Musings

I had been planning to post this since morning but somehow didn’t get the time to do it but finally I’m able to complete it now. This is for “Blog Action Day 2008” on Poverty

Last week while coming back from office, I was waiting at one of the auto stands when I observed this little child trying to study in a very dim light placed near the ironing stall. His father irons clothes on that stall and since it is just adjacent to that auto stand, so I get to notice it quite often. While I was waiting I overheard the conversation of the child with his father where he was asking for money to buy 5 notebooks and his father was saying why can’t he write everything in one notebook only and why 5? That little guy kept on insisting that he needs 5 as his teacher has asked him to use different notebooks for different subjects and also his old notebook is almost over but his father very irritatingly told that he doesn’t have spare money to support the tantrums of his school. With so much of difficulty he is able to manage the fees of his school and now these rules and regulations! I wasn’t able to decipher much as they were speaking in mixed language (Hyderabadi Hindi) but all I could see was the disappointed face of that child at the end of their conversation. Unable to hold myself any further, I asked that boy, “how much money do you need”? The boy got conscious and replied in good English “no thanks madam, I don’t need it”. I insisted again but the child didn’t agree, finally I said, “ok don’t take money, let me buy the notebooks for you from this nearby shop”…initially he hesitated but then he agreed! We went to this small stationery shop where I asked the shopkeeper to give 5 notebooks, I asked the boy if he needs anything else, he very politely said no. I asked the shopkeeper to include a pen also in the list and the bill came to Rs.90. Well, 90 bucks is hardly anything for most us considering our day to day expenses but the gleam in his eyes and the gratitude with which he thanked me is something which I can’t explain in words. Honestly speaking I felt good and the small child made me feel as if I’ve done something important in life.

Did I do it for charity? My answer will be clear cut no. Did I do it thinking he was a poor man in need of money? My answer will be again no. Well, then why did I do it? Simply because the child was in need of money for something as important as education! And I have much respect for that child whom I have often noticed to concentrate on his studies even in such adverse conditions and who has got this spark to learn and do something. The first thought which came to my mind was if his father would have been educated enough then may be his life would not have been the same. And tomorrow if this child will not be educated maybe his son will also end up in the same rut like his. Yes, EDUCATION which is the first step towards eradication of poverty. I generally don’t support begging habits & it was not the question of money here and but the fact that the child was trying to get educated. I know my one day of such small contribution can’t guarantee that the child will get to continue his education in future as well but at least for that day his education needs were fulfilled. Quite a few of us do not do even our little bit, thinking what can such small contributions do or how can such small amount help in larger issues! But well even though it’s a clichéd statement still it’s true that little drops make a large ocean. Here are some of the steps which I think most of us can take in our normal day to day life to fight with something as serious as poverty.

• Support education and educational needs of genuinely needy people. You don’t need to go to any NGO or social organization to do it. Just look around, you might find your maid’s son or your driver’s daughter in need of education. Help him/her get literate.
• Try to sponsor the education of one girl child every year, it’s hardly anything for most of us. And if you can’t sponsor the complete yearly fees, at least do it for a month. It is said if a woman is educated, she definitely tries to get her child educated as well.
• Even simpler, you can just buy some stationery like notebooks, pencil, pens etc and distribute it amongst the genuinely needy people. I’m sure most of the corporates these days have listings of NGOs who can provide you the right avenues for such donations.
• Ok, without money as well you can do lots. If you have free time on weekends, how about contributing your time in teaching voluntarily to needy people. You can join some NGO or movements like TOI Teach India etc. If you search you will get enough opportunities to utilize your time more effectively.
• Don’t waste food, think of that small girl with a naked baby in her hand who keeps running to clean your car glass on every traffic signal and how she begs for food / money.

On this “Blog Action Day” when I stand for the cause of Poverty, I urge all my readers to at least do their bit. One of the biggest reasons for poverty is illiteracy, so scan your environment and support the needy to get educated! Education will definitely help in eradicating poverty to a large extent and remember “no contribution is a small contribution”.

