Natural farming, organic foods…

 

Life makes such a transformation! I am being a daughter of farmer now staying in the city for better education and job, I always miss the nature and the natural food of my native. My native is situated in the corner of western ghats, in North Kenara district, where you can see the green everywhere. People are doing mostly farming there. Bittlenut is the main commercial crop and we also grow rice, bananas, coconuts, Mangos etc, which is suitable to heavy monsoon.

We grow almost all vegetables and many fruits. One special thins is we never use the pesticides and  preservatives for anything, everything is so natural.

We do have cows & buffalo’s for milk products. We drink water from the well, which is also natural. But in the city most of the food items which we rare using are with preservatives & chemicals, I am worried about that if we will not preserve our natural farming and encourage farmers then it is like we are calling to life hazardous.

My journey of Indo-German relationship

When I completed my one year international volunteer assignment in Germany and came back to India 3 years ago I thought that: I will not meet my German friends in my life again! But everything is possible! This is very special year to me, because  I have guests three times and I enjoyed hosting them and it was totally a wonderful cultural exchange visits.

During my stay in Germany, one of the objective of the program was to continue this Indo-German relationship in future and keep doing cultural exchange activities, for this I approached organization who are working for this but sometimes genuine efforts does not get recognize! But I never give up. Finally it happened when my friends from Germany planned visits. So, I just do it for my satisfaction and I will keep doing it.

My country’s culture, values, ideologies saved me to survive in the lonely planet!

Shweta, how did you overcome from such a difficult situation? Finally! You proved that you are different, we are proud of you, this was the phrases which I got at the end of my one year stay in Europe. The last day of working I felt so satisfied that I did that, my answer was “it was just possible because of my country, culture and values”!

This is one of my travel stories that I was in Europe, specifically in Germany. In the beginning seemed difficult to adjust with the strangers, to the new place, culture, particularly new language! I was assigned for the work where they expect from me to speak German which was very difficult in the beginning, vegetarian by birth is the strange concept to them, in fact when I said I am a vegetarian then they thought that I do not like their food and their culture to have meats always!  As expectation rose and there was no common platform to understand each other and day by day the gap increased and one day “I was given an option that either I can take 2 more months to prove myself , either I should pack my bags and go back to India”.

That day I was sitting and reflecting myself that what went wrong? What should I do? Finally I decided to stay back and take a challenge of two months because as having Indian ideology in that situation “just coming back to India was like a coward”.  Well, What I did and how everything changed after two months? Yes, I made it, I put the effort to learn German and later on I discovered that hence, I know Sanskrit (where we call it as mother of all languages), it was easy for me to learn German very quickly, language was the mean that I could resolve many problems and express everything, day by day I could build the better understanding! I could explain that how we practice vegetarian food by birth and how great it is also.

I worked hard and put lots of effort to gain their trust, for them if the work is bit hard then also they used say like they are in stress, i.e. work stress! But, I was always energetic and had patience to work long, you know what is the reason behind it? This is just because I have a habit of doing Meditation and Yoga every day, Meditation keeps me calm and helps me to overcome from any kind of stress, otherwise it was not possible to survive alone there.

I was working with kids, I could teach them Bollywood dance, I cooked Indian food, They got impressed by our family system, culture, this all because I did not forget my culture, I did not lost myself in another planet, at the same time I respected their culture as well. As all of us know in India we have strong family values and society system as we give much importance to relationships, perhaps I could solve few problems there by applying our ideology of being together, yes each country has different culture and ideologies but for me being an Indian was the main reason to complete my assignment of one year successfully and to prove myself.

Last note:

Thanks a lot to Lufthansa for bringing this idea and made the platform to share our stories. The video reminded me about my experiences, which added memories into to my life. 

For more information about Lufthansa “to fly like an Indian” please visit  the link below: http://www.moreindianthanyouthink.com/?utm_source=ib&utm_medium=blog&utm_campaign=MITYT17

 

“Because we have been pushed to live there”!

“Didi, people are not friendly with us so far in the outside world, they always tease us because we live in a leprosy colony”, when 19 years old girl was telling this to me then her eyes were full of tears.

This September, when I visited one of the leprosy colonies in Chhattisgarh, the people there were expressing the similar experiences. I witnessed the unusual silence and sadness in these colonies.

It seemed the Leprosy-affected people due to the social stigma against the leprosy disease due to its disfigurement causes, the victims are getting isolated and shunned from the mainstream society.

