How is this justice?

Solid waste management (SWM) seems to be the most sensitive issue after water in the city context. In villages especially if you have farms all your wet waste goes to the farm directly. No service of waste collection is necessary in such setting. But what happens to the waste generated by every citizen in the city? Why isn’t the onus of taking care of the generated waste come on the respective citizen? Why does the PMC have to provide this service?

Looking at the cities, every time, I remember Shumaker’s small is beautiful. The forces of making the city big are so big that how do we adhere to the small? So while growing in terms of population, area, economy, products and services the cities move away from the basic natural services available and necessary for the survival of life, something like water, raw material for food. It’s such a stark contrast which very few urban citizens realize.

SO our water comes from at least 50 km away from the dams built by drowning hundreds of villages and shifting another hundreds and  rehabilitating very few of them. Our grains, veggies and fruits come from the nearby villages and national, international places, thanks to transport facilities and LPG (liberalisation, privatization and globalisation). So the 2 basic needs of water and food are taken care of not by us but by somebody else who get low and uncertain prices for the farm produce, curse of the middle class if the prices rise beyond a certain limit. The third need of shelter, Not Abudana but Ashiyana of the cities are built by the bricks made by irreversible processing of top soil most important for growing of the food.

So we rip the natural resources available in the countryside and become ‘rich’ in the cities. What do we give back to them? What do we have, to give back? The sewage starting from our toilets directly connected to the rivers which flows to these villages supplying water for drinking, washing and farming directly (without any cleaning plants in between) and sometimes if the Sewage Treatment Plants are working generously, a good dose of chlorine to kill the bacteria from the black water which also can harm the other life in the river. The un-segregated waste we generate finds its way on the fertile lands of these villages making the villagers and the waste pickers susceptible to all kinds of health hazards.

How is this justice? We take from them all that is good and in return give them all that is bad.

What is the solution? Leave the cities? Is that possible?

How about making the cities sustainable? Is that even conceivable? What does that mean at the value level and at the practice level?          

A walk by bike

After reiterating the obstacle in the ‘know your ward’ step at least 10 times, we came up with an explicit action of meeting well identified community people. Who were they? Organizations of people in the informal sector! Yes they exist and they very well have a proper formal structure. I still don’t know why they are called informal sector but they are so inevitable part of the society. The surroundings are clean because of them and they are not even doing it by choice. Who would like to put our hands in the dirt themselves? This reminds me of the Marathi movie ‘Fandry’, It’s a must watch.

So I get a couple of contact numbers to start with. Having a phone number feels like such an important step to start with! Wonder what they did to meet new people when there were no phones? They are among the staff of the organization which works in solid waste management in the city. It’s a cooperative and works with the PMC. I called up the moment I got the number and asked for some time. One brick of inertia broken! Once I get the time I would surely be present for the meeting.

I didn't sound that attractive on the phone. He agreed to give me time but postponed it last minute to the next day. I was ready to go wherever the person would be on the field but he insisted he comes to my office to meet me. He appeared an hour late on the postponed day. I was skeptical about the meeting when AM disbelieved that people from that particular organization could be like that. He was right. Once I met the person and detailed him the reason of investigations (!), he was very much an open well where I could draw as much water as I wanted. He had all the time in the world to show me around and speak to me. Also, the work and the people involved demanded that he doesn't work according to the watch but according to the need of the time. I couldn't blame him for not coming on time. Anyway, punctuality is not a basic virtue, it’s a secondary one. (I have debated within myself about it and I am an opportunistic punctual person!!)

We decided to go by bike as we had to cover larger area and visit 3 – 4 spots. But this was very much a part of the tool ‘Ward walk’ and he was very much a key informant about the prabhag that I am working in.

