am off to ahmedabad tomo mornig to attend the berkana meeting at the end of the month. then to udaipur from there, and possibly even to ajmer and alwar. it looks to be a hectic 15 days.

Some disturbing developments...

of late, i have been hearing about some very disturbing happenings in the country:

1) the introdcution of the new grossly watered down Environmental Impact Assesment (EIA) norms.

2) the creation of the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM)

3) The great land grab in the form of the Special Economic Zones (SEZ's)

i havn't read up much of these issues yet, but even the little i know about the watering down of the EIA norms i can say is a disaster! even the few safe guards that we had against environmental pillage have now been removed.

while am still trying to understand what the JNNURM is beyond the garb of 'urban renewal', its the issue of the SEZ's i have found most shocking. this is an article on SEZ's from the Frontline that landed in my mail box today. looking forward to hear wht you guys have to say on this.

am going to office tomo, after almost two months! :-) feels a lil weird, but am expecting it to be a short stint. just a day or two at best. i hope they finish the formalities fast. below is the resignation letter:

Letter of Resignation

11/9/2006

ED-HR

Ashok Leyland

Dear Sir,

Over the last two years I've had the opportunity to be involved in many Environmental projects in this Company, and also interact with people formally and otherwise at various levels of the organization. From these experiences I have come to the conclusion that it would be futile to work for the creation of a just and sustainable society from within a Corporation, especially within the framework of their current design, vision and core values of competition, limitless growth, and pre-occupation with profits. While I've felt that Ashok Leyland is much better than many other Corporations, I believe that it too suffers from the same deeper systemic afflictions as the other ones do.

So, henceforth I would like to spend my energies working on things I find more meaningful and closer to heart. Like working with children, strengthening local-food systems, community media etc towards this, I would be grateful if I could be relieved from my duties here at AL at the earliest.

I also wish to clarify that my disillusion is with the structure and its priorities and not the people. Maybe with some institutional roles, but not the individuals per se. In fact I've met many warm and kind-hearted people here, whose goodness had given me the hope to carry on for this long despite the frustrating and suffocating circumstances.

Many thanks for the opportunity to work here and all your help during this period. It has been an important learning experience.

Yours Sincerely,

(Naveen Kumar V)

what is your gift?

since returning from ladakh more than a week back, i have been down with what wezz and danny (my physicians! :P) call 'a severe infection of the upper respiratory tract'. in other words, a running nose, lots of cough, mild fevers, a pounding headache and tons of phlegm :-)

i havent done much apart from sleeping through all this, however though i did manage to read parts of one of the special editions of Vimukt Shiksha. The issue with personal stories of some people who have chosen to walk paths outside the stifling confines of conformity and narrow notions of 'sucess' , in search of a deeper meaning of life. while shilpa's story has been a perennial favourite , it was marianne's that was very refreshing this time. wish i had read it much earlier. the following is an excerpt that i found very meaningful, esp at this time when am actively looking to chuck the job and search for a more meaningful life.

"Go to where your heart bids you go. Do only what fires you up. Find what you really care about and live a life that shows it. Live with the tingling!

Know that your life is meaningful, and that there is a special reason for you to be here. Find that meaning, and let it transform your life.

Find your gift. What is your gift? Give it to the world. Express it. Sing it! Sing it loud and clear. Go only where you can exercise your gift.

Choose who you want to be. Where are you going to draw the line? Draw it! And don’t cross it.

Simple and yet incredibly tough.

Find a friend, find many, who will support your crazy explorations, who are there to tell you that you are not insane, who are there to tell you how great you are even as you go against the ideas and expectations of the entire world.

And when the going gets really tough, take time for silence and connection to the vaster space inside and around you. Go for a walk in nature, meditate, go for a run, take a hot tub bath. Whatever it is that you do to wind down. Don’t turn on the TV to zone out instead of zoning in.

Come into the moment. Take time to arrive wherever it is you are. At the breakfast table, marvel over the beauty of the food before you, in the board room, what have you gathered here today to do, in groups of friends, at the communion you share.

Live now, with consciousness.

Embrace yourself as the miracle you are. Allow yourself to shine (shine on you crazy diamond!), to laugh and to love. Embrace yourself as the miracle you are.

Today. Not tomorrow. Today. Tomorrow does not exist. It slips into today forever evading us."