Mission Swades: Mohan Bhargava Way..

2005: A young Project Manager from NASA Goddard Space Center, Washington D.C. visits India on a vacation. Experiences the condition of rural life and generates electricity for the people of Charanpur village and breaks stereotypes, stigma.

Three years later I must admit that if ever I have been close to the scenario mentioned above from the Hindi movie 'Swades' then it has been yesterday. Though I did not achieve or attempt to achieve the feat of Mohan Bhargava, I could somehow be a miniscule version of him.

It all happened when I woke up on the morning of June 05, 2008. The day is significant to me and my family as it is my birthday. Born on June 05, 1984 co-incidentally I share my birthdate with a significant event that changed the fate of India. On June 05, 1984 when my mom gave birth to her second boy child at 6:20 PM, the Indian Army was waiting outside the gates of the Golden Temple, Amritsar to launch 'Operation Bluestar'. A event that has left deep marks on India's modern history, thus I am born in that era of 'Operation Bluestar'.

So now turning 24 was a time for reckoning. It is that major point in life where you ask yourself if the stuffs that you dreamt of as a kid or in teens will end up being fantasy throughout your life else will you really achieve it for yourself. I believe that I will be taking the second path. So, the march from good to great, great to greater and greater to greatest had to begin to achieve larger than life dreams. I decided that my birthday will give me a starting point to begin a long journey. Hence, I decided to celebrate it doing something that will create an impact in lives of economically challenged kids. So, no cakes, no candles, no partying, just one crazy mission. I wanted to ensure that the mission is in coherence with my life vision statement that I drafted when I was in my 9th grade in Belgaum which reads somethiing like this -"The world must be a better place to live with me in it rather than without me and my existence must create tremendous value to the world". I was in my teens when I drafted this, I did not know how serious I would be about this stuff when I wrote it in my diary one evening.

I chose to visit a place known as Kaliyuva Mane (Home for Learning in Kannada) hosted by the Divya Deepa Trust in a small village 10 kms south of Mysore. I had known this place as one of my good friends Sady had sent me a link of this org in one of the comments to my older post. So, I quickly visited their website and was impressed with the work that they were doing. So, I called up one of the number that was displayed on the website and introduced myself as friend and well-wisher of the kids studying in Kaliyuva Mane and asked if I can visit the site. My call was received by Mr. Ananth Kumar who runs the institution and he was excited to receive a call out of blue.

So, I quickly dashed off to pick my cousin Vinu whom I chose to be my comrade in this crazy mission. Vinu is 15 years old kid who has just completed his 10th grade exams, I have known him since he was 3 months old baby and he crazily believes in me and looks upon me. I did not give him any clue about what's the agenda for the day, and when he mounted my bike he was completely blank about the birthday celebration that was in store. I was confident that even if I had told him that we are going to hell, he would still have accompanied me:)

The first stop for us was the local supermarket to buy some goodies as it was my birthday after-all. So, we got a box of Nestle Kitkat Chocolates. When we reached the site, I was fascinated to find bright kids and the first thing I did was to distribute Kitkat chocolates to the kids. The kids were awed by this gesture as they rarely used to get a chance to have 'expensive' chocolates. Me being born in a typical Indian Middle Class family, always used to ask my mom why I cant distribute Five Star or Kitkat to my classmates on my birthday instead of the 25 paisa Parle chocolates. My mom always used to tell me that son the day you get a job, you will be able to afford it. Yesterday, I did it! I distributed Kitkat to my new found friends in Kaliyuva Mane and realized my childhood dream.

Mr. Ananth who runs the school showed me the premises and apprised me about the immediate needs of the school. When I visited the residential quarters of the school, I realized that the kids do not have proper matresses. They are few in number, the kids sleep on matresses that needs attention. No much blankets, no much pillows either. I resolved that in evening when the kids go to sleep they should have new matresses, pillows and blankets. Then I also realized with my discussion with Mr. Ananth that they do not have adequate textbooks for the children to learn. I added that in my list and quickly dashed off to Mysore City to get the stuffs for the kids.

When we reached Mysore, little did we know that buying something like text books is going to be a challenge. When we started visiting the bookstores one after the another we understood that Mysore does not have any stock of Government printed textbooks as adequate amounts of them havent been released from the printing press even a week after re-opening of schools! So after visiting 10 bookshops, we finally found help in a bookstore who got us the 25% of the stuff we wanted as he was appreciative of our cause.

After procuring the textbooks, we dashed for the bedding and Matress shop. There we got 10 cotton mattresses, 20 Pillows and 8 blankets for the kids. I ensured that the things that we are buying are of the same quality that I would probably buy for myself. I spent good amount of money from my pocket, but had no hestitaion as I was glad that some part of my dollar earnings in the last 4 months have been used for a noble cause.

