Drops from a leaking tap - A Review

“She was definitely not in love with me, but I persisted. Eventually, we got engaged. I never wanted to spend any money, because I wanted even the smallest coin of money to go to the gospel. “Why buy meals when Moody provides them,” was my mindset. One day when we were together sitting by Lake Michigan, (I often skipped meals, but didn’t think it was right to ask her to skip a meal), I asked the Lord if he would somehow supply food for her without us having to spend any money. The people sitting behind us were having a picnic, they packed up and left. I went to the wastebasket, pulled out the brown paper bag which they discarded and discovered a sandwich which was not unwrapped. I gave it to my fiancée. She got a real taste of what she was getting married to!” – George Verwer, Drops from a leaking tap, page 17

I was amazed! As an Indian I thought of the umpteen, garbage disposal places maintained by our Municipal departments, which lie for days unclean; I thought of the rubbish bins in Parks I saw even at the elite Lodhi Gardens in New Delhi, full of half eaten food thrown inside and then I thought of George Verwer, with his first date after two years of social starvation, in order that he could not be “derailed” from his spiritual journey, this woman Drena, he was going to marry, and wondered what kind of man this must be, to be so utterly stingy, to think it okay to pick up a sandwich from the garbage can to give it to his would-be-wife to eat. I was amazed, to say the least!

But as my rational mind came to act, I also realized that he had courage. He was brave enough to come forth with who he was and what to expect of him, to his fiancée much before she was to marry him. Thank God for unabashed behavior, before than after marriage.

George Verwer is the Founder and former International Director of Operation Mobilisation (OM), which is a ministry of evangelism, discipleship, training and church planting. Around 1964 he came to India and spent a number of years here, spreading the Gospel and serving the poor and the dalits.

“We lived in Bombay. People were drawn to our discipleship, forsaking all, world mission and prayer. Rather than feeling we needed to import foreign missionary every time we wanted to get something done, we partnered with the church in India and supported nationals in ministry”.

He was shortly turned out of the country and had to move to Kathmandu, where he and his team specialized in Leadership Training.

And that is exactly what “Drops from the leaking tap” is all about. It is a book that tells you the story of one man who became an evangelist at the age of sixteen and founded the OM movement across the world.

“I am sorry to confess that at the age of sixteen I began, among other things, to peddle pornographic literature. My unconscious and conscious mind was wrapped by pornographic filth that pours out in our country. But I can confess today that because of the Power of the Word of God I have a new mind. I want to tell you it is a liberty, and freedom beyond anything you can ever experience. That which Jesus Christ can give, I believe, makes drugs seem like a useless pill, to say the least”.

But it lists the dream recipe for every marketing and human resources specialist. Turn quickly to Chapter 20, page 131 and read on till you come to page 153. And in between all the talk you will come across, the magic formula you may have studied in your Harvard Books, or read them in What They Don’t Teach you at Harvard Business School. Add “Drops from the leaking tap” to your list of best reads for here you will come across, not only lessons on mission and vision, leadership qualities and action plans, setting goals and achieving them, knowing how to mobilize and get things done, but also what they did not even think of in Harvard or any other business school – the need to wait on God’s timings, for every act ahead.

You call it what you will – the existential prompt, Call from Within, or just-in-time, the chi, it means the same that all people who are involved in the birthing process of the New World we envision, which is more human and more compassionate to the world around it, the birds and the bees, the trees and seas, the earth and all the life it supports and is burdened with, in the midst of the dire need for best business practices and conscientious managers and Leaders, it’s a book you can’t do without - “Drops from the leaking tap” is about being inward drawn, with eyes and ears turned inward to hear the voice of God or what you will, speak to you, about the destiny you are born to fulfill as a Leader in His scheme of things.

To get your free copy of DROPS FROM A LEAKING TAP write to:
George Verwer
Email: george@verwer.om.org

You can also get your free copy from:

Authentic Books

P O Box 2190, Secunderabad

PIN: 500 003 Andhra Pradesh

Website: authenticindia.in

Worldwide: www.georgeverwer.com

There is money to make in education

Two pieces of News in the Bhopal edition of Hindustan Times 12 June, 2009, drew my attention. One was titled: Why Rag pickers prefer dirty landfills to school reported by Chetan Chauhan.

