Contribute your best BIT : My Experience for Team SCIT-SSR !!

Wow! It's good to hear that you are working in an IT MNC. And I am more elated that you are scaling new heights in your work life. Another good part is that your company has a fund allocation for CSR and you always wish to participate in CSR's group activities. But, you miss on each and every other weekend because either you are busy in office or relaxing on a much awaited weekend.

Above is the scenario faced by most of the individuals who wish to participate in CSR activities but struggle to step out of their routines. It is really commendable that you are a part of your CSR group in your company, but if not then don't feel bad. I belonged to the latter case but fortunately was part of a like-minded people group – 'Only Human'. This group is not any kind of registered group in the company .It's prime motive is – To spread religion of smiles. Though, i am now quite far away from my group (‘Only Human’ is in Mumbai), I still cherish the vivid memories I had with ‘Only Human’.

Our group is closely associated with two social orphanages – ‘Maa Niketan’ (for girls) and ‘Aasraa’ (for boys). During my course of stay in Mumbai, I can never forget the monthly birthday celebrations (at ‘Maa Niketan’), smiling faces of kids, their innocence, cheering sound during some indoor games, etc. Our team used to arrive early and prepare for the celebrations. Hide-and-seek with girls peeping in from the auditorium windows, smiling with pressed lips used to give me and the team a heart-warming welcome. Most of the times there used to be around 10-15 ‘birthday’ girls.

Inviting them on stage in auditorium, helping them wearing hats and cutting pastries with them made me feel that one sees a hand of Almighty in a self-less deed.

Although we used to play a lot of games apart from asking kids to participate voluntarily in singing, dancing,etc. I still remember one game during one of my early visits at Maa Niketan.

It was like every kid was to give a chit (written ‘My Favorite’ on it) to any of the ‘Only Human’ team members at the end of the birthday event. We interacted and played a lot with the kids. I still feel very proud that I got around 3-4 chits. I loved that moment which made me felt really special.

Thanks to Maa Niketan and thanks to the person behind ‘Only Human’ – Mr. Manish Bajaj.

Although, I visited 'Aasraa' just once, but I was in touch with all the events which took place there.

On my visit, after spending time with the kids at the orphanage, we went out and played cricket with them. It goes without saying for me that I could see future Indian cricketers in them !!

It's being said that one could have a glimpse of Almighty in a child's smile and yes, I witnessed it a number of times during my visits at both the places.

So friends, even if you are not associated with a well-renowned NGO or any social organization in your company, I would say it doesn't matter. Do Your Bit. Look Around. Form your own group and make a difference in the lives of others. A feeling which one gets after doing any kind of self-less service is something positively ineffable. I take it as an offering to Almighty. Rest assured, doing your bit will make you happier and a much better person.

Devesh K Mathur
SCIT 2011-13

Batch 2011-13 : SSR's Baton goes to you now !!

What,Why and Significance of SSR : Snapshot for batch 2011-13 ?

About Team SSR at SCIT :
World is changing everyday at fast pace but somewhere we are forgetting our responsibilities towards our society and environment, which is actually paying cost of our mutlifolded growth and acceleration. We the management students from diverse corporate as well as professional background at Symbiosis Centre for IT (SCIT) realized the gravity of this ignorance and took a firm resolution to be the change, we want to see. This committed resolution turned into a body called Student Social Responsibility (SSR) to spread the word among common mass and aware them about gravity of issues concerned with our mother earth, environment and social inequilibrium.We are resolute to be the voice of unheard section of our society, to be the eyes to look into the problem of not so fortunate strata of our community, to be the sense to understand our rights as well as duties towards our country and surroundings.

