The World in an Atom

Consulting for the not-for-profit sector, I find that there is a generally held belief that this sector is the arena for social transformations for a fair and just world. The business world represented by multinational corporations are considered exploitative, profit seeking and part of a larger conspiracy theory to colonise the world’s poor.

Technology is seen as a liberator from the vices of the commercial world and so ‘appropriate technology’ is a term used to denote technology that works for the poor; it should be small scale, cheap, repairable and must have carry a pride of ownership.

And so the not-for profit world has been focussing on developing many agro implements, transportation and improved cooking stoves to address the needs of the poor.

But now we are witnessing a paradigm shift with Intel Corp.(annual sales: USD 37.6 billion) bringing to the market a product that is not only appropriate but will make IT affordable to the poor. The Atom microprocessor and the motherboard bundled as a fused unit are available in Mumbai for Rs. 3,125 (USD 64 ), inclusive of tax and 3 year warranty. Add the cost of a cabinet, hard disk, a keyboard, mouse and a flat screen LCD display and you have a complete computer for about Rs, 11,000. (USD 225). Convert this to an EMI and it works out to under Rs. 400 per month (at interest rate of 12% pa, 36 months ). This is the cost of a monthly Cell phone or telephone bill.

The implications of this are explosive. The power of a full-fledged computer is now available to those at the bottom of the pyramid. The ‘hole in the wall’ experiment in a New Delhi juggi (www.hole-in-the-wall.com) has long established the positive impact of IT for the poor. Millions can now move to blue collared vocations and yet be modern day artisans. Family units can employ the PC to take up outsourced jobs like family run BPOs, back office work, data entry, art and design work, DTP, CAD, CAM.. the list is mind boggling.

And best of all it is produced by a company which has a quality standards light years away from any appropriate technology inventions. Just have a look at the Charkha. Promoted as a source of livelihood for millions even in an information age, it is a technology from about 50 years ago. It constantly breaks down. See the biogas plants. I would not be surprised if some thousand years from today, archaeologists dig these up in our villages and mistake them to belong to the Harappa civilisation. Just pan to a Nokia cell phone available for about Rs. 1,500 and see the space age technology contained in that 1 square inch real estate. The battery itself is a reservoir of immense human enterprise potential. Just trying to put a value to all the conversations a daily wage labourer has on a single charge. It allows him to be employable 24x7, ready to report to work immediately.

The Atom microprocessor is as powerful as the super computers of the the 1950s. And today that power is in the hand of the poorest. And it was made possible not by some United Nations development agency but by a for-profit corporation.

There are those who will oppose IT as a solution for poverty and social injustice. They wish that the poor remain farmers, spin Khadi, and tend their cattle so that the rest of us can sit in front of our laptops, connect to internet, read this blog and hold discussions. Also attend some international conference to oppose this move of Intel to kill our IT industry by ‘dumping’ this Chinese made technology. Even raise the old torn and tattered swadeshi flag.

Amen.

Slumdog Millionaire by Danny Boyle

I went to see the film and evaluate its appeal for our fellows of the Football Team. However I come back disturbed by the journey.

Mr Boyle takes us into the shadows of the ‘underworld’ – a world of nightmares, of unspoken realities that exist simultaneously with our ‘upperworld’. A world of orphans, maimed into a life of beggardom, of young girls prepped into prostitution, of communal hate, police torture of a minor with a car battery – the list is deep.

This journey into the living hell brings out into the open all the pathology of our society. Its malice is found in societies across the globe, but Mumbai is the chosen as the canvas for this macabre drama. At every turn, Boyle’s cynicism of our paradoxical society is subtly shown. It’s pungent and hurts like the scene in which Lalita puts red chilly powder on little Jamal’s groin in jest.

What social purpose does the film serve for a local audience must be pondered. For a western audience, this is the image of India they hold and now is reinforced. Great to bring tears and create dogma. The producers and the publicist are having a field day with the Oscar nominations. But who will soothe the wounds of such children, that the film makes no restraint in opening up, with an attitude of voyeurism. Almost everybody is speaking about the film, but most probably the ball stops there. Dharavi will now certainly be on the list of the eco-tourist.

Now when people ask me about my work, they will easily draw the image of the actors as images of the marginalised youth. ‘Oh! It is so great that you work with street children’. Excuse me, these are two different worlds ! My fellows of the football team and the 100 odd juniors of the specialised football team are smiling, resilient and poor children. They love football; they laugh and play with their coaches. They have families which support them. , it is written that they will take their rightful place in society as per their destiny, but not by winning a million or two in a quiz contest. They will work hard, lead a good life and build a community.

