No Non-Sense

Bequeath - invaluable of otherwise valueless

noreply@blogger.com (Padma Karri) — Fri, 30 Dec 2022 01:18:00 +0000

I have no real memories with him, for my journey with him had begun long after he was gone. And so I was literally left with his ‘left overs’ at home – things he left behind which have not yet faded or depreciated by then.

That was probably one of the most confusing phases of my life, for that matter, any child’s life. I am referring to that tender age which finds it difficult to differentiate between dream and reality, and naturally forms a continuum of the two. Probably I was just picking the language, understanding some words in their right connotation and interpreting some others attaching my own meaning to them. I would hear some things, see some other things and connect them to make my own story. That was not the confusing part. The confusing part was when I used to fail to differentiate between the story I weaved and the reality.

The fact that I am writing about it now, indicates that I still remember some of those images vividly. They have become part of my permanent memory, though I wont now narrate them to others as part of my real childhood stories, but they have become inseparable part of my childhood memories and experiences. That tender confusing phase of my childhood coincided with one of the most challenging phases of my immediate and extended family. I am sure the grownups in my family had no such confusion running in their heads, though they might have taken their own time and chosen their own path, to accept the unbelievable reality – sudden loss of a dear family member at a very young age.

One can imagine how excited a child would be to hear the word “train”. I was too, but the fact that I always used to hear it in the same sentence with the word “accident”, made me sense the sadness in the air. In addition, faces I used to see everyday at home hardly appeared among the photographs on the wall. They were mostly of only those persons whom I never encountered at home. Fortunately, elders have a way of letting kids know of the stuff they are supposed to know and make them oblivious of those they think they aren’t supposed to know. Often I was asked to identify the man in those photographs, whom I have learnt to address as “Daddy”.

With time, I have picked some facts, stories, interests and other stuff about The Man. I used to spend most of my time at home in the very room and house he used to spend. Though certain things were kept hidden intentionally – a video in which he appeared, his clothes and other belongings – not everything which ever belonged to him could be kept away from me. Once a person moves on from this world, some of his or her belongings fade away quickly than others. Some things we try to preserve and hence stay for a long time, but eventually they too disappear. Nevertheless, those things would become part of the memories left behind by that person. But in my case, I have no real memories with him, for my journey with him had begun long after he was gone. And so I was literally left with his ‘left overs’ at home – things he left behind which have not yet faded or depreciated by then.

Give a child valuable articles worthy of display in a museum, they would just be mere toys and he or she will happily play with them. I was doing the same with the ‘left overs’ too and never realized back then how much impact they would be having on me and my personality. The fact that I am writing about it after three decades says it all. This connection between these two disjointed worlds – one a child’s world which was trying to make sense of so much beyond its capability and two what was once a man’s world, now left behind as he moved on from there – began in a small room fondly called as “balcony” by the family, for it must have been a balcony overseeing the road below before it was turned into a small room for my parents.

That balcony room had become my go-to place. It was like a debriefing room where in I would think, analyze and make sense of what used to happen outside it. It was where I used to connect some dots let lose by elders at home. It was where clarity and confusion would debrief each other and it was also where the lines between dream and reality were blurred. One such blurry picture deeply imprinted in my mind was an instance where I was walking behind my mom in that small balcony room and I could sense someone in waiting in the corner of the room. My mom walked past them as if there was no one. I dared to turn and was shocked to find the Man in the photo on the wall sitting on his knees in the corner of the room, gesturing me to approach him and I was petrified and did not dare to move an inch.

First time every drew something from imagination .. pls bear :)

Other such real-like-dreamy images included the instances where I kissed him goodbye before he left home on his last successful journey and the one where he had come to pick me up from school. The former would or wouldn’t have happened but the latter definitely did not happen. Amidst this confusion, the tangible left-overs are the ones which grounded me. His abode – the balcony room – was like a clueless treasure hunt arena for me. The more I dug the more I found – both his self and my self. The morning sun light used to brighten up the little room so much that it used to overflow from its windows as if the room itself was the source of light and not the sun. In that brightness a dancing doll (butta bomma) which was an assembly of loose parts each of them on the verge of falling apart but would never miss a beat to little nudges we used to give with our fingers.

How much ever small a room might be, a small dedicated work space say a table would detach the mind from its noisy surroundings ensuring complete concentration if the sitter at the table wished for. His table with a lamp on it, two draws – one of them always locked, a round iron stool with loosened broken wiring, with some books on it – was an adventure land I used to find myself lost in. Things behind locked doors excites us a lot, more so for children. When I developed the intelligence to find the key, open it secretly to see what’s inside, my child self was super excited to see packs of pencils and erasers. That was the first and last time in my childhood, to have seen a full pack of pencils and erasers being brought home. Clearly, the way he planned for his school going kids – my brothers – was not the same as was planned by others for me. Though that left a vacuum in me, never uttered a word about it for want of right language, right time and right people and cause of a deep determination within me to never ever start expressing a feeling starting with the phrase – “had he been there….”.

Rarely it so used to happen that I hit the sack and I fall asleep immediately. During those lonely musing times in between wakefulness and sleep, my eyes always used to fall on a lovely lantern with a bed lamp inside. A greenish tinged light used to brilliantly find its way out of a meshy surface. The lantern’s handle otherwise used to hold it by hand, was hung on to the ceiling, as if an invisible hand was showering the dimmed light onto the sleepers. Another such thing which used to evoke musings in my child-self was a sunset silhouette painting - with bright reds and yellows, water, a tree, a boat, a man on it - which I found has become a commonplace over the years.

As I tickle my memory I recall many such objects – the left overs, which have left a deep mark on my consciousness. Non academic books like a dictionary, a book on short hand, a writing plank; an old camera with a nice leather cover, wall full of photographs – not just any but his own photos with special effects like multiple pictures in one, he shaking hands with his own self (imagine this was in 70s and 80s); well carved wooden items including a pencil box, a jewelry box which are still widely available in Telugu states’ government emporiums; a zipper file to safely store documents; a guitar etc. These are only a few of the things I could recall.

Among them all, one that had left much deeper an impact was his interest in movies and the medium through which they can reach people. He made that his livelihood (A shop to rent video cassettes and equipment to people) and had left behind tons of video cassettes – the good old magnetic tapes, if you know, those black ones with two white tape guides and a title label stuck on one of its sides. They were all full of movies, video songs etc. Not that I watched and enjoyed all of them but it did introduce me to the world of art, music, movie and much more. Movies – with their varied characters, stories, insightful dialogues, impactful song lyrics – have taught me life lessons. His collection of Charlie Chaplin and Laurel and Hardy from the silent film era left some dots loose which I have been connecting over years. Probably because of this early establishment of my connection with the movie world, it still remains special to me. I don’t just watch them but analyze, criticize, imbibe and inculcate.

Now when I think about these thoughts over and over again, I see how those tangible left overs in combination with all the anecdotes I used to gather about him in my childhood, have left some deep marks. Many of my interests emanate from there, if not all. Though I am not wholly a product of them, a piece of them definitely exists in me. Just like we are what we think, we are also what we see and get inspired. If not for those left-overs, what would have been my story? A non-existent person would have not existed for me. But with the left overs bequeathed to me, I was able to draw my own memories and inspiration, and was able to establish a connect between two different worlds. This was all probably a child’s way of dealing with the loss and fill the vacuum left behind, but I can confirm that it was a successful one. Had he been there, would the bequeath be any different from what I now imagine it to be? Probably. Who knows.

Street Light - In a different light

noreply@blogger.com (Padma Karri) — Sat, 10 Jul 2021 23:43:00 +0000

That night my encounter with the street light was different unlike any of the previous ones. It wasn't like the one between a utility and its user., nor one between a photographer and its subject, it was like the one between a path-finder and an usher - both literally and figuratively

When was the last time you stared at a street light from your bedroom window or your balcony or sitting on a stair case or with your head up,standing right below it? Not that I do it everyday, but one such moment I had a few months ago made me think through all the instances of my rendezvous with street lights. It was last August in the middle of a night, when I woke up to feed my 2 month old baby, my eyes fell on the street light through my bed room window. I have seen that streetlight for hundreds of times and tried to capture it a couple of times on my camera. But that night my encounter with the street light was different unlike any of the previous ones. It wasn't like the one between a utility and its user., nor one between a photographer and its subject, it was like the one between a pathfinder and an usher - both literally and figuratively.

That stage of my life -a very sensitive, testing and taxing times for a woman -might have made me imagine stuff or hallucinate something. That night passed by but it left within me some things which will stay for a long long time to come. That was the first time I saw a street light in a different light. It took me back to early days of my life. When I was five and used to stand at the window watching the rising moon at a distance, wandering in my thoughts searching for answers to questions beyond my comprehension - like why the man in a photo frame on the wall is not seen around at home but peeps into my dreams at times? My little brain thought that answers to deeper and difficult questions lie far off like in the moon and hence overlooked the light nearby. I overlooked the fact that while I had my eyes on the far-off moon, nearby streetlight right beneath the window was keeping a watch out for me.

I did not quite realize earlier but it never left my side. Wherever I went it followed me. It kept shedding its light on me. Be it when I was whiling away my time watching people on the streets busy with their daily chores, it gave me company; when I happen to spot the guests heading towards our home, sitting outside, it shared my excitement; it stood there, seeing me off to school in the morning, along with my mother; it used to wait with eyes on the corner of the street along with my grandma, at times when I used to come home late; it shed tears on behalf of me when I used to try hard not to , fearing someone might see me; it helped me count down days for my uncle's return from his trip. Did I ever pay heed to all this back then? No.I vividly remember three everyday instances I used to deliberately look at a street light- one, to confirm it was raining by looking right beneath its light; two, to see all the flies hovering around it and be prepared before they reach my house; three, to check which areas around our house had power and which did not. Thinking back,whether it was glowing or not, it always ensured that its light followed me like a shadow.

Following that fortunate night, every night when my baby woke me up, I spent a few minutes staring at the street light and it never failed to tickle my memory. All the spots I used to look at a street light from, from across the places I have ever lived, paraded in front of my eyes. The cities, the towns, the villages.. one after the other. The way I used to sit and stare at far off hills, the sky and beyond, the vehicles passing by, people doing their daily chores and all other trivial stuff. We all do. Unfortunately, one of the constants in my life – the street light – got lost in that trivia. Yes, with these thought experiments I have been doing, I realized that street light has always been a constant in my life. So far I have lived in more than 15 dwellings across India and a few countries outside and there was no single place from among them, which I cannot connect with a streetlight. So, though I have not paid much heed to street light consciously, sub-consciously I have sought some kind of comfort from it. A sort of security, when I had to move around alone in the night. A symbol of continuity, when everything around changed. Something wholly known, amongst all other unknowns. A thing which has been constant, among all other changes.

Did I always choose a place with a street light view? No. Is streetlight that common a thing to be found everywhere? Could be. Am I over imagining things? No. It is a well thought through idea, which I would like to call a sort of "psychological inertia". By this I mean the tendancy to continue with status quo and resisting change, unless forced into it. I tend to start reading a new book just before shifting to a new place, so that a virtual connect gets established between my old and new place. I tend to listen to the same song again and again during the journey from old to new, so that a part of my old gets carried to my new. I am sure I am not alone in thinking like this. We all tend to associate particular time periods, events, people with some particular music or smell or food or any thing else. Were these our "Mementos", "Souvenirs", "Keep sakes" ? We might remember a whole lot about our last trip to a new place, but a small souvenir can travel a long way with us. Sometimes, we overdo that too. We end up buying many souvenirs which we cannot associate ourselves with. Unlike those place-specific souvenirs, streetlight has not been a stranger to me and hence could strike a deeper connect.

