Hospital and Hospitality

I used to associate the word Hospitality with Hospitals. [Oxford Dictionary - hospitality · n. the friendly and generous reception and entertainment of guests or strangers].


General Hospital is situated in the heart of Udaipur City. It's one of its only kind hospital of Rajasthan. It is well equipped with modern instruments and highly specialized doctors. Yeah, in appearance wise this old building can't compete with luxurious new private hospitals. But still I feel no other hospital can beat this old heritage of Udaipur.  Being government hospital treatment is cheap. It’s lifeline for poor people. Government does a lot for poor - Free treatment to medicines and meals for BPL people. If you have patience and can adjust in a bit un -clean environment, it’s were you gotta go. People here are not much corrupt like generally we hear in private hospitals. But still I feel hospital can go much better and I don't  hesitate to criticize its weak points. 

For some reason I got chance of spending two complete days in General Hospital of Udaipur. This hospital is sick. It needs some treatment. Hospital is sick not because of patients, but because of ego of people. Why these people have that much attitude. Why can't doctors and hospital staff be more humble and frank with patients and their relatives.It was my general perception to associate hospital with atmosphere of generosity.

Yeah, I agree doctors are busy and they have a lot of responsibilities, but things can be improved. The poor work managements results in a lot of waiting and impatient queues. They just make patients sit long for small issues. But yeah, problem is round robin, ultimately it boils down to over-population. Hospital management needs some attention. They have different set of unconnected staff for different jobs. For security, nursing, operations, cleaning etc and they are not much interconnected. This results in periodic fights among employees. Work of security people is not properly defined. Let me share one happening at the hospital. 

Hospital has two sections - Outdoor and Indoor. Indoor is for people who are admitted and Outdoor is for just for small issues and doctors appointment staff etc. Rules say - No one is allowed to enter Indoor without special pass, but this rule is followed in so arbit random fashion, that leaves everyone in confusion. Security people won't trouble white collar gentlemen, but will just throw out  if a villager tried to enter in. This is no way a fair policy. Sometimes security people try to be strict with everyone .. But this leads to chaos. I was just around and some doctor in informal (no apron, name-tag and other doctor feel stuff) was trying to enter a ward. New policemen on duty shouted in his normal routine language "tu bahar nikal"; this comment just sparked that doctor, who busted policemen "tum 3rd class log, saale mujhe bahar nikalta hai" etc. and so on. Soon doctor lost all his senses and filled the atmosphere with 100db noise.  No one keeps mobiles on silent mode. Be it patients or doctors. Actually atmosphere is already so  noisy that mobiles have negligible effect.

Doctors are like God-figure for patients. The impressions they make, will stick with patients, with fellow people, and as we go further with other members of the different communities in and around Udaipur. Well its okay if some small fight occurs and is compressed, but its more like everyday occurrence, newspapers often reflect the same. Forget about hospitality for patients Everyone seems like just doing his/her duty, they don't show any emotions and give respect to feelings of patients.  Work Culture is Sick !

Some doctors lack manners, kuch bhi bol dete hai. They have some rules to make wards less crowded. Sometimes relatives too visit their patients .. yeah I agree this makes place crowded, but doctors should decently explain people regarding the same. Coarse language kills people from inside. The feeling is even worse in the hearts of illiterate villagers who travel miles to just have a satisfactory look at their fellow beings. Rules are rules, but behavior is also behavior. Doesn't the batch of 15 junior learning doctors roaming with Boss doctor add to crowd. People (especially poor people) are just afraid of doctors - like kids in a school. But because they are not really kids sometimes frustration burst into harsh remarks. It makes atmosphere even more miserable.

Language treatment to educated people is normal/nice, but the staff sometimes too gets wrong here. Those people don't even mind asking people for official xerox and paper clips etc, may be I agree hospital might not have resources. I don't mind buying a handful of things for them, but a "Thank You" comment may have eased my impression on them.

Bhaiji Junta - One thing I liked in midst of so-so attitude. The Bhaiji's who clean floors etc. Their boldness and dedication to their job is impressive. 10 out of 10. These Bhajis will thunder the atmosphere with their loud voice and junta will just vacant the place in one go. Had these bhajis been soft, hospital would be a dirty-dirty place.

Also something for cleanliness - Actually its we people who are responsible for same. People like us go and dirty the place. Staff is doing their job perfectly, but nothing much can be done if people don't change this way of life.

