Leaving the (erstwhile) garden city was a mixed feeling: On the one hand, I was enthused about being reunited with Pulkit after a three-month separation,  and on the other, saddened by the sudden realization of what all I am leaving behind. Here goes a quick rewind to perhaps the most influential 2 years of my life:

I relocated from Pune to Bangalore with Pulkit after tying the knot, one of the best events that have ever happened  to my life. Pulkit has brought a unique flavor to my world, one that I adore (despite our fair share of squabbles)! I wish I could say the same about the truck load of weird nick names he has coined for me .

The highlight of the stay was undoubtedly my involvement in activities at AID, which introduced me to several other like-minded groups and individuals across India. Quite a few of them inspired me towards a more eco-friendly lifestyle and are responsible for my improved depth of thought. I must admit my ignorance about some issues pertaining to the injustice that prevails in my surroundings. The more aware I became, the more agitated I grew. Fair amount of debates, discussions and reading have altered my views to such a degree, that I’m now not surprised at seeing many of my closed ones being unable to relate to me at times. But deep down, I still feel the same Sejal,  cheerful around the near and dear, proudly feminist, (increasingly) compassionate and (decreasingly) lazy.

I also had a bunch of ‘firsts’ in Bangalore. I took Pulkit’s suggestion of cycling to work, a decision which I will never regret. I am proud to have paddled 20-25 kms at a stretch! I also had a successful stint at growing a  tiny balcony garden and home-composting! Our first door-to-door relief collection (for Bihar floods) still brings a smile to my face, wherein we had unique experiences of catching people drinking in the middle of the afternoon and seeing the door being shut on us because we were mistaken for sales people . The visits to villages such as Unnainhalli or Potnal were also the first of their kind. It was also my first time at a course such as the one conducted by PHM on ’Health and Equity’, giving me enhanced  clarity for possible future directions. With the participation of roughly 70 people  from across the globe, I was not only exposed to some enlightening discussions, those 10 days’ stay at NTI campus also gave me a much-needed boost amidst the otherwise boring routine of mine. I took back some fun memories as well, like the non-Indian gurls enthusiastically trying Saris, and seeing them, a guy from Kenya wanting to buy himself a “men’s sari” . Besides, it had been long since I enjoyed the company of female roomies!

Another significant development was my hunt for passion, something that stimulates me to go on.  Hopping jobs year on year for work satisfaction doesn’t seem to work for me. I find my interests venturing into many non-IT avenues, most directed to social change. The exploration is ongoing, and I hope to post more concrete plans in this space, in a few months from now.

For now, I’ve left Wipro and re-joined my ex-company, Aricent (in Gurgaon), which sent me on site straight after joining. Now that I am back from France,  I have begun trying to find some ways to engage myself in various activities of AID NCR, although this job is likely to give me little time to do field work on week days. Hoping to get through the difficult (as in transition) first few pages of this latest chapter of life as quickly as possible!

PS: After carefully thinking over several factors including concentration of friends, work hours/flexibility, cost of living (esp. rent) & presence of one person (Pulkit) at home for the cook, for now, we have rented a 1 BHK in Noida (over South Delhi).

This is my second summer in Bangalore, the (ex-)garden city. I recall that during the last summer I never felt the need of a  fan in the house, whereas this year I sweat even when the fan is on! Just within a year of my stay in the city, I can see a clear difference in the weather-pattern. This reminds me of the frog example in the Al Gore movie ‘The inconvenient Truth’. The frog,  when it falls into a jar of boiling water, senses the problem and instantly jumps out, but when the same frog sits in a jar of luck warm water and the water is heated slowly, it can’t sense the gradual temperature rise and remains inside well past the point of physical damage. Our collective nervous system is quite similar to that of this frog – short-sighted, unable to detect any trouble (read climate change) that appears to grow slowly, even though it’s actually speeding in. [Do not miss to watch the 1 minute video of the frog example!]

When it comes to financial security, we all think long-term, we save money for our kids’ future, get their insurance done and what not. But on the other hand, we go on adding heedlessly to our carbon footprints, which will only lead to a disastrous life for our kids. Why don’t we ever think that if we have witnessed the temperatures rising till 45 degree, earth quacks, Katrinas, Tsunamis and a number of floods in last 25 years (my age), it’s more than likely that our kids shall see even worse?! They may not even have access to enough water, let alone fuel. At this rate, there will certainly come a time when no  amount of money would be able to rescue us.

There are people who complain about congestion (best illustrated by this witty cartoon), from sitting inside their SUVs. There are others that crib endlessly about what we have done to Mother Earth, despite being among the prominent culprits.  “It’s become too hot”, “Bangalore isn’t the same green city now”, “there’s just too much of pollution”, “traffic congestion has become a big nuisance”, “fuel prices have gone sky high” … the list just doesn’t end! We do acknowledge the existence of  the problems, we do voice our complaints, often quite aloud, but then just sit tight and retreat to our mundane tasks and momentary comforts, rather than channeling the fire to action.

But thankfully, not everyone thinks or acts the same way! Each time I meet a new chap who walks the green talk or hear about an organization  plunging to alternate energy, I feel hopeful. For last few years I have been able to find myself a lot of like-minded fellows who ardently attempt to keep their carbon footprints down: be it BCW [Bus/Cycle/Walk], cutting the usage of plastic, water conservation and so on. Even here, the list is endless

A discussion with my cook when I was telling him why I do home composting or cycle to work ended with “Madam, aapke akele karne se kya hoga, baki sab to vaise ke vaise hi hai”. True, I alone can’t do it, but imagine out of 20 people I talk to, 2 of them start cycling to work, and they talk to another 20 and the chain-reaction continues. Some day soon, it could reach 100 such people who try to make 2000 (20*100) more people aware,  and the numbers may keep multiplying like this! This is not just possible, but also probable.

