Post Earthquake: My First Week in Nepal

I always wished to write blog more frequently. But I have been failing to do so because of various reasons. Of course one of them being my inability to manage time. May be because of this slogan “Better late than never” has been popular.

The first day I met my family and rested for a while. After lunch I visited Nepal Rotary Disaster Relief office and updated myself of relief and rescue activities that Nepal Rotary was organizing in coordination with various I/NGO’s. 

For the next entire week I started volunteering to clear debris of Kalmochan temple, in Thapathali of Kathmandu. The program was scheduled from 7:00 am to 9:00 am in the working. It was entirely a labor work that needed to carry bricks and mud from one place to another. Though this work was not an easy one as the dust from bricks and mud was very harmful and carrying bricks too was difficult one. But many motivated youths kept each-other motivating. There were many high school youths and also local residents who joined us after some days. Our work had started to show some progress as we had stacked almost all the materials and had cleared the temple area. Together with us Nepal police and Nepal army were also volunteering to clear the area. Together it was great experience to work for nation rebuilding.

As we had collected funds via various fundraising campaign in India, we now needed to spend it prudently for the benefit of the quake affected people. After so much of destruction and loss of life, threat of epidemic was haunting quake affected people. As most of I/NGO’s were focusing on foods and shelter, we decided to focus only on sanitation items. The reason also being that we didn’t have enough resources to cater people’s need of food and shelter. Now we had to collect basic sanitary items and also had important task of choosing the right place with needy people, for the distribution of materials.

Procuring things became easy as we had contacts of some local wholesaler. Next thing of choosing right place also became somehow easy via help of Rotaract club ( youth wing of Rotary), who had experience of working with people in grassroot level. We contacted some of them and accompanied them. Their part being to collect foods items, medicines and medical team, manage transportation, etc. This not only helped to take entire package of relief materials to needy place but also saved us from duplication of cost related to survey, transportation, duplication of relief distribution in same place, etc. After few other day we would start with relief material distribution to various places affected by earthquake.

I was informed later that a volunteer was needed in Nepal Rotary Disaster Relief office. I easily decided to join from the next day, where my job was to keep records of items that were coming and were being distributed via Rotary and also assist distribution of relief materials. 

Fundraising in India for April, 2015 Earthquake of Nepal

This time when earthquake hit Nepal on April 25, 2015, I was in India. This made me to envision the outside-in perspective of things happening in Nepal. Being updated about the aftermath of Earthquake, I was able to experience the helplessness of not being able to help my country besides giving moral strength to my people. There was also a section of people within Nepal who were claiming people  like me (who were living outside Nepal) to have neglected the country at such a critical period.  This helplessness was not only kicking hard on me, but also to some of my friends. As such we decided to come back to Nepal and help them in ground level. Before we embarked on our journey to Nepal, we organized series of fundraising for the earthquake victims of Nepal.

1)      Fundraising in own college

The fundraising originally was started by some of our friends from various countries, who were deeply pained by the unfortunate disaster in Nepal. Special thanks to every friend from MBA classes who touched us with their kind endeavor. Later the same day in afternoon, we collected contribution from various students from different departments.

Fund raising in our own college

In the evening we organized the fundraising in our hostel which houses about 1000 students from 32 different countries. These fellow friends from hostel were kind enough to have accompanied in our cause. At the end of the day we were successful to collect about INR 38,391.

2)      Getting out of comfort zone
Being outside of Nepal we were worried about ways to help our people back home. The only thing that we could do on such situation was to collect as much as resources to help our families back home. I was happy to see my friends coming out of comfort zone and volunteering to reach out people in nearby cities, to collect fund. As such we divided into teams for fundraising in Vellore, Tirupati and Chittoor. That very evening we witnessed a whopping collection of INR 40,669, resulting to total of INR 79,060. On the third day we collected INR 39,700. Including INR 25,000 from Emeralds Business School, Tirupati and INR 11,000 from Krishna Teja Group of College, Tirupati.

My college friend in front of CMC Hospital in Vellore, Tamil Nadu in India

3)      Our helpful friends

This notorious earthquake gave enough coverage across the globe that every people knew about the tragic condition in Nepal. Our friends from various countries were in pain just like us. It is said that you know your friends in hard time, and I think of this statement as being true. Our friends not only provided moral and emotional strength, but also helped us collect resources for our people, back home. Not only those whom we had know for quite a long, but also recently known friends helped us based on humanitarian ground. I was, and am so blessed to have such friends in my life. 

