Footprints on the Mountainside

I came across this press release in my relentless surfing (when I find the time). I found this to be an interesting concept. Most vacations are contributing to the degradation of the environment and global warming. These guys have come up with a novel idea. What they do is buy a certain amount of credits with money from client payments that goes toward projects targetted toward decreasing the amounts of methane in the atmosphere. Methane is one major culprit in the global warming scenario.

This money is used to fund expensive projects on livestock farms to capture the methane released in the area and convert it into energy for use on the farm, which also results in savings. Needless to say, such a project can be very expensive and this is where the money from aware citizens comes into play. Even if they cannot physically do the work, they certainly can support it. What a brilliant idea!

This is a programme not happening in India currently. I wonder how we at Wide Aware can do something about it, or perhaps create an initiative in a similar, constructive direction….

*Makes a mental note to figure out a way and share it with the people*

I found this out, in my quest to find out ways people can connect with social awareness issues and do their bit to be aware, spread the awareness and encourage support.

The Peacock Project and MAM Movies are coming together to launch a film project where youth will be invited to create a short film based on a local Mumbai charity organization within a short period of 101 hours. This short film will capture the organization’s mission, their achievements as well as difficulties that they face. The filmmakers will also attempt to capture on film, the heart of the people who are making the organization work and are making a difference in the world.

The goal is - through the medium of stories – to strike a cord within filmmakers to inspire and make films that matter. It also gives the filmmakers and other youths an opportunity to connect with local charities, who have dedicated their lives for the betterment of the society. These films can be used by the charities to create awareness and inspiration among their current and future donors and volunteers.

Some of the 101 Charities they are working with are CRY, PETA, SPCA, MAKE A WISH FOUNDATION, SMILE, HELEN KELLER INSTITUE……

In a society that appreciates films as a medium, the opportunity for the filmmakers to get involved with such issues is indeed bound to have interesting results. Let us all pitch in, and see what we could do to help.

You can help us spread the word among filmmakers who would like to make these films, youth, publications, bloggers, websites from around the world. Because this is a complete grassroot level competition any help with sponsorship is much appreciated.

Contact Information:
Ajesh Shah
9820781666
101 (at) genesisfilmproject.com

It is a confusing image that India has and on all fronts. On one side we have our rich cultural traditions and diversity, on the other, we have orthodox beliefs and discrimination. We are growing as an economy, yet we have too many poor people. We worship the goddesses and we kill the female children.

Quite a paradox, aren’t we?

I started this segment to see if I could share ideas that occur to me with other like minded people. Ideas that make the world a better place, ideas that mean that we quit whining, and move our own bottoms slightly out of our comfort zones to “walk our talk”. Ideas that mean, while we can expect things from our government and politicians, we far outnumber them in terms of capacity for individual effort. All this effort could be put to better use than airing opinions alone.

This first post is likely to be jumbled, since there are too many things I care deeply about, but I guess I need to make a start somewhere and take it from there.

I’d like to mention an interview I saw on Doordarshan, of a man called Prof. Subedar Surve - a writer, teacher and social reformer. This man stayed in my mind for a very long time. I didn’t have the time to see it in great detail, but the gist of it is that this is an old, retired person with highly educated children, well into their respective careers. This man noticed the children on the streets and their lack of education. He started a learning centre for them and applied for funding support from the government. He got a grant. Moving to a different area, he did the same and got a grant again.

Applying this method over and over, he ended up with about 40 of these small education centres that are free of cost for poor children to get a basic education! We are speaking of about 1,200 kids! He noticed that some people were using the school premises to stay in at night, and expanded his programme to include night classes for grown ups.

Definitely old in terms of age, this is one of the most vibrant and youthful personalities I saw in a long time. Chirpy and cheerful, he speaks of the support he got from the government, once he took the initiative. He praised his wife for the unfailing support over the years through some very difficult times. He spoke of some of his stories that got national awards. He spoke of his enthusiasm to take his work further. He spoke in very supportive terms of todays youth that the world sees as “reckless” and thinks that it is a generation growing in a different world from what they know, and they are really very good people at heart, and they are going to take the world to new heights. This is one man who can retire, but not stay out of action. Kudos to him!

Jovial, extremely willing to talk of anything the interviewer requested, he had all of us “youngsters” spell bound and disappointed that the interview got a little abrupt toward the end for want of time. I could have listened to this guy for the whole day.
For all those who sit and speak of what the government should do, what the society needs, and what is the problem with everything, this man is a inspiring example of what can be acheived if we care to put our ideas into action.

May we all WALK OUR TALK

A passion to follow ones dreams always makes for an inspiring tale. I came to know the story of Malli Mastan Babu, an IITian from Andhra Pradesh who has scaled the world’s seven highest summits in record time. What’s more, he broke the existing record for speed as well. The whimsical part of this inspiring acheivement is that he has also done the seven summits on seven days of the week.