So, we headed back to Kaliyuva Mane again with the pile of Matresses, Pillows, Blankets and most importantly the textbooks. Mr. Ananth and the kids were enchanted when they saw what we got for them. Then I got a chance to be Masterjee for the kids and I shared with them basic knowledge of computers and also hosted a quiz contest between Team India and Team Karnataka amongst the kids. The kids were so happy and excited that someone cared to spend sometime with them and I know that we had with us their goodwill for getting the things they wanted the most. It is then that I realized that personal visit and care means the world to the kids rather just sending cheques across. I think it must be a perfect blend of both care and finance to elevate situation of such kids.

So, when I was at the site I realized that the place is haunted by power cuts.Power fails every now and then and they have long hours of black-out and voltage fluctuations making it difficult to carry on with regular tasks.A phone call to the local electricity station is a requisite and does not meet much help. Ironically when we were riding back to home, Vinu immediately was sharp to make a quick observation. He found that the street lights at the outer ring road of Mysore are glowing in broad light! What a pity! Power-cuts in the neighboring village and wastage of electricity in the cities in many forms such of street lights glowing during day time, Neon bulbs for the Pubs and Discos, Bright lights illuminating bollywood actors selling everything from tooth-paste to soaps. What an irony! No one in particular can be blamed, as all of us are part of the system and we have our humble contribution for the current situation.

So, when I was in the US,I was paranoidic of the Indian villages because the first thing that always popped in my mind was dust, allergy, cow-dung, and foul smell. And I surprised myself by being exposed to all these within 2 days of landing in India from the US for a noble cause. I feel very satisfied and energized at this point of time as I have the confidence that I have the goodwill and prayers of the young children at Kaliyuva Mane to achieve great things in life. So, every night when I retire to my bed I will have the satisfaction that kids in Kaliyuva Mane have a good bed to sleep upon and are closer to sweet dreams.

Mountain View ~ Mysore: An exciting journey

Being back home is a great feeling! You get to relive the things that you have been missing ever since the time you have been away. And if the place away from home is like 12,000 miles apart then the journey back home is even more special.

So with the end of spell 1 of my trip, I was getting ready to pack my bags for the big journey back. I knew its gonna be a really long one considering the fact that I would be visiting 5 airports to make it finally home. If you feel I am kidding here is the list: San Francisco International Airport, Hongkong International Airport, Mumbai International Airport, Mumbai Domestic Airport, Bengaluru International Airport! So, when I departed from each of these airports I felt more close to my family and home.

Looking back at my entire trip,the high points have been working on different domains that I had never ventured before, picking new skills and acquainting oneself with new stuffs and more important leading discussions with several teams on issues of concerns for my team. On a whole a wonderful experience and if the platform is something like Silicon Valley, California it is more satisfying. One of the most memorable moment for me has been the farewell lunch that my manager hosted on the occassion of my departure from US. That was a wonderful experience and I was truly humbled as she invited each and every person with whom I worked in the past 4 months. You feel so good when people drop down to meet you specially to say a fond 'bye'. I will surely cherish the photograph forever, as each of them have been like a family to me away from home. Everyone has been so supportive and cordial and somewhere amused to find a young consultant on board doing some cool stuffs:)

Another high point came to me 10 minutes before my departure from my home to the SFO airport. It was my manager's call. The discussion that I had with him will be the most memorable one for me as not only did he appreciated my work and efforts, but also showed me pointers for future growth which I truly appreciate. That conversation was running all through my mind when I was flying and felt so satisfied and somewhere a little proud that I was able to accomplish to a large extent what I wanted to do in the US. Glory to Krsna for holding my hand throughout, like the care with which a mother holds the hands of her child. So, when I had set out for the journey in February I was nervous, excited and apprehensive. This time when I was returning I was confident, excited and enchanted. I was completed 'joshed up!'. Success is a truly a sweet nectar that you always want to taste forever and failure is that medicine that makes you feel how sweet success is.

Some of the major take-aways for me from the trip:

1. Be open for new learnings. That will make you richer in skills.

2. It's important to stay excited. People will appreciate and help you.

3. Networking..networking..networking. This will make you connect with opportunities. Because as my mentor says you and opportunities both exists at the same time its all about connecting to each other. People are the connecting medium.

4. Be ready to hear 'No!'. Some things that is important to you might not be the same for others. Just try to make them realize what it can mean to them.

5.Communication skills is the core of the consulting world. So when I was bidding a bye to fellow colleagues in my office 95% of them made this comment. "Gosh! you are from the India office? Thought you are a US practitioner."Somewhere I take this comment as a compliment for my education, professional experience in India and my upbringing establishing the point that our people are as good as others.

So when I landed in India, meeting my dad and cousin was a great moment. Meeting mom after reaching home was even more special. My mom has always made me a better person by being my best critic. She has always been someone who has always made feel that good is the enemy of great and being contented with good will never make me great. This lesson has always encouraged me to strive harder and push my boundaries. Love you mom! So, now with a week long vacation (thanks to my India managers) on my plate, I can spare sometime to catch up with old buddies and get some royal treatment back home. Especially Dosa's of different varieties for the breakfast. Yummy!!:)