4)      What goes around, comes around

 After the tragic earthquake of Nepal on Baishakh 12, 2072, we approached to some recently established friendship to help us. Of course they did help us, feeling more of a duty than  help. While visiting a college in Tirupati, I met this man with golden heart who had visited Nepal couple of years ago. This man was so touched with the kind and generous behaviour of Nepali people that he said he got emotional when he heard Nepal was hit by a giant quake. In spite of our single request, they themselves collected the amount and provided us moral support and also promised of any kind of help for the relief operation in Nepal. This response was because of all those Nepali people who had been good to him during his visit in Nepal.

Fund handover to us by Assistant Director of Emeralds Business School Mr. Cma Parthasarathy

With due thanks to all the contributors who helped us at this time of need, I would like to inform you all that by the time I write this post we have collected INR 148,620. I shall post in details with amount and name of contributor as I get the full details along with the relief program organised by us. 

April, 2015 Earthquake of Nepal: An immediate call from Motherland

It was around 11:50 am, 25th April, 2015 when all of sudden the peaceful ambiance of my MBA class was disturbed by a phone call from Australia that informed that a massive earthquake has hit Nepal. I doubted the veracity of the information , as social media pranks are very common these days. But the intensity of seriousness of my bench partner made me serious. And then the first thing that I remember was my parents back home who were old, alone and in small house surrounded by big buildings. Then i remembered my relatives, friends and who not !! Fear kicked me hard inside when we tried to contact our family back home but couldn't succeed. And it was confirmed that a real earthquake had hit Nepal.

Panicking began when in-spite of trying to contact with family back home turned futile. Everyone who had not been able to communicate with family had started to panic, trying to hide it though. Finally I could contact my brother in law, an officer in Nepal police, who was in remote area of Dolakha. However he himself was unknown about family members in Kathmandu, which increased my restlessness. Counselling friends that everything in Nepal was fine was a damn lies as earthquake had created a havoc. Finally, it was only in the evening that I got little relief when my friend's brother in Kathmandu helped me to communicate with my parents, who were all fine, including my immediate relatives.

Dharahara: a symbol of our hope, pride and confidence was shattered by the Earthquake

However after updating myself with news in Indian medias, social media sites, etc I realised that a dark period has begun in Nepal which would not only lead to thousands of casualties and immense loss of property but also push back the country years back. I could see the intensity of seriousness by my friend's, juniors and other friends from various countries, who were trying to hide it with smile. Some friends who had lost their home had tried counselling themselves thinking that there is no human casualties. 

The quake created a real havoc. Immense loss of life of people (7800 people as I write this blog), thousands injured, loss of major cultural sites, etc. I had never imagined that Earthquake of this scale would hit Nepal. But now as it had occurred, there was nothing we could do beside trying to curb the casualties. 

Then the following day another big aftershock, 6.8 on Richter Scale hit Nepal again which make the situation here more intense. People had started to live in open space with intense fear, of not only quake but also of burglary, theft, etc. Thousand of household, including women, elderly and children where in roofless open space waiting for some relief from the side of government as well as mother nature.

Meanwhile, we in Chittoor were about write our exams after two days. But it was really difficult condition to do so as we were stressed with what was happening back home.   

I was feeling so helpless that I immediately wanted to come back to Nepal. I couldn't bear imagining the guilt because of not being able to help my people, my country at this hour of need. This was an higher order calling of my country and I just wanted to be there to serve her.  

As such I started to convince the officials of our college to consider such condition on humanitarian grounds and give us leave to return back home. Thanks to the college officers who promised to look after us, in case any problem arises. Anyway that was not a big issue as we had decided to come back home and started booking return tickets. In some couple of days we would be back to wipe the tears of our motherland. 

Where is Our Future ?

I get frenetic about the way political events churn out in our country. Since the dawn of democracy, the political parties have been fooling Nepalese in a way or other. Surprisingly for a country where 73 percent of the population is under 35 years of age and 50 percent is under 18, most of the political leaders who represent us are elderly, who discard the involvement of youths.

It is said that “The best way to predict the future is to create it.”  A hope for a prosperous Nepal rests in the hand of youths who are the future of this country. But instable political system have been creating impediment for the youths to lead the socio-economic progress in the country.

Emigration by youths is record high, a large chunk of youth have become prey of political parties and are spoiling their prime time without utilizing their ability  in creative and promising works etc. Contrastingly, there is also a small chunk of optimistic youths who tirelessly toil for better situation of the country. The eminent need of the time is to create a favorable ambience for a rapid socio-economic progress through reforms via critical inquiry of the past and current situation of the country. Such a noble task should be spearheaded by youths and without any delay. 
(Published in The Himalayan Times, dated March 20, 2015)

Culture of Volunteerism

Volunteerism is an action at free will directed in offering of service to others. The general notion of it being that receiver will be benefitted. Though this belief if valid, most of the time the opposite is also true. The volunteer who offers help gets more benefited than the receiver.

