One statement from a person who held the power over us at that time gave us that sweet sweet sense of victory.A victory of reason and common sense over arrogance, misunderstandings and bureaucracy. We had to negotiate a victory which we deserved, and requiring to negotiate for a victory which you have already got is often frustrating. Those who do not know the context of all that I am talking about may not get the idea of this but I cannot afford to state the facts here.
Playing the game of using the right words to convey the facts with the exact meaning is not exactly easy and fun. Diffident voices which had to be firm inspite of the position of Office we were talking to. You never know on what issues you can afford to take a stand and where you cannot. I still do not know whether I am already celebrating beforehand........
Aditya
Tuesday, December 25, 2007
Thursday, December 20, 2007
CHEENI KUM AND ATITHI DEVO BHAV
In June 2006 I happened to go on a business trip to Poori, Orissa while I was working with ICICI Bank. I had around 8-10 local operators with me and I was assigned the task of getting around 40000 people enrolled in these villages and further understand the requirements of MicroFinance customers in order to design a solution for them.
On a particular day I decided to accompany 2-3 of my operators to a few villages around 20 km from Poori. We had hired a car for ourselves and set out for the job. By around noon we had covered 2 villages and were headed for the third. At that point of time a few of our laptop batteries being used for the enrolments conked off. Inorder to charge the battery I went to one of the houses in the village. I realised the house was not wired at all, a proper established Big House! I found it a bit strange and tried out some charging possibilities in a house in the adjoining village. The same result. I travelled to 4 consecutive villages on that road in order to charge my battery. Not one house/ shop in any of these villages was even wired! These people had never experienced the concept of electricity!!!
Finally having assured myself of the futile chase I decided to let the operators continue with the remaining number of working laptops. We reached village number 5 on that route, already tired and a bit frustrated and just wondering why Edison’s invention had not percolated down to these places. Every foul word present in my dictionary came to my tongue, all for the people of this country. What the hell are we celebrating this economic growth for, I thought.
The next village I reached barely had a population of around 300 people I was told. People were covered only in rags. All the children around looked malnourished. Around more than a 100 people came to meet me and at most to say a “Namaste” on getting the news of a “shahari babu” having come to their village. Their earnings per family per day hardly ever accounted to Rs.50. Inspite of me refusing to have anything these same people went and got cold drinks for me, having had to cycle down 4 km in order to get that. After all I was their guest. “Atithi devo bhav” to the core. Further on, few of the women went and made “sandesh” for me. I was made to eat it although it was almost “sandesh minus the sugar”. Again there was a huge party of another 80-100 people who came to see me off. I was later told by the Bank employee accompanying me that a few households had forfeited their children having any milk that day in order to ensure enough for me and my group. For a moment I just could not believe it. I offered money to these families which they immediately refused inspite of some persuading from my side. A tear dropped down my cheek before I could even realise. That was definitely the most wonderful “sandesh” I have ever had and would ever have although it was Cheeni Kum. And the Cheeni Kum because they had not got their monthly ration.
Hats Off to “atithi devo bhav” and CHEERS to the 8.5% growth!
Aditya Khandekar
On a particular day I decided to accompany 2-3 of my operators to a few villages around 20 km from Poori. We had hired a car for ourselves and set out for the job. By around noon we had covered 2 villages and were headed for the third. At that point of time a few of our laptop batteries being used for the enrolments conked off. Inorder to charge the battery I went to one of the houses in the village. I realised the house was not wired at all, a proper established Big House! I found it a bit strange and tried out some charging possibilities in a house in the adjoining village. The same result. I travelled to 4 consecutive villages on that road in order to charge my battery. Not one house/ shop in any of these villages was even wired! These people had never experienced the concept of electricity!!!
Finally having assured myself of the futile chase I decided to let the operators continue with the remaining number of working laptops. We reached village number 5 on that route, already tired and a bit frustrated and just wondering why Edison’s invention had not percolated down to these places. Every foul word present in my dictionary came to my tongue, all for the people of this country. What the hell are we celebrating this economic growth for, I thought.
The next village I reached barely had a population of around 300 people I was told. People were covered only in rags. All the children around looked malnourished. Around more than a 100 people came to meet me and at most to say a “Namaste” on getting the news of a “shahari babu” having come to their village. Their earnings per family per day hardly ever accounted to Rs.50. Inspite of me refusing to have anything these same people went and got cold drinks for me, having had to cycle down 4 km in order to get that. After all I was their guest. “Atithi devo bhav” to the core. Further on, few of the women went and made “sandesh” for me. I was made to eat it although it was almost “sandesh minus the sugar”. Again there was a huge party of another 80-100 people who came to see me off. I was later told by the Bank employee accompanying me that a few households had forfeited their children having any milk that day in order to ensure enough for me and my group. For a moment I just could not believe it. I offered money to these families which they immediately refused inspite of some persuading from my side. A tear dropped down my cheek before I could even realise. That was definitely the most wonderful “sandesh” I have ever had and would ever have although it was Cheeni Kum. And the Cheeni Kum because they had not got their monthly ration.
Hats Off to “atithi devo bhav” and CHEERS to the 8.5% growth!
Aditya Khandekar
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