and women behave: Most jokes are cracked by women. Men, I get the feeling, keep the women at a safe distance so as not to offend them in ANY way. A strange silence descends if a woman is seen smoking or drinking. Some men get uncomfortable with women wearing anything different than what is generally accepted (I will leave it up to you to guess what that is).

The World is divided into Two Groups:

There are only two sets of people we like to acknowledge - community people (including ourselves) and the government. Government is still appalling but it’s important to keep them engaged in dialogue. The rest of the society and their sentiments do not matter. Who are they anyway? Public facing campaigns are a waste of time and money and a few ‘Likes’ on Facebook is hardly likely to achieve anything.      

Though I strive hard to understand this side of life and viewpoint, I still do not agree to all the ideologies due to which I have been branded a Capitalist (for trying to justify the psychology of ‘the other side’ and finding the concept of equality utopian), an Environmentalist (because I prefer Nature to humans ANYtime) and a person requiring Gender training (because I refuse to be called a Feminist and think that population really needs to be controlled).  

It’s been a fun job for me so far!

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*some parts are exaggerated to emphasise a point and is not meant to demean anyone.  

I am not a Feminist.

To this statement, women who are one will always ask the ‘ultimate’ question in an effort to clinch the argument for once and all: ‘Don’t you believe in gender equality? If yes, you are a Feminist too.’ Very few women will ever give an answer in the negative to that….to which a smug happiness settles into their beings.

Well, maybe I am the only woman who will answer in the negative. No, I don’t believe that we can achieve equality, gender or otherwise. We humans as a race are far low in the level of consciousness to consider others as equal. We shall forever discriminate each other on the basis of gender, colour, race, creed, religion, money and other petty or mindless things. ‘Equality’ now and in the next few centuries will remain an utopian concept. Even most of the communist countries or states have failed in proving otherwise.

What I am dead against is… being Unfair. It’s unfair to treat women with so much violence, it’s unfair not to be able to lead a free life, it’s unfair to knowingly exploit people belonging to the ‘lower caste’ or treat them with disdain, it’s unfair to abuse little kids, it’s unfair to forcibly evict tribals from their land and life.   

To all women (and men), feminists or otherwise, I will say that I am a person first and a woman later. I have chosen to live my life my way and not because I have faced and hence forced by subtle discriminations against me. I Have chosen not to rise up the corporate ladder and not because of an invisible glass ceiling. I Chose not to climb Stok Kangri solely out of fear and not because others thought I was not as good as the ‘guys’. I Chose not to get married at the age when everybody else did and not because I did not have any ‘value’ in the marriage market. Since my childhood I have vehemently opposed and questioned people or ideas and beliefs that put me or my life is a societally-defined bracket.

To all women (and men), feminists or otherwise, I will say why do you have to be ‘equal’ to men! Why do men have to be the ultimate benchmark to which women have to strive for? If you really push me to tell, then I will say that I consider women to be far superior as human beings than men ever will be. Why would you want to be equal to somebody who usually is aggressive, perpetrator of most things bad and depraved, who likes violence and thrives on war, who likes to break law and do all things wrong. We have an entire history of civilizations and nations ruled by men and I am sure most will agree that the world is Very Far from being perfect.  

Deep in my heart I have a firm belief that the only way to right all the wrongs is to let the women come up and take control. We will not only have a much peaceful and a beautiful world, but we will also have ‘equality’ as you have envisaged it….in its truest sense.

Yes, I am a person who is a woman and a proud one at that. Just don’t bracket me so simply as a Feminist.      

Tiger Conservation for Dummies:

Why should we save The Tiger? Well, the explanation is as simple as this.

 (A bag with a message on conservation made by the women of a village near Pench National Park. These bags were made as part of the alternate livelihood program by Satpuda Foundation Volunteers) 

There’s always a predator on the top of the food chain in an eco-system....in India it’s the big cat. From the tiniest microbes found in the soil to the main predator, everybody and everything has a role in the eco-system and each is dependent on the other. So, predators help in keeping a check on the growth of the herbivorous population who then will not over-graze the forest land as a result of which many plants, trees, fungi, ferns, insects, birds and microbes etc can flourish and make the forest healthy or balanced. A healthy forest is always rich in water as trees help retain and conserve water. And a healthy food chain means a healthy forest which means lots of water!

