26/11 Survivor's Account: Good News 1- Kishor Pujari

The best news for me was Kishor Pujari, the twenty-year-old shopkeeper on the Colaba Causeway, who took me to the Hospital. Blood dripping, breath choking, I was aware of the goodness Kishor was showering upon me. The effort he made in finding a taxi and rushing me to the hospital, the fight with the hospital authorities who took me for a gangster and were hesitant in treating.
Despite the chaos, police scrutiny, Kishor stood by me. After recovery, when I asked him what prompted him to help me, he said, “I just thought it’s my duty to keep another human being alive, whoever he may be.” Kishor, born and brought up in a small village in southern Karnataka state said it was his mother’s teachings that that forced him to act naturally during the occasion.
Kishor confessed, he also thought I was a gangster and had a gun with me like most fellow shopkeepers around. The Police questioning at the hospital was more about why I was shot and why Kishor brought me for treatment. There was no hurry in treating me though I was the first to reach the St George hospital.
I faintly remember the sleepy looking policeman, whom the hospital staff summoned for recognize whether I’m a gangster or not. He said, “Madam isko to nahi janta tab bhi puchhna padega control room (Madam I don’t know him..will have to ask the control room)
It was a piece of a puzzle for the thin exhausted policeman and hospital staff that had associated clues happening elsewhere in the city, which was to soon answer their questions.

Remembering 26/11: The dark side and the good news

I want to dedicate my postings on November 26, 2009 to every innocent life lost on the same day a year ago.

Every dark event in life has some positives attached to it. Like the discovery of great human beings around you, true character of self, development of sensibility and absence of fear. The events of November 26, 2008 provided me with similar experiences.

I was lucky enough to survive the horror, unlike many fellow human beings and discover my share of goodness in life. I sometimes feel writing the goodnews about my survival is selfish considering many others didn't see the good news. But I think I want to make a point how good human beings exsists on this earth irrespective of ethnicity religion and circumstances. I would like to contribute this positive piece of literature to every fellow human being who is hopeful about this world.

My Guru Gets Magsaysay

Last month one of my mentors got rewarded by the society. The great soul, I idolize for inspiring and bringing me into the world of social engineering, worked for long before being noticed by the society for consideration.
However, it’s another fact that he never wanted any attention for being good.

Deep Joshi, the founder of Professional Assistance for Development Action or PRADAN was considered for Ramon Magsaysay award for his pioneering work in rural development on August 3.

Joshi two decades ago founded PRADAN with the hope that technically qualified people will turn livelihood interventionist. Six years ago, when I first interacted with Joshi in the Kesla, a central Indian settlement surrounded by dense jungles of Satpura, a had a complete metamorphosis.

In a Gond tribal village nearby we discovered how people educated in Indian Institutes of Technologies and Managements have created livelihood opportunities from mushroom cultivation. The interesting thing the mushroom is flaked and sold as the popular Knorr-soup brand by fast-moving consumer goods major, Hindustan Unilever Ltd.

Joshi said, “This product and livelihood integration fits in and around this part of the country ..as a professional you can work different livelihood concept as per the location.”

Joshi was always shy of admitting that he did anything, instead he promoted the local team as the owners of the success. It worked well promoting innovation at more that 30 locations in India, where PRADAN worked.

In my early 20s and raring to do something for the country, I remembered each of his word, until I created a livelihood concept in South-Jharkhand. It was about introducing hybrid corn in about 30 villages.

This concept prevented a imminent large scale migration from the region to brick kilns in Uttar Pradesh, and added on an average an income of about 5,000 rupees or nearly $100. I still find this the most satisfying work in my life.
And I thank Deep and the villagers who believed in me for all of it.

Joshi, an alumnus of MIT and Harvard, saw the first to realize the potential in professionals working a village. However it’s true that every large organization has problem, PRADAN too has.
At the height of decentralization few people started becoming egotist, they chose to exploit the very people whom they were to help. But such minor instances will not take the idea of success as ‘PRADAN’ that Deep Joshi conceptualized.

Cheers Deep. Do inspire more people.