Hi Everyone,
It is exactly an year that I got the idea of writing a journal on my return to school. And I thought this was the best date to write this post and bring an end to this blog.
On the train to Mumbai from Kolkata, I met Anshul Kumar, an IRMA graduate and working in the area of micro finance. He introduced me to the concept of blogs and blogging. And one thing turned to other and there was http://schoolat31.blogspot.com. The 31 stood for my chronological age during the moment. Today, one year hence, I am into the industry and for me it is an absolute new phase in my professional life. Military life to student life and now finally into the "civilian" industry. A pursuit which I began chasing in the last few months of 2005 has finally commenced and I have embarked on it full gusto.
The one year at SPJIMR has been an year of phenomenal learning in academics, non academics as well as life. I think my biggest learning has been from my 57 counterparts in the course as well as my fellowmates in the other programs at SPJIMR. They were people from some of the best organisations and some with some of the best educational backgrounds. But we all gelled with equal humility, camarederie and strongest possible kinsmanship. Above all it has been great fun to have so many good friends. All of us has now embarked on one's journey in pursuit of professional excellence and scale "that peak" across the horizon, where we want to reach in individual capacities.
At the same time a student is never successful or learned without the huge contribution of the "guru". I dont want to use the term teacher as I feel it is very superficial and anglicised and fails to capture the true meaning of the Indian concept. It is only for the selfless and fathomless dedication, that today we can dare to dream. The apt "guru dakshina" will be to achieve what they taught us for and what they want us to achieve. That is what the guru aspires for his (or her) students. Today when we embark on the journey of our professions, let us all make a promise to keep this in the back of our mind and blitzkrieg forward.
Au revoir and Godspeed.
PS: For those who would be interested to read my future blogs, can always visit, http://amitabhaghosh.blogspot.com
Wednesday, April 25, 2007
Monday, April 02, 2007
33 Meme
I found this interesting meme on a friend's blog (and I answered them all too for him). So posting it here and hoping that my friends/readers would take the next step!
1. Can you cook?
2. What was your dream growing up?
3. What talent do you wish you had?
4. Favorite place?
5. Favorite vegetable?
6. What was the last book you read?
7. What zodiac sign are you ?
8. Any Tattoos and/or Piercings?
9. Worst Habit?
10. Do we know each other outside of blogger?
11. What is your favorite sport?
12. Negative or Optimistic attitude?
13. What would you do if you were stuck in an elevator with me?
14. Worst thing to ever happen to you?
15. Tell me one weird fact about you:
16. Do you have any pets?
17. Do you know how to do the macarena?
18. What time is it where you are now?
19. Do you think clowns are cute or scary?
20. If you could change one thing about how you look, what would it be?
21. Would you be my crime partner or my conscience?
22. What color eyes do you have?
23. Ever been arrested?
24. Bottle or Draft?
25. If you won $10,000 dollars today, what would you do with it?
26. What kind of bubble gum do you prefer to chew?
27. What 's your favorite bar to hang at?
28. Do you believe in ghosts?
29. Favorite thing to do in your spare time?
30. Do you swear a lot?
31. Biggest pet peeve?
32. In one word, how would you describe yourself?
33. Will you repost this so I can fill it out and do the same for you?
Now, I'll wait - fingers crossed et al - for the responses to hit me!
1. Can you cook?
2. What was your dream growing up?
3. What talent do you wish you had?
4. Favorite place?
5. Favorite vegetable?
6. What was the last book you read?
7. What zodiac sign are you ?
8. Any Tattoos and/or Piercings?
9. Worst Habit?
10. Do we know each other outside of blogger?
11. What is your favorite sport?
12. Negative or Optimistic attitude?
13. What would you do if you were stuck in an elevator with me?
14. Worst thing to ever happen to you?
15. Tell me one weird fact about you:
16. Do you have any pets?
17. Do you know how to do the macarena?
18. What time is it where you are now?
19. Do you think clowns are cute or scary?
20. If you could change one thing about how you look, what would it be?
21. Would you be my crime partner or my conscience?
22. What color eyes do you have?
23. Ever been arrested?
24. Bottle or Draft?
25. If you won $10,000 dollars today, what would you do with it?
26. What kind of bubble gum do you prefer to chew?
27. What 's your favorite bar to hang at?
28. Do you believe in ghosts?
29. Favorite thing to do in your spare time?
30. Do you swear a lot?
31. Biggest pet peeve?
32. In one word, how would you describe yourself?
33. Will you repost this so I can fill it out and do the same for you?
Now, I'll wait - fingers crossed et al - for the responses to hit me!
