Unanticipated BM Meeting

Priyank informed me that some of the old members of Bhumi and Bharat Uday Mission(BM) are meeting this evening at our usual hangout and asked whether i would be interested in joining them and i said yes. I'm not involved in bhumi activities these days, its been a while since i met any of them and also having made wonderful friends during my time in bhumi, therefore i decided to go. I called my friend Arvind, who was also involved with bhumi but left due to some issues with the organization, initially he was reluctant to join but i literally dragged him with me for the sake of company.

We three were the first to arrive. When i inquired priyank about this meeting, he said that he is also not sure about the agenda and he suspected that they may discuss about forming a new organization but it turned out that it is about how they should revitalize BM Hyderabad chapter activities(previously Bhumi was separated from BM). None of us expected this to be a official meeting of BM, i never liked BM before, initially because of one of their IIT founder, Mr Gopal Krishna's senseless views which he advocated, like, one shouldn't get married because of prevalent evil in our society! and later, with BM's inability to function effectively and to impact the society in a way, which deserves ones patronage. However, Since those times, BM has changed.

After waiting for some time Bony joined us, he used to be Bhumi's executive board member. He is an intelligent speaker and good at articulating his views, perhaps more matured & eldest among us. We started to discuss issues which we had with bhumi and he shared his information on social work being carried out by others in the city. As more people arrived topic shifted to core agenda, BM revitalization. Instead of clearing misunderstanding and walking away, we calmly observed proceedings, being bit dazed with happenings. Bony took the initiative and started the proceedings. When everyone was engrossed in discussion, mujeeb(president of bhumi) came to wards us, since the place we all sat is their regular meeting place and he supposed to meet rakesh today. There was this uneasiness and awkwardness in few people's eyes but rest of us were cool and we shook hands & exchanged greetings. It was so hilarious that i couldn't control my laughter. Later, mujeeb went away and sat few feet away from us.
As people started to discuss about the new structure of the chapter and kind of work that we need to get involved, i got this deja vu, that what being proposed may lead to same old things that dissuaded us from bhumi but with added good intent and promised transparency, which i think in long-run sure to be exploited in one way or other. Everyone had their own ideas and Arvind proposed that we should discuss all our ideas at least for a month before even we consider what we wish to do. Bony supported and rest agreed.

During the discussion, i just got carried away at some instances and suddenly realized that i've no intention to contribute, therefore contained myself without finishing what i intend to say. Anyways, i stated that voluntary social organization should give emphasis on collective responsibility towards projects than building a hierarchy. (Dr)Tanvir informed me that this is not only social organization but one which also has political aspirations, that is true i forgot that BM is a political organization, which intend to realize its goals through social work. She continued, that she wants to bring a change in the system & the society and she is not here for social service and further added that she can do that being a medical student, just then, i wanted to remind her that few minutes before, she has expressed her dissatisfaction against the state government's rule which makes it mandatory for medical students, who wish to do their PG to serve stipulated period of time in the rural area, where there is not much money but only service. She even wished, that if at all it is to be implemented then it would be nice if they enforce it after she finishes her studies. With this and also Dr Arvind's own admission in the past that most doctors are unscrupulous when it comes to money, as they spend fortune to get their degree. After spending so much of money, it is hard to believe that one can do honest service, specially after expressing apprehension over mandatory rural service but i don't want to start a trivial debate at inappropriate time. I told her, that change is a general term and asked her to clarify on what kind of change she intend to bring and how?, she said that like eradicating corruption and said that we need to ponder on how we can accomplish it!. She also said that social service is for the people who wish to derive personal satisfaction from it and i need to concede to her its true in my case and i prefer service where one teaches others how to fish. Anyhow, everyone does something for their own satisfaction and not for others and same is true with this "change" that people hope to bring, no matter how bigger connotation this "change" has but one gets motivated for their own gratification. Thats the basic truth!.

I think, most youth organizations are full of enthusiasm and less on thought & experience. Combination of youth and experienced people are key to success of any voluntary organization, as it combines energy with ideas. I'm sadden to see plans of recruitment is mostly focused on youth. In my personal opinion, politics and social service will not gel well in the long run. I think the person who proposed this idea doesn't have foresight of the complex problems that may arise or he/she didn't have true conviction, that one day BM would evolve to an political organization, where it could seriously contend against already existing political parties.