There are ample ways to carry our memories with us. Photos, videos, souvenirs, writings, audio recordings etc. In this information-overloaded world, these are all very easily accessible now. Yet, in the end, too much could be too little too. The message conveyed by enormous amount of data cannot afford to be equally enormous. It should be simple and easy on mind. Especially in these pandemic hit times, when loneliness had been the only companion to many during their suffering or their loved ones', silently these "Mental Mementos" might have given a few sighs of relief. Of course, not every object carries a memory, even if, may not always be positive. And not every memory can flag an object and establish associations. Nevertheless it is important to "hold on" to "something /someone" in order not to get blown away by the winds of unexpected changes our lives are meant to undergo. I found my constant object - the street light - which I see in a different light now. Do you have a constant too?

D for Donkey.... D for Darkness...

noreply@blogger.com (Padma Karri) — Fri, 22 May 2020 05:53:00 +0000

The wonder was that it took thousands of miles of journey away from home, almost three decades of one’s life to learn that donkeys are not what we think they are, but something else too…

There is a saying in Arabic which translates to – ‘seek knowledge even if you have to go as far as China’. Though its origin, meaning and context are debated upon, two things stood out for me. One, the distance one may/can/should travel in quest for knowledge. Two, the very search for knowledge. Meaning, the knowledge readily available at hand with us may or may not be true. And so, it is a constant search for knowledge which includes both learning and unlearning.

Today I am going to tell you a story which highlights the above two points. It is a travel story (distance) and it involves learning and unlearning (knowledge). Was I traveling in search of knowledge? No. I just happened to experience some things, the visuals of which are going to stay for quite a long time with me. And no points for guessing that the story has donkeys and darkness in it. J Remember those early days in your life where you had to repeat A for Apple, B for blah blah…. & D for Donkey… ?!?! I am sure you do.

Since the time I was introduced to a donkey, never heard an adult speak anything but ill of it. I have always heard it being used to refer to (ahem.. to scold) children and adolescents who are lazy, dull and slow; to mock down someone for his or her donkey-like voice – braying, hee-haw, hee-haw; ‘Parading on a donkey’ is a humiliating and an insulting form of punishment across many cultures. Even in slightly positive sounding expression like ‘I’ve been working like a donkey’ the focus is on the unpleasant, menial, bone breaking hard work for long hours rather than on patience, endurance or for that matter anything remotely positive.

My story dates back to February 2018 (excuse the donkey in me, for procrastinating publishing this post for more than 2 years) during my visit to Petra, Jordan - one of the seven new wonders of the world. For those who can relate it is the very site in which Indiana Jones finds the Holy Grail in the film Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. Located in between Red and Dead Seas, this vast red sandstone landscape is half-built and half-carved into the rock. It is surrounded by rocky textured mountains pervaded by passages and gorges (photo).

My husband and I had a flight to catch the next day and so all we were left to explore this vast place was just half a day. Though we were told it takes at least a day to explore important spots and a maximum of 3-4 days to see the place thoroughly, we were determined to tick off yet another wonder of the world and set out to make the most of the half-a-day we had. Reaching there hungry and tired after a 3-hour long drive by road from Amman (Capital of Jordan), we quickly hopped on to horses thinking they will give us a quick parade of the place. Shockingly the horses abandoned us right at the inside entrance beyond which they were not allowed.

After walking for quite a long distance exploring the narrow gorges, carved rocks, a roman theatre, sand art artifacts, temple on a hill and surveying the vast hilly red sandstone landscape, we knew that it was time to go as we were nearing the closing hours. But then, in a desperate attempt to see more in the short span remaining, I inquired from a fellow tourist about the one thing that is worth seeing and should not be missed for anything. He pointed towards a monastery located high up on a hill, the view from which will be breath-taking he said. But there is a caveat here, it usually takes 75 to 90 minutes to hike the hill by foot :/ which we didn’t have.

Just then, two men – Mahmoud and Adil (names changed) approached us claiming to be our saviors and breakers of our dilemma – to head ahead or to head back. They said “believe us .. we can take you up the hill on our donkeys and leave you at the exit in reasonable time”. I was taken over by FOMO (Fear of Missing out) not just the monastery and the view from there but most importantly the donkey ride. I was excited to take my first donkey ride, which was literally going to be a steep up-hill task. My husband was a little hesitant at first to take this long bumpy ride uphill fearing for our backs, fading light and the chances of us getting trapped behind closed doors. Nevertheless, he agreed and there we were on our first donkey rides.

There was a visible strong bond and a deep understanding between Mahmoud and Adil. They knew each other for years. Mahmoud was more speak-your-heart kind of a person and Adil was let-silence-speak type. Both of them speak English so well. Not only English, they even picked up some Japanese (at least that was what they said they were speaking when they blabbered something in Japanese). The to-journey conversation was mostly trivial touristy talk.

Thankfully, the donkeys didn’t seem to share such an affiliation for each other (at least at the outset) and so are not disturbed or distracted by their masters’ constant chitter chatter. At times, the masters even let the donkeys loose, we the ‘riders’ were worried especially when the donkeys tend to sway towards the edges of the pathway, by the sides of which were low lying areas. We were amazed by not just the agility with which the donkeys climbed the steps but also the strength of the lungs of the two masters who were all the while walking uphill along side the donkeys.

Finally, we reached a point on the hill beyond which donkeys weren’t allowed and we had to walk for a few minutes to reach the monastery and the viewpoint beyond it. We were the only two walking towards it while the rest of the tourists were heading back. We were hoping to get a good glimpse of the place while there was still some light. We managed to reach just on time panting, took a deep breath and enjoyed the breathtaking view. The cold winds blowing right into our faces swallowed the tiredness and exhaustion caused by the scorching heat of the day.

With a selfie break every now and then, engrossed in sharing our overwhelming joy for having made it this far in no time, we finally met Mahmoud and Adil at the same point where they left us earlier. They seemed cool and relaxed. Neither our delay in returning to the spot nor the fading light made any difference to them. Neither were we worried, as we were still stuck in the state of joyful inertia.

But no sooner than we reached the foot of the hill, with hardly any light left (no sun, no moon, no street lighting, no mobile torch… ) to guide us through, the elephant in the room – the darkness – became more visible. It engulfed the vast lands of Petra. No longer can one distinguish between a mountain, a gorge, a cave, a rock .. It was all dark. A vast black blanket with no end and no beginning, unfolded in front of our eyes in seconds.

My husband and I switched to our mother tongue trying to give each other hope by assuring one another that these donkey masters must be carrying a small torch, to guide us till the exit. But we spoke too soon. Something very strange happened. Mahmoud hopped on the donkey I was sitting on and Adil on my husband’s. I was confused how to react. Should have waited and watched what happens? (Oh wait… what was there to watch, it was pitch dark) Should have asked him not to sit behind me? Should have done this or that? But dumbstruck, all I did was, to say to my husband “Lets see where this goes… be ready for the worst”. That was how four blind people on two donkeys wandered the depths of darkness, with at least two of them unsure as to where they were headed.

For Mahmoud and Adil, it seemed like the most natural move, a business-as-usual. For donkeys it did not make any difference except addition of a little more weight on their backs. You can imagine what all must have crossed the brains of the two strangers of the land. Never was I so blind in my homeland, even on pitch-black nights, for I could see a light of familiarity guiding me through unknown and uncertain circumstances. One thing was clear though, that Mahmoud and Adil were as blind as we both were and that the donkeys were the only torch bearers of the party.

I did not understand whether the donkeys could actually see the way, or they just remembered it ‘blindly’. I was awestruck by the skillfulness with which they were carrying us through the narrow gorges. There were times when my shoe would touch a side wall, and then I groped with my hand to touch the side walls of the gorge we were passing through. That was it, that was the proof that the donkey truly knew where it was going. Yes, the donkeys were the only ones in that party, who knew the darkness, who saw through the darkness.

Mahmoud was equally talkative during our return journey, but something made him to dive into deep emotional conversations. Maybe it is the physical distance between us or just that the darkness made his invisible mask (which we all wear on our faces and hearts) to disappear. He talked about his family, his struggles, his father’s demise, how it left a vacuum in his heart, how they like sneaking into Petra and party under the moonlight ..so on and so forth.

Within a few minutes we could literally see the light at the end of the dark tunnel through which we were passing through. As we bid farewell to the two masters and their donkeys at the exit gate, and started walking away, the pieces of puzzle seem to have fallen in place. It seemed as if our unplanned, unintentional travel to distant lands finally found its purpose and meaning.

Wonders of the world may seem majestic, gigantic, and vast but true wonders lie in the lives of Mahmoud and Adil-likes who epitomized honesty, hard work, smartness, curiosity, compassion, and innocence. The wonder was that it took thousands of miles of journey away from home, almost three decades of one’s life to learn that donkeys are not what we think they are, but something else too… The imprint those donkeys left on me was not that of their screeching sounds, not their laziness, not even their menial mindless work but an impression of a smart ass..! Right now at this very moment, a smart ass might be sitting near you and you may be blind with prejudice to identity him or her… Go find those donkeys who can guide you through your darkness....

The Ant in the room

noreply@blogger.com (Padma Karri) — Fri, 07 Jun 2019 03:49:00 +0000

Ant to an elephant running towards him: what happened?

Elephant: A hunter is chasing me..

Ant: come hide behind me !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The ant and the elephant duo – be it in the story or in jokes like above – never stops fascinating me. The charm lies not only in the fact that two beings on the extreme ends of size spectrum are brought together but also in the mind-boggling way in which the ant always punches above its weight. The most underestimated of the two turns out to be the saviour, the hero, the smart and the courageous one.

The duo challenges our stereotypical way of labelling someone strong or weak based on irrelevant attributes like appearance, size, voice, participation, confidence levels, body language etc. I like the fact that this duo is used to disprove the strong connection we tend to establish between what we see, how we perceive what we see and what it is. A closer look will tell us that all three are separate phenomenon.

The elephant in the room needs no introduction. It escapes no eye. Even its silence is heard loud and clear in our minds. On the other hand, a pinch of ant’s presence is felt only after it puts its life itself at risk. Yet we equate ant with slow, weak, tiny and voiceless and nothing compared to an elephant. We do have among us elephants, ants and those personalities who lie between these two extremes. Of course, we may also encounter elephants in the garb of an ant and vice versa.

Children are usually the victims of elephantine elders. They are highly underestimated when it comes to understanding “certain elderly stuff”. They are not meant to be part of certain discussions because the elephants in the room get to decide whether their ant brains are capable enough to grasp or not. If you had such experiences as a child, you might have heard these expressions a lot “Go out and play .. this doesn’t concern you”; “go inside … right now” …. And fortunately or unfortunately if you happen to have got everything what was happening and opened your mouth, there comes the ultimate weapon – “you are still young.. you are just a child …. You don’t understand …. Keep quiet”.

For parents, no matter how much their children grow, they remain children still. No wonder my mother still says that am too young to understand certain social pressures. Obviously, the age of parents and the experience that comes with it is what is making them feel that they are elephants and ignore the ants in the room. But as the saying goes - what goes around comes around – in the parents-children duo soon role reversal happens over time. The changing times, technology, differences in life styles and many other factors contribute in making the same children elephants and the parents ants.