Sure, who knows what pathos lurks in the shadows of their life, but we will discover together the spring of their well being, rather than the deep well of their pathos.

Mr Boyle, you chose dark and satanic colours to paint our lives. Where is the red of kumkum, the saffron of dawn, the silver of the our stars, the green in that spade of grass…

You wrote a song, which chokes me and leaves me gasping for breathe.

The Adayar Poonga

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The Adyar Poonga. My recent assignment led me to Chennai to work on a draft restoration plan for the Poonga. The Poonga is a stretch of 58 acres of an inland wetland in the midst of a dense urban area (www.adayarpoonga.com).

As I learnt more about the Poonga, she began to acquire a personality for me. Caught between the push and pulls of the environmentalist, the restorationists, the government, the High Court and the citizens, she is like an adolescent abandoned orphan, staring with her large doe-eyes, wondering what her fate will be. Some want her protected for life in a half-way home, some want to deck her like a bride and marry her to the City and some wish to foster her in an institutional environment. Each side vehemently pushes for their opinion. But, pray O' Gentle muse, who will ask you of what is best for thee ?

As I keyed away, in a quiet, dark small room, on the massive tome which was to be her horoscope, many a times the Poonga spoke to me. Sometimes she cried, at times mocked, sometimes there was disgust and anger. At the rarest of times, she presented herself, very coy in her glorious green dress, a blossom tucked away behind her ear, thick black kaajal outlining those bright wide eyes, afraid to smile. She would play around me, the sounds of her trinklets were a pleasant disturbance, then she would look over my shoulder to the laptop screen, reciting some silly Limerick, the child in her would not be bogged down. And yet there was the nascent flowering of this muse, a hope of her intense feminine beauty beckoning me to find her a suitable groom. So that one day she may bear forth many offsprings spawning from her womb.

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In introspection about my relationship with the world, I am led to a thesis put forth by William R. Jordan III. In his book,' The Sunflower Forest: Ecological Restoration and the New Communion with Nature', ( More info) he discusses environmentalism and its application to restoration ecology. Jordan brings up the issue of our existential shame. As we discover our existential unworthiness, we realise that as a person we are not omnipotent. We are actually dependent on all that around us - a world of differences and limitations. It leads to a deep sense of Existential shame within us – but not guilt. A shame arising from death, necessity and dependency. Religion and the Arts give us a way to deal with it; the rituals gives us a deep sense of connectedness and completion that we achieve in our belonging to community.

Communities have to be created by protocols and practices of culture, art and religion; its mythologies and theologies and often demanding religious practices. Culture provides us with path for dealing with the instrumentality of life (the technical and economic basis) and the intensification of shame that these bring about when we confront our human-ness.

Restoration is looked upon as a substitute for rituals, engaging in a performance to giving back to nature what we also take away. In this view, the process is not just an environmental conservation but a deep process within us to redeem our existential shame.

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The proposal was presented to the Chief Minister on 10th August amongst much fanfare. And as we invaded the Poonga with our electric golf buggy, star tortoises on display and a few trees planted in the bosom of my Poonga, she kept silent and just watched our performance.

And so, I have returned to Mumbai to enjoy the hot and wet August in anticipation of my forthcoming assignment. But I am still left with a sense of ambivalence towards the Poonga. Did I really listen to her whilst planning her future ? I connect to my existential shame in the helplessness of my limited human role of not really being able to help her. But I put my hope in the community to which I belong, which will choose a path for her. The Poonga is quite a adamant survivor and she will fight till the very end.

She is the embodiment of all the 4 qualities of the Divine Mother - Maheshwari, Mahakali, Mahasaraswati and Mahalakshmi. I am privileged to have made her acquaintance.

On Being a Hindustani

ON INTEGRAL CULTURE

I am often mistaken to be a Parsi. Its the surname – 'Doctor'. Many a times I play along and claim to be so. Its not that I lie. I consider myself to embibe many qualities of being 'Parsi'. This stems from my premise that I was born a Hindustani.

As a true Hindustani I accept all of my cultural legacy. Within me are all of the sub-cultures which constitutes my whole. From the Moon-people of the Narmada; the basic ecological interdependence and the spiritual. From the Aryans, the Sun-people; I inherit their ability to conceptualise Reality. The Greek, Central Asian, Mongol, Buddhism, Islam, Sufi and Persian and British influences all mingle to a ‘Sangam’ where the streams amalgate to create a greater whole. They merge their identities into a more encompassing group life – the culture called Hindustani. The Hindustani accepts the diversity of the past and embodies them into his/her cultural identity. S/he sheds the prejudice of his/her forefathers in favour of a love for all and making all of the Culture, his/her very own. Then there is no need for cultural integration – there is a need only for harmony and balance within the internal cultural identity. There is no Hindu, no Muslim, only Hindustani.

