Guess the source

 Guess what? I stumbled upon this incredibly ancient text, and brace yourself for the twist – it wasn't your typical poetic masterpiece. No, sir! It was the creation of the most unexpected wordsmith, weaving verses that left me utterly captivated. Armed with translation skills and a dash of #ChatGPT magic, I transformed this linguistic gem into a poetic spectacle. Now, feast your eyes on the result, and let the guessing game begin! Oh, and just a friendly heads up – if my creative exploration unintentionally steps on any toes, my sincere apologies. I'm on this journey solely fueled by a passion for the sheer beauty that lies within these ancient words.

Ethereal Enchantment: Verses from Tranquil Valleys

In the realm where oceans yield their treasure bright,

The sky, a mother, cradles water's might.

For nine months carried in celestial womb,

To earth, a gift, as liquid life does loom.

Stairs of clouds reach heights where dreams aspire,

Adorned with garlands, Suns and skies conspire.

The wounds of heavens, veiled in clouds so white,

Drenched bandages of twilight's gentle light.

The gentle winds, as lovers, softly sigh,

Clouds painted pale, with red hues that belie.

Winds born from clouds, a delicate caress,

Fragrance of flowers, nature's sweet finesse.

Mountain slopes adorned with Primrose's grace,

Bathed in rain's embrace, a sacred space.

Dark clouds cloak the peaks, antelope's disguise,

Rain's threads cascade like sacred threads that rise.

The sky in pain, with lightning whips adorned,

A woman's struggle, in clouds, is mourned.

Hidden quarters where planets cease to gleam,

Favor the hearts lost in love's tender dream.

Primrose flowers on slopes, once withered, pale,

Revived by rain, passion's fervent tale.

Dust settles, mist-kissed breezes now unfold,

Summer's torment ends, nature's stories told.

Journeying swans, Primrose blooms unite,

Carts cease on roads, travelers find respite.

Visible here, the sky, a vivid blue,

Dull there, like an ocean veiled in dew.

Mountain streams rush, carrying offerings rare,

Red mineral rocks, a gift beyond compare.

Hark! Peacock cries and black bees hum with glee,

Nature's symphony, a sweet melody.

In the forest, grass with raindrops adorned,

Peacocks dance, their vibrant plumes adorned.

Primrose branches filled with fragrant bloom,

Love awakens, dispelling nature's gloom.

Rivers swift to seas, herons soaring high,

Earth adorned in green, under the sky.

Clouds adorned with lightning, thunderous roars,

A symphony of nature, love explores.

Elephants intoxicated, trumpets sound,

Honeyed bees, on Primrose, rest profound.

Rainclouds with banners, herons in flight,

A garland of lotuses, a mesmerizing sight.

Forest features myriad, a vibrant scene,

Larks, sarja, arjuna, a floral sheen.

Thirsty birds rejoice, Indra's gifts they savor,

Musical concert, nature's sweet flavor.

Bees hum like Vina, frogs in chorus sing,

Nature's melodies in the forest spring.

Rivers rush, proud ladies to the sea,

Primroses afloat, a sight so free.

Dark clouds leaning, like boulders in the sky,

Elephants roam, peacocks rejoice, oh, my!

Nature's beauty in the forestland,

A tavern of joy, where peahens dance, so grand.

Water held in leaf cups, pearls divine,

Drops fall, wings' hues change, a subtle sign.

Peacocks dance and sing, a forest's delight,

Nature's concert, a harmonious sight.

Intoxicated elephants, a joyous march,

Nature's wonders, in the forest's arch.

Bees on fresh filaments, their dance profound,

Rain adorns, on jambu, they're heaven-bound.

Clouds with banners, thundering in the sky,

Elephants turn, thunderous calls defy.

Nature's many features, a vivid tale,

Forest echoes with a myriad of kale.

Fresh water pours, torrents swift and wide,

Winds roar, rivers change, in nature's stride.

Mountain peaks, with waterpitchers adorned,

A regal display, majesty reborn.

Enveloped in clouds, Sun and stars concealed,

Earth glides, fresh waters, a power revealed.

Mountains washed by rain, pearls hanging down,

Waterfalls, peacocks sing, nature's crown.

Strings of waterfalls, like pearls descend,

Celestial chains, through passion rend.