He has applied to the Guiness Book of World Records, and is now awaiting recognition. What a feather in the cap of India’s climbing community!

We are proud of you Babu!

An article about this from the Daily India site:

Hyderabad (Andhra Pradesh), Dec. 14 (ANI): Malli Mastan Babu, an adventure-sportsman, is set to enter record books for scaling seven of the world’s highest peaks in over just 172 days.

Babu from Andhra Pradesh achieved this feat earlier this year between January and July. A unique feature of his record is that he conquered the seven summits on seven different days of the week.

“I am the fastest of the seven-summiteers in the world. I did that in72 days. And, I am also the only person in the world to climb these seven summits on seven different days of the week. It is a unique record. I have applied to the Guinness Book of Records. They would be coming for their next edition,” said Babu.

The first South Asian to do so, Babu scaled Mount Everest in Asia, Mount Denali in North America, Mount Elbrus in Europe, Mount Kilimanjaro in Africa, Mount Vinson Massif in Antarctica, Mount Aconcagua in South America and Mount Kosciuzsko in Australia.

Babu had the zeal to climb peaks since his formative years. He is an alumnus of the Indian Institute of Technology (Kharagpur) and Indian Institute of Management (Kolkata).

Through school and college, Babu won several state and national level recognition for achievement in adventure sports.

He left his white-collar job in a top software company, after three years to pursue adventure sports. He has enthusiastically lined up his future plans.

“My next mission is to climb Mount Everest and Lhotse without oxygen, which nobody in the world has achieved. I would also like to do another national feat- to run a marathon in each state of India - 29 states, 29 marathons, 29 days in February 2008 to encourage the spirit of fitness and health among Indians,” he said.

Babu, who had to expend his own resources to pursue his love for adventure, recently got support from the Confederation of Indian Industries (CII) to support his future plans. (ANI)

Link:http://www.dailyindia.com/show/93043.php/Andhra-Pradesh-mountaineer-set-to-enter-record-books

I travelled on a local train yesterday (its rare). In the ladies compartment, there was a bunch of about 12-14 Muslim girls chattering away to glory. All of them wearing a burkha. They were going on a picnic somewhere.

They seemed quite educated in terms of conversation, some topics even included affairs - typical girly stuff. Quite unexpected, considering their clothing, but it suddenly made me awake to the fact that they still were young college girls, with all the usual interests.

I got a call from a team member, about some equipment requirements for the AECS students programme, and had a brief discussion about mountaineering equipment and the set up we’d be using for the rappelling at Sanjay Gandhi National Park. One of the girls noticed and asked me about my profession. I explained the best I could, in terms of relevance to their interests. She was curious, and I elaborated in the directions she probed.

More girls caught on to this conversation and there was genuine interest about outdoor adventure. We spoke about adventure options near Mumbai including hikes to forts, mountaineering opportunities near Mumbai on the many forts and rafting possibilities. Most of them were keen to experience adventure, but some were apprehensive about the response they would get at home.

Surprisingly, a girl in full veil was completely gung-ho. She wanted to come on a rock climbing expedition. I was skeptical. Considering her clothes, i wouldn’t have thought that her family would allow her to pursue such “tomboyish” interests. She however was confident that her brother would also want to come along and seemed to think that together, they could convince her dad as long as other females were present as well.

I pointed out the clothing factor. Burkha is a definite no-no, as wearing a mountaineering harness makes trouser-type clothing essential. She said that she would wear trousers and a burkha on top, and simply remove her burkha when needed. After all, if she could trust someone with her life when she was climbing, surely she could trust the person not to have “evil intentions” about her for that short period of time. They all giggled uncomfortably at the thought.

This girl inspired me with her extremely practical approach. I saw in her a willingness to follow her dreams, while conforming to cultural expectations - an admirable combination of assertiveness and cultural identity. I doubt if I’ll even meet her again (she took a card, but the rest of her gang was not as sure about climbing). What remained with me, was her practical attitude. Somewhere down the line, we assume that people who are conservative also lack the spark it takes to go beyond standard expectations in hot pursuit of a desirable goal. This girl wore the burkha, bacause it was a cultural thing and she had grown up expecting it to be the clothing of a modest woman, but could see that here was something she really wanted to do, that did not allow it, and was equally willing to be practical, even if the idea seemed strange.

She had laughed when I said that the burkha looks confining to me “It is strange for you. For me, it is normal, like those aunties wearing saris everyday. I think they will wear salwar kameez, if they want to ride a horse on a hill station too. Why wouldn’t I?” Definitely progressive thought and a valuable insight into the mind of a “category” of people I was not very familiar with.