Tuesday, February 20, 2007
Internships and Reliefs
I think it is almost more than 2 months now that I wrote my last post. The delay has been due to reasons more emotional than otherwise. The euphoria of having blessed with a daughter, on 14th of January, was definitely ecclesiastical. We always wished for a daughter and seeing a daughter wheeled out of the delivery room on the morning of the auspicious Makar Sankranti, I was left searching for words. The next one week was gone in the daily visit to the hospital to be with my dearest wife, before I returned to “dear old” Mumbai.
Back in Mumbai, it was our last 10 days of academia, with back to cramming and assignment submission days! It finally ended with the perpetual exams. The knowledgeables say that the last term in any B School is a cakewalk compared to what you withstand all through the program and ours was no different. Fellow mates were more bothered with offer letters, project internships, stipends and locations and it’s not surprising when all one is doing is raring to be out of the academia and back to the professional world with some degree of semblance. But I am sure that many would agree that academia was more fun with no responsibilities and no work stress. I can only agree partially. I would rather say it was a welcome ‘holiday’ of sorts! The need of economics and the “paapi pet ka sawaal” in real life is overwhelming!! And who better to vouch than one who has transcended from being a SINK (single income no kid) to NINK (No income no kid) to NIOK (No income one kid)!! [I thought about these acronyms sometime back and was actually inspired by my good friend, Milind, who transformed from being a DINK (Double Income No Kids) to SINK]
That internship can be a stress was only evident from the ‘long’ (= hours) telephone calls between Milind and his good lady, about relocating to another city, about jobs and about being with each other. It’s a constant topic of discussion between me and Hiren. We felt Milind was really never away to do his MBA as us. His extended weekends (weekdays for the normal public) at Pune and his hourly discussions during the week in Mumbai never really kept him away!! Unfortunately he is now shunting in the Indian Silicon Valley, munching on crispy dosas and surviving on bisi bele bhaath. I am sure this carnivore friend of mine is cursing all and sundry, being devoid of the meat feast. However, I have been told that his phone calls continue unabated. I am pondering, which company is sinking and who is making money. I know he is going to smirk and use some ‘verbal niceties’ for me once he reads this post. My roomie Hiren is a different story altogether. He also reached Banaglore and in the same company along with his “pune chi mitr” and was ecstatic to realise that he can get along so cheap. I heard him telling me on of the rare phone calls (they both share one phone!!), that it’s so cheap in Silicon Valley and he has actually started liking south Indian food (read dosas and uthapas) as they are ‘wholesome’ and cheap. And I guess thereafter he went berserk!! He became excessively friendly with the “loo”!! I keep reminding him that staying for long in the Americas has robbed him of his ‘natural resilience’ and its time he accepts that.
I joined Larsen & Toubro (L&T). I wanted to be in a core sector industry and I joined one of them for my internship. The company provides a bus for travelling, provides good breakfast and good lunch (5 course and NON VEG twice a week). The only thing that a sucks a wee bit is the early morning chores at 0600 hrs as the bus crosses my hostel at 0730 hrs. But who minds when you get paid a good ‘package’ for this small inconvenience.
For my friends who follow this blog, the life of this blog is gradually coming to an end as my days back in B – School are coming to an end too. Though I will definitely post some more before I end this ‘back to school’ episode narrations.