The report talks of two rag picking children, among many others, who went to special transitional schools under a India-US Labour Department joint project in five states in India – including Tamil nadu, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and UP and Delhi. The project called INDUS worth about Rs 188 crores was launched in 2005 in 20 districts in the above mentioned states to improve the condition of 80,000 child labourers in the age group of 10-14 by inducting them in transitional education centres and upgrade their skills. Of the 40 children, 30 apparently are back to rag picking after the INDUS project ended in 2008.

Reason?

“I was promised Rs 100 per month for attending the school regularly” 10-year old Sheik who was enrolled in Balswa, north Delhi, special school said, “even a bank account was opened but no money came. Today, earn, Rs 20 per day which fetches me food and some money for my five younger siblings”.

“It was bound to happen”, said Amod Kranth, head of Prayas, an NGO that operated 14 of these schools. “There was no substitute for INDUS after the project ended. In the last eight not a single penny has been provided for education of child labour”

Please note, the Delhi government’s Labour Department opened a bank account for 2,300 children in March 2009, but many of them did not get any money. Of the 30,000 books published for disbursement in 42 special education centres, only 5,000 reached the beneficiaries.

Now come to the second news: India, US launch education Venture

Quick to act on PMs 100 days action plan, new Human Resource Development Minister, Kapil Sibal is stressing the need for better partnership with foreign educational institutions to ensure better –trained Indian workforce for global jobs. He is setting up a Joint Working Group on education with the US.

The decision to set up the group was taken by Sibal and William J. Burns, Under Secretary, political affairs of the US State Department.

The agenda of this group will be to focus on Institutional linkage in the field of secondary, higher and vocational education.

Now read between the lines:

(a) Do the two news items not sound similar, although addressed to different social groups?

(b) Does the underlying reason for this not lie in US wanting to outsource its educational liability of foreign students from India, to Indian Institutions?

(c) And if that be the case, will India be able to keep its own agenda of education in place or will it have to fall to the diktats of the foreign partner?

(d) What Kapil Sibal is finally trying to work out, perhaps is close to what a Call Centre in India is doing. All material is already provided by the foreign partner, the operator in India only has to learn and deliver like a parrot.

(e) Does this not require more public debate before the Foreign Education Provider’s bill get passed on the floor of the parliament?

(f) If this is to be followed, then will we not cause a further “brain-drain” on the teaching faculty as well?

(g) Will this not standardize education at higher levels to meet US requirements, globally?

(h) Will it not cause a threat of a different kind: In the age of knowledge imperialism, robot mind-sets may become the order of the day? Is it not something we need to fear about and be cautioned?

(i) By applying ourselves to becoming partners in such education groups, monetarily, it is the US’ gain – creation of workforce who is standardized to their requirements, at less than the cost of free education to a school going child in the US.

(j) And finally, has Kapil Sibal no eyes to see a more dire need in India – the need to increase focus on Primary Education on war footing? And ensure that better teachers and TLM ( Teaching-Learning material) are delivered to the end user at Public Primary Schools?

Bhimbetka Rock Shelters

A Sunday morning spent in bed, is hardly as refreshing as a trek up a hill. That too, not a hill of less importance in history, than one which would lead me to the Rock Shelters here close to Bhopal, called Bhimbetka Rock Shelters.

As we, a few of us from the office and their friends and family arrived at the entry point we realized the Gateman was more asleep than us. The gate would open at 8 am but we were in a hurry to trek up. Leaving the vehicle behind we began our trek up to the rock shelters.

Seeing is believing I have heard. Yes, it truly is! Take a look!

Surrounded by the northern fringe of the Vindhyan ranges, Bhimbetka lies 46 km south of Bhopal. In this rocky terrain of dense forest and craggy cliffs, over 600 rock shelters belonging to the Neolithic age were recently discovered. Here, in vivid, panoramic detail, paintings in over 500 caves depict the life of the prehistoric cave-dwellers, making the Bhimbetka group an archaeological treasure, an invaluable chronicle in the history of man.

Executed mainly in red and white with the occasional use of green and yellow, with themes taken from the everyday event in their daily lives, be it scenes of hunting, dancing, music, horse and elephant riders, animals fighting, honey collection, decoration of bodies, disguises, masking and household scenes. Animals such as bisons, tigers, lions, wild boar, elephants, antelopes, dogs, lizards – you see them all if you have the patience to look carefully and patiently at the rocks.

