Light.

Who can live without light ? Life giving and dispeller of darkness, light shines hope and love in our life, shows us our way.

While Divali is popularly known as the “festival of lights”, the most significant spiritual meaning is “the awareness of the inner light”.

Central to Hindu philosophy is the assertion that there is something beyond the physical body and mind which is pure, infinite, and eternal, called the Atman. Just as we celebrate the birth of our physical being, Deepavali is the celebration of this inner light, in particular the knowing of which outshines all darkness (removes all obstacles and dispels all ignorance), awakening the individual to one’s true nature, not as the body, but as the unchanging, infinite, immanent and transcendent reality. With the realization of the Atman comes universal compassion, love, and the awareness of the oneness of all things (higher knowledge). This brings Ananda (inner joy or peace).

The gunas are the underlying forces or tendencies which one needs to have unaffected, direct relation with in order to find effectiveness and righteousness in life: they are lines of potential and illuminate thought and action, thus the inner meaning of Diwali being the festival of lights.

Deepavali celebrates this through festive fireworks, lights, flowers, sharing of sweets, and worship. While the story behind Dipavali varies from region to region, the essence is the same – to rejoice in the inner light (Atman) or the underlying reality of all things (Brahman).

May all living beings rejoice in peace, joy and light.

I have to make a brief post about this little gem of a movie. Technically excellent, with a heart gripping story and realistic performances by a power house of artists, this movie not only moves you but warms the heart. It is very deep as an insight into what has become of a fertile, lush valley legendary of its beautiful people and landscapes.

Tahaan directed by ace cinematographer Santosh Sivan, is an excellent piece of film making. On a little scale, he puts this vast canvas of Kashmir. It has been ages since we saw Kashmir like this. My God !! What we are missing… After Dil Se, in which Santosh had captured beautiful Ladakh in his lense, here he beautifully uses his brush to color the canvas of the screen. Its like reading a fable from our school time story cupboard.

The Fog and smoke creates ‘wow’ visuals on screen. Love it.

Naturally, the story is somewhat based on militants and army. But moreover its a story about Tahaan – the central character’s quest to get back his beloved donkey, Birbal. And over this quest He gets to see and learn many things. Also a surprise too….Purav Bhandare who plays Tahaan, gives absolutely heart warming performance. Below is one of the scene, I loved of him.

Victor Banerjee as his grandpa is in a short but again touching performance. He reminded me of my childhood when we used to listen stories from my grandpa.

Sarika is always a delight to see on screen. She is mute mother of Tahaan. And she does talk with her eyes a lot.

Anupam Kher whose role I thought would be negative, but I was wrong. And again his character is well written and he performs well. And, who else can talk about pain of Kashmiri Pundits than him?

Rahul Bose, in an unusual one, is also too good. Everyone, just everyone has given a top notch performance. Even Rahul Khanna in his 5 mins. appearance, reminded me of the old time ‘lalas‘ [ala Mother India].

And above all, the endearing performance of Birbal-the donkey.

Technically this movie is so brilliant. Everything from production design to cinematography to outstanding sound design, is just too perfect. I loved these two little scenes with some lovely folk music.

All in all, its a must must see movie.

And lastly, here are some screencaps of the movie, featuring lovely people of Kashmir.

Wine in Vietnam !!???  …. what, where, how ?

Colour: cherry red with hints of salmon hue
Aroma: red fruits, hints of grass (herbaceous notes) with some sweet spices
Palate: off dry red fruit nuances, pleasant and has an extremely short finish

Further research into this confirms that table grapes are used but the region does have some other fruits like mulberry as well. Apparently Vang Dalat also produces a peach cooler which tastes like Champagne (interesting!).

I tasted this wine 3 years ago while hosting our first ‘house warming’ here … albeit our stay was only for 6 months. It was a Wintry evening affair, so my local shopping for wine made me pick this wine, which we were all too eager to taste ….. it troned among the proud French, Australian and Chilean wines. Its first taste hit me with surprise ! I was waiting for an almost medicinal chinese wine sort of taste. Lo ! instead it was a tangy fresh explosion of berries with a sweet honey tinge and lingering warmth. Just what I wanted to feel on that cold night.

