Mattur 'Sanskrit' Village – a Vedic Festival Experience

After seven hours of bumpy sweaty public bus travel, I arrive at Shimoga bus station around 11pm. "We're right behind you" he says, as two guys wearing white dhoti's and shawls approach me. 

Tucked away on the outskirts of Shimoga City, we arrive into a bustling village (Mattur on wiki) that on first impressions seems very developed. Roads are block paved aligned with well-built houses and new cars parked outside. This is a traditional village with a difference. Apparently, it has given birth to more than 50 software engineers, most of whom had come back from the 6 hour journey to their new homes in India's silicone city, Bangalore (Bengaluru). I had been invited by my friend Raghu, who lives with his family in the UK and also the founders of the Bharitya Vidya Bhavan - probably the most cultural centre for Indian traditional music and dance outside of India. Raghu had come for a week-long break to participate in two important festivals – Ratha Yatra (Rathautsava), festival of the chariot and Holi (Okli), festival of colours/harvest.

All men, at least for the entire duration of my stay (2 nights), were wearing traditional Brahmin dhoti's. Mattur and its sister village Hosahalli are famous for many reasons, however, most notably, is how alive they have kept ancient Hindu traditions. It is one of the few villages that speak Sanskrit as a day to day language and unsurprisingly, many of the older men are professors of Sanskrit. There is even a Sanskrit teaching institution which sees many foreign and non-Indian people come to stay and receive intense tuition. Wherever there is Sanskrit, no doubt you will find the Vedas – the original spiritual texts of Hinduism and India. Village elders refer to themselves as 'Vedic Scholars' and most of them speak equally well in English too. It was stunning to see this Orthodox Brahmin community practicing the faith in such an ancient way!

The first night was supposed to be a pre-cursor to the main Rath Yatra. As we arrived, there was a small chariot with Garuda (Bird-vehicle of Lord Vishnu) going around the village (conveniently formed in a square shape) and was apparently only half way at 11.30pm. Rath Yatra is a festival to celebrate when 'God' comes out to his devotees, who typically would be going to him. This occasion when God comes to your home is very auspicious and requires constant bhajans and dancing, to ensure the Lord is made welcome at each doorstep. The chariot would be pulled forward a few feet as a time, stopping at each and every house for a mini Vedic Puja. The excitement reached a climax as we neared the final destination of the central Temple and I notice my watch – it's 2.00am!

The next day, Raghu continues to shows me around this ancestral village, one that has been there home for the past 500 years. We visit many of his friends and relatives, visit some of their fields (Beetle Nut is the main crop) and an outstanding temple that his family members have constructed. It was very unique and had a forest-like feel for it, making it ever-so peaceful.

As it approaches noon, there is a build up of excitement around the temple – the main Keshav-Laxmi Rath Yatra, with Lord Vishnu and his Consort are ready for their grand village tour. There is a huge crush of people as the massive wheels of the chariot begin turning – we run ahead to start singing and dancing with all the men, dressed in white and jubilant with praise for the Lord. The procession continued in the blistering heat for several hours before stopping for Lunch. The procession resumed again in the evening, this time with multicoloured lighting transforming the celestial vehicle. Lunch was in shifts, of which we made the final shift – eating lots of varieties of rice off banana leaves, before heading to the house for a nap. After a few hours of kip, we awake and Raghu shows me a few other sites of the village, including the River Tunga and the new BPO offices.

Around 8pm, the party starts up again as the chariot continues its journey to each home. As a result of the orthodox nature, each household conducts a very details ceremony – which can take some time when there are some hundred households to cover! It's a late one again, this time I'm feeling tired as I'm recovering from the previous nights dancing. We finish up around 3am and head to bed after some discussion on the way back.

Holi or 'Okli' as they call it here, was celebrated the following morning - with a special unit of guys preparing the colourful and fragrant ammunition - saffron (plus other herbal colours) water buckets. We go round the village once more approaching peoples homes to give them a share of the blessings! It was surprising how gracefully most of the older men would come out and accept the water that was about to be poured over their heads! (see below link for lots of photos). 

I was very grateful to Raghu and his family for welcoming me into their homes and culture. It was truly a memorable experience and definitely one of the highlights of my time in India.

