- Lage Raho Munnabhai -
First, hearty congratulations to Vidhu Vinod Chopra for bringing out this boldly humorous movie. His mission - to boldly go where very few movie-makers dare to venture - is successful! The whistles and the applause in the theatre at the right junctures confirms it.
There are a few instances where the sequels are better than prequels, but that's in Hollywood. In Bollywood most of the first parts, so to speak, aren't encouraging enough to think about foraying into a second enterprise. But with LRM, the bar has been raised - beyond expectations.
With help from none other than.. Mahatma Gandhi, VVC has crafted this very enjoyable movie experience 'with a message' but without it sounding like one! RDB too gave a message but with a little pomp, glamour and violence; all the 3 of which VVC avoided and achieved a better result nevertheless. Full marks to him on this count. It seems so hard (well, apparently not so hard for everyone) these days for the message-mongering-movies to be non-violent. In that light directors like VVC and Ashutosh Gowarikar certainly stand out.
My idea here is not to write a movie review, but to thank VVC for giving us this gem. Hey, this movie even gives us a new tool to use (even before invoking the Right To Information act) against bribe-takers... Heh heh!
Enough words folks, go see the movie.
Vande Mataram!
Kaajoo is my nickname on the net. And this is my not-so-regular blog. But I do have some interesting topics on my agenda! So tune in to my blog every once in a while. -Makarand
Monday, September 11, 2006
Monday, November 28, 2005
Pune deserves bad roads!
The roads in Pune are in a pathetic state. Period. So much has been written in the newspapers over the past few weeks on the potholes in Pune, that it will surpass the coverage on fodder scam, bofors and salman khan - combined. We could actually call this the pothole scam! This scam has certainly been a fodder for some creative thinking and action too. Like Naushad Forbes (CEO, Forbes Marshall) dashing off a stinker to the PMC commissioner. Another bigwig wrote a poem about the pothole-ridden Harris bridge. Vivek Velankar and others performed a pooja and aarti of khadda-deo (pothole god) in front of the PMC office. Vivek, incidentally is a one-man crusade against PMC's apathy towards the roads in Pune. Now the famous veteran Shri. Mohan Dharia has also started his own crusade.
Anyway, all this brouhaha got me thinking about a letter I had written to Times of India 2 years back about traffic conditions in Pune. Unfortunately, I was told so many times by TOI to reduce the article in size to fit the column, that I lost interest. Now that I have switched to Indian Express (not because of THAT episode, but due to other very valid reasons - which is a topic for another blog :-), and noticed how IE has some very good initiatives and coverage of relevant topics, I thought I should try writing again. And I have more experiences to add too!
So after coming back from US, where traffic rules are followed 99% of the time, where you learn the right of way by heart and follow it, where you actually READ the driving instructions manual and so on, it is an attitude reversal driving in India, especially Pune. There is only one word to describe traffic here - MAYHEM.
Now where should I begin? Alrighty then, it will be my favorite one - driving on the wrong side.
Item 1: Driving on the wrong side
I don't really know about other cities, but this seems to be a favorite item in Pune. I haven't seen this in Mumbai. Let me explain the technicality first. Typically, you drive on the left side of the road while the traffic moving in the opposite direction is on your right. In Pune, however, there are 2 more distinct directions. About 5% of traffic moves in the opposite direction on your LEFT too. These are the short-cutters or the cut-cornerers. They typically want to travel a short distance toward the right, but are too lazy to follow the normal flow. So they take the quick route. Some of them have gotten used to this technique so much that they do it even over longer distances.
Now it's not just the 2-wheelers who do it. 3-wheelers, cars and surprise surprise, trucks do it too.
Now who are the wrong-siders? Pretty much anyone. Middle aged folks kind of know they are doing wrong, so they don't look you in the eyes if you honk or glare at them (like I do. Now I have started giving them a thumbs-down too!). Teenage boys love to do it, they have that gleam of revolt in their eyes. For them it's not a short-cut, no convenience, it's a revenge against the society :-O. For teenage girls, riding their Honda Activas (which are too oversized for them), these sweeties have no clue they are doing anything wrong. Hey, they have grown up watching their aai, baba, dada, boyfr.. shhh, doing it all the time. My wife gave one lady a thorough scolding for dashing against a walker while driving on the wrong side and who had the nerve to shout at the walker instead.