The forest bathed in nature's grand ballet,

Pearls and chains, in twilight's soft array.

Setting sun revealed through birds' retreat,

Lotuses close, jasmine's fragrant sweet.

Expeditions cease, armies homeward bound,

Enmity suspended, in water's surround.

Israel-Palestine Conflict (Notes)

 This is just an entry for my notes to understand the Israel-Palestine conflict and its history.

The main source of this content is this series of podcasts: Ep1, Ep2; Ep3, with the hyperlinks added by me as the keys to enter the rabbit hole.

Here is a detailed reading on the history of Palestine.

Another good summary, I found later.

Major Points to note:

70 AD: Romans take over Jerusalem, destroy King Herod's temple and Jews are dispersed.

1516 AD: Ottoman conquest of Palestine. Population: Roughly 5000 Jews and 295000 non-Jews at this time.

1896: Theodor Herzl brought his famous pamphlet, mentioning that to ensure the safety of the Jews, a national homeland was needed and the migration to the then Palestine was encouraged and supported (funded by Zionist organisations).

1916-1918: By the end of the First World War - The population in Palestine: approx 60K Jewish and 600K non-Jewish. The United Kingdom had agreed in the McMahon–Hussein Correspondence that it would honour Arab independence if the Arabs revolted against the Ottoman Turks, but in the end, the United Kingdom and France divided the area under the Sykes–Picot Agreement—an act of betrayal in the eyes of the Arabs. Further complicating the issue was the Balfour Declaration of 1917, in which Britain promised its support for the establishment of a Jewish "national home" in Palestine. At the war's end the British and French formed a joint "Occupied Enemy Territory Administration" in what had been Ottoman Syria. The British achieved legitimacy by obtaining a mandate from the League of Nations in June 1922. One objective of the League of Nations mandate system was to administer areas of the defunct Ottoman Empire "until such time as they are able to stand alone"

1940s - 1970s: About 850,000 Jews from the Arab world immigrated ("made Aliyah") to Israel. (They were also still suffering persecution, mainly in Europe)

1947: UN adopted the United Nations Partition Plan for Palestine. The resolution recommended the creation of independent Arab and Jewish States and a Special International Regime for the city of Jerusalem. The proposed plan is considered to have been pro-Zionist by its detractors, with 56% of the land allocated to the Jewish state despite the Palestinian Arab population numbering twice the Jewish population. the partition plan was accepted by most Zionist factions who viewed it as a stepping stone to territorial expansion at an opportune time. The Arab leaders rejected it on the basis that in addition to the Arabs forming a two-thirds majority, they owned a majority of the lands. They also indicated an unwillingness to accept any form of territorial division, arguing that it violated the principles of national self-determination in the UN Charter which granted people the right to decide their own destiny. They announced their intention to take all necessary measures to prevent the implementation of the resolution. Subsequently, a civil war broke out in Palestine and the plan was not implemented.

1948-50: The British Mandate ended on 15 May 1948 and just a day before, the World Zionist Organisation declared an independent state of Israel, which was immediately recognised by both USA and USSR and subsequently by other countries. However, this resulted in the start of the Arab-Israeli war. In 10 months of war, the State of Israel controlled the area that the UN had proposed for the Jewish state, as well as almost 60% of the area proposed for the Arab state. Transjordan took control of East Jerusalem and what became known as the West Bank, annexing it the following year, and the Egyptian military took control of the Gaza Strip. 

So, by the end of the war, three countries would divide historical Palestine among themselves. Israel,Gaza Strip under Egypt, and West Bank & East Jerusalem under Jordan.

Around 700,000 Palestinian Arabs fled or were expelled from their homes in the area that became Israel, and they became Palestinian refugees in what they refer to as the Nakba ("the catastrophe"). A similar number of Jews moved to Israel during the three years following the war, including 260,000 from the surrounding Arab states.

1956: Invasion of Egypt and Gaza Strip by Israel, leading to the Suez Crisis. Eventually, Israel faced heat globally, even from the US and Russia and had to retreat.

1964-65: The Palestinian Liberation Organisation (PLO) was formed, and a year later, the Fatah political party was established.

