Amitabh Singh's Blog, page 7

No Politics, Please

Round Pizza in a Square Box

Excerpt from Chapter 4 – No Politics, Please:

Despite being only one-mile radius in size, Sonargachi is home to ten thousand sex workers. Poverty drives many women to the area while others are trafficked in from neighboring countries, such as Bangladesh and Nepal. The “Sonargachi Lane” main street begins a few hundred paces from Liberty Cinema Hall on Chittaranja Avenue. Every evening, rickshaws vie with one another to enter the illicit roadway, weaving their passengers past mounds of rubble and sewage streams to begin a night of sordid entertainment.

I caught my first glimpse inside Sonargachi when as a hospital Board Member I agreed to assess its medical needs. I was appalled by what I saw.

The district’s main street gave way to a clumsy patchwork of dark alleyways on which hundreds of dilapidated, multi-story brothels caressed each other in close proximity. The brothels’ ancient walls crumbled and split like broken seams, exposing supporting iron rods. The buildings’ highest floors creaked and leaned precariously into alleyways, ensnaring in their crooked grasp a thick aroma of dirt, sweat, and hot garbage.

Brightly-adorned women in tightly wrapped saris leaned seductively against the decaying outer walls, making obvious the offered services. Men, young and old, circled the women, following them unashamedly into the open doors of the brothels. Fifteen minutes later, the pairs emerged again, the men disappearing around the nearest corners and the women resuming their places alongside the street.

There was nothing nice about the area. It brought to life all the deplorable stories I had heard about it.

Click here to purchase your copy of Round Pizza in a Square Box from Westbow Press.

 

My Dad’s Three Managers

Round Pizza in a Square Box

Excerpt from Chapter 3 – My Dad’s Three Managers

One morning, my father asked me to accompany our Munim ji (a term for a confidential accountant) to the Sales Tax office. The government required every business owner to pay a percentage of his earnings to the all-powerful Sales Tax Officer. I say all-powerful because the Sales Tax Officer knew full well the influence he had over another man’s profits. A person could claim all day long that “this is what I sold” and “here is the sales tax I owe,” but if the Sales Tax Officer was unhappy with the claim, he could scrutinize it and cause the business a lot of trouble. This is why many business owners hired a Munim ji to act as their mediators. The Munim ji ensured that both parties walked away happy.

The day of our appointment, my dad told me to dress in simple clothes. When we arrived at the Sales Tax building, the Munim ji bought two cases of the most expensive cigarettes from a small stall to the left of the entrance. I felt perplexed. “The Munim ji does not smoke. Why does he need two packs of cigarettes?” I wondered.

We continued through the building’s entrance, up a few flights of stairs, and into a corridor where we waited to see the “Bada Sahab” (the name we called the Sales Tax Officer, meaning “big officer”). In the silence of the waiting room, my curiosity got the best of me. “What is this all about,” I asked the Munim ji. “Why do we need these cigarettes?”

“Wait and learn,” he whispered.

Ten minutes passed before an office peon called our name. The Munim ji walked up to the peon and handed him the cigarettes, before proceeding coolly into Bada Sahab’s office for our official meeting. I watched speechless, trying to find the meaning behind the transaction. I hurried after the Munim ji and into the office, all the while looking over my shoulder at the office peon who quickly disappeared down the corridor with his newfound prize.

The meeting did not last long. We presented our financials and the Bada Sahab signed them without question. Returning to the corridor, I noticed the peon sitting on his stool, but the cigarette cases were gone.

“What is this all about?” I asked the Munim ji a second time, as we made our way out of the building.

“Let me explain something to you,” he answered casually. “It is irrelevant that the Sales Tax Officer does not smoke. We bought the cigarettes at their full price, and gave them to the peon. The peon took the cases back down to the cigarette seller so that the cases could be recycled and resold. The next guy who comes in to see the Sales Tax Officer will also buy some cigarettes, and give them to the peon, only to repeat the same transaction.”

