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