Continuing on my Patna rhetoric is this one more entry. I know a lot of my freinds and readers must be amazed as to whats the big deal about Patna ? well its not so much about patna as it is about myself. This is the year of the realisation and as i have written in an earlier post that for me this means "to bring into real" or to "bring into concrete existence". This sets up my visit to patna as unique as it saw me see an initiative on the ground that i have been closely associated with. Not one but two. Actually three.
Kaushalya foundation started by Kaushal seeks to work with the vegetable vendors and producers. Dr. Ravi Chandra set up the Bihar Develpoment Trust along with Dev Kumar Dubey in Bhagalpur and basically works with microfinance and micro enterprise. Sidharth Jaiswal has set up with his brother Rishi, a workshop and is setting up a business to train farmers for organic agriculture. Together amidst them they give me a wide vareity. One had its crux in the supply-chain logistics and the other in the cost effective systems to maintain consistency and yet the third one is a technology and knowledge based approach to production. Two have been set up by IIMA alumni and other two are IRMA alumni .
All three need to work with the rural and the underprivileged populace of Bihar and all three rely on churning the local economy out of its slumber and start rotating capital. That Survival alone is next to impossible in Bihar leads us to realise that a group is essential to sustain and thats what the thier multitude helps us in . they can be a group with their individual identities and yet all work for the common communities of the downtrodden and the rural serving their different needs.
To the extent of nature of activity their problems and woes are similar and unique. A generation has passed in Bihar when there has been no significant opportunity to work and that has rendered us a young generation that has never seen work happening and the desire and motivation to work for a cause is lacking often. This poses the biggest threat to entrepreneurship in Bihar - the lack of human resources. While there might not be a dearth of Manpower but there is definitely a lack of human resources. In short it means there is potential in manpower but they do not know how to realise it.. they are raw material and not yet resources that can be used to deliver productivity.
There is a missing link of refining the raw materials to make them resources that can drive production and productivity. Most funding agencies and HR professionals will jump on this and come out with a skill training module for the same. To me there is a deeper understanding thats needed here. When i have not seen something in my life and i also have my strong impressions i end up having a belief or an attitude towards the phenomenon in question. If this logic seems right to you then it should be logical to conclude that what we need is something that we can call as "attitude training".
what is an attitude training?
an attitude training is a instruction that seeks to make you learn new beliefs and hence it sets you on the road to develop new attitude and often this involves challenging your existing attitude/s. An attitude training will go beyond giving you a skill as it will alter the approach you take to a phenomenon.
thus a training which trains you to a new attitude is what we call as an attitude training. However it might be deeper than that. changing an attitude often does not involve just training at the attitude level but needs to go deeper. As one HR tool suggests that human behaviour arises out of attitudes which arise out of beliefs and they in turn arise out of values. some people have debated whether beliefs arise out of values or vice versa. whatever maybe the agreement on the same, we know for sure that one of the ways to change attitude is to change the belief systems. in order to change the belief systems we need to challenge the existeing belief systems as they have been in a state for decades together hence they are not easy to change.
so we need a module that challenges existing notions and open up people to challenge thier own beliefs and then give other beliefs a chance and then give them the inputs to choose the set of beliefs that will govern thier future and not what has governed thier past. once this is accomplished the attitude change will follow. one of the best examples of belief changing modules that i have seen is the "Shodhyatra" conducted by Prof. Anil Gupta of IIMA. it has a strong module of challening ones physcial limits which enable one to challenge their belief systems. however the calibre needed to carry the discussions beyodn that is very high and it is a difficult task to accomplish and probably the defence forces are one organisation which have been able to change attitudes of youth who enroll.
so the serach for an attitude training module is on and we need to figure out one soon. advice and feedback on the same is solicited to help BIHAR.
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
a land called patliputra .. i mean patna
This was my first visit to the historic land that was once called Patliputra and was at the centre of many a international events. Well if you think this is a mundane talk about the city.. i assure you it is not. I was in Patna for merely 36 hours and that give me two full days to roam and see the city.
The city lacks in infrastructure for its size and needs. The city is way behind many other cities of its stature in India. Yet it stand apart.. it is a city of people.. The peoples will and their ways are supreme over other systems and procedures. It is the contagious enthusiasm and hope of people that hits you in the city as well. It is a city where people like to connect to people more than at other places and the people of the city are simple and lovely most of the times.
There are also people who are frustrated , who want to run and can only walk in the muddy lanes. There are people who find it difficult to make professionals out of simple country bumpkins. There are people who are running behind scarce money and do not mind to walk on my toes for it. There are people who are in a hurry ... hurry to get out of Bihar and flee from the land that we all relate with despondency.
However there are few like kaushalendra (http://www.kaushalyafoundation.org) and Dr. Ravi Chandra of Bihar Development Trust who have come back and are facing the odds to transform and reverse the outflow of capital , knowledge, information and hope .. all manifested in people. They are to me in the same league as Nitish Kumar in weaving a new hope for the people.
