How dreams are squashed

The past week has been a period of highs and lows that immediately followed the highs, that eventually ended in a harrowing climax.

This is to do with my dear FLL team of five. This super team was selected to compete in the Taiwan International Championship.

The issue of travel expenses was very altruistically taken care of by my company. The CR team was extremely generous and agile to negotiate and get funds for us. This was just fantastic, as our company usually sponsored the team that came first.

When we broke the kids, the kids were super excited. The school - the headmaster and the teachers, also appeared excited, but with some reservation. Why?

They also wanted to check if one of them can also travel to Taiwan (of course, the headmaster gets the priority).

The reason is that they wanted to ensure the safety of the kids. This is extremely essential, as this is the kids' first international travel - You know, how parents became extremely anxious even for a short trip out of school.

This seemed fine, though there was no real need for the teachers to travel, as we three mentors would be accompanying the kids anyway.

'Oh great!', said the headmaster, 'so your company will pay for the teacher as well, right?'

Oh yeah, so that’s how it was?! But that’s not possible – the teachers have, technically, no role in the FLL competition. And these teachers, absolutely had no role, except that they allowed the kids to participate in the competition. We told the teachers that this would not be difficult. They weren’t pleased:

Hmm, well in that case, things will be difficult.

You see, these parents are extremely anxious about their kids. And this is an international trip, travel by air (to note: None of the teachers have travelled in flights), so they might not really agree.

("Teacher, you remember the trip to Mysore and the 150 odd phone calls that came to us from parents, when something wrong happened to some kid?" Well, that just indicates that you aren't the right person to take care of kids isn't it?! Wrong example, perhaps?!)

And in fact, we already have 'tried convincing' the parents. The first question that they asked was in fact, 'Sir, are you also travelling? Or is Madam travelling? If not, we don’t want to send our kids.'

(The madam is always with a long, rounded stick with which she knocks on students’ heads. Parents want her to be the kids’ guardian? Oh perhaps, she uses the stick to rattle students' brains and put it good work?!)

We told them - see, we are not travelling. But that’s not something to worry about, as the company guys are going. But don't hold us responsible for all the (bad) things that might happen in Taiwan. We can't also ask the company people as we're completely out of the picture (That's some great convincing!).

So its not us, you see. We're all happy for our kids. But the parents will not let the kids travel without us ("Teacher, you remember the trip to....")

The teachers’ intention was clearly very clear. They were asking us what’s in there for them.

We tried speaking to the parents. They turned out to be people in the landscape that the teachers had painted. But I wouldn’t blame them, as it was apparent that the teachers have very clearly impressed on them their motivations(One of the teachers who tried convincing the parents was promptly asked if he didn’t have a class to attend to (instead of spoiling the fortune for the great teachers).)

There, that was how an opportunity that has all the potential to change the lives of five kids forever, was grounded down, because of a group of teachers wanted to have a free take-off.

So, what became of those people in that noble profession of teaching? Don’t I consider some of my teachers, if not all, as not just subject experts, but teachers of life-lessons? Didn't I want to emulate them? Is it not true that I still remember them with admiration and respect and as persons of great personal integrity?!

What happened to all of them? What happened to the idea of ‘Maatha, Pitha, Guru, Deivam’?

Somehow, it’s very difficult to accept the teachers’ wish as that of people who have never had the opportunity to travel abroad and let this go. Especially, when these teachers had never made any effort to understand this competition; even when the India finals happened in our own office campus, just a few minutes away from the school. If they had earlier thought that their responsibility stopped with allowing the kids to participate, I guess they should stick to that responsibility now as well.

It was so heart-breaking to see the excitement in the kids’ face fade into a sad helplessness.

I might get pas this experience , but I do pray that they break out of this shroud and the path, of following their parents, of becoming daily wage labourers.

PS: I have skipped the episodes where we tried taking up the case of the teachers with our benefactors in our company. They didn’t see any reason (very rightly so) why the company should sponsor. I have skipped the number of iterations we had with the school. Today, the CR department advised us to stop– they felt that the teachers might trouble the kids in the future, even if we coerce them to let them go now.

Full many a flower is born to blush unseen..

Sometime ago, I had the opportunity of training 5 kids for the FLL robotics competition, along with two other colleagues (What's FLL?).

