8 reasons Mazdoor Leaving us

Mazdoor (Labour) is categorised as unskilled labour. On the contrary, it is time realise how skilled they are.

Maz + Door (Door means moving away), the people who use their physical strength to serve us are moving away.  

I belong to a village near Aligarh. I have spent my childhood in village. The village used to be very cosy, green, full of love and life those days. 

Gradually, people started moving away from villages in search of livelihood & good lifestyle in cities. I used to see many houses either locked or in bad condition. The youngsters were hardly available for taking care of old parents. As a tourist we have  seen many villages in  Himalayan region devoid of young people. Old people always longed  to see their grandkids, families & liveliness.

 

Recently, I was informed that my village is feeling live now.  Locked house doors opened, longing eyes of old were bright full of joy. Houses turned home sweet home.

I have read the news in paper, a boy returned home after 15 years. The family which lost the hope to have him back joyfully welcomed him. They showered UNCONDITIONAL love on him. There was a man who went in 1975 and returned now in 2020 i.e. after 45 years to his village. The village welcomed him.

There are many such real stories, what attracted them towards village or what prompted them to MOVE AWAY from CITIES their KARMBHOOMI (place of work).

8 Reasons that MAZDOOR are MOVING away.

1. Karmabhoomi is not able to fulfill their basic needs - Roti, Kapada & Makaan ( Food, Home & Shelter). 

2. Uncertain Future - They are confused about their future in such cities full of industries, wealth, work & better lifestyle than villages.

3. Self Respect is fading away. These mazdoors have high value system. They believe on themselves, have great tolerance power, patience and contentment. They want to THRIVE on their hard earned money instead of donations.

4. Fear - of losing life due to STARVATION first and CORONAVIRUS later. They have hardly any space in their houses. They cannot maintain physical distance in their houses and even communities because they are so closely packed in cities. So, Lockdown is a HELL for them. 

5. No Engagement - They work on daily basis. Their Life plan is based on ONGOING activities. If the activities stop, there is no other engagement for them. 

6.  Feeling of belongingness is not present in these cities. There was no one who showered UNCONDITIONAL LOVE on them. Even those whom they served stopped interacting them. 

7. One attracts other - Seeing people moving towards their villages motivated others also. If large number of people of same community takes decision to move, others follow their footsteps.

8. Last but not least, PLACE OF BIRTH ( Village) attracts all. We feel happy, safe, wanted in our village.

You can hardly see people in villages dying of starvation. The village is a small community based on love, affection, understanding, caring, simplicity and feeling of belongingness (APNAPAN) . INDIA has a rich culture and it is still celebrated in villages.

This is an assurance that these people will make their Life better in these places. 

TIME is about to come wherein, INDUSTRY will move to MAZDOOR's place instead of MAZDOOR coming to their place (cities). 

CITIES have broken their TRUST it will take long to REBUILD it.

7 Outcomes of Extracurricular activities - A glimpse

Getting something extra in life without effort brings happiness  in life. Think about discounts on

sale, bonus in salary, greeting card on special day, extra delicious complimentary dish on dining table, extra ride etc. Isn't this thought creates waves of happiness all around.

Same is at school, EXTRA - CURRICULAR spreads the wave of immense pleasure among students.

One can feel the enthusiasm of students while preparing for school's annual day function, sports day, literary fest, fashion show, photography day, drama - theatre, making of short films, participating in MUNs ( Mock United Nations), debates, gardening - growing plants, making robots, cracking Olympiads etc. You name it, and just recall your childhood or your kids face, you will only see smile, happiness, energy on the face.

When I initiated to think on the topic, I was wondering why we have  given the name EXTRA - Curricular. Extracurricular means - BEYOND STUDY COURSE. 

Later, a thought entered what is its objective. Why do we have to include it along with studies? What are the kinds of activities which are included in it?  The responsibility of schools is to  holistically develop personality of kids and made them capable to lead LIFE successfully & happily. Beyond study is the only applied way of nurturing kids. Students spend more than 8 hours a day in schools and it becomes full time in case of BOARDING schools. This is precious time of their life to make them successful & happy HUMAN BEINGS who are the FUTURE of our NATION. 

 EXTRACURRICULAR ACTIVITIES - OUTCOME

1. HOLISTIC PERSONALITY DEVELOPMENT 

There are many ways to define personality. In my view, the personality includes INNER & OUTER Persona. Inner persona intangible. You can just feel it, cannot touch it. It includes your THOUGHTS. Thoughts define your personality. Hence, how to THINK is a great teaching which is needed these days since we call this yug as KALYUG. MEDITATION is a focussed extracurricular activity on it & sharing elevated thoughts with students in the morning is a boon. Outer personality includes your BODY movements - style, speech, walk, talk, reading, writing, ; BODY cover  - health, hair, nails, hygiene, dress, shoes. The presentation of your body and thoughts leads to showcase of your total persona. All Extracurricular activities facilitate in making of GREAT PERSONALITY in some or the other way.

