vidalorg's blog

New Server Transformation Completed

vidalorg — Fri, 30 Mar 2007 05:12:14 -0600

Hi,

From Now you can experience a better performance and more expandable sources fo r Vidal...

Sorry for the Downtime....

Regards,
Pratyush

Untold stories of rural wealth distribution

vidalorg — Thu, 01 Mar 2007 20:18:19 -0700

Money is tightly linked to economics and terms like supply and demand, excess and none and most importantly wealth creation and distribution.

Whenever I think of wealth, I remember my grandfather, a farmer of a smallholding from a remote village in Guntur district of Andhra Pradesh. My paternal grandparents died much before I was born. My connection with him was limited to garlanding a big photograph of his in the hallway of my childhood home a few times. His picture was kind of multimedia of those days. He never had any a picture all for himself, so they had import his face from a group photo and do it up with a bit of painting to give real image to his face. I have an aunt in her ripe 90's, a small figure shrunk with age. She is the only link for me to understand my grandparents. My aunt dispassionately narrates good and not so good stories about my grandparents in an animated way. When she has to talk about my grandfather, she has this good one, she would say "your grandfather never wore any chappals, and when he walked thorns would break to pieces when he stamped them, his feet became so hard, he had a long stick and was always in his dhoti tied till his knees." Even farmers in Mahbubnagar look no different, except that they wear chappals made by local cobblers, a sect who the villagers believe have special skill in making chappals. She continues, "he covered his bare chest with a small cloth and used to go to his farm. He was growing vegetables in his farm, along with chillies", no wonder, Guntur is known for growing chillies, considering even small holder farmers grew it right from those days. Water was in abundance too. Now comes the interesting piece. "He had few people to help in the farm and after some time working in the farm, he would go and sit under a big tree on the hedge, close his eyes and go meditating" now my aunt would laugh. When I was a child I didn't know why she would laugh at this juncture. She never gave too much of a gap and came straight to the point, "other farmers passing by would shout...Ohhh, Pedda Ramaiah garu, enough of meditating, please open your eyes, see all those passing by your farm are plucking and taking away your vegetables". I never understood the hidden aspects of "taking away” business as a kid. My aunt continued, "your grandfather would shout back, saying let them take as much as they want, after all they are taking for eating and they too need vegetables, but he didn't open his eyes.", then she would ask me "did you know why he was meditating?” wait only for a fraction of a second, I suspect she didn't expect any answer from me, "because people will not take vegetables with such liberty if he was sitting there with his eyes open". So there ended the story.

I must have heard this story n' number of times right from my childhood. But, only now, I see the meaningfulness of the story. It was a fine way to wealth distribution, one creates, but passes on, one takes but takes in the presence of the owner. The giver and the receiver are in total harmony. This way I am sure you don't need an institution to regulate village sustainable development. Yes, I agree it looks and feels platonic. Sounds more like a story than reality, though it is only a two-generation-old reality.

My friend Shariq says this is the spiritual side of the eastern economic model, firmly placed in individual and community belief framework. Communities decide sharing norms based on culture and upbringing. Most often they are passed on from person to person in a family network than are codified elsewhere. Even today in the year 2007 I notice that small boys and girls come to Bhupal's home in drought prone Mahbubnagar village with a small can asking for milk. Bhupal mother believes in the old saying "more people, thinner milk" but surely gives something in the can. I used to think that Bhupal's family might be selling milk, only later I realized that it is a norm for farmers rearing buffaloes to give milk freely to those who can not afford to buy. Had they kept the milk to themselves, they could eat thicker yogurt. Very often, thin buttermilk is served with food for all of us in Bhupal's house, because they don't send the little boys and girls back without milk.

Money, heart and mind

vidalorg — Thu, 01 Mar 2007 10:41:04 -0700

Can someone tell me whether heart or mind should be engaged in making decisions about money? I know you will say, both are important, but one surely is always is in a dominant position I think.

