An Intruder in Girls Hostel

This article is especially written to express my feelings that was concealed somewhere inside my sophisticated heart. It was the feeling when I first entered in MNIT and saw the culture of it. After seeing the copious greenery of MNIT which was overflowing its boundaries same like a fine wine dripping from the cistern’s spouts, I still got struck with this odd feeling. I felt that feeling because I want to see the perfect MNIT. The feeling is of Interaction.

On 13^th Sept. 2011 night the news of a boy entering a girls’ hostel through some secret route spreads as fast as the air, coming out from a balloon when inflated. It is against the rules to enter the hostel of the opposite gender. When I told this news to my senior he replied in a very thought provoking way. He said, “Haha I knew it that someday the frustration shall surpass the moral norms :p ”. Though he is perfectly correct in his standpoint but I have a different viewpoint on this. I replied to him “It is not the frustration; it is the first step towards Liberalization”

When I first entered in MNIT, I saw that there was not much interaction between boys and girls. In class most of the boys and girls used to sit separately. After 5pm maximum no. of the boys and girls used to go to their hostels. The only way the interaction could happen was at the time of organizing any cultural or technical event in the college. Interaction with your opposite gender plays a major part in the overall development of us. Living in the world requires the thinking to understand each and every category of human beings. In the professional world we have to work with our opposite gender and we should know that how they are gonna react against our actions. Take for eg. In advertisement industry; one need to know the trait of the consumer of their client. When aproduct has men as their consumer then advertisement should include some kind of sporty thing or something that men like and when women are targeted as the consumers then it should be made on emotional pitch or something which women like.

I am not asking for anything that doesn’t happen in India. IIM’s and IIT’s understand the importance of interaction. In IIT’s the boys and girls are allowed to enter in the hostels of girls and boys respectively. They have a time limit for that but still they are allowed. In IIM’s there are mixed hostels. There might be a girl living next to a boy’s room. And it not just in IIM’s and IIT’s but there are many colleges in Maharashtra that follows the same cultural because they know the importance of interaction.

It is not the frustration; it is the first step towards Liberalization: I see the act of intruding as an act to tell the administrators of college that you need to walk with the 21^st Century pace. You need to remove your orthodox style of thinking. Nothing bad gonna happen if a boy is allowed to enter in girls hostel. We are engineering students, we are in 20’s. We have amassed at least that much of experience that we can think of the right and wrong.

I TOO HAVE A DREAM TODAY

Gandhiji said “Beyond a certain limit, one’s wealth should be used for the betterment of the people”

Dhirubhai Ambani believed “Control the policies, the bottom line will take care of itself”

In India we have thousands of NGO, Social Entrepreneurs, and Government Social Development policies working, many with their 200% efficiency and few just in papers. Every day we read couple of articles about a man/women toiling day and night in villages where there is electricity for 1 hour daily and water supply once a week for the melioration of the villagers ( A such man is Narayana Krishnan-an ex-employee of Taj Group of Hotels aka A companion to the Forgotten, is a man who quit his job after seeing a human being eating his own waste because of the hunger. He dedicated his rest of his life in feeding ills and disabled people.). Daily a new organization is originating to create awareness among Generation X about The Joy of Giving. Few MNC had opened a different department in furtherance of the society (To save tax? Indeed! – may be or may be not). Whatever may be the reasons behind the social developments of these men and MNC, the result is that the Grassroots Development is going on. But the question arises here is at What Rate. Even when everyone is working for the benefits of the forgotten then also how many years it would take the two time bread and butter to reach to the forgotten? After how many years we can say that poverty is the word that is found only in dictionary. 20 years, 30 years or 50 years?

I asked my Dad- “Would I be called out as a naïve, if I expect from India to expedite its grassroots development. Dad, it is not even sure that I will be able to live for another 20 -30years. Every second there is a probability of World War 3 or natural Calamity or anything that can take my life. Before I die can’t I see a hunger-free smile on each and every Indian face?” He made me sit in his lap and said “Be the Change You want to see in the World. Don’t expect from anyone to fulfil your dreams. Your dreams are yours only.” These sentences stirred me. How foolish of me to expect someone living up to my dreams. Why would they? I am the creator of my own universe. I dared to dream so it’s my responsibility to accomplish it. This was my first learning.

