Rice Bucket Challenge

As an Indian, before I make a point I am compelled to tell a story. Better be it from Mahabharata the greatest epic from my country. Okay, here it is… the story is about who is more generous among the two brothers, Arjuna and Karna. And the judge is none other than Lord Krishna.

Arjuna once asked Krishna while walking on the seashore close to sunset time, "Krishna, giving away things is pretty easy, why is Karna referred to as ‘Daana Karna’ (The charitable one)? Anyone can do that. I can do that too". Hearing this Krishna converted the sand dunes on the seashore to gold and asked Arjuna to distribute  all the gold dunes before sunset. Arjuna took a big pan and started distributing the gold to poor. As sun was setting he was exhausted, and he couldn't finish distributing all the gold, there was too much to give and too little time. He understood that there is no way he can finish giving away all that gold on the seashore by dusk and look helplessly at Krishna.  Now Krishna calls Karna and asks him to help him distribute the gold to the poor. Karna stands there and points to  gold dunes to each person waiting for alms and says "This one is yours, that one is yours..." and he distributes all the gold in no time.

Manju Latha Kalanidhi, founder of Rice Bucket Challenge

The moral of the story as my mother says is ‘Charity is easy, but not when you try to hog the limelight. Same goes with starting a revolution to trigger a positive change. You need not be the front runner all the time. A good leader always delegates’.

When I first heard about #IceBucketChallenge, for the first time in 2014, I smirked and thought it was an absolutely foolish idea to waste so much water, especially when you know that several people are dying of thirst. Some of my wise friends too shared the same notion and yet diplomatically donated money for the cause instead of wasting water. There were others who ended up saving a hundred bucks and wasting a bucket full of water. Then a few weeks later I heard about the #RiceBucketChallenge and quickly concluded that why would anyone want to pour a bucket full of rice grains on them. I was wrong.

That was the time I was recovering from the ridiculous outcome of Indian elections, where people of India were giving the winning politicians a milk bath and worshipping them as Gods months after the results. Yeah, that is true. We Indians do indulge in such crazy antics to show our love and dedication to real life idols, who are mostly politicians or film stars. We do this in full awareness of the fact that half of our nation’s children are malnourished. In India hero worship won't go away in days, it takes months sometimes years altogether and we work very hard to stay in such comatose state. I will reserve my thoughts on Indian hypocrisy for later.  For now let us stay with my twisted perception about Rice Bucket Challenge.  I smirked more without even bothering to read what it is all about and forgot about it.  I was terribly wrong.

A few months later I was attending a workshop for journalists organized by United States consulate and happened to meet Manju Latha Kalanidhi, who was my fellow participant and the innovator of the Rice Bucket Challenge. That’s when I started following her work on social media to see the massive change she triggered by adding one additional letter “R” to the much talked about Ice Bucket Challenge. I couldn’t help appreciating her wisdom. She calls it a Desi Challenge for Desi Needs. Asks everyone to cook or buy one bucket of Rice / Biryani and feed the needy and then tag #RiceBucketChallenge and challenge your friends.

Rice Bucket Challenge kicked off in Philippines

I followed the Rice Bucket Challenge campaign closely and critically to see how she shared details. The critic in me always questioned ‘what is in it for her?’ I saw a lot of people irrespective of their social standing taking up the challenge, donating rice to the needy and posting pictures on Facebook with the  hashtag Rice Bucket Challenge. Manju Latha is no where seen in those pictures. Total strangers from all across the world started donating rice to the needy. Manju as I fondly call her now,  created the joy of giving and sharing in people.  Rice Bucket Challenge reached South Asian countries and is still spreading to other continents as well.

As I recall the story of Karna who lived up to his title ‘The charitable one’, by showing off their prowess in donating gold dunes in a jiffy, I could draw similarities with the campaign Manju has created which now I appreciate whole heartedly and apologise for snubbing the idea when I heard about it first.  And am so glad that my perception about the campaign was wrong.  Manju is a true leader who did not care to be the frontrunner of the impressive campaign and yet leading it in her own way by creating more leaders every day. Thank you Manju for starting the Rice Bucket Challenge. You are my hero. 

Devil's Advocate

Do we need one? My answer would always be YES.

