Emily Dickinson had written
"Hope is a subtle Glutton
He feeds upon the fair;
And yet, inspected closely,
What abstinence is there!
His is the halcyon table
That never seats but one,
And whatsoever is consumed
The same amount remains"
Little did i expect to see a mass explanation of this ever in my life. But i am only lucky to see it so. How many of us had ever expected this to be the result of the movement against corruption led by Anna Hazare vouching for the Lokpal bill ?
Yes the answer is not that we had not, But not so surprisingly the answer is that yes most of the common man worried about corruption had thought that this will happen - a middle path shall emerge and the country shall stand united against corruption.
There is no point to doubt that the country today and actually the society stands united against corruption. whether we are or we are not for or we are still considering where to be for on the lokpall bill, we are all definitely against corruption and stand united in an effort to take the first step. An Individual taking a step ahead had no hope but a huge mass of people like India (which is practically like a continent in itself given the diversity and vastness we have) move together .. who will feel afraid? being on in such a mass can only give hope.
Gandhiji was the first one to realise the combined power of mass of people and non-violence. Anna ji has proved that it is not a ghost of the past but a living giant of the present times and of probably many more centuries to coming ahead.
Hope it was that bound us together in this movement from a corrupt society where the head is not held high to a society where the head is not only held high but also is allowed to work in peace. This is the dream of hope.
Hope is that we will be able to create the space and willingness towards this goal / dream. Hope is that we will be able to stand tall and hold hands together and not let this huge movement go in vain. Hope lies in our collective being and collective fate as in Ramlila ground we saw not only young IIM and IRMA alumni from metropolitan cities rub shoulders with illiterate and octogenarian members of the movement from hinterlands like Gorakhpur and Nalanda. In this Hope against corruption , i have hope for the disappearance of the differences that fissure our society into oneness of holding our head high.
So this is a toast to Hope, Oneness in society ( India) and ability to connect between different Indians (members of society).
Saturday, August 27, 2011
Friday, August 12, 2011
Another Day of Rain and Another Terrible Night..
As it continues to rain continuously for the 4th day in ahmedabad.. almost incessant rain..i am happy to be in at home..and as i sip that one wisp of smoking sip of tea from my saucer .. i am transported back to one eventful night which changed many things in my life.. it is that one night that movies are made on and this story is no less..only this night and story won't get people to pay money to watch as a movie until shyam benegal steps in ..
i was a young kid wanting to do something in this world and wanted to work on the set of rural problems as the world was gearing to move into the next century based on IT and computers..i had taken admission into IRMA (Institute of Rural Management Anand.. http://www.irma.ac.in/) and was promptly as per schedule left in a village for a week to learn about the environment that IRMAns are supposed to work for and understand if i could survive. I was alotted to stay with Haribhai in his village .. in his home.. and this home was a kuccha hut made of cow dung with two cots and a few utensils and clothes.. haribhai worked as an agricultural labourer and did not own farming implements. He was the only one in bhangi colony of the village who had successfully passed the high school exam but owned no land. His father decided to give all his landholding which was very meagre to his elder brother who was illiterate thinking haribhai would land a job. he landed none and was forced to work as an agri labourer.
The first night was alsmot like eco-tourism as in the gujarati hot summer night i got to sleep on a cot under a neem tree with the breeze soothing me.. i knew i had made the right choice to join IRMA and work for the rural areas of the country.
The second night was more eventful, we started on our cots outside the hut and under the neem tree but the breeze was cooler and more moist. after about an hour when i had barely slept for about half an hour.. there was a drop that fell on me..i was so pleased.. i have always been fond of getting drenched in the rain on every opportunity irrespective of whether health allowed it or not. i still continue to be so. My happiness increased porportionally to the number of drops falling on me and my heart was ever so romantic and i wanted to write a poem.
Five minutes later as the rain got more dense and the droplets increased in size my host came running and haribhai called out "lets take the cot inside you wont survive a night full of rain outside gettign wet!".
and then it hit me.. and do you know what hit me.. take a moment to think about it.. feel it and imagine yourself there..
