3 Jan 2019 : At Dr. Bhanuben Nanavati College of Architecture, Pune

My buddy Ajit Joshi put me in touch with Rajan Gorhe – Chairman of the Maharshi Karve Stree Shikshan Sanstha.  Rajan was keen to move forward immediately. The MKSSS has over 26,000 students in various institutes. We finally decided to do one session, and picked the college where we would have students who have started driving.  Dr Kashyap – Principal of the college – got in touch with me to plan the event. Unfortunately, both Rajan Gorhe and Dr Kashyap had prior commitments, so they were not present for the event. However, they managed all the coordination in the background to ensure that it was successful.

We had over 300 students in the auditorium, some sitting on the floor. All in the age group 17-21 years.  This is the age group that we most want to reach out to.

When Shubhangi talked about the background – about Arundhati and how her accident led us to shed the fatalistic attitude – there was pin-drop silence. Shubhangi’s words connected deeply.

The students had a limited time for lunch before their next lecture. But they stayed on to sign the pledge.

We also got feedback from a few students which was very encouraging. Here are a few comments from the students:

“We are grateful to the college for bringing forward such an important issue. It was truly a heart touching session. Thank you so much”

“Thank you for arranging the lecture … it was really worth attending for all of us”

“It was a very inspiring talk. They both spoke fervently, and from the depths of their heart”

Mr. Nitin, a faculty at the college, is currently doing a project on the streamlining of traffic on Bajirao road. We would certainly like to collaborate with such ventures to make our roads safer.

We intend to take this further with Dr. Kashyap and Mr Gorhe. We will take a more comprehensive view and draw up a joint plan.

We had the good fortune to visit the original “karma bhoomi” of Maharshi Karve. This was the hut where he started his mission of educating women, beginning with 4 widows. The institute now has 62 branches, educating over 26,000 girl students.  See https://maharshikarve.ac.in/about-us/about-mksss/

Next to this is the “Sampada Bakery” where the senior students are encouraged to “earn and learn”. We talked to two such students, and both of them are also shining in their academics!  It is obvious that they have a lot of pride towards the work they do. Equally notable is the work of the staff who ensure that the work is managed smoothly while allowing for the time required by the students for their studies / exams / etc.

It is also remarkable that the institution that Maharshi Karve founded has continued to flourish and continued to make such a large impact after his active involvement ceased. We, at The Arundhati Foundation, have a lot to learn from the MKSSS.

A special thanks to Mrs. Sangita Mohokar who helped us conduct the session at the BNCA.

29 Dec : At The Greens, Thergaon, Pimpri-Chinchwad.

My childhood friend Prasad ( Pranav ) Dasnurkar  had been after me for a long time to visit him, and also to use the opportunity to reach out to the people in the neighbourhood.  Prasad also lost his sister in a road accident in 2012. His mother has been in touch with us – she understands our grief fully and has been very supportive.  I had promised Prasad that we will do a session in 2018, and I am glad that we could do it before the end of the year.

I was extremely pleased to see a few young people in the audience; young Manas led the rest of the folks in reading out the pledge at the end.

One person remarked that it is annoying and distracting when the passenger in the front seat is talking on the phone. My suggestion is that if the driver is getting distracted, the driver should speak up and tell the passenger that it is distracting.  I have picked up an interesting perspective from Alan Alda’s  interview by Shankar Vedantam on “The Hidden Brain”. Alan says that he makes the first move with the taxi driver and asks “where are you going?” .. the little bit of empathy gets taxi drivers to respond better! Similarly, when talking about a driver who was a bit rough, Alan said “It’s affecting me”.  If we try to tell the driver how to do his job, he will take offence. Instead, shift the angle: what’s it doing to me.  Others respond better in such situations.

We also met Mr. Jatkar – a resident of Greens who works at Syngenta. He helped us with the audio-video setup. Mr. Jatkar mentioned that Syngenta regularly conducts safety sessions in the company, and these are mandatory for the employees. I was very pleased to hear that some organizations are being proactive in this regard.  Mr. Jatkar has requested me for my material for he thinks that he can use it in Syngenta to make a bigger impact. We are very happy to partner with Mr. Jatkar to spread the message.