We believe for a true leader, you need to very well familiar of social dynamics around you, environmental concern as well as major issues of your society as line of growth somewhere goes through these segments only. Management is all about giving back to society by bringing a much needed solution required and that’s why SSR is making an honest attempt to closely understand these big challenges of environment around us.Altough having packed MBA schedule but SSR team has shown a pledged commitment in organizing some very influential events winning lots of appreciation across Corporate, educational institutes, print as well as electronic media.
Some of the major events we have initiated are officially partnering with WWF to celebrate EARTH OUR all across pune, Fund raising events for various Orphanage and NGOs like Manavya: taking care of AIDs students, awareness campaigns about Fuel saving, celebrated our foundation day as Green IT day all across pune especially among IT Companies and colleges, and many such events. SCIT-SSR aims to highlight, celebrate and inspire thought conscious youth into understanding and protecting Mother Earth and be a part of a vision that seeks a better planet for tomorrow !!

Aim and Meaning of SSR :
Symbiosis Centre for Information Technology's SSR, right from its genesis aims at making the leaders understanding their holistic purpose and responsibilities towards society as well as to nation by giving the growth it requires. We need to recognize that everything we do, every step we take, every word we speak – counts. Nothing is trivial. Our efforts at SCIT's SSR are a contribution to the society, we thrive in and which has given a lot to us. Now, it’s our turn to repay our bit to it wholeheartedly.
Ethics
• We believe in creating a wave among youths to aware them about various issues of our society, so that everybody of together can be the solution for creating a better tomorrow.
• We are concerned about inequality among society and committed to put our best efforts to contribute our honest effort to provide equal opportunity to everyone, be it underprivileged children or orphans, HIV Infected kids, Child labor, or it’s about empowering Women especially in rural areas.
• Management students at SCIT are also looking forward to work on various rural occupational projects to define new opportunities of employment and assist in better standard of living for them.
• SCIT also look forwards to collaborate with various NGOs or CSR groups to work together for the social as well as environmental transformation, we want to bring.
• We believe in preserving nature and strive for a pollution free clean environment through coordinated efforts of awareness and community support for the use and promotion of renewable energy, reducing waste and encouraging people to “Go Green”.
• MBA students at SCIT are committed to promote the spirit of ‘Greener business, healthier bottom line' which focuses on the awareness among Corporate regarding Green IT; bridging the chasm between awareness and perception about Green IT.
• Aims to instill in the young minds of India the awareness on saving electricity, water, food and promoting the use of renewable energy.
• SSR is also working on various Projects to come out with solutions for various issues of society with the help of IT and ITES.

Dear Batch 2011-13,

So get ready to add your vision to SSR and prove your testimony !! Lot many things are planned for you guys . All the best !!

Ram Kinkar Jha

Member,Team SSR

Team SSR's Visit to MANAVYA (NGO taking care of HIV Positive kids ): A life time Experience !!

Life is all about to keep appreciating its beautiful Journey !!

Its well said “Everybody knows, how to live life but masters are those who knows how to surpass the deadline of being dead”.It was a very unusual afternoon, I was very confused about meeting HIV kids regarding what all should I be well aware of before meeting them ,How exactly these kids would be behaving, what would be their social life, whether they are also normal playing kids and being an MBA student, whether to bunk my Finance Class to visit Manavya as an opportunity cost to pay for it.

These all were concerns kept surrounded me for around 2 hrs but never thought these worries deserved a very pleasant treat. The moment our bus reached campus and I entered MANAVYA’s compound,a kid requested me “Bhaiya,do you play cricket ?”.I was amazed to see that these kids were even normal than me as even I don’t find that much time to enjoy my life so casually. We went through orientation all across campus arranged by one of the administrator and he told us how team MANAVYA take care of 53 adopted kids.All of them were having their own tragic story, 18 of those kids were from Red Light area, few were left in front of police station, few were thrown in dark corner of street and some were came through legal process :-(

Everybody from caretaker to careless kid were HIV positive but trust me, I never seen such a positivity in any social sphere, they were not interested in cribbing about somebody, they didn’t had any complains, they were so happy with themselves. We conducted few games and cultural events for them to better mingle with them and to better understand them. What a learning event it was, never seen such a team dynamics, where everybody was supporting their colleagues to better present their talent to get recognized, everybody was so happy to clap for their friends to gift them a very special moment.