This has become such a menace on roads that some senior citizens I know are terrified of crossing the roads in the evening, beacuse you never know where a vehicle will come from. So the new road-crossing rule is: look left, then right, then left and finally right. Hope you survived! Remember the game 'Frogger'?
Item 2: Traffic signals
First, a quote from a rikshaw driver: "PMC is only wasting electricity on these traffic lights". Hah. I think that pretty much sums up what I have to say. Rikshaw drivers probably think they are doing a duty to their customers by not waiting for the traffic lights to turn green. They need to get the customers home as quickly as possible. They must have watched James Bond in Octopussy! It's mostly the rikshaw drivers who do not obey signals. However, they are surreptitious in doing it. Not so with 2-wheeler riders. They take great pride in doing it - at least some of them. So you are all waiting at a light peacefully humming your favorite remix tune. A rider gets impatient OR someone weaves his way through, quickly looks around to make sure there is no cop (he skips this step at a no-cop-ever junction) and proceeds without even glancing at others. It's his victorious way (see how I do it!). A few riders follow him meekly. These were sitting on the fence (jau ki nako, jau ki nako..) until the torchbearer came along.
It hurts most however to see PMT drivers disobeying traffic lights. I think they should be penalized double than normal. Unfortunately my no-confrontation attitude comes in the way when I'm riding on a bus and the driver does not stop at red light. Hopefully one day I'll boldly walk up to the guy and tell him bluntly - 'babare, asa karu nakos'.. :->
Item 3: Helmet compulsion
I've never seen such a relentless campaign against helmet anywhere but in Pune. Some people have actually made it an aim of their life to vehemently oppose this particular law. So you have a "helmet-sakti virodhi aandolan", helmet burning.. no I'm kidding.
There have been so many arguments, so many articles in newspapers on this issue that it's mind boggling and I wonder why people still don't understand the safety aspect. Actually I'm a fence-sitter on this issue. I believe it should be left to the individuals to protect themselves. However, considering how the Indian mindset works, we need the law to tell us what to do. I wonder if people in US ever protested against wearing seat belts!
Here's my actual view on this. Make wearing helmets a law. Just like obeying traffic rules! People who want to break the law will do it anyway. Penalize them. Let's not spend energy arguing on the issue.
Item 4: Looking while merging
"LOOKING? What's that?" ..is what an average Punite would probably ask. Hey, when you drive you don't LOOK, you get from point A to point B. You do this like Abhimanyu - break the chakravyuha; you do this like Arjun - one goal, bird's eye!! Okay, there are exceptions to not looking, especially when an interesting specimen is riding in front of you...
Most 2-wheeler riders don't look when they are merging onto a road. There are no exceptions. It doesn't matter even if you are merging from a tapari gully into a major road. Never look back. Take the turn at the highest speed possible. Somebody honked? Cool! You did it!! Taste success.
Item 5: Lane system
This is the best part. This has nothing to do with Pune, you can see it on any Indian road.
They have freeways in US. But in India, all our roads are free-ways. In US, if a freeway has 4 lanes, then there are 4 vehicle flows. That's it, and you call it freedom! In India, we don't have lanes marked (that's so dumb). We CREATE lanes. Think customized roads. You know what size vehicle you are driving, so you create a lane for yourself. Bigger the vehicle, more the customization! On the other hand, smaller vehicles can dictate their own speed limit. So that's not too bad.
I think it's high time we had 2-wheeler training schools (of course they should TEACH you the traffic rules, not just GET you a license).
My conclusion is: For all this irresponsible driving (if you call it driving), we Punites deserve the connected potholes, I mean, the roads!
Guys, I would like to invite your views on improving the traffic-less situation. Let's generate some ideas. If we get some good ones, maybe I can dash off a letter to Indian Express, cc Pune RTO.
