Letter to My friends- 5

Dear Friends,

I miss you all a lot, I have learned a lot from all of you and now being so far away, I remember the time when we were connected in some way or other. Sorry for being late again, during the last week I was busy in Joy of Giving Week. I & my Superstars took part in it by running a Plantation Drive at our school which was a barren land before it and now there are more than 26 plants in our campus. On October 2, I took part in an event “Be the change- COME ALIVE”, in this I was the facilitator of the group  “Talk to People”. In my group I was with 6 other persons (Age Group 23- 47 years) and we all were stranger for each other, except one of my seniors from college Rahul Gupta. He came all the way from Baroda to take part in the event. It was a different experience; we shared experiences of different persons on road. Then I was a part of a Free Hug Campaign, which gave a unique feeling and it was rocking.

   So due to planning and executing these events, I was bit busy during last couple of weeks. Once again I am with a piece of letter which is the continued part of the last one. Please recall that one before you go through it.

In the previous one I was sharing about what I saw on the eve of Ganesh Visarjan and then the sight of gambling.

     As I was crossing the lane and moving forward to take an auto, I was struck by a totally different scene, something that I have heard many times but never seen it. The sound of dhol’s  of Ganesh Visarjan could still be heard but the sight was not the normal one, I was in a Red Light area and shocked at the sight. Three different situations in a diameter of 200m. Hundreds of prostitutes standing in a line with a misery on their face, compelled into a job that is considered to be the most hated one. They seemed like a parrot in the cage, who wants to fly away but the owner has cut the wings. I keenly observed the sight from the auto and what I figured out was that it is not a profession by choice, they are forced in it. It seemed to me as a profession made by us but still abused by us. But the greatest misery was the Police Station at the end of that lane.

     When I tried to get more information about the situation over there, I came to know that most of the girls there are transported from Bangladesh, China and North- East India. There are more than 1000 of prostitute’s in that region and major portion of the customers are students. This means that our present generation is getting into such obsessions, which are bad not only for them but also for the nation. In my regard if not controlled then the situation can be similar to the one Britisher’s created by the growth and sale of opium at least for the city of Pune.

  I was quite disturbed by these thoughts and in fact I am still.....

We need an effort to change these conditions. It’s our nation and we have to take the charge. Our young blood is capable of making a new developed and prosperous India, the only thing we need is a push and that we have to generate in ourselves. Our culture ( Sanskriti) will protect us until we keep our culture in built in us.

At last I would urge:

                                       BE THE CHANGE – COME ALIVE

Letter to My friends- 4

Hello Friends,

I pray to God that this letter finds you in best of your health. It’s long since I have mailed the last letter. The days are hectic here but it is still full of joy, learning and happiness. My class is progressing at a good pace , kids are learning new things and teaching me more than what I teach them. It feels great to be with them, the day finishes as if a couple of hour have passed.

    Today I would talk about a different thing not about kids, nor about the leadership forums, nor about my experiences at Teach For India, but I will share something that many of us must have felt at different modes of our life.

It was the celebration of Ganesh Visarjan, which is celebrated with full enthusiasm in Maharashtra and my first year at Maharashtra. So, I was out on roads to watch the culture forgetting Swine Flu, without a mask I was with a crowd nearly 10,000 people. Roads were blocked for kms. everywhere just one sound “Ganapati Bappa Morya...” It was first time I have seen such a massive and dedicated crowd gathered not to see a politician or a celebrity but to sing and pray together. Everything was fine but all of a sudden I found that the sound of “Ganapati Bappa Morya...” was lowering down in my ears, though I was standing right there, my soul was there but my mind was somewhere else. There was all together a different thought going in my mind and the question was:  Why is the man mad in the rat race of money, when real happiness lies somewhere else?

I messaged the question to few of my friends but no one replied, it might be no one knew the answer or everyone is after money. I also don’t know why was I thinking so, but that question still annoys me a lot. Over there I was seeing people dancing, singing, enjoying forgetting all their sorrows and misery they were enjoying life, I too was very engaged until this question crept in my mind. All these thoughts were floating in my mind but then also the scene over there was mesmerizing and at last after a long time I decided to go back home. It was a wonderful evening.

     But there was a lot to see today. As I was leaving from there, in the very next lane there was a lottery shop, wide open and people drinking and gambling there. You can understand the adversity of the two tremendously different situations. Once again it portrayed the diversity of our society, how different the conditions are for people from different strata’s of our society, one side it is Lord Ganesha and the other side is the gambling corner. These conditions often disturbs my mind but trying to change the things around him man starts living in those conditions and becomes a part of it.

  It was not the end, I saw something and that sight was new to me, the scene was like a hammer on my mind. I realized that real scene and  something read in a book are quite different and they have different impact also.....

              Its long for now and I know that many of us avoid such long mails.... So, will continue in the next and this time very soon.

Till then reflect and suggest me the answers.... !!!

All the Best