Recent Discussions

Better ways of living

Dear Friends,

May I invite an open discussion on better way of living especially
in cities.


Regards

Mahesh

17 Sep 1998      Vani Murarka @manaskriti.com

Sure. You are most welcome. This is an very relevant issue.

This is coming from someone in Chandigarh (right Mahesh?). In the 
metros it is so much more relevant where things are much worse.

I don't know what are the issues that you have in mind - but 
environmental is an obvious thing that comes to mind - and though one 
could make a never ending list of things that are getting worse by the 
minute, its much more constructive if we take the positive approach of 
looking at what are the steps that can be taken towards "better ways of 
living"

Looking forward to your inputs Mahesh.

Would you like to take this further Swetha, Desh Deepak, Vinayak, Anjan 
- or anyone else?

Regards

Vani


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17 Sep 1998      Krishnan J iyer @bcmfax.net

>> better ways of  living << More relevant, as we go on doing things that are urgent these days than things that are important. Better ways of living, imho, starts with better ways of thinking. Because, mind gets what it sees, like the current generation softwares. Mr. Naidu, CEO of Andhra has been one such inspiration who think different pictures in his mind. Luckily he was able to convey that to his administration and see where they are heading. Seeing the result you want in your mind, doesn't necessarily mean that you just dream and do nothing about it. It's a rehearsal like those Olympic 100 meter runners do, practising how they are going to run the final race. Just a thought Best regards Krish 

19 Sep 1998      Harsh Javeri @iname.com

>> May I invite an open discussion on better way of living especially
>> in cities.
>> Mahesh

Hi Mahesh and others,

I am from Mumbai and have this friend who stays in Ghatkopar, a suburb. She
has undertaken Advance Locality Management (ALM) and has been quite
successful at it. She had written a small `intro' on ALM which I am posting
below. Is this the kind of thing you are looking for? If anyone is
interested to now more about this, please feel free to write.

Harsh

=======

Advance Locality Management (ALM) means self governance, where you (the
residents of that street) are responsible for the cleanliness and
beautification of your street and its maintenance. the BMC infrastructure
is at your disposal for it. in our ward all ALM streets have top priority
with BMC for any repair & maintenance work. this is a pilot project of BMC
and from 15 participants we have today some 7000 participants (about 22
streets) in this project.

This is how it works. each street appoints its own committee, which
collects Re. 1/- per flat per day. this money (averages about Rs. 3000/- a
month) is used to appoint a sweeper for that street (at Rs. 1500 a month)
who sweeps the street twice a day (besides the BMC sweeper sweeping once),
collects garbage, which is separated for various recycling purposes, and
waters plants/flower beds put up in the street for beautification. Each
bldg is provided with separate dustbins for wet & dry garbage. The rest of
the money is used for general maintenance & beautification work as & when
needed.

A BMC officer is appointed to visit each of the ALM street on a set day of
the week to note down complaints/queries in a register and resolve them
within a fortnight. Of course the system doesn't work as efficiently as it
looks on paper, but we have got a lot of work done by this concept of
mutuality, like dustbins at every few metres, repair and desilting of
gutters, new street lights, evicting hawkers, etc.

All you need to do is take initiative. if you don't have enough dustbins on
your street or for any other such matter, have you ever complained or
visited your ward office personally and requested? there is such a massive
communication gap between govt. employees & citizens. Most of us have set
images & prejudices against govt. people. but if we leave behind our
condescending manner & approach them as normal humans, we might be
surprised. the problem is no one wants to bother. if we unite & demand
better services we can get it, provided we do our bit as responsible citizens.

p.s. there is an article on ALM in Times of India (14th august) in the
Bombay times section pg 6.


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Childhood is short and maturity is forever.

<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Harsh Javeri                    Mumbai, India

19 Sep 1998      Remington Book Production @ch1.vsnl.net.in

Hi Every body -
 
With better way of living, I see a wide perspective to it. What I mean is 
that we find ourselves feeling  tyrannical with issues such as 
environment, houses, roads. You talk of noise pollution, air pollution or 
any other. Then, other ingredients you live with is adulteration  in 
food/medicines, corruption in offices and everybody knows about it. 

Sometime back, everybody might have heard of urea milk in the market. You 
feel horrified about these things, especially  when you evaluate all the 
things you are eating/living in. You don't feel comfortable about the way 
you are living. You feel that everything is consuming your body.

I think everybody dreams of  living in a calm area with fresh air, fresh 
water and all the luxries in life with nutritious food, in a way living 
close to the nature. But, in cities where is the nature!!! 

What is the better way of living . Do we go for yoga/reiki/ desi ghee (to 
make body strong from inside, putting fats in our body) or behave like 
mosquitoes who evolve stronger and stronger with every brand of 
BaygonSpray with label (new, powerful mosquito killer / repellant..)

We are too much engrossed with catching up small things in life to let it 
go smoothly, and not doing any thing about it except thinking.  But, then 
I  think that it  is one of the best platform to put across the issues 
and let everybody contribute to it. 

Over to (all of) YOU!!


Mahesh

24 Sep 1998      Harsh Javeri @iname.com

Vani,

The best part is that it is not too much of a bother. My friend found that
after the initial persuasion, the Govt. people were also willing to help
out. Like it is said that charity begins at home, this drive has to start
from there too. If we all start to follow some basic steps of cleanliness
then it will surely help. Things like 

Do you throw anything on the street while walking, from a car? 
Do you throw things out of your car window? house? train?
Do you spit on the roads? 
Do you throw the popcorn and other empty packets down while in a theatre?

I will site two examples of how these small bits help. A group of us
friends were going on a vacation - 19 of us with an age group from 5 to 48!
We were travelling in a II Tier AC to MP, an overnight journey. We had
carried a big plastic garbage bag and ALL the refuse was collected in it.
All the members of our group - including the kids - were made to follow
this simple rule. It was then amusing and rewarding to see the other
passengers also keeping their garbage/ refuse in one place instead of
throwing it on the floor!

The second incident took place near our corner pan wallah. It was around 10
pm and a fancy car pulled up and they ordered paan which was given to them
in the car. The fancy lady put it in her mouth and threw the paper on to
the street from her car window. This fell right next to my leg. I bent and
picked it up and threw it in the trash can kept by the pan wallah. Want to
take a guess what  was the reaction of the lady? :-) First disbelief, then
a shock that she was being shown-up! and then a sign of embarrassment! The
best thing happened next. Her hubby was about to throw the paan paper from
his window and she stopped him and asked him to get out and throw it in the
trash can....

Harsh

At 05:46 AM 22/09/98 +0000, you wrote:
> Hi Mahesh and others,
> 
> I am from Mumbai and have this friend who stays in Ghatkopar, a suburb.
> She has undertaken Advance Locality Management (ALM) and has been quite
> successful at it. She had written a small `intro' on ALM which I am
>
>Its great to read about such concrete steps being taken.

25 Sep 1998      S.Viswanathan @wanadoo.fr