Leprosy is one of the least infectious diseases as nearly everyone has some measure of natural resistance against it. This is also the leading cause of permanent disability in the world and is primarily a disease of the poor as many reports says. It currently affects approximately a quarter of million people across the world but the majority of these cases are found in India. Apparently India is the origin of Leprosy and currently running one of the largest leprosy eradication program in the world, it is called NLEP: National Leprosy Eradication Program. This issue can be majorly seen in 13 states of India, mostly the north and middle areas.

World Health Organisation (WHO) and other research reports state that 58.85% of new leprosy cases in the world are in India. In 2013-14, 1.27 lakhs new cases of leprosy were diagnosed.

Social stigma associated with Leprosy is forcing Leprosy-affected people to stay away from their village and settle in colonies demarcated for them.

People are coming from different parts of India and living together by building their own small huts or tents, struggling to get access for the basic amenities. It is sad to see how they’re being treated as untouchables in most places.

In fact, Leprosy-affected people are not only facing the social discrimination, they are ignored by the Law as well. Laws in the states of Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, and Orissa prohibit leprosy patients from running for representation at local elections. These laws have been supported by the national government, as evidenced when Supreme Court of India upheld a ruling by the State of Orissa prohibiting leprosy patients from participating in local elections. Other laws include the Indian Rail Act of 1990 which prohibits leprosy patients from traveling by train; the Motor Vehicle Act of 1939 which restricts leprosy patients from obtaining a driving license and they not been updated!

In this aspect there are some organisations like Pratham Education Foundation, the project which I was handling is to bring Leprosy-affected people to the mainstream. Pratham Institute, the vocational skilling wing of Pratham, has trained nearly 200 candidates since 2013-14 with support from SASAKAWA India Leprosy Foundation. Here I would like to mention a case of Shiv.

There is still a huge need for support for these affected people which need to be addressed as soon as possible. The social stigma associated with Leprosy has to be eradicated, as
Leprosy is a curable disease and awareness of this has to reach everyone so that the victims do not suffer.

I am ending this piece with a quote by St. Mother Teresa, “The biggest disease today is not leprosy or tuberculosis but rather the feeling of being unwanted”

 

 

 

 

Flying over!

Centre of the Halle, The Markt-Platz

Oh Halle! I miss you, you are so calm and beautiful, I still remember the first day when I arrived and shocked after seeing only building and parked cars in front of that but I did
not see any people on the street! Hence that was the summer and people were mostly travelling, Halle is one of the cities known for most of the old people live and the architecture is beautiful and it also has the good history.
Stayed in Germany for one year in the year of 2014 August to August 2015, I was in totally different world, for my family and villagers it was proud moment and first time a girl from the village went so far away, Yes, I did it and I have selected as international volunteer and I stayed the city called Halle an der Saale. Halle (Saale) situated in the Saxony Anhalt state of East Germany. The name has originated by salt making, also the river Saale used to salt-harvesting, it just contained around 236,991 populations that tim

The sights to explore:

• The “big church called “Market Church of St.Mary (Markt
  kirche)”, built in 1529-1554, along with the “Roter Turm (Red Tower, from the top of this tower you can see the whole city view) is located in the central and besides that there is another market place normally the “flee markt” the second hand/antique market takes place, which I loved.
• In the market place there is a big monument of George Frideric Handel, who is the famous music composer born in Halle.
• Halle Cathedral: This magnificent cathedral dates all the way back to 1271, the oldest religious building in Halle
• State Museum of Pre-history,where the Nebra sky disk is exhibited
• Beatles museum and the Salt museums are also interesting to see
• Theatres: Halle opera House, Neues Theater, Puppentheather, Thalia Theater, the only theatre for children in Saxony Anhalt
• Halloren Chocolate Factory and visitors’ centre, Germany’s oldest chocolate factory
• Geiebichenstein Castle, first mentioned in 961, is north of the city centre on a hill above the Saale river, with a museum in the upper castle and the Burg Giebichenstein University of Art and Design in the lower castle.
• Moritzburg a newer castle, was built between 1484 and 1503. It was the residence of the Archbishops of Magdeburg, was destroyed in the thirty years war, and was a ruin for centuries afterward. Partially reconstructed in 1901-1913, it is an art gallery today. The reconstruction was completed with the opening of new exhibition rooms designed by the Spanish architects Sobejano and Nieto in 2010.
• Well, Halle is known for the river called Saale and for the nature lover it is very beautiful and funny thing was they host the guest by taking you around the river! Every year the famous festival happens in October or September called Laternfest on the bank of the river, the lighting festival and this is also one of the best time to visit, riverside is the place to relax, picnic, playing and in the winter when the snow falls then children make the snow man,
• On the another part of the city called “Neustadt” known for many migrants and refugees lives there.

