Indicorps Fellowship: 2009-10 Year In Review

Where to start? I had a crazy year which involved changing projects half-way, a few nights in hospital and a fatal car accident in my host family.  My first project was with Vidya Poshak, an NGO working to empower the rural student community in Karnataka.  I was working on their Graduate Finishing School, developing the programme to better reach the millions of under-skilled graduates who are unable to secure well-paid employment.  The second project, for a short four months, involved working with a start-up micro finance institution (MFI) called Chaitanya.  Getting under the skin on micro finance in rural India was an eye-opener which gave me the right context to provide some business planning advice for his MFI going forward.  On the personal growth front, this year really pushed my notions of service and leadership - and how I can apply myself to life in a way that stays true to my values.  Obviously, the truest test will be how I live up to these paradigm shifts back home in the UK.

Although it was challenging to select highlights and then write them in an understandable format, I've tried my best and hope you find it interesting to read.  I welcome any comments, questions or discussion - drop me an e-mail (see document end).

Click to read - Indicorps Fellowship: Year In Review
Click to view - India Captured: Photographs from India 2009-10

If you are interested in the Indicorps Fellowship or want to find out more, please get in touch and visit the website - www.indicorps.org.

Spirit Of Service: Exploring My Hindu Identity Through Seva

The following essay won 1st prize in the Hindu American Foundation Essay competition - see full press release.

To roaring applause, Sachin, one of our unemployed graduates, confidently walks off stage after delivering an inspiring nomination speech as part of the ‘Student Panchayat Elections’, a practical exercise to give our rural students leadership training, which will translate into well-paid careers thus removing family poverty once and for all. As my eyes brim with tears, like a proud father on graduation day, I recognize how a meek and insecure Sachin has grown into a man over the past three months of training where I have had the privilege to be his coach, mentor and friend.

This time last year, I was spending my evenings consulting corporate clients on their strategic tax planning at one of the world’s largest professional service firms. So why did I trade my London pin-striped lifestyle for a Gandhian, simple living, grassroots immersion, training economically disadvantaged rural graduates in South India? A call to service by my ever-evolving Hindu faith.

During my childhood years, my parents actively engaged us in all aspects of the faith, from morning pooja andprarthna to fasting during Shravan-mahina and playing Garba for the full nine nights! Their steadfast commitment to the rituals, customs and stories of Hinduism, however bizarre or fantastical, stemmed from a life of struggles. In fact, ask just about anyone in their generation and they will recollect endless vivid memories of how hard they worked for meager wages or how extended families squeezed into small rented rooms wrapped up in blankets because they could not afford heating charges. Faith was their common safe haven, a place to escape and a source of strength when it could not be found in their challenging surroundings. This is a generation imbibed in hierarchical discipline and respect, a ‘do what you are told to do’ culture; to question upwards was tantamount to insult. I suppose that when you start with nothing (from a material perspective), you tend not to take anything for granted and perceive even the smallest good fortune as a blessing from above. When I questioned my father as to why we dress up, offer meals and sing to little characters that seemed more suited to a Disney animation, he replied with morally-conscious ‘do good, be good’-type answers. While his responses were blatantly insufficient, we accepted them, preferring instead to indulge in the delicious prasaad that followed.

In thinking about my parents’ relationship to our faith, I realize it is deeply rooted in a sense of gratitude, a mindset that stemmed from their humble beginnings. However, when I look around at the way we have been raised, with everything practically handed to us on a silver platter, I recognize that gratitude has been supplanted by a sense of entitlement. I started to become aware of how apathetic this environment of privilege was making me about issues outside of my immediate bubble. I thought back to the nation of my origins, of our samskars, in which a large majority still could not afford basic ‘roti, kapda, makan’ whilst we frivolously wasted half the refrigerator contents, changed clothing every season and contemplated rental yields on investment properties. 5000 years ago, on the holy battlefield of Kurukshetra (translated ‘field of action’), despondent warrior prince Arjuna turned to his charioteer, Lord Krishna, to remove his paralyzing anxiety. My battlefield became apparent from within: the conflict between a comfortable, worldly existence and a selfless desire to perform purposeful work in service to others.