Whatever you do will be insignificant, but it is very important that you do it. – M K Gandhi

Small steps like using cloth bags, getting tap-leaks fixed at once, shutting down the computer, switching off appliances – if practiced collectively – can go a long way towards restoring the balance. And, once you jump into this ocean of change, you will subconsciously make sure that the chain continues. For example whenever I refuse plastic bags, I try make my reasons clear to the shop-keepers too . Here is a complete list of such tiny steps that can make a substantial change.

If only each one of us would  take a step forward, without worrying about others, I think we can conquer any challenge.

As Margaret Mead rightly said: Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.

Recently I tried the Haybox that I had bought during AID India conference from Srikakulam volunteers. And I must say it works magically well!

(Left)Rice before transferring to Haybox, (Right)Rice after Haybox cooking

These Hayboxes were basically designed to help the villagers of Srikakulam   cook rice efficiently and save on fuel as well as time. It also serves a means to support their livelihoods.  ‘Hay’ being an insulator is able to  preserve the heat for sufficiently long time, hence when rice is transferred to Haybox after having been brought to the boiling point, it cooks on its own. I also tried this at home with the Haybox that I bought (Demonstrated in the photograph). It took around 25 minutes to cook 1 cup of rice for me. There was no access water left and it was also possible to keep it hot till lunch time.

The detailed report from AID Srikakulam can be found here.

Haybox in Srikakulam, is primarily used to cook rice, but it can be used for most of the cooking for which we use pressure cooker such as making Khichadi, boiling vegetables etc.

Here’s a video that shows a Haybox demo given by Ravi Kuchimanchi to the villagers of  Srikakulam.

I came to know about the existence of JMS during the AID-India Conference, where Savitri displayed terracotta jeweleries. Later Sudha mentioned to me about the help required for terracotta unit, and that’s how I ended up visiting them.

Jagrutha Mahila Sangathan (JMS), a collective of dalit women and agricultural labourers struggling for their rights, was started by Premdas (who’s now working with CHC) and his friends in Potnal in 1999. It has found its office in a hut kind of an arrangement in Potnal, a village in Manavi Taluka, Raichur district. JMS now has grown in to 50 Sanghas (covering villages in Manavi and Sindhnur talukas) that mobilizes women agricultural laborers.

I reached there on 7th Feb around 11am. I was taken around the place by Savitri, a young JMS worker who’s from Potnal itself. She briefed me about JMS activities in general till the Karyakarta meeting started. It is a monthly meeting, where in 2 women from all the 50 Sanghas come as representatives. There are 7 full time Sanchalikas who manage these Sanghas. The meeting begun with kannada songs that discussed issues with PDS, Devdasi system, etc. Savitry tried her best to give me a running commentary about the songs in English! Later the women came up with various issues regarding NREGA, NRHM, untouchability, etc. that prevail in their villages. For instance, there was a complaint from a woman that she hasn’t been getting full pay for her work under NREGA; later we discovered that she had handed over all her account books to Gram Panchayat people and relied on them for her money!

Thadakkal village has a new PHC sub-center coming up, for which a gowda has been handling the contract. Even though the government has issued a grant of 2 lakh, he is planning to build the center in a relatively small place (it’s not that there is not enough land available), so that he can put the rest of the amount in his pocket. Just when the women were discussing this issue, someone informed about a Taluka level public hearing in progress at Potnal PHC. Everyone headed towards PHC to share this concern. Savitri and other JMS workers helped the women to frame their complaints.  Finally,  the officer agreed to set up a visit to the village next week.

After coming back to the JMS hut, Ratna (JMS worker and Taluka level coordinator for JAA-K) and Snehalata (JAA-K resource person) gave information about some of the new NRHM schemes to all the women. When they discussed JSY, there was a mention about nurses taking money for the delivery, let alone JSY benefits. The women were scared that if they refuse,  the delivery of the next child in their family may be affected!

Post lunch, I spent some time with the Terracotta Unit. Koshi, another founder of JMS had trained around 150 women several years back, out of which only 14 consists the SHG at present, each drawing 50/- per day as salary from the income.  There are other women wanting to get involved , but due to high inventory and slow sales, they are suffering from a huge backlog of payments as of now, hence can’t expand. Though Dastkar has been able to provide some help in arranging ~4 exhibitions a year, it has not been enough. None of the women knows Hindi or English to communicate effectively in big cities. I and Savitri exchanged several ideas, one of which was to create a brochure and web presence. Hopefully, I shall be able to help them with that.

Later in the evening Chilipili kids positioned themselves in a circle outside JMS hutf or tuition. Chilipili is a residential school (running inside the JMS hut) started  a year back to help ex-child laborers, funded by SSA and NCLP.  They have around 40-50 kids (mostly drop-outs) and 3 teachers. However, the funding per child and teacher’s salary that they received from government is quite insufficient, hence the rest of the requirements are supported by JMS funds. Kids started the session by singing songs on child labour. I tried to talk to some kids having Savitri as interpreter. I thought I’d make them talk to me in Hindi, but kids turned out to be smarter,  forcing me to learn to converse in Kannada .

Next day early morning, I was awakened by the morning prayer and Yoga sessions of Chilipili kids. Sunday is the cleaning day for the kids. Since it’s not possible to afford any full-time maid for the premises, kids are taught to be self-sufficient. They clean their rooms, wash vessels and clothes, plaster the compound outside with cow dung, maintain vegetable garden, etc. very efficiently. At 11 o’ clock, kids packed their clothes and headed for a bath at Tungabadra river. Some of the photographs in my album show their  innocent  exuberance. They just loved being photographed.