Tips for city seeing

You can get almost all the facilities within the city, one of my favorite places in the city was the central market place (markt-platz in German) where many creative things, street arts takes place and all the big shops like Galleria, One euro shops are centered, the same place effected during the world war-II. There is one street called Leipziger Straß where there are many nice shops around and on that street vehicles are not allowed, also this street connects to the railway station, another interesting thing is I found out the “Bollywood shop” where the Indian based women running the shop and you will get the Indian stationaries and gifts item, whenever I get bored I used go there and talk with the shopkeeper “Aunty” talk in Hindi just to feel something better. Many people identified me as Indian on the street and used to ask lots of questions about Indian culture!

Every day I used to walk to my workplace though I have got a bicycle I like to explore the city by walking, most of the places re walkable distance otherwise the local travels is also very good, very cleaned and systematically maintained streets! On the way to my workplace I see every day many coffee cafes, the oldest University of Germany: Martin Luther University, during the college time I can see many international students as well, also the central post office situated which has the big clock on the top and every day it helps me to track my timings to reach workplace.

There were Indian restaurants called house of India and garden of India on the way, also the beautiful city garden located on the way, time to time the flowers and the pond was maintained. During the weekend whenever I am free then I used to go for just walk and I enjoyed that the most because of the many people roaming around and many street arts and events takes place. During December month the whole city decorated and the Christmas market takes place, which you never miss to see, just amazing in the dark winter.

When you come to the food, oh god! For the vegetarians it is very difficult, I used to buy the stuffs from the Indian and Asian shops and also from the nearby supermarket called “Penny” which is very cheap comparing to other supermarket, Penny is just 3 minutes from the home where I was staying, I miss shopping in Penny. If I will not mention about the apple then it will not be fair, Yes, I ate apples enough for my whole life, you will get many kinds of apple and I used go to the garden outside the city and pluck the apples , I also eat lots of fresh strawberries and many other kinds of berries.

On the bank of Saale river.

Well, people from other side of Germany used to called as “Dunkle Deauthland (Dark Germany) “ to Halle, for me my host family and my guest mother was everything and the house and the separate room given to me was unforgettable, The museum and the Saale river, many churches are good to visit, the authentic food like many kinds of breads are suggested to taste, during the time of Christmas and Latern fest the best time to visit or else summer and autumn seasons are always good.  Still remember all the shops and the smiley greetings of the shopkeepers, my favorite streets, many kinds of fruits specially apple and strawberries, my many friends, mainly my guest mother and the house, Halle, I wish I visit you once again in my life.

Shweta.

 

This is just a real experience!

The below article has been published in one of the German magazines called “Masala”, here  is the English version of it.

How were your school days? What is the difference between Indian education system and German education system?” etc. etc. questions made me to think about it and remember about my past days! Still it is very difficult to compare between both the countries but I will try to explain it by my own experience.

Ancient Indian education concept is always learning with the nature and at least up to 5 years sometimes 6 year old child lives with the parents and family, in many families now also it is normal. Well, up to 6 years old I was also with my family and home schooled even though my parents are not so scholar but they gave me basic education and in my 4^th year I started to read and write. Being a doughtier of a farmer and living in the village made my childhood wonderful. I never went to the kindergarten and it was not necessary also. I never had the “kinder Zimmer”, whole house is ours there is no boundaries.

Playing materials! Different kinds of stones, building houses by woods and mud, leaves, flowers, playing with the animals, my father made a car by using woods, it was amazing. Do not think that we do not have technology! Ofcorce, India also has rural traditional technology, most of the things are healthy and nature friendly. Yearly once when we have the village festivals then we are getting the playing materials as a gift. When I was 6 years old then I started my 1^st standard of school. Started to wear school uniform, carrying lunchbox, in the monsoon season having colourful umbrella and playing in the water always, sharing and caring in everything, waiting for the many forest fruits and climbing the trees, catching the bird’s nest, teasing to the monkeys, keeping “wish leaves in the book”, making post cards with dried leaves and batters of flowers, practising Yoga , meditation and always fresh food (without chemicals, without using fridge) prepared by firewood’s by  mother, no internet, no television in every house, connecting with the world by Radio, doing many cultural activities, dramas, learning Indian dances, sports, waiting for marriage season and festivals, waiting for holidays to go all relatives house, no need to fix an appointment to meet anyone, living in joint family teaches many values.