It was also nice to learn new life dimensions of our dear mentors Bharathi Sir and Rajool Mam apart from their usual deadlines notifications for evaluations and asssignments :-)

I remember one 9 yrs old kid, who was such an outstanding sketcher, everybody from our troop were amazed to see his artistic skills but he was completely lost in his work without giving any attention to anybody until he finished off his sketch. What a serious aspirant they were and when I asked his what you want to be in your career, he vey cutely answered “Bhaiya,main to painter banoonga”.I never thought they are such a masters to give so many strong lessons in such a small time to all of us .

What a spirit it was to win a game, which outside the world seems to be an already a lost game.Suddenly a boy hold my finger from back and asked me “Aapka naam Ram hai,mera bhi naam Ram hai”.Afterwards,he just kept roaming around with me and kept asking questions ,which really forced me to think other perspective of my life. It was truly an unforgettable experience.

Finally, it was our time to depart and we left that campus but somebody called me back to wish last greet of the day and took promise to visit regularly for a cricket match with him.
May god grant them all the success and best moments in their life.What we can give,is just few moments to make them feel that they are as well very special and they do have a purpose.
So, try out once to Visit MANAVYA,Pune!!

Really, feeling proud to be member of Symbiosis's Team SCIT-SSR (Student Social Responsibility)!!

Ram Kinkar Jha
Member,Team SSR

Lets Go Green !

GREEN!! So what is it with the colour Green that we human beings are so fascinated about? What is it that after decades everyone is suddenly pouring their heart out for the colour Green? Was it really missing from our lives and we have realized it now, or was it that we never liked to be Green? Naah... We were always in love with the colour Green; we always loved to have trees in our locality, a garden in the house, and even plants inside our room. But as they say, nothing lasts for longer, so slowly and unfortunately, the plants inside the rooms started getting replaced with the excessive furniture which was nothing but a kind of big burden on us. Then the bike parking or the car garages took the place of the small beautiful garden or lawn in the house. And as our social network was growing rapidly, the trees in the locality were cut down just to increase the density of manmade stuff over the natural ones. The colour Green started vanishing from our lives and we hardly did anything to stop this from happening. We always knew the consequences, but we had never thought that it will happen so soon. We never thought that soon we will have to face a very urgent and serious problem called Global Warming. But whatever it may be, the truth is that now we need take to initiatives and do something to save the colour Green.

So how can we get the colour Green back into our lives. One may say that he/she will plant a tree or save some land to build a park or switch off the unused lights and use water carefully. All of these would be really great, but think how great it would be if we are able to save the colour Green with the day-to-day work we are involved in. In our digitized life, we will have to find a way which would be beneficial even to save the future and which would help in creating such practices that can be followed with the growing technology of the world.

Green IT is a concept which would really help us in building a bright and green future for ourselves and our generations. It refers to environmentally sustainable computing or IT. The goals of green computing promote the recyclability or biodegradability of products and factory waste and emphasises on reducing the usage of hazardous materials. A number of IT companies are really serious about their Green IT practices and even the International Organization of Standardization has built a set of standards (ISO - 14000) to successfully implement Green IT in firms. You can definitely look for more information on this on the internet or one of the best ways would be to follow the SCIT SSR group, which has taken a huge initiative to bring awareness about Green IT.

On its foundation day , 21 Dec 2010 , SCIT SSR group would be coming up with an event where the members of the SCIT SSR group will visit few corporate firms and give presentations on Green IT and would also understand the various kinds of initiatives which the firms have taken to implement Green IT. The preparations are on a high and the stage has been set, the only thing required is the maximum participation from you people to make this campaign a huge success and we request you all to be a part of it.

So guys, bring up that enthusiasm, which was totally unseen, for this campaign of the coming week, LETS GO GREEN. J

Chhavi Raina

SCIT-SSR

Green IT!