Also, Hospital Canteen is awesome. If you are even hungry and had a night out and finding some place to eat - this place is where you gotta go. Cheap good food - 24*7. Few months back after a nite-out I had tea-coffe here early morning. 

Also, some doctors and staff people are really nice. Their dedication to work is impressive. Anyway whatz awesome part is everything happens perfectly well in these settings. This is so called adjusting nature of Indians. May be we don't have much resources to afford good infrastructure, but we still are doing best with limitations. Yeah, it can be case some dirty people may have make place sick, but their is always a way out. The problems can be best addressed by some internal experienced dedicated employee of hospital, they are only one who knows the true picture. 

I hope someday, someone with google and this blog and may be will contribute something for betterment. Here is some way to go about. 

Recommendations

1. Hospital needs a separate department for hospitality. This department can guide and instruct people      well. They should be very frank people and make people realise hospital is friendly place too.
2. Currently rules are half make and followed. There should be proper rules and regulations, job of everyone (especially security people)  should be concisely defined.  Rules should be followed by everyone with due regard.
3. All departments should be well inter-connected. Frank atmosphere should be reflected on face of people. Hospital staff is doing their job well, but they should also reflect some love and affection in their attitude.
4. Sign boards and proper conventions to help people find their respective destinations. Its really a big building and even educated new doctors may get lost there.
5. If possible, more lifts can be installed for convenience of  patients.
6. Doctors, they are highly educated people but they must not should too much attitude. They should properly listen to every small doubt of patients and there relatives.
7. Computerization can be a big boon to lot of paper work inside 
8. Hospital don't have proper lights and fans. Thatz creating a lot of inconvenience. Many fans and lights are dead. But the arrangements for patience is okay. Not much repair work is needed, a small addon will be a boon. Actually, public doesn't use things properly and these equipment go wrong before their lifetime. 
9. Lack of proper sitting and waiting place, if government can invest to create so nice airports, why not for hospitals.

Whatz pointed are some general happenings in General Hospital of Udaipur. These are layman's educated observations. All whatz blogged may not be true in general but its also not much out of reality. 

The request is, to move 2 steps forward and change your attitude. Also comment your views and suggestions. The more we can learn from each other as to what is working, what not, and what we can do to improve, the better we can together build this initiative.

Disclaimer: The views expressed here are strictly personal. No representation is made that it is timely, accurate or complete.

Vertically Down

It was rare occurrence.

Some lonely time here in Udaipur, my hometown. I am currently spending some quality time home. Summers is worst this year. It feels really hot and unpleasant here.

When at home, my time and schedule goes quite different from normal college routine. At home I turn twice lazy and spends my time in least productive way.

Yesterday (Friday, May 27, 2011)   something strange happened.  We were in Mayur shopping complex,  sector -5. Me and my mom were window shopping around. Before the equilibrium between customer choice and shop's availability could match some random chaos happened, he felled down the terrace.

Gravity, a free fall, an impulsive sound, screening noises. Thundering atmosphere, crowded road. Ambulance rush.

That moment, those seconds !
May be it made me feel - How precious is life !
Ambulance and delay time: Formalities
Life and risk

Safety and India 
Perhaps many buildings and popular places in India are not safe as compared to other places around the globe. We sacrifice safety to make things cheaper. Problem is we don't value human life. To our government cost of one person is just around ~3 lakhs. What this means is -  if some death is caused due to some accident in some company/workplace, that respective firm is only liable to pay these 3 lakhs to family of sacrificed. So, all multinationals and big players can get away with safety measures. For companies, only concern is profit. Now, its better to pay 3 lakhs for one dead rather then invest a lot of money to work on safety standards.

It's not just companies, its general mentality of people to pay less for safe side. Don't you prefer a cheaper low standard helmet - just to show off that police wala and get away with traffic rules. Our buildings are not designed to take into account fire accidents. Typical buildings abroad have fire alarms and dozen more safety standards as compared to India.

Actually, even what we cook in our kitchens is that smoke-rich that Indian food easily trigger alarms and often is false positive. This is what used to happen, when I used to cook food last summers.