The benefit to volunteer can range from the psychological satisfaction derived from helping others to numerous other benefits like access to vast network of like-minded kind people, improvement in interpersonal communication, confidence boost-up, etc. 

For a nation where volunteering is an established culture, the country benefits the most because of the proactive nature of its citizens. These proactive citizens have a positive mindset, who are optimistic and of cooperative nature. In Nepal the concept of volunteerism has been popularized with the proliferation of social organization like Rotary clubs, 

Lions club, Scouts, Red cross and many other I/NGOS’s. A contemporary example can be the success of Bagmati river cleaning program since a long period of time. 

A quote that always motivates me to help others.

(Published in The Himalayan Times, dated March 18, 2015)

FDI in Nepal: An Overview

Amish Dhungel

Dwaipayan Regmi

Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) is a remarkable indicator of a country moving into free market and accepting globalization. One of the potential markets for FDI is developing countries, as such countries have abundance of valuable resources that are untapped. Besides, FDI helps these developing countries to balance the gap between desired investment and domestically mobilized savings. Widely believed notion is that FDI role is tremendous in terms of bringing wave of economic changes that would benefit a country, and that is even more in case of developing country like Nepal.

Often referred to as a major tool of globalization post early 1990s, FDI increases ownership of assets across the national frontiers. FDI provides a country with access to global talent, global managerial skills and knowledge, optimum utilization of human capital and natural resources, enhances exports, makes industry competitive, provides forward and backward linkages and access to international quality product offerings, and facilitates more employment opportunities.

In the context of developing countries like Nepal, FDI can be regarded as lifeblood for rapid economic development.  FDI contribution to all round development of economy is crucial. Indian Management guru, Ram Charan reflects the importance as: “No country ever has grown without FDI, including America. FDI is not only money it’s what comes with it: technology, managerial knowhow, risk-taking.” Though Liberalization of national economy in 1990s opened door for FDI in Nepal, the country hasn’t been successful to attract significant amount of FDI.

The Foreign Investment and Technology Transfer Act 2049(1992) shapes the basic foundation for Investment in Nepal. The policy seems liberal. There is easy entry, as one can get ‘non tourist visa’ for six months if they tend to invest in Nepal. They can take every penny that they earn out of profit, share, dividend, equity and interest back to their country. There is no any Government interference in case of any dispute with the local stakeholders. The case will rather be solved following United Nations Commission on International Trade Law. Again, foreign investors are allowed to hold 100% ownership in any business apart from cottage industry and other few sensitive places.

The policy is beautifully designed, but the practical side is loaded with lots of side effects. Any foreigner cannot own land in Nepal. FDI is restricted for the ownership of commercial banks up to 66% only. There are various places where Government is enjoying monopoly; as such it is difficult for foreign investor to enter into these sectors. Nepal Electricity Authority, Nepal Drinking Water Corporation comes into these sectors. Foreign investors are not granted equal right as that of domestic investor. For instance, a foreign investor pays double rate to register a trademark. Above all, one can note that there is a political disturbance that creates fear within the mind of foreign investors. Government has not yet been able to take risk for their loss because of political disturbances. Failure of BIPPA has also showed negative impact to foreigners regarding investment in Nepal.

Despite the dark sides and limitations of the policy, there are rays of hope as well. World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business Indicator 2015 ranks Nepal as second best destination among the SAARC countries for investment. There are educated mass, who are always turning pages for looking job opportunities. This indicates, large number of educated mass is looking for job, so any investor would get educated manpower at comparatively low price. Nepal has recently come up from the ten years of civil war. History indicates that industries built after war times have been long lasting, so this hypothesis shows that this is appropriate time to invest in Nepal too. There are problems in sector of communication, electricity, water, fuels. But, these problems are actually opportunities for the investors.

After the end of ten years of Maoist insurgency, Foreign Investment in Nepal has showed a positive symptom. Although, the Investment Year 2012/13 effectiveness can be kept as a separate question to be answered, we can see that Nepal has received Rs 19.93 billion of FDI in the year 2012/13 and that of Rs 20.18 billion in the year 2013/14. There was 0.9% increment in FDI, however, 3.8% decline in foreign investment projects.