He shrugged a little. “I don’t know. I wager that this happens fifteen or more times before the office closes. At the end of the day, the seller calculates the cost of each cigarette case sold, recycled ‘x’ number of times, and he sends a percentage to the Sales Tax Officer or his peon. Not a bad day’s earnings for three people who invested precious nothing. All it cost the peon was the energy it took to run up and down those flights of stairs.”

I listened to the admission, unable to hide my surprise. I could hardly believe how complex yet smooth this system of corruption operated.

Click here to purchase your copy of Round Pizza in a Square Box from Westbow Press.

Book Review by Ken Horn: Round Pizza in a Square Box

The below book review of Round Pizza In A Square Box, reviewed by Ken Horn, appeared this week in Pentecostal Review:

The Myth of a Flat World

Round Pizza in a Square Box

Excerpt from Chapter 2 – The Myth of a Flat World:

I will not soon forget the deadly Indian Ocean tsunami that caught the world off guard a day after Christmas in 2004. A violent 9.0 earthquake in the depths of the sea quickly gave rise to fifty-foot waves that thrust their way onto the shores of eleven unsuspecting countries. In a single day, over one hundred and fifty thousand people died, and millions more lost their homes and families. The tsunami was arguably the most disastrous in recorded history.

Girl crying.

In those days, I was working as the Director of Financial Services for a U.S. based non-profit called Mission of Mercy. The organization supported two hundred and fifty projects in nineteen countries, providing holistic support to disadvantaged children. On December 26th, the moment that news of the tsunami hit American shores, my colleagues and I rushed to the office for an emergency meeting. We sat together for hours, stunned and heartbroken as we discovered the extent of the tragedy in the Southeast. In Sri Lanka, we operated thirty-seven projects, sponsoring over two thousand children. Many of these children were now dead:

In Lunugamwehera, twenty of our children had died.

In Galle, thirteen had died.

In Kalawnchikudy, fourteen had died.

In Chenkalady, thirteen had died. 

In Manawa and Tissamaharam, we could not determine our losses because our projects were uncommunicative due to the destruction.

In Valachenai, fifteen had died.

In Batticaloa, nine had died.

In Hambantota, twenty-two had died.

In a single day, over one hundred children enrolled in our projects had died.

For us, it was not about numbers. We knew the names and faces of each child. It was hard to believe I would never see little Kumar again. Shanti, the girl with the two short pigtails, would never again come running to meet me.

And what of the children who had survived without their parents? They had nowhere to live and no one to whom they could turn.

Clearly, our team had a large task ahead of us. The tsunami had not undermined our resolve to continue the work. On the contrary, it awakened our  desire to do even more.

Click here to purchase your copy of Round Pizza in a Square Box from Westbow Press.

 

Still a Student

Round Pizza in a Square Box

Excerpt from Chapter 1 – Still a Student

1991 was for many Indians the date of India’s true emancipation. On the verge of bankruptcy, India’s then Prime Minister and Finance Minister called for an emergency meeting. Neither man slept until they had systematically identified and reversed the country’s failing policies, which included boldly opening India’s borders to international markets. Overnight, the ailing land took its first gasp of fresh air as an unrestrained nation, making a dramatic turnaround towards a bright and healthy future.

India’s upward progress in the 90’s nourished the economy’s sunken belly as businesses grew, cities flourished, and India once again earned a competitive foothold in the global economy. It was in this decade that I finished my MBA and began a career as a business consultant.

It has been a pleasure these last twenty years watching India continue its ascent into the twenty-first century, but I also find the country to be at a critical crossroads. With all of its recent advancements, there now exist two India’s – a rich India and a poor India. While India’s affluent cities are home to many residents who speak English, hold college degrees, and earn good jobs overseas, seventy percent of India’s population of over seven hundred million people, live in substandard conditions in India’s smaller cities and villages. Almost half lack adequate travel routes, medical centers, and accessible education.

