Has Development Got Anything to Do with GUN?

Many moons ago in Fall 2008, while coming back home in the evening from office I got a frantic call from my housemate and co-fellow (we were Atlas Corps Fellows then) informing me there was a shooting in our alley and the shooter was absconding with the gun. She also told me the police sealed the area therefore she couldn’t get inside the house and there were choppers making rounds. Later I got to know police personnel escorted her inside the house to declare it was a safe place and made sure the absconder wasn’t hiding there. We were new to this country of dreams and so we were new to its nightmares too! It was a moment of disbelief for us. We felt like we were watching a movie scene from some Hollywood movie just like we used to watch in the safety of our own homes back in India. That was the first time we felt we weren’t safe enough in this “developed nation”.

In the course of our yearlong fellowship program we experienced many similar situations. Thankfully we were asked to register in a particular phone number, which kept on updating us of any good or bad incidences in the vicinity and it helped us to avoid those lanes, those places. One night when another co-fellow returned home from office he said he saw a bullet hole in the window of a neighboring shop. Next day we all saw that bullet hole and kept on thinking what might have happened. We were asked not to wonder around after dark if it wasn’t very important. One peaceful movie night at home when we were ready to go back to bed we heard a sound again. It felt very near. My co-fellow looked at me and said, “They don’t use firecrackers anytime of the year like us” and we immediately knew what it was. Within minutes my bedroom on the roadside was lit up by the blue and red lights and I saw they were loading a wounded neighbor into the emergency van. I realized by the end of the year we were kind of familiar with the sound of gunshot. I wasn’t scared like the first day when we saw those choppers but I was sad this time.

We came from a developing country, India. India is also known as one of the ‘emerging economic powers’ (debatable though! Will talk about that some other time) of World. We were non-profit leaders in our countries and each one of us had fair share of experience in dealing with social, economic, political issues in some or other ways. We have many problems in our country such as poverty, child labor, injustice, malnutrition, hunger, terror attacks both by insiders and outsiders, abuse against women (Oh yes, I know you all have seen Slum Dog Millionaire and India’s Daughter) and those are very much real. No one in their sane minds, can deny any of these rather they will add more to the list. We are far farrrr away from being perfect or come to the level where developed nations stand today. But one thing I realized that day that I would again be very unfamiliar with those very familiar gunshots when I return to my country. My neighbors do not keep guns in the name of safety; Children of our families do not die of accidental gunshot injuries while playing; Thanks to the Government we have gun control laws. No, I am not saying there’s no gun violence. I am saying the news of gun violence or gun shot deaths is still rare in my country and I am thankful for that. I wish someday the citizens of the United States would also unite for their own safety and peace from the guns and not with the guns.

Photo taken from internet

Local to Global- Social Good is Everyone’s Responsibility #2030NOW

Many years ago during my freshman year I visited an indigenous hamlet in Odhisa, India. It gave me an opportunity to learn more about indigenous life and their daily struggle. I noticed that I could probably count the ribs of the children playing in the hot summer afternoons with their bloated bellies. I was curious to know the reason behind this body structure, which I was seeing for the first time in my life. The word ‘malnutrition’ was just a word for me until I saw its meaning right in front of my eyes. That was the first time I saw the real hard life of people in my own country. My curious self tried to dig more into the reason and found out that these kids and their families collect a local grown wild fruit that could be preserved for a long time. Most of the time, which includes the lean working periods and during monsoon when the hamlet gets totally cut off from the rest of the world due to the overflow of water in the canal, the natives can’t go to the nearest town for job. So they need to rely on the food left with them. Therefore, no square meals for the families for days and they just spend their days eating those preserved wild fruits along with water from the canal, which being the only source of water also serves as the bathing place for the cattle. No wonder my beloved India is still the highest contributor to the child deaths under the age of five due to preventable diseases.

I met people, community led groups, who were fighting for the rights of the indigenous communities and the future of their children with very limited resources. I observed their voices go unheard, their hard work get unnoticed, and their efforts often get undermined in the larger forums when they are the real heroes and they are the ones making the difference in my country. In last few years mode of communication has undergone a significant change. We no longer wait for the national media to cover news or spread information. Now with the growing involvement of digital media in Social Good more people can participate and the tales of Heroes can reach to millions all over the world. As Jeff Terry, Head of Corporate and Social responsibility at Amway, during her panel discussion at Social Good summit nicely put “Social Media helps people to get off their couches and take an action for the cause they are passionate about”. Our job is to find out the right people who have strong voices in social media.