Let me give an example. I am often undecided how much to give a beggar near the traffic light. I take out a rupee or two and then think, "What will this small amount buy for them?" By then I have an urge to give a ten rupee note or even a hundred based on factors like age, looks of vulnerability of the person etc...I am also seriously engaged in thinking by then if I am doing the right thing, because I know that I can hardly sustain this method of welfare even if it can give instant gratification, and I am sure there will be several others too who might give. My heart shouts from inside, "you fool, decide what you want to give, why do you worry what others may or may not give", my mind wouldn't give up, "what if this kid gets more than he expects and gets to smoking or drinking". By then this whole business of giving itself seems very tricky because one doesn't know "how the money is spent", I suddenly start feeling that I understand the dilemma of donor agencies, who try to put tight frameworks with lot of numbers on donee countries and agencies to ensure money is spent right. Ok, suppose I talk to this boy, who has only one hand, and looks tired in the sun, but surely not undernourished, and ask him what his needs are and how much he gets per day and how he spends that money, than blindly believe he needs my money. Hell, the thought doesn't go down!! How terrible, that I kind of rip open understanding on needs of people to see that this single rupee or even this single hundred is justified in the giving. We don't even sit on a common platform, so how can I assume to understand his circumstances. There is also a great chance that I might only see the "poor him" picture, undermining his dignity. How can I try and share a dialog of any kind without sublime power dynamic? I felt in my heart that it was ok to trust and give, independent of my perceived fears of misuse of this little money, than feel justified in giving. Finally, I end up giving one or hundred rupees based on resourcefulness of my purse and emotional state of my heart on that particular day. Meanwhile I also blame the planets for their mischief, otherwise, why should I get into to an emotional tie with a hard-core subject like money.

After several years of internal dialog, something like you see in o'l movies, "the person in the mirror speaking", I have reconciled that it is tough to ignore my heart in the matters of money. It seems to have already taken the seat of priority without consulting my mind.

Wealth matters from rural perspective

vidalorg — Thu, 01 Mar 2007 10:27:42 -0700

What I started off as a blog ended up into several pages, and now it looks more like a serial story. The best thing to do now is to publish this whole topic in several blogs. This way, I will be also able to check and recheck if my thoughts are represented rightly when I am speaking in third person. Broadly the short blogs are in the theme of wealth creation, generation and globalisation, from the rural perspective. I am giving a shorter title for each of the blogs. When I write I mostly write with my heart and later I try to bring in logical sequence to the whole write up, because I feel this way I keep my commitment to truth. I hope the perspectives coming out of all the blogs are consistent with my feelings about the issue, if they do not, I am open to thinking and adapting. I am also hoping that someone will pick up his or her pen/pencil or keypad this time to join me in taking the debate forward.

Peacemakers

vidalorg — Sun, 18 Feb 2007 20:43:56 -0700

I was driving to work when I saw a young man lose control on a motorcycle and fall in front of my car. I stopped the car spontaneously and went motionless in my driver seat. I didn't attempt to get down from the car, because I can neither pick up the bike nor the man and cause several sets of eyes parking on me, as those acts are unladylike. Unfortunately one thinks about conformity even during situations that demand personal attention. Then I saw a youngster in bright yellow shirt running across the road to the motorcyclist, not bothered about the zooming traffic on the other side of the road. He instantly lifted the bike and the man on the road. He was the first to arrive followed by few more, an auto driver and another motor cyclist. We the people going in the cars, none of us made any attempt to get down, except that I was little more patient and did not cross the motorcyclist and move on, while my fellow drivers did so. My patience did pay me back at least in terms of churning up my own thoughts.

I kept looking at the yellow shirt boy. He must be less than 20 years of age, had middle parting with long hair and pushed his hair now and then in a stylish motion. He must be one of those living in nearby slums attached to the road and this must be his regular place giving him the “responsibility to act”. His face looked serious with certain energy. He was totally attentive to the work he is on, and did not bother to look any other side. I tried looking at his eyes though they were lowered concentrating on the job in hand. I did get a glimpse on during one of those brief moments he lifted his eyes. I liked his eyes. They reminded me of another set of eyes I saw just a couple of days back. They were Bhoopals's mother’s eyes. I started the car and left the place in a brighter spirit and that feeling lasted for a long time even after the episode.

