Yearning to make a difference

I often get anxious and frustrated about lack of common sense in people of our country. I am sure most of us do. Be it affluent, educated, successful or lesser fortunate ones; irrespective of caste, creed and geography, most of us fail to realize our basic sense of responsibility towards our neighborhood, society, city and above all, India. 

My anxiety peaks when I see 

• filth all around major religious places
  
• people throwing trash anywhere they wish to
  
• people jay walking risking their lives and others
  
• educated and professionals jumping off queue to get ahead
  
• wastage of country's resources in terms of power, gas, petrol, water etc.
  

 ... the list is long.

We observe these things. Be a part of it. Ignore it. Some do due to lack of common sense and basic education/awareness. Some of us accept it as part and partial of life in India. Some opine that just their changing will not make any difference so why bother. Some (including me) aren't driven enough to participate in bringing the change. I think about things I want to do but I haven't pushed myself even one bit to take any initiative. 

 My dad and husband have witnessed my occasional radical remarks during such anxious moments - 

• I would like to introduce course on "common sense/ national interest/ etiquette & manners" in our education system from very beginning

• I wish to be a non-political leader to influence my fellow citizens to participate in bring the change

• I would meet the Chief Minister of West Bengal with concrete and easy to implement ideas to improvise city of Calcutta

• I would go to corporate heads with my ideas and concrete plan on social responsibility as they have the channels and ability touch the beats of masses. 

and many such whacky thoughts, which keep cropping in my mind. I need to start making a difference. I have to challenge myself.

Why am I sharing this on blog? Well, sharing here has driven me in the past to get back to photography, to blog, to work on reviving Clickcalcutta initiative, to initiative communication sessions with colleagues, and to read the Geeta. 

Then may be this is where and how I may start to bring alive my dream to bring the CHANGE.

One little step at a time.

10 minute drive

I am one of those lucky people, whose commute to work and back seems like luxury. I just have to hop on to passenger seat of the car and zooooom! in 1o minutes I get to my destination.

On way to work, I get to ride with my boss/business and life partner. It's obvious work is all that we have on mid then. We discuss agenda and deliverables for the day. Help each other set priorities. In between, we do curse the traffic and jay-walkers - all part of driving in Calcutta. The 10 min conversation-on-the-move sure sets our working day right.

The return journey is a complete contrast. It's my way to disconnect from office and yet not let my mind run to home affairs. A time to myself. 

This 10 min I spend in watching the world and observing people and activities around me. Believe it or not, nowhere else I have seen so many faces of life as I do during this drive. The Chauffeur drives through by-lanes to avoid traffic lights and peak hour rush. 

In 10 minutes, I drive by -

the famous Kali temple

Mother Teresa's missionary of charity

street vendors on footpath

an abandoned haunted house

red-light area

small shops

Calcutta Jail

Cemetery 

cheap eateries

Government offices

Swanky bungalows of the richest and famous

Hand pulled ricksaws, damaged taxis, Mercs, BMWs, Skodas (not to forget cows and dogs)

In those few minutes, I get a quick glance into the lives of greedy pundits, devotees from all parts of India, struggling entrepreneurs, Bangladeshi refugees, beggars, prostitutes, foreign tourists, newly weds, butchers, grieving families, families below poverty line, fragile old people, sweaty tired coolies and ricksaw pullers, and of course diamond clad women riding on back seat of luxury cars and at times known corporate honchos. So much disparity in 10 minutes is often so confusing to mind. As drive by them, I wonder about their lives, struggles, professions, families, achievements, relations, compulsions, responsibilities, daily challenges, earnings, aspirations, challenges, joys and sorrows. 

I feel amazed at - 

a refugee woman's smile while cooking meal on broken pavement 

a fragile poor, elderly vegetable vendor's offering some greens to a cow

families waiting outside the jail to meet their loved one

a newly wed man bribing a pujari to get quick blessings from the Goddess

foreigners comfortably walking in filth and dirt

street side vendor feeling happy to make a Rs. 10 sale

a prostitute holding a baby in hand while waiting to be hooked

a 20 something man in a big car honking endlessly at an old man trying to cross street

There are many more such beautiful/painful/unbelievable/emotion provoking sights I observe as I drive home. I tend to ponder upon what I observe.