My noon time was spent with one of the workers in Herbal medicine group. Over 15 women constructed this group and a few of them have been trained in Herbal medicine at several places. Their herbal clinic on Thursday witnesses a big crowd from surrounding villages giving them a fair sale. Neem fertilizer group is another income generating group,  totally managed by 20 women and produces 50 tonnes of unadulterated need fertilizer that is supplied to various groups practicing organic farming. The unit begged ‘the Citigroup/UNDP 2005 Micro Entrepreneur Award’ for South India. Unfortunately time did not permit me to know more about them or talk to them. All the three income generation group fall under one brand coined as ‘Chirugu Enterprise’.

In the evening, I talked to Chilipili kids about lifestyle in Gujarat. When Savitri suggested this to me, I was blank about how to begin. Somehow I ended up telling them about Gandhi/Sardar Patel and food/festivals later.  I understood the reason behind Savitri’s suggestion as soon as I heard the questions from kids. I truly wished I could spend a day more with kids when I found them asking – “do they have monkeys/buffaloes in Gujarat?”, “Do you find grapes, apples there?”. Kids then asked me for a photography session, after which I started back for Bangalore.

On the way to Bus-stop, I along with Savitri, Snehalata and Padma (a chilipili teacher) visited Potnal PHC. Though the board outside said the center functions 24*7, Sundays are treated as holidays by doctors. However,  Snehalata mentioned that PHC has improved a lot after NRHM in terms of facilities.

In all, the weekend at JMS proved to be eventful as well as educational, and I didn’t miss having Pulkit around at all  .

PS: In case anyone is interested in helping the Terracotta group, please contact me to discuss more about the possibilities.

[Update] GM-Free Karnataka blog has been launched. Please visit the blog to find one-stop information about all the happenings.

A few months ago, a nation-wide campaign opposing Genetically Modified (GM) crops, under the banner of  ‘I am no lab rat‘, was launched. GM food is created by taking genes from organisms like bacteria,  spiders, etc and forcibly inserting them into the genome of brinjals, potatoes, corn etc., so the vegetables develop certain new traits. When GM food was tested on rats, the results were alarmingly negative. Evidence linked GM with stunted growth, impaired immune systems and even inter-generational effects. Recent Australian government study reports [1 & 2] have also confirmed that GM foods affect fertility. Moreover, it’s extremely difficult to honor the right of a farmer to stay away from GM. Segregation of a GM farm from (say) an organic one requires a good deal of spacing between them(due to cross-pollination), which is pretty hard to ensure in India. This directly translates to the breach of the consumer’s right to choose the type of food they want (GM or non-GM).

The campaign’s most pressing objective is to prevent the entry of Bt Brinjal in India, for which your help is indispensable. To begin with, please sign an online petition here or fax* it. I too was skeptical of the efficacy of such ways of campaigning, but I have changed my mind since I came to know that following 70000 petitions sent by concerned citizens like us, Union Health Minister Ramadoss came out expressing strong concerns about GM food. Those interested in participating in this campaign can leave a comment here or call Sathish (9448488831).

In case you still have reservations about the threat posed by GM for you as a food consumer, these might help:

• GM food has already been banned/restricted in the Europian Union, Japan, South Korea and many countries in Africa. Here is an Anti-GM petition being sent to President Obama in the US.
• A few years back BT Cotton (from corporate giant Monsanto) was introduced to India. Hundreds of laborers picking cotton and working in cotton ginning factories developed allergic reactions while handling the BT cotton. This never occurred with any non-Bt variety.There are many laborers who don’t go to work unless they’ve first taken an antihistamine. We have repeatedly heard of the death of sheep and goats when left to graze in the Bt Cotton fields of India. It is estimated that ~2500 sheep died in AP within a short span. Medical investigators found black patches in their intestines, livers, etc. The govt of Andhra Pradesh is now advising farmers not to allow their animals to graze on Bt cotton fields. More about Bt Cotton: BT sins… Itchy scars!, Impact of Bt Cotton on Farmers’ Health[More]
  
• The Bt Gene that was introduced in Bt Cotton was drawn from a soil bacterium. The same gene, despite all the above-mentioned, proven hazards, is being pushed in Brinjal, which is how the name Bt Brinjal was coined. So far, the damaging gene was constrained to cotton only, keeping most of us relatively safe, but now with Bt Brinjal, they are aiming directly at your body!
  
• Another independent analysis of the `Effects on Health and Environment of Transgenic (genetically modified) Bt Brinjal’ conducted by Prof. Gilles-Eric Seralini of France concluded that Bt Brinjal’s release could pose a risk to health and the environment.
• The science behind GM may be intellectually intriguing, but it surely is NOT fool-proof (which is what makes as lab rats – samples to  experiment upon).
• GM crops are also not a solution to world hunger. Even today we produce much more food than needed to feed the entire world, but several political and economic factors ensure that the food doesn’t reach everybody [more].
• These and other points about GM food are splendidly brought out in Devinder Sharma’s latest article on the matter.

*Kindly send the attached fax to the Prime Minister at at least 3 of the following fax numbers: 011-23019334. please send the same fax’s copy to Mrs Sonia Gandhi (tick against her CC when you fax the next printout) at 011-23018651 / 23014481. You can download the copy of the petition from here.

