Another year has gone by. Usually, I would think back and have a little regret about the things I did not do. This past year, though, i am happy about the things we managed to do and the acquaintances we made.
I would like to dedicate this year to Team Anna - who sacrificed so much to try to get an effective anti-corruption legislation passed in India. Their hard work and spirit ignited the whole world of passionate people who came together for the Jan Lokpal movement. Team Anna then became more than a few people in India. It is larger family that covers the whole world.
I too am a part of this large Anna family. I am a new-comer to this social activism. I used to always feel we should do something for the country but somehow just like many others, my day would go on without achieving much. Jan Lokpal agitation made me a contributor too.
In the process, i managed to meet fantastic people, i did not know about in the local community and through the facebook community. This is a brief history of the past year and how the IAC team evolved with the help of these fantastic people.
Raju V., Vivek, Pankaj D and i picked up from the NJ IAC team Ajay Singh had built. Raju is quiet and dignified with a deep commitment to the cause. Vivek is the "empath" of the group and handles our meager finances. We talk about India almost all the time in our commute to work and share ideas on trying to think about what to do. Pankaj is a dear friend and this movement gave us an opportunity to "walk our talk".
We met Himanshu, Kalpana ji, their 2 cute kids and Deepak & family - This family fasted together for Anna ji when he was fasting. Kalpana ji became our "Bharat Mata" for the parade and led about 150 volunteers in rain. Anil was a key member and he would always make us question our approach. Gunjan got together with us soon after. He has done so much work before that he was a great asset for us. He is more like a political strategist for us. He will come up all the different clauses, facts, parables and thought processes that would get us thinking.
The PFL team and Srinivas Ranabothu was always there. They have been around for every event we hosted and also helped us host other events. The PFL team - Srinivas, Kapil, Prakash were visible throughout the India parade event. The range of activities Srinivas and some of the guys are involved with is awesome. i have seen the thought process and excellent work of Srinivas Ranabothu, Suresh Ediga and Prakash Kapila. Got acquainted with Sri Atluri through facebook and conference calls. He was one of core guys in Dandi March II and walked 240 miles for anti-corruption. Truly inspirational.
Satya D. and Satya N. were there to help us whenever we asked them for it. Satya D. garu's viewpoint sometimes was very divergent from IAC but personally, i love the energy and tenacity they put in working for the nation.
Umesh kaul was always there from the beginning. We talk about many different things. Lokpal discussions have occupied most of our tea/lunch breaks. He was one of "official" photographers for our parade event. Somehow managing his camera, umbrella, wind and rain. Pranay K. and Viral D were there for support.
Pranay used to distribute flyers alone in secaucus, NJ because we did not have any guys in the area. The lone "warrior" was determined and relentless. His mental energy and fire belies his physical frame.
Deepanshu is another guy from jersey city area i really admire. His team of friends helped distribute flyers and mobilize the folks from the local area. He is another person, i feel is all heart and soul. He exudes an air of higher consciousness. i know Kunal, Rakesh, etc have worked hard in previous event but did not get a chance to know them well. In the process of working to mobilize for parade event, we got introduced to Kshama Desai. Despite the rain and not having a car, she made to our parade event. Ravi C. is another dynamic guy who does a lot of good social work. He was there for our UN event.
The college fire brand group was from NJIT. Pratik Dahule, Helee Joshi, and friends. I don't the names of all of them. They have done great work in mobilizing support and getting volunteers beyond our expectations. We tried to reach out to Rutgers and Princeton university. Got introduced to Prateek Mathur. He writes very good blogs and thought provoking viewpoints - not all are pro IAC. He, Murtuza and Shrinivas helped in trying to reach out to people. The one person i remember from Rutgers is Yogesh P. He was there at the parade and the scene of him waving the indian flag proudly is embedded in my mind. Bhoomraj R. came all the way from Bridgewater.
Nitin Garg and friends joined us from white plains, NY for the NJ, parade and later for NY parade event. NJ team was holding fasting event when the NY parade event was organized. Not many of us could go for it. NY parade organizer canceled the participation at the last minute and IAC volunteers had to the parade on the side lines. We still got a huge response in NYC.
Raj Saran joined us from Delaware. He has been trying to build support in the local area. We got some folks joining us from Pennsylvania.We met Raj and Vijay Bharatiya at the parade. The patriot couple are always there for the nation.I met Ravi Gangavarupu at the parade. Ravi and Vinay M. had done a lot of work with AID. Together we helped organize Nikhil Dey meet and Prashanth Bhushan princeton visit.
