Naga Chokkanathan

Just checked the #AbMontuBolega video at  http://www.abmontubolega.com/. It uses some practical situations where we need to speak up, if we want changes to happen. It links beautifully to the product Strepsils (https://www.facebook.com/StrepsilsIndia and https://twitter.com/StrepsilsIndia) which relieves the throat and makes one speak up, a good match indeed! 

We had our own Montu moment when we were living in Hyderabad. Our neighbor was a fierce looking army man who rarely spoke to other people in the apartment. So, we also tried to stay away from him. 

He was a good man in general, the only problem with him was that he was throwing his garbage just in front of his house, even though there is a dust bin just nearby. So, our apartment’s cleaning person had to take it and put it in the bin after few hours. During that time the place smelled like anything. Our neighbor either didn’t know it or didn’t care. 

We were afraid to tell him, so we just tried to make faces when he does it in front of our eyes, expecting him to understand. But he neither looked at us nor changed his habit. 

We all knew it was wrong, but we didn’t know how to tell him. We even considered sending him an anonymous letter. But an army man will definitely get our finger prints from that letter and track us, won’t he? 

So, we remained silent. We assumed someone else will tell him or he would understand on his own. 

During that vacation, a friend of mine from Mumbai visited us. We took him to some of the important tourist places in and around the city. He enjoyed his stay here.

Just a day before he was about to return, he noticed this army man dropping his garbage in front of his home. My friend didn’t know who he was, so he directly walked to him and told him that he shouldn’t throw garbage in open places like that. 

We were shocked to hear that, of course he may not do anything to my friend immediately. But, what if he files some imaginary case and puts him behind the bars?

So, we asked my friend to go back to his home immediately. He refused, calling us silly. 

Next day, the army man was not dropping his garbage in front of his home. He went to the dust bin and dropped it properly. That’s what he did every single day after that. 

Nothing happened to my friend too. He makes fun of our cowardice even today! 

Of course, we were afraid to talk. But along with that we were also not sure we will get the results by speaking up. We expected wrong doers to understand their mistake on their own and change. It won’t happen, except in few cases. So it makes sense to talk openly and tell people what you think about. After all, what is the worst thing that can happen? They will refuse to change? Then it genuinely becomes their problem as you have done your best by speaking up.

As part of an ongoing research, I need to speak to few relationship managers from banks / insurance companies, who meet / talk to customers in their home / office regularly.

If you (or someone you know) can help in this research, I would need your time for a maximum of 45 minutes (phone / skype / in person, based on your convenience / feasibility) and I won’t be linking your identity with my research results (unless and until you want me to)

Thank you!

Contact: nchokkan (@ Twitter / Facebook / Gmail / Skype)

Ravi and his family were driving to Mumbai. It was a nice road and morning breeze was amazing.

Suddenly, Ravi’s son Aadharsh started laughing. He pointed to something on the side of the road and continued to laugh.

‘What’s the matter Aadharsh?’ asked Ravi.

‘Papa, I saw a man defecating in the open. Can’t he use a toilet?’

Ravi sighed, ‘Aadharsh, he may not have access to a toilet!’

‘What do you mean? Every house has a toilet or two!’

‘Not really. You have only seen one side of the story; there are millions of people in India who don’t have a toilet at home.’

‘You must be joking!’

‘I wish I am’ laughed Ravi. ‘But, it’s real. In the same city we live, many lack these facilities. Villages have a bigger problem. Poor people there either don’t have the space or the money to build a toilet. They don’t even have a public toilet which they can access. Even if a public toilet exists, it is too crowded, or not clean. As a result, they are forced to use open spaces like these as toilets.’

‘But, don’t they feel ashamed about it?’

‘Of course, they do. It is shameful, unhygienic, but what can they do? They don’t have any option. In a way, we all should be ashamed about this!’

‘Why? I always use a toilet when I have to!’

‘May be, but as a country, we should feel bad about not doing anything about getting the basic sanitation needs of these people. Many individuals and public, private organizations are doing something to help them. They take a village and construct toilets there. They even appoint a person to clean it regularly so that people can use it on a daily basis.’

