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Deal with it

This actor, activist says ‘I am the Tiger’

An environment-entrenched initiative by actor and activist Shivani Wazir Pasrich is garnering a good response and discussion wherever it travels.
by The Editors | editor@themetrognome.in

Shivani Wazir PasrichActor Shivani Wazir Pasrich is going great guns with her IATT (I am the Tiger) initiative. Most recently, IATT performed for 800 students at the Maharashtra National Park, Mumbai, and the following day, to a packed auditorium in the city. ‘I am the Tiger’ is the story of Taqdeer (or ‘Destiny’), raised in the forest of Sarhi. His sister, Bachi, is forced to fight for food to feed her cubs and is branded a ‘man- eater’. After seeing his uncle Banka cruelly killed by hunters, Taqdeer is shattered. Love changes everything and Trisha, his mate, and he make a family of their own.

However, the good times are short lived and Taqdeer ends up in a zoo in Delhi. Here a life of barren captivity, inhumane conditions and loneliness force him to the very brink of existence and madness.

Says Shivani, “The initiative seeks mass involvement. As you are aware, tiger numbers have fallen steadily each year since 1990. India now has fewer than 1,800 tigers alive in the wild. India is losing the tiger, and with it, the natural abundance the nation needs to survive. We can’t just sit there counting numbers, we have to do our bit.” For this, she envisioned IATT to encompass a variety of conservation activities. “‘From tree planting in the immediate future to setting up a conservation dome in the long run (a green area in the capital city where people can feel the forest, hear the forest, smell the forest), the initiative will be a one stop where there will be performances, lectures, seminars and interactions on conservation. It is where you will find the answers to waste management like disposal of batteries, CFL bulbs, e-waste and so on. It’s also a place you will call when you want to know how to stop someone from cutting a tree or when you want to share your simple innovation with others.”

She adds that for the past two and a half years, this project has been a focal point in her life. “My vision for this project is that it will bring together people who feel for the cause and will influence other people to look at issues of concern in an empathetic way, as they are directly impacted. Hence the use of “I”. Perhaps, in time to follow, there will be an, ‘I am the Elephant’ , ‘I am the Leopard’ and eventually ‘I am the True Conservationist’.”

She says she would like to create a version of this work to showcase at conservation and climate change conferences and drive policy decisions. Further, she hopes to showcase the initiative on the Bio-diversity Train, where 16 bogies carry the story of India’s bio-diversity and stop at platforms where people can board the train free of cost and experience first hand what responsible tourism means. “The effort is to use innovative existing platforms and make them effective with a dose of creativity,” she says.

(Pictures courtesy Shivani Wazir Pasrich and www.delhievents.com)

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Deal with it

Parents, step up to save your child from abuse

What are you doing to save your child from being molested, abused? Start by being responsible for your child’s safety.
Pooja Birwatkarby Dr Pooja Birwatkar

Of late, newspapers are becoming a seriously scary read, especially for parents, as every other day there is news of molestation and sexual abuse, or rape of children. What is more appalling is that it is happening in schools, the so-called temples of learning. Schools are places where we send our children to learn and love life. Parents trust schools and send their beloved children there believing that the care and trust promised by schools would actually be provided.

Until now, many news items spoke primarily of horrendous men who committing such heinous crimes on innocent children, but there was a recent news item about a female school worker who sexually abused a small girl. I was shocked. So far, we have been shouting hoarse at schools to employ female attendants to deal with children, but now, I have to wonder: with whom are our kids safe?

The tiniest of bruises on our children makes our eyes well with tears. A smile on their faces brightens our day, and we strive to make their world a happy place. Every parents puts his or her best food forward for their child. But even as we try to shield them from the evils of the world, we have to step back and ask ourselves: For how long can we protect our children? One day our little one will grow up and be on his own. So far, we’ve taught our children to trust their elders in schools. Now even that myth has been rudely shattered. So what do we tell our children now?

I really wouldn’t mind home schooling my child, but who will monitor the tutor? There have been recent incidents of home tutors mercilessly beating up children as well.Stop child abuse

It is time for parents to take matters in their own hands. Firstly, however, parents must realise that abuse happens with little boys, too. Our concern towards the girl child as a potential victim somewhere dilutes our attention towards the male child. Some people think that abuse doesn’t happen with boys, and if it does, it is not such a serious matter. Well, hello – a child is a child, boy or girl. Some parents are also guilty of not reporting abuse that their little boys face.

As the days go by, we must strengthen our resolve to save our children from sexual abuse of any nature, verbal or physical. It is not merely enough for parents and teachers to say that they have educated their children about good touch and bad touch. I’ve got some ideas that might help:

  • Parents should make permanent groups which work towards such causes. When going to PTA meetings, wear badges that say this:
SO WHAT ARE YOU DOING FOR THE SAFETY OF OUR CHILDREN

 

If every single parent walks into school with such badges, schools will be pressurised to take extra care for our children’s safety.