Back in Mumbai, it was our last 10 days of academia, with back to cramming and assignment submission days! It finally ended with the perpetual exams. The knowledgeables say that the last term in any B School is a cakewalk compared to what you withstand all through the program and ours was no different. Fellow mates were more bothered with offer letters, project internships, stipends and locations and it’s not surprising when all one is doing is raring to be out of the academia and back to the professional world with some degree of semblance. But I am sure that many would agree that academia was more fun with no responsibilities and no work stress. I can only agree partially. I would rather say it was a welcome ‘holiday’ of sorts! The need of economics and the “paapi pet ka sawaal” in real life is overwhelming!! And who better to vouch than one who has transcended from being a SINK (single income no kid) to NINK (No income no kid) to NIOK (No income one kid)!! [I thought about these acronyms sometime back and was actually inspired by my good friend, Milind, who transformed from being a DINK (Double Income No Kids) to SINK]
That internship can be a stress was only evident from the ‘long’ (= hours) telephone calls between Milind and his good lady, about relocating to another city, about jobs and about being with each other. It’s a constant topic of discussion between me and Hiren. We felt Milind was really never away to do his MBA as us. His extended weekends (weekdays for the normal public) at Pune and his hourly discussions during the week in Mumbai never really kept him away!! Unfortunately he is now shunting in the Indian Silicon Valley, munching on crispy dosas and surviving on bisi bele bhaath. I am sure this carnivore friend of mine is cursing all and sundry, being devoid of the meat feast. However, I have been told that his phone calls continue unabated. I am pondering, which company is sinking and who is making money. I know he is going to smirk and use some ‘verbal niceties’ for me once he reads this post. My roomie Hiren is a different story altogether. He also reached Banaglore and in the same company along with his “pune chi mitr” and was ecstatic to realise that he can get along so cheap. I heard him telling me on of the rare phone calls (they both share one phone!!), that it’s so cheap in Silicon Valley and he has actually started liking south Indian food (read dosas and uthapas) as they are ‘wholesome’ and cheap. And I guess thereafter he went berserk!! He became excessively friendly with the “loo”!! I keep reminding him that staying for long in the Americas has robbed him of his ‘natural resilience’ and its time he accepts that.
I joined Larsen & Toubro (L&T). I wanted to be in a core sector industry and I joined one of them for my internship. The company provides a bus for travelling, provides good breakfast and good lunch (5 course and NON VEG twice a week). The only thing that a sucks a wee bit is the early morning chores at 0600 hrs as the bus crosses my hostel at 0730 hrs. But who minds when you get paid a good ‘package’ for this small inconvenience.
For my friends who follow this blog, the life of this blog is gradually coming to an end as my days back in B – School are coming to an end too. Though I will definitely post some more before I end this ‘back to school’ episode narrations.
Thursday, January 11, 2007
In search of Flamingoes
I am writing this post as I cruise 35000 feet above sea level flying to Kolkata to see my wife bring in our little bundle of joy to this world. I find it quite an amazing coincidence that yesterday I was on a small country boat powered by a rickety diesel engine, searching for flamingos.
I knew that flamingos come to the marshy lands of Mumbai every year during the winters but in the past four and half years of our stay here, we never felt like exploring this wonderful sight. However, last Sunday, I had a sudden rush of ideas of going to see this wonderful family of avian and try to capture them on my camera. The restless guy that I am, I was planning to go the very next day itself. But luckily things didn’t fall in place!! The logical move was to plan my exploratory visit on Thursday, our weekly off day. The next step was to find out where to go and if possible a companion. The ‘where to go’ was easy with Commander Parijat Sinha, a fantastic Naval Officer, a very close ‘senior’ and adventurous to the core. Parijat Da, I know, used to visit Sewri Mudflats every year when he was in Mumbai and it was logical to give him a call. As usual he was a treasure house of information and gave me rock solid impetus that not only should I visit, I should also do “something worthwhile” with the Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS). The next step was to get in touch with BNHS and I was pleasantly surprised to get a reply to my email within 24 hours. The next target was to convince a “good” friend to accompany me. My close cronies and partners in all sundry crime shooed me off from my attempt to cut short their holiday sleep. But the good old mariner ties worked well and Shishir, a marine engineer (rather an ex marine engineer) agreed to come along with me on the trip.