And it grew on me … us.

What better legacy the French could have left apart from the wonderful architecture and the baguette … and yes the 12 accents of Modern Vietnamese writing !

Vietnam’s hill resort of Dalat is a horticultural wonderland. The cool tropical microclimate endows its market with the best of both worlds: tropical fruits from the lower hillsides combined with more European fare from the cooler climes. Fresh strawberries sit alongside avocadoes, artichokes, beetroot and dragonfruit; with vendors keen to foist strawberry jam, cashews and the grim local grape wine upon me. Where local markets tend to be the feature that orient me in any town, Dalat’s apparent lack of clear equatorial seasonality is bewildering.

Next time on the rice wine …. rocket fuel as Anthony Bourdain calls it !

VISIONARIES WEEK 6 – BBC Series

PROGRAMME 2 EDUCATION FOR ALL BY 2020

Ray Harris – click here to listen to interview by BBC.

Ray Harris is an education specialist who is experienced in developing training programmes for educators, governments and Non-Governmental Organisations. Originally a trainer for international education in the UK, he moved to Nicaragua to run workshops on environmental education and development after being awarded by the HRM Queen Elizabeth for his work in Environment protection and animal welfare. Since then he has worked in Africa, Asia, Latin America and Europe developing teacher training activities and youth programmes. A consultant and adviser to many leading institutions, including the World Bank and, UNESCO and  UNICEF.

He is currently an advisor to the World Bank and the Ministry of Education, Vietnam.

My vision is for education for all, in terms of inclusion, in terms of challenging inequalities and making sure that, whether you are poor, whether you’re rural, whether you’re a girl, you have an equal access to good-quality education. This would be my vision. And it is achievable. Having been a teacher at primary and secondary level, having taught teachers in many countries, I realise that the quality can be achieved without a significant increase in funding. Even now, more than 110 million children – almost two-thirds of them girls in developing countries – have no access to primary education. Certainly, in terms of access, then sub-Saharan Africa would be probably top of the list.

Many factors inhibit children from going to school. Some of them are push factors and some of them are pull factors. The push factor – pushing them away from the school, if you like – is the poor quality of education generally. This would be: an irrelevant curriculum; perhaps poor sanitary facilities; and overcrowded classrooms. The second thing would be pull factors from the community, where children are needed at home or in workplaces, to maintain economic stability within the family. Many girls, for example, are used for looking after their brothers and sisters while their parents are out at work. A big initiative has been universal primary education, which is trying to encourage more children into school. The problem that has come is that the quality of the school has not improved, and the teacher training has not improved, the facilities have not improved. You will get statistics – let’s say, in Uganda – where a teacher who was teaching 50 children now may well be teaching 100 children. And it’s the numbers in school which put pressure on schools and administration. If then the school quality is improved and the educational quality is improved, this will entice and encourage more children into school.

Recently, I’ve been working in Colombia with a programme called “Escuela Nueva”- New School. And this was a very futuristic programme, if you like. This was started in the 1970s, and was particularly focused on rural multigrade schools. The difference between Escuela Nueva and other initiatives is that it’s focused on children’s learning. So children use what’s called Learning Guides. Now a problem with rural education is that many children lose time because they’re working with their parents on harvest time and perhaps at the market. And normally they’re penalised. In Escuela Nueva it is understood that children will lose time for these rural activities. So a child, perhaps, who’s away for a week harvesting quite well away from the village may well come back and be able to pick up the Learning Guide. So the motivation is all the time on meeting children’s learning needs.

