The Holiest - The Dirtiest

Hi,

From last 10days I am living in an Ashram in Rishikesh on the Banks of river Ganga Maiya. The Ashram itself is with a mission to decrease pollution of the Sacred river Ganga Maiya. Yesterday Morning at around 8am I went to take bath on the Ashram Ghat. I was astonished to see the water coming are so dirty filled with flowers, this and that which people uses in Aarthi of Ganga Maiya along with some dust that shop keepers or some one may have sweeped into the water. I waited for almost 10-15mins, got frustrated but was in very mood of taking bath, so I did in that water only. I got doubt and enquired with a localite standing behind me, he says, this is Puja time. People will be doing Puja. IS THIS THE WAY TO PERFORM A PUJA ???

In the evenings in the Ashram I am staying, Aarthi happens daily for almost 1-1:30hrs during which they strictly stop the pilgrims to leave "Aarthi" in the river. Even in other timings also it is banned to do so in this Ghat, but no security stands there, and we won't follow any rules unless there is some one to cry upon us.

I have been going through a report on Gangotri Dham. I was frightened to see that there is no central sewerage system and all toilets have been built with septic tanks. But many Buildings drain out their effluent in to the river Ganga. My doubt is if the wrong practices are happening at the starting of the Holiest river why cannot it become dirtiest ??? In Rishikesh also there is no proper dumping site(atleast not in Ram Jhula) due to which lot of wste goes into the Holiest River.

In Haridwar, where Kubhmela is going to happen in the 1st quarter of 2010, there are no dustbins provided in Hari-ki-Pauri, where people leave the garbage on ghat and it goes into the river when there is a wind, because of river normally there will be pleasant winds which gets polluted with this garbage. I asked shopkeepers there, they said people come in the night to clean, but after 23 months one day me with my friends went there to enjoy our night there. We were there whole night but didnot see anyone cleaning it. Road that connects Bus stand/Railway station with Hari-ki-pauri is horrible to travel. When you travel on rikshaw, that too when the puller is in not good mood, you will eperience how HELL can be, in a holy place :(

Hundreds of people or organisations are seiously working on the mission "Clean Ganga". But this mission will not complete unless we the users of it use it more sacredly. 5days back we saw some polythene sheets going in the River, me and my friend Nitish got down into the river and take off them and try to put them in dustbins. I felt so satisfied for doing that even though its very small thing for people who see from the bank.

Myself trying to be a part of the team working on rejuvenation of Gangotri, with environmental measures to stop pollution of the Holy Ganga Maiya. Just planning to takeup this project as my thesis project(may be its Big as a theisis project, but for a Cause its worth taking up).

Hoping for the best

PS: Say BHARATH instead of INDIA wherever possible because the name INDIA gives a sense of slavory ~ Baba Ram Dev

Bhaiya aapko Bhagwan bahut duayen denge…!!!

Shop is closed… ohh today is Wednesday. My god…!!! Chalo khyar itna dur aayigaye to lets have ganne juice. Bhaiya 3 glass. Tring tring…. Puneet calling. Hi Puneet, how r u? Sir, where are you? Enjoying ganne juice in civil lines. Kyun? Aap jaldi aajao, I have a surprise for you. Surprise….??? Chalo I will there in 15mins. No sir come early. Ok... will try.. bye. Bhaiyya jaldi banayiye. ye lelo bhaiya. Hmm its nice naa…. In the corner shop he makes much better. Ok guys, I have to run now, enjoy the market, bye.

What can it be? Can it be some thing about EDUSLUM?? May be. Lets see. Tring tring… Puneet calling. Haan Puneet I am on the way, will reach you in 2 mins. Bhaiyya jaldi aajaona, fal waale ke paas, some little girl’s voice. Ohh its Gudia(one of the girls who come to us to study in Eduslum). Hi Gudia. Bas aarahan hun. Cut…

Namaste Bhaiya…. Namaste, Namaste….!!! Aur yahan kaise? Puneet bhaiyya le aaya. Ohh… nice. Haan sir, there were less no. of students to teach, so I thought of bringing them to the campus, just for a change. Good yaar. Bhaiya juice lelo. Nahin feroj, tu peele. My abhi peeke aarahan hun. Nahin bhaiya hum peeliya… aapiko peena hain. Arei koyi nahin yaar, Nisha…Gudia…Rahim…Sonu..?? nahin bhaiya hum sab peeliya, aaphi ko peena padega. Hmmm….  My heart is getting filled with JOY. Even after living such life, they are behaving just as a human being. These children also have some manners, good.