Children and parents duo is just one example out of thousands of such scenarios across cultures and geographies, where ants in the room are not paid heed to. Small states vs big states, developing vs developed, male vs female, male and female vs lgbtqi, rural vs urban, old vs young, north vs south, east vs west, white vs black, tribal vs non tribal are a few more instances.

Elephants are made elephants because of the huge baggage they carry. That could be because of various factors like physical characteristics, age, experience, knowledge, resources, gender, religion, number, race, caste, colour, economic status, political clout so on and so forth. If we try and remove each of these imaginary layers, may be… may be what will remain in the core of an elephantine personality is no stronger than that of a mere ant. But it is almost next to impossible to convince our own eyes and trick our minds to believe that an elephant could also be an ant and vice versa.

Yet it is not impossible. We just have to change the frame of reference. Why expect an ant to uproot a tree? We have elephants to do that. Ask an ant how to be resourceful and organised. Ask an ant how to plan for the hard times. Learn from an ant how to be part of a team. Listen to its stories from the untraveled lands. Ants are everywhere in large numbers. Find out from them how they cater to huge populations. Learn from them disaster management tactics. They bring a lot to the table. All the while they might be having just the right answers with them. Ensure to ask the right questions. After all it is equally impossible for an elephant to stoop too low to get ‘an ant’s view’.

The elephant in the room is what everyone knows about but not talk about while the ant in the room is what everyone wonders about, but no one knows about. The ant … the one any eye can easily miss, the one whose life is like a tightrope walk, the one which hardly a few stoops down to observe, the one who is usually too engrossed in every day survival struggles, the one who is too busy walking in long queues to gather food, the one who struggled to overcome its weaknesses, the one who strived to leave much bigger a mark behind than its own size … that ant, made it to the room … the same room as the mighty elephant. THE ANT made it to the room. Period. THE ANT made it to THE ROOM. Period. The ant is in the room. And the ant in the room needs to be heard. It has a lot to say….. and we have a lot to learn from the ant in the room ...

Two ants in conversation

Ant 1: look !! elephant is approaching.... lets attack

And 2: Uffooo ! forget it…. We outnumber him …

A story of the sea, the shore and shells... (in Telugu)

noreply@blogger.com (Padma Karri) — Sun, 03 Dec 2017 13:15:00 +0000

A story... it could be yours or theirs or ours ...

But for now, the idea shall reach those who can read and understand telugu..

I promise a translation of the idea into English sometime in the future..

Picture and hand writing credits: Aditya

Can we dare to pause???

noreply@blogger.com (Padma Karri) — Sat, 12 Nov 2016 20:29:00 +0000

Do you remember those days when tape recorders used to have forward, rewind, stop, record, play and pause buttons. Applying these functions to life in this information era it is clear that we no more have control over what we can choose to play, nor stop ourselves from hearing to what is being played around. Neither every rewind gives us the same record nor every prediction of forward times the same. We could record things as they are happening, but no guarantee that they will remain the same the next minute in these dynamically changing times. I think the only control we have in our hands is the “pause” button.

When the months of November or December seem like midyear; or when last weekend just seem like yesterday while tomorrow is the next weekend already; When you feel that your two month baby in no time started going to kindergarten; when your bank account balance suddenly seems too less than you expected it to be; when your birthday this year seems to have come too soon; or when everything seems to be going wrong; or when we don’t seem to have any clue of what are the start and end points of something; each of these is an illusion caused due to lack of enough pauses.

Pause is that which reveals the grey areas, which makes the contrasts more visible, which wakes one up or puts one to sleep. It is a stepping stone for one who wants to rise up and that which holds one from falling down. It is a time for review. It is a time for a new plan. It is the time to see where we came from and the time to decide the direction in which to proceed. Pause is a time when one should go deaf only to hear one’s self more clearly. It is a moment where one should go blind only to enable oneself to see new things or to see same things differently. Pause is a pause to past regrets and a stop to future regrets.

We might not always need new rules or new laws for old and new problems. What if in the first place we didn’t identify the problems rightly? We need not always run to reach our goal. What if our goal itself is wrong? We need not always follow someone just because there was only one track. What if it doesn’t take us anywhere? What if at any point the only way out is to pause? But I think we humans somehow do not have the skill to pause or at the least the ability to think of pausing. May be no one told us that to pause is an action in itself. Our failure to pause when the time is still ripe might never let us to take a pause even if the situation demands. Does this strike any bell? Don’t you think our problem of pollution and the lack of solutions for it is a consequence of our failure to pause?

Do you think I am saying that we should put a stop to all the development and go back to the dark ages or that by pausing I mean inaction or idleness? No, not at all. Lighting a candle and then leaving it to fight with the wind before it gets blown off is stupidity. But taking a pause to make arrangements to protect the flame before lighting the candle is wisdom. We all read the ‘the hare and the tortoise’ story and we also know the moral by heart ‘slow and steady wins the race’ yet we almost always follow the hare. I wonder why !!! Should we mistake tortoise’s steadiness to be idleness or we should think that it kept gathering its strength for a longer journey ahead by taking enough pauses?

In a world where uncertainty is the only guarantee, where the unknown unknowns (in the words of Donald Rumsfeld) rule over the known knowns, sometimes a pause is a better solution than any action. As the world is getting smaller and smaller the butterfly effect will be more intense. I can pin point instances from our day to day lives to world politics where a simple pause would have made our personal and universal worlds a better place to live in. But I don’t want to.

I only want to highlight the fact that a pause could be as small as taking time off a busy schedule to take a deep breath or as striking as questioning something before believing. It could be an effort to break a ritual or a stigma to offer alternative narratives or it could be as big a deal as taking a pause before starting a war. I just want to inculcate the idea of pause, emphasize its need and power. Let us take a pause and see !!!

Draupadi - Devil or a Darling ?

noreply@blogger.com (Padma Karri) — Sat, 07 May 2016 06:02:00 +0000

In a society where honour was and is seen as the utmost important thing a woman should live or die for, what wrong is it if Draupadi pulls the string to the extent of a war.

It so happened while driving on busy roads of Delhi that my driver (trainer) mentioned about "women"driving. "It's all because of these women. They drive as they wish, rushing madly through the gaps". Whenever he made this comment, he almost always immediately (came very naturally to him as if it was hardwired in his brain) passed another comment on women, saying - "wars were fought 'for' women and 'because'of women. Many empires fell cause of them. You see, in Ramayana it was Sita and in Mahabharat it was Draupadi." Oh, it didn't shock me as that wasn't the first time I heard such an opinion. It comes naturally to an average Indian mind (both male and female). May be it is in the way in which the stories from epics were told. Or may be it is the most easiest way to understand a situation, conveniently ignoring various nuances in the story.

Two things to note here are - one, tales from epic like Mahabharat tuned our opinions in a particular way. Two, it almost always taken for certain that an alternative view cannot exist. But what surprises me is neither of the two. Though Draupadi did fight to uphold her honour and avenge injustice, how the society managed to propagate the wrong message for centuries. Instead of appreciating her character for giving a tough fight, she has been accused as being the main driving force for the war.

In a society where honour was and is seen as the utmost important thing a woman should live or die for, what wrong is it if Draupadi pulls the string to the extent of a war. Also, it is not that simple. There were multiple characters, varied vested interests, power struggles, ego clashes, fight for name and fame, etc which played a role in the final war. Why did we give a clean chit to all other characters?

Why is that the greatest warrior of the times, and the man of his word, Bhishm usually not accused to have let many misdeeds happen right under his nose. In the guise of guarding his vow, to protect the throne of Hastinapur, or for reasons unknown he never stood by Draupadi. What message is Acharya Drona giving us, who spent more than half his life avenging against King Drupad. May be he is telling us how ego should be pursued at any cost. The writer of the epic himself, Vyasa, seemed to have lost the plot somewhere as he failed to convey the message that the insult hurled at Draupadi is unacceptable. The blind king, Drutarashtra, is the culprit behind power and money struggles in many of the Indian families till date. He should be blamed to have not accepted his fate and for not being just with his brother's sons.

Why don't an average Indian naturally tend to accuse Karna for being a mute spectator during Draupadi vastraharan, and during Abhimanyu's death in the Padmavyuh? We only remember him for his loyalty, selflessness and sacrifice. Most importantly Pandavas themselves are not usually accused for their faults. Yudhistir, Dharam Raj, should have been ideally blamed for setting a trend for all those drunkards, gamblers and wife beaters (They might be honest to the core when sober). And his brothers, are more known to be loyal followers of elder brother rather than as those who forgone their wife's honour and self respect. Finally, the Lord Shri Krishn, a very close friend of Draupadi, portrayed as the sole protector of her, also tried to pacify Draupadi at various stages in order to convince her to cool down.

As we get into the nitty gritties of the story, there is no end to this blame game. No character is perfect. The so called Lord Himself, Shri Krishn, should have been notorious for cheating in the war. I might have sounded so far as if Draupadi has got nothing to be blamed for. Wrong. She too has enough on her plate. She insulted Karna in her swayamvar, she laughed at Dhuryodhan when he slipped into an illusive water fountain in her Maya Sabha and never apologised for any of her deeds. She was known for her arrogance and stubbornness. She has both negatives and positives in her, just like any other character in the story. However, her character seems to have been made the victim of her own blemishes. I also believe that Kunti and Gandhari should also be accused of not standing by their daughter-in-law. They symbolise all those women who consciously or subconsciously are responsible for perpetuating patriarchy in the society.

While on the one hand, Draupadi's honour was at stake and on the other none in her close circles seem to be understanding her plait. I don't see what other options she had other than fighting all alone and by vowing a revenge. I personally experienced this phenomenon in many Indian families, where mothers discourage their daughters to let their hair loose, as it is believed that they bring in disgrace, dishonour and bad luck to the family (just as Draupadi did, when she vowed to let her hair loose till she avenges her insult). We should instead appreciate her for fighting in a male dominated society in many a ways. She was the only female character in the entire story, who has a male friend (Shri Krishn). She was the only one, again, to have dared to reveal her feelings for another male (towards Karna). She was far ahead of her times, in not just accepting polyandry (fivehusbands) but for striving to be what she really is, free and honest, in a cage like society.

My aim is not to find faults with each of the characters, no doubt they are all great in their own ways. My idea is two fold, one I am just trying to highlight how one sided, how biased our story telling has been. Just to enable the readers to appreciate my point better, I would like to draw parallels between Mahabharat story telling in our country and a recent phenomemon, an epic like series Game of Thrones. Almost every character in it is shown from more than one angle. It would let the audience think in various dimensions. Two, how stories heard and told over centuries, impact our every day life. This is just one story, there might be many more stories and characters propagating misconceptions in the society. Just imagine where our society would have headed had Mahabharat started on the note - 'There lived a Princess Draupadi, stunned the world by being born unexpectedly in a yagna, but later realised to have born for a cause. Born to beat the stereotype in the society and to wage war against injustice'. We would never know !

am in Andaman !!!

noreply@blogger.com (Padma Karri) — Wed, 30 Mar 2016 18:20:00 +0000

Sometimes the resistance from within to leave a place for another, can be so high that we tend to speak and think of only the negative things that might end up happening. Now I get the word, it is "inertia". I was in that state before leaving for Andaman and Nicobar for navy attachment (part of my training). Not that I don't like travelling it was just that the pull factors were more intense than push ones.