Anyway, all this brouhaha got me thinking about a letter I had written to Times of India 2 years back about traffic conditions in Pune. Unfortunately, I was told so many times by TOI to reduce the article in size to fit the column, that I lost interest. Now that I have switched to Indian Express (not because of THAT episode, but due to other very valid reasons - which is a topic for another blog :-), and noticed how IE has some very good initiatives and coverage of relevant topics, I thought I should try writing again. And I have more experiences to add too!
So after coming back from US, where traffic rules are followed 99% of the time, where you learn the right of way by heart and follow it, where you actually READ the driving instructions manual and so on, it is an attitude reversal driving in India, especially Pune. There is only one word to describe traffic here - MAYHEM.
Now where should I begin? Alrighty then, it will be my favorite one - driving on the wrong side.
Item 1: Driving on the wrong side
I don't really know about other cities, but this seems to be a favorite item in Pune. I haven't seen this in Mumbai. Let me explain the technicality first. Typically, you drive on the left side of the road while the traffic moving in the opposite direction is on your right. In Pune, however, there are 2 more distinct directions. About 5% of traffic moves in the opposite direction on your LEFT too. These are the short-cutters or the cut-cornerers. They typically want to travel a short distance toward the right, but are too lazy to follow the normal flow. So they take the quick route. Some of them have gotten used to this technique so much that they do it even over longer distances.
Now it's not just the 2-wheelers who do it. 3-wheelers, cars and surprise surprise, trucks do it too.
Now who are the wrong-siders? Pretty much anyone. Middle aged folks kind of know they are doing wrong, so they don't look you in the eyes if you honk or glare at them (like I do. Now I have started giving them a thumbs-down too!). Teenage boys love to do it, they have that gleam of revolt in their eyes. For them it's not a short-cut, no convenience, it's a revenge against the society :-O. For teenage girls, riding their Honda Activas (which are too oversized for them), these sweeties have no clue they are doing anything wrong. Hey, they have grown up watching their aai, baba, dada, boyfr.. shhh, doing it all the time. My wife gave one lady a thorough scolding for dashing against a walker while driving on the wrong side and who had the nerve to shout at the walker instead.
This has become such a menace on roads that some senior citizens I know are terrified of crossing the roads in the evening, beacuse you never know where a vehicle will come from. So the new road-crossing rule is: look left, then right, then left and finally right. Hope you survived! Remember the game 'Frogger'?
Item 2: Traffic signals
First, a quote from a rikshaw driver: "PMC is only wasting electricity on these traffic lights". Hah. I think that pretty much sums up what I have to say. Rikshaw drivers probably think they are doing a duty to their customers by not waiting for the traffic lights to turn green. They need to get the customers home as quickly as possible. They must have watched James Bond in Octopussy! It's mostly the rikshaw drivers who do not obey signals. However, they are surreptitious in doing it. Not so with 2-wheeler riders. They take great pride in doing it - at least some of them. So you are all waiting at a light peacefully humming your favorite remix tune. A rider gets impatient OR someone weaves his way through, quickly looks around to make sure there is no cop (he skips this step at a no-cop-ever junction) and proceeds without even glancing at others. It's his victorious way (see how I do it!). A few riders follow him meekly. These were sitting on the fence (jau ki nako, jau ki nako..) until the torchbearer came along.
It hurts most however to see PMT drivers disobeying traffic lights. I think they should be penalized double than normal. Unfortunately my no-confrontation attitude comes in the way when I'm riding on a bus and the driver does not stop at red light. Hopefully one day I'll boldly walk up to the guy and tell him bluntly - 'babare, asa karu nakos'.. :->
Item 3: Helmet compulsion
I've never seen such a relentless campaign against helmet anywhere but in Pune. Some people have actually made it an aim of their life to vehemently oppose this particular law. So you have a "helmet-sakti virodhi aandolan", helmet burning.. no I'm kidding.
