Dili Diaries - 2: Blood of the Martyrs

Timor Leste is a land of martyrs, women and children targeted first, and over a period political opponents, freedom fighters and young men were killed mercilessly between 1980 - 2000. Whereas the Santa Cruz massacre at the cemetery in Dili is the most well-known one, it is the massacre at the church of Our Lady at Covalima that touched me a lot during my stay in Timor-Leste.

This place had seen the massacre of over 150 people and 3 Priests in and around the old church by Indonesian army and the militia supported by them on 6, Sept 1999. The bloodied past became the seat of faith. I am so humbled to be at Suai.

On the fateful day, fearing the militia, people from the villages had gathered in the church, to support each other, to console one another as many relatives had been killed or imprisoned, and to pray to God. But the attackers shot people inside the church, women and children, as they ran out. Priests (2 Jesuits and one diocesan) were killed when they were getting the people out through the side door to the back of the church. Inside of the church gives a barren look now. See pictures.

The memorial with the bamboos was the place initially the bloodied bodies were kept. And the old church where the massacre took place is on its background. There are 3 smaller memorials on the spots where the priests fell to the ground. One of them is in the picture below.

The general and leaders who led the massacre were condemned and were tried for "action against humanity" by Indonesia and were acquitted. Yes, you read it right, "acquitted". Church services are being held at the new Church as the older one was to be turned to be a monument or a museum in memory. But hasn't taken shape. Year 2023 will remain as one of my most cherished Paschal celebrations, which I spent at Covalima.

Dili Diaries - 1: The Youth Bulge - Boon or a ticking bomb

Timor-Leste is literally a young nation - with 71.6% of its population being under the age of 35, according to 2021 census. 21.6% are youth (15 - 24 years), which is about 289,000 persons. This number may look small and uninteresting. However, given the opportunities and challenges, geography and development deficits, this is not as it seem to be. Education sector has a lot to catch up in this fledgling country, where the priorities have been put on economic indicators over the social indicators. If anything is to be learned from India, it is the states (mostly the southern states) that invested in the social sector (education and health mainly, with also focus on nutrition), have outperformed the states that invested mostly in economic development Ref: South or North: India's Better Performing Region? | The Great Indian Divide | Barkha Dutt (youtube.com). This should send out a message to Timor-Leste on the importance of investing in social sector development. It is true that economic development is important, and it is visible in the growing infrastructure. However, it cannot develop people and can develop quality of life only to an extent. Investing in education, especially girl child education, freeing up higher education, enabling quality health care services, and providing adequate nutrition to the young and vulnerable, will not be able to show the impact in a year or two, but will be highly visible in 10 years down the line.

Poland is a case in point, which also has about 30,000 children joining the youth age group annually. Poland was a Communist country that was inflicted with poverty. After the fall of communism, the country invested in education. It spends about 5% of its GDP on Education, with 27% on primary, and the rest shared between secondary and tertiary. The result was in about 15 years, Poland became a knowledge and skills hub. More companies moved in. Today, it's economic growth rate far outweighs several other European countries, and it continues to overtake some of the "developed" European countries. It is education first for Timor-Leste.

High poverty, lower education, ever igniting fights between the Martial Arts Groups, numerous political parties, very limited decentralization of political and economic powers beyond Dili - all these may function as a concoction for damaging the power of the youth. Their time is now. Investment in Education, Health and Nutrition - the key social sectors must start today, now. The youth bulge can be a blessing for the aging Southeast Asian countries, provided, Timor-Leste invests in its youth for tomorrow.

Deciding New Journey

My association with Tata Consultancy Services as part of #affirmativeaction #YEP #TCSCSR since 1 Mar 2016 - 28 Dec 2022 was wonderful! It was an excellent opportunity to be part of the

Tata Group that has stood for society as the center and purpose of any business engagement. I am proud to have given my helping hands to expand the #employability program of #TCSCSR. My thanks to Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) and Tata Group.

I resigned to follow my passion in the social sector to engage actively in communities that need my skills to reduce development deficits and improve their lives and livelihoods.