First three days are gone in "trying" to learn something and "trying" to find places and moments of joy just to keep myself going. High moments of the day used to be less than normal - which included some learning regarding Indian Navy, playing in the beach, a food for thought from a book etc. Just when my boredom was about to overtake me completely, my patience started to pay back. Everything has its own time and place. How could I even think of living those moments whose time hasn't come. On the last day of my visit, in retrospect I could definitely say I had my share of take aways from the Island.

First such moment was on Havelock Island. There, Radhanagar Beach was one of the most beautiful and finest beaches I have ever been to. The sand is so smooth that one can run on it only to feel the cushion underneath one's feet. The water was so clear with a marvelous mix of shades of green with thin white foam. The waves though huge are soothing and melodious. There was no sign of a single stone or a rock on the site. At 12 in the noon there were hardly anyone else playing in the beach, but there were a couple of foreigners, sitting in the shade and enjoying the view.

My second high of the trip turned out to be the biggest learning I had through out it. This was when we visited an island called 'Baara Tanga' on the way to which one can get a chance to see a few Jarawas. Though it was not in our tour plan, I insisted that we should visit the place, to find first hand answers to many questions which have been lingering in my mind for so long. Since, my days in Kalahandi, where I worked closely with a few tribes, such questions frequented my mind, like - what is the ideal way to deal with the tribals and their development?, What is tribal "development" in the first place?, Is it "good" for tribals to be integrated into so called "main stream"? Who should be "responsible" and "accountable" for act effecting tribals in any way? .. so on.. and so forth... This particular tussle in my mind deserves a new post (sooner, asap may be)

Till then, I can share my little experience during my passage through Jarawas Reserve Territory (JRT). We started off from Port Blair at 4:30 am in the morning in order to reach Jirkatang, a panchayat in southern Andaman. This itself was pricking my heart every now and then during the journey, as we "planned" for it.. planned to see co-humans living in their natural habitat, leading their lives as normally (more naturally than any of us from so called civilized society) as any of us. Is it that they live in a world different from mine or that they live differently in the same world I live in - cant say for sure what made me go there. From Jirkatang, a convoy with police in the front started as per scheduled time. Before setting off for this journey I did not expect anything nor imagine anything as to how the experience is going to be. But as the convoy started my imagination started going wild. This was mostly because we were told that Jarawas would be seen on both sides of the road we ride on, who come out of their houses. The convoy started and like a child moving his head along a with the motion of a moving pendulum, to and fro, I started moving my head left and right, left and right trying to "spot" Jarawas.

I am not very proud of using the word "spot", but yes that was precisely what was happening there. Soon our driver said "there, on ur left, behind, one is sitting"..., I quickly turned but missed him. As we moved on, since the driver was not allowed to slow down his vehicle, he used to quickly tell us "there, there a bunch of them sitting" and when I turned slowly to my left.. there, they sat a family. A man, a woman and a child, the couple sitting with their backs leaned onto a slab and the child in between them. In that quick pass, I could see them for only a few seconds. In those few seconds, my eyes picked up three things - a greyish ash like colour smudged on pure black (their skin tone), a small piece of red cloth covering the essential body parts and the look in their eyes.

The look in their eyes and the posture in which they sat, hinted a kind of "indifference and duty". I didn't understand why would any one sit like that as if in leisure on the side of a road with fast moving cars, with thick jungle on both the sides. My guilt has gone deeper and my curiosity higher by then. My curiosity was not to "spot" more but to know why why why, why would they come and sit there like that. As the car moved on, I kept my head still on left side alone and soon, a little inside behind a tree, there sat another group of men. This time, they were a little far off, but something unique I saw. A man in regular clothing and a different complexion, a non jarawa, was standing next to the jarawas group. Oh oh oh !!! There the chain of questions went on and on in my mind.. and instigated many thoughts in me. I do not know much neither about the jarawas nor the issues concerning them. Hope to update myself by my next post on the topic.

The third moment was yet an other world, like my second one. Truly natural world, the marine life in the sea, when I got an opportunity to do open sea diving, close to North Bay Island. The experience was too good to be true. It was like finding oneself in the middle of colourful marine life in the movie Finding Nemo. Just that this time it was too good to be true. The site of beautiful small fishes, schools of large fish, live corals gives one not only an eye treat but also shows in a small way that we know nothing or very little about "other worlds". I feel incapable to put in words that amazing beauty which gave me immense inexplicable joy. One should experience it for oneself...

So, it wasn't as bad after all? May be. It did leave me with questions, thoughts, feelings, ideas and what not... !

"NOTHING" EMPOWERS WOMEN

noreply@blogger.com (Padma Karri) — Tue, 28 Apr 2015 12:31:00 +0000

For years, these women have been someone's daughters, someone's sisters, someone's wives or someone's mothers. In the old age, suddenly they find themselves to be not under the care of or care about any of them. They are nothing now.

What do you call this - a delayed empowerment or a mere desperation?

For the past eight to nine months, during my visits to various villages in Kalahandi district in Odisha, I observed an interesting phenomenon regarding elderly women. Be it in a group or individually, they seem to be more vocal about their 'rights and entitlements'. They are fearless, less apprehensive, outspoken and more 'rational'. The transformation from 'purely traditional' to 'somewhat rational' over time, might have been facilitated by a multitude of factors - both external and internal.

I feel that the main reason behind this 'delayed empowerment' in elderly women is 'NOTHING'. Yes, "Nothing" empowers women. For years, these women have been someone's daughters, someone's sisters, someone's wives or someone's mothers. In the old age, suddenly they find themselves to be not under the care of or care about any of them. They are nothing now. They are forced to stand up and speak for themselves. If they don't, survival gets more and more tougher for them.

Firstly, in that old age, lack of regular income, and inability to earn their living, force them to a 'desperation' to fight back. Secondly, the apprehension that haunted them through out their lives, as to what the society, their male counterparts would think or say seems to have disappeared in their final phase. Lastly, the fear of being socially stigmatized seems to have vanished totally in front of the old age desperation and the new-found strength in having no strings attached. In the absence of all those who relied on them for "honour", I think these women are able to put traditions aside and act rationally.

Around June 2014, in a huge block level gathering to review MNREGA scheme, I witnessed this woman, slowly yet steadily and boldly climbing onto the dais and dared to question the Block Development Officer (BDO) regarding some entitlement she was due to receive.

In an another incident around September 2014, I attended a cluster level meeting where in representatives from various self help groups in that area were present. Even when a few young and middle aged women were shy and fearful to even say their names, an elderly woman sitting at the back was exceptionally overreaching. She seemed to have answers to all our questions and solutions to all the problems.

Very recently in April 2015, we conducted a gram panchayat level meeting, to find out about people's grievances. It was headed by Sub Collector of our district. Firstly, there were hardly any women attending that meeting. Secondly, even the young woman Sarpanch, did not speak a word. Then these two women walked in confidently and told the Sub Collector that they were not receiving pensions regularly. It might seem as a very small and trivial act for us. But when one tries to put oneself in their shoes, the context will be more clear. It is a big deal for the tribal women who would have hardly done such a thing before. It might be like a kindergarten child going to speak in front of an audience, for the first time.

What do you call this - a delayed empowerment or a mere desperation? I say, it is the both. They seem to be telling the society "We do not care for you and your stigmas anymore. We are free". And it is not a coincidence that all the cases I quoted are of widows and mostly from single women households. Yes, they are nothing. And I think - "Nothing empowers these women". This phenomenon finds further support in how the solar grandmothers are making the Barefoot College, Tilonia's efforts in solar energy training successful (Details here). You might have as well observed in your own grand mothers also, how liberal and rational they can get.

Skip this para if you are not a Game of Thrones follower :)

[To convey my point on "Nothing" more effectively I am borrowing an incident and a quote from George R R Martin's Game of Thrones. Samwell Tarly, a night's watch member, a coward at heart manages to kill a white walker and when inquired how he could do so, he replies - "I had to do something other wise Gilly (woman he was trying to save) and her baby would have been killed" (desperation). He further says - "I wasn't myself. I was nothing then. Nor son of someone or a friend of someone. When you are nothing, there is nothing to be afraid of" (Empowerment).]

This phenomenon shows how much the society is holding back women with unnecessary attachments, rules, conditions, restrictions and all the chains that do not let women take that much needed first step. Those who are able to break these shackles early, are able to stand up for themselves much in advance. Few of the rest do so much delayed at the fag end of their lives. The rest go unheard.

Happy yet guilty !!!

noreply@blogger.com (Padma Karri) — Sat, 25 Apr 2015 12:21:00 +0000

I could not digest the idea that the very weather which gave me so much joy and filled my void had forced some to commit suicide and created void in many lives.

It all started when I had one of the best evenings of my life, around ten days ago. I along with a friend, set out into the wild to explore nature in the rain. I was ‘literally’ on top of the world watching the hills change colours from lush green, to brownish to orangish. It was a treat to my eyes when the last rays of the Sun turned the hills to glittery gold. There seemed to be no end to my joy when I saw a rainbow for the first time in my life. Yet times when there was no sound other than that of breeze, water flowing, or birds chirping or my companion talking, there, at that moment, it seemed as if “it was everything”. I could feel the life oozing out within and outside, every second.

That conversation we had with the nature, and its beautiful replies filled the void in me that this mundane life keeps creating every now and then. That evening continued to linger in my thoughts giving me unfathomable joy, until … until… that moment of guilt stuck me. It was when I read in the newspapers that very week about the damage caused to the crops and loss to the farmers due to untimely rains. I could not digest the idea that the very weather which gave me so much joy and filled my void had forced some to commit suicide and created void in many lives.

While I continued to ponder upon this happy-go-guilty feeling, today another incident happened. A massive earth quake killed at least a hundred people in Nepal and tremors were felt across North India. One of my friends tweets me expressing joy and praising the day for giving him an opportunity to experience tremors for the first time in his life. I would have reacted the same had I been in his place. Nevertheless that happy-go-guilty feeling struck again. I am sure many of us have gone through such moments.

When I ruminated on this idea, I could recall many such incidents from the past. I think we felt the same dilemma when we had to welcome 2005 new year after Tsunami in December 2004. Back in my home town, I remember people not wanting to celebrate Diwali after the cyclone Hudhud devastated the city of Vizag in Oct 2014. I also remember to have had an ounce of happiness that a war (Kargil) has happened during my life time, though felt sorry for the lives lost.

In all the above incidents there are certain commonalities. They are either natural or lie outside of one’s influence. May be if I had the power to stop a war or prevent a disaster I would do so, rather than enjoying or living the moment. On the contrary, I was never seemed to have been celebrating my helplessness, I think I was just living the moment. The best part of this feeling is my realization that what gives me pleasure is giving pain to someone else. There are and will be many more from which I continue to draw pleasure and don’t even realize that the same is painful to someone somewhere. Also, there is a deep social and geographical connection to this feeling. The guilt that follows the happiness is mostly confined towards people or places one is surrounded by or associated with. I hardly ever related this guilt to some happenings in the Middle East.

I neither have a great mind nor an imagination to assume that pain and pleasure get cancelled on this earth. But it seems so somehow!!! When we take a moment to think through such happy yet guilty moments, I hope it will only widen our thoughts, open our minds and will be able to treat more of ‘others’ as ‘significant others’ and ‘one of us’.