China has been the largest investor in Nepal investing Rs 2.71 billion and Rs 7.32 billion in the year 2012/13 and 2013/14 respectively.  It is then followed by India who invested Rs 2.8 billion and Rs 6.5 billion in 2012/13 and 2013/14 respectively. After Indian PM Modi’s visit this investment from India is likely to be increased in next year. Investment in the sectors like tourism, service, mineral, manufacturing, energy, construction, agro and forestry has been getting prime concern in Nepal.

In order to attract the new investors in Nepal, first thing that Nepal can do is create favorable environment. Government need to provide security to the investors, ensure good environment for business and its operation. There is again a necessity to shape a proper monetary and fiscal policy that would attract the investors. BIPPA and other bilateral and multilateral trade agreements should be formulated and implemented properly. There is still the fear of political disturbance in Nepal, this issue has to be properly addressed, and the one planning to invest should be welcomed.

The recent development in FDI sector has been praiseworthy with the arrival of largest ever FDI project in Nepal in Hydropower sector by Indian company GMR.

For a rapid growth of economy, Nepal has no option but to attract FDI. Being sandwiched between two giant economies of the world, Nepal holds the vast potentiality of benefitting from these humongous economies via FDI.

(This article was published on The Himalayan Times, dated March 9, 2015)

Incredible MYSORE

I wanted to visit Mysore as soon as I came to India on July, 2014. There were two reason behind this.
One: I wanted to meet my dear friend Sujan.
Two: I wanted to see Mysore palace.
However this had become only a wish until and unless I decided to go all of sudden during my semester break. We had just cancelled out North India visit because of fear about Swine flu being viral as it had already taken dangerous presence all over India. The first day of vacation was passed boringly in Hostel. However, I couldn't prepare myself for three such more days. So I convinced Gaurav and finally boarded train to Mysore, the second day. That was a challenge to swine flu ;)


Mysore:

Mysore is one of the beautiful cities of whole of India. Located in Karnataka state of India, Mysore is an ancient city with rich cultural heritages and historical importance.

I happened to visit this place recently. During my three day stay in Mysore, I visited some of the prominent tourist destinations that were really amazing. One of the oldest planned cities of Asia, life in Mysore resembles to that of some European countries. Things that keep Mysore a class apart from amongst other cities of India are: clean roads and public spaces, mildly populated, no heavy traffic, many cultural and architecturally exceptional buildings, etc.

Based on my own experience, I recommend you to visit following places if you happen to visit Mysore anytime in future.

1)      Mysore Palace

It’s marvelous, really captivating, and the lights makes it really a heaven on earth !

Mysore palace during evening time, every Sunday, 7:00 pm to 8:00 pm.

Mysore palace is the official residence of the Maharajas of Mysore-The Wodeyars. The palace houses gigantic courtyards, gardens and buildings. The palace is built via use of Hindu, Muslim, Rajput and Gothic styles.

Mysore palace during morning time

Every year during Dussera festival in Autumn, the palace hosts famous Mysore Dussera which is the major festival in Mysore and a major tourist season.  The palace is a must see especially during evening time on every Sunday and some other special occasions like Dussera.

2)      Chamundi Hills

Chamundi hills houses the famous 11^th century Chamundeshwari temple on top of the hill. Situated at about 13 kms from the city and at height of 1000 meters, the view from top is mesmerizing panoramic, from where we can see beautiful Mysore.  On the midway to the hill is a statue of bull Nandi, the carrier of Lord Shiva, which is carved out of single piece of black granite ( 1.9 m tall and 7.6 m long). Hindu Mythology has it that the then king of Mysore Mahisasura was killed by goddess Chamundeswari after a fierce battle. To mark this victory Hindu followers celebrate Dussera/Dashain festival, which is the major festival in Mysore.

An evening bike ride to Chamundi hill can be really a worthwhile experience. Try it !

3)      Brindaban Garden

Adjoining to a dam called Krishnarajasagara which crosses Kaveri river is a beautiful garden called Brindavan garden. This garden is one of the most visited tourist destination in Mysore. Famous for variety of flowers and fruits, the garden is really amazing during evening time when the ambience is beautified via lights and water fountains. The construction of garden dates back to 1927 and is still one of the most favored tourist attractions in Mysore.

A major attraction here is the musical fountain where bursts of waters are synchronized to music of song.  Go there with your loved ones and enjoy the gift of nature. :)

Beautiful Sunset on way to Brindavan Garden !!

