Restoring Serenity: Aruna's article on the Powai Lake published in Raintree

Aruna Thosar - Dixit, PRO, IIT Bombay (1986-2007) wrote for IIT's mag Raintree.

Restoring Serenity

The Powai Lake was integral to the life of every campus resident; like a leitmotiv surfacing again and again. Toddlers playing on the green slopes of the guest house lawn while mothers or grand parents or the occasional dad, sat and chatted, watching the sun set across the lake; students on steps or the slope leading to the water; joggers and walkers early morning and evening; cricket on the dried up lake bed; spotting birds in marshes and trees, BNHS nature trek around the lake; dragging willing or unwilling guests through the wooded trail to the old boat-house to view the incredible expanse of water – the lake-pictures and lake-associations retained in the memory are too numerous to narrate.

Powai Lake made its presence felt in another way in my role as the PR officer for the Institute. In the early years, contact with media or local officials, environmentalists and even “concerned” campus residents, often brought accusations that IIT was the major culprit in the degradation of the lake. Its untreated sewage was flowing into the lake creating a nutritious base for the water hyacinth to flourish; the lake depth was decreasing, consequently leading to the sorry sight of a dried lake bed for many months.
I recall more than one large meeting with government officials in the Director’s Conference room in the nineties, maybe relating to campus land encroachments, settlement of the slum along our eastern wall or the development of Adi Shankaracharya Marg (yes, its been a decades-long project). More often than not, IIT would be targeted for polluting the lake. One felt it was a diversionary tactic from the main topic under discussion, to put the IIT side of the table on the defensive. And it did. In spite of explanations of sewage treatment plant etc, it did put us on the defensive.

Thinking, naively, that this issue needs to be tackled, this negative perception of IIT needs to be corrected, I felt that a PR campaign could be carried out. Pro-active PR was not part of the system, but my enthusiasms (often misplaced) were then not subdued. Trying to get the data right, I met up with the Dean Planning and the campaign suffered an early demise and went into long cold storage. The Dean, a patient and gentle professor, opened my eyes to the true facts – of our out dated sewage treatment plant releasing half treated sewage water into the lake, the attempts to make it more efficient, the growing campus population creating growing wastewater, all going into the lake. His wise advise – leave the issue well alone, it will only focus more prominently and negatively on us.

There were others on Campus, who viewed the lake and what was happening to it with anguish. Some decided to do something about it. A “shramdan” project gathered some momentum. A scheme was worked out in detail, to show that so many volunteers working for so many hours a day could cover so many acres of the IIT side of the lake, which would de-weed the area! Students and residents physically removed the hyacinth and growth and pilled it up on the sides. IIT came up with trucks to carry the weeds to the vermiculture pits beyond the pipeline. Volunteers brought their own gloves and anti allergic ointment for the itching experienced by some! While the campaign got attention (including some good write-ups in the local papers), of course it had its critics. Was the problem too vast to be tackled by shramdan? Would the hoped for volunteer numbers ever materialize (considering the water snakes and muck)? After all the effort, would not the weeds grow again? It was seen as a quixotic venture. After about two years, this effort fizzled out.

Meanwhile the Powai region, so far a no-development zone, was opened up for development. This was to impact the Powai Lake in a big way. The construction activity was fast and furious. Un-authorized settlements were also coming up at a bewildering pace. Powai Lake was a catchments basin for rain water fed through the numerous storm water nallas from the north and south hills. The southern nallas had earlier carried clear rain water. Kids of the lake side area of the campus were known (escaping parental vigilance and inviting punishment) to mess about in the nallas, catching fish, floating paper boats, building dams. But now the nallas were drains carrying sewage, garbage, silt from the quarries, and debris from construction sites, all being dumped into the Lake.

On the other hand, as Powai developed, civic amenities had to be provided. The most important being a municipal sewage line, leading along Adi Shankaracharya Marg down to Kanjur Marg and joining the BMC sewage system.

With the commissioning of the BMC sewage line, IIT became the first to divert its sewage. IIT waste water no longer flowed to the sewage treatment plant, and then into the lake. This was at no little cost and effort – the figures were in crores of rupees, as the flow to north had to be diverted towards south, joining the BMC drain at Y Point Gate.