Suffocate schools with inspiration !!!

noreply@blogger.com (Padma Karri) — Fri, 10 Apr 2015 11:43:00 +0000

In this 21^st century, opportunities to learn are to be provided for rather than waiting for chance to work in one’s favour. Inspiration put in the air around will be inhaled no matter what, and will give excellent outcomes.

Scouting for a skill or a talent is a herculean task. Various kinds of tests – objective, subjective, physical, interviews, group discussions etc – are conducted by schools/recruiters to identity right talent. Of course, these are not foolproof methods and so need to change with times and evolve gradually. What should precede scouting is our sincere effort to hone skills.

Such an effort essentially needs two things. One, believing that each one of us has some hidden skill or talent which needs a conducive environment, a little aid and guidance for it to be brought forth. Two, the individual should be given the freedom to experiment, make mistakes, learn and unlearn. I need no statistical evidence to state that our current education system is lacking in both.

Any interest or skill is to be identified much early in a students’ life by making the process part of the curriculum. It will only make it difficult with passing time to tap that hidden potential unless they are lucky enough to get right opportunities at the right time in their life. But our education system seems to have taken the proverb “curiosity kills the cat” too seriously. So, we are killing the curiosity itself. A good learning environment would stoke curiosity not kill it.

We do not even know how many Tagores we are killing at the budding stage. Imagine had Rabindranath Tagore been deprived of all the excellent exposure, encounters with eminent personalities and his own father’s guidance, what would have happened? The world would have missed a great personality. He mastered in all the arts that were introduced to him through someone. And he found his own inspiration from nature.

On the other hand, consider Ambedkar’s story. In spite of the caste discrimination he faced as a child and his familial problems, he was lucky enough to get good opportunities to get educated. He was highly self motivated and became the first not only in his family but also in his community, to have pursued higher studies. He later became an inspiration for millions.

In both the above cases, two things mainly mattered. One, the kind of exposure and opportunities one had. Two, how well the individual had utilized the opportunity. Not all those who are given the opportunity will be able to use it well. But provision of right opportunities and exposure is the first step in the long journey. Especially in this 21^st century, opportunities to learn are to be provided for rather than waiting for chance to work in one’s favour.

So, who should ensure that students are exposed to right information, right opportunities to learn? It is the responsibility of family and schools. State cannot directly target families but they can motivate the parents only through schools. Even before that what should schools do to inculcate “learning” as a habit? It should not be by “asking” them to learn but by “inspiring” them to do so. What can inspire? The question is what not can inspire.

A book, a pen, a movie, a song, a talk, a walk, a chat, a meet, a toy, an animal, a bird, the nature, a game, a teacher, a problem, a leader, a story, a struggle, an innovation, a solution – will the list of those which can be inspiring ever end? NO. Institutions should use these to give positive strokes of inspiration to the students. That will inculcate a ‘culture of learning’. Any learning should be rewarded in an appropriate way, though the best way to do so is to put that learning to use. This will lead to more inspiration. Inspiration put in the air around will be inhaled no matter what, and will give excellent outcomes.

For example, a reading club initiative in a school, where in children read and discuss a book, their opinions should be published along with photo in an annual magazine. Once in a while an exposure visit to a new place, an interaction with new people will definitely make students’ minds curious and enthusiastic to learn. A talent search period should be made part of school curriculum. Students should be given an opportunity to show case their talents, appreciated for and provided opportunities to further hone them.

Many private schools and organizations are already working on making the learning interesting, inspiring and lively through activity based learning and teaching techniques. It is not a difficult task for government to take an initiative to change the learning environment of every school. The first step is to start thinking in these lines and with sufficient will power it can definitely be implemented. Money should not matter when it comes to human resource development, which will have a long lasting impact on generations to come.

Cricket fans parented Virat Kohli ???

noreply@blogger.com (Padma Karri) — Sat, 28 Mar 2015 16:07:00 +0000

Within moments after Virat Kohli got out in the India vs Australia semifinals match, social media was flooded with jokes about him, his ads and his personal life. Many started blaming Anushka and concluded that his relationship with her was the reason behind his bad performance. There were many reactions and counter reactions from all sections of the social media.

One of the jokes that went viral was regarding his ad which says “Virat, I want you here in 5 minutes”. These kinds of jokes are common. Even in advertisement with Ranbir (Pepsi), when Virat asks “main kya karoon Aunty?”, he was told “Tu ad shad na kiya kar beta, apne game pe dhyan de”. It is all part of fun.

But somewhere the pun has crossed the sportive limits. Our society’s natural instincts came forth. As many in social media rightly pointed out, this episode shows our casual approach towards women. Majority of the men who go behind women, take no time in blaming them for anything wrong. Discredit is usually given very generously to them. But the point of this article is something else.

For me, this episode has brought out some other important issue – that of ‘parenting’. Indian parents in general underestimate the multi-tasking capability of their children. They think that any involvement in extracurricular activities will ruin student’s studies. They are also apprehensive about their kids having too many friends. This is one of the main reasons for very meager participation of children in sports and arts. (Though the situation is improving now, it is still a long way to go)

I believe that our reaction towards cricketers’ performances reflected similar kind of parental no confidence. We expect them to perform and for some reason if they did not, immediately we tend to blame on their extracurricular. If some player is getting married or just had a baby – we might not blame these situations for their under performance. Why so? - Because they are acceptable to our parents and the society in general. Also, parents create ‘end of the world’ and ‘do or die’ situations for kids sometimes and react violently if they fail. Similar was the reaction when Indian fans threw bottles, chappals at our players in 1996 world cup semis?

Ads, personal life, IPL and many others will definitely have an effect on the players but both positively and negatively. When fans relate to these only negatively, I feel they are trying to parent the players just the way they themselves were parented. Was that what happened with Virat? We had too high expectations from him in this series, failing which fans parented him in the typical Indian parents’ way. Didn’t they?

e-solutions -- Effective solutions ???

noreply@blogger.com (Padma Karri) — Fri, 27 Mar 2015 18:44:00 +0000

The Union government launched a new initiative, Twitter Samvad a few days ago to enable and keep the government-citizen conversation going. This government’s determination towards e-governance was evident in ‘Digital India’ initiative - to build infrastructure, deliver services electronically and spread digital literacy. Even the previous government and a few state governments enthusiastically took up e-delivery of certain services and grievance redressal through social media. Of course, we all should hope that a day would come soon where most people will have devices to click, know where to click and that the governments would only be a click away from citizens.

Definitely, this is an ambitious target and it is a huge transformation from the present. As of now, there is only around 20-25% internet penetration in the country. This is least of our problems. The transformation from traditional to digital poses two major challenges. First, newly built service delivery/grievance systems should only ease the processes instead of complicating them. Second, the implementing agencies should be ‘willing to’ and be ‘able to’ deliver electronically.

The both of these are very vital issues – system and personnel. IRCTC though made ticket booking easy, issues like server errors, peak hour traffic, tatkal booking made user’s life difficult. This gave way to many unauthorized agents, fraudsters who took advantage of the loopholes and looted both the government and the passengers. And, most of the implementing personnel are still e-illiterates. The systems being built are beyond their capacity to comprehend. They might be having basic knowledge, but definitely not problem solving ability.

In addition to these, there are two more issues that are prominent, rural-urban divide and side lining of traditional grievance redressal mechanisms. Rural urban divide not just with respect to infrastructure, e-literacy but the very kind of service delivery and grievances arising are very different for rural and urban. The recent initiatives of participatory governance (mygov, twitter samvad) and grievance redressal mechanisms caters only to that 20-25% who use internet. This too is required especially as internet users are increasing year on and expected to reach around 40-50% by 2050.

However, the rural India needs more customised approach, though technology can still play a major role. Bangalore electricity board, Police are very active on facebook and twitter to not only keep people in the loop but also for grievance redressal. Two things help smoothen grievance redressal process through social media. One, ease of access in raising the complaint as it is just a click away. Two, doing so in the presence of many co-users and officials improves transparency and gives strength to the complaint. Rural areas rate zero on ease of access indicator; and access to wider audience is also limited to the people around and local officials. This way, the overall power a village has is lesser compared to its urban counterpart. Also, the fear of losing access to goods and services takes over the urge to raise a grievance.

The opportunity and transaction costs for public participation in governance or in getting their grievances redressed are higher in rural compared to urban. Opportunity costs include – daily wages for wage labourers, a day’s work for agriculturists etc. Transaction costs include – transportation charges for repeated visits to public authorities, time spent and the fear of losing the delivery itself for any complaint would invite the wrath of local officials.

To bypass all these, e-initiatives would have worked to an extent at least in an ideal situation, where the required infrastructure is available and e-literacy levels are high. That is not the case though, not only in rural but in most of the urban areas. So, it would be wiser to work on other forms of improving service delivery and grievance redressal mechanisms than waiting for ideal e-situations to develop.

A single window grievance centre for all grievances in every gram panchayat should be a good thing to start with. The application form should be treated as a complaint-cum-RTI application. Hence, the complaint should get a reply for the grievance raised within 30 days like in RTI. This has two advantages. One, many who would not have heard of the powerful tool called RTI, can take advantage of it easily. Two, government-citizen interaction improves, time bound redressal is assured and accountability of public authorities towards people increases.

In many of our states, (and even Union government’s) legislations for time bound service delivery of goods and services were enacted. They all have either two or three tier appeal authorities – at district, state/centre. Even the first appeal and second appeal be allowed to be given at the GP level at the single window grievance cell. Only a single format form for all grievances will eliminate all confusions and let people utilise the opportunity and get services delivered. They may be given a receipt as in RTI and charged a minimum fee. On the question as to who should be running the grievance cell can be debated. Nevertheless, it should be an independent body with very less stakes in the day-to-day administration.

The process should be as simple as the one laid down by Supreme Court in case of a PIL. It said a postcard would suffice. Our huge postal network can come in handy in strengthening the grievance system. If the locality has sufficient levels of e-literacy or even otherwise, user friendly interactive kiosks which record the grievances instantly can be set up.

In this digital era where everything seems to be easy to be implemented in an e-way through technology, it is important to strengthen traditional ways of grievance redressal. Though PM is trying to take utmost use of the radio network and rejuvenate it, it has been a one-side affair so far. To get more inputs from people, setting up of community radios may be encouraged, which works the same way as a social media, (people generated content, shared across a community but specific to a geographic location) but without internet. This government managed to build a good narrative around ‘digitizing India’. Similar focus should be given to all weather grievance redressal at everyone’s doorstep – digital or non-digital.

Should we cooperate or non-cooperate ?

noreply@blogger.com (Padma Karri) — Mon, 23 Mar 2015 04:03:00 +0000

Cooperation and non-cooperation are like two sides of the same coin, both are needed but only in the right contexts. The non-cooperation movement during 1920-22 led by Gandhi had not only played a significant role in Indian freedom struggle but also laid down some important principles for functioning of a democracy. In his June 22^nd 1920 letter to the Viceroy, Gandhi had asserted the right recognised ‘from time immemorial of the subject to refuse to assist a ruler who misrules’.

The words ‘subject’, ‘assist’ and ‘misrule’ in this sentence need to be marked. Their meanings and interpretations in independent India are blurred. Firstly, we are not subjects anymore yet we need to answer the question as to whether we are citizens in the true sense. Secondly, in a democracy, we ourselves are responsible to choose our representatives (not rulers). Thus we no longer have to assist them but we cooperate. Thirdly, we do not have a consensus on what is misrule. What was misrule yesterday is taken to be genuine today.

