When I met Ajay Jadeja

I recently got an invitation to attend the 5^th Adidassler Sports Day of Udayan Care. It reminded me of the event last year, which I was fortunate enough to attend.

It was a cold January morning. Though it was not foggy, but it was chilly. I was going with the children in their bus. So, I had to reach Udayan Home by 7:30 am, and thus wake up at 7:00! So, I thought of taking a bath some other day, and just washed my face with the freezing waterJ. I reached there in time and the bus left for Delhi.

Around 1½ hrs of bus journey and we were there. Gr. NOIDA was the first home and I, the first volunteer to reach. All the children quickly engaged themselves in making the arrangements and practicing for the event. I, on the other hand, had no work to do and no one to talk! So I started to get extremely bored. The only respite was the hot coffee that proved like elixir in the cold. But this state didn’t lasted for long, as other homes also arrived and there was so much going on that you eventually would become busy, just watching them.

The children started the march-past practice with their respective home flags. It reminded me of my school days when we used to do the same with our house flags. Though the mentor of Gr. NOIDA home was a retired brigadier, the children lacked rhythm. None of their feet seemed to move in unity. As a sergeant in NCC, I was a little irritated by seeing them. I was also a little amazed at the quality of march that we used to do at the same age! So, instantly I thought of training them myself. But, I restrained myself from offering help as their PT teacher wouldn’t have approved it. I was becoming nostalgic, drowning in my childhood memories when suddenly chief guests arrived.

Then there was this usual rush and everyone was moving. There was an excitement in the air, especially for kids. Dr. Modi, the founder of Udayan Care, herself went to escort them. And there he was, my childhood hero, Ajay Jadeja, emerging from the gate with the CEO of Adidas (whose name I don’t remember). The moment for which the children were practicing finally came and march-past started. The children then lined up for the oath, which Jadeja presided. When the oath was over, all the guests took their seats. I quickly went to the second row and sat next to the brigadier’s daughterJ. But, I didn’t chose my seat because of her. Though she was beautiful, but also married and a brigadier’s daughter! I was not in the mood to suicide, by flirting her. I sat next to her because it was also next to Jadeja, in a sense. Actually, Jadeja and Mr. CEO were sitting in the front row and I was just behind them.

The performances and competitions started with a beautiful yoga show. I liked it even more because my favorite student Kanchan was in it! I slowly started interacting with my companion (brigadier’s daughter). I was glad that she was from Australia and weak in Hindi, so I didn’t had to call her Didi ;-). She told me about the life in Australia, the struggles of NRIs and the growing tensions in Indian community due to increasing attacks on them. She quickly added though that she was safe in Melbourne, as these attacks were not reported from Melbourne, which, strangely enough, gave me a feeling of satisfaction! Then she asked about myself and even appreciated me for working for such a noble cause. These words made me like flying in the air. But that plane crashed just after the take off. For, she asked the question that I feared the most.

She asked me who the chief guest is, as she couldn’t recognize him. I was amazed and said why; he is a famous Indian cricketer. She smiled and said she hadn’t seen him play. I told her that’s because he doesn’t play now. But, he is still young, she said. Then I fell dumb. Thought for a minute whether to tell her the truth? My concern was that Jadeja could easily overhear us. But I decided that she was a pretty woman and deserves the truth. So I whispered the reason for Jadeja’s expelling to her. She was dumb founded hearing that! Then we had not much to talk, so we indulged ourselves in games that were going on. She left about 10 minutes after that, leaving me alone.