Also we have a lot of formalities.
As this post is in connection with accidents, let me inform and rephrase our basic rights.  Its just - if some of your relative met with an accident ..then how do you go about

Here it goes:
The Supreme Court has ruled that all injured persons especially in the case of road traffic accidents, assaults, etc., when brought to a hospital / medical centre, have to be offered first aid, stabilized and shifted to a higher centre / government centre if required. It is only after this that the hospital can demand payment or complete police formalities. In case you are a bystander and wish to help someone in an accident, please go ahead and do so. Your responsibility ends as soon as you leave the person at the hospital. The hospital bears the responsibility of informing the police, first aid, etc. 

With our complicated driving habbits and get away traffic rules, I wander cost of life on Indian roads ?

Abhi kai liye itna hi, may be will add later. 

East and West

I wanted to blog about this but never exercised my fingers before. After long, I can't stop writing that I may probably blog later. Your suggestions and comments are welcomed! 

American Culture

1. Negative Aspects

• I very wasteful society: Malls and places are lighted 24*7. They are exploiting the earth
• Culture of drinking. These people just drink and drink. Women are no exception too. Very restaurant is a bar.  
• Non-Veg people: So, I personally hate, this is debatable. They cut animals live and sell in malls
• Discrimination: I heard stories of Native Indians. Possibly government is not doing enough for them
• Concept of unlimited petrol for cars, like unlimited talk time in India. Petrol and Milk cost same. 
• Strip Clubs: I did never visit; reader may Google. 
• Luxurious living - Contrasting the Indian poverty touches my heart. 
• Drugs: Every metro has some underneath dirty illegal business, so was there in Canada. It’s not much different as Mumbai and other Indian cities have too such underlining sellers. Inside stories 
• US - Anyone can carry any arm (AK47). This is however prohibited in Canada. 

2. Positive Aspects: 

• Awesomely frank people they are, every morning you hear Good Morning at Coffee shop. Hi and hello are so on tongues! The underlined feeling is not too much. But it really feels so awesome listening Hi, Hello, Thank You, Sorry etc so often. 
• Trust: You can have a tour of parliamentary building even without a security check. 
• Welcoming nature: Cosmo-political nature
• Adventurous nature: People travel from left to right of country on bikes. People just have passion in life
• Rules are followed: No Dirty business, No garbage
• You find no watchmen and traffic police people there. Things work fantastically automatically 
• Traffic rules are followed, seriously this makes me feel bad for India 
• Informality: Calling your professor by just first name is equally considered respectful – No Formalities
• A very good work culture, you love working in labs or in some office, people respect you. There is no hierarchic system. Even a sweeper of company can right away talk with CEO of company with no hesitation. No Dirty corruption.  Even Sweepers are nicely paid and is not at all considered inferior job. 
• Open minded people, but with not so open heart!! 
• People work out of passion; people do what they wanna do. All fields of study are equally valuable
• Marriages are so simple and fantastic. They just marry with ~50 guests in some open public garden and sing merry songs. Flowers and simplicity is appreciable. (Contrast: Indian system)

3. Neutral Aspects (These are all neutral to me, but reader may find +/- bases on personnel justification, what I write is just facts)

• People work for 5 days and party for 2 days a week 
• Clothing Sense: Girls and Women with mini-dresses, high hills and heavy makeup’s are so common. But people don't just glance. Normal behaviors of normal audience.
• Non - Adjusting nature. Driver with license of 23 people can't drive bus with 24 people inside, even if it’s worst of emergency. They follow rules blindly. 
• Punishments are too harsh. If you are found without tickets in local trains, you are finned heavily. 
• Clothing Optional Beaches: But attitude is normal. They don’t have any shame.
• Electronics are cheap: In a way they are not paying true value of resource of planet. 
• TV News: It’s funny: They don't have anything major happening, one end up watching stuff like 1000 vehicles moved on highway 11 this morning. This way has more traffic. Also, they don't cook up news.  We're embarrassed, and we don't want to be, God forbid, hypocrites.
• Also, not be forgetting the dominating exterior attitude of American Countries like US, this Libya stuff. Mostly all what I wrote was in a way only linked to Canada. One more thing I remember is *Public Display of affection: People end up kissing there loved once anywhere from local malls to local buses. They are crazy!

Thank you for reading, all I expressed was inside stories of some nation that can be seen and understood by traveling. Disclaimer: Reader is responsible for any wrong misinterpretation of data. Author doesn’t have any inclination to any point mentioned.

