What Certificate?

We are in our final semester of college, sweating it out to figure where we’re headed next, counting the days we have left here and dreading every passing day. We find ourselves in a very uncomfortable state of mind, especially considering how well we had settled in the past three years. As I fall prey to mixed emotions and look back to identify my greatest takeaway, learning and experience, I’d give the complete and absolutely unexaggerated credit to my time at Enactus SRCC.

I remember walking past Room 1 nonchalantly on an August morning a few years back as I was interrupted, and a little amused, by how the room was brimming with people, the crowd spilling out of the windows and doors, and many more observing the proceedings from outside.I stood on my toes to steal a peek of what the fuss was all about. It was the Enactus SRCC Orientation, and it was something I had heard about for the very first time. Reasonably impressed and appropriately intrigued, I appeared for the interview – with a runny nose and a burning forehead. Whether it was the constant, distracting sneezes or the absent minded answers that managed to strike some chord right, I could never tell, but some lucky (probably, sympathetic) judgement led to my acceptance as team member. Little did I know, that something I chanced upon so unknowingly, would go on to become such a treasured bundle of memories.

I remember my first footsteps into the curiously meandering lanes of Kathputli Colony, spellbound by the colours and the conversations. I remember the wrinkled hands of that woman in Nekpur firmly placed on my head, to bless me with all heart in our very first encounter. I remember my heart warming to the idea of the organization, but my mind desperately trying to find my purpose and intent in this 60 odd member team.

I remember the clueless inhibitions being put to rest by our seniors whotirelessly repeatedthe facts of the projects for our thick skulls to absorb, get inspired and act. I remember the zeal with which we, total rookies to the whole concept, pounced upon the first chance to visit the communities, dispatch any material ormeet the who’s who, photographs of whom we’d only seen in print before.I remember unthinkingly choosing meetings over classes and forgetting to eat lunch during eight hour long visits.I remember the excitement of getting to share our visiting cards the first time and arguing over the tiniest situations to feel a sense of belonging. I remember lost roads that ended up at the right destinations and staying glued to the phone planning work and visits, while my parents taunted me for “not having any time for anything else”. I remember the first time the community called me to communicate an issue, and the jovial relationship we fostered hence. I remember standing tall – shoulders back, chin up and fingers trembling – trying to explain the magnitude and quality of our work to a crowd that was predominantly alien and intimidating, but was peppered with the enthusiastic, encouraging smiles of our team members who had worked painstakingly all year to produce those kind of results. Smiles, so wide and bright, that every word I spoke was infused with a pride that was rather difficult to withhold behind that mike. I remember the year ending on the realization that I had met people of real substance, who were sure to inspire me for a long time to come. First year made us more sensitive to the numerous challenges around us and ignited in us the passion to improve lives, to work hard and to celebrate the experience.

I remember stepping into second year – nervous, but resolute. EnactusSRCC was no more to be a carousel – it was time to take on the roller coaster! The organization was now our responsibility, with expectations thrust upon us by our communities, our seniors and even, our juniors, and only building with time. No more casual chatter about the work, but the time to perform and excel.I remember working out a professional personality so I’d get work done. I remember baring a composed exterior, when my insides were screaming in confusion. I remember conversation after conversation leading to intense discussion, and having to make sense of conflicting opinions, while always remembering how every opinion was directed to the same goal. I remember the “Never mind, we tried” moments, just as well as I do the “Eureka” moments. I remember the transition from second guessing every decision to spontaneously reaching common conclusions. I remember it being a year of prolonged periods of disappointment, quick flashes of achievement and a constant journey of discovery. Second year was some tough decisions and worried nights but second year helped us see the more real side to an organization like Enactus SRCC, that wasn’t all roses and candy like first year, but that helped us gain a much better understanding of ourselves, our strengths and our shortcomings.

Unsurprisingly, third year left most of us battling an existential crisis. Despite having passed on the baton, it is overwhelming to come to terms with the fact that we have to now let go of something that completely occupied our mind space over time and taught us such hard and lasting lessons. Enactus SRCC helped us all in our unique ways – for some, it was about gaining the confidence to speak their mind, while for others, it was about channeling their intellect towards bringing real change. Some of us learnt to accept our mistakes and grow from them, and some others learnt to appreciate differing opinions and value them well. Regardless of the individual role we played, we all have our reasons for always remembering this organization to be one that touched our lives, and changed it.