PS: An excellent video on GMOs : Controlling our food

home-composting bins at my place

Waste segregation is something I’ve been practicing over a year now. Though I was never sure if that remained segregated after having been collected by BBMP, I feel the chances of the source segregated waste getting mixed with normal waste are lesser and it may even make segregation at destination easier. I’ve read and heard about some initiatives by BBMP for solid waste management, but I still have some doubts about it’s efficiency when I see piles of jumbled up garbage lying on the street sides. Finding more about this schemes and implementation level details is another action item pending in my list. But till that time, I thought of solving at least my in-house waste problem, by getting a home-composting kit from DailyDump. After getting them, the dustbin for ‘wet garbage’ has become almost obsolete in my kitchen. I never knew composting can be so neat and easy. The final compost that comes out of the waste, indeed gives a typical fresh earthen smell. I wonder if I’ll ever be able to understand such complexity of the nature, that grows food out of the soil and has a way to finally get them back to the same form!

I’ve also put together a mini garden outside my kitchen, to utilize this compost. This, in a way, has become my new-found hobby

Lemme start with the meaning of the title. These Kannada words were foreign to me till Nov 19! But now I know that ‘Namma Raste’ means ‘Our road’ and ‘Namma Ooru’ means ‘Our city’.

‘Naama Raste, Naama Ooru’ was a protest to assert our right to inhabit a green city. The government seems to have been reading so much into road widening, that it has greatly undermined the value of trees, a fundamental necessity for sustaining the human race. The event was master-minded by the Environment Support Group (ESG) [many of you may relate to this by the name Hasiru Usiru ]

Coolest caption . It reads "Do you want a barren city like my head?".

The walk was quite well organized. It didn’t disrupt the traffic at all!

Hundreds of concerned citizens turned up for the walk. It was heartening to see many kids also marching for this cause! I was accompanied by Goli and Mayank, two of the more concerned people I know. We walked from Lalbaugh West Gate to Town hall, sporting colourful, innovative posters, roaring slogans against the government’s unlawful steps [Yes, much of the tree felling was illegal. More in the report]. The participants signed an appeal to the Chief Minister of Karnataka, urging him to preserve the green cover.

At town Hall, the destination. The volume of the crowd is a testament to the fast-growing realization of climate change.

A must-watch video on what happens in most of the cracker factories. Yes, those people need employment, but not at the cost of their lives!

Here’s something more on the subject you can read.

These are some informative videos that I had come across while orkutting.  They hit right upon the issues faced by Vidarbha farmers.

Though a bit long, the videos are worth a look for those who are sensitized towards farmers crisis.

Part 1 :

Part 2:

Yep, I am not yet done criticizing some of the blindly followed Indian traditions, especially the custom of keeping fasts/vratas that is woven into the lives of Indian women! Recently, I came across an interesting theory that throws light on why Indian women fast for the long lives of their husbands (or would-bes). What it says is that the Indian society doen’t allow a happy/peaceful life for a widow or an unmarried woman, so it is critically important for a girl to not to stay un-married for long and for a wife to stay married perpetually.  Well, on the premise that you believe in the power of a prayer (I don’t), the argument does make sense in the current setting although I want the situation to be reversed asap i.e. I want to witness increasingly less dependence of women on men. That, btw, doesn’t imply that I am against dating guys or marriages or anything like that.

On the lighter side of things, as I had remarked earlier, there is a scarcity of decent guys in the country (and everywhere else, for that matter ). Hence, unmarried gals have got to pray for a good dude, and those, who are fortunate to have found rare good ones, have to try all their might to hang on to them for their lifetime!

Does this title make you say “Oh, now it seems she is really into married gals’ gang!”

I have hated this traditional art (read cooking) since my teens, when mom would poke me every now and then for learning it, reminding that I will have to do it some day, and I would go all cranky on such ‘Bhashan’ of hers

Cooking was not-so-horrible initially, but sooner when I begun to handle other stuff at work and life, self-cooked food didn’t seem to be a good idea. The time I took for cooking was so long that we could only dine by 11pm. So finally we got ourselves a cook! But I have continued on my cooking experiments during Sundays.

Honestly, sometimes I do find this art interesting. It’s indeed a magic, when I find how the taste of any vegetable changes altogether when it’s cooked. How with some permutation/combination of different vegetables and spices, one can come up with a whole new sabji! Sometimes there is a pinch of suspense too; when I don’t know what would be the outcome of the dish I started with, until it’s been tasted by Pulzy!

So all in all, I have begun to like cooking a bit. My mom, if by any chance she gets to read this post, would surely be delighted

Although this video has already been shared with some of my friends via Gtalk, I am putting it up as a post for those who are not connected with me through Gtalk. (Click on the image below)

This excellent, fast-paced video coverage will give you a bigger picture in terms of environmental effects of blind consumption and wastage of stuff. I simply loved watching the entire series of video chapters. My recommendation is to go through all of it, but in case it looks time-taking, don’t miss at least last two chapters (consumption and disposal).

Green is the way to go!

(In case the above link doesn’t work, please visit http://www.storyofstuff.com/)

Many of you would recognize this heart-wrenching photo taken during the Sudan famine in 1994. It won South African photojournalist Kelvin Carter the Pulitzer prize, a prestigious award in photography. Captured in the photo are a child crawling towards a UN food camp few kms away and a vulture waiting for the child to die, so that it can eat her. Whether the child survived is not known to anyone, including the photographer who fled the place the minute the picture was taken. It is learnt that he later revealed to friends that he wished he had saved the child. Even though these journalists were warned not to touch the famine victims for the fear of contracting diseases, Carter himself felt afterwards that he could and should have done something more humanitarian. Three months after winning the Pulitzer prize, he committed suicide out of depression.