The People of Patna rejoiced the win of development in the elections. Everyone had been skeptical about the outcomes of Bihar while everyone wanted Nitish to win. The overwhelming verdict in the state has made people realise that Nitish is a symbol of development and action. even the most illiterate and downtrodden voter in Bihar has opted for development and action in this election. the winner is not a party or a leader but "the people of Bihar' who have shown the true maturity of the Indian voter and it is not surprising for those who are knowledgeable of history to see that this new wave comes from Bihar or shall i say the once golden land of Patliputra.
The city lacks in infrastructure for its size and needs. The city is way behind many other cities of its stature in India. Yet it stand apart.. it is a city of people.. The peoples will and their ways are supreme over other systems and procedures. It is the contagious enthusiasm and hope of people that hits you in the city as well. It is a city where people like to connect to people more than at other places and the people of the city are simple and lovely most of the times.
There are also people who are frustrated , who want to run and can only walk in the muddy lanes. There are people who find it difficult to make professionals out of simple country bumpkins. There are people who are running behind scarce money and do not mind to walk on my toes for it. There are people who are in a hurry ... hurry to get out of Bihar and flee from the land that we all relate with despondency.
However there are few like kaushalendra (http://www.kaushalyafoundation.org) and Dr. Ravi Chandra of Bihar Development Trust who have come back and are facing the odds to transform and reverse the outflow of capital , knowledge, information and hope .. all manifested in people. They are to me in the same league as Nitish Kumar in weaving a new hope for the people.
The People of Patna rejoiced the win of development in the elections. Everyone had been skeptical about the outcomes of Bihar while everyone wanted Nitish to win. The overwhelming verdict in the state has made people realise that Nitish is a symbol of development and action. even the most illiterate and downtrodden voter in Bihar has opted for development and action in this election. the winner is not a party or a leader but "the people of Bihar' who have shown the true maturity of the Indian voter and it is not surprising for those who are knowledgeable of history to see that this new wave comes from Bihar or shall i say the once golden land of Patliputra.
Friday, May 08, 2009
A walk in the park
I have always loved moving in the public in India.... for the sheer richness of the experience you get and today evening was no different . I had to pick up some pics and so i ended up walking in the park before i had some light dinner and called it a day with my lovely buttermilk.
The park however had other plans and it had to make me write a blog. A recount of the experience of walking in the park. As i enter the park i see the familiar stalls that do brisk business by the roadside at the entrance.. the pani-puri wala, the soda-wala, the cholafali-wala, and the numerous others. their ploy is routine and i lose interest in it soon and i move ahead.
My quick steps make me noticed by many people at once, the young kids and the teenage girls who seem to be looking for their own space and the young girls who are on the look out for a date to the old couples who are probably reminiscing their old young days looking at an energetic me. i smile at the old pair and move on while the smile plays on my lips. i realise it is a show of the Indian diaspora and also a statement of the fast and furious changes it has undergone.
So i move along knowing for sure that i might be up for surprises. On the next curve (the path around the lake in between) i see two very young girls (definitely school girls) sitting and chatting with each other and i catch their sounds to realise they are chatting about boyfriends and i wonder if i even knew about girls and guys at that age and i realise that i did know lols.. and i don't miss my steps and keep walking only to see a mid age couple walk hand in hand. It's nice to see our mid age couples express love to each other this way.
On the next curve the scene changed a little more there were lot so families in a picnic like mood enjoying the summer breeze and the kids who were littler than five years were all busy playing and running everywhere. Families have slowly developed a culture of going out and enjoying and the public spaces will always be free irrespective of the prosperity and shifting priorities towards exclusivity for those who can afford it. There is more to India than just new found prosperity and it should always be remembered in making policies is what i realised looking at that huge crowd.
The next curve was lower than the others and narrow and dark and i was curious what i will find there.. The first was an old couple finding their way in the dark and the lady seemed very puzzled and amused. i had to walk five more steps to realise why it was so . A young couple not over 20 years were busy in exploring a wet-kiss thinking it was too dark. Sadly some like me and the old auntie are gifted with the eyes of an owl to see in the dark. The truth is that culture in India especially Ahmadabad has moved a lot and such couples were there beside every pillar along the curve and surprisingly there was a rural couple from the slums evidently and so was one in Reebok clothing and while the youngest seemed around 16 the oldies were also there making the most of the "dark" and they must be around 45 years in age.
i decided this wasn't the most interesting section when on the last pillar i saw an interesting looking girl cause she had herself covered in her chunni and her companion being convinced to buy some educative books by a group of 3-4 kids who seemed to be on some social mission. Unfortunately i was out on a walk and could not wait for how animated the discussion would have become.