At last IIT could come out of hiding on the lake issue.

2000-2005 was an important period. Not only was the sewage line commissioned, but the Save Powai Lake campaign began in true earnest. With complete certainty and sincerity, must one give credit for the dynamic leadership provided by Mrs. Rashmi Misra, wife of the Director, Prof. Misra. She had an uncanny ability to attract, organize and lead. Soon a loosely formed Save Powai Lake Team was evolved; a team small in numbers but persistent in its efforts.
Over a number of meetings (frustrating to some of us for the slow progress), the Save Powai Lake Team analyzed the issue, identified the problems, gathered scientific and ecological facts, decided on issues to be raised, worked out action plans! I am not going into the details of the experience as a Team member. In brief, it was an education, satisfying and frustrating and in retrospect, fun and rather funny!

The Team initiated awareness campaigns to draw attention to the deteriorating lake. It arranged talks, children’s’ walks along the lake; postcard campaign addressed to Delhi and Mumbai Environment Ministries; interacted with IIT Students to enthuse them. A significant activity was the Human Chain on 26th January 2001, with participation of almost 1000 students from 8 schools, besides Powai residents. A very successful awareness campaign, to focus on lake water pollution was the Eco-friendly Ganesh project held over a number of years beginning 2003. After a lot of brainstorming and trial and error, the Navsrugan workshops were carried out to demonstrate making of Ganesh idols from soil from Powai Lake and use of eco-friendly colors.

The Human Chain and the Eco friendly Ganesh campaigns caught the attention of the media and Powai residents, officials and local authorities in a big way. The interest and response was overwhelming.

Considering this an IIT PR activity, without any hesitation, it can be mentioned here that the resources of the PR office were utilized in these efforts, particularly to get the involvement of the print and electronic media.

The Team’s awareness activities drew the attention of the then sitting MP, Mr. Kirit Somaiya. His intervention in the issue, his petition in Parliament on Powai Lake, his follow up with the Environment Ministry(MoEF) and the State level bodies, were invaluable. It assisted in the sanction and release of Rs. 6.5 crores by the Ministry to BMC for a bioremediation project for improvement of water quality and for beautification of the lake front along Adi Shankaracharya Marg. After some hiccups (one remembers attending innumerable meetings at BMC or elsewhere including a tender opening meeting at BMC), the project was implemented.

IIT too, now officially, had a Powai Lake Committee. IIT was now on many an official body relating to the Powai Lake set up by the State government and Municipal Corporation, including on the Monitoring Committee for the implementation of the Rs. 6.5 crore MoEF bioremediation project.

Unfortunately, the BMC was unable to do any work in the IIT Bay area of Powai Lake in its restoration work. IIT stepped in. The Estate Office employed labor to physically remove weeds and grasses from the Bay periphery, particularly in front of the Guest House and the Devi Temple. Similarly, some part of the lake bed in front of the Guest House was de-silted by machines, in the dry season.,

The snowball rolled on. The Save Powai Lake Team’s efforts attracted the Alumni Class of ’80. The Class held its Silver Jubilee reunion in December 2005 and raised funds for a Powai Lake Legacy Project. This was mainly for the improvement of the IIT Bay of Powai Lake and the development of the Lake side road from Devi temple to H-8 with gardens, jogging track, boat club. etc.

As the modern mantra goes, it was almost as if the Universe conspired to bring together support from various quarters to save Powai Lake! (Not to forget the probable pressures and influences exerted by probable lobbies, as Powai was now a prime and prized suburb).

The Powai Lake in the nineties, with all its natural eco wealth and beauty, gave us IITians a sense of anguish and despair. In the next decade IIT came into its own. The efforts at creating awareness of the issue, the active involvement in positive action, brought a turn around in public and media perception. From being the offender for the condition of the lake, IIT was now the champion for the Powai Lake, a concerned Institution, struggling for environmental preservation and restoration of one of its most precious assets, the Powai Lake! IITians could now sit by the Lake at sunset enjoying the peace and beauty. Serenity was restored.

