Citizenship Behavior

It was around 4:30 p.m. on 26^th January, India’s Republic Day.

Megha and I were sipping on ‘Filter Kaapi’ in Mysore Café, Matunga and reflecting on the events of morning and afternoon.

We had spent 4 hours in Babasaheb Ambedkar Hall in Matunga Labor Camp, Dharavi witnessing a ‘Citizen’s Workshop’ for residents of the area.

It had taken Megha and me some effort to figure out where the Hall was.  We had weaved our way through a row of narrow alleys to make it there. I was reminded of old streets in Asansol and in villages of industrial Bengal – buzzing with activity but might make a newcomer feel ‘enclosed’.

We reached the Hall around 12 p.m. Not many people were there in the hall at that time. There was a group of young kids practicing a dance sequence they were going to perform on, and Vinitha and her friends/team members.

I was anxious and excited about this event. I had been working with Vinitha on how to ensure, efforts of her organization made an impact. ‘Impact’ for We-The-People meant people understood their rights and duties as citizens, took responsibility for the same, and displayed appropriate behaviors.

This workshop was built around a theme - what could residents in Matunga Labor Camp do in next few weeks, to ensure that they did the right things in upcoming Municipal Elections.

So the workshop had ‘immediate relevance’ for people we were targeting. They could implement almost immediately what they would learn.

Around 100 people turned up – that was an impressive number given that the workshop had been advertised entirely through word of mouth. Most participants were young mothers, and old men/women.  I wondered why I didn’t see too many young men and unmarried women – I still don’t have an answer to this. .

Soon we were into thick of action. 100 participants had split into 8-9 groups, discussing 1 of 3 themes of Role of Citizens, Role of BMC (Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation), and Role of Councillor. 

I was eagerly awaiting this part of the discussion. Vinita and I had talked at length, about need for making people take ownership for their behavior.   The facilitators themselves were a stumbling block towards ensuring we achieved this end.  They viewed themselves as ‘problem solvers’, but this mindset ensured that citizens/participants became perennially dependent on these facilitators when trying to address new situations.  It was necessary to make the facilitators empower the participants (helping them find their own solutions).

I was eager to see if both facilitators and participants accepted and played these new roles.

I was a bit uncomfortable during the initial part of the discussion within the groups.  The facilitators seemed to be instructive. I heard a lot of ‘Do this if you are faced with this situation’. I was becoming impatient and wondered ‘Where was the attempt to empower people to respond effectively irrespective of the situation?’

My anxiety started ebbing mid-way through the discussions. Slowly I found the participants connecting the dots, and stating to ask questions on how what they were learning could be implemented in other situations too.  By the end of the discussion, all groups had ‘citizen’ volunteers who came forth to present to the audience what their group had discussed and learnt, and what they were committing to do.

I realized that the journey from being dependent on a parent to being independent takes time, and can’t be an immediate process. Probably journey for any newcomer in a situation, would usually start from being dependent on a parent. The only variable might be the period and amount of dependency.

I noticed something else too. When the groups were presenting to the audience, everyone in the room listened with rapt attention. There were some 100 people in the audience, there was noise coming in from outside, and the sound system wasn’t the best you would come across. It was difficult to hear what was being presented, but everyone seemed to be zoned in and concentrating. I wondered ‘why don’t we see so much attention/concentration in classes in schools/colleges and in classroom training sessions at workplaces?’

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Sourav