I am the rank student always and I had no tuition, no extra special things, still I got “’Best student” award in my 10^th class among 200 students. To get graduated by good college I need to move another city, to get masters in my interest area I need to move another state, my mother always cried when I was going back from spending college holidays with the family, hence the strong family bounding in India. How different it is?? When I see the childhood life and the education here I mean in Germany!  As I am working in the kindergarten here, I never seen before these things, the playing materials like this! Everything is available to the child. On the other hand it seems to me that it is more than the necessary. If you see the University here at one city in one University everything is available, whatever you want to study that you can easily find here, and it is affordable also, Government supports financially also. For example if you want to be doctor in India then you need to spend lots of money but here not. Yes, I am in different world now.

In rural India most of the places up to 7^th grade is the completion of primary education and for the secondary education from 8^th to 10^th we need to find the high school nearby town, I had to walk 2.km to reach school and normally in the beginning parents come with us up to school, later we used go with our friends. To get my high school I need to go the city by bus. We had only one bus in the morning and one in the evening.  These all things made us to be a strong and learn more things about life. When we have everything easy and everything accessible then it will not give much difference of learning. Being a doughtier of middle class family is bit difficult to get or continue education well, but one of the value I learnt in school is “where there is a will there way “so I had the dream to do something difference in life and I agree that I struggled a lot to get graduated and to get masters but today I am so happy, it made me more stronger and stronger.

India is developing country, growing competition is one of the challenges to the rural children but the thing is in India the most of the leaders and most of the great achievers are from rural background and economically poor background. For example Mr. Dhirubhai  Amabani  was an Indian business tycoon who founded Reliance Industries (India’s second most valuable company by market value) was also coming from the normal middle class family. One of the former President and scientist of India.

Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam is the son of fishermen, who was selling newspapers in childhood. Like this there are many examples and they are the model persons for us.

“Vidya” means education considered as god in our culture and we worship the books, the value starts from here, teacher is considers like as god, child start to respect the education and the teacher in this way. The values thought in the school helps to lead a life, the stories of more than 5,000 years before are amazing and everything has some scientific reasons and messages, morals. Definitely we also study about the present situations of the world.

The usual education system is like the kindergarten by the Government (not compulsory like western countries or Germany) and in the cities there are paid kinder gardens too but it is not affordable to all. Most of the time it is only for half day. The uniform system in India makes all children looks equal and disciplined. Next the primary education system again it differs from village to city but In India all kinds of school are existing, similar to ancient Indian school systems to modern schools. Then come to high school and 11^th – 12^th grade are called as Pre University College, next 3 years of Graduation and then master, this is the normal education system and apart from this we can get many other.

One of the values that I learnt in by my education is “do efforts honestly, have a goal and dream, it will come true” and what is your piece is and fate that always you get it, no one can grab your fate”, I am just telling you this because many people thinks the education system in India is not good or the village life and the girl’s education system is critical but there are problems, issues, inequalities existing,  still apart from all those things nothing is impossible.

Thank you!

By, Shweta Hegde, India

The man of integrity, Dr.APJ Abdul Kalam

(The review and application of biography of Dr.APJ Abdul Kalam in respect to Motivation,Value, Ethics))

Introduction

It is rare to be born as a human being,
It is still rarer to be born without any deformity.
Even if you are born without any deformity,
It is rare to acquire knowledge and education.
Even if one could acquire knowledge and education,
It is still rare to offer service to the mankind and contemplate on the higher self.
If one leads such a selfless divine life,
The gates of heaven open to greet such an evolved soul.”

This one of the poems that Dr.Kalam gifted to the people.  He is one of the such a leaders who is the philosopher, machinery, the great scientist “Missile man of India people’s the President”, the personality of value, ethics and morals, the course  MOVE II gave an opportunity to us to read the biographies of the leaders and find out the MOVE and apply that in our life.

Background

On 15^th October 1931 in the mosque street of Rameshwram one of the sacred place of India, in the middle class Tamil Muslim family, in an ancestor’s house,  a boy born, father is Jainulabdeen who is not much educated and mother is Ashiamma, who fed every day to others without any discrimination. In childhood he was the boy among many children but now he is the great asset or personality of the country whom all the children of the nation loves. He started his study with local primary school and he has completed his High school at Ramanathapuram, after completing BSC from St. Joseph’s college Trichy After completing his BSc from St. Joseph’s college Trichy, he joined the Madras Institute of Technology (MIT), for studying Aeronautical Engineering.  From MIT, he went to Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) at Bangalore as a trainee, later he worked in DRDO in the year 1958 and joined ISRO in 1963. “Missile Man of India” was the Project Director of India’s first indigenous Satellite Launch Vehicle (SLV-III). He played an important role in India’s Pokhran-II nuclear test in 1998, the first since the original nuclear test by India in 1974, he is non-other than APJ. Abdul Kalam.