I write as a voice of the present post- independence generation which had inherited the Indian citizenship and with that, the legal umbrella of the Constitution to recognise my natural rights as Man. My natural rights to my Culture, evolved from the time of the Harrapan civilisation and upto the influx with English is my birthright. My cultural identity is product of all that is. My cultural identity is embededd in social and cultural history and not religious fundamentalism. Globalisation with a liberal education leads me to claim an identity which is not composite or integrated but INTEGRAL. The future is towards the evolution of Man as a global cultural being.

Iqbal writes:

There must be some reason why our existence could not be wiped out

Although the wheel of time has been inimical to us for centuries.

The generation preceding me, in the academia and intelligentia have a bias based on their non-liberal education and they advocate National Integration through composite culture, and that Stabilised Pluralism is the only way for stability. But 50 years have lapsed since the birth of this nation ( not its independence) and we the present generation stake our claim to our historic cultural legacy filtered out by the Constitution.

The trend towards a society of a Hindutava majority with tolerance for Muslims who must ‘behave’ is not acceptable to me. For within me, there is not only a Hindu, but also a Muslim, Christian, Sikh… I am a production of a culmination – a Hindustani. I aspire for the sublime through Hindustani Culture. I am multi-lingual, non-regional, spiritual and a theosophist, tempered by science and technology.

The great walk from Composite culture to an Integral culture has begun- inspite of the distortions brought about by India's power elites, its developmental dynamics, federal polity, or democratic politics.

Changing realities require that a new Constitution be drafted - to be a mission statement and a vision statement to lead India through the next 50 years. Otherwise the State may disintegrate into anarchist state- republics.

Y.B. Chavan sums it in his article ‘Need for new Indianess” ,

“The very concept of our modern united India is based on certain new values. I think the political unit of India, in a society which is multi-lingual, multi religious, multi regional and multi-racial can only be based on certain new values. These are values based on some sort of a new Indianness and Indian citizenship.”

LifeMoments

The Teacher is also a Mentor

I was a member of the Akanksha Foundation’s School Project team (www.akanksha.org) from June 2004 – Dec 2005. My primary task was to set up the formal school intervention in the Supari Tank English Primary School situated in Mumbai (Bombay), India.

The school caters to children from neighbouring slum and ghettos. Those years have provided me with strong linkages and relationships with the urban poor.

I felt that the intervention should take outside the civic school system which was corrupted in more ways than one. If only we could start a private bilingual school in the community ! But that was outside the scope of the project and I moved on to work outside the non-profit sector.

But relationships and linkages draw me back to the children. I received a phone call inviting me to meet at the school on a holiday. And it so happened that I reached last Saturday to meet 3 of my old friends. These kids represent the changing migrant population in the city. Shintu is from West-Bengal, Pankaj and Naresh are from Nepal. All study in class 3. Pankaj and Shintu are older to the level but had to start in class 1 because they came from vernacular schools in their villages.

We met at the Supari Tank playground. It brought back nostalgic memories. It was here that we had formed a group of eager kids who met after school to study and play. The school would not allow us in the premises after school hours and so we would discreetly meet in the playground. The school principal found out much later but then just let the matter go after a stern warning of indemnifying herself from any responsibility. Akanksha had sanctioned a small budget for snacks and the school watchman’s wife would make a meal for the kids.

A football team was formed and these youngsters from class 1 - 3 wore their uniform proudly. Only recently they won the Akanksha junior football tournament. It warms the heart and brings tears of joy.

On alternate days, they would study with a teacher. The football coach, Kishore Patel, doubled as a Math and English instructor. With no place to sit, the playground became a kinetic structure and the kids learnt to be resilient.

The kids saw their adults in a positive role model. They received the care and love and reciprocated equally. There was a special bonding amongst us. I would sit at a distance on the park bench like a gardener watching over his nursery.

I had planned to be with these 3 musketeers till noon. As an ice-breaker, I suggested some ice-cream as it was already quite hot. But the kids said, take us to Juhu ( a popular tourist beach and seafront). Children bring about such spontaneity. So off we trooped to Juhu. It was noon and the sun shone at its zenith. A meal of Chinese stir fry and ice-cream milk shakes made us as good as new and we headed back to school.