We have probably noticed that green is everywhere these days, i.e., in the news, politics, fashion, and even technology. We can hardly escape it on the Internet, and now with the Planet Green TV network, we can even enjoy eco-friendly entertainment 24 hours a day. That’s all great as far as we’re concerned, but with a million messages and ideas coming at us from all sides, we can get easily carried away by the green processes like putting on the thermostat, or switching to organic foods or so, without thinking about the big picture of how our actions stack up at the end. So first of all we should ask ourselves what is GREEN….

Green IT
Green computing or green IT, refers to environmentally sustainable computing or IT. It is "the study and practice of designing, manufacturing, using, and disposing of computers, servers, and associated subsystems—such as monitors, printers, storage devices, and networking and communications systems—efficiently and effectively with minimal or no impact on the environment. Green IT also strives to achieve economic viability and improved system performance and use, while abiding by our social and ethical responsibilities. Thus, green IT includes the dimensions of environmental sustainability, the economics of energy efficiency, and the total cost of ownership, which includes the cost of disposal and recycling. It is the study and practice of using computing resources efficiently. To comprehensively and effectively address the environmental impacts of computing/IT; we must adopt a holistic approach and make the entire IT lifecycle greener by addressing environmental sustainability along the following four complementary paths:

1. Green use — reducing the energy consumption of computers and other information systems as well as using them in an environmentally sound manner
2. Green disposal — refurbishing and reusing old computers and properly recycling unwanted computers and other electronic equipment
3. Green design — designing energy-efficient and environmentally sound components, computers, servers, cooling equipment, and data centers
4. Green manufacturing — manufacturing electronic components, computers, and other associated subsystems with minimal impact on the environment

Government Initiative –
Many governmental agencies have continued to implement standards and regulations that encourage green computing. The Energy Star program was revised in October 2006 to include stricter efficiency requirements for computer equipment, along with a tiered ranking system for approved products. Some efforts place responsibility on the manufacturer to dispose of the equipment themselves after it is no longer needed; this is called the extended producer responsibility model. The European Union's directives 2002/95/EC (Restriction of Hazardous Substances Directive), on the reduction of hazardous substances, and 2002/96/EC (Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Directive) on waste electrical and electronic equipment required the substitution of heavy metals and flame retardants like Polybrominated biphenyl and Polybrominated diphenyl ethers in all electronic equipment put on the market starting on July 1, 2006. The directives placed responsibility on manufacturers for the gathering and recycling of old equipment.

Industry Initiative -
Climate Savers Computing Initiative (CSCI) is an effort to reduce the electric power consumption of PCs in active and inactive states.[9] The CSCI provides a catalog of green products from its member organizations, and information for reducing PC power consumption. It was started on 2007-06-12. The name stems from the World Wildlife Fund's Climate Savers program, which was launched in 1999. The WWF is also a member of the Computing Initiative. The Green Electronics Council offers the Electronic Products Environmental Assessment Tool (EPEAT) to assist in the purchase of "green" computing systems. The Council evaluates computing equipment on 28 criteria that measure a product's efficiency and sustainability attributes. On 2007-01-24, President George W. Bush issued Executive Order 13423, which requires all United States Federal agencies to use EPEAT when purchasing computer systems.

How to implement green IT?

Virtualization
Virtualization within the IT environment helps you make more efficient use of existing software and hardware resources. You can use popular virtualization software to create VMs (virtual machines) that share hardware resources while functioning as completely separate entities on a network.
There are several key benefits to using server consolidation and virtualization analysis solutions, including operational efficiency, better resource allocation, and enhanced security.

» Understand it: Find out how virtualization technology can help you allocate resources more efficiently, meet business demands, and save money over the long term.
» Plan it: Learn how to evaluate your current IT environment and determine which hardware and software are the best candidates for virtualization.
» Do it: Pick up best practices for selecting solution components and deploying your virtualization solution.
» Use it: Explore management tools and learn the essentials of securing complex virtualized environments.
» Buy it: Shop for virtualization software, certified hardware, storage, and consulting services.

