I though this would be a good way to return.

I received this via email from a colleague.

Who personally knows Aditi, the author of this email.

So I’m doing the next best thing I can.

Asking you to read it as well.

__________

Dear All,

This email is actually an appeal and since I want you to truly understand what I am trying to say, I will not take any short cuts.

As you may all know I am a fellow with Teach For India. This stated very simply means, I am a teacher. I teach 45 children in a low income school in Goregaon East and make a difference in the lives of about 300 children in the school, in different ways-big or small.

My co teacher and I took 6 of our students to Oberoi Mall, Goregaon, the other day. This outing was conducted with the aim of celebrating their success. Each one of the 45 children was given a differentiated goal to achieve, 6 of them made it.

At the end of a very happy meal  we took them to Crossword Book Store. The sale was on and all the books were out on display. My kids walked in and were truly mesmerized by the sight. The colours, pictures and everything there, was a treat. They picked up books and sat on the carpet, reading.

Some understood, while others simply read.

This is the thought I had while we were there. If you put any child in a place that offers learning, a child will learn without being taught. This store had so much to give.

My class is really colourful. Its walls are plastered with a lot of information. They have storybooks to read, but most of them have been read.

We need books.

Here is my appeal:

In case you people have books, magazines, activity books, picture dictionaries, normal dictionaries, and all or any form of literature suitable for children between 6-14 years – those that you have outgrown, those your children have outgrown, your nieces and nephews, and everyone else – please could you pass them over to me?

I promise, as long as the material is in English, it will be used.

Send me an email on aditirawat@gmail.com and we will find a way to collect the gifts.

Looking forward to receiving support from you. Cause I truly want to believe that everyone wants to help, but does not know where exactly to start from.

Feel free to begin

Thanks!

Aditi

P.S- please circulate this to everyone.

–

Indira Aditi Rawat
Teach For India Fellow.
Class Teacher- 2B
Divine Child High School
Sanjay Nagar
Malad East, Mumbai.

“One day ALL children will attain an excellent education”

PS: Aditi’s kids won in the ‘Top 20 Category’ in the Design For Giving Project. Out of 33000 registrations.

Here is a little video: Click Here

And it proves the muslims in our country are unhappy.

I found it extremely powerful.

I really did.

Thanks Shoaib, for the post.

I choose to say Mumbai, because so far the response has been strongest here.

I have seen two primary opinions emerge.

1. Let’s not vote.
2. Let’s not pay taxes.

These two have been voiced on mails, blogs, smses, news channels and on the street.

Firstly, on the power of civil disobedience :
(I am assuming it is the term applicable here)

A celebrity pointed out on a channel -
“If I don’t pay my taxes, I can be arrested.
If 5 million people don’t pay taxes, what will the government do?”

I agree.
The power of plural is unquestionable in a democracy.

However, let us debate both the opinions.

Suppose I don’t vote – and by some stroke of co-operation, many more like me don’t vote.

What’s new in that? In any case a huge part of the Indian population does not vote.
That includes people in main cities. That includes the educated and the earning.
At best we will contribute to the existing problem.

Nincompoops get elected because of the absence of a cumulative opinion.
Not because of its presence.

Wouldn’t consciously voting with a point of view actually be a better way to signal a demand for change?

Suppose I don’t pay taxes.

What’s new in that?
In any case a huge part of the Indian population does not pay taxes.
That includes people in main cities. That includes the educated and the rich.
At best we will contribute to the existing problem.

What the people are demanding is that the tax they pay be put to use.
What they want to know is where is the tax money being spent.
Why is it not being spent on internal security, defence, arming our cops.

I am not a legal expert or well versed in such matters.

But what if those 5 million people put in ten rupees each, employ the best lawyer in the country and file a RTI appeal to find out the exact percentage and amount of the collected tax that is spent on defence, internal security and other such matters right down to the last detail?

Would that be better?

Would forcing the government to show us the accounts be a better way of demanding accountability?

(I really do not know if that is covered by RTI, but again I am assuming some law allows that.)

If we are really serious about this noise we are making, then may I propose something?

I propose Civil Obedience.

Allow me to elucidate.

You walk up to the airport.
The security guard does not ask you for a photo ID.
You refuse to enter, hold up the line and demand that he sees your photo ID first.

It’s tax time.
Your CA suggests a clever means of saving tax by furnishing fake receipts.
You refuse.
And demand that he pay the tax that you rightfully should.

You break the signal.
The cop offers to let you go for a measly sum of 20 rupees.
You refuse to pay up and demand he give you a ticket.

The medical store owner hands you pills without a receipt.
You refuse to accept them and demand a receipt, even if it means you pay a wee bit more.

Tough?

Well, Civil Disobedience is the easy way out.
Will it solve anything?

Try Civil Obedience.

Make the corrupt, the politicians, the shirkers, the cheaters do their job by demanding they do it the right way.
They are not doing their jobs simply because we, the people, are allowing them to get away with it.

Want to make a point?
Do your job.

Everyone seems to be jumping up saying let’s not do this, let’s not do that.
How about let’s do this and let’s do that?

If 5 million people do it, will the difference be far more powerful?

Trust me, if every passenger on the next Jet Airways flight reaches the boarding gate late because he or she demanded to be throughly checked 3 times, the flight won’t take off without him or her.
It will wait.

Do excuse my lack of knowledge of legalities.
And my liberal use of assumptions.

This is a democracy.
And opinions are eagerly awaited.