A true democracy would give its citizens their due rights and entitlements and in turn, a true citizen would cooperate with the government in right doings and non-cooperate in the wrong ones. This would keep the misrule in check. Achieving this is not as simple as it sounds. It is an intricate web of cooperation and non-cooperation between the government and citizens, within government, within citizens etc.

Across these varied nexuses, abetting has become the norm and any kind of non-cooperation is strangled. Every effort is made to punish those who do not cooperate. First, the “rights” are given to people freely through legislation and then they are to be “bought” with bribe. There is a whole chain of cooperation starting from the beneficiary at the bottom to the highest official. The internal chain of co-operators also has external political, business links, which further complicate the web of nexuses.

At the slightest hint of non-cooperation, the entire web turns against as we have seen in the case of D.K.Ravi, Karnataka bureaucrat recently. In 2012, a 30-year-old IPS officer Narendra Kumar was crushed to death in MP for fighting the stone mining mafia. Another dedicated officer Satyendra Dubey was shot dead for exposing financial irregularities in golden quadrilateral project. These are only a few instances. Frequent transfers, political interventions are other tactics used to punish the ones who hinder the business as usual.

Non-cooperation not only in bureaucracy but outside of it too is treated equally brutally. Here again the organised cooperation among multiple stakeholders work against those who do not cooperate. RTI activists, who have been striving to make the system transparent and accountable, were either killed or ostracised. Recently, women’s rights activist Sunita Krishnan’s car was attacked after she uploaded rape videos to shame the rapists. Irom Sharmila’s, is another classic case, who is charged with an attempt to commit suicide for her non-cooperation through a 14 year long hunger strike.

So, it seems as a society we are failing to protect the honest and upright who raise their voice against wrong doings. On the other hand, we are getting more and more comfortable in cooperating where we should not be. Because of the complexities of the myriad rules and regulations, huge delays in the system, for all practical purposes we cooperate with bribe takers, the corrupt and the middle men. In getting a driving license or a passport or a train reservation there is more incentive to cooperate with the wrong to get things done.

As Gandhi said, it becomes our right to refuse the misrule but atleast in the short run, it goes against the one who refuses. The larger worry is that the society is slowly embracing and preferring to encourage the wrong than to non-cooperate with them. For instance, one of the reasons for prevailing of vote buying during elections, is ‘vote selling’. A voter is willing to take money and sell his vote away. I am not totally blaming the voter. For him, may be it is better to accept whatever he gets now, as he is not sure what he would get after elections. But there are a section of voters who are opportunistic and so cooperate with the corrupt.

Both cooperation and non-cooperation are continuous processes, the former gives immediate returns and the latter long term ones. Encouraging the wrong once started, becomes a habit and gets imbibed in the culture, and makes it difficult to change the course later. Non-cooperation is a continuous struggle, at every level. It is so difficult that even someone of Gandhi’s stature was able to do it on a mass scale only once. Yet at individual level he never cooperated with what he truly believed to be wrong. The moments of mass actions do come, but come very rarely, at an appropriate time when things are conducive. Yet we should not underestimate the power of a few, who stand against the huge tide of organised and unwanted cooperation. As Margaret Mead said “Never believe that a few caring people can’t change the world. For indeed that’s all who ever have”.

The Black - Forever Bright !

noreply@blogger.com (Padma Karri) — Fri, 06 Mar 2015 19:48:00 +0000

Black is as underestimated as colours are overestimated. Our incapacity to appreciate darkness, or rather face darkness, renders our lives incomplete.

It is the ‘day of colours’ today celebrated as ‘Holi’ in India and what other occasion would be more apt to reflect upon “black”. Black is a fascinating colour (if I may call it a colour, though it is not any one colour) with various shades. Science says black is a result of absorption of all light. It has all colours in it. It has everything, yet nothing. In spite of it absorbing all colours, we see nothing since it reflects nothing. Black has its own difficulties, lighter and darker shades since its inception on this earth.

Over the centuries, black came to be associated with evil, death, unknown, taboo etc. Black magic, black comedy, black box, black day, black mail – are a few to mention. Of course, this is mostly a western notion of black. Its interpretation may differ in different cultures. Nevertheless, black is as underestimated as colours are overestimated. It did not get its due appreciation. We are too fascinated with the brightness of the world around us and yearn for colours. Our incapacity to appreciate darkness, or rather face darkness, renders our lives incomplete. Just as not all that glitters is gold, not all that is black is bad. Though there are many who love black; the fashion industry, Hollywood and Bollywood making the most out of its elegance, black is much deeper than what we tend to see.

Life begins in the darkness of the womb of a mother. When we shut our eyes black is all that we see. There is no moon light without the darkness of the night. All the colours in the world put together, cannot match the beauty of a firefly in the dark. Darkness blurs the artificial barriers we humans built to differentiate and discriminate among ourselves. Darkness is egalitarian; it does not care about complexions, whereas colours are partial. The darkness of the night lulls the soul and gives us peace. Most importantly, the existence of darkness is the reason we are able to appreciate the so-called ‘colours’ so much.

Then why don’t we celebrate black? Why isn’t there a festival of darkness/black? Why should any bad day be a ‘black day’? Why should anything unknown including the ghosts and devils be associated with the darkness? Why all the taboos are black – as in black comedy? Why a black cat is a bad omen in many cultures?

I think it is because we sleep through darkness rather than exploring it. Not just in the literal sense of sleeping during the nights but we tend to silence various forms of darkness. We are afraid to face the darker side of our own self, thus giving way to hypocrisy. Mothers try to hide the worse qualities of their children. A society tries to cover its collective wrongs and project itself as something different. If we do not know anything, we put it in a black box. If we do not want anything, we put it in a black spot. This tendency of segregation is not allowing us to face the life to its fullest. That is why we find the need to ban so many things or black out so many ‘unwanted’ things.

We should remember that except for the natural darkness or absence of sun light, rest all forms of darkness we associate with black is purely a human creation. We associate grief to black, in order to highlight that grief is unwanted, uncalled for and undesirable. True, who would want to grieve? But grief is grief in the first place because we created something called happiness and value it more than grief. In addition, we falsely associate colours with happiness and black with grief, and try to avoid it, though both are our creations.

Black is for experimenters. It has every colour absorbed in it. Only those who experiment with it will be able to find different colours in it. It has everything yet reflects nothing. It is one’s own willingness to see through it, and face it, which reveals various shades of it. Black will remain that abstract nothingness which doesn’t give any concrete answers to our life questions. However, for those who look through and experiment with it will see its colours unleashing. Those shall realise that black is much beyond the superficial colours which reflect one single light. For them, black is confidence, black is elegance, black is bright and black is light. It is not that simple to comprehend ‘nothing’. History shows only a few were able to celebrate the darkness, celebrate the black and add more shadows to complete one’s life.

Indian Media - Noise and Silence

noreply@blogger.com (Padma Karri) — Wed, 21 Jan 2015 12:07:00 +0000

Neither the noise nor the silence of our media will have any long term positive impact on the society, on the other hand, both may result in unintended and unwanted consequences.

It is in every one’s knowledge that media reports news and events selectively. ‘Breaking’ news and ‘sensational’ news are not just subjective in the general sense of choosing according to one’s interests or prejudices but they are deliberately chosen to raise the TRP ratings. In the process many more interesting, worth covering and important events are being deliberately left out. This discrimination is not just among various events/incidents, but also among various castes, classes and categories.

This news article (“Ignored and discriminated against: The sad story of India's paralympians - http://www.firstpost.com/sports/ignored-and-discriminated-against-the-sad-story-of-indias-paralympians-2053495.html”) shows how less an attention these sports’ champs got. Better media coverage helps in garnering more support for various sports. But many media channels think that (and practically speaking rightly so) there is no need to cover certain things as there is not much audience, living the point aside that there is no audience because many are not aware.

What is the way out of this vicious cycle? It needs courageous visionaries from both the sides – media as well as audience, though it is more important for them to be present in the media. We have come across many movies (Taare Zamin Par, Chak de, Stanley ka dabba), ideas (Halla Bol – series highlighting social issues), shows (Satyamev Jayate) which took up a not-so-popular subject and through their work tried to make it popular. They proved that people actually supported good thoughts when presented in an interesting way.

On the other hand, even if they cannot make things interesting for audience, it is media’s responsibility to bring out the unheard and let people know. Certain ground realities like untouchability, caste and gender discriminations, child labour, poverty etc needn’t be packed nicely but a passionate presentation will suffice. Many a presentations by media tend to raise sympathy among the viewers, while it is empathy and compassion that are more important to be spread.

With every right comes a corresponding duty. Media has the right to speech (even selective) but has an equal amount of duty to give the whole information, and cover all events equally passionately. The movie “Hitler – The rise of evil” portrays a character of a journalist who dares to raise his voice against the atrocities, brutal and autocratic ideas of Hitler and how Germany and its people will pay for their ignorance and silence. He loses his job, and was taken to concentration camp and ultimately gets killed. His lone efforts might not have changed the course of history of Germany, but had his contemporaries in the media put a collective effort for the larger good of the society, things would have been different. Similarly, neither the noise nor the silence of our media will have any long term positive impact on the society, on the other hand, both may result in unintended and unwanted consequences.

Activity everywhere not an ounce of productivity

noreply@blogger.com (Padma Karri) — Wed, 06 Aug 2014 09:15:00 +0000

The dictionary meaning of the word ‘Activity’ goes like this – ‘The trait of being active, moving or acting rapidly and energetically’. This very precisely explains what happens in a typical Indian government office. Activity in government offices is an act with no forward or backward linkages; meaning, a micro plan deliberating on past experiences and planning for future is very rarely part of it. This is work wise.

With respect to work culture, irrespective of outcomes, government officials need ‘some activity’ to show that they are working. Just as the dictionary definition mentions – they will be active and energetic. Sometimes (underestimated!) work is done for the heck of it; to perpetuate the ‘sarkari’ culture of rule bound work; adding a lot to unproductivity. Something which can be decided in a minute’s time, is ‘planned out of proportion’ and may yet times take a few days. Irony is that the officials take pride in it.

Usually the head of the office/department, need people around to feel important; to boss them over, to ‘actively’ give instructions. And the subordinates ‘actively’ try to prove that they have been working on the project and that they have made considerable progress.

O !! At least if this ‘shallow activity’ goes on continuously, everyday, some ‘unintended good consequences’ would have occurred. But the government officials’ brains are tricked into false assumption that they take this ‘shallow activity’ as ‘work itself’. The brain tends to make the officials feel that they have done enough for the day/week/a month (Its all the brains’ fault u see!). The official lunch and tea breaks which unofficially extend to three hours or so is a manifestation of the 'heavy work load'. This will lead to ‘lull in the activity’ until the next trigger might come in the form of a routine meeting or a review meet with higher officials etc. The activity suddenly resumes and everyone get busy again.

We, very well know the consequences of this type of working culture. How do we overcome this and turn routine activity into fruitful one? One way could be to increase the frequency of triggers. But usually triggers come from higher up authorities and there is a whole big chain all the way up to central government. One lazy, irresponsible officer in the chain will render it unproductive. And in a system where everyone knew what the other is upto, what is the incentive to trigger some one to work, which might trigger another chain of events, unintended and uncalled for, which may bring out the true colour of everyone. So the rule is - 'you do what u want, I do what I want, in silence and let's wreck the system'. Few good men and women, take initiatives to give triggers, which set things right in the lower levels. But the frequent transfers make such productive periods very short lived. The ministers at the top, who are assured of five year period (in most cases) should take such steps, but we understand they are busy with hell lot of other things !!