But why? Like we are not surrounded by enough sceptics. We have the entire world are already discouraging us and stopping us when we want to do something. Forget whether it is good or bad. If you are on social media, you will find a bunch of people telling you why your idea sucks, that someone they knew did it already and some might even go a step further and tell you and prophesize about your idea predicting all the possible negative outcomes of it, putting you off totally.  It is time to acknowledge the fact that everyone has got an opinion.

Oh, the social media? Yes, it full of these armchair activists who don’t do much but have an opinion about everything. The doers in this group of online activists account to a small percentage. And in that small percentage, someone doing worthwhile for a cause that offers some value to the society are minuscule. Now if you sift a bit more among such valuable doers someone with common sense and tolerance are even less. So, why care about what they say? I am not suggesting that you should pay attention to garbage and trolls.

My answer is still YES, we need them. For one reason, if you have an idea and want to test it, you will instantly know how seriously people are going to take it. When you overlook the idle banter on the social media (never engage in it, it is often time consuming), occasionally you might find some valid resistance. And if you can find a way to iron that out, my friend you do have a winner.
Reminds me of my first boss who said at the beginning of a major project we were planning to do ‘Convince the Devil’s advocate in our team and you can sell this to anyone”. We were developing an online travel reservation system then for middle east market. That was atleast a decade and a half ago. But that statement still holds value.

Ok for instance let us leave the social media out and talk about real world situation. It happens within families and friends too. But most of the resistances we face with families are about trivial things like when you wanted to get that punk haircut or get that cool tattoo. Rest of the time, you can count on them. You need that encouragement and support to go further (not about that tattoo), but for something that makes you feel really happy like starting your own business, or taking a job across the oceans or quitting a job and settling for a more fulfilling and less paying one.

Having said that, these people are the ones who really know you, inside out. They know what makes you happy and what makes you sad. Instead of constantly patronizing you, would you be okay if they give you their rational thought and force you to think otherwise? I am not talking about straight ‘No, you cannot do it. It is a bad idea’ kind of resistance, but something that engages a discussion about pros and cons and mostly cons. Now that challenges your mind to think in a different direction and even fine tune your thoughts about your idea, and improvise on it. Because family and friends more often than not, essentially care for you and are concerned about your overall well being. They won’t stop being your family, and switch loyalties based on how much bank balance you have or the credit rating your bank gives you. People who care for you, just care for your happiness. Just that.

So the resistance they exhibit when they talk you out of an idea, is totally valid, no matter how sensitive or hurt you are by their remarks.This resistance may not be sugar coated or dipped in honey. It may sound harsh and often very delivered straight to the point. Just because they don’t sweet talk to you, doesn't mean that you are wrong and they are right or vice versa.  If you take the emotion out of the equation, it will all make much better sense. The idea is to do what suits you best and what makes you happier at the end of the day.

But then, it won’t hurt, when you soak up the words and the actions of your family members, listen to them and apply your mind and think rationally, engage in discussion and then take a decision. Now when it comes to family and close friends, emotions do overtake sometimes. But when you look beyond the obvious, there could be a valid reason for those emotions. Be it anger, frustration, concern etc., or all of them together. It is up to you to decide how deep you want to see beneath those emotions.

Your own wisdom will guide you to see beyond the façade of these emotions and realize the value of the opinion your loved has to offer. It is ultimately your choice to whether to take them seriously, discuss the idea or issue in hand or just brush it off. It is your choice to convince the Devil’s advocate and reason with him or her. A discussion and brain storming session always works, even when you have a difference of opinion. But don’t let that difference of opinion affect the rationality in you to fail to recognize the possible virtues and vices of the outcome. Often this member of the family or friend do not patronize your idea. If your gut says “Oh, she is going to hate this”, it means you should tell her first.  And that is exactly the reason why you should listen to that person to test the validity of your idea.

Having said that, you may sometimes we encounter vague answers or opinions, which makes it difficult for you to engage in a discussion. Some may even think a bit more selfishly how your idea is going to affect them personally. It is important to recognize this aspect too and that is when you will be using your head. The best part is not to get sucked into someone else’s thought process and agreeing with them or opposing them totally because you conditioned yourself to do so. The idea is about retaining your sanity and ability to think what is best for you.

