Friday, March 20, 2009

History will record -Indian Peninsula was three-sides-Ocean but all-sides-violence..

This is not poetry but plain prose formatted for easy readability.
The views expressed in this are personal.
To stop receiving the mails send back a blank mail with sub: 'Stop Mails'.

Om Sri Sairam
History will record -
Indian Peninsula was three-sides-Ocean
but all-sides-violence,,,,
Every Mao strike sends an SMS to society.And
every bomb blast sends a missed call.
With a subtle message -"You could be the next".
Gone are the days of our
sitting in the lap of luxury,
sipping the morning coffee,
poring over the hot stories
of violence and mayhem across the country.
As long as the
milkmen and maid servants arrive in time..
and taps don't dry... and school buses ply,
we feel our World is safe.
But not anymore.
Our apathy and indifference
silently slipped into logical end.
Now violence is ringing our door bell.

Look at the neighbouring countries.
In one,a whole generation is lost fighting.
In another,Bomb blasts replaced morning alarms.
Freedom is removed even from Dictionary- you know where..
At this rate future students will read-
'Indian Peninsula was three sides Ocean
but all sides violence.'
No Govt can police every square foot.
Nor any Politician uproot violence in toto.
It is a logistical impossibility.
Seek solution elsewhere
Believe.India has changed.
The New India demands Action at all levels.
That doesn't exclude us.
We need spiritual strength, as
other modes failed to stretch and save.
World over, Govts go under. Icons crumble. Leaders fold up
before ruthless violence.
Even atheists wonder-
'why not try'their God'for a change..'
Every Avatar is an Extension Counter of God
within radar range of our Sense Organs,
for Darshan,sparshan and Sambhashan.
But after that what??
After reading Spiritual texts - what?
After listening to/singing inspiring bhajans - what?
After this extensive 'lubrication'
in 'Soul Service Centres',what do we do with it?
Time to go back to society and serve.
And make a difference with 'Applied Spirituality'.
To counter vilolence in concrete terms,
spiritually inclined should stir out of the barracks.
And go beyond mere Pooja Paat and serve
the poor and needy. Big time.
Mere intent can never be the solution
unless coupled with concrete action.
In neighbourhood slums and villages,
the neglected lot is ganging up
against the organised society
Ain't there enough good samaritans
to address their grievances..
Not enough crusaders? NGOs?
Of course there are millions of feet on street.
Of NGO men in action, if we go by stats
According to Indiaonline ,there are
about 2 million NGOs in India
working on a broad spectrum-
Street Children,old,youth,villagers,
slum dwellers,landless labour,tribals etc.etc
Even if a fraction of this is effective,
we could have replicated Heaven here
and put Moksha under Exchange offer
with the 'Abused lives' !
Fed up with life? Lifetime offer !
Exchange your Abused Lives
with direct Moksha package...

Then what went wrong?
Why this disconnect from the mainstream,
of the misguided youth and rural mass
revolting against the local systems
resulting in brutal massacre.

View from top hides all.
Till the flame reaches the sky
the heat can't be felt up there.
But by that time, it's already
a heap of ash below.
Get down to brass tacks
and get 'dusty' with us.
Shake hands with Reality.
And discover the truth.

Being Dust, we are freeflowing
to every nook and corner
and see a thing or two and
post our stories like the one below
to poor "you" in our digital captivity !!
(You can 'dust us off' anyway)

Some NGOs do very good work.
Kudos to those Angels.
We would love to extend
same salutations to others as well..but...

ChemburDust tiptoed and peeped in..
to know where it really pinches..
It's revealing...
For many, the distress signals of the poor
are new heartbeats to work on
and resuscitate themselves.

It is as though Poverty in society is just
another opportunity to build a career with.

They have discarded the Seva template
of Gandhi,Vinobha and even Anna Hazares.
Their new template begins with
animated Powerpoints
of appropriated statistics.
Even if it is a simple hut, they
show in seven different angles.
Read the rest of the rules..

Jargonise at the drop of a hat.
Don't forget to add 'Asia Pacific'
even if it is about a tribal village,
as it gives an international 'feel'.
And audience hits a new 'high'
every time they hear that.
The 3-D image of plight of poor
in 'Asia Pacific' villages in comparison to West...


And Graph is a must.
Even to show Zero !

You may see nothing in this graph.
Actually it shows the income of the village
for last 10 years that is near zero.

Difficult to get resource persons?
Follow Corporates, who use
fancy designations to arrest attrition. Like-
calling even a Sweeper - AVP(Brooms) !

