by Anuradha Bakshi | Aug 31, 2007 | Uncategorized
Very often in the nightmare that Delhi traffic has become, one can see ambulances flashing their lights and blaring their sirens to no avail. Many times other vehicles could slow down and move aside and give them way but somehow they don’t. The ambulance just has to wait or follow the traffic.
In other countries it is not so. As soon as one hears the sirens of an ambulance, traffic slows down and a way is cleared for the ambulance. I have often wondered why we in India do not do so. Are we inured to the pain of others? Have we become so insensitive that the life of another does not concern us? Or is life so dispensable that one more or one less does not really matter?
Yesterday a little boy died because his ambulance got stuck in a jam. However this was not a traffic jam but one created by workers of two political parties who clashed with each other. No one heard the blaring siren or I guess no one bothered to hear it. No one gave a hoot to the plea of a mother whose child was dying. Finally the little boy reached the hospital too late.
Then do add fuel to the fire, this tragic human incident was used by the two parties as political fodder as they engaged in a blame game that quite honestly made me want to throw up.
One wonders who is actually responsible for this little life ‘s demise and sadly one finds no answer.
The silence is deafening.
by Anuradha Bakshi | Aug 29, 2007 | Uncategorized
Many incidents of incomprehensible and inhuman rage made the headlines in recent days. On each occasion I held on to my urge to react as I felt that my words would have no or little effect. However the pictures aired yesterday on all leading channels broke my resolve.
It was a story from a small town in Bihar where the mob decided to met out their own brand of justice to a young thief. What was disturbing was the fact that the police played to the gallery and tied the poor boy to a motorcycle and dragged him in full public view. All his was aptly captured on camera by a local journalist. Nobody reached out to help the boy. For those three hours all that holds a society together and protects it – the rule of law – was conveniently forgotten! From being the largest democracy in the world, we had travelled back in time to the middle ages or the roman arenas.
In the recent past there have many incidents that have brought to fore the latent anger and rage that seems to reside in apparently sensible people waiting for the slightest reason to break free. A young school girl is beaten by six teachers for having failed to do her homework. A young boy is beaten to death by his classmates for having soiled a shirt. A man is beaten to death for simply not giving way to a passing motorcyclist.
These are only some of the ugly incidents that have made their way as headline news. The reality was one has to face is that as a society we are giving up the rule of law and resorting to wild west ways. And when law makers or protectors resort to such ways too, then it is the beginning of the end.
One needs to stop and try and analyse the reasons that have led us to this day. And as is oft the case, the sated cliches come to mind: corruption, politicisation of institutions, arrogance of the rich and more of the same. But to this we also need to add frustration, lack of opportunities, impossible aspirations and the lure of riches, not to forget the now jaded caste and creed.
To add to the plethora of baffling realities one wonders why a district official gets suspended for not recognising the Chief Minister’s voice on the phone or why a cop gets suspended for hugging a cinestar convict. In spite of our democratic cloak, are we not atavistically feudal and thus resort to our feudal selves at each provocation.
Think about it.
by Anuradha Bakshi | Aug 21, 2007 | Uncategorized
One of the biggest asset of pwhy has been its band of volunteers. They have come from every corner of the planet and each one has left his or her mark. This summer we were truly spoilt as we had not one, not two but three superb volunteers: Lucy, Xiong and Firdaush.
At first we were a little worried about how we would manage three volunteers in our tiny project but our concerns were soon allayed as these three young people just adopted us and found their place in a jiffy. It was as if they had always been part of pwhy.
Lucy a young student from Cambridge spent her mornings with our special kids and her afternoons in the newly opened Sanjay colony centre; Xiong from Singapore taught the secondary kids in the morning and then spent his afternoons at our Govindpuri centre and Firdaush brought high levels of energy to our creche and prep kids and some order to our Okhla centre.
What was truly amazing is how these young people adapted to the difficult environment they found themselves in: electricity cuts that made the heat unbearable, the filth of the slum lanes, the sometimes too spicy lunch, the often incomprehensible Hinglish. Nothing could deter their enthusiasm and drive. The seriousness and application with which they approached each task was laudable and praiseworthy.
They came from different worlds and yet seemed so comfortable in ours. Each one brought to pwhy something special, something that will stay forever in intangible and yet precious ways.
by Anuradha Bakshi | Aug 20, 2007 | Uncategorized
The recent spat between a young athlete’s coach and his mother has led to a child’s future being held to ransom. It is true that in Budhia’s case a solution will be found as he he is a media celebrity but the whole issue opens up a disturbing debate.