A night with nowhere to go and take shelter.. and its raining.. all drenched all night long.. no warm cozy room or heater .. no warm drying with towels .. no escape from the rain.. damn.. i was already thinking of rain as a capturer and i wanted to escape it. haribhai and i moved the cots inside and i for the first time got to know that out of the five cots that were put up under the tree only two were 'owned' by haribhai. suddenly the cot was a really big asset as it was the license to stay dry the whole night. wait..staying dry to survive the night was that what i was thinking? survival? in something called rain? we have always loved it.. we have always danced in rain dances.. and i am talking of survival in the rain..
inside the hut we got down to putting the cots only to realise there werent enough leaves on the thantched roof, the dust storm in the day had blown some away and now the hut was a huge leaking bathtub and the cow dug -mud mixture had started to turn into a sludge on the floor where it was bright and clean and savi ben (haribhai's wife) had cleaned it to perfection. she took a great deal of pride in keeping her home clean despite her poverty. we moved the cots to the east and the west and then 20 degrees to the north we rotate it and nothing helps..there is still water falling on the cots. While we are busy positiong cots to sleep, savi ben is positiong the limited utensils of home to capture water and protect the cow dung sludge flooring of the hut or she will have to do it again but only when the water would dry. Finally we placed the cot in a position we thought the least amount of water was coming to it and was likely to come even if it rained the whole night.
this had taken an half hour to position to cots.. and now haribhai wanted me to sleep on a cot while saviben and their three kids aged 5, 3, and 1.5 would sleep on the other cot and yes for the record.. there was no privacy for saviben or the family.. i as a stranger had no option but to stay that night in that hut .. first i felt awkward to sleep on a cot next to a couple sleeping and i could'nt give them privacy... second i felt bad at how unequal the world was. . i had one cot to myself and they were five humans to one cot. i requested haribhai to lend me the kids for the night so that they may sleep in my cot while he and saviben managed on the other cot. yes these were cots and not king size double beds.
after an hour and half of bargaining .. thanks to the indian hospitality which defeats reason and logic for emotion and tradition hands down.. haribhai was convinced by me to 'lend' me two kids for the night. it was really touching that in such adverse conditions haribhai thought of hospitality to his guest.. (sadly this guest was me and i was feeling guilty of being there at that moment as a guest). i for once never thought about the mission of IRMA or going where i was needed versus rewarded.
so the ordeal happened but did not end here.. i first positioned myself so that no water fell on me as i slept on the cot and haribhai would not have the arrangement in any other way. then the two kids who were borrowed by me for the night came into the cot in positions so that minimum water fell on them or if possible no water fell on them. in less than five minutes they had hugged me like little kids will when they want to keep warm and i was happily asleep with my loan of "two" kids for the night.
That nightful of rain, the fact of having nowhere to escape rain , and that fateful 'loan' of two kids taught me what POVERTY was. i for the first time understand what dr. kurien meant when he had told us "Go where you are needed and not where you are best rewarded". i understood a need that night.. the need of LIFE and HOPE because i wanted to see a morning SUN after a rainy night.
i hope Saviben and Haribhai are doing good in life and their kids are getting educated.
i was a young kid wanting to do something in this world and wanted to work on the set of rural problems as the world was gearing to move into the next century based on IT and computers..i had taken admission into IRMA (Institute of Rural Management Anand.. http://www.irma.ac.in/) and was promptly as per schedule left in a village for a week to learn about the environment that IRMAns are supposed to work for and understand if i could survive. I was alotted to stay with Haribhai in his village .. in his home.. and this home was a kuccha hut made of cow dung with two cots and a few utensils and clothes.. haribhai worked as an agricultural labourer and did not own farming implements. He was the only one in bhangi colony of the village who had successfully passed the high school exam but owned no land. His father decided to give all his landholding which was very meagre to his elder brother who was illiterate thinking haribhai would land a job. he landed none and was forced to work as an agri labourer.
