India is Going Digital!

Digital India!
It has such a good sound to it!
It is heartening to see that there has been tremendous effort put in by the new government to make our country more capable,versatile and a force to reckon with.Digital India is one such step towards making Indians more tech savvy and taking the internet into the interiors of India where they can be used in different ways for the up-liftment of the villages.It is a step to make the internet and all its benefits available easily to the common man so that one and all can move towards progress.I applaud this change and hopefully it will be for the better.The vision is great ,the only (and important and challenging) thing left is the implementation and follow up.

Many political parties too wanted a share of the pie of the digital initiative.They did not want to be left behind so they came up with some ideas for the digital revolution.A certain political party came up with the idea to start an E-class and decided to distribute Tablets in the BMC schools  through a project costing 15.5 crore .Each tablet came at the cost of Rs 6850.According to this venture, 22,799 tablets were to be distributed to the standard eighth,ninth and tenth students from BMC schools.It was proclaimed to be the first digital education programme initiated by that or any other political party.

As a start tablets were distributed to the STD eight students of a BMC school at Vile Parle and Dadar. Many a times such initiatives are taken up without the thorough study of facts and roadblocks that one may come across and this was one such initiative.The matter available in the tablets was a huge let down as it contained a few scanned notes of the current curriculum and some out-dated information.There were no new or interesting apps available on it.There was no camera facility on it for obvious reasons but most importantly there was no internet facility as the schools did not have the net availability in their school.With much fanfare the project was implemented and it was the talk of all the tabloids.The tablets were handed over to the students and they posed with them and it was perfect photo op for the political party.That was not the end of the story unfortunately, as when it was found that there was a lot yet to be added to these tablets in order to make it more useful, the tablets were unceremoniously taken back and kept in the custody of the school again. It dawned upon the school that since the tablets were not to be taken by the students and were to be used in the school only, they required a safe place for keeping the tablets. They also had to make internet facility available for the maximum use of the tablets.So all the brouhaha around the digital education programme came to naught and it was back to the chalk and talk technique once again for all the students of the school.

I am not against the use of tablets and computers in schools.What is my concern is that it should come only when the schools are ready for it.A project need not be initiated just for the sake of it,its worthiness should be taken into account.According to the study of the BMC schools in Maharashtra, there is very poor reading,writing and mathematical ability seen in the students. many of the students in STD five cannot read or calculate according to the desired level.The teaching skills of the teachers in the schools are not upto the mark and they are often tied up with paper work,census duty and are on duty during the elections too.There is high demand for teaching jobs in the BMC as the teachers take home a hefty pay packet and have a secure job once they are permanent.Getting a job in the government aided schools is difficult and I have heard of people who have sold their land to pay hefty amounts to get it.What I believe is that the focus should be on getting the basics of the students to be strong.They should have fluency in reading,writing and computing for their level of study.In the earlier stages, i.e pre-primary levels of teaching, the focus should be on laying a strong foundation for learning.The first skill required is listening,followed by reading,writing and computing.Without having the basic knowledge of the three R's (Reading,Writing,Arithmetic) one cannot expect the students to do well with the introduction f tablets and computers.All this should be taken into account before initiating a digital education programme.

Brings me to the fact that change is a necessity. Change is the only thing that is constant.
For progress,change is a must. It is important that the change should be planned and implemented keeping all the pros and cons of the situation in mind.The hurdles, the basic infrastructure and other criteria should be kept in mind while initiating any new project.The present trends, future problems and challenges, follow up procedures after implementation , all should be take into account in order for any initiative to be successful.

How are these useful to us without net facility?

Distribution of tablets at a Vile Parle school

The students flaunt their tablets which are taken back the same day.

The students of a school at Dadar get their tablets.

Ganpati Bappa MORE, yeah!!!!

The tag line at the Olympics is Faster,Stronger ,Higher!
The tag line at the Ganpati festival each year it is Louder,Grander ,Higher!!!