In the end, it is always delight to meet and interact with the wonderful people who wish to do something for the society in their capacity!.

Old Rockets Carry Bacteria to the Stars

Space.com reports, that the old rocket stages that propelled four NASA spacecraft contains bacteria from earth. Spacecrafts were sterilized but not the rocket stages. This bacteria was emplaced by the hands and breath of the engineers who built the upper stages of Voyager 1, Voyager 2, Pioneer 10 and New Horizons.

Given the sheer expanse of time that lies ahead of the four discarded rockets, at least one is likely to eventually encounter a planet. But even if that planet's environment is conducive to life, the long dormant bacteria will not just gently plop into some exotic ocean. No soft landing can be expected.

Odds of this bacteria reaching a conducive planet in another solar system and colonizing it is very very slim but slightest possibility of such scenario makes this thought quite fascinating!.

Apocalypto

Last week, I watched apocalypto with my friends. Well, the movie was very interesting and particularly i liked it's direction but it gives gloomy impression of Mayan Civilization and also contains some inaccuracies. It has excessive violence, perhaps to assist audience to overcome any limitations with their imagination in visualizing gruesomeness of events and to empathize with the victims ;). Overall at the end of the movie, one gets the feeling, that this great and advance civilization's collapse was for the good!.

I'm a big fan of Mel Gibson as a fine actor and director but this movie makes me ponder, whether there is any subtle message to it, which is of course disturbing!.

Where are you Sofia?

I've been waiting for a decent 5 megapixel camera phone for sometime now. Last year, LG has introduced KG920, but its camera is slow and also i don't like it's design. Last month Nokia has introduced N95, which runs on symbian. It's design is excellent and has all connectivity options that one can consider (USB, Infrared, Bluetooth, GSM, WCDMA, HSDPA, WLAN) & also integrated GPS. It prides of using Carl Zeiss Optics, but the quality of the pictures & videos are okay and not exceptional, at times it produces pictures with purple hue, and also it has poor battery. This leaves me with Sony Ericsson's K850i(code named Sofia). However, SE has not even acknowledged Sofia's existence till date. I and others like me, hoped that Sofia will be unveiled at CeBit 2007 but that was not the case and now rumors are going around, that it might be announced in the middle of April and available in June/July. Let us hope this may be the actual date, if not, then i've to prolong this wait with dejection!!!. After using K750i, I've reason to believe that Sofia's camera might be the best when compared to other phones, and also below 3rd photo supposedly taken with Sofia looks promising. However, Sofia may not be a smartphone like N95 but that is not my consideration. Moreover SE phones are slightly faster than Nokia and have better battery life.

Sofia's photoshop Pic Courtesy of deuxani and thecoolsha

According to Nielsen Media Research, some groups are more attracted to certain brands than others:

• Nokia : Family-minded / Middle aged managers / Balance seekers / Health conscious.
  

• Motorola : Fashion conscious / Under 24 / Fun seekers / Individualistic.
  

• Sony Ericsson : Ambitious young men / Professionals / Success driven / Individualistic.
  

• LG : Favourite of mums / Stay-at-home parents / Success driven / Harmony seekers.

• Samsung : Young women / Career focused / Success driven / Fun seekers.
  

Samjhauta Express Bombing

It takes a gruesome bomb blast to expose the kind of security arrangements made for samjhauta express. In the past, samjhauta express was used for fake currency smuggling and also at times ISI sponsored terrorists used it as means to enter the country, in spite of this, on 19th no baggage checking was conducted and only 6 security personals were present for 14 coach train!. Question that needs to be asked is why is samjhauta express allowed to run without adequate security on our end after it was halted following the parliament attack?. In our anxiety to implement CBMs, how can we ignore our security needs!.

It is amazing to see people believe that this incident may effect so-called peace process but if they follow policies of Indian establishment then one can be sure that no amount of terrorism will hinder peace process, unless it is directed towards prominent politicians or their family members or when terrorists use nuclear weapon(s) on Indian soil.