Another way could be directly link the losses in delay or non completion to the salaries and be given as allowances to the people affected. Problem with this is that we have shortage of staff especially at the lower rungs. So, one has to handle multiple responsibilities, which makes it difficult to identify clear cut responsibilities. Adding to this there are different guidelines to different schemes, different ways of getting money and releasing the same to the beneficiaries and other complications.

In this web of intricacies there are many more tangles, which should be handled one by one to free the system gradually.

When shall we dream big ?

noreply@blogger.com (Padma Karri) — Mon, 28 Jul 2014 07:54:00 +0000

We need automation led by people which ultimately results in true consciousness of the people.
An automated system would be one where people demand their needs, participate in the pre-legislation process by giving their views, involve in the scheme's implementation, give their feedback on its outcome (through tools like social audit) and the cycle should continue 'automatically

"Achche din" is relative and as the whole campaign went it also shows it is subjective; meaning "Achche din" is dependent on the ruling party. If x party comes, achche din come. It is relative because the so called good times are comparable across time and on various other aspects - development, poverty etc. On a practical level, this approach may not be blamed, but isn't it a narrow view ? Atleast a few, a few good men and women, should dare to dream big and broad !

What would that big dream be? 'We need automation led by people which ultimately results in true consciousness of the people'. My friends from left and right wouldn't be able to digest the usage of the words 'automation' and 'true consciousness' in the same breath, but the idea is that people should be the centre and important part of the system.

Hundreds of government schemes for the benefit of the people, do not have people as integral part at any stage (pre-legislation, post legislation, during implementation etc etc) except as 'passive beneficiaries' or 'target groups'. An automated system would be one where people demand their needs, participate in the pre-legislation process by giving their views, involve in the scheme's implementation, give their feedback on its outcome (through tools like social audit) and the cycle should continue 'automatically'.

I understand that this is a very ideal scenario, may be not possible for years to come, something which even the so called developed countries did not yet achieve, but not impossible. No points for guessing what response is expected from many government officials and the politicians for such a system - "people are ignorant, they are self sufficient, they do not understand all these, it is very time consuming, we do not have required resources"; pessimism just overflows. That is why I say we are cowards even to dream of such a system. Obviously, politicians try to keep people perpetually in ignorance, in order to remain powerful.

Nevertheless, a little progress in this direction, how much ever little it might be has been made, thanks to international pressure. Definitely, words like transparency, accountability, grievance redressal, social audit,people centred development, participative decision making etc - are heard widely in government institutions at least, if not by the people. They find frequent references in government policy documents also. Yet, this is not enough - this is only little more than lip service. Also, it was mostly limited to mobile and internet users through e-governance. Even the fresh move by the new government - Mygov - an online portal for people's participation is in the same lines. The majority - the gigantic social sector schemes' beneficiaries - who do not have technology are still left behind.

And the allegation that people do not know is true, but isn't 'educating people' be made part of policy itself? MGNREGS is a classic case in point. Firstly, we are wasting our energies in implementing it through out the country, even where it is not required and leaving behind much attention needed areas. There are many areas where people do not know much about the scheme and the procedure. There were instances where people paid money to get job cards. Secondly, the scheme guidelines run into hundreds of pages with the mention of all the important words like social audit, people's pariticipation, transparency etc. What is the point when they are not able to guide people to utilize the scheme well???

When people understand why and what of any scheme it will be easy to implement it. Awareness generation is part of various schemes but is never taken seriously. Therefore, in the areas where people are well aware, any scheme works decently well and where they are unaware the best of the schemes also tend to fail. Instead of publicizing about the schemes, government in the last few years was running a 'publicity campaign' for the upcoming elections. Recent media reports say that the UPA government has spent Rs 2048 crores on advertisement and publicity of its schemes in three years. On an average Rs 55 crore per month approximately. It could have been spent for awareness generation in the 200 backward districts of the country, each would have got a huge sum of 25 lakhs.

Once people are involved they can and will monitor schemes themselves. Pariticipation in social audits will increase and the process of automation starts. It is also important to close the loop of automation, by incorporating the relevant feedback received from people back into the policy. Otherwise, the efforts go waste. No system is perfect, it needs to be constant upgradation. But there should be a start somewhere at some point. If we think we have already started, then we need a big push now. If we have not yet started, we should do so immediately. Hope "Achche din", at least to dream big and make a start in the direction of automation by people, are not so far off.

Talk .... Communicate.... Connect

noreply@blogger.com (Padma Karri) — Wed, 04 Jun 2014 05:28:00 +0000

The larger message is that in order to connect to people, one should treat them for what they are and to see them as end in themselves rather than as a means to something.

My PMRDF training at TISS, Mumbai is coming to an end. In one of the communication classes the teacher asked us to reflect upon our learnings and take aways from the whole training on communication. The message, in short, is that talking, communicating and connecting with people are three different things. If I may generalize, ignoring a few exceptions, I would say these three happen at various stages of a communication; and depending on the context and purpose.

Talking happens at a superficial level where mostly information gets exchanged either casually or for a purpose. (Talking to someone on in a bus stop for 2 minutes before the bus arrives). Communicating is at the next level. There is a definite purpose and both the parties try to convey some message to the other party. At a given point it could be either one way or two way. (Doctor and patient communicating with each other is two way; Government trying to communicate a message to the citizens through a poster is one way). Lastly connecting well with the other person/group is the deepest form wherein people go beyond content and language and establish a relationship which is more long lasting.

Having said that, when someone is trying to make a conscious effort to 'connect' with someone, there are certain dos, as follows, may not be in the order mentioned: (And especially for someone like a PMRD Fellow, working closely with people)
Listen: to not just words but to gestures, wisdom, experiences, various meanings attached, the life struggle of an individual or group etc. This listening is not just with ears but with the whole body, mind and heart.

Larger Image: It is important to understand the social background of the people in any location, their culture, customs, traditions, norms, political and economic scenario etc before one could make a meaningful conversation.

Trust building: A conversation with a person is just not an information gathering exercise. One needs to dig deep, to get more insights by asking probing questions, by showing utmost interest. The genuineness shown in trying to understand the person first before one could be understood, is the first step to building trust. If I go back people would want to talk to me, rather than seeing me as someone trying to interfere in their lives.

Reflect: on one's own communication and to assess the overall conversation. This will help in seeing through oneself and identify any failures in establishing trust and reinforce successful methods in building it. This will help us correct ourselves, tune ourselves better to the situation and make the most out of conversation.

Repeat: While making a deliberate attempt, anything might go wrong at any time, thus one should be willing to repeat the whole process of trying to connect with people, all over again. This patience comes naturally if one respects people just for being fellow men and women, rather than as some means to a larger end.

Thus the larger message is that in order to connect to people, one should treat them for what they are and to see them as end in themselves rather than as a means to something.

P.S: Though TISS helped me refine my thoughts, this blog post is my personal opinion.

Random thought - Identifying the poor for targeted welfare

noreply@blogger.com (Padma Karri) — Mon, 26 May 2014 20:31:00 +0000

In the debate of universal vs targeted provisioning of services to the poor, the common argument of those pro-universal are that targeting system will exclude many who need the services. Today I came across an interesting way of 'identifying the rich' while reading the book "The Wisdom of Ants: A Short History of Economics" by Shankar Jaganathan.

The fifth century book composed by Sukracharya called 'Sukraniti' defined who is rich in terms of their need for wealth. Those who has amount enough to live for twelve years was considered sufficiently rich, enough for sixteen years was considered moderately rich and those having enough to survive for thirty years was defined as amply rich. Those in the amply rich category should serve the king for free for eight years. Only the penniless should receive wages from the king for their service. The idea of not paying the rich is justified as Sukraniti classified kingdoms on the basis of their ability to collect tax without oppressing the subjects. So, paying the rich would mean oppressing others by collecting taxes from them.

Statistically, to get such information about how long a person can survive with the riches he or she has is a big challenge. Nevertheless, at the village/local level, where everyone knows every other person, it would not be a difficult task to identify the beneficiaries. Hypothetically, if grains are to be given, one would know how much grains a family would need to survive for say, a month. And if the fair price shop is managed by people themselves, they will identify the families. We do not need ration cards for this purpose. Of course, this is just a raw idea and needs to be worked out upon.

My idea in trying to take lessons from the early literature is that universalization of services is not the solution for the failure of identifying right people; but to find better ways for identifying the needy.

What is paving way for cinemas into politics ?

noreply@blogger.com (Padma Karri) — Sun, 18 May 2014 19:12:00 +0000

If I have to identify three things that are common to cinema and politics, those would be loyalty, identity and interest articulation

It is popularly said that one needs money or muscle (2m) power or both to enter Indian politics. A third 'm' - movie has been making itself more visible. Though the affair between cinema and politics has a long history, the factors contributing to the nexus are not very clear. There are regional variations with respect to the extent of overlap of political and cinema fields. History shows that Southern India's experience is different from that of the north's. A few actor-turned-politicians floated their own parties and also were able to form governments. NTR (AP) and MGR (TN) are the classic cases. In the north, the cine participation confined to contesting elections on traditional party tickets and becoming legislators representing both people as well as the cinema industry.

This article is to try and understand what special factors laid such deep roots of cinema in politics, in South India (more specific to AP). People from both north and south equally encouraged and loved movies and thereby the actors. The craze is evident from the fact that people love to wait for hours infront of the actors' houses just to get a glimpse of their heros and heroines. The love shown by audience was unconditional both on screen and off screen. An anecdotal evidence from my grandmother - when she visited Madras as a tourist, she and her family waited for an hour just to get a glimpse of Telugu actor N T Rama Rao.

Though this was the scenario through out the country, two important factors that were more specific to South India are - language and religion. Unlike Hindi, which was spoken in many of the northern states, southern languages were prevalent in more confined geographical regions. And difficulty in understanding Hindi, drew the audience even closer to their respective film industries. Though Amitabh might be popular through out the north, when it comes to identifying him with a particular state, it would be difficult; whereas N T Rama Rao was identified with telugu people in Andhra Pradesh and same was the case with M G Ramachandran in Tamil Nadu.

Religion was another factor. Films based on mythological stories from Epics like Ramayan and Mahabharat were large in number. More importantly, people favourite actors played major roles in them - Rama, Krishna, etc. It is very difficult to imagine Amitabh Bachchan in the role of a Ram or Krishn; while people would not have hesitated to fold their hands in prayer in front of NTR's picture clad in Lord Ram or Lord Krishn's attire (though a bit exaggerated, not totally wrong). Such a devotion both on screen and off screen, somewhere blurred the lines between devotion to God and loyalty to an actor. This is clearly manifested in the number of statues built for the actors and a few instances where temples were also built for them.

