An encounter with dichotomy of India and Bharat

It was yet another afternoon, when we started off on an office sponsored tour. It was lazy Hyderabad Friday afternoon, which saved us from the hectic traffic from Hi-tech city to Birla Planetarium. The occasion was to take Ashirvad (A bridge school) kids to the planetarium and the science museum. When we landed near the planetarium, we met around 150 kids, all lined up in lines. At the first glance, it was a reminiscence of past. Most of the kids were not-so-luck to get into a proper education or schooling. CHORD (an NGO) had set up this school, and QUALCOMM engaged in some volunteering activities with them.

During those 3-4 hours of interaction with the kids, it opened up few Pandora’s Box in my thought process. It’s not that I didn’t know about those realities, but again and again, facing them, and reminding of the present scenario, was an awakening from the temporary slumber under “India rising”. Among all these 7-14 year kids, few were bright. But many of them may not posses the standard of their schooling academic credentials. I had requested my colleague, who organized the quiz, to ask the kids to speak on any topic for a minute/half in English or Telugu, to win a prize. To my friend’s delight, who thought they mat not be able to, none of them could talk on Gandhi or any other topic. Also, some of the answers to “Who is the President of India” were “Jagan, Rosaiah, YSR etc.”

Same day, when we were returning, saw a bunch of affluent family members, guiding other kids, a similar purpose. Who might be studying in the “international schools” with A/C class room, and horse riding being a part of the syllabus. Nothing unfair indeed, however, it just brings the idea of Bharat and India!

The so called Bhart Vs India, might be a creation of the few journalist or intelligence (may be), yet they create a perceivable barrier, to read this line and create a whole set of pictures that depict them. As that TOI “Lead India” campaign once said, India was a resurgent force, and Bharat a laid back, half slept behemoth! And a poem from Gulzar, the great Hindi poet, rightly penned those perceptions.

I think all the progress we see is off course real, however, feel saddened, how far have we gone from the time, when Vivekananda once pronounced, “If millions live in hunger and ignorance, I hold everymen a traitor, who has been educated by their own means, gives not heed to them”. After more than a century, from that moment, it feels, we had not proceed further!

These urban and middle class comments were there a century back, few decades back, and these will be there centuries later. But how can we change these, newly formed concept of Bharat and India – a ever significant question mark. Time may change, if I can take few classes, in my off hours for these kids, the gap may reduce if 100s of my friends do something else in their off hours, if our actions will speak for the sadness we feel, and more Bharatiya will abandon Indain-ness to serve Bharat, I hope, my next generation may see a better Bharat, and a more resurgent India!

An unequal India

Recently I read watched this video - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OrrwysWypJ8

I have been reading him for quite sometimes in The Hindu. For the first time, I got to hear a lecture from him today. He has been the crusader against the contemporary hypocrisy. He extensively writes about the rural India that often many forget, or glamorize in the name of “voluntary efforts”. For that matter, I believe, what he works is to bare the facts before the public. He has been critical of the contemporary journalism as well.

I feel ashamed, and resolute on a different dimension. I read once when I was in college, “if million live in hunger and ignorance, I hold everymen a traitor, who has been educated by their own means, gives not a heed to them”, by Swami Vivekananda. Today, I feel, I will be a traitor, if I don’t do my two cents towards it.

I deeply feel sad to read these figures, which otherwise never comes to the lime light under the “India Rising” slogan. India’s rank in global reports or lists:

Human Development Index – 119/169

Global Hunder Index – 67/84

TI - Global Corruption Index – 87/180

I too feel proud of our recent achievement, but a long way to go, before we feel satisfied. Recently I was travelling in a local train in Odissa  (DMU) to PURI from BERHAMPUR. I got into the train where there was no space to stand, forget getting a seat. I saw real India there (Off course it’s ubiquitous in India). There was a discussion going on corruption and politics, and finally someone has asserted “India’s current supremacy and how India is moving ahead China – India is the next super power”. I feel the sorry state of our information, as to compare with China with those numbers. The miss-information for self assigned brouhaha!

And, over all these criticality, I don’t have a solution. Neither did read or heard of one magic formula. But yes, it’s been said, “I must be the change that I want to see around” – I believe and trying to follow it in action to propagate the same.

On Communication skills...

