Democratic Forum

One of the famous sub-plots of Mahabharat is when Krishna tells Duryodhan to cover himself up before meeting his mother who was to remove her blind-fold for a day.Krishna does this so that he can ensure his sides victory. Some may call this manipulation by the Lord himself to get his side's win. Other's will call it pragmatism, keeping the Big Picture in mind.

I believe pragmatism is really the road to Idealism. We have to work the system to make it work. Sounds oxymoron, but that's the way it is. In context of Nagpur First, there have been some well received suggestions last week, on pragmatism.

The hallmark of any democracy is an acquiescence to dissent, contest and even rebel. I hope we can keep this Nagpur First group as democratic a forum as it can be.Of course this means, we will have to deal with criticism and clashes of ideas. Sometimes these clashes can actually be fruitful.

Having said that, negative energy can sap the momentum. We are in a very nascent stage right now. All of us are volunteering for a cause bigger than ourselves. The cause being that of making Nagpur a Global City in next 11 years.

There has been phenomenal enthusiasm shown by Messrs Saqib Karori, Faiz Wahid, Ajit Kulkarni et al in past 2 weeks or so.. (More details to follow). Vivek Bhagwatkar has already shown how dedication and commitment can work wonders. More strength to him.

Since we are residing at different locations and we are a diverse group of Nagpuris, at times it becomes difficult to co-ordinate and move. But I feel good that we have got reasonable traction already. It's only a matter of time before things start taking bigger forms.

It may seem that things are moving slowly and nothing is really happening. But that is deceptive at best. We are moving one step at a time and lot is happening.

There would soon be a list published on all initiatives taken, either on yahoo group or this blog. We are always looking for volunteers to join any initiative of their liking with Tan (efforts), Man (constructive ideas, suggestions, process help etc.) and/or Dhan (of course the funds).

All folks who came forward with positive ideas,initiatives,donations should be commended for their virtues. Clearly shows, we are on a move and things will unravel positively from here on.

This is a horizontal platform, where vertical initiatives can grow and take shape. In other words, if any of Nagpur First members wants to join any initiative, your coming forward and aligning yourself with something, will be highly appreciated. In fact it will be encouraged.

There are two initiatives that have got traction in past week. One is led by our new member Ajit Kulkarni, from D.C who is targeting a 'walkathon' in Nagpur. Ajit is himself a marathon enthusiast, and has run some international marathons.
Ajit and Amit will be sending more details on this soon.

The other piece of news I need to share is that we have formalized a team for Nag Nadi Purification. The group is called Nag-Pure. We had our first meeting (the USA chapter of Nagpur First had this) and it went well. More invites would be sent to people who are keen on joining this movement and willing to bring positive ideas to the table.

Pretty exciting stuff there; So watch out for this space.

Nag River Rejuvenation

As some of you are already aware, Nagpur First has recently taken up an initiative to help restore and rejuvenate Nag River...(It is more of a 'nala' though).

A team of people in Nagpur and another team in Chicago is helping set up some initial ground work to take this effort forward.

We anticipate that this would be a multi-year, multi-dimensional undertaking and Nagpur First would seek dedicated team members to champion this. People with experience and knowledge on this subject are welcome to send in serious and constructive suggestions. Response and Comments on this post will be appreciated.

In view of this effort, Dineshji and I, met with Dr. Prakasam Tata at his residence yesterday in Naperville. Dr. Tata was kind enough to give us some insight in the work he did in the field of water treatment and related areas.

Recently Dr. Tata overlooked a project to salvage a 170-acre lake in his home town of Vizianagaram in AP. He worked in collaboration with US and UN agencies to get success on this project.

Dr. Tata worked at various levels in Research and Technical Management at Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago, IL.

MWRC serves an area of 883 square miles (2,290 km2) which covers the City of Chicago and 125 suburban municipalities.
The District operates the largest wastewater treatment plant in the world, the Stickney Water Reclamation Plant in Stickney, Illinois, in addition to six other plants and 23 pumping stations

He is also the President of India Development Coalition of America (IDCA) , an organization, we are looking to seek guidance from on this project as they have some experience in this field. IDCA has worked extensively on Yamuna River rejuvenation in and around Delhi. We are already in touch with key members of this organization.

Mr. Amit Badiyani, on the other end, is co-ordinating efforts to work with key people from Nagpur, the folks who first suggested us the Nag River Rejuvenation project.(More details to follow).

We are indulging in more research and information gathering in coming weeks to have a good handle on this undertaking. We will be posting more Data and technical information as and when more progress is made. As again, your response with any information that can help us will be encouraged.

A start has been made and we hope to see Nag river transformed into a truly 'living river' in a few years.

As we gather more momentum on this, here's some fun stuff, members of Nagpur First blog readers can try. We would like you to suggest us a Name for this initiative.

Few pointers

1] The name should be short and relevant to the cause.

2] Negative connotations like Andolan and Bachao should be avoided

3] You can use either of the three languages (English,Hindi,Marathi) to come up, but sticking to the core essence

4] It should be constructive and positive in it's tone.


Some suggestions have alread been made, including..

START FISHING IN RIVER NAG

'Nag Nadi Utthapan Abhiyan'

NEAT - Nag river Accomplishment using Environmental Technologies

Nag River Development Project

Once we zero down to popular ones, we'll put an online vote too!

So readers, let your creative juices work full time or just pick the one you like best..


-A.C.Deshpande