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Social Responsibility Project in Bangalore, India

So lately, as a part of my social responsibility project, I was required to work as a student volunteer at GCI Ananya. Here is my review of the 10 days i spent there!

GCI Ananya, a registered non-profit organization is the outcome for the need for a space to synchronize, initiate, manage and organize activities that ensure human justice. Ananya came about as a result of many deliberations, discussions of the ground realities and the need to build coalitions that collectively confront and challenge injustice, disparity, violence and showcase courageous initiatives and sustainable best practices related to making a difference in the lives of people often forced to the very edges of social, economic and political cultural abysses.

GCI Ananya mainly focuses on woman and child welfare. Rather than being seen as abused and exploited, trafficked children are viewed as solicitous and corrupted. Trafficked children, rescued from brothels, are excluded from care and housing by many local NGOS, who believe that they will corrupt other children or staff. Many cannot return to their families, as it is seen to bring shame on them. If a girl goes missing from her village, families do not complain about it, as their prestige is at stake. The NGO helps spread awareness and remove such social norms. They encourage families to send their daughters to school, as well as help the women deal with various issues such as domestic violence, polygamy and child abuse. To tackle this, GCI Ananya formed a women’s self-help group, which meets regularly to discuss such problems, educate them about illnesses and holistic living.

Apart from the women’s group, they make provisions for children to gather after school. This is basically done to prevent child labour and child abuse, the children may be subjected to. They help them with their homework, organise extra- curricular and co- curricular activities to give them a break from the monotony. While, we were volunteering at the organisation, we got to interact with them, and help them with their homework, as well as sing and dance. On Childrens’ day, GCI Ananya collaborated with Gyan Lab and organised a workshop for the children which involved science activities like identifying and building a solar system, making a volcano and identifying and colouring a digestive system for the younger kids; and the older children worked on solar powered circuits, learned about electro-magnetic energy etc. It was a very humbling experience teaching and helping them assemble the same.

Another initiative started by GCI was in collaboration with Liter of Light. Liter of Light is a global open source movement with the aim to provide an ecologically and economically sustainable source of light to underprivileged households that do not have access to electricity or are unable to afford it. The invention is relatively simple. It involves filling up a 1.5L PET bottle with purified water and bleach and installing it onto the roof of a house. The water inside the bottle refracts the sunlight during the daytime and creates the same intensity as a 55 watt light bulb. With the correct installation and materials a solar bottle can last up to 5 years. As the light relies on the sun it cannot be used at night and is only meant to provide light to buildings and homes during daylight hours. We got to be a part of the Liter of Light workshop organised at Swissnex, as well as install them in the slums of L.R. Nagar. After the installation, we interviewed the residents of the houses where the bottles were installed, to learn their opinion of the initiative. I started-up a blog where the volunteers can write about their experiences and take away from their time at the NGO to encourage others to help GCI Ananya serve the community.

I provided with the concept for the documentary film made by the group for the NGO and was a part of the team that shot the documentary which presented the various activities carried out by the organisation for the welfare of the community. I was also a part of the team that conducted a survey for Liter of Light about the household’s electricity consumption and introduce the concept and gauge their compliance to the concept. This research helped them the Liter of Light team to shortlist the houses for the installation for the PET bottles.

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This experience was very enriching and nurturing. We got to interact with the residents of L.R Nagar on a very personal level, see how they live and earn their livelihood which helped us gain valuable insights about their lives and the struggles they faced. Something as simple as helping the children with their homework and playing with them, helped me realise the difference one individual can make. This showed me the importance of CSR activities carried out by various organisations, as menial as they seem to us, they do make a huge difference in the lives of the less- fortunate.

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Upbringing

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Last night I had something like a girls’ night in at mine, which pretty much involved sitting in the dark drinking wine. The lights were out courtesy the non-seasonal rains in the middle of April in India. The only source of lights were the constant lightning and of course our mobiles portable torches. And for some reason one of my friends was shitting bricks. Reason: When she was little her mom would scare her with thundering when she did anything wrong; another case of deep seated fears. This got us to talking about what our respective mothers told us to get their way out. My cousin’s mom’s would threaten them cousin saying the ‘boogie-man’ would come them if they dint eat, if it wasn’t him, it was the scary old security guard of the estate, random creepy people they came across, ghosts etc. Now one of my cousins’ aged 21 is scared of ghosts and the supernatural beings, can’t be around firecrackers as sudden noises scare the daylights out of her. At this one Indian wedding, she was found under the buffet table because of the crackers, and further went on to upturn the table out of sheer fright. Her younger brother highly influenced by her grew up to be equally paranoid. Once at a train station, when the train whistled he got so scared he left my father’s hand and started running in the opposite direction to take ‘cover’. Another cousin of mine aged 27 is still afraid of the dark, and can’t sleep alone. She sleeps with her parents in their room, in their bed till date. Many people can’t sleep after watching a horror movie because they are scared about a ghost, a zombie, a mutant or monsters under the bed coming to get them. Granted watching a horror movie gives everyone the chills and is a great form of an adrenaline rush but I’ve never had problems with going to bed. That’s when I realised my mom always got me to do the right thing and stopped me from doing the wrong thing but telling me the house opposite ours was were Santa Claus lived and he would reward me whenever I was good, not only on Christmas. How we are brought up plays an important role in our lives. I’m very thankful to my mom for how she brought me up, in spite of her strict nature. Today I have to deep seated fears, I don’t need someone to hold my hand while I pee, still suck onto my thumb or freak out in the dark.