During the course of six years and 10 months, I have met many amazing people, interacted with them professionally and personally, and have seen the touch of elegance, the quality of work they put in, and helped me thrive and excel in a very complex, ambiguous and difficult circumstances at times. I was glad that I could bring in focus on empathy, reach, impact while touching the thousands annually, and hundreds of thousands indirectly. From the corners of tea gardens in West Bengal along the Bhutan border to hard-to-execute regions of Malkangiri or Dantewada, or the villages in Manipur or Maharashtra, from Kanyakumari to Kashmir - it was all a teamwork that got executed to perfection along with my colleagues. I am proud of them.

Looking forward to starting a new journey soon!

Birth of a Miracle - III : Shock of Life

Period: 16 November, 1968
Location: Tiruchendur, Tamilnadu, India

The body of the child was lying in wrapped clothes in the next room for the next hours. In about two hours after the birth, the doctor's wife (a non-medical person), came down to see Mrs. Rose and the child. I had told you that the family of Mr. Rathna knew the doctor's family well. Since the hospital was functioning in the ground floor of the house of the doctor, it was easy for the lady to come and see Mrs. Rose. Also because it was a courtesy visit, as the child was "still born", as the doctor had informed her.

She was accompanied by a nurse. They spent few minutes with Mrs. Rose who was recovering, and was deeply tired. The nurse and the doctor's wife moved to see the child --more as a point of giving consolation to the family. While there, the doctor's wife asked the nurse if they had given any shock to the child. The nurse said, "No". The lady said, "I have read that electric shock can sometime bring life back, if there is some life left. Why don't you get a wire? Let us check!". Since this small sized hospital did not have any of the modern equipment, even of that time, they found a wire with naked end on either side as their tool. 

Now it was getting bizarre. They checked once more to confirm that there was no heartbeat or breathing signs of the child. This was in conformity with what Dr. Moses had told them. The doctor's wife told the nurse. "You keep one end of the wire on the child'd body. I shall keep another end into the plug, and I shall switch it on for a second, and switch off. Let's keep an eye on the child. If there is some life, we will know!"

So, this bizarre experiment of these two ladies started. The nurse kept one end of the wire on the child. The doctor's wife put the other side into the plug, and had her hands on the switch. Both were holding their breath! The child was lying on a bed under their observation for this shock....or electrocution? There was fear...suspense...worry...concern.... Both their eyes were on the child. The doctor's wife started counting, "One... Two.... Three.... ON... OFF... "Kadavuley!" (Oh, my God!) both shouted, as they had seen the little finger of the left hand of the child shaking for a second at the time when the electricity was switched on! They both shouted, "The child is alive, the child is alive!" The nurse ran up to call the doctor. The old man came down, and as he was hearing of this experiment, he checked the baby. There was very feeble heartbeat, and the child was struggling to breathe. He asked the child to be put on Oxygen, and it was given three injections within minutes. Further, it was wrapped in wool, and was kept so under medical observation for three days. 

By the third day, the child was better, and the mother too. After three more days, they left the hospital in good health. Mr. Rathna and Mrs. Rose thought of this as nothing short of a miracle. This is something not heard of! They got the child baptized immediately at the local Church following their Christian faith with the name, "Puthumai", which in Tamil means - "miracle", or "newness". 

Birth of a Miracle - II : The Birth Pangs

Period: 1968

Location: Southern Tamilnadu, India

Dr. Moses was kind of family doctor Mr. Rathna's family, and was famous along with Dr. Balakrishnan - both of whom had set up clinic in their own house. Mr. Rathna used to bring homemade palm jaggary as gift for both these doctors occasionally. Only the people with some emergency or with some money went to them. Other wise the government hospital at the temple town of Tiruchendur was good enough. 

After doing the preliminary checks, the doctor mentioned, "It is going to be very difficult. She needs regular checks. I am not too sure, if the child will survive. Let us hope." He prescribed some medicines. Remember that in those days no USG was available (except in Britain, and only in 70s, it moved to major part of Europe and the America). So, it all depended on what Mrs. Rose felt about the baby and what the doctor's hands felt!