Another tidbit : my son  shared this with me at the end of the session. There were two senior citizens who “strayed” into the presentation. They did not know what it was about, but they said to each other “let’s see if it’s interesting”. And they stayed through the full hour of the presentation. Maybe we are doing something right in how we present, if it is able to hold the attention of a stray participant.

A special thanks to Sandhya and Shirish Bhatawdekar who helped in coordinating the logistics for the event.

27 Dec 2018 : It was quite an honour to be at this premier institution. We had over 300 cadets and sailors in attendance – mostly in the age group of 19-25 years. There were a few cadets from overseas – Bangladesh, Myanmar and Sri Lanka. There were a few families as well, and, of course, the officers from the institute. All in all, it was a packed house at the Menaka auditorium!

As we go forward on our journey of creating awareness on road safety, we learn along the way and grow. This time we took time to understand the traffic situation in Pune and places around Pune and realized that in Pune, the accidents have seen a 9.5% increase from the past year
Since visuals have a higher impact, we added a few videos :
o Distracted driving is akin to driving blind
o How a slower speed would have stopped the car before the accident
o How a seat belt is effective in preventive fatal injuries
Sure enough, these have a powerful impact on the presentation.

The motto of INS Shivaji is “Karmasu Kaushalam” : Skill in Action. I drew the parallel to their profession and stressed on the need to be totally alert and on-guard on the road. Proactive driving = alert anticipation.
Towards the end, Shubhi walked up to the stage to talk about why we do what we do. She was very collected and I could see that what she said made an impact.

So when the time came to take the pledge, all the cadets stood up, stretched out their hand, and took the pledge together! This gave us goosebumps. There is something quite powerful in a simple pledge – a call to action – and it gets amplified when so many sincere cadets say it in one voice.

I believe we made a positive impact. Commodore Srinivas who felicitated us said that he would recommend this to other training bases. And sure enough, a few days later, we have received a request from INS Kattabomman, Tirunelveli.

This is the first time that Shubhi and Anuj have attended the session I do for seniors. On the way from the auditorium to our room, our son Anuj said “Good job. I am proud of both of you”. That means a lot to us.

I must thank Mrs Fanny Chakrabarti for her initiative. She got in touch with us in November requesting for a road safety session. Her husband is the officer-in-charge of the Centre of Marine Engineering Technology (CMET).

The team of Cdr Pawandeep Singh, Lt Nitin Sharma, and Sub-Lt Aditya Katoch who helped coordinate the entire event did a wonderful job. Our sincere thanks to them.

Thanks to the hospitality of INS Shivaji, we also got to see a few places in Lonavala and the 2000-year-old Karla caves.

Every year on the 21st of November, Aru’s birthday, we strive to launch our new programs with various partners. This year, we are proud to announce that we have launched the ‘Safety Ambassadors’ program with Shishu Mandir.
Shishu Mandir (www.shishumandir.org) and my family go back 12 years when we shifted to our house in Ulsoor. Looking out of our balcony, we would see tiny tots running around on the lanes behind our house, merrily playing with young European Students. Curiosity aroused, Aru and I made inquiries to find out that it was a home for sick and poor children from not so fortunate families. There were orphans being cared for too. We learnt that Shishu Mandir was founded by Ms Hella Mundra, a German, married to Dr D. D Mundra who ran Ashok Nursing Home. Shishu Mandir now operates from its beautiful facilities at Virgonagar.

My awareness talk on Safer Roads, Safer India- Our dream for the Future on the 21st was attended by students from Standards 5 to 10. As always, we seek to make improvements in our sessions. This time, we introduced several pictures which had both safe and risky behaviours. The session was interactive and hence the children learnt a lot more. They were curious and sharp. I was impressed and amazed by their knowledge and awareness about Road Safety.
The children have experienced personal losses and there were at least seven children in the audience who had lost near and dear ones in road accidents.

As it was Aru’s birthday, the session which is always a challenge, proved to be even more difficult. But I It was even more important to me to reach people that day because, she could not celebrate her birthday only because of the accident.

