By the people, for the people and of the people through animals

It has been some time now since I have been trying to help animals in the best possible way I can think of. Each path I decide to take up gives me a ton of hurdles and thanks to my habit of over analysing things and trying to identify all possible failure modes, I have for quite some time now been stalling. It might appear to those observing me that there is very little movement in and around me, even the air might feel static around me. But that is not the case. There is this huge inner conflict which tells you to do something on the one hand and shows you how it is going to not last long or even fail on the other hand. Such is the power of the mind.
So, after analysing the situation for a while, I have come to the conclusion that the solution is not an easy thing to implement.
All those animals being stoned and thrown out of houses, all those being abandoned, all those eating plastic out of cans..if anything has to be done for these poor things who love so unassumingly, it has to be the way the love is received which has to be changed.
My trip all over the South taught me that the dog and the cat are social animals, just like man. They live where man lives.They will never be found in a place where you do not see human beings.
The wild has been taken over by man as well. His reach into the jungles that I ve been to clearly showed me his arrogance. He had started believing that every creation is made for his own use. The forests were not viewed as a habitat, but as a place where a new company could stand or a new business could flourish. The village in Masinagudi with its little guesthouses all over was an example of this. There were people from outside who came to the village and wanted to buy land and build guesthouses and restaurants all over so that they could convert the land into a tourist destination.
But the good thing that I saw here was that, people realised that they were eating into the natural habitat of the animals and the villagers did not want that. They kept that in mind and protested against the ones who came in to destroy the forest ensuring that Masinagudi is still known as a wildlife sanctuary and not a tourist destination.
In Mumbai, the past few months, I ve met a lot of animal lovers. They pick up the young ones from the street, help the injured ones, try to give them homes, fight with the world because the rest of the world does not see the meaning or importance of what they are doing. I admire these people for the courage they show by doing exactly what the society tells them not to do. The courage to love when they are told to turn a blind eye. Pure is the only way I can describe many of the people I ve met.
Back to my battle. Most of these people I met hated human beings in general and the majority of them reacted in the exact way that they felt. Society did and does not understand what these people are doing. They think it is unnecessary and a burden in life. And then of course the standard argument, there are so many people who need help..why are you helping the animals. I have never heard a person who is actually helping human beings pose that question thankfully.
What I have been wanting to say from the beginning of this is that people need to change and human beings have to realise their responsibility towards other creations as well. I have always believed in the laws of thermodynamics which at some level state that energy can neither be created nor be destroyed. It can only be converted from one form to the other. The total amount of energy in the universe always remains constant.
This applies to this situation if you think of it as Good energy and bad energy...the goodness in the world and the bad things in the world.
There has to be a balance and there is. You cannot create good or bad. You can only convert the good into the bad or the bad into the good.
So I ve taken it upon myself to convert the bad..or what I perceive as bad to be converted into good.
For this..the only way I see is to set the minds of people straight. This is only possible if I work with them and not against them. Make people aware that they have a lot of good in them and give them a chance to show this to the world.
We can help the animals only when everybody decides to. Help people help themselves...find the good in them..bring people together..
Teach them to love, make a place for animals in their heart..make animals socially acceptable..
and once people accept animals into their lives, they have no choice but to love them. You have to love what you live with.
My first step in this direction is PAL ~ Pet Owners and Animal Lovers.
http://www.facebook.com/home.php?m2w#!/home.php?sk=group_135998789782508¬if_t=group_activity

It is not a movement for animals, it is a movement for people..
To help people save themselves from what they ve become!

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First Blog from Blogger App

The Android market place is one of my favourite places to shop..well..the good thing is..I actually require no money to shop here, cos most of the stuff is free!! :)
I am kinda happy I found this blogger app as well..though it has ads in my face..I think I ll stick with this version for now.
One thing I had a complaint about was that there are no proper chat apps for facebook..the facebook app was and is really really bad..even after the occasional updates they make!
But well, fear not..the problem has been solved by the ebuddy app! Works well and does the work for yahoo and msn as well..
So the yahoo messenger said goodbye to Wayne too..
The game Simple Simon is quite nice...a memory game which I found in the marketplace..a pretty good one!
Lots and lots of other things available there..and trust me gals, its a must visit store...as boring as I might sound..the store isn't..only once u experience it will you realize what I am talking about...
And well..let me not forget MocoSpace..it has chat rooms and various interests and well..its all good..u can do what u want..
I kind of feel sorry for the berry users..they think they have it all..but you should see the look they have when they look at the apps on this phone. :)

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Diary of a traveler - Day 2 at Ibtada, Alwar

The second day started off with a long ride to a few Taleemshalas. 

What is a Taleemshala?

- It is a place where young girls are schooled. Taleem means Education and Shala means School. Hence the word.

 These girls are from the lower sections of the society who have had to leave studies due to some problem of the other. Most of them are busy with house hold duties as well as farming, helping their families in whatever way they can. The girl child is considered a burden by most Indians, not the modern ones(maybe). But yes, the girl is normally not a first option in most cases. Having a girl child brings a lot of responsibilities on the family. There is a burden of getting her married. That is the main burden that the family envisages. Now, why is getting a girl child married such a burden? It is because of the way the Indian society is structured and functions. Having a girl child means that you have take care of her, let nobody hurt her and at some point get her a good husband who will keep her well. The Indian mentality is such that they do not treat their daughters well, so let alone the daughters in law who come in at some point. The poor father of the bride hopes that his daughter will be happier in the new house if he gives the family she is going to something in cash or kind. Thus came about the dowry. It is practiced widely in India even today by even the highly educated people. I have seen this even in my own family. Today it is more of a prestige issue and people want to show how rich they are by giving away as much as they can during a wedding.


Rural India is no different from this. It is pretty similar to the urban India in the way they treat the girl child, except for the fact that having less money and wealth to squander, they give the girl child less privileges. She is made to do more work in the house, in the farm, given less to eat and denied education. 'Padh legi toh Memsaheb ban jayegi', is the attitude. Well, in their defense, I will have to say that most of them are illiterate and do not really know what they are talking about. 
Imagine that in such a situation you have to go out and convince families to send the girl to a school. They see no point in the whole process. They don't see any gain. Inspite of all this Ibtada has managed to convince so many villages to have Thaleemshalas and teach the girl child. 


My experience with the kids was amazing. The little girls read out to me, danced, sang and even played games with me. They followed me around with their shy smiles and wanted to be noticed. There was a little girl called 'Rihana' who was so good at dancing. She kept on at it and she was good at studies too. Her mother was a little educated and so made it a point to send Rihana to school everyday. The little Ishas and the little Gauris only amazed me more when they read out their poems so well and looked so pleased when the class clapped for them!


The Thaleemshala was a small room in an abandoned building. Girls from the ages of 5 to 12 were in there in one room trying to study and understand what their teacher was saying. Hats off to the teacher who so patiently taught  the lil ones! Finding such committed individuals is definitely a hard thing to do. But you do find some here and there, the ones blessed with a good heart! I saw dedication. 


The day moved on and I visited the first Cluster meeting. The women from a lot of Self Help Groups, the three heads representing their village were present. The meeting started off with a song and the Munshiji convened the meeting. The women here were much more vocal as compared to what I had seen the previous day. It was very clear that they were the heads of their respective Self Help Groups and  wanted to bring in front of everybody the issues that their group faced and find solutions to the problems. I experienced Empowerment in the true sense. 


The day ended with me looking at some beautiful peacocks perched on the tree just outside the balcony. The peacocks never cease to amaze me!