by Anuradha Bakshi | Aug 12, 2006 | Uncategorized
Away from the petty problems that we are facing with misguided staff and our plethora of ‘well-wishers’, little Deepak fights his valiant battle vindicating thereby the raison d’être of project why.
His journey has not been easy. What should have been a simple heart surgery, turned to be, once again because of external adult games, a battle for life. The wrong doings of a quack lead to his heart stopping and his having to be revived, a true code blue, just as in movies! Then a total strike while he was in hospital resulted in an abdominal abscess that took over a month to heal.
he came visiting today, a little disoriented and very tired, but two days from now he will be admitted again and we hope that the much needed surgery will finally happen.
To me this braveheart’s battle is almost the sign from above that i needed to find in me the strength to carry on. I must confess there are moments when one wonders why one tried to do something positive in a world that abhors people who do so. Why does one have to prove at every turn that one is honest, sincere … Even an accused is presumed innocent till proved guilty, but no so in the case of people just trying to make a difference.
I get emails asking me how does one know whether a person is genuine or fake.. and frankly I do not know the answer. But I know that if I give up then there maybe another deepak somewhere who would lose his battle without a fight.
by Anuradha Bakshi | Aug 5, 2006 | Uncategorized
many a times I have felt defeated in the work I do.. you think you have got somewhere and one ugly incident takes all sense of achievement away from you.. your first reaction is to say: were people better off without us..
Then you stop and think and realise that somewhere the incident is due to the fact that you are succeeding and that change and transformation is bound to meet with resistance and obstacles.. A recent incident led to my having to take disciplinary action against one staff member. it was to be a temporary suspension necessary to maintain dignity. To my absolute horror it has turned out to be a nightmare due to the meddling of small politicos by bete noire!
Instead of keeping quiet and trusting our ways, the staff in question fuelled by the mischievous advice of our detractors reacted – and the last nail in the coffin was beating up in public the woman who had thought it her moral duty to inform me of the bad mouthing and slander..
This of course has forced me – much against my will – to file a complaint with the local police station, as I cannot take the risk of another misplaced action on their part. It is the question of the safety of children and their parents as well as my staff.
The other side of the coin is that by this action, the dismissed staff has closed all possible doors. it is with extreme dejection that I learnt that she has now fallen prey to the ‘local unions’ that wait like sharks for any prey, not getting them anything but ensuring that a large chunk of a settlement they would have got anyway, would become theirs.
At such moments, it becomes important to hold on to what one has achieved and realise that one cannot change everyone.. but that one has to continue hoping. I must confess that there are times when one feel like packing up.. but once that fleeting angry moment passes, you realise that actually too many would lose too much.. so you swallow pride, anger, hurt, irritation in one large gulp, hide the dejection behind dark glasses and put on your clown’s mask.
the show must go on…
by Anuradha Bakshi | Jul 30, 2006 | Uncategorized
Many moons ago, when we were in our early teens, one of our favourite pastime was to dial random numbers on the phone in the hope of catching some young man and enganging in silly conversations.. This was often done with your best friend in tow and one quickly slammed the reciever down the moment things went a bit out of hand..
Those were the days when phones were still archaic and no one could trace the number.. and often one did not even rememeber it to dial again…
That was in the early sixties
Today we have the situation revisited version 2006.. but much ihas changed. It is not young giggly adolescents who are engaging in this inane game, but women with grown children. This is the direct result of the proliferation of cheap cellphones that have invaded the slums of India, where women married often without their consent at a very young age and propelled into motherhood, are suddenly finding a way to express a seemingly harmless repressed sexuality by dialling numbers and engaging in flirtatious conversations.. but these get out of hand as numbers are recorded and then they come sheepishly seeking help as their being found out would spell disatesr in their conservative homes..
One comes to their rescue but one is aware of the time bomb that is ticking away as this is happening in a society which has no pity or mercy for women.
by Anuradha Bakshi | Jul 29, 2006 | Uncategorized
we read about farmers committing suicide because of their inability to pay back their loans.. we read about children taking their tender lives because they cannot meet the required standards some insensitive system created..
i have been watching in silent horror another monster lurking and waiting patiently for its pound of flesh and to borrow the title of a jefferson airplane song, let us call it: plastic fantastic lover.
or simply the credit card…
The multinationals were quick to see the immense potential of the other India and thus we have pouches of every imaginable product: from shampoos, to detergent, to shaving foam, to tomato ketchup.. never mind the load on the environment..
Then came the credit card which till date is often used for purchases such as motorbikes, or other r items.. but the day is not far when the simple folk realise that they can purchase everything with the swipe of a card: food, clothes, and other consummables. Whreas bank can recover bikes and TVs, disaster will hit when people find themselves in a debt stranglehold… and the ensuing infernal spiral..
The local moneylender does charge the outrageous 10% a month, but often after 2 to 3 years, once he has recovered his principal and a fair amount of interest, he forgets about you and goes looking for other fish.. but the plastic fantastic lover is heartless, merciless and will chase you till the end..
One is helpless.. maybe that is the price to pay in the new economic scenario we have embraced, but what a price
by Anuradha Bakshi | Jul 27, 2006 | Uncategorized
eight years ago i decided to call our field work project why.. the reason was the innumerable questions that needed answers.. and slowly and painstakingly we set out to answer them and we did.. children remained in school and passed their examinations, jobs were given to people who never thought they would get jobs, lives were saved, even those everyone had given up on.. and all along the way there was criticism often stemming out of jealousy of some disgruntled person or the other . So we heard veiled remarks about funds being pocketed, or hidden agendas of sorts..
But as if that was not enough out came the secret weapon reserved for the fairer sex. Let me just say that for the last six years I have heard that so many times that I have started asking myself whether we as women have a right to do anything without being coloured red!
Being over half a century old, I can take the slander but my heart goes out to all the young women who work with me and who have taken a step towards changing their lives for the better.. I know that it will just take one word for their still archaic families to stop them from working and thus end their dreams…
Do I stop all work and end the dreams of 500 kids and all the ones still to come.. just because of this stigma.. If I go to the authorities, then again we will have the jaded: if there is smoke there must be fire syndrome..
We could carry on as we have , but yesterday the accusation was made in a bank in front of a large audience.. and in a few hours I will have to go and face the little puzzled faces of my colleagues whose only fault is to have been born a woman in India..
Am I not entitled to be outraged…
by Anuradha Bakshi | Jul 26, 2006 | Uncategorized
keeping in view the enormous problems with blogspot, blockouts and maybe to for get new energies and light the projectwhy blog has now moved to a new address, our very own..
our address is
https://projectwhy.org/blog/
we wil publishing continue on both sites for a while