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Recently my mom had come to visit my place for few days and unfortunately some days out of those three weeks were very hectic professionally for both me and my husband. So, we were not able to take her out or spend much time with her during weekdays. I thought of arranging some entertainment activities for my mom so that she doesn’t get bored at home and considering my mom’s hobbies, the two most obvious choices were movies and books, with books having higher preference. Well, books and movies by term look so simple to arrange but nah it’s not that easy to arrange these stuffs for my mom. Well, she definitely loves to read but not the kind of books which me or my husband read, rather she likes to read those very old classics of Hindi and English literature. I thought of ordering some books of her choice from some popular online shops as generally they offer good discounts on books. Well, my mom’s wish-list consisted of some very old hindi classics by writers like Shivani, Rabindra Nath Tagore, Jayashankar Prasad etc. And when I told her the benefits of ordering online, she was all excited and gave me a list of 7 names to be order immediately.

Since these books were quite popular titles and so I very conveniently assumed that these would be available in almost all book stores. And then my hunt started, first site, second site, third site…ohhh little did I know then that it’s gonna be such a difficult task to find those famous old hindi classics online. Well, none of the popular stores were having those titles…so tired of net surfing, I thought I will stop at landmark (a very popular book store at Bangalore) tomorrow while coming back from office as it would be easier to find it there. With all hopes I reached Landmark next day only to be disappointed to find that only 1 of those titles were available…having no other option, I took that one book and with lots of difficulties managed to find another one in an online store. Mom was ok to get atleast two books of her choice but was damn amazed to realize that these books are not available in most of the stores online as well as offline, she surprisingly said, “lagta hai logo ne hindi ki kitabein padhni band kar di hai, tabhi itni famous kitabein bhi nahi mil rahi hai”.

I also felt the same that maybe people in India have stopped reading hindi novels and books and hence its not easy to find those in regular shops or e-stores. But well my hypothesis didn’t last for long as last weekend I was surfing some US specific e-commerce sites. One of the popular sites was having section of books by Indian writers. Out of curiosity I entered the titles suggested by my mom and lo’ all the books were available in that book store with even reviews and author profiles completed! Felt surprised as well as sad – I was not getting those books here and all these are available in a US site as best rated classics! Stunning!

Though Hindi is our mother tongue but I hardly know of anyone from today’s generation who reads hindi books these days. Honestly speaking even I have not read lots of hindi books but yes I have definitely read some of the very popular ones and have really liked those a lot. Reading as a habit was seeded in me by my mom and she used to suggest me all good novels irrespective of the language be it English, Hindi or translated version of very famous regional books. So, as a child I have read variety of books including real good hindi classics as well. But guess with lots of other things getting lost in rut of life, I lost touch with hindi literature as well…Though I love books by Indian writers but almost all the current books released by Indian writers are written originally in English and so that’s what I read mostly these days. I wonder about current generation as in younger people who are currently in schools, I doubt if most of them are even aware of hindi classics or treasure hidden in our own literature…Do they even know that these books are rated as best classics from India globally? I wonder if Hindi literature is on its way to extinction in India!

I was out on an official tour to Mumbai and suddenly I get this call at 3 am in the morning…in that darkness of hotel room I further got psyched to see my mom’s name displayed on my cell! Zillion thoughts flashed through my mind in that fraction of second. Mom was not keeping well for past so many days, she was having very high BP and we all were insisting her so much to come and stay with any one of us. One thing which I really feel guilty about my job and career is leaving my mom all alone in that small city. Many times me and my brothers have asked my parents to shift with any of us, but they are not at all convinced about leaving everything in our hometown and coping up with a hectic lifestyle like us in metros. And for last few days I was just so restless about my family that this call at 3 am totally shook me up. Muttering prayers and gathering courage I picked up the phone, and it was my mom who said “hello”….thank god, she is fine! But something else had definitely happened, she was crying hysterically…I kept on asking her “kya hua, mumma bolo plzzzz”…and finally what she said totally shook me up…this was never expected by me even in my dreams. How could this be possible, Amitesh Bhaiya is no more!!! I couldn’t believe my ears and told there might have been some misunderstanding, but no, the news was correct and he died in a flash of seconds in a road accident that night. Police had called from the highway where his bike was hit by truck to confirm the news! Out of sheer shock and numbness, I just packed my bags and reached airport to take the next flight at 4:30 am to my hometown. I can’t describe how I managed to control my outburst throughout the flight and then the scene after that was just toooo heartbreaking and devastating! Couldn’t believe my eyes that a person who was just like us was now lying lifeless drenched in blood on the floor. Though Amitesh Bhaiya was not my own brother but he was nothing less than that. Since his own mother had died when he was hardly 10, so he had literally grown up in our house with my mom taking care of him as her own son. And then the age factor, he was just 1 year elder to me, so he was not only my closest cousin but one of my closest friends as well.