Since it’s a robotics competition, competing kids/ teams need a flair for computer programming, concepts of motors, gears, sensors etc. And it needs loads of creativity to evolve approaches and design a robot to accomplish the mission.

Given this skill set, teams are typically formed with kids in their 6^th, 7^th or 8^th standards, and who have exposure to computers (usually have computers at home and probably play a Nintendo or an Xbox). The competition also requires them to be fluent and confident articulators. Therefore, it’s not unexpected that the contest is usually between kids from schools of the upper echelon.

However, we decided that we will not go the road oft travelled – we wanted to give this exposure to young students who wouldn't otherwise have access to such things as computers, robotics and programming. So we formed our team with five young students from class 6 and 7, from a Government school, located in a small village-like locality behind our office campus.

The school caters to the nearby community of, mostly, daily wage labourers working in the huge and multitude constructions happening around. Some of them work as cleaners and other such jobs in my office.

The school was not badly maintained. The teachers intended well. But yes, they had limitations to what they could wish and aspire for their children.

The kids chosen for our team did not have exposure to computers or programming. This, we had somehow expected. Since the school was a Kannada-medium school, they couldn’t speak much English as well. This was a problem, as two of us, including me cannot go beyond ‘Kannada gothuilla’. Nevertheless, we decided to give this a try.

We devised a three-fold curriculum to train the kids on basics of computers, basic English and presentation skills and of course, the robotics programming.

Amid several disruptions to our coaching (due to personal and official reasons), we ploughed ahead, slowly, but definitely not steadily.

The kids became quite familiar with computers (we used to watch other FLL videos in Youtube. And that became their favourite website!). They became adept in making ‘speeches’ – very often surprising us with little snippets that added that extra zing and acumen to their presentations. They had also lots of presence of mind to include changes that we suggested, very naturally in their presentations.

By the time it was time for the India finals, we were confident that we will put up a very decent performance.

But the competition day turned out to be even greater an experience. The kids sizzled with their performance. They zipped through the team work evaluation, technical presentation, as well as the project presentation. In each of these rounds, they were well received by the judges, who were impressed by the kids’ brilliance. Our robot too, in spite of some initial hiccups with the light sensor, ultimately accomplished all the tasks for which it had been designed.

We realized that our team was on par with many other contesting teams. Our team also became a favourite with the crowd.

We were informed that we are one of the top contenders for the top four awards. Despite strong competition from other teams, the sentiment was so loud and positive that we were very hopeful that we will walk away with at least one of the awards.

But we didn’t win any. We felt disappointed, especially for the kids, who were very hopeful that they would win. They were hoping to travel by flights and see more of the World.

But I was happy and content for several reasons.

The kids now understood computers, programming and robotics. They could understand simple English conversations and reply back. They had broken several boundaries and set a higher aspiration for their school.

Recently, we had been to their school and the reception we got made us feel very humble. We were treated like celebrities – the entire school was assembled, we were felicitated and every child in the school wanted to shake hands with us.

More than that, we three coaches had matured by a huge measure.

Several times during our coaching, we were limited by our own ‘admission to reality’ that we had been extremely idealistic in selecting kids from such a background. Often we had to fight off our own disbelief that we will not get anywhere.

And what helped us in fighting this attitude, was the kids’ intelligence, energy and enthusiasm. They were as bright and enthusiastic as we wanted them to be, grasping new knowledge, as they say in Tamil, as camphor catches fire. (During the India finals, they were quite impressed with another team singing Queen’s ‘We will rock you’. They wanted to learn that song and sing like them. So they did!)

And they were never apologetic or coy about their economic conditions. They were aware of their background but never carried it with them. They had higher aspirations and wanted much from life. This, I’m sure, will take them higher.

I hope and pray that they stay and grow like this, and get all the right opportunities and never have to ‘blush unseen and waste their sweetness on the desert air’.

The twist: I just got to know last week that my team has been selected for the FLL event in Taiwan in April (It looks like we stood 4^th in the overall India ranking. Not bad at all!)

A male child?

Today I wanted to write about a friend whom I meet almost everyday and have become friends besides the difference in age.