Chalo Main building ka lawn dekhte hain. Aap log pehle kabhi aayete? Haan bhaiya jab my itti thi naa, tab aayithi. Arei ye to ban rahithi us time pe. Ohh, ye…!!! Pataya isko kya bolte hain…? Nah… isko library bolte hain. Kya bolte hain…? Laibrairei…. Nahin… pustakaalay… bolo… PUSTAKAALAY…good. Kyunki isme dedhsaare pustak hote hain, aur ‘pustak’ jaante honaa…?? Haan bhaiya, ‘kitab’… sahi. Aur ‘aalay’ matlab ghar. Arei Saumya didi(Nisha was not feeling comfortable with us, so we called Saumya) aagayi. Aur pataya yahan paani aate hain. Haan bhaiya hum dekhete. Arei jab tumaayethe tab ye bani nahin thi. Haan bhaiya hum aur kahin dekhethe. Okk…. Arei Kavita deedi aagayi.

Chalo ab ghumke aate hain. Bhaiya raat hogayi ghar chalet hain(Nisha was shy and un-comfortable, as she is elder to all, while others were exploring and enjoying the campus). Arei bas ye waala lawn dekh ke udar se ghumke khaana khaane chalet hain. Lawn bahut acha hain naa…. BHAIYA O KYA HAIN? Arei o ghadi hain. Vow…Itta badasa…!!! Haan. Aur batao kyaa time horahan hain. bhaiya saath baj rahan hain.  ohh badiya. Saath ke paas choto waala hain to saath ghante hogaya. Lekin wahan ek bada wala bhi hain naa… us se kya hota hain?? us se minutes pata chalet hain. chota wala 6ke upar hain naa. 6 ko 5 se ghuna karo. Ohh aaplogon ko abhi tak nahin shikhayana…. Sorry. (Puneet says)arei sir, koyi nahin, Gudia tu batao, 5 ko 6 baar jodeto kya banega..?? 35… nahin …30 bhaiya. Sahi….!!! Iska matlab 7 bajke 30minute hua hain. samajh gayana. Chalo ground me chalet hain. Koyi daudega…? Chalo race lagate hain? Nisha… nahin bhaiya my nahin, arei aaona… nahin bhaiya my thak jaati hun. Chalo baaki sab, jo pehla aayega,Feroj ke alawa, usko tophy milega. As usual Feroj is first. Everyone stopped running in the middle of the race.

Sir I have some urgent work. Hmm ye log dhar rahe hain. bas aur thodi der? (Gudia comes between us and says)kya hua didi jaana hain kya? Kaam haito Chale jaaona.. bhaiya log hain naa…[I was speechless. Wondering how grownup girl she(Gudia) is? My god. So much talent is getting wasted in SLUMS]. Arei kuch nahin, didi aarahi hain humare saath. Chalo ab khaana khaane chalet hain. Where to go? Snacks Point or Pandit? Puneet do you have money? Kavita, Saumya..?? ohhh…NOO…. Bhaiya kya hua, hindi me baat karonaa. Arei kuch nahin. Bas hogaya. Its ok, I have atm card. Have 500bucks in a/c.