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Credits:
IIT Bombay - http://www.iitb.ac.in/

Image credits:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/kaushal/172182002/
http://www.geocities.com/deb1976in/iit1.html
http://www.srcf.ucam.org/~db344/Bombay/slides/Powai%20Lake.html
http://flickr.com/photos/91314344@N00/405612590

Violinist in the Metro

This is an incredibly sad story which gave me chills. It is a social experiment about perception, taste and priorities of people.

A man sat at a metro station in Washington DC and started to play the violin; it was a cold January morning.
He played six Bach pieces for about 45 minutes. During that time, since it was rush hour, it was calculated that thousands of people went through the station, most of them on their way to work.

Three minutes went by and a middle aged man noticed there was musician playing. He slowed his pace and stopped for a few seconds and then hurried up to meet his schedule.

A minute later, the violinist received his first dollar tip: a woman threw the money in the till and without stopping continued to walk.

A few minutes later, someone leaned against the wall to listen to him, but the man looked at his watch and started to walk again. Clearly he was late for work.

The one who paid the most attention was a 3 year old boy. His mother tagged him along, hurried but the kid stopped to look at the violinist. Finally the mother pushed hard and the child continued to walk turning his head all the time. This action was repeated by several other children. All the parents, without exception, forced them to move on.

In the 45 minutes the musician played, only 6 people stopped and stayed for a while. About 20 gave him money but continued to walk their normal pace.
He collected $32.
When he finished playing and silence took over, no one noticed it.
No one applauded, nor was there any recognition.

No one knew this but the violinist was Joshua Bell, one of the best musicians in the world. He played one of the most intricate pieces ever written with a violin worth 3.5 million dollars.

Two days before his playing in the subway, Joshua Bell sold out at a theater in Boston and the seats average $100.

Joshua Bell playing incognito in the metro station was organized by the Washington Post as part of an social experiment about perception, taste and priorities of people. The outlines were: in a commonplace environment at an inappropriate hour: Do we perceive beauty? Do we stop to appreciate it? Do we recognize the talent in an unexpected context?

One of the possible conclusions from this experience could be:

If we do not have a moment to stop and listen to one of the best musicians in the world playing the best music ever written, how many other things are we missing?

My additional thoughts would only be that so many people do things because they are "fashionable" that they forget to look at things with their own eyes, listen with their own ears, and appreciate anything with their own hearts.

Source: WashingtonPost.com via egodialogues.com

Image: Superstock

To the like-minded who think we have lost our sense of differentiating between 'Noise' and 'Sound'

This communication is addressed to those who think we have lost our sense of differentiating between 'Noise' and 'Sound'! We have taken Noise as sound and have started living with it. The reason being our over all assumption that if we have to celebrate, we must create noise! It may be festival, procession or any kind of celebration! And this is something which goes on and on, as someone is celebrating something all the time! What effect does it create? Have we given thought to it ?

Just think of prayers which we offer to the God.. what happens? Prayers' go up
and Blessings come down! Without creating a Noise! So what must be happeing to the Noise we create? Does it bring Blesssings? It brings down Global Warming. The threat we all are ignoring because we now listen to Noise.

Do you agree Noise has no Messages, while Sound has! Therefore Nature
talks to us! Through its sound of waves, breeze of winds, whispering of leaves.
Are we listening? And therefore Prayers have messages. The 'Noise of Slogans'
is meaningless.

Do you agree? share your experiences!

Acceptable Sound and Unhealthy Noise

According to the definition in Preventive and Social Medicine by Park (15th edition), Noise means, any Sound which crosses the prescribed decibel Audio level at a particular given place, time, duration.

The 20th century, therefore is described as Nosiest century! For example, According to the World Health Organization (W.H.O.) in 1980, prescribed following measure in decibels, known as dB, to maintain the audio level at different places;

1. Industrial Areas - 75 dB for maximum period of 8 hrs.


2. Residential Areas - During day -55 dB & during Night 45 dB.


3. House - During day -45 dB & during Night 35 dB.

As per International Labor Organization (ILO), any 'sound' which can create partial or complete deafness should be treated as Noise.

And the fact is...

The average Noise level at any metro city is unacceptable. For example in Mumbai, in recently concluded diwali festival, the lowest noise level was 103 dB and highest was 115 dB.