The first night was alsmot like eco-tourism as in the gujarati hot summer night i got to sleep on a cot under a neem tree with the breeze soothing me.. i knew i had made the right choice to join IRMA and work for the rural areas of the country.
The second night was more eventful, we started on our cots outside the hut and under the neem tree but the breeze was cooler and more moist. after about an hour when i had barely slept for about half an hour.. there was a drop that fell on me..i was so pleased.. i have always been fond of getting drenched in the rain on every opportunity irrespective of whether health allowed it or not. i still continue to be so. My happiness increased porportionally to the number of drops falling on me and my heart was ever so romantic and i wanted to write a poem.
Five minutes later as the rain got more dense and the droplets increased in size my host came running and haribhai called out "lets take the cot inside you wont survive a night full of rain outside gettign wet!".
and then it hit me.. and do you know what hit me.. take a moment to think about it.. feel it and imagine yourself there..
A night with nowhere to go and take shelter.. and its raining.. all drenched all night long.. no warm cozy room or heater .. no warm drying with towels .. no escape from the rain.. damn.. i was already thinking of rain as a capturer and i wanted to escape it. haribhai and i moved the cots inside and i for the first time got to know that out of the five cots that were put up under the tree only two were 'owned' by haribhai. suddenly the cot was a really big asset as it was the license to stay dry the whole night. wait..staying dry to survive the night was that what i was thinking? survival? in something called rain? we have always loved it.. we have always danced in rain dances.. and i am talking of survival in the rain..
inside the hut we got down to putting the cots only to realise there werent enough leaves on the thantched roof, the dust storm in the day had blown some away and now the hut was a huge leaking bathtub and the cow dug -mud mixture had started to turn into a sludge on the floor where it was bright and clean and savi ben (haribhai's wife) had cleaned it to perfection. she took a great deal of pride in keeping her home clean despite her poverty. we moved the cots to the east and the west and then 20 degrees to the north we rotate it and nothing helps..there is still water falling on the cots. While we are busy positiong cots to sleep, savi ben is positiong the limited utensils of home to capture water and protect the cow dung sludge flooring of the hut or she will have to do it again but only when the water would dry. Finally we placed the cot in a position we thought the least amount of water was coming to it and was likely to come even if it rained the whole night.
this had taken an half hour to position to cots.. and now haribhai wanted me to sleep on a cot while saviben and their three kids aged 5, 3, and 1.5 would sleep on the other cot and yes for the record.. there was no privacy for saviben or the family.. i as a stranger had no option but to stay that night in that hut .. first i felt awkward to sleep on a cot next to a couple sleeping and i could'nt give them privacy... second i felt bad at how unequal the world was. . i had one cot to myself and they were five humans to one cot. i requested haribhai to lend me the kids for the night so that they may sleep in my cot while he and saviben managed on the other cot. yes these were cots and not king size double beds.
after an hour and half of bargaining .. thanks to the indian hospitality which defeats reason and logic for emotion and tradition hands down.. haribhai was convinced by me to 'lend' me two kids for the night. it was really touching that in such adverse conditions haribhai thought of hospitality to his guest.. (sadly this guest was me and i was feeling guilty of being there at that moment as a guest). i for once never thought about the mission of IRMA or going where i was needed versus rewarded.
so the ordeal happened but did not end here.. i first positioned myself so that no water fell on me as i slept on the cot and haribhai would not have the arrangement in any other way. then the two kids who were borrowed by me for the night came into the cot in positions so that minimum water fell on them or if possible no water fell on them. in less than five minutes they had hugged me like little kids will when they want to keep warm and i was happily asleep with my loan of "two" kids for the night.
That nightful of rain, the fact of having nowhere to escape rain , and that fateful 'loan' of two kids taught me what POVERTY was. i for the first time understand what dr. kurien meant when he had told us "Go where you are needed and not where you are best rewarded". i understood a need that night.. the need of LIFE and HOPE because i wanted to see a morning SUN after a rainy night.
i hope Saviben and Haribhai are doing good in life and their kids are getting educated.
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