The sole purpose behind commemorating this decade-old story is to get all of us – including myself – to ask ourselves the same old question one more time: Do we still want to be silent spectators? For those linked to India, it’s problems galore here with farmers committing suicide, prises rising to an all-time high [hitting the poor the hardest] and what not. All of this is on top of the global, burning problem of climate change. For how much longer, will we keep our ears closed to the voice of our conscience? The world is sick and it’s our job to heal it. For those tired of silently spectating, here are some ways of contributing towards a just & sustainable world.

Around 8 am Sunday, April 27th, the place near the Bethani High School (Kormanagala) was mobbed with cyclists, sporting white colored T-shirts and lavish smiles – smiles stemming from the satisfaction of having taken a right step towards preserving the environment. This was all part of a Bangalore-wide campaign to celebrate the car-free day wherein people are appealed to keep their fuel-hungry four-wheelers at bay. Cyclists from all over the city drove in to a common point on the MG road, inspiring many on-lookers along the way. The press took a generous notice of the event, which had been very well planned. Many of the participants bike to work on a regular basis and almost all of them have significantly cut down their fuel usage

This was my longest but eye-opening cycling ride that broke my misconception about my limited cycling capacity. If I recall the first time I rode Pulkit’s bike to work, I had found the drive so exhaustive that the moment I got hold of Pulkit, I told him that I was dropping the plan of getting a bike for myself. But, soon after a few more rides, I found myself quite comfortable with this new mode transportation, and now I have come to a stage of where I am truly enjoying my rides to office.

It was very heart-warming to interact with many like-minded people, conscious on matters of environment and pollution. May more and more citizens become aware of these issues, and more importantly, start acting on them!

PS 1: For those who are in support of using the bicycle as a preferred mode of transportation: you are not alone, find more like-minded chaps on bikeszone forum.

PS 2: For those of you who had asked, here is the link to that newspaper article.

[This post will be updated regularly as and when I receive new information. In general this will be incorporated in the 'updates' section at the end of the post. Lest, please look for red colored fonts for latest updates on the matter.]

While I continue to be a firm believer in wrapping up all of my good deeds while alive, what has occupied my mind of late is an opportunity to keep up the good work even after death. There is little doubt that most of us, whoever we may be, want our lives to be meaningful. Now, there is a way to do the same with our death – by signing up to donate our organs after death. You would think that people must have embraced this possibility. Sadly, this hasn’t quite happened.

A number of chaps are still unwilling to contemplate death, let alone what-after-death. Perhaps, it means a negative thought to them. In my view, shying away from a universal, undisputed fact (read death) smells of negativity. Being positive is about accepting the realities that are out of your hand and making the most of those within your control. Surely, how you deal with your death is well within your control. Then, why not be positive and salvage someone’s life?

Some are concerned about the inconvenience caused to their parents/spouses/children at a time of unprecedented grief. Well, there is no work-around to this. But I would be dismayed to find someone choosing not to donate organs just to avoid this tiny trouble. If your parents have signed up for organ donation and (god forbid) something happens to them, wouldn’t you perform whatever formalities needed, with a sense of pride? In any event, the procedure is not that complex or time taking (Details at the end).

There also exists this misconception that the dead body gets disfigured after the removal of organs. The organs are actually removed very carefully and the body parts are stitched back with the same care that is provided to the living. The notion of organ donation is not only approved but also appreciated by all the major religions practiced. Furthermore, the process of donation comes at absolutely no cost to the donor.

Personally, the knowledge of organ donation had long been with me but it was pulled to the forefront by the problems faced by a friend whose father required liver transplantation, but was unable to find a donor. The waiting list ran into many a month. Something similar would have been witnessed by most of you, at some stage. But, is this issue being given as much thought as it deserves? Beneficiaries of organ transplantations are living proof that one death can give rise to more than one life and that one family’s sorrow can be turned to hope for a few others.

Did you know that you alone, with your organ donation, can save up to seven lives? The organs that can be transplanted include cornea (the outer layer of the eye), kidney, liver, heart, lung, pancreas, skin, bone marrow and blood. India has seen an increasing number of eye donors (may be, we have the star power of Aishwarya to thank there!), but our apathy for donating other organs still persists.

Now, let me state the process of organ donation. It’s quite straight forward, contrary to the popular presumption. All you have to do is to tell all your relatives concerned about your decision of donating organs. Then, you simply sign a donor card along with two witnesses and preserve it [One of these witnesses needs to be a close relative while the other can be a friend or another relative]. Upon your death, your relatives just need to contact a near-by hospital. The rest of the work will be led by the hospital folks and the affiliated NGO(s).

You should carry the donor card with you at all times, so that even if you die in the absence of your relatives, any unknown person can get in touch with a hospital and get your organs donated. It also makes sense to attach a small note to the donor card, requesting whoever finds the body to do the above-mentioned. There are several organizations that issue it, as listed below in PS 2. You can also avail and print the donor card from the web (NNOS & MOHAN). It’s also possible to declare your wish online, although I don’t recommend it in India (Chennai liver Foundation & SGRH). For the law lovers, all of this is fully legal, as per the THO act.

Please bear in mind that declaring your wish for organ donation in your will may not work because by the time your will is opened/processed, your dead body may already have been cremated. It’s also important to note that your relatives play a key role in getting this noble act done. If they decide not to go ahead, even a letter signed by you may not help. So, do make sure to convince everyone that matters! Some of this may get emotionally tricky on occasions. But, if you are committed to the cause, no hindrance is tall enough.