The months slowly moved through the summer of 1968. A relative stayed at Mr. Rathna's home to support Mrs. Rose, and their daughter who was now in 8th Grade shared some additional works. It was also the season for tapping palm trees for the juice to be converted into jaggary.  The village had a very unique style of living. During the palm tapping season (usually between April - late September / first week of October - latest) they lived in thatched houses outside the village, close to the palm trees that were taken mostly against paying a fixed amount each year against each tree to the St. Jospeh's Charity Institute that owned them. Only a few families had large swathe of land that also had the trees. As the season was waning, soon, it was time to shift back to the house in the village. 

The regular checks and medication had kept Mrs. Rose in somewhat good shape. The last of the tests done in early November of 1968 wasn't a good news for the family. Dr. Moses said, "It looks like we may have a big struggle ahead. Be prepared for it. Have Mrs. Rose admitted on 15 Nov, if there's no labor pain by then. We shall see what happens. Rest is up to God!"

On the scheduled day, Mrs. Rose was admitted for observation. Dr. Moses tested her and then called Mr. Rathna for a discussion. "We have a situation here. The child has low signs or nearly no sign of life. With the kind of available medical facility in this hospital, we can focus on either saving the life of the child or your wife. Let me know, how should we proceed. Attempt to save both may put both the lives at risk." Mr. Rathna responded, "Sir, you know that I have three children. So, kindly focus on saving my wife. It is fine if the child is not saved." The doctor asked  for Mr. Rathna to sign a bond as there was risk for the mother and child, so that the doctor or his clinic will not be held responsible. Mr. Rathna signed it. It was decided that there would be a Cesarean on 16th. 

On 16th morning, the C-section was done of Mrs. Rose. The baby was taken out. A boy. The child did not cry. There was no vital signs of life. No heart beat, no breathing. The nurses cleaned the baby. The doctor declared the baby dead. Mrs. Rose was shifted along with adequate flow of medicine and saline, and was being cared in a room. The baby was kept in a room beside hers so that the baby can be taken by the family for burial. 

Next on 16 May 2020 : Birth of a Miracle - III : Shock of Life

Birth of a Miracle - I : The Prelude

Not all miracles are events.

Some are born!

1964 - 1968

Location: Southern Tamilnadu, India

Those were the days when  laborers (all men) from the borders of Kerala came to our village in summer and work here to earn their living for 5 - 6 months, and migrated back. The exterior of our village was filled with palm trees. And the only job known to the people was making jaggary out of the juice tapped from the trees. The people of the village lived on little savings from the 5 - 6 months of earning during the summer when palm juice tapping was, and then fell on moneylenders and middlemen for the rest of the year, leading to a chain of poverty and woes. There was no doctor in the village. Several women were able mid-wifes, one of them was a beautiful lady, fondly called in the village - Rose or Rosammal.

Her husband, Mr. Rathna was into tapping palm juice, managing the workers and also was buying the jaggary (in Tamil language, karupatti), and would sell it off in Madurai, the big market. He also had salt business, as their home was hardly about 4 km from some of the large salt pans where saltwater from sea was cultivated, and pure white salt crystals were produced. He would buy them and send them to Madurai and few other cities by truck. I have heard that they had four warehouses (made of palm leaves - and so must be of about 4,000 sq.ft in all) where the jaggary used to be stored. The family was on top of business, and earning. Mr. Rathna (often known as TSR in the village with his initials of T and S) was also a very respected man for many reasons. One, he was a teetotaler in a village where most men were addicted to liquor. Even those who earned more, wasted more in it, and so, ended up poor each year. Second, he was known for his sense of judgement - any social dispute, at times even those that were in courts would come to him, and he would discuss with the parties in conflict, and help them resolve it; after all, there were more than one case every month in a village where drunken men and poor laborers roamed free. People from neighboring village sought his counsel and took him to their villages to solve disputes. Thirdly, his commitment to the Church as the village was a 100% Catholic one, and there were two churches. Mr. TSR was in several committees, contributed generously. The parish church was unfinished at that time, and the other was attached to a large charity institute that ran in the name of St. Joseph. Further, he was also part of a drama troupe, and would write script, and sang songs. Of speaking of his songs, people would stand anywhere to listen to his songs. (Until his death, he brought first prize in the village level competition that was annually held. But he never brought the prize; he would give it to the priest to be given to a poor family, or would give it to a poor family by himself.) His singing of songs from the top of palm trees at night, and people cycling or walking on the nearby road stopping to listen to his melodious songs was part of the folklore of the village.