In an answer to a recent mail a friend wrote: The thought scares me that by providing support, we may also be creating a social monster which gets used to being fed. He was referring to my concern about the future of the children that transit project why or as a mater of fact the future of all children who acquire a mediocre education as that is what the present system has on offer. In its mission statement the lead India campaign states: our municipal schools are not equipped to impart even basic education but stops short of suggesting an alternative.
Seven years ago, when pwhy began, one lived under the illusion that education would open new avenues for children and hence give them a better future. Today if one were to be honest, experience has proved that it is not quite so. No matter how brilliant a slum kid is, he will never the the 90+% required to go to a good college, nor will he acquire the confidence, communication skills and the oomph required in today’s working world. His marks may help him break some barriers but what about those who just scrape through.
The social monster referred to above is just that child, the one who holds a degree or certificate in hand and thus as arrogated itself the right to dream big. The question one is compelled to ask one’s self is whether it is right to impart such education and feel satisfied? Is not one morally bound to think ahead and look for viable options?
The education for all campaign seems to have gone awry. There are schools without children, children with years of schooling and no knowledge. Budgets allocations increase each year but the situation on the ground worsens. Much needs to be done. Imparting a useless education is worse than no education at all.
Maybe there is a monster lurking, one that needs to be slain not fed
by Anuradha Bakshi | Aug 16, 2007 | Uncategorized
Yesterday India celebrated its 61st independence day amidst much fanfare and media hype. Once again promises were made from the rampart of the historic Red Fort and huge allocations were pledged to education and agriculture. Newspapers dutifully listed all achievements and reading them would have made any one proud. Staggering figures seemed to pervade all sectors of growth as India seemed poised to become a super power.
And yet was it not barely a week ago that a TV channel gave us the startling revelation that over 32 000 primary schools across the country did not have a single student? This sums up much of what is happening in our land. Brave and even laudable programmes and projects get launched but never reach the beneficiary. Somewhere down the line they get hijacked by vested interests.
A leading newspaper has launched a new campaign called LEAD where the operative word is DO! It is a well planned media blitz with all the right ingredients including a string of celebs and will in all probability bring its creators what they aspire for till the next campaign but somehow it seems to have hit the nail on its head.
We seem to have become a nation of non-doers. In response to an email sent on I day, a friend wrote back: Whenever I tell someone to save paper or adopt vegetarian way of life – the response is neutral or negative but hardly enthusiastic.
In a land so deeply divided between the have and have nots, the rich and the poor, the urban and the rural those of us who have the ability to make a difference have lost our enthusiasm and withdrawn ourselves in the comfort of neutrality. We seem to be waiting for the other to do! And this passing on the task goes down the line till there is no other left.
We will become truly independent only when each one of us shakes off this neutrality and acts, when we accept our part of responsibility in each things that is wrong and asks questions; when we finally accept to stand up and leave that mythical armchair. That day India will be truly independent.
by Anuradha Bakshi | Aug 9, 2007 | Uncategorized
Over the past 7 years now, we at project why have been doggedly teaching batch after batch of slum children with a measure of success, if success is to be determined by examinations results. Many have passed out of school and joined the working world, others have selected to pursue academics in some form or the other.
I must confess that for some time we too basked in the glory of our achievement sometimes forgetting to look at the stark realities that stared at us or maybe choosing not to see. But no one can be so inured as to not be outraged when three children open their single lunchbox and find rotten food.
I remember how horrified we were a couple of years back over Preeti’s lunch box, and how it had brought to the fore the plight of disabled children in India. And once again we set out to unravel the mystery of this lunchbox that belonged to three siblings that attend our creche.
A home visit brought to fore the reality of their lives. Eight siblings ranging between the age of 12 and a few months live in a tiny hovel. Their father who own 2 vehicles barely comes home as he spends his money, or most of it, on drink and women, and gives very little to support the family. However he does come home to claim his conjugal right with regularity. The mother manages as best she can and the children are often fed by neighbours. None of the children go to regular school.
This woman typifies many women that live abysmal and lonely lives in Delhi’s slums, away from the comfort and security of their village. They have been brought to practically worship their husbands and defend them with pathetic conviction, as if their lived depended on it. They know nothing of family planning, AIDS let alone women’s rights.
When we asked the mother why she dis not send her elder girls to school the answer was shocking though true to her reality: they only need to learn housework was what she quietly said.
That woman did not have dreams or aspirations, she just had to live or rather survive wondering where the next meal of her children would come from while she clutched the womb that carried her ninth child.