There have been so many arguments, so many articles in newspapers on this issue that it's mind boggling and I wonder why people still don't understand the safety aspect. Actually I'm a fence-sitter on this issue. I believe it should be left to the individuals to protect themselves. However, considering how the Indian mindset works, we need the law to tell us what to do. I wonder if people in US ever protested against wearing seat belts!
Here's my actual view on this. Make wearing helmets a law. Just like obeying traffic rules! People who want to break the law will do it anyway. Penalize them. Let's not spend energy arguing on the issue.
Item 4: Looking while merging
"LOOKING? What's that?" ..is what an average Punite would probably ask. Hey, when you drive you don't LOOK, you get from point A to point B. You do this like Abhimanyu - break the chakravyuha; you do this like Arjun - one goal, bird's eye!! Okay, there are exceptions to not looking, especially when an interesting specimen is riding in front of you...
Most 2-wheeler riders don't look when they are merging onto a road. There are no exceptions. It doesn't matter even if you are merging from a tapari gully into a major road. Never look back. Take the turn at the highest speed possible. Somebody honked? Cool! You did it!! Taste success.
Item 5: Lane system
This is the best part. This has nothing to do with Pune, you can see it on any Indian road.
They have freeways in US. But in India, all our roads are free-ways. In US, if a freeway has 4 lanes, then there are 4 vehicle flows. That's it, and you call it freedom! In India, we don't have lanes marked (that's so dumb). We CREATE lanes. Think customized roads. You know what size vehicle you are driving, so you create a lane for yourself. Bigger the vehicle, more the customization! On the other hand, smaller vehicles can dictate their own speed limit. So that's not too bad.
I think it's high time we had 2-wheeler training schools (of course they should TEACH you the traffic rules, not just GET you a license).
My conclusion is: For all this irresponsible driving (if you call it driving), we Punites deserve the connected potholes, I mean, the roads!
Guys, I would like to invite your views on improving the traffic-less situation. Let's generate some ideas. If we get some good ones, maybe I can dash off a letter to Indian Express, cc Pune RTO.
Thursday, September 01, 2005
What they teach you in a red light area!
Not the nicest looking topic to start a blog, but since this event jolted me out of my middle class goody-goody life's slumber, I do want to share it.
It started with Renutai (Gavaskar) calling me last week about a website she wanted for the organization she works for. I was aware that she worked at an outfit working with children of prostitutes. But I had no clue about what this outfit was. Anyways, I thought this was a nice opportunity to work on an NGO website again, so I accepted the offer. (muktangan.org was the first. I have done a website for a very non-conventional school from Kerala too but it hasn't been reviewed yet [website, not the school :-)] so I can't disclose the URL yet).
This morning I drove over to the red light area in Pune. 10:30am was still a little early for 'business' so fortunately for me, there weren't too many 'vendors' around. Actually, from what is still to come, my references above are in a bad taste!
After riding thru' a multitude of bylanes and asking at least 3 people, I finally found the school in a non-descript alley. The school's called 'Nutan Samartha Vidyalaya'. Climbing the narrow staircase, I just stumbled into a small class with 15/20 noisy kids. Somebody said Renutai was upstairs. So a couple of more flights of stairs and walking thru' 2 more classes, I went up to where Renutai was chatting with some teachers. Renutai is a middle aged woman. I know her since my Muktangan project. She used to be a regular resource person there, counselling the addicts with well-crafted stories. That was the time when I learned the importance and efficacy of conveying your message thru' stories!
Renutai welcomed me with a bright smile. She was about to go to a class where the kids were going to talk about their recent field trip and asked me to join. So I went and sat on the front bench. All the classes have plain benches, no back rests, no writing desks. Renutai told me later she was soon getting funds to buy desks!
After we sat down, the kid sitting behind me asked me for my name and I obliged - even telling him the meaning. I asked their names, turned out there were 2 "Sagar"s and one "Arun". A fourth kid brought a drawing book - belonging to one of the "Sagar"s. I was surprised. How many times you see a kid showing his friend's drawing book - proudly?
