by Anuradha Bakshi | May 7, 2005 | Uncategorized
ninety three
two simple digits, but ones that should have tranformed the lives of the children of India:
I am referring to the ninety third amendment to the constitution of India..
It took half a century for the children of Independant India to get the right to free education. It should be a cause of celebration… but then all is not well on planet India…
A few weeks back a senior government official asked me whether I would like to ‘take over’ the local municipal school. At first I thought it was a joke.. but soon realised the person was serious…
I was in the presence of the so called privatisation of education, that one had been hearing of for some time.
My blood ran cold…
The state was simply abdicating its duty towards education and handing it over to whoever would want it… and i why should anyone want it if not for commercial reasons.. we were not talking philantrophy here…
Yes it is the fashion of the day to hand over what one is not able to run, be it a natural resource like water to the running of complex organisations like power, to mundane ones like garbage collection… but has anyone stopped to think what this would mean…
Handing over municipal schools to commercial interests simply means denying millions of children their constitutional right to education… yes i am sure some palliative will be found, some form of literacy or the other for which someone will find a befitting and conscious easing name… and society wil be further divided..
An easy way to solve problems.. maybe next time we cannot handle our own children let us give them to the highest bidder!
by Anuradha Bakshi | May 2, 2005 | Uncategorized
citizen one
was the award that a daily paper decided to select me for..
moment of great joy for the younger gang of project why who are still, thank god, simple hearted and honest and thus view life that away, a gang ably led by shamika..
moment of bewilderment and some satisfaction i must confess as i am but human…
and then on 29th April a ceremony with to add glamour and glitterati, a bollywood actor..
to many this would seem to be ‘my big moment’ .. messages drop by the mail box, for many it seemed one had ‘got there‘..
but i ask myself ‘got where‘ as the reality stares at me, a reality that becomes scarry…
let me first share what i wrote to the Today Editor on the very next morning
“…
it was wonderful meeting you yesterday
and i would like to thank you for having given me this unique moment
i feel humbled
i hope that this recognition will help in getting the children of
delhi access to meaningful education and this can only be possible if
the people of delhi come forward and help sustain such initiatives
we feel that true development can only take place in a democratic way
when we realise that each one of us have a role to play
we have a small initiative called just one rupee a day which we feel
is very doable
our work necessitates about 4000 one-rupee-day donors … not 4000 rs
a day but 4000 one rupee donors, therein lies the difference between
‘charity’ and commitment
i did mention it to vivek oberoi ( who said he might help). mr arun
purie wondered how we could collect the same. well we can as we have
evolved mechanisms we feel would work…
to me it is not a matter of simply getting pwhy to continue, it is
more an approach to community development and empowerment
and Today is the right instrument for this approach
in a country like India no matter how many individuals there are,
numbers will never be reached unless we evolve a model that is steered
and maintained by the very community one wants to reach
the award i received yesterday was great positive stroking (i am but
human) but to me its true vindication is when and if it brings about a
real change in mindsets. our city, which lies too close to power for
its own good, has lost its heart, maybe we can help it find it
again…”
any award that carries a name like citizen one is definitely weighty (just like the statue given). one cannot just walk away and do nothing. such recognition does compel you to do something larger and more meaningful… and that becomes even more difficult when most of those who write in, feel that somehow that one event has solved all your problems..
i will have to stay clear of pits in which i may fall, of easy way outs that will take away from project why the very spirit that allowed it to reach where it has.. and walk the planet one day at a timei feel more alone than i ever was, longing for the comfort of being just one tiny project reaching out to a handful of children, and above all i know that not matter how many kuddos land my way, i have to keep myself together and remember that it is only by remaining humble that i can achieve something meaningful…
it is now that i need the support and goodwill of all those who have walked with me this far..
there are many ways opened to project why, and one will have to chose the right one…
so help me god!
by Anuradha Bakshi | May 2, 2005 | Uncategorized
we have our own little prince.. a three year old bundle of pure joy named Utpal.
he suffered third degree burns when he was one and everyone gave up on him, even the men in white, but we did not…
today he fights for his life again as he has been diagnosed with a damaged liver..
we are all shattered… and wonder why he should be made to suffer again…
i can but think of st exupery’s beautiful fable ‘the little prince’ and draw analogies: just like the little prince, utpal seems to have come to bring joy, happiness and love to some many of us.
he is busy discovering the multitude of sub-planets that make our planet Earth. Last week he met with a fiver star hotel and a strange water body called a ‘pool’. bewildered at first, he finally entered the pool and then perplexed looked around and asked for soap!
Utpal’s journey on this planet continues.. he has a wide network of friends from the world over as utpal is a master at walking into people’s heart…
there is still so much more for him to discover.. walk by the sea, sail in a boat, feel the caress of a snow flake, climb a coconut tree…
and yet, for all those who know the tale of the little prince, their is a serpent waiting…
i just wish he loses his way…
for those of you who do not know him, here he is, but beware he may just walk into your heart too..
by Anuradha Bakshi | Apr 25, 2005 | Uncategorized
this morning i watched project why’s very own wedding planners at work and boy was i amazed…
somehow i never realised the meticulous work that these two girls had put over the past weeks..
two dinners, the ceremonies from the boy and girls side, an elephant for the groom, the music, the DJ, a photographer, the wedding cards, everything executed with discreet efficiency while going about they day-to-day work…
my eyes were somewhat moist as i watched in silence…
by Anuradha Bakshi | Apr 24, 2005 | Uncategorized
yash is now two months old..
he came to us when he was barely 2 weeks..
the hands feeding him are not his mother’s but to him they are safe hands..
yash’s story is that of many children who are brought into the world for all the wrong reasons..
no one has thought of a lifemap for them…
they are used to fulfill selfish ends..
but yash is also an indian child who has rights, only someone has to take on the responsibility of protecting those rights…
his mother uses him to get what she needs…
in a country where options are few, maybe one should think of setting up the concept of foster homes, where a child can be safe while his parents decide what they want to do…
this is something we have been thinking of at project why.. and maybe just call it SHE (safe home extension)
in many countries just homes exist, and foster parents can earn some money while looking after children..
if one could identify a few families within the community and be the training-cum-monitoring agency, one may have a doable option..
to be continued…
by Anuradha Bakshi | Apr 24, 2005 | Uncategorized
claude de scoraille landed yesterday…
this is the very lady who dropped by in december to visit project why and then was touched by the magic of pwhy in a unique way: she decided to get married in the giri nagar slums..
a traditional indian wedding with the groom coming on an elephant and then a party with DJ and dance floor and the music of Dhoom in the Shiv mandir hall…
strange, as she and gregoire have been living together in a land where marital ties are not a social must..
to her, being with the children had made her want to take the ultimate step she had not felt the need for..
so april 30th 2005 will witness a strange union…
the card says “the children of project why request the pleasure of your company…” and it will be a wedding where children will play host.. and also be chief guests..
to many it may seem a PR gimmick..
well it is not so..
to all of us it is a unique experience, one that we could not have experienced if claude and gregoire had not taken this step..
this wedding trascends countries, social strata, religions, conventions, mores, traditions and much more..
it is a celebration of everything project why stands for: a meeting of human hearts. It brings together and weaves into a magical night elements that no one could have dreamt of …
i hope the memories of this unique night manage to bring down the complex and suffocating walls that often emprison us and stops us from loooking with our hearts