My sincere condolence to those who had died!.

Let us remain steadfast in ignoring terrorism?

In a press conference Musharraf has said that:

"There will be obstacles and we have to be steadfast against all that they (militants) do," he said adding "that is why I say we should bold enough."

Since the beginning of terrorism in the valley it has been pakistan's government desire to absolve themselves from all actions of their state sponsored terrorists. Now that India has started this peace process without putting much emphasis on pakistan government's accountability for their support to the terrorists, therefore it will only exonerate their actions. And this is what musharraf states as if terrorists are distinct entities from the pakistan's government agencies like ISI. If Indian government choose to ignore pakistan's involvement without taking pragmatic stand for the sake of so-called peace dialog then the word PEACE doesn't signify anything.

He further says that:

"all shades of Kashmiris" should be taken on board except those who believe that militancy is the only option to resolve the issue.

I suppose all shades means those Hurriyat people who claim to be true representatives of people of J&K without any mandate. Anyways, his statement coincides or does it? with the statement of Mirwaiz, which he issued few days ago after returning from pakistan.

On other hand, BBC reports that musharraf has admitted that pakistan's border security forces have been letting the Taliban into Afghanistan!. American generals are frustrated enough with musharraf's brilliant game of duplicity of co-operation in the war against terror and perhaps the evidence from NATO, UK and afghan forces is too much to ignore, so much so that it made musharraf to acknowledge it publicly but with some spin.

After receiving millions of dollars in aid and military hardware from USA to fight Indian Army Taliban, Musharraf resigns over the situation and says:

it would be difficult for two border guards on a typical check post on the Afghan border when they are faced with a group of "20 well-armed, well-trained and well-motivated people challenging them".

and goes further to complain that:

His country was being made "a scapegoat" for the resurgence of Taleban-led militants.

There we go, therefore let us not blame pakistan's government and ignore ISI activities in Quetta!.

My experience in villages of nizamabad

I had a pleasure of touring nizamabad and surrounding areas on two days trip with Joseph Curiale(Joe) and also along with Asha for education volunteers from asha-honors chapter, Chennai, Raj Jebadurai(Jeba) and Dhana Lakshmi. People who doesn't know about Joe can read more about him at his website and also know about his passion to save and rebuild lives of families of the farmers, who had committed suicide because of their debts. There are some people who does help others due to their abrupt emotional spur for that moment or for ones own gratification and never bother to do follow up on the conditions of the people who they have helped or sustaining their efforts with the initial zeal for long, Unlike them, Joe wanted to meet the families who he had helped in the previous visit and know their condition. This is his 3rd visit, including this trip he is able to help 18 widows in form of either paying their debts completely or making fixed deposits in their names, so they get some form of relief from quarterly interest being paid or in some special cases he cleared both debts and also made fixed deposits. Other than this he gave Rs 5000 each to 25 widows and Rs 1000 to person who got paralyzed. With such visible monetary support and being Hollywood music composer many assume that he is rich but the fact is, he sold his belongings for supporting his passion to build other's lives and endured lot of hardship to raise funds. Moreover what makes important to note is, even being himself immersed in huge debt, he has worked 16 hrs each day for others, than helping himself.

Initially when Joe came to know about the farmers suicides through anjamma's video on CNN website, even though he decided to help, he didn't had any local contacts and at that moment CNN India's correspondent satish bindra introduced Madhu Yaskhi, who is the Member of Parliament from nizamabad constituency. Madhu's office is instrumental in providing Joe with local information, arranging meetings with widows, helping with opening of bank accounts and with fixed deposits but all Joe's good work is facilitated through madhu yaskhi's foundation. Therefore whenever there is occasion of meeting with widows or payment of debts or handing over of bank passbooks, these are mostly held in pompous ceremonies under madhu yaskhi's foundation in the MP's office or in local elected representative's offices or in other places in the presence of politicians and their associates. Sometimes it does give impression that these activities have to do more with the MP's foundation or with MP's party than with Joe. Sadly, event which Joe comprehends as a private event between himself and the family members is made into public event and robbing him of the joy of being with the families of the farmers, who he considers as his own and all to be part of one big family. More than this, In many cases Joe couldn't spend time or interact freely with the widows or their family members due to prevailing official atmosphere with the presence of party leaders and lots of people eager to get close to Joe and in circumstances like these which hinders widows to speak free of their mind. Despite all this, Joe has managed to spend some time in sharadha's house on her invitation and also in anjamma's house without any politicians or their associates presence.