[Updated]

I put forward Mr. Sekar’s query(see comments of this post) to some of the prominent organizations (Mohan, NNOS and Gangaram Hospital) supporting organ donation and it turns out that if the death occurs at home, only eyes can be donated. In order to donate the other organs, special ventilator support is required immediately after death, which is possible only in the hospital. But do not let this fact discourage you from pledging your organs, as you never know how you are going to meet your death. Many people die due to accidents in the hospitals, but since there isn’t enough awareness about the concept of organ donation, their organs go unutilized. So do spread the word, and most importantly, convince your loved ones about your wish and carry your donor card with you wherever you go.

Donating the cord blood of a new born baby – This is something new to me also. You can read more on it Umbilical cord blood is rich with blood-forming cells, that are no longer needed by your baby after delivery. But these cells may be needed by someone else – someone with a life-threatening disease like leukemia or lymphoma who needs a transplant to survive. Find out detailed information on it here.

Acknowledgment: Thanks to Pulkit for assisting me in the writing part of this exploration.

Addendum:

1. The image in this post depicts the donor card that I carry in my wallet. Please note that it is signed by two witnesses at the back.

2. MOHAN, Narmada Kidney Foundation, NNOS, EBAI, Chennai Liver Foudation, Sir Gangaram Hospital and Hinduja Hospital are a few of the organizations that facilitate organ donation/transplantation.

3. Organ donation is also possible for ‘Brain dead’ people [Details].

4. I have prepared this post based on my limited knowledge, acquired through several sources most of which were internet-based. If anyone has more info on the matter or wants to make corrections, please go ahead and contact me, so that I can amend this post.

5. Here’s an An inspiring short film produced by some friends.

It’s true; my marital status has indeed changed! The chosen one is a gentleman named Pulkit. His blog should tell you a great deal of what all he does & thinks. It also hosts an elaborate, photo-filled post on our wedding. Since this is an era of theme weddings, we too couldn’t help but find ourselves one. Our wedding theme was diverting the marriage money to charity - Keep the wedding low-key and support NGOs/social work from the money saved. In keeping with that, ours was a simple wedding wherein only immediate relatives were invited; every one else was intimated. So, I request you not to map my closeness with you to your not getting invited to the wedding! For those interested, the other half of our theme (donations to selected groups striving to empower the poor) is captured here.

Recently I witnessed the latest trends of ‘Karva Chauth’. I would like to name it as ‘North Indian Valentine’s day’! This traditional day, though centers on married couples, the unmarried gals also join the club to rock the festival with dreams of getting their ‘prince charming’. The challenging part of the festival is the fast (without water), kept by the ladies. But all work and no fun don’t go quite well together! The ladies of the family would Indianize themselves with gracious traditional wears and jewelry plus Mehndi on their hands. Of course, one must appreciate this effort of your life partner, so wives enjoy the highest priority given by their hubbies on this day

After a bit of survey of girls who were going for ‘Karva Chauth’, I could figure out, most of them do not carry faith in the charismatic effectiveness of the fast. They primarily go for the girlie fun part of the festival. Some of them also go for it simply as a part of herd following the tradition. Although, the day, as a usual festival, is successful in bringing some fun moments apart from routine life; the issue I see with ‘Karva Chauth’ (and those that fall in this category), is, they are too male centric. Such tradition shows how the life of a female in Indian society, always has to revolve around the male counter-part. The girl from her childhood would start praying to God to lead her to her dream-boy. (Oh btw, this magic wand works only for Hindu-religion followers!) The guys, on the other hand, don’t need to do any such ‘Vratas’ to get good girls! This only hints me to thinking that, either all the Indian girls are perfect for marriage, or there’s a scarcity of decent guys for marriage in India Again, getting good guy is not enough, now it’s time for some maintenance! A woman being relatively weaker substance (in terms of physique), has been endowed by God with a secret power of fast (Tapo Shakti – is the word, if I am not mistaken!) She can now prolong the life of her husband by this magical power!

One feedback said that such events add some charm in married life. Well, you, as a husband would be impressed, if your wife stays without water and food till night for your long life! It may be a way to show the dedication for your life partner, addition of a few years in his life doesn’t really take precedence. But then, why only wife? Why not husband too? Although there are some hubbies joining their wives for the fast, but that goes only as an add-on to what is called a regular duty of the wife. Another thought says, how can your keeping fast show your ‘true’ love to your life partner?

With this question still open, I’m off to the twist in my life, that is gonna turn me into Mrs. Parikh

The topic might be common, but it’s a kind of irritation coming out of me after working for 3 different companies in india (each one year). 3 years might be a small time to comment on such a topic, may be I do not even carry enough knowledge for this, but my intension is to gain knowledge from the experts who come across this blog.

My journey to professional career started with Reliance Communication Ltd. While working for this company I used to feel proud of myself thinking that I was working with one of the biggest Indian company that has made quite a significant contribution in Indian cellular telephony market. When I changed to Flextronics, that feeling went off, as I was not working for an Indian company itself. After coming to Wipro, here it’s a kind of mixed feeling. Though I am working for one of the biggest IT companies, MNC in fact, which is based on India, I am not contributing anything to India. I am in fact working for a foreign company. Those companies get benefits out of my work, not the Indian society.

India today has become one of the top countries involved in outsourcing business. Be it a software industry or a BPO industry. The companies like Wipro, Infosys, TCS etc. have played a major role here. Any top foreign product company you can think of, has outsourced something to one of the IT companies in India. These companies have got the best experts in all the domain, whether it is finance, banking, telecom, electronics and semiconductors, health and insurance and what not. But in this race of outsourcing, people have not realized that nobody is now considering India’s capabilities of producing. Agreed, that IT companies today have played the major role to provide employment to most of Indian people, but apart from that, there is no contribution towards Indian productivity. For example, think of any electronics items, be it laptop, music players, cameras, mobile phones, etc, people can’t think of any Indian company producing these items. India still is dependent on foreign electronics market for these equipments. Why not any Indian company can become one of the top vendors for mobile phones, routers, switches, cameras, or one of the top contributor to even IP telephony or telecom hardware solutions, or any other domain solutions ?? (I do not have enough expertise to comment on other domains). After all it is not the case that we haven’t got any expertise. Indian engineers have been developing and testing the firmwares for all these things, why not build the whole product then? Till what time will we keep on working for the benefit of foreign companies (while working ‘in an Indian company’!!)?? When will we start working in Indian company who produce for India?