Always, appreciate that person when they compel you to think otherwise. This goes beyond Steve Jobs famous quote about misfits. But then the classic question is (which is very valid) ‘How can you tell that this person family or friend is just being opinionated and is so full of it?’. The answer to that, my friend is simple.

"The ones who are crazy enough to think that they can change the world, are the ones who do"

See how happy they are with their own lives. See what they do, how they do. These are the people who are enjoying their life to the fullest and you find them often smiling. They are the ones Steve Jobs was talking about, even if they don’t run a billion dollar business or lead the entire humanity to enlightenment. See how they do little things with love. You will know. And these are the very people who will love you, no matter what your credit rating is or what you do eventually whether you agree with them or not. Because they compel you to think beyond the obvious.  They drive you crazy by asking you to go against the odds. They try to push you out of your comfort zone. They have the courage to tell you the truth. They are bold enough to tell you when you mess up without worrying about the repercussions. If you have atleast one such person in your family or friends you are very fortunate. They are the ones you need to hang on to. 

A trip to Varanasi

A long time ago when we did not have modern transportation or railways in India, people used to travel from place to place by foot. A group of pilgrims from a small village in south started off to Varanasi by foot. They stopped enroute to cook and eat their meals, rest for a while in Serais and continue their journey.

During their journey they were travelling through a forest, when the weather did not permit them to go any further. It was raining heavily and they all agreed, that they have to stop and look for some kind of shelter to spend the night before continuing their journey in the morning. It was dark in the forest and all they could find was an old abandoned and rather dilapidated temple, with the aid of lightning in the pouring rain. They all took shelter in the temple premises.

After resting for a while, the weather grew worse with more lightning and everyone sensed that there could be thunderbolt that could strike the temple killing them all in one go. Everyone was very scared and started praying but could not think of any solution or an alternative to escape from the impending disaster, apart from spending the night and risking their lives by staying in the temple. One moment it appeared that the thunder would strike, and the next second it stopped building the tension in the pilgrims’ minds. Nature was playing hide and seek scaring the wits of the pilgrims.

One of the pilgrims was a prominent astrologer, who sensed the confusion and thought he could make himself feel important, so he seized the occasion. As they all were his fellow villagers he quickly took advantage of the fact that he chose the auspicious time and date of the journey and calculated the obstacles enroute, went on to make an announcement.

The astrologer proclaimed his knowledge and said that the thunderbolt would strike on only one person whose lifespan is coming to an end. He added that this ill-fated pilgrim, whoever it was should not risk the lives of the rest of the pilgrims. So, instead of putting everyone’s life in danger, the astrologer announced his brilliant plan of sending each person out of the temple and stand in the pouring rain so the thunder can strike him and take his life. This way the rest of the group would be safe inside the temple and can continue the journey next day.

The idea was accepted by everyone, as they firmly believed  in the astrologer and went ahead to implement it. Each one of them, while leaving the temple, bore a tearful goodbye to their loved ones and stood at a distance from the temple, in the pouring rain for a few minutes to let the thunder strike them and returned back after the signal given by the astrologer, joyfully to reunite with their family and thanked God for sparing his life. Everyone finished their turn except the young man who was travelling alone. He was a bit hesitant as he too believed in the astrologer and feared his impending death which was almost certain now.

The weather was getting worse as moments passed by. As he was hesitating to go to meet his fate, the rest of the group grew impatient and forcefully threw him out of the temple into the pouring rain, eager to save their own lives. The astrologer too was feeling smug for coming up with such brilliant idea. The young man was standing all alone in the rain shivering and praying for his life.

Then something strange happened. The thunderbolt struck ferociously with devastating noise and struck the very temple, where all the pilgrims were taking refuge. All were dead the very moment with the impact except the young man who stood at a distance in the rain waiting for his death. That was too surprising for the young man who had a hard time digesting the fact that only his life was spared and rest of the pilgrims including the astrologer were taken by the thunderbolt. 

Mom told me this story and said, ‘sometimes, life does single you out and you might feel that, you are the odd one in the crowd. But you should not try to blend in for the sake of impressing people. Rather stand alone, and face the consequences, no matter how dire they are, as long as you are confident that you are doing the right thing and following Dharma.’ 

