Tribal Insctincts Feature In TOI 13 Oct 2007

BOLLYWOOD & BHAGWAD GITA

Priyanko Sarkar meets youngbloods itching to change the world—but who aren’t quite sure how

There were three bodies on the tracks. A shapeless form in a burqa and two others. The burqa was still, the smaller bodies breathing raggedly. Abhijit Alka Anil, who happened to be at Bhandup station on that November morning in 2005, was among the hundreds watching in silence. The railways’ stained stretchers arrived but there weren’t enough porters. Abhijit stepped forward to help and hurried to the nearby hospital hoping the children at least would be saved. It wasn’t a heavy load—the baby was nine months old, the girl three years. One died on the way, the other in hospital. “The whole station was just watching but no one came forward,” he says.

Abhijit went home, related the story and learnt his first lesson. “I was yelled at for a whole week for getting mixed up in a police case,” he says. “Revolution begins at home. It’s only now, after three years of social service that my parents have begun to accept my decision.”

His decision was to choose social work as a career. “I was a hardcore capitalist till 2003. Then, my sociology professor introduced me to socialism and Che Guevera. Ever since, I have decided to be a social worker,” he says. His family reluctantly realised that this was no passing infatuation but something deeper. Abhijit enrolled for a Masters in social work at Nirmala Niketan, dropped his surname, and formed a group called Dnyeyam.

Dnyeyam, a name plucked from the Bhagwad Gita, was formed impulsively last year at a movie theatre in Mulund where Rang de Basanti was being screened. That’s where Abhijit met Umakant Nadkar, an old colleague. Suitably fired by the film’s rousing call to arms, the two boys discussed the movie, the rotten system, politics, and other things. Before leaving, they had decided to form a group. “The word Dnyeyam, from Chapter 13 of the Gita, means ‘object of knowledge’,” says Abhijit. “But
we have tweaked it and for us it means ‘know yourself’—all knowledge must begin within us.”

Over time, through a network of common friends, the group grew to 21 members. But once the RDB fever had evaporated, the number shrank to 12. Some members are from Pune and Aurangabad and correspond over the phone and on email. The group meets every Sunday for marathon five-hour-plus sessions, when they discuss ways in which to shake the youth out of their consumerist stupor—youth, who, according to them, are getting too American in their thinking and living.

Abhijit, now 23, is fond of quoting from Thomas Friedman’s best-selling book, The World is Flat. The NYT columnist, he says, came to Bangalore looking for Indians and found only Americans. “We aren’t against boozing or one-night stands. We just want the youth to realise that there is an India out there which needs help,” he says. The group is disgusted with the ways of their peers— “educated youth who spit on the road and litter. All they want is money, even their parents take a back seat”.

To go beyond jaw-jaw, the Dnyeyams decided to tell people about the new civil weapon, the Right to Information Act. But they soon found it wasn’t that simple. They were short on manpower and funds—even to register the group would cost them Rs 10,000. After much breast-beating, it was decided to start small. New members were admitted on a fee of Rs 150 — “about the cost of five cigarette packets” and each member was expected to skim at least Rs 50 from their pocket money and put it into the Dnyeyam piggy bank. On the strength of this touching but terribly limited fund, two RTI lectures were held at Bhandup and Thane. They also collected 1713 signatures on the Khairlanji dalit killing and forwarded the list to the President. The workshops had guest lecturers like RTI crusader Shailesh Gandhi and writers like Pradeep Deshpande and Sulabha Brahme, who taught the group an invaluable lesson: you need patience to tackle bureaucratic sloth and you need to know an issue inside-out before you decide to march on it.

The group has three agendas: women’s empowerment, reforms in education and rights awareness. “We also want to promote the spirit of nationalism,” says Namrata Salunkhe. In order not to sound like a bunch of bores, they have coined some catchy one-liners. “The attitude of our group is: Try me rather than why me,” says Nikhil Kasarpalkar, a genetics research student. Chimes in Umakant Nadkar: “Join us. We need no education, just dedication.” Shamika Chavhan, the youngest member, declares that the problem is that “80% of the youth don't care about anything apart from their jobs and the remaining 20% have no clue about how to help even if they want to”.

Perhaps they could dial Dnyeyam.

ADMISSIONS OPEN

Anyone can join

The membership fee is Rs 150 and Rs 50 per month thereafter

To join email dnyeyam@gmail.com or visit www.dnyeyam.blogspot.com