Things above are easy to think, but hard to implement. Still someday I would love to work for such company who works for India

(As already said, I might not have complete information here, please provide your inputs where you think I have gone wrong!)

I wonder why I kept this post in the queue for this long!

October 2nd, Gandhi Jayanti was the day when I put myself thought 24 Hrs of Aqua-Fast (fast based on water!). Although Pulzy has already mentioned this in his blog (A day on a fast lane), having written a post against fast (first post of this blog), here I attempt to elaborate on this contradictory action of mine

Just on the mention of word ‘fast’ by Mr. Parikh, I sprang up with ‘me-and-fast!-no-way!’ expressions! However, after sufficient arguments/counter-arguments he got me thinking onto this ‘fast track’! And indeed today, I think it was worth putting me through this trial. The motive for this fast was the global vigil (in a Gandhian way!) for farmers, arranged by AID (Association for India’s Development). We could not participate on the same due to our pre-planned native-trip. But still one can always register for the online petition (that was circulated as part of this campaign has been supported by several thousand signatures and demands genuinely pro-farmer policies from the government) and participate remotely by fasting.

Now a few questions that can arise are,

Is ‘my fasting’ going to change the lives of farmers? - Not really (if you are looking for an immediate impact).

Then, why should I go for this fast? – With the help of petition, it was possible to show those farmers (and government) that there is a group of responsible individuals across the globe that are open work towards possible solutions of the agrarian issues prevailing in the country. (Well, God doesn’t need emotional blackmail, but the government sometimes does need similar actions!)

As an indirect purpose, we could also create awareness in our surroundings to a reasonable extent, triggering some thought process in a few minds.

On the personal front, I could realize how difficult (but not impossible!) it is to stay just on water for 24 hours (In fact due to traveling, it had turned out to be more than 24 hrs!), and at the same time, it also provided me some more strength to resist some temptations and to stay up to my determination!

This was the cerebration that I followed to hit the decision, perhaps Pulzy would’ve a slightly different set of thoughts!

Yes I knew it was tough
But I desired to contend
to make it through to the end

It was all dark
I saw nothing, I saw nobody
A dark endless tunnel
my sides were invisible
was I becoming blind?
Yet I marched ahead
It shaped into a black cloud,
slowly encircling me
I wondered what to do
Panic surged through my veins
I was loosing faith
I wanted to run away
And I turned back,
To find where I forked in from

But, suddenly I saw a faint beam
it was a ray of light
for me, it was a ray of hope
Hope to get through the darkness!
I accelerated towards the light,
Regaining confidence at each step

And then I saw him,
smiling, welcoming with open arms,
As if he knew I would come through!
Soon I was in his embrace
Feeling his warmth
it was a rejoicing victory!

Now, I’ll never run away
Coz I know, if I am lost
He will be there to illuminate my path,
showing me the way out of the tunnel!

This thought was born on a busy afternoon, while working with one of my team mates. We had gone far beyond a normal lunch time and seeing her lunchbox which she got from home, I really found it a good alternative rather than torturing myself with cafeteria food. And her being a good colleague of mine I obviously expected her to share food. But my dreams of getting delicious ‘mom-made’ food were killed when she declared that she can’t share lunch as she was on fast

Later that evening, me and my roommates were having fun at shopping and ended up eating sandwich at a roadside sandwich counter. One street kid came to us asking for food or money, and Tanu asked if he’ll have sandwich. He agreed and we ordered one sandwich for him. I was really touched by this gesture. Now the other street kids saw this kid eating sandwich and we were under impression that they all will come to us asking for more. Instead they went to that kid and he happily shared each part of the sandwich! And  then this thought struck me – these kids do fasting almost daily, and yet they do share their food without any hesitation!!

Why people fast? These days it can be due to two reasons – one, they want to have an indirect way for dieting or second they do this for some religious purpose.

Now if it is just for dieting, then one should follow a well prescribed healthy diet. I don’t think food people take while they are on fast is healthy at all.

Say in case it is for religious purpose, then I have a serious question here – why any religion would demand fasts? Most of the time fasting is done to fulfill one’s wishes, but indirectly isn’t it a kind of emotional blackmail to God that please do ‘this-this’ for me coz I m not taking food for ‘these’ many days!! Now to my opinion for any religion God is believed to be a divine soul or a divine entity. And any divine entity will not want someone to get hurt for achieving his/her wishes. And if at all one gets something he/she wants by fasting then why do those street kids still starve? Why are they still on the streets although they do fasts daily!!

My intension is not to hurt anybody’s sentiments here or not to force somebody to stop fasting, but just to convey that – God does not want you to hurt yourself to do something good for you. Hurting oneself makes nothing good for anybody either. Instead if someone at all wants to do fasting, then it should be done in a beneficial way. A suggestion here is: Why don’t you give your one day’s meals (which are not taken by you) to any starving kid who really needs some food?