The lunch was sponsored by the Foundation and it gave me solace to see that all the children in the school could eat lunch to celebrate Aru’s birthday.

The next day, the teachers followed up and asked the children to jot down what they had learnt – very briefly. It was extremely heartening to see the teachers and children respond in this manner. I will be sharing the narrative of one of the students who lost two brothers in accidents.

Kudos to the Founders, Mr Anand and the teachers for doing a fantastic job. Thank you Ms Stella for co-ordination and Principal Ms Rani Tandon for organising the event. Moreover, to the children of Shishu Mandir you are all very inspiring.

At Shishu Mandir , Liberation is indeed Awakening.
Sharing a few pictures of the event !

3 Aug 2018 : We had this session at the Hoodi facility of Tata Elxsi.  ~100 employees attended.

I try to keep updating my material with new inputs, new ideas. This time, I decided to mix narrative stories with data/non-narrative messages. Research  says that the story-based interventions most strongly affect people’s intentions to change their behavior, while non-narrative messages most strongly affect cognitive beliefs and attitudes.

I opened with the story of the Poladpur accident – A group of 32 started off on a picnic, with 2 drivers. Unfortunately, at a place near Poladpur, the bus went off a cliff and fell into a deep gorge! There was one person who miraculously escaped, but 33 people crashed to their unfortunate, untimely death.
“33 .. is that a big number? .. well, we lose over 400 every day in our country! That is like a plane crashing down every day!”

I also linked other information on the Poladpur accident at the relevant places.
One report  has it that the bus skid and slipped over loose stones and wet mud. In the section on speeding, I referred to this. Safe speed is decided by the context, not just the sign board. And for this, the driver has to be attentive. When driving on surfaces such as gravel, wet roads, loose stones, the traction between the tire and the surface is low. “Drive to the conditions”: slow down to keep the vehicle in control.

Another report  has it that the driver turned back for a moment to talk to the passengers.  Passengers can be a distraction! And in most cases, they do not realise it! Yet, the driver has to stay focused on the road. Prepare mentally and physically for the journey. His primary job is to get himself, his passengers, the vehicles safely to the destination without any harm to the other vehicles, people or property.

I also decided to change the term “Defensive Driving”. The term “Defensive” has several synonyms that are apt in our context : alert, watchful, cautious, on guard.  But “defensive” has a passive connotation. And, there is one other element that is important : anticipation. Therefore, I have now decided to call it Proactive Driving : be alert, and anticipate! Could the bus driver have anticipated the kind of distractions possible on the picnic, and better prepared to deal with them?

One person came up to me and asked about how much we are able to influence politicians. I hope that the collective effort of like-minded organizations will be successful – and we will get to see the Motor Vehicles Amendment Bill passed through the Rajya Sabha !

I sincerely thank Sunil Kumar and RS Murthy for giving me this opportunity.

Here are a few more pics from the session.

July 2

A wonderful session on Road Safety and Awareness at Dr K B Hedgewar School.

We were amazed at a recent video we came across – our Prime Minister interacted with some bright students from this school.
CLICK HERE for the video

Children of this school have made a device that will automatically dip the car light beam when it detects another vehicle approaching from the opposite side. We were curious to meet these children and see the possibility of working together on road Safety related issues. It was wonderful to interact with these talented students Sumedh Prabhudesai, Lekhraj Surlakar and Sanad Baligeri.

We also conducted a session on road safety. Around 250 students of classes 9 and 10 joined the session.

The question and answer session was extremely interesting . It is amazing to realize how well informed the students are about a lot of the latest developments.

The Arundhati Foundation would like to thank the students, teachers and management of Dr. Dr K B Hedgewar School, Cujira, Bamboli. Special thanks to Mr Subhash Desai and Principal Vilas Satarkar.
And a heartfelt thank you to Tarush Dhume for providing the much needed support during the session.

Here are a few photographs of the session.

July 5 : 2nd Session at LAM Research

This was in their brand new facility at the Fairway Business Park off the Inner Ring Road.  Over 150 employees attended this session.

