A new social volunteering organization in Bangalore !!!

Psychodementia

Questions asked by an "Unknown Indian" (UI) (with no relation to a novel by the same name by Nirad C Choudhary - just some blatant plagiarism ala' Kavya Vishwanathan style) and answered by a charged up character who goes by the name "Rang De Basanti" (RDB) (apparently moved after seeing the movie - moved by the fact that a country lout like DJ can get a girl like Sue)

UI: Bangalore is the hub of IT, the knowledge-centric city, yet the involvement of people, especially in IT, towards social causes is appalling. These are the best-of-the-breed people who have put India on the world map. Yet, they seem so oblivious to changing things around them. We cannot always get a Cambridge educated, daughter of Oxford Univ president to effect a change. Err.......can we?

RDB: It would be great to have Sue, or even a Rakhi Sawant for that matter. But on a more serious note here are the reasons:

(a) After a typical 50-60 hour work week people do not want to travel another few hours in the traffic to go to an NGO or any other place to help out people. Its more important to unwind for the long week ahead, or spent some quality time with friends and family (read as drink beer).

(b) Its hard to see something concrete happening. Most of the "events" are transaction oriented. You raise money or create awareness for a cause without seeing the tangible benefits behind it. Where did the 1000 bucks you put for the good cause of tsunami relief eventually reach ? What is the measurable success you saw after the hours of work you put in for a road safety campaign last year ? Being in IT, the guys want to touch-and-feel the end effect. Even if it does not work. We believe in metrics. Long live project management !

(c) Its not sustainable. The moment project work gets the better of us, we generally drop out. Then it becomes embarrassing to refuse each time. And before you know, and when your bandwidth to contribute increases, its harder to make a come-back to the cause, than Saurav Ganguly coming back to the Indian team (I can see DG shouting Sack-him Tendulkar).

UI: Cool ! So how does one achieve something which (a) easy-to-do in terms of time and travel (b) can see change for one-self and (c) requires no specific time-commitments and hence is flexible

RDB: What is needed is a radically different solution to the whole issue by involving these people to contribute in the ease and convenience of their homes. Occasionally meeting up at MGRoad. Or maybe talking on their cell-phones.

UI: Hmm.........what is it?

RDB: Mentorship!! Everyone has gone through a phase in their life when they were lost and did not know what to do. Times when they needed advice, support or additional information, but didn't know who to go to. I'm sure you too felt that way at some point.

UI: Well, ........err.......there was this girl and.........I read a book by Alex Comfort to know about it.

RDB: No, no UI. I don't think you quite got it. I meant in terms of your professional career. Someone who was a sounding board for all your ideas. Someone who gave you food for thought. Someone who could point out to resources from his personal network. Someone who was always there whenever you had any doubt.

UI: Yea, I can see what you mean. When I was in second year college, I wanted to be in the IAS. We had a neighbourhood bhaiyya who was preparing for his civil services. He explained a lot of things about what I could do to be on the straight and narrow.

RDB: Eggjaactly !! And how much time, money and effort did he devote towards helping you.

UI: Frankly not much. I used to meet him at Ramu's paan shop when he came for his post-dinner smoke, before hitting the books in what was apparently a long night ahead.

RDB: See what I mean ? The neighbourhood bhaiyya probably helped a lot more than if he had forsaken his studies and gone out of his way to teach in a school.

UI: I see what you mean. You are saying you want to start a mentorship program. Where there are a set of mentors and a set of mentos.......ahem I mean people who "need to be mentored".

RDB: Perfect. I could not have put it in a better way.

UI: So who can be a mentor?

RDB: Do you have specific expertise in any domain - any field? Do you think you have skills that can be helpful to others? Do you often find yourself being asked for or giving advice? Do you enjoy sharing your knowledge with people? Did you gather valuable information for years - which can be shared with and save other people precious time, energy and costly mistakes? Are you able to inspire, motivate, encourage and uplift others?
If your answer is YES to the above question then you are eligible.

UI: What about those who want to be mentored ?

RDB: Ideally, the only qualification is the person should have a geniune interest in being more successful, efficient and competent in life. Having said that, there are a lot of things which need to be thrashed out before that happens.

UI: Great, but what is the name of the organization ? How do I join it ?

RDB: I need every ones support to make this come into a reality. Come join me at Barrista on MGRoad at 3pm on Saturday.
PS: Coffee is *not* on me thought: mg:

UI: Sure, but what if I cannot make it then or if I have any additional questions before I come?

RDB: Shoot me a mail, PM me, post on this thread. If you have my number - call me.

UI: One last question - can I expect any pretty girls to be there ?

RDB: Interview over.

gthm159

This UI will be there at 3 pm at Barista on Saturday

- Googie

Psychodementia

Just wanted to call out the meet more clearly:

Tommorow i.e.
6th of May 2006 - 3pm at Barrista, MGRoad !!

Psychodementia

*Shamelessly bumping thread

Hoping to hear some "ayes" here !!

Arun

MurTuzA

Hey PsychoD,

Sorry that I missed this thread. I think it is a fantastic and awesome idea. I will definitely try to make it. I say try cos I have a prior engagement

.

hasher

Great Idea, .. will make it if i can. my saturday arent off.. but will have to make time for it somehow. any idea how long will it go on, so ican either make it for the beginning or the end! ..

Psychodementia

Hey guys,

I presume that if we start off at around 3pm we could go till 4pm and after that hang around till maybe 5pm.

Arun

Ara- -wind

did the meet happen?? i noticed the thread only today

MurTuzA

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ara- -wind

did the meet happen?? i noticed the thread only today

Ya it did....I wasnt able to attend it myself. Ispoek to PsychpD and he said that we may have another meet the coming week. So watch out for this thread

morbidkk

must say its a gr8 initiative

@psycho is this on the same lines of resolvequery.com???