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Deal with it

A clean juloos this year

A group of volunteers ensured that the recent Arba’een procession was a clean, almost zero-trash one, and were largely successful.
by Shezanali Hemani

Arba’een, meaning forty in Arabic, is a significant day marking the 40th day of Martyrdom of Imam Hussain, the Grandson of The Holy Prophet Muhammad. This day, 20 million mourners gather in Karbala, 110 km from Baghdad, Iraq on the Holy Shrine of Imam Hussain. Commemorated by Muslims all over the globe, this tradition of remembering Hussain on the 40th Day has its significance in historical events which occurred 1,400 years ago, as well as a part of the 40-day mourning period practiced by most cultures in the world.

However, a group of youths including Shias, sunnis and even a few Hindus, numbering to over 100 people, revolutionised the face of Arbaeen juloos in Mumbai this year. The idea to keep the juloos (procession) clean had actually taken root two years ago, but this year, it could finally be implemented.

Today, when we mourn the Prophet’s grandson’s death, for him who stood up in order to support the preaching of his grandfather, it seems very wrong for his followers to create a mess on the street and leave it for the BMC and others to clean. Also, ethically speaking, if we take so much care and effort to keep our own homes clean, why should we treat the city any differently? The city we live in we should retain its dignity, no matter what the occasion.

On January 3, the rest of the volunteers and I tied big trash bags at several spots along the juloos route, so that visiting pilgrims could throw such waste as glass, paper etc. The trash bags were laid all along from JJ to Mazgaon. More than one lakh people are believed to be present in this juloos from all over Maharashtra every year, most of them dressed in black clothes. The procession starts at 4 pm from Mogul Masjid near Bhindi Bazaar and ends at Rehmatabad Cemetery at Mazgaon.

Every year, a lot of waste is left behind on the road after the juloos ends. But this year, people noticed the difference. The owner of Greenfield restaurant (which falls on the route) said, “The waste this year have gone down by 80 per cent, compared to the previous juloos. This is a very good thing and it should continue. People think well about this kind of work.”

Aliraza Namdar, well known TV and theater actor also appreciated the hard work done by the volunteers and wished them luck for future projects. Owais Rizvi, Tabish Mehdi, Mohsin Fallah, Akeel Abbas Naqvi, Sohel Ajani, Ahmed Rizvi, Ali Miya, Asad Mirza, Rohan Gopalan and others were part of volunteer group.

Arba’een  is marked on the 40th day of the martyrdom of Imam Hussain.  Prominent religious scholars and leaders from the community participate in the juloos.

(Pictures courtesy Shezanali Hemani)

 

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Deal with it

Animals rescued from captivity

The Thane SPCA rescued several animals kept captive by a family in Bhayander. Mongoose, turtles and black kites were rescued.
by The Thane SPCA

The Thane SPCA (Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals) receives tip offs about animal cruelties and illegal keeping of wildlife many times a week. Last week quite a few people from Bhayander reported a family keeping several mongoose, turtles and black kites inside their garden and home. All these animals are classifieds as wildlife and no citizen is allowed to be in possession of such animals in our country.The neighbours were scouting for an organisation to complain to since many months, as they were fed up of seeing the animals in captivity.

The action had to be well-planned. First, we had to confirm that the complaint was true. To do this, our support staff  pretended to catch an injured dog in the area and went up and down the bungalow a few times. The mongoose could clearly be seen. A couple of black kites also could be seen inside the room. The turtles, however, were out of sight.

Since the Forest Department would not be available till after Christmas, we decided to tell them after December 25 to ensure that the news did not leak out. To ensure that they accompany us, we offered our ambulance to carry the animals back.

It was a risky raid, even with the Forest Officers present, because this is an extremely closed community on the outskirts where every family gets solid backup from the rest of the community. So we planned to do this between 12 and 2 pm when most people would be away at work. Luckily, we were able to sweep up the animals and leave just when crowds had started gathering. The mongoose were in the worst condition, in a dilapidated rusted cage where they were provided with iron pipe pieces to nest in and hide. The turtles were all in individual buckets with squalid water. Obviously, with no space to move around. All animals were handed over to the Forest Department.

Thane SPCA regularly provides the Thane Forest department with personnel and vehicle backup. This time, we will appeal to the Forest Department to provide their Officers with a backup team in case of emergencies, and definitely with some basic arms like batons for self defense. Till then, Thane SPCA has offered the Mumbai Forest Office the services of our staff and ambulance, albeit with a few days prior notice to schedule their daily rescue work.


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Deal with it

Where in the world is JB Talleu?