I often find myself wondering what it is that makes our experience at Enactus SRCC so close to the heart.Is it the quality of work we are exposed to? Or the communities we empower? Is it the fantastic opportunities for self-development that we encounter? Or the inspiring industry people we meet? Sure, all of them in varying proportions, for each of us. But the more I think about it, the more I am convinced that at the end of the day, what makes Enactus SRCC stand out from the rest, is the team that makes it. The people, who stood united, driven and supportive through all the bumps and who laughed, cried and hugged in the victories. Each person working at this organization carries with them an individuality that is difficult to tarnish, creating an atmosphere of nothing but mutual respect and admiration that makes working at Enactus SRCC, a hobby more than a task. And that’s what I’ll miss the most about the organization. I’ll always think of it as the organization with a team who settled for nothing short of excellence.

Written by Mihika Sharma

The Dream Unfolds

What started with a 'kachhi basti' performance has now led to performances in the Russian Embassy, and across other renowned platforms across the nation. From struggling to get two shows per month to performing 200 shows a year, the puppeteers of Kathputli Colony, Shadipur have come a long way.

 This story began with the ambition of Shreyasi Mehndiratta and Shruti Paul, who envisioned the dream for the puppeteers in order for them to regain their lost respect and recognition. Puppetry in India has seen a downward gradient from being an art which lit up the Indian streets and courtrooms, to being pushed to hopeless anonymity reduced by the contemporary forms of entertainment. It has never been a smooth sailing. From pitiable livelihood conditions to miserable employment avenues, life was in shambles for the puppeteers of Kathputli Colony. For puppeteers Raju, Vikram, Vinay and Ravi, the art form of puppetry is the legacy their forefathers left behind.

When Project Kayakalp was first conceived, it took a full six months to convince this community of puppeteers about the feasibility and sustainability of the venture. Doesn’t everyone have that moment: an experience, an epiphany, getting fired, getting desperate, getting fed up, and getting lucky enough to have fortune outshine fate? A similar story followed for these puppeteers as well when Kayakalp came into picture.

However, it was just the beginning, just the launch of the flight that awaited its magnificent journey. The first show was themed against bullying and after their first show; a series of firsts followed: the first episode of their new life, the first feeling of fulfillment, the first thunderclap of applause and a first feeling of belonging. There was no looking back from there. Trust us when we say then: they had their own trepidations and apprehensions- a group of 200 people, a bedlam of 200 voices- “Is this the opportunity we were waiting for?” The literal meaning of Kayakalp- “rejuvenation” has indeed got a special connotation for these puppeteers- there are some very specific instances in everyone’s life that evolve them, that change them for the better, that vitalize them and rejuvenate them only to be cherished forever and quite congruently, Kayakalp has been that “specific instance” for them. This is where the endeavor of Kayakalp came into effect to smoothen things out. Defying all odds and doubts, going against the misgivings which persisted in the back of the mind; a new initiative carved in to ripen these amateurs into the maestros of puppetry. And blindly trusting their instincts and respecting the trust of the puppeteers imposed in them, the Kayakalp members moved ahead with full vigor and enthusiasm- set out to win some battles if not the world. And gradually, many battles were won, many achievements were forged and many lives were made.

In January, 2016 Kayakalp performed its 600th show. How gratified and spirited we feel whenever we revisit the Kayakalp journey; putting forth the vivid imagery of the deft hand movements of those ambitious puppeteers, of the several occasions celebrated, of the tea which we have to drink on a Shadipur visit, of the dilapidated place turned into the haven of art. It would be no exaggeration to claim that the overwhelming aura with which Kayakalp has left all of us awestruck is a one to swoon over. What's more important than the increase in income is the feeling of satisfaction and accomplishment that these puppeteers feel. While Enactus bids farewell to Kayakalp, we would like to say that this journey has been remarkable. It is time to realize that there's always some good in goodbyes. For one will have to leave something behind to move forward. We are happy to see the puppeteers taking a step towards success. To see them as entrepreneurs is all we wanted and now we are proud to see Kayakalp actually pulling the strings of change.

Written by Archit Taluka and Harsha Jain

Edited by Rai Sengupta

Turning Disability Into Ability

As he looked to the top, he saw his destination. 

He knew where he was going, but for him, the question was- how? 

Dependent as he was, he glanced nervously for a helping hand. 

But today, gone are those days. 

Today, he doesn't just move, he steps forward and proves, 

That being independent, gives him a sense of self-respect.

Stairs, one that once seemed like a mammoth task, 

Those obstacles don't seem so intimidating anymore. 

Shine of his teeth replaced the smear 

Of hopelessness that he was oh so familiar with.

Snapping out of his train of thought, 

He pushed forward on his wheelchair, a moment of gratitude 

For the sense of independence instilled in him.

For Persons with Disabilities (PwDs), universal accessibility is critical for enabling them to gain access to equal opportunity and live independently and participate fully in all aspects of life in an inclusive society.