1967: The Egyptian president announced that the Straits of Tiran would again be closed to Israeli vessels. He subsequently mobilized the Egyptian military into defensive lines along the border with Israel and ordered the immediate withdrawal of all UNEF personnel. As the UNEF was in the process of leaving the zone, Israel launched a series of airstrikes against Egyptian airfields and other facilities beginning the six-day war. Egyptian forces were caught by surprise, and nearly all of Egypt's military aerial assets were destroyed, giving Israel air supremacy. Simultaneously, the Israeli military launched a ground offensive into Egypt's Sinai Peninsula as well as the Egyptian-occupied Gaza Strip. After some initial resistance, Egypt ordered an evacuation of the Sinai Peninsula; by the sixth day of the conflict, Israel had occupied the entire Sinai Peninsula. At the time of the cessation of hostilities, Israel had seized Syria's Golan Heights, the Jordanian-annexed West Bank (including East Jerusalem), and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula as well as the Egyptian-occupied Gaza Strip. With the sole exception of Sinai, Israel retains control of all the seized territories to this day. Around 280,000 to 325,000 Palestinians and 100,000 Syrians fled or were expelled.

Settlement construction began in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip. A two-tier system was created with Jewish settlers afforded all the rights and privileges of being Israeli citizens whereas Palestinians had to live under a military occupation that discriminated against them and barred any form of political or civic expression.

1973: To take back their territory of the Sinai Peninsula, Egypt, with the help of the Arab coalition, jointly launched a surprise attack against Israel. However, the Israelis again had military success and encircled the Egyptian Army and Suez City, bringing them within 100 kilometres of the Egyptian capital of Cairo. This development led to dangerously heightened tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union, and a second ceasefire was imposed to officially end the war.

1974-1979:  This paved the way for the Israeli–Palestinian peace process. At the 1978 Camp David Accords that followed the war, Israel returned the entire Sinai Peninsula to Egypt, which led to the subsequent 1979 Egyptian–Israeli peace treaty, marking the first instance that an Arab country recognized Israel as a legitimate state. Following the achievement of peace with Israel, Egypt continued its drift away from the Soviet Union and eventually left the Soviet sphere of influence entirely.

After its founding in 1964 and the radicalization among Palestinians which followed the Six-Day War, the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) became a powerful force, then centred in Jordan. There had been continual violence near the Lebanon-Israel border between Israel and the PLO, starting from 1968; this increased following the relocation of PLO bases to Lebanon after the civil war in Jordan.

1982: After various incidents, Israel invaded Lebanon, put a siege on Beirut and forced PLO to move out. In a vacuum left by the eradication of PLO, the disorganized Islamic militants in South Lebanon began to consolidate. The emerging Hezbollah soon became the preeminent Islamic militia. 
Israel unilaterally withdrew completing its troop withdrawal to the security zone on 5 June. 

(Despite this being considered the end of the war, conflict would continue. Hezbollah continued to fight the IDF and SLA in the South Lebanon conflict until Israel's final withdrawal from Lebanon in 2000.)

1987-1993: A series of protests and riots (The First Intifada) erupted in the Gaza Strip in December 1987 after four Palestinians were killed when an Israeli truck collided with two vans carrying Palestinian workers. The Israeli army’s response was encapsulated by the “Break their Bones” policy advocated by then-Defence Minister. It included summary killings, closures of universities, deportations of activists and destruction of homes. It also led to the establishment of the Hamas movement.

1993: Signing of the Oslo Accords and the formation of the Palestinian Authority (PA), an interim government that was granted limited self-rule in pockets of the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip. The PLO recognised Israel on the basis of a two-state solution and effectively signed agreements that gave Israel control of 60 percent of the West Bank, and much of the territory’s land and water resources. The PA was supposed to make way for the first elected Palestinian government, running an independent state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip with its capital in East Jerusalem, but that has never happened. Critics of the PA view it as a corrupt subcontractor to the Israeli occupation that collaborates closely with the Israeli military in clamping down on dissent and political activism against Israel.

1995: Israel built an electronic fence and concrete wall around the Gaza Strip, snapping interactions between the split Palestinian territories. The West Bank was divided into 3 areas:

While no date was agreed, the Israeli PM agreed to a statehood to Palestinians and was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. However, he was assassinated by a right-wing extremist. Peres took over the role and continued the peace process. 