I have experienced few deaths earlier also in my family but they were all of elderly people who died after some sort of illness…not that those were less painful but this sudden death of somebody so close and almost my age is one of the worst and most painful experiences life could have given me. I had never imagined that death can be so brutal, so callous and life can be so short. We all are running after some or other thing, career, money, physical luxuries, happiness, success etc…but anything and everything can just come to an end in a fraction of second by this superpower known as death. And then you keep on thinking, “wish I could have spoken last night to this person” or “wish I could have done this for him” or “wish, I can see this person again in life”…but you can’t as the person has gone forever now! You are left with only those sweet moments of togetherness and beautiful memories to reminisce for your whole life…After this accident, all I want to do is spend as much time as possible with my loved ones as you never know when someone will go away! Loss of my friend can never be fulfilled by anything in life and I will miss him forever now. But I believe that death can only end a life and never a relationship! He will be in my memories & thoughts eternally.

This has not happened for the first time that I’ve got jam packed in Bangalore traffic in such a way that it looked as if the jam would never come to an end but somehow my yesterday’s drive back to home really left me wondering & shaken from inside. I felt this terrible desperation & helplessness after yesterday’s incident.

A reputed hospital comes on my way back home & so generally I find one or two ambulances running on the road. As any other road in Bangalore, even that particular road is jam packed during peak hours, sometimes so much that a stretch of 3.5 kms takes as much time as 30 mins to 45 mins to be covered. Infact occasionally I have spent even more time on that particular stretch. So, as usual even last night was nothing different when I was just stuck in the jam with so many screeching & screaming horns here & there. In all those sounds, there was one ambulance sound also roaring its alarm like anything, well but what can one do to help that ambulance as those who live in Bangalore know that there is hardly an inch for any vehicle to move here & there if you are stuck in jam. Suddenly my eyes went to that ambulance window & I saw a lady crying appallingly… somebody in that ambulance was critically injured & as per the auto driver next to me it was her husband who had got injured. Her loud voice & continuously running tears were just making it impossible for me to withdraw my eyes from her. That ambulance driver came out to instruct people to move here and there explaining the critical condition of the patient & even public was willing to move seeing the desperate condition of that female…she was just crying like anything & everybody was soooo pained to see that. But alas, no place for any vehicle to move back, front, right or left… we all were just stuck…even with all the intention to help, none of us were able to do anything…Oh god, what a moment that was…I felt like just jumping out of my vehicle & allowing that ambulance to go. But of course that would not have been of any help as what to do with the vehicle… In all this chaos & millimeter by millimeter progress of vehicles ahead, more than 25 mins were over, the hospital was hardly any distance from that place but still L…Then a bunch of guys suggested all of us to move back & there was a small service lane kind of thing in the back in which people started entering, so that atleast that ambulance can move back & maybe try some other route to reach any other hospital. But ohhh suddenly we heard the sudden loud wailing of this lady…she started banging her head on that ambulance window… oh god, what happened, has he died???????? I was just wondering & the taffic started moving, maybe one of the signals had become green… I tried asking my neighboring window, “what happened, is he ok”?, he replied, “looks like he is dead now”!!!!!!!!! And zoom that ambulance went ahead as the jam opened…

Well, I don’t know what happened to that lady’s husband, is he alive or he just died in that jam waiting to reach the hospital which was hardly 10-15 mins away from that area… I just kept on praying that may he be alive as that lady’s tear filled face was hounding my mind… and whole of my way back I was just wondering about the traffic jams & ‘n’ number of vehicles plying on the road… Well, traffic woes are the reality of any city these days but is there any solution to it in a city like Bangalore where the roads are so narrow with no space on sides to expand the roads even an inch??? The city has exploded completely with migratory population like us & the infrastructure was not at all geared up to bear an explosion like this… we all only crib about the traffic etc etc here, but when I see those narrow roads, those upcoming commercial spaces & the incidents like yesterday, I keep on wondering… if there is any solution to it???