Few days back Bhoopal called me and asked me to come for Mohharrum in the village. He had been asking me to come for Mohharrum since last three years but I have not been able to make it. This year I decided to go and landed in the village around ten in the night. Mohharrum activity starts only at midnight and so my timing was perfect. However, Bhoopal's family was unaware of my arrival and the house was totally dark. I stood up in front of the house wondering what to do. But Bhoopal's father who was sleeping under the tin roof outside the house, woke up and said, “who is that”, I responded to him saying “I am Rajeswari” and moved towards the entrance along with two other youngsters Ananth and Niranjana who were accompanying me during this visit. By then Bhoopal's mother and sisters were up and the lights in the house went on. We all sat in their hallway filled up with bags of grain, a table with two laptops, and lot of wires that were wiring the laptops, two chairs and an inverter converting DC power from solar photovoltaic to AC power. It was biting cold in the house with tin roof on the top. It is a small room measuring 8 feet by 10 feet and six of us were sitting there and eventually all of us slept in the same room. Bhoopal was away at a wedding with his video camera and was expected any time. We spoke joyously for some time, as apparently all of us were happy with the reunion after six months. I introduced Niranjana and Ananth to them and Bhoopal's sisters recognised Niranjana immediately. Niranjana is doing her PhD on ICT for Rural Development and visited COW project and Bhoopals's family earlier. I introduced Ananth who wanted to work with me to get a perspective on rural development, which is hopefully little different from the contemporary development models. Bhoopal's father Mohan Reddy showed me the silver ornaments they made on my behalf to decorate Mohharrum gods. I said they are beautiful and caused happy smiles on all their faces. I started to appreciate the cultural fabric of Bhoopals village ever since I went there to work with the people. For me having faith in people in easier than having faith in god. People in the villages have faith in god and it comes naturally to them to include people like me in their worship processes and I have learned to appreciate that.

We all went to the village square to see the bonfire and the music and dance. We paid our respects at the masjid before we were taken on to a terrace from where we could view everything nicely. There was no parapet wall and one could view the dance from close angles from the terrace. It was biting cold unlike near the bonfire though we were not too far from the fire. All men were holding arms in a circle going again and again with the same rhythm and steps. I got tired of watching after a while and my body started to refuse to sit straight after a long day's work and travel. I lay down on the plastic mat there and slipped into sleep only to be woken up by a heavy blanket falling on me, and being tucked in nicely around my neck by two thin hands. I opened my eyes to see Bhoopals mother bent over my shoulder. While we were coming to the bonfire the girls insisted on getting a blanket because their mother had fever all through the day, and she was covered even when I went to sleep. I got up and insisted she takes away the blanket and uses it for herself. She said “you were not well for two months, Bhoopal told me, it is too cold, and let it be”. It took sometime for me to convince her to take the blanket. Finally with great reluctance she took it back. I looked at her face. Her lips were smiling and her eyes were looking at me. There was special communication in her eyes. I thought it was that of affection.

However, two days after coming to Hyderabad and experiencing the feelings attached to the accident on the street I started to ponder over the communication in both of their eyes. There was a special quality to the eyes of Bhoopal's mother and the yellow shirt boy. I think it is purity from any motive that comes out of a sense of 'giving' that both of them exhibited in a natural spontaneous way. There is a favorite line in one of the religious books I read that says 'those who care for others without a motive are truly civilised'. Giving is often correlated to tangible things, but the only thing anyone can give the other is emotion and if that is pure without greed it becomes a spark, brightening the light of peace. Peace in turn is capable of resolving conflicts and negotiating union than division. Interestingly this whole thing is not as abstract as it sounds and all of us are capable of it. Peacemaking generally is understood to be between countries, states and conflicting populations. We are blind to the role of ordinary people who contribute to peace in our day-to-day life, beginning with mothers in every family. They make our days brighter and nights tranquil. I think there are several peacemakers in our day-to-day life, who are willing to contribute to a better world out of their generosity in a simple and humble way. But why can't nations and states do it, is it because they lack the capacity to 'give without a motive'. I actually don't know, may be it is much more complex than I think. However, one point is certain, the crisis of today is that of lack of willingness to give, independent of what we might or might not be able to give. It requires courage to listen to inner self and break from conformity to develop compassion and ability to give. It is tough business to develop compassion especially in a world that is filled up with uncertainty, of not only food and resources but also basic existence. The only way to reduce uncertainty is by giving and one can give only when uncertainty reduces. It is certainly a difficult situation for all of us, but there are several yellow shirt boys and thin-handed mothers to show us the path, but are we ready to perceive and listen?? Let me leave it at this point and wait for someone to add on...

New webcollabaration tool for VIDAL

vidalorg — Tue, 16 Jan 2007 09:32:48 -0700

Today....

installed a new web collabaration tool called " Webcollab " in VIDAL...

You can access the page via http://vidal.org.in/webcollab/webcollab-2.10a-utf8/

Users must get their usernames and passwords from Adminstrator...

Regards,
Pratyush

Website is back....

vidalorg — Wed, 10 Jan 2007 17:23:08 -0700

after somuch work...

I made the website working fine...

sorry for the interruption...

New template for VIDAL

vidalorg — Thu, 07 Sep 2006 02:23:00 -0600

Just uploaded the new template for VIDAL..

its green and some block structure...

I really love this template.

