Coconut Tree in a Concrete Jungle

Through the doors of my boss’s cabin

Beyond the large opening in the wall

Amid the concrete jungle and the resounding din

I see a coconut tree, standing tall.

Alone and away from its comfort zone

Silently whispering as the winds blow

In a frail yet melodious tone

“Let us live together and let us grow.

I breathe out oxygen for you to live

Till you kill me or till I die.

All I know is to happily give

Synergy is what we need, that’s why!”

A Temple Under Construction

        It's just another day for most of us out there in the cities. But I am in Utnoor, a small town by 8 AM. Although a part of my native district - Adilabad - I never had a closer look into this town or the surrounding villages, except while traveling to Vijayawada or Warangal. As a passive observer, I join a gathering of about 20 visitors from various states, who are working with farmers and agricultural labour and are keen to learn what is going on in this part of the country and take back the learnings to their own set of people for a better tomorrow. Almost all of them have done a significant amount of work in their own regions. We are led by Professor Trilochan Sastry, who founded the NGO, Centre for Collective Development (CCD) to bring a change in the way small and marginal farmers go about their business. CCD works with more than 15000 farmers in three districts - Adilabad (Telangana), Ananthapur and Chittoor (Andhra Pradesh). The Adilabad district office is in Utnoor and is run be a young manager, Vijay Kumar and his team of 15 field executives and 4 office staff. They have been able to mobilize 120 farmer cooperatives with about 8000 farmers. These cooperatives come together to form a district level federation, Praja Mitra Raitu Mutually Aided Cooperative Federation. (More details on it are here) 

        We first move to a small village, Phullara, which just has 50 households and the cooperative there was established about and year back. As we reach there, the members of the cooperative including its President are awaiting us. They welcome us with a traditional and warm "Ram Ram" holding our hands. As we settle down, Professor conveys to them why we are gathered today and suggests them to tell what they have been doing at the cooperative and what are the challenges they face in growing their crops. The village head, (who is the go to guy in case of issues between people in the village) and the cooperative President take over the discussion. There are 21 members in the cooperative as of now. They grow cotton, red gram (usually as an inter-crop) and soya bean. They say they realize better price by selling through the federation than through the local trader who gives lower price and also cuts the weight citing quality reasons. They also have started saving 50 rupees a month within their cooperative. This money is very low to be useful but it is just a starting point. They have bought an electronic weighing machine worth 10000 and plan to buy a moisture content measuring machine.

        At this point, we, the visitors start asking where do they get the credit from and at what interest rate. They say that they get it from Sahukaar (local money lender). They say, somewhat casually, that they have to repay 1500 for every 1000 they take over a period of 6 months. As I hear that, my mind goes numb. 50% interest rate over 6 months. Effective Annual Rate of 125%. Some of the visitors ask, "What about the banks providing loans at 7% interest rate?". They say that the bank officials usually take time to process the loans and the money does not reach them at the right time. They need to buy seeds by mid-june and they usually do not get bank loans by then. They also accept the fact that some of them sometimes default on the loans and hence do not become eligible for the next year, till the govt decides to waive off. The visitors ask them, "Why can't you take loans from banks and repay the Sahukaar loan in a month or so?". They say, the Sahukaar only takes back the loan at the end of six months and that's one of his main "terms and conditions".

        We ask them about the crop yield, whether they cultivate in one season or two seasons, and how much they earn. They say that as they depend only on rain water, they grow only during Kharif season. Their typical yield for cotton is about 3.5 quintals per acre. There are farmers with a minimum of 1 to a maximum of 8 acres landholding with an average of 4 acre holding. 5 out of the 50 households are landless and work as agricultural labour. The professor suggests Vijay to check govt schemes about allotting land to them and help them with the process. The President tells that he typically takes a loan of about 30000 for his 4 acre land, uses the money for farm as well as household expenses, earns about 50000-55000 which he uses to repay the Sahukaar and again repeat the same cycle next year while using whatever small amount left with him for rest of the year. This is sufficient, although barely, because there are only two people in the house as his daughter is married off, he says.

