Project Diaries: Jamshedpur, Day 1, Dated- 13th july
This follows from the foreword.
As, I had explained in my previous blog post, my study on the social entrepreneurial landscape of India- developing key indicators to assess the social value getting generated out of the activity the enterprise is involved in lead me to contact Mr. Anurag Jain, the founder of Neev Trust under which this for-profit social enterprise called Neev Soaps is functioning. He redirected me to talk to his wife Mrs. Shikha Jain who willingly consented to allow me to conduct my study here. And so, I set off for Jamshedpur. I alighted on the platform in the morning. fidgety- a little bit. I had given mam a glimpse of what my method would be and a hint that it would involve dealing with the balance sheet of the enterprise for the last year but I was worried that they might feel skeptical in keeping confidence in a stranger like me to disclose the financial details totally and if that had been the case, my research would have been incomplete and thus worthless. I would be referring to them as Sir and Mam from now on.
As, I was traversing from the station to the residence of Mr and Mrs Jain in Telco Colony, I had a panoramic view of the city. The auto driver told me that this is the most planned, cleanest part of the city and I had fallen in love with it. Clean roads without a speck of dirt with plush greenery on either side, those victorian sign boards that tell you where to go and where not to, the city had caught me in her charms from the very beginning.
I arrived at the residence and then after spending some time with Sir's father ( who incidentally happened to be a super senior- passing out of IIT Kanpur way back in 1970), we came to the soaps unit in Sir's car. Sir asked me what brought me to Jamshedpur and I told him why. Only to realise something later on. In the very little conversation we had in the car, he had told me that he isn't interested in expanding and that they have stopped institutional partnerships. He told me that expanding by taking institutional help comes across to be a very noble proposition but he has realised with a lot of personal setbacks what the nitty gritties are.How important it is to change consciousness first and then build upon the changed level of consciousness later on. He told me that these institutions had unrealistic expectations and understanding of how social work happens- sitting up there in their theoretical realm and never having a fair idea of how it goes. I was not without my reservations at this viewpoint then but I realised it was better to let the conversation flow.
We sat down to have breakfast in the unit together. The conversation ensued from what social work means and what a big sham the institutional dinners and corporate think tank luncheons are where people fly in on jets and drink wine and discuss how the world can be changed. He told me that management institutions now have an extensive curriculum to teach the nuances of social enterprise management but they dont have a section on values and how all the students in that course want to end up in a big shot NGO or a corporate powerhouse's CSR department and earn big bucks. How, the non profit sector has flattened out in terms of an avenue to be famous in the society. And then, at that time, even for a profound skeptic like me, his talk started to make sense. The conversation made foray into the inevitable- What is reality and what is happiness? I told Sir and mam how this was a consistent point of tussle between me and my father and how I could never ascribe to his belief because my queries were never satisfied. I told Sir how I keep oscillating between my father's spiritualism and sensitivity and my mother's inborn practicality and he then told me something that has stayed with me today. He told me that this was the reason why I had come to him, to reside in a little hamlet such a distance away from home. The project and the research is a subsidiary. My main motive, my main urge was to settle this strife once and for all. He has told me that he believes a man can donne both hats simultaneously. Something in me wants to believe, just this very time. Let me see, how much progress I make here.
We went out of the office and mam and sir showed me around. we went about each aspect of the process, the raw material processing unit, the place where the cutting and packaging happens, and the storage. The sweet scent of rose, basil, and a multitude of oils made inroads.
It started raining when we went to the back of the unit and saw the patch of land where they grow some of their raw materials like Aloevera, rose, mahua oil seeds and stuff. Behind the patch of land, there was a vast expanse of shrubbery and then a river against a background of hills dotted with green trees- the green hills in the background of a blue sky. Beautiful.
Sir left for Neev School, which sponsors majorly the entire education expense of little village children and I and mam sat down with the details of the project. By the evening, we had done almost everything I had planned for the day. I had started off with my survey too interviewing Moni, the oldest associate with the enterprise. I realised how much had I been underestimating village women when,once befuddled by how to translate to her "How much has your opinion's value increased in the household" as a measure for improvement in self esteem, she spared me the agony by asking me " Aap ye hi poochna chah rahe hain ghar mai meri raay ki value kya hai? " :)
I created the survey form of the consumers too and before mam was leaving, she asked me if I would like the little children of the rural women who were working in the enterprise to take me to the river for a small walk.I told her I would love to, and off we went. I asked the kids what their names were and when one of them started saying "mera naam..." the other one interjected and said " english medium school mai padhti ho na tum, english mai do jawaab". And then everybody went off with" My name is...". This, to me was the defining moment of the day. I, with a handicam in hand, and a procession of insanely happy little kids( they don't get to see the camera that often, forget getting in the frame at all), went to the river. We had a small little procession kind of an image going, with the kids synchronously reciting to me the poems they had learnt on the school in the day and asking me if I could teach them how to play kho kho, when I had asked them if they had ever played it. The whole environment and the view- the river with buffaloes bathing in it, the dotted hills, a dab of pink in the sky ( it was sunset time) enveloped me in a tranquility I had ached for a long long time.