Motivation

A person’s motivation is came from many forces, sometime from the genetice inheritance, sometimes from the external factors. Like in case of Dr. APJ Abdul kalam also, he has got motivation in his life from the different people from his life.

There are five steps in motivation one of the steps of the motivation, the first on is Awareness, It starts from his family, he born in a cultured family and his father and mother are kind hearted and they are economically not rich but they are rich by heart, this motivates him to live with the people without any discrimination and he himself initiates the action that desire of to do something.

Desired change

In his child hood his relative Ahmed Jallaluddin and his cousin Samsuddin influenced to him to build the desired change in his life, Jalaluddin was 15 years older than him still he was a good friend of him and they both mainly talked about the spiritual things and that motivates to shape the boy as a spiritual minded with his father’s spiritual thinking, the another person Samsuddin, he was the news pare seller, Abdul Kalam learnt from him to become an independent so, he started to sell news pare with him. These all influence the person’s life desirable change.

Role model

In case of Dr. Abdul Kalam he did not mention particularly one person that who is hi role model but throughout his autobiography he mentioned his parents, his relative and his cousin and later the person like Vikram Sarabhai all his models or motivators.

Action

The next step of the motivation is action, here when Abdul Kalam started his hi schooling he did not have much idea about where to go what to do, but when he joined his high school there his teacher guided him and later also he went to outside of his native then he  got the idea about where he has to go, later he jumped into the sector were he wants but it is all about his motivation and action according to it.

Reinforcement

Here the reinforcement or reward is now who is he and what is he? He is a scientist and president and one of the role model of the nation. In life what all are ups and down came in his life then that time he remembered his relative Jalluddin and his fried always, for example once Jalaluddin died then his father motivates him, when his father died he himself motivated by the given words of Jalaluddin.

Following are the motivation and it shows from where he has got

• Achievement motivation– parents, (desire, belief, and expectation)
• Affiliation motivation– Childhood friends, Prof. Sarabhai, Prof Brahm Prakash
• Influence motivation– As a scientist and as president of India
• Control motivation– after failure of Agni-I missile test failure
• Extension motivation– MGK Menon, Prof. Sarabhai, large team of brilliant and dedicated professionals
• Dependence motivation– Prof Sarabhai, Satish Dhawan (Senior scientists at ISRO)

Values

Values are those which are leads to the person to follow certain Values are the rules by which we make decisions about right and wrong, should and shouldn’t, good and bad. They also tell us which are more or less important, which is useful when we have to trade off meeting one value over another.

In other words values are beliefs of a person or social group in which they have an emotional investment (either for or against something); “he has very conservatives values”

There are certain instrumental values which we can apply in our life from the in case of Dr.Abdul Kalam

• Ambitious (hardworking aspiring) : Since child hood we can see that he is a hard worker and later he works 18 hours a day, it shows that how much he is ambitious
• Broad-Minded (open minded) : Scientists are always broad minded and they always think about the inventions, innovative idea
• Capable (competent, effective): Abdul Kalam is able manage his professional life as well as his personal life means, in his work station he is effective himself and with his team.
• Cheerful (light-hearted, joyful) : In the 80 years old age also he is always seems cheerful, once we see him we will get the motivation like joyful
• Clean (neat, tidy) : From his personal life to professional, house to work station with the public he is always a clean, neat personality

Courageous (standing up for your beliefs) : Abdu Kalam is himself courageous and a man of integrity , by his quotation  “If you want to shine like a sun, first burn like a sun”, “ What actions are most excellent?

To gladden the heart of a human being, to feed the hungry, to help the affected, to lighten the sorrow of the sorrow full and remove the wrongs of injured.

• Forgiving (willing to pardon others)
• Helpful (working for the welfare of others)
• Honest (sincere, truthful)
• Imaginative (during creative) : he is a scientist so, this quality is with him always.
• Independent (self-reliant self-sufficient) : Since his child hood he started to earn by selling newspaper, it shows that he is an independent.
• Intellectual (intelligent, reflective)
• Logical (consistent, rational)

“I inherited honesty and self-discipline from my father and from my mother, I inherited faith in goodness and deep kindness from sisters & brothers”

• Practicing vegetarianism
• Patriotism
• Secularism

The above sentence of the DR.Kalam explains that the following all values he has and he is following in his life.