        The Professor comes up with a question. He says, "I noticed a temple under construction outside the village. Who is paying for it and what is the cost of its construction?". The President promptly replies that it is costing them 6 lakhs and they all (along with 50 more households from an adjacent village) are contributing 1000-1500 per year for the last 3-4 years. The professor says, "It is good that you decided to construct the temple and have come together collectively for the same. Now, it is time that you come together collectively for your own benefit and start raising the corpus fund of our cooperative to reach at least 6 lakhs in 3-4 years because god will also be interested to help you only if you start helping yourselves. And as we can see clearly from other older cooperatives, this is quite possible and achievable for you." He asks them, "will you do it or not?". For which, they give an emphatic yes, although after a little explanation about how they can save money by avoiding loans from the Sahukaar and borrowing from their own cooperative.

        Professor opens his next card: A 500 gram packet of Adai Dosa (Pesarattu) Mix ( a south indian breakfast product) that is priced at 120 Rupees (along with a couple of other products). He shows it to them and asks them how much can the manufacturer earn if he sells a Kg. They say, 240 rupees. He tells them that it is made out of a combination of red gram, green gram, black gram and rice and all the ingredients except rice are grown right here. He asks them, what is the average price that they receive for these pulses. They say that it is about 50 rupees per kg. He then asks, should we do it ourselves. They say, definitely. He tells them, "We are already manufacturing these value added products and selling them in Hyderabad and Bangalore and if you supply good quality Pulses and Millets that you grow, I will ensure that these are turned into value added products like this and sell them in different cities under a single brand. The profits from the share of supply you provide us will be given to your cooperative. But I have two conditions to be accepted by you. Condition No. 1 is that you need to ensure quality. Condition No. 2, you need to keep this money within the cooperative and must use it to build the corpus". For which their response is yes.

        After the meet, we move to the dal mill (5 tonne per day capacity) that they have set up in 2009. There we meet the Board of Directors of the district federation. The 12 member board is elected from among the 120 presidents of the cooperatives that form the federation. Again we ask them similar questions and also some questions regarding the functioning of the federation. Couple of the board members are from cooperatives that are more than 8 years old and they have set up good corpus of about 10 lakhs and more than 75% of their farmer members take loans from the cooperative and avoid sahukaars. Although still they take the loans at 2% per month, they benefit because, eventually the cooperatives are owned by them and the benefits of cooperatives are passed on to them. My understanding is that the members do not get the interest for the savings in the corpus as of now but this will be done once the transactions and the structure are streamlined. One of the visitors asks them, "Are there any cases of default by the members?". They say, "Not one till date. Although there are cases where people do give some trouble in repaying in time, it gets resolved by a little peer pressure as we pursue them regularly till they repay. They also realize that if they default, they will never be able to get the loans nor be part of the cooperative again".

        When the board is asked about their vision for the future and how they are planning to go about it, they are little bit vague on their short term plans but they say that they want all the farmers to be "Sahukaar mukt" or "Become free from money lenders". They also realize that the benefits will improve only when more farmers join them and they say that they plan to actively reach out to new villages along with field executives of CCD to demonstrate how they have benefited and encourage the new villages to form cooperatives for their own benefit. At this point, the professor adds, "The whole point is that they be the drivers of change and CCD just support wherever needed. And when it comes to handling financial transactions, CCD will no where be in the picture except in assisting them with getting Working capital funds at on-cost basis". Here again the professor shows them the packaged products and demonstrates the same idea about value added products. He is clear in emphasizing that this can be done at best with about 20% of the produce they supply in the long run, but nevertheless, it is a good deal as it brings more money to their corpus and also connects the consumer directly to them. The whole idea is to make them realize the need to look beyond just farming just the way that they have set up the dal mill. He also makes it clear to the board that they should keep all these activities apolitical and anyone who wishes to be a part of any political association in future can not be a member of the board or the president of any of the cooperatives. He can be a member of the cooperative though. He advises Vijay to formalize these into the bye laws of the cooperatives as well as the federation.

       After the exercise, and having interacted with the Professor earlier, my thoughts were converging on the idea of Amul Model for agri-commodities, especially non-perishable food crops. Post Lunch, the professor has a review with the CCD team while we interact among ourselves. Later, he sits with the visitors and asks them whether they think that they should try this out in their respective regions and if yes, how do they plan to go about. Professor clearly describes his inspiration about the cooperative model from the likes Dr. Varghese Kurien, Rama Reddy and Late Mrs Shashi Rajagopalan and also his vision about building the Amul model for agri-commodities and asks them to be a part of it if they believe it to be the way to go forward. He states, "Iske liye Hum ko Bharat aur India ko jodna hain" (which loosely translates to "We need to connect the rural and urban India to succeed in this vision"). Everyone says yes and suggest different points based on their regional background and ask various questions. One of the key points being, how to register the cooperative as different states have different policies with some states repealing the cooperatives act altogether. Professor suggests that Multi-state Cooperative Act of the central govt. is the best alternative if they have to collaborate and work towards a single Brand, aptly named, "FarmVeda".