Let me tell you, since I arrived at the school like 5 minutes ago, I was scanning the faces of the kids around me. My mind had put a stamp on them as "kids of prostitutes". I don't know what my eyes were looking for, but I didn't find anything unusual. They looked liked kids from any municipal school. One of the visiting teachers - from Dnyan Prabhodini, who had accompanied the kids to Raja Kelkar museum, asked the kids what they liked at the museum. All of a sudden, the class was transformed into a bunch of enthusiastic-looking kids, their minds racing thru' the Kelkar museum, trying to remember what they liked. I felt very emotional at that moment. No matter where they are born, no matter what hell they are going thru' each day, kids will always be kids when you give them the opportunity. And this class was no different from some of the others I have seen before, in more elite or at least well-to-do schools. After everyone had a chance to talk, and after watching the 3 teachers in front of me listening to the kids, I
felt reassured that the world still has teachers WHO CARE.
At the end, Renutai introduced me to the class. We then went downstairs and sat in the principal's office. I told her I wanted to know all possible info about the school to represent it on the website. So she started. For the next half hour or so, she told me enough to make me feel ashamed of being a man!
The school was started by late Shri. Dnyaneshwar Vyavahare in 1926. Budhwar peth was a red light area even then. The school catered to the kids of prostitutes and traders. They only taught, and still do, up to 7th standard. I don't recall Renutai mentioning when it started, but I guess in the last few decades, people started thinking that their kids should learn English better, so the trader community started sending their kids to the English-medium schools. Kids of prostitutes had no option. In fact, considering their living conditions, schooling itself is the biggest luxury in their lives - forget the medium of instruction.
Initially, Renutai went around asking the mothers to send their kids to school. The condition of most of the rooms that are called houses is so deplorable that Renutai found it hard to believe that human beings can actually live there, forget about kids studying in those places. There is the omnipresent stink of alcohol and paan. Clients spit everywhere. The women have unusual working hours. Business starts at around 1pm and can go on throughout the night. The kids also sleep at odd hours and get up late in the morning. Initially, when kids came to school, they used to be unfed and hence lacked concentration. So the school started giving them food when they arrived. Now with help from Venky's hatcheries and Johnson and Johnson, the school provides snacks 3 times in a day. Renutai showed me a boy who she says is bright. He likes being number one in the class and manages it every year. Unfortunately, he gets an almost daily beating for this. You see, he gets up at 6am to study, but for his mother this is way too early and she takes out her frustration on him. This boy often asks his teacher - "Why was I born?"
Renutai mentioned she specially invites socially inclined men to talk in the classes. This is to instil confidence among the girls that men are not just 'clients'.
When the school was running out of funds, the administration thought of charging fees. But when Renutai went around the area, she found that the women were making very little money. The asking rate starts at Rs. 50 and not too occasionally goes down to Rs. 10 when the pangs of hunger start biting hard. Then there is the commission! Paying school fees is thus out of question.
Some kids have never seen a printed book. When Renutai showed a book to a kid, he exclaimed that her handwriting was so good! Some kids get so much beating and abuse that they become very quiet all of a sudden. They don't talk or even respond. In the meeting for parents, she requests the mothers not to hit their kids on the head or not to hit their head against the wall (literally), but to hit them on the legs below the knees. A few kids in the class are HIV positive and this is another challenge for the school. A challenge of the modern times.
The prostitutes themselves are in a very bad state. A lot of them are sold off to brothels by their own kith and kin. So even if you rescue them, most of the times they end up going back to another brothel. This is because their own relatives won't accept them back in the fold. The politicians, police, people don't give a damn to this community. It's like we don't want this part of the world to exist. But it does exist, and at certain times of the day, it is thronged with men. There is booze, swearing and fights all around. Police tend to look the other way.
There was the case of a kid who used to work at a chai-stall. One day he told the teacher he was quitting school because he got a 'promotion' as a waiter in a dance bar in Mumbai. And he was darn serious when he said that. Renutai feels this can change only through education.