A brief stint volunteering with slum communities in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, during an extended break from the London corporate scene whet my interest in service; I remember being inspired to embody the same level of compassion for all people that the dedicated social workers tirelessly exhibited around me. I returned to my desk job but taxes and number-crunching suddenly paled in comparison to aiding a community in their rise from poverty. So, I decided to return to this dharma bhoomi (sacred land) from which my grandparents had migrated with a year-long commitment to grassroots service. With their motto ‘Service for the Soul’, I knew instantly that an Indicorps Fellowship would give me the scope to explore what my dharma (duty) was and how I could practice my interpretation of Karma Yoga (yoga of action) in its purest form as seva, or selfless service.

Whilst my parents continue to spend many hours everyday in devotional worship or Bhakti Yoga, I invest all of my time supporting the neglected rural communities of Karnataka, adding value to their lives, both present and future. My parents worship a statue, spending many hours offering food, clothing and attention to the divine representation, whilst I work with living, breathing manifestations of the divine spirit – a subset of the hundreds of millions of Indians who are in desperate need of the same clothing, food and attention. I worship by serving the underserved.

Even President Barack Obama, in reference to the US military serving abroad, called upon the world to embody the same sense of seva that has guided this year for me and many others in development: ‘...they embody the Spirit of Service: a willingness to find meaning in something greater than themselves. And yet, at this moment, a moment that will define a generation, it is precisely this spirit that must inhabit us all.’

The wise words of Lord Krishna are slowly starting to make sense to me. It is not necessary for me to completely renounce a corporate lifestyle and serve in remote corners of the world. Rather, my faith has enlightened me of my true identity: that of a spiritual soul who can practice seva or karma yoga in whatever field of work I choose, and in turn, mindfully transform apathy into action.

GFS Graduation Ceremony & Career Services Workshop

The day finally arrived to witness the graduation of all of the students that I'd been working with to develop into highly employable graduates.

The below video captures the event, including the pride and joy in the faces of students and teachers (would have captured me if I wasn't behind the camera)! 

Wisdom Song: The Life of Baba Amte

"Instead he prefers to think of himself simply as a mechanic with an oilcan who offers help when he sees a breakdown". I hope that when I return back to the UK in the next few months, I can embody a fraction of Baba's humility and work ethic in what ever I do.


This biographical book paints a picture of the life and times of Baba Amte, a social worker with immense inner strength and passion for his causes.  We recently completed an Indicorps Workshop at Sevagram (Gandhiji's Ashram) and the nearby Hemalkasa, one of Baba Amtes Projects.  His original work with the leprosy community still continues strong in Anandwan, a 3000 resident self-sustaining village in eastern Maharashtra.

In speaking about the end of a country wide cycle-march, there are interesting parallels mentioned which summarise my thoughts towards the  end of my Fellowship year:

"Since 20 December, we have been together, today is our last day.  Tomorrow we will be going back.  In your lifetime, you haven't just had the opportunity to see the country or experience the lives of your people, but you are inspired to note down the inner journey of your soul.  What was our courage when we started? When we left, what was our passion?  What was our desire? We need to write the balance sheet of all that.  I called my dhyeya [fortitude], I gave direction to my goal.  Now that I've achieved my goal, I need to decide what I want to do next and truly, that will be the test of whether this Abhiyan was a success or not - what you do with all that you have learnt."

The book is entertaining and emotional, giving the reader a colourful all-round feel for what this great soul was all about.  Strongly recommend this to anyone volunteering to do Sewa work anywhere.  Baba embodies a some-what updated Gandhian approach to his work and not to mention an equally strong wife (Sadhanatai), children (Dr Vikas and Dr Prakash) and grandchildren, whom are all doctors, including spouses, working in the tough conditions of rural Maharashtra (Amte Family).  Totally inspiring family and well worth visiting their work, if you can get there.

Links:

Wisdom Song / Baba Amte Website (to purchase book)

Anandwan: Forest of Joy (leprosy community)

Hemalkasa (Dr Prakash Amte and Family)

Banker to the Poor: Muhammad Yunus

A really good book to get an understanding of how 'micro credit' first started in the villages of  Bangladesh and how it has progressed, reaching new levels of success and rewarding the founder of Grameen Bank (now with 8 million plus customers and international presence), Professor Muhammad Yunus with the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize.