These drawings they say are from different periods – ranging from Upper Paleolithic, to Mesolithic, to Chaleolithic, Early Historic, to Medieval. Bhimbetka is a UNESCO world heritage site.

It is noteworthy to mention that as we entered, there was hue and cry among the real inhabitants of the place, hoots and war-calls, warnings from lizards, birds and monkeys that there are possible invaders around. However, at the end of our visit, they hoarded around us at the Entrance/Exit gate staring at us.

Perhaps from over generation, they have been the original inhibitors of these beautiful stone shelters. We stared at them as they looked us up and down, got bored and even lay down. A fascinating round of primates not too far away from how we look ourselves.

They say, child is the father of man. So is the primate.

Getting There:

By Air: Bhopal (28 km from Bhojpur, and 40 km from Bhimbetka) is the nearest airport. It is connected with Mumbai, Delhi, Indore and Gwalior.

By Rail: Bhopal, on the Delhi-Madras and Delhi-Mumbai mainline is the most convenient rail-head.

By Bus: Both Bhojpur and Bhimbetka are connected by bus with Bhopal.Bhopal is also the most convenient base for visiting Sanchi.

By Car: Bhimbetka is well connected by road with Bhopal. Bhopal is connected to Mumbai (781 km); Ahmedabad (571 km); Delhi (728 km); Gwalior (422 km); Indore (187 km)Drive straight out from Bhopal

To view more pictures of Bhimbetka Rock Shelters
http://picasaweb.google.co.in/juliadutta/Bhimbetka#

A Lesson or Two This Summer

“can you as a citizen do anything if a school teacher does not turn up to teach at your local government school? If a doctor in a government hospital does not attend to patients? If a ration-shopkeeper is siphoning off ration supplies? If a policeman does not respond despite repeated complaints? If the engineer colludes with the contractor and makes a road which wears off within a few days? If a sweeper does not turn up for work and your area remains dirty and unhygienic?” – Arvind Kajrewal, Only Affirmative Collective Action can save India (http://ibnlive.in.com/blogs/arvindkejriwal/2473/53398/only-affirmative-collective-action-can-save-india.html)

I am only going to pick on this - “can you as a citizen do anything if a school teacher does not turn up to teach at your local government school?

In the last 15 days, I have heard about shocking stories of how, in fact teachers in Primary Schools do not turn up at the schools, even that there are some who have become sadhus and come to just sign the register and leave after that. They collect salaries for NO WORK DONE.


This is what I gathered in Madhya Pradesh. I am not sure that it is happening in all states in India. But a few years ago, I happened upon the The Pratichi Report on Education at Primary Level in Bengal. The Pratichi Foundation is the Trust set up by Prof Amartya Sen. I present here a report from Kumar Rana , Senior Research Associate, Pratichi Trust -

“ West Bengal’s problems with education begin with its outright neglect of primary education. In spite of several declarations on universalizing primary education, the funds allocated to primary education have been consistently low. …..

A single example would make the point. In 2002 there was an average of one teacher for 54 primary school children in West Bengal, placing it as the third worst state in an all-India pupil-to-teacher ratio ranking. ……..

Organisational problems

If bad policies are harmful, weakness in implementation is sometimes worse. The shortage of teachers is well known; what is less known is the miserable organisational failure in allocating available teachers. Marginal areas are marred by unjust distribution of teachers. In a semi-urban area of South 24 Parganas district, that has comparatively better accessibility and connectivity, the local primary school had six teachers, including four females, to look after around 100 children. On the other hand, a primary school in a geographically remote village had only one teacher for 232 children. Single-teacher schools formed about 6% of the total in West Medinipur district (same as the state average). But Belpahari, a marginal block in the district, had 23% (21 out of 91) single-teacher schools when we visited the area in November 2005.” (http://infochangeindia.org/200706056484/Agenda/Child-Rights-In-India/The-aspiration-for-education.html)

Just last week, I visited Ujjain for different reasons. An NGO called Eklavya which works with schools that are interested in improving their educational standards, (www.eklavya.in) has been actively involved in not only trying to improve the educational standards in Primary schools in Madhya Pradesh, but has been for over twenty years trying to involve children in activities which are extra-curricular activity.