Photo credit: The Women's International Perspective

While India boasts magnificent universities and technical schools, producing one million engineering graduates each year, an estimated thirty-five percent of children and forty percent of women, are still unable to read or write because the government-run primary schools are failing. This problem is compounded in villages where poverty is often so extreme that children have to forego school altogether to work alongside their parents.

While India is home to some of the wealthiest businessmen and women in the world, hundreds of fathers with swollen feet pull rickshaws for miles, working harder than their lives give license yet earning barely enough income to feed one meal a day to their starving families. The United Nations writes that India is today home to more than a third of the world’s chronically malnourished children.

And while a number of India’s wealthy corporations prosper through municipal bribes and illegal favors, local entrepreneurs continue to struggle through a maze of bureaucratic offices and old, restrictive policies, in their efforts to earn honest incomes.

When I read books and newspaper headlines that talk about the rising India, I cannot help but ask, “Rising for whom? The fifteen to twenty-five percent who speak English and live in the cities?” For the rest, there is nothing rising about it.

Click here to purchase your copy of Round Pizza in a Square Box from Westbow Press.

How I Came to Write Round Pizza In A Square Box

Round Pizza In A Square Box

Excerpt from the Introduction

In 2010, I was invited to give a guest lecture to the students at Northwest University in Kirkland, Washington. Nearly a year later, on January 19th, 2011, I was reflecting upon my lecture while taking a shower at my house in Canada. As soap streamed through my hair and washed over my eyes, the entire outline for a new book came suddenly to my mind. I wrestled with the shower handles and called out to my wife Susan to come quickly with a scratch pad and pen. Stifling a smile, Susan took a seat on the lid of the toilet and patiently began taking notes on my ramblings. The steam wetted and wrinkled her makeshift outline, but by the end of my shower, we had what I needed to call Bethany and begin a journey with her to pen another story. Having begun with my first memoires, Chilies in an Indian Curry, it was time to move on to the next item on the menu. It was time for pizza.

Not many weeks later, Northwest University unwittingly confirmed my book idea when they informed me that following my 2010 lecture I remained the highest rated of all their guest speakers. I took courage from this. It was time to take spoken words and put them into writing. Meanwhile, I accepted a second invitation to speak to Northwest University’s students. This time, my brother Sanjay Singh joined me in sharing a second perspective about India viewed through the lens of our shared upbringing and his unique academic and work experience in a context and country so different from the land of our origin.

The day of our presentation, Sanjay, currently serving as Vice President at Starbucks, and I shared with the students a simple, yet important message concerning good-intentioned people working for empowerment and change on behalf of disadvantaged societies and people groups. Taking turns sharing our collaborative experiences through two different work and life contexts, we demonstrated that there needs to be a change in the way that we go about philanthropy. Whether a not-for-profit advocate, donor, or volunteer, it was time now to take a second look at how we are utilizing our time, money, and skills to make a change in this world. “How can we turn our good intentions into powerful action strategies?” we challenged.

Click here to purchase your copy of Round Pizza in a Square Box from Westbow Press.

 

 

 

 

I Would Like to Thank .……..

Round Pizza in a Square Box

Excerpt from Acknowledgements:

In the early 2000’s, I had the honor of serving as a Facilitator at the UNDP Deputy Resident meeting held in Bangkok, Thailand. Those few years proved to be a rewarding time in my life as I traveled in my role as consultant to various cities across the globe and provided training and consultancy.

In 2004, my canvas widened when I accepted a role as Director of Financial Services for a non-profit in Colorado Springs, exercising financial leadership for over two hundred and fifty projects in nineteen countries. When one of history’s deadliest tsunamis hit Sri Lanka later that year, over one hundred children in nine of our projects died or went missing. The following weeks proved to be some of the most impacting in my life as I worked around the clock responding to desperate calls for help from Project Leaders in India and Sri Lanka, while raising emergency support for a first-response medical team. Having been born and raised in Calcutta, I had seen vast poverty, but never experienced a crisis like this.

