| Sanjay Bapat's Blog
Wednesday, May 4, 2011
Did not know how difficult it was to maintain daily blog.
During all the tensions of work, had a good time visiting Shegaon
and Shirdi. Cant say it was a relief from hectic
work because between 10.30 PM on Saturday night to 12.30 PM on Monday
afternoon, I could have slept for just about 3 hours and that too
in the front seat of our vehicle. But it was fun because one the
way we realised that Lonar was just 58 Kms, so visited Lonar. Then,
one the way, after a long time, in one of the open farms, I had
the opportunity to jump and grab a raw mango. And
then a visit to my colleague Sangharsh's house
in a small village in Akoka District.
About a year back I had decided to write a book on the social and
developmental canvas of India and the work is progressing well.
But a chance meeting with
Dr Narendra Jadhav made me edit a book on Scheculed Castes, and
I have roped in Sangharsh and Dhammanand. who work with me, to do
the interviews. Both being from the SC community are exited and
I hope both the books get published during 2011.
The lady who cleans our office, Sunanda Maushi, lost her husband
about 20 days back and she would start work from tomorrow. I thought
she would join earlier and hence had not asked anyone else to do
her work. Our office boys dont like to clean the toilets and I thought
if we treat the office like our own house, there was no alternative
but to clean the toilet myself, which I did on Tuesday morning.
I am sure my son wont do it. But I am sure many enterpreneurs wont
mind doing it and this, is one big difference between an entrepreneur
and a working professional.
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
Left at 5 in the morning to catch Delhi flight to attend
BIS meeting. Saw a TV camera person at the departure gate. I thought
he is doing some usual story. Everything inside looked normal and
people were checking in for 6 AM flight. Since there was no check
in for our 7 AM flight , just thought of asking Air India authority.
When I went closer to him, I saw 3 to 4 people asking him about
Chennai flight, which he said is not going. He said 7 AM Delhi flight
is also not going because of the strike of pilots. The indicator
clearly was giving signals of the flight on schedule. He said the
pilot has to reprot till 6 AM and after 6.10 he will confirm whether
we are going or not. But he said I can take a 9.30 flight from International
Airport free. That made no sense because I would reach BIS meeting
only at about 1 Noon.
At about 6.15 it was clear that Mumbai Delhi and Mumbai Chennai
flights are not going. What I observed during that hour at the airport
is that we lack fundamental discipline. People just gheraoed that
AI authority, there was no queue for asking questions. Some people
thought they are smarter than the rest and tried to tell the AI
authority that they want to go and the solution is not in waiting
for a few hours and that they should be accomodated in other Airlines
which were flying. Everyone knew that AI authorities on ground cant
do anything except telling everyone that the flight is cancelled
or is rescheduled. Making noise was certainly not a solution.
Interestingly at about 6.30, suddenly they said that Chennai flight
will depart, though slightly late. Delhi passengers thought they
lost the match against Chennai !!!! People with onward reservations
had more trouble.
When can our educated lot behave like global citizens ? Sure they
have rights, but they must follow basic discipline. I thought students
in our district schools in tribal areas are better than these professionals.
Monday, April 25, 2011
Fortunately my visit to Delhi to attend the meeting organised
by Bureau of Indian Standards for Governance requirements for not
for profit organisations confirmed. It will be interesting and important
to know the views of others on the panel.
Sunday, April 24, 2011
First draft of VoiceOfBharat.org loaded. Now its time to
look at detailing. I am sure we are close to promotion. My Delhi
plan in the coming week seems difficult.
Saturday, April 23, 2011
Giving finishing touches to the newspaper.
Tejas added talula / block to the village search engine. Now people
can search villages talukawise also. This is particularly important
when our village search engine shares more than one village of the
same name in any given district.
Friday, April 22, 2011
VoiceOfBharat.org is talking to thought leaders and experts
on multiple issues across the country. We want to use Thane district
as a pilot in implementing what we learn. During a recent meeting
with Dr Narendra Jadhav, member of NAC and Planning Commission,
what came as a shock was the GER for SCs even today. And also the
quality of education.
Met Sundaram edusys chairman and Dipesh Dedhia to discuss how we
can give best quality education to SCs in Maharashtra and Tribals
in limited pockets of Maharashtra (Fortunately here, 12% of Thane's
population is tribals, and remember, Thane is the biggest district
in India as per provision statistics from census 2011)
I am surprised that having spent over 2 years with Wally Olins
(Guru of Corporate Identity), while in my last job at Sista's Worldcom,
why we have still not frozen our logo. Perhaps the problem and the
reason is the same !!!! Got closer to it late evening when was sitting
with my colleagues Prashant and Ganesh.
Vikas gave the design of a special newspaper introducing VoiceOfBharat.org
to key stakeholders.
|