        As I return home, I feel happy to be a student of his and hope to be a part of this slow but steady change in whatever way possible through our startup, KrishiYog

Random Musings on Socialism and the world

An economics Professor proves that, socialism will ultimately fail. And many have cited the fall of USSR as an example for this already. Well, they have a point when they say " You can not take away the "incentive to work" from someone to feed others who aren't working". But I feel, the primary point of Socialism is to provide an opportunity for "the others" to work and contribute so that effectively, there will be many more hands at work. Socialism is not about feeding others, but to enable them to work instead. When, in the example given by the professor, the grades are averaged and all the students get the same grade "B", it doesn't mean that students should be demotivated and should stop studying. It effectively means that, as a team, the students are only worth a grade "B" and they need to put in more effort to attain the grade "A". And this will happen only when the lowest scoring individual of the class is made to put in efforts and helped along to get an "A". Because, the primary idea of grading, (whether individual or in this case, class-wide average) is not to demotivate them but to point out that there is still something to achieve. Many of us might be assuming that people are poor because they were lazy to work. That is only one side of the coin. They are poor more because of the exploitation they were subjected to. By the colonists, by the political class and the so called "well-educated".

Everyone likes to think that what they earn is because of their effort. If not for the collective support of every Good Samaritan (may be Your parents, teachers, friends and even some stranger whom you never expected to be helpful) you had in your life, it would have been hell lot of difficult to be in the same position you are right now in. (And of course, if not for the bad Samaritans in your life, it would have been a little easy for you to be in the same position). While you are busy, discovering or inventing something, and applying for patent rights for the same, there have been scores of farmers, who have toiled to make your food and clothing ready (indirectly because it goes through a lot of processing before it reaches you) who are being exploited in all sorts of ways, right from taking away their right to use the seeds in the name of patents, to paying utterly dismal prices for their produce(when compared to the rise in input costs and inflation) just because they don't have the bargaining power. Imagine, what would happen, if for just one year, all farmers out there rely on completely natural ways of producing their own crops for their own subsistence and stop selling them in the market. What would the middlemen and the patent-making scientists do? Of course, this won't happen as they are lured by the charms of the modern age and just like us, they have got their priorities wrong. Consumerism but not socialism is a curse. It makes you change your priorities to what you want rather than what you actually need.

And socialism doesn't ask you to be selfless. It asks you to be "Selfish" but at a different level. It wants you to be thinking about the entire society as yourself and act accordingly. If everyone one does that, then it will be equally or more effective than the present situation. And as they socialism (or capitalism) doesn't fail. Its the inner greed of human beings that fails us.

I'm not against the concept of scientific development but when the primary purpose of scientific development is to save our time from carrying out routine and mundane activities, we have the responsibility to utilize the time to further the cause of development. Many of us who are working waste a lot of time for which we get paid. And yet claim that those who are poor are lazy ( I admit, there are exceptions for both the sets.) But even those who are working are not clear about the consequences of their work. (Of course, Even great scientists like Alfred Nobel weren't). What you think is going to be a boon to the society (if at all you are worried about it) may be a curse in disguise. Hence, its always wiser to be prudent, to be introspective, to move slow and steady than to move in a hurry and fall back because of a misstep. After all, life is a one time journey. Let it be as wonderful as it can.

Ni kosam Vechi yunnaa.. Cheliyaa vinapadada na aalaapana

కన్నులలో మెదిలే రూపం

kannu la lo medile roopam

నా కనుపాపల నిదురే చెరిపే

naa kanu paapala nidure cheripe

కనుసైగలతో చూపే చిరుకోపం

kanusaigalatho choope chirukopam

నా ఎదలో పులకింతే రేపే

naa yedalo pulakinthe repe

కరగని ఈ దూరం పెంచిన విరహం

karagani ee dooram penchina viraham

నను నీ వైపే తరిమేనే

nanu nee vaipe tarime ne

ఏమంట నే చసిన నేరం

emanta ne chesina neram

నేనడిగింది నీ చెలిమేనే

nenadigindi nee chelime ne

నీ నవ్వే చూసిన క్షణం

nee navve chusina kshanam

మదిలో జడి వానేలే

madhi lo jadi vaane le

నువు వదిలెళ్ళిన మరు నిమిషం

nuvu vadilellina maru nimisham

నా కన్నుల తడి వానేలే

naa kannula tadi vaane le

నా కోసం కరిగించవె నీ హ్ఫదయం

naa kosam kariginchave nee hrudayam

ప్రియా నా వేదన కనవే

priya naa vedana kanave

వేచియుంటి నీ ప్రేమ కోసం

vechiyunti nee prema kosam

చెలియా నా పిలుపే వినవే

cheliya naa pilupe kanave

Moved my Emotions nine.... Will you be my Valentine?

