I am delighted to write to you on the official launch of 'Arunoday' (Sanskrit: the rising sun; the light of life) at Hope Hall Foundation School in New Delhi, where I presently serve as Director.
When I first moved out of India to study in the United States, I noticed an empathic culture of meritocracy and equality in the university I attended and in the schools I taught at as a volunteer. Unlike in India, where money and influence often won students seats in reputed private colleges, there was an abundance of poor but bright, and non-influential but talented, students in schools and universities around me.
In my university, this extraordinary feat was largely possible through merit and need based scholarships, which empowered even the destitute and the downtrodden through a world-class education. If you had a hunger to learn and if you had a demonstrated record for high-performance--I was delighted to notice--you could obtain an education.
This opportunity to empowerment and education is one that 'Arunoday' provides poor but intelligent students in New Delhi, India.
As it stands today—and as you may be aware—children from low-income backgrounds in India either attend poorly-funded but affordable public schools or NGO’s divorced from the mainstream system of education or no school at all. While there are several challenges this poses before an otherwise developing society and country, probably the most severe and heartening of these is the inability for bright, talented but poor students to further their potential and realize their dreams.
Arunoday will provide such children a 100% merit-based scholarship to attend Hope Hall Foundation School, an English medium, co-educational institute affiliated with the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE). The scholarship will also sponsor a student's books and uniform fee. In its first year, the scholarship will reach out to about 5-7 students entering Grades 9 or 11 and will commence from April 1, 2010.
We are actively reaching out to low-income families and schools to source students for the program and we are also approaching private donors to sponsor this program. If you know of any students this program can be useful for or if you are keen to invest in and be part of this program, please do reach out to me by commenting on this article.
Look forward to sharing more exciting updates with you on the program soon!
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
Saturday, March 13, 2010
We need to create a class of respectful Indians
Happy to share another article printed in the Wall Street Journal (http://tinyurl.com/ylax94m) with you guys! Looking forward to reading your thoughts.
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"Indians can never be good terrorists," argued Canadian comedian Russell Peters at one of his shows in New York City. "They don't hate Americans...they just hate each other!" For Indians like me sitting in the audience, Peters's observation struck an immediate chord. They broke out into hesitant chuckles, apprehensive whether it was just one or two of them who shared the somewhat controversial sentiment. Then, on realizing that everyone in the auditorium was chuckling, came the loud laughter.
It is a known fact among Indians and a common observation by visitors to the country that we Indians lack the manners which form the intricate fibers of any civilized society. Far from using words such as "thank you," "sorry" or "excuse me," there is a complete lack of respect for others' space or property. Road manners are non-existent, people are dirty in public places and there is a complete disregard for ethical, if not legally-enforceable, courtesies such as forming queues or tipping good servers. So much so that there are now counseling services in civic behavior and social manners recommended for Indian students and others migrating to countries like Australia or the U.K.
As India gears up to play host during the upcoming Indian Premier League, the much-awaited Commonwealth Games and the eagerly anticipated Cricket World Cup, and as the country positions itself as a leader in the world of business, tourism and education, it is high time we Indians pulled up our socks and offered our compatriots and visitors the respect we ourselves crave.
That Indians disrespect civic courtesies might strike the uninitiated as an exaggeration or even a stretch of the imagination. Yet, there are a few reasons that explain this problem well.
The first of these can be traced back to India's feudal history and its infamous caste system, where social hierarchy was given precedence over social equanimity. Isn't it a wonder, even today then, that a deep-pocketed customer talks down to a restaurant waiter who is perceived to be of a lower class? Or that the driver of an expensive car authoritatively claims it is the fault of the motorcyclist in an accident?
The concept of a singular and unified country is also very contemporary in India's biography. It was not until 1912, when Mahatma Gandhi joined the Indian freedom struggle against the British and introduced the idea of swaraj or self-rule that India awoke to the idea of oneness. Till then, the country was a jigsaw puzzle of thousands of tehsils, kingdoms and independent territories. Having such diverse sets of people crammed into a single country—it is any wonder—led to, and is still leading to, a missing sense of civility and harmonious living.
Finally, in a country with stark poverty and with the world's second largest population, there has always been a cultural push towards single-minded competitiveness, be it in schools, offices or homes. The development of softer skills and emotional intelligence has thus been sidelined in favor of building more tangible and marketable skills. After all, why develop a refined sense of table manners when it is really the ability to crunch accounting figures that will earn the high paycheck?
Though anecdotes of disrespect and shabby treatment may form the brunt of jokes over a few glasses of beer, we need to smell the coffee and realize that the problem is far more severe.
For starters, disrespectful behavior causes irritation and leads to anger, even in the otherwise respectful. This, in turn, leads to more disrespectful behavior, creating a vicious cycle. Since starting to drive in India after spending many years abroad, I am surprised to find myself instinctively punching the horn back at ruffian drivers or cutting traffic lines on seeing others do the same time and again.
Second, a lack of respect by us is bound to lead to a lack of respect toward us by others. On an flight from Dubai to New York a few months back, I winced at seeing a large group of Indians airily demand a round of drinks from the flight attendant by snapping their fingers and later, sulk and complain as they were rightly ignored by the serving staff onboard.