• Loving (affectionate, tender)
• Obedient (dutiful respectful)
• Polite (courteous well-mannered)
• Responsible (dependable, reliable)
• Self-controlled (restrained, self- disciplined)

As above there are certain terminal values which we could apply in from the Dr.Kalam’s life

• A comfortable life (a prosperous life) : He prefers simple lifestyle and he is comfortable with that
• A sense of accomplishment (lasting contribution): He contributed his life for the nation
• A world at peace (free of war and conflict) : He always avoid conflict, sometimes while working in the office with satellite he faced many criticism still he is able to manage it.
• A World at Beauty (beauty of nature and the arts)
• Equality (brotherhood equal opportunity for all) : In his team he always maintain a equality and since his childhood he lived with all caste of people so, he applied equality in his life.
• Family Security (taking care of loved ones) : In his family he is good son, when his father was ill, he used take the special doctor to their home, he used take care of his family members always.
• Freedom (independence free choice) : His parents thought that he should become a collector but his interest was different, then also he had a freedom to go which he likes.
• Happiness (contentedness) : “We should not give up and we should not allow the problem to defeat us” this line says that whatever problem comes we have to face it happily then only we will become happiness, this has said by Dr.Kalam
• Inner Harmony (freedom from inner conflict)
• Nature and Love (spiritual intimacy) : Dr. Kalam has got a spiritual values from his parents.
• National Security (protection from attack) : He always dreamt India in an developed country, in his book vision 2020 he narrates that in the year of 2020 how India should be.
• Pleasure (an enjoyable, leisurely life) : He never went behind the leisurely life, it came to according to the situation
• Salvation (saved, eternal life)
• Social Recognition (respect, admiration) : He did not run behind the recognition, according his achievement and contribution it came to him so, he is become one of the great leader of India
• Self-Respect (self-esteem)
• True Friendship (close companionship) : “ If we are not free no one will respect us”, this shows that he is giving the time to others and with his team and surroundings he is a good friend, to the children he is best friend.
• Wisdom (a mature understanding of life): His wordings like “ to succeed in your mission, you must have single-minded devotion to your goal”, he further says that “your willingness to use your own inner resources to invest your life, especially your imagination, will bring you success, when you undertake a task from your own individual standpoint, you will become a person”, this shows that he is the man who understood the wisdom.

Ethics

“Ethics is the study of individual and collective moral awareness, judgment, character and conduct”

“Ethics are thus internally defined and adopted, whilst morals tend to be externally imposed on other people’.

There are many theories in ethics like Deontological which is based upon duty to do the right thing at all time, clearly defined right and wrong and look at the action.

The another one is Teleological which explains Based upon the consequences Utilitarian (greatest good to greatest number), Right / wrong is relative, in case of Dr Kalam the Deontological theory we could see as he explained his autobiography ‘Wings of fire’.

In APJ Abdul Kalam Virtue Ethics Theory is more functional, virtue ethics theory means habitual development of sound character’s traits determines the value of person.

• Individual characters ethics- Gratitude, courage, self-discipline, reliability, kindness, caring, and sincerity.
• Work characters ethics- Honesty, creativity, trustworthy, co-worker appreciation, task competition, empathy, cooperativeness, supportiveness, and tolerance.
• Professional character ethics- Self-regulation, trust, independence of judgement, collegiality, and impartiality.
• Imbibe of learning
• Total commitment is not just hard work, it is total involvement.
• To succeed in your mission, you must have single-minded devotion to your goal. Individuals like me are often called workaholics.
• To put the heart and soul into the mission.
• Your willingness to use your inner resources to invest your life, especially your imagination, will bring you success.

Above are the ethics which we can imbibe from the Dr. Kalam’s life, he himself said that he is not a philosopher, he is a man of technology but for me he his man of integrity means what he say that he does, he is philosopher also at the same time technical man also because he is following the above ethics, values which are all the success philosophy behind the technical man.

“Motivational sources should lie within yourself then no one can stop you from achieving your goal”        “We should not give up and we should not allow the problem to defeat us”

Above sentences said by Dr.Kalam which influenced me a lot and I remember it in my life always.

 

 

 

 

A little spark to think towards youths and farming.

In ‘Everybody Loves A Good Drought’, P. Sainath says “poverty line provides conceptual rationalization for looking at the poor as a ‘category’ to be taken care of. It does not take into account important aspects of poverty such as ill health, low educational attainments, geographical isolation, ineffective access to law, powerlessness in civil society and caste and gender based disadvantages.”

“My dear son, as we are become old and we cannot go to field as previous so now it is the time to handover our work to you, you please take care our 10 acre land and we wish every year you should get good yield”. The reply of the son is  “ father as you know now all my friends are going to city to earn and some of my friends are enjoying their life in city, In this village what can I get? always going to field and farming then I should wait for crop yield and finally I can get yearly income that to not reasonable profits for our crop so, I am also thinking of move from here by selling this to nearby Industrialist, you can also come with me after when I will get settled their or otherwise you can live here with labour”. One day I was going to college in that time I heard this conversation of one of the families in the village, suddenly I stopped their itself and my mind started to think present scenario of rural youth , farming and migration!