It was not only place but my greatest buddies who made travelling fun. On the first day Suwas decided to join from Bangalore. More fun to my stay was by momo party hosted by Nepalese girls, evening  bike ride, sleep upto late morning, alcohol, movie and movie and so on....such a FUN !!! I am thankful to my friends for being such a great host. Special mention to Sujan, Suwas, Sainju, Raju !! See you soon again Mysore ! Now back to default >>Chittoor!!

Business as a solution to Social Problems

Contemporary world has been confronting with many social problems that people, government and business societies are concerned about. Many serious problems are arising that have come down heavily on the people. Problems like: climate change, deforestation, poor nutrition, access to water, pollution etc. have created major threat to livelihood of people. The problems are supposed to increase even more when endeavor of governments to address these problems have been making only an incremental improvement and primarily the reason for this being scarcity of resources.  In this connection when government (which has been referred to as the solver of societal problems) has been facing with resource crunch, the onus lies on the business which is the real creator of resources in the form of profit. 

Business can create resources when they meet the need, at a profit.  Business at the present time possess humongous power availed to them via resources possession. The accumulation of vast resources generated from profit enables them to mobilize energy and resources to solve the societal problems.

Societal problems and Business:

When we generally talk about business in relation to the societal problems, two differing views appear. The traditional thought identifies business as a creator of societal problems. Meaning that business creates profit at the expense of the society. Profit is excessive when: pollution is massive, labor exploitation is prevailing etc. This is the view that is commonly prevalent which partly is also because of the fact that companies have been neglecting the society in which they operate.

However the modern thought opines exactly the opposite and finds a cordial linkage between business and societal problems. For example a business causing less pollution means that the system is efficient, resources wastages is minimum etc. which automatically leads to more profit and vice-versa. As companies focus on long run of business, the notion of business as solver of societal problems is getting more practiced. This philosophy has been more popularized by socially responsible investors.

Role of CSR in addressing Social problems:

CSR in not a new buzz world in business world. The term originated in a club Rome in 1970s among a group of scholars, thinkers, executives that took talk of laying the future of sustainable development.  Though there isn’t any widely accepted definition of CSR, it can be defined as a self-regulatory mechanism, voluntary rather than mandatory, whereby business ensures compliance with the law of land, ethical standards, and international values. As such, besides embracing the responsibilities for the business actions, CSR attempt to address social issues by going beyond the interest of the firm and the law of the land. Though CSR has often been referred to as a voluntary initiative, recent change has been in the direction to make it mandatory also. For e.g.: Company Act  2013 of India makes CSR a mandatory obligation on the part of the company with  at least INC 5 crore net profit or INC 1,000 crore turnover or INC 500 crore net worth, to pay 2 % of their average net profit of three year on CSR activities on each financial year. The importance of CSR reporting is increasing which are driven by regulatory bodies and stock exchanges around the world.

In case of Nepal, there is absence of dedicated policy that guides CSR activities. Proper enforcement of existing laws will promotes basis for voluntary CSR activities. For instance Environment Protection Act 1997 forbids individuals and enterprises from polluting the environment that might have an adverse effect on the environment or public life. Similarly other acts like, Consumer Protection Act 1998, Black Marketing and Punishment Act, Drugs Act, Corruption Prevention Act, etc. promotes fair practices in business and society.

For companies wanting to be socially responsible, CSR standardization measure like ISO 26000 can give a good reference. ISO 26000 though is a voluntary measure, specifies key principles as roots of socially responsible behavior which are: accountability, transparency, ethical behavior, respect for rule of law etc. Similarly another accepted framework is Triple bottom line which identifies three Ps: people, planet and profit as three pillars of sustainability. As such concern of society, economy and environment must be addressed. Also OECD guideline to multinational companies, UN Global compact etc. are also very popular.

Futuristic Approach to CSR

Though CSR initiatives have been effective in addressing social problems (at least in incremental way) the more sustainable approach to CSR approach would be “Creation of Shared Value” which means addressing of a social issue with a business model. The notion of creating social value is to create product offerings that meet social needs. Harvard Professor and strategist Michael Porter in one of the Ted talks, identifies this model as “high form of capitalism that aims on addressing social problems in effective way”. For e.g.: Invention of drip irrigation technology saves water and fertilizer by allowing water to go drip slowly to the roots of plants, Nestle initiative to become a nutrient company rather than being a food company (that may make people victim of obesity), etc. marks the movement of a company towards this approach of creation of share value.

In another way, this approach enables companies to change the conventional approach of the society of business as creator of social problems. The advantages of this would flow in manifold volume which might be, reduces business risk, greater acceptability of brand, garner customer appreciation, brand enforcement, reduce conflicts etc. which in totality helps it to be a leader in the industry.