We came back to where I would be staying, the office. The children, all of them wished me good night before they left. :)
As, I had explained in my previous blog post, my study on the social entrepreneurial landscape of India- developing key indicators to assess the social value getting generated out of the activity the enterprise is involved in lead me to contact Mr. Anurag Jain, the founder of Neev Trust under which this for-profit social enterprise called Neev Soaps is functioning. He redirected me to talk to his wife Mrs. Shikha Jain who willingly consented to allow me to conduct my study here. And so, I set off for Jamshedpur. I alighted on the platform in the morning. fidgety- a little bit. I had given mam a glimpse of what my method would be and a hint that it would involve dealing with the balance sheet of the enterprise for the last year but I was worried that they might feel skeptical in keeping confidence in a stranger like me to disclose the financial details totally and if that had been the case, my research would have been incomplete and thus worthless. I would be referring to them as Sir and Mam from now on.
As, I was traversing from the station to the residence of Mr and Mrs Jain in Telco Colony, I had a panoramic view of the city. The auto driver told me that this is the most planned, cleanest part of the city and I had fallen in love with it. Clean roads without a speck of dirt with plush greenery on either side, those victorian sign boards that tell you where to go and where not to, the city had caught me in her charms from the very beginning.
I arrived at the residence and then after spending some time with Sir's father ( who incidentally happened to be a super senior- passing out of IIT Kanpur way back in 1970), we came to the soaps unit in Sir's car. Sir asked me what brought me to Jamshedpur and I told him why. Only to realise something later on. In the very little conversation we had in the car, he had told me that he isn't interested in expanding and that they have stopped institutional partnerships. He told me that expanding by taking institutional help comes across to be a very noble proposition but he has realised with a lot of personal setbacks what the nitty gritties are.How important it is to change consciousness first and then build upon the changed level of consciousness later on. He told me that these institutions had unrealistic expectations and understanding of how social work happens- sitting up there in their theoretical realm and never having a fair idea of how it goes. I was not without my reservations at this viewpoint then but I realised it was better to let the conversation flow.
We sat down to have breakfast in the unit together. The conversation ensued from what social work means and what a big sham the institutional dinners and corporate think tank luncheons are where people fly in on jets and drink wine and discuss how the world can be changed. He told me that management institutions now have an extensive curriculum to teach the nuances of social enterprise management but they dont have a section on values and how all the students in that course want to end up in a big shot NGO or a corporate powerhouse's CSR department and earn big bucks. How, the non profit sector has flattened out in terms of an avenue to be famous in the society. And then, at that time, even for a profound skeptic like me, his talk started to make sense. The conversation made foray into the inevitable- What is reality and what is happiness? I told Sir and mam how this was a consistent point of tussle between me and my father and how I could never ascribe to his belief because my queries were never satisfied. I told Sir how I keep oscillating between my father's spiritualism and sensitivity and my mother's inborn practicality and he then told me something that has stayed with me today. He told me that this was the reason why I had come to him, to reside in a little hamlet such a distance away from home. The project and the research is a subsidiary. My main motive, my main urge was to settle this strife once and for all. He has told me that he believes a man can donne both hats simultaneously. Something in me wants to believe, just this very time. Let me see, how much progress I make here.
We went out of the office and mam and sir showed me around. we went about each aspect of the process, the raw material processing unit, the place where the cutting and packaging happens, and the storage. The sweet scent of rose, basil, and a multitude of oils made inroads.
It started raining when we went to the back of the unit and saw the patch of land where they grow some of their raw materials like Aloevera, rose, mahua oil seeds and stuff. Behind the patch of land, there was a vast expanse of shrubbery and then a river against a background of hills dotted with green trees- the green hills in the background of a blue sky. Beautiful.
Sir left for Neev School, which sponsors majorly the entire education expense of little village children and I and mam sat down with the details of the project. By the evening, we had done almost everything I had planned for the day. I had started off with my survey too interviewing Moni, the oldest associate with the enterprise. I realised how much had I been underestimating village women when,once befuddled by how to translate to her "How much has your opinion's value increased in the household" as a measure for improvement in self esteem, she spared me the agony by asking me " Aap ye hi poochna chah rahe hain ghar mai meri raay ki value kya hai? " :)
I created the survey form of the consumers too and before mam was leaving, she asked me if I would like the little children of the rural women who were working in the enterprise to take me to the river for a small walk.I told her I would love to, and off we went. I asked the kids what their names were and when one of them started saying "mera naam..." the other one interjected and said " english medium school mai padhti ho na tum, english mai do jawaab". And then everybody went off with" My name is...". This, to me was the defining moment of the day. I, with a handicam in hand, and a procession of insanely happy little kids( they don't get to see the camera that often, forget getting in the frame at all), went to the river. We had a small little procession kind of an image going, with the kids synchronously reciting to me the poems they had learnt on the school in the day and asking me if I could teach them how to play kho kho, when I had asked them if they had ever played it. The whole environment and the view- the river with buffaloes bathing in it, the dotted hills, a dab of pink in the sky ( it was sunset time) enveloped me in a tranquility I had ached for a long long time.
We came back to where I would be staying, the office. The children, all of them wished me good night before they left. :)
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