It’s no surprise when many people talk of communication skills, especially when you are in college or in the Job. The placement cell of many college would be eager to indulge in training for its students. English, being the virtual universal language, demands such respect. To learn proper English has become a basic requirement today. Not only because it’s the flood gate of getting a good job and a better life, but to open up to the deluge of ideas and thoughts. However, I am certain that it’s NOT the only condition for the same.

Understanding the essence of communication.

I do understand, there are many pressure to learn English, and for many vernacular background student, English has been a nightmare. Sometimes, it’s because of the outward pressure, and sometimes it’s a fear created by the predecessors. People can learn Sanskrit, and even talk in Sanskrit, but when it comes to English, they just falter. It’s NOT because they can’t or incapability of their language skills but the inherent fear – it’s more of the psychological denial. When one understands that it’s just a medium to communicate one’s ideas, thoughts, and feelings, it becomes easier. When the big world of grammar is nothing but a set of largely accepted rules, to make the language simpler, so that there is no problem in common understanding or minimizing otherwise unending complexity.

Why we need to understand and follow good grammar of a language? One technical example may help. We have so many different phones today. Every manufacturer is free to have their own design, layout, and user interface. But when we send an SMS, they can NOT be one brand specific. As they can be sent to any device that supports SMS, so there has to be some standard that everyone understands, that’s why we have 3GPP and ITU standards for telecommunication. If you are familiar to computer programming, ANSI C is a standard to write and run C program in all different computers and operating systems - which is someway similar to English grammar.

My lessons in understanding the importance of communications

I have heard and read all the theoretical aspects, and I tried my best to learn and improve my English, and I do pursue the same even now. But when I was in college it was more of learning curve. Though I understood its importance, it was like a theoretical one. Because what you need mostly is Odiya, to communicate in Odissa. But once you are out of native state, you have to learn a new language. Initially, when I talked to people from South and North India, they have a different ascent, and  sometimes, few words would not be understood, that’s where the importance of learning the “right” pronunciation comes into play. And, when I started working with people from different regions of the world, it became more difficult. I had to talk to people from China, Japan, Europe, and US (Afro-American ascent is more difficult to understand) for different project requirements or working together for some project. There I had to try my best to understand their ascent, and I had to be more careful of my ascent. Then I felt, there is no universal standard of English pronunciations, however, one should learn the way so that majority can understand. It’s NOT as difficult as people think. It comes over practice. And, no matter how much you learn, one can’t be error free. I have seen it even from “so called perfect elite”. So one should never be afraid of making mistakes. Yes, committing them again and again is, of course, a crime, and learning from the mistakes is a gain.

Communication skill is not just limited to English!

At times I was ashamed of my ascents, but today I am not. Because, that’s my identity. As long as, what I speak is understood to quite many people from different regions of the world, I don’t need to change my ascent to US or British! I can be what I am, and improve over learning the “right” or “majority” way of speaking or pronouncing the words.

One more thing - learning good English never demands to forget the existing one. Learning good English or speaking good English never demands the sacrifice of “no learning” of a native language. They can be cultivated simultaneously. It is true that English language is a flood gate to ocean of knowledge. If I compare English to languages like Hindi or Odiya, they are not far behind. The beauty of every language has their own identities. The literature of every language is a mine of information of its lineage, history and often the cornerstone identity of a human race. Every language is a precious resource of humanity. And, good communication skill is NOT limited in just writing and speaking good English, as it is often interpreted  - for it has a vast  meaning. By understanding the essence, following the guidelines and continuous practice, it can be mastered. It takes time, but with some effort it surely can be achieved.

My first international journey!

I was little excited and nervous when I started off from my office at 2PM. Most of the packing was done. Finally got a taxi and reached at the RGI airport, Hyderabad after an hour.  I entered through the domestic terminal though it was not off much a difference. I was waiting for Sandy, my colleague and co-traveler to San Diego in the same flight . One good thing in any airport is - finding information is never difficult. On my first visit I could get information on what all things to be done. I did my luggage weighing  and made sure that these are under the limit and finally all settled. I was waiting for Emirates counters to open. Sandy arrived in time. After all the formalities, like issuing boarding pass, luggage check,  security check etc, were over we went to the waiting lounge.  Finally at 9.15PM, it was time to get into the flight and that was a good experience. However, the best was the city view from the sky in night. On a black canvas, there were dazzling golden and diamonds arranges in pictorial manner…The roads were more like the golden necklace with the flood lights and the housing lights were, short off, like the glittering diamonds…it was such a wonderful picturesque scenery to remember. I did try to capture in my phone camera but in futile.