So when people like us shout ‘Save the Tiger’, we actually mean ‘Save your life by saving the forests’.

Simply put, if there are lesser forests, there will be lesser rain and lesser water (surface and ground) leading to many seasonal rivers and lakes drying up. And for urban city people whose educated children think water comes from tankers, this learning will come way too late. 

We, the human species, are an aberration on Earth. We do not contribute to any eco-system. Instead we have always taken and destroyed the very place we are dependent and live on... just like parasites. As E.O. Wilson said, ‘If all of mankind were to disappear, the world would regenerate back to the rich state of equilibrium that existed ten thousand years ago. If insects were to vanish, the environment would collapse into chaos.’

We need our Earth and nature to live and survive. Nature does not need us.

The sooner we understand and respect this, the better for all of us.  

Some of the key and the last of the virgin forests / bio-diversity regions in India like Western Ghats, Central India Forest belt and the Eastern Himalayas are under deep threat from rampant illegal mining, giving out forest land for SEZs, power plants and other projects and increasing human population which have already greatly reduced these forests and key animal corridors. To top this, the government wants to destroy whatever is left to dig out coal for electricity.  If you want to do your bit to save the forests, start by being a part of this.

Philosophy of Charity 2 - Why and Who of Donation:

Usually the first response I get from people when I tell them that I now work in the social sector, is – “Oh! NGOs have a lot of money, people are always travelling abroad!”  The next response is a very skeptical question – “So what exactly does your organisation do?” Even before I can answer, I know that I have lost the person because he/she has already made up his/her mind that all NGOs are dubious (financially) or are leftists who are anti-development.    

As far as charity is concerned, for me there are four categories of people (non-social sector). First, there are the evolved minds who keenly follow issues and actively participate in it. Second is the type who donates but only in the name of God, thinking perhaps his sins will be forgiven if he gives Rs.1000/- to the temple and Rs.1/- to the beggars outside. Third, are the people who spend most of their lives running after money, designation, the next house or car or foreign holidays and hence neither have the time nor interest in anything else. Fourth, is the lot who wants to give back to the society but do not have much idea about how to go about it or are very skeptical of the social sector. It’s them who end up asking me questions like above.

To this last lot I will say that they are only partly correct. Partly correct because yes, there are many NGOs who have dubious operations or no clear cut strategy or thought through projects. There are many who change their projects depending on what the funding trends are. On the other hand, there are many more NGOs who are doing excellent work at the grassroot level and are so passionate that they keep working despite the lack of funds.

What would you say about a team of ex-AIIMs doctors who left their plush jobs to give medical help to the tribals of Chhattisgarh at subsidised rates? Or about the person who has tears in his eyes every time he talks of the chemical toxins dumped in the creeks of Konkan that has killed all 120 species of fish leaving the fisherfolks with no livelihood? Or the woman who fought against bias in her family and now helps the women of rural Rajasthan to lead a more free life?  

The solution lies not in being skeptical but in understanding the sector, the way it works, the pros and cons of donating to a type of organisation, finding a cause and sticking by it. Let me clarify.

1)      Like everything else in the country, the social sector has also seen a wave of change. The ‘jhola-chaaps’ of the 50s-60s do not exist anymore and neither is it flush with funds like in the 80s-90s. India has moved from being an under-developed to a developing country. Most foreign countries have stopped funds because as the government says – we can take care of ourself.  Also there is a belief that foreign funds are being used by NGOs to protest against government policies especially if they are ‘pro-development’.

2)      The sector itself is pushing for more transparency (financial) within. Most good NGOs have external audits done by third party and publish the result in its Annual Report. There is a consortium of voluntary organisations called Credibility Alliance who acts like a governing / monitoring body. All NGOs are now being encouraged to get certified by them after meeting their strict standards. So if you are unsure, look for an NGO certified by them.