E-Waste Recycling
"E-waste" is a popular, informal name for electronic products nearing the end of their "useful life." E-wastes are considered dangerous, as certain components of some electronic products contain materials that are hazardous, depending on their condition and density. The hazardous content of these materials pose a threat to human health and environment. Discarded computers, televisions, VCRs, stereos, copiers, fax machines, electric lamps, cell phones, audio equipment and batteries if improperly disposed can leach lead and other substances into soil and groundwater. Many of these products can be reused, refurbished, or recycled in an environmentally sound manner so that they are less harmful to the ecosystem. This paper highlights the hazards of e-wastes, the need for its appropriate management and options that can be implemented.

Management of E-Waste
It is estimated that 75% of electronic items are stored due to uncertainty of how to manage it. These electronic junks lie unattended in houses, offices, warehouses etc. and normally mixed with household wastes, which are finally disposed off at landfills. This necessitates implementable management measures.
In industries management of e-waste should begin at the point of generation. This can be done by waste minimization techniques and by sustainable product design. Waste minimization in industries involves adopting:
• Inventory management,
• Production-process modification,
• Volume reduction,
• Recovery and reuse.

POWER MANAGEMENT
Power management is a feature of some electrical appliances, especially copiers, computers and computer peripherals such as monitors and printers that turns off the power or switches the system to a low-power state when inactive. In computing this is known as PC power management and is built around a standard called ACPI. This supersedes APM. All recent (consumer) computers have ACPI support.

Power Management Keys
Power management keys are three keys on computer keyboards which control the computer's power management status. They are the Power key, the Sleep key, and the Wake key:
 The Power key is used both to power on and to power off the computer.
 The Sleep key is used to put the computer to sleep, when it uses significantly lower power than when it is active, but can be woken quickly.
 The Wake key wakes the system from standby.
The power saving modes and the transition between them is usually implemented using ACPI.
On computers running Windows Vista, the Windows key can also act as a power management key, and turns on the computer when pressed.

Renewable-energy
Renewable energy is any energy source that is naturally replenished, like that derived from solar, wind, geothermal or hydroelectric action. Energy produced from the refining of biomass is also often classified as renewable. Coal, oil or natural gas, on the other hand, are finite sources.

Standby-power
Standby power is electrical power that a device consumes when not in present use, but plugged in to a source of power and ready to be used. Standby power consumption is the amount of such power that is used even though the power drainage is not apparent. The terms apply to appliances such as television sets, computers, computer peripherals, and various other devices, including those that use battery chargers.

Telecommuting
Telecommuting is the use of telecommunication to work outside the traditional office or workplace, usually at home (SOHO) or in a mobile situation. Telecommuting can reduce greenhouse gases, save gasoline usage and associated purchase costs and reduce urban traffic congestion. (Undress4Success.com)

Water-cooling
Water cooling is an eco-friendly method used to lower the temperatures of computer processors, and sometimes other components such as graphics cards, using water rather than air as the cooling medium. Also known as "liquid cooling."
Organizations who have already implemented Green Computing

There is much to learn from organizations implementing Green IT initiatives. No single piece of information, however, is more compelling than the level of success organizations have seen. The benefit most commonly realized by 68% of companies was the ability to increase features and functionality. This includes enhancements in computing or storage capacity, and meeting employee demands for features or environmental action. Overall, 65% of companies successfully realized one of the major benefits of Green IT – a positive sign for companies considering these initiatives. The chart below displays the main benefit realized by each initiative for the top four implementation drivers: decreasing energy costs, decreasing consumables used, increasing features and functionality, and decreasing other expenses or future investments. Storage
Consolidation for example, had two main benefits: the enhancement of features and functionality due to the resulting increased computing capacity and reliability, and the reduction of future investments needed for storage hardware.