My life has been full of resolutions that I struggle to keep up to

Not claiming to be successful in all of them, yet, I’ve notably succeeded in sustaining my latest resolution. On my 24th birthday, I determined to lower all my expenditures on movies. The thought had been molding for a long time, undergoing various avenues and self debates. It had been slimly uphill, at times when I had to refuse the movie proposals of friends/acquaintances, and then tackle the laughing faces on revelations of my reasons for denial. But in all, I’m glad to live up to my decisions.

Here’s an effort to synopsize some of the points. Citing the current scenario, the major part of the cinema audience is dominated by students and software professionals longing for some fun out of their routines. (Here, by no means I am denying the possibility of me being one of them!) And it is because of those chaps, who are obsessed with their state of having enough money to spend for sake of their so-believed well-deserved pleasures, and who are ready to pay whatever is needlessly demanded for these momentary pleasures; the cinema ticket prices are flying immensely high. Now the question is, do we gain the much-anticipated fun during those 3 hours spent inside cinema hall? In my view, watching movie in cinema should only be desired when the movie under consideration is worth watching on the big screen with the cinema sound systems. After all, these are the only primary facilities that a movie-theater is required to provide. Otherwise the comfortable homely coziness may win higher preference over cinema set-up.

The sole motive of this post is to ignite cognizance amongst the readers for the ever-raising cinema ticket prizes. If we all, educated and responsible crowd, at least try to limit ourselves in our craze of watching movies in theater, there might possibly be a minor contribution towards normalizing the movie ticket rates! Having money shouldn’t lead to the necessity of spending it on unessential needs. Same way, lack of alternatives for effective utilization of free time shouldn’t result into option of watching movies in cinema-halls.

While walking alongside the market of Aundh, I heard a small voice asking for money. Unlike the usual roadside kids, who stick around you until they get some money out of your pockets, this boy decently asked me, “didi, muje padhai karne ke liye paise chahiye”. It must be some new strategy for getting money, I reckoned. But on careful observation, I saw he was dressed in school uniform. The kid interested me. I had all time in the world as I was done with my browsing (can’t call that shopping!) and was waiting for a friend to come. So, I set myself on a roadside parked bike, and started some interrogatory talk.

He was in 6th class, studying in a government school. I pointed out that government schools don’t charge fees and textbooks too are normally given for free. I was given the clarification that the money was required to buy stationeries for him and his younger sister(who’s studying in 1st class) and also to feed the family. Probing further, I demanded info about his family and their whereabouts. He resided in one of the nearby slums, with his mother who’s working as a maid. His father had gone missing 3 years back and the family hadn’t heard anything about him since then. His mother makes 5000/- per month. Now 5000 per a month is, though not too much, but nearly sufficient to buy some nominal stationeries and feed the family. So the kid shouldn’t go begging on the road. He reflected saying his mother hasn’t been working for more than a month due to bad health. When I advised him to work instead of begging, he said he doesn’t usually go for begging, instead earns some money by washing cars. But that day he was too tired due to starvation, so chose the easy way out.

As if it wasn’t enough, I asked him what subjects he is studying in school and to counter check, I also made him write a few things in hindi and English! Having been satisfied about the genuineness of all his explanations, I hired an auto and took him to Aundh sabzi mandi, got some veggies. Also we went to a grossary store to get him some groceries (aata, daal, rice, salt, etc). I somehow couldn’t find the stationary shop around, so unwillingly I had to handover some money to him, trusting that he will buy required stuff with that.

The reason given by this boy for his begging, has evoked this tiny thought. Often you will find people with motto ‘give nothing for free’. We would pass notes saying beggars should stop begging and start working. But who’ll have enough energy and motivation to work with empty stomach? They may just go for easy ways like this boy! The immediate suitable solution I see as of now is, to give enough food to such beggars rather than money and then give them some motivation to work. (Although some of you will say child labor shouldn’t be encouraged, but then is it right to encourage the kids to start begging on the road? I still wonder as to what should be the right option for such cases.)

I felt thirsty, wanted water
And there, I saw it…
I ran to grab it,
But, it seemed to go away
away from my existence!

Where am I?
Do I know this place?
It was all the same yesterday
But it sounds unfamiliar today…

Is that really water I am running after?
Mirage – Is that the reality of my life?

It was a normal tea-time chit-chat with a friend of mine. We were touching through various topics and this discussion of movies came when he asked which movie I saw last. My answer was Metro, and as expected his next question was how I found it. I generally find discussions of movies too boring but now as he had asked me the review, my one-liner answer was, “They have shown the extreme negative example of an arranged marriage.”

Unluckily this guy was not satisfied with my answer and I realized, I was being dragged into an unwanted discussion. But now since it was already started, I had to end it with proper answers. And shockingly I discovered, what a cheap thinking this man had whom I used to respect. According to him in the movie though shilpa’s character is of a perfect wife, he found KK’s character of perfect husband!!! How on earth one can agree to this silly point, where that character was shown so selfish and narrow-minded, and so I had innocently believed that it was kind of exaggeration in the movie. May be such kind of Men are there somewhere in India, but I was pretty sure that the guys whom I interact with and who represent the youth of 21st century will definitely not fall into that category.

All my arguments/comments to change his mindset were useless to him and he chose to stick to his only one counter-argument, “We live in Indian society where it’s OK for guys to do anything, you know, ‘ladko ke liye sab chalta hai’, it can’t exactly be called ditching or being disloyal as far as they are not breaking the marriage, but the same can never be acceptable for a wife!!!” Well, He’s one of those obstinate, close-minded people, whom I usually hate to argue with and I anyhow did not want to argue more on this shit mentality of his, coz he wasn’t worth it, but I was again dismayed when he claimed that most of the guys of his age carry the same mindset!

Now I am asking to the guys reading this blog to post their honest point of view.. are you all really fall into the same category as this guy?