June 23, 2014

But, It was great to……

Best Zoo, I visited ever. It was well maintained and the main attraction of zoo is Gorilla which is the only Gorilla in India (recently I read news that he is dead ) lion, giraffe, zebra chimpanzees, antelopes, primates, Royal Bengal Tiger, birds (white peacock), Asiatic bears, green anacondas, black and king cobra, white king cobra, different type of crocodile and many species of reptiles. If you are an animal lover, you must visit Mysore Zoo, which is one of the oldest and most popular zoo in India and it is a home to more than 150 different ranges of species. It is worth an experience. To inspire the visitors and generate empathy for wild animals, the zoo authority has launched a novel scheme of adoption of animals, which means you can take care of the feeding expenses of any animal you prefer. Overall it was a great experience for me as for the first time I had seen that many animals in my life; It was great to see diversity in one place.

But my regret was only to realize how human beings can be so mean, that for our own entertainment, we had imprisoned wildlife! I also got the opportunity to visit old and historical part of Mysore, while AIF gave us a chance to have an exposure visit at other fellow’s place.

I choose Bangalore and there were two main reasons behind it: One, the organization I had to choose had to be working on similar issues as my host organization and being working with social enterprise, Maitri in Guwahati, I choose ‘Babajob.com’, co-fellow James’ host organization. The purpose of this visit was to learn technique to help my host organization, and Babajob.com which strives for better jobs for unskilled labor was appropriate.

My organization Maitri which works on similar grounds lacks the technology behind creating a more strengthening model and the importance of that I realized only after visiting Babajob and witnessing their robust technology and management to ensure their beneficiaries get the best. It is one of India’s largest informal and data entry level job portal which has over 25 lakhs job seeker and 1 lakhs employer, it is a free tool for everyone for anyone to find a better job.

Anyone can register for themselves with Babajob an unskilled/ unorganized sector’s job seeker or if you want to hire someone. The process is simple – Use your mobile phone and give a missed call on 8880004444 and you can get a call back from Babajobs which will register you after asking you few questions related to your job requirement. You can also register via internet by logging on Babajob.com and fill up a simple form.

Presently Babajob has 250000 registered job seekers and more than ten thousand employers. You maybe a maid or a cook or a driver or a BPO executive, you start receiving daily updates via messages about job opportunities that will pay you better and better on a daily basis once registered with Babajob.com. I registered myself as a maid (my Host organization Maitri works with domestic workers) to check how the technology works and I have been offered jobs from India to Dubai which would pay me salaries ranging Rs. 10000 to Rs. 30000 per month!

But… second and another exciting part of my exposure visit was… I had never visited Bangalore before and I love new experiences! Below is a compilation of interesting places in Bangalore and Mysore which held my attention and will live in my memory forever:

20140414_152454 — King Cobra at Mysore Zoo

20140414_171704 — St. Philomena’s Church

silk cottan tree at lal bag — Silk Cotton Tree at Lal Bagh which is 300 -year -old

20140410_102742 — The Art of Living international center

I also got a chance to visit co-fellow Mike’s host organization Daily Dump which has been working with rag pickers and citizens to ensure that daily waste is converted into compost.

Thanks to all the wonderful Bangalore Fellows, especially James who let me stay at his place and took time to show me the city.

gaytridevi

Gaytri was born in a village near Dharmshala, Himachal Pradesh. She studied until 10th standard but was not able to continue at the time because of household duties. She was able to volunteer with an small organization called Nishtha, where she participated in trainings and informational fairs for community education. Gaytri has always wanted to work for the community, especially with women, children and elderly. She started working with Jagori Grameen in 2003 and finished her 11th and 12th standards. At Jagori, Gaytri led an 8-member team of the Sustainable Agriculture, Forest and Land Program to organize and train farmers groups in 60 villages. Her expertise is organizing trainings and leading meetings on bio-pesticides, vermi-compost, traditional seed preservation and other agricultural practices. She helped start Green Leaf Produce, a project to organize small farmers to grow and sell their vegetables for better prices. While at Jagori, she also worked with youth on leadership and body literacy, worked to make local government more transparent and participatory, and participated in street plays and other community outreach efforts. Gaytri also worked with women's collectives on issues of domestic violence, social audit, NREGA, RTI and reproductive health. In 2011, she traveled to Nepal to attend the 16th South Asian Feminist Capacity Course on Gender, Sustainable Livelihoods, Human Rights and Peace. Gaytri is completing her BA in Social Work from Indira Gandhi National Open University. Gaytri speaks Gaddi, Pahari, Punjabi, Hindi and intermediate English. She loves to make friends, face challenges, try new things and serve others in the community however she can.