Arei aisa, aisa…. Arei nahin bhaiya aisa, aisa. Oye Feroj, bhaiya sahi kar raha hain. haan sahi Rahim, Feroj dekh Rahim jaisa chal rahan hain naa, aisa. Aisa nahin lag raha hain…?? jaisa naach rahan hain… ha ha ha… Nisha said, Bhaiya abhi bahut late hogaya. Hum khaana nahin khaayenge. Haan bhaiyaji bahut late hogaya, khaana choronaa. Arei thoda bahut khake chalona. Ghar pe mummy ko batadiya tha maine. Nahin bhaiya…plz.. chalo tab, kuch samosa khate hain. Bhaiya ye kya hain. isko momo bholte hain. arei safed samosa. Haan sahi isko aisahi bulaao tumlog. Acha lagta hain.
[Puneet I will bring money. Atm, long queue, its ok. Ohh its Shruti. Hi,do you have some money? Sorry sir, I have just enough to buy some stationary. I don’t know why I asked her. It was instantaneous. May be it was because, its getting late or God’s will. Its ok. I will take from atm, bye. Chkchk…pin..withdrawl..savings..500..yes..unable to process..ohh may be its not having 500 bucks… lets try 100…yes..ohh noo… atm is out of money. (from back, jaldi aavoji )Uncle no money… atm is not working… … Its good that I asked her, otherwise now I would be feeling sad for not asking her, hoping she may had some money. Now whom to ask… search search… search… all r new faces… (same situation that happened on VALENTINE’S DAY, the first day when we met these children about, teaching them got their affirmative response and got invitation t meet their parents. When I was running out of money, searching for someone who will lend me some money for RIKSHAW. Ohh I got many known couples, everyone was in their happy mood, but rejected harshly.) ..search… ohh… hi sir, can you lend me some money. Oh sorry Naga… wait Yogesh do you have some money? Yaa, how much do you want? 150.. thank you. Tring.. tring.. Puneet calling… cut].

Bhaiya, ab chalte hain. chalon, aur kuch lena hain? ye safed samosa aur lelona?? Bas bhaiya… khaaliya…arei koyi nahin aur lelo naa… us se pet todi bhari hogi…. Haan bhaiya ghar pe khaayenge aur 10(5x2) mangaao.  arei ghar pe sab aajayenge… raaste me khaalena… theeke. Chalo Rikshako bulaao. Haan bhaiya, Telliwala chaloge, haan chadjaao… kitna dena hain…60… donon keliye?? Nahin bhaiya ek ek ko. My god, bhaiya hum daily jaate hain… nahin bhaiya 50…40… nahin bhaiya hum 30 me jaate hain har din… bhaiya ye raat hain… arei koyi nahin… lekin vajan to kuch hain nahin… sab chote hain… chalo rly station tak 25 lelo… nahin 30 dedo.. nahin 25… chalo yaar 5 rupia se kya hota hain… han bhaiya 5 rupia kam honesebhi kya farakh padta hain chalo naa… theeke bhaiya chad jaaoo….

Bhaiya aap bhi khaaona… nahin my abhi jaake khaaloonga, aap log khaalo… thodi der ke baad… Feroj asks, “bhaiya aaplog humko jaisa padha rahe hona… aisahi padhaaye honge naa aapke teachers”…. What to say this simple but intellectual question?... haan humko bhi aisehi padhaye the. Isiliye my bolta hun ki hamara baat sunke acha padho… aur aapko bhi aisa bade college me padne ki mouka milega… uske baad dedh saara paisa kamasakte ho. (Nisha says) "Bhaiya aapko Bhagwaan ne itni saare… ittnee saareeee duaayen denge ki….. mandir me baitne waale panditji ko bhi nahin denge…. Aap jahan bhi jaaoge aapko acha hi hoga". I was speechless….. what to say…. She was blessing me like an elderly person, till now even my parents didn’t blessed me like this(of course they always wish for my good). She continued…. Bhaiya pataya aaj bahut acha laga. Fir se kal le chaloge naa(this is the same girl who was uncomfortable and feeling shy to be in the campus one hour before. )nahin padhna hainaa… abhi todi din ke baad chalte hain. Theeke bhaiya, my salwaar banwaarahi hun, o pehnke aavungi isbaar. Aur din me lejaaoge naa??? Haan, camera bhi leoonga , poto bhi kheechenge. Haan bhaiya my bhi nayan kapade pahnke aavunga, acha sa nahan ke….Feroj from back… Badiya. Aur daily nahana hota hain, aur, khana khaneke pehle haath dhona hota hain, saabun se(we bought some paper soaps and distributed to five of them).