Last, and most important, a lack of respect for civic manners is a large burden on public resources. We don't follow simple traffic laws, leading the police to chase after us rather than to catch real criminals. We break queues time and again, leading to the hiring of special personnel to monitor queues in movie halls and airports instead of building factories and schools. And we litter in public places like parks and museums, leading government to spend money on cleaning waste instead of restoring our national monuments or building more gardens.
It is no secret that with India's large population and developing economy, there are bound to be pulls and pushes as several compete for limited resources. Yet, with a burgeoning middle class, a greater emphasis on building soft skills in schools and colleges, and a harder drive by government bodies to educate citizens, India can claim to be not just a rising economy, but also a virtuous society.
In the end, the onus for building a new class of manners-conscious and respectful Indians falls on many of us, who are culturally-savvy, educated and in a position to carve out change in our offices, schools and communities. We have a rich and well-regarded history; a bustling and energetic population; and a compassionate and societal nature. An act of kindness towards a stranger, a greater degree of control on personal behavior and better awareness of disrespectfulness is really all that India needs to make a stronger mark in the global community. We Indians are not bad people. We just need to work on being nicer.
--
"Indians can never be good terrorists," argued Canadian comedian Russell Peters at one of his shows in New York City. "They don't hate Americans...they just hate each other!" For Indians like me sitting in the audience, Peters's observation struck an immediate chord. They broke out into hesitant chuckles, apprehensive whether it was just one or two of them who shared the somewhat controversial sentiment. Then, on realizing that everyone in the auditorium was chuckling, came the loud laughter.
It is a known fact among Indians and a common observation by visitors to the country that we Indians lack the manners which form the intricate fibers of any civilized society. Far from using words such as "thank you," "sorry" or "excuse me," there is a complete lack of respect for others' space or property. Road manners are non-existent, people are dirty in public places and there is a complete disregard for ethical, if not legally-enforceable, courtesies such as forming queues or tipping good servers. So much so that there are now counseling services in civic behavior and social manners recommended for Indian students and others migrating to countries like Australia or the U.K.
As India gears up to play host during the upcoming Indian Premier League, the much-awaited Commonwealth Games and the eagerly anticipated Cricket World Cup, and as the country positions itself as a leader in the world of business, tourism and education, it is high time we Indians pulled up our socks and offered our compatriots and visitors the respect we ourselves crave.
That Indians disrespect civic courtesies might strike the uninitiated as an exaggeration or even a stretch of the imagination. Yet, there are a few reasons that explain this problem well.
The first of these can be traced back to India's feudal history and its infamous caste system, where social hierarchy was given precedence over social equanimity. Isn't it a wonder, even today then, that a deep-pocketed customer talks down to a restaurant waiter who is perceived to be of a lower class? Or that the driver of an expensive car authoritatively claims it is the fault of the motorcyclist in an accident?
The concept of a singular and unified country is also very contemporary in India's biography. It was not until 1912, when Mahatma Gandhi joined the Indian freedom struggle against the British and introduced the idea of swaraj or self-rule that India awoke to the idea of oneness. Till then, the country was a jigsaw puzzle of thousands of tehsils, kingdoms and independent territories. Having such diverse sets of people crammed into a single country—it is any wonder—led to, and is still leading to, a missing sense of civility and harmonious living.
Finally, in a country with stark poverty and with the world's second largest population, there has always been a cultural push towards single-minded competitiveness, be it in schools, offices or homes. The development of softer skills and emotional intelligence has thus been sidelined in favor of building more tangible and marketable skills. After all, why develop a refined sense of table manners when it is really the ability to crunch accounting figures that will earn the high paycheck?
Though anecdotes of disrespect and shabby treatment may form the brunt of jokes over a few glasses of beer, we need to smell the coffee and realize that the problem is far more severe.
For starters, disrespectful behavior causes irritation and leads to anger, even in the otherwise respectful. This, in turn, leads to more disrespectful behavior, creating a vicious cycle. Since starting to drive in India after spending many years abroad, I am surprised to find myself instinctively punching the horn back at ruffian drivers or cutting traffic lines on seeing others do the same time and again.
Second, a lack of respect by us is bound to lead to a lack of respect toward us by others. On an flight from Dubai to New York a few months back, I winced at seeing a large group of Indians airily demand a round of drinks from the flight attendant by snapping their fingers and later, sulk and complain as they were rightly ignored by the serving staff onboard.
Last, and most important, a lack of respect for civic manners is a large burden on public resources. We don't follow simple traffic laws, leading the police to chase after us rather than to catch real criminals. We break queues time and again, leading to the hiring of special personnel to monitor queues in movie halls and airports instead of building factories and schools. And we litter in public places like parks and museums, leading government to spend money on cleaning waste instead of restoring our national monuments or building more gardens.
It is no secret that with India's large population and developing economy, there are bound to be pulls and pushes as several compete for limited resources. Yet, with a burgeoning middle class, a greater emphasis on building soft skills in schools and colleges, and a harder drive by government bodies to educate citizens, India can claim to be not just a rising economy, but also a virtuous society.
In the end, the onus for building a new class of manners-conscious and respectful Indians falls on many of us, who are culturally-savvy, educated and in a position to carve out change in our offices, schools and communities. We have a rich and well-regarded history; a bustling and energetic population; and a compassionate and societal nature. An act of kindness towards a stranger, a greater degree of control on personal behavior and better awareness of disrespectfulness is really all that India needs to make a stronger mark in the global community. We Indians are not bad people. We just need to work on being nicer.
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