Thanks to Mom that story is coming true today with Aam Aadmi Party election results. Very happy to share this with my fellow AAPians. 

Looking back…

Normally I don’t. Being one of those adamant creatures who believe that your past is what makes you being the person you are now, I saw every experience in life add to making me what I am today. But as I look back it makes much more sense now that I have a bird’s eye view of my past which showed me the road I took. It all makes perfect sense now. 

Back in school, we used to joke around that our parents sent us to a technical school to prepare us for a literary career. Thanks to my teachers, who emphasized on being expressive, though it was not a part of our curriculum. Each one of us were given an assignment Physics class to write short research papers, on a topic of our choice and present it in the class. I picked ‘Ultrasonics’ and ended up writing more on German U-boats and World War than the actual topic. My presentation was dull and I barely managed to keep my audience from falling asleep as they were all tuned to listening about science than some teenager’s views on World War or German U-boats. But that experience came in handy as that seminar did prepare me to participate and win the college elocution competition a couple of years later, where the topic was “Terrorism” which took me only a few minutes to prepare and rant effortlessly in front of my audience. I somehow knew I was a square peg in a round hole trying learn technology when I was interested in something else. 

Last week I was fortunate to attend a workshop for bloggers conducted by International Centre for Journalists. Met some remarkable people who are passionate about writing for social causes. I felt alive being one among them. There was also a silent acknowledgement from my classmates, reinforcing the belief that I did write something useful.  I needed that. It is an incredible feeling. The workshop participants were a good mix of working journalists and a few aspiring ones, bloggers and writers who all enjoyed writing.

My attention was focused on the journalists who walked that extra mile to make writing their livelihood, unlike me. Just like I heard from my mentor P.Sainath, every journalist has a bit of anger and the conviction to change the world, I noticed the same spirit in them. The discussions we had during the workshop reflected their innermost thoughts. For once I found myself amidst a set of people who didn't flinch being vocal about their thoughts in a manner that is not offensive, even if I didn’t agree with some of their views. That is the beauty I see in writers. They have this remarkable way of telling stories. Though we all used our laptops more now, than a pen and paper to write on, the symbolism of holding a pen made a lot of sense in building up the morale of being a writer. Now I take pride in writing and decided to write in a more focused manner.

Our Gurus Alexandar Howard and Louise Roug at the workshop taught us some great things about blogging and keeping it meaningful, without overwhelming us with technology. I personally could see how my thoughts were more aligned towards writing for the cause that I believe in. The whole workshop is to reiterate that I was on the right path and should keep going further. The help was abundant. Both our Gurus were extremely helpful in giving us the right direction. The pleasant surprise came in the form of Sri Mohan Guruswamy, one of the celebrated speakers, who urged us to look beyond seeing. His presentation on India’s Role in Global Economy blew the few doubts I had about the much talked about ‘developmental model of governance’ which we Indians were so proud of adapting from the developed nations. The last slide of his presentation lecture hit us hard as it showed the Buland Darwaza of Fatehpur Sikri which summed up the whole topic succinctly. (For those who don’t know Fatehpur Sikri, it is palace complex and a city in Northern India, built by Emperor Akbar which was abandoned later for the lack of water. This is one of the 26 UNESCO World Heritage Sites in India).  Once again I felt home.

It was only a few years back I was I was inducted into MV Foundation for Child Rights as a volunteer. Until then I didn’t really know what Child Rights were and why they are so important. Now when I look back tracing my path, I see some rather remarkable incidents that led me into writing about children’s rights. I found myself happy writing reports and penning my thoughts. I took up assignments as a translator as my Telugu was much better. I found myself finally doing something useful and more fulfilling personally.  Now after the workshop, I could relate more to the larger issues linked with Child Rights.

I understood that if I write something more meaningful rather than a self-involved banter, I might make myself more useful. That was a big cue to start my new blog on “Child Rights in India-a volunteer’s perspective”.  To start with, I posted my last year’s report on Child Rights in the blog and will be adding more related content.  It is a serious blog with bare facts, statistics and voices from real people, real issues than idle musings. Do read and share your thoughts. I would love to hear from you.

Child Rights in India, a volunteer's perspective