2. Spiritual Quotient 

Extra curricular activities enhance your spiritual quotient ( SQ). The SQ means understanding the Life's Purpose  and making best use of it by living life with happiness. It includes the social intelligence ( SI), Intelligence quotient ( IQ), Emotional intelligence ( EQ). If you understand the terms deeply, you will be able to understand that the extracurricular activities prepares to face challenges of life. SI teaches you to live together, make friends, networking with people, respect relations, create long-lasting relationships. IQ - the logical mind starts developing. Extracurricular Activities strengthens not only body muscles but MIND POWER. It brings focus in life. The ACADEMIC performance increases manyfolds. EQ - the cognitive skills too increases. Students participation leads to develop strong personality who happily crosses the challenges of life.

3. Enhancement of VALUES & SANSKAARS 

Values are part of your overall persona. Values never changes in life. Kids participation in sports activities makes defeat and win a part and parcel of life. We call it sportsmanspirit. Dedication, devotion, hard work, perseverance are some values given to HOBBY which is PASSION and may become FUTURE/CAREER of a student. Flexibility, adjustment, compromise, sacrifice, working in groups & teams, choosing BIGGER GOAL/ VISION over Personal goal are learnt while participating in sports, theatre, music bands, dance groups etc.

4. Opportunity to Explore themselves 

Lot of training programs are organised for " Knowing Thyselves" in corporates for employees and leadership team. But every school conducts this program via EXTRA curricular activities. The student participates in variety of activities and explores what excites them, what is their hidden talent, how far they can take their hobby or passion. This passion is also a type of MEDITATION / YOG. When we say YOG, it means connecting or adding. So, when a student  YOGs with PASSION, MIRACLES are created. We can find many examples. All the inventions are the result of PASSION, Making of AMITABH BACHCHAN, SACHIN TENDULKAR, MARY KOM, writers, book authors, Technology power man like Zuckerberg, our PRIME MINISTER - Mr. Modi and many renowned personalities.  

5. Out of BOX - THINKER nation builders

Extracurricular activities leads to develop creativity in students. They use their meditative mind full of power in INNOVATION and creating new things in any area. Kids participation in drawing, painting, craftsmanship, using waste creating new things, engineering new things etc. makes them creative & confident. This makes them future scientists, entrepreneurs. They take risk, think differently, visualise, use magic of words in writing stories, poems, jokes. In playful manner, they are the IDEA GENERATION boxes.

6. LIFE SKILLs - teachers

Extracurricular activities are the tools to teach applied life skills. What do you infer from Life Skills ? These are the skills needed to live life with zest, success and happiness. The DREAMS seen in are implemented by applying life skills. Skills like decision making, problem solving, being solution oriented, learning from mistakes, to be lifelong learner, self confidence, having high self esteem, making house a sweet home, keeping fit and being hygeinic, go - getter etc. are the outcome of participating in Extracurricular activities. From how to tie the shoe - lace to motivating people at borders to fight with enemy & be a winner, no matter your life remains or not is a life skill. Life skills is about skills needed to live life with zest and die with full honour..

7. Well mannered CITIZEN of NATION

Extracurricular activities teach students about their duties & responsibilities. Attributes of self confidence, independence, taking right decisions at right time develops fast in such kids. You can see that they can shop, book online tickets, earn while having fun activities, can fill forms ( examination, banks, employability etc.) easily. They make their NATION proud from very young age. We have many kids who participated in sports (crossed English Channel - Swimming), archery, dance talent, Olympics, spell bee competitions etc. and made our nation proud. ENVIRONMENTALIST on CLIMATE CHANGE - GRETA THUNBERG of Sweden gave fine speech in UN at such a young age and made her nation proud by giving momentum to the climate change.

Participation in Extracurricular activities at school level give immense pleasure and wings to the TALENT & DREAMS of students. Students create their IDENTITY by participating in Extracurricular activities.

CURRENT SCENARIO

In lockdown period, students are confined to homes. They are learning via ONLINE CLASSES. One can teach &  learn curriculum via online classes. What about the holistic persona development of students? They will be deprived from this magical happiness of their life. Health is wealth. We need to abide by the lockdown mantra of SOCIAL DISTANCING at this moment  but for complete development, gradually, we need to restart and give HIGH FOCUS on participating in Extracurricular activities.

FUTURE OF EXTRACURRICULAR ACTIVITIES

Have you ever seen village kids? They are innocent, raw and live with nature mostly. Their minds are very fertile. They discover new things called JUGADs in common language. Their common sense is at par. They may of may not get the opportunity to study in big modern schools but they have many happy moments in life, they face challenges of life easily due to development of life skills by observing and living with nature. The EXTRA CURRICULAR activities are built in their lifestyle. This forces to think that EXTRACURRICULAR ACTIVITIES are LIFELINE of the kids. 

Kids make best use of their high level ENERGY via Extracurricular activities and CHANNELISE them to be the BEST.

Gyaandaani is a school of teaching & learning giving focus in this area. It imparts fun, value based applied Learning. Meditation/Yog is an integral part of the course. Teaching, how to think via positive affirmations and elevated thought building in the minds of kids, teens and youth. Gyaandayani dreams  that one day it will put forth all skill building activities via Extracurricular activities in front of the students as platter  so that students can chose the best hobby/passion to convert it to their DREAM career/future.

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