1996: Peres called for an early election as there was wide support for a 2-state solution to the Israel-Palestine conflict, but possibly due to some Terrorist attacks done in the subsequent months, public sentiment shifted towards Benjamin Netanyahu who won the election and became the PM. 

1997-2000: Hamas continued to carry on attacks and Netanyahu attacked back and reneged from the Oslo accords. PLO was still committed to Oslo agreements, but they didn't have any real power to enforce them. This led to the second Camp David negotiations in 2000. The summit ended without an agreement (PLO wanted refugees to be allowed to return to their ancestral home, which Israel refused as it would have disturbed the demographics) and its failure is considered one of the main triggers of the Second Intifada, along with Israeli Opposition leader's provocative visit to the Al-Aqsa compound and subsequent hard put-down of the protests and riots. 

    The incident led to a widespread armed response. During the Intifada, significant damage was inflicted on the Palestinian economy and infrastructure. Israel reoccupied areas governed by the Palestinian Authority and initiated the construction of a separation wall. This, in addition to ongoing settlement construction, had a profound impact on Palestinian livelihoods and communities. Settlements are a subject of legal dispute under international law. Over the years, many Jewish settlers have established communities on land that has been a source of conflict with Palestinians. The situation has resulted in a reduction of available space for Palestinians due to settler-only roads and infrastructure, which has divided the occupied West Bank, leading to the isolation of Palestinian cities and towns. At the time of the signing of the Oslo Accords, there were slightly over 110,000 Jewish settlers residing in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem. Presently, the number has exceeded 700,000 people living on more than 100,000 hectares (390 square miles) of land, which has been a matter of contention with the Palestinian population.

2004-2005: Yasser Arafat died in 2004 and the Intifada ended in 2005. Owing to various security concerns and International pressure, Israeli settlements in the Gaza Strip were dismantled, and Israeli soldiers and 9,000 settlers left the enclave.

2006: Palestinians voted in a general election for the first time. Hamas won a majority. However, a Fatah-Hamas civil war broke out, lasting for months, resulting in the deaths of hundreds of Palestinians. Hamas expelled Fatah from the Gaza Strip, and Fatah – the main party of the Palestinian Authority – resumed control of parts of the West Bank.

2006-2007: Hamas continued with the armed attacks and Israel imposed a land, air and naval blockade on the Gaza Strip.

-- The Violence continues

History of English (My Notes)

This page is just a compilation of my notes on the History of English (both - the language, and the people). This is going to be a work in progress for a considerable time. It's currently about 80% complete.

Read on, if you have:

1. A lot of interest in understanding, how English developed as a language, and as a culture.

and 

2. A little patience.

History of the Alphabets (My Notes)

 This is a side note to the larger project of noting down the History of English.

1. The Etruscan language had no ‘b’ sound, no ‘d’ sound, and no ‘g’ sound. Linguists call these sounds ‘voiced stops’ and apparently Etruscan did not use voiced stops at all in the language. Now there are unvoiced versions of these sounds. The unvoiced version of ‘b’ is ‘p.’ And the unvoiced version of the ‘d’ sound is the ‘t’ sound. And the unvoiced version of the ‘g’ sound is the ‘k’ sound. And the Etruscan language had all of these unvoiced sounds – the ‘p’ sound, the ‘t’ sound, and the ‘k’ sound. Remember that the third letter in Greek was gamma and it had the ‘g’ sound. So the third letter ‘gamma’ was pronounced by the Etruscans with a ‘k’ sound because they didn’t have a ‘g’ sound. And that is ultimately how the Romans inherited it. And that is why the third letter became the modern letter C in Latin and was used to represent the ‘k’ sound just as the Etruscans had used it.

But whereas the Etruscans didn’t have a ‘g’ sound, the Romans did have a ‘g’ sound. So they eventually had to create a new letter for the ‘g’ sound which became the Roman letter G. And that is why the uppercase C and the uppercase G resemble each other. 