Certainly the role of the teacher will have changed. He’s helping the children to learn. And rarely will you see a teacher at the front expecting children to memorise without thinking. Teachers are encouraged to adapt the curriculum, to suit the needs of the local community. So they do get a basic core curriculum. But on top of that, they get a range of different subject areas which are relevant to that particular area. Whether it’s in the mountain or a coastal area or a coffee-growing area or a forest, there will be relevant curriculum modules that are linked to that particular environment. So that, if a community sees there’s a benefit from education, they will then fully support it. And we now see Escuela Nueva programmes in Brazil, in Paraguay, in Nicaragua, in Guatemala. And now this year we’ve been working in Madagascar and Zimbabwe.

I was at a workshop last year with a group of teachers. And these teachers are under severe pressure. They’re working in areas where you have guerrillas fighting against paramilitaries. So in fact they’re living with guns behind them. What I brought from them was just their sheer enthusiasm. They would stand up and they would say: “The reason that we continue is that we love our children.” And you couldn’t believe the passion that they were offering.

Children are our future. They have to be nurtured. And first of all we must have a change in attitude, where we value our children and we understand how children learn.

I wouldn’t be in education if I wasn’t an optimist. I am very hopeful, but I do worry about the poor, the rural and the female, who are still going to suffer inequalities for quite some time, unfortunately.

A new report says climate change may cause vast human migrations on an order not previously experienced. The report, In Search of Shelter: Mapping the Effects of Climate Change on Displacement and Migration, was written by researchers at CIESIN, the United Nations University, and CARE International. Drawing on empirical evidence from a new survey of every continent, with original maps created by CIESIN that pinpoint potential locations of critical displacements, the report explores how climate change is already causing people to leave their homes, and details some of the specific ways displacement may occur over the next decades. For example, the report says, melting glaciers will negatively affect agricultural systems throughout Asia and contribute to the risk of flooding. Natural disasters will continue to cause short-term migration, while the breakdown of eco-system-dependent livelihoods—such as subsistence herding, farming, and fishing—will cause long-term migration. Developing countries will be most vulnerable to migration and displacement, with less capacity to implement adaptation measures.

A potential downward spiral from resulting ecological degradation and breakdown of social structures could ensue, leading to political instability which would further exacerbate population displacement. The report calls for seeing climate-related migration and displacement as global in nature, not simply isolated local crises. It aims to inform critical policy making by presenting a comprehensive discussion of the linkages between environmental change, displacement, and migration.

A must watch !

A friend sent this link to us and I have watched it over and over again.

Yann Arthus and Jean Luc Besson teamed up for this production and had a worldwide release on the WED but strange enough, it appeared on no news channels. This why you need to watch it and reflect upon the beauty and fragility of our planet. Pass it around to reach the maximum amount of viewers. This is no hollywood flick and did not get geared by mega marketing arsenals.

It is just an artist’s view of our world. It is pure and raw beauty !

Enjoy !

Thank you Mic.

What legacy are we leaving behind ?

Today is the World Environment Day.

World Environment Day is observed annually in more than 100 countries, and is one of the most popular days on the United Nations calendar. It is an opportunity to raise awareness and promote action on national environmental issues. Every year, a different host city is nominated, allowing various countries to showcase the positive things being done nationally, regionally and internationally to promote sustainable practices and reduce the impacts of climate change.

Thinking of it, our environment is closely tied with the delicate balance protecting it for our future and the eradication of poverty. Environmental issues do not spring alone with industrial wastes or a rapid urbanised lifestyle. It touches the core of this millennium’s tar. Poverty.

Poverty is frought with lack of awareness and basic facilities leading to an unhealthy environment. Like in many parts of the world, children are the worst hit by poverty and pollution.  Child Labour annd street violence also come to the fore. The recent flick of ‘Slumdog Millionaire’ gave a glimpse of millions of children living in states of poverty. But we can only hope that we would not end up in a world like shown in Pixar’s Wall E.

In Timore Leste, we encountered this familiar scene where kids are garbage collectors. The littered beaches offer a good hunting ground and many of the kids have had to face the trauma of treading on those beaches where the recent conflict saw their families, friends and close ones being killed in front of their own eyes.

Reflecting upon it brings back a not so far episode I have encountered. It was in Timor Leste.

“Hello Mister ! Hey Mister ! !.”