In 2008, I had the privilege of assisting University of Utah staff Lorraine Wood, Faculty Advisor in the English Department, and Sara Barclay at the Lowell Bennion Community Service Center, in helping their students with an integrative service project that led to the development of a volunteer program handbook. The project allowed me to work with young people from many North American universities with whom I traveled and engaged in cross-cultural learning in a South Asian context.

It was during this time that I met with Nancy Heuston, founder of The Waterford School. Her faculty and students frequently traveled to India armed with a passion to understand the challenges related to global education. I accompanied them to Thane in Mumbai and The Waterford School in Salt Lake City, Utah, to gain a greater understanding of the online education model that they had developed. My discussions with them, as with Snehal Pinto, a leading educator from Mumbai, and Srijna and Inderjit Labana, online education developers in Delhi, helped me discover the feasibility of such a model for disadvantaged children who cannot participate or maintain regular attendance in traditional schools. I am also indebted to Ruhi Zamaan, Michael Grey, Jean Hicks, Kari Westland, and Jobin Sam for guiding me through the technicalities of an online education curriculum.

Those who have impacted me the most will forever be the hundreds of volunteers and leaders who have traveled from the United States, Canada, England, Australia, and Hong Kong to India. As we lived and worked together, I inevitably learned. My greatest insights came from my association with Morgana Wingard and Jenny Kim from the studio of Annie Leibovitz; firefighters from Boulder, Colorado; students and faculty from the Global Health department of Des Moines University and Azusa Pacific University; and some of my favorite outstanding volunteers such as Brian Bushway, Dan Kish, Maria Petersen, Chad Kohn, Vida McCracken, Midhuna William, Lynette Grubbs, Matthew Price, Christina DeCamp, my nephew Rishabh Singh, Dr David and Diane Cionni, Danielle Valimont, and Bethany Talbert.

I still break out in a smile when I think of some of the volunteers who fell sick when visiting India because they did not conform to written safety rules. They have taught me more from their confidence in an unknown terrain than I would have ever learned on my own. I still wish they would have listened!

My greatest lessons came from project leaders in India, women sex slaves inside the red light area of Sonargachi, and hospitalized children and their parents.

Click here to purchase your copy of Round Pizza in a Square Box from Westbow Press.

Interview with Grace TV

 

Watch my interview with Grace TV regarding the release of my newest book, “Round Pizza In A Square Box.” Tune in to Grace TV on Monday, February 18th, 2013 at 9 p.m.

Round Pizza In A Square Box Is Now Available!

Round Pizza In A Square Box Is Now Available!

For all those who have been waiting patiently for your copy of my latest book, Round Pizza In A Square Box, I am excited to announce that it is now available through Westbow Press. Click here to purchase your copy.

I do hope you all enjoy reading it. In the months that follow, I will be posting excerpts from each of its chapters as a little sneak peak inside the story.

“Round Pizza in a Square Box reads like a movie script–entertaining, but also insightful.  This book is filled with principles that will motivate and inspire.  Amitabh Singh has served the poor for many years and has committed his life to challenging others to do everything they can to serve those in need.  His message is both timely and compelling.”

– Hal Donaldson

Round Pizza In A Square Box :

India is an ever-evolving country. While democracy inspires innumerable achievements in the arts, education, technology, and business, in rural and impoverished India, the gulf between the rich and poor grows increasingly wider. Amitabh Singh in Round Pizza in a Square Box shares a number of hard-learned lessons that have inspired him to over 25 years of service on behalf of India’s impoverished men, women and children.  His message encourages even the most distant reader, showing that with the right mindset and a strong dose of compassion, they too can make an immeasurable difference in this world.

Free Preview From Westbow Press

 

Click here to purchase your copy of Round Pizza in a Square Box from Westbow Press.