As such business resources when deployed effectively can play an instrumental role in solving social problems that are too large for government and I/NGOs. 

ICCR Winter Camp- 2014-15, Madhya Pradesh

I am quite a lazy guy to update my blog regularly and mostly internet of my hostel favors my laziness by not working properly. I wanted to write a blog about this camp that I recently participated. But thought that if I write down immediately I might write it in details and make it a boring read. So I made up my mind that I would write it later  and only about those things that I found important and I missed the most. 

I was selected for a camp which would turn out to be incredible experience in terms of fun, adventure, friendship and exposure. It was Government of India affiliated Indian Center for Culture and Relation(ICCR) organised Winter camp for scholars from different countries across the world currently studying in India under Government of India scholarship.

I along with my classmate Dwaipayan were selected for this week long event. We boarded our train from Vellore station to Bhopal. The next seven days would unravel a fun fulled and thrilling experience to be cherished for a lifetime. 

Moments that I would like to remember:

1) Almost missed the Train to Bhopal

  It was really a long journey and we were almost late for train when we attended the first half of our MBA classes. Another unfortunate event was that we almost missed our train because of lack of any indication in the platform. Thanks to our habit that we keep poking people for information.

 2) Train journey and almost lost phone

It was awesome and tiresome. We had carried enough food to survive with, some books to keep our brain busy and our casual talks ranging from MBA classes to politics in Nepal. Most of all it was fun. Almost same happened when we were about to board train back to Chittoor. The train was late by some four hours  and it made a great test of our patience. A small tamil kid made our journey fun-filled who was teasing my friend by calling him villian in his regional language. 

Another stressful and memorable incident was me losing phone. I had kept it in my pocked while sleeping. I happened to wake up at 4:00 am in the morning and found that my phone was lost. I searched for a while and later woke up Dwaipayan to search it. Unfortunately couldn't find it. I began to think about new phone to buy, but was sad that I would lots of memory and data of  lost phone. But Dwaipayan was not to lose hope. He asked to intensify search and thanks to him that finally after some 15 minutes I found my phone below a rucksack.

3) Searching for Good food in Itarshi ! 

Banks of Narmada river, Hosangabad.

 I don't know how long but we really walked for longer time to get a good food. Because I was with a great gourmet, we always needed good food. :D  Happy part was that in the end we were successful. I do also remember that spicy Panipuri and Cutting chai of Hosangabad, near Narmada river bank. Such a blissful it was. 

4) Bhopal

We finally reached to Bhopal. What awaited in Bhopal was good friends, good foods  and a perfect travel plan. Next seven days would unravel unprecedented fun-filled moments with to-be-friends from different countries. 

5) Travel-Travel and Travel

While a lot happened in between, we were busy travelling most of the time in the camp.  

My favorite of all places during the camp: Bhedagaht. Boating among the rocks was  an amazing experience.

 Bhopal, BhimBetika, Sanchi, Jabalpur, Panna Tiger Reserve, Bhedaghat, Shivpuri, Gwalior etc were the places that we had to visit in the camp. Things like Music, pranks with friend, dance and all added spice to our fun.

6) Anna, Kaif and Adam

I and D waipayan were placed in a room. We were accompanied by a friend, from SriLanka, Mr. Anna(Joy). On first day we also got to meet another fun-loving guy from Afghanistan-Kaif. And rest of seven days would be filled with Anna's jokes, being satirical and lots of mischief. Not to miss to mention was Adam from Nigerrrrrr (as he would pronounce). Inspite of being single from his country, this boy was a serious fun lover and humble human being. What we liked more of this guy was him singing a Hindi song " Kal ho na ho" ! 

7) Chumki, my beloved, everyone's beloved! 

Camp had participants in majority from Afgansthan, Srilanka, and Nepal. Because of fear of unknown all of us were not interacting with each other and staying in almost fixed position in our bus. Me and Dwaipayan planned something that would make camp really great. We started teasing Chumki( friend from Bangladesh) and almost everyone joined us. This started interaction in between/among all of us. In few hours Chumki became celebrity of the camp. Thanks to her fun loving nature. Guess what then? Everyone started expressing their love for Chumki.

8) Birthday of Kesayat ??

We wanted to add more fun to the camp. So  asked if anyone had birthday during camp duration. But none had. So we came up with fake birthday. Of course our dear friend Kaif was ready for the prank. We worked really hard to get a good cake late-night in Khajuraho. Finally our effort paid well. Specially for Kefayat who got a lovely birthday surprise gift !! ;) May be that Cake shop knew that it was a fake birthday, the spelling of his name was wrong. So it was a birthday of Mr. Kesayat, who none of us knew. :D

 

9) Our Nepali dudes !