Few points from some friend of mine

• Common Positive aspect:  Greeting Elders. Even we wish everyone by saying Namaste uncle aunty, hello didi bhaiya. Well am quite sure these days for uncle aunty too many of us use hello and hi.
•  "Public Display of affection". Even in India too there are places like lover's street – Where you can see open smooches n kisses n hugs. That time is not far away when in India too we will have such culture of kissing loved ones in local malls and buses.
• Guests and Hostels: Read this How stupid, such a small thing and they publish in Leading newspapers of India. How cheap!
• Kissing Scene: The IITR Lipstick Competition is what all I can recall. Damn Shit - Watch this. Well very true is this reply too.

Indians don't celebrate Republic Day or Independence Day with passion. Over there on Canada Day, you can find entire Vancouver on streets with so much passion and energy. Seriously feeling was too much. 

Sick is way in which headlines title in newspapers like "India v Australia in QF, Revenge for 2003 final?" Just to make some news catchy people are using so harsh and thoughtless language. Being over the path of westernization, we are mostly catching up these negative aspects of West rather than many other worth positive qualities. Anyway, Culture is too complex a thing and neither of us can change and do anything. It takes years and then naturally evolution of culture takes place. Everything is not good everywhere. Neither I appreciate Indian culture, nor do I have faith with the west. 

Everything is not good everywhere. Neither I appreciate Indian culture, nor do I have faith with the west. One can even live in once own imagination of this beautiful planet and follow his/her own culture. Do what you like, Go where ever you want to go, do whatever suits you, wear whatever suits you best. Listen to your body and fantasies too. Sing Dance, Study, Sleep but whatever you do just listen to your heart and mind. Open your heart and mind. Do one thing every day that scares you. Win, race is long. Don't congratulate yourself too much. Sometime do crazy stuff too. Your choice is your half chance

2010

Here comes the last day. I have a stupid habit of getting emotionally attached with present things. I am still much into this year of 2010. I feel sort of unhappy to say Goodbye to 2010, then cherish up for coming 2011. Even 2010 look far better in eyes than 2011. Anyway, things come and go and this is life. 2010 was sort of wonderful experience for me. It was incredibly by far best year of my life. I am in habit of putting up all nuisances that comes to my mind in this space. Just of a note of caution: Reader may sacrifice their wonderful time over this post and may miss once Sheila ki Javani on their Tele-Set. Choice is yours - Go Ahead or Jump Backward.

Well, I begin now. The introduction was intended to move non-enthu Juntu out of my wonderful space-time of bytes of memories. It’s not every day Gaurav exercise his keyboard for blogger space, so I promise you will find something interesting here.

This year, 2010 started with a night out at Marine Drive and Juhu Beach (yeah, New Year 2010 celebration). Not much to say about it, but it was just an experience of crowded Mumbai. New Year eve is damn crowded all around in Mumbai. January was awesome, full of surprisingly good unexpected news. Amazing was techfest time and then some quiz hassle.

February: Midterm time. 6th semester had just started, but semester soon caught momentum. Just after midterms, I decided to go home. Well, reached home without any prior notice and left everyone to surprise. But it was only 1 day trip; I had to soon leave back for college.

Then came March, CFD assignments was all I did. I will never forget those frustrating coding stuff that took weeks to debug. But really its joy and fun, once code works. Yeah, we did succeed in solving all problems. Later, I had a wonderful trip to Kapshi village. Bit traveled this month.

April fool time - I am already a fool, so no point fooling me. It was final semester exam time. But visa stuff was all in my eyes. I just wanted time to flee up. It was most hectic time ever. After exams, I had just 3 days to pack up for a new adventure - Miles away! I did a lot of shopping in these 3 days. Travelling bags, utensils, food for 3 months, clothes etc. Perhaps, in haste purchased half the clothes of wrong size. It’s difficult to get packing done for a long journey without parents help.

May 1st - All set to fly for Canada. I was going for a 10 week summer internship at University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada. Yay!. My first flight in life, that too international. Mumbai chhatrapati shivaji airport trilled my eyes. Jesus! What all awesome stuff mankind has created on this planet? Anyway, I said goodbye to my motherland, India. I had some connecting flight from Frankfurt. Finally I reached Vancouver. Travelling by air is very comforting and peaceful. It’s more difficult to travel 20 km in crowded Mumbai local trains, then 20 thousand miles by air. Frankfurt and Vancouver Airports were utterly awesome.