I went to attend one of these functions at Ujjain. I was presently surprised to see how actively the children participated in all these activities, over ten days, even though it was so terribly hot during the day. The activities began at around 8am and closed up at 11am. The Principal of Model School where it took place every day shared -

"There are no library facilities in most schools. Most teachers are not interested in any other activity other than finishing the syllabus. If you ask them for value-addition in their education, they feel they are overloaded and so are the children. Thus, both the system and the teaching staff are geared to make robots. Hence, any activity that is of the nature that Eklavya is involved in, is highly appreciated because it is sowing seeds in the minds of the children, which will sprout at sometime."

I was happy to be there and also engage myself in discussion around water-harvesting.

"Ma'am", they said, one by one, during rains you can collect the water and have it pass through the pipe back to the earth. You can save water by using less water. Instead of keeping the water tap open when cleaning the teeth in the norning, use a mug of water. Water which you use to clean the floor, can be used to water the garden"

Okay! I thought to myself! And really these children were from all strata of society, and from all religious backgrounds. It was not possible to make out the difference at all.

"can you as a citizen do anything if a school teacher does not turn up to teach at your local government school? - Yes, you can! You can develop your own programme and execute and keep the learning process on and active for children. You can encourage parent participation in activities and learning that go with and beyond the school curriculum.

Poila Boishakh 1416

Bengali year 1416, April 15, 2009 AD, was welcomed with music and dance, drama and recitals at the Netaji Subhash Indoor Stadium, here in Kolkata. Presented as “Joy Hok. Joy Hok, Nobo Noboarunodoy” – the entry fee was a mere Rs 20.

The evening began at 6 pm and ended past midnight. Featuring well known poets and musicians, vocalists and dramatists, it ended with “Mumbai’s Abhijit” singing in Bangla. My favourites – Joy Goswami and Protul Mukhopadhay were there too.

I was there late but left a little before Abhijit came on stage. The reason being, I have seen Abhijit too many times in Mumbai and in fact, he and his band rang in the 2000 millennium year for our Agency in Mumbai’s Royal Palms Hotel at Goregaon. A big incident had marked that night.

We had two shows going side by side. One at the Royal Palms which I and my team were managing and one at Fantasy Land which was being managed by another team.

It so happened, the organizers at Royal Palms started late and no sooner had the drinks been laid out, they were also over. The cover charges at that time were Rs 2000 per head and you can imagine the place was full. The open air music and dance which we as Event Managers were doing, featured Abhijit and his team. Needless, to say, Abhijit too was late and we hoped that the drinks would keep the crowd entertained. Alas!

The boisterous crowd yelled for more wine, while we kept them entertained with fillers till Abhijit arrived. As soon as Abhijit arrived, he bolted out two of the most popular numbers. The crowd forgot their grievance and rolled! All except one! A drunken Sardarji, desperate to win a backless beauty’s attention, jumped on stage and began to hurl abuses at the Royal Palm’s Management. It was a screaming match out there, there on, as we hid Abhijit back stage and pushed the now crowded with the aam junta on stage, back to where they belonged. It was at least 20 minutes of struggle before Abhijit could reappear and belt out more of his songs.

We had worked with two to three hours sleep for over 72 hours and the last straw really was managing the Event up to 3 am the night/early morning of 1st January, 2000. The last of the drunken, drooling, smooching, hugging couple left at nearly 4 am. I asked the car which was to drop me at the Office for a night crash on the Office bunk, to drop me home instead as I longed to hit my own bed and die out to the world for at least the whole of 1st and 2nd January, 2000.

It was not to be. As we were waiting at the level crossing for a train to pass, I decided to get off the car and cross the lines and get into an auto on the other side and ride home without delay. Just as I crossed the lines, I misjudged a hole dug in the ground and trying to step over it, fell and hurt my forehead badly. Blood oozed out like a rivulet down my face and the waiting rickshaw sped me to the nearest Nursing Home. I had several stitches on my forehead and my sleep escaped for again two more days!

Thus, this time, I hastened to flee the Abhijit masala music!

But, alas! This time too, when I arrived at 1 am, I found that I was locked out! Thus, had to break open the door to get into my Shobho Navabarsha home! Bizarre! But this time, I blame it additionally on the presence of a well known politician there!

Momotadi!

I wish all my readers Shobho Navabarsha – 1416 Bengali New Year!

Ami Bangla
Ami Bangla Gai
Bangla amar jeebonanaonda
Bangla amar moun

- Protul Bandhopadhay

Kolkata College Street and elsewhere (Photo Blog)

......inside the Tram