Hmmm, I am writing a blog after a long time…was caught up in so many things, increased workload, increased traffic (for past so many days, I am spending atleast 4.5 hours on road despite my home being just 14kms from my office, thanks to the pathetic roads…Phewww!!!), & increased home pressure too. But of course like everybody else, the most important thing out of all these which is controlling my life right now is my job,
Few days back, I was talking to this very close friend of mine who is sort of quite level headed & balanced in his outlook. I asked him that despite so many problems at his work front, how does he seem to be so satisfied with his job? He very simply replied in one short & sweet sentence, “JOB SATISFACTION IS A MYTH”. I was quite surprised to listen to this esp. from him as he generally seemed to be not much disturbed by his work front, & he seldom used to complain about his job. So I always used to think that he is sort of satisfied with his job. Seeing the confusion on my face, he further told me that during initial years of his job, even he used to crave for this so called “job satisfaction” thing but he learnt it hard way soon that there is no such thing existing, every job he changed was having some or other problem, so now he has given up or rather learnt adjust.
Later on I pondered over his sentence for long & even I started wondering if there is anyone whom I know who is happy & satisfied with his or her job. Frankly speaking, I get too affected if things aren’t o.k at my work front & many times despite my efforts I also don’t get this so called “job satisfaction” in my work. In my pursuit for more knowledge about this job satisfaction, I decided to check this with few more of my colleagues & friends if they feel satisfied by their jobs & are they happy with their current job, if yes, then how??? Well, well, well, I was quite astonished to find the answer as out of so many people whom I asked, I didn’t find even a single, I am repeating not even a single person who was satisfied by his or her job. The reasons were varied, but the crux was same, “Job Satisfaction is a myth”. Most of them are working because they know that they have to work for money, social status etc. etc. but none of them were so called satisfied by their corporate jobs & the reasons cited by them were either one or many of the following:

• Financial incentives not proportional to the workload, low salary.
• Boss is a big pain in life, too demanding.
• Ever increasing workload leaving no space for personal life.
• No recognition/motivation for job well done.
• Sick Office Environment e.g., too political, too much favoritism.
• Dumb nature of work i.e., work is too dull or boring, non-challenging.
• Performance Appraisal isn’t an open system.
• Poor HR policies like leave policy, concern for employees etc.
• Low or zero promotion scope, too much hierarchy
• Unhealthy competition, unethical rules.

Hmmm…so some are having good salary but not good work, some are having good work but not good salary, some are having both but not good boss…ha ha ha, reminds me of this sher- “Har kisi ko mukkamal jahan nahi milta, kisi ko zameen toh kisi ko aasmaan nahi milta…”, but whatever be the reason everybody supported that there is no such phenomenon as “job satisfaction” in present age!!!
Well, I am really confused now. Despite such long working hours, increased salaries, increased standard of living, why this huge dissatisfaction? Is it because of general human tendency to be dissatisfied or is it really a myth???

Update: Just heard from a friend right now that he has finally given up his corporate job to pursue his artistic dream. He was working in corporates for past 6 years & he told that not even once he experienced this so called job satisfaction from his corporate assignments, so he finally decided to take this risk & is feeling very happy right now. Well he also informed that his family is not at all happy with his decision as he isn’t able to earn sufficient money like earlier. Hmmm… I admire his courage & wish him good luck for his new journey…But I don’t know how many of us are prepared for such big risks in our lives??? What about those who are having enough responsibilities & social/peer pressure? Can they take such risk? I don’t think so…