by Anuradha Bakshi | Jan 6, 2008 | Uncategorized
Tommy can you hear me sang the Who in their famous rock opera way back in 1970! Soon we at project why will be singing Rinky, Saheda, Pooja can your hear us!
These three lovely hearing impaired girls who have been with us now for many years will soon be able to hear thanks to some very special friends in Germany!
They will be fitted with very sophisticated hearing aids that will allow them to hear the world and learn new experiences and above all be safe!
Rinky will be able to hear her clients at the beauty parlour where she works part-time and maybe get the raise she hopes. Her walk back home late in the evening will be less frightening. Saheeda will find it easier when she joins her beauty course in March and little Pooja may be able to learn much more before she decides what she wants to do in life!
Yesterday they audiometrist came for the first measurements and it was quite an experience:
by Anuradha Bakshi | Jan 6, 2008 | Uncategorized
If I had a hammer…I’d hammer out love between my brothers and my sisters goes the age old lyrics of Lee Hays and Pete Seeger.
I remembered this song when the Mitchells came to project why on the very first day of 2008. they had come all the way from Spain where they lead a retired life to volunteer at project why and wanted not just to spend time with the children but wanted to help build or repair something. Well we do not have much that we could build, but the floor our Okhla centre that sits pretty in our reclaimed garbage dump was in a pitiable state and the Mitchells decided that they would rebuild it.
To any sane person, the building ways of India are nothing short of anti-diluvial but this wonderful couple would stop at nothing. The first task was to buy material. A trip to the local store turned out to be quite an experience as the store keeper could not understand why we did not want any mason or labour too! It took a long tome explaining but we managed and then for the next three days a happy crew of two lovely beings and a gang of excited kids set out to break and plaster the broken floor. It was bitterly cold and the cement and water was freezing. needless to say that there were no gloves and most of the kids were barefoot but the task was undertaken with eagerness and enthusiasm and oodles of fun.
Many bystanders wondered why two white people were dirtying their hands in this godforsaken place: the answer was simple they were hammering out love.
by Anuradha Bakshi | Jan 5, 2008 | Uncategorized
Come January 15th we run the risk of getting stopped by the police and asked for an identity proof or give the reason for our staying in Delhi. This is what the administrative head of the city decreed some time back. Nothing wrong as this is something that happens in many cities the world over. But oh darling yeh hai India and things are quite different here.
As soon as the news was made public the political head of the city candidly stated on national TV: I got to know about this from the newspapers making one wonder whether we are in some kind of wonderland!
In spite of being independent for over six decades, we as a nation have not been able to issue a unique ID card to all our citizens. A photo identity card is what will now be mandatory: passport, driving licence, ration card, voter ID card were some of the suggestions made. This may be feasible for some but for many who live in this city it is a a quasi impossibility. Securing a civic identity proof is a catch 22 situation as we learnt when we tried to get Manu one. Yet Manu is no migrant: he was born in this city over 30 years ago! In spite of all our efforts we failed!
I shudder to think at what might happen come the ides of January; simple people who try to eek a living in this city will be unnecessarily harassed and will have to once more pay their way out as the police carry their supposed random checks!
Yes we need ID cards for all citizens of the country and this is something the government should ensure in a doable manner keeping in mind the existing reality. Unfortunately what happens is that to meet political ends short cuts are often adopted as one often sees during elections. I must confess that I have always voted though I do not have an election card as make shift solutions were always at hand.
Guess time has come again to look for such solutions! A sad reflection of the reality we live in!
by Anuradha Bakshi | Jan 2, 2008 | planet why, sustainability
This morning S dropped by at the women centre to discuss our road map for planet why. It was not a matter of convincing ourselves, or anyone else for that matter, of the validity of the project. It even makes good business sense were it viewed solely as a business proposition. Actually it has to be so, as we need the profits to continue the work we began 8 years ago and graduate from the status of perpetual albeit high-tech beggars to that of people capable of fulfilling our dreams ourselves.
I have often talked about planet why and shared my vision trying to view it from all possible angles: be it the sustainability factor or the humane one. I have pitched it within the confines of social enterprise as well as that of what is now known as volontourism! Which ever way one looked at it, it always seemed to make sense.
As Anatole France said: To accomplish great things, we must not only act, but also dream; not only plan, but also believe. I guess one needs to turn the quote a little as dreamed and believe we have, now it is time to act!
I remember the days when I found it infra-dig to speak of money. I shudder to think of all that was owed to me that I never sought back. Then came pwhy and with it many little dreams that needed to be fulfilled; dreams entrusted to me by the God of Lesser Beings. And the only way to accomplish this daunting yet edifying task was to quickly give up what one considered demeaning and learn to beg. I must admit I learnt quickly and that is how we could achieve all that we have.
Today as we set out to translate another dream into reality I find myself faced with the necessity of taking a quantum leap in my new found profession as what we need today is a staggering figure with a string of zeros I cannot even formulate. And yet the dumbfounding figure pales in the wake of what it would actually yield: smiles on faces that had forgotten to smile, hope in hearts where there was only despair, shelter to those who live in constant fear and above all a tomorrow for those whose today has died.
Actually it is something was one has been doing till now but the target was small as it was just a matter of being able to carry on one day at time, one month at a time and so on for nearing nine years now! But this hand to mouth existence can only be temporary just as we are. What we seek now is secure all the tomorrows and moor them firmly so that little boys little Utpal can sleep in peace. That is what planet why is all about.
I know that there are people across the planet who know how to see with their hearts. I did find so many of them and they are the ones who made pwhy the vibrant reality it is is. I need now to just like the Little prince of St Exupery to set out on new travels and find the right ones. Past experience has shown that they are not easy to come by but dreams are never easy to fulfill and one does comes across businessmen too busy to look at you. But one has to persevere till the end and view the humongous figure as an aggregate of many smaller ones as my dear friend M put it.
I also know that simple humane stories of children will not suffice this time. So we do have our set of learned men furiously making plans with all the needed columns and projections to reassure the kind hearted persons who will be willing to invest in our dream to prove to them that it is worthy of their trust.
Nothing happens unless first we dream. (Carl Sandburg)
by Anuradha Bakshi | Jan 1, 2008 | Uncategorized
Pwhy has its own special way of celebrating special occasions; one may even call it brand project why and 1 January 2008 once again reflected this.
It was a bitterly cold crisp morning as we set out bright and early ready to make the best of this first day of the new year which promised to be a busy one. The Mitchells a retired couple from the UK were to come by at 9 am. They had come all the way to volunteer at pwhy and they wanted to help us build or repair something. It was to be the broken floor of our Okhla centre. They had already purchased all the material and were waiting for us!
The morning was spent breaking the old floor and beginning work in earnest with the help of the older children and the teachers.
I had decided to make this day special and to play truant and do something totally out of sync and become a kid myself. It was to be a treat for Utpal and Kiran: a movie in a multiplex, a meal at fast food joint and a quick foray into a candy store. We did it all and i did enjoy hanuman returns a true delight in more ways than one! Wish they made more such movies!
While I enjoyed my escapade, the rest of the gang decided to mark the day by organising an impromptu party with the few kids that had brae the cold to come to pwhy. So party time it was for the junior secondary and the special kids – our own tare zameen par – ! They danced with gay abandon forgetting all differences and then enjoyed hot samosas, discovering each other and forging new bonds!
the excitement was palpable as you can see in these pictures:
Now you understand what brand project why is: a melting pot of different worlds where the only common denominator is love!
Happy New Year