The next curve was even more interesting and it had a couple sit and talk the serious issues over the choice of school for their child. The next couple were busy trying to figure out which vehicle to buy and the next one were trying to remodel their home and how the "kaka" should not feel bad about it. There was another couple where the guy was frantically trying to make a point to the angry wife and the next couple were unique as it was a single girl shouting over her boyfriend or husband and it seemed a really bad fight as she was red with anger and even sweating because of it ( i assume that).
i tried to walk a little faster and cross this sad curve fast only to return the lively schoolgirls and this time even she seemed to be looking for some appreciation irrespective of the fact that she was indeed a very lovely looking girl. i quickly went through two more rounds of the lake and nothing really changed.. the couples were the same , their actions same and each curve had a different set of activities that remained the same. People seemed to have created an order in the bustling crowd of the park just like in India the social capital will almost always lead to a norm for the usage of a common resource if not diluted by any laws.
The changing cultural face of India is more evident now than ever before and so is the changing concerns of people. While all this happened in the park the most startling observation was of the remaining 80 % of people in the park who were least bothered about what went on wither out of lack of concern or merely out of routine leading to lethargy. Either ways the huge lack of concern on common issues seems to define the Indian crowd now in place of the over concern just a few years ago.
The park however had other plans and it had to make me write a blog. A recount of the experience of walking in the park. As i enter the park i see the familiar stalls that do brisk business by the roadside at the entrance.. the pani-puri wala, the soda-wala, the cholafali-wala, and the numerous others. their ploy is routine and i lose interest in it soon and i move ahead.
My quick steps make me noticed by many people at once, the young kids and the teenage girls who seem to be looking for their own space and the young girls who are on the look out for a date to the old couples who are probably reminiscing their old young days looking at an energetic me. i smile at the old pair and move on while the smile plays on my lips. i realise it is a show of the Indian diaspora and also a statement of the fast and furious changes it has undergone.
So i move along knowing for sure that i might be up for surprises. On the next curve (the path around the lake in between) i see two very young girls (definitely school girls) sitting and chatting with each other and i catch their sounds to realise they are chatting about boyfriends and i wonder if i even knew about girls and guys at that age and i realise that i did know lols.. and i don't miss my steps and keep walking only to see a mid age couple walk hand in hand. It's nice to see our mid age couples express love to each other this way.
On the next curve the scene changed a little more there were lot so families in a picnic like mood enjoying the summer breeze and the kids who were littler than five years were all busy playing and running everywhere. Families have slowly developed a culture of going out and enjoying and the public spaces will always be free irrespective of the prosperity and shifting priorities towards exclusivity for those who can afford it. There is more to India than just new found prosperity and it should always be remembered in making policies is what i realised looking at that huge crowd.
The next curve was lower than the others and narrow and dark and i was curious what i will find there.. The first was an old couple finding their way in the dark and the lady seemed very puzzled and amused. i had to walk five more steps to realise why it was so . A young couple not over 20 years were busy in exploring a wet-kiss thinking it was too dark. Sadly some like me and the old auntie are gifted with the eyes of an owl to see in the dark. The truth is that culture in India especially Ahmadabad has moved a lot and such couples were there beside every pillar along the curve and surprisingly there was a rural couple from the slums evidently and so was one in Reebok clothing and while the youngest seemed around 16 the oldies were also there making the most of the "dark" and they must be around 45 years in age.
i decided this wasn't the most interesting section when on the last pillar i saw an interesting looking girl cause she had herself covered in her chunni and her companion being convinced to buy some educative books by a group of 3-4 kids who seemed to be on some social mission. Unfortunately i was out on a walk and could not wait for how animated the discussion would have become.
The next curve was even more interesting and it had a couple sit and talk the serious issues over the choice of school for their child. The next couple were busy trying to figure out which vehicle to buy and the next one were trying to remodel their home and how the "kaka" should not feel bad about it. There was another couple where the guy was frantically trying to make a point to the angry wife and the next couple were unique as it was a single girl shouting over her boyfriend or husband and it seemed a really bad fight as she was red with anger and even sweating because of it ( i assume that).
i tried to walk a little faster and cross this sad curve fast only to return the lively schoolgirls and this time even she seemed to be looking for some appreciation irrespective of the fact that she was indeed a very lovely looking girl. i quickly went through two more rounds of the lake and nothing really changed.. the couples were the same , their actions same and each curve had a different set of activities that remained the same. People seemed to have created an order in the bustling crowd of the park just like in India the social capital will almost always lead to a norm for the usage of a common resource if not diluted by any laws.
The changing cultural face of India is more evident now than ever before and so is the changing concerns of people. While all this happened in the park the most startling observation was of the remaining 80 % of people in the park who were least bothered about what went on wither out of lack of concern or merely out of routine leading to lethargy. Either ways the huge lack of concern on common issues seems to define the Indian crowd now in place of the over concern just a few years ago.
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