Tag Archives: ChangeBhai

Where there’s a will…there’s a ‘ROAD’ !

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Q: When is the right time to do the right thing?
A: Who can say, but it’s usually most wise to start today.”

Here’s an interesting case study from ChangeBhai’s stable which saw a very active citizen upload a long pending issue of her neighbourhood, minutes after we launched the ChangeBhai portal officially. She thought it was most wise to start immediately. Here’s the story:

It so happened that minutes after we launched ChangeBhai, one of our early users uploaded this particular issue (Issue No. A0003) titled ‘Bad Road in Rohini’.  The issue was put into process by the ChangeBhai team within a few days. It seemed that this road in question was a major source of grief for the residents of this area. Even the most active ones had given up when it came to taking it up with the authorities. It has been like this since the last 3 years now. You can say that that delay had indeed turned out to be the worst form of denial here.

A short note on why getting this road fixed was critical:

rohini sector 9

20130928_150356

This road connects around 30 housing societies of Sector 9, Rohini to a busy commercial area housing, amongst other things, three shopping malls: City Centre, Metro walk & Shopper’s Stop. The condition of the road was beyond pathetic and yet, the citizens were widely using it, as it was the quickest way to reach the commercial area.

While most of the other issues we were receiving were getting resolved with minor delays (if any), this one stuck out like a sore thumb! After a lot of follow-ups (read escalations, verbal threats, giving up, getting-a-grip-again, sticking-daily-motivational-quotes-post-its etc.), we managed to get the authorities to approve the construction of this road early this year! A lot of follow ups later, the work finally started in February. Uff.

One of our newly hired management trainees has depicted the history of this case graphically as below:

delhi issue timeline

Have a look at the images below and we are sure, you will be motivated to report a similar long pending issue of your area:

20140220_130447 delhi-4

 

Baccha Party Zindabad!

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Team ChangeBhai embarked on a nation wide  ‘Ground Engagement Campaign’ for schools and colleges last month.  We are covering hundreds of such institutions, small, big, government, private and so on. Have a look at the pictures below from one such campaign.

IMG-20131213-WA0004-120131213_092746

These are students of Laxmibai Nandgude International School, Pimpri Chinchwad.

We were to take a session on ‘How to use ChangeBhai to report issues” in this school. A peep into the window of the makeshift tin room where the students were seated and my colleague whispered to me “Dude, I bet none of these kids would have access to internet. We need to drop the original plan of educating the kids about ChangeBhai..let’s not throw that whole ‘tagging the issue on a map’ gyan here..no point..why to bug the poor kids…nahi samjhega inko”

I agreed. “Ya..ya..of course..lets chuck it..Plan B is cool here..let’s just speak about some popular social issues…garbage..potholes..and leave”

There were around 60-70 kids from 8th, 9th & 10th standards, girls seated on one side and boys on the other. Around 10-15 teachers were sitting on either side of the small jam-packed room.

I began the session with the general gyan on social issues that we face on day to day basis. As I was about to introduce the portal to the students, I thought of asking the students some questions to gauge their ‘internet awareness level’ so that I can tweak my pitch accordingly.

“So, how many of you use internet regularly?” , I ask, expecting 4-5 kids to raise their hands.

Barring 2-3 girls, all of them raise their hands. Yes. All!

“Ahem..mmm..ok. ..g..gr..great..Ok..so how many of you are on facebook?”

70% hands went up again.

“What about mobile?..How many of you have it?”

50% hands up again.

“Do you use any apps on your phone?”

“Whatsapp”

“Angry Birds”

My colleague looks at me.  We know what to do next. We go back to Plan A which was a ‘Spot The Issue’ activity.  The activity was super successful. 11 students tied up for the 1st place!! A 1 min on-the-spot extempore competition was conducted to pick two winners.

The students were to speak about the issues featured on ChangeBhai which were close to their hearts.

Reik Khan, 14 said “I want to do something about Child Labour in India. No parent should send their kids to work when it is time for them to study..So, Yes.. I want to use Changebhai to report all such child labour issues that I see on a daily basis in my city”

Pratik Sonawane, 15, Reik’s senior in school, said “We, the citizens are as much to blame for bad civic situation in our country as are the authorities. Educating the citizens to report the issues around them is the need of the hour”

Winner!
Winner!
Our Spot-Report-Change Message
Our Spot-Report-Change Message

The more we interact with young guns like you, the more we feel confident about the success that awaits ChangeBhai!

I can lead a nation with a microphone!

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I was at NIT Rourkela recently for their annual technical festival  Innovision 2013 where the evening show’s highlight was a supposedly popular Indian band’s performance. The band was called Underground Authority. Frankly, I had never heard of it. Without much excitement and after much coercion by the organizing committee to attend their ‘festival’s highlight’ show, I went. And boy, was the show popular! The ground was choc a bloc with students and staff. As I occupied the first row escorted by event organizers, the band was performing in full flow. Head banging. Hands up in the air. Shrieking and yelling. Fire show. And all that jazz that normally accompanies such shows.

The band was, without any doubt, super impressive but what really caught my attention was one of their tracks ‘I can lead a nation with a microphone’ brilliantly sung by the band’s lead singer Santhanam Srinivasan Iyer.  In between, the talented Iyer boy was rapping about the need to bring about a change. Good stuff!

underground activity

The moment I left the grounds, I googled on my phone to find out more details about the band. Underground Authority, Wikipedia says, is a Kolkata based band and their music is flavoured by a blend of protest poetry, reggae, alternative rock, rap rock and hard rock. The band is prominently noted for their socio-political messages / Anti-capitalism agenda and also for their ‘Music to express and not impress’ quote. Hmmm. Sahi hai boss, I said to myself.
Coming back to the microphone track, it was so apt for what ChangeBhai stands for, I thought to myself. We indeed can bring a change with a microphone. That is what ChangeBhai ‘s logo depicts as well. Low, distant voices can be heard everywhere. They fail to make an impact that a collective voice through a microphone can make. ChangeBhai intends to be that ‘microphone’ to amplify your voice. Let’s get ourselves heard. Let’s all pick up the microphone.

An Ideal Garbage Bin!

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At Changebhai, one of the most common targets of the citizens filing issues under the ‘Civic’ category is the ‘Garbage Bin’. Overflowing garbage bins. Dirty area around the garbage bin. Garbage not picked up for days at a stretch. And so on..
I, for example never took this issue seriously ever. I once remember passing by an overflowing and stinking garbage bin and telling my mother in my usual what’s-the-big-deal tone ‘It is impossible to keep these bins clean in India. Have you see the variety of garbage thrown here? And the number of people who stay in this locality. Don’t think that can ever happen.’

Never say never, folks. I was passing by an army area in Pune yesterday and look what I saw.

army-garbage-bin

It is Ganpati time in Maharashtra and this bin was kept in a fairly crowded area open to civilians and right next to a water body where the idol immersions were happening. And boy, look at it. Neat. Painted. Organized. A good example for our municipal corporations to follow. What say?