Link to Photos: Holi and Rathyatra in Mattur on Flickr

Kiran Bir Sethi teaches kids to take charge | Video on TED.com

Kiran Bir Sethi teaches kids to take charge | Video on TED.com

Indicorps Workshop with Anna Hazare at Ralegan Siddhi: “Mandir without Murti”

(Article submitted to Vidya Poshak Volunteer Newsletter)
Our latest Indicorps Workshop was held at Ralegan Siddhi, the Maharashtrian model village that is home to social worker Anna Hazare. Only a 7^th standard pass, Anna Hazare's current 'life' is his rebirth after a near death military experience. This bachelor has dedicated his entire life, for the past 35 years to social service, focusing on the village communities. After a 12 year period in the Indian Army, where Annaji was posted in the dangerous India-Pakistan war, he narrowly escaped a bomb attack where all of his fellow soldiers were killed. Annaji felt that life was meaningless, to the point where he no longer wished to live. "If I'm coming with nothing and leaving with nothing" Annaji said, "what's the point in living?" It was at that juncture that he conveniently came across a Swami Vivekananda Book at Delhi Railway Station. This proved to be a transformational turning point for him. Annaji explained that it was the wise words of the Swami that enlightened him to the true duty of man: 'manav seva' (service to mankind).

Annaji gave the example of a Mandir to relate to our lives. We can build a beautiful temple with stunning carvings and marble work – however, who will go if there is no Murti (God) inside? Similarly, we build up our lives with so much external beauty, material objects such as houses and cars, and yet there is a lack of contentment. Seva is what brings the inner contentment to our lives just as the Murti makes the temple complete. This was the message from the many Swami Vivekananda's books he began to study. People are always chasing anand (happiness), but they do not realise that anand is not outside for chasing – rather one should look within. In fact, Seva is a guaranteed way to experience anand.

He quoted a saintly saying: 'if you want joy, give others joy'. Annaji demonstrated how this was true for his life – he was happy, at the age of 72 with no BP, or injections / tablets or serious diseases. His philosophy was 'Janata sarveshar hai', that is 'people are the universal god' – we should be doing pooja for our people.

Jowar (sorghum) grows in a bundle and that bundle is harvested and consumed within a short lifespan. Most people are like this – they grow and are used up. However, to give rise to more Jowar, a single dana (seed) has to go deep into the ground where it is dark and cold. It is only then that the latent power within to produce multiple times more Jowar is released. Annaji saw himself as this Jowar, enabling others to realise themselves as a result of his efforts. He also points out that although he has dedicated his whole life, it is not necessary to follow his bachelor path. One should earn good money to support his family (he stayed in the Army for 12 years to complete his pension requirements). Annaji also recommended getting married too – as it is difficult to do this type of work alone!

There are five tenets for social work according to Annaji: Sudhachar (good character), Shudhvichar (good thoughts), Nishkalank (spotlessness), Tyag (sacrifice) and finally, the ability to swallow insults / criticism.

There is another Marathi saying: 'When floods come, the biggest trees are the first to be swept away' (those that typically 'stand their ground'). But the lowly grass totally bends down, returning back to normal once waters have passed. The grass exhibits the quality of Namrata (Humility) and Leentra (Egoless). In social work, there is a tendency for ego to arise... me karnaro, I did this, me, my, etc. You are actually not doing this for the community or samaj, but rather you are doing this for yourself was Annaji's message. As your life's duty or simply the joy you receive during service to others. He referred to the words of Lord Krishna from the Bhagavad Gita: "Karmanye Vadhikaraste Ma Phaleshu Kadachana, Ma Karma Phala Hetur Bhurmatey Sangostva Akarmani", translated as "You have a right to perform your prescribed action, but you are not entitled to the fruits of your action. Never consider yourself the cause of the results your activities, and never be associated to not doing your duty"

Decide clearly what your life goal is, and be fixed in this and nothing will stop you. Money is simply a vehicle; although you need it, you take it with you and therefore it cannot be your goal. Annaji also said that "gyan ka janam kitab se nahi, anabhav se hai" – knowledge is born of experience not of books. So that our work itself teaches us the lessons of life.