Hyderabad - at night - from the sky

And, after 4 hours of journey, with some good food and drinks of Emirates, we neared the skies of Dubai. it was just approaching to be the new year 2011, and we witnessed all the fireworks from the sky. That was a great moment indeed – celebrating new year on the sky. We landed on time, 11.59PM, local time. It was quite a big air port with so much of dazzling shops advertizing “duty free”. The epitome of material luxuries all around, and citizens of all over world hovering here and there. Then the tragedy stuck, and it marred the happiness we had for some time. It was a three hour wait in the airport and my flight was at 3.15am. I couldn’t find a place to seat in the waiting lounge. But me, and Sandy settled somehow. At around, 2.15 AM the countered opened for the Emirates flight to Log Angeles. But Sandy was missing, and he came back around 2.45am. We proceeded to the check-in counter. I went first and sandy was following me. After I checked in and waiting for him, but he was stuck - he missed his passport! After a lot futile search we couldn’t find it. He quickly left in search of it, or for an announcement. It was then 3.05AM, the security staff advised me to proceed, and I did that. I was desperately waiting for him to come aboard before the flight took off, and I alone had to travel my longest flight journey.

In Dubai Airport

I was already feeling tired for no sleep, and this nightmare, came jostling to aggravate it. I couldn’t concentrate on anything. As I got a window seat, I looked outside, and Dubai was asleep, yet it’s roads from the sky were all active. The garlands of lighting, on the black hovering city was just amazing. The towers were all silent after those crackers and lighting were vanished into the darkness of night. For it doesn’t know if that is of a new year or not! And, there I met my co-traveler from Uganda. He was travelling back to join his classes for his under graduate studies. We conversed for some time, and found that he was a national football player, and got a scholarship for his higher studies. One peculiar thing is, all the hours, it was just night. The journey was like 24 hours of night, and I travelled through the night zone as we are moving from east to west, with 12,000KM that we travelled, with three full movies that I watched (social networking, the wall street, Udaan)and scores of song to accompany, and only a few hours of sleep… 16 hours just seating in the same position was not a very comfortable thing, but thanks to the modern innovation, they provided the best that could provide some impetus - at least to meet such requirements.

Next challenge was making sure that whatever food served is vegetarian. Thankfully, they did serve Indian dishes. And, I had to make sure that none of them had egg flavor. It was really confusing, asian-veg-mean, Indian meal etc. I took, ample amount of waters, fruits, and fruit juices. I kept an eye on my watch, to find the Indian time. So finally, it dawned before we reach into Log Angeles. By then, it was mostly traveling on the pacific, and I could see nothing but the ocean, and on the horizon the purple colored sky was yawning. It was one hour more to go, and life was back in the flight. Everyone got back, as we had to fill those immigration forms. I was told to be careful of this. And I was. Finally, we landed in time, exactly at 7.15AM at L/A. I was amazed for the punctuality. I wondered, while comparing with Indian railways, they don’t have air stations or traffic problem in airways, that could be the reason for such punctuality!

In Dubai Airport

Being the new year, it was rush hour in the airport. As it was the port of entry, there was a long queue for the immigration checking. I was little worried as my next connecting flight to San Diego was at 10AM, and I had to go through, emigration and baggage checking. I was asked few question like the purpose of the visit, and then stamped on the VISA. Followed on which, I had the find my baggage, and there was no security or checking to confirm that right bags are collected by the concerned owner. I carried the luggage to inspection counter, as I did tick that I had food items. Somehow it got cleared without much ado and checking. I rushed towards the domestic terminal which is 400 mts away. I had to leave my baggage in the connecting flight counter and rushed towards American Airlines terminal. Again one more security check, which off course, is an irritating process in any air port. Though it can’t be avoided, few of those newly added process were gifted by few persons of high desire and caliber – but for so called wrong reasons! And, finally I landed in San Diego after forty minutes. I had to wait to collect my baggage there, and finally at 12.45PM San Diego time (2.15AM Indian time), I have finally arrived at my destination, with so many unanswered questions - what happened to Sandy, to his passport and his luggage?

The Bird's eye view of Log Angeles in an early morning