Bhupal on loose

vidalorg — Thu, 15 Jun 2006 08:29:50 -0600

Recently, I let Bhupal loose. I said, "Look my dear, time has come for you to work by yourself. I am not going to pay you a salary any longer. There is no revenue model for COW as we thought earlier, so what all you are able to earn is yours, you don't have to give a share to anyone, but you have to be by yourself". He nodded bravely, but his eyes also have shown a bit of worry. I felt like a parent, who is sending his/her child to a distant land for facing life. But, I held my chin up, not showing him that I too am worried. Bhupal is special; we walked together on this way for nearly three years, constantly learning from each other.

Bhupal is an Information Provider riding "Computers on Wheels" in Ghanpur mandal in Mahbubnagar.

I don't remember the first time I met Bhupal, I guess, he looks and behaves so common that I didn't notice him, only when he started taking the COW equipment usage seriously and curiously he came into my notice. That shows how blindfolded I was in noticing bright souls.

Bhupal is a story by himself. He was going along with Hari the then IP who launched COW in all villages and under his guidance was handling digital camera. Digital Camera was the first gadget that had consumed Bhupal's attention then. Quickly he started to look at the laptop computer and solar equipment. He didn't know how to ride a mobike initially; he would peddle a bicycle though. He learnt using a mobike and also took a learners license and now has a valid driving license.

Now, Bhupal ably handles equipment by himself including minor troubleshoot. He meets people (including foreigners and officials) guides them in villages, markets his abilities without help. People who meet Bhupal are generally impressed with his abilities. Amol Vilambe from Kirloskar was impressed with him so was Franziska Sinner from 800 ppm. There were several others like that.

What impresses most about him is his learn ability of new things. He is quick to grasp, quick to apply and very quick to move on. Added to this capability is his charm; he speaks less and means business. When he accompanied me to the District Collector, he pulled out his laptop opened mysql server and fired his software like a very experienced software techie. He is a charmer out and out...

Bhupal comes across really as an empowered one. He goes to State bank of India directly and meets an AGM and asks him to outsource digital imagery services from him. He goes to the District Collectors Office and manages all line departments to get his cheque for the services he rendered. All this from a village boy who didn't even complete his secondary school from a very remote village that didn't even have a proper road or telephone till recently is commendable.

My role has become simple introductions to the relevant people and occasional document preparation and sometimes making a phone call to enquire about certain developments. I don't have to say I am happy with this stage of affairs because I truly believe that using ICT, enabling rural development and building a livelihood is his call and not mine.

Bhupal came to Hyderabad the day before from the village to get his equipment repaired, and having come he met up with some prospective clients, alone all by himself. One of them is a health insurance service provider, big name, and well-funded section 25 company. Bhupal and I have been going around them for almost six months now. He was to be engaged for facilitating health insurance in 21 villages using ICT enabled process management. He called me up towards the evening and said that concerned HR officer told him that the company is encouraging big NGO's to come to them to manage the portfolio than engaging barefoot ICT people like Bhupal. He might have been disappointed, but didn't show it, because I guess he didn't want to upset me. He surely does not know that it is just not this company but even government who has this attitude. Corporitisation of rural development has become the order of the day. His contact at the SBI with the AGM was fruitful and the empathetic AGM said he would take him along for his field trip and engage him for outsourcing banking requirements. He went back with mixed feelings saying he will try out talking to some more clients and get business for himself.

The money he earned a couple of months back was good and will see him through for some more time. He has to build a client base and earn again. He is into bigger things now and digital photography does not excite him as much as it used to earlier. He is taken by knowledge work now.

He is a persistent guy and will not give up. He tasted a sense of freedom and respect. Just about an year and half back, his father said he can not work without a salary and he came back to me and said " I think enterprise model is better but my father says I can not work without a salary" and surrendered his equipment and left. He is not the same boy anymore. He convinced his whole family towards his decisions and they have even taken me as a part of their family. His father said once “I have put my boy’s responsibility in your hands”, as I was keeping him informed about developments from time to time.

Bhupal knows there is a path to self-sustenance and success. But it is not easy for either Bhupal or me. The path ahead is tough for both of us. When he went to the collector’s office for cheque collection, he was made to go around in circles for a month before the cheque was given to him. Then the dispatch clerk said that they took special care to move his file, subtly indicating they should be paid something. Bhupal escaped the situation saying he will have to talk to me. Immediately after elections when we went to the village, Bhupal discussed about how every one was paid 500 rupees for casting their vote. He laughed and said, “I am not into those things, I am in COW party”

Bhupal is on loose. But will he have staying power? I don’t know, I only know I have too many expectations from a young village boy from an ordinary family.