I knew that flamingos come to the marshy lands of Mumbai every year during the winters but in the past four and half years of our stay here, we never felt like exploring this wonderful sight. However, last Sunday, I had a sudden rush of ideas of going to see this wonderful family of avian and try to capture them on my camera. The restless guy that I am, I was planning to go the very next day itself. But luckily things didn’t fall in place!! The logical move was to plan my exploratory visit on Thursday, our weekly off day. The next step was to find out where to go and if possible a companion. The ‘where to go’ was easy with Commander Parijat Sinha, a fantastic Naval Officer, a very close ‘senior’ and adventurous to the core. Parijat Da, I know, used to visit Sewri Mudflats every year when he was in Mumbai and it was logical to give him a call. As usual he was a treasure house of information and gave me rock solid impetus that not only should I visit, I should also do “something worthwhile” with the Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS). The next step was to get in touch with BNHS and I was pleasantly surprised to get a reply to my email within 24 hours. The next target was to convince a “good” friend to accompany me. My close cronies and partners in all sundry crime shooed me off from my attempt to cut short their holiday sleep. But the good old mariner ties worked well and Shishir, a marine engineer (rather an ex marine engineer) agreed to come along with me on the trip.
On Thursday morning (11th), we started off at 0545 hrs to catch the train to Sewri, a point of the city on the dockyard stretch. On reaching Sewri, we got into a taxi and confidently asked the cabbie to take us to the Sewri jetty. And wham! The driver told us “iss bar abhi tak koi pakshi aaya hi nahi” (This time no birds have come). My next poser was, “Where are the birds then?” and I was told it is Nhava Sheva, the port south of Mumbai and more than a 3 hr journey away. This was a big downer but we still decided to have a check ourselves. And unfortunately, Doc Murphy ruled the roost. Shishir was fortunately very enterprising and retorted “as we have already embarked on the trip, lets go to where the birds are”. We rushed to Sewri station once again to now catch the train to Panvel, the last rail head on the Harbour line and nearest to Nhava Sheva port. On the way we started discussing how we go about finding the birds as we were clueless. I recollected that the previous night I had come across a website where two enthusiasts had taken a boat from under the Vashi and cruised along the mangrove swamps of Ghatkopar upto Thane. So we decided to get down at Vashi and explore. Reached Vashi creek makeshift jetty and found all the fishing boats floating around on anchor but no boatman. Luckily we got a boatman, Sashikant, whom was quite helpful and finally got a guy who had a motor powered boat and was ready to take us. As usual, the guy asked for a hefty sum and after lot of ‘die-hard’ haggling, the guy settled for a comfortable price and we finally cast off at 0945!! And then on, it was an amazing feast for the eyes. Right from little chicks to fully grown up adults with their wide span wings - what a fantastic experience. I had my SLR camera and a small digital camera (courtesy my good friend, Vidya) clicking away to capture the beauties.
These beauties comes from Siberia during the winter months every year, lays their eggs and once the chicks hatch and grow up enough to fly, go back to their homeland. Some plain snaps are attached. And to watch a clip on youtube click here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CVisRqeCVD4
Waiting for the boatman
The flock on the bank
Taking flight
Formation Flying
The little one
Tuesday, January 02, 2007
The Year Gone By
I was thinking of writing this post on the first day of the year 2007. But then decided to write it today (03 Jan).
Its exactly a year today that I had hung up my uniform (or as some say hung up the boots) and ended my Commissioned Officer's role. And the year has been full of uncertainities, apprehensions and expectations about which shore we wash up to in 2007.
When I had taken the decision to quit the Armed Forces in August 2005, most of the people were amazed, some were shocked and a very miniscule percentage was pleased!!! Me and my wife were quite apprehensive where we are going. Gone were the society, the glamour, the 24 hr help and the furnished accomodation. And uncertainities were in abundance. We were leaving a comfortable, secured and glamorous life. The only bright lining on the horizon was my entry into SPJIMR and the support of some very close people who had the faith!! And with this we embarked on our journey into 2006.
2006 started off on a little slower note but took off well with me landing at SPJIMR, meeting fantastic people (from my course as well as other courses) and making some great buddies. But I feel the greatest news to start off was the doctor's call saying that me and my wife were on the way to parenthood. And what better impetus for taking the grind all through. Life at SPJIMR has been a fantastic roller coaster ride with the never ending assignments, PPTs and a lifetime of surprise quizzes. But then again there was small breathers in form of the Gita Shibir at Baroda. Thereafter, it was the Diwali vacation and then the tempo of the placement process which I had written about, in one of the earlier posts. The year ended on a great note with thrill of new jobs and a much pent up, sigh of relief (I bet it was, for many of us)!! And hence 2007 was welcomed with much more fun and relief.