This is my auto man - not my own auto - and not his own auto too. He has a rented auto which I take to go to office almost everyday. He usually tells where all he had been on the previous day, how his day was and usually ends with a note on some kid. He tells me that whenever he sees a small kid he remembers my son who stands in the balcony (to wave a bye to me) and looking at the dogs in the street and never at me. He keeps telling me how difficult it is to manage a kid at home and makes me thank my support structure back home almost immediately.

He should be twice my age, and has 7 kids. He told me today how it felt to lose his father about 2 weeks ago. He was fighting tears when he said, 'I am not sure, my 2 sons, who left our family, will ever think of me like how I think of my dad. I am working as hard as he worked, I love my family as much, yet I may not die his death'. I had to console him - think of your school going kids, you will feel better. Then he said, ' Yes I keep thinking of them, my last 2 daughters are going to school. I had put them in a good school thinking my sons will help me. But no one is there now. I sold my auto to get my 3 daughters married'. He continued, 'my father was bed ridden for 20 years, yet we treated him with respect. My eye sight is diminishing and I dont drive in the evenings, but if I can my girls can study better. My wife cries for days together when she gets to see any wedding. She remembers her 2 sons and thinks that she has missed their weddings. Looking at her, I sometimes think, if I am gone, what will she do. But she says, if she is gone, no one will look after me. She is right. My mother took care of my father until the last moment and was asking allah to take him away for his suffering was too much. Allah listened to her. May be I will land up someday like that and my wife will offer the same prayer. Allah, keep my wife safe for only she will pray for me'. He did not speak for a while. I dint know what I should say. It is difficult to console someone who is frustrated yet cannot give up. I muttered something like, a girl child is better, atleast she will take care of you. Then he said, what I think truly reflects a generation's thought process - only the girl is my daughter. Her husband is not a member in my family and will never become. My sons are mine, but when they get married, their wives don't belong to my family. The tragedy is even after marriage the girl will remain my daughter, but my son will be gone forever. Either way guys fail to make parents happy.

I thought, it is not true always, but did not tell him.

Good Riding!

Welcome to the TED fellows Interview. This time we are interacting with Aparna Wilder, the co-founder of Global Rickshaw and Wildkumar Movies. She has found a life partner and business partner in Shivraj Shantakumar, who received MTV India’s Best Music Video Award for 2009. While Aparna was in graduate school studying for a career in the non-profit sector, she and her husband decided to collaborate “…to make short, entertaining films that could inspire change.” Global Rickshaw has produced a score of films over the past three years, drawing upon professional film production talent to promote the messages of non-profit organizations. You can read about her, her venture, how does she look at her achievements so far and her plans for the future here. And yes, join me in wishing Aparna, the very best.

1. What is the defining moment in your career that made you chose short film making?

I am an accidental film maker. The story goes that I was studying for a career in the non-profit sector. During my graduate school summer internship with Unicef, I was writing a case study on the sex ratio in Maharashtra and one of my team members was shooting a documentary to accompany our report. The documentary covered great subject material, but the film was technically flawed and not shot in a way that would appeal to people outside of the NGO sector. Shivraj (my now husband who has been working in the film industry for nearly a dozen years) and I decided that we could create something much better together. We decided that we could make great films for NGOs, non-profits, and socially responsible businesses that were interesting, informative, visually appealing, and fun to watch. We also make music videos, television commercials, and corporate films under our company wildkumar moving pictures private limited.

2. Why this name - Global Rickshaw?

Global because we strive to be global citizens and would like to make films that appeal to global audiences. And rickshaw because it is a mode of transportation that is used in many parts of the world by people from various social classes. And the combination, well, it sounds like fun!

3. Is making commercial films and ads mutually exclusive to making film films with a cause?

We try to bring our technical and artistic background from commercial film making to public service announcements and other films made for the NGO sector. I would not say they are mutually exclusive though I would say the trend is to separate the two. For us, films are entertainment. And if a film can say something that might encourage a viewer to think about something for even a few seconds, well, that is the most we can ask for!

4. How do know that a particular short film has achieved its objective? Does the creator's satisfaction come primarily from the creation or from the impact?

Success really depends on the purpose behind the film – Is it to encourage donations? Build awareness? Teach a lesson? Encourage behavior change? We are satisfied if we are able to create a product the organizations we collaborate with are able to use towards furthering their message. And each film is a learning experience for us as film makers.