As my current project is with a start up MFI in Karnataka (Chaitanya), I found this incredibly useful to read, especially after spending some time out in the field and seeing the live operations.  There is a lot of learnings and mistakes made by Grameen that can act as wisdom for new entrants to the market.  Although, this book was written over 12 years ago, and the market having moved dramatically, some of the fundamentals remain same.  To see more of an in-depth study and summary relating to MFIs, click on the below link.

Read my Study of Banker to the Poor - Summary and Lessons for MFIs

Final Moments of Ramesh Paineedi

On 2 May 2010, my friend Ramesh and his family were involved in a tragic car accident which resulted in the loss of his life, as well as his mother and sister. His wife and two sons are recovering in hospital at present. It has been a difficult time and I have valued all the support from family and friends, which has in turn enabled me to be there for Ramesh's wife and sons even more.

In order to express what has happened, I have written the below linked journal entry entitled "Final Moments", describing the last day in the life Ramesh, which I was fortunate to share at his village home.

Journal Entry: Final Moments (pdf document)

Ancestral Pilgrimage – Navsari & Surat

Taking a year out of my life has been equally about connecting to where, what and who I've come from as much as being able to contribute community development. It is the culture and values I have found in the humble 'aam admi' people of this vast country that touched me and brought me here. Recently, it was the 2^nd year anniversary of my Ajiba's (Grandmother) passing which happened in her flat in Navsari. She would spend the UK winter months in India and return back for summer. My Bapa (Grandfather) had died over 14 years ago and so it was probably quite lonely for her, but she was a strong independent woman – who was always happier in India.

After a 24 hour bus-train combo journey, I arrived at our Navsari flat late in the evening. My Mama (uncle) had cooked pasta for me anticipating a craving for non-Indian food! It hit the spot... and shortly after we went to sleep. The next morning we woke up at 4.30am in order to make it to the local Hare Krishna Temple that my uncle had set up. He has been a full time ISKCON Brahmacharya (saffron robes) for the past 25 or so years and like his mother, preferred to be in India, and so set up his own trust and local temple. We get into his mini van and take a short drive to what looked like the plushest shopping centre in town of Navsari. My uncle has purchased a first floor front facing unit and converted it into a temple and ISKCON centre. He explains all that he is doing, intertwined with spiritual philosophy, as he prepares the deities and completes the Aarti. Mama is 50 and totally independent – so he makes breakfast for me and one student devotee who has joined us.

In the following two days, I am able to visit the birth home of my Ajiba and spend time with family I never knew. I also got the chance to travel to Surat where my Dad's family come from, in particular the village of Kosad. There are lots of stories to tell, but don't have the energy to write them up fully here! So ask me if you're interested!

Check out the PHOTOS of the village, family homes and people here: Ancestral Pilgrimage

Musings – by Laxmi Chhaya, Indicorps Fellow in Rural Maharashtra

The below is an article by Laxmi, who is currently working on a rural health communication project in tribal Maharashtra. This provides an insight into her journey to where she is right now and what 'seva' means to her. There are some links below for further information about the programmes she mentions.

Service. Do you remember those feelings of seeing a new place for the first time? This wonderful anticipation of discovery along with this underlying feeling of not knowing where you are. My relationship with service has been a little like this. I initially thought that service, or seva, was about other people and what I can do for them, only to find out over the past few years that it's been about me all along; Me and the potential of this Me to connect with other humans in a way that has meaning and purpose. This small seed of seva was planted into my curious mind by my earliest inspiration and teacher – my Granddad. To me he was everything that made sense, an embodiment of humility; he gave himself away to family and strangers alike without wanting anything in return. Why? Simply because he believed that this was his duty as a part of what he considered his extended family, whether that was his community in India, Africa or UK.

Community. Growing up, this word has occupied little space in my mind, except that I knew I had more than one. I spoke English easily with my community at school, yet remember the ever so slight flinch on my Dad's face every time I spoke English, instead of my mother tongue language – Gujarati, at home. During my university years, I believed myself to be an independent young woman with her own mind, yet became easily frustrated each time a well meaning aunty told me that the traditions of our community do not allow girls to enter religious spaces when on their menstrual cycle. Even still, these frustrations and differences were a normal part of life for me. Only after losing my granddad and a few years of pondering in an open-plan office, did I decide that I want to go and explore the reason behind why I had several communities - India. Although I had visited India from a young age, this relationship revolved around shopping, food, hotels, quick obligatory visits to the homes of distant relatives and air conditioning. It is only after I spent some time volunteering with an NGO in Ahmedabad that I realized that my connection with India was about something else - the coming together of service and community disguised in a funny thing called love.