At a personal level, it is important for him to do what I say, because he believes it is for his good. For me it is a huge responsibility. It is so much better to walk side by side than lead. But I am taking to leading only because I respect Bhupal's sentiment and affection for me. My capacity might fail me and him, but my affection will not. After all it is an eastern model for development.

Harmonium Keys and Tanpura Strings

vidalorg — Sun, 11 Jun 2006 06:54:53 -0600

This is the first blog being published in ViDAL CMS. I am Rajeswari I am a social development practitioner, and work in some remote villages in Mahbubnagar District. My stint with social work is not new but social work in developmental context is very new, just about five years.

I thought hard and long about what I should write in the first blog. To make it easy for myself I thought I would write about one of my recent experiences and about harmonium keys and tanpura strings.

I was on a shopping expedition recently and chanced meeting two young girls in famous Hollywood Shoes in abids (by the way, I live in Hyderabad in India). I felt cheerful to meet these two girls who were very courteous and offered me a seat by adjusting a little bit each. One can never find place to sit in this shop. I always wonder, from where so much money is coming for people to shop all those fancy chappals etc., Some of them are costlier than an average income of a poor family. I sat next to them and got into a conversation as the assistant took forever to get the kind of sandals I wanted. I got to know their names. One of them is Sitara and the other is Anju. They work in a BPO doing medical transcription and took a day off for shopping. They actively participated in selecting sandals for me, as I openly expressed that I feel like a fish out of water without my daughter helping me shop. They shared some common feelings like I do, and said it is hard to find people with whom we can talk and relate, especially in a city. That led me to talk about villages and I said I don't find that problem when I frequent to the villages and I can actually get to talk to village people much easily. Sitara then said something very profound, she said "my music teacher says, people in towns and cities are like harmonium keys that make sound in isolation and people in villages are like strings on a tanpura, sound from one sting carries on to the sound from the other string..". This simple yet powerful analogy stayed with me now for more than 20 days, and I keep thinking about it every now and then.

I think that this analogy means urbanites are indifferent and rural folk have a sense of connection with each other. To a large extent it feels true, but I think it is mythical too in today's context.

I remember going to Appareddypalli (one of the villages I work in) in 2003 when the Director of Stanford Reuters Program came to visit "Computers on Wheels" project in field. By the time we went to the village square, there was a small gathering of people and an auto rickshaw was standing in between. We could hardly make out what was happening. Even before we could comprehend what happened the auto rickshaw left the village carrying three or four people tightly sitting inside. I enquired what the matter was from one of the onlookers. He said one of the persons from their village is axed by another person from the same village. They had a quarrel about politics and one axed the other. Within no time, the place settled to normalcy and people were very casual about what just happened. I do the same thing in the city, when I see violence. Initially, my blood pressure shoots up, and then I settle for being an onlooker, meekly watching without trying to stop.

We held our meeting under the tree near the temple after some time and asked about COW project and came back to Hyderabad. Looking back, I feel, all of us over there were so indifferent with the issue of violence. Where is the sense of connection that Sitara spoke about? I guess I went to the villages in search of that connection having been raised in a small town in a close-knit large family and community. I am still searching for that sense of connection that will work, not merely exists when all is well.

Violence triggers feelings of fear, and it is easy to detach than protest, whether it is a day-to-day issue or bigger problems like a war. In small communities generally the reaction is expected to be different, where protection of theirs falls on majority of the crowd. But that too seem to be changing. I guess our perceptions of issues like justice are changing rapidly. Going into situations of risk and saving fellow human beings is becoming more a story than one of the norms. Is it the sheer frustration of numbers for people living in populous countries like India or it is general apathy all over the globe? There are more questions than answers.

I wish I could talk to Sitara and Anju a little more. But, dumb I was that I have not even taken their contact details.

It is an abrupt ending, but believe me I cannot write anymore, I am overpowered by feelings of sadness. I wish tanpura strings analogy is true and we can protect them from becoming harmonium keys. This is the first blog being published in ViDAL CMS. I am Rajeswari I am a social development practitioner, and work in some remote villages in Mahbubnagar District. My stint with social work is not new but social work in developmental context is very new, just about five years.

I wish I could talk to Sitara and Anju a little more. But, dumb I was that I have not even taken their contact details.

It is an abrupt ending, but believe me I cannot write anymore, I am overpowered by feelings of sadness. I wish tanpura strings analogy is true and we can protect them from becoming harmonium keys.