2007 for me is a year of everything new. A new job, a new member in our family (me & my wife are waiting with bated breath for its arrival), a new home to setup and a new life to start. And perhaps start a seperate blog like, "Out of School @ 32"!!! But probably will just keep a simple blog without school and chronological age!!
But let us all have a bang of a year in 2007!!
PS: Below is a snap of the fireworks at the beach party on 31st Dec at INS Hamla
Its exactly a year today that I had hung up my uniform (or as some say hung up the boots) and ended my Commissioned Officer's role. And the year has been full of uncertainities, apprehensions and expectations about which shore we wash up to in 2007.
When I had taken the decision to quit the Armed Forces in August 2005, most of the people were amazed, some were shocked and a very miniscule percentage was pleased!!! Me and my wife were quite apprehensive where we are going. Gone were the society, the glamour, the 24 hr help and the furnished accomodation. And uncertainities were in abundance. We were leaving a comfortable, secured and glamorous life. The only bright lining on the horizon was my entry into SPJIMR and the support of some very close people who had the faith!! And with this we embarked on our journey into 2006.
2006 started off on a little slower note but took off well with me landing at SPJIMR, meeting fantastic people (from my course as well as other courses) and making some great buddies. But I feel the greatest news to start off was the doctor's call saying that me and my wife were on the way to parenthood. And what better impetus for taking the grind all through. Life at SPJIMR has been a fantastic roller coaster ride with the never ending assignments, PPTs and a lifetime of surprise quizzes. But then again there was small breathers in form of the Gita Shibir at Baroda. Thereafter, it was the Diwali vacation and then the tempo of the placement process which I had written about, in one of the earlier posts. The year ended on a great note with thrill of new jobs and a much pent up, sigh of relief (I bet it was, for many of us)!! And hence 2007 was welcomed with much more fun and relief.
2007 for me is a year of everything new. A new job, a new member in our family (me & my wife are waiting with bated breath for its arrival), a new home to setup and a new life to start. And perhaps start a seperate blog like, "Out of School @ 32"!!! But probably will just keep a simple blog without school and chronological age!!
But let us all have a bang of a year in 2007!!
PS: Below is a snap of the fireworks at the beach party on 31st Dec at INS Hamla
Night at Juhu (02 Jan '07)
Last night (02 Jan), some of us decided to go to Juhu beach. More joined in and we were a small group of 9! And at the beach we decided to wish my dear friend Milind, for his "upcoming" anniversary!! Some shots from the real good time!!
Friday, December 29, 2006
The Murder of Saddam
Iraq under Saddam and begining of my writing has a strange connection. During my days as a student in one of West Bengal's best residential schools, Ramakrishna Mision Vidyapith at Purulia, I started off writing my first article, and coincidentally on Gulf War - 1991. And evidently enough, Iraq and the Gulf area gets an extra attention.
While going through my daily dose of internet based news channels today morning (30/12), news of Saddam Hussein's execution was glaringly across all channels. Could not help but make my democratic self to write about this.
It actually makes me a little sad that Saddam has been executed and the reason is a flimsy "convicted for the Dujail killings and held responsible for the death of 148 Shias after an assassination attempt on his life in the 80s". What is surprising is George Bush Jr was so fond of his Iraqi Shiite brethren, that he spent billions of dollars and lives of atleast 3000 American soldiers to take revenge on their behalf. Not to forget the innumerable Iraqis who are being killed in a strange civil war, on a daily basis. And all of Mr Bush's claim of WMDs and support to the evil partnership has long since vanished into thin air. In fact one should ask Mr Bush, what would he have done if their was an assasination attempt on him or any of the US presidents? The twin tower bombings had Afghanistan razed and the ultimate egg on the face, Osama Bin Laden going around as free as spirit.
