Indian man at 75 # Real India

Met recently,  Nathu the 75 years oldman, Blacksmith (LOHAR). Happened to meet him while I was at Ajmer(Rajasthan) for my work. What has attracted me to see him working in most adverse condition at such an old age. Nathu was working in open  in scorching summer with temperature soaring above  40 degree Celsius at road side, additional heat is generated due to pumping fire to heat IRON, adding further difficulty level. 

Out of my inquisitiveness I decided to spend some time at road side with Nathu who works daily 8-10 hours, and tirelessly he has been doing this for over 50 years. I found him happy, very positive for life and fresh & full of energy!!  Nathu feels that he is contributing to society by making iron tools for many daily wages laborers who depends on these tools for their daily livelihood and with this he also earns 80-100 rupees adequate for his living. 

He was very kind to narrate his story that he learned blacksmith work from his father and their  forefathers at one time were engaged in making swords and other weapons for Rajput Kings of Rajasthan, India. After they were defeated by Mugals their community decided to stop making weapons and switched to making utensils or tools for farmers and other daily workmen. The art of Lohar has been gradually declining as new generation is not much taking this forward. 
 

But he candidly felt given an opportunity can create any material from Iron and was very confident of his art and even teach others. I was very pleased to meet such a sincere hardworking, non complaining person who works so passionately at this age and very positive towards his life with full of energy. 

Nathu is a real hero! 

This is #incredible India. 

20 Jun 15 

Dear Modiji, Mission 'Clean Ganga' - from Rishikesh to Kolkata

Ganga in Maha Kumbh at Allahabad, 2013

Dear Narendra Modi ji,

We are very happy that you are leading India, a country that has waited this long for the right leader.  I believe in destiny, and I understand it was destined that you lead us in these times when the country needed an honest person like you.  I’m writing to you for “Mission Clean Ganga”, some ideas which crossed my mind.

The Problem - Polluted Ganga

1.     Ganga is not only polluted, it is also become a source of suffering for our large population. Micro- organisms, bacteria & viruses grow conveniently in the holy water and their impact on population is serious.

2.     It is estimated there are good number of diseases such as Skin infections, GI tract infections,  ENT infections and many other viral diseases  as a result of pollution of our rivers.

3.     Most of the polluted materials such as human excreta, city muck, and factory waste all ultimately reach our rivers and finally Ganga, causing for such a bad state of health.

The Solution - A Clean and sustainable Ganga

1.     Create a Parallel Canal and sub-canals along with Ganga all the way from Rishikesh in the north to Kolkata in the east – one large enough to take all waste coming out from cities & factories.

2.     Divert these canals with sub-canals to areas which are waste lands. Build large waste treatment plants in these areas to treat this polluted water. Treated water may further use to make these waste lands fertile, and these lands can become productive over period of time.

3.     Our rituals – like Puja, Asthi Visarjan etc. although these pollute Ganga – they may also be managed by creating HUBs at each 40-50 KM distance where small structures can be created to perform basic rites & rituals, without polluting Ganga.   

The value potential of this project

1.     There is lot of value creation this way – Creating & developing waste land to fertile land, developing organic fertilizers for farming as bi-product,  and making Ganga Ma clean as it was in the beginning.

2.     The treated water will help in making the land fertile with plantation and forestry bringing in newer opportunities.

3.     Emergence of Clean Ganga will help in cutting 20% of diseases in these areas, saving our health care expenditure. Healthy people will lead a more productive life.

4.      Direct employment opportunities this program may create for next 10 Years.

All I can say - If our intention is good, means will follow. Modi ji – I support your vision of clean Ganga.

Sincerely,

Siddharth Paramhans
@sparamhans