The rural youths are the group which consist the half of the world’s youth’s population and these are the people who are most effected by poverty. Whereas agriculture is the backbone of the India as you know, the agricultural workforce is estimated to be 286 million in 2010; it is decreased to 234 million in 2001. But the percentage of total workforce engaged in agriculture has fallen from 58% in 2001 to 55% in 2010. At the same time, the contribution of agriculture to GDP fell from 23.2% to 17.7%. Despite a bigger workforce in agriculture, the contribution of agriculture in the Indian economic growth is less. But when we see in the rural area in farming activities most of the population is old age people. Where are the youths? They are migrating to the city .But why? They have limited access to the education health and also job opportunities also. In a country with 600 million farmers, in this 40 present are willing to leave farming.  First they went for education, and once completion of education they got good job and city life attracting to them so there is no question of return back to village and continue farming. From the beginning itself farmers facing so many problems, at present labour problem is the one of the major problems. lack of labours, In farming physical work is more and income is yearly and also it is depend upon the nature, so youths wants modern life and good quick income that is why they are settling in city. I agree but just think of future!! Who will produce the food? Up course the modernisation and globalisation are effected on agriculture positively, I agree with that but more than it has affected negatively.

I would like to give one example: Nearby my village called Malagimane, One family with having father mother and son. They are the one of the richest family in that village with 7 acre arecanut plantation land. It gives around 7,00,000 income to them, but now his son is studying MCA in Bangalore he is not ready to do farming and father and mother become old and they cannot do farming as they were doing early so now their half of the yield declining.

In case of small and marginal farmers they are selling their land and they are migrating to urban for seeking another occupation. But now a day nobody is ready to purchase agriculture land. Even If somebody will purchase then they will not use for farming. Government and so many NGO’s are implementing many programs and technologies to promote agriculture and allied activities but in rural area most of the youths are not there in this case a most of the farmers illiterate and now they are not able to do much work and they do not know how to use modern technology if they know then also they cannot work with this efficiently.

I am not saying that turning of youth’s mentality towards modern, easy life is totally wrong but at the same time they should take care of their parents occupation and youths can bring change in the system so when they think about their own life in that time they should think about society also why because farmer is the food provider without him rest all are nil, for the balance of the system and sustainability of the agriculture youths take important role and they must realise it. If farmers are not there then what you will eat? You have good job, enough money, but where is the food? In some extent you can import from other countries but developing countries like India it always possible and what about the poor people? While talking about equality as a development professional, new economic policies, Modernisation and Liberalisation, Globalisation are for implemented to develop a county but if it is not taking care of the poor or marginalised people then how India would become a developed country? Here I am putting set of questions because as we are youth we should think of it.

 

Reference:

• Tejasvini pagadala, T. (2011, January 30). Retrieved from youthkiavaaz.com: http://www.youthkiawaaz.com/2011/01/rural-urban-migration-india/

• Amrita sharama and Anic badhuri, A. s. (n.d.). THE “TIPPING POINT” IN INDIAN AGRICULTURE. Retrieved from http://nrlp.iwmi.org/PDocs/DReports/Phase_01/07.%20Indian%20agriculture-Migration-%20Sharma%20et%20al.pdf
• http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/20

 

 

 

 

Move but turn back..

Freiwilligenbericht von Shweta, Freiwillige bei der Kita St. Ulrich:

Time moves quickly, days runs fast! Finally when we turn back then remains memories. Yes! My one year abroad volunteer ship is going to end soon but I am taking many things with me and leaving many things here.

(Weitergehen aber zurück blicken. Die Zeit vergeht schnell, Tage fliegen dahin! Wenn wir schließlich zu­rückblicken, bleiben die Erinnerungen im Gedächt­nis. Ja! Mein Jahr als Freiwillige im Ausland endet bald, aber ich nehme viele Dinge daraus mit und lasse viele Dinge zurück.)

When I am with the children then I feel I am some ­where else, many times children takes care of me as my best friend, they ask like a parent, they share with me everything. Well, in my culture we believe that children are equal to god, also they do not care about my language in the beginning it was difficult but always there is way to deal the things and now when they came to know that I am leaving soon from Germany then they are very sad! Me too, but that the love I am taking with me.