Chalo station aagaya, utro. Mast hawa chal raha hainaa. Shair aata hain kisiko… haan bhaiya mereko (Gudia) aata hain…ohh… bolo… “Chandni Chaand Se Hoti Hai, Sitaron Se Nahi, Mohabbat Ek Se Hoti Hai, Hazaaron Se Nahi” ohh acha hain…. [Mereko bhi samajh aarahan hain. Itna simple shair main kabhi suna nahin, ya to samjha nahin(in hindi :P ). ]… chalo ghar aagaya… Namaste auntyji, Namaste beta. Kshamakeejiye auntyji late hogaya. Koyi nahin beta. Thum logon ko bahut duan milenge bhagwaan ke. Chalo chaai peete hain. nahin aunty is timpe to nahin. Kyun ghareebonke ghar me nahin peete ho… arei auntyji aisa mat boliye. Aisa kabhi mat boliye ki ghareebhi hun, amir ho….!!!! Theeke chaliye peete hain. Aunty took us to Chaiwala. We had cooldrink. And when we were returning auntyji blessed us. Everyone in the hotel, were looking to us in surprise when Auntyji was blessing us.

We greeted her thanx for cooldrink and started back to campus………

This is just one more great experience for me in last 2 years. I just love it to be with them and I am lucky enough to have juniors like Puneet who care those cute angles a lot more than I do or even their parents do.

P.S: To retain the originality of the talk I had written this post in Hindi. And there may be lot of grammatical errors. Sorry for inconvenience. Comments are invited.

Satisfaction with no limits

In last 4 years in NSS, in fact last 2yrs I don't know how much time I had dedicated for NSS, but I am sure that I preferred working for or in NSS to all other things, many times even my classes and personal pleasures. Was it worth giving time??? Yeah it can be seen in the form of large no.of students willing to work in NSS activities not for attendance but for the CAUSE it is meant for. I got immense satisfaction not only in leading 300 young IITians and helping a lot no.of needy directly or indirectly, but also for inspiring many IITians to work for the country(I hope I am not going over-confident :P ).

my journey through NSS

For me also motive behind coming to IIT is none other than money, main motive of many who come here. But that money was not to spend for myself alone but for a cause, for many needy. In 1yr when we were sitting in NCC canteen thinking of any silly un-healthy reason to escape from NCC and join NSS, peon came to us, Archi guys, and said we are sorry we cannot take you into NCC as you people will be busy on weekends also in academics, will be having less time to spend for NCC. Then we all were very happy, as in NSS less no.of activities were there, so less no.of working hours.

First Year
But in First year whenever there was an event I worked for that with dedication. Once or twice I went to Prerna classes, where 10-20 children normally come to study. But I was not given an opportunity to sit and teach as I was knowing little Hindi at that time(much lesser than that I know now :P ). So I stayed away from Prerna and it was the only major activity in NSS at that time other than Blood Donation Camps, Some Lectures(which students used to feel them as boring ones) and group discussions and fund raising for Roorkee School for Deaf. So only those involved in Prerna were given A+ grade and everyone else below that.

Second Year
When I was in 2yr I was more interested in going to villages. Other than that I worked for regular activities. Under a 3yrt, along with one more 2yrt, Ashish Arora, we started working in Telliwala village under the name "Disha". At the end of the year when new team was announced my name was not in the list. I was disappointed. But consoled myself that the one who got post have worked more than me, if I could have worked that much I would have been part of the team.

Third Year
When I came to 3yr I attended 1st executive meeting and asked staff advisor and other executive team members for work. Prof. Katiyar asked me to help Akansha Singhal, who was incharge of “Prerna Classes”. I was happy and accepted his suggestion. By that time in Prerna was meant for children of mess workers on campus. But me and Akansha were with the spirit of taking Prerna to new heights, and fruits of it to as many children as possible. So, we went to other staff memebers of the campus and asked them to send their chidlren to Prerna classes, then we expanded slowly to nearby village Khanjarpur, which is just beside the campus gate. Mainly people those live in the village were working for the campus directly or indirectly.

By the end of the semester I was familiar with the many families in the village. I used to visit village once in a week and whenever I go to the village I used to get 2-3 new children, may be from the same family or neighbors, interested in studying at Prerna. In this way strength of children who come to study in Prerna reached from 30 in september starting to 80 by mid october. It became difficult to manage, as I was having only man powerof 60 students. In December, during winter holidays, there were only 1 or 2 First yearites to volunteer Prerna. Then we invited volunteers, we got good response and whole winter vacations 6-7 volunteers themselves taken careof Prerna. As I myself was busy in a departmental competetion(NASA - National Association of Students of Architecture) I was irregular.