I was there in a completely new continent. Bit scared at first, but soon got used to the new place. Jetlag for few initial days. A big new country to explore. We utilized every weekend to reach every possible corner of this new land. I had a feeling - It’s time to explore now or never. So I did, travelling around Canada. Discovered places like Victoria, Tofino, Whistler, Vancouver, Toronto, Niagara. Also, I learned to cook. I used to make very delicious Dal. But, always followed wrong procedure to cook rice. Fired microwave once. Anyway, cooking was fun. Also, had a lot of pizzas and bread. Sometimes, laziness won over my empty stomach. Maggie helped to substitute for meals, many a time.

Adventures of Ziplining at Whister, Jetlag at St Andrews, Lunch at Sushi, walks of Stanley park, Ultimate Wave Tahiti at Omnimax Theater, Free Strawberry at McDonald, Illegal fire at Wreck Beach, Waitress of Sandman Hotel, Iron Man-2 at Scotia Bank Theater, Canoeing at Jericho Beach, fishes of Stanley Park Aquarium, Evening with a Canadian family, tales of a Canadian Soldier who had been to Afghanistan, 16km walk in the shades of lynn Valley, hiking Grouse mountain - highest point in Vancouver, Jug Island, 19 presentations in 10hrs, airG tour, EA games industrial tour, Gondola Ride, Ferry Joy Ride, Camping near tofino beach on a rainy night, iphone, ATM delivering only coke, CN Tower, amazing Niagara Falls, relaxing Toronto Island, downtown Toronto, MITACS workshops and Lab Simulations running for days. What a time that was!

After these 85 days package, I had to leave for India. It was ending of July, 2010. Back to Mumbai. At once, I just wanted to go home. Udaipur for just 2 days and back Mumbai. Time went on. 7th Semester seemed somewhat peaceful then other semesters. But in the end, it doesn't matter. August, September were just another months. Midterms and busy life of IIT seemed to have taken me back. Mid-Sept: travelled to Matheran, a hill station near Mumbai for a weekend. Soon some unexpected set of events and got a bit disturbed ~ family stuff.

October Sky: nothing much; traveled to a village called Vihigaon. This time DG cam helped me taking a lot of pictures and store in my memory drive. All through the year, I had a major responsibility of running NS 101 and NS 102, which I loved to do.. just had to compromise a few grades. This stuff really fascinated me and kept me busy like hell. But, yeah I loved what I did. I did re-structured the entire course. Thanks to support of a dozen people in my team. Home Documentary session in IRCC, Campus School Volunteering Programme, Interactive Session with Madam Vidya, NSVK volunteering Program, Salvation Campaign, Trip to Vihigaon, music session by madam Vidya at Dhrupad Sansar, Soft Skills Training by Madam Shyama, many meetings, infi mails: slowly all these are helping me in improving my managerial skills. It really takes a lot of dedication to make every event a success. Yeah, we failed many times..But there is always some hope.

November was yet another month. Busy with exams, projects and assignments. At last semester ended. I was so exhausted and went straight home then.

December: Chilled at home. Did some cool stuff? Painted rooms, Enjoyed ghar ka khana ... I could not even realise how fast 25 days at home had gone. Was not much willing, but came back Mumbai to spend last few days of this year. Recently I traveled miles in Arabian Sea - to the caves of Elephanta.

This Year was very happening. I found very wonderful friends who supported me every times. Loneliness kills me .. but few kept me alive, even when I was miles away from home. They will hopefully my friends forever. It takes a lot of experience to care for people. I also realized there is always hope and one should not lose faith easily. Many say I have changed a bit - I still wonder of them. Anyway, thanks all for being part of my life in 2010. Life to chalti rahti hai, Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gham !

A little smile, a word of cheer, a bit of love from someone far, a little gift from one held dear, best wishes for the coming year... Happy New Year 2011.

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before u ! - Charles Dickens

Udaipur

I belong to a place called Udaipur. Quite famous as a tourist attraction and also popularly know as City of Lake. This year I was fortunately enough to spend time and travel in around a dozen metros. Finally after so much trill, I decided to walk to my hometown and just rest for a while. It's December of 2010.

