Fakes live longer...

Take the case of fakes. They last longer than their lifetime. Look at the number of "serious mails" that seem to offer you hundreds of millions of dollars. They have not stopped since I know internet. I know several men in parts of Bengal who used to go around with a photocopied one million dollar note asking people if they could help them with changing the original, as they said, the original was with one of their friends or close relative. Once I had a chance of seeing one of those. I had to get to business. Not for calling up the police or money changer. But to the internet, to check if it was true. Well, it was! Only that it is a memorial note, and had hardly any value. And you could buy it on the internet the same thing starting from 300 rupees to 2000 rupees! Last year someone started circulating a mail saying that Microsoft and AOL are paying them in thousands of dollars for passing on the message. Why should Bill Gates part with his fortune? To check if you are running a original version of Microsoft OS or not! Heavens! It would cost him less to open source the code than to pay these rogues, check if their OS was genuine, pay for every forwarded mail 245 US dollars, as the mail claimed. I wrote back to people who were forwarding this asking them to stop this nonsense.

Since last week another mail is circulating, which I had actually seen three years ago. The mail has graphic pictures of slaughtering of "dolphins" in the sea shores of Denmark, and says that Denmark is to be blamed for this, and everyone must protest, and asks all to sign the protest letter. The problem is : a) Those are not dolphins, but long finned pilot whales (b) The event takes place in Faroe islands, and not in Denmark. Faroe islands do not depend on Denmark for internal administration; they are not even part of European Union, although it depends on Denmark for foreign affairs and defence. (c) If people have not done anything in three years time, with all the animal rights activists around, I don't think much will happen with the signature campaign (d) It is not a festival as the picture claims, but an event attended by the local islanders as they try to catch them, kill them all for eating! (Hei, that's what every fishing is all about!) When the islanders see the whales all coming together they use motorized boats to slowly move them to shallow waters and then catch them and cut them.

Finally, you know what the islanders tell about us? They say, they are creating awareness to the world about what is happening every day across the seas all over the world....! They say, people of "the modern world have become so far removed from the harsh realities of animal food production that they have formulated unrealistic notions of how food actually gets to their tables". In other words, people think that animal and fish products come to their tables, as if plucked from an apple tree!

Personal opinion: All forms of wanton violence is bad.

House of the Dead

I must make a confession today. The confession of being a great lover of Dostoevsky's novels. I used to buy good many of them. And indeed, several of them have been just lost, as it happens when you give them to your trusted friends for reading. They never come back. One of the most beautiful novels that hardly gets quoted is "The House of the Dead", in which the hero Alexander Petrovich is condemned to life of imprisonment in Siberia. (Even in seminaries they quote his most famous books: Brothers Karamazov and Crime & Punishment). In the House of the Dead, the gentleman Petrovich sees the sufferings of the people, both sublime and hardcore criminals in their best and the worst, their energy and lethargy, in the confines of Siberia, where he is destined to suffer along with them. And in one of those scenes he makes a point about the hardness of life in prison. He says, life in prison is hard for three reasons: firstly, Hard labour (Hard labour means, not physically making you sick; peasants in the field do more work than a prisoner. But it is hard because, you work, and you will not have the fruit of it. It is a fruitless labour) . The second reason is, Loss of Freedom. (This is easily understood, as it involves a total of loss of control of yourself, and letting someone else control your time, your food, your entertainment etc.) And thirdly, he says, life in prison is hard because of Enforced Communal Living. (One cannot make a choice with whom he or she will live with. One cannot choose to avoid. You are just condemned.)

Life seems to be going in that direction for many. One big Siberia for all. One big world, and yet little place to escape.

How to Win Votes and Make the Government Last

The Left Front Government run by the Communist Party of India - Marxist and their affiliates has been looking shaky these days. And the opposition is laughing its way to the vote bank. Some of my friends in various political parties have been asking me to help them with some ideas on how to get some extra edge by getting some pockets of unidentified votes. So, here are some ideas to all of them. If you do it, you get some extra votes...and that can make a lot of difference between a win and a loss.

1. Announce that all the houses partially damaged in landslides on the Darjeeling hills will be considered as fully damaged, and compensation will be given accordingly. (Since no one can live in a partially damaged house, or a "hanging" house after a landslide, this demand is over due. It can bring in about 100,000 votes, and a lot of good will among the people living in the hills.

