Random People on M.a.D.

"It is the first time I think students have brought out such an issue I am sure this will surely make a difference."

- Alloy, Student.

"I my self have been indifferent towards what's happening around me, the very thought that you people are doing something, has made me think, hope the campaign will be successful"

-Bruno, Student

"Earlier your seniors did campaigns on human vs. machines, but this is 'I vs. my Self', surely this will be a great success, at least for people like me, who seldom think of what is going around."

- Godfrey, Student.

"You are all saying big –big things I do not know how much of it will actually work, this looks more like an academic exercise.

-Udip, Student.

" All the five Issues you people are dealing with are the issues of the day & dealing with them is the need of the hour."

- Gautham, Student.

"Good show I guess"

- Sheena, Student

"You people are doing a very good job, keep in up I will pray that it may be a great success."

- Jacintha, Student.

"Indifference is all around in the air, I don't know if any body even thinks about it, vis comm. Students wanting to do something like this for the society, can't believe it, surely their efforts will bring a difference, if students want they can do any thing.

-Dinesh, Student.

"Go ahead we are all with you".

-Gautham, Student.

"Ha, ha who cares".

-Steve, Students.

"apart from normal studies you students have taken up such a campaign, I pray God to bless you & the campaign, hope you people will do a good job.

-Victor, Student.

Few Thoughts on M.a.D...

Naan nee endru sollum poothu uthadu oddaathu.
Naam endru sonnaal thaan uthadukaL kuuda oddum.
- Kalaingar

While this campaign has been entitle, M.A.D., or ‘Making a Difference’, I want to say a couple of words about something that is equally, if not more, important and central: indifference. Even more specifically (though a bit more implicit): the indifference of youth today.

I don’t think I can answer such a question as easily as it can be posed. But I do think I can make a couple of remarks that are relevant to the discussion (the existence of this campaign and this blog counts as evidence that such a discussion does exist). Why do we feel indifference? A short answer, I think, is we feel indifference towards a person, an issue, an idea , et cetera if we don’t feel a connection or a responsibility to that thing. When it comes to something like a person, an animal, or even the planet, it is when we don’t feel that we have common interests that we become indifferent.We treat that person or thing as exterior to us, and not as part of a larger whole. The irony of indifference is that it is, at core, a perception about states of affairs. That is, we don’t always apprehend things correctly. We can be wrong in indifference. Indeed, we often are. This is, ultimately, the message of this campaign and the sense in which I want to re-appropriate Karunanithi’s pithy aphorism.

I want to broach this question by way of a small example that we can see often in urban Tamil Nadu (including the Loyola campus): trash disposal. Despite the fact that there are trash bins people on Loyola’s campus don’t always use them. They are content with disposing of trash whereve they happen to be standing. Why? First, it is a general habit to throw trash in the street in India. Second, it is convenient. Third, people don’t feel responsible for the state of the environment. While they may complain that things are dirty or polluted, they don’t feel that they should be responsible for keeping it clean. Fourth, and most importantly, they don’t perceive that it is in their (and everyone else’s) interests for the streets to be clean. If they did, they would keep the streets clean, right?

We can ask ourselves, is this indifference ‘correct’ or ‘incorrect’? I think the answer is obvious: it is incorrect. Why? First because it clearly is in everyone’s best interest to keep our surroundings clean. Second, the sense that we are not responsible is an illusion. It’s an illusion because the streets won’t clean themselves up, only people will! Further, we are responsible because it is we who create the situation that must be cleaned up every time we don’t put trash in the trash bins.

That is, we are to blame for the situation itself!