This Frenchman came to Mumbai in 2007 and vanished without a trace. His family and friends still look for him.
by Vrushali Lad | vrushali@themetrognome.in

It is a story that continues to baffle me, five years after it happened. I used to be a correspondent with a Pune-based paper in 2007, when the news of French national Jean Baptiste (JB) Talleu’s disappearance first broke out. Apparently, the 27-year-old was to embark on a bicycle tour of India, starting from Pondicherry, and he arrived at Mumbai on December 7 that year. The only evidence of him being in Mumbai at all was that he withdrew money from an ATM near Film City, Goregaon.

Nobody’s seen or heard of him since.

Somehow, I still write about JB every year.

The Talleus, especially his mother Marie-Claire, continue to fly to India and follow up every possible lead, of which there have been many. The Talleus and their friends here have made trips to several places in the South and North of India, while always passing through Mumbai to appeal to the authorities to help find their son. And yet, his mother, despite not knowing the fate that met her son five years ago in Mumbai, feels better the moment she gets here, because “this is where he was.”

I met a friend of the family, Dominique Hoeltgen last week in Mumbai. Dominique is a journalist who has lived in Mumbai before relocating to France two years ago; she met JB’s mother when the story first broke out, and quickly became friends with her. She has even helped in the search for the missing cyclist. “People have been writing to Marie-Claire on her email, telling her that they have seen a man who looks like JB. Whenever possible, I’ve followed up those leads myself, but all of them were dead ends.”

I ask her what she thinks happened when JB arrived at Mumbai. “I’ve thought about it and thought about it, and I think he was harmed by somebody here, may be for money. I find it strange that there is no trace even of his bicycle, so maybe he was mugged and his money and belongings were stolen. But I keep thinking that he is alive, he is just lost somewhere and that we have to find him.”

But why would JB, normally in the habit of contacting his mother whenever out on one of his trips, not contact her in five years? “I think he must have lost his mind,” Dominique suggests. “The people who have told us that they saw him, all of them insisted that the man they saw didn’t have any belongings. One person in Gujarat, a doctor, said that he spoke to the man who he thought was JB, and that the man told him that his belongings were all taken away from him when he came to India. The man had been sitting alone near a temple, and had a French accent,” she explains. Nothing came of that lead, either.

Even more puzzling is the police and French Embassy’s inaction in cracking the murder. “We made several trips to the cops, we pleaded with them to follow up the lead in Gujarat, but they didn’t do anything,” Dominique alleges. “We were even more surprised that the French Embassy did nothing, continues to do nothing, to trace its own national.”

Christmas approaches, and JB, a deeply spiritual person who is very close to his family, is still out there somewhere, lost. It’s another Christmas for the Talleus with no answers. Let’s hope they hear something before the next festive season.

If you have any information on the disappearance of Jean Baptiste Talleu, write to mctalleu@gmail.com. 

(Picture courtesy indiamike.com)

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Deal with it

Free up your Sunday – don’t do those chores

Instead, use this handy site to delegate shopping tasks, daily chores and home maintenance that you would normally need to do yourself.
by The Diarist | thediarist@themetrognome.in

You live in a city that sucks the life out of you. After working all week, your day of rest is actually taken up by tasks that you couldn’t attend to before – you have to pay the bills, you have to stock up your refrigerator for the coming week, you have to clean up the house – and before you know it, your body’s screaming for a pause but you still have a hundred more things to do.

And yet another weekend goes by. Before you know it.

That was what prompted Debadutta Upadhyaya (38) to start www.timesaverz.com, a one-stop chore-delegating service that helps harried homemakers and working professionals assign tasks to certified service providers, and thus free up their own schedules. Debadutta, co-founder and CEO of the company, comes with a formidable background in conceptualising and executing ideas from scratch, as also a long and successful association with sales. The company’s services are now being offered in Mumbai, a city that she feels, “experiences a bigger paucity of time than other cities.”

We chatted with Debadutta to know more about how her business can benefit Mumbai.

What prompted you to start Timesaverz.com?

As a homemaker and a professional, I always used to find myself pressed for time, juggling the two roles. I found it difficult to outsource some of the repetitive chores that could be handled by someone else, due to a lack of certified service providers. When we looked around, we found out that there are many like us who are in the same boat and would love to have certified help coming their way. That gave birth to the concept of timesaverz.com.

Starting with services that are the usual time-consuming suspects, the vision behind the company is to offer a helping hand for every job that an average homemaker can outsource to enjoy multiple benefits. We are hoping to enhance people’s multi-tasking ability without compromising on quality or service.

Please describe your professional background prior to starting Timesaverz?

I have behind me 16 years of experience at senior level positions in the media and communications space, shaping up many winning teams and businesses. A gold medalist in English literature and Mass Communication, my forte lies in building things from scratch and evolving them into category leaders.

