Tippy tap

My work takes me to various places across Madhya Pradesh and sometimes to other states. Every visit makes me learn something, how people adjust to life in a relentless environment, a basic act may have a specific connotation. It helps me to understand humanity and empathise while being connected to the roots. A recent such visit to few villages surprised me pleasantly, rethink over the intricate social fabric and also devour the nature in its purest form. 

8 km of rocky stretch to reach  forest village Mathar. We met a group of villagers at the start of road. They reached the village when we were travelling back after half-an-hour. They carried groceries, vegetables on the head and were busy in chatting with each other. The dense forest is abode of tiger, but the life goes on 

The discrimination is interwoven in our lives. Sometimes it is so much part of it that we do not even notice the subtle hints. The data can tell us how much discrimination is percolated in the society.  In two Anganwadis, the growth chart tattled on gender discrimination.  In the growth chart weight of children upto 5 years is plotted every month to prevent the child’s slippage in malnutrition. Girls’ weight is plotted on pink portion while the blue is for boys’ weight recording. Thanks to the British!       

In a peri urban area, there re lesser girls than boys. Girls are more malnourished than boys as more girls are either just on the border of normal zone , many have already slipped in the malnutrition zone and girls are in danger zone 3 times more than the boys. When are we going to bridge this?

The tribal and forest village Mathaar shows far less gender discrimination. It is evident from the more number of girls as compared to boys. There is hardly any difference in the weight distribution amongst boys and girls. 

Things are not bleak everywhere , all the time. There are few pleasant surprises which lightens your day and the mood. The Anganwadi was a model one with neat , clean and child friendly structure. There was an amphitheater for children to do stage performances. The most interesting thing was the Tippy tap!

It’s a low cost innovation to teach children handwashing

in a playful way

The child operates the wooden fulcrum which  sills water from the can. It prevents water wastage as well

Blind race

DB mall at 8.30 am was very deserted . Gradually the place started swelling up with people. Occasion was that of a special car rally where route navigator will be a visually challenged person. It is organized by an organization called Arushi which works for children with special needs. The money collected would be go to the organization as charity.   

This year I decided to participate in this  decade old annual event. Thanks to Rohini who volunteered to take care of my registration procedure.  Excitement overpowered sense of charity. At the start-off venue there were various types of cars. Some were vintage treasured only for such special events, jazzy cars like Porsche flaunted its existence, special Bhopali jeeps with exotic makeover, luxury cars, medium to expensive range of 8-seaters, but the regular category cars being in majority. Car owners were of matching personalities fully dressed for the event. A mini bus pulled in at the venue and all the eager eyes turned towards it . This vehicle brought in our navigators. A coordinator facilitated them to get out of the bus and made them sit on the steps. Soon they were flocked around by the drivers to get connected with their own navigator.

The Police band started playing a melodious tune. It was an indication that the rally was soon to start as the chief guest was on his way for the flag-off. Being a novice I was trying to understand rule of the game. Each car is provided with the speed regulation rules and a route map at the time of flag-off, all –in- braille. The navigator will first explain you how much to speed for which sector. Then gradually s/he will read the route map. Driver has to concentrate on speed limit and the route as sometimes landmarks are symbolically described along with.

My navigator was a young boy from Gorakhpur. He was studying in std XI with Political science, Geography and economics as his subjects. It was a full time school in Bhopal. Ashish aspires to do a course in Masters of Social work. I was amazed to see his ease in operating a cell phone, many of them are expert in using touch screen also.

It was a unique experience being instructed by a visually challenged person. We got lost at few occasions, circled and circled at one place initially due to poor coordination, went on the correct path and felt motivated. But we enjoyed our complementarity thoroughly. Along the way we chatted and came to know about each other, thrilled over our correct routes and consoling each other on a wrong move. Towards the end we were so comfortable with each other that we have decided to be the winning  pair next year .

In recent years the facility of audio books has negatively affected capability to read braille. However, the facilities offered to the specially challenged population are very less in comparison to the liveliness of these human beings who make it their own responsibility to live life to the fullest. I realized that we pity them as they are unable to see the world from our standards , but they see the world in a more meaningful way. For them the world is really nirgun, nirakar  which is the centre of Vedic philosophy.  

Aboli

January 2016

Tanuj

It was a pleasant morning. Warm interiors of the hotel restaurant was bustling with breakfast activity. Soft clutter of cutlery, whispers and low tone laughs were indicative of polished and sophisticated gentry within. Along with my colleagues, I was stopping over in this hotel while enroute to a tribal district in western Madhya Pradesh.

As its name, Hotel Lemon Tree had a citrus ambience. The waiting staff in the restaurant was dressed up in lemon coloured uniform. The room was filled with gastronomical smell emerging from variety of food mixed with faint fruity odour. We settled down at a table placed in a sunny corner of the room. Deep in our discussion on the tribals, government policies on social inclusion, mainstreaming of the marginalized population etc. , we were analyzing the policies with a social lens; how the seem-to-be-straight-and-implementable policy has bearing on the society to make an informed choice. The young waiting staff was efficiently moving around the room taking orders, placing needed things on the table, clearing the plates. Everything was happening in perfect unison without giving anybody a chance to wait for any demand.

My colleague reckoned a staff as he wanted an extra sachet of sugar. A young, handsome boy with left ear pierce with a diamond stud immediately attended us with a pleasant smile stuck on his face. His lapel plate announced him to be Tanuj. He indicated to a tag around his neck which said:

I am dumb and deaf, please point out the article you need from the list here.

The list contained food items, consumables, cutlery, which was exhaustive in all probabilities.

For a second we all were puzzled and started looking around for a ‘normal’ help. Tanuj stood there confident, smiling and expecting us to place our order, holding the neck tag list close to our faces for our convenience. My colleague put a finger on the item which said sugar sachet. Within minutes extra sugar sachets were delivered at our table. We had the lower jaw dropped in amazement, to which Tanuj was oblivious and carried out errands in perfect composure.

Coming out of our table-talk, I studied the surroundings. I could spot three staff with the similar tags around their necks. Without conscious attention, it was difficult to spot these young fellows who were carrying out their responsibility with equal professionalism as others. We were amazed, surprised but extremely satisfied to see such beautiful mainstreaming in a corporate setting. Sometimes in social development sector equity and social inclusion terms are used very loosely befitting to the society’s convenience. But here I witnessed a perfect example of  it .