We are greeted by a bunch of kids running towards us while we enter the compound of Dili 2001 hotel’s compound after a long day’s work. This is where we live, as there is little accommodation left after the conflict ridden country. Most of the public infrastructure and houses have been burnt down to ground. The hotel is made up of a compilation of containers and prefabricated structures by some Chinese Singaporean entrepreneurs who found an business opportunity in the leanest time.

The people of Timor-Leste are friendly and you never feel uncomfortable walking the streets, most of the local children are keen to say hello, “hey Mister, hey Mister” is often heard shouted from within groups of kids playing along the streets and the parks, they smile and wave and there’s often the odd hi-five.

The beach in Dili is always bustling with activity in the morning.

Fishermen from Atauro Island camp on the beach in front of the parliament building in Dili and sell their fish by hanging it it trees alongside the road.

It is pretty normal for buyers to hang their fish from the side view mirror or windshield wipers so the fish doesn’t stink up the car.

Jose, Melita and Rosa cross the road to go to the beach for their daily chores…. or should I say work ?

They may earn 1 $ if they are lucky to find the right amount of garbage. This money will feed an average family of 5 or 6, sometimes more.

Nearly 40 – 50% children among working-children are street children. These children survive by begging, stealing, shoe polish, street performance, collecting scraps, street selling and other. Some, particularly girls, get involved into the flesh trade. The majority of children on the streets in developing countries are rural migrants. Children migrate with their parents and as a result of worst economical condition of parents, get involved into odd jobs. Some percentage comes alone to urban cities due to bad environment in their own home such percentage is less. Major percentages of such children get addicted to use of drugs and their main work is scrap collection or stealing. With girls it is serious issue as rural poor illiterate parents abandon girl child to end up life in brothel or street prostitution and of them some escape to streets begging, scrap collection and finally end up as prostitutes. In developing countries; girl child is considered as disgrace in poor illiterate orthodox uncivilized families. Nearly half of street beggars and garbage collectors are girl children. Most such girls are neglected by parents as are considered burden on them.

Urban children who turn as street children are 10% to 20% of working children. Family economical condition or unpleasant abusive environment or abandoned by parents or mental disorder are the major reason for them to leave home. Number of street Children on account of unpleasant abusive parents in Brazil, India, Cambodia, U.K, U.S.A, and Mexico are extremely high.

Aggressive Movies and TV channel environment too has contributed spoiling children to source money through ugly street jobs for drug addiction; become street children. Also friend circle or family alcoholic habit stimulates children to taste such life.

Helping Brazilian children whose lives revolve around garbage dumps

Helma Maas

Angélica is a 10-year-old girl whose unemployed parents left the countryside five years ago to go to the city of Olinda in the northeastern Brazilian state of Pernambuco.

Circumstances forced the family to the garbage dump of Olinda, where they constructed a home from pieces of cardboard and plastic. It is there amongst the food and trash unwanted by others that Angélica and her two younger sisters have lived, played and worked. Thanks to a local effort which is part of a year-old national campaign called “Children in the Garbage Dumps: Never Again,” Angelica is going to school and her little sisters are attending a creche.

For most people in developed economies, the image of 45,000 children living and working in garbage dumps is almost impossible to visualize. In most rich countries, there is a healthy and sustainable treatment of solid waste and child labour does not exist. In Brazil, healthy and sustainable treatment of solid waste is a relatively new and very complicated issue. Part of the issue is the dependence by many poor families on the collection and sale of recyclable trash for their survival.

Thousands of young children and adolescents were found four years ago to be working in garbage areas in 1,956 of the country’s 5,507 municipalities. They do this to contribute to their families’ meager income. Solutions to this problem must thus include finding viable alternatives for these children and their families, and changing the attitudes of people in the communities in which they live and work

The dump in Olinda consists of several mountains of garbage. In 1997, there were 350 children and teenagers who worked with their parents at the dumpsite. When a municipal garbage truck arrives to dump its waste, the children, adolescents and adults who live and work there rush to the new heap of trash to pick out what can be used or sold. There is a lot of competition, and you have to be fit and fast to get to there first. The work is dangerous and some children have lost limbs due to accidents with the trucks and other heavy equipment. Whenever something edible is found, it is eaten.