Not because you make me smile
but for the way u make me cry.
Loneliness seems spread over a mile
well, I just need you, I dunno why.
Not for the laughs that we share
but its you who could tear my ego.
What you feel, Yes I do care,
but I can't lose you, my alter-ego.
I envy your friends very much
for they are always around you.
And yeah, I pity myself as such
for not being beside you.
Sometimes you make me glad,
at others, angry like none else could.
Please don't let me go mad,
I wish you were with me now, touch-wood.

I am at bliss when I see you laugh

You never seem to leave my brain

I feel u r my life, not just a half

Missing you will be an emotional drain.

If you need reason for why I love you,

I can just say you move my emotions nine.
And thats why I want you,
I want you to be my... Valentine

Dil ki Aawaaz.... Blog ke Zubaan

दुनिया गोल् हैं |
जिन्दगी अन्मोल हैं |
मामला तो सरल हैं |
बस एक मीठी बोल हैं |
मुश्किलों को तो झेलना हैं हमे |
पर मुस्कुराने मे क्या हैं घम् ?
कल को तो देखना हैं हमे |
पर आज को क्यों भूले हम् |
भूक तो लगती है हमे |
किसी की भूक मिटाने मे क्या हैं घम् |
अपनी खुशी तो चाहिये हमे |
दूसरों के दुख को क्यों भूले हम् |
नफ्रत् तो हर जगह दिखता हैं हमे |
मगर प्यार करने मे क्या हैं घम् ?
मरना तो हैं हमे |
पर जीना क्यों भूले हम् |
मरना तो बस हैं हमे |
पर जीना क्यों भूले हम् |

What's in a Mistake ?????

Mistakes are a part of life... But why do people start hating others when they do some mistake. As if they never did one... In fact hating others in itself is a mistake. ( of course there some absolutely abominable mistakes -- blunders to be more specific -- for which even the most chilled out will be going blood-red) but , in general, most of us waste our energies over silly mistakes of others while we can actually help them rectify the situation. I agree that this kinda policy is unacceptable for many ( including my rationale) but there is no pain in trying. If we succeed we will be a better person and if we don't still we'll be considered normal. :-)

P.S: Just try it n see it. You will be more happy. 

Its all about........ YOU

You made me go mad about YOU
You make me get mad at YOU
In all this Madness
All I see is Sadness
Thought it was all about ME and YOU
But all I feel is just YOU & YOU
You make me Smile, You make me cry.
You just make me feel so HIGH
I don't Whine, I need no Wine
All I want is that You be Mine
I just tell you what I was told
Whatever it is, you just be Frank & Bold
Life is to Live it Up, not just to die
And yet you are making me cry

From somewhere deep inside me.

Comes this ballad...

నిను చూడగ రేగే నా మది లో కోలాహలం
నీవు కనపడని క్షణాన కావాలంది హాళాహలం
నీ నవ్వే ఆనందం, నీ ముఖమే సుమధురం
నీ మోము లో బాధ చూడగ తల్లడిల్లే నా హ్పదయం
వినపడలేదా నా హ్పదయ ఘోష
నీ మనసెరగద నా గుండె లోని ఆశ
నిను ప్రేమించడమే నే చేసిన తప్పా ?
మనిషి శ్రుష్టించిన జాతులలో ఏమున్నది గోప్ప ?
స్నేహానికి రాని కులం ప్రేమకి అడ్డేల ?
నా ప్రశ్నకు బదులీయవె ఓ మధుబాల ?
నా ప్రేమే ఈ గీతం, నా ఊపిరె సంగీతం
అంటూ వేచియుంటి నీ  కోసం

P.S: No comments...