This drive through the lives of people makes me count my blessings more often. Reminds me to thank God for always being gracious to me. Inspires me to touch lives of those who are not as fortunate. Teaches me to be patient, polite, appreciative, and helpful. 

Although comparatively insignificant, this drive also wipes away all my work thoughts by the time I reach home. 

What a beginning!

Beautiful monsoon flavored Monday morning! 

Back to work with mind, body and soul. I think I do that almost every day but there is something different about today. Other days, it's because I love what I do and I have a long list of self-assigned work to dos that I am solely responsible for. Today, there is an additional driving force - a small sense of achievement but a strong one.

I got cracking on my wishlist this Sunday - way too sooner than I expected. 

• Am on my second blog post in less than 48 hours.
  
• My Nikon SLR saw the daylight (rather downpour) as I captured a few moments on Park Street
  
• Finally pushed myself to begin reading the Geeta (translated version of course)
  
• and this morning I attempted to meditate after a long pause of almost 3 weeks.
  

(and I am carrying my Gym bag with me - let's see if the thought of those machines and pulsating music inspire me to get there. If those don't, sharing on blog should certainly do)

If I had known sharing all these on blog would be such a driving force for me to take instant action, I would have done long back :-). Or may be, somewhere in my heart the desires were growing strong and determination was building up, which pushed me to share part of the wishlist for my soul.

Small beginnings but it lead to such a soul satisfying Sunday. Plus, lunch out with family at Quality - an old landmark restaurant of Calcutta, beginning to read "The Free Agent Nation" by Daniel Pink and dinner out on street side beating heavy rains were icing on the cake and lead to a 7- hour good night sleep (don't recall when was the last time I ad that).

As my business partner, Ted McGrath, always says, "if you want to move mountains, you just go move mountains". Well, for now, I am on the roll to move the stones.

Next big and very challenging ones on the radar -

• Reviving my (long-paused) first web venture Clickcalcutta
  
• Building a course structure on communication skills, to help our team excel in the art of interaction.
  

Finally, I begin to blog

Inspired by my brother's blogpost on the movie "The Bucketlist", I set aside my long list of "work to-dos" today to set up my blog. Certainly blogging is not on my bucketlist but it has been one of those things, I have been wanting to do for a very long time but possibly was not yearning so badly that I put that on my 'task list' someday.  

I haven't given a thought to putting together my bucketlist as yet but there have been a lot of smaller things and wishes and urges on my mind which I itch to try or do or bring in my routine/practice. Most of them don't make it beyond my mental wishlist because of

• lack of time/ bad time management
• absence of inspirer/ driving force
• laziness
• not being super passionate about the wish
• inability to prioritize
• and not being determined enough to seek others' cooperation.

(the list can be much longer but today I am determined to put more time and energy to make things happen than complain about them).

Learning from the story of 'the Bucketlist', I said to myself - "why not start with a wishlist, to begin with?". A list of small personal to dos/desires/wishes/urges/quest which are always pushed on the farthest little corner of mind and heart that even their loudest scream to come alive is ignored by me all the time.

I decided to start small. Not pushing myself hard to recall all those quiet wishes in few minutes and not penning down on a piece of paper (which knowing myself, I will definitely lose in hours). I choose to write here the first 5 things that come to mind, share concrete plan to achieve each, embark on each plan, share about my success/failure (hope not) here on all 5 and then only post the next list of 5. 

Here I go -

• Start blogging
• Get back to photography
• Read few lines of essence of the Gita everyday and revisit what I read
• Set aside few minutes for meditation
• Start working out/doing yoga

I have taken a baby step towards the first one. I am excited and inspired to blog regularly. For the rest, sharing about them here is going to be the key driving force.