The world that didn’t exist in my world was the world he lived and worked with. This was almost the first time I was going to connect to this world officially. He took me to an elite society where they had recently started composting within the premises. The reasons to start were amazing. The person who used to collect the waste from the society and dump at the public waste bin nearby was punished by PMC for doing so. (What! I don’t believe this. It’s like leaving the thief and punishing the saint ‘Chor sodun sanyashyala bali! ’) So the organization intervened and started a dialogue with the society. An enthusiastic woman who is the secretary of that society got convinced and managed to convince everyone. They segregate 100 % of their waste at source. A compost pit is made in the premises itself and the dry waste is sold out to scrap. Wow!! Wish everyone does that.

When asked about the specialties of the ward that he perceives, he says, ‘So many literate people, so many foreign returned people, so many politicians and still the state of solid waste management is so bad.’ There were some more that he mentions other than these like; the staff of the organization gets better salaries in this area compared to the other city parts. This area is a mix of newly developed area and old habitation. A colleague of him joins the discussion at a sorting shade + an organic waste composting (OWC) unit run in premises of a national organization for last 5 years successfully. The in-charge of this task from the staff of the national org boasts to have this unit on their campus and mentions how happy they are to have it. The OWC machine is underutilized and hence they are approaching residential societies nearby to take their waste. Of course, the residents inside the organization and outside it don’t segregate their waste at source.

The major problem that they face is apathy of citizens towards segregation at source. It is such a simple thing to do but the attitude comes in between. The most civilized, sophisticated argue that they pay for the service, they should get it. What they don’t understand is the cost does not include the service of segregation, it’s an individual responsibility and everyone has to do it not just morally but legally as well. The staff to some extent has even accepted that the citizens are not going to change their attitude and has been asking for well equipped (! A washroom, some drinking water and a shelter on the head) sorting shades instead. But even that doesn't sound important to the formal sector of the society.

They have demanded their basic needs to the administration and to the elected representatives but all in vein. I am sure the other side of the table will have their own reasons to share. These people also filled up the PB forms last year and followed it up with the Ward office only to receive no feedback on their suggestions. They look forward to making the PB process more transparent and accountable. They also realized that filling up the forms after group discussions would help than individual submissions.

On the way, he also shares the interesting dynamics between powerful people in the ward. An aspirant for the post of Corporator runs a private ghantagadi (a vehicle collecting waste from society to society which rings the bell when it reaches in any area, hence the name) free of cost distracting people from a service like their which is fair. He indicates to another man who is pushing a wheel barrow loaded with lot of waste bags and tells me that he earns Rs. 20K from a job in PMC. I am awestruck to know that the person demands that he would continue doing this extra work to earn some extra money above 20K not realizing that by doing so he is reducing the employment of other fellow beings.

When I explained what we are trying to do in 5 wards as action research, even the simple 3 steps of outreach, informed form filling by group discussions and a prioritization by citizens in presence of the administration and the elected representatives sounded a huge expectation. “Will it work?” They asked me. That’s exactly what we want to see if it works or not.

May all realize their responsibility towards the waste they generate and may they use their mind prudently towards the people who make their (formal sector) life better by making their (informal sector) own life dirty! 

What a Walk!! A Ward Walk!

Where did that hesitation disappear? Why was it there in the first place? Where did it come from? I have no clue why I didn’t do it all these days what I finally did today. I was so happy doing it that I actually messaged AM saying that, “feeling like I am the heroine of the movie called PB!! Enjoying the ward walk and talking to new people!”

All this while, I was feeling that I am stuck because I don’t have anyone with me to do it. But when did I start having this need of having someone with me. I used to tease my friends in school and college that they needed someone to go with them even to go to washroom. I never needed one like that. Even to explore the world beyond the college life, I travelled alone to far off places in India, stayed in people’s houses whom I met only after reaching there, ate the local food even when my eyes couldn’t control flowing for its spice, drank the milk of camel in the Calotropis (Rui) leaf for the want of a container, rode on the bike of strangers to reach even more unknown places and people and so on.

But everything is changing, so am I. I felt stuck. I needed someone to walk with me in my ward. I was asking help to other group members and to friends to join me. I was procrastinating the action. Finally, I could feel that the pressure is getting built within me is because of the non-action. I must do it. Let it happen the way it would happen but let me just do it, even if I feel unprepared for it.