2. Remove the tax on audio system in cars in West Bengal. The tax is about 60 dollars per year! This is also sign of government's bankruptcy, and has alienated about a 500,000 car or bus owners. Remove this, at least 1/5 of this group will vote for you.

3. Hardly any christian school has been recognised in the last 20 years. Give recognition to at least one more school run by the Christians in each district of West Bengal. That comes to 18 schools in districts, and one in Kolkata. But this can bring in minimum of 200,000 votes from the christian groups, specially from the organized catholic community. Ultimately this serves to fulfill the government's commitment for education.

4. Make sure that every week the people working under National Rural Employment Guarantee act are paid for the preceding week. This needs just a little bit of organizational commitment. That is all. I am sure, this could turn in around 500,000 votes.

5. Ask the District Magistrate and all chief officials of the various line departments sit each week in one of the blocks on a particular day (E.g. Every Tuesday-- in the first week in Block 1, in second week in Block 2 and so on), and call for grievances from the public, sort out the pending files. (This would be an improvement on what some of the south Indian states are doing already.) I can guarantee, ultimately you will have a lot more people satisfied. Every satisfied person will be turning out to vote for you.

Is the government listening? More ideas can be given to people who want to listen! (After all, as my elder brother says, the only thing that is freely available in India are ideas! You ask anyone, they come out with ideas!!!)

Birthday Pangs!

I wanted to take off from the normal routine of life on 16 Nov 2009. Yeah, it is my birthday. I just went out of Seva Kendra where I stay these days (that I may not have much work), and caught up on some pending works on the internet, took plenty of rest in a friend's home, and had some home-made mutton curry for the night. No partying, no big bang high class dinners. Had a cake cut, and it was all simple relaxation. Lots of friends called up to wish. Oversees friends wished me in E-mails and on Facebook. It also made me feel, how tired I am. I am still truly tired.

My body is aching for some more rest. I cannot afford it at this moment. More works are pending. It is once again fast track. As one of my friends calls me, I am an "Opel Astra without gear!"

The BIG trainings!

Two advanced level trainings for 52 senior staff of 47 non-profit organizations was organized at Hotel Peerless Inn, Kolkata in two batches. The trainings were on Community Based Disaster Risk Reduction measures, and how to improve upon the present risk reduction programs in vogue. The first batch of 24 participants had the training from 9-11 Nov 2009, and the second batch of 28 of them had the training from 13-15 Nov 2009. The training was facilitated by RedR India and organized by the State Inter Agency Group - West Bengal. As the State Coordinator of the State Inter Agency Group, I had had tremendous task of organizing the trainings--starting from arranging the logistics, travels, training materials and tools, and the smooth going of the training itself. It ate up 10 best days of my life! But, it was a great experience. And the trainees were extremely pleased with the comfort of the Peerless Inn and the food that was delicious. For my side, well, I enjoyed the fruits in the mornings and evenings, in the Oceanic, the hall in which buffet meals are served. The team of District Coordinators of the Community Based Disaster Preparedness program supported by Caritas India and Catholic Relief Services were extremely happy for the opportunity that I could make for them, both in terms of the quality of training and in terms of their stay that was more than comfortable!

At the end of the 15th day of the month, one man was fully drained out, and yet, fully satisfied... It is me.

On Images and Sounds

I have spoken number of times with Mr. Praveen Pawar of RedR India (Registered Engineers for Disaster Relief) over the phone. The simplicity and the softness of his voice always showed that he may be a very young man and physically thin and straight... Or at least that is the size of consultants of RedR India I have come to know since cyclone Aila, and even before. On 8 November 2009, Praveen was coming for the first time to facilitate a training on Community Based Disaster Risk Reduction for field practioners of various non-profit organizations working with the State Inter Agency Group. I was waiting for a thin man coming from the airport, and I was supposed to take him to UNICEF, and then drop him at the hotel. But I was amazed by a huge man (for Indian standards), although young (in his late thirties).

I didn't expect that. Did I work on my own preconceived images? Where did I get this presumption from? Am I prejudiced by the "sound" of his voice? How often, harmless prejudices creep in, and can lead to harmful prejudices that can destroy relationships, persons and communities. Images can be imagery. Sounds may not actually tell a thing.

Making Sense or Non-Sense

On Wednesday, 4 November 2009, while walking under the Grand arcade, (as the stretch on the Grand Hotel side of the Esplanade area is called), I was specifically paying attention to vendors selling T-shirts with innovative or funny sentences inscribed on them. But nothing can beat what I saw on one of the shops that must be wasting its money on the rent more than earning--a shop that sells shoes. Well, there are many there, selling one brand or the other, and at a stretch, with a premium tag added to them; which means, you pay more for the same thing.