Eversince he was re-designated as AVP(Brooms),
he keeps even the outside premises clean..
Bring in all such tricks
learnt in corporate corridors.
Build a model with measurable metrics-
something like 'Compassion Index" !
That can glorify the role of the giver
in an ecosystem of perennial Poverty.

And use Angrezi abundantly.
Don't be too naive.
Realise that the official language
of a high end NGO is Angrezi.
Risk getting downgraded by
mouthing any Indian lingo.

Wear designer dress that silently conveys-
'My work is slightly 'hatke', for the poor'.
My NGO works on poor depressed 'Sharks'
and cheer them up mid-sea

Be seen among the beneficiaries
in Picasas,You tubes,
Face books and Orkuts.
Update tweeters and amplify in Net.
Manage good Press. Maximise mileage.
From where is the fund for next year going to come.
What growth rate will please the donors?

Wish that the Poverty and Pain linger for ever.
They are the drivers of this model.
They need to be protected from getting extinct.
Think of the two million NGOs and their staff.
They can't lose their livelihood in a suicidal pursuit
of some fancy idea like Eradication of Poverty etc.
Use same logic used for not imposing Prohibition. Extrapolate.

So much for the smarties who double up to redeem society.
(Again salutations to the good ones doing silent work.)
The poor villagers have seen through the game.
They no longer believe that such flashy NGOs can deliver.
They see them coming to dump goodies and vanish in a jiffy
after digitally capturing all angles.
See full size image
Ok. Ok. NGO guys.
Take snaps showing us happy after what you gave..
For the present Gen of the poor, the time is running out.
They dont want to be unpaid Actors of our
Project 'Poverty' in Village Theatres.
And let others party over their Misery.

See how I drew your attention, which we couldn't for ages,
by this single act of violence. So much so
even sleepy ChemburDust is writing about us.

They see the ugly wealth of urbanites showing all over.
Inciting them to 'go and snatch' if not given.
Colas and cellphones reached villages,where
footprint of potable water and Power couldn't.

"Hello.Iam busy fetching water.
Will talk to you later.."
Instigated by the 'feed-the-greed' ads,
stoking the flame of consumerism,
every village youth dreams of
a mobile and two wheeler as starters.
Tobe followed by more..
Which their education and economy don't support.
And other support systems around, fail to address. Then
evil forces cakewalk and takeover.
Might becomes right.And
violence appears as the logical next step.
Before.... After....
Citywale..Your feed-the-greed ads in TV are too tempting..
In their impatience, we see
many missed opportunities to redeem,
by the misengaged socialites
moving around with nose up in the air
flashing NGO tags.

But everything is not lost.
After a full circle and
many trial-and-error handshakes,
the poor realise that their only hope is -
the real spiritual ones
who believe in their Master and silently serve.

The Religion neutral and Spiritual Positive.
Those who see God by serving humanity.
Though handful,they make a difference.
They don't airdrop and vanish
but foot it out to reach and serve.

But so much need tobe done
by all these foot soldiers.

Beyond Powerpoint graphs and jazzy Jamboree
begin the real 'seva-life'.

Seva is self-effacing.
It begins with Sacrifice, however small.
It is not to add one more identity.

But dissolving the false identity, we are
already burdened with.

It's time to stop all peripheral Bakwas
and go for serious engagement
with the poor and needy.

And reassure that we are around
to handhold and elevate.

Stop Powerpointing.Speak their lingo.
We need to reinvent ourselves
and Reinstate the lost virtues.
The pristine form, full of divine vibes,
that will fire the values from within.
Achievable only through constant Sadhana.

Its time our youngmen and women,
bear-hugged our country cousins
in villages and slums
exhibiting extraordinary "Bhaichara" and bonhomie.
With Love that transmutes and transforms.

Before they give up, let us wake up.
And Reach the venue of Real Action.

Sairam

R.Chandrashekar
ChemburDust

N.B The Midnight Seva for the SSC students studying overnight in a Chembur Chimney Garden
is over and the trip to Siddhi Vinayak by walk from Chembur is scheduled on Sun 21 Mar morning 5 am.
Wearing a T-Shirt - "Om Sri Sairam - Midnight Scholars", all the students will go by walk to have Siddhivinayak darshan.
Interested ones can join the venue directly.
As a continuing engagement with the slum youth, our free classes for English Speaking, Personality Dev and Basic computer will start from Sun 21 Mar evening 5 - 7 pm at Dhanalaxmi bank premises Opp Hotel Malhar Chembur and run continuously throughout the year.

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