It reminds me of James clear’s article on 2 minute rule. Just decide to do it for 2 minutes whatever you are unable to do. Once you start it will take you along and you wouldn’t realize when the 2 minutes became 2 hours.

I had decided to take just a small part of the ward which was walk-able in one go. I took the closest road from where I was. A laminated map in one hand, a blue umbrella in another and the mobile purse in the neck, favourite walking shoes for the feet,  a smile on the face, curiosity and inquisitiveness in the eyes, enthusiasm and empathy in the heart, I was ready to go.

For the first time, the road flex boards made some sense to me. Now I know why they are there. I don’t justify them, especially the way an-aesthetically they are put and for the apparent reasons they are put for. But at the same time they serve as the Non – Virtual Public Information System!! Whoa!! Sounds a big name for the poor flex boards!

I came across an Auto Riksha Stand and started reading the board. I had some questions and asked a Riksha Driver waiting for customer. Interestingly, after I told the purpose of this inquisitiveness, he offered me to come to their annual meeting which happens around the planning of Shravan celebrations. He was open to exchange the contact numbers and we did that promising to meet for the Annual meeting. He also shared the nuances of their relationship with other Riksha drivers from other areas who are not member of this Auto stand.

Going ahead, I see a vacant patch of land behind a shop on the road. I casually ask the owner of the temporarily constructed shop about the ownership of the land and he knows it. This shouldn’t come to me as a surprise for sure. The neighbourhood always knows more about each other. Around the corner I see some Yuva Munch and I inquire about them. I couldn’t see the person who runs it but surely could secure his contact to go meet him later.

The laminated map of my prabhag (electoral ward) told me that I was crossing the boundary of my prabhag, but I was very much in my admin ward. Pune has 14 Administrative Wards and every Admin Ward has 4-5 prabhags leading to total number of 76. The road ahead looked interesting for there existed no traffic, farms on one side, big wide divider without any cement blocks. I had been on this road to some extent before but had never checked where it leads. It was a lonely and lovely road. I came across few school children playing along the road. To my obvious question their answer came in such an obvious tone as if the entire world knew where the road lead to except me. The cheerful faces encouraged me to go ahead.

Towards the end of this road at the wide divider some plantation was on. I greeted the gardener and inquired about the species of the plant he was planting. I knew it was Golden Duranta as they call it. It is used heavily as a hedge plant. The trend is to make a complete monoculture of it for that purpose. In itself, Duranta is not that bad as many insects visit its flowers and fruits. But monoculture is something not very healthy for the environment. We don’t care of our own health, when will we think of Environment health though for our own selfish motive? Also, I had recently learnt from the PMC authorities that the government nurseries no more harbor exotic species. They are now completely native plants’ nurseries. The new plantation done by PMC are of native or naturalized species. They are also trying to phase out the exotics already planted. This is what intrigued me to explore who is planting Duranta?  

A discussion with these gardeners led me to a big residential development project getting constructed at the end of the road. I tried tracking down the person who could be taking decisions about what to plant where but with no success. While returning, I happened to speak to the gardener again and enquired about him and let him do the same about me. I divulged the details of PB and the purpose of my walk. He seemed impressed and told me how he works in 2 shifts in the Sewage Treatment Plant (STP) just opposite the construction which I had already visited. I felt disappointed by my nonobservance that I would have missed out an important place if I hadn’t spoken to the Gardener. But now I realizing that my low observation is compensated by more listening. I ask questions and like to listen to their answers, not to argue but to know them genuinely. I do that with almost every informal sector person around me.

I rushed back and entered the building like a queen to meet the head of the STP. I was lucky enough to be able to meet the lab-in-charge lady on the field itself (not in the office). She took me around and showed what stages our toilet waste goes through before meeting the river. It was much better than my visit to the biogas plant and the organic Waste composting plant which exist and operate very well in my ward. I always wanted to visit one and here I was visiting, so much by chance!! The lady seemed so interested in her work and felt completely at home at this plant.