  • Insist on written guidelines regarding safety from schools.
  • If some parents are well versed with training, join hands with schools to regularly conduct training sessions for teachers as well as school bus conductors, drivers, mausis and all staff on the school campus.
  • Conduct safety weeks in schools. Ensure that the school calendar does not make safety concerns just an annual feature.
  • Voice out your own experiences.
  • Those parents who send their children to school in private vans with no attendants, must try out the school buses provided by schools as a safety measure. However, try and closely monitor the behaviour of the attendants as well.
  • Be attentive to any behavioural changes in your child and trust what he or she says.
  • Teach your child to stand up without fear and report and untoward incident. Children should also be encouraged to report incidents of abuse they may have seen in school or other places.

Make a start. Take your child’s safety very seriously. Your child will thank you for your concern.

Dr Pooja Birwatkar is currently pursuing post doctoral research and working in the area of science education. She has been associated with the field of education in the past as a teacher educator, and her area of interest is research in education. 

(Pictures courtesy www.nation.lk, newshopper.sulekha.com)

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Deal with it

Parenting in big, bad Mumbai

It is tough to devote quality time to our children, but only parents should shape their children’s lives, not technology and media.
Pooja Birwatkarby Dr Pooja Birwatkar

The other day my six-year-old boy was humming a song. While I was straining to catch the lyrics, he suddenly stopped and asked, “Mom, what is ‘wohka’?” To my blank look, he explained by humming a line, ‘Char bottle wohka, kaam mera roz ka’.

I was shocked and fumbled for an answer. I quickly went into a mental overdrive: how did he hear this song, we never play music channels on TV or in the car, he is not exposed to any TV content except restricted cartoon and news channels. So how had he heard this song? And when?

Lectures in child psychology sprang to my aid and I remembered what I had been taught: always tell a child the truth. So I told my son, ‘wohka’ was actually a drink for adults. He seemed satisfied with the answer, but I continued to be agitated, shooting a volley of questions about where he had heard the song. He finally said he had heard someone singing it and caught it.

Then I sat back and wondered: how long can I confine my child to spaces I have earmarked for him? I can physically control the TV set, expose him to less silly cartoons, but for how long? Most parents complain that their kids watch too much TV or are always on the mobile phone. Then they admit that they are unable to make much time for their children, thus resulting in the latter getting the run of the house.

Everybody’s right, parents and children, too. A place like Mumbai eats up valuable time for most parents commuting to and from work. On reaching home, there is no time to restSpend time with your children and play with their children. So we try to compensate by taking our children out to malls over the weekends, and feel that we are helping them create special childhood memories by giving them money to play in game zones.

What stops us from going to gardens and playing cricket or another sport with our children? Or just going to a beach and having a good game of Frisbee with them? Sure, Mumbai is very crowded and there’s no place to do anything. But the city is not short of nature and public parks – not using these spaces to bond with your child is criminal, and a cop-out.

Technology has invaded our lives and we can’t always stop our children from being exposed to its ills. What we can do is modify our own behaviour – and we can start by setting good examples of ourselves in front of our children. Don’t play on our phone or be hooked to social networking sites when you are home. Just think: a year ago, when you didn’t have as many apps on your phone, was your life not good enough? Do you really need all the new apps that are available?

A child who sees a parent devote more time to his phone than to the people inside the house is not going to obey when that parent tells them not to play mobile phone games. If you are going to shake your body to meaningless item songs with titillating lyrics, or worse, take your children along to watch an A-rated film, you lose the right to tell your child that these songs and films are bad for them. Children model themselves on their parents – it is a cliché, but you must practice what you preach or suffer the consequences.

After all, it is easier to reorganise our own lives and help our children make better choices, than to deal with disgruntled teens and young adults who would later blame you for not investing in their overall development, and leaving them to figure out their own way of living. It is not a question of whether I want my child to know that words like ‘vodka’ exist, but I want him to learn about these things in a scientific manner, rather than being exposed to them crudely. There is still time to undo the damage – rise up to the challenge, gear up for it, and don’t complain.

Besides, who said parenting was easy?

Read another take on the same issue here.

Dr Pooja Birwatkar is currently pursuing post doctoral research and working in the area of science education. She has been associated with the field of education in the past as a teacher educator, and her area of interest is research in education. 

(Pictures courtesy www.parentingnation.in, www.wikihow.com)

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Deal with it

In the line of fire

There is no glory in death caused by negligence. A young firefighter’s death raises many questions about the profession and its hazards.
by Mamta D | @silverlightgal on Twitter

In the line of fireOn July 18, 2014, Nitin Ivalekar (inset, on left), a brave Mumbai firefighter, died after being trapped in the burning building of Lotus Business Park. The top floors of the building, a 22-storey commercial establishment in suburban Andheri, caught fire at around 11 am.

