Slumdog Millionaire

There have been quite some mixed reactions to Slumdog Millionaire. Some say its one of the best movies they have seen, while some say its kind of a okay movie. AR Rahman is being honored with awards for the music but it is true that deep within himself, he knows that this is just one of his mediocre compositions. There are groups that are protesting the name Slumdog, while a few others have started a group called Slumstars. Well, this is way too much news for the state of reality that Slumdog shows.

Personally, I did not really like the movie but I did understand that it shows some part of the reality that still exists in India even after huge improvements in infrastructure and living standards.

There are still things to improve and one of the things that this movie taught me is to look beyond the unrealistic states that we choose to live in and come back to some real truths in life.

When me and my wife decided to celebrate Diwali last year, in a different way, we literally walked in to a slum and called out a number of kids. We did not understand Tamil - we called up a friend over the mobile and handed the phone to the kids - they were instructed to come over to our place in the evening to burst crackers. Many of the kids turned up and it was a real happy experience to play with the kids who did not ever have the resources to have such a Diwali. We had a light food session and we called one more of our friends to help us out. Once the celebrations started, even our neighbors turned up.

I cannot forget the expressions on the faces of the kids - it was something I was rememebering when I saw the movie Slumdog Millionaire.

What is happiness if not the innocent smiles on such faces!? Can we not do something that increases the internal strength of an emerging India? Are the current efforts enough? There are many folks who take pity on such people and donate huge sums of money - does that help? Why give alms? They need to be educated and free - not just fed. What drives these people to be what they are!?

And why reality oriented movies such as Traffic Signal by Madhur Bhandarkar could not go to an Oscar while a Danny Boyle creation could!? Any thoughts!?

Social entrepreneurship: An INSEAD Article

Rural and social entrepreneurship are becoming reality today. There is a huge amount of effort that has started to make ideas click in the rural areas. I saw this great article by Grace Segran, who talked with Rathin Roy and wrote this article. (click here)

NGO and money

Some people assume that managing teams where money is not the major motive, such as in NGOs (Non-Governmental Organizations), is simpler. Things are quite different, in the real world. In fact, where money is the major motive, goals and objectives become more measurable than in places where money is not the aim. There have been instances where a non-performing NGO has been transformed into a performing one, after its objectives were quantified by the amount of dollar savings it brings in into the common man's life. (To be edited further..)