I am so pleased to meet all such wonderful people in the system which we keep cribbing about without knowing anything about it. I enquired with her about being part of the IBA (Inquiry Based Approach) team and she seemed completely on board. 

The capacity of the plant is 30 MLD and is generally underused except for monsoon where the inflow increases. The local residents are generally not ready to the work as it involves working with dirt while people from rural area forms their crew.

Thanking the gardener I decided to call a day and headed back when an informal settlement attracted my attention. These were the labours of the construction work and were staying on the builder’s land (!) itself. I didn’t know how to and what to interact with migrants though we had briefly talked about it in one of our meetings. I somehow tell them the purpose of my unsolicited visit and get nicely shocked (a little less than that) by their direct questions, “what exactly do you want to do?”

I head back and prefer walking on the other side of the road to not miss out on things on that side of the road. A blue colored industrial looking shade amidst the farms waiting to be developed (!) into counties and villas asked for my attention. Siesta occupied that space owing to the time of the day and the hard work the women must have put into in the morning making the food for Anganwadis of Pune. The shyness which couldn't be dissolved by my soft skills could reveal only this much along with the name of the person who was in-charge of the place.

I was thirsty and really wanted to go back and share the success of the ward walk which I had so much hesitated all this while. I was happy that I had gone alone which helped me explore according to my pace, curiosity and empathy. I didn’t have to deal with somebody else’s hesitation and mental blocks. I saw so many new places which are at a distance not more than a km from where I sit every day.

This reminds me what the snake-friends tell about snakes, ‘they are always around us but we see them rarely.’

     

    

All ideas are valid?

I just couldn't stay in the meeting anymore. Why? I was asking myself. I feel hurt if my ego comes in between the process. (What a sentence!! Who is hurt? Isn't that ego itself?)

It was an internal meeting. This is an action research and has an iterative process. Plan -> Implement -> Reflect -> Improve -> Plan!! Period? There is no period. It can go on and on as long as you have patience/ resources/ willingness to carry out what you are doing.

So we, the community facilitators (CFs) and the coordinators of the process were sitting together to reflect upon the process that has been happening over last 2 weeks. We were supposed to go out to the ward, meet people, tell them that PB (I hope, by now you know what PB is!! It's Participatory Budgeting.) exists. If they already know it, understand the process as they see it, tell them what we propose alternatively at least in 5 wards which will take it closer to a better PB process. If they are the decision makers like the Corporators or Ward Officer, we also have to take their consent and assurance to implement the way we are proposing it. We are at the same time  planning the next year. To meet the financial needs, the long term planning seems important.

It is all very overwhelming. It looks like a herculean task to me. It is tough to break out of the comforts of the chair. There were days when I used to move about  forests and grasslands and streams and rivers and beaches. I met them so easily, with hardly any planning. But meeting people, it takes so much of planning!! I never knew that it would un-stabilize me so much. I used to think and had debated over this with friends that how much I am prepared to have uncertainty in life. How much I am a 'Ghus India' person!! Now, that the uncertainty of meeting new people arrive I know how much I was not prepared for it. Meeting new people as a by product and as the main task are two absolutely different processes.

Coming to why I was unable to sit in the meeting...

When we were learning the Inquiry Based Approach our facilitator took us through a process of deciding the rules of the game. it seemed so interesting. When the team gets built, the team also decides the rules by which they would like to deliberate, facilitate the process within the group and outside the group. I really liked one rule among many 'All ideas are valid.' Looking down upon someone for telling an idea which doesn't exactly fit into the social norm doesn't really makes the process inclusive. When you have so many stake holders on your inquiry team, they are going to see the problem from various perspectives. In fact that's the purpose of having all the stakeholders on board. The solution according to everyone is bound to be different. What is important is everyone listens to all ideas and be tolerant to them and slowly evolve something which resolves the problem for everyone and not for just few. Then if you don't have the rule of 'All ideas are valid', it would be disastrous, harmful to the process of consensus.