(Wenn ich bei den Kindern bin, fühle ich mich als wäre ich woanders. Die Kinder achten auf mich, kümmern sich um mich und teilen Alles mit mir. In meiner Kul­tur glauben wir, dass Kinder Gott gleich sind. Sie ha­ben sich auch garnicht an meinen Sprachkenntnissen gestört, am Anfang war es schwierig, aber es gab im­mer eine Lösung. Jetzt begreifen sie langsam, dass ich bald aus Deutschland weggehen werde, was sie sehr traurig macht! Mich auch, aber ich nehme ganz viel Liebe mit.)

I should say that hence I did few projects with my workplace and also outside the workplace , at my workplace one of the project I did that preparing a Carom game, Carom is one of the Indian game which we play as indoor but it really makes fun, children learnt to play it and now everyday we play, I could say Carom board and that game is one of the gift that I made for children, another important thing is teaching Indian dance to the children, well we had a summer fest and in that Indian dance was the highlight point, children were enjoying with dancing and parents are also very happy. Children often say “Shweta tanz macht spass”.

(Während meiner Zeit als Freiwillige habe ich einige Projekte bei der Arbeit, aber auch außerhalb umge­setzt. Auf Arbeit war eines davon ein Carrom Spiel herzustellen. Carrom ist ein indisches Brettspiel, es macht großen Spaß. Die Kinder haben gelernt es zu spielen und nun spielen wir es jeden Tag. Mir war es auch wichtig, den Kindern indische Tänze beizubrin­gen. Als wir Sommerfest hatten, war der indische Tanz der Höhepunkt. Die Kinder liebten es und die Eltern waren auch begeistert. Die Kinder sagen oft: „Shweta Tanz macht Spass“.)

The another most memorable day for me that my birthday, I had a different birthday celebration and gifts from the children. Now full of “Freunde buch”, (Autograph book), lots of things that every day I ex­perience with children and some of the parents invite me for family functions and cooking together specially Indian food makes me happy always.

(Ein anderer erinnungswürdiger Tag für mich war mein Geburtstag. Ich hatte eine eigene Geburtstags­feier und bekam Geschenke von den Kindern. Nun habe ich ein volles „Freunde Buch“, und viele Dinge die mich an die Kinder erinnern. Einige Eltern haben mich auch eingeladen, um an ihrem Familienleben Teil zu haben. Da haben wir auch indisches Essen ge­kocht, ich hatte immer sehr viel Spaß dabei)

There other hurdles too but I always tried to do my level best and I can see and feel that my target group which is given to me in this project is happy with me and it is a sad situation to both of us, but life moves and we have to move so I just cannot forget and I will also miss many things, Thanks a lot.
Es gab auch viele Hürden, aber ich habe immer mein Bestes gegeben. Ich sehe und fühle, dass meine Kindergartengruppe, die ich in diesem Projekt betreut habe, glücklich mit mir ist. Mein Abschied ist eine traurige Angelegenheit für uns alle, aber das Leben geht weiter und auch wir ziehen weiter. Ich werde diese Zeit nicht vergessen und ich werde viele Dinge vermissen, Vielen Dank.
By, Shweta, India
Tschüss, Shweta, Indien
(Picture by 6 years old child and one of my birthday gifts

(Each paragraph has been translated in German as it has been published in German)

“World is meeting at one platform”

“ Bundesfreiwillingendiest” (BFD) is the initiation of sending and receiving the volunteers from the worldwide! Really this is the very wonderful idea. Yes, from 10^th of November to 14^th of November I was in the seminar in Nurnburg. It was amazing and it was so surprising in the introduction of all volunteers at the beginning because we were having the participants from 16 countries of 4 continents Asia, Africa, Europe and Latine America. Before going to seminar I was not aware that we are going to meet these many people from across the world, wow it was great.

I felt really proud about to present about my country and it was a great opportunity to all of us that to present about our own countries and also about experience in Germany. Another important experience was exposure to Nurnburg. I felt that I was really in the time of Hitler. This city is very famous for Nazis and there is a very big building made for the Hitler and his speech. Now that building is exhibitioncentre about past history of Germany. We heard many things about Hitler and World Wars but this is the actual visit to that place.

It was a good learning experience to know about other country and making new friends, hearing many languages at one place. The hospitality of the BFD (bildung centre) was wonderful and one of the head of administrations from BFD Berlin came to visit us. Last day evening party by doing dances of differentcountries was also nice( I have got the opportunity to perform Indian dance too) and seminar ended with doing and present group projects. The photo presentation of the whole week journey and drawing the all countries flag on the wall of the BFD (bildung centre) building also unforgettable.

I am very thankful to my receiving organisation Friedenskreis Halle e.V.

and also BFD for providing this opportunity.

Shweta Hegde from India..

(This article has been published in the news letter an Organisation “Freidenskrise” in Germany)