this weeks monday morning email had actually been sent from an internet cafe in yercaud (and hence the delay - it is quite an adventure finding a working internet cafe in yercaud. another reason why i love the place :-) back in ettimadai last night and when i was going through some of the replies (yes some do write back :-) i noticed many strange characters in the original mail. the characters seem to have got really intense towards the middle of the mail where i had provided the links for the prahalad kakkar and awaaz photos :-) checked with a few of you and many have reported a similar experience (the monday morning emails are finally getting some character!)
to cut a long story short, i am (quite like toyota and maruti :-) doing my version of the "recall" and resending the mail. it also gives me a chance to correct a classic dg error i had made in the mail - those who have read the earlier email will immediately figure it out :-) for the rest, sometimes life does give us a second chance!
enough said!
& much love
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they call it awaaz – the clarion call for change. every year asb students in conjunction with the young Indians program of the confederation of Indian industries organize a symposium where they invite business leaders to share the platform and inspire india's young. it involves weeks and months of hard work – planning, meeting, connecting, delivering. from conceptualizing the theme for the event, wondering who to invite, and raising the sponsorships ("event partners"), to actually getting the students and speakers on board – it's a wonderful experience of management by practice.
probably the most rewarding – and nail biting too – in all this is the persuasion of the business leaders. it's a veritable ride on the rough seas this – no, maybe, tell me once again who you are, let me see, tell me the dates, and yes! and then the suspense till the morn of the actual event, for there are always many a slip between this cup and that lip – those dreaded last minute emergencies and changes of plan J but they always persevere these kids and have pulled off for the last two years two very impressive events filled with great energy and sensible discourse.
he's famous as one of the gurus of Indian advertising and a familiar figure on Indian television - visible as the "in your face" face on many interviews and talk shows, and invisible as the creative genius behind some memorable and path breaking advertisements that have graced our screens. still I didn't expect to be as disarmed and charmed by prahalad kakkar – the chief guest for theevent - as I was. he arrived the night before and had no hesitation in agreeing to "spend a little time" with our students. and what a time it was! for almost two hours – from ten pm to some time before midnight – the lawns of asb witnessed the most relaxed, intimate, free, and irreverent J interaction between a guest and asb students that I have witnessed in my five years at asb. instantly comfortable, and absolutely without any demands (or inhibitions J) "prahalad sir" was one super mega hit!
what struck me, and what I hadn't expected to see, was the immense kindness and respect with which he treated the students. behind the jokes, the open laughter, and that ready wit was a relentless message to the students – break your shackles, dream your dreams, and have the courage to act – be a doer and not a complainer. and for gods sake don't forget to have fun along the way too! and fun he did seem to have! let me just put it this way – Amrita has never quite witnessed an inaugural address as the one he gave J
her name is rahmat nisha and she would probably be in her early thirties though she looks much younger. she earns her living buying spices and condiments and repackaging them into small plastic packets – the ones that sell for one rupee at the countless tiny kirana stores that define the retail experience for most indians. i had jumped along with shobhana and her students for a "field trip visiting women entrepreneurs of local self help groups that have been assisted by the gandhi ashram". actually, this is the way shobhana had sold me the trip – "lets have a hot date on my birthday this year." hot date? oh, yes I said, my mind running wild and a goofy smile on my face. and that is how I found myself in a car jam packed with shobhana and her students on her birthday, trudging the small back lanes of madukarai, and muttering to myself - my dreams burning hot under the majestic march sun of tamil nadu J hot date indeed!
the dg camera was of course at work :-) here are the links to the prahalad kakkar's night at asb
http://picasaweb.google.com/deepak.gupta/PrahaladEttimadai#
and to awaaz 2010
http://picasaweb.google.com/deepak.gupta/Awaaz2010#
but this is rahmats story and not mine. she repackages the spices into small plastic packets, neatly attaching twenty six of these small packets on a chart paper and sells these sets to small retailers for twenty rupees. they in turn sell the small plastic packets one rupee at time and earn their six rupees per set while rahmat earns around two rupees. two rupees per set of twenty six, rahmat nisha earns between a thousand and two thousand rupees a month. two rupees for so much work –and yet the joy she got from what she did, the pride she had in the quality of what she sold, the integrity that would not let her reduce her quantity even when her costs were rising, and the buoyant fire of her spirit - rahmat nisha was a revelation. she has changed my perception of those plastic packets for ever! theres a living story behind every little "home packed" packet we see at these stores J
rahmat nisha dreams of her teenage daughter becoming an IAS officer, a 'collector'. "akka," as jeetu said while we were leaving, "your daughter will be a collector," and she squealed with such delight. may all your dreams come true rahmat akka and may the joyous song of your spirit ring loud and clear in every kirana store of this countryJ
two people. one untouched by his fame. the other untouched by her lack of fame. both enviably at ease with themselves, proud of what they did, and a joy to behold J
this weeks poem reverberates with the same irrepressible spirit that brought rahmat nisha and prahalad kakkar together in today's monday morning mail. from a breathtaking collection called "A Poem at the Right Moment", in the form of a "catu" or an oral poem from south india, centuries old and lovingly translated into english by velcheru narayan rao and david shulman, heres a delightful offer to the gods:
A Definition of Myth
They say you saved an elephant –
but it's not true.
And that story about your giving Draupadi endless saris
is a lie.
That you saved a crow with a gracious glance –
that never happened.
And when they say that you gave a kingdom to the brother of your enemy –
that's simply fiction.
Still, Krsna, son of Devaki,
it could all be true
if you would just
take care of me
today.
(poet unknown)
take that, life, we will not be denied! heres to a week when we too hear the spirit's joyous song, and dance J
much love,
d&s
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