This is exactly was happening to me, incidentally. For some reasons, the coordinator overlooked my ideas too many times in a series. I agree, not every idea turns out to be practical but at the same time its very encouraging for the team and trust building that we listen to each other's ideas patiently, without ridiculing them. I reached my tipping point too early, may be owing to my low mood (for whatever reasons). With multiple abortions, my mind wasn't ready to conceive any more ideas. I was finding myself more of a disturbance in the process than a contributor. Another thought was, we are going to be the facilitators in the community which is going to be heterogeneous, much less tolerant to each other's needs. If we can't be democratic in such a small group of more cohesive people, how do we think we would be better off facilitating the community?    

I had to walk out to keep myself sane, to think about what was happening to me and to drop the ego if there was any and to be part of the process as soon as possible. He realized pretty soon and came to call me but I took much longer than I had thought. I was really hurt. My process of visualizing the future was hurt. Even then both of us knew that its not personal. We just needed the time to convey it to each other. We couldn't take it personally, we couldn't afford to. Soon after the meeting was over (which I did join in a short while though with a lower profile like a wounded bird) we could and did convey that how sorry we were for the incidence, for not letting the idea flow and aborting them and for not getting any new after that.

The process was more reassuring and realized that the primary function of every human being is to connect and reconnect, we find various ways around it to do it differently in every case. Thanks to the Team which behaved just normally even for an abnormal/ unexpected incidence!      


   

Roses from the Ward Office

I was aware that the ward officer is good. He is not only aware about Participatory Budgeting (PB) but also has been active in making it a success. He has been doing it since the inception of PB around 7 years ago in 2006 - 2007 when it was initiated by the then Municipal Commissioner Mr. Nitin Kareer. In spite of all this assurance. it took me an entire week or even more to break my initial barrier to go out and start meeting people in my Ward.

While doing the pilot study for the current project on PB, 6 months back in November 2014, I had met him. Now as part of "Know your Ward", we, the community facilitators are also supposed take a lot many interviews. Ward Officer's interview is one of the most crucial, important one.  

The questionnaire was made by SM, also drawing some inputs/ experiences from her research work. It's a long one but a comprehensive one. I was afraid if I will be able to engage the person, in this case the W.O., to answer all the questions. So we had discussed beforehand which part we will exclude in such case. It's about a personal initiative for ensuring people's participation and the experiences related to that.

The easiest was part 4 where we seek the support and acceptance from the W.O. or any other interviewee like the key informants/ Corporators from the ward as I didn't have to convince him to accept the proposed alternative way of doing PB in our chosen wards. But this can be very difficult in some other cases especially where they feel that people's participation may increase their work as well as its delays the process (which to some extent is true.) But participation in decision making is nothing but deepening democracy. Democracy is an abstract idea while participation is the manifestation of it. (These are not my sentences, I heard them somewhere but liked them a lot and felt them at the heart of my heart!!)

At the end of a successful interview with the W.O., we were about to leave when he, pleased with our job offers us roses which were there on his table. That was, I felt, a moment of joy, bonding, empathizing with the system and understanding it. We celebrated it throughout the day and are still on the high of it.  It gave us more encouragement for rest of the interviews of people from varied backgrounds playing various role in the society.

More than that I also swear to myself that there is no point cribbing about the system and saying it's bad. It's not. It can be made better, no doubt, and there are good people in it striving to make it better.     

Twist in the story of Parks of Pune

I am about to leave for office. I hear the mobile phone ring and hesitantly take it. The person on the other side wouldn't call without a reason, I am aware. But the conversation might go on for a longer while. Finally I settle down and start the conversation...