I feel very comfort to start conversation with foreign nationals in contrast to Nepalese. The same happened in the camp. However after few days we started to talk to everyone and fostered a cordial relationship.  Our Nepali juniors from Delhi univeristy( Alisa, Palpasa and Raj), Pratima and Nesa from Chennai ! 

10)Emotional goodbye

The camp ended in Gwalior after travelling various historical and prominent places of Madhya Pradesh. It was our last day in Gwalior.We had train back to chittoor late night of the last day of camp. So me and Dwaipayan, along with camp officials were only left to bid farewell to everyone. Everyone was sad to bid goodbye to each other. What made difficult was tears of Chumki and Antara. Further more to bid goodbye to everyone was a emotional work. At the end of the day, the hotel premises was silent and I began to feel like I woke up from a long beautiful dream. 

I personally enjoyed Afgani music and dance, Tamil dance, Adams hindi song, Mr. Junge songs, ICCR officer being strict , cracking jokes with  my nepali sisters, doing pranks with Kefayat and Joy, and many more. That was awesome week we spend together. And now I really feel that all those memories are from a long beautiful dreams. 

ICCR Winter camp was a great platform to explore India and to explore- self amongst friends from various part of the world. This indeed was really incredible experience in the heart of Incredible India. 

Half Girlfriend : A book review

I generally read Chetan Bhagat(C.B) when I have nothing to do and just to keep pace with what most of the youths love doing: reading romance filled yet dramatic story.

Released late this year, Half Girlfriend is a love story about couples who come from different part of the India, and more specifically a tribute to a guy from rural India who is haunted by his inability to speak english fluently.

Plot of the Story:
Madhav Jha comes in contact with Chetan Bhagat in Patna and leaves his some notes of his girlfriend, who, he assumes to have passed away. Inspite of Chetan unwillingness to read the notes of a poor bihari guy's deceased girlfriend, he can't get past the feeling and finally reads the whole diary overnight. The real story line in the novel starts when the author calls the boy in the early morning to talk about the details of the love relationship of the boy.

Madhav Jha, a boy from rural part of Bihar in India, comes from a former Royal family which garners him the respect from his villagers as  a Prince (though he never enjoys being called  so). Having played basketball as a state-level player, he applies to one of the premier educational institution of the country- St. Stephan College, via the sports quota. During the trail match for examination, Madhav comes across Riya Somani, a beautiful girl with pretty good english and  from an elite delhi family. Just like how most of the love story starts, here Madhav easily falls in love with Riya. He befriends Riya by giving some tips on how to score. Later on both of them get selected in St. Stephen and their friendship blossoms based on common interest of basketball.

Time and often Madhav expresses his desire to make Riya his girlfriend which, most of the time is rejected. Finally they strike upon a deal when Riya proposes Madhav to become his Half Girlfriend (friends with benefits?? ;). In between the plot, the story also portrays the lifestyle that elites share: lavish parties, show-off's, stressed relationship, obsession to wealth, etc. Being obsessed to make Riya his own, Madhav demands that Riya have sex with him, which puts the relationship in stake and they finally part away.

The story gets a twist when after a year Riya marries her childhood friend Rohan who has a good business in London. Riya settles in London with her husband. Here Madhav Jha, not being able to overcome the guilt of inferior behavior with Riya leaves Delhi and relocates himself in the service of his village in Bihar, with his mother. He comes in contact with local MLA and requests him to help the school, but in vain. Later he confronts with an opportunity to approach to The Bill & Melinda Gates foundation for donation to his school via local MLA. As things roll on, Madhav becomes successful for being selected for Bill Gates visit to his school. Madhav now is supposed to make a impressive speech in a good english, so as to impress on Mr. Gates.

The story presents another twist when Madhav comes across Riya Somani (a divorcee now) while taking english classes in Patna. Riya who has moved to Patna as part of her job, helps Madhav to make an appealing speech. The couple become successful in getting a humongous grant from the foundation. Though the couple become close to each-other in this period, Riya leaves Madhav surprisingly after the function of Gates foundation. Madhav gets a letter of Riya that she had lung cancer and is left with three months to live. Madhav tries to find the whereabouts of Riya but fails. It is only after 3 complete years that Riya journal reveal of her being alive.