If I have to identify three things that are common to cinema and politics, those would be loyalty, identity and interest articulation. In south, the "fan following" culture is seen prominently. Fans remain loyal to their actors; more loyal than their counterparts in political parties where opportunism, pragmatism etc also play simultaneously. Movies/Actors give people two types of identity - one, being fan of so and so actor is an identity in itself; two - a national and an international identity through language. I experienced this personally. Once I have been to a temple in Varanasi, and the priest there asked me the place I am coming from. I replied - "Andhra" and he immediately identified me with "NTR?" and so many such anecdotes from international experiences are also available. The last common thing is interest articulation. Usually Tollywood is audience driven industry, as in, the director may not kill the protogonist in the story just because the audience wouldn't like to see him/her die. This might be a very trivial example, but since the actors catered to the interests of the masses, they were able to withstand the political pressures. For example, without paying heed to loss of revenue to the State exchequer, NTR imposed a ban on alcohol.

Thus loyalty, identity and interest articulation are the basic building blocks paving path from cinema to politics. This has reduced the entry barrier into politics for many. Nevertheless, it confines to giving entry advantage only. As the interest articulated by the leaders change, and if the performance is not upto people's expectations, emotions play very less role and wisdom comes to fore. FOr instance, Chiranjeevi a renowned Telugu movie actor floated his own party - Praja Rajyam Party (PRP) and was supported by people wholly based on the craze they have for him. Later when they realised that he is low on political acumen, he is being ignored.

There might be so many other factors acting simultaneously like caste, money, manifesto, political situation in the State etc. But this affair between politics and cinema has a long way to go, especially in South India.

One size doesn't fit all

noreply@blogger.com (Padma Karri) — Sat, 10 May 2014 03:04:00 +0000

Instead of giving bricks and mortor to build a structure, our policies also tend to give a floor plan and penalties for deviating. The freedom to implement according to local conditions and situation is missing.

One of the commonest arguments we hear about failure of public policy in India is– “We have good policy but bad or no implementation”. The reasons given are manifold – lack of political will and resources, myriad of rules for various programs, etc. A major problem hampering implementation is inherent to policy itself which is – having a one-size-fits-all policy. Instead of giving bricks and mortor to build a structure, our policies also tend to give a floor plan and penalties for deviating. The freedom to implement according to local conditions and situation is missing. If we have one-size-fits-all policy, we might end up not fitting any and it results in a failure. It is a fact that in India, local political and socio-economic conditions change when one moves over very small distances. Detailing to that minute level is difficult, yet, it should be considered to some administratively feasible level (say till district level).

The debate since the last few years has been centred around ‘growth vs human development’, which was also a one sided one, trying to solve all problems either through growth or human development. Sufficient focus has not been given to decentralisation. We have a single poverty line for the whole country. Till recently we had a calorie norm which fits entire urban (2100 kcal) and entire rural (2400 kcal). Education is imparted to all in the same form irrespective of its utility to the learners. No wonder parents do not send their children to schools, as it is more beneficial for them if they send them to work. In a recent interaction with an expert in tribal affairs, we were told that a tribal student struggles for life to learn Hindi (there is no gender differentiation in a tribal language as there is in Hindi).

NREGA doesn’t take local employment needs, other livelihood opportunities available into consideration. Agriculture wages shot up and there was a crunch of labour in the peak harvest period. The scheme was started on a pilot basis and without a proper study of the impact it had, it was extended to the whole country. Similarly, in a country with varied food preferences, 67% of the population, who have varied food preferences, is covered under the Food Security Act. Another overlapping problem is that of a new born fascination for “entitlements based approach”. Any thing given as a right is expected to not fail, with rest everything unchanged. The same old hierarchal and lethargic bureaucracy enmeshed in rules is supposed to acquire a super hero stature, as soon as the government gives a right to a citizen.

The strengthening of local self governments and the district administration, which is the most important task is side-lined. Even after twenty years of their inception, they suffer from insufficient funds, functions and functionaries. “District” as a unit of administration doesn’t find its place in policy debates. In all the legislations district is given certain duties but they are not consulted before framing a policy. For instance, Parliament recently passed Street Vendors Bill. It is okay to have a broad policy on street vending but the central government has no capability to decide upon how a “street” should be managed.

Often times it is stated that the states do not devolve powers to the local bodies. It is true. But same is the case with the centre; it doesn’t devolve powers to the states. It needs an intricate web of incentives and penalties that push states to do so. Simultaneously capacity building should take place at the lower rungs of administration, especially of those who work at the frontline. There is a stagnation of higher age groups (Eg: Majority of the junior engineers, food inspectors, and extension workers fall in the age group of 40-50); high incentive to be corrupt (Eg: In Bihar, the salary of the implementing officer of NREGA workers per month is less than those of the NREGA workers according to a TISS’ study); and a stark limitation to the capacity of the frontline workers, in terms of skills and resources.

Local problems should find local solutions. Decentralisation should be the way forward. Gathering of data, monitoring, evaluation and thereby taking corrective measures will be easy at a local level. Therefore, it is time we shed our one-size-fits-all approach and realise that we need more tailored policies.

Duty ....

noreply@blogger.com (Padma Karri) — Mon, 05 May 2014 14:34:00 +0000

Duty gives us an identity. When the duty is not performed the identity is lost. Yet most of us choose to not perform our duties well which is nothing but killing one's self. Every role - be it sociological or administrative or political or legal - is nothing but a set of duties agreed upon through law - legal or moral. For instance, roles like mother, father, brother etc are expected to perform certain duties in a family. Similarly, most of our identities are nothing but duties. A legislator's duty is to see that good laws get passed; Think of a profession and it is nothing but a set of duties.

According to Immanuel Kant, Duty is an action which we are obliged to perform out of respect for moral law. Kantean idea of duty is the most difficult one to act on, as not only the action is important but also the motives behind an action. For example, if a teacher in a school is teaching (assuming teaching well) and goes to school everyday without fail. She does so in order to get promoted to a higher post but not to impart knowledge. According to Kant, the teacher's action has no moral worth. By such standards each of us will be categorised as duty renouncer. Nevertheless, it depicts how difficult it is to perform one's duty.

Frogs in the well

noreply@blogger.com (Padma Karri) — Sun, 04 May 2014 03:37:00 +0000

Unless our education standards raise to such high levels, we keep breeding frogs in the well

I “was” an engineer because I got an engineering degree. I “tried to be” an engineer by working in an electronics company. I “am not” an engineer, because I explored and found my interests. Education in general and engineering in particular was a tool in my hands to peep out of the well. Once I got the taste of the outside world, I could muster courage to leap out of the well. I met so many such frogs in the well, on my first day at PMRDF today (May 1st), who took the great leap forward. Most of us have done engineering, may be because it was cheaper both money and time wise when compared to medicine, another standard career option; and may be due to lack of exposure to other fields, their prospects and opportunities they provide. Engineering is also seen by many as an option with “guaranteed return on investment”

This is not an individual issue but a larger systemic issue. Our education curriculum doesn’t give space for experimentation. In its hurry to teach lakhs of students every year, the system is failing to teach the students to teach themselves. Either schools do not have labs or have outdated and inadequate equipment. Without practical experimentation, the theory is left to the imagination of the students. To cross the immediate hurdle, students take to learning by rote and teachers tend to encourage it for performance evaluation is done on the basis of marks obtained but not based on knowledge gained.

By the time a student finishes his/her 10^th standard all the basics should be covered and the student should be able to understand their applications. Precisely for this reason, many enrol in engineering courses, without having any idea of what the subject is about. Since we are failing to do this, students enrol to learn those basics again, at a later stage, to appear for competitive exams. It is a waste of time, money and energy today, which should have already been done yesterday. Unless our education standards raise to such high levels, we keep breeding frogs in the well. Year after year, the ASER Reports show that our math skills, reading standards are declining. We need major public policy decisions to keep the education system on the right track.

One, an unconventional evaluation mechanism, which tests students’ ability to visualise and apply the theory learnt in the school. An independent body with a clear mandate to conduct such type of exams should be set up. The schools should be given rankings through composite indexing – including quality of education, innovative and creative teaching mechanisms, infrastructure, teachers’ performance etc., which will ensure competition. Not all schools may be evaluated this way as the situation in many government schools, is so dismal that roof over the school building is a luxury. To start with, a few schools with minimum standard and infrastructure may be given rankings and gradually other schools should be supported to catch up. This would also ensure that there is no outright rejection of the idea by teachers’ union.

Two, teachers should also be made to take such exams periodically. Not as a strict performance based evaluation measure, but to make teaching more fun. There are studies that show that training teachers may not reflect in improving their teaching skills and thereby is not having any effect on the quality of education. Nevertheless, imparting innovative and creative training should aim at a larger attitudinal change.

Finally, and most importantly, the parents who rush their children into the competitive world without giving them an opportunity to explore, should be educated. Government should slowly move away from providing education towards provisioning quality education. It should build model schools to set an example to both the private players as well to show the parents what they should be expecting of any good school. Currently quality wise both the public and private schools are worse. Therefore, we need a regulating government for quality, not providing education itself, where sufficient number of schools are present; and provide education itself in those areas where private presence is minimum or zero.

Inhuman lives of the Servants of the Gods and Goddesses

noreply@blogger.com (Padma Karri) — Wed, 26 Feb 2014 09:52:00 +0000

We as a society – from mythology to government policy – are responsible for the plight of the devadasis.

Life three of William Dalrymple’s Book Nine Lives is about daughers of Yellamma, the devadasis who are dedicated to the Goddess Yellamma. In her own story, the Goddess herself was mistakenly for infidelity and cursed harshly by her husband, to live without love and protection, lifeless and ugly.

In the present day, her daughters (those dedicated to her) still live in despair – physically and mentally - but draw comfort from their faith in the Goddess. They feel that they are better off compared to their Goddess. This gives them a sense of emotional strength, as their families instead of protecting the girls, are the ones who push them into the dhanda (sex work). There is also a rational dimension to it. If not for this work, the devadasis have no alternative. This is the way they fight poverty. The most surprising thing is that they see their work to be different than that of other sex workers, as their's has an 'auspicious' status.

Governments with good intention of “social reform” abolished devadasis system and criminalised it. The dedication of girls to the Goddess is illegal all of a sudden. The Brahmins who usually perform the needed rituals for dedication, started disengaging themselves out of fear of punishment.

Though the devadasi system varied across regions, in general, in the medieval times the dasis enjoyed a special and respectful status in the society. They were usually the most educated women in the society. Changing circumstances and colonial interference slowly brought down the whole system into simple legal issue. The independent India’s government outlawed the dedication and threatened priests with harsh punishment. (Eg: Karnataka Devadasi (prohibition of dedication) Act 1982).

As always, the enactment of a law was seen as a panacea for all evils. But lack of opportunities and alternative means of livelihood, ill treatment meted out to their children, degraded social status and not to mention of the killer diseases, make their lives miserable.

We as a society – from mythology to government policy – are responsible for the plight of the devadasis. How much ever we talk about glamorous words like – globalisation, inclusive growth, liberty, equality, fraternity etc, we fail as a society if we are not able to extend a helping hand to the viticms of the history. The recent case of a tribal council punishing a woman with gangrape in West Bengal, is manifestation of ignorance, failure of society and continuity of uncivilised behaviour in the name of God.

A few small steps like – one, creating awareness through inclusion of the relevant historical roots in the school curriculum, atleast in the areas where such practices are still continued. Two, provision of alternative means of livelihood by making use of Self Help Groups (SHGs), vocational training etc. Three, making public goods and services easily accessible to them like – bank account opening, ration cards etc.

As a democratic, responsible society we need to do much more to wipe the insecure feeling among the victims. The NGOs are doing their part, yet, a larger and deeper intervention by the government and the society as a whole is needed.