Before setting off on an entrepreneurial journey, I was leading Vdopia, a leading video ad network’s APAC business. During my stint, Vdopia emerged to be a market leader in the video advertising space in India and also expanded operations into SEA and ME. Prior to that, I was heading sales and sales strategy function for Yahoo! India during which my team displaced the incumbent to secure the No 1 Internet Display Player position in 2007. I have been a proud recipient of the Yahoo! Ratna Award in 2006 and was honoured with the Indira Super Achievers’ Award in 2011.

What kind of market research did you have to undertake before going ahead with this project? 

We interviewed quite a number of working professionals with nuclear families, young working couples, working couples with old parents at home, and realised that the average time spent by them over weekends trying to attend to mundane household chores is, on an average, four to six hours. This leaves them very little time to relax and rejuvenate before the new week sets in. Each of them loved the idea of a certified help that they can rely on to free up their time from regular household chores.

How do you think your site would stand out amongst others, like chachii.com, which are already operational in the city? What is your USP?

Our USP is that we are a one-stop destination for most of your needs, be it daily chores, shopping or household maintenance. We act as a single service provider, so customers don’t have to go over six maintenance contracts with six different vendors for multiple requirements at home.

Which are the key areas that Mumbaikars require the most help with?

Our research shows that Mumbaikars need the most help with household essentials purchase, followed by household maintenance tasks.

How can a person use your site?

Users can choose between long term Timesaverz maintenance contracts, to one-time ‘Get Help’ options to get services on the household maintenance front. We have a well-stocked store for household essentials purchase, wherein users can buy things at the click of a button and decide the delivery time as per their convenience.

What is the size of your workforce? 

We have a small team of seven, but we have an extended network of service providers and partners across the city.

Can people reach you by telephone?

We have a helpline number +919022711888 which people can call on in case they want to request service over the phone.

(Featured image courtesy pastalavista.blogspot.com) 

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Deal with it

That game’s got your child

Survey conducted in the nation’s metros and major cities shows that children playing violent computer games are becoming increasingly aggressive.
by The Editors | editor@themetrognome.in

If your child is hooked on to his computer or mobile phone, playing away to kingdom come as a variety of bangs, screams and explosions rock the house through his screen, yank the device away from him immediately. He may be playing a game that is potentially blunting his sensitivities to aggression and what constitutes aggressive behaviour.

At a time when school kids are not thinking twice before picking up the nearest sharp weapon and stabbing another in the wake of an argument or minor scuffle, the increasing amounts of time that adolescents and teenagers are spending playing violent video games is a cause for worry. As per a survey conducted by the Associated Chamber of Commerce (ASSOCHAM) under its Social Development Foundation (SDF) in May 2012, violent video games are fuelling a rise in aggressive behaviour among children. As per the survey, “Due to the absence of parents at home, over 75 per cent of metropolitan kids between the ages of five to 17 years exposed themselves to violent video games, which lead to severely desensitivity to aggression and violent behaviour amongst them.”

The survey findings are grim – 60 to 80 per cent of the children surveyed displayed real-life aggressive behaviour owing to prolonged exposure to violent video games. The survey included over 1,000 teenagers and 1,000 parents in the major metros such as Mumbai, Delhi-NCR and Chennai, apart from Goa, Cochin, Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, Indore, Patna, Pune, Chandigarh and Dehradun. An interesting fact observed was that 65 per cent of the children surveyed had a computer in their bedroom, and thus, plenty of opportunity to get to a game.

Said D S Rawat, Secretary, ASSOCHAM, “Exposed to violence, the child loses his emotional connect [with others] and it becomes much easier [for him] to engage in violence.” Echoing this sentiment, Dr B K Rao, Chairman of the ASSOCHAM Health Committee said, “Increased exposure to violent video games leads to compulsive behaviour, loss of interest in other activities, and association mainly with other video game addicts. Parents should provide educational information [to their children] rather than violent games, encourage playing in groups rather than as a solitary activity, and set time limits on children’s playing time.” He added that young children often had difficulty distinguishing reality from fantasy, which made them more vulnerable to the effects of media violence. “They may become more aggressive and fearful if they are exposed to high levels of violence in video games,” added Dr Rao.

The survey added that parents felt that the most violent games were Grand Theft Auto, Mortal Kombat and Modern Warfare. Most games were either played online or were easily downloaded from sites such as Newgrounds and eBaum’s World.

Another interesting finding was that boys played violent video games more often than girls.  Also, of the children surveyed, those under age six played an average of about one to two hours on the computer a day, while pre-teens and teens spent nearly four to six hours a day in front of a  computer screen. The survey data also showed that boys became more desensitised towards the videos the longer they watched them.

Highlights in numbers:

– 62 per cent play almost every day

– 68 per cent play for excitement

– 52 per cent get restless and irritable if they can’t play

– 68 per cent sacrifice social and sporting activities for video games

– 42 per cent play instead of doing their homework

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