Where is Singapore of India - Gurgaon !!

Heard a statement by a leader some years back that we will make Gurgaon Singapore of India (Haryana). Lets find - Where are we ??

Lets start with some good points:

• Raahgiri day ( an initiative by pvt agencies and Gurgaon Traffic Police)
• Rapid Metro

Could not get more than this…

Where Govt has failed:

• No proper planning – unplanned growth in Gurgaon.

1.   Places like DLF 5 which is hyped by DLF (the builder) does not even have a proper shopping area wherein you can buy day to day stuff & government is not even aware or bothered about basic amenities not there as per civic laws; rampant construction with height of greed
2. No proper parking available in Gurgaon (this growth was evident many years back)

• No infrastructure – bad roads, lack of power and water ; most roads are so dirty and in bad shape; construction is rampant and no accountability. Gurgaon earns 90% of Haryana revenues but Govt is really not concerned about infra development
• No proper governance – no single authority to manage rapid growth; builders like DLF are doing whatever they want and government ignores totally; blatant violation of consumer laws
• No government initiative on education: Most children travel to Delhi University; Haryana govt failed to create a quality university and institution in Gurgaon. Whereas setup so many in Rohtak (a political decision rather than logical); Rohtak is struggling to get good teachers.

Where we Citizens have failed?

• Poor Hygiene – most public places are poorly maintained (we can’t blame government for this); except for Galleria market most shopping areas are dirty, filthy and smelly.
• Poor Civic Sense – no one is concerned really for areas around them; no traffic sense; no concern for elders or children
• Height of greed – most businesses small or big try to poach as much area around them – not really concerned about safety, aesthetics or others.

Soon Gurgaon, like Delhi, will reach a point of no return and will forever be a chaotic place. So we are still trying to find the Singapore of India !! God help us!

The maze of Toll Plazas in India !

Off-late there are many news stories about people showing aggression at toll-plazas in India. One has to go deeper into the issues. Having travelled 5-6 states by road; here are some observations which may be the cause of these aggressions:

•          Collecting toll without proper roads
•          No proper management of toll traffic
•          Quite funny toll tax rates – with 22.50; 33.50; 21 – in most parts of the world this is simplified and the rates are rounded-up or down. In India, many instance people are waiting for exact change and many smart guys give Rs 1000 or Rs 500 notes to the toll guys (as they say toll person is bound to give them change) – all leading to waste of time and energy
•          Untrained staff at toll plazas
•          In Gurgaon-Delhi toll: The operator gives a packet of Namkeen instead of Rs 5 and that’s a on-going currency as taxi drivers can also return the Namkeen packet to them next time for Rs 5 :-)
•          Unplanned tolls – a number of toll plazas in short distances
•       No single Toll card which can work across state(s)

Am not an expert on toll-plazas, but common sense says that instead of making life easy; people get frustrated that they are paying money and wasting their time and energy. This leads to chaos and as a nation a lot of fuel gets wasted. 

photo courtesy: Business Today

Happiness Workshop : Gurgaon - June 2013

The 1st  public workshop for "Happiness and Positivity" is planned for June 2013 in Gurgaon. Its a Power Point Free program and fully experiential.

Please note: 100% of the earning after removing the cost would be donated for charitable purposes.

Venue: Most likely would be DLF Club Phase 5 Gurgaon

Details are as below.

TOI - Gurgaon

Women Workshop

Maiden visit to USA

1^st time in life travelled 34000 kms in almost 3 weeks and feeling tired… The learning has been immense from the maiden visit to USA… Enjoyed the vastness of space and the openness (except in New York)… Felt happy to meet so many different people who are willing to accept you as you are. They do respect Indians a lot these days and are open to learn about India and its success stories. Many talk about Gandhi, his principles and spirituality, yoga etc while discussing India. Surprisingly Gandhi and his principles are only available in books in India and spirituality is invariably mixed with religion and probably now in India, we eat more of junk food than west !!

Got my “Life Coach Certificate” from USA and “NLP Practitioner Certification” from SNLP, USA (the course conducted in Edinburgh, UK). Amazing experience and the learning. The group was open to share and willing learn at both programs. The program facilitators did not use LCD projector or laptop at all… impactful learning with experience sharing and practice sessions!

The phobia cure session in NLP was amazing as people were cured of their phobias in the session and were literally playing with the python (brought to the session).

USA is an amazing and large country… people are energetic and work till they wish to work (there is no official retirement age). Was really pleased to see people in their 60s and so much lively and energetic. There were many in our class in Orange County. Everything – the roads, area, homes, shops etc are very large; even the "small hot chocolate” glass in Mcdonalds is quite large for me J

Enjoyed the cities of Jersey, DC, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Virginia, NYC & LA… Looking back – covered quite a bit!

It was a good experience overall from the 1^st visit to US and then to Scotland. Feeling invigorated and ready to apply my learning to Indian society through Atmachetna!

KISS - what a school!

Just back from an invigorating experience in Bhubaneswar, Orissa.

After a long time, got an opportunity to interact with final year students of KIIT for 8 days. The campus connect program thru Corporate Gurukul - http://www.corporategurukul.com/. Rajesh Panda, founder of Corporate Gurukul is a close friend and a passionate professional, who wants to bring positive change in Orissa and in India thru employability programs.

Enjoyed every bit of the program and specially the last day of the program which brought great learning for all of us, the facilitators of the program.

And the best part of this visit was our short visit to KISS (Kalinga Institute of Social Sciences)- www.kissorissa.org . A residential institute for tribals of Orissa, where education from KG to PG is free (yes totally free). Its present strength is 12000 students. It covers 62 tribal groups from the 30 districts of Orissa which includes 13 primitive tribal groups. The school provides free and good quality education and accommodation to tribal children of Orissa. It was an eye opener for all of us as we witnessed great art, coordination, team work and number of achievements of these tribal students. Their team is world rugby champion for last 2 years in Under 14 and Under 16 and their class 10th result is 100%. It has received number of visitors from USA and UK, who are amazed by the objectives & achievements of this school. Kids here not only focus on studies, but on life skills, vocational skills, sports and many other activities which will help these tribal kids to build a better society.

The initiative is a dream of 1 man, Mr. Samanta, who setup KIIT university in Bhubaneswar.

KISS is a must visit for anyone who believes in education and wants to learn, appreciate and apply the learning in small or big way for others.

Thank you Rajesh for making this visit possible…