To my surprises, before my eyes Udaipur seemed to have substantially changed. Yes, it was nice to find lakes full. From north to south, filled till brim. I wonder it was 5 years back lakes were this noisy. On my way home, companion to my railway compartment was a young couple (tourist) heading to explore my hometown. They planed to crawl around from FS to Nathdwara. I always wish to find some foreigners near my seat, but was unlucky this time.

Here in Udaipur, roads are good. Quite shorter are distances. Used to Mumbai traffic, I appreciate rarely crowded streets of Udaipur. But sooner I smell this place is gonna become hell. Traffic rules seldom followed. Not a single Halmet head can be found. School kids fly at all speeds. They fear neither of death nor pain. Parents supply best of best bikes. Wow !

Sky had no spark of constellations. Generally filled with noise crackers and worst chorus of Baraats. Roads filled with crazy people dancing surrounded by small kids holding heavy lanterns. I don't know what has happened to people here, but I see nothing lesser then madness of ancient wars among various dynasties. I see completely stupid picture of Indian Wedding custom, now followed. This is too much. This is Sick.

My friends go and enjoy free dinners 10 times in a month. Perhaps, you can always find a lighted garden just around a kilometer range. Buy nice formals and 1 rupee blank envelope before you jump in for free dinners. Just some patience is needed to get hot Dosa and cold Icecream, small hungry mosquitoes will always wave their plates in madness and torchure the chef. Don't forget Coffee - Its winter time now. From town Hall Pava Wala to Hotel Nataraj, all have small kids to wash utensils.

Also, worst is to see small kids slaved to work in houses. I am sorry, but was even shocked to see one at my relatives place and one at some nearby neighour. Newspapers are only busy with Give up news.

"I see the world being slowly transformed into a wilderness. I feel the sufferings of millions and yet when I look up the sky I somehow feel that everything will change for the better." - Anne Frank

This time home was a bit different experience. V-mart, Bigbazar, narrow market streets, Anand plaza, Kitchen kraft, Berger Paints, Sanitary shop, Electrical wala, Lala Misthan Bhandar, A-one School, Madhushree Saare, Labour Market, Nehru Garden, Gulla Baagh Zoo, Cement Wala, Tiles Wala aur kya kya. Its nice to interact with a wide spectrum of people. Shopping Culture seemed quite well. May be staff at Bigbazar, Vmart etc needs a better training. Thela Wala's seems very professional.

I went to this Town Hall Market; wanted to buy a jacket. How much ? Rs 600, Sir. I said 400. Those shopkeepers will never tell you No. Sir, this jacket is brand class and worth its value. I said - I don't want to pay 600, give me a deal. Okay, I am packing for 400. I wonder how much market is overpriced.

City seems still very peaceful. Unlike Mumbai, Local people do care here for each other.

Gaurav

Trip to Nowhere ! This Diwali

It seem... am completely cutoff from outside world. Life here in campus is so different. No TV, No Radio, No newspaper. I wonder what all is happening to people outside. Hear of small ups and down only via some facebook shared links by friends. Its about Diwali and I merely even realised small tint of the same. There is completely different world over here and thats way different from world outside.

Instead of reading newspaper, I browse newsfeed (FB) of my friends. Listening to music via earphone .. I didn't even realised it rained today ( I rare occurrence here in Mumbai in Nov)

Life is really cool and I wonder how will I adjust once I am kicked out of institute (hopefully 1.5 years from now) !

Trip to Vihigaon !

This was written for some different purpose, but let me share it over here !

World today is a panorama of multiple realities. There are the glories of human progress and then there is the pervading ubiquity of human miseries. The two extremes ironically, have for long coexisted and continue to do so. The contrast sometimes makes us wonder and raises intriguing questions. The answers might elude us but it lends us an important insight. The poor are incapacitated and not incapable. If we create similar opportunities for them, their potential can indeed be manifested. NSS IIT Bombay aspires to be a contributor to such an endeavor and to this end we hold “knowledge” as our beacon. We, the team of this organisation believe that small contributions can help make big strides towards that cherished goal of mankind.

As said,Necessity is the mother of Invention. We shall know what is to be done only if we actually see the problems being faced by the poor and needy. Few years back,at a village named Ranshet on a hill near Pen, Maharashtra,NSS students helped the villagers in accessing water using a motor that pulls water from a lake at the foot of the hill. We, at NSS believe Field trips are a good means to expose the so-called best brains in India to few of those rural communities living far from technology,development and minimum facilities.These trips are organised as part of course for first year undergraduates,but then anyone with zeal to make a difference is a priority.