Love. This NGO was no ordinary place. The idea of 'coming from a space of love' was deeply integrated into the Manav Sadhna philosophy and actions. Here, I was fortunate enough to meet someone who was to become a kind and patient mentor for me and one of the founders of Manav Sadhna – Jayeshbhai. Jayeshbhai believes in the power of small acts of kindness and this was visible in everything he did. I had arrived with a quietly confident attitude that I can change the world, but this lasted no longer than 5 minutes as I stepped into a whole new world, surrounded by hard working staff and volunteers buzzing around after their Saturday catch-up meeting. From holding daily sessions with young girls to simply just talk about anything important to them to spending time with rag-pickers who were managing to save 5 rupees a day towards their goal of becoming self-sustainable, these four months have been maybe the closest I have come to sharing myself with others in a way that went beyond the self and beyond the term 'experience' itself. 

Sharing. I came across Connect India by chance. After some months into a new job in social research, I started to feel restless and at the same time determined that my journey should not stop because I am not in India. I had heard of Connect India through a mutual friend and contacted them with the intention of exploring the possibilities of engaging in service related projects in the UK. After initial discussions with the Connect India team; Meenal Sachdev and Dharmesh Mistry – co-founders of Connect India and a constant source of strength and spirit, I was given the opportunity to co-facilitate a programme for young British Indians to explore India through the lens of development and service – Learning Journey. Learning Journey was many things – a platform on which other young people could explore their own capacity, but also a space in which they can challenge their own beliefs and understanding of the world. Through interaction with local inspirational leaders and communities, as well as reflection and discussion sessions, I believed the Learning Journey was an opportunity to plant that seed of service in others. It was an honour to be a part of this group of open and inquisitive minds, their questions, their challenges and beliefs and their journey.

Belief. I am now in the midst of the Indicorps Fellowship, a choice based on challenge and a belief in change. I am based at a health NGO called SEARCH in the rural forests of Gadchiroli, Maharashtra, where my project has been to devise communication tools to give health messages amongst the local tribes and villages. As I weave in and out of moments of belief, hope, frustration, fear, never has that infamous quote by Gandhi made more sense to me – 'be the change you wish to see in the world'. From comforting patients in times of uncertainty to rationalizing the importance of good sanitation with a family in the village, there have been many times when feeling from my heart was much more important than thinking with my head. I read somewhere that you should "love your life for everything you are not sure about, as it will still challenge your being". Seeing and being a part of inequalities here has challenged me to my core and at the same time pushed me to think about who I am. 

Uncertainty. Leaving behind a corporate career in London felt like one of the easiest decisions I have ever made. Maybe because, it never really felt like it was true to my spirit or in other words it never really made me feel alive. The challenging part seems to be when I look forward, even for a moment. There are feelings of uncertainty combined with excitement. It is difficult to say how I have changed as a result of these experiences, whether Manav Sadhna, Learning Journey or the Indicorps Fellowship, but the one thing that I feel clear on is that I am more than what my degree certificate states, I am more than where I have worked and I am more than what God I pray to. I am a part of something that is much bigger and I too, like my Granddad, have a duty as a citizen of this thing called humanity to be sensitive to what is going on around me. It may be an obvious place to end, but "If not us, then who? If not now, then when?" – Winston Churchill.

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Further information:

Manav Sadhna – The NGO where she experienced the "coming together of service and community disguised in a funny thing called love".

"Living Service" Jayeshbhai video – captures the lifestyle and thinking of how he lives his message with the power of small acts of kindness.

Connect India – UK based organisation that runs Learning Journey.

Indicorps Fellowship – One-year grassroots immersion service projects in India.

SEARCH – The NGO in the rural forests of Maharashta.

Is white really the new brown?

Indicorps Public Column #3                            

A recent BBC news article cited that sales of Indian skin whitening creams are outstripping those of Coca-cola and tea – a phenomenon known as the "Snow White syndrome". (India's unbearable lightness of being)

Ironic, when you think of the struggle by the Nation's founders to become independent from the 'whites' and all things associated with them. A visual depiction from George Orwell's Animal Farm becomes a suitable picture to describe the situation – where those (animals) who sacrificed so much for freedom from 'oppressors' end up morphing into the very people that kept them in shackles (humans).