When we arrived at Madhu's office in Nizamabad, Joe was very keen to know about the condition of widows who he helped previously, also wanted to know if anyone is bothered by money lenders and to make sure that everyone got their bank passbooks but after numerous conflicting explanations from madhu's PA in this regard, we were finally informed that none got their passbooks and to know the reason and status they scheduled our meeting with the bank manager. We were shocked to know that the interest on the principal will be released only at the time of maturity, that is after 5 years, instead of quarterly (as Joe intended in his previous visit) therefore they did not issue passbooks. On our request, manager had immediately changed necessary information in the documents and issued passbooks within 10 mins, perhaps one of the advantage of having MP on our side and charm of foreigner is to get the work done even after the bank hours(in the late night) i suppose :). We planned to handover these passbooks to widows personally by going to their villages next day. Local elected representatives of Madhu's party members doesn't want to miss this opportunity to put forth their political agenda ahead than this noble cause. Elected representatives of respective mandals were there in villages along with the madhu yaskhi foundation, when Joe was handing over passbooks. While i was explaining to family members in native tongue about fixed deposit and how and where they can get the interest for every three months, these leaders interrupted me and said same thing and in the end added that they should contact them, if they have any problem but the fact is, they didn't come to poor widows rescue in last 2 months, when they needed it most for getting their passbooks from the bank. Instead, person in madhu's office shouted on a widow and thrown her out of office for asking about the passbook in the past. All this political opportunism confuses people to understand Joe and his passion for the cause, for instance, at one such ceremony which was organized by brother of Andhra Pradesh State Minister, shabir ali (who was infact was very humble and down to earth. He also hosted lunch for us at the minister's residence) and MP's associates, there was this confused lady in parishad office with fixed deposit certificate issued by government and came to complain to Joe that she did not receive any amount.

Politician's attitude towards poor farmer's families clearly shows that we as a society haven't learned to respect people irrespective of their wealth or stature in the society, at times it is pathetic to see these leaders to order these poor people to touch Joe's feet and say namastay, as if they don't have their own brain to think regarding how they should express their gratitude, nevertheless these people would have expressed their appreciation in similar way but at their desire, than specifically for the photo op of MP's foundation. In Isaipeta village, people with different problems assumed that he is rich and pounced on him for assistance and employed all means to show that they are in more pitiful state than rest. I think people need to be explained that he is just one person with limited resources and he is just like them in debts but difference is, that he is enduring all hardships to assist others and see them happy. We need to show this compassion for the people who are in much more difficulties than themselves and help each other in time of need, Otherwise people will take it for granted about the help they are receiving and take it as their privilege. Anyway, Joe has big plans for Isaipeta and he wants to transform this village into model village and to begin with he is in consultations with Center for Sustainable Agriculture(CSA).

Joe had very good time in the orphanage and distributed gifts which he brought for them and also those gifts which were sent by the individuals from USA. Initially, i kept myself busy in taking pictures and talking to reporters but later when i observed the children they all are such well behaved and always smiling. They are so wonderful that everyone of us wanted to spend more time with them but sadly we had to go. In future, I wish to visit this orphanage with my kid sister and take something for those adorable kids.

Joe is very much aware of implications of being associated with politicians for such a cause and even though he considers Madhu and his wife suchi his good friends, he wants to do these activities not in the glare of politicians and at the same time he does want to maintain good relationship with his friends. When i spoke to sharadha & renuka and explained about things about Joe and what he likes most, they expressed their desire to interact with him and also invited him to their homes. Hopefully next time, Joe will get what he is looking from this extended family!

I have taken tons of pictures in this trip but i posted only few in my photo blog and i will post all of them once i update my service at flickr. Mean time when jeba uploads his pictures to website, i will provide that url here.