In order to get some exposure of rural village life, this semester we explored two neighboring villages, Vihigaon and Tara. Tara, near Panvel on Saturday 23rd October and Vihigaon near Kasara on Sunday the 24th October.

Vihigaon, is a small adivasi village having 12 padas, situated at about 15 km from Kasara, in Shahapur taluka, Dist. Thane in Maharashtra.We were a group of 90 who left for the trip on 24th October .We started at around 7 AM and it took us 4 long hours to reach the place. Prof. Prasanna Gandhi from mechanical engineering department accompanyed us.

After reaching Vihigaon, we tried to explore the village. We divided in small groups and distributed in entire area. Every group visited and surveyed 3-4 families and tried to informally interact with them. Groups documented the current conditions of families in regard to their earning capacity, education level, and their position in connection with basic necessities of food, water and shelter. Major occupation is Agriculture. Few of them own land while the rest work as labour. During off season, they work in nearby town and on railway tracks. It is a good to see that few of them send their children to kasara for higher education. The adults were grossly illiterate.

Most of villagers could not even afford to pay electricity bills and have no access to electricity since last 6 years.Over here in campus even a 6 min power breakdown would be so chaotic. Imagine what 6 years of darkness would mean! Some houses had some small solar panel to light up their home. Solar Technology can be a very good alternative in many villages of India. We strongly recommend innovation and research in solar technology could be of great significance.

Inspite all such difficulties, the villagers were happy and cherished every moment of his/her life. That village had one school upto 7th grade. Villagers responded negatively in regard to any government help.There have been a few women working in groups, making papads and pickles,though .Someone from sarpunch’s place mentioned of ration and free books at local school.

This village had a small dam and few wells. The place had no water problems as such, but we were told it is really difficult during summer. Villagers were generally cutoff from rest of India. We found our cells did not catch any cellular network. This trip was really heart-touching; it gave us an opportunity to understand problems faced by rural people.

There is a social organisation “Vivekananda Seva Mandal” working in this village for the uplift of the villagers.Since 1994, members of the group visit there every weekend.They educated the villagers, innovative ways of organic farming, Primary medical facility and also other advanced technologies.They have been providing business orders to the cooperative groups in the village as well.

Although, one day is too short a time to bring any major impact and change in their lives.But we hope that this unique experience might have twinkled and motivated few IITians to wonder more about the problems rural India is facing today.

It’s sad to see kids working in farms and not attending school, to see people living in so pathetic conditions, to find unemployed youth wandering around, to hear business of illegal wine production in village, to find some families earning only Rs 60 per day, to see houses without even a bulb to light up. There were a few cases of malnutrition and deaths due to lack of medical facilities on time .

May be, we IITians can still spend lakhs a single night and enjoy porcupine tree or party all the night. May be we can bunk all our lectures and disrespect the so called best educational facility of country. May be we still can waste as much electricity as we want. May be we can even light up all our labs, rooms, mess and SAC ground ,double the requirement. May be still we can enjoy glory of playing football or basketball on the darkest of nights. May be, you are a champion, no one can beat you. You can hear rock music on best speakers and single handedly waste as much electricity as that can light up an entire village.

But we still believe there is hope, we, a group of few passionate people working with Prof. Gandhi continue to organize such trips and wish that this endeavour will impact hearts and minds of future batches. We wish IITians will respect facilities and fantastic opportunity given to them in this wonderland and be responsible citizens. May be the students will take their role more seriously and carry the same henceforth to make this institution proud.

The trips were memorable. We came across the village lifestyle and enjoyed it very much. We learned a lot from this trip; we do have a lot more to learn from the villagers. Being brought up in cities, we don't realize what are we doing to our environment. We need to use eco-friendly technologies as much as we can and use our resources efficiently to be in harmony with Mother Nature and leave a clean and beautiful planet for posterity.

We all thank villagers for their generous hospitality. We also welcome your feedback and suggestions, so that we can contribute better and strive for development of Indian Villages.

(Gaurav Khamesra is a fourth year student of the Mechanical Department and Phani Padmasri is a third year student of the Energy Systems Engineering. They can be contacted at gauravkhamesra@iitb.ac.in and phani_padmasri@iitb.ac.in)