When I read the book ‘Many Lives, Many Masters’ by Dr.Brian Weiss all this came back to me and made me aware of many such incidents that occur based on our past, but that’s a whole other topic. So coming back to my original point: sometimes we may not understand the things our parents do and why, but it is always in good faith. I don’t mean to accuse other parents of bad upbringing rather just applaud my mom and my dad for the way I turned out.

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Bring in a Change

 

How many times have we found ourselves feeling disheartened, sad, upset or think that this is the end, and that we have lost and can never succeed again because of which we stop trying? Fear, gloom, unhappiness, depression, disappointment, failure and anger are all negative feelings which bring about negative energies and influence your work and lifestyle.  Since the mind does not usually judge or examine thoughts and opinions before accepting them. If what it hears, sees and reads is always negative, it accepts this as the standard way of thinking and behavior. These days negative thinking appears to be more prevalent than positive thinking. It seems that with most people positive thinking requires some effort, whereas negative thinking comes easily and uninvited. This has much to do with education and the environment one has been living in. If you have been brought up in a happy and positive atmosphere, where people value success and self-improvement, then it will be easier for you to think positively and expect success. If you have been brought up under poor or difficult situations, you will probably go on expecting difficulties and failure. If you believe that you are going to fail, you will unconsciously sabotage every opportunity to succeed. If you are afraid of meeting new people or having close relationships, you will do everything to avoid people and relationships, and then complain that you are lonely and nobody loves you. The mind is neutral energy. The way you think determines whether the results are positive and beneficial or negative and harmful. It is the same of energy acting in different ways.  Thus in order to change this attitude you must be willing to put energy and time to pursue positive thinking, in order to change your mental attitude. Positive thinking is a mental attitude that admits into the mind thoughts, words and images that are conductive to growth, expansion and success. It is a mental attitude that expects good and favorable results. A positive mind anticipates happiness, joy, health and a successful outcome of every situation and action. Whatever the mind expects, it finds.

All of us affect, in one way or another, the people we meet. This happens instinctively and on a subconscious level, through thoughts and feelings transference, and through body language. People sense our aura and are affected by our thoughts, and vice versa. Is it any wonder that we want to be around positive people and avoid negative ones? People are more disposed to help us if we are positive, and they dislike and avoid anyone broadcasting negativity.

Negative thoughts, words and attitude bring up negative and unhappy moods and actions. When the mind is negative, poisons are released into the blood, which cause more unhappiness and negativity. This is the way to failure, frustration and disappointment. This leads us to positive thinking, although not everyone believes in positive thinking, and scoff at the people who believe in it and accept it. Also among the people who believe in it, because not everyone knows how to effectively use it.

Bringing about positive thoughts is very easy. Simple steps towards gaining that attitude are visualizing success instead of failure, repeating positive thoughts and words in your mind and expecting positive results. So each time you catch yourself thinking about something negative ignore it and think about something positive instead. So every time something bad happens tell yourself that whatever happens happens for your own good, and what may seem bad today may have good results in the future and you learn from it so it’s a win-win situation.

When the attitude is positive we entertain pleasant feelings and constructive images, and see in our mind’s eye what we really want to happen. This brings brightness to the eyes, more energy and happiness. The whole being broadcasts good will, happiness and success. Even the health is affected in a beneficial way. We walk tall and the voice is more powerful. Our body language shows the way you feel inside. It affects the way we carry out our jobs and also the outcome. So bring about this one change of positive thinking in your daily life and you will see results!

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This Shade of Red (not a very good poem, but a try nonetheless)

Deeper than the ocean

Seeping thru my eyes, my thoughts , my words

Every expression that etches itself across my face

This shade of crimson red,

A shade I’ve never felt before,

You, are the reason I feel such joy

Emotions ive never fathomed before

Now make up every bit of my day

Otherwise barren, I now understand the meaning of red

Something so precious I never want to lose

Only the thought would reduce me to blues

Something cherished, something like you and I

Long and everlasting like the color white,

This shade of red ive never known before!

This burning desire in me to seize every moment

To be with you, every cherished second well spent

The milestones achieved, too little yet

Never has anything meant more

And this shade of red, with passing time

Shan’t fade no matter how hard the sun wud shine

I trust!

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