The Audio invention of 'Dolby System' in cinema halls and surround sound systems at the disco and pub centers have clinically proved hazardous to over-all health, gradually bringing complete deafness and can cause high blood pressure and heart attacks, apart from bringing behavioral changes and attitudinal changes, like irritation, aggressiveness, short temper and even quick succumbing to the criminal offenses.

Question to ponder - Why our Police force is increasingly going towards only conventional crimes? Isn't noise pollution an act of violence?)

Image Credits:
http://blog.sweetestmemories.com
http://www.tubecad.com

Noise Pollution: A new double-edged weapon of 'VIOLENCE'

A Supreme Court judgment about noise pollution (restricting the use of loudspeakers between 10 pm and 6 am, control on the decibel level of loudspeakers, etc) has created controversy. While about 70% of the citizens (as surveyed by 'Sakal' a Pune based daily) were in favor of the judgment, it was those 30% in the minority, who created havoc at midnight of the Ganpati immersion day, destroying property worth crores of rupees. This was done under the cover of 'encroachment on religious rights to celebrate festival!' The fact is no religion propagates celebration of any festival by creating noise by way of beating drums, creating Audio walls or firing crackers. As the latest figure shows that we Indians actually 'Burn money' worth Rs. 13 thousand crores only on fire crackers every year! Thousands of rupees are spent on creating 'Audio walls' and other noise creating instruments.


It was proved, once again, that political muscle power is greater, then the majority public opinion, since the supreme court had to bow down to political pressures and was forced to allow the use of loudspeakers up to the mid night instead of 10 o'clock.

In short, it has become a new 'Violence'. The 'Violence' which 'kills' your peace of mind, destroys concentration of students from their studies, proves a 'nightmare' for patients and senior citizens and worst of all brings 'deafness', slowly and gradually to every one as the 'Noise violence' is a 'Double edged weapon' which harms both the victim and the creator with equal force.

s all of us (compulsorily) undergo the 'Noisy journey', which starts around 'Ganpati Festival in Maharashta (or some parallel festival in India), and end only around 'Holi. The festival objectives may differ but one thing is common, despite all caste, religion, language and state The loudspeakers (which have taken the shape of an Audio wall) , loud bursting fire crackers and the deadening musical instruments like Dhol, Tashsas and now the 'Electronic synthesizers'. And if you feel little relaxed, then there are occasional elections, processions and victory celebrations (like winning cricket match etc), which guarantee you sleepless nights, hampering student's studies and a nightmare for sick patients and senior citizens!

Unfortunately, there seems to be an imaginary line between the two groups - one who creates and one who suffers, but due to the deep-rooted association of celebration with creating noise, every single individual suffers but when his turn comes, follows the same pattern. It has now become one of the important 'Political Promises' by the leaders to their voters that their 'right to create noise' will be protected!

Unity in Diversity? An 8th grade kid cried for help

I could call Unity in Diversity as the Paradigm of Concordance or A Humane Epiphany.

But when a 8th standard kid approaches you to help out in a 2-min talk to be given on this subject, I was startled to figure out how to motivate, or even make sense to a class which would be more intrigued by questions like, 'How babies are made' or 'Why girls are beautiful' .

But I tried, and came up with this. Any parent or teacher can use this essay when explaining Unity in Diversity to kids.

Introduction

“Unity in Diversity” is defined as, “a socio-ecological philosophy that describes a sense of oneness despite physical or psychological barriers,” as defined by Wikipedia, the online encyclopedia.

This means when people believe that they are the same, even if they are from different countries, cultures or castes. Unity in diversity is the philosophy that even if you ‘look’ or ‘talk’ in a different way than me, I still treat you as family.

It is the point of acceptance that all human beings are after all equal, and respect each others’ cultural variation.

“Unity in Diversity” is a way of uniting all cultures and societies together as a whole in understanding and appreciation for each other.

Explanation

Now since this seems to be a bit sophisticated, let me explain it to you in a better manner.

• We all are in the same class, have we ever wondered from which part of the state of country are we from?
• Don’t we always think only about the fact that we stay in Pune and study together?
• Have you ever wondered from which part of Maharashtra or India is his or her father from?
• Have you ever treated any of the friends differently just because your native places are not the same?
• Have you only talked to the classmates who are Marathi speaking or from Maharashtra?

