India Bleeds

The Preamble to our Constitution reads:

‘We, the people of India, having solemnly resolved to constitute India into a SOVEREIGN SOCIALIST SECULAR DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC and to secure to all its citizens:

JUSTICE, social, economic and political;
LIBERTY, of thought, expression, belief, faith and worship;
EQUALITY of status and of opportunity;
and to promote among them all
FRATERNITY assuring the dignity of the individual and the unity and integrity of the Nation;
IN OUR CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY this twenty-sixth day of November, 1949, DO HEREBY ADOPT, ENACT AND GIVE TO OURSELVES THIS CONSTITUTION.'

The Preamble explicitly highlights Justice, Liberty, Equality and Fraternity as the basis of our constitution. I remember in school - it was mandatory for us to learn the Preamble verbatim. I always took pride in knowing the Preamble by heart. With so many un-consitutional incidents happening year-after-year, I cannot be sure about that 'pride' anymore. 

As India bleeds today, I wonder how our freedom fighters would have felt had any of them been around to witness this state of affairs! We have a judiciary but no independence of judiciary for extreme crimes like rape, that continues to be a 'baillable offence'.

The police, law courts, or politicians never have any deadline for completing any work they undertake. Isn't that appalling? We, as the 'aam janta' have dates to go and cast our votes, dates to register for our voter IDs, dates to submit our electricity bills and dates to file our income tax. There is heavy penalty if we dont meet the deadlines.

But when it comes to the government:
1. No dates to build better roads
2. No dates to punish criminals
3. No dates to punish corrupt politicians
4. No dates to hang terrorists
5. NO PENALTY if they dont make or meet deadlines. Safety and security of the nation is always LAST PRIORITY.

WHY THIS DIFFERENCE when we are all part of the same country and look up to the same Indian Constitution? 

The latest incident which has shaken all of us is the gruesome crime in Delhi. The crime took place on December 16; the victim suffered for a fortnight and breathed her last on December 29. The media is all over the place. The Delhi protesters have shown tremendous courage and are contunuing their fight for justice braving all odds. They have inspired us in Mumbai, Kolkata, Bangalore, Jammu, Chennai and many other cities. The youth is protesting and voicing their opinion all across the country. It is a matter of grief and a cause of protest for each and every one of us.

BUT, the government has done NOTHING. They are planning to implement better laws in February 2013. WHY WAIT TILL FEBRUARY? WILL IT TAKE ONE MONTH to make stricter laws? Even if February, why is there no concrete date? Does that mean people continue to commit such ghastly crimes till new laws come up? Is that the excuse the police or government will give if another such crime is attempted? Even when this incident is so fresh in our minds, perverts in many parts of the country have the guts to continue committing crime against women. And government officials say, 'we need to think'! What were they doing all these years? When are these THINK TANKS going to act?

While the news channels have started displaying pictures of the criminals of the Delhi brutality- the government has made no effort to name them or share details. Why are we protecting the criminals? When I open the newspaper everyday, there are headlines like " 16 year old raped" or "42 year old gangraped in village" etc. Why can't it be written as "3 drunken goons named X, Y, Z commit rape in a village"? Why don't we focus on the criminals instead of further victimising the victim?

In the Delhi case, the criminals Ram Singh, Pawan Gupta, Vinay Sharma, Mukesh and Akshay Singh (Thakur) are the culprits. I still dont know the name of the 6th offender. I hope we have a law whereby we can expose identities of criminals as soon as the police arrests them. If they have the guts to commit such a heinous crime, dont we have the courage to name them? 

The Delhi case has acted as a catalyst- an eye opener for common people like us. However, this has also turned into a war between the government and the people. The police are safeguarding the government from the public! If the government continues to ignore the people of India – mobocracy will take over democracy in no time.

As we come to the end of 2012, India continues to bleed. The youth in the country are not willing to wait anymore. We have had enough!

International Girl Child Day - Oct 11, 2012

Today is International Girl Child Day (Oct 11). This is significant as Oct 11, 2012 marks the start of this event and 2012 is the first year that this day is being celebrated. For me, the biggest takeaway from observing a day such as this is the 'awareness' it generates. May be there will be one less female foeticide, one less child marriage, one less child abuse case. Again - may be one more girl will go to school, may be one more abandoned girl will find a good home, one more girl will get good nutrition... the wishlist is endless.