And there was also a reason why the new letter G was placed in the seventh position after the letter F. The seventh letter of the Etruscan alphabet had the ‘Z’ or ‘zed’ sound which the Etruscans had borrowed from the Greeks. But unlike Greek and Etruscan, early Latin didn’t have the ‘z’ or ‘zed’ sound. So the seventh letter – called ‘zay’ by the Etruscans – was unnecessary in Latin. So the early Romans got rid of ‘zay’ and put the new letter G in its place. Of course, the letter ‘zay’ would reappear during the classical Roman period when the Romans started to borrow a lot of words from Greek, and they suddenly needed to represent the ‘z’ sound again. So at that point, they reintroduced the letter Z or ‘zed’ and put it at the end of the alphabet.

Also, note that the Romans tinkered with the letter F as well. Up to this point, the sixth letter of the alphabet represented the ‘w’ sound in Greek and Etruscan. The Romans moved this sound nearer to the back of the alphabet and that freed up the 6 letters. Now the Greeks and the Etruscans didn’t actually have an ‘f’ sound in their respective languages. The Greek had a ‘pf’ sound that was probably a sound that was in transition from the original ‘p’ sound to an ‘f’ sound. Greek had invented a new letter called ‘phi’ (they probably called it /fee/) to cover that in-between ‘pf’ sound. And that was as close as the Greeks came to an ‘f’ sound. But the Romans did have an ‘f’ sound in Latin. And that Greek sound ‘phi’ was by this point being pronounced simply as an ‘f’ sound just like we do today in words like phone and philosophy because that sound had completed its transition to the ‘f’ sound by this point. So the Romans had to find a way to write the ‘f’ sound since the alphabet they borrowed from the Etruscans did not have a letter for the ‘f’ sound. So they used that sixth letter which had previously represented the ‘w’ sound but was now free. So our modern letter F with the ‘f’ sound was born. And the Romans decided to use that letter for native Latin words. But for those Greek words which were being borrowed into Latin, they chose to use the ‘PH’ combination to represent the original Greek letter ‘phi.’ So that is why we still have that ‘PH’ spelling for the ‘f’ sound in Modern English. It represents words that were borrowed into Latin from Greek which had that original ‘phi’ letter to represent that in-between ‘pf’ sound.

Early Indians (My Notes)

 Written in very lucid prose, the book covers the story of the first Out-of-Africa (OoA) migrations to India (and beyond) to early Indians who were followed by people from the Harappan Civilization and finally the Vedic period. While the subject matter may feel a little dry at times, Tony has done justice by not overcomplicating things and explaining the results of the deep research in mostly laymen's terms.

It's a must-read for anyone with even a minute interest in the history of Melluha, Aryavarta, India.

I also read some of the detailed critiques of this book, but most of them sounded unjustified to me, as the book never claims any of the assertions these critiques came to refute. On the other hand, any claims made were very matter-of-fact and in quotes of deep research papers. In many places, where the study is inconclusive, the book doesn't shy away from mentioning the same. Most critics seem to have written blogs just for the sake of it, without even reading or grasping the message from the book.

The statements are not based on some flimsy evidence but on 1. Archaeological, 2. Genetic, 3. Linguistic, 4. Philological, 5. Geological AND 6. Epigraphic research.

Addendum on 19th Mar, 2024: Latest study

Here are my take-aways from this book:
* 300,000 years ago - age of the earliest remains of Homo-Sapiens found in Morocco
* 70,000 years ago - earliest traceable OoA migrations
* 65,000 years ago - OoA migrants reach India but face archaic human population mostly in Central and Southern India, whom they try to avoid and move across to SE Asia, East Asia, and Australia. (Note: Europeans do not exist yet)
* 40,000 years ago - Neanderthals go extinct
* 16,000 years ago - Modern humans reach the Americas
* 9,000 years ago - Largest agricultural settlement begins (between Indus and Mediterranean) found in Mehrgarh, Baluchistan
* 7,500-4,500 years ago - Early Harappan era
* 4,000 - 3,000 years ago - Steppe pastoralists bringing Indo-European languages and culture

- Conclusive DNA evidence that all modern humans outside of Africa are descendants of OoA migrants.
- This is proven by:
A. mtDNA evidence
B. Y-Chromose evidence
C. Climate evidence from deep-sea rocks

Also, note that this period was mostly glacial. Migratory animals would lead humans to follow them. Also, due to glaciers, crossing today's rivers/lakes/seas would have been far easier.
- Until about two million years ago, there was no Red Sea and animals could just walk across b/w Africa & Asia - today separated by the Red Sea. Homo erectus likely was one of the last mammals to walk across this route. The Red Sea was formed by the Red Sea Rift, caused by the divergence between the African Plate and the Arabian plate. The rift started about two million years ago, and since then Africa has been moving away from Arabia at the rate of fifteen millimeters every year. It still continues to widen.