The family of three children and the parents, was awaiting a turning point. After eight years of the last son, Rose miscarried in 1964, while the baby was 8 months in her womb. The pain was a lot for the family that valued life so much. One early morning in the Spring of 1968 (after 12 years after the last baby was born), she announced that she is carrying another baby. As they were planning to go to meet the doctor in few days, she had a dream. In the dream Rose saw a lady, beautifully dressed in white, gifting her a rosary. And she opened and saw that the rosary had two crosses, instead of one. She was shocked, and she asked the woman in dream: "Why have you given me a rosary with two crosses?", and the Lady responded, "I know that you can have it." The dream was over.

Next morning, as they were ready to leave to meet the doctor, she told TSR. "I saw Mother Mary in my dream last night. She gave a rosary with two crosses, and said that I can have it. I think, we are heading for some real trouble - which is going to be from two sides. I feel there is going to be more complication with this baby in my womb. And I don't know what is the other." The both discussed and reflected on it, as they went to the nearby town to meet the doctor. Incidentally, the doctor's name was, "Moses" - the valiant rescuer of the people of Israel.

Next: on 9 May: "Birth of a Miracle - II : The Birth Pangs"

Business Acumen Part 2 : Going Bananas

Sometime in 1983 my older brother Beski had started banana business. He bought about 10 bunch of raw bananas (the whole stem), he would ripen them at our garden, and then would supply it to the grocery stores and tea stalls nearby. As his business increased, he built a small room where he could keep about 100 - 120 bunches of bananas (each weighing between 5 kilos to 20 kilos). This room was specially designed. It had no window. Just a tiny door of about 24 inches wide and 36 inches tall. It also had a small hole on top and came down like a tube; one cannot see the hole. The tube structure reached the ground level and was exposed down below. 

He would buy the raw bananas from Athoor market where the auction took place around 2.00 a.m (you read it right), and then he would bring them by a rented bullock cart or occasionally a tractor, while he returned by his bicycle. The bananas reached by early morning. I would join him to put all these to be stacked inside the room.  Once all the bunches were stacked, we would seal the room with the small door, and put little mud all around so that no air can escape in or out. Then the fun started. We would burn few dry banana leaves that came with the bananas at the exposed portion of the tube. It was important not to set too much of fire, but there should be lot of smoke. The smoke would go up through the tube into the room. We had to do it just for about 2 minutes, nothing more. This was good enough. The smoke would remain inside, and keep the bananas warm.

Next morning, when we opened the door, the bananas were ripe. My brother would personally reach all the bananas to shops in our village, neighboring villages and the nearby town. However, as demand increased, and that he could not reach so much to some shops, he would ask me to drop a few of those bunches (it was always carried in whole bunches along with the stem, not just the hands) to known shops. He gave me a rupee per bunch. I saw that there is a business opportunity here.

Sometimes, the smaller bunches with less than or around 50 bananas or smaller sized ones were not much in demand. We would be sitting around a whole bunch of bananas and finishing them all. But, still there was more as he had to take the whole lot in auctions. He can't be choosy there. Often the smaller bunches came at an average cost of 50 paise to one rupee (100 paise = 1 Indian rupee). On Sundays and on holidays, I would make a deal with him. The deal went like this.

Say, he had 10 bunches, and the total purchase cost was 8 rupees. I would agree with him for a sale of the same at 15 rupees with 20% commission, and anything above that would be mine! I would take all these bunches on our tri-cycle that we had, and would place myself around 8.45 / 9.00 am outside the fish market in the village. It is the time when maximum number of villagers came to the market to buy the fresh catch of fish. I would start yelling standing on the street near the tri-cycle, calling them out to buy the bananas. The best one would go at 5 rupees, and the not so good ones would go at 2 rupees. I would end up making about 30 - 40 rupees in about 30 - 40 minutes.