In summary, just as a mandir without a murti is meaningless, our lives may look great outside, but without seva, they will seem empty and meaningless. Our work at Vidya Poshak is a great service to the community and is the source of genuine happiness for many volunteers, demonstrated by our exponential growth. We should, however, remember why we do what we do and maintain a sense of humility and duty throughout.


Fellows with Anna Hazare at our Workshop:

Anna Hazare Website: http://www.annahazare.org/ (Very good and comprehensive)
Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anna_Hazare

Science of Motivation: Dan Pink (TED Talk)

Career Analyst Daniel Pink talks about how the traditional 'carrot and stick' method of motivation doesn't work.  About how there is a mismatch between what science knows and what business does.  Especially, as we move out the recession, the future of rewarding performance is not simply about paying higher wages.  Dan argues that it is down to three things; Autonomy, Mastery and Purpose. That's why Wikipedia is so successful compared to a well funded Microsoft Encarta.

He speaks about many experiments including the "candle experiment" and quotes many researchers, including  LSE professors! :)

Dan's website for more info: www.danpink.com

Marshall Ganz: Distributed Leadership (behind Obama Campaign) and Public Narrative

As part of our Indicorps workshop reader (with which we shall have 'text based dialogue' sessions), I came across this article that particularly interested me.  It is called "What is a Public Narrative? (2008) by Marshall Ganz" (click to read PDF).

Practicing leadership, argues Ganz, is enabling others to achieve purpose in the face of uncertainty - requires engaging the heart, the head, and the hands: motivation, strategy, and action. (exactly what Jayesh bhai at Manav Sadhna says!)  Through narrative, or story, we can articulate the experience of choice in the face of urgent challenge and we can learn how to draw on our values to manage the anxiety of agency (things of the past and future), as well as its exhilaration. The two factors required are 'pain' and 'hope'.

With particular reference to the 2004 Obama speech, Audacity of Hope, at the Democratic National Convention, he explains his concept of Public Narrative in three parts:

1. Story of Self - who I am, what are my values, my experiences, why I do what I do.  Why I have been called.
2. Story of Us - communicating who we are, our shared values, shared experiences, why we do what we do.  Why we have been called.
3. Story of Now - transforms the present into a moment of challenge, hope and choice.  Urgent challenge to act.

When you hear Obama's speech, you can clearly identify these three aspects - which is what made that speech and his proceeding campaign a successful one. Ganz designed this approach as a way to learn how to translate our values into action.

As a British Indian and an Indicorps Fellow, I can see the power of story very clearly in the people around me and emanating from inspirational mentors we meet along the way.  It can be a powerful tool to relate to and motivate those around us by sharing our own narrative with clearly identified common values (alive in our communities, such as love, respect, justice, compassion).

Below is a video recorded at MIT, where Marshall Ganz gives a talk about the above principles and highlights the concept of 'distributed leadership' as the successful model of shared, empowering leadership, that can motivate people, particularly in the voluntary sector.

(click here for this MIT Video page - where you can also download into iTunes)

Information Activism

http://www.informationactivism.org/

Ideas on how to use technology to get your message across to create social change.

Daniel Goleman (Emotional Intelligence) - Talks at Google

Just finished watching this captivating scientifically-backed talk by Daniel Goleman, author of Emotional Intelligence (wikipedia on EI) and respected psychologist.  As I'm working with graduates, the education system and employment, it becomes even more evident how so much emphasis is placed on IQ - cognitive intelligence - the grades you get in school and how high your degree percentage is.  From the education side of things, the realisation of emotional intelligence, or simply the competencies that make good employees beyond the ability to compute calculations, is worryingly absent.  With the advent of multinational business, companies like Infosys are changing the landscape of graduate/undergraduate training by rewarding those students who have personality, communication skills and demonstrate a good ability to work with others - typical traits of people with high emotional intelligence.  Thankfully, Daniel mentions that Emotional Intelligence has the characteristic of 'neuroplasticity' - in other words, it can be re-moulded through life.  One of the proven ways of doing this is actually meditation (it strengthens the prefrontal cortex).

