Remembering Brij Bedi

"It was in the wintry month of February 2013; the walled city of Amritsar seemed a lot different than what it is today. The streets back then were overcrowded, bustling with tuk tuk autos, dust and smog subsumed the aged and dilapidated buildings in the older quarter of the city. Few kilometers from the Amritsar bus stand, close to National Highway, I found myself in the drug infested slum of Maqbool Pura, which had received extensive coverage by the Punjabi press back then. Both Brij and Kiran were patrons of a Citizen Forum Vidya Mandir, which provided free primary level education to the children in the slum. I was to meet Mr. Bedi the next day of my arrival, but he insisted I meet his subordinate Master Ajit Singh, who looked after the day-to-day affairs of the school and was instrumental in establishing it’s first branch.

While having my evening tea in Ajit’s house, I gazed at the photographs all around the walls, which had Ajit sharing space with the Holy Dalai Lama, the newly unseated Chief minister Prakash Singh Badal, son Sukhbir among other political leaders. ?The conversation was followed by another cup of tea. I left for the day and planned my meeting with Brij for the next. I was told by Ajit next morning that Brij already had a planned meeting with some media students of EXIMS, and I was to join their group for a tour of the school. After giving us a tour for approximately 20 mins, Brij accompanied me to his office, ordered tea, remained quiet for few minutes and later when the tea arrived, instantly began some casual conversation. Following are the excerpts from my interview with him:

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(Q) Sir, you had been previously working on socially relevant issues through Citizen Forum. What really made you work full time for this cause? I read a story in Tribune sometime in the year 1999 about this slum and the same day I decided to make a visit. That’s when I met Ajit, he made me visit every nook and corner of the slum and I must say the situation that time was extremely bad. I realized that good education could only be a long-term solution for such a crisis. Also, you see we had limited resources, we did not have any funds at our disposal, there was absolutely no governmental support. I felt deeply connected to this cause and since then I have been engaged with the people of Maqbloopura. We began teaching 20 kids in the slum and the numbers have grown steadily since then.

?(Q) So it seems you do see a relation between illiteracy and substance abuse?

I don’t. Even the rich do it. The only difference is that they consume expensive drugs and the poor on the other side use cheap capsules and injections, costing as little as 6 rupees. ?But we need to go to the root cause of this whole problem. Just look at the wasteful expenditure of the government, the money is not going where it should go, schemes like MNREGA have not been effectively implemented and the govt. has totally failed to provide an outlet to the skills of the young workforce in the state. The government needs to make sure that the supply of drugs from borders is reduced and there is a heavy crackdown on locally made cheap drugs. Our Narcotics laws are extremely strong, we just need to nip them in the bud. Simultaneously, the government should also explore the possibility of creating new opportunities for the youth so that they can channelize their energy.

(Q) And how is the school functioning now?

We have 5 branches in this locality and more than 650 students as of now. The first school was started in Ajit’s ancestral house, a family from England also donated a house to us. Lately, we have been getting donations from Spring Dales School through their social initiative called ‘Umeed’. We have 21 qualified teachers out of which the salary of 12 are paid by this private school. Even the books and uniforms have been provided to us by Spring Dale’s management.

(Q) Have you also got any monetary help from the government or from other INGO’s?

Well, we haven’t received any help from the government as such except for the mid-day meal for our 250 students studying upto 5th class. In 2009 Mr. Navjot Singh Sidhu (Member of Parliament) donated Rs 5 lacs to the school, his wife Navjot Kaur (local MLA) also visits the locality frequently. But that’s about it. ???

(Q) After all these years of hard work have you noticed any positive change in the area?

There has been a considerable change, but a lot more needs to be done. I met a woman yesterday, whose addict husband on a serious note asked her to flee with her former lover, he couldn’t afford the household expenses as most of his income went into buying drugs and alcohol.?Since 2003 more than 328 people have died in this slum, leaving 200 widows, the Pubjabi press calls it ‘slum of widows’. Everyone here has lost someone close to him/her because of excessive substance abuse. Almost 50% women in the area have become sex workers, imagine the extent to which women have to go to provide livelihood to their kids and addict husbands. That is why we are focusing more on girl child education so that tomorrow they don’t have to sell their bodies to earn money.

(Q) Sir, what is your role in the school? Are you just the patron or do you also take part in the affairs of the management also?

?I am the patron and my wife (Kiran) is the chief patron of this school. Our involvement has helped us get the desired attention from media, civil society groups and the government. Apart from this, I do take part in the day-to-day management of the school and also teach kids, sometimes.

(Q) Sir, on a broader level where do you see the whole state right now and where do you see it heading? I spoke to two Members of Parliament from Congress, Akali Dal and the local BJP MLA, none of whom seem to take any responsibility and have pointed fingers at each other. Where does the buck stop?

I think there is a lack of knowledge of what is really happening at the grassroots level. Do you see any governance here? The police and the public machinery have turned a blind eye. They pick up peddlers in the area and release them within few hours or days. This is an issue which requires a coordinated work of both the government and the opposition, even the Centre needs to look into it. Considering how the state politics functions, there is a new government every 5 years. Both the Akalis and the Congress need to sit together and fix this. Pointing fingers at each other will not work, it isn’t something over which they should play any kind of blame game. ?

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With this last answer my meeting with Brij came to an end. ?Brij was kind enough to have his day’s lunch with me. Thereafter, he introduced me to Mahinder Kaur, a 70 year old widow who lost 6 out of her 7 son’s due to excessive substance abuse. I interviewed her as well. Finally, Brij informed me that he needs to go for some urgent meeting, took my number, we exchanged our emails. He asked me to send him pictures, which he later posted on facebook. We remained in touch through phone and social media until in died on 31st Jan, 2016.