- Ancient DNA shows that the Harappans harbored significant Iranian agriculturist ancestry.

- After Indo-European-language speakers reached south Asia, the language of the Harappans became limited to south India, while the culture and myths of the Harappans melded with those of the new Indo-Aryan-language-speaking migrants to create a unique, syncretic tradition that is today seen as an essential part of Indian culture.

- Languages are not always spread by large-scale migrations. There are instances when languages are spread more by contact or elite dominance rather than large-scale migrations.

- Latest DNA evidence not just proves the correlation between cultures but also the direction of these migrations.

- Here comes the controversial fact: "The strongest signals of elevated Steppe ancestry were in two groups that were of traditionally priestly status, expected to be custodians of texts written in Sanskrit."

- Close resemblance between Rigveda text and archaeological findings. Ex. Burials mentioned in Rigveda, Horse sacrifice ritual (also similar to Ashva-medha ritual described in Valmiki Ramayan) found matching in Sintastha sites from Steppe region.

- First Steppe migrations into the Indian subcontinent could have almost coincided with the decline of the Harappan Civilization.

- The main gods and goddesses of the Rigveda – Indra, Agni, Varuna, and the Asvins – find no representation in the vast repertoire of Harappan imagery. The converse is also true: the Rigveda is of no help in trying to interpret the dominant symbols and imagery of the Harappan culture – such as the ubiquitous seals that display a unicorn-like animal with what looks like a brazier or manger in front; the script; the Great Bath of Mohenjo-Daro and its significance; and so on.

- The Rigveda denounces ‘shishna-deva’ (literal meaning: phallus god or phallus worshippers), while Harappan artifacts leave no one in doubt that phallus worship was part of its cultural repertoire.

- Clear evidence of deliberate destruction of phallic symbols and idols both in Dholavira and other sites after the civilization declined. Book 7, 21.5 of the Rigveda says ‘may not the “shishna-deva” approach our holy worship’, and Book 10, 99.3 describes how Indra slew them.

- Phallic (debatable) pillars found in Dholavira. You can google the images.

- The horse is rarely to be found in the Harappan Civilization, neither as skeletal remains nor as images on seals and artifacts, while it is very prominent and ubiquitous in the Rigveda.

- Rigveda to be somewhere between 2000 BCE and 1400 BCE.

Conclusion: Indian ‘pizza’ got made, with the base or the foundation being laid about 65,000 years ago, when the Out of Africa migrants reached India. The sauce began to be made when the Zagrosian herders reached Balochistan after 7000 BCE, mixed with the First Indians, and then together went on to build the Harappan Civilization. When the civilization fell apart, the sauce spread all over the subcontinent. Then came the ‘Aryans’ after 2000 BCE, and cheese was sprinkled all over the pizza, but a lot more in the north than in the south. Austroasiatic and Tibeto-Burman-language speakers. And then, much later, of course, came the Greeks, the Jews, the Huns, the Sakas, the Parsis, the Syrians, the Mughals, the Portuguese, the British, the Siddis – all of whom have left small marks all over the Indian pizza.

The theory that incoming ‘Aryans’ imposed the caste system on the population when they arrived in the subcontinent has been proved wrong by a genetic study published in 2013

One of the most interesting revelations about the river Saraswati: Harahvaiti river in Afghanistan which the ‘Aryans’ may have become familiar with on their journey into India through Afghanistan. (It is a common practice for the letter ‘h’ in Indo-Aryan to be interchanged with the letter ‘s’ in Indo-Iranian and vice versa, well-known examples being ‘Hindu’ becoming ‘Sindhu’ and ‘Sapta Sindhu’ becoming ‘Hapta Hindu’, in Avesta.

A Beautiful Beginning

 

Udaan! Ekalavya! SOFOSH!  These are the 3 names, very close to my heart and which have shaped my attitude towards life.

