सामाजिक खोखो or a Social Baton

Being lazy I decided to put together two blurbs I had posted on hitguj in the past. Here goes.

Last year we (Sameer Saravate/Anu Mahabal/Supriya Joshi and I) started a "phirate maraaThI saahityaalay" (mobile library) in greater LA as part of the mahArAshtra manDaL here. We now have about 100 (*) marathi books and a lot of people are enjoying it. However, we would hardly call it samajkarya since we did it because we like to read and thought that it will be good if more people who like to read are able to read. Similarly, many people keep on doing things. It is important to do what you like, and not because someone tells you to (that helps avoid getting stressed while "volunteering" for something).

When we (Anu Mahabal/Prajakta Joshi/Atul Upadhyay/Ashutosh Kanetkar and I) met Abhay and Rani Bang three years ago, we were struck with not just the importance of their work, but the humility with which they carried it out. He was very categoric about which area should someone do "work" in. He said, one may often be confused about this, but when one thinks things through (or sometimes even without that) one has a realization, a sign, about the course to take. It may come soon or late, but one should look for that.

I bring that up for two reasons:

1. one person's field of passion may not be the same as that of another, and it may not be great to emulate someone - I will go in to greater detail about this separately (**).
2. not all of us are leaders and can start things on our own and it is useful to be "shown" a sign

(as an aside here is a beautiful poem by Roger McGough that I came across yesterday about The Leader).

Also, we are brought up being told not to advertise the good things that we do. I think we do need to advertise without being egotistic about that. Unless we advertise, more people will not be able to take advantage of that, nor will others be able to modify those ideas for their own field and perhaps start other things.

So it will be great if people can come out of the closets and tell the world about things they have been doing, big and small - it all counts. As always, it can be restricted just to your household, and not everyone needs to do this. People can also tell about other people who have been doing things. The smaller and the commoner the names/things are, that much easier will it be for most people to match them.

(
Notes added on 30 Sep 2008:
* its about 250 Marathi books now
** I do not remember if I wrote "separately" about it, but one strong opinion about it that I have is: "you should do what you are best at" i.e. if you have a training in a certain field, find a way to use that to help those around you - get involved in a way not anyone else could.
)

The term "social work" is a cliche often abused under varied circumstances. It is abused to obtain grants and it is abused to garner social status. As a result, many well meaning folks sneer at the very word.

I will classify social work in a few categories (based on what fraction of the society are you helping and for what duration):

1. helping individuals spend the day better, (e.g. give them food)
2. helping individuals spend part of their future better (e.g. teach them to read and write)
3. helping more than individuals to spend the day better (e.g. clean some area)
4. helping more than individuals to spend part of their future better (e.g teach people the importance of maintaining cleanliness, or plant trees and arrange for their care)
5. helping an entire society to spend part of their future better (e.g. organize people against corruption, or fight corruption, or at least not aid corruption)

While none of these is inferior to the others, each of us can normally classify ourselves into a subset of these by virtue of our situation (economic as well as physical). I believe that it is in the 5th section that ALL of us can trivially help. For instance, we can tell ourselves not to drive rashly, and if one gets caught (by an Indian policeperson) will pay the fine rather than bribe him/her and save 100 Rs.

A great potential work force is the set of retired folks we see around us. Some of them are very active and keep themselves engaged in many things. But there are some who can be very creative but once retired are content at playing solitaire or watching sitcoms. If we can get them to write anonymous letters to Govt. departments against social injustice or corruption that has been brought to their notice, or just their meaningful thoughts on the state of affairs, something substantial can be achieved.

Think, for instance, what will happen if within a week 100 letters from different parts of the state reach a department about certain matters. Very likely those will be ignored. But when these keep coming, and at later dates copies are also sent to local newspapers, something is bound to give. As always, persistence is the mantra here. These things are bound to fail initially. But multiple starts are needed. People need to keep writing and it will work.

I say anonymous because in India if you announce who you are, very likely someone will reach you. It is a shameful state when you can not write openly, but that is what needs to change, and could be changed.

My kho is to Radhika and Prajakta.

Feel free to email your comments to aam [at] astro.caltech.edu