I was happy and ensured myself that "there is good in the world and will remain forever untill Earth and Sky won't come together", these are the words spelled out by our village head, to console me when I was financially strucked to come to IIT and feeling sad. In January I started working with more dedication. I used to spend 5-8 hours in the village, Khanjarpur, ensuring every needy student coming to Prerna, otherwise asking him/her to join. By the end of the January there were 130 students in Prerna, which I myself cann't believe. To manage this many children, I used students present in Disha cell, as Disha was stopeed due to venue and winter problems. So now me and Akansha were busy in handling about 130 children and 110 first year students and volunteers.

In this way I tried to make a change (with the help of many) where I was rejected to participate in the first year. Whenever I gets time I even used to teach some children along with managing things.

In February, after mid-sem along with taking care of Prerna, I diverted my attention to the children of construction workers on campus. Two volunteers Jaya Khanna and Shikha Verma(now I call both of them deedi, they are really great persons with lot of affection for the needy), who were regular in Prerna were ready to help me in this activity. I roamed around whole campus for venue. As these children live beside Cautley I tried in nearby places, my efforts gone in vain. Then I went to Saraswathi Mandir authorities, they too rejected saying they will destroy the lawns and the chances are that they will make the place more dirty. It hurted me, but I didn't stop my efforts. I went to ABN School authorities, as classes will be only till 2pm we asked them to give one room to teach these children. They too rejected softly saying its not in our hands, but in a professors hands. And chances were less as this school acts as a corporate school than a Govt. school with flexible rules.

Then last option was NCC building verandah. I went to Kernal and asked for his support to teach these lovely children, whose childhood is going waste in the disturbing sounds of construction. First of all he said, ohh you are from NSS. Why did you go to NSS??? is it because there will be less work to do??? I smiled and said reality. He pleased to listen my words and said 'you can use the Verandah'. I was very happy and asked him about permission letter. He said, 'I don't need any such letters, you can use this verandah daily, as your timing is also from 2-4 it won't disturb Canteen customers as it will start from 4pm. But once or twice there may be a function, so on that day you may have to give holiday'. I was happy to see his generosity and was feeling in my heart to give a big SALUTE to him.

Real story starts now. Many of the boys were not interested in studying, infact they were afraid of conventional punishments that students get in Govt. schools. So whenever I go their colony, beside Cautley, they used to go some where and hide. Girls were interested in studying but their parents gave them responsibilty of taking care of their siblings. In the starting everyone was not interested and I used to get tired of convincing their parents to send their wards to us. My situation was nothing lesser than crying to see their un-supportive response. But I consoled myself saying its not their problem, their illiteracy made them ignorant of their children's education and future safety.First they were afraid of their wards security. When they got confidence about security they used to show silly reasons to stop their ward to come to us.

In the starting only 4-5 children started coming to us. In 3-4 days these children understand that studying needs no punishemnts, it can be done with affection also. We attracted girls childs asking them to bring their siblings along with them. Among them one girl used to have 3 siblings and she have to take care of three of them. I used to help her many times in bringing them to the place. At the venue smaller ones used to play sideby, while others used to study with us. Many times I used to lose patience but those two great ladies used to teach children with a lot and lot of affection without losing patience even in difficult times. After some days a PG student called Praveen Sherawat started coming to each these children and things were going fine.

While continuing my efforts for improvement of Prerna and starting new activity of teaching children of construction workers(which is now named as NIRMAN), in the parallel I started thinking to do something in the near by village KALIYAR, a pilgrimage centre where 80% of the village children are away from school and half of whom make their livelyhood by begging. Aling with the village infront of shrine there is a large piece of land where many migrant families made small huts and living. These families earn their livelyhood from begging only. As there is a tradition of distributing food at all times, pilgrims unknowing the fact that they are making many people dependent, distribute food. So Pratham, an NGO, who gave me an idea about this village, was ready to help us to imrove the state of village.