Just remembering the eternal wish of Riya to sing in bar of New York and live a peaceful life, Madhav speculates that she might be in New York and thus prepares to travel to New York. He manages to visit New York in an internship arrangement with the Gates Foundation and stays there with his college friend of Stephen. Finally, desperately searching for Riya for about 3 months, he finds her in a bar, just two days prior of him returning to India. They get married and justify their relationship and love. The story ends when the author visits Madhav and his family(with a son), 3 and half years later in their successfully running school of Bihar.

Review:
It took me 3 complete hours to read the book in which I felt like a movie play running in a single plot.  More than a literature type, the book resembles to a script of a bollywood movies. You can see parts of life of Bihar, Delhi and New York. Special appearance of Bill Gates, and dramatic plots of union and separation of the couple, etc.

Similarly,the story moves along the line of negative stereotyping of Bihar as a backward and most reviled state in India and of Biharis as bumpkin, not so good with English, obsessed with sex,etc., while of Delhiites girls as fair,  beautiful, and intelligent.

Earlier book of Bhagat sounded more realistic and read-worthy basically because that he had personal experience with the storyline of previous novel and he could relate himself with them. This recent one is more dramatic. He also fails to explain why a girl from Delhi elite falls for a pathetically portrayed rural guy from Bihar who had no talents beside basketball.

However just like Bhagat's previous novel, Half Girlfriend is less boring to read. Though the novel is devoid of any moral lessons, it goes in line to the objective of Chetan Bhagat "to make India read like never before". This novel is going to be another success as it contains dramatic love-life of stereotyped Delhi girl and Bihari boy and on top of that it contains all species that  Bollywood movie has: dramatic, romance and sex. Thus the book is suggested only for hard-core fan of Chetan Bhagat and the people who are new to english novel reading.

Globalization and Transnational Organised Crime

With the pace of globalization increasing tremendously, just like its benefits, its side-effects are also increasing at a tremendous manner. People can advocate the advantages of globalization for a long period of time but what we are failing to address is the disadvantages that are produced by globalization.  Based on the platform on which globalization is claiming such a large success, the perpetrator are using the same platform to develop an illicit system and thus putting a threat to the advantages of globalization. Many factors that have helped prosper globalization have been used to organize cross-border crime which has been creating a trouble for the preachers of globalized world.

The two major aspects of Globalization process that promotes transnational organized crime are :

1)      Electronic and physical connectivity:

Internet at the present time has been bloodline for the globalization to speed up. Internet has facilitated the globalization process via enabling easy and rapid connectivity. It has completely changed the whole communication industry and has a wide influence in the lifestyle of the people. Besides, it has also been developed as a platform to facilitate business and also perform business online. Because of the vital role that internet has played at the current time, it has often been recognized as nervous system of globalization. Though internet has facilitated the globalization process, people are also misusing it to commit various types of crimes. For example: Cybercrimes, child pornography, etc. has been increasing via use of electronic media and internet. Other crime like hacking of bank accounts, credit cards details, identity theft etc. has been more enabled because of the use of modern tool that has facilitated the globalization process.

Also rapid progress in the physical connectivity has also facilitated the cross national organized crime. Though the rapid means of transportation like bullet trains, airplane, ships etc have increased the transportation and trading of goods across borders, it has also at the same time, facilitated cross-national crimes. Because of modern means of transportation that has improved connectivity, people with criminal mindset can move from one place to another very easily, within fractions of hours. Free flow mechanism facilitation across borders has facilitated illegal activities like: transportation of drugs, human trafficking, prostitution, etc. Similarly crimes like trafficking of women for marriage purpose, modern day slavery in sweatshops, etc has also increased at an alarming rate. Beside these, unregulated maritime network has helped many criminals and terrorist groups to carry out illegal activities in an easy way.

2)      Increased inequalities and disparities:

Globalization has not only brought prosperity to some part of the world, but it has also increased disparity among the people of the globalized world. Differences between haves and have-not have increased like never before. For example, the difference between haves and have-not has been said to be highest in the last 100 years. Also because of increasing inequalities poor segments of the society have become vulnerable to the more globalized world. The condition of women and children has become more vulnerable. Similarly poor status of women, low-level skills of the employees, unsafe working condition, etc. have made the situation worse for the people of such segment.

Conclusion:

The basic problem with the economic system created/promoted by Globalization is that it has facilitated for the rich to become more rich and poor to become poorer. Rich people are thus prompted to do anything that they find is worth doing for their personal benefit, or for the accumulation of wealth. Besides, poor section of population doesn’t have any option but to become desperate and search for brighter opportunities. But these vulnerable sections of the society are always out into demerit and thus suffer.



This write-up is based on my learning via MOOC course: Age of Globalization.