Definitely a good one to watch:

Devdutt Pattanaik: East vs. West -- the myths that mystify | Video on TED.com

Devdutt Pattanaik: East vs. West -- the myths that mystify | Video on TED.com

‘maa baap ne bhulsho nahi’

[Gujarati translated: 'Forget not your mother-father']

Living alone in an apartment busy with artefacts from his worldly adventures, Raj Melgiri, a 70 year-young full time volunteer of Vidya Poshak's Graduate Finishing School captivates me with his life story. A story that involved an arranged marriage, working in the US for a period of time before his wife could join him, the many struggles and trials of starting at the bottom and then gaining financial freedom for his entire family. That financial freedom came at the opportunity cost of family time, albeit resulting in the best quality education for his children, a benefit they only came to realise recently.

Only last week, he was showing me his sky diving video, jumping out over the California countryside. "Take the chance and do it anyway" is his approach to life as he now prioritises his purpose in life – dedicated to the social service of training rural students with employment skills.

A dialogue ensued where I related my ancestral migration from India, via Kenya, to England. I spoke about similar struggles and challenges. It made me wonder – why, when our parents try so hard to give us everything that they did not get, such as access to money, comfortable education, luxuries in life (ever wondered how, what was a luxury for our parents generation has become a need for ours?), they forget to give us the things they actually did have? After all, the value-rich moral citizens they have become is the result, more so if anything, of the struggles they endured.

When I ask my student friends early in the training cycle, "Why do you want this job?" they would naively answer "to please my parents". This sentiment of pleasing parents, albeit a noble virtue, is not what the interviewer wants to hear. Previous employer responses include "are your parents applying for this job or you?". As harsh as this may sound, this innocence has been a teacher of values to me. The immense respect and duty these young Indians take for the parents puts us NRIs to shame.

As a young British Indian, my life has been relatively comfortable. How can parents expect us to understand their life journeys if ours is so different? I feel lucky to be here in Dharwad, Karnataka, as fellow working in grassroots development – where through the lives of these students, I learn about myself, my culture and my roots.

Our parents bust a gut for us. And just look how much they have achieved – they managed to survive in a strange foreign country, they took low-end jobs in poor conditions, went beyond racial prejudice to create financial security. They built a home for us. With our comforts, skills, opportunities and family support – it would be an insult to not achieve a multiple of their accomplishments.

If there is one lesson I want to leave India with, it is this: those old folks gave us more than you will ever realise or understand. Anything you can possibly do to repay the debt will be insufficient. Beyond moral obligation, there is a deep loving bond that drives this desire to want to serve them through their twilight years, even knowing that sometimes, it may feel like God himself has sent them to punish us!

My Mum and Dad (being silly wearing 3D shades at home):

Student Politics: GFS ‘Panchayat’

Sitting in a classroom, with the future generations of the world largest democracy, it dawned on me that we needed a student leadership body, elected by the students for the students. These same students have come from villages where the 'gram panchayat' system of governance dissolves national and state power to a handful of responsible villagers, so have firsthand experience of such a system.

Our aim: to empower five individuals with the ability to manage the welfare, needs and social suggestions of the group of 44 students. After being given a few days notice of election, the students had limited time to consider nomination and what their message would be. On a Sunday morning, which students usually have for extra classes followed by holiday in the afternoon, they flooded the room with election excitement. A total of 13 candidates enthusiastically came to the stage, speaking for a few minutes each about their ideas for the student body and why they should be voted in. The students were then sent out of the room to form a queue as we converted the classroom into a temporary voting booth. The names of the candidates were written clearly on the white board as we allowed 3 voters at a time to come and complete a pre-printed voting form (giving them the three votes each).

Whilst they were eating lunch, the ballots were processed and I had the pleasure of addressing the crowd once again. As tension rose, we began naming the complete Panchayat, starting with the 'Sevaks' (Panchayat committee members) and ending with the 'Sarpanch' (leader) – in order of popularity. To avoid embarrassment we did not release the number of votes, just the priority as represented by the voters.

Our first GFS Panchayat had been elected. Led by Sachin, his sevaks will be Irappa, Prashant, Chaitra and Mangala.

There are normally many negative connotations with politics in India – however, I believe the only way to change this will be through the youth movement potent within this enormous nation. These students will meet on a weekly basis, initially with guidance, to discuss difficulties and suggestions. They will arrange GFS 'Sabhas' where the complete student body will meet in an assembly format. We shall see how they progress over the remaining 9 weeks at GFS.

Also worth mentioning, is that out of the five students that were elected, two of them were girls, ensuring fair representation of the group.