Sunday 6 April 2014

VOLUNTEERING FOR A DREAM I BELIEVE IN!!

After having shed all my inhibitions and getting enrolled as an "on-the-ground" volunteer for the Aam Aadmi Party I thought I'll share my experiences of the first couple of days.

Spreading the word


Image courtesy:
https://twitter.com/Parasmaniji/status/307896433892274178
As soon as I reach the office I am tasked to a team that will try and reach out to the people on the road by distributing "I want Swaraj" topis (caps), badges, and putting posters on auto-rickshaws. Its not the glorified job that one would imagine, but in my view its the best place to be since that's when you can truly gauge the support of the people and the "AAP Wave". Majority of the people on the road are extremely enthusiastic in their support and as passionate as we are, I say this because, auto drivers come around voluntarily to get the posters fixed on their rickshaws (without a penny being paid or being asked - a little hard to believe), people on the road stopping by and asking how can they volunteer and lend support. 
I am not sure about the "Intellectuals" but the common people on the roads connect with the party's message on honesty and clean governance and are extending their full support. This sort of response generates the energy that makes one forget natures elements of rain, heat, cold and work tirelessly towards spreading the message.

There are roughly 70000 auto-rickshaws in Delhi and my team working in the East Delhi constituency have covered over 300 of these vehicles and we would have distributed more than 3000 caps in the last 2 days. There are many other teams working round-the-clock in the region, trying to spread the word. 

With the campaigning efforts in Delhi coming to a close the next set of responsibilities include assuming the role of a polling agent and facilitating the spreading of the message on the D-Day. I am game.... and if you are too then sign up TODAY.

Is baar NoMo....di Sarkaar (This time we don't want Modi)

There is no doubt that there is a sprinkling of support for Modi and a couple of folks have come up to me and repeated "Is baar Modi Sarkaar" (We want Modi). My short but courteous reply to them is "No sir! you mean, Is baar phir Ambani Sarkaar!".

AAP ki "topi"


Image Courtesy: http://www.veooz.com/
Ok, so the "I want Swaraj" topi may not be the coolest accessory that you may have worn, but it was never meant to be. It represents a message that joins us all together across classes, across religions, and cuts across our personal biases (demons) and no amount of money can buy you that piece of clothing. 

In Conclusion

The idea of this piece is not to proclaim my achievements, the message is simple, if you truly believe in an idea then give it all you can, because "NO ONE CAN STOP AN IDEA WHOSE TIME HAS COME".

Tuesday 1 April 2014

A visit to the Aam Aadmi Party's office

I have always been a passive and reluctant onlooker in most scenarios, seldom willing to inconvenience myself, especially if I didn't see any material benefit arising from taking any initiative or maybe in some cases I was afraid of he perception that others may develop of me. This thought process has evolved over the last few years thanks mostly to the principles I have learnt at ThoughtWorks, and in this particular case my influencer has been Navendu Shirali (my batchmate from Goa Institute of Management).
For the last 3 odd years I watched the Anna movement and Aam Aadmi Party from the sidelines hoping to be part of these movements but reluctant to get down to brass tacks. Most of my support or involvement was by the easiest way possible i.e. sharing statuses on social platforms and making some insignificant donations. However, after a lot of introspection I finally took the initiative and walked into their Pandav Nagar office to sign up and help them in any way I can.



What I experienced?

The office is in a nondescript location probably on rent or loan from a volunteer. As you walk to the first floor the first thing that you will notice is that the stairwell has clear signs requesting visitors/residents not to spit on the corners put up by the party.
The office itself is bustling with energy and volunteers were either getting logistics ready for a house to house visit, huddled in a cubicle to plan the next Jansabha or roadshow, or coordinating booth management activities for the D-day.
The walls were lined with chart papers and white boards consisting of information on work assignments, allocations and action items, the energy in the room was palpable and made me feel as if I was missing out on something and I need to be a part of this ....right now! The crowd was mixed (in terms of age) and consisted mostly of educated middle class folks like myself. The interactions among the group seemed very professional and cordial, very similar to the environment that you and me experience in our corporate lives.

What I signed up for?

I met Mr. Gyankumar Pandey (a mild mannered and cordial individual) who asked me some basic information about my work and constituency and then briefly explained the tasks where I could help with in the coming days. So I volunteered to help over the coming weekend and on the day of voting in Delhi. I also expressed my interest in helping AAP with putting in place practices which help in continuous learning and improvement and help building a strong and long lasting organizational culture. This brought Shalini into the picture, she drives the organizational development initiative at AAP and informed me that the party did hold a lessons learnt exercise across its offices in Delhi after the assembly polls, and would be looking to do the same post the Lok Sabha election. She looked forward to my involvement during that time and listed my contact details in a Google spreadsheet.

In conclusion:

I came out of the office even more reassured and pumped then when I entered it. 
I generally hear a lot of people say that AAP should do this or Arvind Kejriwal should have (not) done that or that they believed in the movement at the start but no longer believe in it..... All I have to say is that history gives us a few opportunities to make things right and when that time comes, don't be like me, the person who sat in a corner reluctant and afraid just happy taking the easy way out. Stand up, get involved, take the initiative and work towards making that change as AAP has done and BE THE CHANGE YOU WANT TO SEE.