This brings me to the second question I asked above. Why are youth indifferent today? And how can we best address youth indifference? I think we can begin to answer this question by asking, do youth feel responsible for the state of affairs today? Do they feel that they share a common interest with the rest of the society (including other youth)? I want to leave this as an open question because I believe the debate around this question, if it includes youth, can ultimately transform the issue itself. What I do want to say is that a campaign which tries to end youth indifference has to allow youth to feel that they are responsible. Moreover, it has to make them feel that it is in their interests to care. I don’t mean interests in the crass sense of rational cost-benefit calcuation (though ultimately it includes this as well). Rather, I mean it in the sense of empathy, of seeing things from a position that is larger than the individual selfish ego. This means that ending indifference can’t be an attempt to tell youth what to do, what to think, or what to feel. Rather, it has to do with creating an attitude of involvedness, of breaking down the barriers between self and other, between young and old, et cetera. It therefore requires briding the gaps between difference. In the case of youth, this means speaking the language of youth; it means speaking to youth. In short, it requires youth participation not youth address (i.e., preaching/lecturing to youth). I think this is the greatest failure on the parts of those well-wishers who want to change youth by speaking at them: do this, don’t do this, be this way, don’t be this way. Today, at least, preaching is the bedfellow of indifference. We all know how we feel when someone scolds and lectures us!

All such efforts ultimately place youth outside of society. But, as we said above, it is only when one feels part of society, when one’s personal interests are the common interests, that one is not indifferent. I think that the M.A.D. campaign is one right step in this direction, not just because they are putting a number of social issues on the table for discussion, but because they offer a platform of participation (social activism more generally) that can be replicated by anyone who happens to see that it is in their best interest to care about the world around them, and to take responsibility for it.

- Constantine Nakassis

Some Memories and Some M.a.D ...

MAD reminds me of some of my fond memories from childhood......Fond memories??? It’s not about the fun!

Sitting comfortably on my pretty pink chair, I used to gulp the tumbler full of milk, but used to make a fuss for the last few sips.......

My father, sitting beside me, used to say, ‘There are people in the world who are denied of this drop of milk that you are making a fuss about’. I can clearly remember I was in my kindergarten...... he used to repeat this whenever I made a fuss about my food.....

He used to place my palms on top of his and to say, ’These two palms are going to help lot of people’. Whenever we both were alone with nobody around he used to tell me that the society is in need of Saviours... Those words, keep on reverberating within me. I feel guilty for not doing anything for it. I believe those words should be converted into actions at the earliest.

This campaign reminds me of those reverberating words from my father.

We might not be able to plunge into the slums to help the people. But we can try to be conscious about the following things.....

• Be conscious when spending money. Do not spend unnecessarily.
• Wasting food is actually a crime. You are just making the food unavailable to the people who are in need of it.
• Try not to upset your parents. Every single quality starts from home.
• Adore and admire nature. She is the best teacher.
• Be responsible at least for your own actions. Starting from switching off the lights when we do not need them.
• Consider people as your brothers and sisters.
• Always think twice about whatever you do! That'll help you a lot.

I believe we all can make a difference no matter how small our contribution is !

- Teena

Why am I a part of the M.a.D Campaign ?

I believe that MADness is a human tendency - the want to Make A Difference is an innate human desire. Though the scope of this desire varies, the passion to strive for a better tomorrow is a human instinct.

I believe that the youth of today are mad - mad about the inadequacy of their lives, mad about injustice that clouds their horizons and mad about the complacency of people with the power to calm storms.

I am mad - mad about these things

And this is why I believe in you - the MAD - Make A Difference campaign. If today, I can correct my faults and indifference, I can make a better tomorrow.

You can make a better tomorrow.

We've just got to GO mAKE a dIFFERENCE for a worthy cause.

Our generation is believed to be one of great potential. Not only do we all have high aims and ambitions, but we have also been blessed with the means of fulfilling these dreams.

We are a generation of promise.

But in the process of attaining laurels for ourselves, we cast our glances away from the injustice and crimes that are making our generation less human each day. The spirit of brotherhood and giving without expectations that India is synonymous with, lie like old trophies on a dusty shelf to remind us of the culture that used to be ours.

It’s time for us to remember. And, it’s time for us to restore- restore our nation to a land where being human is more important than winning and achieving.

- Tara Maria D’Souza

From a Fellow "MaD" Head !!!

I nearly did it.

The car in front of me was going at a steady pace when an arm stretched out of its left window and dropped a carton right on that clean and neat driveway. I nearly burst a vein.