आप् ने ही तो माँगा था मेरी हंसी।
फिर् क्यो आप् ने छींना हैं मेरी खुशी।
लूटा हैं आप् ने मेरा चैंनो-आराम्।
आप् के खयालो ने किया हैं मेरा जीना हराम्।
इश्क ने ही तो किय़ा हैं ये घो़टाला।
मत् छोडों इस् दिल् पे एक् धाग् काला।
अब् न और् तड्पाओ यहि मेरी गुजारिश्।
मान् भी जाओ अब् बस् यहि मेरी ख्वायिश्।


P.S: I lost my touch in writing Hindi. So please forgive my
mistakes, if any. Thank you :-)

The Society.. Is it gud or bad???

Well.. Its been a long time. Now I'm back.. With a rather controversial and debatable topic. Ok.. let me begin...

This Society has been based on Oppression; Oppression of the weaker by the stronger. Along with the oppression of One sect by the other, there has been another kind of Oppression, in the same sect. (Which most of the modern women call Male chauvinism). Since times immemorial, in our very societies (say it be Hindu, Islam or Christian)..., women (in general) ( who were weaker physically n mentally ) have been oppressed by their male counterparts: sometimes through force and sometimes by persuasion. Our society was at peace when women were inside the kitchen and men were outside. ( Or should I say it had only problems due to other societies) May be world will be at peace if men are confined to the kitchen and women are outside. But with both the types facing each other, its impossible for the world to maintain peace n order. Of course its the natural tendency of everything to tend towards disorder; and I guess even the society is following the same.

P.S: I'm neither male chauvinist or a feminist. Its just my observation. And, as is the case with human beings, my observations are not always correct. ( Or may be there is no point in this meaningless paragraph. ). U can freely comment your opinions and correct my viewpoint.. Thank you.

Hating Hatred and Loving Love

Hello Readers.....I'm back....Thanks for your comments once again..Here is a new post for you....This time on................... Politics.....Naah....May be some time later...for now its Anger,hatred and Love

What do you feel when you hear or see a four letter word called LOVE?
---A inexpressible feeling which makes you Happy( or Sad,may be...for people with Broken Hearts)
---Affectionate feeling towards your parents,friends and relatives.
---Or may be kindness towards fellow human beings or other living species.
And What or Whom do you recall when you see the word HATRED?
---A guy or girl whom you hate the most,may be your love's/lover's love interest in case of one sided love.
---Your Congenital Foe.
---In the worst case,may be the entire World,if you are Cynical
But have you ever thought these two feelings as the basis for the Construction and Destruction of this entire world respectively.Whenever something happens against your wish,May be someone mocks you or may be tries to malign you or at the most harm you,Your Anger levels suddenly rise like a wave on the seashore.But It takes quite considerable amount of time for this Angry(or anger) wave to Subside.By the time it subsides it'll have your relationship with the person who rose your temper levels wreck like a ship in a stormy sea if you don't act properly(i.e., if you don't steer your 'ship' properly).To let the wave subside without making your ship founder,Just keep your cool.If you can't,just move away from him/her for sometime.(Think twice before you Hit him or shout at him).Just think why your anger levels have reached their peak and see whether It is a valid reason for it to raise.B'coz sometimes it unnecessarily cooks up a storm of silly and frivolous reasons.Isn't it?.If you don't like the way he/she behaved,Just tell him in a calm and cool way rather than shouting.(May be his Inner self will make him feel guilty,) Its very easy to shout or hit back at someone who is annoying you but very difficult to bring back the broken relationship.Of course,If he's still the same,then forgive him a few other times and even then if he is the same Old brute,then its time to kick him in the ass.

But if he is a Human he'll definitely change.B'coz change is the tendency of Human being(also other species) and it is change that brings us this far(from being a wild barbarian to the so called Civilized social being!!!!?).And one thing is for sure..... there is no one like 'congenital foe'?As far as you have your temper under control,No one can Wreck your 'Ship'
Okay then,bye for now......Cheerio

Life in the early twenties

Bizarre,mystified and mysterious!...These words describe life in the early 20's of a stereotype in Our country...(say for example:I,Me and Myself).Most of them are confused whether what they are doing is what they wanna do.One thing is for sure.... One can either lead a Happy Life or a Meaningful(purposeful) life.Because when you try to seek a meaningful life you need to give up somethings as per the saying..."Kuch paana hai to kuch khona padega mere dost".So try not lead a life which has neither purpose nor Happy.At least and at the most we can have one.But if we can find Happiness in our purpose we can have both.Ok...That's it for today...Or may be this week..No more philosophy...Thanks for your patience...Sayonara.