Free Preview from Westbow Press - Chapter 4: No Politics, Please:

I always liked a poster that hung on the wall of my friend’s office in Calcutta. It featured a lion with the caption, “No Politics, Please.” I must admit, I have never been a fan of politics, especially those where an individual’s actions are determined by their personal interests rather than by absolute principles. In my line of work, politics of this kind tends to frustrate good programs and ultimately cause more harm than help to people.

In 1998, my wife, nine-month-old daughter, and thirteen young people accompanied me to India’s Tribal and Coastal Orissa. Over a period of thirteen days, we visited the districts of Bolangir, Sambalpur, Hirakund Dam, and Jharsuguda, and became very familiar with what are known to be some of the poorest places in India.

One morning we happened upon a children’s home. At the entrance hung a welcoming sign that identified its partnership with a very well-known organization. On the inside, the building was empty. There were no beds, tables, staff, or children. Rumor had it that money was being raised for the home’s children, sent for the children, and yet there were no children. It looked as though the money were just evaporating somewhere.

Not all politics are so subtle. Calcutta is home to one of Asia’s largest red- light districts called Sonagachi. I spent many weekends as a child playing at my grandfather’s house only a few lanes from the district, but for years my parents kept me from any knowledge of it.

Despite being only one-mile radius in size, Sonagachi is home to ten thousand sex workers. Poverty drives many women to the area while others are trafficked in from neighboring countries, such as Bangladesh and Nepal. The “Sonagachi Lane” main street begins a few hundred paces from Liberty Cinema Hall on Chittaranja Avenue. Every evening, rickshaws vie with one another to enter the illicit roadway, weaving their passengers past mounds of rubble and sewage streams to begin a night of sordid entertainment.

I caught my first glimpse inside Sonagachi when as a hospital Board Member I agreed to assess its medical needs. I was appalled by what I saw.

The district’s main street gave way to a clumsy patchwork of dark alleyways on which hundreds of dilapidated, multi-story brothels caressed each other in close proximity. The brothels’ ancient walls crumbled and split like broken seams, exposing supporting iron rods. The buildings’ highest floors creaked and leaned precariously into alleyways, ensnaring in their crooked grasp a thick aroma of dirt, sweat, and hot garbage.

Brightly-adorned women in tightly wrapped saris leaned seductively against the decaying outer walls, making obvious the offered services. Men, young and old, circled the women, following them unashamedly into the open doors of the brothels. Fifteen minutes later, the pairs emerged again, the men disappearing around the nearest corners and the women resuming their places alongside the street.

There was nothing nice about the area. It brought to life all the deplorable stories I had heard about it.

–

About the Authors:

For over a decade, Amitabh Singh has served as a motivational speaker, certified business coach and consultant, and author to a number of books. Having served for several years in Calcutta, India, he and his family are driven by the passion to see disadvantaged children given the opportunity to rise above their circumstances and pursue their dreams. Amitabh, today, provides leadership as Executive Director of a Canadian not-for-profit. He lives in Toronto, Canada with his wife, Susan, and two daughters. To connect with the author, visit www.amitabhsingh.com.

Bethany Talbert is a freelance writer who graduated from Pepperdine University with a degree in Religious Studies, before writing professionally for a number of companies and charitable organizations. Since 2008, she has enjoyed the privilege of working with Amitabh Singh to help spread the word and raise support on behalf of the poor. Bethany has authored three books with Amitabh and is working with him on two more that are slated for release in 2015. Bethany currently resides in Oregon with her husband, Andrew, and two sons.

 

“Round Pizza in a Square Box reads like a movie script—entertaining, but also insightful. This book is filled with principles that will motivate and inspire. Amitabh Singh has served the poor for many years and has committed his life to challenging others to do everything they can to serve those in need. His message is both timely and compelling.” – Hal Donaldson, President of Convoy of Hope, Inc.