In an ambitious move that aims to empower such persons, the government recently launched the “Accessible India Campaign” (Sugamya Bharat Abhiyan) which seeks to make at least 50 percent of all government buildings in the national capital and all state capitals “fully accessible” for the disabled by July 2018. Similar deadlines have been set to make airports and railway stations accessible to the disabled. The initiative is also in line with the Article 9 of UNCRPD (UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities) to which India is a signatory from 2007.

This can be seen as a huge step in a country wherein the people have been rendered "disabled". It informs the masses that the disabled people deserve it – it is a play of karma, a retribution for their past actions. It was seen as a justified penalty imposed by the supernatural forces on the disabled people. The disabled where shamed, excluded and seen as vile. They were covered with a shroud through vicious negative social sanctions which made them invisible – they were othered, and all of this seemingly was warranted by the cultural apparatus made up of disrespectful gestures and words such as langra, andha – their identity as a disabled person eclipsed every other aspect of their existence.

When we were equipped with the ideological faculties of the 21^st century, we looked at disability through a very different lens – one which wasn’t as distorting. In case of India most of the efforts to redress the situation have come from the disabled people itself – who have relentlessly made demands to the government by coming up with additional clauses and evasions in the policy frameworks. These people are marginalised, even the institutions of soft power verify this fact as we have two different streams on for the disabled and one for the rest in  

Furthermore, disability and poverty are thoroughly connected. There is a high incidence of disability in poor households, which adds up to the economic strain too.

We are all physically disabled at some time in our lives.  A person with a broken leg, a helpless child, a mother with a pram, an elderly person etc.- we are all disabled in some way. These disabilities often create disparities amongst us and we often expect quite a lot from the world around us. Needs of the disabled coincide with the needs of majority, and all people are at ease with them.  As such, designing the facilities for the majority implies designing and planning for people with varying abilities and disabilities.

An important aim of society is to integrate persons them so that they can actively participate in society and lead a normal life.  Ideally, a disabled person should be able to commute between home, work place and other destinations with independence, convenience and safety. The more persons with disabilities are able to access physical facilities, the more they will be part of the social mainstream.

The Accessible India Campaign is a very promising start, but we need to realise that the problem is not as narrow as the doors, that can be easily widened. In order to include the disabled, we need to ensure that these people are properly represented by the media so as to make them a part of the wider discourse, to make sure that disrespectful words are not synonymous to the word disable, we need to go beyond the biological understanding of disability and see it as socially constructed, we need to make sure that a differently abled person doesn’t transpose his/ her disability with their self-perception so that there isn’t any form of victimisation. We need to reimagine the meaning and implications of disability so as to let the hues of shame and isolation fade.

Written by Anuj Dehmiwal, Nidhi Sangli and Ilakshi.
Edited by Abhishek Naulakha

Knocking Doors, Bringing Change

The way Enactus members live their lives can’t really be described with making allusions to the quotidian functioning of college students. For us, it has been different. Sometimes, in the middle of exams, we hop out of ours beds in the wee hours of morning and then get into a cab. Why? Because we need to go to Karnal, where the community under project Sattva is located, for demand assessments. We can't really put to words the feeling that drives us to do all this-it is something close to magic.

We met at the metro station, all set to seize the day. As the cab sped away, our eyes started getting laced by the residue of the previous night, and the rhythm of the speeding engine lulled everyone to sleep. As the morning light turned into the orange of afternoon and through windows, light and shadows took turns to dance subtly on our winter-bitten skins. Outside, we could see families of trees becoming familiar to our eyes because we travelled by road this often-almost ritually. We let the window down a bit, the wind broached our faces. This stillness was broken when the car stopped at the toll tax complex, we paid and sped by.

“Paneer ke aur doodh ke samples rakh lena aap, hum kuch aadhe ghante mei pahunch rahe hain”, Jaideep conveyed this to one of the didis from the dairy.

Karnal is a semi-urban district in the heart of Haryana, where one goes past the slums that thrive on the edges of Delhi and the private universities, to reach this place-it isn't lost in time or space-but it seems to have its own essence. Our Didis- the community in the two villages of Amritpur Kalan and Taprana- are still learning and actively participating in reclaiming what has been taken away from them. Our Kisan Sahyogis and the processor groups use the tools of modernity without displacing them from the roots- in our case, technology, tradition, profit-generation and altruism go hand in hand- making whatever we create (not produce) a labour of love.

We made a halt at and parted into pairs- Medha and Utkarsh headed to Amritpur Kalan, Jaideep and I- Taprana. A tempo's engine paused its half broken song.

Pushpa didi stepped out of the tempo and Jaideep walked out of the jeep. We had a lot of places to cover —  we juggled in the interstices between plan and execution. We got down at the Gymkhana Club and tested our luck — the mess manager wasn’t there but the disappointment at this finding didn’t cloud our hopes for long. Pushpa didi took a piece of paneer and gave it to her wailing son — he took it and began to nibble at it. Still brimming with enthusiasm, we decided to head to the next place in Sector -9. “Arrey, sun…”, someone called us as we decided to leave. He told us that there were a couple of women in the cafe and they might be interested in our products.