Please do not get me wrong here.I too am an ardent devotee of the elephant-headed Ganesha and I celebrate the grand festival of Maharashtra state with fervour.As each year passes by ,the height of the idols keep rising.I was under the impression that there were just a few idols around the city which were huge and all the others were of medium or small size,how wrong I was! This time around I visited a Ganesha-making workshop and was amazed to see a large number of huge idols all displayed for the festival.Every nook and corner of the city has got its very own Sarvajanik Ganesh Mandal which try to compete with each other on the grandeur scale. Even when I visited the Girgaon beach on the tenth day of immersion ,I saw that every second idol was a huge one.On the way to the beach and back,there were numerous huge Ganesha idols all being taken in a procession with great fanfare.If Lokmanya Tilak was seeing all this he must be pained as he had brought forward the concept of Sarvajanik Ganeshutsav to bring the people closer and here they were competing against each other.

The festival has become unimaginably noisy reaching the highest decibles. All around there is non-stop music blaring on the loudspeakers that dole out obscene and ear-shattering music.It is the worst ever time for the old,sick and those who need peace and quiet.Even for the animals around it is punishment.I am not saying do not do the required poojas or sing devotional songs,all I say is that the noise levels should be drastically reduced.At the procession I saw the crowds dancing like there was no tomorrow and many of them were actually drunk!Intoxicated at a festival like this!

There is a lot of effort that goes into spreading awareness about an eco-friendly Ganesh festival yet there is no indication of that being followed by the majority.The use of thermocol and other non-biodegradable materials is rampant.The idols are mad using POP(plaster of paris) and toxic colours that play havoc with the environmental balance of the water bodies and the existing marine life.There is minimum use of the artificial lakes for immersion as most of the idols are huge.Crackers are burst at most places leading to air pollution.Some of the pandals use public space like roads and are the cause of traffic jams and inconvenience for all.There is high usage of electricity for the lighting and music facility.It is use of MORE all the way!!!

At the beach on the tenth day, there was a huge crowd which was being ably controlled by the police and the other swayam sevaks who had been roped in to manage the crowds.The police had a tough job at hand and they were working tirelessly.There was maximum celebration in the Dadar-Parel-Lalbag area.One by one the idols kept coming in and the announcement was made to welcome each Ganesh Mandal. There were small boats and trolleys in order to help the idols to be immersed.It was late evening when I went there with my photographer friend,and it was high tide.With every wave that hit the shore we could see lots of debris.The water was full of plastic remains,decorative material,garlands,etc.There were huge Nirmalya containers kept at the beach for people to put in the garlands and other waste before immersing the idols but they were not used by the people.Why bother when it could all be dumped into the waters along with the lord?

What pained me was that it was not possible for the people to immerse the idols properly due to their huge size.The smaller ones were taken in a boat a little ahead in the water and immersed while the bigger ones just would not budge ahead!Try as they could,many idols just could not be immersed and as a result they were left right in the middle of the water and there they stood with their backs facing the shore,like as if they were left in isolation after ten days of fanfare and worship.Is this how we treat our God?Just looking at the huge idols standing there in the water made me realize how important it is to reduce the height of the idols and to also reduce the number of Ganesh Mandals that are emerging all around.

That reminded me of a video I watched yesterday wherein the Ganesha idols were loaded on to a truck and taken on the bridge on a river or creek.Once there, the idols were picked one by one unceremoniously and just thrown, I really mean thrown  into the shallow water below.We could actually see the idol shattering to pieces as they fell down and at times they shattered as they crashed against the walls of the bridge.This was done in the presence of the police and other devotees.It was really disheartening to watch the video.Where was there any piety or sanctity in this type of immersion?

It is time to start to having one idol for one particular area,and that to an eco-friendly idol which is smaller in size too.The complete celebration should be eco-friendly with less noise,less pollution and less wastage.What should be MORE is the devotion and piety in our hearts for the lord and His creation.Sounds too far-fetched,does it??But it can be a possibility.
Lets hope Lord Ganesha can instil good sense in the people and they will opt for an eco-friendly Ganesh festival in the years to come.