(Left to right) Shintu, Naresh and Pankaj

On the way back, a murmur began to grow loud. Shintu wanted a bicycle but could not afford one. I tried to pacify him by pointing out that it would easily cost more than a thousand. He said it would cost only Rs. 300. But his parents could not buy it from him.

When we reached Bandra, we parked the car at a safe place and spotted a roadside cycle repair shop. We inquired for a used cycle. He showed us one and said it would cost Rs. 1000. He would repair it, add new tyres etc etc.. We were about to walk away when he called out and said take it for Rs. 400 in its present state. Alright he said, I’ll fix the puncture and oil it.

There was some money left from the picnic allowance my wife, Harita, had given me. I checked and found I had just Rs. 400 ! God bless her. OK, let’s buy the cycle. The kids supervised the fixing of the cycle while I waited in the shade. Then we worked out where the cycle would be parked, who would keep the key. It was to be shared by all. But Shintu would park it at his home. Everyone agreed. Taking care of a bicycle was a responsibility.

Shintu’s day was made.

This brings me to the topic of being a teacher. Besides having other roles, the teacher is also a mentor. Someone who is an anchor; a support through ones life passage. Facilitating the seizing of a moment, giving it intention and realising it into action - that's the little contribution a mentor makes. There are some very special moments in a human being’s life. Coming to school, discovering the world around, growing up, graduation, marriage, becoming a parent …. These are Life Moments.

In many cases, especially in small towns and communities, the teacher represented continuity and a Constancy.

I am a mentor to these kids. Maybe they still consider me to be also their teacher through life. I am privileged to share some of these Life Moments in their life. Maybe one day I will celebrate and witness with Shintu his graduation, his marriage and maybe even the birth of his first child...

As my mentoree, it is he who has enriched my life by allowing me to share some of his special moments. The bicycle and the memory of this day will live eternally in our lives.

This was also my LifeMoment, as much as as it was his.

Being Global.

(2004)

Local markets are no longer protected by trade barriers. Local economies are wooed by global players. Freedom of choice exercised by the customer drives marketing. Value creation and customer relationship management are new mantras for the long term sustainability of an Enterprise.

Local and export markets fuse to become Global. Supply Chain management transforms to become global Value Chains.

The old economy created its distinctive operating systems to define the strategy of the Enterprise. Responding to Change will not suffice. The Enterprise must become Change. Yesterday does not exist today. The Future interpolates into the Present.

Now Enterprises must look at themselves in the mirror through the eyes of the customer. Is your value proposition competitive against global offerings ? If yes, then the customer awaits you stretched all across the globe.

The Indian Enterprise is deleted. Welcome to the Global enterprise.

Globalisation has 2 players. The Shapers and Adapters. It is a great leveler and gives opportunity for a cottage enterprise in a remote part of the world to upload into the global marketplace and compete for a share of the mind space of the global customer. That is the Shaper. Those who still think of markets as domestic and export remain the Adaptors.

Marketing research gives meaning to global market networks, their intra and inter space. There is a dynamic flux of activity taking place here. Information and feedback loops, barter of goods and Money exist in a symbiotic relationship. Data overflow. Deciphering data to information and its finding meaning, the context, gives knowledge. Placing the enterprise in this network, responding to the changes in the network and creating value for stakeholders ensures long term sustainability.

Understanding networks requires new sciences born from conceptual science not broken down into cartesian sciences born in the industrial Age. Life sciences fuse with information technology to create cybernetics. Paradigm shifts bring forth the importance of chaos theory. An Eco––spiritual world view breaks down hierarchical models to fractal structures. The Mandala. Processes and Activities at the unit level build a macro composite at the Enterprise level. Technology enables. People become the defining competitive advantage. Welcome to the world of Genetic Algorithms which use principles of mutation, selection and amplification to find solutions.

Strategy encourages dreaming. Concepting with a lateral mindset. Tap into the network and finding a space to call your node.

(eof)

True Colour

True Colours

(2005)

A colour must always remain true to itself

Otherwise it will cease to exist.

Yet it must find its truth in black

It is the darkness of its mother’s womb

It must crawl out into Light

But as a colour

Surrounded by the intensity of white

It must remain true to itself

Thy Father is the Sun

In wedlock with the Moon

Together they nurture you

To make you what you are

And with your truth you fill the world

Merging into the white

You colour the lives of whoever you meet

Never asking, only giving.

You can be part of Joy and Sorrow

You become what others ask of you

In you resides the Human Spirit

The path to becoming and unfolding

Your true colours shine through

Beautiful like the spark of fire in your eyes.