Renutai comes from Ekalavya Nyaas. She is trying hard to relocate the school to an actual school campus less than a kilometer away where there is a playground and real classes. She is also trying to arrange a residential campus (at Hadapsar) for a few kids. The plan is to ferry kids from the campus to their homes everyday so that their mothers won't think they lost the kids. It's an interesting relationship. The mothers want their kids because they feel they have somebody of their own. But the frustration that they cannot provide anything to the kids and the nature of their work is such that they end up beating and abusing their own kids!
All these stories were making me dizzy. We then talked about what could be posted on the website. I feel we should put some of these stories on the front page. According to Renutai, more than the funds the school needs people who understand. People who can give time for the kids. When the kids go back home after school, the only 'people' that they come across are their abusive mothers and their clients, and maybe the so-called fathers. Most of the women prefer to have these 'fathers' around because of all the
fights that take place in the neighbourhood. However, these 'protectors' drink and abuse the women most.
Renutai has promised to compile a 'story' for the website. On the way back, I kept thinking about how we live in our ivory towers and TALK about the rampant corruption, decreasing social values and bringing in a social change. Well, people like Renutai DO something about it.
I think all our self-proclaimed intelligence is useless until we can at least bring a smile to a deprived child's face.
It started with Renutai (Gavaskar) calling me last week about a website she wanted for the organization she works for. I was aware that she worked at an outfit working with children of prostitutes. But I had no clue about what this outfit was. Anyways, I thought this was a nice opportunity to work on an NGO website again, so I accepted the offer. (muktangan.org was the first. I have done a website for a very non-conventional school from Kerala too but it hasn't been reviewed yet [website, not the school :-)] so I can't disclose the URL yet).
This morning I drove over to the red light area in Pune. 10:30am was still a little early for 'business' so fortunately for me, there weren't too many 'vendors' around. Actually, from what is still to come, my references above are in a bad taste!
After riding thru' a multitude of bylanes and asking at least 3 people, I finally found the school in a non-descript alley. The school's called 'Nutan Samartha Vidyalaya'. Climbing the narrow staircase, I just stumbled into a small class with 15/20 noisy kids. Somebody said Renutai was upstairs. So a couple of more flights of stairs and walking thru' 2 more classes, I went up to where Renutai was chatting with some teachers. Renutai is a middle aged woman. I know her since my Muktangan project. She used to be a regular resource person there, counselling the addicts with well-crafted stories. That was the time when I learned the importance and efficacy of conveying your message thru' stories!
Renutai welcomed me with a bright smile. She was about to go to a class where the kids were going to talk about their recent field trip and asked me to join. So I went and sat on the front bench. All the classes have plain benches, no back rests, no writing desks. Renutai told me later she was soon getting funds to buy desks!
After we sat down, the kid sitting behind me asked me for my name and I obliged - even telling him the meaning. I asked their names, turned out there were 2 "Sagar"s and one "Arun". A fourth kid brought a drawing book - belonging to one of the "Sagar"s. I was surprised. How many times you see a kid showing his friend's drawing book - proudly?
Let me tell you, since I arrived at the school like 5 minutes ago, I was scanning the faces of the kids around me. My mind had put a stamp on them as "kids of prostitutes". I don't know what my eyes were looking for, but I didn't find anything unusual. They looked liked kids from any municipal school. One of the visiting teachers - from Dnyan Prabhodini, who had accompanied the kids to Raja Kelkar museum, asked the kids what they liked at the museum. All of a sudden, the class was transformed into a bunch of enthusiastic-looking kids, their minds racing thru' the Kelkar museum, trying to remember what they liked. I felt very emotional at that moment. No matter where they are born, no matter what hell they are going thru' each day, kids will always be kids when you give them the opportunity. And this class was no different from some of the others I have seen before, in more elite or at least well-to-do schools. After everyone had a chance to talk, and after watching the 3 teachers in front of me listening to the kids, I
felt reassured that the world still has teachers WHO CARE.
At the end, Renutai introduced me to the class. We then went downstairs and sat in the principal's office. I told her I wanted to know all possible info about the school to represent it on the website. So she started. For the next half hour or so, she told me enough to make me feel ashamed of being a man!