Chandan, Sumit jajoo & friends and Sanjeev Sharma from edison joined us a day before. And they were fabulous in the parade. Chandan had come for the parade but volunteered to stay behind to take care of a lot of our material, t-shirts etc.
After, the parade event, there was a followup meeting in NJ by the business groups where Atul, Vamsi, Sreenivas R. were the main speakers.
Ashim Jain from IAC India had come for UN event. UN event was initiated by Mohan, Alok, Tulsi, Chaitra from chicago. They are a great team. Mohan is a thinker and planner, Alok has an addictive exuberance, Chaitra's creativity etc. are some of the people i know in this team. Atul and I assisted with the UN event. Atul is also working tirelessly for Bihar development and promoting Patna Marathon. Preeti gupta also was a visible attendee doing interviews and shouting slogans. We also met the passionate duo - Satchi and Vamsi. Vamsi has been working continuously and despite his distance from NJ/NY.
Anna started his indefinite fast mid August. I realized later that Vivek and Anil were keeping up with the fast Anna was doing in India. They were eating only once a day for more than 12 days. They inspired us and i too fasted that way for 5 days till Anna broke his fast.
We had a 2 day fasting event at Oak Tree Road to coincide with fast in India. The local business group (IBA) helped us with making a stage and an audio system. We played bhajans and patriotic songs when we sat for fast. The stars of this event were Raj Walia and Sravanth poreddy - they were sitting there continuously for 48 hours without eating. Kiran Desai from IBA also fasted with us for 2 days continuously. Most of the us ate only once a day. We met Gulshan, Arun Ganesan, Jyothi, Asha ji, Varun V., Sachin, Dilip, Milind, Ajay B. and spouses at the fasting event. Shrungi was also there in the fasting event. And she was keying in all the contact information we got in past events. We got close to thousand signatures in support of Jan Lokpal. Kamal was manning the desk there almost continuously.
About this time we also got in touch with Amrutha, Abhijit and team. They were doing a signature campaign and collected a lot of signatures independently (not under IAC).
Ajay Singh was also at another flag hoisting event when we were holding the fasting event. Sanjay Pandey was another active member who was helping get TV visibility for both these events.
Atul, Anuraag and few of us were all set to organize a big event at UN but the threat of Emily ( I meant tropical storm Emily :) ) forced us to stand down. Meanwhile, The House agreed ‘in principle' on the following issues — (i) citizens' charter, (ii) lower bureaucracy under Lokpal through an appropriate mechanism, and (iii) establishment of Lokayuktas in the States. When this resolution was passed we all collected at Oak Tree road and celebrated at Chowpatty. Sangeetha Mallik and spouse, Hitendra, Deepali,Himanshu, Deepak, Vivek, Raju, etc. and few guys from IBA were all there. It was a good impromptu celebration and we did short march on Oak Tree Road.
We held a meet and talk with Nikhil Dey. We also met Mohit, Ameeya, Prashant there. Mohit, Ameeya, Prashant, Shanta are the key people who are giving a good momentum the IAC movement here. Nikhil Dey shared his viewpoints on Jan Lokpal and NCPRI drafts.
The most challenging time for us in the recent past was when we were planning a major event for Prashanth Bhushan and some of his controversial statements about Kashmir surfaced. It had a polarizing affect on the group and we were having long acerbic debates. We eventually had smaller events in Princeton and his family was kind enough to invite us for Dinner talk. Raju, Deepak, Mohit, Ameeya, Vivek were few of the guys who went and heard his frank viewpoints on IAC - current trends, future plans etc.
I would also like to mention how media helped us in our local movement so far. They have been willing to listen to what we are saying and write about what we are doing. We have got press/tv/radio coverage by local channels and by ndtv, timesnow etc.
The team has a lot of dedicated people and who are willing to make a difference. This momentum will continue for a long time to come. We are trying to appeal to the intense passion that Anna Hazare and IAC movement has harnessed. There are a lot of people in India and outside India who want the country to do better. And everyone knows that the country does not lack in great ideas and great people. What we lack is implementation and intention. If we fix this, we are on our way to become a super power.
There are lot of other un-named people who are doing a fabulous job. And as long as we have the kind of people i mentioned above, and many i have forgotten to mention, we can attempt to work towards a "fix". So, my dedication is not just to the Team Anna in India but to the larger pan-world population that is and will be working together to affect the "fix".
With the hope and faith that things will change for better. Wishing everyone a happy new year 2012.
Jai Hind!
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