The high incidence of children living and working in the garbage dumps called for intervention. UNICEF’s work in waste disposal dates back to 1991 when an environmental education project was introduced in Rio Branco in the Amazon area of Brazil. The work quickly expanded to other areas. In Olinda, where Angélica lives, UNICEF began in 1992 a collaboration with the city government and several non-governmental organizations to discuss health and education rights, environment care and income generation.

Taking children out of a garbage dump is easier said than done. The children were contributing, however little, to their parent’s income. Older children sometimes made 15 reals (US$ 1.05) per day, which is as much as most adults, while the little ones sometimes didn’t contribute more than one real per day. (One real is worth about 70 US cents.) In Brazil, where many people don’t even earn the minimum wage (which is currently 151 reals per month), every real is invaluable. To stimulate parents to send their children to school and also attend after-school activities, the family needs to be compensated for the loss of the children’s income.

With financial and technical support from UNICEF, the non-governmental organization CEAS Urbano has worked in several ways. It has helped the adult informal garbage workers – called catadores do lixo – to form an association. This cuts out the middlemen so that they can sell directly to the paper, glass and plastic industry. The average income per family increased, with some families now earning more than two times the monthly minimum wage. The children of the catadores were provided a safe place to play and learn. In 1998, the adolescents helped renovate a building now used as a youth centre and a pre- and after-school centre for young children. Lessons in dance, music, puppetry, and producing art from recyclable goods – such as papier-mache baskets – are provided. Nearly all the children between 7 and 14 years old are now enrolled in school. At the youth centre, they receive extra help with their homework. In addition, the government provides the families with a “school scholarship” of 25 reals (US$ 1.75) each month for every each child enrolled in school.

An interesting and complex aspect of this issue is how these children integrate with other children not living in or near the garbage dumps. Children living in garbage dump sites have not been brought up in the same environment as middle and upper class children. This is reflected in their lack of confidence and self-esteem. Sometimes, the children between 14 and 17 have an especially difficult time, because they have never gone to school and can’t get used to sitting next to a 7-year-old who may know more than they do.

In Olinda, a special group has been formed for these adolescents, to discuss various issues of special interest to them, and which includes AIDS education. On the other side, middle-class students – and often the teachers themselves – may not welcome these children and adolescents into the classrooms. They are encouraged to understand the background of these children and to integrate them fully into the classroom setting.

The youngest children of the catadores are going to a crèche. One creche, Sal da Terra (Salt of the Earth, supported by a Swiss NGO) is located in one of the slums next to the garbage dump and provides nutritious food and care to 60 babies and toddlers. Another crèche, run by a church, also caters to children of catadores.

The experience in Olinda is one of many throughout the country. Much has been learned in the past decade. Simply removing children and their families from garbage dumps is ineffective. Either they will return or others will come to replace them. Successful resolution to the problem of solid waste must include the participation of the communities and families themselves and of course the government at federal, state and local levels; NGOs; private companies; the schools; workers’ unions; and so forth. In June 1999, a national forum on waste and citizenship was held. Exactly one year later, the national campaign, Children in Garbage Dumps: Never Again, was launched amidst great publicity and high hopes.

Today, in July 2000, an initial assessment indicates that the issue of waste disposal is more widely discussed and better understood than before. In addition to ten specific waste-site projects, UNICEF plays a major role in stimulating discussion and partnerships and in training government and NGO and other partners.

Back in Olinda, Angélica’s little sisters go to a crèche where they are properly fed. Angélica for the first time in her life is going to school, along with other children whose parents are working in the garbage business. The families are now living in houses built by the government and the catadores have organized themselves into an association.

Much more remains to be done. Though about 1,500 children of Brazil’s catadores have been enrolled in school in the past year, too many more – at least 43,000 – still play, eat, work and sleep in the waste of others.

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