We arranged a volunteer to teach these children from 4-6pm in the evening daily in Govt. school as it will be empty after 4pm. I took 12 guys with me to Kaliyar. We went to each and every hut and motivated them to send their wards to study with us for just an hour or two daily without compromising much on their regular activities. What we thought was, if we ask them to stop begging and come to us to study, they will not even talk to us. So we thought of motivating to stop begging and doing petty jobs through teaching. To pur surprise 1st day 30 children came to us to study. And within a week it went upto 60 children. This program continued for a month or two. Every year people celebrate a MELA in Kaliayr which disturbs the living style of migrated people for 1 month, forcing them to evacuate the Govt. land.

While all these were things were going my mind was really getting disturbed about the future of NSS and its activities. As I was planning to start my IAS preperation I was really confused what to do. Then I took a bold decision of postponing my preperation for 1more year. If I plan to do both things simultaneosly, there will be no one more foolish than me. I cannot do justice for both at a time. As I am weak in communication, my coleagues hesitated to leave NSS in my hands. Normally the old tem selects new team before their tenure gets over. I tried to convince them that even though I am not a great speaker, I can deal with villagers and children much better than anyone. They also know that, as they had seen me through out the year going to differen villagers and starting new activities.

Luckily, they accepted my proposal and gave responsibility of whole NSS IIT Roorkee chapter. In this way they gave me an opportunity to explore myself while helping many people in around campus. This made me realise that Swami Vivekananda's dynamic words "Give me 100 energetic young men and I shall transform India" are true. Yes, these words are true, if anyone have power to transform the country its Youth, only youth no one else.

Friends I will share my experiences as the General secretary of NSS IIT Roorkee chapter in the upcoming posts.

I hope that the new team will take the organization to new heights and will make NSS IIT Roorkee an icon student group for all who want to see India a developed country.

Naga M. Reddy A.

B. Arch 4yr
+91 9719278700

India was great and will be in future too

“I have travelled across the length and breadth of India and I have not seen one person who is a beggar, who is a thief. Such wealth I have seen in this country, such high moral values, people of such calibre, that I do not think we would ever conquer this country, unless we break the very backbone of this nation, which is her spiritual and cultural heritage, and, therefore, I propose that we replace her old and ancient education system, her culture, for if the Indians think that all that is foreign and English is good and greater than their own, they will lose their self-esteem, their native culture and they will become what we want them, a truly dominated nation.”

The above is an extract of the speech given by Lord Macaulay to the British parliament in the year 1835.

Even Macaulay would have been surprised at the accuracy of his assessment. He would never have dreamt his strategy to be so successful. A strategy which, in 170 years, has reduced ‘The INVINCIBLE INDIA’ to the present state. We are now a country where the majority, at least in positions that matter, are thieves and beggars and not only in the conventional sense.

We now are dehumanised to a passive race symbolised by greed, selfishness and insensitivity.

It took us 170 years to reduce to this level.

Let us again be HUMAN!

Let us resolve to be selfless in what we “say” and “do”!

Let us develop within ourselves, the right mix of Character, Conviction, Courage, Calibre, Compassion and Creativity!

If we are able to do that it won’t take us long to resurrect the old INVINCIBLE INDIA that Macaulay feared so!

But when this has become the way of life for everyone, who’ll do it?

The answer is- the Stake holders- the Youth of the country. An estimate says that 70% of our population comprises of young people, less than 30 years of age. It is on their shoulders that the future rests! It is now for them to decide whether they want to continue with the present pathetic existence or want to create a society where they and their future generations can live with honesty, dignity and justice.

It’s high time now that we do something about it! Overcome the inertia and face our responsibility with a keen mind and willing heart!

So all you young people out there... let’s be up and start contributing for our Nation with a motto “Not for me but for the Nation”!

What all you have to do is be a true human being!

Be caring, be aware and come forward to take the initiative!

Try to help needy around you without expecting someone else to do that!

Why not you if someone else?

Start contributing ONLY 2 HOURS time in a week for a social cause, for people who are in need. You will realise soon that you have power to change some one’s life for the better. If we resolve to do it passionately- with all our honesty and intensity, nothing can stop us from achieving our target!