In September 2015 history was made. Country leaders, volunteers, professionals, entrepreneurs, activists and many others from the different walks of lives came together with a purpose of a greater good. The leaders of 193 countries joined in and not only just listened, but promised to deliver on the 17 #SDG or #GlobalGoals by 2030. This time those real ‘Heroes’ are no more alone in their journeys. They are joined by entrepreneurs, actors, authors, journalists, bureaucrats, leaders and many others. And, we will #TellEveryone. Together we will make sure no child goes to bed hungry or dies from a preventable disease before seeing the fifth birthday. As Kajol, the famous Bollywood actress and UN Ambassador for Hand Washing Program said, “Every child should reach age 5 without our help”.  My thoughts are with those children of Odhisa whom I met so many years back- future seems brighter for them this time.

From now on we need to do more Good in our Society. We all need to come together and contribute. We all need to choose our own goal and strive to achieve it in the coming days- no matter how small or how big the attempt is. What’s important is aiming towards the goal and work on it together. September 2015 ended with a BANG and lots of noises. In other words I can say it was just the beginning of a new era, new dreams, and new Goals that started with ‘Telling Everyone’!

https://sgs15.eventfarm.com/?page=7fff46cb-0000-4555-abb0-050fac4abc65

http://www.globalgoals.org/

Who betrayed them?

“There’s a famous saying in Bengali, ‘Mir-Jafari Korish na’ means don’t betray like Mir Jafar”…

​The East India Company that came with seemingly business interest grew political ambition and started colonizing India through Murshidabad. Murshidabad is 200kms (120miles) away from Kolkata formerly known as Calcutta, the present capital of West Bengal in India. However, Calcutta did not even exist in 1700s and Murshidabad was at the highest of its glory. Nawab Siraj-ud-Daulah lost the battle of ​Plassey (‘Palashi’ that is how we call it in Bengali) in 1757 to the British due to the betrayal of one of his trusted commanders ​Mir Jafar. Mir Jafar was promised the throne of Murshidabad in lieu of him not fighting the battle along with his troop. ​The East India Company thus won the battle on the basis of a conspiracy that was hatched with Mir Jafar. He got the throne, however, little did he know​ how it​ would be like to sit on that ​under British rule. He was soon removed for the ease of the British lords. ​The Battle of Plassey was a decisive battle that started a 200-year colonial rule of India by the British. I never forgo​t this important piece of history,​ no matter how much I hated the subject as I have fond childhood memories of the place.

Murshidabad, a name that reminds me of many good things but the first and foremost is that the mighty river Ganges flew​ right in front of our ancestral home, in which boatmen rowed in the dark of the night and singing melancholy tunes that made you long for your home even if you were in your home. The soft lights of lanterns in the boats at a distance used to mesmerize me the most in those dark and sweaty nights. Days in and days out we used to jump from the boundary walls, play with other girls and boys from the village and run around the mango orchard until elders​ gave us an ultimatum to return home for a ​bath or food.

Whenever we visited our ancestral land full of History it used to be a lot of ​fun with cousins and children of same age from the village. My young eyes noticed one thing in particular. Most of the children especially the little girls in dusty frocks I used to play and run with couldn’t tell which class they were studying in. I used to wonder whether they have failed in the classes and therefore hesitating. However, I never enquired much as I was no good in studies too. Therefore it was better to keep the​ school out of the topics of discussion during those vacation days.  Later when the visits became more infrequent and we were seriously discouraged to play outside in the mud, because they said, "tumi boro hoye gyachho" (you are not a kid any more) and I tried to inquire​ about them from the window of our house,​ I got to know most of them got married and already ​had their babies. I was still in my middle school. I of course did not realize how fortunate I was to be doing that. I was just sad I lost my friends. ​

Many years passed in between and Murshidabad is just a reminder of our holiday breaks during our childhood. Then in 2014, ​I got a ​chance to meet Soma, ​who works in the area and came to know about their struggle to fight the stigma around rescued trafficking victims.  Another important issue Soma’s team comes across is abandoned young married girls with children. Soma said, “The practice is wide spread in the region. Men marry young girls from poor families, get them pregnant and leave in search of job in the cities. Most of the time these men do not come back or send any money home. They marry again or have ​their own ‘live in’ ​families in the cities and do not care to see what happened to his young pregnant wife in the village.” Often these young mothers become the easy target of traffickers who lures them with good job, a better living for their children in cities. One of Soma’s team member said, “There’s no brothel in the country which doesn’t have a girl from our region”.

I wonder if the same happened to some of my childhood playmates from my village? I wonder who betrayed these young girls like Mir Jafar - parents, families, husbands, traffickers, politicians or we all? Is there anyone who can show that soft lights of hope to these girls like those boats in the dark? Can anyone be the boatman for these girls to ferry these young lives to safety or to help them to ​cross the river in​ dark singing​ songs of struggle and hope?

P.S. To confirm my fear, here's a blog post on a direct interaction with one such young mothers in Murshidabad 
html http://ladybugfieldnotes.blogspot.com/2012/11/of-love-and-other-demons.html