I HAVE A DREAM TO LIVE FOR OTHERS.

Now shifting my feeling from emotional pitch to reality pitch and discussing why there are no large scale projects by big companies or why the small social enterprise are not becoming large social enterprise. Big companies are trapped by the vicious circle of the myth that social work and money are two faces of a coin- at a time only one will show up. They are pressurized by the stakeholders to perform better than last quarter. On the other hand small social enterprise or individuals’ effort and enthusiasm are chopped down by the bureaucrats or Indian Government working system or by politicians’ benefits (Sorry, I don’t mind being brutally honest). Before stating the possible solution, solution according to me, I would like to quote a chapter from Indian Incorporation. They say when Reliance was growing it was confronted with the big companies of that time. Reliance was unable to find a way to move ahead of them. Then came the most practical solution by Dhirubhai- ‘Be the backhand in Framing the Indian Policies’. They build their network so strong that all the policies became in favour. And having the policies with you means having the vertebrate. After that rest is the history. Mukesh Ambani, son of Dhirubhai Ambani is now one of the richest men in the world. From here comes my second learning-“When you have the political support, all your dreams will come true”. I think the current small social enterprises lack that political support.

I HAVE A DREAM TO LIVE FOR OTHERS.

My third learning comes from Richard Branson, Chairman of Virgin Group. He believes that when you have done something or you are doing something, why not show it to everyone, why not publicize it. We are in the world where media plays an important role in simulating one’s life and if you can handle media according to needs then the success is all yours. The role of media in Anna Hazare’s struggle has been added as a case study in one of the most respected institutes of India; XLRI, Jamshedpur.

I HAVE A DREAM TO LIVE FOR OTHERS.

If I somehow be able to add my three learning’s I would end up making a perfect recipe to expedite the grassroots development. When I can work on my dream without any thwart of government and publicize it around the globe then my dream would not only be mine only. At that time there would be millions with me to do a cause, to help me to carry out my dream and thus the growth rate would increase by millions fold. Wow! What a wonderful moment it would be. Everyone will be provided with ‘Roti Kapda aur Makan’. Every child would be saying I am an Indian and I am loving it.

 I am Manu Jain, final year engineering student of NIT- Jaipur. I am not a person who has one leg in politics and another in media. I have never experienced the taste of any of them. I am a normal student, just average in studies but having immeasurable desire to live for others. Right now I don’t know what to do, what would be the basic vision of my future social enterprise (either to educate people or to feed people or a mix. Of both) and even worse than that is I don’t know how I would do that. But I know one thing why I have to do that. Newton too did not know how he would proceed in research after seeing a falling apple but he knew why he has to do that. Stephen Hawking too was unaware of the fact that how he could study the black hole with having motor neuron disease, but he knew why he has to do that. Mother Teresa did not know how she would care for the sick having no money in purse but she knew why she has to do that. The Law of Attraction says that when we really know why we have to do regardless of the fact that how to do, the universe aligns itself in a manner to show you the path to do that.

I would like to end up by stating few lines from the speech of Sir Martin Luther King.

“And so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.

I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.”

……………….

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.

I have a dream today!”

I TOO HAVE A DREAM TODAY – Manu Jain

A Tribute to Paulities

Recently I watched the film Stanley Ka Dabba. It not a high class, action packed crispy movies that makes us sit at the edge of the seat and chew our nails but it is definitely the one which cause an awakening in us and leave us with the feeling that India needs US. India has given the best it could give in the given situations and now the time is ours to return the best what we can to it in our present situation. The movie unleash India’s one of the major problem (I am not going to tell what it is as many of you might not had seen it) in a much talented, articulate and creative way but what caught my attention the most is the DABBA- The Tiffin Box. It stirred me a lot so I decided to write an article.