The Bata shop that is the largest shoe maker and seller in India has a shop there, with several types of shoes, with "names" attached to them. One them proudly said on a white board, written in black, "Hush Puppies". You mean "Hush puppies?" What sense does it make? [My friend Andrea would be amused to read such things.] After all the shoes are not meant for some puppies. They were for grown up adult men! (Or may be, these men are treated as puppies at home?) Huh! But why hush about it? Making little noise? Or, may be, little or no sense. After all, if you can sell your wares, you don't have to make sense.

I remember how the self help groups name their products. One of them selling pure turmeric powder read: "Maa Mangalmayee Self Help Group produced pure Turmeric" Who would ever read that, or ever mean that? They should go to the Batas to come out with names. What about 'Docomo' turmeric? The new name in Indian cell phone market? I never got the sense out of it.

Training on Disaster Risk Reduction

The State Inter Agency Group – West Bengal (IAG-WB) in association with RedR India has completed six residential trainings programs successfully (3 in North Bengal and 3 in South Bengal) on Emergency Needs Assessment between September-October 2009. That took quite a lot of my time, as I had to work on the Scope of Work to logistics, training schedules, venues, participants and finances.

The State IAG-WB is committed to strengthening of systems and structures that promote the advanced knowledge and understanding of community based disaster risk reduction measures across the state partners and make it more child focused and promoting traditional learning and coping mechanisms. In this we are also receiving technical and financial handholding from Disaster Management Department, Government of West Bengal, UN agencies and International - National NGO partners.

Now, it is time for next round of trainings! This time we shall focus on the capacity building of the members of the State Inter Agency Group-West Bengal (State IAG-WB) by refreshing their concepts, advanced knowledge and understanding on community based disaster risk reduction. The training will also attempt to bring commonality among various models and modules adapted in the CBDRR / CBDRMP programs undertaken by the partners including GoWB. It will help us to improve our resource pool with advanced learning and understanding in CBDRR, the trainees can be an asset to the organizations and to the State-IAG-WB

The first batch of training will start on 09 Nov 2009 9.00 hours and will go on till 11 Nov 2009 16.00 hours; the second batch of training will be from 13 Nov 2009 9.00 hours till 15 Nov 2009 16.00 hours. Both the trainings will take place at Hotel Peerless Inn, Kolkata, with residential facility. So. that will keep me busy for the next five to six days.... just on my toes.

Copy Right or Right to Copy?

In India copyright is respected for the "right to copy". You show anything. And Indians can copy it, and deliver it cheap. Machines, machine guns, computers, dumpers, rockets, sockets, medicines or kerosene.... Say anything. And they have it copied. Walk the streets along Esplanade or College Street in Kolkata. Every book that you can buy for US $ 20 can be purchased for 200 rupees (less than 5 dollars). The Indians have been fighting for reducing the protection period allotted for intellectual property rights and copy rights. Today, two US visitors to Kolkata were saying about abominably high medical costs in India, saying that people can run into bankruptcy due to medical bills. The lady in the team was speaking of a medium cost pacemaker that cost one of her relatives 122,000 US dollars, excluding other expenses! This sort of abnormality must be removed. If people cannot get medical services at affordable price, whichever generation you are in, and whichever economy you are in, you are walking to your grave. No wonder the Indians are upset with "nonreplicable" forms of seeds, medicines and instruments. Longlive copycats!

Body telling

The last four weeks went in a crash. I had no proper rest, no good sleep, and no time to relax. But the Monday and Tuesday (2 -3 Nov) came as a relief. Not that I did not work. But I could work a little more relaxed. I had enough time to catch up with the accounts, with some databases and other things. Oh yes, I must also wash my clothes, which I have not been able to do. (Any helpers?? Ha...ha...ha...) The students from Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) are in Darjeeling for a visit to study on the landslides. The students from U.S. will be arriving in January 2010. Vera Schmidt is better settled. So, that gives me little more time to work on other pending issues, which I am able to take up now. Soon, more trainings will come in and I should be busy by the end of this week, keeping me on toes once again. And the body that has been aching for some relief got to see the bed a longer than usual. (What is usual? 4 hours in the last month. And now, I could take rest for about 7 hours.) After all, one can never cheat one's body. It tells.