 

I started my professional career, in an organization where CSR had been imbibed in the firm’s culture, but I used to wonder – “What’s in it for me?”  I would like to share with you 3 sets of life experiences where I walked away with an answer to this simple question.

 

 

One of the first opportunities that came my way was through my association with SOFOSH. This required me to work with toddlers who had been abandoned by their parents/relatives and were now housed inside a government hospital. Many of these kids were physically or mentally challenged. Some of the smiling faces and giggling sounds were of kids who sadly had just a few more months left in this world.

 

Taking sweets or chocolates on the first day, for a bunch of 2 – 5 year olds seemed most apt, given that it is usually rare for kids to not like such treats. Imagine our surprise when we realised that all that these kids wanted was just to be picked up.  Yes! Not the delicacies, but just to be picked up in our arms.  Yet, when we tried to pick them up, we were admonished by the caretakers. They knew this would condition the kids to demand more of it once we left.

 

I was shocked.. I had never realized the importance of simple gestures in life and probably was more materialistic, but that experience was an eye opener for me.

 

 

As I continued my CSR journey, I joined another initiative called Ekalavya. This involved working with the children of commercial sex workers.

 

I expected this to be far easier, considering that they were relatively older (8 years and above) and healthier kids. I was wrong. The living conditions were inhumane, to say the least, but that wasn’t the biggest surprise. Our group was oblivious to the fact that these innocent souls did not understand the concept of a conventional male-female relationship. During our first interaction with these kids, we were asked intriguing questions, which we were ill equipped to answer, given that we went there as a mixed gender group of volunteers. They didn’t even know the things we take for granted in the outside world, such as a shopping mall, a zoo or a park. Taking them out of their shell to a normal world was the most difficult project I had ever handled….. and possibly ever will.

 

 

After a few years, I joined an organisation in Mumbai and almost immediately joined one of its CSR initiatives – called Udaan.  I’m a proud member of Team Udaan working with underprivileged kids from slums in and around Powai.  Around 4.5 years back, when we started working with them, we had to teach them to read, not just in English, but in Hindi as well.  We eventually graduated to spoken English, and even games. One of the students started beating me in chess, just after a few games, which probably makes me either a very good teacher or a terrible chess player.

 

What is heartening to note today is that some of those students are part of the Udaan teaching faculty. In fact, one of these students is pursuing a nursing course at Hiranandani hospital while one of them is doing Computer engineering from VJTI.

 

I’ll close with an incident, which happened when I was visiting Pune a few months back. I was in the Pune Central Mall food court when I suddenly came across a couple of girls simply standing in front of me with big smiles on their face. As I observed closely, they seemed to be looking at me with an air of familiarity. It was then that one of them said “Bhaiya, did you recognize us? We are now working for McDonalds.” I then gathered that they were the same girls whom I had worked with around 7-8 years back under the Ekalavya initiative.

 

I had managed to bring some positive change in a stranger’s life and at the same time undergone a transformation myself.  Are you also ready to change and be changed?

 

Day 16: Over the top praise

O Dear Boss ...

HR has asked me to

write a 360 degree review

but O dear Boss, how can I

write anything about you...

O you're the Jack Welch in leadership

the Steve Jobs in innovation

Vlad Putin, Kim Jong-Un,

Trump and Modi, all rolled into one

You're M S Dhoni, you never drop the ball,

You're Wikipedia, you're the know-it-all

You keep everyone in loop, you're the London Eye

Disrupting the normal, you're James Bond - The Spy

You're the black hole, you can shift paradigms

You're brainier than Sherlock Holmes, can even solve crimes

You're so well connected, you keep touching the base

Breaking a Guinness Record for you, is too commonplace

Look at your beauty, the world is awed

Handsome-r than Apollo, you're the Greek God

You're the Pope, globally revered

You're George Clooney with sexiest beard

You make everything shiny, you're Swarovski
You're such a sport, you're national hockey 

You got the built, you're Salman Khan

You're so mature, O you're Babylon

Gosh your jokes, you're funnier than an orangutan

You can do the impossible, You're my Hanuman

Boy, you got the jaw-line, 

O you're the Brad Pitt

Deeply humbled am I, 

this appraisal, I hereby submit

© Ankush Agarwal

18-Apr-2020