“What on EARTH does he think of himself!!!??? Such a clean, unlittered road! He must be educated and wealthy! Can’t he just keep that carton right back on his dashboard and wait till he finds a dustbin?? I’m going to stop the car and pick that up and…”

That’s when my mother got a little alarmed. “Er…maybe not right now…There’s a car behind us”

“Hmmm” I muttered. That’s when I noticed the driver’s side of the car. An arm was out and a cigarette dangled from its hand. That’s when I hit the roof.

“Smoking AND littering the environment!! This is the limit!!!” I was about to do a full 90 degree turn, swerving in front of the car and pull out my super shooting propeller thingys , pinning that car to the ground but ah, that’s just my post-Dark Knight hangover self talking.
But seriously, I’ve been taking our MAD issues to heart. And to other levels.

I’ve been following traffic rules like a good girl (and not just because I get totally paranoid whenever I see a cop car behind me). Garbage goes straight into the bin (and if it’s a little off centre, I pick it up and put it where it belongs) I haven’t saved any lives or fought for equal rights, but I’m getting somewhere.

Feeling the MADness and feeling good. Hope you’re all feeling it too!

- Prarthana Rao

Light at the End of the Tunnel ???

Indifference, a typical urban mentality that's seen these days. Even among rural India which was prided with warmth and compassion. Any injustice done in a society is blatantly ignored – no questions asked, no reports done, no remedies found.

Consider the dowry system – a unique Indian Cultural method of demanding money from the bride’s family. What a disgrace! Often turns violent claiming lives. Dowry deaths, dowry harassments, dowry debts and the likes. It's on the news, in the papers, why it goes on right before your eyes. Why do we choose to be blind to it? Why oppose a tradition that has survived for so many years?

Indifference is like a plague. It's everywhere. Indifference to public smoking, eve-teasing, bribery, murders, corruption and so many more. People like to be on the safe-side. Why act? Why take responsibility? As long as we are not its victim! It's good entertainment though isn't it? Indifference is the key to smart living in this age and era. Humane is a forgotten terminology! Trapped and unable to escape from this web of indifference, everything moves on.

Reality comes crashing down when the victim is near and dear. Or even you? Shame on us. Have we become so selfish?

Lets not be those people. Lets try in your simple way, to fight this indifference. Let our voices be heard.

Complaining to the authority, helping road accident victims, forming groups and task forces, fighting for your rights, fighting injustice, in small small steps we shall move forward.

In time people will see what small steps can do. Encouragement is free, it'll be give freely. Encouragement motivates, it will give courage. Courage will give birth to a new society of individuals. Individuals who care!

There is yet hope for us.

Small steps are all it takes!

Make a Difference! Today...

- Anusha

Officially Gone M.a.D !

Okay.

I’ve officially gone MAD.

The intensity of the campaign didn’t infect me as soon as it did my classmates. I thought of it as a campaign for a great cause, that we felt strongly about. But the anger, the passion and the enthusiasm was something that had yet to hit me.

But I went about my tasks, thinking of the various ways we could get people to wake up and hear us loud and clear. Naveen was the main inspiration behind this campaign and I’d like to think that he’s giving us guidance from up there.

However, just around this Independence Day, the Punjabi folk-rock artiste Rabbi Shergill released a song called ‘Bilquis (Jinhe Naaz Hai)’. I didn’t quite pay attention to it until I heard the melody right. He uses a sample of the national anthem’s tune. That made me sit up and search for the lyrics to understand more of the song.

Bilqis (Jinhe Naaz Hai)
Rabbi

Mera naam Bilqis Yakub Rasool
Mujhse hui bas ek hi bhool
Ki jab dhhundhhte thhe vo Ram ko
To maen kharhi thhi rah mein


My name is Bilqis Yakub Rasool
I committed just one mistake
That I stood in their way
When they were looking for Ram


Pehle ek ne puchha na mujhe kuchh pata thha
Dujey ko bhi mera yehi javab thha
Fir itno ne puchha ki mera ab saval hai ki


First, one asked me but I knew nothing
Then another but my answer was the same
Then so many that now I have a question