‘In addition, they also need to tell people about availability of a facility like this. Many people are not even aware of it, continuing to use open places as toilets. So, they have to be educated about the benefits.’

‘But all these efforts are very small when compared to the number of people who need such facilities. Everyone must contribute if this has to change.’

‘What can we do about this?’

‘We can donate what we can, to those organizations which help villages to construct and maintain toilets. Or, we can go to http://www.domex.in‘

‘How would that help them?’

‘Domex has an innovative theme whereby you need to just click on the “Contribute” tab, every time you click, Domex will contribute Rs 5 towards eradicating open defecation, thereby helping millions of people.’

‘Cool, let me do it immediately’, Aadharsh opened his mobile phone.

‘Not just that; make sure you send a mail and explain this to everybody. Every click will bring India closer to eradicating open defecation!’

I am a firm believer of simple, basic, lite presentations. This is a simple presentation I made to explain how to make them.

A video recording of this session. Lighting is bad, Sorry!

Once upon a time there was a king. He had a son who was nine years old. He was brimming with energy running all around the palace.

One day, the prince got ill. He couldn’t even get up from his bed.

A soldier came running to the king and said, “Your highness, the prince is not feeling well, he wishes to see you immediately.”

The king was deeply worried. He went running to his son’s chamber. People looked at the king and thought, “our emperor always used to summon others to his court. Now he is rushing to the prince himself. That’s the power of love.”

As the king saw his son, tears were rolling from his eyes. He asked the prince, “My son, what happened, how are you feeling now?”

The prince answered in a dull voice, “Father, I am feeling very weak. I hate these medicines your court physicians are giving. Please ask them to give me some sweets instead.”

As soon as the prince conveyed his wish, the king ordered his subordinates to bring the choicest sweets for his son.

People wanted to tell the king that it is not advisable to eat sweets when one is ill. But they were afraid of the king. So they brought many kinds of delicious sweets for their prince.

Seeing these, the prince’s mouth watered. He wanted to reach out and gobble those delicacies. But he couldn’t even lift a finger. Even when the king tried to feed sweets to him, he couldn’t enjoy them, because those sweets now tasted bitter due to his illness.

The king got very disappointed and went back to his court. He ordered to bring all wise men of his country there and asked them to find a cure for his son immediately.

Those men got to work and they prepared many kinds of medicines. But the prince rejected all of them saying they are bitter.

Far away from that palace lived a poor girl. Though exceptionally small, she was very intelligent. She heard about the prince’s illness and his rejection of all bitter medicines. She wondered how he will be cured if he refuses to drink medicines that are necessary to get him back to normalcy.

So, she thought of a plan. She started collecting all the things that she would need to make a medicine for the prince. She ground them into a powder.

Next day, she started her journey to the palace. When she reached there after hours of walking, gate keepers refused to let her in.

The girl begged to them, but they didn’t budge an inch.

The girl thought of an idea. She showed them a cake she brought from her village and told them she can make such yummy cakes for them if they let her in.

Gate keepers were tired after a long day of work. They saw that cake and agreed to let her inside if she would make five such cakes for them.

The girl got to work. She collected all the things required from nearby houses and stayed making her cake.

Soon the prince smelled the aroma of the cake and announced, “I want that cake immediately.”

Few soldiers ran down and asked the girl to give a cake for the prince. The girl was expecting this and she had added the medicine in the cake batter already. So she happily gave them the cake.

The Prince ate the cake and felt happy. He could see that he was getting better, thanks to the girl’s cake.

The king heard this and jumped with joy. He summoned his soldiers to bring the girl to his court and showered her with gifts.

The girl who made the magic cake that cured the prince thanked the king and told him politely, “your majesty. Since the prince was unwell, our entire nation was ailing. Now we all are happy and will prosper forever in your able administration. But please make sure all kids in our nation take the necessary vegetables, fruits and herbs every day to remain healthy always.”

(This post is written by Naga & Nangai as part of “Indi Blogger” Happy Hours contest sponsored by Dabur Chyawanprash. For more details on this, refer to https://www.liveveda.com/daburchyawanprash/)