Regulations around the World

Kyoto Protocol: Environmental treaty developed by the United Nations, and ratified by several countries (excluding the US who declined ratification). Sets targets for countries to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) Directive introduced in 2002, and enforced in February 2003 for all EU member states. Restricts the use of hazardous material in electronics and promotes proper recycling. Energy Conservation Act introduced in 2001: This was enacted by the Indian government to encourage energy efficiency. The Bureau of Energy Efficiency will enforce strict policies for energy consumption and supply.National Greenhouse and Energy Reporting Act introduced in 2007, and enforced as of July 2008 in Australia.



Manjari Medha
SCIT-SSR

The MRA Experience!

15^th November 2010

The day when the second batch from SCIT headed to the much heard about place- Panchgani.

“Panchgani” literally means a congregation of five hills. It is a small town lying to the south-west of Maharashtra.

As the bus started its journey, almost everyone contributed to making the journey a memorable one by enhancing the fun quotient through the varied skills they possessed- singing, acting, and dancing too. After about a three-hour drive from the SIC campus, we had reached our destination. The sign board at the entrance read: “MRA- Initiatives of Change, Asia Plateau”. The peacefulness and the serenity of the place mesmerised one and all. On getting down from the bus, we were extended a warm and hearty welcome by Joshi uncle. We were taken for the introductory session hence.

The camp apparently had some strange rules which some even dreaded, but eventually; they turned out to add to the fun quotient of the whole trip. We were divided into teams, and every single meal was to be served by students of any one of the teams. Also, we had to do the dishes on our own, with some help from the facilitators and the other staff.

Enjoyment at work!

The Dining Hall

Later in the day, we all went to the table land which is Asia’s second largest table land, only after one in Tibet. Ah! And amazing that day was! The trek, which was a first time experience for many (like me) was thoroughly enjoyable.

Trek to the table land

The next day began with the “Nature Walk”. In the sixty eight acres of lush greenery, everyone was absorbed by the natural beauty. The time was effectively utilised by one and all for listening to their respective inner voice and it was indeed worth it! In the evening, we visited Grampari (Grameen evam Paryavaran Kendra) which is an initiative taken up by the Asia Plateau Centre. The centre preaches and promotes self-employment to rural people and teaches them about various aspects of life such as hygiene, food and nutrition etc. It also attempts to make households self-sufficient through practices such as creating biogas from the regular biodegradable wastes which can hence be turned into compost. We volunteered for some shramadan which required us to get our hands dirty in the soil and extend a helping hand to the various facilitators over there. It was an absolutely enriching experience.

Greenery all around

Explaining 'tipi-tap' and the 'compost pit'

Volunteers at work- Shramadan

In between all of these field-work activities, there were sessions which helped us interact with phenomenal people. As we heard their tales, we realized that there’s much more to life than what we’d actually thought. All of us love to be in our comfort zone and remain functional within it. But only when we push ourselves and try to extend our boundaries, do we achieve something more than the regular mediocrity. We delved deeper into our relationships and how do we maintain them. I must say, it was an overwhelming session where everyone had moist eyes listening to some real-life incidents of people which completely changed our perspective towards them. A movie “Tuesdays with Morrie” was screened later in the evening, which dealt with a similar concept (read ‘realtionships’).

The third day was full of crazy fun and frolic. In one of the sessions called the “Appreciation Workshop”, all of us were asked to pin up sheets of paper on our back, which therefore had to be filled in by the others by thoughts which appreciated the person. The session ended in the foyer being turned into a dance floor!

The Appreciation Workshop

The night was simply incredible. It was the night of some superior performances by the students, facilitators and the interns of different nationalities. Some sang, while the others danced, and some others showed their talent through skits. And the audience was immensely supportive. There were sounds of cheer from all sides of the auditorium!