Jinhe naaz hai hind par vo kahan the
Jinhe naaz hai vo kahan hain


Where are those who are proud of India
Where are those who are proud


Mera naam shriman Satyendra Dubey
Jo kehna thha vo keh chukey
Ab parhey hain rah mein
Dil mein liye ik goli


My name gentlemen is Satyendra Dubey
I’ve already said what I wanted to say
Now I lie on the road
With a bullet in my heart


Bas itna kasur ki hamne likha thha
Vo sach jo har kisi ki zuban thha
Par sach yahan ho jatey hain zahriley


My only fault being that I wrote
A truth that was on everyone’s lips
But truth here turn poisonous


Jinhe naaz hai hind par vo kahan the
Jinhe naaz hai vo kahan hain


Where are those who are proud of India
Where are those who are proud


Mujhe kehte hain anna Manjunath
Maine dekhi bhatakti ek laash
Zamir ki beech sarhak Lakhimpur Kherhi


My name brother is Manjunath
I’ve seen the corpse of conscience lying
In the middle of the road at Lakhimpur


Adarsh phasan jahan naaron mein
Aur chor bharey darbaron mein
Vahan maut akhlaq ki hai ik khabar baasi


Where ideals are stuck in slogans
And the royal courts are full of thieves
There the death of righteousness is old news


Jinhe naaz hai hind par vo kahan the
Jinhe naaz hai vo kahan hain


Where are those who are proud of India
Where are those who are proud


Mazha nau aahe Navleen Kumar
Unnees june unnees var
Unnees unnees unnees unnees
Unnees vaar


My name is Navleen Kumar
Nineteenth June and nineteen wounds
Nineteen nineteen nineteen nineteen
Nineteen wounds


Unnees unnees unnees unnees
Unnees unnees unnees unnees
Unnees unnees unnees unnees
Unnees vaar


Nineteen nineteen nineteen nineteen
Nineteen nineteen nineteen nineteen
Nineteen nineteen nineteen nineteen
Nineteen wounds


Looto dehaat kholo bazaar
Nallasopara aur Virar
Chheeno zameen hamse hamein
Bhejo pataal


Loot the villages and open markets
Nallasopara & Virar
Snatch our land and send us to
Hell


Jinhe naaz hai hind par vo kahan the
Jinhe naaz hai vo kahan hain


Where are those who are proud of India
Where are those who are proud


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oiGSKT9m9SE&feature=related

Of course, translating something always tends to lose some essence of the original message. But watching the video, hearing the song (repeatedly as I am doing so right now!) and understanding what it’s about has really fueled my rage. Rabbi here talks about Bilqis Yakoob Rasool, a victim of gang-rape who lost 14 family members in the Gujarat massacre of 2002

A litany of institutional failures added to the suffering of women like Bilqis Yakoob Rasool and prevented justice being done against their assailants. During the attacks, police stood by or even joined in the violence. When victims tried to file complaints, police often did not record them properly and failed to carry out investigations. In Bilqis Yakoob Rasool's case, police closed the investigation, stating they could not find out who the rapists and murderers were despite the fact that she had named them earlier. Doctors often did not complete medical records accurately.

Also named in the song are Satyendra Dubey, a highway inspector who was killed after he tried to fight corruption, and Shanmughan Manjunath, killed in much the same way.

Meanwhile, Rabbi plaintitively reitarates “Where are they who have pride in India?”

Here are people who fought against injustice. They were brave enough to stand up for the truth and they got punished for it. Yet, we have people who document and write about such things, unafraid. They are making a difference in their own way, the way they know best.

Whether it is following traffic rules when others don’t…

Whether it’s throwing a tissue paper in the dustbin when the whole ground is littered anyway….

Whether it’s telling a rowdy youth to lay off eve teasing a girl you don’t even know…

Whatever it is. Just try. You are not going to be awarded a gold medal or a a special prize. No one will come up to you and congratulate you for not smoking or for throwing that chewing gum wrapper where it’s supposed to be. But, keep trying. You are contributing.

You are making a difference.

- Prarthana Rao