No matter how much we do to ameliorate the plight of the girl child, it is not enough. It will take us decades and generations to really be able to see the difference. Our attitude towards women in our families is a reflection of how we perceive a girl child who is not part of our family, or our immediate social circles. People can make hefty donations or conduct fund-raising campaigns to help a girl child. But even among those you will find some who are either making a donation to get tax benefits or those who join a fund-raiser volunteering campaign to bag a certificate on a summer-internship project !

I hope more people come forward to spend time in educating the girl child, starting with their own family. In villages, even in 2012 there are instances when child marriage is considered auspicious and education of girls a 'crime'.

Food, nutrition, education and respect-- every girl child's fundamental need. Every girl is special and deserves to celebrate her childhood, cherish her fun-times and receive education and nutrition. I dont think this is an event to be celebrated only by NGOs, social reformers and feminists. It is an occasion that has relevance to all of us...all of whom have loved a girl child and seen one in the family or been one herself.

Cheers to this cause! Happy International Girl Child Day to all. May the road ahead point to progress.

Back to School...

Saturday morning 5. 45 am! I don't remember when I saw that last. May be on a vacation to witness the Sunrise or decades ago--to get ready for school! On Feb 25, 2012 it seemed like I was reliving my school days. I was up in the morning and running to school! And all this thanks to the lovely kids of Navjivan school, Mumbai.

Though my association with the school was temporary and I met my students only on Saturdays over 4 months, we spent a lot of time having fun. I was associated with this school as a voluntary teacher on the Teach English Project, part of an initiative by an NGO, Dharma Bharathi. Thanks to the socially aware organization I work with, I met this NGO through a Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiative. The introduction was through another reputed NGO- ivolunterers.

The project concluded on Feb 25 with a gala Annual Day function. The venue was an auditorium in Chembur, Mumbai and students from 12 schools that have been adopted by Dharma Bharathi participated. My students stole the show on that day. We had three performances-- a drama, duet song, and a group dance.

The group dance set the stage on fire and the audience requested a repeat performance. So, these little bravehearts waited till the end of all other performances and a rather lengthy awards ceremony to go up on stage again. They were tired, hungry and some even sleepy. But the combined energy and positivity they exuberated was exemplary. The enthusiasm to go up on stage again kept the tired faces smiling.

At the end of the program, we volunteers teamed up again and the whole gang returned back to our favorite Navjivan school laughing and singing all the way. The to-and-fro bus journey was great fun and the children never got tired of yelling, giggling, smiling and pulling pranks :). I totally understand how satisfying and yet tiring it is to be a teacher and manage 50 odd students in a class!!! At the corporate world. we make such a hue and cry about team management and project management and blah... but managing Class V to VIII students is quite a challenge :p.

When we bid adieu to the students, all of us felt very bad. Ankur Goyal from our team got the Best Volunteer Award from our school.

Prakash, Ankur, Nehal, Mahesh, Ritu, Prateek, Rakhee, Suneeta and I- along with all other vounteers - were thinking how fast these 4 months had passed. Kudos to Ajay Dhooth--the coordinator from our school who made this event a grand success. He also bagged the best Project Coordinator award at the function. 

Last but not the least, had it not been for Kajol Basu--our main support and the organizer of the whole event on 25th Feb, our students wouldn't get a chance to perform. Kajol worked relentlessly over months to bring us all together, impart sessions to us on how to teach, seek feedback from us at regular intervals and send us training material. Hat's off to the tenacity and determination, she surely qualifies to be a new age social reformer.

I hope we have another program with the students again next year. All volunteers thought 4 months was quite less to bring the children totally up-to speed with an almost new language. So, investing at least a year would be more meaningful. So, I'll wait till next year's plans open up.

Till then, I wish my students luck, love and laughter! God bless the angels always. Amen!

Here are some pics I clicked to capture moments from the D day and on the final day of rehersal:

      

Bharatmata- the showstopper of the group dance

 

Make up session





            

Sankesh who played Hindi Professor at the play

 

The awesome children as audience

 

A glimpse from the Group dance



and another

   

The 'porey porey' boys set the stage on fire



The Drama team in action





Magic show for the kids

  

Dance Rehersals

 


Volunteers chit-o-chat

 





Grabbing a quick bite





















Naughty and lovable young heroes