Here are some snap shots of my visit to the Girgaon Beach on the tenth day of the Ganesh festival this year.

Inspiration Unlimited!

There is so much happening all around us each day......most of what we hear or read is quite depressing to say the least.Corruption,hatred,war,crime,revenge,rape,dacoity....all make up the daily headlines.It is a welcome change then, to know that there are efforts being made to bring happiness on the faces of people,to bring the much-needed change in society and more importantly to know that goodness does exist on the face of this earth.One such step towards spreading good cheer in Mumbai is the Standard Chartered Mumbai Marathon.This is a huge event that is much awaited for in Amchi Mumbai.I was excited to be a part of it for the first time as I participated not in the marathon itself but in a photowalk organised by Moments Shoot group at the said event.
Reached the venue by 6.30 am and waited for my photography pals.There were many events scheduled like the Half Marathon,Full Marathon and the Dream Run.We saw that there were restrictions to go near the start point and it was too crowded there too so we made our way towards the Hutatma Chowk where we stayed put to witness the whole marathon.The full marathon had already begun even before we reached the venue so we waited for the Dream Run.The place was buzzing with activity.Even at the CST station we had seen many participants and marathon enthusiasts moving towards the venue.There were many spots for drinking water lined up at the sides and many officials were on duty for the smooth running of the marathon.many people were lined up at the sides to cheer the participants as they ran past.
The Dream Run was on and we saw many corporate houses making their presence felt.They had a cause for which they ran and it was nice to see them try to make a difference instead of just making bucks for a change.the race was full of colour as they all were in colours of their company or in traditional attire.Some wore costumes that carried a message.Banners,hoardings,placards all had a message to share.At the dram run we saw the differently-abled do their bit with smiles on their faces.There were people on wheel chairs and the sightless being led along.There were also the ones with physical restrictions and cerebral palsy and even those with low mental age.All had joined in through their institutions or through the NGO that supported their cause.It was really inspiring to see them move ahead with their smiles intact.For us a walk or short run is so matter of fact and easy but they really made an effort to cover that short distance of 2.5 kms. What we take for granted,this so-called normalcy,can be elusive for some.We are really blessed and fortunate and yet we crib about things we don't have or cannot get.The golden oldies,the senior citizens joined in the Dream Run.It was so nice to see the grand dads and grand moms either running or briskly walking to catch up with the rest.They were keeping themselves and us entertained on the way by singing old songs and bhajans.A few were posing for us on seeing our cameras and shouting slogans.They were really enjoying themselves. to the fullest.We stood there and clicked many photographs and also saw the Full Marathon runners race back to the finish line.We saw some celebrities like Kalki Koelchin,Susanne Khan, Rahul Bose and Anil Ambani .John Abraham was there at the starting point so we did not get to see him.He had flagged the race on in the morning.After the race we made our way towards our favourite hangout,Kyani's and on the way we passed the ground where the participants were being given goodie bags and medals.It was truly crowded there and we had an idea of how huge this event was.The participants were posing with their medals on the stage erected there.There was happiness and a sense of accomplishment all around.We had our fill at Kyani's and left for home ,sweet home.
It was really inspiring to see the marathon.Earlier I had only heard and read about this great event and it was a great feeling to be a part of it this time.Never ever imagined it to be such a huge event!The event inspird me to participate in the marathon in the near future.I decided to run the Thane Marathon that was to be held in February 2015 at Hiranandani.I also registered for the same but unfortunately I could not transfer the registration charges so I had to back out of it.Anyway,there are many more marathons where I can actively participate.The next days newspaper was full of the marathon event and it was so nice to have seen so many of the participants and say,"Yes,I saw this person there!"Hopefully very soon I will be writing about my experiences as a runner at one of the marathons.