The voice over phone started telling me, "The document that you gave me the other day..." (I am wondering in my mind which document I have ever given to her?) "It had a list of all gardens in Pune along with their addresses. My husband and I have started visiting the parks one by one recently." "This had been one of my small dreams but I have never prioritized it till now," I was vividly happy for somebody was actually doing what I have been wanting to do.

She had attended the 'Environmental Status Report (ESR) Workshop' that we had conducted for citizens on 9th June 2014 as part of the activities under 'Participatory Urban Governance' (PUG). It was at IndradhanushyaEnvironment and Citizenship Centre near Mhatre Bridge in Pune. We couldn't really publicize  the workshop too well in time and had 15 participants attending it from our email networks. The 'Environmental Officer' in charge of this yearly activity briefed about the current format, the process of making it and the strengths and limitations. Some experts had been contacted beforehand and were asked to comment on the present format of the report and its expected format, outcome etc. The participants also went through the report and had a lively, balanced conversation with the official. It was heartening to see a dialogue between the citizens and the city administration. It was this ESR document she was referring to of which a complementary copy was given to all the participants. The important thing was, she made use of it!!      
She is a senior citizen and has worked as a strict, disciplined and the same time very passionate, committed teacher all her life. She is a nature - lover and an active bird watcher even now. Her elaborate descriptions on their park visits, the administrative/ management issues, the bird sightings, the interest generated among the morning visitors of the parks made me exited about the conversation. I could extrapolate the picture and in my mind 'cut to 2 years later' was taking shape.

She positively responded to the idea of formal documentation of all the parks which can become a great ground truthing exercise for Pune's biodiversity. Of course, the biodiversity is not limited to the parks but they surely harbor it and if they don't, they are supposed to.

It can go as status updates to the respective gardens immediately with a copy to garden department and a consolidated report of all 'Parks of Pune' to the Garden department with recommendation for future management. A book with pictures, experiences, some basic information about the gardens and how to reach would make it a public hit for citizens of Pune as well  as their guests and visitors.

We are looking for an intern who could help her consolidate, write the information. In spite of being an expert in documentation, her age doesn't allow her to do it.

Looking forward to the day of inaugurating the book 'Parks of Pune' as well as the report.        

Shifting from IBA approach to competition one

7^th July, 2014

AM had told me about the idea of launching PB as competition on Sunday itself. I had listened to the idea casually and accepted it only as an idea. I had no clue that this idea was going to take our 3 hours in the evening to change our direction/ approach of work completely.

As the story goes, AM, with his charming smile, had managed to get the data from government office and had managed to evoke the interest and kindness of the official. Hats off to his connections, networks and his ability to convince people into what he believes!

We spent almost 4-5 hours completing the reports for submitting to funding agency. I am not great at accounts but have the basic idea of it. And then cross checking and perfection is in the blood. But that reduces the efficiency and speed of work. Anyway, finally the reports could go yesterday and I am hoping that no more queries will emerge.

The major event was the core team meeting that SM, AM and I had over the approach as already mentioned in the first paragraph. AM’s connecting mind wanted to connect the Inquiry based approach (IBA) and the competition approach. The former which we were planning to take and the later we might have to take to reduce the sharpness and seriousness and also to tackle with the crunch of time due to code of conduct for State elections.

We had to revisit what is IBA and what is our current inquiry and who are the stakeholders of that inquiry. Going in the detail of IBA we realised that if we want to announce PB as a competition we have to drop the IBA at least for a while.

IBA takes at least 3 – 6 months and it’s more elaborate. It’s also pretty deep and can become base for any development work without sharpening the conflicts between the stakeholders. It would also lead to increased tolerance as well as understanding between the stakeholders.     

The current competition approach can be looked at as an iteration of IBA and the objectives of that would be then ...

At the end of the discussion, we also thought that even this shift of approach decision has to be taken democratically and hence the CFs (community Facilitators) should be involved in the decision making. Democracy at its peak!!

SM immediately wrote a mail to all CFs explaining the reasons, advantages and disadvantages of declaring PB as competition. She also drafted a mail to Municipal commissioner to convey our bigger plans about PB and take his blessings.