I was pleasantly surprised when Vikas Chand mentioned that he had gone through the blog of the Foundation and was aware of our work.

This time, I incorporated two other videos into the talk

1. IIHS rear-seat unbelted passenger
2. Blind spots for buses – a video for 2-wheeler riders

These are very effective videos, and they help a lot in conveying the message.

I had some very interesting conversations after the session.

Ashish loves to go on long drives, but is especially conscious of the fatigue factor. His wife acts as the navigator. If either of them is tired, they stop. He also gave a very useful tip : Google maps marks accident-prone areas and cautions drivers to slow down. A yellow / light blue indicator on the map helps identify these areas.

One person raised a question on ethics : “if someone, or an animal, suddenly comes across the vehicle, should I save my life or of the other person / animal ?”  In that split second, I suppose it is instinct that takes over. Most likely, it will be a survival instinct. But its hard to call it a matter of ethics.

We talk of the Good Samaritan law – It allows people to help the victims of road accidents without any fear of harassment. Karnataka became the first state to introduce the Good Samartian bill in the state assembly. This evoked a positive response. Some people have lost their friends who did not get timely help.

There was a general observation that the process of procuring a driving license is very lax, and that it should be a lot more stringent. The MVA Amendment Bill 2017 has provisions for more transparent licensing, and more stringent penalty for violations, penalty for faulty road construction etc. Unfortunately, it is moving very slowly. It was passed in the Lok Sabha, but hasn’t yet made it to the Rajya Sabha. We hope that this session takes up the bill in earnest.

Another comment from a mother was on Underage driving. She is afraid that her teenage son will come under peer pressure and take the two wheeler on a ride. They keep the keys hidden from him.  In such situations, first of all, it has to be firm message to the child, letting him know that he will get his turn when he becomes an adult. It is important to also reach out to the parents of your child’s friends and caution them if the children are indulging in underage driving. It takes a degree of maturity to deal with problems on the road, and a child cannot be expected to have this maturity.

Ramya informed me the next day that several of the people have come forth and promised to wear helmets. That is very heartening!

Thanks LAM research for a wonderfully interactive session.  I hope to add some pictures from the session soon.

****

20 April 2018

It looks like the word about the work done by The Arundhati Foundation is spreading through various people. I had a pleasant surprise one day in April when Ramya Jyothi from Lam Research reached out to us and requested us to conduct not one but 4 sessions for the organization, in each of its facilities.

I agreed to do the first session on April 20, and based on the feedback, we will conduct the further 3 sessions as well.

One tries to inject some humour into the topic because people can be more receptive to take in the message. I saw this clip of Farokh Engineer – the dashing wicketkeeper/bastman who played for India in the era where protective gear was limited – and decided to use a bit of it. Engineer had joked once “Cricketers started using the abdomen guard in 1868. The helmet came into play only in the 1970s. It took a 100 years for cricketers to recognize that the head is precious!”

I got an interesting perspective from one of the audience members. When discussing speed, he said “30 km/hour translates to about 30 feet/sec” Pointing across the room he said – “this is about the distance to the door there. Imagine having to stop in between the two points – to go from 30 km/hr to 0 in less than 1 second. Now you can understand how hard it is to stop when at higher speeds”.

Thank you Ramya for organizing the event, and Lam Research for giving us the opportunity. I will certainly cover the other sites as well.

16 March 2018

I visited Ramyam at their new office in the Crescent-4 tower at Prestige Shantiniketan. A group of 70 employees attended the session.

Based on the experience from the past sessions, I made some changes. After covering the important topics related to Defensive Driving, I picked a few of the commonly asked questions, and incorporated them into the presentation.

The section is titled “What about …”, and discusses a few topics:
“listening to music when driving”
“giving way to a pedestrian”
“giving way to an ambulance”
“using high beam at night”
“when using a taxi / auto”
“when riding pillion”

I found the audience to be very interactive when these points were discussed.
Maybe I will change the first part of my presentation based on this as well.

Thanks to my old colleague and friend Manoj KC for inviting me over to Ramyam.
And, thanks to Luman Francis who helped organize the event.
Here are some pics from the event.