Once I am back, I would take out exactly 12 rupees that I would give to my brother. Account was cleared: 20% of the agreed sum of 15 rupees was 12. So, he got 12 (4 rupees in profit), and I got anywhere between 17 - 25 rupees. When he comes to know from the villagers or often from me that the people got good bananas at just 5 rupees, he would be in shock! He would come back and ask me what was my total sale was, and ask for the 20% of the whole sale. But, I would insist that, what was agreed was agreed! And my parents too supported. He was fun! We loved each other so much, and he would always ask me to take more bananas to the market!

After my father's death, this business model helped me a lot to save money for my education. I remember him fondly today. 

Post-script: Unfortunately, his business did not last long.  It was sometime in late 1986, he was robbed of about 3000 rupees that he had taken for the auction to buy more bananas. The business came to a grinding halt within few months, as he could not catch up with the business loss.

Business Acumen Part 1: Little Kid Adventures

How do we learn business? Some do it in business schools, some learn it from parents, some do it by being in business, and some learn it by sheer grit. I had seen money lenders visiting my family, taking away some hard earned money as part payment against the money that my father had borrowed. Often it was very tough for them to pay back the money. I had seen bank notices at home coming on printed inland letters mentioning of pending dues or a probable sale notice. My father would borrow more money from someone, take it to the bank, pay off the interest, and procure fresh loan. I vividly remember instances when our family lost ornaments as the bank monetized them. 

Money was a rare commodity. My older brother's grocery store in the village was a small one, and often it did run at loss as family took things from the store, and we expected that the income was so big that it could replenish the capital. But that wasn't so. However, hardly I was six years old I began to spend a lot of time at the shop. In weekends, and at times during lunch break at the school I would be hanging around there. It helped me to learn quickly on: measurements (both weights and liquids as oil was sold in milliliters, and other things in grams and kilos), and calculation of money that had to be done quickly, and often in mind. Learning mental calculations is critical to learning mind.

The games that we played as kids also meant a lot of calculations that had to be done. The well known goli-danda (marble and stick) or, just playing marbles at its various versions, and playing ball with a small bat where you were alone against several opponents required enormous calculations. I learned it early that there was an opportunity to make money - both in games and at home. 

I bought three marbles for 10 paise (one tenth of a rupee), and I would play well. If I played well, I could win marbles from others. So, initially I took my opponents strategically, and once I gained expertise in the game, I knew I could win anyone in our street. Now, what did I do with the marbles that I won. The logic was simple: the shop sold single marble at 5 paise, and three marbles for 10. I sold it to the boys from whom I won and other children of my age at a cheaper rate. I gave 2 for 5 paise and 4 for ten. It was a good bargain for them. So, they bought the marbles that I won from them, then they bought it from me by giving me money, and they lost it again to me in games! Kind of addiction that had built into them had kept my business going. I was just 7 or 8 years old then. At times I had more than 10 rupees which helped me buy some books or stationary for which I didn't have to depend on my parents. And I could always depend on my collection of marbles that were anywhere between 50 - 100.

One day, my mother asked me for two rupees to buy fish as she didn't have money. I gave her the money on the condition that she should return it with some interest. She returned it the next day with 50 paise added (100 paise = 1 Indian rupee). I thought this as a good idea. My mother, and even the neighborhood women, most of them relatives, needed money to fend of some emergency. Often it was between 50 paise to 2 rupees - may be to buy fish or to do some grocery. I had a simple logic in my interest rate:

Per day interest rate:

up to 25 paise : 5 paise per day

26 - 50 paise : 10 paise

51 - 75 paise : 15 paise

76 - 99 paise : 20 paise

1 rupee : 25 paise.

So, if you took 1 rupee for three days, you would end up paying me:

On day 1 : 1.25

On day 2 : 1.25 + 30 (interest of 25 paise added on top of the 1 rupees interest) = 1.55

On day 3 : 1.55 + 40 (interest of 1.55) = 1.95

In other words, I had my money doubled in three days. My mother would say, "I can borrow from any money lender, but not from my son!" And then, she would laughingly and gladly would borrow from me. Even others helped me my borrowing from me. The reason? They all knew that I used the money to take care of my little expenses, and at times I helped few very poor kids.