I was really less energetic yesterday and I think it’s a RAM issue of my brain. If I have too many loose ends in there, I feel pathetic. ‘Cleaning the mess’ is my motto which I keep doing everywhere whether it is computer files, kitchen table or work discussions. I recently spent 3 hours doing that for the PUG (Participatory Urban Governance) folder in my computer.       

Politics of the Core city: A meeting with Mr. Vijay

6^th July, 2014

Every day is different and is filled with air of different moods. 6^th was a Sunday and I was so motivated to work that I planned a meeting with Vijay Kunjeer. AM had mentioned that Vijay has good understanding of core city politics and history and it would be good to talk to him. Both of us were aware of the fact that Vijay stays just upstairs where my parents stay. Which means that actually vijay and me have been neighbours for last 2 decades. And i was not aware of his expertise. Now that a right reason has arisen, we were quick to drop our inertia and to meet.

The meeting started with AM explaining what we are trying to do under participatory budgeting, in 5 prabhags (electoral ward). It’s a real life experiment. After listening and understanding, Vijay dwelt upon the topics of Corporators behaviour in core city, the trends, the power games and much more. It was a completely different language that I was hearing for the first time and I hardly understood anything. There were times when I thought I understood and the next moment it had all vanished.

What I could gather from the meeting is this:

1.       Vijay has good understanding of power structure of the core city.

2.       He doesn’t know much about the peripheral areas.

3.       The tangible benefits of land/ real estate play a major role in Corporators behaviour and hence the core city and peripheral Corporators behave differently.

4.       He finds Inquiry based approach interesting but doesn’t have time for it.

5.       “You run with twice the speed at which you ran yesterday to be in the same place.” - VK

6.       The pace of life has increased so much that no one in the city wants to give time.

7.       The best way to tap people would be at cultural programs and religious programs.

8.       Everyone wants autonomy over their time.

9.       The city came into existence for achieving the anonymity for every person to be distant from an unwanted past.

10.   In each ward there are 5-7 aspirants for becoming Corporator other than the ones who actually are and standing in the election. They have parallel networks through which they get similar things done.     

11.   Understanding of politics has to be broad based. Party position politics doesn’t makes no sense.  

12.   In the core city, political people are aware, active and alert.

13.   Most of the issues are settled and practises are in place.

14.   In the periphery, the politicians are not ready to share the information easily. (land connection)

15.   What are these networks? – bachat bhishi gat, mandal – repositories of middle age politics, newspaper reading soc, religious, pilgrimage

16.    The core city wards are market wards.

17.   Who can be a right person to get information out of Corporator? : an outsider even a foreigner, they don’t feel threatened by her presence. But to other Pune-ites or even to the same ward citizen, they could be hesitant to share the information.

18.   The transport and traffic needs to be seen in a light health of the   citizens. The hawker and vendors are at continuous risk of health due to pollution. But nobody wants to speak about it even the affected. This conspiracy of silence needs to be broken.  

19.   We have to accept that the old city was not planned for this quantum of traffic and plan the usage accordingly.

20.   The daily labours, informal sectors should get pension.

21.   Health: The health facility should be available at ward level itself.

22.   The waste management should also be at ward level or even lower level. Not at all at city level.

23.   There should be cross sectional financial calculation which should be made available to people to understand what is better for the city and the citizens.

24.   Media and Corporators are speaking the same language.

25.   Can it (any project) be done in inexpensive way? The faith that only when the solution is expensive, it is good needs to be shaken.

26.   Demography: the city is young and hence facilities are not thought about for old people.

AM proposed VK:

- Booklet/ series of articles about core city

- critiquing Community Facilitators work for better understanding

The Title

SM is my first reader and she comes with an interesting observation that the acronym of the title is 'BiTE'!! I don't really want to 'bite' anyone but I am surely sharing an important 'byte' of life here.

So you become BiTE Blog, my dear Blog!