Right here, we have a fine example of Unity in Diversity. All of us are different; we are from different parts of the state or even the country. The language you speak at home might be different from the language spoken by the one sharing your bench. But we all are united as ever, enjoying every moment together in school, never having a problem with the cultural variation. This is Unity in Diversity.

India is the world capital for Unity in Diversity. With 28 states speaking more than 22 languages, we still are united as a strong nation.

Other Good Examples:

Music
Music is a universal language. No matter who composes a song from which part of the world, it is enjoyed by anyone. A musical instrument from India won’t stop playing if it is taken to another country.

Please raise your hands, who like AR Rahman’s music? (Many will raise hands) Have you even thought, “I should not listen to his music because he’s does not speak my mother tongue”? When AR Rahman won international awards for Slumdog Millionaire, the judges did not think that since he’s from South India, he shouldn’t be given the award.

Music is the best example of Unity of Diversity because it does not differentiate language, cast, culture or geography.

Art
It does not matter if you’re a good artist, which language you speak or what color is your skin. Art is appreciated without a single thought about the Artist’s cultural or social origin. Leonardo Da Vinci’s Mona Lisa is the most famous painting in the world; it is never disregarded in other countries.

Science
The science we study with (teacher’s name), was formed by various scientists from across the globe. Such great technological progress we see today in the 21st century would not have taken place without contributions from the diversity of scientists. It took their unity to form so many theories and perform thousands of experiments which obtained great results. This has been only possible because of Unity in Diversity. Newton, Einstein or C.V. Raman may be from different countries, but their aim was to become a great scientist, that’s why we see their names in our textbooks.

Types of Bread in India
One wonderful example is the various types of breads we find in India. If you go to a nice hotel and look under the breads or rotis section you will find:

• Chapati
• Roti
• Naan
• Paratha
• Kulcha
• Paav
• Sliced Bread

…and many other types of bread. This is an example of Unity in Diversity because the bread which comes from different parts of India or the world is enjoyed by everyone equally.

Conclusion
To conclude, we all must always be united despite of these diverse cultural differences. The sense of oneness should be felt always which in-turn keeps us happy and makes the world a better place to live. Thank you.

Media Training & Awareness Workshops

Need of the Hour

With the advent of satellite TV channels, we talk of the 'media explosion' either with excitement or with concern. Excitement, because it has opened new windows to the world, and concern, as it is an outright one-way communication blitz. This has an everlasting impact on viewers, especially children. Therefore, the 'Need of the hour' is to create a balancing factor, which can be achieved only through awareness and education. The advent of multimedia has opened enormous possibilities of using the audiovisual media more meaningfully, where understanding and appreciation of media is also important and where audience participation is an integral part of communication.
Communication Support Foundation conducts workshops to excite young people (and the young at heart) to the possibilities of good cinema and TV. We have organized over 25 workshops for children from various strata of society.

Workshops
The following workshops can be organized :
Understanding Cinema
Film appreciation sessions through the screening of extracts from best films and documentaries, appropriate to the group, and discussion. The duration can be from two to six hours and partipants , a group of not more than 50.
Children's Workshop called 'Magic of Making Movies'
Two to three day workshop, which provides hands on experience of making movies. The participants would be exposed to the elements of film making such as script writing, direction, editing, cinematography etc. The participants would in teams, actually make short video films. Each workshop can be for about 30 children .
Script Writing Workshop
Every creative "Thinker" has hidden talents to become a "writer", which at one point or other, comes out in form of a poem, short story, letter or at the most an article. But it remains in the paradigm of "writing" as a hobby.
But to turn this hobby into a professional writing, one needs to acquire skills of writing, which results into making him a professional writer - from a small ad copy to a full-length feature film script.
The workshop is designed to develop creative writing skills, aspects covered would include idea generation, story development, script formats, etc.

Who Can Apply
Open workshops – These are advertised and organized by the Foundation and are open to the public with the criteria as advertised.
Schools and Colleges can approach CSF for holding any of the Workshops; NGO's can approach to hold workshops for any group they are working with.
Social and cultural organizations as an edu-entertainment activity.

Contact us if you you feel it is the Need of the Hour.