The school was started by late Shri. Dnyaneshwar Vyavahare in 1926. Budhwar peth was a red light area even then. The school catered to the kids of prostitutes and traders. They only taught, and still do, up to 7th standard. I don't recall Renutai mentioning when it started, but I guess in the last few decades, people started thinking that their kids should learn English better, so the trader community started sending their kids to the English-medium schools. Kids of prostitutes had no option. In fact, considering their living conditions, schooling itself is the biggest luxury in their lives - forget the medium of instruction.
Initially, Renutai went around asking the mothers to send their kids to school. The condition of most of the rooms that are called houses is so deplorable that Renutai found it hard to believe that human beings can actually live there, forget about kids studying in those places. There is the omnipresent stink of alcohol and paan. Clients spit everywhere. The women have unusual working hours. Business starts at around 1pm and can go on throughout the night. The kids also sleep at odd hours and get up late in the morning. Initially, when kids came to school, they used to be unfed and hence lacked concentration. So the school started giving them food when they arrived. Now with help from Venky's hatcheries and Johnson and Johnson, the school provides snacks 3 times in a day. Renutai showed me a boy who she says is bright. He likes being number one in the class and manages it every year. Unfortunately, he gets an almost daily beating for this. You see, he gets up at 6am to study, but for his mother this is way too early and she takes out her frustration on him. This boy often asks his teacher - "Why was I born?"
Renutai mentioned she specially invites socially inclined men to talk in the classes. This is to instil confidence among the girls that men are not just 'clients'.
When the school was running out of funds, the administration thought of charging fees. But when Renutai went around the area, she found that the women were making very little money. The asking rate starts at Rs. 50 and not too occasionally goes down to Rs. 10 when the pangs of hunger start biting hard. Then there is the commission! Paying school fees is thus out of question.
Some kids have never seen a printed book. When Renutai showed a book to a kid, he exclaimed that her handwriting was so good! Some kids get so much beating and abuse that they become very quiet all of a sudden. They don't talk or even respond. In the meeting for parents, she requests the mothers not to hit their kids on the head or not to hit their head against the wall (literally), but to hit them on the legs below the knees. A few kids in the class are HIV positive and this is another challenge for the school. A challenge of the modern times.
The prostitutes themselves are in a very bad state. A lot of them are sold off to brothels by their own kith and kin. So even if you rescue them, most of the times they end up going back to another brothel. This is because their own relatives won't accept them back in the fold. The politicians, police, people don't give a damn to this community. It's like we don't want this part of the world to exist. But it does exist, and at certain times of the day, it is thronged with men. There is booze, swearing and fights all around. Police tend to look the other way.
There was the case of a kid who used to work at a chai-stall. One day he told the teacher he was quitting school because he got a 'promotion' as a waiter in a dance bar in Mumbai. And he was darn serious when he said that. Renutai feels this can change only through education.
Renutai comes from Ekalavya Nyaas. She is trying hard to relocate the school to an actual school campus less than a kilometer away where there is a playground and real classes. She is also trying to arrange a residential campus (at Hadapsar) for a few kids. The plan is to ferry kids from the campus to their homes everyday so that their mothers won't think they lost the kids. It's an interesting relationship. The mothers want their kids because they feel they have somebody of their own. But the frustration that they cannot provide anything to the kids and the nature of their work is such that they end up beating and abusing their own kids!
All these stories were making me dizzy. We then talked about what could be posted on the website. I feel we should put some of these stories on the front page. According to Renutai, more than the funds the school needs people who understand. People who can give time for the kids. When the kids go back home after school, the only 'people' that they come across are their abusive mothers and their clients, and maybe the so-called fathers. Most of the women prefer to have these 'fathers' around because of all the
fights that take place in the neighbourhood. However, these 'protectors' drink and abuse the women most.
Renutai has promised to compile a 'story' for the website. On the way back, I kept thinking about how we live in our ivory towers and TALK about the rampant corruption, decreasing social values and bringing in a social change. Well, people like Renutai DO something about it.
I think all our self-proclaimed intelligence is useless until we can at least bring a smile to a deprived child's face.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)