First day at Journal writing

5^th July, 2014, Saturday

I am so excited about the whole thing. Had a long, relaxed meeting with SM and AM at SM’s house. I am unable to figure out what is turning me on and motivating me to work, it’s the people or the work. But I am sure its SM and AM who are making my journey more meaningful and interesting. They are wonderful as a person also. Their independent research has also added flavor to this social development work. Working with them keeps reminding me of Ken Robinson’s description about the importance of like-minded people in finding out the ‘element’, the passion of an individual. The feeling is parallel to the first term of M.Sc. Biodiversity when I used to say that ‘this is the first time I am enjoying my education’. ‘This is the first time I am loving my job so much.’ I am realizing why I used to think that I am not a group person as I rarely encountered a group where I was best fitted.  

This also reminds me of the FB post: 

I have been trying to balance my family requirements and work for last 15 days for the special event of my younger sister joining air force today as flying officer.

I could see that I really wanted to give more time to work and was doing odd things to accommodate it.

For SM and AM, Saturday Sunday don’t make any difference. They continue to work. I personally feel that the break from work (even if you like it a lot, not the break, the work I mean) is important to reset your brain for newer perspective towards the same things, unless you reach a stage where you can play devil's for your own brain child as SM does and did today as well. Also, to get off the 'time train' for some time is important to run according to time most of the other times. But surely I am not looking forward to weekends now. And a last minute call for a meeting from SM and AM is more than welcome even on a weekend.

That’s exactly what we had today. A very long, at length meeting at SM’s house about the planning of 1. sector analyst start up meeting and 2. the meeting for tools and techniques of community participation work.
We also had many other discussions and its a treat to hear discussion of  committed, devoted seniors in the field.    

I wish, i had felt the excitement much before and had started writing the journal when I started working on it. But its better late than ever. I also fear that as usual my enthusiasm of writing blog/ journal would end soon. But I want to continue for sure. 

I made few calls today  morning  to ensure that the Sector Analysts (SAs) are available for the start up meeting on 9th July, 2014 Wednesday from 2 pm - 6 pm. A person who was involved with the process since its inception 6 months ago, frankly confessed that his enthusiasm has lowered in the process because on the long 3 months break and the start-up problems that the project went through due to uncertainty of and delayed funding. I could accept it easily without playing the blame game and could convince him to join the meeting once to revive his enthusiasm. 

A report to the funding agency expected us to report exactly how many workshops we are going to take in the year and I had to find that number from a previously prepared proposal document. An overwhelming number of 29 workshops are going to be conducted to make participatory budgeting more meaningful for citizens. I, myself am overwhelmed with the scope of work and the envisioned impact of work. 

I am also supposed to do the process documentation of this historical  event. I am still learning on that front. The best part is this is best place for any learner where everyone feels that they are here to learn something new. Its a perfect atmosphere for learning. I learnt that the minutes of the meeting could be taken a tabular format where all the discussions could be segregated into 4 columns: Agenda/ topic, Discussion/ Decision/ and action. This reminds me of the B.Ed. year when I had really difficult time especially with respect to documentation. It was so very clerical that it didn't enthuse me to do it then. Now that i have the bigger picture in my mind, I have taken up the work which I am weak at and I am enjoying it thoroughly. 

The meeting was followed by an interesting life event sharing by AM which according to him is his reason of not being punctual. We, in our core team have been having issues and discussions about punctuality. It hasn't become a conflict yet. Also, we know each other's strengths and can't afford to let the weaknesses come between us to hamper the strengths. But some of us are really keen on using system's thinking approach which we are currently using for understanding the Urban Health and Transport sector in Pune, to resolve the issue of punctuality. I certainly see the value of it in building organisation. I am eager to use it for the same. 

God!! (by the way I am an atheist!) I have so many things to say and such low typing speed and the brain processing speed as well (somewhere around 3G!!). I surely want to come back to you, blog and tell you what has happened in the last few months when i wasn't writing and what is happening now. See you tomorrow.