(The second part : "Business Acumen Part 2 - Going Bananas" will be published on 18 April 2020)

  

Lock Down

Corona has hit. Often this is labeled as the disaster of the century, as it crosses national, political, religious and any other human border one can imagine. Since its humble beginnings in Wuhan in China, it has crossed to over 150 countries and has taken over 23,000 lives as on 27 March 2020. The entire human race is behind closed doors across several countries in order to ensure "social distancing" - as the key to fight the virus that has virulently fought to keep its presence by the act of few who become the detonators in local communities. Doomsday sayers have  written off part of the human race, and the global economy seems to be shrinking. Politically, whether one is left or right, it doesn't seem to matter any more.

The schools closed first. Then the malls. And soon the whole nation shut its doors. There have been several good examples and a few bad in the process. The way people have been organized to do shopping in grocery stores in West Bengal state has been praised across the globe. Several other states India have replicated it with some twist into the thing. News has come in that the Indian railways plans to convert each coach of trains into isolation wards - which enables every coach of train can be converted to a 10 bed separated mini hospital. More clarity needs to emerge on how they plan to keep electricity to be running 24x7 and with the summer arriving, will only the AC coaches be converted into such isolation wards. But, the thought is good and important. India is aggressively looking to contain the disease as we are moving towards the first 1000 of the patients.

There are also some gaps in the initial days of this national lockdown that began in three days ago. One serious gap is in ensuring supply chain for grocers. This needs exceptionally clear plan as materials have to move from farm to homes without break. Personally I feel that we would have this lockdown extended as the number of cases in India continues to rise, and we get better control of it and be in a position to prevent the spread in a month or so. This means, we need to short-circuit the supply chain. Materials should reach from farms and large warehouses to groceries across the country without going through too many human hands to reduce  infections. One way could be combining the logistic capabilities of Coke, Pepsi, Haldiram, Hindustan Unilever, DHL, DTDC etc and state specific major supply chains such as Modern Bread in some of the states for delivery up to grocery stores, along with utilization of Swiggy, Zomato and UberEats for home delivery exclusively for senior citizens.  Any of our software majors can come up with a platform which can be utilized by all stakeholders to ensure smooth flow of groceries and vegetables on which the above mentioned supply chains can operate along with State administrations. People falling hungry can have huge social impact and may give way for unrest. Better that we put in some effort on this.

After all, children can't go hungry. And children can't wait.

St. Thomas Academy

Our children have fully settled at St. Thomas Academy on St. Thomas Mount in Chennai, India. I and Shubhra had visited the school in the third week of May after checking through some of the well known city schools. Some of them said that they did not have place. One fo them wanted the children to be brought down to Chennai to take a test, after which they would approve or disapprove based on their performance in the test. A professor friend suggested us to go to another school. The school said that they are happy to support parents who are on transfer. And they said that the annual fee would be just 28,000 rupees. We were happy. And we were asked to meet a teacher. She called us aside to say that the 28k was the annual fee. But we have to give 200,000 rupees per child donation to the school. We were dumbfounded. We left the school considering that 400,000 would be way high for us. As we were perturbed by the situation, another friend called and asked me to speak to the Provincial of the OMI province in India - Fr. Chinnappan. He was very soft spoken, and he immediately called couple of schools and told them to consider our request. The first one, though we were very happy, since our children do not know Tamil at all, and that the school environment would have required some amount of Tamil, we opted out for the second one - St. Thomas Academy.

When we visited, it was still 10 days to the restart of the school. The school looked a bit dry with no trees around. We were very concerned if the children would really appreciate the school. We met the school Correspondent and spoke with the Principal over phone. After that we were taken on a small tour around the classrooms by Ms. Priyanka, the one at the front-desk. We decided on the school. The school administration was considerate to give some concession too, as we were willing to pay for the whole year upfront for both the children. And the academic year began on 7 June 2019.

Though it had been scheduled to start on 3 June, due to water scarcity in Chennai and the heatwave, the government had asked all schools to start on a later date. The beginning of the children at the school began with great appreciation from our daughter as she was so happy at the way the teachers took care of her and the pedagogical methods - for her age.  (Will write about it more later). 

Shubhra joined the school in end of October as a Wellness Teacher (part time). On 7 Dec, the school had an inspection. I thought of sharing a short video on the event which was released by the school by the evening of 7th itself to give some understanding about the school.