5. How do you tick an idea for a film? What thought process do you go through?

We work backwards and try to determine what should the film achieve. Then we try and brainstorm with several of our creative peers to figure out how we can come up with a concept that supports that end goal.

6. How has been the reach for your films? Have you been able to gain audience attention when it is put along with mainstream cinema or TV channels? Is the message taken like a postcard with feel good thoughts or as a slap right in the face of reality?

Several of our films have played on TV both in India and in the U.S. But thus far, our work is most easily accessed on the internet. We are looking forward to extending our audience with each and every film we make.

7. Today we see for a lot of commercial ads and also social ads, celebrities are used. While it attracts attention , how much do you agree with this trend? Have you used celebrities in any of your project? How was it different for you if you have used?

Celebrity spokespeople are a great way to raise awareness around a cause. It is trendy because it makes some noise around an issue but can also be good PR for a celebrity. We have seldom worked with big names for global rickshaw projects, though I am not against the idea. I think it really just depends on the project, topic, and nature of the film.

8. How are you sustaining your business? What is your revenue model?

Depending on the needs of the project, we work with an organization to work within a budget that they can accommodate. We also support our global rickshaw projects with technical know-how and professional expertise from our commercial work through our company wildkumar moving pictures pvt ltd. When we can, we also try to write for project-specific funding to help cover the costs of the films that we are excited to make on our own.

9. According to you what is the essence of short film making? What are the ingredients of an ideal short film according to you?

A short film can be anything! The important ingredients are a good concept and strong execution.

10. How do you inspire your team?

Enthusiasm is the best way to motivate and inspire the people around me.

11. How does it help to have your life partner as a partner in your business? How does it hinder?

It is difficult and challenging but also the greatest gift to be able to share your work and passion with the person you love.

12. What would you like to say to those youngsters who have bright ideas and want to make it big in the media, but have not got the right avenues?

Volunteer your time and ideas to people who you admire. Help build your skill set without pushing your own agenda but always keep your priorities straight. Every opportunity is a chance to learn and redefine your goals and aspirations.

13. What does being a TED fellow mean to you? How do you plan to leverage this?

I love TED and I learn something new from each TEDtalk. It is super exciting to be selected as a fellow and I am very excited to learn about what other people around me are doing. I am looking forward to hearing some incredible talks, meeting new and interesting people, and of course, soak in the TED experience live! This is a fabulous opportunity and I am very excited.

14. If you are given a chance to start your life from the beginning what will you do differently?

Absolutely nothing. I think life is full of twists and turns and I try to make the most out of every opportunity that comes my way!

15. Where do you see yourself and Global Autorickshaw in the future?

I hope that global rickshaw will be collaborating with fabulous organizations in the future to make awesome media – public service announcements, music videos and short films for years to come. My hope is that one day we will be able to make films that inform or encourage awareness about issues that could help guide policy decisions in the future.

Aparna Wilder can be followed in twitter @globalrickshaw

Her organization's website is http://www.globalrickshaw.com

Motherly Care at Vaatsalya

This is the second TED fellow whose interview is here. This time we are talking to Dr.Ashwin Naik. The last time when I had a smile on my face when speaking about doctors is when I saw Munnabhai MBBS. When I researched about Dr.Ashwin Naik and his venture Vaatsalya I felt how unfair I was to the Doctor Community. Politicians, cricketers, Software professionals, or even film actors can’t bring about a change that a Doctor or Teacher can. Vaatsalya is Dr.Ashwin’s way to change the face of the semi-urban and rural India in terms of affordable healthcare. You will definitely feel a sense of responsibility towards changing this World for good, after you read his views.

It is an often overlooked fact that 80% of Healthcare centres are present primarily in urban areas while 70% of the population is in rural areas. How did you sense this need?

I grew up in small towns across India (Haryana, Maharashtra and Karnataka), My parents still live in a small town in North Karnataka. Having grown up in small town surroundings and then studied and worked in Metros in India and the US, the disparity in healthcare facilities in urban and rural areas was always at the back of my mind. Most of my medical college classmates have graduated with advanced specialist degrees and the opportunities to go back to their hometowns and establish their practice was limited. When I sensed that there is a gap that we can fill and also build a sustainable venture, we got to work on the business plan.