Iraq under Saddam was much more developing and liberal. The country had a appreciable economic growth, women had extensive freedom and law and order situation was eons better. Mr Bush Jr says, that the situation in Iraq is nowhere near improvement. Then what exactly did all his powers do for 4 years? Why did he exactly decide to attack a country which was cruising normally? And as claimed, if Saddam was conniving with Osama, why didnt he do that long back? And did Bush Jr take the reponsibility of ensuring their modicum of governance across the world? I have a nagging thought if all this had something to do with Bush Sr's snub on the eve of the Gulf War. But I would definitely make a caveat here: I am not at all saying that Saddam's brutality is condonable. But equally unacceptable is Bush's world policeman style of functioning.
Iraq continues to be in midst of a horrible civil strife and Osama continues to be elusive as ever, more so now. Lets see, which nation is next on Bush's scope! Iran, North Korea or somewhere else? Wat say people?
While going through my daily dose of internet based news channels today morning (30/12), news of Saddam Hussein's execution was glaringly across all channels. Could not help but make my democratic self to write about this.
It actually makes me a little sad that Saddam has been executed and the reason is a flimsy "convicted for the Dujail killings and held responsible for the death of 148 Shias after an assassination attempt on his life in the 80s". What is surprising is George Bush Jr was so fond of his Iraqi Shiite brethren, that he spent billions of dollars and lives of atleast 3000 American soldiers to take revenge on their behalf. Not to forget the innumerable Iraqis who are being killed in a strange civil war, on a daily basis. And all of Mr Bush's claim of WMDs and support to the evil partnership has long since vanished into thin air. In fact one should ask Mr Bush, what would he have done if their was an assasination attempt on him or any of the US presidents? The twin tower bombings had Afghanistan razed and the ultimate egg on the face, Osama Bin Laden going around as free as spirit.
Iraq under Saddam was much more developing and liberal. The country had a appreciable economic growth, women had extensive freedom and law and order situation was eons better. Mr Bush Jr says, that the situation in Iraq is nowhere near improvement. Then what exactly did all his powers do for 4 years? Why did he exactly decide to attack a country which was cruising normally? And as claimed, if Saddam was conniving with Osama, why didnt he do that long back? And did Bush Jr take the reponsibility of ensuring their modicum of governance across the world? I have a nagging thought if all this had something to do with Bush Sr's snub on the eve of the Gulf War. But I would definitely make a caveat here: I am not at all saying that Saddam's brutality is condonable. But equally unacceptable is Bush's world policeman style of functioning.
Iraq continues to be in midst of a horrible civil strife and Osama continues to be elusive as ever, more so now. Lets see, which nation is next on Bush's scope! Iran, North Korea or somewhere else? Wat say people?
Thursday, December 28, 2006
Child Labour Laws - Is it a fallacy?
Something on Wednesday (27/12) night moved me immensely and I thought I should pen my thoughts and share with you.
Wednesday I had been to an invitation dinner party at US Club in Colaba and was returning by the 12:08 pm Virar slow. The co travellers were all in the dozing mode after a long day of work. At Dadar, a swarm of people got in, mostly daily wage workers (as I could gauge by their apperance and tools they were carrying). In the midst of this, a young frail boy of around 10 years also got into the train carrying 2 big shoe polish brushes and some shoe laces. He was the usual shoe shine boy. But what struck me about him was he was not dressed in the usual tatters that one can usually see on a shoeshine boy but a little near a average clothing mark. He started off by asking each of the passengers for a polish but none was in the mood. A gentleman opposite me appeared a little good natured and started searching for change. Unfortunately, he had none. The guy made a genuine effort. It was also apparent that the little shoeshine boy was feelling utterly miserable to pester the gentleman. And in feeble tone he started sobbing and saying that he hasn't have anything to eat. I was wearing a suede shoe and was disappoiinted in not being able to give him a opportunity to earn.
What touched me greatly was, here I was returning from a party from one of the plushest of Mumbai clubs, and here was a 10 year old crying for food. I took out a five rupee coin and profferred towards him to cater for a vada pav atleast. He was hesitant in accepting that. A prodded a little more and he hesitated a little more. But perhaps his extreme hunger and helplessness took the better of his dignity and he took it. What would have prompted him to such dejection? This triggered me to think the title of this blog.