More than a dozen firefighters were sent in for the rescue operation, Nitin Ivalekar among them. Unfortunately, for him, the rescue operation turned fatal as he became one of the casualties instead of one of the survivors.

Nitin belonged to the Borivali Unit of the Mumbai Fire Brigade and was among the first group which responded to the fire call. Five others who were part of the group of firefighters participating in the rescue operations on Friday are said to be badly injured. This incident brings to light the precariousness of firefighter’s lives and the inadequateness of fire safety measures in India.

A few good men (or women)

In India, where society has always urged youngsters to pick ‘safe’ jobs like engineers, doctors, architects, and so on, there are hardly any takers for firefighter jobs. Someone once said, “All men are created equal, then a few become firemen”. The brave young men (and women) who opt for this hazardous and risk-filled profession belong to that ‘indispensable yet invisible’ category of people whom we take for granted. A fire in some building? Call the firemen. Fire doused? Call them heroes and pay them rich tributes – and then forget all about them. The firemen go back into the shadows, waiting there 24×7, until the next firefighting operation starts.

Firefighting as a profession

Signing up to be a fireman is not merely a matter of building up a steely resolve or determination. You must possess the requisite qualifications and fitness too. Typically, there are two entry levels — Fireman and Assistant Station Officer and from there on, you can become a Fire Officer-In Charge, Fire Officer, Sub Fire Officer, and so on. The minimum qualification you need in order to be a fireman is, passing Class VII. To apply for an Assistant Station Officer, however, you must be a science graduate, with chemistry as your principal subject. This is because your task may involve handling chemicals or may need good subject knowledge of chemicals.

You also have to go through rigorous physical tests and procedures if applying for the position of firemen or ASO.

Tracing history

It was around 1477 that the earliest incidents of fire protection in erstwhile Bombay began to be noticed. Back then, there were no motorised engines. Men would operate makeshift carts and horse drawn carriages to put out fires. Only centuries later, the Bombay Fire brigade officially began as a part-time police function. In 1865, the Bombay Fire Brigade came under the joint control of the Government and the Municipality. A formal Bombay Municipal Corporation Act was put into place in 1888 and since then, fire safety and fire control measures became the responsibility of the Corporation. It was only around in 1907 that the first motorised fire engine was commissioned in Bombay.

Current scenario

The firefighting services in India are still not well-organised or well-equipped. Many State-level fire departments lack specialised firefighting appliances. The communication systems used by the fire departments are often archaic. Also, lack of adhering to fire safety norms by builders and proprietors of high rises leads to incidents of fire which could have been easily avoided. Besides these, it is the citizens’ onus too. Do we as citizens keep ourselves informed about fire safety measures? Do we take simple yet necessary precautions to prevent fires on a daily basis?

A number of corporate establishments are nowadays conducting fire drills and mock firefighting exercises to educate their employees. Such initiatives are needed in housing societies too. Any person using cooking gas cylinders on a regular basis must be aware of the dos and don’ts of using them and must be aware of precautions and disaster control measures. Likewise, people using inflammable items should be alert and cautious.

If every citizen were more alert, prevented fires, or took appropriate controlling measures in case of fires, the loss to life and property would be minimal.

As it happens, today, we take the department of fire services for granted. Lest we forget, these men who risk their life and limb for us are family men, too. Some, like Nitin Ivalekar, leave behind a very young wife and little kids. Others leave behind aging parents, who were probably dependent on his income.

A little caution on our part can go a long way in preventing fires and avoiding casualties.

(Pictures courtesy www.mumbaimirror.com, outlookindia.com) 

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This artist is taking art to the public

Artist and painter Manoj Maurya recently introduced visually challenged students to art and taught them to create their own paintings.
by The Editors | editor@themetrognome.in

This is the sort of sunshine initiative each of us must undertake in our own small way: imagine introducing a visually challenged person to paint and canvas.

In a first of its kind initiative towards making art accessible for masses, artist and painter Manoj Maurya recently invited visually challenged students from the city’s blind schools and made them ‘see’ paintings. Manoj described and discussed paintings with the students and also took an interactive workshop where he taught them how to create paintings. The initiative to connect art with the masses is titled ‘ReBORN series’.

Manoj_Mauryaa_ReBORN-_Blind_Students-5He even made a painting with the students which he later gifted them with. Manoj explained, “I want to make even the visually challenged capable for expressing their thoughts through the medium of visual arts and paintings. The reactions and questions that these students asked me on my paintings were as insightful as those asked by art connoisseurs. After understanding the ReBORN series, one student asked me what I thought was the colour of the soul. Another asked me the colour of birth and death. They grasped my paintings and the thought behind them.”