Only when she had gone, I realized what big a moment for me it was. I remembered Jadeja playing for India when I was a kid. I remembered him winning matches for us. The thing I most liked about him was his cunning fielding and his ever smiling face. In a match against Pakistan, he deliberately misfielded a ball, so that Azhar could run the batsman out! He was my childhood hero, and there was a time when I liked him (and Robin Singh) more than even Sachin. I never ever dreamt of sitting just a foot away from him. So close that I could touch him just by extending my hand! But I was such a fool, that I didn’t even have a paper to get his autograph. I was getting desperate, because I knew he wouldn’t stay for long. Mrs. Neelam came to my rescue then. She gave me her day planner to get it autographed by Jadeja. I took it as an opportunity to get an autograph for myself as well. So, I went to him, shook his hands and introduced myself. Then I forwarded him the planner to sign. I requested him to give 2 autographs which he did without protest. Though I had no intention of doing so, I had to take Mr. CEO’s autograph as well. He got a bit irritated when I asked him to sign again. Still I thanked him politely. Guest is God after all.

There was not much to do and this excitement of sitting behind Jadeja eventually vanished. I started to get bored again. There was a soccer match between Ajay’s and Mr. CEO’s teams. Mr. CEO was injured in it and had to be carried to the car. I felt both relaxed and astonished at the same time. Relaxed, because it was like getting revenge from him (he became irritated with me)! And astonished to see the CEO of Adidas, the world’s leader in marking sportswear, getting hurt playing with kids!

Jadeja left soon after the match. There was only one event left for the day. The volunteers’ race. Now, I have never considered myself a good athlete. So, I tried to hide myself behind a pole. Somehow, the anchor, Urmila, got a glimpse of me. She also happened to know me. So, she announced everyone must be the part of this race, looking directly at me. The race thus became inevitable for me.

I put off my jacket, gave it to Mrs. Neelam, and got to the race tracks with heavy feet. There was a reason for this. My competitors included 2 Germans and an American, all more than 6 feet tall. To make the matters worse, it was decided that the race would be 200 mt, instead of 100 mt decided earlier. The whistle was blown and we all started. While I ran with all my energy, the Germans were slow to start. I would have taken a good lead, if someone had not fallen just ahead of me, breaking my pace. Once, I slowed to avoid him, everyone else gained momentum. After about 150 mts, I got extremely tired and slowed even more. The Germans had already finished the race till then. I was worried not to come last. To my pleasure, I saw 2 people running after me. I came about 20 secs after the winners, which were of course Germans. Indians were once again defeated on their own soil! The only respite was that an Indian volunteer came third and American was fourth. I was fourth from the last, as you might have guessed.

That race was the final competition for the day. Prizes were distributed and we had lunch. Then, we left for Gr. NOIDA. I was again going with children in their bus. But, this time a notorious kid of NOIDA home was sitting on my lap. It took us longer than usual in the return trip because we had gone via NOIDA home, dropping children there. We reached the Gr. NOIDA home in the evening. Though I was tired, I taught Neelam, a girl of class XII, who didn’t attended the event. I returned to my apartments (rented), at around 7:00 pm. The first thing I did was to show my roommates the autographs! That ended one of the best days of my life.

Thanks Udayan Care for giving me this opportunity!

India 2020: Can we achieve Kalam's dream?

Another December passed and we entered into yet another new year. This year bought with it a new and much anticipated decade. The decade, most of us were looking forward to. For it is at the end of this very decade that Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam had dreamt of India as a developed country. The question is whether we Indians have the potential to realize his dream?

The first thing that one considers is the economic growth of a country. With economy currently growing at 7% pa and projected rates of close to 9-10%, India along with China is expected to be the source of 34% of world’s wealth by 2020. Though it is far from the 50% of the world’s wealth that India and China had till 1775, but it still gives us hope. Today, India is second in IT, next only to USA. This is an important development factor considering that growth is driven by technology in today’s world. Indians working in MNCs enjoy a heavy pay with ever increasing packages. Indian stock markets are paying high dividends to investors. Indian consumer has now the potential to buy expensive and sometimes elusive items. This has forced global players to invest in India and thus helping the economy grow.