This article is not about discussing the India’s problem and ways to curb it but this is a tribute to all my school friends who knowingly and unknowingly had spent their exquisite irrevocable time with me even for a single second in my 12 years of groovy life in Saint Paul’s Senior Secondary School (Mala Road, Kota….hehehehhe (Mala Road) :-)). Although I didn’t remember much but will still try to excavate each and every memory related to my school life and write it down here. As I was talking of Dabba so to begin with I would like to remember ‘my Dabba past’- Harshpreet Singh-the topper and Rohan Singh Pahwa-the bindass guy; my 1st two best friends with whom I shared my dabba. I didn’t like much my dabba so I had theirs and they didn’t like theirs so they had mine. I still miss Harshpreet’s Mom Basen Ke Pakode and Rohan’s Mom Poha (as my Mom was not good in basen ke pakode and Rohan’s Mom Poha had finely chopped fried onions in it, that I loved the most- I am a Jain so we don’t had onions in food but still I like itJ)-Harshpreet and Rohan yaar kabhi moka mile zingadi mein to bulana yaar…. vapas ye sab khane ki icha h tum logo ke sath.Next person I remember is Mohit Sukhwani-the dandy dude; answer sheet in examination hall, games cd in class and talk about ‘our girls’ were few things we shared with each other. He is a lovable guy with extremely genial nature. Pallav Bagla-the neta; is a family friend whom I admired the most because of his dynamic nature though I never pretend that. Bagla the debater was loved by many teacher but not students (hehehehhe, just kidding). In class, we used to tease him by saying “Pallav hamara neta hai, subka ………………………”  (Ahem ahem). Mom and Dad in parent teacher meeting had always compared my performance with Mr. Bagla that I never liked but from inside I always knew that this factor will help me improve my performance. Mehul Sirohi- my abstruse buddy whom I befriended in 9th and within a flick of time we became very good amigo. Our ways of living were poles apart. I believe in funky life and he is a man of standard. My fantasy mode circuit used to get completed whenever he unleashes his mysterious life. We never ever concentrated in class lectures. We talked a lot and this was the only thing we used to do in 10th. While going to school, during lectures, in interval, going back to home we did only 1 thing and i.e. gossiping. When it comes to gossiping there was one more guy official called Gaurav Walia- the garrulous, having same living ethics as of mine. He was the one who brought the great locha of ****** Jain (sophian) in my life but I loved it. Thanks Man. Naman Lahoty- The austere lambu and Rajat Agrawal- the bollywood freak were the all-rounder’s of our class- good in studies, sports, and the most buzzed thing in school-the General Knowledge ( J ). These guys have awe-inspiring passion in them, passion to do something in life. The most and best commendable thing in Lahoty was his simplicity and of Rajat is his birthday party-innovative one. Mayank Sharma and Manish Sebastian-The reticent helpers are the two guys who always helped me in the examinations as my roll no. was in between theirs. Anish Maman: the Usian Bolt was a rock star in school because of his sprint. He grabbed much more gold medal than I passed classes in school. Nitin Lalwani- the Gel + Oil actor, the most funny thing I remember about him is care for his hairs-Shower then Oil then Gel and then again Oil (I didn’t remember the exact combination, its bit too confusing). He was known for his laudable Acting. Indeed, he is a great actor. He was the main character in the Big Major Play that ever happened in St. Paul’s (till 2006)- audi. Inauguration event.

Chhavish Jain- the goalie is one of the best goalies of our times.

Jaspreet Singh : always passionate want to be something different

Harneet Singh and Virendra Singh : two slim guys in our class…(don’t know who was the slimmest)

Jayesh Acharaya: the mimic, best mimic I remember is of Inzamam-ul-Haq- “bache acha khele”

Ashwani Sharma: who used to paste tattoo in his pant pocket….Strange!!!

Poorvank Bhatiya & Rishabh Bharadwaj: coolest temperament and always smiling guys.

Rahul Yogi: the guy who knows my secret of my one of the biggest crush.

Aaroop Shukla: Robert Pattinson of St. Pauls

Varun Kasat: the lover boy (garg classes)

These are the few of the hundred friends who made my journey in St. Paul’s memorable. Thank You so much for giving me millions of yaadein.