Enactus Members are inherently opportunists — so we agreed to talk to those women. We entered a room that was full of women with perfectly manicured nails, gaudy sequined attire and pricy purses.  They were playing Tambola. They were too busy (or too arrogant) to look at us.

“Who plays Tambola at 8 in the morning?” said Jaideep in a confused voice, just above a whisper.

I cleared my throat, and pitched our Project. Some women liked our products, and it was evident from their smiles. We exchanged contacts and then left satisfied. The flow of money in suburbs has changed the socio-cultural setup to an enormous extent. And this was an amazing example, women who would be in tatters working in a kitchen were now sitting here, in a club, early in the morning, all clad in imitation - designer clothing, playing Tambola, hundred and five hundred rupee notes spreading like cards about their fingers.

Next we visited a lot of schools, houses and shops. Didi was obviously tired, her baby’s eyes blinking theatrically by falling asleep and waking up under ceilings of different colours. The Sun was being pulled down by the unbearable weight of the afternoon, our bodies were tired but our spirits were still charged — after all, we had to ‘Seize the Day’.

“Ek aur school, bas didi, aap yeh saman mujhe pakrado, phir ghar chalte hai”, Jaideep told didi.

On our way to the last place, he kept on smiling at the baby, who was eating some potato chips.

Then we returned to Arpana Rural Services Organisation, and rolled back to Delhi. The clouds, looking as pure and brilliantly white as the milk, were hemmed to the horizon. We couldn’t wait to do this all over again. 

Written by Ilakshi and Meghna Jayaraj.
Edited by Rai Sengupta and Abhishek Naulakha

Permission or Presumption?

 The understanding of presumption of consent to organ donation may be considered, by some practitioners of law or science, to be an inaccurate and misleading term. This stems from the general understanding of 'presumption' in law and science: as an inference that is made on available fact or evidence with the understanding that vital information that can render the inference invalid may be missing. In law a presumption holds – that of innocence, for example – until a substantial body of evidence is produced to the contrary. Just like a scientific theory or hypothesis, a legal presumption is maintained for as long as no evidence is provided to disprove it or no valid objection is raised against it. A presumption, in law and science, is therefore a 'provisional estimate of facts' based on some accepted fundamental state or pattern of behaviour.

Unlike the presumptions in law or the hypotheses of science, presumption of consent for the use of body organs cannot afford any possibility of abandoning the presumption, reversing the decision or of retracting any action based on that particular decision. The presumption of consent for organ donation cannot therefore be taken as a presumption of donor willingness, with the specific understanding that there will be a provision for changing the course of action should further evidence emerge, but rather as a presumption of state rights to post-mortem body organs, unless an objection by the 'occupant' of the body is raised whilst the 'occupant' is still in 'residence.

 Opponents of presumed consent argue that the absence of donor willingness is morally unacceptable because it can be seen as a violation of their wishes.It is clear that presumed consent is advocated as a means of meeting organ donor shortages and not because the state wishes to assume ownership of body parts per se. Nevertheless, it places the greater emphasis on functionality of body organs and how they can be best utilised to sustain life rather than on the importance of requiring permission of the individual to donate his or her organs. It also takes away the power to 'gift' that donorship.

Consent assumes a central place in legal and ethical analysis of transplantation practices, notably with regard to living donors but also vis-à-vis cadaveric donors. Indians aren't all that generous when it comes to donating their organs. Spain has 35.1 organ donors per million, Britain (27), USA (26), Canada (14) and Australia (11) whereas India's count stands at 0.08 donors per million population. It is estimated that every three minutes, a patient requires an organ transplant. Some experts say more than two lakh Indians require organ transplantation annually. (Source). 

According to Rousseau, "Through our relationships with the State are born obligations that are entered into involuntarily for the good of the common or the whole."

It is essential to introduce presumed consent legislation in India. However, this will be possible only after creating widespread awareness about organ transplantation and addressing the religious and cultural overtones that are associated with it. It can be effective only when there is good infrastructure, for instance an actively involved government agency that coordinates procedures for the removal, distribution, transportation and transplantation of organs.Though it is evidently easy to say that it is essential to introduce presumed consent legislation in india,given we create widespread awareness etcetera,but in a country where there is no existent culture of consent,how can we all of a sudden think of a legislation?A country where women,in practice,are forced into non consensual marital sex-the idea of presumed consent is too far fetched.It somehow whispers exploitation.

Written by Ilakshi and Meghna Jayaraj.

Edited by Rai Sengupta