Indian infrastructure is also growing at a rapid pace with ambitious Governmental projects like Ganga Expressway, connecting Delhi to Baliya in East UP through a 4 lane highway, being implemented. With the historic RTE (Right to Education) Bill passed, we can expect an increase in no. of children going school. India has a good level of control over its banking system which is the key to any economy. With 20 nationalized bank, the government guarantees that our banking system would not fail. This is important in long term as a bankrupt bank can cause a national economic crisis, like in Ireland. This ensures that Indians can keep their hard earned money in safe hands. This also means that Indians can afford to buy homes and send their children for higher studies with the loan that these banks offer.

With vulnerable borders that we share with Pakistan and China, strong defense would also play a major role in development of country. India has 3^rd largest army, 5^th largest air force and 7^th largest navy. We have some of the world’s best defense systems and equipments. We are capable of striking missiles as far as 7000 kms with a nuclear war-head. We have world class fighter planes as Sukhoi MKI. Our navy has nuclear sub marines and our army can survive in the world’s highest war post in Siachen. So we can say that we have world class defense in place.

Thus we can conclude that India is growing fast. But does that mean that we can become developed by decade end? Let me share a story to answer this. It’s a true story of 13 year old boy named Anil. Anil lives in Ferozabad, UP. He lost his father few years ago and is survived by his mother and 5 younger siblings. Because of his father’s illness, they had to sell their house. Now Anil makes bangles for a living. He is the lone earner for his family of 7. He says that his hands burn sometimes, but he has no other option then to go on. He dreams of living in England where he is free from work and can go to school and play cricket. He also used to go to school, but had to drop out.

Welcome to the other half of the country, still known as Bharat!

The question of being a developed India cannot be answered without addressing the concerns of Bharat. In Bharat, nearly 80 million children are out of school, 700 million people live at less than 2$/day, nearly 380 million people are living below poverty line, 100 million youth are unemployed, 640 million don’t have permanent toilets, 170 million don’t have access to safe drinking water and 290 million don’t have access to basic health care, not even to medical stores. More than 600 million still have agriculture as their primary occupation and most of them don’t own land. New Year is just another day for them. Just like Anil, their day starts early in the morning and ends at 10:00-11:00 pm after toiling their bodies for whole day. And still they sleep hungry! (An estimated 250 million people in India sleep hungry).

There is a huge divide between the rich and poor in our country. There are Indians featuring in the Forbes and Times on one hand, and marginalized farmers living on a HDI (Human Development Index) less than the African countries on the other. Rich kids are becoming obese on one hand and poor children are forced to work as laborers on the other. Only 3% of Indian population invests in share markets and more than 35% live below poverty line!

Being a developed nation would remain a dream if we cannot bridge this gap. Development cannot happen without the inclusive growth of each individual in country. Sometimes I wonder that if all the governmental policies are properly implemented, we would be out of the shackles of poverty in maximum a decade. We have RTE and Mid-Day meal schemes, which can take care of both education and mal nutrition. Then, there is NREGS (National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme), which can take care of unemployment. We have Rajiv Gandhi Avas Yojna that can take care of homeless. And in a matter of years, all this combined with the efforts of common people can eradicate poverty completely. Our nation could once again become a “golden sparrow”!

But, due to the unwillingness of both government and common people, all these policies do not reach the poor. The benefits of a developing India do not trickle down to Bharat. Thus, we remain poor and developing. I sometimes contrast India to Japan, a country devastated by war. But, in the same duration of 60 years Japan not only developed but also became a leader of the world in technology. Why can’t we achieve the same? The answer lies perhaps in the mindset of Indian people. While Japanese worked collectively with a sense of nationalism, Indians became invidualists with nationalism diminishing. Most of the Indians simply do not care about the society and country as a whole, and hence don’t act. Others think that nothing can be changed and lack motivation to act.

It thus becomes a duty for people like us, the empowered (privileged) youth of India to take initiative to make Kalam’s dream true. All it requires is a little time and effort. As someone has rightly said that we can change the world by doing a small act of random kindness (ARK) everyday. So Indians, celebrate New Year with full zeal, but at least spare a thought for Bharat as well. Jai Hind!