3)      Many people I have spoken to want to give directly to the affected community / beneficiary just to be sure that the money is not going elsewhere. So people will send books or computers to schools or give generators etc. But if children don’t know how to read, the books or computers have no meaning. If farmers don’t have money for buying seed, the generators are useless. NGOs work to ensure that this doesn’t happen and that the positive effects are long term.

4)      There are many good grassroot NGOs who require funding but whose existence people are not aware of. The best way to reach them is through funding organisations like Oxfam India, Action Aid India or gateways Give India. These organisations have extensive reach, knowledge and works as per well defined policies and strategies.  

5)      But why fund a funding organisation? Most funding organisations work on two fronts – various programs at the grassroot level which are monitored regularly on progress and funds utilisation; secondly, it engages with various levels of the government to keep a dialogue going on what is right, what is wrong and how things can be improved. Well, to put it very basically, most changes in laws have happened over time because apart from others, the social sector has actively pushed for them – like Right to Education Act, RTI, Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace Bill, Forest Rights Act, Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act etc.

6)      Whether you like it or not, the fact remains that a certain portion of your donation will always go to cover administrative costs like rent, office equipments, tea, salary and yes, that occasional trip abroad. Before you let out a large groan of disgust, just think, where else will the NGO get the money from? Everything has a cost attached to it and just like you, people in the social sector also have needs, bills to pay and families to take care of. You will also not do free service after some time. As for the international trips, it’s very much a part of the job – just like you do in your corporate job or otherwise.

7)      Lastly, always keep in mind that change doesn’t happen in a day especially in a country like ours. It takes years and years of constant effort and sometimes public protests to just bring social issues to the fore. Have faith in your cause and have faith in those people who work hard for it.        

I left the media sector because I found it shallow and the abuse of money blatant. Many times I was given offers for all expenses paid trips anywhere or a certain percentage of the advertising budget in return for exclusive business to them. I would have left the social sector on the same grounds if I found that finances are mismanaged.   

But I am still here and loving every moment of it.

Vikalp Sansthan works to change the attitude of not only women but also the men and youth of rural Rajathan to bring a holistic change in the attitude of society and stop violence against women.

Parivartan works with the fishing community of Konkan to help them find alternate source of livelihood.

Jan Swasthya Sahyog works in Bilaspur to provide subsidised medical care to tribal communities there.

Satpuda Foundation works to save the forests and wildlife of Central India

Greenpeace India works at the policy level directly through campaigns and petitions

I am me:

Many years ago, my mother had once commented that I was a bad and good person in equal measure. I took it as a compliment then because I had started to believe that I had no good side left in me anymore. Years of working with unnecessary tension, rabid clients, superficial people and colleagues with ‘hey, I am so cool’ attitude and lifestyle, had turned me into a person I myself couldn’t recognize. I had developed a second skin and lived the life of this second skin. This skin was perpetually angry, seldom confident, filled with self doubt and a mind which was a vortex of all kinds of escapist thoughts. I believed that what I said or did was always right and I found it difficult to say sorry to others. The worst part of being this skin was that I made my mother and my closest friends suffer the most.

It was my yearly escapes to the high mountains of the Himalayas that kept me sane. It was these snow peaks that made me dig deep into my soul and help me acknowledge that something was wrong. I would throw all the Whys of life onto its rugged folds and deep valleys….and they would forever silently take it all in, encouraging me to find my own answers. This search to find my own answers led me to quit my job and backpack across South India for almost two months – the first step of my long journey to return home – to myself.   
    
A friend once told me that the only person who stops you is you. It took me a while to really understand this but when I did, I let go. I let go of my need to stick to a career, I let go of my need to hold on to money, I let go of my ego and my need to prove myself right, I let go of people and my heart so that I could connect with many more. My anger dissipated because if you actually start seeing things from an outside angle, you realize the senselessness of it all.

Yes, I have lost the ability to be competitive, the edginess which helps you reach the top of your career. Infact I do not have much of a career and I do not know much about the future. But my friends say that I look content.

Because after so many years, I am content.

I am me. 
 

 

Vipassana is one of the most difficult forms of meditation but a highly effective one. The best part is that it’s not connected with any ‘ism’ and is free of cost. They take donation at the end of the course which can be Rs. 1 or Rs. 10,000 or as per your capacity.