Cultural Night

The last day began with remembering the Almighty who is addressed differently by people of different faiths; hence ensued the multi-faith prayer session. After lunch, we started from Asia Plateau, bidding adieu to the beautiful place and wonderful people. It was quite hard to leave the place as the three and a half day trip came to a close. The session ended, but we took along great memories and certain thought-provoking issues which would definitely help us in reflecting at ourselves in greater depth!

Aditi Nawani
SCIT-SSR

It is not good to throw it out !

Ahimsa Express moved out of the Pune Station, its wheels drumming the tracks under. I could feel the sound through my feet as I stood at the passage on a coach, the passage that connects compartments of a coach and the one that is used by moving hawkers who sell almost everything from nail clippers to safety chains, paper soap, padlocks, mineral water, cola, cold drinks, potato and banana chips, guavas, pomegranates, torches, hair combs, Sidney Sheldon and Baba Ramdev books, playing cards, latest Stardust magazine and Tinkle comics and all that you need, may need, might need and don’t really need.

It is also used by the IRCTC staff that moves to and fro with that evocative call – ‘Chaaaii… Chaai.. Masala Chai’. This passage is also the one that is exactly in between the central berths and the berths on the side. All the berths had accommodated more people than they were meant to. The train made its way out of the city over and under bridges, sometimes with cars, trucks, rickshaws and motor bikes waiting impatiently on either side cursing the train and filling the air with deafening sounds of the horns pushed with anger and frustration.

Soon the sight through the window changed to green fields and open spaces and sometimes compound walls of real estate (the last, to be exploited pieces of land on face of the earth) with movie posters pasted on them and advertisements of ‘babas’ and ‘hakims’ and ‘baidyas’, saying they could cure piles, stones, impotency, white spots and ED. Embankments on either side now looked greener with grass and weeds grown on them and not surprisingly colorful too, with packets of chips – green for American Cream and Onion, Red for Spanish Tomato Tango, Blue for Indian Masala and Yellow for Classic Salted. To add to the panorama were hundreds of plastic bottles of water which was not in them anymore and the water which was pure, healthy, safe-to-drink and with 300% more oxygen in it than any other water on earth, chocolate and candy wrappers, crumpled pieces of newspapers, broken glass bottles which once contained finest quality malted barley and hops.

I had a ‘waiting list’ ticket. I put my bag under a side berth. From where I stood, I could see the end of the coach which was also the partition between toilet and the corridor. There was an opening in the partition which was ‘waste disposal bin’. It must have been full as I saw a ‘natural’ mango drink pack peeping out of it with a bent straw inserted in it like a long hair pin in a Japanese woman’s head and two plastic bottles popping out. They looked like babies of a kangaroo peeping out of their mother’s pouch.

Some well dressed young men sat on the upper berth on my left and another six on the opposite berth. They had just finished their ‘vada-pavs’ and were enjoying some forwarded jokes which were in their cell phones. One of them sat his legs folded up with a bag in his lap that looked like it had a laptop inside. I received a text in my phone and was replying to it when I felt like someone pat me on my shoulder. I turned around to look. It was the man with laptop bag. Without any words, he stretched his hand out with something in his hand. It was a crumpled piece of paper. He had bent down slightly and he moved his neck pointing at the window, in a way asking me to throw it out of the window. I understood and without any words and hesitation I took that from him and my hand went in to my pocket.

With no further thoughts, I went back to the reply that I was typing. Just in a few moments, he poked me again. I looked up at him. He said – “Bhaiya, fekne ke liye diya tha” (“Brother, I gave it to you to throw it out”), this time, all other fellows on the top berths staring at me – and he told me he did it as his hand could not reach the window from where he was sitting. I had a little smile and said, “It is not good to throw it out” and I went back to my text. In a little longer while, he poked me again. This time he asked me to give the paper back to him. He said sorry which I told him was not necessary for him to say or be. I saw him put the oiled crumpled ball of paper in his laptop bag. I went back to my text. There was a silence at upper berths for a while before I could hear the laughter and jokes again.

Mayur Shah

Asia Plateau - Panchgani