Your previous organization is trying to have genomic maps to the problems of cancer. In my humble opinion, it is much more an intellectual stimulation to work for such companies. How did you come to terms with putting aside an intellectual calling and coming into a social calling?

If you truly believe that what you do will change the world for the better, in a small way, its equally intellectually stimulating, be it genomic research to decode the human genome, or to identify cancer diagnostics or to save lives of sick babies in small town India. Of course, it took a lot of time for my family to digest the fact that, the fat paycheck is gone.

What did you perceive as risks when you started this venture? I am sure the risks would have taken a new form today. How did you tackle the old ones and what are the new ones?

The risks that we anticipated were funding, doctors to join us and financial viability of such a venture. Considering that we were the first private company in India to focus exclusively on non-metro, non-urban areas and to plan on building a network of hospitals, all these risks were daunting. Fortunately, we found early backers in Aavishkaar, an early stage venture fund out of Bombay, who took the risk with us and put in the seed capital. Subsequently we got additional funding from Seedfund and Oasis Fund. Initially, we tapped into networks from our medical college (both Veerendra Hiremanth, co founder and myself studied at Karnatak Medical College), so the medical degree came in handy to convince some doctors. Eventually, after some false starts, we were able to figure out a model, and how to scale it up.

As we grow, now our challenge is to ensure that the same level of care and standards is maintained through out the organisation. We are now planning to expand to neighboring states and that brings its own challenges, of standardising systems and processes.

It was highly unexpected that your target segment will ever use the internet and much more unlikely that a facebook / twitter is even known to them. But a strong participation is seen in your websites / online accounts. How did this idea come and how has it improved your productivity?

Our social media involvement is primarily directed towards attracting talent (medical and non-medical) to our company. It allows us to create a continuous connect with potential employees, doctors and other team members who get to know us better, understand our culture and hopefully will join us. It also helps us to create networks within our organisation as the average age of our team members is 24yrs, and they are our ambassadors to the world.

I am sure that tie-up with micro financing institutions and micro insurance institutions is definitely in the anvil. How is it coming along?

We are in the initial phases of planning various pilot projects for a long term solution. At this point, we are acting as service providers to beneficiaries of Micro Finance Institutions who are covered by micro health insurance.

Low cost is sometimes interpreted as low quality. How did you tackle this?

Its very important for hospitals to build the element of trust with the customer and her family. Low cost is not an USP in the healthcare field, its affordable cost while maintaining high quality of service.

We heard uproars from the medical community when 2 years of service in rural areas was made compulsory. How do you view this situation in the specific context of employee retention? How are you managing to find talent and retaining the same?

Even though 50% of our customer base comes from rural India, all our hospitals are located in district level towns. While it is still difficult to attract specialists to work at our hospitals, its not as bad as rural hospitals. We ensure that we provide the right working environment, the right incentive and the opportunity to play a leadership role for each of our team members at the hospital or corporate level. This helps us to attract and retain the right kind of people to us, who love challenges and will put their heart and soul into getting things done.

I am sure you will have plans to go public, when you have more number of hospitals, may be across all South India. When are you planning to reach that target?

We are taking it one step at a time. We have significant presence in Karnataka with 9 hospitals, 550+ beds and 500+ employees. Our immediate plans are to expand to Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh.

As a person, you must have felt - yes, this is what I wanted to do - kind of feeling many times. What will be the moment that you would put down first in this category?

I feel it when I see the passion in the eyes of my team mates. Its very satisfying when you notice that the spark you have ignited is now spread across the organisation. And you realise it from unexpected corners, eg. I got a call recently from one of the nurses at our hospitals saying that we should provide small blankets to new born babies so that their mothers can keep them warm once they go back home. Being part of an organisation where every team member takes initiative and ownership to spread the spirit of Vaatsalya is immensely satisfying.

What TED means to you? What is that one idea that you will stand up for anytime? Why is that idea so important to you?

TED always meant "imagination and change" to me. The one idea that i will stand up for is that we have to leave the world a better place than how we found it. I have always believed that it is within our reach and imagination to change what can be improved. It is important for me because by choosing to change something for the better, our entire life become purpose driven. Purpose creates passion and passion can move mountains.

Follow Dr.Ashwin Naik in his Blogspot - http://ashwinnaik.com/blog/?p=22 and twitter http://twitter.com/ashwinnaik