So, what is driving this desire to change to a fairer complexion? Is it the association of dark skin with poor outdoor labouring and the fairer skin of the white collar worker? The above mentioned article quotes top Indian actor, John Abraham, saying that "Indian men want to look better", the implicit assumption that the whiter you are, the more attractive you are. The Indian middle class is booming, growing at an exponential rate not to dissimilar to the speed at which multiplex malls are sprouting. During my last visit to Bangalore, I was overwhelmed by the luxurious brands and convenience within one building and could not help but feel I was bit too Indian to be there. There is a craze overwhelming Indians to be 'western'; underlying a belief that everything 'western' is better. Worryingly so, it was the West that caused the last recession due to greedy spending behaviour and it is also the West that has the highest levels of mental disease, heart disease and diabetes – things that are oblivious to this cultural shift pattern.

It has made me question – what is it that your typical middle class Indian is chasing? Perhaps, after so many years of poverty and hardship, they want to simply enjoy life – by the only means know to them as on the movie and TV screens: the luxurious lifestyle of a cosmopolitan urban citizen. I could be naive in saying this, but what about the beauty of our Eastern culture that makes India such a wise and genuinely happier nation? What about the new found belief by Westerners who actually desire to be more 'Eastern' with their Aryuvedic medicine, yogic lifestyles and even 'jugaad' way of doing business (FT Article).

The cool evening breeze passes over us, as we sit on plastic garden chairs placed around the solid-glass coffee table taken from inside. Located on the hilly suburbs of Hubli, a medium sized city in Karnataka, this relaxing set up is for a small 'social gathering' hosted by a middle-aged couple. Their only child, a 21-year old daughter, has just started her career in the one company every young Kannadiggan dreams of working for – Infosys Technologies. The three other couples are all in similar situations, at the peak of well paid semi-urban careers with their offspring beginning their professional lives in multinational corporates, in India and abroad. An expensive bottle of whisky warms up the conversation amongst the men whilst the women enjoy non-alcoholic limbu sherbat. There is mix of vegetarian and non-veg starters followed by a similar feast catering to both culinary tastes. Immediately, I feel transported back to my middle-income family in the UK – where this identical set-up is has happened many times in the past. I've come to realise that, even though my family back home is over 4000 miles away, they are actually not very different to my host family here. In fact, globalisation and high speed broadband is making this vast planet a much smaller place and so this natural harmonisation towards a common 'enjoyable lifestyle'.

Although the pace may be startling, manifesting such Snow White syndromes, I believe that human inter-connectedness will in the long-run smooth out differences as people on a whole are able to reduce poverty and live happy purposeful lives. And it is an ultimate realisation that happiness actually is in the simpler things in life, such as family and friends. I just hope it doesn't take too long for the modern Indian to realise and balance this affluent lifestyle with a meaningful multi-coloured life.

Book Review: The Difficulty of Being Good: On the Subtle Art of Dharma - By Gurcharan Das

A fantastic analysis of the Mahabharat from an academic view point relating it back to very real modern day life.  Gurcharan Das, author of India Unbound, was the Head of Procter and Gamble India and one of their Global Directors, before taking early retirement to study ancient Hindu texts.  This book was particularly interesting to me as it was based around a childhood epic of mine and many other Indians - the "Mahabharat", which occurred over 5000 years ago.

Gurcharan Das presents a highly researched re-enactment of the tale of these two historic parties.  The book takes us through each of the key characters and the qualities associated with them, starting with Duryodhan and his 'envy'.  The underlying question is as the book title suggests - this notion of 'Dharma' and how it is can be hard to pin-point what it is exactly.  It was the 'evil' Kauravas that dishonoured Draupadi by bringing her into the courtyard during menstruation, the same people who organised the cheated game of dice to reduce Prince Yudhishtir to a meagre slave. And yet, it was with the help of God himself, as Lord Krishna, that the Pandava's beat all of the key Kaurava Leaders through deceit and misconduct on the battle field - in a place where they actually observe the rules of war with strict adherence. 

What is right and what is wrong? What is acceptable in the name of Dharma? these questions are brought to vivid present day examples ranging from the demise of Satyam to brotherly envy between the Ambani's.

Purchase book (including more reviews) at Penguin Books India