The ReBORN Exhibition by Manoj seeks to establish a missing connect between art and the general masses. Manoj says, “Paintings as a form of art should increase their reach and be more relevant and productive for the society. In my own way, I am trying to achieve this [objective], so I have already invited underprivileged children and taught them the finer nuances of paintings. Before this, I have also  invited autorickshaw drivers to explore and understand the importance of art. While helping them acknowledge their creative potential, I think that educating autorickshaw drivers about art would go a long way in keeping our clean and beautiful.”

The ReBORN exhibition concluded recently at the Nehru Centre Art Gallery.

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Deal with it

A dream football space in Borivli’s backyard

‘Feet For Foot’ initiative seeks citizens’ help in setting up artificial grass for young footballing talent to train on, at Borivli.
by The Editors | editor@themetrognome.in

It sees several budding footballers train on its premises regularly, and is a popular sporting hangout for children and adults alike. But now, the Vintage Football Club ground at IC colony Link Road, is embarking on a very special mission – to install artificial grass on about 4,000 sq feet of the ground’s surface for young footballers to train on. This, believe its patrons, will go a long way in training young talent to play on an international stage.

The initiative, titled ‘Feet for Foot’, is asking for donations of Rs 999 per square foot of the proposed area to be developed, and is slated to be fully operational by December this year. Once operational, this will be Borivli’s only international-level football training space.

Says Conrad Pinto (50), one of the coaches at the ground and part of the initiative (in pic on left), “The ground currently has natural grass, which is not very good for playing on. What’s more, the grass dries up and withers away in the summer months, so the surface becomes very hard, especially with the gravel lying exposed. It is essential to train young talent on artificial grass, which will help prepare serious footballers for the international stage.”

What’s at stake

Children from the neighbouring Ganpat Patil Nagar slum play at the ground, as do others from adjoining areas. “The Club runs free training camps for children in the 6 to 9 years age group, with one coach catering to about 25 children per camp,” Conrad explains. “We are especially tuned in to children from underprivileged backgrounds – if the child is willing to play, we ensure we put a ball to his foot.”

The ground was initially in a shambles – it doubled up as a debris dumping ground and parking space for buses. “We got it cleared up in phases and then covered it with mud. We needed about 290 trucks of mud to layer the 8,155 sq metres of total area,” Conrad explains. “We formed the Vintage Football Club about 10 years ago. There are four trustees and currently 200-odd members, but over 1,000 parents are also active supporters. We impart training for free, and only charge corporates or professional teams wanting to train at the ground,” he adds.

Once ready, the ground will cater to the suburb’s urgent need for a world-class training space. “The costs of preparing such a facility are enormous,” says Wilfred Fernandes (44), also associated with the Club. “India needs training at the grassroots for football. See the current condition of football training in the country – it’s pathetic. Our children should be trained to represent India. Football instills confidence and team spirit, and we are always working towards reaching more and more children. Our activities here are driven by passion, not commerce – we never let the ground out for events or weddings or rallies. We are proud to say that since we have been associated with the ground, it has been used only for sporting activities,” he beams.

The costs involved

The cost of installing artificial grass is enormous, and they’ve worked out the total cost to about Rs 40 lakh for about 4,000 sq feet of area. “We cannot possibly cover the entire ground, because that would be too expensive,” Wilfred says. “Besides, we plan to develop the other portions of the ground for separate activities – a tennis court at the back, a walking track, a senior citizens’ space, a small play park for children. The football area will be at the centre, and will be cordoned off with nets,” he explains.

But why launch the initiative now? “We started the project on June 1,” he says. “Currently, there is a lot of hype around the upcoming football World Cup in Brazil, and interest in the sport is at an all-time peak. We will wind up the collection (of funds) process by July 15, when the World Cup will end,” he adds.

Already, donations have started coming in. “We’ve got donations from all over Mumbai, as well as from Delhi and even Muscat. Till date, we’ve managed over Rs 3.2 lakh from June 1, when we launched the initiative,” Conrad says. “Several more people have committed funds for the cause. One gentleman works in a company that manufactures lighting equipment, and he has pledged that the lighting for the ground would be done by his company. Even our trustees are donating money. Help is coming from everywhere,” he says.

The Club will shortlist a vendor by a tendering process in August this year, and the actual work of preparing the ground and laying the grass should be finished by November. “We hope to be fully operational by December 2014,” Wilfred signs off.

Do you want to donate for ‘Feet for Foot’? Log on to vintagefeet4foot.com or check out their Facebook page at www.facebook.com/VintageFootballClubMumbai for details. Call 9022420053 for more information.

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