In a recent move about a month back, the Govt of India banned child labour across the country. A great move if you consider the immense disadvantages of child abuse and child trafficking. But in our country, where a major chunk of our population is below the proverty line, a very large section of sundry jobs are catered to by underage workers. All of us at one point of time would have been served tea/snacks by the quintessential "chhotu" at one of the plethora of eating joints across the country. I have experienced this right from on the solitary path to Hemkund Sahib (at 16000 ft in the Himalayas) to Kanyakumari. These boys are not abused. They earn a livelihood. They support a family. I have spoken to lot of them and amazingly a huge number of them have that fire in their belly to do something and I am sure they will with their zeal.
However, the fact that now becomes significant is, this huge section of these "young" wage earners have been rendered jobless. How does these young "chhotus" cater for their livelyhood and food? Who looks after them?
It is a very "nice" thing to follow Western ethics and human rights, but it is an absolute failure if you do not have the infrastructure to support the people affected by the "rights". I feel we are actually breeding a huge sea of unemployed, uncared for and bitter youth for our tomorrow in these young boys. Did any of our Civil Servants - the babus, the mantris, think about what happens to these kids? Does anyone care? Isn't it a fallacy to usurp a livelihood and drive someone to chilling penury in an effort to have a "Labour Law"?
Send me your views if you feel I am getting it all mixed up!!!
Wednesday I had been to an invitation dinner party at US Club in Colaba and was returning by the 12:08 pm Virar slow. The co travellers were all in the dozing mode after a long day of work. At Dadar, a swarm of people got in, mostly daily wage workers (as I could gauge by their apperance and tools they were carrying). In the midst of this, a young frail boy of around 10 years also got into the train carrying 2 big shoe polish brushes and some shoe laces. He was the usual shoe shine boy. But what struck me about him was he was not dressed in the usual tatters that one can usually see on a shoeshine boy but a little near a average clothing mark. He started off by asking each of the passengers for a polish but none was in the mood. A gentleman opposite me appeared a little good natured and started searching for change. Unfortunately, he had none. The guy made a genuine effort. It was also apparent that the little shoeshine boy was feelling utterly miserable to pester the gentleman. And in feeble tone he started sobbing and saying that he hasn't have anything to eat. I was wearing a suede shoe and was disappoiinted in not being able to give him a opportunity to earn.
What touched me greatly was, here I was returning from a party from one of the plushest of Mumbai clubs, and here was a 10 year old crying for food. I took out a five rupee coin and profferred towards him to cater for a vada pav atleast. He was hesitant in accepting that. A prodded a little more and he hesitated a little more. But perhaps his extreme hunger and helplessness took the better of his dignity and he took it. What would have prompted him to such dejection? This triggered me to think the title of this blog.
In a recent move about a month back, the Govt of India banned child labour across the country. A great move if you consider the immense disadvantages of child abuse and child trafficking. But in our country, where a major chunk of our population is below the proverty line, a very large section of sundry jobs are catered to by underage workers. All of us at one point of time would have been served tea/snacks by the quintessential "chhotu" at one of the plethora of eating joints across the country. I have experienced this right from on the solitary path to Hemkund Sahib (at 16000 ft in the Himalayas) to Kanyakumari. These boys are not abused. They earn a livelihood. They support a family. I have spoken to lot of them and amazingly a huge number of them have that fire in their belly to do something and I am sure they will with their zeal.
However, the fact that now becomes significant is, this huge section of these "young" wage earners have been rendered jobless. How does these young "chhotus" cater for their livelyhood and food? Who looks after them?
It is a very "nice" thing to follow Western ethics and human rights, but it is an absolute failure if you do not have the infrastructure to support the people affected by the "rights". I feel we are actually breeding a huge sea of unemployed, uncared for and bitter youth for our tomorrow in these young boys. Did any of our Civil Servants - the babus, the mantris, think about what happens to these kids? Does anyone care? Isn't it a fallacy to usurp a livelihood and drive someone to chilling penury in an effort to have a "Labour Law"?
Send me your views if you feel I am getting it all mixed up!!!
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